Lupinus

ON SAINT LUPINUS

AT CARCASSONNE IN GALLIA NARBONENSIS.

Lupinus, at Carcassonne in Gallia Narbonensis (S.)

D. P.

Carcasso, or Carcassio, or Carcassum, is an Episcopal city of Gallia Narbonensis, in lower Occitania. To this Saussay ascribes S. Lupinus in his Corollary to the Supplement of the Gallican Martyrology in these words: On the IV day of May. Relics in the Cathedral church, At Carcassonne of S. Lupinus Confessor, whose body in the Cathedral Church of S. Nazarius venerably rests: but his glorious memory is venerated with annual rites on the third feria before the Ascension of the Lord. Thus there. Nor more hitherto could we know of him. In Greven in the Auctarium of Usuard on July 30 there is related the bare memory of Lupinus a Bishop, no mention of place even being added. William Catel among the historical Memoirs of Languedoc book 5 enumerating the Bishops of Carcassonne, between Roger and Gisteran names Liviula, who is proved to have sat about the year 851 from an old slip, found in the chest of the Relics of S. Lupinus by a Canon of Carcassonne. Of the same Church the memorable matters are said to have been written rather accurately by Gerald de Vic, and in that work we have learned that he teaches, that on the second Feria of the Rogations, on which falls the festivity of S. Lupinus, two Canons are wont to bear out a wooden coffer, in which his Relics are preserved, the coffer on the 2nd feria of the Rogations. the rest of the Capitulars proceeding in the order of supplication: and that that coffer was opened by the Bishop of Carcassonne Christopher de Leslang, visiting his church (who first of Lodève, then of Alet Bishop, presided over Carcassonne from the year 1606 unto 1617) and in it was found a manuscript slip, making mention of Liviula a Bishop of that same Seat, and of Louis Count Eligarius of Carcassonne, whose names had lain hidden for 750 and more years, for they lived in the year of Christ 851 in the time of Charles the Bald. These things to us from the aforesaid Gerald the Rector of our College of Carcassonne, asked by letters to obtain from anywhere a transcribed copy of that slip: which to him has not yet befallen. Wherefore we ask those, in whose hands is the faculty of unlocking the coffer, that that illustrious monument of its antiquity, perhaps about to reveal something more of that Saint's age, they would not wish perpetually concealed: and meanwhile we desire to obtain the lucubration of Gerald, of which we now receive the first notice.

ON THE VENERABLE CATHARINE

A NUN OF THE CISTERCIAN ORDER,

OF THE PARK IN BRABANT.

13TH CENTURY

Ven. Catharine, a Nun of the Cistercian Order, of the Park of the Ladies in Brabant

G. H.

[1] The deeds of Catharine the Virgin of Louvain, lately a Cistercian Nun in the Park of the Ladies, are contained under the title now set down in the Ms. of Rouge-Cloître near Brussels of the Regular Canons, on a parchment leaf of the first part of the Novale of the Saints. Acts Part of these in the same words wrote Cantipratanus an eyewitness book 2 chapter 29, num. 20, another part Caesarius of Heisterbach has book 2 of his illustrious miracles chapter 26. Her birthday on the IV day of May in the Kalendar of the sacred Cistercian Order

printed at Dijon in the year 1617 is related in these words: her birthday May 4, Catharine the Virgin, otherwise Rachel, a nun in Brabant. Her name had at first been Rachel imposed by her Jewish parents. Chrysostom Henriquez in the Kalendar of the Holy and Blessed women of the Cistercian Order, prefixed before the Lilia Cistercii, writes these things of her: May 4. B. Catharine a nun in the Park of the Ladies, deserved often to see and address the Virgin Mother of God, and wrought many miracles in Belgium. But it is called the Park of the Ladies, because there is another illustrious monastery of men of the Premonstratensian Order, also called the Park, and nearer to Louvain. The same Henriquez celebrates Catharine with a longer eulogy in the Cistercian Menology, where also he honors her with the title of Blessed, which to her attribute Miraeus in the Cistercian Chronicle page 209, Arthur du Monstier in the Sacred Gynaeceum, and Chalemot in the Series of the Saints of the Order on this day. But Angelus Manrique book 3 of the Evangelical Laurel calls her Saint, who in volume 4 of the Ecclesiastical Annals of the Cistercian Order recounts her acts at the year 1220 and the following, but abstains from every title both of Saint and of Blessed: which also does Arnold Rayss in the Auctarium to the Birthdays of the Saints of Belgium of Molanus, and relates her on the V day of May. or May 5. Their example we also follow, the more because, an inquiry having been made through our Fathers, we have learned, that not only is no cult paid to the body or name of Catharine by the Nuns of the place, but not even any memory of her survives: except in a certain Legendary written in the Belgic vernacular tongue. Others who have made mention of this Virgin, are indicated by the aforesaid Writers.

LIFE

From the Ms. and from Cantipratanus and Caesarius.

Ven. Catharine, a Nun of the Cistercian Order, of the Park of the Ladies in Brabant. BHL Number: 1701

FROM THE MS.

[1] Lately the little daughter of a certain Jew of Louvain, was converted to the Catholic faith in such order. A certain Priest a Chaplain of the Duke of Brabant was wont to enter the house of the Jew, a stranger of that same city, and to dispute with him concerning the Christian faith. The daughter of a Jew But he had a little daughter, who greatly attended to the disputation according to the capacity of her understanding, weighing both the words of the Presbyter objecting, and of the father answering; at five years is affected toward Christian things, and so by little by little she was imbued by divine disposition toward the Catholic faith. Wonderful was the discretion of such a girl. For not fully five years old, in the house of her Jewish parents, she began to advert in mind, why a distinction of names was made of Jews and Christians alike: since they were men of one countenance and speech of both nations. Yet there clung (as she herself afterward related) more to her heart hearing more avidly the Christian, than the Jewish name: and especially she rejoiced to hear the name of blessed Mary, and toward the name of S. Mary: when Christians were wont to ask anything of one another or to swear. But she stole under either armpit bread from the table of her parents, and secretly shared it with begging boys, that, by their thanking her, she might hear the name of Mary. In these things therefore from time to time wonderfully progressing, so sagaciously she lay hidden, that neither of her parents could advert or hear anything about the thought of their daughter.

[2] But it happened, that when in the course of time she had come into the house of the aforesaid Priest, Master Reyner by name, with Christian children, and the Presbyter had known her by name, and had adverted her to come more willingly to him more frequently; he questioned her saying; Wouldst thou, dearest Rachel, become a Christian? And she, in the 7th year of her age is taught the Christian faith: I wish it, said she, provided thou instruct me, what it is to become a Christian. Then the Presbyter, as a holy man, wonderfully rejoiced in spirit, felt that of the girl there would be I know not what divine. And beginning from the constitution of the world, he began to expound to her the Scriptures, by which the faith of Christ, or Christ himself could be signified or shown. Whose expositions, (as she herself afterward related) with entire sense, at that age then of six years and a half, and with so great discretion of spirit she understood, that rarely was it needful for the Presbyter to repeat any reasoning. This instruction lasted nearly half a year, by a secret entrance, through which by stealth and opportunely the girl was snatched and taught. And see a notable prodigy of admiration. Never could Rachel be sated or wearied by the hearing of the word of God, whereas nevertheless the Presbyter and Martha his minister, a religious and prudent woman, both very frequently wearied, succeeded one another in teaching.

[3] What more? As soon as the parents began to advert the thought in their daughter; many Jews coming together they agreed in this, that they should send the girl from Louvain beyond the Rhine and deliver her to a spouse to be more strictly guarded. Which when the girl knew, she indicated to the Presbyter with tears, to be carried into Germany, that if he did not snatch her that same night, and make her a Christian, she would be lost forever and confounded. Which hearing the Presbyter, commanded the girl, that she should come to the wonted entrance very early in the morning. Which when she without hesitation agreed to, in the evening she said to her mother: I wish, mother, to lie this night by myself. Which when the simple childish thing she had taken, and longer had refused; yet she consented to her, commanding a little bed to be prepared for the daughter upon a pillow at her feet. The little girl therefore lying until morning, and forgetting entirely what she had promised the Presbyter the preceding night, she is admonished by the Virgin Mother of God to flee. there stood by her the glorious Mother of Christ Mary in a habit white above snow, and offering her a splendid rod, which she bore, said: Rise Catharine, and take the way, for a great way remains to thee. While she said these things Rachel believing she grasped the rod, fell from the little bed and cried out. By whose cry the mother awaked, and asking the cause of the cry, and the daughter more cautiously dissembling, the mother forthwith fell asleep: and Rachel rising to the appointed place, soon found the Presbyter. she is baptized in the monastery of the Park: Who glad took her and came to the monastery of the Cistercian Order, which is called the Park of the Ladies, which was distant a league and a half from Louvain: and all seeing it he baptized her, imposing on her the name of Catharine, by which she had before been called by the Mother of Christ, and clothed the baptized in the holy habit of the Order.

[4] Nor delay, when the father and his friends heard, what was done; they were dismayed, and through the Duke Lord of the land, and through the Bishop of Liège, and through Pope Honorius, the greatest moneys being given, labored, lest she be brought back to the father, that under the legitimate age the daughter taken away should be restored to the parents. Who if in the house of the parents until the twelfth year of age she should persevere in the faith received, then justly to the Christian name she could be restored: thinking most wickedly that in the meantime the infantile mind could easily turn itself away, so that it might return to the native wishes of the parents. Their fraudulent endeavors, alas! many great and lettered men, money being received, favored: for which the aforesaid Presbyter not a little troubled, only Christ and His Mother, who had been the authoress of this deed, with many tears invoked. resistance is made against the Duke of Brabant: And when the Duke wished to restore the daughter to the father, namely the Christian to the Jew; Reyner the Presbyter resisted him, saying: Lord, if thou commit this crime against God and His Spouse; never shall thy soul be saved. There resisted him also the Lord Abbot Walter of Villers.

[5] The Jew therefore seeing himself frustrated of the hope, which he had had with the Duke; is said to have corrupted the Lord Hugo Bishop of Liège. Who so far favored the Jew, that he commanded by his letters the convent of the Nuns of the Park, to restore to him his daughter. and lest the Bishop of Liège favor the father, Finally the Jew coming to the aforesaid monastery with his friends and kinsmen, the Virgin established within the enclosure of the monastery, when of their coming she knew nothing at all, began to feel a great heat, so that openly she said: I know not whence it is, a Jewish stench burdens me. Meanwhile the Jews knocking at the window, when the Abbess said to the girl: Daughter Catharine thy parents wish to see thee; she answered: Behold this is the stench, which I felt: I will not see them. And she did not consent to go out. Lately the same Bishop of Liège was accused for the same cause before the Lord Engelbert Archbishop of Cologne in his Synod, and it was commanded him, S. Engelbert restrains him that henceforth he should not molest the aforesaid convent for the baptized girl.

[6] And then indeed he was silent, but finally did not obey. For afterward by his letters he cited the girl to Liège under pain of excommunication, to answer to her father concerning the things objected. She came, yet under good custody. It was alleged for the Jew, that under age she had been snatched, and violently baptized. And certain persons said to the girl: Catharine, it has been told us, Summoned to Liège she defends herself constantly: that thou wouldst willingly return to thy father, if thou wert permitted. She answered and said: Who says this? They answered her: Thy father. Then she with a clear voice uttered such a word saying: My father has rightly lied through the middle of his beard. O wonderful thing, and unto the present unheard of in all ages! The girl had asked of the Presbyter to be led to every citation and Judge: Perhaps, said she, the Judges will be bent by my age, and will be moved to my expiation. And it came to pass as she asked and said. For when in the aforesaid manner she came to Liège before the Bishop, Clerics and Magnates, the divers Advocates and Judges, with as constant as truthful reasoning she confounded and moved, so that the voices of those howling and crying with tears for astonishment, in the Church of S. Lambert were heard from distant places; so that all manifestly saw and said, that in so slight an age the wisdom of the divine Spirit prevailed. And when still the Advocate of the Jew insisted; the Lord Walter Abbot of Villers, moved, who was personally present, said to him: Master, ye speak against God and against your honor. Know for certain, that if ye shall yet have spoken one word against the girl, I will labor with the Lord Pope, that he impose perpetual silence on you in all causes. Then he fearing secretly answered the Abbot: Lord Abbot, what would it hurt you, if I could extort money from this Jew? I will speak nothing, which could harm the girl. So soon as he received his salary; he said to the Jew: I dare not henceforth speak of this cause.

[7] About the same time, when the Lord Guido Abbot of Clairvaux visited the monasteries of his Order in the Bishopric of Liège; the Abbot of Clairvaux takes up her defense: he met the aforesaid Bishop, admonished and asked him, that out of regard for God and his own honor he would cease from the vexation of the girl now dedicated to Christ. To whom the Bishop answered: Good Lord Abbot, what to you of that cause? The Abbot answered: Well to me, for a double reason: first because I am a Christian man: secondly, because that house, in which she lives, is of the line of Clairvaux. And he added:

I place the girl and her cause under the protection of the Lord Pope, and against the letters given by you against her I appeal. Which he said and did, and the letters obtained from the Lord Pope against the Bishop, he sent to the Prior of the Park, that if perhaps the Bishop should still attempt to vex the convent on account of the girl, by those same letters they might defend themselves.

[8] Hence after two years there was a ceasing from the suit of law, and another little snare of deception prepared. she recognizes the fraud prepared for her A young Jew of elegant form, hired for this, came to the aforesaid monastery, in which the girl lived, and with a feigned mind received baptism. Who when he feigned himself in a wonderful manner, sought that he might speak with the girl as with his kinswoman for the sake of instruction: for he said: More than upon the discourses of all, the more salutary word will be impressed upon me by a kinswoman. She nevertheless inwardly discerned that the youth had approached the faith feignedly, and therefore neither by prayer, nor by price, nor by any obedience could she be bent, to speak a single word to the youth. When the Jews saw this, they ceased from her: but the youth returned to his vomit.

[9] But the most chosen Catharine after these things flourished with so great grace, that she was to all alike for love and for astonishment, so much that nothing could be seen more serene than she. And when the parents of the noble Nuns came with much ambition to see their daughters or kinswomen; she came before the image of the blessed Mother of God, she visits the Virgin Mother of God in her image: and with a gracious countenance said: Our other sister nuns have joy and solace from mothers and friends: but I an orphan and a poor little one to thee, Lady, as to my kinswoman confidently come. Be thou alone to me for all a refuge and consolation. Nor at all is there doubt that from the most merciful mother of piety she deserved to obtain singular solace. renowned for miracles she dies When therefore under the yoke of the holy Rule she had faithfully and perseveringly served the Lord, and had seen admirable visions, and also had shone with miracles, full of virtues she departed.

ANNOTATA.

ON B. JOAN THE RECLUSE

OF RIPATORIUM IN THE DIOCESE OF TROYES OF THE GAULS.

A.D. 1246

Joan the recluse, of Ripatorium in the diocese of Troyes of the Gauls (B.)

[1] Ripatorium or Aripatorium, commonly l'Arrivoir, once a most celebrated monastery of the Cistercian Order, situated two leagues from the city of Troyes, Into the church of Ripatorium was begun in the year 1139 by monks led from Clairvaux, to whom by S. Bernard was given as first Abbot Alan a Belgian by country of Lille: as Gaspar Jongelinus more fully pursues, in his Notitia of the Abbeys of the Cistercian Order in the kingdom of Gaul, where he adjoins these things concerning B. Joan: In this monastery religiously in a wooden chest are preserved the bones of B. Joan, the body translated May 4, surnamed the Recluse: near which on a parchment slip these things are read.

[2] In the year of the Incarnation of the Lord 1246, in the month of May, the fourth of the Nones of that same month, the Epact being first, the Indiction fourth, the Concurrent seventh, the body of B. Joan was brought to us, who for twenty years and more was a recluse. But she was placed in this case in the same year; namely on the day of S. James the Apostle, brother of S. John the Evangelist. May she by her prayers protect us with God. Amen.

[3] These things there, which Nicholas Camuzat in the Promptuary of the sacred Antiquities of the diocese of Troyes folio 320 asserts he beheld, and these things subjoins: The Religious of the said monastery observe no celebration at all of the aforesaid B. Joan, nor with them any memory of her life exists: yet a custom held, that on the several years on the first day of May, the bells are rung in her honor. the bells of that monastery are rung with often repeated turns for many hours, in memory of the bringing into that same place of the sacred relics of that B. Joan herself. Thus Camuzat. Nicholas Des-Guerrois of the Saints of Troyes in the prefixed Kalendar celebrates the memory of B. Joan the Recluse on this IV day of May on account of the translation of the body, and exhibits the Acts of the translation already indicated at the said year 1246. The same B. Joan on this day relates Arthur du Monstier in the Sacred Gynaeceum, and adjoins most of the things already related.

ON BLESSED GREGORY OF THE ORDER OF THE HERMITS OF S. AUGUSTINE,

OF VERUCCHIO IN THE BORDERS OF THE URBINO TERRITORY.

A.D. 1343

Gregory, an Augustinian Hermit, of Verucchio in the borders of the Urbino territory (B.)

D. P.

[1] The borders of the Urbino territory, stretched out toward the North to the banks of the river Marecchia, Verucchio terminates, distant about ten miles from Rimini, to whose diocese it is numbered. This place, commonly called Verucchio, B. Gregory ennobled by his birth in the year 1225, The reckoning of time from a Notarial writing, surnamed from Verucchio: but in the year 1343, eighteen years more than a centenarian, he enriched it with the treasure of his body, wonderfully conveyed thither. That reckoning of times is clear from a certain compendium of his Life, which lately found among the slips of a certain Notary, of the same family with the Blessed of the Celli, and which together with a book of the more recent miracles most humanely communicated with us Aloysius Torellus, Historiographer of the Eremitan Order, wishing that we should also insert that book into our work, whence other authors are to be corrected: as one which makes most certain faith of the greatest devotion of the Verucchio folk toward that their Blessed citizen; and that to the faith of that compendium so authentic there be exacted and reformed, if anything otherwise he himself wrote in the compendium of the Lives of men and women of the Order illustrious in Sanctity Century 2 chapter 78, following Herrera, and those whom Herrera alleges Jerome Roman, Pamphilus, Crusenius, Gelsominius: who all in passing touch the memory of that Blessed.

[2] the cult especially for obtaining rain: The aforesaid Herrera and Gelsominius allege also Christopher Verucchinus a Capuchin, in the book of the sacred memoirs of Verucchio (which would that someone send us) printed at Rimini in the year 1610: From it and others Herrera asserts, that Gregory shone with the fervid preaching of the divine word, and a wonderful maceration of the body, and various miracles. The peoples flock, he says, to the monastery of Verucchio, rich with his sacred bones, especially to ask for rain; and bearing the body of the holy man in procession, they offer devout minds; and under his invocation and tutelage obtain their requests. The Procession with the head in a silver case Torellus adds in an epistle, given to us in the year 1676: that the experience of certainly obtaining the benefit is held continual: and in that procession, when the drought of the fields requires it to be instituted, and at other times often in the year in the ordinary processions, his head is carried about in a silver case; for the making of which the necessary expenses had been obtained by a man powerful in work and word, Leonard Valentini of Cesena, in the more famous Studies of his Order a famous Professor and celebrated Preacher, and in the year 1647, in which the said Compendium of Torellus was being printed, Prior of the convent of S. James of Bologna. the feast the last Sunday of May. Then the same Torellus admonishes that not on this IV day of May, on which the Blessed died (inasmuch as it is impeded by the solemn festivity of S. Monica) but on the last Sunday of that same month the memory of B. Gregory is celebrated, together with the Dedication of the church.

[3] But this cult was not taken up in any haphazard way: but within the XXIV year from Gregory's death, The Brief of Beatification it was confirmed by Apostolic authority, by Pope Innocent VI, in the year 1358, by a Brief, which with the Life and miracles of that same Blessed they testified, men most worthy of faith, alleged by the author of the Epitome, to have several times seen drawn from the chest, in which the body is kept: who also what concerning the miracles he has elsewhere written, with the book of the Life and miracles are sought. omits to repeat them. That all these things may still survive can be wished more easily than hoped: for if either those original Acts had been kept in the chest itself unto our age, or some collection of the miracles older than this present century existed anywhere; it could scarcely have come to pass, that the diligence of the aforecited authors should have so escaped them, that it is now held a great thing to have found the said Epitome.

[4] It certainly had not yet been found in the year 1655, when the Most Eminent Cardinal Sforza, by force of a Synod celebrated by his Eminence forbade lest on the feast of B. Gregory, which on the last Sunday of May by ancient usage is celebrated every year at Verucchio, the Brothers of S. Augustine of the Verucchio Convent, the impediment in the year 1655 offered to the annual procession in whose hands the Body of that same Blessed is kept, should lead the solemn procession according to custom with the carrying about of the Head enclosed in silver. Wherefore both the Convent itself and the Community of Verucchio, on account of the abrogation of that most ancient devotion, wont to be celebrated with a great concourse of strangers, vehemently saddened, found it necessary, for license of continuing so pious a custom, to have recourse to the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend D. Bartholomew Condella, Apostolic Vicar general of the city of Rimini and of that diocese; which he granted for one time only at Rimini, from the Episcopal Palace on the XVII day of May 1656. The same for the year 1658 on the IX day of May confirmed Claudius Angelutius, likewise Apostolic Vicar, and removed and again for the year 1659 Seraphinus Massini, also Vicar General, on the V day of May. As is clear from the authentic copies of those supplications and permissions emanated thereupon, described by Jerome Cellius of Verucchio a public Notary by Apostolic authority, after the book of miracles wrought by the intercession of B. Gregory, and consigned by legitimate instruments, in the year 1650 collected by the same Jerome, and transcribed for us, under Notarial faith, in the year 1675; which book we give below, under the title of a Syntagma of the graces obtained in this century, as we received it from the aforesaid Historiographer of the Augustinian Order.

[5] Truly it does not appear, what moved the aforenamed Cardinal

to the aforesaid inhibition, except only the presumption, which cause he had had. that B. Gregory was thus venerated without the license of the Apostolic See. But the contrary could have been taught, had not then still lain hidden the aforesaid Epitome, making so express mention of the Innocentian Brief, as several times seen by witnesses most worthy of faith, in the time of the late Rev. Fr. Augustine Benzoni: probably not long dead from the office of Prior before this present century; at the beginning of which perhaps this epitome was written. This moreover being found, the obligation seems to have ceased of yearly seeking new license for instituting the wonted procession. The same Epitome if at some time he had seen it the author of the Franciscan Martyrology Arthur, whether he can be reckoned among the Franciscans? I in no way doubt but that he would have inscribed Gregory to it, whom he would have read to have been driven from his country and monastery, founded through his mother, and to have spent all the last 92 years of his most long life there, where he knew were convents, men serving God by the footsteps of the poor most blessed Francis, with whom unto death he dwelt, among other certain Hermits also then dwelling there. But that we should say, that Gregory took up the profession of the same Rule, his former being dismissed, no necessity appears.

EPITOME OF THE LIFE

Found in a Notarial Ms.

Gregory, an Augustinian Hermit, of Verucchio in the borders of the Urbino territory (B.)

BHL Number: 3683

FROM THE MS.

[1] Be it known therefore that B. Gregory was sprung from the land of Verucchio, of the diocese of Rimini, of the best and most illustrious parents, Nobly born in the year 1225 from the late John son of the late Thomas of the Celli, and Anna, daughter of the late excellent Doctor Albert Corradi: and born in the year 1225, in the time of the Pontificate of Honorius III: and that he received holy baptism in the church of S. Martin the parish of the said land, the Lords Malatesta governing that same land and the neighboring places: and after three years that same John migrated from this life, the little Gregory being left with that same Anna: and piously brought up by his widowed mother, who exhibited so great a care of him, that she thought nothing else, but that she should serve almighty God and be pleasing to Him. For which to that same Most High and to Saints Augustine and Monica, and to the most glorious Mary of Consolation, she poured forth continuous prayers, and dedicated the little boy: and very often joining hand to hand, with stammering tongue she taught him to utter praises and thanks. He filled with the light of God, with equal mind compensated the will of his mother, and so was nourished with such increase.

[2] And when now he had come to puberty, and the prudent mother scrutinized his intention, whether he wished to follow the footsteps of his father, grandfather and illustrious secular forefathers; he answered that, God so bidding, he wished to embrace the Order of the Hermits and take up the habit: and admonished what was to be done concerning the riches left him, the world despised as if not caring, he gave answer that they were to be restored to God: but concerning offspring and the maintenance of the house; For offspring, said he, he sufficiently acquires, who is made worthy to enter the gates of paradise, where holy offspring are beheld, where the eternal God, eternal love, and eternal rest dwell; since others of the Celli do not fail nor will fail. together with her he embraces the institute of the Hermits. And when the pious mother with equal will looked to the salvation of the souls of both, she dedicated herself to Saints Augustine and Monica with her son; and they took up the habit, he being in his fifteenth year, but she in her forty-fifth, which was from the Incarnation of the Lord 1240. But the pious mother began to build the fabric of the convent of S. Augustine habitable and capacious, and endowed it with her own riches, that the Hermits might commodiously serve God, and in every better way she could perfected it in the year 1245; and builds a convent: in the place where before the Confraters of the same venerable Society had built a little cell, under the name of S. Mary of Consolation. And they ceded to the said Reverend Lord Hermits the right of building and dwelling and all their rights.

[3] In which convent, for ten years, while the same Anna lived, dwelt the same B. Gregory. Afterward she, about the fifty-fifth year of her age, migrated from this life. And when the Omnipotent, as gold in the furnace, by whom, his mother being dead, expelled in the 25th year of his age, would prove His servant Gregory, He permitted upon His servant persecutions and injuries, so that even from his own house he was expelled by his Brethren, from the place where he had conferred so many benefits, in his flowery age of twenty-five years, yet senile in labors, vigils and prayers, preachings, obedience, chastity, maceration, poverty and disciplines, and finally in examples of sanctity; and where he had led such a life, that, he living, they were wont rather to name Blessed than Brother Gregory; and with so great a spirit he taught the words of the Lord, that the hearts of men often were converted to the better; and confuted the heresies of the Arians springing up, sown by Buonvilla the heresiarch of Rimini; who dared to deliver poison to the glorious S. Anthony of Lisbon a Franciscan: nevertheless the malice of impure men swelling, his own Confraters, induced by envy of the Blessed's virtues, commanded him to set out from the aforesaid convent, and to dwell elsewhere.

[4] But he wishing to pursue the journey begun, making his way toward Rome, with the Franciscans he lived in the Rieti mountains for the avoiding of the world betook himself into the mountains of Rieti, on Mount Carnerio, at the Dove fountain: where also in the neighborhood he knew were convents of Brothers: whom the report was, following the footsteps of the poor most blessed Francis, the footsteps of Christ, and serving God, to shine with continuous graces and miracles: and with the servants of God he dwelt together, among others certain Hermits, also then dwelling there, unto the last day of his life: and being in his hundred and eighteenth year of age, he flew away to eternal glory, in the year of grace 1343, and on the IV day of May, as in the Brief of his Beatification.

[5] And by his command while still living, the Confraters in the same place laid the happy corpse in a wooden chest: the body of the dead set upon an untamed mule and upon an untamed mule, of its own accord there (God so bidding) offered, they set the chest. Which with no leader, save Angelic keeping, making its way, through cities and places, the bells ringing of their own accord, bore the bier. And still in some of the said places, by tradition, this they say happened, and this followed. When it came to his country of Verucchio, there likewise the bells sounding of their own accord, borne to Verucchio with the bells ringing of their own accord gave a sign of joy. The people, not knowing the newness of so great a work and event, compelled by fear, cried out: but at once the cause being known and the sacred burden set down, in the church of S. Augustine of the said land, at the entrance of the gate of that same temple to the south; of the crowd flying together to the new prodigy the fear and trembling was turned into love and into joy. But the sacred corpse uncovered, and by very many recognized, they rejoiced the more, giving glory to God and honor in His Saint, who visited His people and adorned them with miracles. And at once that same mule was made dead, lest with another more unworthy weight it be burdened.

[6] But D. Galeotto Malatesta ruling, who in the time of John XXII the supreme Pontiff had occupied Rimini, and many lands, castles and fortresses, and is placed in his own chapel. commanded a chapel to be built for the said Blessed, and the aforesaid land of Verucchio to be painted, and upon it the images of B. Mary, S. Nicholas and B. Gregory and the insignia of that same House of the Malatesta: and a huge marble chest for the deposit: in which still, the wooden chest borne by the mule, with two iron bands, and within it the aforesaid corpse of that same Blessed, is preserved unto eternal memory. And when in the progress of time, D. Galeotto still reigning, he shone with miracles; the Pontiff in the year 1257 inscribes him among the Blessed, the same D. Galeotto procured B. Gregory to be numbered among the Blessed, that he might afterward open a way to placing him among the Saints; and from the Supreme Pontiff obtained a Brief of Beatification, in the city of Avignon, under the sixth year of that same Pontificate, which was about the year of the Lord 1357.

[7] Which Brief, with the Life and Miracles of that same Blessed, several times to have seen they testified to me men worthy of faith and venerable Lords Pompilius Ferinus and Ascanius de Rannucioli in the convent of S. Augustine of the land of Verucchio, by the Brief with the Life and miracles wont to be shown. especially in the time of the late Rev. Brother Augustine Benzoni of the same place: and that they said with the narration of the life and miracles they had seen it drawn out of the aforesaid chest. And he shone with so great sanctity and miracles, that in ancient times the people were wont to name Saint, and not Blessed Gregory: as I myself saw in the archive of the said land, in the public instruments of D. Bartholomew Branchi, in the inventory of the goods of the aforesaid convent of S. Augustine, under these words: Item upon the altar of S. Gregory. But what concerning the miracles I have elsewhere written, I shall not repeat.

ANNOTATA.

k. There, honor.

p. The 6th year of Innocent VI begins on the 18th day of December of the year 1352, with which also Galeotto reconciled to the Church, in the same year, he who had before been Vicar of Louis the Bavarian, was made Standard-bearer of the Church, against those very rebels; and so easily obtained that which in the cause of Gregory he asked.

q. Rogitum was called a public instrument, which the Notaries were asked (rogabantur) to write: Rogatum more Latinly we would say.

APPENDIX

From the Italian printed work of Caesar Ranuccius.

Gregory, an Augustinian Hermit, of Verucchio in the borders of the Urbino territory (B.)

FROM THE MS.

[8] The image of B. Gregory of Verucchio the Augustinian is seen depicted anciently in the sacristy of S. James of Bologna and elsewhere; but his bones, others elsewhere. reposed in the church of S. Augustine of Verucchio, only once every year are shown to the people, two cases being unlocked, of which one is wooden and colored, and is furnished with iron bonds and a grate likewise of iron; the other of great marble, the body translated from the prior place to the side of the altar. containing the wooden one always shut within it. Both were once placed under a certain arched vault, where rather beautifully was expressed the image of the Blessed lying in death, among the hands of Angels holding forth tapers, with the epigraph, Here lies the body of Blessed Gregory V. that is, of Verucchio. Now those chests are composed in another and even more decent place, namely on the left of the greater altar. But when the aforesaid bones are shown, his two iron rings. there flock together from everywhere with a great frequency of devout people to venerate them, and to set upon their heads his iron girdles: because by the public tradition of all the elders it is believed that this servant of God died elsewhere, but the body was brought by a mule, divinely directed hither without the attendance of a leader, the bells sounding to the increase of the miracle with none drawing them… The austerity of his life those two great rings testify, which we see today, wont to be worn by him next to the naked flesh, without any rust, one broken, the other entire. The bones decently wrapped in white and shining cotton, The present condition of the remaining bones. show I know not what of liveliness and ruddiness, which color is noted in the bones of many Saints: yet not all are there: but entire is the shell of the head, with both jaws and many teeth, and the dried brain, which also is beheld, as also somewhat of the skin and flesh, still firmly adhering to the bones, inasmuch as not wholly dried. But all say the body was long entire and incorrupt; cult from of old. but ill-handled in past wars by military insolence, to have been reduced to this state. The sworn witnesses also say, that they once saw publicly hung votive offerings; and his bones, in time of great drought to have been carried about in Procession, with the effect of rain soon obtained.

Thus far he, on account of the silence of the Augustinian Chronicle not about to doubt of the truth of the aforenarrated tradition, nor of the authority by which such a procession was instituted; had there then been in his hands the Epitome of the life, which we have given.

SYNTAGMA OF THE GRACES

obtained through B. Gregory in this century,

from Notarial instruments.

Gregory, an Augustinian Hermit, of Verucchio in the borders of the Urbino territory (B.)

FROM MSS. INSTRUMENTS.

CHAPTER I.

The graces noted from the year 1642 to the month of July of the year 1650.

Instrument 1

[1] In the name of Christ. Amen. In the year from His most holy Nativity 1642, Indiction 10, D. Urban the eighth Pontiff best and greatest sitting, but on the II day of the month of May. By this public instrument let it be clear to all everywhere, and evidently be known, A grave pain of the eye is cured, how before me and the witnesses subscribed personally constituted, honest women, D. Dorothea, wife of Mag. Francis Thedeschi, and D. Diamantes, wife of Mag. Baptista Mazzucchetti, both of the land of S. Marino of the diocese of Feretrana, with the presence of their lords husbands, being before the gate of the oratory of the Venerable Society of the most holy Body of Christ of the land of Verucchio, near the public square, the same D. Diamantes said, how on the days last past she was vexed by a pain had in the left eye, so vehement that she could scarcely bear it. a vow being made of visiting the body, And although she had sought to apply remedy by medicines, yet not being able to avoid the pain, she vowed to B. Gregory the Augustinian, and offered herself ready to visit his holy Relics, being in the church of the Convent of S. Augustine of Verucchio, and invoked his holy aid that she might be freed. And she obtained the grace before she made the visitation; because, the swelling of the aforesaid eye removed and the pain put to flight, whole, by the grace of God and the intercession of B. Gregory, she remained; and praised God in His Saints, and to fulfill the vow on this day visited the sepulchre of that same Blessed; and entire health obtained, now, the twenty-eighth hour of this day completed, the sacred divine Offices heard in the same church, she sets out for her country.

[2] D. Dorothea, rejoicing both in mind and body, said: It is necessary that I here present to the narration of the grace obtained through the present honest D. Diamantes Mazzucchetta, an ill-affected elbow, my fellow-countrywoman, not hide what by the grace of this Blessed befell me. That when for many days back I was vexed by a certain unknown disease, had in the joint of this left arm and hand, by the touch of the iron girdle: with swelling and pain; and coming to visit the most holy Relics of B. Gregory, the greatest pain still persisting, I asked the Augustinian Father, holding in his hand the iron hair-shirt or girdle, which the other faithful kiss, being out of devotion in the church of S. Augustine; that with the aforesaid hair-shirt he would touch my arm, in the place where the pain is. Which touched by the said Rev. Father, at once the pain departed, and rejoicing and whole I return to my country. And so never shall I cease to return thanks both to God and to that Blessed, who may be to me and to all the faithful of Christ propitious.

[3] All which things I the Notary subscribed for the truth unto the perpetual memory of the matter noted down, that the worthy memory of the holy Protector may remain for my posterity and others wishing to behold it: as both the women who suffered each deposed, and let my fellow-countrymen know whither to flee in tribulations and in these calamitous and wretched times, in which wars, seditions, treasons, murmurings, snares, and all kinds of perfidies flourish and reign, and in which nothing but self-interest alone is cultivated: and so may almighty God, through the intercession of this Blessed, deign to protect and aid us, and deign to purge this country and the whole world of the aforesaid and any other vices whatsoever. Concerning all which asking etc. Done at Verucchio, before the greater gate of the oratory of the Venerable Society of the most holy Body of Christ, in the public way, in the chapel of S. Peter, in the district of the square near the common square and its other most known sides; there being present Mag. John Andrew Ghirardo of Verucchio, Mag. Baptista Mazzucchetto a Stone-mason, and Mag. Francis Thedesco, both of the land of S. Marino witnesses asked etc.

[4] And because I Jerome Cellius, public Notary by Apostolic authority, asking a public instrument concerning these things. was present at all the foregoing, and asked to write them wrote and noted them down; and the copy taken, although by another hand yet faithful to me, with its original, being with me and in my public instruments, the collation made I found to agree; therefore for faith I subscribed, published, and signed with my sign which in such things I use, being required etc. In this or a similar manner each instrument the aforenamed Jerome Cellius confirms with Notarial faith; the same probably, among whose slips, left perhaps by his father or grandfather, was found the epitome such as we have given above. But it does not seem to us worth the labor to describe more often the formula of this authentication in the following, as neither the names of the witnesses who make nothing for the confirmation of the narrated grace; but only attest as present when those things were narrated before the Notary; finally nor to describe more scrupulously the very place in which the deposition was received, as here thou seest done, makes greatly to the matter; wherefore also those things for the sake of brevity I have cut away, content to have exhibited an example in this first instrument.

Instrument 2.

[5] In the name of Christ. Amen. In the year of the Jubilee, from His most holy Nativity 1650, Indiction III, D. Innocent X Pontiff best and greatest sitting, but on the VI day of the month of June. (And so thereafter all the rest made in the same year begin, the last three excepted; A sixteen-year-old boy consumed by wasting and his limbs drawn, that it may be enough for us thereafter, the others omitted, to note the month and day) before me etc … Stephen and Thomas brothers, and sons of the late Peter Cantella of Verucchio of the diocese of Rimini, set forth how from the honest woman D. Catharine, daughter of Caesar Majaccus, the said Stephen, her lawful husband, had Peter-Francis, the son of both, now completing of his age sixteen years five months and three days. And for the space of thirteen years and three months to have led life in prosperous health: but afterward,

God so bidding to His and His Saints' glory, to have fallen into a grave disease, and such that by human medicines it could in no wise be cured, although they procured every human medicine to be applied. And to have remained in the same infirmity two years and eight months, for 2 years 8 months, so much that from the aforesaid cause, the excessive pains standing, on account of the abscesses with corruption continually flowing, by a drawing of the sinews, fever, continual debility of the body, failing of strength and of spiritual vigor, he could move neither hands, legs, feet, nor any other even least part of the body, but only the tongue, after the manner of Job saying there are left only the lips about my teeth; and, what ought to be called the evil of evils, he could not fit himself to the proper needs of nature without domestic helps, with pains so to speak of hell, on account of the displacement of the bones and the drawing of the sinews: whence it proceeded, that even the pallet, after the manner of the paralytic of the pool, of whom, in the Gospel of John the Evangelist of the Lord, could not be readjusted often for six and seven months, although the pious parents procured to do it: so that they held neither a living nor a dead corpse.

[6] But to the domestic persons there was an unspeakable and inenarrable delight in the patience of Peter-Francis, which almighty God by His mercy and piety compensates, on May 29 borne to the tomb of the Blessed, in which hoping and in the intercession of His Saints, on the XXIX day of the month of May of the current year 1650, of the consecration of the temple of the hermits of S. Augustine of the land of Verucchio, and of the opening of the marble deposit of B. Gregory, of the same Order of the Hermits of S. Augustine of Verucchio, Peter-Francis being taken in a clean linen cloth upon their own shoulders by the said Stephen the father and Thomas the most dear uncle, they bore that same Peter-Francis half-alive to the deposit of the said B. Gregory, through the whole said day to the whole people of Verucchio and to strangers open, flocking together out of devotion to the Blessed, the believers and faithful of Christ breathing a celestial odor: where having a living hope in God and in His Blessed, they besought the very Reverend Father Baccalaureus John Antony Para, Prior and Guardian of the said Convent, and having a singular care of that same blessed deposit, he asks his head to be applied to his right knee: as also Peter-Francis himself, that out of his benignity and charity he would deign, with the head or bone of the head of that same Blessed, to touch the legs of that boy drawn up to the hips, and especially the right, an effect so drawn by the drawing of the sinews that the beginning of the buttock had become fixed to him, so much that neither by force, nor by medicines, nor by human industry could it be removed: and so, on account of the length of time and of days, the foot of that same side, on account of the continual position from which otherwise it could not be moved, generated a recurved and hardened callus, as also I the Notary subscribed saw with the witnesses subscribed.

[7] To which prayers and supplications the very Rev. Father Baccalaureus corresponding, which done he himself is extended and quickened, exhorted that same Peter-Francis and the aforesaid Stephen and Thomas, to have right faith in God, who through the intercession of the Blessed could bestow on him every kind of health; and thereupon, prayers and orations offered if not due, at least possible through him, the lights kindled with all reverence, the venerable head of the Blessed being taken from the sacred deposit, with it he first touched the knee of that same right leg (wonderful indeed is God in His saints: not without tears this wonderful deed and worthy of memory shall I write) in which he had neither vital spirit, nor flesh, nor blood: and at once he extended the knee, a little after moved the callous foot, and gradually the whole leg: and what is more wonderful, the blood, recognizing its omnipotent maker, ran together into the knee, leg and foot, and corresponded to the grace of the Blessed; as also full of blood, palpable, and of a ruddy color like a sound man I myself saw: so much that the bystanding people invoked with tears and prayers the mercy of almighty God, and gave thanks for the grace obtained: and the more, because the said boy, who before was tortured by abscesses with corruption flowing forth with the greatest pains, attested that he would be free from the fever and from the pains of that same body, and have firm faith in the Blessed for entire health.

[8] And this to me several times questioned he confessed on this aforesaid VI day of the current month of June, the second of the solemnity of Pentecost, being borne again before the chest and deposit of the said Blessed, The same borne thither on June 6, sitting upon a certain wooden seat, to the effect of having again the blessing with that same venerable head: which offered to him he several times kissed, and with it the said knee and leg being touched again he confessed himself free from the pains, fever and distresses: and beyond what was usual, after the said sacred touches and blessings, he professes himself free from his diseases. at home upon seats and couch to sit, to move his hands and arms, to take holy water of himself of his own accord, and to have living faith in the Blessed and in the mercy of God: so much that he hopes every kind of health, God so bidding, and not otherwise, totally remitting himself to His benignity. May God grant it, for in that boy all things shall be more wonderful: because he has only the name and effigy of a man, since from the length of the infirmity he retains only skin and bones, the inner parts do not occupy the place of the belly, and he has the belly annexed with the spine, so that thou wouldst call him a corpse and a mummy: but what I noted as admirable, a face cheerful, joyful and jubilant.

[9] And so the sacred touches completed and the blessings made by the very Rev. Father Baccalaureus John-Mary Dulcius of Verucchio, and he proceeds to hope entire health for his exhausted little body. of the same Order of the Hermits of S. Augustine, after the celebration of Mass by him at the altar of S. Nicholas, at which he stood by and heard it with all joyfulness, the aforesaid boy Peter-Francis was borne to his own dwelling, in the parish buildings of S. Blaise: to whom, that same our B. Gregory interceding with almighty God, and to all the faithful of Christ, be granted perpetual health both of soul and body; and to me the spirit and sufficiency of noting down his graces and miracles of virtues, that for posterity, natives and strangers, there may be a worthy eternal memory, an incitement to devotion of so great a Blessed, to the glory of the Saints, the propagation of holy mother Church and of the faith, and the benefit of this our country of Verucchio: and may He make me and all his natives worthy of his prayers, that in the heavens we may visit him and with him without end rejoice. Concerning which etc. Done in the aforesaid temple of S. Augustine, which is situated in the borough of the land of Verucchio, in the chapel of S. Blaise next to its most known sides, before the deposit of that same B. Gregory; there being present Captain Joseph, son of Peter-Paul Masia, and Paul son of the late John Canduccius, both of Verucchio, witnesses asked etc. And because I Jerome Cellius etc.

ANNOTATA.

CHAPTER II.

The graces described in the month of July of the year 1650.

Instrument 3.

[10] In the name of Christ God … in the year 1650 … but on the XVI day of the month of July. To all and singular about to see and read the things subscribed in Sacerdotal manner with my breast touched I affirm and call God to witness, An Augustinian Priest professes, how I Baccalaureus Fr. John Antony Para of Verucchio, of the Order of the Hermits of our holy Father Augustine, before the Lord Notary and the witnesses subscribed, deposed and said it to be most true, that in the year from the nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ 1628, with a most grave, not periodic, but continual fever in the month of June I was mortally laboring: and although I had used human remedies with all care, nevertheless I was always more grievously afflicted with the same disease. Wherefore for many days most bitterly vexed by that infirmity, and destitute of almost all strength; at length the aid of our B. Gregory of the Celli, the Augustinian of Verucchio, being piously invoked according to my strength; and to his sacred deposit, that in the year 1628 from a mortal continual fever, as I could, from the cell, in which I was sick, with the greatest labor, the journey made; as soon as I bent my knees, and more vehemently began to offer my slender prayers to him, I emitted the greatest abundance of sweat from my head and whole body, so that the sweat flowing from my brow, ran down from the top of the chest of the said Blessed even to the ground; and a watery humor, flowing from the rest of the parts of my body, totally soaked all my garments even the outer. Whence I rose not from that sacred place, but that wholly and altogether the Lord the bountiful bestower of all good things, by the merits and intercession of that same B. Gregory, restored most abundant health.

[11] Moreover it behooves me to confess, that in the year from the birth of that same Christ our Lord 1635, after His human Birthday I was so distressed by a sciatic pain, that the hip, and thigh, and right leg being greatly impeded, I could little and indeed laboriously go and walk, in the year 1636 from sciatica borne for some months, and constantly for some months of the following year 1636 I limped greatly: because the sinews could be extended by me with difficulty or drawn back only with great pain. And since an infirmity of this kind could scarcely be cured by human wisdom, I distrusting human medicines, to the celestial, though unworthy, raised my mind; and to help to be obtained with the supreme God, through the intercession of our B. Gregory the Augustinian of Verucchio, suppliantly I fled; that for me from that same God, the divine physician of all diseases, he might obtain health. Which forthwith was so done. For my prayers, though unworthy, by that same Blessed received, I had not yet ceased to pour them forth, and I had attained perfect health. In memory of which thing to the sacred monument of the said Blessed, a silver hip with the leg, by a vow which still

is seen, there I offered.

[12] Whence by right and merit concerning my tutelary Saint I shall add, how in the year from the birth of that same Lord our Saviour 1640, on account of the frequent and indeed most long journeys, in the summer time made by me, there befell me in the right leg near the foot three deep holes to have appeared, in the year 1640 from ulcers sprung in the leg arisen from a very great swelling, by which in the said leg I was more bitterly vexed: from which gore and corruption continually flowed, and rendered me wholly unfit for walking, nor did the medicines applied by art ever profit. Whence having otherwise experienced the most efficacious intercession with almighty God of our B. Gregory the Augustinian of Verucchio, and in all my necessities and distresses his readiness to bring me aid and help; my mind and soul, as I could, I raised to God with piety, and through that same Blessed implored the divine aid. But, O most clement God! the prayers I in no wise offered in vain: because at once the corruption, gore and blood ceased to flow down, the holes forthwith vanish; and the health of the leg obtained, forthwith I recovered. Wherefore a silver leg, by the vow aforesaid, to his sacred chest, in which the venerable body of that same Blessed lies, and shines daily with graces and wondrous and miraculous works, I bore; and gave thanks according to my strength to God Himself and to that same Blessed humbly and earnestly.

[13] But neither this also will I make omitted, that I, for the space of twenty and more years, was tortured by a most bitter pain of the teeth; so much that to manly age I scarcely arrived, and several times was freed from the torture of the teeth: without being wholly deprived of all my teeth by the sharpness of pain of this kind. Nevertheless several times, God so giving and that same our B. Gregory interceding, from the too great bitterness of pain and torture, I suddenly became immune, free and unharmed. Wherefore lest I seem wholly unmindful of so great benefits and graces toward men, that I might leave to posterity an example, all these things, as they most truly befell me, and from the supreme giver God, the glorious our B. Gregory of Verucchio intervening, were granted, and concerning them he signs a public instrument. with my own hand here to engrave I determined and wished, to the praise of almighty God, to the glory and increase of piety, and also to the augmentation of religion toward that same Blessed: and the Lord Peter Francus Ser-Anzalonius, public Notary of this our land of Verucchio, together with the witnesses subscribed Jerome Cellius and Horatius Nuccius I asked that they would wish to confirm and fortify this my true deposition and sworn attestation by their testification, and not be burdened to render it valid. In faith of which all these things as most true I affirmed and said, and here wrote and corroborated with my subscription. Thus far he, and there follow the subscriptions both of himself, and of the aforesaid witnesses and Notary.

Instrument 5

[14] In the name of Christ … on the XIII of the month of July … the honest woman Gentilis, daughter of the late James Castellanus, and wife of the late Mag. Peter Franzonus, a stone-mason of Verucchio, a woman from a three months' pain of the foot unable to move, briefly set forth to me, how for three months continuous last past of the current year 1650, she was vexed by pains arisen in the left foot of that same person, so much that of herself she could not move, nor do anything, nor even ever so little go from place to place: and if her sons for food and other things necessary for her life were compelled to move her, the pains became more vehement, and pains gave increase to pains; so that from the aforesaid causes she held herself about to die, and all medicines applied profited nothing. And so destitute, hearing the fame of the miracles and graces of B. Gregory the Augustinian of Verucchio, she vowed seven times to visit the chest of the deposit of that same Blessed, being in the church of S. Augustine of the land of Verucchio, a vow being made she begins to walk and it being fulfilled recovers, as in the days last past she visited. From which deed forthwith she recovered so much of health, that she could fulfill the vow; and from day to day was made more sound, so that on this present day, which was the last of the visitation, the pains wholly vanished. And in token and memory of the grace obtained, a swelling in the aforesaid foot and leg remained, as a scar in a soldier returned from a fight and war: and glad and rejoicing she glories to show her foot to all, to walk, and to give labor to her womanly business; as also I with the witnesses subscribed [the Magnificent Lords Adauctus and Nicholas his son of the Pappii both of Verucchio] saw and for the truth noted down. There are not wanting graces of that Blessed in these calamitous times, full of all malice, which by others with wiser pens shall be described: only we fail ourselves, ceasing to flee to so great a Protector, which seen the Notary himself invokes the Blessed. who never denied to anyone in honest requests grace. I ask thee, blessed and thrice blessed Father, that thou be to me in my pains, afflictions and necessities a helper, and to all my family: but if from them, for my Christian exercise, I be not made worthy to be relieved; at least may I bear them with such patience sufficient for the merit of glory, which by thy prayers may the almighty and merciful Lord, who three and one reigns forever, bestow on me. Concerning which etc. Done in the apothecary shop of the Magnificent D. Adauctus Pappius, situated within the land of Verucchio…

Instrument 6

[15] On the XIII … of the month of July … Sebastian son of the late Jerome Benzoni of Verucchio … set forth how for some days last passed, a poor man is freed from fever and deafness. he was found burdened with a fever, arisen from a certain swelling and great livid mark, which he had on the neck on the back part, descending from the head, from which he had lost his strength and hearing. From which disease and poverty he was so vexed that he could not procure a living for himself and his most poor sister. But on the III day of the current month of July 1650 a Sunday, fleeing to the chest of the father of the poor B. Gregory the Augustinian, being in the church of S. Augustine of the land of Verucchio, he attested that he forthwith recovered health, and no more was vexed either by fever or by the great swelling, and obtained every kind of health on account of the intercession of that same B. Gregory, as, the things touched etc. he swore etc. asking etc. Done in the courtyard of the Parish church of S. Peter…

Instrument 7

[16] … on the XIII of the month of July … the very Rev. D. Stephen Canduccius of Verucchio … confessed, that on the last days past, the Pastor of Verucchio receives the faculty of walking: he labored in his legs with a grave disease, so much that with the greatest difficulty he could walk, on account of a concourse of humors. And there being to him the necessity of visiting the sick and of celebrating in the parish churches subjected to his same charge of SS. Andrew and Blaise, he was burdened with the distresses of visitations, charges and pains. But fleeing to the consoler of soul and body B. Gregory the Augustinian, he obtained such health, that both to the celebrations of his charge and to the visitations he could and can satisfy; and recognizing every benefit of health from him, he asked me etc. Done where above.

Instrument 8.

[17] … on the XIX of the month of July … the honest young woman D. Ursula, daughter of the late Benedict Gallus of S. Archangelo in Vado, a girl the use of an impeded hand. an inhabitant of the land of Verucchio … said that on the days past, she labored with a certain incurable disease in the right hand, so much that she could move neither fingers nor hand, nor procure a living for herself by her labors on account of the too great pain and the greatest swelling. She vowed to visit the chest, where the sacred relics of B. Gregory the Augustinian of Verucchio are kept in the church of S. Augustine of the land of Verucchio, and on the XV day of the said month of July 1650 a Friday, she came to the aforesaid church and with faith and lively hope in God and the intercession of that same Blessed, three times in the manner of a Cross the marble chest of that same Blessed being touched on the outside, at once the pains ceased, the swelling was dispersed, and she obtained total health. And I the Notary with the witnesses subscribed Gregory son of Meus, and Caesar son of Antony Facciardus of Verucchio saw the same D. Ursula laboring with the said right hand … Done in the entrance of my house, situated within the land of Verucchio, in the captaincy of S. Thomas in the district of Postarello…

Instrument 4.

[18] … on the XX of July. By this present faith let it be clear, that when I Peter Francis Marzalonius, a certain Notary vehemently laboring with the stomach, citizen and public Notary of the land of Verucchio, of my age of 47 years, for many and many days continuous had been shaken by an atrocious pain of the stomach, and many remedies used I had never received any refreshment from these, so much that on the XXIII day of June last past so vehement had been the tortures, that scarcely was there to me place of breathing from the too great suffering of my heart on account of the said pains: at length, God so bidding, there came into my mind the assiduous and wonderful concourse of very many troubled persons, who by the recourse made through them to the intercession of B. Father Gregory the Augustinian in the church of the very Rev. Fathers Hermits of the land of Verucchio, and our fellow-citizen, to whom most excellently encomiums can be sung, the consoler of the afflicted and the salvation of the sick, O good Jesus, had attained their former health. I therefore trusting in the merits of so illustrious a celestial sun, in mind doubtless cold, to warm my earthly body with the rays of so great a sun, I dared to implore the aid of the said blessed Father my fellow-citizen, and the particular Patron of my art, that with God best and greatest and the blessed Virgin Mary for my former health he would deign to intercede. on the very day of making the vow he professes himself aided. And a vow being made by me of coming three times, on a Saturday day each time, to the chest of the sacred deposit of the said blessed Father, on that very day of so great tortures, before the lapse of the third hour of the night of the said day not only was I freed from the pains, but I almost reported my former health: and thence ever from good to better proceeding I gave thanks to God and the intercession of the said Blessed. Wherefore lest the illustrious benefits of the Saints be hidden from mortals, I who above, to the honor and glory of almighty God, of B. Mary ever Virgin, and of the said B. Father Gregory, humbly in these acts all the things which befell me I judged to set down to perpetual memory and honor, of the said blessed Father, the fellow-citizen of paradise, and the example and devotion of pious Christians. So I Peter-Francis Marzalonius fully attest and make faith: and for greater strength with my own hand wrote and subscribed, and fortified with my notarial sign.

Instrument 9

[19] … on the XXI day of the month of Quintilis July. Wonderful things at all times through His Saints has the Lord wrought, because He is wonderful in His Saints. Therefore in B. Gregory the Augustinian of Verucchio wonderful Himself God always showed, two brothers consumed by a hectic fever, because for a hundred and eighteen

years He afforded him holy service. But in me Francis-Mary and Francis my brother, youths and both sons of D. John-Mary Borghesius of Verucchio, more wonderful, that same Blessed praying, we saw Himself to have shown. For through many years with a certain languid fever, which they call hectic, with continual perturbation of body and mind, no remission of resting being granted, with an almost total failing of strength, so that the pulse was very weak, so much that at the touch of the lord physicians it scarcely came and seemed almost extinct, and almost dying, we assiduously labored: nay rather at evening daily a heavier accession of heat, pain and fever was brought upon us. Wherefore having tried here and there very many remedies of the physicians, to our former health in no way and by no reasoning could we provide. At length that last thing befell, that afflicted utterly by the force of a most bitter disease, mortally stretched upon the bed, we deemed we should pass our last day. But indeed, the wonderful and miraculous works of that same glorious B. Father Gregory Cellius, of the Order of the Hermits of S. Augustine, being heard, nay seen; we also to his patronage, supported by divine aid, with pious prayers, as it was given us, fled, that from the supreme physician of the feverish mother-in-law of Simon, the health and safety of body and soul he would implore for us.

[20] Forthwith, wonderful to say, but that the deed most worthy of God may be held by all for most certain and most explored; the Lord granting, suddenly they recognize themselves restored. that same Blessed intervening for us, after the manner of the most blessed mother-in-law of the Prince of the Apostles almost dead, from our beds unharmed we rise up, the strength of our bodies entirely restored. And our faces, their former brightness, color and youthful ruddiness in the same space of time wonderfully and miraculously granted, to the sacred buildings of Divine Augustine and the sacred monument, in which the venerable body of the aforesaid Blessed, ever fragrant with a celestial odor and supernal sweetness, lies, we flew; and in token of the grace obtained we offered silver votive offerings; and there with all effort the most humble thanks, to God first, then to that same Blessed the servant of the almighty maker of all, for the health attained, we gave and returned. Wherefore lest we seem unmindful of so great a benefit and grace, nay rather that we may show ourselves perpetual heralds, and stir up and impel the rest of the faithful of Christ to devotion of so great a servant of the Most High; these things by my hand of the aforesaid Francis-Mary, the said Francis my brother consenting and of his own accord bidding, in every better way we could we wished to deliver in writing, before the Lord Notary and witnesses: which was done by a special instrument on the XX of July.

Instrument 11

[21] … On the XXVII of July. Almighty God never fails to show the effects of His divine mercy, A woman delivered of a difficult childbirth, now of Himself and now through the intercession of His Saints, continually and daily in the necessities of miserable creatures of both sexes, of whatever state and condition they be, as from what follows clearly can be known. For when Mag. Octavius Landus of Verucchio and the honest young woman the Magnificent D. Magdalen, daughter of the Magnificent D. Vincent Barbarinus of Sabiniano, his wife, were in the greatest affliction in the month of July of the year 1648, because that woman for some days was in the pains of childbirth, and the infant could not come to light, notwithstanding any medicines whatever applied and used; this deed seemed to be to the glory of God and His Saints. For having recourse to the intercession of our blessed Protector Gregory the Augustinian of Verucchio, he forthwith as it were meeting and forestalling the prayers of those having recourse, on the XII day of that same month of July, most happily she bore a male. Whence it came to pass that the pious parents gave infinite thanks to God and that same our Blessed, and from his intercession the expedition, swiftness and felicity of the childbirth recognized and recognize: and the sacred laver of baptism being conferred in the church of the parish of this S. Martin, and the name of Achilles imposed, they procure to keep him under the tutelage of so great a Protector.

[22] And because various are the events of human life and often misfortunes, the same son lame from a fall to exercise the hearts and patience of men, God so bidding; it happened that the year not yet completed he fell inadvertently, from the bad care of the one keeping him. And accordingly for the said cause that same boy Achilles remained deprived of the motion, use, and strength of the right hip, so much that without doubt lame and disabled from the aforesaid defect he would be made. Wherefore the parents and the aforesaid spouses again vowed, and to the same holy Protector B. Gregory again had recourse: and in the evening of one day the vow being made, in the morning following, the XII of the current month of July 1650, they obtained the grace of the boy's health. he receives him whole. Who in token of the health obtained, looking in the morning, in the hip of that same boy found to have come forth a certain small black swelling: and thenceforth the boy of himself standing, and then from day to day more conveniently walking, to have obtained every kind of health. And in token of gratitude they clothed him with a white garment of that same Order of S. Augustine; as I the Notary subscribed and others saw him clothed with such garments and he is seen by the men of the same land. All which things to have been and to be true by means of his oath attested the same Magnificent Octavius.

Instrument 12

[23] … on the last of the month of July … the honest woman D. Antonia, another is healed from a pain of the stomach and a continual fever. daughter of the late Alexander Tondinus, wife of Dominic Julius of Verucchio, set forth how three months last past, she was vexed by a certain very great pain in the stomach of that same person and a continual fever, from which she was held subject to death; for though she had applied all possible medicines, nothing profited, and from day to day she more declined. Wherefore hearing the daily graces, had by those having recourse to the intercession of B. Gregory the Augustinian of Verucchio, she vowed seven times to visit the sepulchre of that same Blessed. And at once the vow being made in her heart, the pain of the stomach and the fever ceased; and the times of the sacred visitation not yet fulfilled, by the grace of God she is found out of danger; as for the truth she confessed, asking me the Notary concerning the foregoing etc.

CHAPTER III.

The graces attested in the month of August of the year 1650.

Instrument 13

[24] In the name of Christ … on the X of the month of August … Thomas son of the late Peter Cancella of Verucchio said, and openly and publicly attested with a word of truth, Two spouses endangered by a continual fever, how he himself and the honest woman D. Ursulina, daughter of the late Robert Silvester of the Chiocchi of the same Verucchio, his wife, were both vexed by a continual fever, so that they hoped little of health and life, because from day to day the aforesaid disease and the pains increased: and destitute of physicians and medicines, for the future life of temporal and spiritual things they strove to provide. But it came to pass that, God so bidding to His and His Saints' glory, having in the house a boy, by name Peter-Francis, their nephew being healed they also obtain grace. their nephew by a brother, who not many days before had the effigy neither of a living nor a dead man, but seemed the corpse of each, on account of his most bitter and incurable infirmity. Who by the prayers of those same spouses and of his parents and of himself, to the intercession of B. Gregory the Augustinian of Verucchio, obtained health from almighty God, as anyone can see. So also those same spouses, so great a Protector being known, by a previous, if not due, at least possible faith, to the intercession of that same Blessed devoutly having recourse, recovered every kind and their former health, and now in a state of health exist. Concerning which the same Thomas asking me etc.

Instrument 10

[25] … on the XX of August. By this present faith let it be clear to all, that I James Borghesius, public Notary of Verucchio, a Notary twice freed from a fever was held by a great pain of the head and afflicted with a raging fever, and many remedies applied I always had myself more grievously, and the disease from day to day more vehemently grew worse. At length distrusting human remedies, to the aid of B. Gregory Cellius of Verucchio of the Order of the Hermits of S. Augustine, illustrated by so many and so great miracles and graces, I determined to flee: and with the most humble prayers I asked of him that he would rescue me from this infirmity, and render me safe. Which (wonderful to say!) on the same day on which I implored aid from him, by the intercession of that same Blessed, from the Father of lights and Giver of gifts I obtained. Whence I for the grace obtained vowed, before I should set a footstep elsewhere, to go to the church of S. Augustine. Afterward, when after a few days I had again fallen into the disease above written, the aid of that same Blessed being implored, my former health entirely I attained: and this I wished to put in writing, that more clearly I might make manifest the compassion of B. Gregory toward his own and his patronage, and allure others more and more to implore his aid and seek his grace.

Instrument 14

[26] … on the XV of August. Our supreme almighty God, who does not permit us to be tempted above that which we can, not long after gives also to all our evils a cure. Whence when in the month of July now last past, I James Borghesius of Verucchio, by Apostolic authority a Notary, was twice vexed by a most burning fever, nor did the medicinal pharmaceutical helps afford me any help; to the efficacious intercession and defense of B. Gregory the Augustinian of Verucchio I fled: and, as in this book is clear, twice from that same evil profusely I recovered: and also, to a more abundant devotion toward God and the Blessed and that I might experience the patronage of that same Blessed and the benignity of God, an assiduous pain in the head a few days interposed bitterly consumed me. Wherefore when on the X day of the said month of August, on account of the devotion of many pious persons, the sacred chest or deposit of that same Blessed was unclosed; at once I went to the church of D. Augustine, that with the sacred head of the said Blessed there might be touched, as is wont to be done, he is cured of a pain of the head by the touch of the sacred head, my head. But when I had entered the said church, I felt myself afflicted with a greater pain of the head, whence with a more ardent faith turned to him, and with more frequent prayers having besought the said Blessed, as soon as the Priest to the forehead of my head applied the venerable head of the said Blessed, the pain wholly vanished, my body resumed its former strength, nor do I perceive by sense any offense of the aforesaid disease, but I enjoy my former health and am very well. Wherefore these things I wished to commit all to the memory of posterity, that they may ever more ardently worship the power of the supreme God in His servant, and from Him ask help and aid in their infirmities and necessities. Which since it is so, therefore with my own pen I have engraved all things…

Instrument 15

[27] … on the XVIII day of August … D. Catharine of the Borghesii, lawful wife of Mag. Blaise Benzoni of Verucchio … for the truth deposed, as also a kinswoman of hers how for many years before passed she was afflicted with a continual and unceasing pain of the whole head, and indeed most grievous. Which pain indeed so much at some times vexed her and

deprived her of health, that she thought of the exchange of the present life with the future: for from that same pain the other parts of the body were afflicted, so that she very often existed deprived of all strength, and sometimes by human virtue she found no relief of such pain and pains. At length the same D. Catharine hearing and with her own eyes beholding, B. Gregory of the Celli the Augustinian of Verucchio to afford to all piously and faithfully imploring him aid and help, in their infirmities and other calamities; and especially on the last Sunday of the month of May last past, on which the sacred mausoleum of that same is opened, to have afforded continual aid to Peter-Francis, son of Stephen of the Cartelli on the same day, who with sinews drawn and full of wounds was incurably sick, with the highest piety and God giving it, so that at his pleasure he is moved, recovers, and the more from day to day acquires his former health.

[28] Hence the same D. Catharine more confidently and surely hoping that she would attain health from God through the intercession of that same B. Gregory; on the Lord's day of Pentecost of the said year piously going wholly to the sacred buildings of Divine Augustine (for on that day, with the recovery of entire health, on account of the piety of certain persons toward that same Blessed, the sacred monument of that same, with a great concourse of the people of Verucchio, was opened) she commended herself to the patronage and pious intercession of so great a Protector and Patron. Afterward to the sacred chest of that same Blessed she most humbly betook herself, nor did she bear her vows in vain. For as soon as the Priest to the head of that same D. Catharine applied the sacred head of the said Blessed, which ever emits the odor of Paradise, and touched it; the assiduous pain of the head ceased and wholly desisted, nor was the body of that same D. Catharine any more troubled or vexed by any pain. Nay although she is in her sixty-second year of age, yet in her face she keeps a brightness and ruddiness, all the preceding pallor removed; and has the strength of her body entire and suitable to such an age: which from the supreme best God bestowed on her on account of the intercession of the said B. Gregory recognizing, and wishing to avoid the vice of an ungrateful mind, to stir up posterity and move them with a more ardent affection of mind toward so great a servant of God, these things to be described she imposed on me, and so to have been and to be affirmed. God to her vows benignly assenting … I James Borghesius … wrote, subscribed and published and fortified with the wonted sign of my notariate being required.

Instrument 16

[29] … On the XV day of the month of August. That which holy mother Church in her hymns divinely set forth concerning the Confessors in those words, To whose sacred tomb frequently the languishing limbs, To Gregory as a common refuge, by whatever disease they have been burdened, are restored; is most known to us daily, on account of the wonderful things, which the giver of all good things the Almighty works through the intercession of the Blessed, nay thrice and four times Blessed Gregory, of the Order of the Hermits of S. Augustine, of Verucchio, not only in the men of the same land, but also in foreigners of both sexes, having recourse to that same Blessed in living hope and faith piously, in their necessities, of whatever quality they be. Nor does it befall by a long series of words and prolixity to persuade anyone, since experience the mistress of things shows this: but only to those not having hope and trust nor fleeing to so great a Protector do the graces and benefits fail, in these times full of all malice and calamitous. For in these charity grows cold, in these are men lovers of themselves; and pursuing as is to be seen, that one full of the Holy Spirit, prophesied of these times, in which the clemency of the Almighty gave a refuge in the tribulations, which have found us exceedingly.

[30] Such a refuge nevertheless recognizing the devout and prudent Illustrious D. Contessina daughter of the late Illustrious D. Lawrence Nanni of Urbania, a woman coming with an impeded arm, inhabitant of Belfort, by the worthy Illustrious and most Excellent Lord John Tuvaglinus of Planano of the diocese of Feretrana, to whom bearing a male son, in the citadel and Apostolic palace of that same land of Verucchio, from the aforesaid childbirth and perhaps other distresses she remained afflicted in the left shoulder and arm, so that neither by day nor by night could she rest, nor by medicines applied could she find any refreshment, only by cries and unquiet she added pains to pains to herself and her most beloved husband; certainly to herself, on account of the unceasing disease; and to her husband, by the virtue of love: and so wholly disabled in shoulder and arm made, since it was as it were wholly drawn up, she could in no wise use it, nor even for the use of food nor for any other thing however small. But hear, thou who despisest the clemency of God and His Saints. The prudent Lady determined and vowed to visit the marble sepulchre and relics of that B. Gregory the Augustinian, reposed in the church of S. Augustine of the land of Verucchio: and in every better way she could, with living hope and faith, by the help and aid of other women, the sepulchre being touched she received it whole, on the VI day of the current month of August betook herself to that same chest. And no sooner had she kissed it, with the hand of the offended and as it were lost arm little by little touching it, but at once from immovable movable was made that same arm and shoulder, and for joy she ceased not to use it: and returning to her own dwelling, that same night the pain ceasing she rested. But on the tenth day of the same month and year, recognizing the benefits conferred on her, again she betook herself to the same church, to the effect of visiting the blessed corpse and relics there. But the very Reverend Fathers of that same church and convent assembling, and by their charity the sacred marble sepulchre being opened (nay rather the living, not dead treasure) and thence the venerable head devoutly and with all the reverence which is fitting being taken up, and with it the arm of the most devout Lady being touched, at once whole and free she was made, so that the bystanding people could contain neither tears nor cry and praised the Lord in His Saints. Therefore he who has any sense and professes himself a Christian, let him consider in the Lord, what was the jubilation of that Lady, of her most beloved husband, and of the whole people hearing such things.

[31] Wherefore the same Lady, recognizing so great an Intercessor, and wishes it publicly attested. to give thanks to that same for so great a benefit received, on the XIII day of the same month and year, betook herself to the same church of S. Augustine, and in token of trophy showing the grace received and the blessing, asked benefit and health from that same Blessed: and to me the Notary before the witnesses subscribed [the Illustrious and most Excellent D. John Travaglinus of Planano Doctor of both laws and the Rev. D. Francis-Mary Borghesius and Fr. Stephen Patinus an Augustinian, both of Verucchio] enjoined that I should note down these wonderful things. Which charge more willingly to be executed I undertook: because the same Lady I saw with the witnesses subscribed move her arm at her pleasure and use it; and freely saying we heard, that she had obtained grace and health from that same Blessed, and from him and his clemency recognized it: asking that of all the foregoing I should make public documents. Concerning which … (so may God help me) and for me and all my family may that glorious Blessed deign to intercede … I Jerome Cellius etc.

Instrument 18.

[32] … on the XX of the month of August … the most Illustrious D. Captain Camillus Cupers of Verucchio set forth, The Captain of Verucchio from a continual fever, how on the days passed he was vexed by a grave nay incurable disease, so and in such manner, that drawn up of himself he could do nothing, nor move himself except by the aid of others: and beyond the excessive pains of the body he was vexed by a continual and unceasing fever and disease: and the medicines continually applied, whatsoever however excellent, profited little or nothing. Whence as it were destitute of human health, he thought of the things which pertained to the soul. Prudently indeed, and as it behooves the faithful of Christ. Thinking moreover that he had near a divine physician, who disdains to impart his divinity's and paradise's medicines to none fleeing to him, to him he had recourse, and to the intercession of B. Gregory the Augustinian of Verucchio, whose sacred corpse and relics are kept in the church of S. Augustine of that same country of Verucchio, for whose prayers and merits almighty God in these times works so many miracles and prodigies of His benignity and clemency, he attests himself freed. as is most known to all. And so to that same Blessed he had recourse, and with living hope and faith asked, that he would protect him, and relieve him from so pernicious and perilous a disease. And no sooner had he offered prayers, but, that Blessed assenting to the health of soul and body, he began to obtain the effects of the grace obtained, and to attain the health of his body: and the evil humors of the infirmity emitting in sweat, entire health thence he recovered, which at present he possesses and enjoys, recognizing it wholly from that same Blessed: as he himself before me the Notary and witnesses attested, that all may believe experience the mistress of things: because he attested these things not in his own house, but in the apothecary shop of the Magnificent D. Adauctus Poppius, to which several times he betook himself, not only for the evidence of the health obtained, but also for the exercise of it and the treating of business. Nay also he gave thanks to the Blessed, and blessed God in His Saints, as unceasingly he ceases not, asserting that he recognizes all the health of his body from the intercession of that same Blessed …

Instrument 19

[33] … on the XXVI of the month of August. Run all ye faithful of Christ, who covet graces: run all, nay swiftly, since the almighty Giver of all good things has opened a fountain of mercy, nor fails to open to those seeking and knocking: and see how pious and merciful is our Lord, who not content to undergo death in the redemption of the human race, for the maintenance also of souls in bodies, to His praise gave and granted the intercession of His most serene, immaculate, most holy mother Mary and of His Saints. Behold the wonderful things, which are such, that unless they were wrought by the effect of His virtue, as a few days ago happened, they would be believed impossible. For before me the Notary and witnesses personally constituted Mag. Francis Franzinus of Macerata, of Feretrana, an inhabitant of the land of S. Marino of the same diocese, said openly and publicly confessed, that he has a son lawful and natural, born of him and D. Frances of the Masi of Verucchio his lawful wife, A boy contracted and dying by name John-Mary, of about twelve years: who tortured by continual most bitter pains for very many days, was deemed without doubt to be about to close his last day. Wherefore that same pious mother procured, that the said beloved husband should be present at the wonted functions of the aforesaid then dying boy, as in his wonted love toward his son he failed not. And both compassionating his pains, grieving the near loss, the so many human medicines applied standing vain and that they had profited nothing,

and that without doubt God would reserve his cure to His glory; concordantly the aforesaid spouses had recourse to the intercession of the most blessed Gregory, of the Order of the Hermits of S. Augustine of Verucchio; and prayed for the half-alive boy John-Mary, drawn up in all the sinews of his lacerated body; since by the true attestation of Francis himself the father, the arms and legs were not only drawn up and rendered wholly useless; but also the former turned to the shoulders, and the latter to the hips, so much that thou wouldst have said rather the form of a ball than of a rational creature.

[34] But O infinite goodness and clemency of God! How incomprehensible are Thy judgments, almighty God! Who would not have judged that the boy could no longer live? Attend, kind reader; to the vow of the mother for him be astonished all of you at the Evangelical truth, for the corroborating of the holy orthodox and catholic faith, Greater things than these shall ye do. This I hold of them: that the pious mother aforesaid vowed for the boy to visit the holy relics of that same most blessed Gregory for the recovery of the boy's health. Attend lastly the living faith, since she said To visit with the boy: because if she had not hoped for health with faith; she had not said, To visit with the boy. And so at once prayers being offered to the most blessed Gregory, he moved his tongue to the praise of God the Father almighty; he began to move his hands and legs drawn up from the indissoluble knot of the drawing, and afterward to turn them to their destined uses and motions, and to bring them firmly back to their former health, he is set straight and recovers. and for the satisfaction of the vow to betake himself with his mother to his benefactor; as also I, with other men of Verucchio being in the same land of Verucchio, saw him whole, God so bidding. May that most blessed Gregory deign to bestow on me health of soul and body, and make me worthy of his intercession and of the most blessed ever Mother of God, that they may ever be propitious to me and my family.

CHAPTER IV.

The graces openly declared in the month of September.

Instrument 20

[35] In the name of Christ … 1650 on the III day of September. I Peter-Francis Marzallonius, citizen and public Notary of Verucchio, all lying and passion utterly removed, testify before God, how in the month last past, a Notary perilously enfeebled and swollen under the greater Dog-star Sirius and the sun having entered the sign of Leo, for about fifteen days, laboring with the greatest weaknesses through all my life, so that scarcely could I stand, not without a little fever and great fear of the physicians that I could fall into a perilous fever, sleep being utterly lost and a very great loss of appetite: nay rather also the too great agitation of the humors, proceeding from some purgative medicines, which gave to my whole body an extraordinary commotion, affected my left arm near the hand with a great swelling without any flux of blood, so that the swelling of a dropsical disease was feared from the beginning. A humble vow being made to the most blessed Father Gregory the Augustinian my fellow-citizen, of devoutly visiting the most holy deposit of the said holy Father, in the venerable church of the Augustinians of the said my country of Verucchio; by the touch of the sacred head he is healed: to his most holy chest I came on the XIII day of the month; where the chest blessed, on account of the concourse of very many laboring persons, was honorably opened. Before which devoutly kneeling, with the most holy head of the said blessed Father in the venerable Augustinian church, on my head and the offended parts of my body, I was touched. After which touch the weaknesses, alterations and swellings began to vanish, and so vanished, that in a few days my former health was restored to me, by the grace of God and of the most blessed Virgin Mary and the intercession of the said blessed Father Gregory and the other holy Advocates of mine, whose help I ever invoked. Concerning which I made this present faith with my own hand, here set it, and for greater strength signed with the sign of my notariate, to the glory of God and the honor of the said blessed Father Gregory my Patron. I Peter Francis Marzalonius wrote and signed for faith.

Instrument 25

[36] … on the X of September, on the day of the festivity of S. Nicholas of Tolentino my Protector, I affirm for the truth I John Bernardinus Turchini of Monte Ceragnone, public Notary, that when Jerome my wife was sick for four years, another, whose wife deprived of walking lay sick, from the pains which the physicians call those of the womb, and torture of the hams and feet so that she could not walk; and when in this present year 1650 in the month of July, she lay in bed exercised with the said pains and torture; it happened that occasionally having a passage through the land of Verucchio I put in at the convent of S. Augustine, my wonted lodging. Where while I have speech with the Father Prior present concerning the infirmities of my wife, he said to me, that a few days before through the intercession of B. Gregory a certain boy of Verucchio had been freed, who he also for many months had been gravely tortured; and he made me see him. Which miracle seen I said I wished also to vow my wife to that Blessed, as also I did. But returned home and finding that same my wife lying sick in bed, I narrated what I had seen and done, and she ratified my vow. But after four or five days from the aforesaid ratification she began to rise up from the bed, bringing the same woman healed after the vow to the chest. and from day to day better and better to be well, as can now be seen: for I have led her hither to the chest of B. Gregory, to give thanks to God best and greatest for the benefit obtained, by means of the intercession of B. Gregory. But since this is the very truth, I wrote and subscribed this present in the church of S. Augustine, before the chest of B. Gregory, with the consent of the said my wife, affirming all things to be true, there being present, the very Rev. Fathers Baccalaurei Livius Bindi, Paul Fredizzani, and John Mary Dolci, Fathers of the said monastery, who each after Bernardinus Furchini himself testified by their own subscriptions, that they saw the aforesaid signed by him. The whole instrument hitherto written in Italian, concluding in Latin as he had begun, the same Jerome Cellius who wrote the rest.

Instrument 22

[37] … on the XIII of the month of September … Jacominus son of Alexander Monus of Verucchio said, a poor man impeded by an arthritic pain to gain his living that for the space of about two months he had ceased from the works and service, by which he procured for himself a living and other things necessary for the sustenance of life, because he fell into a disease or catarrh, by which in his feet and hands he was greatly tortured, with the greatest pains in the joints, with the greatest swelling and inflation, so that scarcely except with the greatest difficulty could he move himself, whence disabled for working he was made, but was very often most wretchedly deprived of sustenance and food, expelled from service, abandoned by the due Christian charity, banished by the cruel world; and he expected himself to leave that same world. But, my almighty God who permittest none hoping in Thee to be damned, and appeased succorest the wretched! Thinking all these evils to have come upon him for his sins, by a vow he is healed, he had recourse to the intercession of our most blessed Gregory the Augustinian of Verucchio, vowed to visit his sacred relics, to offer two torches and a wax votive offering, as he visited and offered and obtained entire health: as also I the Notary [there being present D. Julius of the Barbari and Antony Gantinus, both of Verucchio witnesses] in the apothecary shop of the Magnificent D. Julius of the Barbari, saw whole, and giving thanks to almighty God and his most Blessed without end; and affirming, that at once the vow being made, the pains ceased, and the swelling and inflation vanished. O most holy physician, deign from us all to expel all infirmities of soul and body, and with thee in the heavens without end to rejoice. Amen.

Instrument 23.

[38] … on the XIV of the month of September. Such are the miracles, which daily through the intercession of the most blessed Gregory the Augustinian almighty God works, the Notary coming to note the miracles, that a most excellent scribe would be required to note them down, and most learned in sacred things and in all the virtues of the sciences, to this end that to the faithful of Christ whatsoever he might persuade the following of Christ Jesus, and the invocation of this most Blessed in all distresses. Behold I pray, that to the effect of noting his wonderful things and graces called, I betook myself to the chest of that same most blessed one, and found three things to be described in the same place. For D. Lucretia, daughter of the late Marinus a miller of Rimini, and wife of Matthew Giovagnonus of Verucchio, commonly a woman of ill fame (this I say to manifest the mercy of almighty God and the compassion of the most Blessed) remaining about the chest in the church of S. Augustine, crying invoked as helper that same most Blessed in these clear words: [first he takes down the words of a harlot professing herself healed from a pain of the leg,] Be thou blessed, glorious S. Gregory, that from that hour in which I vowed on three Saturday days to come barefoot to visit your holy relics, of which now I have completed two days, and there remains to me still a third soon to come, I feel myself healed from the pains which I suffered in the side and right leg, which for many weeks had held me miserably fixed to bed amid tortures of a very perilous consequence. But now to God and to thee, Blessed one, be praises, because through thy intercession I feel no more any pains, nor in the leg do I suffer aught but a slight itching, which tortures me not, but only admonishes me of devotion toward that Saint; and I rejoice that in very deed I can visit him. Thus far she in her vernacular tongue, asserting herself wholly free from the pains, and from the intercession of that same most Blessed recognizing the grace and the deliverance.

[39] The honest woman D. Catharine, daughter of Caesar Majanus, wife of Stephen Cantella, then another woman showing her right hand cured of a horrible swelling, being in the same place before the chest of the most Blessed, crying and with tears setting forth affirmed and said to me: Scribe, note, and in thy writings set down and preserve: that I a woman, though unworthy, when for many weeks I had a swelling in the right hand and an inflation of horrid elevation and of such magnitude and weight, that it was necessary for me to keep it hung at my neck with a cloth with excessive pains; and all medicines applied all returned vain and fruitless; when I believed both my hand and my life to be lost, having at home the example of my son, freed from the grave through the intercession of this most Blessed; as for him we vowed, so also I vowed to visit these Holy Relics. Oh! what is wonderful to say! At once the vow performed before the visitation my right hand was healed and the pains ceased. See, see her free, and brought back to her former health, as if at no time ever I had labored with a disease in it. And she gloried before me the Notary and witnesses, and praised God in His Saint without end, showing us her hand free.

[40] D. Joanna, an honest young woman, daughter of those same

spouses Stephen Cantella and D. Catharine, and of his daughter freed from a continual fever. remaining in the same church before the chest of the most Blessed, glorifying God and giving thanks to God, said: Note down, Scribe, that I a girl, the unworthy handmaid of the Lord Jesus Christ and of the most blessed Virgin, when for many weeks I had labored with a continual fever, and my pious parents had not ceased to apply all the medicines they could, yet all turned out vain, and this for the glory of God and of this most Blessed. For after the manner of my brother Peter-Francis, and of my most beloved mother, I vowed to visit these holy Relics; and at once the continual fever left me, and whole I was made, as ye see me in this holy church: where I cannot cease, for joy of recovered health, to praise God in His Saints; and I profess that I obtained all health through the intercession of this most Blessed. And I Jerome Cellius before two witnesses noted each thing as each one of those women, that all the aforesaid had been and were true, by means of their and of any of them an oath, affirmed; asking etc.

Instrument 24

[41] In the name of Christ. Amen. I Blaise Georginus of Verucchio Doctor of both laws attest, that when formerly for several months I had my heart oppressed with the most vehement pains and a most grievous and almost intolerable suffering; a Doctor of Law attests that he from a pain of the heart, devout prayers being offered to B. Gregory, that he would benignly bring me help of his mercy; in that very instant, my heart, miraculously of all wonted suffering and pain wholly emptied and immune I knew to be, and myself given to my former health: as I make undoubted faith for the truth, to the glory of almighty God and His Saints, and to the eternal memory of the grace received from that same most blessed Gregory. Therefore this writing with my name, surname and seal I have corroborated, for faith at Verucchio on the XXVIII day of August. Thus far he: there follows then the faith of Jerome Cellius subscribing that same writing, exhibited to him on the XX of the month of September.

Instrument 25

[42] … on the XX of the month of September … the very Rev. Father Baccalaureus Paul Joseph Casatus of Milan, of the Order of the Hermits of S. Augustine, Prior of Cervia and at present Prior of the Convent of S. George of the city of Cervia, by means of his oath, his breast touched in Sacerdotal manner, at the relation of me the Notary, made the faith subscribed of the following tenor, speaking in the vulgar tongue for greater intelligence and clarity, how the truth was and is, that the aforesaid Father, sick for the space of four months with a continual fever, after all necessary human remedies applied, and after in vain a better air changed, could not be freed from that his grave disease. But on the occasion of going to Verucchio which pertains to the Legation of Romandiola subject in spiritual things to the diocese of Rimini, when out of his devotion he had caused the chest to be opened, in which lies the body of B. Gregory of Verucchio, and most devoutly had touched his head, and invoked his patronage with God, and his nephew freed from a continual fever. within a few days he remained free from the said disease: as also D. Paul Nicholas Casatus of Milan, the nephew of the said Father Prior, who he also laboring with a continual fever, by means of the intercession of S. Gregory of Verucchio, within a few days became wholly whole and free. Which since all things are most true to the perpetual memory of so great a grace obtained from God through the intercession and patronage of the said B. Gregory, this present faith with their own hands both subscribed. But they subscribed as they had deposed in the vulgar Italian tongue: in Latin then the Notary himself concludes and adds: Done in the Convent of S. George there being present D. Brunorus Baruccus and Matthew of the Fabri, witnesses of Cervia called to this. And I Christopher Armileus, citizen and by Apostolic authority Notary of Cervia inscribed in the Roman Archive and Archivist of the said city: and finally. Because I, says he, Jerome Cellius, Notary and now Archivist of the land of Verucchio, collated the copy taken with the original transmitted and given to me to be preserved with my other public instruments and found it to agree with it, therefore for faith I subscribed and signed with my wonted sign and that of the said Archive being required.

Instrument 26

[43] … on the XXIV of September … Mag. James Mastignonus of Verucchio set forth to me. Likewise another O power of God our Creator! O goodness of that same Saviour! who came into this world, and dwelt with men, that He might impart to them graces and benefits: whence He made the deaf hear and commanded the fevers, so that the crowds marveled and exclaimed with a great voice, Who is this who makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak and commands the fever? Hence it is that through the intercession of His Saints He willed also the same gifts of health to bestow on those piously fleeing to Him. Wherefore the aforesaid Mag. James Mastignonus said and for the truth affirmed by means of an oath, that a few days now passed he had been most ardently vexed and afflicted with a continual and unceasing fever. Nor did the pharmaceutical remedies give him any help that from this disease he might be freed: wherefore he believed he should exchange the present life with the future. But it came to pass that Nicholas a boy son of that same Mag. James, narrated this most bitter infirmity to a certain Augustinian Religious. [recalling that he had been present at the miraculous healing num. 5 and following.] Which Religious exhorted that same boy, to go to his father; and that he should tell him to commend himself devoutly to the intercession of B. Gregory of Verucchio of the Order of S. Augustine. The boy son went home, and narrated all things to his father. Whence that same Mag. James recalling that he had been present in the church of S. Augustine, when that very B. Gregory obtained from God the health of the drawn-up leg and knee for Peter Francis Cantella, at once with what piety of spirit he could, to the powerful and efficacious patronage and intercession of that same most blessed Man commended himself. But forthwith the most fervid and lethal fever began to diminish, and a few hours passed wholly ceased: and by the grace of God and the intercession of B. Gregory the entire faculty of his strength after a few days perfectly he obtained, and now whole exercises his art as before. Therefore he asked me the Notary, that for the example of Christians I should set all these things among my writings. Done in the public square before the apothecary shop of the aforesaid Mag. James in the Captaincy of S. Peter, there being present D. Simon Landus and D. Andrew of the Georgini of Verucchio witnesses asked. And I James Borghesius of Verucchio public Notary by Apostolic authority, the aforewritten copy a diligent collation made with its original found to agree: therefore I subscribed and fortified with the wonted sign of my notariate and published. So the same then James Borghesius in the following ones unto num. 53.

Instrument 27

[44] … on the XXIV of the month of September … the honest woman Frances of the Bronzetti of Verucchio, spouse of George of Imola of Arvertano of the diocese of Cesena and now dwelling in the castle of S. John in Marignano of the diocese of Rimini, At the request of her absent husband, deaf and disabled, that there by his art he might acquire a living for himself and his family, deposed and by means of an oath asserted, that the said George her husband for some months had been afflicted with a most grievous pain and deafness of one ear, by which infirmity he was wholly detained, so that he could not gain his necessary living and his whole body was now deprived of strength, so much that he was even in great fear of losing his life. Wherefore having heard the daily graces, which from B. Gregory the Augustinian of Verucchio are obtained from God by those piously having recourse to him, the wife visiting the chest obtains health for him. she announced to that same her most loving wife that with all the fervor of her heart she should commend him to that same Blessed. Who at once flew to the church of S. Augustine of Verucchio, and with knees bent before the chest in which lies the body of the said Blessed, asked health for the said George her husband from that same Blessed with all her mind. Nor in vain did she pour forth prayers: for a few days interposed, to her greatest joy and cheerfulness of heart she heard, that the said George her husband had been and was free from the deafness of his ear, and that his body was no more detained by any disease nor impediment, but enjoyed the best health, and exercised his art as before and better. Which things thus standing she asked me etc. Done in the house of Mag. John Antony Bronzettus in the district and Captaincy of S. Andrew…

CHAPTER V.

The remaining graces described in the month of October.

Instrument 28

[45] In the name of Christ, in the year from His most holy nativity 1650, but on the V day of October … the honest woman Joanna of the Majani and wife of Jerome Mattona of Verucchio, of her own accord and brought by no force, but impelled by the truth, said and affirmed that for many days she had been detained in bed by a most grievous infirmity of fever; A woman lying sick with a mortal fever is healed, and that for certain she deemed she would pass her day, although she be in flourishing age: because suddenly she was wholly deprived of the strength of her body, nor could the remedies applied expel and drive off the force of the disease. Wherefore when she knew her last day to be impending over her, to the aid of B. Gregory of Verucchio the Augustinian she fled: and a vow being made of visiting three times the venerable body of that same Blessed, who in the church of his most holy Father Augustine lies; at the same time almighty God granted strength to that same woman piously supplicating, through the intercession of that same B. Gregory, so that she rose from her couch, and could seek the said church, as she did: nor did she yet fulfill the vow but that her former health was restored to her by God. Therefore this grace on account of the aforesaid Blessed's patronage conferred on her by the supreme Creator for certain holding, she wished me the Notary, for the perpetual memory of the matter, to place the aforesaid among my other public instruments; as most true and undoubted, as by means of an oath she asserted and affirmed…

Instrument 29.

[46] … on the VII day of October … Peter-Francis, son of the late Mag. Francis of the Manducci, of Verucchio, asserted and for the truth affirmed, Attacked by masked enemies, that on the IV day of the said month and year he went to the church commonly called della villa of the very Rev. Fathers Friars Reformed of S. Francis, that there he might confess his sins, as he did. After confession he set out from that same church to return to Verucchio. But when he was distant from the said place of the Villa by a fourth part of one mile, near a reed-bed or cane-brake situated near the public way, three men, with veiled faces, loaded with divers arms, from ambush attacked the said Mag. Peter-Francis, with intent to kill him. Wherefore the wheels of their warlike engines being released, all took care to wound that same man mortally: preserved from their guns not catching fire, and that same Mag. Peter-Francis, knowing naturally that he could not avoid the certain peril of death, with a pious affection of mind and with all his heart the aid of B. Gregory the Augustinian of Verucchio

earnestly asked and implored, that from a sure and inevitable death he, God granting, would wish to free him. Whence it came to pass, that God, on account of the said Blessed's prayers and patronage, heard the very short prayer and commendation of the supplicant. For God permitted that the fire within the said warlike engines was not kindled and the balls could not come out, although the smoke of the powder was seen outside; and so from that peril of death he escaped unhurt.

[47] Nevertheless the said assailants took away the dagger from the said Mag. Peter-Francis, and several times struck him, and from the blows inflicted with the dagger, and especially with one stroke pierced him in the belly, from which stroke and blow they so fixed the dagger within, that together with an olive tree they left that same Mag. Peter-Francis pinned, and believed him to be now dead: from which blow he himself also thought he had wholly lost his life. But that same Blessed preserved him unharmed from this peril also and rendered him immune: because the breastplate with the undergarment alone was hurt. Whence after the said assailants departed, he scarcely could draw the dagger from the olive, because it was twisted, bent, folded in that tree from the force of the blow. Wherefore at once to the church of D. Augustine, where the sacred monument of the said B. Gregory stands, B. Gregory being invoked. he went: and giving thanks to God for his life preserved by the patronage of the said Blessed, to the chest of the same he devoutly hung the said dagger, that there for the perpetual memory of the matter it might remain. And because he intends so great and so singular graces not to be deleted from the memory of men, therefore he asked me the Notary, that those things, as most known and most true, among my public instruments I should inscribe.

Instrument 30.

[48] … on the X day of October … Jerome Scarpa of Verucchio asserted and for the truth of his own accord affirmed, that on the days passed he had been so seized and afflicted by a sudden and most vehement pain of the head, nay pains, on the left part, A most intense pain of the head is cured, that his head seemed to him to be cut and divided into two parts; wherefore also by the force of a daily and continual fever he was afflicted, whence he had lost the strength of his whole body and deemed he would die. But because it was and is sufficiently clear to him, that B. Gregory the Augustinian daily shines with graces and miracles, therefore to that same Blessed he offered prayers, with the greater humility of spirit he could, that he would deign for him from almighty God to obtain his former health. Nor in vain did he pour forth his prayers. For at once such strength to that same Jerome God granted, by the touch of the linens of the chest, that he could go to the church of D. Augustine, in which lies the venerable body of the said B. Gregory. To whose sacred chest when he came, prayers being first offered, he touched with his head, full of pains and afflicted, the linens placed over that chest of the said Blessed. Wonderful indeed to say and to hear, because at once all the pains of the head vanished, the fever wholly ceased, and wholly left him, and a few days interposed he resumed the strength of his body. Therefore recognizing so great a grace of health given him by God on account of the merits and patronage of the said B. Gregory, he wished me the Notary to engrave all these things and to set them among my public instruments as most true, as, the things touched etc. he swore.

Instrument 31.

[49] … on the XXIV of October … the very Rev. Father Baccalaureus, Fr. Paul Fedrizzonius of Cervia, professor of the sacred Augustinian institute, and of the family of the convent of S. Augustine of the land of Verucchio of his own accord said and for certain affirmed by means of his oath, and a torture of the shoulder rendering his arm useless, in Sacerdotal manner his breast touched, that in the year 1649 in the autumn time, for two months he had been vexed by a most ardent and daily fever, from which through the intercession of D. Nicholas of Tolentino he escaped immune. But in his left shoulder a most bitter pain remained, by which assiduously he was so gravely afflicted, that his arm even was almost useless from the said time of the aforesaid infirmity unto the last Sunday of the month of May 1650. On which day when the sacred monument was opened, where the venerable body of B. Gregory Cellius the Augustinian of Verucchio lies, according to the annual and wonted manner of opening it; the very Rev. Father Baccalaureus Fr. Paul aforesaid, commended himself to the powerful intercession with God of that same B. Gregory from the heart, the sacred head being applied, and humbly asked him, that from the aforesaid pain of the shoulder he would wish to free him. And because the head of that same Blessed, ever fragrant with a celestial odor, was held forth by the Priest to the pious bystanders to be kissed; that same very Rev. Father Baccalaureus Fr. Paul with an ardent affection of spirit took care, that for him by that same Priest the shoulder, offended with a most vehement pain, with that venerable head might be touched. From which touch that pain so vanished, that no more thereafter did the said Rev. Father Fr. Paul feel any offense; but enjoyed his former health, God so giving and B. Gregory interceding. Wherefore lest so great a grace be at any time delivered to oblivion, but ever more the merits of this blessed servant of God Gregory with God and men may shine forth, he wished me the Notary the aforesaid all to inscribe among my writings and public instruments.

Instrument 32.

[50] … on the XXVII day of October … honest young girls, namely Baptista and Mary, both daughters of Luke Lord Rodanus of Verucchio, Likewise two poor girls afflicted with continual fevers. of their own accord and by themselves deposed and said it to be the truth, that for many weeks of the months past they had labored with continual fevers and lethally torturing them, from which by no human art could they be freed: whence it came to pass, that since they are poor, a living and other things necessary for them they could in no wise prepare and gain. But trusting in God; and the patronage of B. Gregory the Augustinian of Verucchio, who freed very many other persons from infirmities of this kind by his intercession with God, as to those same Baptista and Mary is sufficiently clear, implored with all their mind and heart, and a vow being made of visiting several times the sacred sepulchre of that same Blessed, being in the church of S. Augustine of Verucchio, as they strove to fulfill it with all the piety of spirit possible to them; the Almighty and bestower of all good things God and the certain salvation of the sick, through the intercession of the said B. Gregory, to both bestowed most clemently the desired and implored health, and rendered them wholly immune from the aforesaid fevers, as also to the son of that Evangelical Ruler God Himself granted. Hence both Baptista and Mary, desiring in what way they can to make these graces known to the rest of the faithful posterity, that they may be kindled toward so great a servant of God with the fervor of love and devotion, asked me the Notary unanimous, that I should describe all the aforesaid, and into my public instruments as most known and most true I should wish to insert it.

[51] Thus far the Instruments, as they call them, described by James Borghesius, continuing the instruments brought down by Jerome Cellius unto the month of October: which all since within five months they were noted and even almost wrought; it appears how great a forest of similar graces could have been collected, if either in the prior years such diligence had been applied or in the later continued. But as in human affairs nothing is constant and perpetual, so neither in the cult of the Saints: whose favors often the more frequent they are, the more negligently they are noted: as if it were now by no means necessary to commit to writing those things, the like of which mortals daily experience. One nevertheless, seventeen years more recent than the prior, at the end is thus added.

[52] In the name of Christ. Amen. In the year from His most holy Nativity 1667, Indiction 5, and in the year 1667 an Augustinian Friar laboring with the stone divine providence sitting our Holy Lord Pope Clement IX, of his Pontificate the I year, but on the III day of the month of October, before me the Notary and the witnesses subscribed of his own accord and freely constituted the Rev. Father Baccalaureus Fr. John Antony Para of Verucchio an Augustinian, of the diocese of Rimini, his breast touched in Sacerdotal manner, by an oath asserted and for the truth affirmed, that for some years he had been bitterly vexed with an infirmity of the kidneys and stones, and for that cause with great difficulty and pain had emitted urine: but on the XXVII day of the month of May last past, that is on the Friday preceding the most holy festivity of Pentecost, on which solemnity was to be opened, according to the manner and custom annual, and indeed most ancient, the sacred chest, in which are kept ever with a most sweet odor fragrant the sacred and venerable bones of B. Gregory Cellius the Augustinian of Verucchio; that same Baccalaureus Fr. John Antony was so vexed and afflicted with such most afflicting and most bitter pains both of the kidneys and stones, that he no more emitted urine from his body; but a flowing forth and the greatest abundance of blood, through the whole aforesaid day XXVII of the month of May, he never ceased to make water. Concerning which thing providing the Baccalaureus Fr. John-Antony himself, nor rendering anything but blood for urine. and knowing that he could not resist those most efficacious pains by the strength of his body, but rather ought speedily to expect death, nor any medicines to bring him aid; with what greater fervor of spirit he could, as he had done otherwise in his infirmities and necessities, to the celestial help and intercession of B. Gregory of his Augustinian Order he fled. Nor that in vain: since in the late or toward the evening of that very aforesaid XXVII day that flux of blood wholly ceased nor afterward was he affected with such infirmity, but emitted urine at that time clear; nay the sacred functions of his church the following days, namely of the Sabbath and of Pentecost and also of the solemn day of the Dedication of his Augustinian church and of the solemnity of the said B. Gregory, most excellently he could fulfill. Which all things since they are so, he asked me Peter Ugolinus public notary, that of all the aforesaid I should make these public documents, as asked I did and to his pious vows being required I assented…

[53] These things thus transcribed from the original book among the Augustinian Fathers by the said Peter Ugolinus, there followed the public faith of the Priors and Community of the land of Verucchio concerning the legality of that same Notary, The faith of the Notary transcribing all these things. given on the XVI day of January 1677 with Michael Faviardus the Secretary subscribing: and finally the authentication of the Notary himself conceived in these words. And because I Peter Ugolinus of Verucchio, public by Apostolic authority a Notary, the present copies from the book in which are inscribed and authentic the prodigies of B. Gregory Cellius of Verucchio, as in it they can be seen, well guarded and preserved in the Convent of the very Rev. Fathers Hermits of the Order of S. Augustine, and from the public instruments of the late Peter-Francis Marzalonius, Jerome Cellius, and James Borghesius and of me Notaries public of the land of Verucchio, faithfully and word for word with my own hand, except the legality of the most Illustrious Community of Verucchio, extracted, nothing added nor diminished, which might change the sense; which a diligent collation made with their originals I found to agree: therefore for faith I wrote, and to these I subscribed,

and with the public sign of my notaryship, which I use in such matters, I have fortified it: which sign indeed displays a branching trunk plucked up by the roots, to whose stem is affixed a little scroll with the initial letters of name and surname, P. V.

ON B. PHILIP OF AQUILA

OF THE ORDER OF THE REGULAR OBSERVANCE OF S. FRANCIS,

AT SULMONA IN ITALY.

A.D. MCCCCLVI

Philip of Aquila, of the Order of the Observants of S. Francis, at Sulmona in Italy (B.)

D. P.

[1] Sulmo or Sulmona, the famous and most ancient city of the old Peligni, whose Episcopal title joined with that of Valva endures even today, although it boasts much of the birth of P. Ovidius Naso, celebrated by his verses, yet sets greater store by having had alive, Body and cult near Sulmona. and by possessing dead, B. Philip, called from his fatherland Aquilanus; in the suburban convent of the Friars Minor Observant named after S. Nicholas, which is the eighth of the Province of S. Bernardine according to Gonzaga, founded around the year of the Lord MCCCCXLIII. There Philip was Guardian, when on this IV of May he died in the year MCCCCLVI. There a chapel under his name is frequented by the inhabitants, who carry their sick thither, and not rarely carry them out whole. There is the mausoleum of the Blessed, famous for miracles, in the chapel proper to the Mezzara family; which now, while a new church is being built, being dissolved, the chest of the sacred pledge is kept guarded meanwhile in the sacristy, until, the fabric being completed, it be placed more narrowly: but if we shall have understood this to have been done sooner than this month comes to light, it can be indicated in the Appendix of this volume. Now I say that which indicates a public and by no means common cult, namely the chest itself, which contains all the bones of the whole body, furnished with transparent crystals, offering them to be beheld by the people, as often as it is brought forth from the other wooden one enclosing it.

[2] His Life was written by Bernardine of Aquila, himself also illustrious for famous Holiness, Life written by B. Bernardine, of which this is the epitome, whose Funeral, in the Latin; and Admonitions of the spiritual life, in the Italian tongue, are extant, published at Venice in the year MDLXXII; his other works, written in both idioms, and as yet unpublished, are kept in the Convent of S. Angelo, between the towns Fossa and Ocra of the Abruzzi, as Wadding testifies in his book on writers, reckoning among them in the first place a Brief Latin History of the Monasteries and men of the province of S. Bernardine, to which B. Philip belonged; and among the Italian tracts, the Lives of S. Bernardine of Siena himself and of this B. Philip. I would have preferred to receive this latter transcribed thence in Italian and to render it entire in Latin, than to give an epitome from the Annals of Wadding; but to my zeal in seeking and wishing for it, also miracles, some of which are given from a Ms. of the place: there did not respond the diligence of those whom it most concerned to cooperate to the best of their power: but having used much solicitation I have hitherto obtained nothing else than, from an old Ms. booklet containing very many miracles of B. Philip, a certain few, taken down by a Notary at the command of the Bishop of Valva and Sulmona, in the very year in which the Blessed died: which, turned into Latin, we give after the epitome of the life: the rest we continue to wish for and to expect, as also the Italian Life of the aforesaid praised B. Bernardine himself, most diligently written, or at least its Latin epitome published by Antonio Amicio his kinsman, to be given on XXIX November, on which day Arturus a Monasterio, in the Franciscan Martyrology, says he is venerated in the said Convent of S. Angelo.

[3] One thing here I add from Wadding, that the aforesaid praised Bernardine died in the year MDIII in the convent of S. Julian near Aquila, but all things entire from the originals are wished for. but wrote his Admonitions in the year MCCCCXCI: whence it is understood that the author wrote those things about B. Philip which partly he himself could have seen, partly heard from those who had seen them; and so that the writings both on the Life and on the miracles scarcely exceed the two hundredth year. Which if now they be read and understood with difficulty, let the Brothers of those Convents consider, I beg, how much more difficult it will be to read and understand them after the lapse of many centuries; if indeed they so long escape the destruction which threatens them from this very thing, that what is understood with difficulty is for the most part neglected and most easily perishes. Let them therefore take pains, that, whatever the difficulty being overcome, monuments of this kind may be able to be preserved perpetually in this our collection.

LIFE

From the Italian of B. Bernardine, almost a contemporary, contracted into Latin by Wadding in volume VI of the Annals

Philip of Aquila, of the Order of the Observants of S. Francis, at Sulmona in Italy (B.)

FROM WADDING.

[1] Philip of Aquila, his father Amicus Focianus, his mother Bucia, born of modest stock at Cassina, a town of the Aquilan territory, From boyhood addicted to a sterner virtue in the sixth year of his age bereft of both parents, was taken up by his uncle James. From that tender age displaying the highest honesty and gravity of morals, endowed by nature itself with a certain placid cheerfulness, he then already began to accustom himself to fastings and pious institutes of life. For a whole year he prayed at length each day over the tomb of his parents; and being asked what he did there, he answered that he was repaying the benefits of his parents by what means he could. He anticipated sins by penitence: for he chastised before he committed. Rising from bed, after tasting a brief sleep on straw or the bare ground, he gave the remaining part of the night to prayers. he becomes a Cleric, then a Minorite. The softness of a shirt and all the delights of the body he banished far off; and instead of a hair-shirt, which he did not have, he filled his inner garments with the pricking and pointed seeds of the Teutlomalache, commonly Spinach, which kind of penitence also he retained after taking up the Franciscan institute. Having received the clerical habit, he gave attention to grammar, intending to pursue the remaining studies which he judged suited to the Priestly dignity. But being made of more advanced age, having experienced the dangers of the world, and abhorring perishing delights, he chose a safer norm of life, under the formula prescribed by S. Francis.

[2] He exulted as a giant to run that way of God's commandments, observing not only the precepts and things necessary to salvation, and excelling in virtues, as one little or weak in spirit; but the works of surpassing excellence of virtue and the Evangelical counsels, as one mighty in virtue and robust in faith, with cheerful countenance and glad mind. From wine, for the most part; from flesh, always he abstained; tormenting his body with fastings, scourgings, and wondrous modes. To the nods of his Superiors he promptly obeyed; and their reprehensions, the more eagerly the more severe he received them. Most tenderly he had compassion on the miseries and frailty of others, toward himself altogether merciless. Representing the dove's simplicity in gait and words, in works and counsels he used the serpent's prudence. Nothing weighty did he undertake without counsel, and silently within himself he ruminated the benefits which were divinely infused. All things which he beheld or did supplied matter for contemplating higher things. In the concert of the choir, the most sweet harmony of the heavenly court; in the prayer of the brethren, the communion of Saints, and the pious intercession for us; about to go to bed, the image of death and the narrow burial; in the little worms coming forth from the body and grievously biting, and devoted to prayer. the horrible germs of the grave; in religious mendicity, the voluntary poverty of Christ; in fire, ice, darkness, stench, the torments of hell forthwith, as present, he contemplated. A fair estimator of time, he permitted none to slip by without fruit.

[3] Assiduous in prayer, daily after Compline with most accurate examination he discussed the several actions of that day; and if he severely judged that he had failed even in the least, he drives off the demon disturbing him. he corrected himself with a severer punishment. While once at that hour intent on these things he saw Satan, in the terrifying spectre of a monstrous she-goat, extinguish the lamp shining before the deposited divine Body. Then he intrepidly: These arts of yours, futile jester, will avail you nothing: for neither will you disturb me from prayer, nor will you overspread the sacred altars with darkness. Having forthwith brought a light from the kitchen, he kindled the lamp, and hung the lamp with a higher draught. These things being repeated a second and third time, and the goat being turned into a stinking he-goat, the man of God indignant said: Go to perdition: in the name of God I command you, that you no more disturb me from prayer. Confounded the enemy departed, nor dared he thereafter to bring annoyance.

[4] The divine Office with the highest attention, his body erect, frequent in hearing masses, leaning neither on wall nor on seat nor on any support, he performed. The arcane sacrifice of the Mass he offered daily, and whatever Sacred rites were done in the temple, he diligently heard; saying that no time was more usefully spent than in reading or partaking of Masses. A most vigilant guardian of chastity, the least dishonest thoughts, which are wont to creep in, he diligently eliminated; prudently saying that if a tree first put forth no roots, it would send forth neither foliage nor fruit. Blessed, he said, is he who shall hold his little ones, and dash them against the rock: the Spouse of our soul, both jealous and delicate, and solicitously guarding chastity, suffers no injury to honesty. If he heard anyone uttering less honest words; he most sharply reprehended, with no distinction of sex or quality regarded: yet he said it in such a manner that he incurred no one's indignation; and with such fruit, that whomsoever he had corrected he truly rendered weary of the crime and contrite of heart. The company of women he most diligently fled, and for fifteen years he beheld none in the face: and at length he obtained this grace from God, that he was no more moved at the sight of women than at that of wood.

[5] Of one temptation the Lord left him the exercise, namely the annoyance of sleep: which that he might drive away, for a whole three-year period, with much scourging he severely punished his own body. he wrestles with sleep Sometimes with hands bound and a rope thrown to a beam lest he fall to the ground; sometimes with hands and feet bound to the bedstead, often with his body coiled, his hands and feet bound and joined together, like a lamb or kid tied back; or for the most part sitting, never lying, he tasted a very brief sleep: but the more diligently he repelled this temptation, the more vehemently he was afflicted with troublesome dreams and dishonest visions. and by nocturnal illusions. Once miserably shaken, what he should do? he asked John of Capistrano. It must be patiently borne and manfully acted, he answered, and all this affliction had been permitted for the increase of merit. Idleness, the seed-bed of evils, he fled with the highest zeal: and if any time remained over from prayer, he devoted it to religious exercises. he writes sacred books, Observing that the humble huts and poor little dwellings of his institute lacked choral books, Psalter, Antiphonary, and others of the like, he resolved to learn this manner of writing, though difficult; and having wondrously attained it, he filled the whole province with these books. Many oratories, in the woods or gardens of the monasteries, he either built or repaired; well knowing that although places do not sanctify a man, yet they greatly help toward working well according to their opportunity; and builds oratories, and contemplative men separated from the crowd pray more conveniently than if they be distracted by the intercourse of others. A lover of the strictest poverty, he admitted nothing superfluous in food or clothing, nothing precious in utensils or church ornaments, saying that poor Brothers ought to glory in poor attire.

[6] The Superiors, beholding the solid and pregnant virtue of the man, set him over the instructing of novices: into whom he instilled with interest the best discipline, which he had received from Fr. Savinus ^a de Campellis, a most holy man of the Province of S. Francis, he is set over novices, with usury. That was his chief study, to call them away from earthly things by the contemplation of heavenly ones, and to join them to God by mental prayer:

nor did he so eagerly aim to wear down the body with labors, as to cultivate the mind with spiritual documents, and to mortify the internal passions. He taught that the life of Christ was to be emulated by pious exercitations, but before all mysteries the Passion was to be meditated; which he distributed in fifteen points or partitions in the best order. He himself so vehemently impressed it on his inmost heart, that as often as he heard it related, he was tortured with the highest grief: and on each Friday of the Parasceve, those explaining the same in a mournful rite, with much scourging, with the strictest fasting, with tears, with impatient wailing, he filled up those things which were wanting of the Passion of Christ in his own body…

[7] Although he would rather be subject than preside, constrained by the precept of his superiors he had at some time to undergo the governance of others. Yet he so governed, that he rather seemed to serve; and set over others, was equal to all, following the counsel of him who said: and likewise others whom he governs with great discretion. They have set you a ruler, be not lifted up, be among them as one of them: have care of them, and so trust, and all your care being discharged recline: that you may rejoice on their account, and as an ornament of grace receive a crown, and obtain the dignity of contribution. Eccl. 31, 1 By such placid and prudent governance he followed such an opinion, that all desired to deliver themselves to his discipline, nor was there any in that province who did not wish to dwell with him. There was none who spoke an evil word of him, nor who transmitted complaints to the greater Prelates. The imperfect he composed to the Rule, the perfect he stimulated to better things. In rebuking vehement, in admonishing gentle, in commanding he ulcerated no one's mind, well considering that an indiscreet Prelate makes a disobedient subject. Justice and mercy he so tempered together, that faults did not remain unpunished, nor the offender exasperated: for justice without mercy is severity; and mercy without justice furnishes an incentive to offending. He bore it ill if he saw anyone idle: and to each he assigned his own ministry.

[8] He flourished also with signs and the virtue of prophecy. In the convent of Teramo ^b he signed with the Cross a young girl oppressed by a demon, the Guardian commanding it, he shines also with miracles and prophecy. and at once freed her from the evil spirit. Made Guardian of the Sulmonian monastery, the road which led to the city ^c he caused to be widened with no small labor. Being asked by a Brother working with him, why with so great sweat of the Brothers and some expenses he was caring to have the path widened; To our few Brothers, said he, that footpath abundantly suffices: but near is the time when a huge multitude of peoples is about to pass through here. That he had truly foretold appeared, when after his death, commended by frequent miracles, the greatest concourse of pious folk was made to the sepulcher. Burning with a great ardor of seeing God, for twenty years he begged God that it might please Him to lead forth his sighing soul from the prison-house of the body. Most often he repeated that of the Apostle, I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ: and he added that he greatly envied those who had gone before to Christ. Phil. 1, 23

[9] At length being heard he began to be sick, then to be afflicted with various diseases, and after various diseases and to be vehemently tortured with worsening pains: in which only that voice of his was heard, The Lord is my strength, the Lord is my refuge and my deliverer. At last with languid spirit when he perceived death near, Confession premised, most devoutly the most holy body of Christ, his knees bent outside the bed, a rope hung at his neck, he received: and having received from S. Francis pardon of his transgressions, he happily migrated to the Lord in the year MCCCCLVI, he dies 4 May 1456 on the IV day of May, in the aforesaid Convent of Sulmona, which he was governing. His body, while he lived tending to blackness, and his face dusky, became so white, and his lips reddening as a rose, and all his members so tractable and soft, that all wondered and desired to touch and venerate them. To the honor of the holy man was added the glory of miracles; which in great number the Notary's hand collected for the Bishop of Sulmona ^d, and very many others the Brothers wrote.

[10] His life was written by Marian ^e of Florence, Mark ^f of Lisbon, Peter ^g Rodulphus; and more diffusely than all by his fellow-countryman B. Bernardine of Aquila, The writer of the Life B. Bernardine, which is circulated in manuscript, from which I have culled the chief things. In the little work which he composed on the monasteries of the Province of S. Bernardine, he subjoins these things about this holy man. In the place of S. Nicholas near Sulmona, the body of B. Philip of Aquila rests, who was the greatest zealot of poverty, the greatest friend of chastity and obedience, devout in prayer, he praises him also elsewhere, singular in discretion, eminent in humility, pure in simplicity, cautious in prudence as a serpent, always intent against the snares of the devil, and (that I may comprehend many things in few) a singular son of our Blessed S. Francis. To all he was a mirror of holiness, yet with all his strength he strove to hide his holiness: but (according to the Lord, who says, Luke 11, 33 No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all who are in the house) the more he strove to hide it, as also did B. John of Capistrano. the more his holiness was diffused round about. Finally after his death God willed to show many miracles, as is plain at Sulmona: of which man I now say no more other things, because I have described his life at large… B. John of Capistrano, having heard of his death, vehemently grieved, and said: Alas for me! that my sojourn is so prolonged, that after this holy man I must sigh amid these troubles ^h. Happy city of Sulmona, which has merited to possess so great a treasure.

ANNOTATIONS

MIRACLES

From an old Notarial Italian Ms.

Philip of Aquila, of the Order of the Observants of S. Francis, at Sulmona in Italy (B.)

FROM THE NOTARIAL MS.

These are the miracles of B. Philip of Aquila, of the Order of the Friars Minor of the Observance, examined by the Bishop of Valva or Sulmona.

[1] Masius Dominici of Juliano, Deprived of motion of almost the whole body, of the province of the Abruzzi, appearing and standing before the Lord Bishop of Valva or Sulmona, to declare the grace which he received through a vow made to B. Philip of Aquila of the Order of the FF. Minor of the Observance, in the very year in which he died as Guardian in the place of S. Nicholas at Sulmona, said that for a long time he suffered a certain infirmity, whence arose grave pains, very troublesome to his body, yet not always equally, but sometimes more and more intense. From the beginning of May the aforesaid Masius was so afflicted in his shins, hands, and other members, only the head and belly excepted, that being able to move scarcely any part of his body, he was compelled to recline in bed, nor without another's help could he raise himself from it ever so little: he suffered moreover vehement contractions in his hands, nor could he stir himself in the bed itself unless helped by his wife or some other assisting; nor was even this done without great difficulty.

[2] Being so constituted, he sought aid several times from physicians and medicines: but in vain: wherefore he turned himself to invoke other Saints, whom the towns near his fatherland venerate. But afterward on the day ^b of Pentecost, in the said month of May, understanding that at the body of B. Philip God was working many miraculous graces and deliverances from various infirmities, a vow being made he suddenly recovers. Bartholomew Ricciardi of Juliano relating them, suddenly with the greatest devotion and faith he made a vow to the said B. Philip, saying that if by his merits and prayers interceding he were freed from his infirmity, he would go to visit his body; and thence returning to his ^c castle, would have his effigy painted, to be placed in the church of S. Mary of the same castle. This vow being made the aforesaid Masius continually attempted to rise, and publicly and manifestly confirming that he had been freed from the disease by the grace received, walked through the castle: but on the following Monday, moving most freely, he came on foot to the said holy body of B. Philip with the undersigned companions. And the said Masius himself was seen, by means of the vow and the grace received, to come and return freely. And all these things the said Masius himself said: these moreover are the witnesses who accompanied him: Bartholomew Ricciardi, Catalda of Andrew, and Nina of Colas: who all and each by their oath confirmed all the premises, as

were stated by the aforesaid Masius.

[3] On the XXV day of the month of May, Indiction IV, there appeared before the Lord Bishop, likewise grievously tortured in the left leg, Tutius Simonis of Juliano of the province of the Abruzzi, confessing and saying that he had been infirm and suffered grave pains in his left leg and in the nerves about the knee on one side and the other: so that for six years he could not use the said leg for walking. But hearing that the body of B. Philip, dead in the church of S. Nicholas near Sulmona, was working many miracles by the power of God, inflamed with devotion with hope of recovering health, he vowed to betake himself to visit it. Soon indeed the divine mercy was present, he received the grace desired, all pain departed from the leg, and as he had promised so continuing his devotion he came from the aforesaid Castle of Juliano to Sulmona to the said blessed body, more on foot than on horseback; using a horse however from time to time to indulge rest to his body: for the Castle of Juliano is distant about thirty miles from Sulmona. All these things the said Tutius narrated before the Lord Bishop of Sulmona, and the same things about her father before the same Lord Bishop under oath affirmed Antonia the daughter of the same Tutius, to be true as above narrated, in the presence of D. Antonio de Avezzano Vicar General of the aforesaid Bishop, as also of Antonio de Pacano, dwelling at Sulmona, James John of Rainerius of Aquila, Francis of Master Peter de Horiano, and Honufrius Manelli of Sulmona.

[4] On the XXVII day of the said month of May there appeared before the Lord Bishop of Sulmona Peter de Gallutio dwelling at Miniano in the province of ^d the Terra di Lavoro, confessing and saying and another in the foot that he had been infirm and suffered grave pains in his left foot, so that for a whole month he could not walk to the space of one mile nor labor. But hearing that the dead body of B. Philip stood in the church of S. Nicholas of Sulmona, and that God was working many miracles through it, kindled with devotion he made a vow of visiting it with hope of obtaining health. And the vow being suddenly made, by the mercy of God, he was master of the desired grace and began to walk, and continuing his devotion he came on foot from the said place of Miniano ^e as far as Sulmona to the said holy body. And Nicholas of Anthony of the said land, examined and adjured, by solemn oath asserted the aforesaid to be true: and the same likewise, examined and adjured, affirmed Joanna of Honofrius de Petra Mondaza, the godmother of the same Peter.

[5] On the same day and hour there appeared before the Lord Bishop of Sulmona Nicholas of Anthony of the said land of Miniano, and said that he had been infirm, and a third in the right leg, and had suffered grave pains in his right leg, so that with difficulty and great labor he walked for a small space: and that he had labored with this infirmity from his very childhood. But hearing that almighty God was working many miracles, by the mediation of the prayers and merits of B. Philip in the place of S. Nicholas of Sulmona, he prayed and vowed that if God should free him too from his infirmity, without delay he would betake himself to Sulmona, and personally visit the body of B. Philip and his sepulcher. And the vow being thus made, suddenly he felt himself free, and came personally with bare feet to the said place and blessed body. Wherefore the aforesaid Peter under his oath also asserted the matter to be so, and the same the aforesaid Joanna of Honofrius confirmed, in the presence of D. Presbyter Peter de Avezzano Doctor Vicar general of the Lord Bishop, D. Antonio Victorici Canon, and Innocent de Corbis Presbyter, and John of Sulmona, and Paul-Anthony of Colas, and Andrew Ciotti of the Theatine city.

[6] On the XXIX day of the month of May MCCCCLVI ^f before the Lord Bishop of Sulmona D. Mary wife of D. Marinus de Caramento, and swollen in the whole body, of the third Order of S. Francis of the province of the Abruzzi, under oath interrogated about her infirmity and the grace obtained, said that suffering an inflation of hands and knees for one year, by the counsel of certain physicians she applied certain remedies; by which the evil was carried into a great tumor, the whole body generally inflated, so that she lost both the faculty of speaking and of seeing, nor for fifteen days could she take any nutritive food. And so her life was everywhere held in desperate case, and was bewailed by her sons and household as one already dead. In this state there came to her two Brothers of the Observance, of whom one was called Fr. Oliver, the other Fr. Jerome: who animating the infirm woman suggested to her that she should commend herself to B. Philip of the Observance of S. Francis, and now laid down for death. dead in their place of S. Nicholas of Sulmona, that he might obtain for her grace unto eternal life: adding, We will not depart hence until you have said the Ave Maria. And she who before could not speak, by their prayers and the mediation of God's grace, recited the Ave Maria. Which seen, as many as were present and the infirm woman herself made a vow of visiting the said blessed body of B. Philip. Then she asked for food, and being suddenly healed she came to visit the said blessed body, by the grace obtained free from all infirmity. Lawrence the son of the said D. Mary under oath confirmed all the same things, in the presence at all of Paschal Corcii de Staffa, Master Nicholas Petruccii a mason, Simeon of Marian, Master Anthony Angeluccii of Sulmona.

The other informations of miracles being omitted for the sake of brevity, the present copy has been extracted from a certain parchment book written in an ancient hand, in which are noted the Life and informations of the miracles of the said B. Philip of Aquila, existing in the library of the Venerable Convent of S. Nicholas of the city of Sulmona: and a collation having been made &c. In faith whereof I the Notary Bernardine Sebastian &c.

ANNOTATIONS

ON B. MICHAEL GIEDROYĆ

OF THE ORDER OF CANONS REGULAR OF S. MARY DE METRO

AT CRACOW IN POLAND.

A.D. MCCCCLXXXV

Michael Giedroyć, a Lithuanian of the Order of the Mendicant Canons Regular of Cracow (B.)

D. P.

[1] The Order of S. Mary de Metro; which is also called of the Penitence or Patience of the Holy Martyrs, confirmed by Alexander IV, supreme Pontiff, and his Successors, under the Rule of S. Augustine and the profession of mendicity, in a white garment, displaying a red Cross over the scapular at the breast, Eulogy in Michovia a contemporary, possesses various monasteries even now and possessed more formerly in Lithuania and Poland. In the first, B. Michael Giedroyć, sprung of Ducal blood, received the habit of that religion at Bystrzyca; in the latter, at Cracow he lived holily and died. Matthias of Michovia, in book 4 of Polish affairs, which he ends with the year of Christ MDVI and the same XII after the death of the Blessed himself, in chapter 73 speaks thus of him: In the year of the Lord MCCCCLXXXV Fr. Michael of the Order of S. Mary de Metro of the Patience of the BB. Martyrs at S. Mark of Cracow, on the IV day of the month of May ended his life, buried in the choir at the doors of the sacristy toward the north. He was of short stature, of the nature of dwarfs; glorious and famous (as is reported) for miracles… He was always humble, prayerful, and devout.

[2] The other writers after Matthias unhesitatingly call him Blessed, especially those who wrote the Lives of other Blessed ones familiar to himself, and more recent writers with the title of Blessed, namely Martin Baronius in the Life of B. Stanislaus of Kazimierz, in which he is called a most celebrated resuscitator of four dead; the Author of the Life of B. Simon of Lipnica, in which he is the most renowned worker of very many miracles: Opotovicus in the Life of B. John Cantius, who asserts that, like a starry lamp, he fixed the light of his probity upon John himself. In the Prologue too to the Life of B. Ladislaus of Gielniów, to be given on this very IV of May, it is said that in the temple of S. Mark of the Order of S. Mary de Metro there is a place skilfully formed at the wall, shining with due adornment, in which the venerable bones of B. Michael Giedroyć rest. and proof of cult, Our Albert Wijuk Kojałowicz, in the Miscellanies of matters pertaining to the ecclesiastical state in the great Duchy of Lithuania, enumerating the proper Patrons of that land, places B. Michael Giedroyć, of the ancient Lithuanian family of the Giedroyć Dukes, next after S. Casimir: and in part 2 of the History of Lithuania, which we have caused to be printed at Antwerp, book 5 page 250, the death of S. Casimir being related as occurring in the year MCCCCLXXXIV, there followed him, he says, in the next year, the blood of the ancient Dukes of Lithuania, Michael Duke Giedroyć, no less illustrious for Holiness of morals than for descent: but in the margin is written B. Michael.

[3] Who first wrote the Life is unknown: lost by fire, it was restored in the year MDLXIV by John of Trzciana, The Life formerly written from the relation of those familiar with him, Master of Arts, Fellow of the Greater College, and Notary public by the authorities of the Apostolic and Imperial Sees, as he received it partly from his Confessor, partly from others who had known him well, conversing with the same, in good faith and conscience, before several most trustworthy witnesses. The original autograph of this life R. P. Frederick Schembek asserted to us to be kept in the convent of S. Mark, he who in the year MDCXXIV in the translation of the sacred bones played those parts which below we shall understand from the public instrument; and a decade later Provost of our Professed House of Cracow, published in a more cultivated style in the year 1605. sent us that very instrument, together with the Life printed at Cracow in the year MDCV, dedicated to the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend D. Peter Tylicki Bishop of Włocławek, named of Cracow, by Fr. Christopher Provost of Libychów and Commissary General, professing at the end that he gives that which was written by John, in entire faith, only the cult of the speech being changed: I add, that some things done afterward have also been interposed, for the sake of explanation or confirmation.

[4] Rendered into Polish with an addition in the year 1615. It would have been much more pleasing to us to receive it in its original phrase; and that we might obtain this we gave to Cracow

letters. But while that is awaited we reprint what we have, collated with the Polish version, which, dedicated in the year MDXV to Joachim Count of Tarnów and Wenden, Andrew Gronowski Prior of S. Mark of Cracow published, with certain additions from the last decade; which John Snini, a Polish Priest residing here at Antwerp, rendered into Latin for us. During the sixty years that followed we do not doubt that many miracles worthy of memory befell, which we shall gladly also bring into the light, if, as we have requested by letters, they shall have been sent to us from Cracow.

LIFE

Written from the relation of two contemporaries and familiars by D. John Trzciana, public Notary, and published in a more cultivated style at Cracow in the year 1605 by Fr. Christopher Provost of Libychów.

Michael Giedroyć, a Lithuanian of the Order of the Mendicant Canons Regular of Cracow (B.)

BY THE AUTHOR JO. TRZCIANA

PROTESTATION OF THE AUTHOR

[1] In the Name of the Lord. Amen. In the year of the Lord MDXLIV, about to write the Life of B. Michael, on the fifth day of April, Paul III ruling at Rome in the tenth year of his Pontificate, for perpetual memory, to the honor of the Lord God almighty, and for the imitation of the good, the life of B. Michael the singular Confessor, of the Order of S. Augustine, I undertook to transcribe, I John of Trzciana, now Professor of the liberal Arts, Fellow of the greater College of Cracow, Cleric of the same diocese, public Notary of the holy Apostolic See, of my own accord asked and desired, sincerely for the sake of the Lord God, by venerable men given to devotion, the Brothers of Penitence, soldiering under the banner of S. Augustine, namely Stanislaus Intrzkowski, Provost of Libychów, and now Provincial General of the whole Order; and Felix Krasowski, Prior at S. Mark, and the Brothers of the same cloister, lest the holiness of so great a man perish together with the years; since it had already been written before, but because, with time and with his miraculous deeds, it was lost by fire. From the narration therefore of trustworthy men I wrote this, and chiefly on the worthy authority of Father Nicholas Abbot [of] the Convent of Brzesko, lost before this by fire, who before had been Prior of S. Mark, and from the Brothers mentioned below, of the same cloister of S. Mark, I had taken his whole life, and adding or diminishing nothing to the words expressed below in his life, only this, which is told me under conscience, as I had it from the Reverend John Provost of Libychów: who being a Brother of the same Convent, was Confessor of B. Michael, where also he received from him his more secret words in the agony, which will be set down below; and from the Rev. Stanislaus, Provost of Bystrzyca in Lithuania, who together with him had entered the same Order, and made profession. Besides these Stanislaus Czarnii, Stanislaus Srafraniec, Prior at S. Mark, Matthias Kolaczek a Brother, Stanislaus Ozga Prior, who at the same time with him dwelt at S. Mark; and knew his life well, and two Lithuanian Parish-priests, Lawrence at Miedniki, and Lawrence of Iwerecza; agreeing in one matter and words, denounced it to the above-mentioned Father Nicholas of Namiona Abbot of Brzesko, from whose mouth I learned these things which I wrote, and besides these from the Venerable Father John Porembski, Custos of Wojnicz, and from the provident John Rysia, baker and citizen of Cracow, Provisor of the temple of S. Mark, * who knew him well, he names those from whose relation he received it: and conversing with the same, approved the integrity of his life. Which two above-named related to me, in good faith and conscience, of the life and morals of B. Michael: of whose concordant and unanimous testimony, in the order which follows, as the matter required, I faithfully heaped together, together with the prodigies which he wrought as yet in life and after death, by the Divine virtue cooperating in His Saints, to confirm their holiness; not indeed all, before trustworthy witnesses. but yet those which under testimony I received from the mouth of the aforesaid witnesses, witnesses being called to this, namely the Venerable and Noble men Lords, John Parish-priest of Brzesko, Stanislaus of Urzędów Prior there, Stanislaus Kacki Parish-priest of Raciechowice, Andrew of Oświęcim, George of Zator, Stanislaus of Urzędów public Notary, and many other trustworthy men, whom for the sake of brevity I have thought to omit: in whose faith and testimony I have thought it should be corroborated by the customary name and sign.

Thus far the protestation of John printed before the Life, but imprudently torn away from the copy sent to us, as far as the sign: wherefore since after various letters written for that cause we have not yet been able to receive the missing parts, as they are extant printed in Latin: from the Polish version, we ordered the same to be rendered again into Latin for us by R. D. John Snini, also a part of the Appendix to the aforementioned life from the Polish, of which I wished you, reader, here admonished.

CHAPTER I.

His birth, pious education, virtues exercised in the secular and monastic life.

[1] Blessed Michael refers his origin to the Lithuanians, a Sarmatian people, Born of noble stock among the Lithuanians especially ancient and illustrious for deeds done, but long given to the worship of idols (which late at last had taken up the study of humility and religion, by the work of Wladislaus of the Jagellons their Duke, but King of Poland): his parents of the equestrian order ^b, rather vehemently inflamed with integrity of life and zeal of piety, he obtained by the divine gift. To whom a certain village ^c, whose surname was Giedroyć, not far from Vilna, the chief noble city of that province, was their seat. These, an only son fit enough neither for military nor rustic work (to which the nation chiefly devotes itself) on account of the gifts of body denied him by nature (for he had a shorter stature and below the human measure), of a tiny and weak body having received him, judging that they were not much distant from childlessness because they had begotten such a one, devoted him chiefly to piety and the divine service: hence hoping the highest solace (since another was denied) if the son should profit by the force of mind, in which he chiefly excelled, and should make up by virtues what was lacking to the habit of his body. Nor were they cheated of the issue of their desires: for as soon as his age permitted him, he chiefly followed those studies by which he might either withdraw or certainly snatch himself from the allurements of sinning. For what faculty for letters he had got from his genius, he devotes himself to the study of virtue that both the scarcity of schools in those parts, and the daily struggle with diseases, undertaken from boyhood itself, retarded. To this was added a bitter calamity, from the use of the other foot, lost in his early youth, so that he had need to lean on supports to perform the office of walking.

[2] But since for a sedentary and unlettered man there was no other way of beguiling leisure (especially where rest was given from the prayers, to manual work to which he more solicitously with the highest devotion gave himself) than through some manual art; he therefore made cases for carrying the Most Holy Eucharist to the sick, with no common skill, following the example of the Apostle, who speaks thus of his labors: Silver and gold or apparel of no one have I coveted, as you yourselves know, that to those things which were needful to me, and to those who are with me, these hands have ministered. Acts 20, 33 He did not therefore think it a reproach to be engaged in those things by which the necessaries of the body are acquired, especially since he relied on such an author: for it holds most men, after contemplation has occupied them, after the example of the Apostle so, that they think themselves contaminated if they bend their mind a little to the care of the necessaries of life; leaving all that business to seculars, while so great an Apostle did not blush to take refuge in his own hands in these matters. For it was never a reproach to avoid by laboring the occasions of acting ill, nay, to holy men it was no other refuge for the health of the mind. B. Michael felt this same thing, therefore that part of his age which others consume in leisure, wantonness, games, he rather spent in labor, with this as a bridle restraining and recalling the contumacious and rebellious juvenile spirit: so given to fastings from boyhood that he indulged only three days of the week to refreshing the body, and of great abstinence. the rest being spent in abstinence of food. So little did he wish to be conceded to the body, that from the excessive austerity of life the functions of the mind were dulled.

[3] It is incredible to say how greatly he loved solitude, fled the intercourse of his equals: indeed he sought places remote from witnesses; in meditations, prayers he spent perpetual hours, by stability of morals and gravity a youth he resembled an old man, so sparing of speech that never could an idle word be wrung from him. But if necessity had compelled him to speak anything; voices were heard, as if proceeding from a certain deity, and above human. by grave and rare speech wondrous things So much majesty he displayed in his breast, modesty in his mouth, modesty in his countenance, that he seemed to breathe something divine by his very habit. Which thing acquired for him the greater admiration among his own, the less indication of so great a nature was shown at first sight: for so bears the affection of men, that we look up more and more to those things raised into splendor, which we more studiously despised while yet set in obscurity: for there the divine virtue most exerts its force, where least help is expected from nature. This certainly did not deceive B. Michael, to whom it was among the greatest of vows sublime in humility to subject every human thing to divine things; and therefore the greater veneration he merited from virtues, the more he humbled his mind, placing the height of virtues in humility; since he knew that to the Savior Himself in the use of life no other was more frequented. That he might be admonished of which at all moments, he bore a Cross hanging from his neck, fatiguing God with assiduous prayers, that He would deign to supply him greater occasions, and a richer field of exercising that virtue, by whose benefit all are obtained.

[4] And as he persevered in that affection a vehement zeal of religion came upon him; but one thing stood in the way, he asks to be received into the Order that his fatherland at that time was little furnished with religious men. Famous then was the College of the Brothers of the Order of S. Mark of the Convent of Cracow, soldiering under ^d the rule of S. Augustine, at Bystrzyca; which village in Lithuania was distant not many paces from his own native hamlet. Thither he betook himself; carrying with him these hopes and thoughts, that he, devoid of letters, weak of body, would be prohibited as useless to religion: yet he resolved to make the trial. There acted at that time as Provost of the place and General of the whole Order Brother Augustine, a man of the highest integrity and doctrine: to whom (the opportunity of mutual conversation being made) he discloses that it had been in his mind from his very first adolescence to act among the Brothers of that Religion; but fearing lest he should be dismissed frustrate of hope, he had deferred it to this day: but now suppliant he contended that he would make him master of his vow; nor would he wish to defer long his desires, long ago consecrated to God and Religion; that he would find a most ample reward with Him who is rich in retributing.

The grave man assented to the petitioner, and obtains it: whether moved by his pious affection, or because he had explored from his face the ardor of his mind. The habit therefore of the Order, having first performed the Sacred rites, he put upon him with a blessing: and without delay, about to set out for Cracow, to celebrate the Convent of the Brothers, he joins him to himself as a companion, and where it was permitted through the time of probation he initiates the same in the sacrament of religion.

[5] But because it seemed to him very opportune, being about to give himself to God, to have some fixed seat, he becomes a suppliant to the Chapter, likewise that he might be allowed to have at Cracow a secret cell that he might continue his abode at Cracow; and might be permitted to have some cell secret from the frequency of the Brothers, with free liberty of going into the temple whenever he wished. They assented without difficulty, since they saw his piety and holiness daily taking strength more and more. A little edifice therefore behind the doors of the temple within the cloister to the West is raised up, so low and narrow that it scarce held one lying on his back. Such a dwelling for the body he chose, who destined his mind for heaven. There came under the sight of those entering, the earth a couch, straw the pillows, the furniture little prayer-beads, next to the temple. and a rod hanging for the sake of discipline. With these riches the man of God was content; intent on all the duties of the cloister, and remitting nothing of his office, especially where either an altar was to be adorned, or service to be rendered to one celebrating the sacred sacrifice of the Mass, otherwise also at the remaining hours, where the duties to the Brothers permitted, nowhere seen except in the temple. He rejoiced in the thinnest, nay vilest food. From the eating of flesh from that time when he embraced the monastic life he always abstained; content with cooked vegetable and thin beer; often with bread and salt alone, rarely oil, and butter, and that as condiments.

[6] which he goes out of only for the sake of pious converse with holy men. Outside the monastery he never set foot, deeming that he underwent danger as often as he went forth in public, unless when there were to be visited men famous for the fame of holiness at that time and kindled with incredible piety toward God, with whom, the divine spirit gluing his mind, he had close familiarity. For then he either met Suentoslaus ^f dwelling at S. Mary in the ring of Cracow, and there buried after his death, keeping perpetual silence in life; or B. John Cantius ^g, Doctor of Sacred Theology, Professor of the Academy of Cracow, Fellow of the greater College, who shines with miracles after his death at S. Anne's; or B. Simon ^h the Franciscan, sprung from Lipnica, whose sepulcher among the Bernardine Brothers in Stradom is visited, celebrated by the vows of men; or Brother Stanislaus ⁱ of Kazimierz Canon Regular, who illustrates the Church of the title of Corpus Christi with miracles. Wonderful to say, what opinion of holiness and integrity of life each of those held mutually of the others: for one being asked about the others, related something heavenly and holy, although in his own judgment each seemed to himself least, nay even despised. Most happy was that age, which gave to the city of Cracow so many men of proved holiness, by whose suffrages hitherto it enjoys the desirable felicity of security, and would that long it may enjoy them devoted to itself.

[7] Intent on prayers But I return to Blessed Michael, whose life alone I have resolved to distinguish with letters, and whose piety the eloquence of no man can attain. The Church was his daily and nightly dwelling; there to watch, to pray, to bend the knee; to pour out prayers to God, and indeed chiefly before the image of the Crucified, which is erected in the midst of the temple; to have his gaze fixed on heaven, by deep contemplation to be as it were rapt out of himself, to revolve the divine benefits in his mind, to give thanks for them, to estimate rewards with punishments for deeds, to act intent on the future life, was daily and assiduous to him. He hears the Crucifix speaking to him: And so that the image of the Crucified had spoken to him both was heard, and he himself, drawing his slight breath in confession to F. John General Provost of Libychów, did not doubt to confess. Nay also as he persevered in prayer, intent on contemplation, evil spirits, by clamor, reviling, gnashing, insulting, terror, were often hostile. To him also giving himself to discipline and cutting his back with scourges, the same, doubling the scourges, with such atrocious blows inflicted on his body were troublesome; that no part of his body was free from welts; while nevertheless he persevered in prayer, and by its protection overcame all diabolic temptations. chastising his body he is direly beaten by the demons. Frequently beaten to satiety, and afflicted with dire scourges: even dragged through the temple, half-alive, with the rods shattered, behind the high altar, by the Brothers assembling to chant Matins, he was found. Although moreover he languished from the pain, yet he pressed in silence those things which were done with him, even though the matter could in no way be dissembled. For when solemner feasts were impending the Brothers frequently overheard these tortures repeated to him. The Lord's Nativity day was at hand, to be celebrated more religiously according to custom; when the Brothers for chanting Matins assembled in the church, the straw which on these days by the custom of the place was wont to be strewn over the pavement of the temple, was found all shattered and heaped into a pile. While Blessed Michael lay half-alive behind the high altar, to the Brothers asking him for an indication of the deed done, nothing could be wrung out; yet by conjecture they gathered that, he being dragged by the demons, the straw had been shattered. which yet he tries to conceal. How great a pain the man of God willingly bore, who, never using any bedding, was wont to rest on the bare ground? especially since he continued that pain to the fourteenth day, before he recovered himself.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER II.

The miracles of Michael living and dead: his pious death.

[8] Becoming famous for miracles On account of this singular and unheard-of patience, humility, piety, and the other virtues, the power of working miracles was divinely conceded to him alive, from which it was permitted to measure the virtues of so great a man. Of these, according to the faith of an old manuscript copy, it must be said in this place. For he relieved very many from fevers, fluxes, and various other languors, the physicians themselves despairing, and restored them to their former health, but by the carelessness of the scribe many were neglected. Of those whom I shall relate these things are found written. he heals a woman with a flux, A certain noble woman, of Cracow, laboring some years with a flux of the months, and despairing of her life, when she had often in vain implored aid of the physicians, came to him kindled with faith. But when she had found him ministering to one sacrificing, nor could she address him with words; prostrate on her face she prayed God, the extremity of B. Michael's garment seized with her hand; and safe from thenceforth by the gift of God she returned home, giving thanks, nor dissembling by whose aid she had obtained health.

[9] At a certain time too in the street of S. John, a fire being spread widely over the roofs, a certain widow, whose surname was Anna Palibotkowa, he extinguishes fires by praying. ran to B. Michael, asking that by his prayers he would obtain with God that the fire be kept off from her house (for already from the neighborhood the fire was licking it) which so suddenly subsided, that it seemed to have spared the wooden and combustible material. Being therefore asked by the neighbors what had profited her house, she answered, the prayers of D. Michael. The like had befallen opposite D. Mark's in a stone house ^a commonly called Snieskowska, grievously seized by fire. Meanwhile, he being free for prayers, there is a concourse of the consternated Brothers to him, demanding that he should care to avert the impending plague from the cloister by his intercession. Whom he, consoling in the Lord, addresses with these words: Saying that there was no danger from the present fire, that a time would follow after his death, which would bring to this convent a great calamity from fire. The most grave writer Matthias of Miechów mentions this matter in his history ^b. Having therefore gone out of the temple together with the Brothers, he mitigated the flame widely raging by the sign of the Cross. By which miracle men astonished, to God huge

thanks they gave, stupefied at and proclaiming so great a virtue in the Blessed man. Nor did much time flow, when the violence of fire began to affect that part of the city where the brothel is situated. The Brothers and the running neighbors indicate to B. Michael what is being done. He, as he had been wont to do in a like matter, by the sign of the Cross utterly extinguished the fire. Stupefied, those who had seen it, with hands raised to heaven praised God together, and gave thanks to the blessed man.

[10] From that time abundantly alms were carried into the monastery, he foretells future things, and a concourse to the blessed man with various sick and infirm, from more remote places too. And when the fame of the miracles which were wrought by him had spread far and wide; some the desire of seeing the blessed man kindled, others piety stimulated, most that they might fish out from him something about the state of their life. For also the gift of Prophecy shone forth in him. For a certain parent, a Citizen of Cracow, came to him with her two sons, about to consult about the state of their entering life. Whose vow the blessed man considered, and his gaze fixed a little on the boys, answered that one would be initiated in sacred Orders, but the other would be hanged: which happened while he himself was still surviving. While these things are scattered among the people, there becomes a frequent concourse of men to him, eager to know their fates, the blessed man withdrawing and hiding himself, lest hence either vain glory be sought, or any occasion of superstition be built. Often therefore he chid those demanding oracles of this kind, rejecting the knowledge of future things to God alone; and asserting that a matter so high and divine was alien from his life, which likewise was subjected to many infirmities. Therefore that they should not nourish an empty hope, should commit their fates to God, should themselves live piously and chastely to the utmost of their power, and not doubt that fates worthy of life would follow.

[11] Such things often inculcating the man of God returned to prayers, willing to remit nothing of the zeal of piety even to his last breath, and holding a constant rigor to the end of life and persevering in that holy institute of his mind he filled up old age, lean from assiduous exercises and exhausted of strength, pale of face, whitening of head, worn out not so much by years as by diseases, labors, and finally vigils. For in his extreme age he imposed on himself a much harder condition of life, continually macerating himself with fastings, so that he failed in spirit, and very hardly went about the functions of life; while nonetheless he was not recalled from his accustomed prayers, nay was more intensely engaged in the divine duties, devoting himself wholly to God, and conceding nothing to the infirmity or debility of his body. He looked not back, but with assiduous thought cooked in his mind the condition of death and of the last things; reckoning with himself the felicity of the heavenly ones and the torments of the damned, execrating the latter, emulating the former, he always directed his vows toward God. Seized by a fever he began to give thanks to God, seized by a fever he exhorts the Brothers: that the time of his dissolution, which he himself long before foresaw, was now approaching. Therefore, the Brothers together with the Prior being convoked to him, he diligently commended himself to their prayers, exhorting the same to mutual charity, and frequently using that of John, God is charity, and he who abides in charity abides in God, and God in him; besides this that they should obey their senior, inculcating that of scripture, that obedience is better than victim; moreover that they should flee public scandals, since the Savior threatens, woe to those by whom scandals come. 1 John 4, 16, 3 Kings 10, 22, Matt. 18, 7

[12] Now that they should diligently keep the Divine commandments, or accurately guard them, the Cross of the Lord, and unless they beware of scandals he threatens them with three fires, whose image they bore on their garment, they should rather bear expressed in the breast and inmost senses, and from the ways of the Lord should not recede a finger's breadth: which to those doing he promised an increase of all goods, the propagation and increments of religion throughout the whole Christian world; but to the negligent he announced a most certain issue of punishments, especially of temporal things through frequent fires and desolations and losses of the monasteries: but if they should still proceed to make scandals, they would shortly incur not only the persecution of the common people and infamy, but also a triple fire. Which indeed not otherwise than he had forewarned, came to pass. For within fifty years thrice the monastery of S. Mark of Cracow, the sacred building alone unharmed, as the Annals ^c of the Poles testify, was burned. The first disaster received from fire, which befell in the year 1494, while John Albert King of Poland ^d was master of affairs in Poland, in the year from the incarnation of the Lord MCCCCXCIV, on June XXIX, which was the day famous for the solemnity of SS. Peter and Paul the Apostles, a fire arose ^e from the New-gate by night, and so raged through all the roofs of the streets, that scarcely in the street of the cobblers did the force of the flame reside. The second in the year of the Savior MDXXVIII, Sigismund ^f the first of that name reigning, on Friday the day before S. Mark's, [1528] at the XIX hour ^g, a fire breaking out likewise from the New-gate, consumed all the buildings sacred and profane, as far as the temple of S. Stephen, in the space of nearly four hours, the cloister of S. Mark, and the front part of the temple, ^h all the roofs of Kleparz fell, burned by fire. The third in the year of the Lord MDXLIV ⁱ on Laetare Sunday at the first hour of the night, a fire leaping out from the street of S. John, and 1544 gave destruction widely through the street, and reduced to ashes the cloister of S. Mark together with the adjacent houses. These events following could prove the prediction of the blessed man to have been true: for also the noble monastery of Bystrzyca in Lithuania, to which was added the loss of the Bystrzyca monastery. with all its latifundia, more than thirty miles in circuit lying open, besides towns, villas, estates, ponds, groves, woods, on account of public scandals, and the unbearable excesses of certain Brothers, but notably of F. John Provost of Bystrzyca, and F. James Parish-priest of Miedniki, passed into the possession of the chapter of Vilna; Sigismund the first of that name King of Poland and great Duke of Lithuania, not only indulging, but also conceding a privilege, and donating it in perpetuity, about the year of the incarnate Lord MDXXVI, from which time this Order began to be inclined and gradually to be diminished.

[13] But I return to my purpose: When B. Michael discerned that the end of his life was now at hand, Having confessed his last, he ordered his confessor, the venerable man F. John, who afterward was elected Provost of Libychów and General of the whole order, to be summoned to him; and to him of all things which had befallen him in life he accurately and with grief confessed, nor was he silent about the above-mentioned secrets, and fortified with the Viaticum, that to him praying the image of the Crucified which is in the midst of the temple had spoken, and that from the persecution of evil spirits he was sometimes left half-alive, and that he had succored various diseases of men: which yet that they should not be divulged, from the same his Confessor he contended with the greatest prayers. At length he ordered himself to be furnished with the sacred mysteries; fortified with which he asked of the Brothers, that they would not refuse to bestow their last effort on him in reciting the Psalter, to which after enough had been given, he begged of the same with tears pardon of his offenses: then indeed if he had failed in anything against his superiors, especially against obedience, he dies in the year 1485. he asked to be forgiven him; in turn they pressing this same thing, and tears arising commending themselves to his vows. Therefore on bent knee praying, and pouring out tears, as a true athlete of Christ on the IV Nones of May of the year MCCCCLXXXV he rested in the Lord.

[14] On the next day a Chapter is announced to the Brothers, about to deliberate where they should judge he was to be buried; when meanwhile Suentoslaus, To the place of burial indicated by B. Suentoslaus, admirable for the secret of silence, famous for holiness of life and conspicuous for doctrine, and an intimate of Blessed Michael, ran into the temple of S. Mark, knocking at the door of the sacristy, where the Brothers were kept shut in council; and access being made to him, he held out to those deliberating a paper, written in these words: This man of God your brother, who is dead, whose soul rests eternally in the heavens, shall be buried in the choir at the doors of the sacristy toward the north, where you will find a sepulcher prepared: and another sepulcher too there still is, under the great altar, which now will be kept, because greater than he will be ^k he who will be buried in it. carried, among many running together, It pleased to try what was intimated: and all things so answered to those inquiring, just as they had been foretold. To celebrating the funeral therefore they descended, which demanded the greater care, the more illustrious for holiness was the life of B. Michael. There is therefore the Sacrifice according to custom, the body placed on the bier, and set before the altar, men flowing together hither and thither in incredible frequency: among whom Suentoslaus, himself too illustrious for the opinion of holiness, did not recede from his coffin until the end of the burial, about to heap his friend with the supreme office. There was running together with the infirm, and those oppressed with various languors, who all by the touch of the bier were healed. So great a virtue does God work in His Saints.

[15] It pleases out of many to commemorate only these. A certain Catherine a Fisherwoman, citizen of Cracow, from the street which has its surname from the river Vistula, seized by a demon, after she touched the coffin of the deceased, is freed from the demon. A certain man too lame from his nativity, he frees a demoniac woman, full of faith and hope, ordered himself to be carried to the blessed body; who by the mere touch of the bier received the use of his feet; and joyful returned home, proclaiming the divine virtue working in the relics of the Saints. Finally many others on the same day, freed from various languors and fevers, with thanksgiving celebrated the funeral of the blessed man, in so great a frequency, that not only the temple, but even the street itself could not hold the multitude. he heals a lame man and several sick. For a certain fragrance of the sweetest odor wonderfully affected men, and therefore promiscuously men and women wiped his face with kerchiefs and ribbons, and kept them at home with veneration in place of relics.

[16] Meanwhile the body is committed to burial, the desire of the multitude growing to enjoy it still longer. The place is made ready, of which we made mention above: Invoked, he restores life to a dead man. it is let down into the trench amid the acclaiming people, and the monuments of benefits divinely received in the present being fixed at the sepulcher, until at length there is a departure to each his own. A certain man, his gait then received, returned into Hungary, came to Buda the noble city the seat of Kings; and there he found a youth swallowed up by the gulf of the Danube, and detained three days in the waters, being buried, his kinsmen wailing beyond the measure of man the disaster. He approaches nearer, and sets forth what things were done with him in Poland by the aid of B. Michael. Kindled by his words the kinsmen standing around make a vow for the dead man, themselves raised to God with full faith, that, if he returned to life, they would be authors to him of visiting the sepulcher of B. Michael at Cracow; when meanwhile as if awakened from sleep the youth returns to the functions of life, all giving thanks to God, and he himself chiefly, after he had recovered himself. Therefore about to satisfy his vow, to Cracow to the sepulcher of B. Michael with the greatest

devotion he came, carrying the mercy of God with praises, and leaving a sign of it at the monument of B. Michael.

These therefore are the things which John of Trzciana, Master of Arts, Fellow of the greater College, and public Notary by the authorities of the Apostolic and Imperial Sees, committed to letters concerning the life of B. Michael, collated into this place in entire faith, only the cult of the speech being changed: which whoever shall read, let him take in good and fair part.

ANNOTATIONS.

APPENDIX.

Certain other later miracles.

Michael Giedroyć, a Lithuanian of the Order of the Mendicant Canons Regular of Cracow (B.)

FROM A MS.

[17] From the relation of the Abbot of Brzesko we have, Frederick Szembek, already often mentioned, annotates these words to the foregoing Life: Many miracles besides done through him the author of this life testifies that he has omitted: yet three from the ancient tradition of the monastery itself we shall here set down. And this he does under this title, Some of the prodigies done at the sepulcher of D. Michael in the Priorate of the Venerable man D. Nicholas of Brzesko, then acting at S. Mark, written from his relation, since by the burning of fire the first acts had perished. And these seem to be the very ones which the Polish Life indicates, where it says at the end: Recent writers now place in their histories, that also besides the above-named (the Buda boy namely) three other dead returned to life: on whose account too in Martin Baronius in the Life of B. Stanislaus of Kazimierz B. Michael is called a most celebrated resuscitator of four dead. And these are they.

[18] In the year of the Lord MDXLI Zamata Anna, a citizen of Cracow, the resuscitation of a stillborn child, bore a stillborn child, at length weakened by grief she is oppressed by sleep. The man of God B. Michael appeared in her sleep; in a white garment in the monastic habit in which he was seen to walk, consoling her that she should not be so greatly shaken with grief, saying that he was B. Michael of the Order of D. Augustine, buried at S. Mark; at whose sepulcher if she made a vow with an oblation and a revealing of the prodigy she would have the boy alive. She awaking indicated the apparition of B. Michael to her husband and other neighbors, whom the husband believing, together with the others in good faith hoping in God, they made a vow at the sepulcher together with the mother. Soon the boy began to gape and at length to move himself. Which seen, rejoicing they gave thanks to God, and discharged the vow at the sepulcher without delay, with the affixing of a painted tablet, representing the apparition of the holy man, made to the woman being in sleep. And this little tablet was the first fixed at the sepulcher of B. Michael: which living boy the same Prior saw.

[19] of a boy submerged for three days Likewise in the following year MDXLII, under the Priorate of the Venerable D. Nicholas above-named, a certain boy from the country of Spytkowice, twelve years old, had been suffocated in the waters for three days. The mournful parents extracted the submerged one on the third day: and because there was no hope of life, yet not despairing of the grace of God, they vowed the boy to the sepulcher of Blessed Michael at Cracow, imploring the merits of the Saint. At length with the succession of time in the boy first the pallor of body began to disappear, and the face to be suffused with redness, then the head to move and be raised; at length he revived as from sleep. Whose parents, fulfilling the vow, brought him to the sepulcher well sound. Whom the Prior together with others saw and published in the pulpit.

[20] Likewise the Magnificent Lady Anna Szydłowiecka, Castellaness of Cracow, and health preserved to mother and offspring, about childbirth affected with great pain, so that they despaired of her life, when she could not even bring forth the offspring into light, made a vow, together with the offspring, if God should grant, of coming to the sepulcher of B. Michael. Soon the vow being made, without difficulty of childbirth, she bore. At length with a solemn oblation, giving thanks to the Lord God for the benefit received, she came to the sepulcher of B. Michael, and left a token. Likewise note that under the Priorate of the Venerable and Reverend Father D. Nicholas of Kamzana Abbot of Brzesko B. Michael was seen by the same in the sepulcher.

[21] To these taken from the MS. I add certain more recent things, wrought in this century, and given to Latinity from the Polish Life, by D. John Snini, to this tenor. several dying persons are healed, In the year of the Lord MDCXI the Illustrious and Magnificent D. Barbara Plazina, Governess of Cracow, depressed by a great and grave disease, of whom even the physicians despaired, by the intercession of this Blessed was made well again: and in token of the benefit, bending a silver tablet before the effigy of the man of God, she caused it to be hung at his sepulcher. Also in the year MDCXII, when the Noble D. Dorothea Paszkowska of Montes was vexed by various and unknown diseases, and scarce drew her life; by the intercession of B. Michael she was restored to health. In the year MDCXIII a certain Brother of the same Order depressed by a grave infirmity, asking aid of the Lord God through the venerable Father Michael, quickly recovered. In the year MDCXIV the renowned D. Anna, citizen of Kleparz, whose son was now in his death-agony, vowed a vow at the sepulcher of the aforesaid S. Michael: and the boy, God helping, remained among the living. captives are freed, In the same year a certain Father of the same Order, of whom all despaired, by B. Michael returned to health. In the same year, four soldiers, captured by the Muscovites by misfortune, and despairing of their safety in the sudden disaster, understood through a vision that B. Michael would give them liberty, which having indeed obtained they offered four different coins at his sepulcher. In the same year a Religious Priest of Cracow, placed in extremity, was brought back to health the same B. Michael interceding.

[22] other dangers are driven off. In the year MDCXV the Noble D. Misioreska offered her little son agonizing to the sepulcher of B. Michael, and received him free from infirmity. In the same year MDCXV the nobly born Gregory Donkoreski, of the district of Kościan, hung up a little tablet with this inscription: D. O. M., to the Lord God almighty, One in the Holy Trinity, I give thanks, that He has deigned to free me from my enemies, whom the Lord God had sent upon me justly, for my sins. But from the time I vowed a vow to B. Michael, all anxiety departed from me, and my adversaries are my holy friends. Blessed be the name of the Lord my God for ever. In the same year the Noble Lord John Acius Kinita of Srzeniawa vowed his daughter Susanna, oppressed by disease and almost lifeless, to the sepulcher of D. Michael, and she on the third day received health. In the same year the noble D. Anna Wolska, about to die in childbirth, was offered to B. Michael and was saved. To a poor man a beast lay almost dead, pressed under a cart, who when suppliant he had fled to B. Michael it rose up unharmed; from which afterward a foetus born that man offered to the church in thanksgiving.

PUBLIC INSTRUMENT.

Of the Finding, Raising, and Translation of the bones of Blessed Michael Giedroyć in the year of the Lord MDCXXIV on the IV day of June.

Michael Giedroyć, a Lithuanian of the Order of the Mendicant Canons Regular of Cracow (B.)

FROM MSS.

[1] Thomas Oborski Bishop of Laodicea, Suffragan and Canon of Cracow, to pious posterity. To the greater glory of God almighty and the honor of His Saints, By the authority of the Bishop of Cracow, we make known and testify, that we were asked by the Religious Fathers of the Order of the Mendicant Canons Regular of S. Mary de Metro of the Penitence of the Holy Martyrs, that we should raise the bones and ashes of the servant of God B. Michael Giedroyć, of the aforesaid Order, buried in the temple of the same Religious at Cracow dedicated to S. Mark, from the old sepulcher (which on occasion of the structure of the new ornaments of the high altar was necessarily to be demolished) for the greater advantage of the faithful: his Suffragan, and we assenting to their pious petition, by the authority of the Office of the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Father in Christ and Lord, Lord Martin Szyszkowski, Bishop of Cracow, Duke of Siewierz, complied in this order and manner.

[2] In the year of the Lord MDCXXIV, on the third weekday after the feast of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity, in the year 1624, 4 June, which was the IV day of June, coming personally to the aforesaid temple of S. Mark, we were present at the sacrifice of the Mass, which votive with solemn rite of the Most Holy Trinity R. P. F. John Baptist the Italian of the family of Saint Francis, for that time Commissary General of the whole Order of the aforesaid Religious of S. Mary de Metro by Apostolic authority, performed; and likewise at the sermon, which the Reverend Father Frederick Szembek, Professed of the Society of Jesus, gave on the life and deeds of this servant of God B. Michael. Then vested in the Pontificals, and the grace of the Holy Spirit invoked by the Hymn Veni creator chanted, we approached the sepulcher; built in the wall at the doors of the sacristy toward the North at the Gospel horn of the high altar; and that closed, entire and untouched in all things we found, and a hammer being taken we ourselves gave the beginning of opening it: and an enormous stone being removed (on which the whole image of the same servant of God lying down was sculptured) we found within the structure itself of the brick wall, on which the said stone rested, a little wooden chest, and in it the skull of the same B. Michael for the greater part entire (to which

however the jaws were lacking) and besides three parts of the cranium of the skull of the same; some Relics of B. Michael, and two bones or arms scarcely exceeding the length of one palm, and part of the black staff, which served him at once in place of the sign of the Cross and of a support, and which together with him formerly was placed in the sepulcher.

[3] deposited by Radziwiłł, Which bones, together with the said part of the support or Cross, some decades of years ago, Cardinal Radziwiłł Prince of the Holy Roman Empire being then Bishop of Cracow, had extracted from the very sepulcher set below (in which the same Blessed rests in the same place) Brother Thomas Squiernievius a Priest, present at this our act, of whose truth we give this testimony to posterity, sound both in mind and body, by the order and mandate of his Superior then assisting him in the same work, Brother Christopher of Przeworsk; who desiring to adorn the same sepulcher more magnificently, raises it: had caused the said part of the sacred remains to be extracted from it and more decently placed. Which thus found by us, raising them thence with our hands, we showed to the pious multitude of the faithful present, musical instruments meanwhile sounding, and inciting the people to greater devotion: who ran together numerous, offering little prayer-beads, to be applied to the sacred bones: whose requests were satisfied.

[4] Then we commanded a solid wall almost two cubits in height, three in length, in the midst of which the Epitaph of the same servant of God, sculptured outwardly on a marble tablet, stood out, built above the same old sepulcher, for the sake of the new and greater ornament, by the care of the aforesaid Brother Christopher Prior, to be demolished. Which demolished, we beheld the sepulcher itself within the same wall of the temple, he commands the old sepulcher to be opened, toward the North at the doors of the sacristy, plainly according to the description and relation in his Chronicle of the Poles of Matthias of Miechów the famous historiographer, and conformably to the narration of Brother Thomas Squiernievius above said; we, before the said wall, built under the Most Illustrious Cardinal Radziwiłł, was demolished, an informant of the whole matter and an eyewitness. And it was vaulted, whose summit or outermost surface was almost level with the pavement of the temple, well closed and entire, having only the trace of a hole in its uppermost part, formerly made by the order of the aforesaid Prior and afterward blocked up. Which we, vested in the Pontificals, present, commanded to be opened, ourselves giving with our hands the beginning of the work.

Its vault therefore being removed by our order, the remaining Bones, besides those above said, the bones and ashes to be extracted, for the greater part dissolved into dust, or which at the very first contact were dissolved into the same, were found, and thence, we looking on, by the hands of the aforesaid R. P. Commissary General of the Order, and of the Professed Priest of the Society of Jesus extracted, and together with the Ashes decently placed in vessels fit for it, were offered and presented to us sitting at the high altar at the side of the same sepulcher. Which we, as also the former, exhibited to be seen to the people running together in great number, and touching the same with prayer-beads from an affection of piety, and all sealed to be deposited in the sacristy all the bells of the same temple meanwhile sounding, and the hymn Te Deum laudamus begun by us. Which while it was sung, the devotion of very many was satisfied, urgently asking something from the ashes and the wooden coffin, in which buried so many years he lay; and at length by us the same bones and ashes were carried into the sacristy of the same temple of S. Mark, and decently deposited and shut up in cases or little chests, sealed with the seal both of ourselves and of the province of the said Order, and besides of the same convent.

[6] thence in the year 1615, 8 August extracted, And thus until the month of August of the following year MDCXXV they remained shut up and sealed. On the VIII day of which afterward, of our will, at the instance of the same Religious of the convent of S. Mark, the Reverend Father Frederick above said, whose piety, fidelity, and prudence are best known to us, extracted them from the aforesaid little chests, the public Notary being present, that they might be dried somewhat, before they were again enclosed in the sepulcher: and in a place well closed on every side, and fortified with several seals by him by our order, in the presence of the public Notary, he left them exposed to the air for XXIV hours. Which afterward in the same year MDCXXV and on the tenth day of the same month of August, which was the twelfth Sunday after Pentecost (on the day before, the wooden coffin being decently clothed within and without with white silk, and then with another of lead, and enclosed in a wooden coffin, together with the same wooden one enclosed by us, and sealed with our seal, in the great frequency of the people running together, and touching the case containing the same sacred pledges with prayer-beads) in the new sepulcher, on 10 August he deposits it in the new sepulcher, in the same place built above the old sepulcher and more decently adorned, with our hands we deposited, after we had first performed the sacrifice of the Mass of the feast of S. Lawrence, with a collect in thanksgiving of the Most Holy Trinity, and a sermon given on the praises and imitation of the same blessed man, by the same above said Priest of the Society of Jesus.

[7] And because a great part of the ashes of the same servant of God was mixed with the rubble or lime (which could not be guarded against, but the lime mixed with the ashes in the cases, although great diligence was applied, that this should not happen) to be removed in opening the sepulcher and the vault; we enclosed all the finer parts of the rubble or said lime, which were openly mixed with the sacred ashes, in a smaller wooden case, clothed outwardly or without throughout with cut bones in vermiculated work; but the coarser parts of the same lime or rubble, among which too it was probable that something of the sacred ashes had remained, we placed in another simple wooden chest; and both of these we placed in the aforesaid sepulcher at the feet of the aforesaid leaden coffin, and the hymn Te Deum laudamus being begun, and it being closed he orders the stone to be rolled to it: while the people chanted it, we ourselves closed the same sepulcher; and to the door of the same we caused the enormous stone above named, on which the image of this servant of God lying down stands sculptured, to be rolled, and set upon it; suppliantly praying the Divine Majesty, that to His Church, to our Kingdom and King, and to all his house, and besides to this city, and to us, by the merits of His Saints He would deign to be propitious, to whom be praise and glory for ages everlasting Amen.

[8] These things were done and made in the presence of the Venerable Lords Bartholomew Solomansky Canon of Chełm; Witnesses employed Valentine of Kozłów Parish-priest at Biała-Cerkiew, Albert Mika Altarist of SS. Peter and Paul in the Collegiate Church of S. Anne at Cracow, as also the Reverend Father Brother Adam Kasprowic perpetual Definitor of the same Order, R. P. Albert Pisarski Definitor, R. P. Justus Pomorski Prior of the Convent of S. Mark, R. P. Ambrose Gronowski Ordinary Preacher of the Church of S. Mark, R. P. Thomas Squiernievius Confessor, R. P. Christopher of Kleparz, R. P. Theophilus Lubiecki, R. P. Clement Izdebski, R. P. Ignatius, F. Placidus Woytaszowsky Deacon, F. Gabriel Kazieracki Deacon, F. Giles Deacon, FF. Bartholomew, John, Marcian Acolytes, FF. Demetrius, George, Michael Professed; as also the worshipful Lords Stanislaus Konrad, Jerome Zalasowski Councillors of Cracow, Martin Paczoska, Joseph Pielisz, John Sepetowicz Citizens of Cracow; the Venerable and excellent Men D. D. Masters Christopher Niklaszowski of Medicine, Stanislaus Pudlowski of Both Laws, Stanislaus Koteniovius at the Holy Spirit's, Nicholas Kalstyn at S. Stephen's, Headmasters, Doctors and Professors of Philosophy in the Academy of Cracow, and very many other witnesses being present at the premises. Thomas Oborski Bishop of Laodicea, Suffragan and Canon of Cracow, with his own hand. ✠ place of the seal.

The present letters and others in all things like these are kept in a special box, deposited near the Relics of B. Michael, entombed in the Church of S. Mark of Cracow, which are subscribed by the hands of the public Notaries, and kept there at the time of the raising of the same Saint's Relics.

[9] Before the Life, both Latin and Polish, is set forth the image of B. Michael, kneeling and turning the prayer-beads; The image of the Blessed in the Latin indeed before the radiant name of Jesus among the clouds, with axillary crutches lying at his right side, on which he leaned to walk; but in the Polish, before the images of Christ crucified and of the Mother of God bearing her little son in her bosom, likewise placed among the clouds, with a Ducal scepter and crown before his knees: but in both the sculpture is so ungraceful and little accurate, namely on a little wooden tablet, that I cannot hope a true likeness of the Saint can be formed from either and engraved on copper. Besides, more suited to our purpose would be the old image of the Blessed, expressed on the sepulchral stone, wherefore I have asked an accurate delineation of this to be sent. Meanwhile have these Latin verses, subjoined to the printed images:

Did not this image express the venerable body of the holy Man? This was that pious Michael: and verses subjoined to it. Who, following the pure footsteps of Christ with his mind; Tireless he traversed the path of the eternal law. By his prayers were light given to the blind, to the lame Steps, to the infirm life, and friendly health. He had wrought, as living, very many miracles, so after His funeral by the Divine gift he works more. Divine Father Michael, look down on us from high heaven, Bring help to the wretched, put all dangers to flight.

ON B. LADISLAUS OF GIELNIÓW

OF THE ORDER OF THE FRIARS MINOR OF THE OBSERVANCE,

AT WARSAW IN MAZOVIA A PROVINCE OF POLAND.

A.D. MDV

Ladislaus of Gielniów, of the Order of the Minors of the Observance at Warsaw (B.)

G. H.

[1] Warsaw, an ample city of Poland on the river Vistula, and the head of Mazovia, is ennobled by the ordinary residence of the Kings and the public Diets of the kingdom. In this B. Ladislaus, of whom here we treat, began his monastic life, Places visited by him. and in the same made the end of living, in life and after death famous for several miracles; surnamed of Gielniów, inasmuch as born in the town of Gielniów of the Palatinate of Sandomierz, district of Opoczno, of the Archdiocese of Gniezno near the river Pilica. Cracow was for him the wrestling-school of studies, a most noted city and the head of greater Poland. Nay the whole kingdom of Poland can assume his patronage to itself, because five times Provincial Vicar of all the convents of the said Order he surveyed that kingdom by going around it, of all which he can be reckoned Patron. and sent the first Brothers of his Order to inhabit the Duchy of Lithuania, and procured for them the place of Skępe in the diocese of Chełm of Red Ruthenia, sacred to the Virgin Mother of God. Why should not also Austria, Bohemia, Silesia, Moravia be able to claim him for themselves, the convents of which regions too, not yet divided from the Polish ones, he visited in his first Vicariate?

[2] B. Ladislaus was born about the year of Christ MCCCCXL, professed the religious life in the year MCCCCLXII, The time of his life at which time Casimir III Jagellonides was reigning over the Poles: by whom the Order of the Friars Minor of the Observance was admitted into Poland, B. John of Capistrano introducing them, whose Acts are to be illustrated on the XXIII day of October:

meanwhile we treat of him also below on XX May at the Life of S. Bernardine, by whose industry the said Observance was very greatly promoted in the Order. But of King Casimir it was treated on IV March, at the Life of S. Casimir his son. To him succeeded another son John Albert, and he reigned even to the year MDI; under whom the kingdom of Poland exposed to extreme danger, is said below to have been brought back into a better state by the prayers and aid of B. Ladislaus. At length, another son of Casimir III, Alexander, reigning, B. Ladislaus migrated from this mortal life in the year MDV on the IV day of May, and afterward in the year MDLXXII, on Low Sunday the XIII of April, his body, with most solemn apparatus, and of his Translation. in the general Diet of the kingdom, before the King and Princes, was raised, and placed at the right side of the high altar. Very many miracles were wrought by his intercession, and, an informative Process being instituted, legitimately approved, which anew, by the special mandate of Urban VIII, according to the style of the Roman Church, were subjected to examination.

[3] The Life of B. Ladislaus, both in good and entire faith, as he prefaces in the title, Vincent Morawski wrote, The Life written by Vincent Morawski in the year 1633. Definitor of the same Order, Lector of Sacred Theology, and Preacher, and general Procurator for his Canonization, and published it in three books at Warsaw in the year MDCXXXIII, citing the Lives of the first and second edition, before which are to be esteemed the very ancient monuments of letters, alleged at num. 105 to which the life of this holy man was entrusted, and the ancient Chronicles of the Polish Province indicated at num. 130, whence some miracles were received: wherefore we have asked these to be described, to serve at least for a Supplement of the work if they be sent. Wadding in the Annals of the Minors at the year 1505 num. 29 alleges a Life, printed by the same Vincent Morawski in the year MDCXII at Cracow, which at least is one of the cited prior editions. There is prefixed in the last edition a dedicatory Epistle to the King, the Bishop of Poznań, the Princes of the kingdom and citizens of Warsaw, in which Vincent at length deduces why he called this Life the Lamp of Christian perfection. To this epistle are subjoined the approbations of various persons, the license and faculty of printing, then the epigrams and poems of eight different persons to the praise of B. Ladislaus, and then are cited various Authors, from whom those things which are contained in the books were assumed. Besides there is added a Proem, in which it is taught that all men everywhere can come to perfection, by the example of B. Ladislaus. All which, as less pertaining to the historical truth of the Acts, we omit, and begin from the Prologue to the Reader, in which, if any things before were cursorily indicated concerning the Life, are more accurately set forth.

[4] The author divided his work into three books, each book into ten chapters: this partition, because it seemed to us also convenient, retaining, we thought it enough to reduce the titles of the chapters to the form of ours: and because the history is recent, we did not think it needful to illustrate it with laborious annotations, how it is here reprinted more correct. but thought it enough to conform the marginal synopsis to our institute. Our greater labor was, in purging that edition which we follow from the infinite faults with which we received it defiled, for the greater part to be imputed to the negligence or unskillfulness of those who, the author being absent or otherwise hindered, presided over the impression, to be made from his manuscript. For both were so great, that it appears, not only in single little pages a grave error by omission, alteration, or perverse joining or disjoining of letters; but more often it is necessary to stick fast on account of the defect of some one or several consequent words, without which, the pen or mind being substituted, no sound sense can be had. All which or their chief and graver errors if I wished to subjoin to single chapters, as elsewhere Annotations; I fear lest I should seem not so much to have wished to free my own credit, as to insult the former editors, to whom I would rather owe thanks, that they brought forth the life of the Blessed even so. Yet this had to be prefaced in this place, lest anyone falling unwarned into that edition, and comparing it with this our own, should suspect that not only the faults were taken away, but the style too was changed, which we everywhere profess we do not do.

LIFE

By the Author Vincent Morawski a Pole of the Order of the Minors.

Ladislaus of Gielniów, of the Order of the Minors of the Observance at Warsaw (B.)

BY VINCENT MORAWSKI.

PROLOGUE

to the devout Reader.

[2] In the great abundance of things, nature shows one path to one, another to another. It is beautiful to do well, also not absurd to speak well. Both those who have done, and those who have written the deeds of others, many are praised. But of all the business which is exercised by genius, that especially the memory of deeds done, the documents of every example, The causes which induced the Author to write, set in an illustrious monument, is of great use, will teach the beholder. Thence for yourself and your commonwealth you will take what to imitate: thence foul in undertaking, foul in issue, what to avoid, you will take. Moreover those to whom the resources of genius were abundant, wrote at length the affairs of many men: for me, to whom there is slender ability, of one man only, most illustrious for holiness and the greatness of miracles, the egregious specimens of virtues, to be narrated by my words, I have assumed. But by what causes induced, hear.

[2] Excellently and truly testifies, the Prince of genius and eloquence, Marcus Tullius Cicero, in the book which he wrote on Friendship, that nothing is more lovable than virtue, The love of virtue. nothing which more allures men to love; since on account of virtue, and probity, we in some way love even those whom we have never seen. Agesilaus once saw this, and so felt; who being asked, how anyone might be approved among men? If he should say, said he, the best things, and do the most honest. For virtue is of such a kind, that by the things themselves it at once so affects men, that they not only admire the works, but are also kindled with the highest zeal toward the author. And this indeed is the first cause of this my undertaken labor, the love of virtue. For since virtue is loved even in an enemy; in a religious and holy man, by a religious Priest, especially of the same institute, the son of the same Father, it is clear that it ought altogether to be loved. For both the ancient Historians and Poets consecrated the deeds of illustrious men to the monuments of letters with no other end; than that they might show themselves allured by the sweetness of their virtue, and might commend to posterity the memory of the good and the worthy encomia of virtue abundantly enough. For not the least reward of virtue, and the illustrious fruit of probity is reckoned, to be celebrated by the words of the learned. The deeds of the Athenians, says Sallust, as I judge, were ample and magnificent enough; but yet somewhat less than they are borne by fame: but because there arose there the greatest geniuses of writers, throughout the world the deeds of the Athenians are celebrated for the greatest. So the virtue of those who did them is held as great, as the illustrious geniuses could extol them in words.

[3] But there comes the recollection of another cause too, that by a domestic example our Poles may more easily be kindled to cultivate the studies of virtue. A domestic example, For two things especially are wont to move us, likeness, and example. What is done by example, that men think is also rightly done. Long is the way through precepts, short and efficacious through examples. In all things B. Ladislaus offered himself an example of good works: in doctrine, in integrity, in gravity, he pleased his neighbor unto good for edification. His progress is manifest to all: and he was an example of the faithful in word and conversation, in charity and faith, in chastity always without complaint, a good odor of Christ and a shining luminary in the midst of his nation. Attend, O Poles, to this Father of yours, be imitators of him, as he too was of Christ. I do not exhort you by speech, I do not persuade by words; examples are stronger than words, and it is fuller to teach by deed than by voice. But what exacts the force of greatest consideration, is that domestic exemplar which I offer for virtue, a spur to obtaining holiness.

[4] Nor is to be wrapped in silence the fame and glory of our Polish nation, which thence arises among foreign nations. The fame of the Polish nation. For if a wise son gladdens the father; but a foolish son is the sadness of his mother, Prov. 10; surely a good son, innocent, holy, unpolluted, known to God and men by the glory of holiness, will be an ornament to his fatherland. Not the least that praise was always held by the cities of Christians, to be adorned with the sepulchers of Saints. Jerusalem exults in Stephen, Rome in Peter and Paul, Venice in Saint Mark. Our Cracow rejoices, and diffuses the offshoots of its praise far and wide thence, that in its Cathedral, it beholds that most sumptuous Mausoleum of Saints Stanislaus its own Bishop, and Florian Martyrs: in the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity it gazes upon the lofty and splendid sarcophagus of S. Hyacinth the Pole of the Order of Preachers: in the church of S. Bernardine of the Friars Minor Observant it venerates with the highest honor the most adorned monument, containing the body of B. Simon of Lipnica, of the same Order, once a most fervent Herald of God: in the temple of S. Francis of the Conventual Fathers, it admires the most perfect sepulcher of B. Salomea once Queen of Poland, a Nun of S. Clare: in the building of S. Anne it celebrates the magnificent tomb of B. John Cantius, the excellent Doctor of the Academy of Cracow: in its own magnificent Parochial church of B. Mary the Virgin of Cracow, it possesses a marble chest, embracing the body of B. Stanislaus Baryczka a Priest Martyr: in another Parochial church of Kazimierz, a burial-place conspicuous for various structures and paintings, containing B. Stanislaus of Kazimierz of the Order of Canons Regular of S. Augustine, is held in the highest devotion and veneration: in the temple of S. Mark of the Order of S. Mary de Metro, there is a place skilfully formed at the wall, and shining with due adornment, in which the venerable bones of B. Michael Giedroyć rest: finally in the convent of S. Catherine, of the most ample Order of the Hermits of S. Augustine, the relics of a Brother of the same profession, Isaiah a Doctor, are honorably preserved in one chapel. But if of very many other bodies of various Blessed ones, entombed in divers places, that city rejoices and exults; why should not also our Duchy of Mazovia and its Metropolis Warsaw, glory in its Ladislaus? A torch of an honest mind, the glory of our province, no small glory arises thence, while the memory of this Saint is everywhere celebrated. And that the splendor of the good name of this Saint, together with that of our Fatherland, and of its fame flying through divers regions, may be diffused on swift wings, it pleased to undertake the service by writing. Let God be praised in His Saints, and let our pious mother Poland not be defrauded of her praise. It pleases to bring forth also the last reason of my institute.

[5] Who is ignorant that to have pleased eminent men, is not the least praise? The princes of the people, the Saints of God, To deserve well of the Blessed, are named by the mouth of all. To wish to deserve well of all these, who will deny to be a thing consonant with truth? But to follow the Saints with due cult, and to celebrate their virtues and illustrious deeds by writing in letters, has always been held and observed with even balance and equal measure. But since a new cause of treating this

stirs up the mind, so much the more must one labor in bringing forth the praises of the Saints. But lately, about six years ago, when by my Superiors there was committed to me the province, by a public instrument and mandate, of investigating the holiness of life of B. Father Ladislaus, his deeds examined at Rome. of collecting his acts here and there, of inquiring about miracles, of bringing the things inquired into the deputed judgment by witnesses and counter-witnesses, of writing down the things approved, and of forming a process by the authority of the Most Reverend Lord Ordinary of the Place over all these, and finally of presenting all these things made and completed to the Roman Curia: and when, supported by the singular aid of God, I had not unhappily completed all things; and anew the Sacred Congregation of Rites, by the special mandate of our Most Holy Lord Urban VIII happily reigning, had committed to me a new process, by Apostolic authority according to the style of the Holy Roman Church, over the same holiness of life and miracles of B. Ladislaus, to be fabricated by Remissorial and Compulsorial letters, there acceding to this besides the will and precept of the Most Reverend Father General of our Order: therefore those things which by my modest labor I have heaped together here and there concerning the life of B. Ladislaus, I have resolved to set forth to the knowledge of men and the public light; lest this lamp lie hid any longer under a bushel, but set upon a candlestick may illumine the eyes of all. These therefore are the causes which drove me to complete this work.

FIRST BOOK.

The deeds of B. Ladislaus. Various virtues of the same.

CHAPTER I.

Nativity, boyhood, education.

[6] Before I begin this Chapter, the words of the most illustrious and most holy Doctor of the Gentiles D. Paul must be commemorated, thus writing 1 Cor. XV: Not first that which is spiritual, but that which is animal, then that which is spiritual. The first man of the earth earthly, the second man from heaven heavenly. With no different reason it must here be said by us; since B. Ladislaus bore the image of the earthly, and the image of the heavenly man. It is clearer than the noonday light, that he was born of the earthly, and afterward as it were again, begotten of the heavenly Father: wherefore the series of both his generations must be described by me. But because that which is animal is first, of this, which is made of bloods and of the will of the flesh, it pleases to institute the discourse. And first it pleases to consider the native place, whence B. Ladislaus is sprung. The most ample, most powerful, most abundant kingdom of Poland, In the kingdom of Poland, although it has very many cities, most fortified by nature and art, for every event raised from the foundations for the adornment of the fatherland, by the multitude of citizens, by the abundance of merchandise heaped from almost the whole world, by the variety of buildings, by the plurality of temples and colleges, best furnished, and adorned with high walls, citadels, towers, and fortresses; yet not so frequent are they to be seen in it as in other parts of the world. So from the beginning it was persuaded to our ancestors, it is in memory; that against hostile attacks the breasts of those opposing themselves are stronger than the strongest walls of cities. And they, relying on those arts, never yielded place even the least to any enemy: and it is incredible to relate, how easily they extended the bounds of the Kingdom far and wide; and made their state, augmented with citizens, morals, fields, prosperous and powerful enough: but on divers nations they cast the yoke of their dominion, and joined their provinces to their own bounds.

[7] Therefore the town of Gielniów of the Palatinate of Sandomierz, in the district of Opoczno, of the Archdiocese of Gniezno, is indeed in situation mediocre, constructed with wooden buildings; and in the Town of Gielniów he is born about 1440 but thence the splendor of glory is rightly and deservedly attributed to it, that it begot, educated, nourished and brought forth this most illustrious man B. Ladislaus. By the Roman Catholic faith always illustrious, and never contaminated by any blemish of heresy hitherto it was: which is to be asserted especially and most securely of that time in which B. Ladislaus was born and lived, about the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred and forty and many years after. Since in the whole kingdom of Poland Christianity with all purity, simple Catholicism with pious fervor most zealous, flourished in all the inhabitants of this kingdom, under the most pious Kings Wladislaus Jagello, and his sons Wladislaus and Casimir; and the latter's posterity Kings successively; John Albert, Alexander, and Sigismund the First: under whose happy government this B. F. Ladislaus was born, and led his present life; no paganism now, no schism, especially in the Provinces of the Polands (for in the great Duchy of Lithuania and the Duchies of Ruthenia, that plague still lay hid) no heresies at all vexing these shores, nay the laws punishing with capital penalty those infected with these filths.

[8] In that town therefore B. Ladislaus, having passed the threshold of his mother's womb, came forth into this light; received by his parents, whose life, coupled by the holy bond of matrimony, was well known and renowned enough among their fellow-citizens by honest morals, by the fame of a good name, by the light of the Catholic Religion, by the glory of the best conversation. most diligently instructed in Christian institutes, In the Parochial church of the same town washed in the sacred font of baptism, he obtained the name of John. From his very infancy instructed in the fear of God, imbued with the doctrines necessary to salvation and the first foundations of letters in his fatherland, he is handed over to be educated in the wrestling-school of the muses. But straightway, new indications of future fertility appeared in that age. Diligently to be wakeful over letters, to go willingly to school, to obey the commands of the teacher, to be present frequently at and to minister at the divine Offices and the sacred sacrifice of the Mass, to approach the altars, to sing, to chant; to recite hymns and psalms, to commit them to memory: to depend wholly on studies and divine offices; and so to institute his youth, that in a short time, a good and fertile field, he was recognized as fit to produce rich crops of doctrines, and was kindled by others to higher studies. He is sent to Cracow to be instructed in the Academy. To Cracow therefore, aided by his father's expense, where the Academic University, the fruitful mother of all sciences, brings forth very many sons useful to the kingdom and fatherland, with the most ample praise of erudition, he betook himself. That fertile field and garden of spices (without envy be the honor and cult due to it from us) the place of sciences and the paradise of learned men; but also the nest of piety, in which educated B. John Cantius, the egregious Doctor of that Academy, known to all by the glory of great holiness, from the same breasts, almost at the same time as our Ladislaus, sucked the milk of probity, and drank of that torrent of piety, and exalted his head even to the heavens.

[9] Having entered that wrestling-school, to be nourished not by the breasts of vain Pallas, but of Christian Philosophy; not to be educated to the lyre of fallacious Apollo, but to be instituted by the most salutary Theological dogmas of the holy Fathers; not to be joined to the consort of the empty Muses on pleasant Parnassus, but to be aggregated to the sodalities of devout youths, he profits in doctrine and piety, a youth prompt in mind and strong in genius: having entered, I say, the pleasant grove planted with the densest trees of sciences, he began with eager mind and swift hand to collect the flowers of good arts, the herbs of virtues, the fruits of examples, to aggregate the heaps of all good things, and to carry them into the granary of his breast; to be present at public lectures, to perceive the sense by ear and intellect, to observe the hour and time; to listen sedulously to private masters, to flee idle confabulations, to avoid the consorts of the insolent, to abhor the custom of those whom he understood to have doctrine and piety not at heart, but sloth and laziness adhering to their senses. To go frequently to the temples, to behold the life of the religious, to advert to the ceremonies, to admire the piety and devotion; and thence to have his breast kindled to the imitation of them, and to have thought of that matter, to commend the business to God, and to wish to consecrate himself in the first flower of his youth to Him who had commanded by law the right of first-fruits to be offered to Him. And surely so the matter stands, that whom God almighty decrees to allure and call to His service, these from their very infancy He draws in the cords of charity, and straightway from the tender little nails fosters with wonderful grace. Witness of this matter Joseph the Patriarch, witness Samuel the Prophet, witnesses others without number the holy Martyrs and Confessors. No doubt but that also of this Saint the sparks of future holiness shone forth; but either on account of the profound submission of his mind hidden, or little known by others; brought into the dark sepulcher of oblivion, they did not behold the light.

[10] Happy this youth, born in a happy nay golden age, in which no heresies, no barbarity of an infernal sect, no plague of a perverse opinion in the faith poured out its venom within its bounds. Pure gold, in a most happy and most quiet time. like pure glass; the whole kingdom was as it were one church, the whole commonwealth as it were one house, under the government of the best Father. No dissensions (according to the Chronologers of that time) peace, quiet, concord flourished: good morals at home and in war were cultivated: right and good with our ancestors was strong not more by laws than by nature: citizens with citizens contended about virtue: in the divine services magnificent, at home peaceful, to friends faithful they were: by these two arts, audacity in war, and where peace had come equity, they cared for themselves and the commonwealth. By this felicity of the times, then those many and flourishing Blessed, coruscating with miracles, John Cantius, Simon of Lipnica, Stanislaus of Kazimierz, in Cracow alone; more through other places, as S. Casimir at Vilna, shone with virtue. Then too our B. Ladislaus was born, when the state of religion in the flower of holiness produced the richest fruits; when the honor of virtue was in the embrace and favor of all; and an honest manner of life was in price among mortals. Therefore the mind of the holy man, even from his entering age, prone to the arduous specimens of virtue, the divine grace inspiring, could easily be kindled by the example of all the good; and the rays of domestic piety, shining everywhere, could without doubt inflame a fit mind to embrace holiness of life, according to that of Psalm XVII, With the holy you will be holy, and with the perverse you will be perverted.

CHAPTER II.

The coming of the Order of the Minors of the Observance into Poland.

[11] Having followed the words of the Doctor of the Gentiles S. Paul, we have now seen, First the animal, then that which is spiritual; Among the various Religious institutes, this consequently is to be considered. No one is ignorant, that when anyone, the message of the world's allurements being dismissed, has bound himself to the religious life, he is said to die to the world, and to live to Christ, like him who said to the Galatians II, I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me. Wherefore, he who dies to the world, receives the end of the worldly life; of that life, I say, which has much consort with the brute animals; but begins to live to Christ, and embraces that condition of life which approaches most nearly to the lot of the Angels. Therefore he who begins to lead another life, it behooves him to be born: for none will live, unless first he be born. But he is born by dying to the world, and by adhering to Christ; to whom he who adheres, is made one spirit with Him. Of such a life moreover the seed-beds are the various Religious Orders, approved by the Church, of which the chief are four, named from four Founders and Rules divinely

given, namely of S. Basil, S. Augustine, S. Benedict, S. Francis: from which as from fountains the rest draw their origin, in which those living are said to live the Angelic life, inasmuch as dead to the world, to themselves, and to the flesh, through those three essential vows; of obedience, by which they die to themselves; of chastity, by which to the flesh; and of poverty, by which they die to the world.

[12] In this place, others being passed over, for I treat of the most holy man professing the Rule of S. Francis, of the sole Religious Order of the Friars Minor I shall commemorate a few things; After the order of the Minors instituted and multiplied by S. Francis, and of that only, which through the Blessed Bernardine of Siena and John of Capistrano was restored to the primitive Observance. The Order therefore of the Friars Minor, from humility, so called by its Founder S. Francis, now for two hundred and more years flourished with the highest praise of holiness, filling almost the whole world with its monasteries. It abounded with a multitude of Brothers, so that while yet S. Francis was leading his mortal life, to one Chapter five thousand Brothers assembled; and in the same Chapter, another five hundred were received into the Order. There were then not few laborers in the vineyard of the Lord, ever ready for the harvest, that with exultation they might carry their sheaves into the granary of their Lord. Already it had inserted into heaven S. Anthony, S. Bonaventure, S. Louis, S. Bernardine, very many Martyrs and Confessors, innumerable most illustrious for miracles, others refulgent with the pen, tongue, genius, virtue, and holiness, it worshiped them like stars in heaven.

[13] But much more amply, more clearly, and more perfectly, about the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred and forty, when now, the reduction being made by S. Bernardine and B. John of Capistrano, and after the new observance introduced, to the primitive institute as regards the observance of the vow of poverty, a new, clear, more secure and more perfect declaration of the Rule being obtained from Martin V, the Order had reflourished, like a fruitful garden after the falling rain, fragrant flowers appeared in our land; so that very many Brothers, men conspicuous for wonderful deeds done to the world and for the holiness of life, of the Observants alone are reckoned in the register above six thousand, all even to this present day coruscating with miracles, whose memory, consecrated to the monuments of letters, is held in hands. For some by austerity of life, some by the praise of sciences, some by sedulous care and labor in converting the nations, drew almost the whole world into admiration and love of them. Hence Kings, Princes, Dukes, kingdoms, provinces, cities to desire their society, to demand their consort, and to invite them to their own homes; to offer places to be inhabited, to build monasteries, to erect temples; to supply with sufficient abundance alms of all things necessary to food and clothing; with the utmost effort to strive, that they might adorn the cities, towns, villas of the peoples entrusted to them, as with men most acceptable to God, and might move them to virtue and the best manner of living by their example, and at the same time constitute them suppliants with God and friends of their Provinces.

[14] Which counsel too had come upon the mind of our King Casimir Jagellonides too, and vehemently kindled it, by King Casimir, so that after he heard of the works and plantations of B. John of Capistrano in Germany, he sent solemn messengers to him, urging with many prayers, that he would not disdain to visit his kingdom too, and would grant his Brothers and disciples to his kingdom. B. John of Capistrano was endowed with excellent doctrine and exceptional holiness, and for that time made Legate of the Apostolic See with plenitude, and instituted Inquisitor of heretical pravity. Much gravity was in the man, profound knowledge of divine things, B. John of Capistrano being summoned, the highest dexterity in conducting affairs, also a truly Apostolic power divinely conferred of exhibiting miracles on frequent occasions, freedom of speaking, an ardent spirit; but most of all a certain force infused from above was present in that man, for bringing men back to the way of salvation, and removing them from the paths of iniquities. By which arts he had procured the greatest glory of his name in all places, in which he had at any time conversed.

[15] Scarcely had the fame reached Cracow, and signified that new Fathers were coming, when behold the word came to the King himself, and touched his heart. he is received at Cracow, Soon he rose from his throne, exulted as a giant to run the way, and resolved to go forth to meet the servants of Christ coming into his Kingdom. That fame too brought to the ears of the Nobles and Citizens, set the King's example to be imitated by all. There is made a huge concourse of men leaping forth here and there. The King himself, like a bridegroom proceeding from his chamber, girt with a most numerous household, descended from the citadel. There preceded very many glittering with gold, he himself in the midst between two chief ones, amiable in countenance, displaying the gladness conceived from the coming of the new men, went; there followed innumerable ones; the bodyguards armed with iron spears girt his sides. The Magistracy of the city, the Clergy of all the churches, the cohorts of the Religious, the columns of students, the copious multitude of the common people, followed the footsteps of the Prince. There was present in that splendid concourse also the Most Serene Queen, Sophia the King's mother, a woman who merited great praise of piety, with her retinue, surrounded by a great crown of illustrious women. Not few Princes, Dukes, Barons, Senators, Nobles, and Counsellors of the King, who together with their King went forth to meet those Fathers, having gone out not only outside the walls of the City, but beyond Kleparz too, a huge town adjacent to Cracow, in that place are joined.

[16] And behold there proceed with their Leader, the poor and needy servants of the heavenly King, with humble gait, head inclined, eyes fixed on the ground, with the pious Brothers, hands folded together, face attenuated by abstinence, bodies wearied from the journey; with bare feet. Their bodies a simple garment made of rough wool covered; a rope girt their loins, and the want of poverty adhered to all. Stupor had invaded the King's breast, and that austerity rarely seen in our Kingdom was observed by the eyes of all. All to wonder and to emit profound sighs; they recognized God Almighty to be wonderful in His Saints: to some too it came into mind, that that life, though austere, was worthy of the imitation of many. To certain too it came to remembrance, that the Fathers by their very example solidly demonstrated, that narrow is the gate which leads to life, wide that which spreads the way to perdition; that it is of God in fine and not to neglect human salvation, and to send to pleasure and concupiscence to be eradicated from the minds of men strong and not light laborers; to teach them by example, what they were taught by others by word. They bid them go strong, go happy, render the issues equal to the undertakings, hope for favor and benevolence, liberality in alms to be bestowed by them.

[17] They are present, and now near the King's side they stay their step. Their leader John of Capistrano comes forth into the midst. Hail, said he, illustrious King. he addresses the King: To Thee and Thy Kingdom, to the praise of God and the reformation of the Church, I present new soldiers, desirous of no other prey but Thy salvation, and that of Thine. They need not temporal goods, nor burn with the desire of villas or estates: cultivators of poverty, content with food and clothing alone; thou shalt have, oppressed by the mass of the Kingdom's affairs, continual suppliants with God; and if thou shalt invite them to any work, thou shalt recognize strenuous laborers, untiring, and servants prompt of hand. Take these and foster them, the promoters of Thy salvation and of Thy subjects'. May He whose example we follow in living, exhibit us commended to Thy royal breast, and take care of us with Thee, O King, and with Thine. I have spoken. To these the King through his Chancellor briefly answered, that he gave thanks to God the author of all good things, that he owed much also to the Apostolic See, by whose benefit it was permitted to behold guests so welcome. That he would give pains, that they should not repent of the journey into his kingdom, he is admitted by him and others, undertaken not without grave trouble. That there was no doubt, that that Order in a short interval of time would experience happy successes in his Kingdom. They should also turn their eyes to the multitude of men meeting them; of whom very many of them, provoked by their example, would follow the wrestling-school of virtue and probity. At length cast down to the King's knees, by the same they are embraced with paternal affection. Then right hands being joined, those Fathers, kindly and hospitably saluted by the known and unknown, and a joyful day made to all. As they pass by the various assemblies of men, and the temples, whatever comes to mind, they pray, That God may send that column favorable and happy into their fatherland, and make it grow into many thousands. But most of all the Blessed youth Ladislaus, then called John from baptism by his parents, diligently considered the austerity of life of the Brothers of this Order, the holiness of their conversation, the most fervent proclamation of the Word of God, the just performance of the religious office; but on the contrary the fraudulence of the world, and the vanity of all things contained in it. B. Capistrano therefore being introduced to Cracow, a lodging being assigned. placed in a certain lodging of the Circle of Cracow, remained so long, until a place was provided for the convent and church to be built.

CHAPTER III.

The Order of the Friars Minor introduced to Cracow: a colony led to Warsaw.

[18] A colony of the family of D. Francis of the Observance being led to Cracow, it is incredible to relate, how easily it grew. For it was a work of the right hand of the Most High, whose works are always held magnificent, and wonderful things are done in our eyes. Therefore those Brothers being introduced into the place designated for them, with all their strength and whole heart applied themselves to the study of virtue. On account of the pious exercises The divine offices, rising at midnight to confess to the name of the Lord, to celebrate, with religious chant and ecclesiastical manner, with continual prayer, with ardent preaching of the divine word, and with fervent example of exercising good works to precede, and with frequent exhortation to kindle, to shine to all unto edification, to diffuse the sweet odor of good conversation they studied. But now austerity of life, gravity of morals, profound submission of mind and humility of mind, the modest composition of the members of the whole body, also holy and exemplary conversation with men; then too the harshness of garments, applied only to ward off cold, not for adornment, began to be in the eyes of all. Insinuating to the memory of men, that Narrow is the way which leads to life, plain and spacious that which leads to destruction. Hence a more frequent use of the Sacraments to be made, the temples to be filled with a more copious multitude, to assemble huge concourses of men to hear sermons devoutly, the rich crops of virtue to rise up, the useless herbs of vices dried up to perish, the flowers of piety to bud, and the fruits of probity to ripen they begin.

[19] But most of all the youth, flexible by their own nature to all things; but when an author is present, prompt and prone also to undergoing the wrestling-school of virtue and piety; of that religious life, first by stupor and admiration to be taken, but now by love to be drawn, at length to the imitation by spurs sent from above to be allured and impelled. many being allured receive the habit of S. Francis. Wherefore very many, the allurements of the world being despised, demand that light yoke and sweet burden to be imposed on their necks; they renounce the world, and desire to be obliged by the sacrament of the religious soldiery: they cast their backs to secular

desires, but with cheerful brow they are eager to take up the new institute of the new life: they contemn the perilous navigation of the world, they choose a safer state of life, as it were a port alien from all tumult of worldly solicitudes, and a quiet like to that of the heaven-dwellers. From the twenty-eighth day of the month of August, which day is destined for celebrating the festivity sacred to D. Augustine, in the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred and fifty-five in which B. John of Capistrano with his soldiery entered Cracow, even to the ninth day of the month of February adorned with the martyrdom of S. Apollonia, the number of those Brothers was increased in a wonderful manner: so that in the public procession on that day, more than eighty Brothers appeared, the other officials and the rest more occupied being meanwhile detained in the convent. It was then permitted to see the mother rejoicing in her sons, and that new plantation to have begun so great an augmentation of itself, not without admiration and stupor to have appeared to the sight of all.

[20] It was the time in those days, famous for the solemnity of a Royal wedding. King Casimir had sought by Legates to be coupled to himself by the indissoluble bond of matrimonial friendship, Elizabeth, The Queen Elizabeth the bride daughter of Albert the Austrian Emperor. Welcome to the Emperor was the coming of the Legates, the just desire of the King too not frustrated of his wishes. The daughter given in matrimony, best furnished with feminine adornment and a dowry ample enough, is sent with the Legates into Poland. To the new bride coming the King proceeds to meet, girt with a most ample retinue: but when many spectacles were beheld set forth for receiving the coming of the new Queen, conspicuous with royal splendor, that especially seemed admirable to the eyes of all, the column of Brothers of the Order of the Minors of the Observance, lately introduced into the kingdom of Poland, having gone forth to meet, multiplied in so short an interval of time, poured forth from their convent to meet the new Queen. Nor ought it to be a wonder to anyone that this was done: for the Academy of Cracow alone, within a few months, is said to have happily supplied to the pious mother, herself a fruitful parent, a hundred and thirty and more youths of the best disposition: of whom some illustrious for the supreme degree of the mastership, some marked with the first laurel, 130 admitted at Cracow, most celebrated for the encomia of studies and the liberal arts. All these, the allurements of the world being postponed, put their hand to the plow in the field of God, and so with happy success were wakeful over the begun work, that they thought there should be no looking back, but held the journey snatched up always to the higher summits of Evangelical perfection.

[21] With the same flame burned B. Ladislaus, who beholding with attentive consideration the institute of this most holy Order, hastened as soon as possible to be joined to their consort. not without a pious impulse of Ladislaus, The painted splendor of the world displeased the excellent youth, and the foul odor of temporal goods grew filthy in his nostrils: the austerity of that life, the holiness and piety of Evangelical perfection, had settled in his mind. And now in mind he was wholly in religion, meanwhile continuing the studies begun in the Academy, the blessed youth only watched for the time and occasion: which afterward divinely offered, with both hands and feet, as they say, he seized. There was also invited to that wedding Anna the Duchess, by the Duchess of Mazovia consort of Wladislaus already for that time the deceased Duke of Mazovia, a woman of great name. She, when she saw the number of the Friars Minor of the Observance multiplied in a short space of time, and those small grains most happily grown into rich crops, rapt into vehement admiration, confessed, that the Finger of God had effected this, whose force it was, to give increases of fruits, and from few grains to constitute the richest heaps. Thence having searched out with diligent zeal and care, what was the institute of life, what the morals of the Brothers, what the observances, and what the course of things; instructed, that they were men addicted to piety, contemners of the world, poor in spirit, fervent preachers of the Divine word, followers of the religious life and Evangelical perfection; deeming that they would be for a good example to her subjects, she proposed that they should be led to Warsaw, where then, the Prince being dead, she lived as a widow.

[22] Therefore B. John of Capistrano being called to her, she herself opened her mind: that it was at her heart, as soon as possible to behold the family of D. Francis led into her Duchy: that this would much profit the Church of God and the Order, that she too must undertake the care, that she might show a mind that would in no business be wanting to promoting the Order: that she asked besides urgently, that they would not wish her desire to be deferred; but rather would send together with her, those whom she might lead to Warsaw. Place is given to the pious petition: certain ones are chosen from the number of the Brothers: Brother James of Głogów is set as Guardian, to whom six other companions are joined. they construct a convent They accompany the Duchess, come as far as Warsaw, receive the place offered to them for these things, which hitherto at present they obtain, paying their vows to God, and always diffusing the sweet odor of holy conversation. Little indeed in the beginning had the structure of that convent succeeded, for to those digging the foundational solidity of the earth could in no way be found. and a church And now the mind had failed of pursuing the fabric of the church: but S. Anne the mother of the Virgin Mother of God appearing, and admonishing that they should dig a little while; firm dry ground was found, upon which an excellent temple, under the title of the same S. Anne firmly built, even to the present day endures. And as at Cracow so also at Warsaw, in the second convent of this Kingdom of Poland, that Order, a few months interposed, came to be augmented with a copious number of laborers. To this convent the blessed youth Ladislaus, I know not by what occasion, had resolved to hasten: I believe because the Cracow convent abounded amply enough with the number of Brothers, the future dwelling of B. Ladislaus. he was directed from Cracow to Warsaw by the superiors of the Order to augment the new Colony; or certainly the Holy Spirit sweetly disposing all things, who, while He designated other Saints to be retained at Cracow, this holy youth being destined for the Warsaw convent and the Duchy of Mazovia, came to the place designated for him, and earnestly asked to be received into the Fraternity of the Order; and so ardently insisted by asking, that place was left to his petition, and he himself was received into the Order, to the great advantage and emolument of the Holy Church of God and of the Order.

CHAPTER IV.

B. Ladislaus's reception in the Warsaw convent, the arguments and indications of future holiness.

[23] B. Ladislaus's affairs, now free hence and snatched from the fallacies of the world, are to be carried out holily and piously in the holy Order. Received into the Order by the consent and favor of all the Brothers on the very Kalends of August, On the feast of S. Peter in Chains which day is held famous for the festivity of the Chains of the Prince of the Apostles D. Peter, B. Ladislaus deemed that he had got a favorable omen, from the day and the Saint to whom the day is dedicated; truly a favorable omen and a lucid argument of future true holiness. For on that day, the Chains were loosed from the members of D. the Apostle, the guards deceived and taken by sleep, the doors opened, the gates lying open, the expectation of the enemy frustrated, and the cruelty of the Tyrant Herod himself eluded: the Church rejoiced in Apostolic liberty, and the whole assembly of the faithful obtained the happy issue of their prayers. For the Angel of the Lord was present to Peter, awakened the sleeper, snatched him from the chains, opened the gates, led him out free and immune. This too was bestowed on B. Ladislaus by the Father of lights: B. Ladislaus chooses the Religious life: his chains were broken, he was led out of the prison of the world: the snare was crushed, and he himself was freed from the snare of the hunters; because his help was in the name of the Lord. The Angel of the Lord was present, and inspired into the ear of the Blessed youth, How long, wilt thou be detained by the chains of this world? how long, good youth, wilt thou tarry among the guards of temporal goods? how long wilt thou perilously rejoice in the consort of secular men? The world is a dark prison: its goods and occupations, iron chains: the guards of its goods are men, little mindful of their salvation and eternal felicity. Rise thou, and walk. Whither? To the Order of the Minors of the Observance, difficult indeed by austerity of life, but sweet and pleasant by the contemplation of heavenly goods and the consort of good Brothers. Come, youth, those sparks of piety, set in thy breast from thy very tender age, now stir into an ardent flame of divine charity. Let those little fires grow into a great conflagration. Now let that lamp, long ago kindled by the grace of the Holy Spirit, be set upon the candlestick of the Order, that it may shine henceforth to all who are in the House of God. Thine is, if thou art a man, the kingdom of heaven: raise thyself, and follow God as leader, who will exhibit this illustrious head, suffused round about with the divine light of holiness, to the world. Now let the heavenly flame stir thee, now awake truly. Behold those who are in this Order, now reign in mind and affection with God, and God with them.

[24] He heard the voice of the Lord, nor hardened his heart. He came to the gate of the convent, knocks, he asks to be admitted the gate is opened, and what he wishes, is asked. Lead me, said he, to your Superior, one great petition I am about to bring to him. Satisfaction is made to his petition, he is admitted into the sight of the Superior; whom when he saw, suffused with a virginal blush, he fell down at his knees. Lifted up by his hand, he is asked what he sought. I flee, said he, the world and its concupiscence, I demand your consort. But thou art a youth, the years of thy life will not be able to sustain the harsh condition of our custom: thy tender body too, how will it be patient of vigils, abstinence, cold, frost? That he could do all things in Christ the blessed youth answered, that all the chains of the world must be broken: that the Angel of peace was present, and God Himself the promoter of good will: that D. Peter too would be present to his endeavors, and from that time would be his Patron: that heaven open and Jesus standing in aid was seen by S. Stephen, would render the same favor to all sincerely serving Him.

[25] Therefore his name is replaced in the catalogue of the Brothers. He is stripped of secular garments, and forthwith he himself too strips off the old man with his acts. he is clothed with the religious habit, He is clothed with a harsh hair-shirt and a vile tunic: but at the same time he puts on Christ the Lord, the heavenly man, about to be a heavenly inhabitant. He is admitted into the camp, and the most eager youth is obliged by the sacrament of the Christian soldiery. The most brave recruit is set in the battle-line of the fighters, after a short time, not only a most strenuous soldier of Christ, but about to be also a Leader of the army. He is girt with the girdle of purity, a strong rope, and at the same time armed with the breastplate of austerity. He takes the hood upon his head, the helmet of salvation, the efficacious protection of divine contemplation. He seizes the sword of mortification, about to imitate in all things D. Peter the Apostle, also begotten of a father Peter. And thus bound to the holy Order, deeming that idleness must not be indulged, he imitated that happy grain cast into the blessed earth, begun to be mortified, nay dead to the world, that afterward it might become fit for bringing forth very many fruits, planted in the house of the Lord in His holy court. While he shows himself humble in all things, he excels in pious morals: he recognizes the rivulets of divine grace flowing down into the valley of his breast. To rise to the elders by birth, to obey his Superiors, not to envy the juniors; in the temple, in the choir, in prayer to be present frequently; to act modestly in all things, to those passing by

to incline his head, to contradict no one, to follow the examples of virtue, to chastise his body with floggings and to reduce it into servitude, in all things to show himself a good and diligent novice.

[26] The year of probation being completed, when now the time had come of emitting his perpetual profession, with prayers to fatigue the Superiors, Fathers, Brothers, all, that they should suffer him as soon as possible, bound to God and the Order by the eternal and inviolable bond of profession, to begin his life: that this was his mind, he emits his profession that he should never wish to return to the world, but bound to the divine service should lead his life even to the last fatal period in the Order. Wherefore the circle of the year being revolved, on the same festivity of D. Peter, under the banner of D. Francis, about to fight the battles of God in continual conflict, he is constituted an eternal soldier of Christ, and by the strongest bond of Profession, is joined to the consort of the Brothers. He casts the chains of Christ and the burdens of religion at the feet of his affections, he announces perpetual silence to the concupiscences of the senses: he strives to observe to the line the purity of the Rule, of the Constitutions; the precepts of the religious exercises; the Ordinations: he receives and professes the Order of the Minors of the Observance with all affection. And indeed he so gloried in that state, that as a victor he triumphed as if a prey were taken, and continually retaining the memory of his conflict and the begun soldiery, he exulted, which he testified by these verses:

In the year a thousand, four hundred, and sixty-two, in the year 1462: The chains at kindly Peter's I received, the chains of the cloister. Peter begot me of Gielniów, and kindly Peter Shut me in the cloister; He alone loosed my chains, I render thanks to God, singing with the Harper: O God, lo Thou hast broken all my chains: That I may well complete it, let grace be to the wretched.

[27] Then, confirmed by his emitted Profession, he came forth into the line a strong athlete of Christ, took into his hands the shield of faith and the munitions of his Rule with the declarations of the Supreme Pontiffs, and resolved these to be retained with firm purpose. The soldier of Christ is therefore armed with that mind and takes that will, that in all the enclosures and precepts of his institute he keep the laws inviolable, and so direct the course of his religious life, that he should resolve rather to undergo death than to contravene against the ordinations of his institute. Deeming too that the societies of other virtues must be applied to that purpose, he is exercised in all virtues: he joined a pact of friendship with probity, having followed the examples of all virtues. What in others he saw best he was busy to excite that in his breast by imitation: so observing his Rule in all things, mindful of his religious vows, he kept the flower of Angelic chastity perpetually in its splendor and odor. So addicted to obedience, that in no matter would he presume to gratify his own will. But so studious a cultivator of poverty, that besides Christ and Him crucified, he knew and had nothing.

[28] Hence it came to pass that by that swift course, he quickly arrived at the highest summit of perfection; and snatched the palm before the other Brothers, in all holiness and justice, made a mirror of all virtues; and abounding with the riches of heavenly gifts, not only made welcome and acceptable to his Order, but kindled most vehemently toward himself the zeal of the whole people. and he profits notably, For it comes to pass that God almighty fosters those panting after His services with the increases of His grace, and exhibits them amiable to all. But both benefits B. Ladislaus had obtained, whom for the various virtues of his mind, all followed with the highest love, and as a man illustrious for the glory of holiness, with all cult and reverence venerated. God too almighty, when He recognized that His grace was not void in that man, but always tended to higher things; added a spur to the runner, and inflamed an ardent desire of proceeding from virtue to virtue. And it came to pass that B. Ladislaus, among his own was held a most perfect and most holy man, and his holiness was most diligently before the eyes of all the Fathers and Brothers; by the people too with the voice of all he was judged a nursling of great holiness, and a most diligent cultivator of all virtues. And thus most welcome to God, most acceptable to the Order, most religious to the people he was seen, held and reputed. And let these things said of the beginning of his conversion suffice for now.

CHAPTER V.

The Priesthood. Various Prefectures administered. Constitutions established.

[29] I proceed and produce the begun work: for not only in the beginning of his conversion did the good soldier of Christ show himself a strenuous warrior, but he was busy to grow more and more by much labor, vigilance, solicitude, and much care: therefore with many and admirable virtues this blessed Father Ladislaus was full, and scarcely was it plain to all that any one was wanting to him. Which thence can easily be gathered: since in those beginnings of the Regular Observance revived, all studied to contend in virtues, and one took care to precede another in goodness. Very many conspicuous for holiness, and illustrious for miracles; many with holiness of life, most learned in all science; not few outstanding by nobility of birth, with the said splendors of gifts joined to them, Among the holy most holy, existed in this Polish province of the Regular Observance. Yet among all this blessed Father Ladislaus, like the sun among the glittering stars shone; and had come to such brightness, that vehemently dear to all his own, he was a terror to the wicked and demons. And indeed what is most difficult of all, both in battle in subduing the enemies of the soul and in routing the vices he was strenuous, and good in counsel in averting the snares of enemies.

[30] Made a Priest, strong in the powers of eloquence, robust in genius, he is consecrated a Priest; he did not give himself to be corrupted by luxury nor by inertia; but as is the custom of this Order, to serve God with whole spirit and body, to occupy his mind with contemplation, his body with labor and various exercises, to contend about divine things and heavenly goods with his equals both in conversation and discourse. And although in all the rest he surpassed the others by the glory of virtue, yet to all he was dear. Besides this to spend most times in praying, the infernal lion going about, and seeking whom he may devour, and the cruel beasts of the other vices, first and chiefly to strike, to repel from his soul, and by his example to induce others to perform this: to do very much, and to speak very little of himself. By all which things the Order of the Minors glad at the beginning, esteemed, that those virtues of B. Ladislaus would be for glory to its Order. Whence because he was prompt of hand and desirous of the glory of virtues, in the sublime summit of honors, skilful in carrying out the affairs of the Order: offices, governments, and dignities of its Province it resolved to place him, and to set him over the Province to be governed. Who, as he was of an untiring and eager genius, in the Magistracy committed to him wished to be wanting in nothing. Almost all difficult and harsh things through him the Order to do, to have him among its friends, more and more daily to embrace him began: for his counsel was neither begun in vain. To this was added greatness of mind adorned with religious humility, and the skill of genius in the procuration of the Order's affairs so often exhibited; by which things he had joined to himself many men of both conditions of state by familiar friendship.

[31] At that time in the Order of the Minors of the Observance there were very many good and outstanding men, to whom honest arts and the studies of virtues, and the best morals in Religion, were preferable to riches and all the goods of the world: among very many excellent in the order. at home zealous and fervent imitators of Christ, among foreigners illustrious and honest, who had merited no mediocre praise of holiness. Yet among all, the holiness of B. Ladislaus obtained the first chair. And even thence the holiness of this man may be beheld. For when in that memory the Order of the Minors in the kingdom of Poland was affected by the benefit of recent foundation in many places, it had this especially at its rise to care for, that it should excel in the glory of all virtues. All therefore applying themselves with whole heart to the study of virtue, various gifts were conferred from heaven. Some by the grace of cures, some by the interpretation of speeches, part by the science and knowledge of various things, by serving the church of God, had turned the faces and gazes of all upon themselves. The rumor flows through the whole kingdom: they bear the servants of God to heaven with praises. That one family had undergone the yoke of piety, that war, which is in all against the rulers of these darknesses, as if chiefly turned into the private care of that Order, into their private arms: if there were more of the same fortitude in our nation of that state, the people of God leading a tranquil life, all the enemies of souls could be subdued, and the monsters of vices easily subjected. Such then was the fame of the holiness of the Order of the Minors of the Observance; although in the memory of all men, even to our age, its odor is recognized not to have grown obsolete. Never did the army of Christ, neither greater in number, nor more illustrious by fame and the admiration of men, march in our kingdom.

[32] Yet among all B. Ladislaus was found, to whom the helms of this most holy Order should be left. he is held most fit for government: Very often elected to govern the Order existing in the kingdom, to retain perfect and sincere Observance, to guard and augment good morals, he so bore himself, that always he was judged worthier to hold the helm in the Order. By the consent of all he entered the Magistracy: and if at any time he desired to abdicate the same, again to undergoing the province of governing he was compelled by the desire of all, and frequently the command over the Brothers was prolonged to him. This the memory of deeds done testifies, brought forth even to our times. That he functioned five times in the office of Provincial Vicar in the whole kingdom of Poland, with huge increment of the Order and the glory of God's name, the Chronicles say. For not yet were the Provincials, for that time assumed to govern the order, called Ministers: but those who were elected to exercise the governance, were named Provincial Vicars: but the titles of the other Magistracies and Prefectures were safe and entire to the Conventual Fathers, the use of them not yet transferred into the Order of the Minors of the Observance. Moreover as said above, for exercising the office of the Vicariate, among many cultivators of religious perfection, most able by the judgment of all many times B. Ladislaus was elected. Which thing testifies not obscurely that the holiness of the man was exceptional and by no means common, and insinuates that he was the light of his nation, the salt of the earth, and an example unto the odor of sweetness.

[33] It pleases to celebrate with a clearer style the memory of his governance; and the first thing that occurs to be said is this. In the year of the Lord MCCCCLXXXVII at Warsaw was announced the Diet of the Order of the Minors, over the celebrating of which presided the Reverend Father Brother Marian Jeziorko, a man most outstanding for holiness and doctrine. in the year 1487 elected Provincial Vicar, Then B. Ladislaus being elected Provincial Vicar, entered the Magistracy, the Brothers praying that he might experience that office favorable and happy. The following year the same B. Ladislaus celebrated at Cracow a Chapter, in which he promoted with chief care this, that it might be permitted him to depart the office of the Vicariate, deeming that among the chapels and altars he would lead a placid and quiet life. But that matter turned out far otherwise than he hoped; for the opinions, voices, and votes of all, judged that he should be retained in the same Magistracy. Again he in the year of the Lord MCCCCLXXXIX announces a Convent of the Brothers in the Przeworsk monastery. There are present very many of the Fathers, about to hold salutary consultations of the common good.

in the year 1489 he is confirmed. There B. Ladislaus moved every stone, that to him, the burden of the load being laid down, it might be conceded to lead a private life with the other Brothers, using to promote that cause various arguments of reasons. That he lacked the resources of mind and genius, to sustain that office of governing; that the Province should be committed to one more diligent and prudent; that they should grant him, less fit, to quiet and a private life: that he did not refuse the labors of the Order, but recognized his own defects; that those delights seemed to him preferable, to be subject than to preside. But he gave words to the wind, and sang a tale to the deaf. For again to be wakeful over the office of the Vicariate, and to preside over the Order to be governed, compelled by the voice of all, he put his arms under the imposed burden.

[34] A much heavier burden was added to the burden and the office of the blessed Man multiplied. he sets out to Italy to the general Diet: Into Italy to celebrate the general Diet of the whole Order, the desires of all demanding it, he is elected into the Discreet of the Province, and a long pilgrimage, deputed Messenger by the Order, he is compelled to undertake. About to carry thither the affairs, cares, studies, necessities, sheepfolds, petitions of the whole Order, alone about to carry out and promote the cause of all the Brothers, he girded himself for the journey, abundantly satisfying in all things the burden imposed on him. Returned from Italy, the affairs duly completed, to his domestic home (when it behooved him to take rest) again he stretched out his hands to labors, for eight years he preaches: he writes books, for nearly eight years succeeding one another. To bestow effort on giving sermons to the people, to apply himself to writing books, to adhere to continual lectures, invited to adorn the obsequies of Nobles and Magnates with Ecclesiastical eloquence to run, to be fatigued by no labor and care, to flee idleness, and always with the talents entrusted to him gaining others and others. And while he was occupied with these pious occupations in the Order, there came a messenger, announcing a Chapter to be celebrated at Opatów in the year of the Lord MCCCCXCVI. in the year 1496 again he is elected Provincial Vicar: The author and chief moderator of that Chapter was a certain one, named P. John the Glazier. He then, outstanding in the dignity of the Vicariate, held the first parts in the convent of the Brothers. There was present at the same Chapter B. Ladislaus, and turned the eyes of all upon himself, and kindled their zeal. The solemnity was held on the very day of S. John the Baptist the Precursor. To Blessed Ladislaus, none greater, better, worthier seemed to rise, in piety and the opinion of holiness among all those gathered Fathers. All delighted by his presence, and very much consoled and edified by his consort, congratulated themselves, and venerated that man with all reverence and cult. There though much reluctant, he is ordered to obtain the place of Provincial Vicar. He resists, but washes the Ethiopian, the desires of all urge, let him take the first seat, let him rule, govern, preside happily over the Order. At length fatigued, he acquiesces to the consent of all: he takes into his hand the rod of governance, and exercises the committed Province.

[35] But from that time, he undertook the care and governance only of those Brothers, whose monasteries stood within the bounds of the Kingdom of Poland; for to this time Moravia, Bohemia, Silesia, and Austria, together with Poland, bore the title of one Province: but in this Chapter Poland separated from them, began to contain itself within its own limits, and to undergo the name and governance of a Province. B. Ladislaus ruled his Poland for a whole year, and began to weary of that life: accustomed to contemplation, to be tortured by its desire, to aspire, and to desire as soon as possible to return to the placid state of the contemplative life. Wherefore to the town of Warta he convokes the chief heads of the Order, and to those gathered into one he insinuates, that as the hart desires the fountains of waters, then at Warta he is confirmed. so his soul desires the Lord his God. Let the Fathers permit him to be dissolved from the office of his governance, and to be joined through continual degrees of contemplation with Christ. That he had borne the burden to the utmost of his strength; now broken by labors, that he wished to be free for the sweetness and quiet of heavenly meditation: let them substitute another, whose strength and skill of mind was richer; let them suffer him, now destitute of strength, free from governance, but subject to the religious laws, to live. This first seemed bitter and unworthy to the Fathers, that the Order should be deprived of that excellent governance. Thence from the matter a counsel arose, that he must be fatigued with prayers, that he should be willing to take the care of all the Brothers, to exercise the command prolonged to him over the Brothers, and not desert the flock committed to him; that the will of God was this, of which an evident argument, the votes of all the Brothers carried into one for electing him: that the Holy Spirit must not be resisted, nor the desires of all the Brothers postponed. These things said all rise up, and exact consent from the reluctant one; and at length with huge gladness of their minds obtain it.

[36] Before I lead this Chapter to the prefixed goal, I have thought a testimony of B. Ladislaus's holiness worthy of diligent attention must be subjoined. Since the governance of the whole magistracy, which the Order required, was many times with him; instructed by very experience the mistress of things, he betook himself to establishing new laws of the Constitutions. The laws and constitutions enacted by him the Fathers in the Chapter, as premised, of Cracow, the Commissary General (who was Louis della Torre) presiding, and with huge expectation of all the good, he established new constitutions, the Tables of the Laws being proposed, called the Convent to a sermon together with the Commissary: and that they might be supported with the value of greater authority, and the laws of the Constitution be made more august, they resolved that they should be promulgated under the name of the aforesaid Commissary; and, that it might be good and favorable to their Commonwealth, to themselves and their successors, they ordered the proposed laws to be perceived by the ear and seen by the eyes. That they, as far as by the regard of piety and the acumen of genius they could provide, had equalized the laws to all the highest and lowest. Some attempted to impede and intercede, casting them about by various murmur as grave and intolerable; yet they were overcome by the assent of the others, and those Constitutions are brought forth in silence. And when they seemed corrected enough, received by all, and exhibited to be observed, seriously they bound the consciences of all who professed that Order, a bond of obligation being struck. It was treated of this matter in the General Chapter, gathered at Urbino in the year of the Lord MCCCCXCVIII on the XXVIII day of May; in the year 1494 in the general Chapter, and a counsel entered upon, whether those Constitutions are to be observed by the whole Order of the Minors. That the geniuses and counsels of many were strong: let them revolve in their minds with themselves each thing, then agitate them with discourses, and confer into the midst what in each thing was more or less; that the Order would have those laws added to the Rule, which the consent of all could seem not so much to have ordered to be enacted, as to have borne. They were full of piety, and proceeded from piety; and therefore could not be contemned and cast away. By the applause of all therefore praised, it pleased that they be received.

[37] By the example also of the Commissary himself faith and authority is said to have been added to the matter: who, the codex containing those Constitutions being taken into his hands, and approved by the Commissary General. came forth into the sermon, with tears poured out from devotion, using these words to the gathered Brothers: To me this is the mind, that the spirit, to the last line of life, to preserve and observe these pious laws, these holy statutes, as the holy Gospel. Not sooner shall I suffer myself to be torn from observing them, than, my life being snatched from me, pale death shall have put the sharp scythe under my neck. The same end to me of observing these laws, as of ending my life. To live fortified with these pleases me: and to die armed with these is agreeable. These will be to me remedies against vices, these salutary medicines against the diseases of the mind; these monuments to the living, these solaces to the dying. Wonderful indeed how great was the faith to that man announcing these things, and how vehement the desire of all the Fathers was kindled to observe those Constitutions, and a contest of minds too of imitating them, and a desire of living according to the manner of them invaded. Hence is gathered, with how keen judgment, with how skilful genius, with how ardent piety B. Ladislaus was; from whose mouth the precepts brought forth for governing souls and the Constitutions of laws established, so sweetly and prudently written, pleased the whole Order, that as to be received by all, and to be observed in perpetuity, all the chief ones defined. From a pure fountain the purest rivulets must be derived, and from the abundance of the heart the tongue breaks forth into words. From the treasure are brought forth new and old things. From a dark cave, what else but venomous animals, stench and dung? From the fruits the tree is known, and from the claws the lion. Say to the just man, that it is well, for he shall eat the fruit of his inventions. Right inventions, which not only to B. Ladislaus himself, but to the whole Order of the Minors, stood for great use and advantage.

CHAPTER VI.

Brothers sent into Lithuania.

[38] It pleases to make mention of other heroic specimens of virtues, worthy of eternal memory, exhibited by B. Ladislaus; to whom that especially was a care, to diffuse the light of the Catholic faith, and the light of good works, into all parts of the world, to scatter the rays of virtues everywhere, and by his own and his Brothers' example to carry the knowledge of God, good morals, the mysteries of the Catholic faith, into the minds of as many as possible, hither and thither to dispatch Brothers for disseminating the word of salvation, by example and salutary doctrine to shine before all. There was master of the highest affairs at that time in the Great Duchy of Lithuania Alexander Jagellonides, Into Lithuania, uterine brother of John Albert King of the Poles, who for that time moderated the reins of the Kingdom. He, following the example of the prior Kings, asked of B. Ladislaus, then Provincial Vicar, that Brothers of the Order of the Minors of the Observance, for instructing the people subject to his dominion, should be sent into Lithuania and White Ruthenia. The matter the Father did not spurn, greedy of human salvation; he promised he would send them, and with no delay interposed stood by his promises.

[39] The matter here seems to demand, to set forth in few words the state rather than the situation of Lithuania, the cult rather than the morals; and to touch the dogmas of that nation, with which in the beginning there was war with the Kingdom of Poland, now friendship and fraternity. All that I am about to say, in very few words, to the praise of a most excellent and most devout nation, my mind is to complete. a most excellent region, The Great Duchy of Lithuania extending most widely, yet containing very many places, on account of the harshness of the country, and likewise solitudes, woods, marshes, less frequented, has from the North Muscovy, a nation though Christian, yet obstinate in the Greek schism, with which too with various fortune it has waged and wages very many wars: from the East Ruthenia, infected with the same hardening as Muscovy formerly almost wholly: from the West it is joined to Prussia and Livonia, formerly little Catholic, now ill-smelling with heresy: from the South it is coupled by a neighboring embrace to Poland. The soil fertile of crops, good for cattle, fruitful of trees: likewise most teeming of beasts not only the non-rapacious, wolves, bears, hedgehogs, foxes, badgers, martens, but also those serving for human food; besides hares, roe-deer, stags, also great abundance of bisons, elks, boars, likewise birds, partridges, capercaillies, black grouse, hazel-grouse, thrushes, of various kinds, and of very many others, not easy to relate.

[40] The human race of healthy body, patient of labors, rustic and harsh, formerly without the laws of the true Christian faith, without the command of the Church, free and loose, long given to idols, poured forth into all things, a long time lived. Afterward, when the Royal command was transferred to Jagello

their Duke, the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Poland consenting to him; and he, joined by matrimony to Hedwig Queen of the Poles, received the light of the Christian faith, consecrating his name to Catholicism; made a son to the Roman Pontiff through obedience, he endeavored also to lead his nation happily into the same way of salvation. But before the light of faith was brought to those barbarous men; serpents, toads, oaks likewise, groves, fire, shades, they worshiped for gods. Wladislaus Jagello their Duke, made King of the Poles and a Christian, drew them not so much by doctrine as by command, made Christian by Jagello, by fear rather than by love, by his own example rather than by the recognition of truth, to baptism in troops. Nevertheless yet at that time, in which Prince Alexander, grandson of Jagello, presided over the administration of the Duchy, it is established that very many were still wrapped in the fog of errors, many infected with the Ruthenian or Greek schism, innumerable harsh by an innate and not yet polished barbarity; but those who were illumined by the light of the Catholic faith, like infants, who needed milk and not solid food, were tottering. The tender plantation had need of frequent irrigation, and of the rain of divine eloquence, and of the shower of heavenly dew: the harvest was great, the laborers few.

[41] he destines the Minorites: To succor and bring aid to these, solicited by the prayers of the Prince, B. Ladislaus resolved. He destines to cultivate that field untiring laborers, and gives mandates, that they should set about that uncultivated vineyard to be purged, with diligent labor, toil, and zeal: let them collect from it the stones of scandal; let them pluck up the thorns and briers of iniquity; let them eradicate the useless herbs of vain superstition; let them expel the bears and wantoning swine; let them altogether cast out the monsters of idolatry, and the rabid beasts of the schismatics, and the rapacious wolves: let them build up a hedge of good works, with which they may surround and fortify like a strongest rampart the Lord's flock, and let them build a wall in the midst of it touching heaven with its top; let them instill into the minds of men the knowledge and love of the only true God: let them also build up a wine-press of the various sciences of the learned, pressing out for souls a salutary drink. The blessed Father adds, that they should first shine before by example, then teach men by word, present themselves an example in every word and work.

[42] The soldiers instructed with these arms, from their Commander take their journey as far as Polotsk. to Polotsk It is a city situated in the bounds of White Ruthenia and the Province of the Duchy of Lithuania, best fortified by art and nature. They were sent as sheep into the midst of wolves, their loins girt, clothed with the breastplate of justice, and their feet shod in the preparation of the Gospel of peace, the Father Brother Leo of Łańcut being assigned to them as Prelate. Therefore when they entered the bounds of Lithuania, and other cities, everywhere intent on the spiritual soldiery, to hasten, to prepare, one to exhort another, to go to meet the vices, to preach the Catholic faith, Christian liberty, the heavenly glory, to cover themselves with the arms of virtues. Afterward when they had driven off dangers and envy by virtue, to their associates and friends, the Parish-priests I mean and Curates, they carried aids: and more by giving and exhibiting spiritual benefits, than by receiving alms they procured the friendships of the faithful. Legitimate command to administer the care of souls, by the Privilege of Sixtus the Fourth Roman Pontiff, such as was conceded to the Holy Land and the Bosnians, they had. Chosen, those whose body was infirm with years, but whose genius was strong with wisdom, consulted for the Christian Commonwealth, received confessions; and these either by age or by likeness of care, even to the present, by a common appellation are called Fathers.

[43] Now first all those Fathers, as soon as they were patient of the spiritual war, in subduing the monsters of vices, in overturning the simulacra of idols, in washing away the garrisons of schismatics, through continual labors, learned the soldiery of Christ by use: and they had more pleasure in the comely arms of virtues, than in the occupations of this age. Therefore to such men no labor was unaccustomed, no place harsh or arduous, virtue had tamed all; but of promoting the Christian faith, and augmenting the glory of God there was the greatest contest among them. Each one to break an idol, to expel error, to lead souls from the lake of ignorance, to promote the good of faith, to be seen while he wrought such a deed hastened; those they thought riches, that good fame and great nobility. Greedy of multiplying the divine praise, they were contemners of money; they wished for huge glory, honest poverty. I could relate, in what places they expelled the greatest copious darknesses, and brought in the light of faith, what engines of idols and various errors of the gentiles they broke, were not that matter to hold me longer from the undertaking. where they convert innumerable Russians, An ancient codex of the Annals relates that more than ten thousand, snatched from the darkness and shadow of death, from the error of paganism by those Fathers, and illumined by the light of the Christian faith. The matter in few words: they fought the good fight, as becomes strenuous soldiers of Christ. Nor was the Lord wanting to their pious endeavors, but both favored their works, and exhibited a spiritual supplement to their labors. And it came to pass that the Russians, separated by the pertinacity of schism from the union of the Catholic Church, and so the pure oil of true and inviolate doctrine failing, the lamps of faith, from the rushing wind of vain superstition, now shining somewhat darkly, and the darknesses of ignorance pouring themselves in for light; looked back to the light of truth, and turned their feet from error, and their eyes from vanity, and desired the society and friendship of the Roman Church. And they remained in the faith of society and friendship, as long as those Fathers, by doctrine and example, shone before them. But Polotsk being taken and laid waste by the Muscovite, some there being slain, others moreover removed in various ways, the ardor of faith too had to suffer detriment. This is certain and clearer than the noonday light, that by the diligent labor of those Fathers, the Catholic faith greatly reflourished and long flourished in that Region, rustic morals were transformed into more humane ones, the seeds of virtues germinated, good works were in frequent use. Not to be passed over in silence the great piety and fervor of Prince Alexander, who studied to help and favor those laborers with aid, help, favor, in fine by every way and reason, to the utmost of his part.

[44] he undertakes the place of Skępe, In the same year too the same B. Ladislaus, at the town of Skępe, received a place, known to the whole kingdom for very many miracles. That place sacred to the B. V. Mary: the same pious Mother taking the care of the afflicted with her Son, many benefits are received by the faithful, who flock thither in troops for the sake of help, not without miracle, by the merits and intercession of the B. V. Mary the Patroness of the place, of which more will be brought forward below. Then in the following year, a Chapter being gathered at Warsaw, B. Ladislaus departed the magistracy. After he governed the Province for six years, fortified with the best laws and statutes nay also declarations of the rule, he discharges his office. he handed it over into the hands of another to be governed, having merited great glory of his holiness and name. I conclude, that this Blessed man was conspicuous for great glory of holiness, who so frequently was master of the command of the family to be governed. For unless before the rest he had shone with the chief prerogative of holiness, by no means in those beginnings, when the principle was fervent, and the ardent zeal of the Observance brandished flames, would he have held the principality among those Fathers. A great document indeed this of his holiness, and such as by its own force can confirm the minds of all with firm strength concerning his true holiness.

CHAPTER VII.

The profound humility of B. Ladislaus, and his Angelic Chastity.

[45] The all-powerful God had adorned His servant B. Ladislaus with the most precious pearls of virtues, the most splendid stones of merits, and the incomparable treasure of gifts and graces, whom He was about to set forth to the whole world as beholdable, He is eminent in profound humility, admirable, to be worshiped, and to be imitated henceforth. For wonderful humility shone forth in him, the foundation of the other virtues, the guardian of graces. It is known to all, that every edifice must be raised from the foundations: if this be weak and infirm, no one doubts that the walls too and the roof itself can easily be demolished by the storms of tempests. An edifice reaching even to heaven, is the strongest citadel of all virtues gathered into one: whose very summit it is established must be ascended by all, who strive to set foot into the tabernacles of the heavenly province. But the foundation of all virtues no one will find other, except humility alone; all the doctors of the Church bearing testimony to it. the foundation of virtues, John Cassian, in book XII of his Institutes, let us hear what he says. In no way in your soul will the structure of virtues be able to rise up, unless first there be cast in our heart the foundations of true humility, which most firmly placed may be strong to sustain the summit of perfection and charity. Humility is the mistress of all virtues, it is the firmest foundation of the heavenly edifice, it is the proper and magnificent gift of the Savior. S. Cyprian too on the Nativity of Christ says: This is the first entrance of religion, as the first ingress of Christ into the world, that whoever wishes to live piously, should think humbly of himself, nor presume to walk above himself in wonderful things. The foundation of holiness was always humility, nor in heaven could proud sublimity stand.

[46] From this foundation B. Ladislaus began to raise the structure of Religious perfection: and therefore with happy success he led to the very summit the begun edifice of holiness: for everyone who shall be humbled shall be in grace, and he who shall incline his eyes shall himself be saved. He had learned from the Lord, to be meek and humble of heart; to be humbled under the mighty hand of God, by inward sense, that he might be exalted in the time of visitation. His soul was subject to the Lord, and from Him his patience. The greater he was, the more in all things he humbled himself, and therefore before God he found grace. He had it for a custom, that not only by speech and external action he should depress himself; but truly in his mind he should learn to think humbly of himself and his own merits, according to that of Christ Luke XVII, When you shall have done all things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants. Then having followed the example of Christ the Lord, who, death impending, rose from supper, girt himself with a linen cloth, put water into a basin, washed the feet of the disciples, and among them those of Judas the traitor; he too was wont to exercise humble offices, to go to the kitchen, to wash with his own hands the pots and all the other vessels destined for the use of the kitchen, and by external services, to purge with brooms the more secret places, to wash, to cleanse; and to perform those things which slaves of the lowest condition carry out, and with cheerful brow to go about those duties, which use and custom hands over to be gone about by cooks and vile servants. It pleases to remember King David, who would not doubt, naked, though his wife Michol laughed, before the ark of God, for the sake of religion to dance; whom when the Lord had preferred singularly to all, he himself by subjecting and equalizing himself to the least, and by exhibiting abject things, despises himself. And not only, while still the ardor of youthful age, inclined the holy Man to that lot of embracing humility; but even in old age, though fatigued and debilitated by continual labors, affected, even in old age, from that humble kind of services he would not draw back his right hand. Hence, by the example of so profound humility, to all the rest to show the way to that virtue, to add a spur to the runners, the path

to show, and by his own edification to shine before; and indeed in so efficacious a manner and reason, that even to the present day and to our times, the vestiges of that humility, strongly impressed, observed by holy custom, appear: to which the Fathers and Brothers of every age think it the highest comeliness to adhere.

[47] But not here nor in these abject works did he resolve to set the goals and limits of humility; he produced further crags and bounds, and in this virtue he wished to place most deeply the soles of his feet; and others especially the juniors by birth, he prescribes humble exercises, to embrace the offices of humility, exercises being brought into the midst, he attracted. And these are of this kind: to be dragged about with a rope put round the neck, to be prostrated at the feet of those passing by, and to subject himself to be trodden by the soles of others: at the threshold of the house in the very doors to lie prone on the ground; to be rolled to kiss the feet of others, his face veiled; to be agitated by injurious, vilifying, threatening words, and those breathing reproaches; to be vexed by contumelious and accusatory speech: to be mocked by his defects being reproached, to be postponed to all, and to be pronounced unworthy of the consort of the Brothers, and to be trained by other exercises inclining to humility: which to be in use in the holy Order the present age too beholds and admires. To exercise alone perpetually the study of modesty, to usurp no arrogance in speech, nor to display proud diction. To show himself courteous toward a friend, gentle toward a household-member, patient toward the rash, humane toward the humble, a patron to the afflicted, to visit those set in grief: in sum to contemn no one: besides to demonstrate himself sweet in address, eager in response, dexterous and open to all, neither to celebrate his own encomia, nor to suborn others who should do this, nor to admit dishonest fame of his neighbor; and to cover his own virtues and prerogatives, as much as could be done: but for the sake of sins to accuse himself, to do the same as the just man, who in the beginning of his speech accuses himself. Besides this, that holy man was not troublesome and severe in chiding, nor petulant nor with commotion of mind did he reprehend anyone, moderate in reprehending, nor for modest faults did he condemn, as a rigid exactor of the law; but those who offended, by the example of S. Francis his Father, he embraced, and spiritually instructed; and expended as much zeal that he should not be held glorious among men, as others expend that they may be glorified. For nothing is so welcome to God, as to count oneself among the extreme sinners. This is the beginning of all wisdom, and unless upon the stable foundation of humility, the spiritual edifice can by no means stand.

[48] These foundations being cast, B. Ladislaus easily constructed the rest of the edifice, and erected a most lofty tower of perfection, to be beheld in the midst of the Christians. Deeming that above the foundation of humility he should place the three vows of Religion, abundantly commended through Christ the Lord; to their observance he directed all his strength, A lover and cultivator of Chastity, and turned his mind. First occurs chastity, a most beautiful virgin, a comely maiden, and unknown to man. This he greatly loved, and had among his delights. For he knew that the will of God was, his sanctification, that he should abstain from fornication, and should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the passion of desire. All ponderation was not worthy of that continent soul itself, which surely was a sealed fountain and an enclosed garden. B. Ladislaus did not build up, upon the foundation of humility, wood, hay, stubble: but gold, silver, and precious stones of virginity and continence, who had crucified his flesh with its vices and concupiscences. Sixty strong ones of Israel surrounded his bed, all holding swords and most skilled in wars, the sword of each upon his thigh, on account of fears in the night, the guardianship of the Angels I mean, who are always present to the chastest thoughts, and preserve the minds of God's servants unharmed from foul lust: or also the examples of the Saints, by whose force the hearts of youths are wont vehemently to be kindled, to love chastity with whole affection, as S. Augustine says, Chap. VIII of the Confessions. There was opened from that part, toward which I had bent my face, and whither I trembled to pass, the chaste dignity of continence, serenely and not dissolutely cheerful, honestly coaxing that I should come, nor doubt: and stretching out to receive and embrace me her pious hands, full of flocks of good examples: there so many boys and girls, there much youth and every age, and grave widows, and virgins and old women; and in all continence itself, by no means sterile: and they mocked me with a mocking exhortation, as if they said: Canst thou not, what these men and these women can? Having imitated the examples of the Saints B. Ladislaus always loved the virtue of continence, nor from its love to the left of carnal pleasure did he ever bend; but chaste in mind and body, he bore the unconquered name of holiness. In the storming of strong infamy, he was armed with chastity, by whose reins all obscenity is bridled, and by whose fetters checks are set to raging lust. Surely that holy man, sublime in glory on account of the virtue of continence, shone in the eyes of all, and never was marked with the sinister opinion of lust; so that deservedly he is said to have trodden down the infirmity of petulant wantonness, to have taken the protection of probity, to have taken the victory of the soul and the prey of the body, by cultivating chastity.

CHAPTER VIII.

The zeal of Poverty and Obedience.

[49] Now it pleases to proceed further, it pleases also to look into the fabric, which the Holy Spirit, by inhabiting His servant, raised on high. May it please to behold the mansions of this palace, made by God in B. Ladislaus. The spiritual edifice of this holy man grew daily more, He proceeds from virtue to virtue: and more upward rose up. For the grace of the Holy Spirit knows not slow endeavors; and it is the virtue and property of Christian perfection, that it can always be augmented in this life. For such is the nature of man, that he does not suddenly come forth supreme in the study of virtue: but first is as it were an infant by beginning, secondly grows up by profiting, thirdly becomes a man, that is comes to due perfection. In charity (says Paul to the Ephesians IV) let us grow in Him, and to the Philippians I, This I pray, that your charity may more abound, and to the Thessalonians I, May the Lord multiply you and make you abound in charity. B. Ladislaus proceeded from virtue to virtue, a man just and perfect, he walked with God: and the more he approached the port of life; the more fervently he gave himself to the studies of virtues. Blessed truly the man, who is found without spot, and who went not after gold, nor hoped in the treasures of money, and did wonderful things in his life, esteeming all as dung that he might gain Christ. Touched with no cupidity of gold and silver, he was as rich though he had nothing, and as poor though he flowed with the very many riches of heavenly gifts. studious of religious poverty, He looked at the birds of the air, for they sow not, neither reap, nor gather into barns, and our heavenly Father feeds them. He knew that he had brought nothing into this world, no doubt that neither could he carry anything away. But having food and wherewith to be covered, with these he was content. He had left all things, and followed Christ. He had renounced all things, which he had ever possessed, and in all things showed himself as a minister in much patience, and thirst, and cold, and nakedness: accustomed to know how to be filled and to hunger, to abound and to suffer want: warring for God he did not entangle himself in secular desires: he possessed not gold nor silver, nor money in his girdle, nor had a scrip in the way, nor sandals. But clothed in a simple habit, he never gloried in garments: never solicitous of the morrow: for the morrow was solicitous for itself.

[50] The monasteries of the Province, built in divers places, distant by a long interval from one another (there were then in number twenty-four convents already erected), going with bare feet he visited; he visits the convents on foot: not carried in a chariot, not sitting on a horse, not brought by vehicles, by the hardest stretch of journey he was fatigued. Into Italy twice, driven by the mass of his province's affairs, the long and troublesome enough way of pilgrimage he performed on foot. That journey full of weariness and difficulties the zealous athlete undertook, and accomplished: in which journey among foreign peoples, it was necessary for him to give many documents of patience. For the most part wont to feed on bread alone and water, he sought no irritants of the palate: food was to him against hunger and thirst, not for lust nor luxury; content with the least food he lives, the smallest gold and silver shekels were never found in his hand to sustain life; through begged suffrages he procured food: he followed what was just, and sought the Lord: he attended to the rock whence he was hewn, and to the cavern of the pit from which he was cut: he attended to Abraham (understand D. Francis) and to Sara (understand holy Religion) which bore him, since the Lord called him one and blessed him, and multiplied him, who had chosen to be abject in the house of the Lord: and he wished to obtain the possession of no even least thing in this world, desiring to be sustained by alms, and to feed on bread offered for the love of God, and to be satisfied with the crumbs which fell from the table of the rich. He knew too that it was a custom of Religion, to seek food from door to door, and to require food from the liberal hand of benefactors: and because he acted as its supreme Prelate, he judged it unbecoming, the army hungering, for the commander to live delicately and softly; and the same law for himself, which the Brothers kept, he had fixed to be held: nor did he judge that the tongue must be recalled from asking alms by shame or modesty. That he had gone forth naked from his mother's womb, that he would also return naked, and carry nothing with him of his labor he knew for certain: that the Son of man too had not where to lay His head, and was laid in another's sepulcher he had read.

[51] The year of the Lord was running its course MCCCCLXXXIX when again to B. Ladislaus the office of governing the Province was conferred. He undertakes troublesome journeys and offices even as an old man. The office too of Discreet (whom the use of the Order now calls Custos of Custodes) being imposed (for in that memory it was lawful to attend to both offices one and the same) the old man accustomed to labors bore; and now that a troublesome care was enjoined him into huge merit he patiently bore. Afterward in the year of the Lord MCCCCXCVIII the time of the Diet of the Order to be celebrated had come, in the most noble city of the Milanese: thither too compelled to undertake the journey, and to take the way on foot, content with one sole companion, addicted to patience he did not refuse. Thence too to Rome he betook himself, about strenuously to plead the cause of the Order. And since by the impious mouth of detractors, he knew that his Order existing in the kingdom of Poland, defamed, was ill spoken of; he opposed to the calumniators the strongest shield of innocence: and the life of his rightly and piously living Brothers and the best state of the Observance in all things being brought into the midst, he stopped the mouth of those speaking iniquities, and by his care and diligence the best estimation and fame of the Order remained, in nothing injured. Clearly therefore it is plain, that this blessed Father was instructed with every kind of virtues, whom, set in

the greatest poverty, no adversity could overcome.

[52] But of his obedience, in all things most prompt, the arguments are not few, and those by no means slight, those deeds of his, by which he proved the total abnegation of himself and resignation into the hands of his Superiors. from the merit of Obedience he acts: The contest of labors never deterred him, because the greatness of rewards invited him: and therefore girding himself to this virtue of obedience, which, instructed in the school of the Seraphic Father, he knew could not be true, right, pure, and firm, unless each one reckon himself dead, or in all things like to a dead man; he had so abnegated himself, that he wished to do nothing at all, which was not adorned with the merit of obedience; which also in his Savior he had read and most often repeated, made obedient even unto death, even the death of the cross. He had read also that, which once Samuel the Prophet said, Does the Lord wish holocausts and victims, and not rather that the name of the Lord be obeyed. 1 Kings 15 B. Ladislaus had learned obedience, that he should obey the words of the Lord, and do whatsoever they should say, who presided over the place which the Lord had chosen. Matt. 23 Upon the Chair of Moses, the Scribes and Pharisees sat, all things therefore whatsoever they should say to him, he kept and did. To the higher powers his soul was subject, and he himself obeyed his superiors, and lay subject to them. He, when he was an obedient man, spoke victories, and the Lord was made his protector, and his reward exceeding great. His food was, that he should do the will of Him who sent him: he obeyed his Superiors with fear and trembling, in the simplicity of his heart as Christ. The holy man knew best, that obedience alone is the virtue, which inserts the other virtues into the mind and guards them when inserted.

[53] It will suffice out of the many arguments of B. Ladislaus's obedience even one testimony brought into the midst; and that is such, [on account of old age in the Chapter bidden to choose a companion and rest at pleasure,] that it may be held most worthy of the admiration and likewise the imitation of all. In the year of the Lord MDIV B. Ladislaus, when he had come to old age, and had debilitated the flower of youth and the strength of manly age by continual labors, and had wholly lost his pristine vigor, and had now functioned five times in the office of the Vicariate, had sustained the office of Preacher and Guardian many times with huge praise of his name, and had been wakeful with assiduous endeavor on other cares and labors in the Order; summoned to the Chapter to be celebrated in the Cracow Convent for the Feast of the B. V. Mary's Nativity, was present. The President of the Chapter was the Venerable Father Fr. Luke of Rydzyna, a man most illustrious for the praise of holiness, the glory of doctrine, and a pilgrimage undertaken to the places of Jerusalem, and by signal piety welcome and acceptable to the whole Order. And when in that Council of the Brothers, many and those useful things were decreed for the Order, Presidents were given to places, worthy men to offices, and finally convents were determined for each of the Brothers to stay in, and Fathers and Brothers necessary for the convents; there came also into the mind of the Fathers deputed for defining the causes and affairs of the Order, this advertency, that they should regard the old age of B. Ladislaus broken by continual labors; and should give pains, that, weighed down by the debility of age and the burden, they should not trouble him any longer anxious with any cares of affairs; but rather after the long navigation, in the port of quiet placidly and tranquilly living, and awaiting the term of his life, should let him live, aided by the solace and service of a companion chosen by himself. To all the Fathers, especially those worn out by old age, the best proposition pleased, and it came into mind, that they were navigating in the same skiff and hastening to the port, and that it would be welcome to them if the same care were had of their old age.

[54] The opinion is at last brought forth that one of the Fathers must be sent, named Father Stanislaus of Slapii, also worn out by old age, and once a faithful companion of his pilgrimage, who in the name of all should report; That his piety and virtue were before the eyes of all; that the labors, which with happy and prosperous success he had endured in the Order, were not buried in the oblivion of ingratitude, but kept in the archive of recent memory by the whole Order: and that all were inclined to that opinion, that account should be had of his old age; and that he should have a solace of his approaching death, who in his life for the sake of religion refused no arduous business and service. He should declare himself what chief benefit he desired to be exhibited to him by the Order: the Fathers would be wanting to him in nothing. he prefers to obey unto death. That it pleased the Fathers indeed, that he should choose for himself a place, which was dear to his mind, to stay in: that he should have a companion, whom he desired, to render services; that he should now abstain from labors, and take pleasing rest. To wonder at this B. Ladislaus, and at first as if astonished to hold his voice barred, then with his eyes raised to heaven and then turned upon that messenger, wondering, grieving, and groaning within himself, with a high, clear, and great voice, which he had from nature, he says: O Father Stanislaus, what is this matter? what new thing do I hear? Do you bid me live by my own law and according to the opinion of my mind? Are you ignorant that I strive to the utmost of my strength to persevere in rendering obedience to my Superiors even to the last period of life? Have you not learned that I have bound my conscience, by the given faith of an oath, to observing the vow of obedience even unto death? Far be from my breast that mind, that elation of soul, that election of my own will. Whatever shall be the will of the Superiors, it pleases my mind to execute it. To my own desires I declare a hostile mind. There will be no place for my affections: I will acquiesce to the judgment of the Superiors; and whatever I shall know to be determined concerning me by them, without delay I will commit to execution: because now I feel strength in me, and I can do all things in Him who comforts me. Let him go to the Council of the Fathers and report my answer: that it is far from my mind to acquiesce to my own will; to their mandate and disposition I consecrate the remaining time of my life, and refer it to their good pleasure; about to refuse no labor, whatever they shall say must be undergone; that place moreover I shall have, which they shall deign to assign me to dwell in.

[55] He reported to the Council, not without stupor of mind, all praising the deed. suffused with tears. All heard, and wondering vehemently adorned it with worthy encomia of praise: they resolved that example of true obedience to be commended and proposed also to posterity for all; and many then said: How great a man, and with how ardent charity toward God and neighbor inflamed, who, to exalt the glory of the divine name, and to promote the salvation of his neighbor, suffers not himself to be broken by labors, nor distracted by continual cares, nor called away by the debility of old age, nor alienated by offered rest! O truly holy! O truly blessed! O truly obedient servant! to whom a greater mind for fulfilling obedience, than for undertaking the care of his health; a prompter mind for accomplishing another's commands than for obtaining the offered rewards for his so many labors; a more cheerful mind, for executing the will of his Superiors, than for taking the offered repose.

[55] Moreover a care came upon those Fathers, with what convent, and with what offices they should adorn the excellent old man, He is appointed Guardian and preacher of Warsaw. and the Father who had best deserved of the whole Religion. The Warsaw convent seemed very opportune for this, in which place they knew that he had exercised the beginnings of his novitiate in the Order, had emitted his profession, had consecrated himself to God, had conceived the spirit of devotion by which inflamed he came to so great perfection; and therefore they found that that convent was dear to him. All received that proposal, and subscribed to this opinion. He is therefore designated Guardian and at the same time Preacher ordinary for that convent, because they knew for certain that he was full of doctrine, zeal, spirit, and did not doubt that he was most greedy of disseminating the word of God: that labor was to him delights, rest a punishment. There is sent from the temple, one who should signify that it had pleased the council, to create him Guardian and Preacher of Warsaw, that he should undertake the imposed burden, and execute it faithfully: that so it seemed to the Holy Spirit and the Fathers, and that it would be welcome too to the Warsaw inhabitants, who were held by desire of him. The obedient son acquiesced: the strong athlete of Christ stood in the place assigned him: and so he applied himself to the committed office, that thence the increase of God's glory, the Brothers an example, the seculars a solace, all of a pious mind huge joy took. By this example he drew very many devout Fathers in this religion to his imitation: who accustomed to labors in religion from their youth, even their strength being broken, could never be idle or rest from labors, and indulge their senile members: whence when they were appointed Guardians, at the same time they assumed the office of preaching. In which as in all other things, this blessed Father Ladislaus was most happy: who in all his acts, had easy imitators, especially in his not common devotions, spiritual exercises, the method of teaching the Christian disciplines, and the rest, as below in the following Chapters will more amply appear.

CHAPTER IX.

The zeal of B. Ladislaus in seeking the salvation of his neighbor.

[57] The bowels of this servant of God B. Ladislaus were dilated, full namely of the most fervent love of God and charity of neighbor, so that he studied most holily to live not for himself alone, but cared also to profit others as much as he could to the utmost of his strength. From the zeal of pleasing God, Excellently said by the Prince of Philosophers, that the good is diffusive of itself. And truly, that the matter is so the cause is at hand. For as envy, hatred, malice, draws all things to itself, and grieves vehemently that favorable winds breathe to a neighbor; so the goodness set in pious minds rejoices to be of use to all, to wish well, to promote the good of a neighbor, and to desire that in all things they may experience prosperous successes and rejoice in a happy lot. The holiness of B. Ladislaus did not lack that exceptional prerogative: for there was to him a continual study of pleasing God, to instruct himself with spiritual arms congruent to the greatness of the war. He had clothed himself with the armor of God, that he might be able to stand against the snares of the devil: since his wrestling was not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the spiritual things of wickedness in the heavenly places. He stood therefore his loins girt in truth, and clothed with the breastplate of justice, and his feet shod in the preparation of the Gospel of peace, in all things taking the shield of faith in which he could extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one, and he took the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God, by all prayer and supplication, praying at all times in the spirit, and in that prayer watching, in all instance for all the saints and for himself. The Lord had set His zeal in him, and his zeal was kindled like fire: he had taken an iron frying-pan, and set it an iron wall between himself and the city: and by divine zeal for he strove to send fire into the earth, and willed that it should be kindled. In the fire too of God's zeal he spoke to the nations: for he knew that to almighty God no sacrifice is such, as is the zeal of souls.

[58] Through the whole time therefore of his Vicariate, by night

and day he did not cease, admonishing with tears each one of his own: and he was through humility a companion to those acting well, and against the vices of offenders erect through the zeal of justice, that both he should in nothing prefer himself to the good, and against the fault of the depraved should exercise power; so that, his honor being suppressed, he should think himself equal to the well-living subjects, and against the perverse should brandish the rights of fortitude. he seeks the salvation of men He attended to himself and to the whole flock, in which the Holy Spirit had placed him to act as Pastor of the Lord's flock, which He acquired with His blood; providing not by constraint but spontaneously, according to God; not for the sake of filthy lucre, but voluntarily; nor as lording over the family, but made from his heart a pattern of the flock, he reproved sinners before all, urged in season, out of season, besought in all patience and doctrine. The Lord had segregated him from his mother's womb, and called him by His grace, that He might reveal His Son in him, and that he might evangelize Him among the peoples, who emulated them with the emulation of God, and acquiesced not to flesh and blood. in giving sermons, Wherever he had betaken himself, always to scatter the seeds of the Word of God, to promote the studies of virtues, to remove vices, to serve the salvation of his neighbors, to become all things to all, that he might gain all: to consolidate what was infirm, to heal what was sick, to bind up what was broken, to bring back what was straying, to seek what had perished; and exceedingly to be vigilant, as about to render an account for the souls entrusted to him, to minister to Christ, to preach His blessed name to whom he could, to admonish his sheep, to teach, to exhort, and to correct, to expend benevolence, and to exercise discipline; in his house to fulfill an Ecclesiastical and in some way Episcopal office, and so by the virtue of zeal and the ardor of caring for souls to merit of God, and to do the most divine of all divine things by cooperating with God in the conversion of sinners.

[59] Besides this not only by word and example, but also by writing and pen he wished to profit all. in writing sermons, For he wrote sermons, adorned with the flowers of erudition and piety, breathing vehemently the odor of devotion: for the festivities of the Saints too and the Sundays running through the whole year he composed many sermons accommodated and left them consigned in letters; thence desiring the profit of souls and the increase of God's glory. But because he had explored that his nation was delighted by pious songs, he resolved to bestow effort on composing them. in composing pious songs, Wherefore he produced from the treasure of his breast many hymns, sweet songs, verses bound by certain numbers, concluded by rhythmic concert, some Psalters, singing the praises of Christ the Lord and the specimens of the virtues of the B. V. Mary. Some were digested in the Latin idiom, some composed in the vernacular tongue: yet all seasoned with the same ardor of piety and sweetness of divine love. Then indeed to exhibit those prepared foods to the faithful souls, to reach them to the juniors, and at the table in the midst of the church to offer them to those coming to partake: in the schools as it were the milk of piety to the boys to learn these to exhibit, and by those songs to cultivate the B. V. Mary vehemently to kindle. And in this way to instill the sweetness of piety into the souls of the young.

[60] In the churches too of his Order in the afternoon time, when now the sun, the middle of its journey being done, which after sermons he orders to be sung with the greatest fruit begins to direct its chariot to the west, a signal is wont to be given by the greater bell, to call out the peoples from their carousings, that they may run to hear the sermon which at that time was wont to be given from the pulpit. The sermon being finished B. Ladislaus had ordered those hymns and songs, publicly in sweet concert, to be chanted with a clear voice, and so the people to learn many means to piety, and thence to be inflamed to virtue by prudent spurs, and the hearts of the faithful to be moved, and made ardent to the sweetness of spiritual things. Which thing best in invention, holy in success, also fruitful in event and exceedingly useful was found. For also the people allured by the chant modulated with piety, more frequently to go to the temples, to spurn tables, cups, drunkennesses, to flock in troops to the churches of the Friars Minor, to pre-occupy places for sitting, to anticipate the coming of the Preacher, to await the comer with desire, to hear avidly him making his discourse, to aspire to heavenly things, to dread the infernal torments, and gradually to hold the allurements of the world in contempt; the sermon finished, to bring forth songs about Christ the Lord and about His most holy genetrix the B. V. Mary, to chant them clearly and devoutly, to commit them to memory, to consider them with diligent attention. Some you would have seen pour forth tears, others bring forth tearful groans, certain ones beat their breast, bear to heaven with praises the piety of the Order of the Minors and of B. Ladislaus, proclaim it, and stimulate and inflame all to imitate it. For chant is, the Angelic Doctor asserting, the exultation of the mind concerning eternal goods, breaking forth into voices, and so inflaming with an efficacious motion to gladness and spiritual joy. That too is true, that songs more sweetly and happily adhere to the memory; which is explored in boys, who more quickly learn the songs, which they rarely hear; than the Our Father, which compelled they daily repeat: and therefore by the use of songs the mysteries of faith, the examples of piety, the germs of virtues, flow into the minds of men, send roots, and afterward make worthy fruits of piety in the Church of God.

[61] In this part B. Ladislaus followed the example, of the Christian faith disseminated in the first spring and the first age, exhibited through the Kingdom of Poland, and terminated with happy effect. For there had come into his memory S. Adalbert, as S. Adalbert taught the Poles the mysteries of faith, formerly of Prague, afterward our Archbishop of Gniezno: who, offended by the insolent life of his Bohemian nation, spurning his monitions and pastoral doctrines, when he had betaken himself into the Kingdom of Poland; found a rude nation, and to the light of faith, as in a dark place to a burning lamp, in some way blinking with the eyes, sitting; therefore the holy man, full of the Apostolic spirit, had undertaken Poland to be illumined and the more instituted. But that he might more easily induce the dogmas of faith into the minds of the Poles, deeming that the use of songs would conduce most to effecting this, he undertook this labor, and made a most sweet song, in whose bowels he comprehended the mysteries of the Christian faith. That song obtained a name, from its first word with which it begins, Bogarodzica. Published and handed to universal use, incredible to say, how avidly it was accepted by the faithful, and enclosed in the treasure of memory: and the use afterward obtained, that men of every state and condition learn it, and on occasion celebrate it in chant: especially it was received by custom for soldiers, that when the trumpet-call is sounded, they too bring forth that song with eager voice, and by its virtue incite themselves to bravely join standards with the enemy. There shone before by a recent example to augment and conserve that custom, made of immortal glory, the Illustrious and Generous D. Bartholomew Nowodworski, Professed of the Military Order of S. John the Baptist of the Maltese Congregation, a man prompt of hand, strenuous in war, and illustrious for many victories happily obtained over enemies; who from Gregory XV of Blessed memory sought and obtained certain Indulgences, to be gained by those, who shall undertake to celebrate that song in chant. But let us hasten to other things.

CHAPTER X.

In the extreme dangers of Poland the enemies routed.

[62] It escapes no one, that the zeal, with which the Saints are wont to burn, is joined with huge grief, as is plain by the example of D. Paul the Apostle, while kindled with zeal he writes to the Rom. IX, Great sadness to me, and continual grief, to my heart: for I myself wished to be anathema from Christ for my Brethren, who are Israelites: and to the Phil. III, Many walk, To prove the charity of Ladislaus of whom I often told you (but now weeping I say) enemies of the Cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is the belly. Our B. Ladislaus wept, had been afflicted, as another Jeremiah the Prophet, over Jerusalem; he lamented with contrition, and was tortured with that zeal, that again and again he broke forth into these words; Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is scandalized, and I am not on fire? B. Ladislaus, touched with vehement grief, when he saw the wrath of God raging against his nation, by various modes and prayers and mortifications studied to placate it, and pleaded the cause of his people with God: which virtue of his that it may be more in the open, I deem certain things must necessarily be brought by us into the midst.

[63] In the year of the Lord MCCCCXCVIII, in which B. Ladislaus, as said above, was now acting the fourth time as Vicar of the Province, a new and mournful disaster was brought upon the kingdom, fortune heaping one upon another in that year. John Albert the King, a great band of soldiers being collected, the expedition of John Albert the King against the Turks whose number comprehended eighty thousand men, about to avenge upon the impious Turks the slaughter of his uncle Wladislaus, formerly King of the Poles and at the same time of the Hungarians, cruelly slain by these fierce enemies; invited by guile by Stephen the Prince of the Wallachians, and incited by the same to war against the Turk, promising counsel, favor, and all (as if he were a friend) aid; the King incautiously trusting much the perfidious Prince, by him is led into the narrowest woodland places, called Bukovina, among mountainous and rocky and inextricable crags, with his whole army there miserably to be routed. For the impious Wallachians, by the perfidious mandate of the Prince (who feigned to favor the Poles), had cut the trees of those woods, right and left about the way, so that they stood unmoved, and at a slight impulse would fall in a moment. When afterward the Royal army entered, unlucky by the guile of the Duke of the Wallachians, then they push the extremities of the cut trees, and so one falling into another unstable and ill-cohering, with a doubtful slaughter they overwhelm arms, men, horses, so that scarcely any escaped from this disaster. For when thus very many were slain by the trunks of the trees and the fragments of the branches, the rest of the multitude too they invade with an unexpected onset, and slay the trembling and wretched soldiery everywhere; and besetting the whole glade armed, if any of the Poles slipped away, they kill him; so that of so great a number, scarcely seven thousand escaped with the King. There very many Magnates and Nobles, strenuous soldiers and most brave men, leaving the spoils of their bodies to the perfidious men, miserably fell. The King, the disaster received, first betook himself to Lwów, afterward to Cracow.

[64] Meanwhile in the first spring, the enemies exasperated, the King's expedition being accomplished little happily, the Turks namely with the Tartars, with a hostile column invade the dominions of the Poles. For a huge army being gathered together they enter the bounds of the Kingdom to lay them waste. Not long did the enemy contain himself in the bounds: he proceeds thence hostile into the fields of the Poles: there followed the vernal irruption of the Tartars into Ruthenia, where since no one met them not even unarmed, and they found all the places, not only not provided with garrisons, but even by rustic cultivation altogether uncultivated and neglected, they came as far as the towns of Kańczuga and Sanok, leveling all things with iron and fire to the ground. All things deserted, without a head, without strength, all lay open to the incursions of the enemies. The towns

given to plunder, the fields laid waste, the villas consumed by fire. No less a slaughter of men, above a hundred thousand led away into hard servitude by the fierce and cruel nation are recorded. All the armies routed, a horrible spectacle in the open fields, in the villas, in the towns, men and women afflicted, horses, cattle, beasts of burden, animals scattered. Many, wounds received, neither able to flee, nor to have rest; only to strive, and at once to fall; the field strewn with darts, arms, corpses, and meanwhile the ground stained with blood. Such slaughters they made everywhere, on whatever men they fell. The horrible savagery of war raged; you would have seen virgins, boys, old men, and youths, and women snatched away; children torn from the embrace of their parents; shrines and houses despoiled, fires made and slaughters.

[65] Doing such things and pervading all Ruthenia and its richest Provinces, in which 100,000 were driven into servitude Podolia, Pokuttya, Volhynia, and the Cismontane region, far and wide laying them waste they had run as far as the river Wisłok; and consuming all the fortifications with fire and iron, they struck huge terror into Poland, no one being either prepared or animated to ward off the enemy, but all looking to flight and hiding themselves not only in the most remote fortifications, but in the pathless mountains and woods: whence yet very many mortals, of both sexes and every age, Order, state, and dignity, dragged out by those searching, were led away into miserable servitude and dispersed, so that Thrace, Macedonia, Scythia and Asia, were filled with Ruthenian slaves, with a huge prey of flocks and herds and every kind. Among the rest Father George of Nowe Miasto Guardian of Sambor, accompanied by eight Brothers of the Minors Observant, when he wished to decline the onset of the enemy, lest he should be in their way turned aside from the road keeping to pathless places; but unexpectedly he fell upon the troops of the enemy, by whom he was led away into captivity, where all worn out by squalor and grief died. the same is repeated in July There had remained in the convent the two others, but exposed to the cruelty of the same enemies they ended their life by the sword. Nor indeed was this then the end of the evils of Ruthenia and Podolia. For the Tartars, the prey deposited in Taurica, in the month of July again about the feast of S. Anne, ran through the same regions with horrible raiding, at which time the harvest of the crops is performed with all zeal. These an onset being made drive the prey, with iron and flame lay waste the labors of men. Everywhere the rumor flies, that the enemies have descended into their bounds: no one was found who brought help: if any remained unharmed, they extend their flight farther. And not so long after, toward the end of November, seventy thousand Turks poured themselves through Wallachia into Ruthenia, and in November, laying waste with iron and fire all that shore which is toward the Dniester and about Halicz, Żydaczów, Drohobycz and Sambor, and driving the prey. Nor would the Barbarians have set any limit of advancing and laying waste, no one opposing himself to them, unless, God having mercy on His people, they had been repelled and indeed routed.

[66] There was no man, then in the whole Kingdom, who resisted so great a power, no one who succored the calamity, all rather fleeing the hostile hand, on this occasion B. Ladislaus excites the people to piety: and betaking themselves into safer and more remote places. Meanwhile B. Ladislaus, then Provincial Vicar, to admonish, to exhort, to exalt his voice in sermons like a trumpet, to announce their crimes to the people. While the fatherland destitute lacks human aids, he bids the people cry to God Almighty: the Brothers whom he governed he orders to insist on continual prayers: he exhorted moreover with the most fervent sermons, which (running through the several cities and villas met with) he made continually, the whole people; nay he urgently solicited even the secular Clergy itself to do the same, that moved by the miserable disaster of their own they should pray God, between the porch and the altar, namely that they should set themselves a hedge between God and the people, with whom the Lord was offended; and weeping as true ministers should say: Spare, O Lord, spare Thy people, and give not Thy heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. And to this end he made this Antiphon, though brief, yet efficacious and devout: Let Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews arise, and crush the nations of the Pagans, and grant victory to the people of the Christians, that almighty God may be praised for ever and ever, Amen. With this salvation-bringing title, as with a triumphal banner, as always in all his sermons he came forth against vices, so also against the visible enemies of the fatherland he deemed that he and the whole people must boldly proceed, full of hope of victory. He knew that those days were the days of the Lord's fury, days of mist and darkness: he knew the strength of the enemy, before whose face a devouring fire, and after him a burning flame. Those Ruthenian regions were before as it were a garden of pleasure, and after the departure of the enemies a deserted solitude: from their face the peoples were tortured, and all faces were reduced into a pot, as the Prophet Joel prophesied.

[67] And truly when now in the sight of the enemies our land had been silent, so that now the name of the Poles seemed blotted out, and foreigners esteemed that our nation could be deleted to extermination through the immanity of the enemies; the Lord remembered the affliction of His own, and he himself implores the help of God, and to so great waves of this sea He opposed a bar, and said, Hitherto thou shalt come, and here thou shalt break thy swelling waves. Thence gradually the strength of the enemies began to be diminished, the minds of the Poles to be raised, a new light to arise seen for the kingdom, joy, gladness, and dancing. To another Mordecai, through the beautiful Esther, the ardent prayer I mean, placating and mitigating the wrath of God, the nations, which had assembled to crush and delete our name, were slain with slaughter. B. Ladislaus cried to God, and the Lord saved His people, and freed them from all evils, and made great signs and portents among the nations. For when so great a devotion to God, B. Ladislaus exhorting and inviting all, was made through the Kingdom of Poland, now the third time in the same year, in the last days of November, the Turks with the Tartars had crept into the bounds of the kingdom, and had fortified the camp of one army between the said rivers, named the Pruth and the Dniester; both of which glide with a rapid and swift course, and divide the kingdom of Poland from the Province of Wallachia; but they are crossed by middling boats, they abound in mud, and in fish of various kinds. Then the Lord our God gave His voice, by whose acting the whole hostile army miserably perishes. before the face of His people, whose camps are very many and strong and doing His word: having pity I say on His people, He overwhelmed the army of the insolent enemies with so many victories and prey, by a sudden inundation of the two said rivers, overwhelmed it with falling snow, shut it in by the congelation of the inundating waters, and finally killed it with excessive cold.

[68] For in that place, when now the camp was fortified, suddenly the waters began to grow, to swell, to be diffused most widely with the most rapid course, and the Lord established a huge inundation. Afterward when the frost and cold more vehemently exerted their forces, the congealed waters, walls as it were made of ice, shut in the enemies. Soon a dense snow falling the camp was overwhelmed, and to men and horses extreme necessity brought death. Some killed by cold, some overwhelmed by the waters, some opening the bowels of the horses with swords, and wishing to be warmed within them, together with the beasts miserably the wretches perished. So God Almighty with His heavenly arrows destroyed those enemies: so that of seventy thousand there escaped and evaded death eight thousand; but not even these with firm and entire health. Who yet scarcely extricated themselves from those plagues, were afterward so crushed by the faith-breaking Stephen Prince of the Wallachians, that scarcely four hundred escaped; a rumor being spread before, that it was his Polish army, that so he might seem to keep entire the friendship with the Turks which he feigned. These nevertheless four hundred, though they escaped the face of the sword, yet seized by a contagious disease, which is commonly called the French disease, brought into the bounds of the fatherland (otherwise unknown to them) that blemish, which mutual conversation and the contagion itself spread. Many most illustrious historians, who wrote Polish affairs, mention this miraculous slaughter. The Turks themselves too, though lacking the light of true faith, considering nevertheless the various event of things, said, that heaven itself fought for the Poles, and therefore esteemed that that nation was no more to be infested with war. So the Lord was zealous for His land, and spared His people.

[69] That this slaughter befell the enemies, on account of the most devout prayers, zeal, care, and ardent sighs of B. Ladislaus to God, who of extreme madness will deny? Whom, I beseech, does it escape, or to whom is it not explored, that formerly the Lord God wished to prepare a succor for the city of Jerusalem, and to make pardon and grace of its offenses, if it should oppose to His wrath as a bar the piety of some man famous for holiness? For thus He complained: I sought among them a man, who would interpose a hedge, and stand opposed against me for the land, that I should not destroy it, and I found not. Ezek. 22, And I poured out upon them my indignation, in the fire of my wrath I consumed them. Ladislaus is compared with David slaying Goliath Happy indeed our mother Poland, which, the fury of the Lord raging, then had that man, endowed with exceptional holiness, who was strong to restrain the hand of God, and to put again into the sheath the unsheathed sword of His fury. Goliath (understand the Turk) reproached the army of the living God, who came with sword, spear and shield. But Blessed Ladislaus came in the name of the Lord of hosts, and the Lord gave him into his hands, and he struck him, and took away his head, and gave the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines (understand Turks and Tartars) to the birds of the air, that all the earth might know, that there is a Lord God of Israel; and that the whole Church of God might know, that not in sword nor in spear does the Lord save: for the war was His, and the Lord delivered them to an evil end. Likewise David played the harp, and the evil spirit departed from Saul, nor could he endure the sweetness of the chant, and David playing the harp before Saul. which David with the harp brought into the ears of the King, with a sweet motion. The harps in the hands of the elders seen in the Apocalypse, denoted the prayers of the Saints: and our B. Ladislaus, with fervent affection to be intent on holy prayers, to play the harp, to repel the malign enemy, to subdue the most wicked spirits, to procure rest for the afflicted inhabitants of the Kingdom, to demand peace, to soften the wrath of God was recognized. whose Canonization the author desires to be promoted. So too formerly Eliseus, three Kings being reduced to straits while he desires to placate the Lord, bids a psalmist to be summoned; by whose psalming inspired by the spirit of God, he announces that a victory over the enemies will be reported by them. The fervent prayer of B. Ladislaus; the songs composed by him to this end, the Antiphon written for this, the vehement sermons, effected, that the Lord reconciled to His people gave peace, and brought death upon the enemies, conferred victory on His own, ignominy on the enemies, blessed the flock, repelled the rabidity of the wolves, and turned every plague of war upon the enemies

themselves. Let the Lord be blessed in His Blessed Ladislaus.

[70] We, mindful of the benefits, exhibited to us through him by God the Father almighty, let us study to compensate them with every kind of offices, to have them in eternal memory, so to promote and proclaim his holiness, that the glory of God thence may have its increases, and the piety of the holy man may obtain from the Church of God the worthy reward of relation into the catalogue of the Saints. Let the fatherland urge this business, of which he living on earth showed himself the Patron, and no doubt, that living a happier life, he will show himself a most loving father to its inhabitants: let the Duchy of Mazovia urge, which rejoices in so precious a treasure: let the city of Warsaw urge, which contains his holy Relics in its sarcophagus: let all Poland urge with all its adjacent provinces, which he imbued with salutary doctrines, and supported with prayers; which by him as author was found worthy, on whom from heaven very many gifts and benefits by God almighty have been most widely conferred.

SECOND BOOK.

The last labors. Ecstasies. Pious death. Burial. The elevation of the body.

CHAPTER I.

The singular devotion of B. Ladislaus, especially in reciting the Crown of the Virgin Mother of God.

[77] Plainly a great man and illustrious for the marks of many virtues was B. Ladislaus: and so what kind of devotion was in that man, By pious devotion he perfects prayer: let us consider: for this virtue is first in order, which is the foundation of all the rest. He was mindful of God and was delighted. His devotion was, a pious and humble affection toward God: humble from the consciousness of his own infirmity, pious from the consideration of the divine clemency. Meditation gave him knowledge, knowledge compunction, compunction devotion, devotion perfected prayer. The Lord had granted him the desire of his heart, and defrauded him not of the will of his lips: and as the hart desires the fountains of waters, so his soul desired toward his God. As with fat and fatness was his soul filled, and with lips of exultation his mouth praised his Creator. God had created a clean heart in him, and renewed a right spirit in his bowels. The Lord was his firmament, and refuge, and deliverer; he raised his eyes to the mountains whence help should come to him: and as the eyes of a handmaid on the hands of her mistress, so his eyes to the Lord his God. He had a heart prepared for the Lord and provided the Lord in his sight always. To adhere to God was good to him, and to put hope in the Lord his God. He was rich in charity, which is exhausted by no expenses, and from it easily he was able to offer marrowy holocausts.

[78] His hearts, sweating, poured forth everywhere the holy liquor, with which they were more fully imbued, when he spoke the great things of God, and stimulated to embracing virtue with continual exhortations. For with so great an abundance of devotion was B. Ladislaus filled, and in others he excites the fervor of divine love: that not only in himself he continually excited the fervor of divine love, but studied to promote the same in others by a singular way and reason: so that of himself he could deservedly say that of the Wise man, Behold I have made for myself an abundant path and my river drew near to the sea, for I illumine doctrine for all as the morning-light. Ecclus. 24, 43 Since he illumined his doctrine for all as the morning-light, an abundant path of the spirit of divine love, from which the fervor of devotion, like a rapid river, went forth; while by his example he in some way snatched very many to a like devotion, and at the same time led them by divine eloquence as by a river. And he drew near to the sea, that is he was strong to edify the whole people, and to move it greatly to piety, persuading that the highest good is in religion alone, that by this bond of piety we are bound to God, whence religion itself received its name; that nothing in human things is more excellent than religion, which is the true and heavenly worship, in which the mind of the worshiper sets itself an immaculate victim to God. Through this B. Ladislaus directed his affections to God, and his compunction was not of an hour, but continual. The blessed man dwelt in wisdom, and in sense pondered the circumspection of God: he sought the Lord assiduously, and was confirmed all the days of his life. He had God in mind, accustomed to do judgment, and to love mercy, and solicitous to walk with the Lord his God. And because he always remembered God, therefore his mind escaped into heaven. Truly the Lord was in the place of his heart: there was nothing there but the house of God and the gate of heaven.

[79] The exemplar of his piety and devotion confirms its fame and vestiges even to our times. The Crown of the B. V. Mary, not in the common manner, but by a certain special formula of devotion composed for reciting: He recites the Crown of the B. V. M. in a singular manner, after each word of the Angelic salutation, pious and devout meditations applied, fervent prayers, compunctions. But when B. Ladislaus bestowed effort on reciting a crown of this kind, when he first uttered the Ave Maria, standing with a profound inclination he sent his head downward. But when he pronounced those tremendous names Jesus Christ, he was wont suddenly to fall on his knees and incline his head to the ground: and so the whole Crown, consisting of eight Pater nosters and seventy Ave Marias, composed as it were of fragrant flowers, namely reddening roses and whitening lilies, or as compacted of the most precious gems and inestimable pearls, to God and the B. V. Mary each day most devoutly he recited. Which custom proceeding from him, for use by the Friars Minor of the Observance is inviolably observed, and daily for saying in that manner the Crown of the B. V. Mary a whole hour after Vespers are ended is destined, in all the convents of the same Brothers. thereafter observed by the Friars Minor For some, Vespers finished, not going out of the church, suddenly begin that devotion, deeming that hour insufficient for them, for so sweet a banquet: but others at once assemble, and no one is excepted from that holy custom, the feeble removed. And so each in their places, with all humility and devotion, intent on the holy prayer at the throne of the Divine majesty, holding vials full of perfumes; and with a profound inclination of the head and of the whole body, the knee bent in a sending down upon the knees, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and at the same time the Lady and Queen of heaven they venerate. There is also a great concourse of secular men elsewhere, especially in Lithuania and Samogitia, who kindled by the example of that devotion, and by many seculars willingly assemble to render cult to the B. V. Mary, and the Brothers praying, they likewise, in the same way and manner of ceremonies, strive to cultivate and observe the Mother of mercy. Of which egregious deed since B. Ladislaus showed himself the author and leader, surely he showed a great affection of devotion toward the Mother of mercy, and at the same time gave an example to his Brothers and the other faithful, to cultivate the genetrix of Christ the Lord: that as he did, so also his successors in every age and memory should accustom themselves to do.

[80] There is a report that the B. V. Mary declared by a signal testimony, that that manner of reciting the crown was welcome and acceptable to her. For certain of the older Fathers related that the B. V. Mary had been seen by them, at the time in which her Crown was recited, passing through the midst of the choir, in which the Brothers then persevered praying; and in the midst of the Brothers, as if allured by the sweetness of that prayer, now to stand still, lovingly to behold each one, to gladden them with her glorious countenance; now to approach each of the Brothers, and her Only-begotten, whom she bore in her arms, as if to exhibit Him to be kissed. It was observed also this, that she passed by those Brothers, nor reached her Son to them, who recited indeed that Crown, but abstained from the profound inclinations and genuflections: but to those alone she rendered that benefit, who with the customary ceremonies applied for reciting the Crown expended care and the affection of devotion. The B. V. Mary wished to insinuate, that that obsequy of prayer, adorned with inclinations and humility, was pleasant to her sight and most welcome to her heart. For of humility, with which the most blessed Virgin together with her most loving Son is supremely delighted, that act of profound inclination bears the type; and of the honor, which the Blessed now coreigning with God in heaven exhibit, befitting His Divine majesty. Then by such ceremonies not only is the due honor exhibited to God, but also the torpor which often invades those praying is repelled, fervor is roused in the one praying, attention is continued, humility is exercised, and finally the spirit is renewed and more inflamed. No doubt but that by God Himself that manner of praying was infused into B. Ladislaus, by internal inspiration; and that for duly and worthily cultivating and honoring the most pure Virgin, His most worthy genetrix.

[81] In all things B. Ladislaus was great, but also in fervent prayer he obtained the principality, and snatched the palm before the rest. He immolated to God the sacrifice of praise and rendered to the Most High his vows. In all prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, his petitions became known before God, whom he himself cultivated and besought for sins, and contained himself from them. Among his other salutary monitions and precepts, B. Ladislaus gave the form of praying to the B. V. Mary, as has been said, he himself intimated and instructed what we should pray. He himself was prudent and watched in prayers, to pray without intermission, to give thanks in all things, to insist on prayer, to watch and not to fail; and thence to effect, and his prayer was efficacious with God, that he was held worthy, to whom God should give wisdom affluently. And when like another Moses he prayed on the mountain, in the battle-line he conquered the Amalekites: for through the prayer of B. Ladislaus, as is piously believed, the enemies of the fatherland were deleted, and reduced wholly to nothing, as said above. Nor wonder: for he was delighted in the Lord, and the Lord gave him the petitions of his heart. His heart did not reprehend him, therefore he had confidence toward God, and whatever he asked he received from Him, since he kept His commandments, and did those things which are pleasing before Him. The eyes of the Lord were upon him as upon the just, and His ears toward his prayers.

[82] Let us imitate therefore this man, signal in the piety of devotion: let us pray in every place, keeping pure hands without wrath and disputation. Let it not shame us, by the example of this Saint, by genuflection and profound inclination to send our heads down to the ground. Chrysostom on Matthew Homily V, of the prostration on the ground, used by Christ and S. James, asserts that with the assiduity of prayer and continual prostration of the whole body on the pavement, his knees too were overlaid with a callus, so that nothing differed almost from the hide of a camel. S. Anthony having entered the cave of S. Paul the first Hermit, saw with knees folded, the neck erect and the hands spread on high, a lifeless body; and the manner of praying such as that of the Saints. and thinking him to be alive and praying, together with him he too

falling down prayed. But after he heard no sighs of one praying as was wont, rushing into a tearful kiss he understood, that even the body of the Saint prayed God, to whom all things live, by its gesture. This gesture and others more profound, his Brothers, as said, B. Ladislaus taught; and it avails to declare the promptitude of mind, to show our want and imbecility, for which we implore succor from Him to whom we direct our prayers. Especially that Mother, whose humility God regarded, in that manner of praying we shall always be able to incline happily to our vows, and to effect that to our petitions she may kindly respond and acquiesce to our requests.

CHAPTER II.

A place, famous for the apparition of the B. V. Mary and miracles, given to the Friars Minor.

[83] About this time, namely in the year of the Lord MCCCCXCVII, when B. Ladislaus by word and example commended to all that norm of reciting the crown of the B. V. Mary; in the territory of Dobrzyń near the town of Skępe very many things happened beyond belief from heaven, without doubt of revelations, Near Skępe miracles exhibited. At a short interval of place from the public road, by which the footsteps of those departing lead to another town in contiguous vicinity, called Lipno, a certain stone of middling size, within and without marked here and there with very many images of the salvation-bringing Cross, and in some manner like veins in that mass distinguished and disposed in every part, at a stone marked with Crosses was beheld. The thing began to be held by all in place of a miracle. But a certain horror of majesty, set in that place, augmented the admiration of the thing: for whosoever dared to approach little honestly and circumspectly, drew near to it; or the drunken, or those behaving irreverently, or conferring dishonestly among themselves, or certainly handling or doing some other unworthy thing passed by, incurred notable damages. and venerable with a sacred horror Sometimes a cart was overturned with them, they were dashed to the ground, and by a certain terrible spirit prostrate were rolled over; those especially who by a wanton or petulant gesture, or by a dishonest word, gave signs of insolence, together with their vehicles were rolled in the dust or mud: but sometimes the wheels and axles broken were scattered, or finally something unwonted befell them.

[84] And when all rapt into admiration, were detained as to what that matter might be, and conferred and consulted about this matter more often among themselves; there came up a certain old man, known to all, grave in age, honest in fame, sedate in morals, commended by all in his conversation, though pressed by the want of poverty, simple, upright, and fearing God; who under the attestation of an oath and the faith of his conscience asseverated, that near that stone the B. V. Mary had been beheld by him shining with an admirable light, the B. V. M. appearing indicates that she has a sacred place there a virgin exceedingly gracious, instilling these words into his ears: This place will be acceptable to God and to me; holy ground, welcome to us, and chosen: and from this time consecrated to the divine cult and honor, ought to be kept intact by all. And I wish to have Religious welcome and acceptable to my Son, to be placed here for His services and bound to the divine offices. These things said that most blessed Virgin vanished from his eyes, and he remained stupefied and astonished, at the novelty of the unwonted matter. That vision being so divulged, and by public fame disseminated first to the nearer fathers, then also to the more remote, faith was easily had; and the place began to be venerated with honor, and to be fortified from the injuries both of animals and of evil men. There followed frequent concourses of men, suppliant to God and the B. V. Mary. Many seized by sicknesses, very many driven by the force of various necessities, some pierced by the hard darts of difficulties and calamities, which being made more illustrious by miracles, offered vows to their God and the B. V. Mary, and all having obtained the desired end and prosperous event of their desires, departed consoled. Some recovered their lost health, part obtained the benefits sought; some snatched from evils, tasted the sweetness of consolation. That place became more and more illustrious daily, and was held by all worthy of greater veneration.

[85] In the same year, when in the same place now, on account of the greater devotion of the people and the designation of the place, a Cross was being erected; more than a hundred men for the sake of discharging a vow in that course of time assembled; of whose number it was permitted to see two wretched ones, possessed by an evil demon, likewise two demoniacs to whose malice subjected by God's permission, they were vexed in a cruel manner. These were led by friends pitying their calamity, and when now they approached the aforesaid place, where first they beheld the same with their eyes, slipped from the hands of those leading them, they took flight into the nearest wood: but at length by the greatest force of their friends eagerly pursuing them caught, to the designated place, striving nevertheless to resist, they were led. Led they broke forth into horrible clamors, vociferating that by the B. V. Mary they were reduced into straits and vehemently tortured, complaining of the force brought upon them by the same. They added besides, that a short time after in this place certain barefoot Religious would be placed, but this place would be theirs perpetually for ever, nor ever to be subjected to the jurisdiction of secular Priests: predicting that the place would be given to Religious they are freed. that never too would it be, that as in the town of Sierpc (where also an image of the B. V. Mary glitters votive with very many miracles) a college of secular Presbyters should preside over that place; that the eternal possession of that place would remain to Religious welcome to God and the B. V. Mary. And without delay these words being uttered, deserting the possessed bodies and leaving them free, suddenly they sought the infernal caverns. But those who had been possessed, having obtained peace and deliverance in the said place, gave thanks to God and the B. V. Mary.

[86] There presided at that time over the workmen laboring about the erection of the Cross, a certain man, strong in authority over them, trustworthy, and famous for the praise of a good name; who narrated to those whom it concerned that all those things were done in his presence; subjoining, that it had then come into no one's mind, that he had spoken the truth the issue taught. of what Religious those evil demons spoke; and that the memory of all those things had been suspended so long, until, a colony of the Friars Minor of the Observance being led to that place, it was found that the evil spirits had foretold the truth, God so disposing. For before that time the Brothers of that Order were altogether known to none of the inhabitants. Many other signs and prodigies too were exhibited in the same place, which are kept diligently written in the archive of the same convent, especially concerning those who resisted the foundation of the Brothers, whom now the blessed Father Ladislaus, as Provincial Vicar, had designated to undertake that place. Of many I shall make mention of one and another example, from which it can easily be gathered that that place is most welcome to the B. V. Mary; since she altogether wished it to be had in the care, not of others, but of the Friars Minor of the Observance, and to be provided for by their services: for whosoever dared to contradict, not many remained.

[87] Most signally this had experienced in his own body, the Rector of the Parochial church of the town of Skępe. He had borne it ill that the Brothers of the Order of the Minors had built a chapel in that place, but the Parish-priest opposing himself to the Minors complaining that thence there arose to him a detriment in his revenues. Licentiously therefore to inveigh against the same, to curse the place, and to persecute the new Order: to say besides that he would not suffer another church to be built in his parish while he lived, and a new fabric to rise to his prejudice. But when by certain timorous men he was admonished, lest he should resist the divine will; exacerbated, agitated by the spurs of envy and chafing, he machinated I know not what evil. It happened that certain devout persons in his presence followed the holy place with praises, that wonders were done in it, by which God declares its prerogative to the world: among the rest, that there were certain trustworthy men, who affirm by oath, that in the newly erected chapel, at dead of night they hear the most sweet concerts of Angels psalming. That Parish-priest kindled with vehement anger breaks forth into words of blasphemy; that the place rather resounded with the roar of demons and evil spirits, and the howling of infernal wolves, than with the sweet melody of Angels: nor content with words of blasphemy, he resolved to proceed to a work of malice. He happened then to be passing by the chapel: approaching therefore very near to the wall, with the sole of his foot he struck the shrine, as if striving to push it, murmuring in his fury; that in this place the rabid vociferations of evil demons were heard, but not the sweet and pleasant voices of Angels. for blasphemy he is struck by God. Scarcely had he poured the impious words from his mouth, when behold from behind him God the avenger: the impious man suddenly fell to the ground, seized by an unwonted sickness. Carried, no one bringing him aid, to his house, the manifest virtue of God being recognized, he was agitated by the greatest torments of pains.

[88] And so when more and more the force of the disease was spread through his members, he betook himself to a better mind: he recognized his fault, confesses the punishment justly imposed on him, repenting of the deed begins to invoke the Most High, that He would grant him life, now set in his last breath. He bewails his crime, and demands pardon of the committed offense: he invokes the B. V. Mary with a tearful voice; that she would be willing to offer vows for him to her beloved Son, about to have henceforth from a blasphemer a fervent preacher of her praises: he vows if he be restored to his lost health, to the chapel erected for her cult, by a vow to the B. V. M. he is healed. as soon as he should rise from his bed, that he would go, would exhibit honor and cult votive to God and to her; nay would induce the inhabitants of the whole town and the Clergy and Ministers of the Church, with a public chant through a solemn procession, to this. The vow being emitted, no delay interposed, he was made whole. Therefore the people being gathered by the greater bell into the church, with a brilliant oration he celebrates the B. V. Mary, confesses the benefit of health conferred on him through her: he discloses his vow, to fulfill which he asserts that his mind is set; the pastor invites and asks his sheep that they would be present to him going to that chapel, the congregation assembling to the ecclesiastical banner. All accepting that request, there is a huge concourse of men, leading their Pastor to the aforesaid chapel. Where to confess his guilt, to recognize his fault, to make it openly with grief, to deprecate the punishment, to be reconciled to the Brothers of D. Francis; after these things to celebrate solemnly the sacred rite at the altar, marked with the image of the Queen of heaven, and to give thanks for the docile correction; to testify to all that the works of God are magnificent, to subjoin too that if they had any enemy of the begun work or a plotter against his salvation, they should send him thither and would receive him scourged, if however he escaped; because in that place there is a certain virtue of the Most High, who is the helper of that place, and destroys with perdition those coming to do evil.

[89] This very thing which that man experienced in fact, and testified in eloquent words, a little after was found out in fact in another Parish-priest of another parish, and that in plainly the same manner. A certain noble man, surnamed Kobiernicki, led by devotion toward the Church and Clergy, the Parish-priests both of the church of Skępe, and of another neighboring,

parish, persuading that the Minors should be driven thence, with his assistant Presbyters and the other servitors of the temple, invited to a dinner. Before they sat at table, water is given, as is the custom, to wash the hands. While the water therefore was being poured over the hands of the guests, the neighboring Parish-priest addresses the one of Skępe: What is this matter, Reverend Sir, do you permit these Mendicants to erect a new chapel at your side? do you suffer detriment to be made of your affairs? Are you ignorant that the common people are desirous of new things? Your Church will so become desolate, will stand as a widow despoiled of the people, a sheepfold without sheep, the pastor will be without a flock, for from devotion all will run to the chapel. Or perhaps have you forgotten that to your care the souls of all are committed? What if those betaking themselves thither be led rather into error than into the ardor of devotion? That his silence, his patience, displeased him; if he were a man, he would care to remove that tabernacle together with the Brothers; that he, eagerly, if that business lay upon his care, would perform what he said, and would remove all impediments from his parish. The one of Skępe answered, that the place was welcome to the B. V. Mary, chosen by her, and in her protection; that those Brothers, not others, she had accepted: that he would attempt nothing against the will of the Mother of God, and a blasphemer against the Mother of God, nor commit himself to danger, lest in it he should be imperiled: that the Divine will must be acquiesced in, and the cult of the B. V. Mary preferred to his own advantages rather than that, for the sake of lucre, the good pleasure of the Virgin should be violated. To these things he laughed, at length brought forth words of blasphemy. But forthwith, is made dumb and demented. like that former one too, he recognized the hand of the Omnipotent. For falling to the ground, crying with a horrible voice, wailing and chafing, soon he lost speech together with reason. So carried into his house, when he had returned to himself, recollecting himself, he recognized his great error, namely that he had persuaded that the will of God must be resisted, had said that war must be declared against the Virgin Mother of God, had been a scandal to the people. This he grieved at heart, made a vow that with his Clergy and ministers he would go to the place chosen by God, and repenting is healed. and would celebrate a Mass in the very chapel despised by him of the B. V. Mary. Which when he had fulfilled in fact, the most Blessed Virgin assented to his vows, pitying him; and she who is the mother of mercy, made him return to his pristine prosperity of life: and by that severity of punishment taught all, that she wished that place to be immune and free from all violation; that those contradicting would incur the indignation of her son and her own. They all therefore thereafter were silent and intent held their mouths.

[90] But those Brothers, sent by B. Ladislaus to the foundation of the place, having obtained eternal possession, with the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Nicholas de Koscielec Koscielecki, The Minors sent by B. Ladislaus hitherto reside there. Bishop of Chełm, promoting the consummation with all help and expense, settled; and even to our times by day and night, free for the divine offices, the Lord and the B. V. Mary always illustrating that place with recent signs, happily pay their vows. And even hence it may be gathered, that B. Ladislaus burned with a signal love of devotion toward this B. V. Mary, and was of signal holiness; under whose no less prudent than happy governance, his whole holy family, was found wholly welcome to God and the B. V. Mary; and which in the place chosen by her, as in her delicate little garden, to guard and cultivate the same, it pleased her to place. And to the present day this happy little plant of B. Father Ladislaus, in the same devotion, with which he instructed it, of reciting the Crown of the holy Virgin Mother of God remains, God the best and greatest confirming its cult with frequent miracles.

CHAPTER III.

The religious labors of Ladislaus: the good name of the Order defended.

[91] Fleeing idleness, Among the other arguments of religious perfection not the last place held the flight of idleness, and the desire of labor and occupation: for everyone who follows idleness is most foolish, and shall be filled with want: much malice too idleness taught. and this was the iniquity of Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance, and the idleness of her and her daughters. Every tree therefore which makes not good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire. Even in paradise God placed man that he should work and keep it. Man is born to labors, and the bird to flying. Let none hate laborious works and husbandry created by the Most High: and he who will not work shall not eat. Hence the monasteries of the Egyptians held this custom, that they received no one without the labor of work, not so much on account of the necessity of food, as on account of the salvation of the soul, lest the mind, led away, should wander with pernicious thoughts. Therefore also in the exercise of this virtue our B. Ladislaus was delighted. He conserved time and declined from evil, nor was he defrauded of seeing good things, and a particle of the gift did not pass him by. always to labor He always did some work, that the devil might always find him occupied. To covet the silver and gold of none, and to minister all things which were needful to him with his own hands, to do his business by himself, to be quiet and to work with his own hands, to walk honestly toward those who are without, and not to eat bread for nothing, but in labor and weariness to work night and day; nor to burden anyone, not as though he had not power, or prayer, but to give himself a pattern, to imitate Christ; to desire nothing of anyone, to withdraw himself from every man walking inordinately. Nor only with Mary Magdalene this faithful servant of God B. Ladislaus, applied himself to divine contemplations and pious meditations, and vocal prayers both private and public in the choir, with the other Brothers chanting the Divine office to the most high Lord (which never, unless impeded by grave occupations, drawn from the choir by inevitable necessity, did he omit) but also with Martha he was busy about frequent ministry.

[92] For from his first entrance into holy religion, with labors and exercises, or applies himself to the vile services of the monastery. no less corporal than spiritual, about the domestic matter he occupied himself. None was prompter than he to labors, to services, to business, even unequal to his shoulders. The dinner being finished, when others according to custom, for the sake of relaxation of mind, occupied themselves with an honest walk or mutual conversation; he alone to purge the garden, to cast out the cuttings, to pluck up the useless herbs, to collect stones, to cut off the noxious leaves, to prepare wood for the use of the kitchen, to draw water, to cleanse the interiors of the cloister, and to render every other abject and vile service, never to be idle, but always to labor with his own hands, in the sweat of his face to eat bread, to place no hours ill, to do good and not to fail, a good measure of good actions, both pressed down and shaken together, and running over to give into the bosom of his mother holy Religion, and for its augmenting to sweat much and to move every stone; set on the summit of governance to administer all things eagerly, to show himself a great and wise man. For marked with the honor of the Provincialate, not only by edict, but by example and care and vigilance, all abuses if any then were to remove, to plant virtues, to institute all he was busy. Moreover he set art and measure in all things. using meanwhile great discretion toward his subjects. By ardent exercises daily he induced to virtue, and fortified with the rampart and ditch of humility, set frequent vigils, in which he himself was always first by very frequent prayers. Yet by the multitude of the divine office and the plurality of prayers, now introduced by various zealots, he did not wish the Brothers to be overwhelmed, lest in the way of long devotions they should be too fatigued. Whence also that to the recitation of the seven Psalms daily in the choir the Brothers were held by no law he declared, in this dispensing with them by his authority.

[93] And although best all the laws of the Rule and of the statutes under his lead were kept, and all things prosperously done; nevertheless envy arising from virtue, hence hatred, afterward traductions, detractions, maledictions, through certain external Religious, envious of the good name, grew up: that the Brothers had far departed from their laws, had violated discipline, had made the longest leaps from the vestiges of their elders: he defends the good name of the Order, for labor sloth, for temperance and equity drunkenness, idleness and inertia they complained: that all things finally had gone to the worse, that such a fame went forth among the common people, that now from the conceived opinion of the Brothers' holiness it much fell short, and was defiled with daily scandals. The rivals to promoting such evil more and more insisted, the perverse mouth and the lips of detractors freely raged in the fame of the Brothers: that most holy Order was everywhere ill spoken of, traduced by the impious; sluggish, unwarlike, patient neither of observance nor of labor, prompter in tongue than in hand, without religious command, and held without modesty: finally whatever reproaches of sloth can be said or feigned, were attributed to that Order. But in that difficulty Blessed Ladislaus, no less than in prosperous things, was found a great and wise man. With so great wisdom, temperance and prudence of mind, amid those storms of detractions, he held himself moderate, that it was permitted to see him changed not at all. Already before to him by more frequent experiences it was known, that the evil demon had always built snares for that Order, and had armed the tongues of many to persecute it. Therefore widely to explore all things, to defend the good name of the Order, to refute calumnies and reproaches, eagerly and prudently to attend equally the affairs of his own and of his enemies, to know what was good of either part, or the contrary: to explore counsels, and to anticipate their snares; to suffer nothing remiss with himself, nor safe with them. Therefore to Rome, whither the Order was traduced, he directed his journey, about to plead the cause of the Order.

[94] Alexander the Sixth then held the helm of the Roman Church; to whom B. Ladislaus admitted, for himself, and having set out to Rome before Alexander VI briefly and moderately; concerning the injuries brought upon the Order by calumnies, discoursed much, finally laid open to the Pontiff, that to him neither anything greater nor dearer was than the authority of the Apostolic See from his adolescence; that so he and his Order were addicted to virtue, that they were approved by every best man; that by virtue, not by malice, his Brothers had pleased the chief Princes of the Christians: that for the same arts they were called into the kingdom of Poland by King Casimir; that for the rest, the more many things they had done well and strenuously, the greater envy they had incurred: that very many plotting against the fame of the Order, what they had found out about them, had brought to him as supreme Judge; but that he, Vicar of his Province, would not act rightly nor for the good, if in that injury of the Order he were silent: finally that about all things about to instruct the most Holy Pontiff, he had come from Rome; asking besides, that he would not think his own other than they had been known from the beginning. Which after they were known to the King and other Princes, that B. Ladislaus was at Rome, and was pleading the cause of the Order ill traduced; they resolved as soon as possible aided by the letters of the Princes, to send letters to Rome, by which they would ask of the Supreme

Pontiff, that he would not suffer the gravest injury to be brought upon the holy Order, and would provide with paternal care, that to the detractors a condign punishment should be assigned; that to them was best explored the piety, the institution, the conversation of that holy Order: that the Religion well instructed with good arts and constitutions, was iniquitously and unjustly torn by the teeth of enemies.

[95] King Wladislaus too, who was set over the supreme affairs among the Hungarians and Bohemians, and of Ladislaus King of Hungary, the brother of the King of Poland (whom those injuries of the Friars Minor of the Observance, of which he had heard, had vehemently wounded) treated with the Supreme Pontiff of the same matter; where he gives a brilliant testimony of the holiness and innocence of the Brothers of the Order of the Minors Observant, that for the future this opinion should be set received in his mind, that for the most holy Order he would wish to undergo every danger, would decline no battle with the adversaries; and would so strenuously bestow effort, to repress the tongue of the wicked, that to them without condign punishment and grave animadversion it might not be permitted to depart; that he would crush the jaws of the iniquitous, and from their teeth take away the innocent prey: that there would come from his mouth a North wind, would dissipate the rains, and the sad face, the detracting tongue, he would exterminate. That he wondered, to see the worst men a mote in the eyes of their brothers, and not to see a beam in their own eye. Unless they be restrained by the rigorous mandate of the Apostolic See, that to him there was abundance of wood for burning the detractors: but if that failed, that water would not be wanting for submerging them: but that there was enough both of woods and of rivers for persecuting with every kind of punishments the detractors, the persecutors of the good. Perpetual hatred, and enmity and contumely, to those mockers from him he expended. That they have nothing less, who secretly detract, than if a serpent bite in silence: that men bound in words of reproach, all the days of their life, are not to be instructed. That he would not be mingled with detractors, and that the whisperer and double-tongued was always cursed, because they are wont to trouble many having peace, and because their perdition rises suddenly. That detractors are hateful to God: and an abomination of men is every detractor. Moreover that the Supreme Pontiff ought to extend the hands of severity upon those, who detract their Brothers, or judge them; for they detract the law and judge the law: that all the pious awaited and desired this: that to all the Princes of the Christians too this would be welcome.

[96] Moved by the piety of the man the Supreme Pontiff, made certain too by the letters of the Princes of the innocence of the Brothers, enjoined silence on the detractors; but Blessed Ladislaus to have among his friends, he obtains the cause more and more daily to embrace: who with much labor and much care undertaken for the Order, in a short time had come to so great brightness, that vehemently dear to his Brothers, he was the greatest terror to the envious and detractors. Therefore after B. Ladislaus accomplished so great a matter without any inconvenience of his own, great and illustrious before, he began to be held greater and more illustrious. For all his undertakings and counsels were drawn into virtue. The Brothers, held by a modest command, and at the same time declared innocent, to bear him to heaven; but the enemies to fear him more than a mortal; finally all the envious and hostile to believe, that he had either a divine mind, or that all things were portended by the nod of God. But B. Ladislaus, when that matter turned out well, into the fatherland (having tarried five months at Rome) proceeds, is received with most joyful minds, equally dear to the Order and the Fathers.

[97] Many straits of difficulties like these, very many storms of persecutions, thence returning to his own, innumerable whirlwinds of detractions, for defending the Order it was necessary for him to bear: nor yet was the best Pastor fatigued by those labors, and the diligent Commander of his soldiers; he went to meet all dangers, removed all difficulties, underwent all burdens, lest his Order should suffer any detriment. Scarcely returned from Italy, exhausted with cares and labors, again to put his hand to the plow, to be occupied with giving sermons from the pulpit to the people, and always to live in such a way, that altogether he should either sustain the laborious burden of governance, or, that being removed, should apply himself to the office of Preacher and nowhere recall his hands from labors, he gives most useful service to the Order, now in the first line by governing, now in the last by going about abject services; to be present by word and example, to move to virtue, everywhere to succor those laboring, to consult the Brothers, to help with the hand, and with all help to wish to profit all. Surely it behooved this blessed man to be endowed with great fortitude of mind, huge force of soul and body, strong counsel of mind, who could resist all adversaries, conquer the mind of the Supreme Pontiff, possess the favor of Kings and Princes offered unbidden: and who knew how to oppose to calumnies the holiness of life; to lies innocence, to envy virtue, to darkness light, to brought contumelies probity. Who else would have effected these with happier endeavor, except him to whom abundantly was at hand the copious supply of holiness, the resources of virtue, the riches of genius, the treasures of probity and piety? relying on which, he was wont to undergo the most difficult things, to perform all things prosperously, and with favorable winds to lead his studies to a happy port.

CHAPTER IV.

The preachings and ecstasies of B. Ladislaus.

[98] Although this blessed Father Ladislaus was distracted as by continual labors, in the offices with which he was burdened, and various difficulties, both by going around the Convents, most far distant from one another, through greater and lesser Poland, through Mazovia, Ruthenia, Prussia, and the great Duchy of Lithuania, even to the bounds of Muscovy, [Wont to be distracted by no occupations and difficulties from internal recollection,] the widest and amplest Provinces of the Kingdom of Poland, in all of which he had Convents; and also by overcoming many other difficulties, and treating affairs, all of which devolved upon him as upon the Ordinary Prelate, and which by their nature call the mind away from those things which are of God, perturb and disquiet the mind, render a man sluggish and difficult to spiritual things, far remove from the contemplation of heavenly things, so that scarcely with great endeavor can he be recollected, especially if they are continual, such as here; nevertheless this blessed Father remained in so great serenity of mind, even implicated in these distractions; that the unwearied study of prayer, with continual exercise of virtues, he never omitted; always striving to exhibit his spirit present to God. As at home shut in his cell, so in all his journeys, within and without, laboring and free, praying and transacting business, he was so immersed in spirit in God, that it plainly seemed to him, whatever was in him not only of heart and body, but also of work and time he had consecrated. Truly Christ the Lord felt and said, Whosoever shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven: but B. Ladislaus eagerly having executed both, obtained the palm of that greatness. Matt. 5. Now because we have above declared clearly enough, that he, instructed with every kind of virtues, diffused everywhere the rays of most excellent holiness, attained the supreme degrees of governance, touched the highest summit of religious perfection; it remains to be declared, that by word, doctrine, science, sermons, the same holy man and fervent preacher brought the exceptional light of piety into the minds of the faithful, dissipated the errors of infernal darkness, kindled the light of divine knowledge and the flame of love.

[99] It is certain that that holy man burned with so great zeal of God in speaking, he gives useful preachings: that he seemed to have come forth as another Elias. By no acceptance of persons was he bent at all, by no adulation was he softened; nor did popular favor and opinion snatch him aside; but according to the voice of the Prophet, as a wagon threshing, having serrated beaks, he crushed the mountains, and set the hills as dust. From his sermons the prudent drew, whence he might become wiser; there the warrior found, whence he might be strengthened in virtue of mind; thence the Prince received how he should dispose his subjects under the equity of justice. His life, leaning on no crimes, his irreproachable morals, and the best proof, added great authority to his sermons. A venerable Doctor, possessing the name with the reality, he always admonished those present of the divine fear, of conserving the bond of twofold love, of the obedience of the Lord, and the honor of the higher powers. He went about through villages, camps, cities and fields, and everywhere scattered most largely the seeds of life; and kindled with vehement zeal of souls everywhere also in the fields and villages, he ran about, and altogether wished all rest interdicted to himself. He had the science of discerning between the holy and the profane, between the polluted and the clean; and taught the children of Israel all the legitimate things of God. And so great was the science and erudition of the servant of God, that both his gestures, and motions, and his very voice, seemed full of wisdom. He conceived truth in his mind, and resounded it in his whole habit and adornment: so that whatever he did, whatever he spoke, was a doctrine of the peoples. To be irreproachable, prudent, a doctor, an example of the faithful in word, in conversation, to attend to reading, to exhortation, and to doctrine; to do the work of an Evangelist, to fulfill his ministry: his words chaste, silver and gold tried by fire, purged of the earth, refined sevenfold.

[100] And the crowds were stupefied at his doctrine. For he was teaching them as one having power, and not as the scribes. he instructs the rude and boys: To rude or carnal men, plain and common things, not the highest and arduous he preached, lest they should be oppressed by the immensity of the doctrine, rather than instructed. Nor only the advanced in age, capable of sublime things, did he instruct, but also by visiting the Convents of his Order, and passing through villas and villages, he instituted boys called out, teaching them how they should sign themselves with the Cross, pronounce the Lord's prayer and the Angelic salutation and the Symbol of faith, cultivate and love God, have honor toward parents and every neighbor, and pay their due offices. From all which it is established, that his word was a lamp to the feet of the faithful, but he himself was a leader of the blind, a light of those who are in darkness, an instructor of the unwise, a master of infants, having the form of knowledge and of truth in the law. Hence all to receive his discipline and not money, to choose doctrine rather than gold: for wisdom was better to them than all the most precious riches, and everything desirable could not be compared to it. And his speech was efficacious in the breasts of the hearers, and the salutary doctrine fixed roots, so that, vices, crimes, he routs vices: and whatever grave sins being routed, not few were brought back to the amendment of life, and gave their hands to temperance. Those obedient to carnal desires, having become chaste consecrated their bodies; those seduced by error, submitted their sense and reason to truth; those taken by avarice, exhibited liberal hands in bestowing alms; those blinded by envy and wrath, returned into favor with their neighbor: many goods always arose and were produced from his preaching.

[101] But especially about weighing, meditating and contemplating the death and passion of Christ the Lord, he was as it were assiduous; in weighing the Passion of Christ he suffers an excess of mind. and in so far in recogitating it was he affected, that many times suspended by an excess of devotion, rapt above himself, and feeling something beyond human sense, what was then done about him he altogether ignored. Which certainly was no slight argument of divine grace and of the chief love, by which namely God all-powerful makes His lovers, though as yet imperiled amid the adverse straits of the present life, however gross be their bodies and by their own

nature bodies nodding toward the earth, through delightful raptures and into God fervent recesses of the soul, in some measure partakers of the divine glory. Whence from his breast, full of divine fervor, the spurs of divine love leapt out; which he in his sermons was busy to inculcate into the ears of the hearers, and to commend the exceptional charity of Christ. Therefore all his sermons from that most holy title of the Cross, from the title of the Cross he begins his Sermons Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews, to begin, and as from an inexhausted fountain the rivulets of concepts running down thence to deduce, and into the minds of the people present to bring: to all his discourses, that title as a golden diadem to prefix, and all his sayings to that end to direct, and with an egregious discourse to apply, and in a certain wonderful manner the memory of the passion of Christ the Lord in all his sermons to include, and with ardent affection to instill into the hearts of the hearers. Full are his sermons with the salutary continual remembrance and repetition of the death of Christ the Lord, abounding with signal erudition and strong exhortation. From which it is easily concluded that the holy man, kindled with the heavenly breath, glowed with the heat of the divine fire; and that those sparks of the love of Christ leapt forth from the furnace of conceived charity, and descending into the souls of the sons of God, often moved their breasts to compunction, and kindled them to the love of God.

[102] There were besides to that holy man, besides the gifts conferred from heaven for preaching, by nature attributed chief endowments, with which adorned, in the school of the recogitated passion of the Lord divinely instructed, he was an exceptional preacher of the divine word: who by his fervid spirit and his eloquence drew almost the whole people to himself, instructed for this with illustrious endowments: and kindled them in divine love; called them away from vices, instructed them in virtues. His words were not vain, worldly, curious, and empty: they were full of the virtue of the Holy Spirit, they were penetrating the bowels of the heart. His voice and elocution of the words of God was not inflected, soft and feigned; but real, clear, fervid and devout; so that not only the hearers he converted into vehement stupor, and the hearts of those obstinate in vices by virtuous efficacy he converted to a better fruit; but also by a certain hidden force those nourished in sins he compelled to return to God, deterred from the custom of the worst, and forced to enter the way of justice. For not only had the singular divine grace made him an Apostolic man; but nature too had formed him a most excellent herald. Firm sides, a sonorous, high and trumpet-like voice; a broad breast, a face full of graces, a head patient of labor, exhausted indeed by abstinence and labors, but adorned with a just and elegant stature, even by his very aspect instilling a wonderful love into the beholders. Adorned with which gifts, easily the affection, which he conceived within, he expressed, and impressed on the hearts of the hearers what he intended; so that they were easily converted into other men. For his spirit, in that furnace of the Lord's passion, in recogitating which he was wholly, purged of the dross of carnal things, could belch nothing, except divine, nothing except profitable to salvation. The matter in few words. B. Ladislaus was a man mighty in work and speech.

[103] Moreover his conversation was in heaven. He had not here an abiding city, but sought a future one. And since he knew this to be eternal life, that we should know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He sent; given to contemplation, the contemplation of God, among the other exercises of virtues to be cultivated and frequented he assumed. For to contemplate his Creator and to know Him man was created; that he should always seek His face, and dwell in the solidity of His love. But man so rightly fashioned by God, to praise Him perpetually; while yet in Paradise sent out of himself through disobedience, lost the place of his mind (which is God); because by dark journeys his spirit went far from the inhabitation of the true light. But the Lord had shone in the heart of B. Ladislaus, to the illumination of the knowledge of the brightness of God; to whose mind two excesses of contemplation adhered, by intellect and affection: one in intellect, the other in affection, one in light, and the other in fervor; one in thought, and the other in devotion. A pious affection indeed, and a breast warm with love, and the infusion of holy devotion, and a spirit filled with vehement zeal, tasted that contemplative life, exceedingly amiable; whose sweetness he experienced, which snatches the soul above itself, opens heavenly things, but shows that earthly things ought to be in contempt, lays open spiritual things to the eyes of the mind, hides corporal things. Often therefore the soul of B. Ladislaus, when it wished to understand either divine things, or God, or itself, and to consider its own virtues; abstracted itself from all the senses of the body, by which it was not aided, except to perceive corporeal forms and colors; but by spirit and reason it beheld itself, and by meditation and contemplation ascended to God, abstracted from the senses of the body, but God by revelation and His inspiration descended to him; and so he meditated on all the works of God, and was exercised in the deeds of His hands. For the invisible things of God from the creature of the world, through those things which are made, understood were beheld; because entirely and perfectly, according to the word of the Wise man, he had delivered his heart to watch in the morning to the Lord who made him, and in the sight of the Most High he prayed; and at the same time with all his vows he studied according to the Prophet Isaiah, to prepare the ways of the Lord, to make straight the paths of his God: to whom with another Prophet it was permitted to say: My eyes are always to the Lord, because he provided the Lord in his sight always, wherefore he received a blessing from the Lord and mercy from God his Savior. Ecclus. 39, &, Isaiah 40, 3, Psal. 24., Psal. 15.

[104] He was indeed frequently visited by the Lord, nor ever was ignorant of the time of his visitation. For in such contemplations very often he was kindled with the fire of fervid love toward his beloved Jesus. he is rapt into ecstasy, raised from the ground, Most frequently he was wont to experience this sweet enthusiasm: very often he was raised from the ground on high; but alienated from the senses, pleasant colloquies with God, as a friend with a friend, he was wont to have. By the consideration of the eternal fatherland from its place his soul was moved; because the lowest things being abandoned, in the supreme thoughts it was placed: through ardent love his soul was joined to the invisible spouse, by His desire his mind burned; and as he coveted none of the things which are in the world, so he deputed the length of the present life a punishment, hastened to depart, and in the embrace of love rested in the vision of the heavenly Spouse: he received no consolation of the present age, but to Him, with whose desire he burned, from the marrow he sighed, glowed, panted, was anxious. Vile to him was the health of his body, because he was transfixed with the wound of love. Clearly the very ancient monuments of letters testify, to which the life of this holy man was entrusted, that very often at the time of prayer he was rapt by an ecstasy, and frequently with a vivid understanding divinely irradiated he transcended the bounds of human industry, that the memory of present things fell from his mind, and that into a certain state of soul foreign and unknown to human industry by the transfiguration of the divine operation he passed, and in that contemplation the fire of love vehemently blazed: inasmuch as a heart pure from vices, free and immune from sins, and therefore easily could be raised to higher things, and sweetly, as said, through long delays he was held suspended by stupor and ecstasy. Such suspensions, raptures, and fires of divine love led him even to the last and consumed him, withdrew him from the age, but joined him to God about to live for ever. Deservedly this blessed Father could say that of the Psalmist, My heart grew hot within me, and in my meditation a fire shall burn: but a fire no other than God, whom in his heart he always bore, who is a consuming fire. Psal. 38, 4 And these things thus far of the life of B. Ladislaus. The end of his life, and his death, and those things which followed thence call away the pen.

CHAPTER V.

Ecstasy in the sermon on the passion of Christ, thence sickness, death.

[106] That the chief reward of a life passed and piously and holily finished is a good death, the unanimous consent of the Doctors admonishes, nay the light of all the Doctors Divine Paul manifestly declares the same, when he says; Be not deceived Brethren, For what a man shall sow, that also shall he reap; and he who sows in blessings shall also reap of blessings. Gal. 6. He sows in blessings, who while he enjoys the usufruct of this life, is occupied with holy and pious works; he reaps of blessings, because at the hour of death summoned by the Father of the family from the vineyard, he merits to be inscribed in the catalogue of the blessed, and to obtain the heavenly reward, and to be refreshed from the fountain of eternal blessing. I add, that not only those prevented by death His elect friends God of all blessing is wont to clothe with an incorruptible garment; but before death too, while yet existing among the living, The Saints even in this life are adorned with the signs of beatitude, by the admirable prerogative of His love and the singular glory of brightness to prevent them, and in the eyes of men with the belt of eternal nobility to mark them He has for custom. There occurs S. Nicholas of Tolentino, who six months before his death, each night heard an Angelic concert, by whose sweetness when he now pre-tasted the joys of Paradise, frequently he repeated that of the Apostle, I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ. S. Mary Magdalene, then too S. Mary the Egyptian, the hard course of many years of the harshest penitence being passed, in deserts remote from the fellowship of men, both had merited from the Angels, long before their death, to be raised on high from the ground, to hear the most sweet melodies of the heavenly inhabitants.

[107] S. Francis, while by the Seraphic ardors of desires he was carried upward into God, and affected with a compassionate tenderness was transformed into Him, whom from excessive charity it pleased to be crucified, one morning before the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, by the example of S. Francis stigmatized, praying on the side of the mountain, saw as it were the likeness of one Seraph, having six wings as resplendent as fiery, descend from the sublimity of the heavens, who with a most swift flight coming to a place of the air near the man of God, appeared not only winged, but also crucified; and in a certain wonderful manner, impressed the stigmata on the hands and feet and side of the man of God, and two years before his death made him like to Christ in all things. There are also very many other examples of this matter, relating very many Saints contemplating the glory of the Lord with revealed face, transformed into the same image. Nay He Himself who shone in our hearts, to the illumination of the knowledge of the brightness of God, Christ Jesus; before His death, on Mount Tabor, transfigured by a certain heavenly metamorphosis, His face representing the rays of the sun, but His garments approaching most nearly to the whiteness of snow, appeared in the eyes of the Apostles: by that deed insinuating, that the end of holy men is to be adorned with the immense glory of brightness by the heavenly Father; and that it would be, that whosoever shall have led their life holily and piously, may experience the last times of living illustrious and desirable.

[108] So great a benefit of grace to our B. Ladislaus was not denied. He entered the possession of this

gift; and now near death, B. Ladislaus nearly 50 years being completed in the order, he recognized in himself the manifest documents of future beatitude. He had now completed forty years and nine months in the holy Order; and through that long enough interval of time, with no rest, withdrawn from continual troubles of labors, at all times addicted to continual cares, vigils, difficulties, studies, lectures, pious and holy works, to the last time of life with a laborious course he strove. Always in the battle-line of God, in the way of His commandments, in the right paths of justice, he directed his steps, nor declined to the right or left; from the begun journey of holiness he never moved his feet, nor running to the prize turned his eyes elsewhere, abstaining from all things, until he should come to the prefixed goal of perfection and receive the prize. The strength of the body now failed; broken by the debility of old age, it seemed little fit for the labors now to be undergone: yet he, accustomed to display fortitude of mind, and to rouse himself to sustaining burdens, did not abstain from being recalled to the troubles of labors. At length the Most High, who is a just Judge, about to render him a crown, willed the end of his life to be at hand: and in this age, resolved to manifest the holiness of His servant to His people, and at the same time to demonstrate in the midst of the Church, with how ardent charity toward Himself he had been kindled, and had strongly been wakeful for the cult of His name. The matter was done in this manner.

[109] It was the sixth weekday of the Greater week, which they call the Parasceve, on the Lord's Parasceve, a time deputed for deploring the passion and death of Christ, by the devout use of the Church. B. Ladislaus with all zeal and affection of compassion armed himself to preach that exceptional benefit of Christ dying for us, and studied with all his power in his accustomed manner in most devout contemplation, that from the chair he might instill into the minds of the hearers the memory of Christ's passion, and impress on their hearts the effigy of Christ crucified. It was explored enough by the whole people, before a great multitude, that that holy man would apply his effort to recalling Christ's death: wherefore from every place a huge concourse of men flowed together to hear him. From the villas and towns, lying nearest to Warsaw, a great congregation of nobles, a very great throng of the common people, a multitude too of citizens of every age had filled the temple, all kindled with ardent desire, to hear the word of God from the mouth of the holy man. And so when suspended by expectation they awaited the desirable sermon of the preacher; at midnight, as is the custom, in which the mysteries of the Lord's passion are treated later, this divine preacher (when now the sword of compassionate grief had transfixed his heart) wholly mournful and clothed with the huge squalor of grief, his face attenuated by abstinence and vigils, ascending the chair with a singular motion. sad and pale, bringing forth most profound sighs, ascended the chair, and so began his sermon, that he seemed to assume rather the mourning of dragons and ostriches, than to act the orator of the divine word: so that the hearts of all the hearers he filled suddenly with grief, their eyes with weeping, their bowels with sorrow, their bodies with stupor; and made them groan like turtledoves, nay rather to chafe in spirit. The whole church then seemed filled with sobs, sighs, grief, sadness: bathed with showers of tears, it overflowed with the spurs of sorrows and the bitterness of grief. For it was to see that preacher wholly inflamed; to hear a vehement, but mournful voice; to behold a man, not a man, but an Angel in the pulpit; a face venerable with old age, but irrigated with tears; a countenance amiable, he discourses on the passion of Christ: but scintillating with sorrow. The thing preached was the most bitter passion of Christ the Lord our Redeemer, declaimed by that Angelic mouth, exaggerated with amorous affection, demonstrated with mournful gesture. O who would not weep, if he saw, if he were present, if he heard, if he perceived with the heart!

[110] This tearful commotion endured, he so preaching, until a new change, and a new and more ardent commotion in the people hearing, but much greater and more vehement in the preacher discoursing, and more continually inflamed, supervened. But this holy preacher proceeded in his sermon, and had now advanced no small way in narrating the Lord's passion; but now was being disposed to his stupendous transmutation, and more and more in the love of Jesus was kindled. There leapt out the sparks of fiery affections, there broke forth the little flames of amorous compassion, frequent sobs, grave sighs, much wailing; the voice of the tongue stuck, copious tears fell. The people diligently beheld his face, stupor at each of his motions contracting them more and more, who was rendered as if now insensible; and even stony hearts were broken by the hammers of his vehement words. But when he had come to that point of the Lord's passion, where he was about to narrate the thing full of gore, reddening with the effusion of the innocent blood of Christ, to be detested for its immane cruelty, the flagellation (I say) of Christ; a column being now set in a fitted place, with rods, pointed scourges, chains, to represent the atrocity of the flagellation set before his eyes, while he represents the flagellation of Christ, the icon of Christ now denuded, bound to the column, fitted for the cruel flagellation; the instruments of cruelty taken into his hands, his eyes turned to the denuded image of Christ, bound to the column, with a mournful head inclined; with a tearful, vehement, and atrocious voice beginning to exclaim: O Jesus, O Jesus, O my beloved Jesus! suddenly with his whole body he trembled, his tongue stuck, his heart overwhelmed with the vehement affection of compassionate grief grew stiff: he wished to speak further, but oppressed by grief could no more, full of sorrow and destitute of strength.

[111] Then now of the ardent fire of divine love, kindled in the furnace of his heart, the vehement flame, not able to be contained within; as from a furnace, burning sevenfold more than before, suddenly so far broke forth to the outside; that visibly, before that whole gathered multitude, all clearly beholding, men and women, old and young, sinners and just, devout and undevout, it raised him on high; so that, he appears hanging in the air: all seeing, and at the novelty of the thing otherwise unheard astonished, some loudly exclaiming Jesus, Jesus, Jesus! some falling to the ground, some from stupor, fear, and the novelty of the thing as if alienated from their senses; above the pulpit raised in the air hanging he appeared. He stood sublime between heaven and earth, supported by no prop of human help, through ecstasy raised upward (the air itself, in place of a solid body, lending its ministry to sustaining his body) as if he wished to go into heaven clearly seen. He remained so a just space of time, nor could he speak further, set in languor, and wholly immersed in God. O truly Seraphic love! which when it had invaded the heart of the holy man, as if desiring to possess the Lord alone, pressed the ministries of the tongue, and compelled it to acquiesce to its affections. O that fiery breast! which warmed by the heavenly flame, seemed to retain in the heart the benefit of respiration. O heart toward its beloved moved with that virtue of love, that it left the body snatched into its power, and destitute of senses!

[112] So God Almighty wonderful in His Saints, not only in private places and separated from the consort of men, deigned to honor His blessed faithful servant Ladislaus with such His divine visitations; but also in a place so public and eminent, before a most populous multitude, on the most devout day of His most sacred passion, made an imitator and type of Christ in His passion, at that time in which Jesus Christ in the furnace of His most ardent love through the most bitter torments of His passion was consumed, His servant too and true imitator B. Ladislaus to burn and be burned He willed. And as He on the mount of Calvary, raised on the altar of the Cross on high from the ground, all Jerusalem beholding, nay the whole people of the Jewish nation, who had assembled thither according to the precept of the Mosaic law for the most celebrated feast of the Passover, suffered; so B. Ladislaus in the church, on the chair erected on high, preaching the Lord's passion, and representing the mysteries of the same passion, whither had assembled the whole city of Warsaw and much nobility and common people from the towns, villages and villas lying around to hear such a preaching, to which a more frequent people than otherwise is wont to assemble, in the Metropolis of the Duchy of Mazovia, to Christ having suffered, armed with the same thought B. Ladislaus, was assimilated. To the hearers of that sermon taken with admiration it came into mind, that Christ the Lord, at the time in which He deigned to undergo death for our sake, wished to render His faithful little servant like to Himself: and as He between heaven and earth fixed to the cross was dying, so His servant B. Ladislaus raised from the ground, between heaven and earth by the force of compassion vehemently suspended, bore the type of Christ crucified. To some too it came into mind, that there is the heart of man, where also his treasure is hidden; and therefore B. Ladislaus was raised upward, with various motion of the hearers: because in the heavenly things was the treasure of his heart, and above all the beloved spouse of his soul Christ Jesus. But to some that concept arose, that fire always tends upward, and that this is attributed to it by nature: so B. Ladislaus, inflamed with the heavenly fire, could not be contained on earth; but that flame tending upward, the same was strongly raised, and tended to heaven. To certain ones it seemed, that the holy man, snatched by the heat of compassionate grief, wished as it were to approach Christ's column, and sweetly to embrace his beloved bound, and to receive on himself the blows brought upon His body. But all the Nobles, Clergy, nobles, citizens, and the simple and laborious, of all whom a huge supply was present at that sermon, to praise God in the holy man, with common and full mouth and voice and consent to proclaim him a Saint, to call him a friend of God, and to be worthy, to whose prayers all should commend themselves, and demand the patronage of so holy a man. The fame of that miracle seemed to be celebrated with discourses, and to be diffused into all the limits of the kingdom; very many moved by that matter, though far removed, began to demand his prayers, to request his patronage, to offer vows, and all to obtain their wishes, and to taste the desired sweetness of consolation.

[113] Therefore descending from the air with a slow motion, he felt himself affected with vehement debility; seized by languor, carried to the place deputed for the sick Brothers, hence carried he is sick a whole month, the disease invading his body, he lay in bed; and for the space of one month detained by the sickness of infirmity, a contemner of earthly things and always desirous of heavenly ones, he wished to be fortified with the Sacraments of the Church, and to be occupied with continual piety of devotion, and to pray without intermission. Now leaving human things, treating divine ones, now he seemed not an earthly but a heavenly man. and fortified with the last rites, At length well fortified with all divine aids, and best prepared and instructed, in the most intense infirmity which he suffered, the most fervent preacher, the perfect religious, the man of God full of fear, the nursling of true holiness, the chief cultivator of religious perfection, glad and rejoicing about the glory of future retribution, rendered his spirit to God, and closed the last day of his life, in the year of the Lord MDV on the IV day of May; he dies 4 May in the year 1501. and to that eternal rest,

about to receive the reward for his labor the faithful servant of God, as a good laborer in the vineyard of the Lord passed over, carrying with him with exultation the sheaf of a full harvest, of good works, virtues, and merits, in the heavenly fatherland he obtained much grace from God almighty; those bewailing his death, not only the Brothers bereft of so great a Father, but almost all the inhabitants of the city and his acquaintances, and bitterly deploring their bereavement. Such indeed was the issue of the life of B. Ladislaus, the best and most perfect servant of God, who be blessed in His Saints.

CHAPTER VI.

The sense of His Holiness left from his death.

[114] After B. Ladislaus paid the debt of nature, the whole city of Warsaw struck by a sudden emotion, held a mournful silence for no small time: then taken with a vehement desire of him it lamented that the lamp of its city was extinguished, the light obscured; the star bright with holiness of life, He is bewailed by all, wrapped in the mist of mortality; its rays obscured by a dark cloud, that all were pressed by grief, to be deprived of so good a man, the comeliness and ornament taken away, the Duchy of Mazovia bereft of a most celebrated inhabitant. But now, that many had celebrated his humanity, had praised his labors in preaching the word of God and his ardent zeal, had succored many in their gravest affairs by counsel, aid, patronage; that the physician of their souls had died, all the elders and juniors with tears arising wept, that that man through all things useful and necessary had departed. and is desired as Patron: The best man, well deserving of the Church, they assume as Patron of the city of Warsaw and of the whole Kingdom; they demand peace with prayers, that as a perpetual Patron he might always preserve safe the progeny of his own. Within a short time, as much as it then could the city made apparatus: but a much greater honor to his death was the public mourning, signal before all things therein, because men of every age, as their own parent they mourned him, because he had been a keen and zealous promoter of the salvation of souls. Wherefore a multitude of men of every condition and kind to touch and kiss the garments of the dead man; and, if that were less permitted on account of the multitude of those approaching the coffin, at least from afar to behold the lifeless body, and by the sight of it to console the mourning conceived about his death.

[115] Then a certain illustrious virgin, daughter of the Palatine of Mazovia, A certain one not being able to pray for him, of the Order of the Third Rule of S. Francis, on the day of the death of the holy man, several times strove to say one and another Pater noster for the soul of the deceased; yet she could in no way proceed. Again and again to recite the same prayer she wished to accommodate her tongue and affection; and always she stuck, nor could she proceed further: and the more she had studied to pray for his soul, the greater impediment she affirmed she was withdrawn by. Fixed with stupor, when she was distracted into various opinions of mind, and pondered what the matter was, that she could not say the Lord's Prayer for that deceased Father; memory suggested to her mind, that the holy man needed not human aid, who in the heavenly fatherland now enjoyed eternal joy. Then that Virgin exclaimed, and into these words with ardent affection broke forth: she is impelled to commend herself to him. I recognize, holy Father, that thou perhaps needest not the prayers of a sinner, but that thou now enjoyest the felicity of eternal beatitude: but I have need of thy prayers, and therefore I commend myself to thy holiness. Which words when I said within myself (that virgin related) there invaded me suddenly, with my huge admiration, so great a sweetness and wonderful pleasure of spirit, and I felt a most sweet refreshment, there occurring unexpectedly to my memory the declamation of the salvation-bringing title of the Cross, by this Blessed for many years preached, Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews, with that sweetness such as I never before had, and never remember to have had. By which deed it was manifestly demonstrated, that the holy man, by the contemplation of Christ's Passion and of its triumphal title, had ascended the summit of great holiness, and by the same force had attained the glory of the heavenly kingdom and obtained eternal gladness.

[116] A little before he had yielded to nature, a fame anticipating that he had exchanged life with death had been spread, and that immature messenger had come to the ears of a certain noble man, who, distant one mile from the city of Warsaw, detained by vehement sickness, drew his breath in slender hope. He, when he first conceived by his ears, a dying man imploring the patronage of him not yet dead is healed: that the blessed man had died his last day, touched with grief inwardly; I grieve, said he, that my fatherland is bereft of so holy a man: to his prayers I commend myself, whom I believe to have been endowed with exceptional holiness, and most firmly hold to have been brought to the heavenly seats; and humbly by prayers I ask, that he would be willing to bring aid to me afflicted, and to restore to me my lost health. Holy Father, pray for me an unworthy sinner, and succor one now about to die. Scarcely from his mouth had the sick man poured these words, when behold he perceived the force of the disease repelled from him, as if a most grave burden had been removed from him, under which pressed he was at his last gasp; and at once he knew that his strength was restored to him, and that he recovered the virtue of health entirely, that his limbs returned to their pristine vigor, and that his whole body convalesced. He rises from bed, much rejoicing at his recovered health: and that he might show himself grateful for so great a benefit, without delay he came to Warsaw, to venerate the burial-place of the blessed Father Ladislaus, lately as he had understood buried. He goes therefore to the convent, and inquires where in that place he was committed to the earth. It is answered him, that he had not yet led his life to its last period; but yet that he was near death, and approached the threshold of the sepulcher. But he, magnifying God in His Saint, whom He deigned to declare so welcome to him still existing in mortal mobility; discloses what was done with him: namely that, oppressed with the grave trouble of infirmity, he had touched the threshold of death, and now the scythe of envious death being put to his neck, an entrance had been laid open to the cruelty of the Fates. Then he, set in straits, had fled to B. Ladislaus; had invoked the aid of him, whom he knew to be always most acceptable to God; had emitted a vow that he would visit his sepulcher; and so had suddenly obtained the desired health by his patronage: and because fame had commonly delivered him as dead, that he had come to his sepulcher, about to discharge the vow made, and satisfy his promises. The Brothers hearing the man relating, wondered at the matter, and venerated the holiness of the holy man. Wonderful how great faith was given to that noble man announcing these things, and how huge the desire of B. Ladislaus among the whole people, the faith of his immortality and holiness being made, was augmented.

[117] The sword of grief passed through the breast anxious with cares of Anna the most illustrious lady, widowed Duchess of Mazovia, when the death of the blessed Father was brought to her ears, the Duchess of Mazovia celebrates his memory, by which then most of all she bitterly wept herself a widowed and bereft woman by the departure of her Father. She related, mingling with her words tears flowing from her eyes, that whensoever in arduous however great affairs she required his counsel, and demanded that prayer be made for her, she always recognized prosperous successes in all things, and that all things succeeded for her according to the opinion of her mind; but now, he departing to the heavenly ones, much was taken from her felicity, that she had lost the master of life, the leader of the way, the spiritual Father, the Angel her guardian, who showed her the way of life: that to her Duchy too a precious treasure was taken away, and a never sufficiently to be deplored detriment of bereavement brought. But the elder men of the city and parents, the elders inculcate the same to posterity, for whom life had stood next to the confine of death, to admonish the juniors and their sons, that in the years succeeding to all those, whom the future age would supply to them ceasing, they should relate the integrity of the holy man's life, and at the same time announce that they should demand his patronage with ardent vows; that it would be that in all things they would obtain a sure expectation. Parents too, especially at that time in which their life is terminated by its last line, to leave in commands to their sons and to provide by testament, that they too should conserve the memory of the holy man, and hand over the same to be conserved by the generation to come, and as by the right of hereditary possession, leave to posterity his patronage to be invoked and sought.

[118] Many too at this time, mindful of so pious an admonition of their grandfathers especially in the city of Warsaw, it is proved by various witnesses; asserted to me, compiling this history, that they had received this from their elders. But the chief relator of this matter was a certain renowned man Francis Seliga, decrepit with senile age, who said that he had been instructed by his father with that admonition: and said that he was now the third inhabitant of the city of Warsaw, and that he remembered there was always a signal devotion to B. Ladislaus, and a fame and inviolable opinion of his holiness implanted in minds. The same song an honest matron worn out with old age, Catherine Badowska, brought forth, that she had had from her parents the devotion declared toward B. Ladislaus, and at all times had conserved it in her breast. A doctrine not different from the mouth of her predecessors, a matron abounding with very many years of life and honest morals, of good name, once the consort of Balthasar Giza, proclaimed, and said that she had received from her elders, that B. Ladislaus in the very sermon raised sublime from the pulpit, in that ecstasy seen by all then present, after a short time prevented by death, had departed from this world, had left a great desire of himself, and had impressed the signal vestiges of true holiness in the minds of all, was worshiped by all as a Saint, and by the elders to the youth his memory, cult and devotion was commended with this intention, that they, departing to the way of all flesh, others and others succeeding into their place, among the other goods to come by right of inheritance, should commend also the memory of the holy man, as Patron of the kingdom of Poland, perpetually to be retained.

CHAPTER VII.

The burial of the body, and its decreed solemn elevation.

[119] Although B. Ladislaus, while yet he was among the living, by very many arguments proved the holiness of his life; and the Lord God, delighted too by the variety of his virtues, by many miracles wrought through him illustrated his best manner of living; and besides, an admirable death intervening, called him to the heavenly things, and demonstrated this by various testimonies; nevertheless to the Brothers, existing in the Warsaw convent for that time, it seemed, that that man the master of profound humility should be adorned with no pompous expense of a sepulcher, or certainly honored before others with a higher monument. They decree a burial common with the rest for the best man, they insert his body into the bowels of the sandy earth, that, I say, magnificent tabernacle of the Holy Spirit. Moreover that at some time hereafter the monument of so egregious a man might be distinguished from others, He is buried in the midst of the choir, a great stone being placed: they superimposed a great stone on his tomb, that at least by that indication the memory of the buried man might be consulted. He was buried therefore in the church of his Friars Minor of the Observance, called of S. Anne, in the city of Warsaw, in the midst of the choir, in that place where the lamp before the tabernacle, situated on the high altar, kindled to the most holy Eucharist, scatters its shining rays in honor of so great a Sacrament. O happy place, in which

so precious a pearl was laid! O blessed field, in which a precious treasure remained hidden! Truly it was a garden, in which the tree of life had been planted. For in that little body remained He; who deservedly named Himself the way, the truth, and the life.

[120] For a long space of time, namely for sixty-seven years, that blessed body, enclosed in the dark womb of the earth, rested, no other public honor, by the consent of the Brothers, being applied: only an ardent desire of devotion, left in the breasts of the faithful, and by the elders commended to posterity with much piety, fostered the memory of the blessed man. For to the place of his burial, when men came with kindled candles, with bent knees they prayed, they touched the sepulcher with kisses of the lips and a profound inclination of the head, he is honored with various votive offerings: they brought candles glittering with light; images partly made of wax, partly elaborated of silver, partly formed with the colors of painters, for the sake of discharging a vow they devoutly offered, miracles again and again glittering. Moreover there were very many who, approaching the place of the sepulcher in their necessities, delighted with the benefit of consolation, returned home, truly proclaiming the blessed man and the holiness of his life with common voice, and exalting the benefits conferred on them through him (as they piously believed) with the grateful ministry of the tongue. The fervor of this devotion burned, and that flame of piety toward the Blessed man shone for sixty-seven years, namely from the year of his death MDV even to the year MDLXXII, no human zeal and labor promoting it: the grace of God alone and singular providence conserving the holiness of His servant and his fame, and illustrating it with frequent and continual miracles. At length it pleased the Most High, from the turbid and misty place, into a serene and tranquil light, to bring forth the bones of the holy man: nor was there wanting an occasion of disposing all things sweetly, which to have been offered in this manner, is the tradition of the ancients.

[121] The Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Stanislaus Karnkowski, Stanislaus Karnkowski of whom that document of the sacred letters can be used, Behold a great Priest, who in his life propped the house, and in his days strengthened the temple; the height too of the temple was founded by him, a double building and the high walls of the temple. Ecclus. 50, 1. For he, the storms of heresy raging in the kingdom of Poland, opposed the unconquered strength of his mind; by word, pen, the counsel of learned men applied to that end, he went to meet the rushing plague; in the General Diets of the kingdom for many years to the heretics, requiring confederation no less powerfully than audaciously, the protector of the Catholic Rights and liberties he resisted to their face, and always opposed himself an adamantine wall; and much succored the Catholic faith greatly slipping, whose memory be in blessings. from Bishop of Kujawy Archbishop of Gniezno. He had acted as Bishop of Kujawy and Pomerania; in which office having functioned with huge praise, and summoned to the government of the Metropolitan Church of Gniezno by the judgment of that most powerful Prince Stephen Báthory the King, Primate of the Kingdom, First Prince, Legate born, he exercised the office of a true Watchman. It was a continual custom to the best Pontiff, not in most sumptuous palaces, with which in his cities, towns and villas he abounded, to tarry; but wherever he betook himself in the monasteries of the Friars Minor of the Observance, almost all the time of his life to dwell, to converse with them, to live with them, to use their devotions: with these were his delights, his pleasures, his sweetnesses: since with a wonderful affection of love, and truly paternal affection he was bound to this Order.

[122] In the year therefore of the Lord MDLXXII the General Diet of the Kingdom was celebrated, to which this Pontiff for his Senatorial office invited, in the year 1572 in the Diet turning aside to the Friars Minor, came; and according to his custom, as is premised, received most gratefully in lodging by the Friars Minor Observant, remained with them, and through the whole time of the Diet conversed with the same. It happened on a certain day that that Pontiff went to the temple for the sake of devotion, and wished, going through the midst of the choir of the Brothers, to approach the high altar (for this man was much instant on prayers, wakeful in devotions, continually free for pouring out prayers to God, and therefore hastening to inhabit the monasteries of the Observant Brothers, in whose devotions he was delighted) going therefore suddenly in an uncertain place he fell to the ground, impelled by no chance. Rising easily, he was greatly stupefied, seeing no cause of his sudden fall. Yet the most prudent man, judging that such a lapse of his was not vain, from the fall over the sepulcher he receives knowledge of B. Ladislaus. nor without divine disposition had he fallen; calls to himself the Fathers of that convent; narrates what had happened to him; that he had fallen on the ground in such a place, and by an unexpected chance his step had been hindered with his feet; that it came into his mind that this had not happened in vain: let them declare what that place was, or whose sepulcher covered with a great stone above was beheld. They answer that it was the place of the burial of B. Ladislaus, formerly Superior of this convent and a most fervent preacher, illustrated with many miracles by the Lord God, that that place was supremely to be observed, to which also from more remote places great concourses of peoples are made, and very many benefits men receive by his intercession. The best Pontiff understood that that ground was holy, and that in that place a precious treasure hidden was concealed, and that he was admonished by the lapse of his body, that he should be willing and care to have the bones of the holy man replaced in a more honest place.

[123] Then turned to those present Fathers, with a contracted countenance he said, he desires the body of him to be elevated: that their negligence was worthy of reprehension, who for so long a time, in that place so precious a treasure of their Order, the comeliness of religion, so pious a Patron, kept as it were without honor. That he would no more suffer the bones of so holy a man to lie hid in that darkness; and that he would give pains, that as soon as possible this burning lamp should be brought forth from under the bushel, and set upon the candlestick. From that time therefore this best Prelate was busy that the bones of the Blessed should be raised from that dust, and the more kindled to terminate so pious a work, he invoked the aids of B. Ladislaus himself. His prayer was not vain: for at a certain time, by a clear vision Blessed Ladislaus himself was seen by him, stimulated by B. Ladislaus appearing, admonishing that it was of the divine will, that his bones should be replaced in a more honest place and one fitter for the consolation of many. He added besides that it was unworthy, that those should be trodden in the earth by the feet of those passing, which God Himself most clement deigns to honor in heaven: wherefore let it be his care, that as soon as possible they should obtain a more honest and fitter place. These things said being made sublime he disappeared. The heart of the most pious Bishop, already before armed with that thought, is more inflamed. Therefore not only by the affection conceived before, but more confirmed by the revelation, and driven by the mandate of God through His servant B. Ladislaus, all his zeal, to raising the bones of the blessed man, he wholly turned: that of him whose soul in the heavenly fatherland he had known made a partaker of the eternal light, the same one's bones on earth he might dignify with the condign honor of place. The whole series of this matter a certain honest matron, an octogenarian and above, Catherine Gnatowska, an inhabitant of Warsaw, narrated, who related that she had perceived all those things from her husband, now long deceased, who marked with the character of the minor Orders of the Clericate, was present at the raising of B. Ladislaus, and had been a partaker of the secrets of the aforesaid President.

[124] There were present at that time at Warsaw two Purpled Princes and Fathers, whom the Curia commonly calls Cardinals; one of them named Commendone, but the other Vincent Porticus; both in the procuration of the affairs of the Apostolic See, thither he invites 2 Cardinals. to the Most Serene Sigismund Augustus, are related to have been Legates from the side of the Supreme Pontiff. To these the most devout Antistes went: with a grave oration he laid open the whole business: he narrated that it was the Divine will, that the holiness of His beloved servant, prevented with due cult by the faithful, should be observed with greater reverence; and that the bones of the holy man raised from the dust, exposed in a higher place, should be exhibited to the assembly of the faithful; that he desired to use them, supported by the authority of the Apostolic See, for so egregious and celebrated a work; that they, for their innate piety, would be willing to bestow effort on his endeavors, by the authority with which they were much strong, he insisted, and applied ardent prayers. The Purpled Fathers answer, that that piety pleased them, and they promise that they would not be wanting to so equitable and just desires. They themselves too inquire of the Brothers of that Warsaw convent, and with a diligent examination of inquisition, they are busy to know and understand the true holiness of B. Ladislaus, illustrated with certain miracles proved by public faith; they give their assent, and decree the bones of the Blessed to be raised. But although for this work the Ordinary of the place, who is the Bishop of Poznań, by the very law commanding should have been employed; nevertheless yet to the aforesaid Most Illustrious Lord Stanislaus Karnkowski, they commit that act to be exercised; who from heaven had been designated to execute it, by the apparition exhibited to him by B. Ladislaus himself, laying open the will of God; since him, as another Paul, falling to the ground by a lapse he had admonished. But he who recognizing the finger of God seemed to answer, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? showed himself most obsequious to the mandates. Therefore by the vows, voices and acclamations of all, the decree, that the Ordinary of the place should be silent in this passage, was brought forth, accepted, and by common consent praised.

CHAPTER VIII.

The solemn elevation of the body.

[125] As B. Ladislaus, after the manner of the other elect Saints of God, was beloved of God and much amiable to men, so too God made him like in the glory of the Saints, and not only magnified him in soul (as we piously believe) in the heavenly fatherland, but also in this vale of tears, honored his body with the honor of the Saints; the bones namely, though after the manner of the rest of men subjected to corruption referring the same form of mortality, in a decent place, convenient for veneration, raised from under the dust of the trampling people; and placed in a sublime sarcophagus he glorified in the sight of Kings, Princes, Prelates, Nobles; and ordered it before his people, and showed it his glory. For as this B. Ladislaus, the most high Lord at no other time than the most solemn, most devout, and observable to all, in which the memory of His Passion is recalled, magnified living, by raising him on high in the sight of the whole people, while pouring out the sacred words he made showers of tears; so dead, lying hid in the dust of the earth, at no other time He ordered him to be raised thence, At a most solemn time in the Diet of the kingdom, than at a most populous and most frequented, plainly in the eyes of the Kingdom of Poland, in the face of his whole nation, and not of his own only, but of very many foreigners. I say more, in the sight of the Church, when two most illustrious luminaries had stood at the same time at Warsaw, two Purpled Fathers dignified with the most ample honor of the Cardinalate, both sent by the Supreme Pastor and Vicar of Christ, bearing his person, who is the visible head of the Church, who the supreme judge, who the Father of all, who a terrestrial God, if it is lawful to say. I report the matter more clearly.

[126] When now the legates of the Apostolic See had the matter best examined, by the consent of the 2 Cardinals, to them by the Most Illustrious Stanislaus

Karnkowski Bishop of Kujawy proposed and expounded; and they had known by several arguments the exceptional holiness of the blessed Father Ladislaus; and now both had consented upon the aforesaid Prelate, that he and no other should carry out the business revealed to him by the Blessed and committed by God, should open the sepulcher, seek the sacred Relics, collect them, carry them out, and place them in another more honest place; on what day chiefly this should be done, counsels were held among several; the matter too brought to the Most Serene King, was pondered. There were found some, who said it should be done rather by night than by day, secretly not publicly, the church being locked, the tumultuating people excluded, and that for the gravest causes, as it then seemed to them, because the General convention of the Kingdom was then being held. But on the contrary all the best men insisted, that a business so holy, a public elevation is decreed a most celebrated act and most rare in these parts, for the cause of God and His faithful servant, should be celebrated in the open not in the hidden, publicly not privately, the due ceremonies of solemnities being employed, and that this matter should not lightly or cursorily be brought to the desired effect, and the Divine will be committed to execution. So let that light shine before men, that they may see the works of the Saints, that they may glorify our Father who is in heaven, that in His Saints God may be blessed, that every nation and age and sex may say, O how good it is for a man to bear the yoke from his adolescence! truly now we know and are taught by living experience, that to serve God is to reign. The latter opinion was praised and accepted, as the nobler reason and more useful to the common salvation.

[127] And so it is consulted what day more convenient should be assigned for this. Low Sunday of all most especially smiled: that he who with Christ on the day of the Parasceve, burned by the furnace of most ardent ardor and the flames of compassion, and that on Low Sunday it should be done 13 April. languishing in his beloved failed, and was made conformed to Christ Himself; on the Octave of His most glorious and triumphal Resurrection, in some manner triumphing over the miserable condition of corruptible human nature, for this state, should rise from the dust of the earth, and laid in a more honest place should become much more glorious, and show the beginnings and indications of his glory in heaven. Such a day pleased all, which was both convenient to the act, and condign of the holy man and his life, and which was not far distant from the time and day of the month of his passage out of this world. The day therefore being announced and assigned, Low Sunday (which is the Octave of the solemnity of solemnities, namely the Lord's Resurrection) is proclaimed by the preaching voice in all the churches: public fame is made through the city and nearer places; the hearts of the faithful are gladdened, the desires of all are kindled, minds are prepared for so unwonted a solemnity. On that day therefore eagerly, in the early morning, even anticipating the hours before dawn, there assembles a people of every state, sex, and dignity, contending about place, regarding not priority but convenience, not dignity but proximity to it. It did not irk the devout people to hasten with a hurried and swift step, even anticipating the signals, and to run to the church of the Bernardine Fathers: it did not weary the good folk, to wear out one and another hour or several others more, in awaiting the act of the raising and the convention of the Magnates.

[128] At the due hour there were present the Most Serene King Sigismund Augustus, Before the King, Cardinals, Bishops and Princes summoned to the Diet, with his Most Serene sister Anna a most devout Virgin; the Most Eminent Purpled Fathers, and Princes of the Holy Roman Church Cardinals Commendone and Vincent Porticus, Legates of the Apostolic See from the side; the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Bishops of the whole Kingdom of Poland, Abbots, Provosts and the other Prelates, in whatever way pertaining to that General Diet convention of the kingdom; Princes, Palatines, Castellans, officials of the Kingdom, the land Nuncios and the other Senators; Barons, the Nobility and a copious multitude exceedingly, exceeding the capacity of that very great church. All these to see, to touch, to contemplate the holy bones, with kindled hearts they desired; all to be rolled and prostrated on the ground, if it were lawful, that they might commend themselves to the Saint, they desired. All therefore being gathered into one, who were long awaited; the most illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Stanislaus Karnkowski designated for the work to be exercised, proceeded to the place, crowned with the Episcopal tiara, and marked with the other Pontificals, with the Clergy likewise candidly resplendent. Coming to the place, prostrate on the ground, to all the rest by their example they commanded likewise to adhere on the ground. after the sacrifice of the Mass The most holy sacrifice of the Mass the most devout Prelate celebrated of the Holy Spirit, meanwhile musical instruments resounding, and the cantors harmoniously singing the most sweet melodies. Afterward, the grace of the Holy Spirit being invoked by the customary hymn, the suffrages of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the aid of the Saints of God being implored, they approached the burial-place.

[129] The very great stone superimposed the Antistes orders to be removed, which, without delay and not with difficulty removed, is set aside. And behold a stupendous thing, a new miracle set forth to the eyes of all beholding. the bones of B. Ladislaus found on the surface of the earth The holy bones namely, on the very surface of the earth sprinkled only with a little dust, disposed in a wonderful order are discerned. So immediately under the stone found, formerly sixty-two years before deeply with the recent body buried in the earth, all wonder, recognize a miracle, give thanks to God; who as the holy soul of the blessed man, sublimated into the supreme region of the heavens, He crowned with glory and honor: so his bones from the bowels of the earth, by the ministry of the Angels, He raised even to the surface of the earth: insinuating, that though his body be dissolved into dust, for the condition of corruptible flesh; yet the bones not in the dark womb of the earth, but in a magnificent monument erected above ground, altogether should be replaced, and held in great veneration by all. The holy bones therefore raised from the dust are washed with wine, replaced in a wooden chest, they are placed at the right of the high altar. and in a place now duly prepared for this at the right of the high Altar decently and honestly enough are placed. Many sick run up, take moderately of the wine with which the holy bones had been washed, and are healed, are filled with consolation, are raised by aid, everywhere proclaim the Holy servant of God, bear him to heaven with praises, kindle the devotion of the rest.

[130] All things being duly performed the monument is closed: the huge stone, on which the effigy of B. Ladislaus, of the whole body lying supine, is beheld sculptured, is rolled to the monument: which still is discerned, and is held in the highest devotion of the people and veneration. Above an image not small, depicted from the face of the same B. Ladislaus, is superposed: in whose head, with rays going forth from a circle after the manner of the sun in sign of his holiness, the splendor demonstrates a heaven-dweller. But at the side, a radiated image is placed, standing at the right of the sepulcher, contiguous is an altar, in which the most holy office of the Mass, daily is celebrated by several Priests, for the most part at the instance of those, who for the sake of discharging a vow recur to the Blessed. There are beheld here as it were without number, both on the wooden tablet with the icon of the Blessed superposed on the sepulcher, and on the very altar eminently rising, with many votive offerings golden and silver tablets of no small quantity, jewels and images: then too round about images cast of wax, which all in sign of received benefits and gratitude are hung up. Very many men flock hither for the sake of discharging vows, very many obtain their wishes and desires, and report benefits in soul and body, in goods and fortune. Not few from the very threshold of death are called back to life; as from our third book, where not few miracles of the innumerable will be enumerated, it can be understood, the miracles are duly approved. which duly through trustworthy witnesses deduced, officiously approved, received and through a Notary instituted by Apostolic authority, specially designated and assumed for this, diligently annotated they are: which can easily by all, below be understood. Yet much more and as it were innumerable are others, than those which here are related; but those only in this place are described, which either in the ancient Chronicles of the Polish Province are found annotated, or of which evident knowledge is had. It remains, that by a salutary mutual exhortation we too all may be roused, that more often to this servant of God in our necessities we may approach as suppliants; that as those who were present at the raising, praised God with full affection in that Blessed man; we too falling on our knees, may adore the Lord, wonderful in His Saints; and may demand B. Ladislaus with prayers, that he be willing to impart peace to our fatherland, which begot him, to the Most Serene King long prosperity of health, to the inhabitants safe liberty and immunity from plague, famine and war, to the city of Warsaw felicity, to all the afflicted consolation, and finally to all imploring his aid in their necessities, to obtain the wished benefits from God the author of good things, who be blessed for ever.

CHAPTER IX.

Testimonies of Pope Sixtus V, of the Cardinals and of the Archbishops of Gniezno.

[131] To have pleased eminent men is not the last praise; nay from them the chief reward is owed to virtue: good and illustrious men through Princes are raised to the supreme degrees of dignities, the wicked and depraved are affected with punishment. I could for the sake of this matter bring into the midst many examples of the heathen; but let men wrapped in errors be left to lie hid in their darkness: to the Christian reader rather are to be suggested the monuments of deeds done of the same Religion, of which the Sacred and Ecclesiastical books are full, in which it is permitted to see some by God Himself, like Abraham and David, men according to the heart of the Lord praised; others by holy Scripture itself celebrated with worthy encomia; some by writers of deeds done proclaimed. Excellently that kind of office, of celebrating virtue, the Ecclesiastical Annals, published by the most noble author Caesar Baronius, carry out: and those books, which on the Lives of the Saints Laurence Surius entitled, are recognized to weave the same web. B. Ladislaus is praised by the most illustrious men, It is free to go to the fountains themselves, and as much as anyone shall wish, even with full mouth to drink: for me from my purpose not a nail's breadth must I depart. The virtues of Blessed Ladislaus, celebrated and sung by the writings of many most illustrious men, I produce: for this too I judge not the last praise of his holiness. From the first Prince of the Church and supreme Pastor let the beginning be made. Since to B. Anthony of Padua too, of the same Order of the Minors of S. Francis, poured from the mouth of the Supreme Pontiff, a testimony is greatly esteemed, accommodated to the Ecclesiastical lessons to be said for his festivity, which is thus: By the wisdom and abundance of speaking he so profited, and stirred so great an admiration of himself, that the Supreme Pontiff at some time hearing him preaching, called him the Ark of the Testament.

[132] Of our Blessed Ladislaus too from the Supreme Pontiff likewise a praise and honorific mention, by the pen transmitted to posterity, is read. by Pope Sixtus V This was Sixtus the fifth, an exceptional cultivator of justice, a vehement and untiring adversary of all vices, much delighted by the glory of virtue and doctrine. That man being raised to the summit of the Supreme Pontificate at Warsaw, in the Church of the Order of the Minors of the Observance, of the Confraternity

of S. Anne the mother of the B. V. Mary, a beginning had been made of it to be happily erected. The ardent zeal of piety of the Most Serene Queen of Poland Anna, consort of the Most Serene King Stephen Báthory, had cast the foundations of that spiritual edifice. But to raise the walls, and to perfect the entire structure their zeal and effort had conferred, likewise the Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lord George Radziwiłł, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church Bishop of Cracow; and John Demetrius Solikowski, Archbishop of Lwów. These all treated with the Apostolic See, that the newly erected Confraternity, under the title of S. Anne the Third (Mettertia), should be stabilized with the strength of Apostolic confirmation, and the authority of the Supreme Pontiff acceding to their piety, on the rock of the devout Sodality the magnificent structure should be placed. To the pious endeavors the piety of the Pontiff was not wanting: there was exhibited a diploma of confirmation under lead, whose exordium is such: From the office of Apostolic servitude incumbent on us from above, &c. Given at Rome at S. Mark in the year of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand five hundred and eighty-six, on the eighth of the Kalends of October, in the second year of our Pontificate. Register book 5 fol. 9. In which diploma indeed His Holiness, among the other praises of the Warsaw Church of the Friars Minor of the Observance, attributed also this, that by the body of B. Ladislaus resting there it is signal and most celebrated. calling him Blessed, The words of the diploma are these: Besides, since the town of Warsaw, of the Diocese of Poznań, in which the general Diet of the whole Kingdom of Poland is wont to be held, and the venerable body of B. Ladislaus in the church of the house of the same S. Anne of that town of the said Order is laid up, is most celebrated and signal, and there the said confraternity canonically instituted is found, &c. Of great men, a great testimony for illustrating the holiness of Ladislaus! a signal encomium of praise thence attributed to the city of Warsaw!

[133] Nearest to the Apostolic authority is the Cardinalitial dignity, from whose magnificent splendor the holiness of B. Ladislaus took a splendid enough light and a brilliant testimony of truth. by the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church There were two Purpled Fathers, as we said above, who, a diligent examination being made and vigilant care applied, understood from the discourses of many that the holiness of B. Ladislaus had been exceptional, true, sincere and pleasing to God; the miracles too they heard and admired done only from heaven to illustrate his holiness; they praised the devotion of the people toward the blessed man, by common opinion sanctioned the bones of the blessed man to be raised from the dust, and adorned the act of the raising with their presence; and in all the faithful, as befitted the Legates of the holy See, by their example toward the blessed man kindled an ardent devotion the more, and inflamed piety; and at the same time demonstrated their mind, illustrated by the Holy Spirit, and moved with heavenly light to exercise that pious work, all the good exalting and devoutly praising God in B. Ladislaus.

[134] The Episcopal dignity too, in the Catholic Roman Church held in the highest estimation, exhibited its favor to B. Ladislaus, by the Archbishops of Gniezno, and toward illustrating his holiness wished to undergo the service of writing, compendious indeed, but most consonant to truth. Andrew Krzycki, Chancellor of the Queen, a most skilful and most prudent man, afterward Bishop of Przemyśl, by Andrew Krzycki and finally Archbishop of Gniezno, a noble man, and held by all most learned and most wise in that age, of B. Ladislaus in this manner discoursed in writing. Brother Ladislaus of Gielniów, of the Order of S. Francis of the Observance, endowed with wonderful holiness of life, illustrious for doctrine and the morals of life, by purity and innocence still from boyhood entire; in fastings, vigils, and preachings beyond what can be said unconquered; in the observance of Religion and the cult of God, especially of the Virgin Mother of God sedulous, in whose praise he published many rhythms and songs: in conversation benign and gentle, in reprehension rigid, in the prefectures of religion diligent, and to all was an example. On the sacred day of the Preparation preaching a sermon to the people, when he was about to come to His flagellation, was seen by all publicly to be raised above the pulpit by no human prop, finally gradually to fail, as if rapt in mind to be unable to speak further. Whence soon seized by languor, and for one month lying on his bed, with the highest devotion and alacrity in the hands of the mourning Brothers he left his desire to all, and most gloriously dead in this place was laid in the year of Salvation MDV. His merits and holiness God the Best and Greatest by manifest and admirable indications soon began to declare and illustrate. narrating certain miracles, For a girl laboring with a grave disease, and washing his pillow tinged with blood from her nostrils, suddenly convalesced. Thereupon a certain noble boy struck by a horse, and forthwith dead, by the tearful invocation and vow of his parents to Blessed Ladislaus, all astonished revived. Another boy too no less signal, seized by disease, and now wholly extinct, was restored to life. Then a girl fallen into a river, and scarcely after four hours found lifeless, by a vow brought to this tomb, received life. And other infinite and innumerable benefits are afforded to those, who implore the aid of that blessed Father with a faithful mind. These for thee, reader, briefly, lest thou be ignorant, annotated, mayest thou thyself more clearly know, when thou shalt wish to follow him with prayers and some merits, and to observe him. These he.

[135] Likewise I do not think to be passed over the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Stanislaus Karnkowski, likewise Archbishop of Gniezno, and by Stanislaus Karnkowski whom we mentioned above. He replaced the bones of B. Ladislaus dug out of the dust and out of the bowels of the earth, in a higher monument and a more honest place; a great stone, marked with the effigy of the blessed man, he moved to the same monument; with a brilliant oration, given to the people, he proclaimed him blessed; and admonished all by word and example to exhibit honor and veneration to him, as to a faithful servant of God and a holy man. Of which Archbishop whosoever shall understand the life, piously and holily passed, and his works written in letters, and the egregious affairs carried out for the Church of God; will easily come into this knowledge, that he was a man abundantly instructed with heavenly gifts, and by God as author honored the holiness of B. Ladislaus, by words, deeds, and every better manner adorned it, raised the bones, and replaced them in a decent place; and all those offices of piety which he exhibited toward B. Ladislaus, were perfected by the supreme wisdom; and that, the Holy Spirit inflaming the servant of God, he was honored by the best Prelate with an ardent affection of devotion. There is beheld enduring even to our times, the effigy of B. Ladislaus on the stone, placed on his monument, sculptured. His head is girt with a gilded circular shade, representing the type of holiness. Moreover these verses are added:

The bones of Blessed Ladislaus this tomb covers: Who in no wise favored the wicked iniquity of the world, He coreigns with the Saints, succors the debilitated.

CHAPTER X.

Testimonies of the Canons and Senators of Warsaw, of the Town of Gielniów, and of others.

[136] In the mouth of two or three witnesses every word stands, it is commonly said. But also from Him, in whom the heavenly Father placed all the treasures of the sciences, For the greater certainty of the matter Matt. 20 Christ, a document brought forth we hold in memory. Where two or three shall be gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Thence arose the certain and by no confine near to falsity opinion, That the voice of the people is the voice of God: that the saying of many approved men is a sure testimony of truth; and where many counsels, there safety is found; where many colloquies of the good, there necessarily truth is produced; that the consent of very many prudent men is called and named an indication of the divine opinion. Hence gather that Blessed Ladislaus shone with signal holiness in the Church of God, who by the mouth of many is proclaimed Blessed, Holy, a man acceptable to God. And although the opinion of the common people joined by the consent of minds is not to be contemned; yet the consent of spiritual persons, and of Priests bound to the divine cult, whose lips guard truth, in any matter, and an opinion coupled by the bond of unanimous concord, has a just weight of authority, and for conciliating truth to things decreed by themselves the force of fortitude and strength.

[137] Such a testimony for illustrating the holiness of the blessed Father Ladislaus was not wanting. The venerable college of Canons of the Collegiate Church of S. John the Baptist of Warsaw, They testify the holiness of Ladislaus did not wish its effort and zeal of devotion toward B. Ladislaus to be later than the piety of others; nay not by a bare series of speech, nor by a simple tenor of words, which poured from the mouth together with the sound reduced to nothing vanishes; but by the monuments of letters, whose long life takes the times of eternity with posterity, they exhibited a manifest signification of their devotion toward Blessed Ladislaus. For when through the space of many years, the Canons of Warsaw the illustrious fame of the holiness of Blessed Ladislaus diffused its rays into all parts, and partly men of every age and condition flocked to his sepulcher; and there obtained the happy effects and prosperous events of their vows, humble supplications, ardent desires; and not only those who came from a near place, received many and various kinds of benefits at his monument, but also others existing in distant places, and imploring the help of the same blessed man, having obtained the wished benefits rejoiced, it pleased and seemed good to the Venerable College of Canons above named, to the greater glory of God and to augment in the people the devotion toward the man of God, by a public testimony, to which the seal of the same Chapter was affixed, with a subscription, that they might build greater faith, by an authentic writing, signed in the year 1603, to render it ratified and welcome and to corroborate it: which indeed was done with the consent of all acceding. Of this so egregious deed the authentic is kept in the archive of this Religion, and in the Consistorial acts of the aforesaid College is found, given in the year of the Lord MDCIII on the XIII day of January. The value of which testimony I greatly esteem: for there are in that College of Canons men entire, conspicuous for piety and doctrine; and (since in that City the General Diet of the whole Kingdom is celebrated, and the Most Serene King himself with his whole Curia has there his customary residence) by birth, doctrine, dexterity of conducting affairs the chief men are enrolled and assumed into that College.

[138] Not to be passed over nor to be passed by with a dry pen I esteem the testimony exhibited by the Senate and the whole city of Warsaw, complying by a public writing with the holiness of B. Ladislaus. That city has many men, the Senate of the city strong in genius and counsel, armed with zeal of God and strong constancy toward the Catholic faith, and so kindled by God against those infected with the sects of heresy, that they suffer none to enjoy the right of the city, who holds an opinion in faith different from the Catholic Roman. The Senate abounds with learned men and well instructed with the knowledge of various things, the love of piety and a certain innate benevolence toward Religious persons adheres to all. These many times recognizing the patronage exhibited to their city through B. Ladislaus, attesting benefits afforded several times not only to particular persons, but to the whole university of the people (as below will appear), lest perchance they should incur the mark of ingratitude, willingly came into this opinion, that by a public writing, fortified with the seal of their city, they should reverence their Patron and Protector

their own. in the year 1604 Given at Warsaw in the year of the Lord MDCIV, on the XV day of June.

[139] It pleases to descend from public to private things. To those descending first occurs the most fervent herald of the divine word, Fabian Orzeszkowski R. P. Fabian Orzeszkowski, a most eloquent preacher, near to the times of B. Ladislaus: who when he had known many certain arguments of his holiness from the Brothers, who together with the blessed man had lived in the Order; and had found out from other pious men, to whom he was known, very many things about his immaculate life; these comprehended in rhythmic verse, he transmitted to posterity, in this tenor:

D. O. M.

Lo the most holy Father lies entombed, Who in the little town of Gielniów was born: this rhythmic epitaph being published And in the Church duly baptized, By his parents was called John.

He as a boy in his fatherland is given to schools, Studying more than the rest of his peers he is made illustrious, At length by his parents he is destined for Cracow, And in a short time is approved learned.

Hence by divine gift he began to meditate, Wishing to become a monk in some Order: The petulance of the world he began to detest, To the Minors he passed over, to dwell with them.

Ladislaus by name by them he is called, Humble and patient, uprightly conversing, Chaste from infancy, and welcome to all, Soon to the Sacrifice he was ordained.

He to the Virgin Mary was made devout, In whose service he was wholly ardent: Living by her grace removed from reproaches, Reciting the Crown on his knees bathed with tears.

He undertook the office of Preacher: comprehending the virtues of his life And, lest he be a scandal, he wears his body with thongs: Weighing vices with an even balance, by the force of the Author He feared no one, by the command of the Redeemer.

The enjoined offices joyfully he went about, Free from business, soon he went to the temple: Groaning he deplored the crimes of sinners, The little ones, the doubtful, he strengthened in faith.

He wrote here very many festal sermons, He published of the Time and Sunday ones, In metre and verse, and which we used to read, When in the schools of Pabianice we acted.

The most holy man made many songs, Of Christ, of the Virgin, pious and pleasant: He in the year one thousand five hundred and five spread His bed, lying with a fever, migrated to Christ.

Soon he began to become famous with many miracles, and some miracles of him dead. With various languors, of boys, of adults, He is present to those invoking living and dead: Here he recalls to life, gives health to all.

When the girl touches the bloody pillow Sick of the Father; forthwith all whole she rises, Here he raised two noble dead, For first the boy, whom a horse trod;

And a certain young girl, who for four hours, Submerged in a river, was the force of grief To her parents: an alleviation of mourning They take at the tomb, an effect of sweetness.

And this Epitaph the Master read over Porticus Vincent, and confirmed it, As Apostolic he dictated it to be read, To those reading he approved all the particulars true.

[140] But it is wonderful, that formerly the Bishop of Mantua Francis Gonzaga, Francis Gonzaga Bishop of Mantua, also praises him: of the Order of the Friars Minor of the Observance, before General Minister of the whole Order of the Friars Minor, raised to the summit of that Episcopate, a man illustrious for the praise of holiness and miracles proving the same (whose name that it may be referred into the Album of the Saints, the ardent desire, favor, and zeal of all the good in this age laboriously is wakeful) and a signal writer by works of letters published into the light, in the Chronicle of the Seraphic Order, instituting a description of the Polish Province, makes mention of B. Ladislaus of Gielniów entombed in the Warsaw convent; although, the matter being ill understood and imperfectly known from others relating, he retains indeed the truth of the history, but confounds the series of the matter. but does not sufficiently distinguish him from the other Ladislaus For there were two of the same name, and both called Ladislaus, both offspring of the same Order, both illustrious for holiness of life, marked with the title of beatitude. But a different origin separated each: for one a Hungarian is buried at Cracow, and illustrated with miracles: the other, of whom our discourse is, of the town of Gielniów, dead at Warsaw, and in the church of the Friars Minor of the Observance laid in a monument rests. The former, before the Order of these Brothers was beheld in the kingdom of Poland, bore the yoke of the Order; our B. Ladislaus, after the Brothers were introduced into the kingdom in the year of the Lord MCCCCLIV, received the habit of holy religion in the year of the Lord MCCCCLXII. He was the first Guardian of the newly founded Cracow convent; this one is read never to have governed the Cracow convent alone. Yet that Most Reverend Bishop, desiring from his heart truly to describe our B. Ladislaus, attributes to him certain things, which are proper to that Blessed one, whose bones the Cracow church holds; but the rest are true encomia of our B. Ladislaus of Gielniów, resting in the Warsaw church.

[141] Nor is the fatherland always ungrateful. The town of Gielniów, in which B. Ladislaus beheld the first light and passed the first years of infancy, the people of Gielniów assume his effigy for a seal bears a singular devotion toward the blessed man, and is vehemently affected to follow piety through the light of the domestic example; and B. Ladislaus, as the treasure of its field, the cluster of its own vine, the fruit of its native tree, the once happy inhabitant of its town, bone of its bones and flesh of its flesh, its Brother and neighbor, it follows with ardent love. To his patronage they subject themselves and all theirs, and place much hope and confidence in the merits of the blessed man: to whose prayers they continually commend and consecrate their town. Not the last argument of this devotion is, that the citizens abolished the ancient seal of their town, and for a new arms assumed the effigy of B. Ladislaus, and by that deed declared, that no other Patron was dearer to them and Protector of the city more faithful. The Magnificent and Generous Lords of Brzeziny, hereditary possessors of that town, by no means suffer the palm to be snatched from them by their subjects in the devotion to be exhibited toward B. Ladislaus. And as they excel them by the splendor of nobility and the abundance of goods, the Lords of Brzeziny set forth his image. so by the zeal of piety and devotion they strive with the utmost effort to precede them. An image of B. Ladislaus, exceptional in workmanship, adorned with comely painting, of signal size, in their parochial temple they caused to be erected; to follow which with due cult, a very great throng of men assembles, and according to the measure of devotion also receives the grace of consolation.

[142] Finally I esteem a thing worthy of memory. Under the image of B. Ladislaus, Eulogies of him under the tablet on which the tablets promised by vow are affixed, these words for many years written about him are read. B. Ladislaus, a man most noble in the summit of evangelical perfection, and in every part in his life blessed, after many specimens of humility and abstinences and all virtues left to the whole Order, after the most sweet ecstatic recesses into God frequently, after many labors drained out by zeal of the honor of God and of the Catholic religion, full of days rendered his spirit to heaven in the year of the Lord MDV on the IV day of May. Lastly that too is not to be omitted, that the Most Reverend Father Brother Mark of Lisbon, Bishop of Porto assumed from the Order of the Minors of the Observance, and in Mark of Lisbon in the third part of the Chronicles book 8, chap. 33, of this blessed man in the Italian idiom writes, which is thus in Latin. At Marsom in the Province of Poland departed out of this world that burning and shining lamp Fr. Ladislaus: who was very illustrious by his wonderful doctrine and holiness of life, not without miracles. He made an exposition upon the old and new Testament: he wrote in verse on the Master of the sentences &c. So indeed Mark, writing Marsom for Warsaw not rightly; yet not in Italian, as the author thought (although his work in Italian, Spanish, and French rendered by others is held) but in Portuguese: which observed I finish with the author this second book, saying that of the testimonies of the holiness of the life of B. Ladislaus, exhibited by the most illustrious men, it suffices thus far to have said.

THIRD BOOK.

Eighty miracles wrought after his death.

CHAPTER I.

Immediately after his death, the dead raised, the dying and others healed, plague removed.

[143] The immense Majesty of God, sometimes in various things showing the greatness of His power and virtue, Miracles not only to build up faith while it works those things which seem not able to be done by human geniuses, converts men into admiration, and on this account things of this kind received the name of miracles; with which the Christian Religion in all the memory of men greatly abounded, as the most learned Alphonsus de Castro of the Order of the Minors Observant, and after him Robert Bellarmine on the marks of the church teach. Yet most of all for truly illustrating the faith of God miracles have been wrought, according to that of Matthew XX, Going preach the Gospel to every creature, teaching; The kingdom of heaven has drawn near, &c. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons, &c. True miracles too are done, not always to confirm faith, but sometimes to illustrate the probity of the life of the Saints. For when miracles are done to demonstrate the glory of some Saint, they show, that that man is acceptable to God, can much for mortals with Him, and that his aids in our necessities are efficacious. Moreover what kind the life of B. Ladislaus the most faithful servant of God was, and how welcome and acceptable his works stood in the sight of the Most High, God Himself glorious wonderfully and abundantly declared to all the faithful. but also to show the probity of the Saints are exhibited. For immediately after the happy end of his life, when now the blessed servant of God, stripped of the mass of flesh, had come to those ineffable joys which God prepared for those loving Him; so many and so illustrious, evident and magnificent prodigies were done by his merits and intercessions, so many benefits to men of both sexes, of every state and condition imploring his aid the divine goodness clemently exhibited, that in no wise can in so many portents truth itself be denied, with which the holiness of B. Ladislaus so before many other Saints abounds, that an infinite multitude of gifts is recognized to have fixed its seat in him: which if you should wish all to be recounted, the present volume would seem to be augmented into immense magnitude. We in all things desire to study brevity: and therefore from all, which the memory of deeds done and the truth of history offers us, the more outstanding being chosen, which to the eye manifest the holiness of B. Ladislaus, those we shall simply relate; the rest, as an infinite thing, we shall omit. To writing therefore the miracles (the life now by the grace of God not unhappily digested and written in letters) we apply the pen. Thou who art wonderful in Thy Saints, O God almighty, bring help to the writer: and Thou who didst confer great grace of holiness on B. Ladislaus, bestow much virtue on the studious cultivator.

[144] Let the beginning be taken from that first, after his happy passage from this world to a better life, exhibited prodigy. For when now detained by grave infirmity B. Ladislaus, awaited the coming of death; more and more the languor of sickness oppressed his weak and broken limbs: which to be alleviated,

and that they might be supported with a softer bedding, the Brothers had received on loan two pillows from a certain Virgin, called Margaret, daughter of the Palatine of Mazovia, a nun of the Third Order of S. Francis, to be placed under the head of the blessed Father, to mitigate for a while the fury of the raging disease. They served the necessity of B. Ladislaus even to the last hour: but nature struggling with death, as frequently is wont to come to pass, the blood flowing from the nostrils of the blessed man, had left its bloody vestiges in those pillows. But when the holy man paid the debt of nature, without delay the pillows were returned to the aforesaid Virgin. She took them in her hands, but when she saw them bloodied, a pillow tinged with the blood of B. Ladislaus heals a sick woman: transfixed with a natural and so much the more feminine horror, suddenly she removed them from herself. But another Virgin, her companion, called Sister Catherine Swiderska, devoutly received them into her hands; and kindled with an ardent affection toward the blessed man, whom living she had venerated with the highest cult as a Saint, with cheerful brow and prompt hands, though afflicted with a grave disease, washed them: and forthwith from that most grave infirmity, with which she was affected, made free and immune, she recovered her lost health; and strengthened in her whole body and exulting, began devoutly to praise God, to proclaim the holiness of the blessed man, and to boast herself happy.

[145] But behold a pious envy. The aforesaid virgin Margaret daughter of the Palatine, confounded with stupor, from the deed which had befallen the sick Sister, began to grieve, that she had despised the blood of the blessed man, and to envy the felicity of the Sister with such envy, as David, observing the house of Obed-edom filled with divine blessings, from the Ark of the Lord inhabiting it, caused it as soon as possible to be brought down into his own Royal house, panting with whole breast to abound with divine graces. For by most turbulent internal tempests, and the swelling waves of temptations, the small skiff of the conscience of the aforesaid Sister Margaret was tossed, assiduously near the danger of shipwreck. And therefore vehemently solicitous, lest dashed on the rocks, the ship broken, she should sink the precious pearls of the collected virtues into the depth of the abyss; another by a vow being made is freed from temptations. provoked by the benefit afforded to Sister Catherine, she vowed a vow, that she would go to the sepulcher of the blessed man, and would offer five kindled candles. After the vow emitted, she felt that a certain confidence arose in her breast, that she would namely be free from all danger of salvation. Favorable winds blew, as soon as she satisfied her promises: the sea was silent, those winds and storms of temptations utterly extinguished; and from a turbid day a serene and tranquil light returned. Grateful for so great a benefit, she related to many the grace afforded her.

[146] Even from the very jaws of death the patronage of B. Ladislaus could snatch him, who taken away by fate, had ceased to enjoy the usufruct of this light among men. The matter is thus. A certain Polish Knight, in the district of Czersk, Matthias Piotrowski by surname, with sure and undoubted faith, also with a most copious shower of tears, flowing from his eyes, proving his narration, related, that his Son, namely Stanislaus three years old (which age and puerile innocence supplied the most grave grief to the eyes of the parents) had been seized by a most dangerous sickness, and had come to the last, had breathed out his soul, and in his hands had finished his life; that his eyes, as is the custom, of the deceased he had closed with his own fingers; that he had laid down the bloodless body left, and disposed it for burial: The dead one is recalled to life moreover from the little body now departing from him, that a huge grief had penetrated his heart and that of his afflicted mother, that copious tears had leapt forth, that the whole house had resounded with mourning and mournful song. Then into the mind, he said, of both of us it came, that to imploring the help of the Saints for restoring our son's life we should flee. The pious purpose pleased. Therefore now to this Saint, now to that, as memory and affection suggested, to offer prayers, to raise our hands to heaven, to ask help and aid, to supplicate, to sigh, to bewail our bereavement we began: yet in vain we felt our prayers go. At length my wife sad enough, Come, said she, O husband, the signal fame of the holiness of B. Ladislaus, lately deceased, everywhere divulged by all, exhorts my mind, that we demand his patronage in this our tribulation. The mind of the husband gladdened, his soul full of confidence, is wholly poured out toward the holy man. Both therefore rolled on their knees, with devout mouth pour out an ardent prayer to the Blessed. There is added to the prayers a vow, that they themselves together with the little son, to venerate his sepulcher, would undertake a pilgrimage, and would adorn it with a worthy gift. The words were recognized to have their weight, and the intercession of the blessed man stronger than death. The boy returned to life, a prey snatched from death! the vow emitted the motion of the palpitating heart began to rise, the eyes to open, and at length words to the parents to pour forth that one began, who deceased of life, cut by the scythe of death had fallen. Huge joy, gladness, dancing. The vow was fulfilled by them in the year of the Lord MDXIV, and the matter done brought to the knowledge of all, illustrated the holiness of B. Ladislaus.

[147] Not only this is implanted in men by nature, that of those whose benevolence they have once experienced, to them in their necessities again and again they recur; but to brute animals too that is common, that pastures once known fat they seek again. The daughter of the same noble man above said, into the danger of an almost like infirmity was cast: for there had invaded her that force and rabidity of disease, that having once cast her into bed it in no wise dismissed her; nay extending its virus more and more, The dying girl is healed once now was compelling her to be at her last gasp. Moved by the vehement danger of their daughter the parents seek the known medicine: to the fountain, from which lately they had drawn the water of consolation, and had given it to be drunk for recalling to life the deceased son, and through him had recovered him living, hastening as soon as possible, namely Blessed Ladislaus, that again he would send down the flowing rivulets of blessing from heaven, they ask: that he would obtain health and life for their daughter, restore the young girl subject to sickness to immunity, who lately deigned to render the deceased son, now absorbed by death, living to the afflicted parents: that they would be mindful of the received benefit, would lead their daughter to his sepulcher, and with her would perform thanks to their Patron. B. Ladislaus was present with aid. The girl suddenly convalesced, rose from bed, and was made whole: whom the parents, as they promised, led to the sepulcher of the Blessed.

[148] The daughter of a certain signal man a citizen of Warsaw, whom her parents held in their inmost affection, lay with a grave and lethal disease. The physicians employed profited nothing by their counsels: the medicines given, and another and the various modes of helping the girl, did nothing. She hastened to the term of life, by the force of the disease and continual vigils wholly exhausted, so that nothing but skin and bones remained, and now she was at her last gasp. Her father, beholding his dearest daughter now in extremity, her health wholly despaired of; and foreknowing her near to death, lest he should be compelled to see the straits of the dying one, from the house, weeping and touched inwardly with grief of heart, went out. But carrying his foot out of the house, mourning he intimated to his wife, that she should bind the dying little daughter by a vow to the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus, that he would deign to bring help to her as to very many. He himself meanwhile in the greatest weariness and vehement mourning, to the nearby Parochial church of S. John the Baptist, suppliant about to deprecate God for his daughter, turned aside, and prostrate gave himself to prayer. A thing wonderful to say! When the mother instructed by her husband had made the vow, the virus of the disease, like fire by water, was extinguished: the vehement pantings ceased, the heat cooled, the flaccid limbs were invigorated. The first voice of the speechless girl was asking food, as worn out with hunger. To the prepared victuals by her own strength she rose from bed, without another's prop she approached the table, and thence refused to return to her bed. The afflicted father, refusing to go from prayer to his dead daughter; when he had understood his house filled with the mercies of the Lord, returning rejoicing, found his daughter now well whole: and afterward, without delay, at the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus discharged the vow most devoutly with his wife and daughter.

[149] The mercies of the Lord, who disdains not to succor the afflicted through His Saints, those invoking Him. Attend what in the suburb of Warsaw, most divulged to all, happened. A certain honest matron, a woman of good name and unblemished fame, on a certain feast day having gone out of her house, went to the church of the Friars Minor of the Observance, in which the venerable body of B. Ladislaus rests, about to hear a sermon. She departing from home, left her only daughter five years of age. And so that mother being occupied in hearing the divine eloquences in the temple, the girl led by puerile levity, was playing with the domestic cat and amused herself with idle play. The cat slipped from the hands of the girl, took flight into the garden contiguous to the house. The girl following it, while incautiously she pursues the beast, ignorant of the impending danger, into a deep ditch, filled with water, which the cat easily crossed, the submerged girl is restored to life fell: and since there was no one to be a spectator of the danger, destitute of all help, suffocated by the waters, she lost life, found death. The mother returned home, suspecting no evil, when she did not find the little daughter, vehemently terrified, began to call out her name, to seek in all places, to inquire of the neighbors, anxious to scrutinize all places. And when she understood that she was seen by no one in the public places, and beheld her not appearing within the space of four hours; it came into her mind to look into that ditch. She runs up, looks in, inquires: and behold a sad spectacle: there appears in the waters the suffocated infant; she is drawn out, lies on the dry ground, rivulets of waters flowing from her. The mother dissolved into tears, began to vociferate, to accuse her misfortune, to tear the hair of her head, to lament, to wail, and to admit no consolation. At length returned to herself she is busy to flee to God the author of life, to implore the help of B. Ladislaus, to emit vows to visit his sepulcher; that he would be willing not to be wanting to her bereavement who deigned to favor the prayers of many. Scarcely had she finished the vows emitted: behold the girl, four hours lying hid submerged in the waters, by the motion of her little body, as if awakening from a grave disease, shows that she lives after death endured: full of vital spirit, from the place by her own strength she rises up, addresses her mother, living, sound, entire is beheld, all with the mother both rejoicing and being astonished, and admiring and proclaiming the miracle; the mother especially from excessive gladness weeping, attesting herself unworthy of so great a benefit, and toward B. Ladislaus exhibiting all the benefits and offices of gratitude, by voice, devotion, narration of the deed done. All these things the aforesaid matron related to the Friars Minor, with the highest devotion and attestation of conscience, presenting also her daughter miraculously resuscitated; and discharged the vow with the hymn Te Deum laudamus, those being the helpers.

[150] In the same year MDXIV in which most of all the devotion of the people toward B. Ladislaus had grown, on account of the most frequent miracles, which God all-powerful, wishing to honor His servant B. Ladislaus, deigned to permit to be done; another no less stupendous happened. The Generous Lord John Psarki, Notary of the district of Sochaczew, by a public recognition testified, that in his house a prodigy worthy of admiration was done. Namely that he had had a son, to whom from baptism

the name Stanislaus had fallen, held among his delights, a young lad of great expectation and the best disposition now in his fifth year, whom the slender flower of that age wonderfully adorned. He delighting beyond measure in horses, more often entered the stables, and on the Saturday of holy week, a boy struck by a horse's shoe is resuscitated, on which the mysteries of the Lord's Resurrection by all the faithful with serene minds begin to be celebrated, by a shod horse he was struck with so strong a blow, that in the same place, into which supine from the blow he had fallen, he poured forth at once his spirit and life. The father made certain of the unhappy chance of the slain son, struck with vehement grief, runs up, takes the body, searches for the breath, but in vain. He perceives that he had died, and that there was no other hope for him except God, and that by no human help could the deceased son be resuscitated. To the mountains therefore he raises his eyes, whence help might come to him. B. Ladislaus came into his memory. Him therefore with a mournful voice he addresses: O most blessed man, said he, whose holiness God manifests with many miracles, let pity of me too take thee: succor wretched me: the son, whom the chance of misfortune dashed to the ground and adjudged to death, do thou render to life and to his mourning father. Let the prayer of thy holiness avail more with God, than the cruelty of death in the little body of the boy. If by thy help I shall obtain my son restored to life, mindful of the benefit afforded, prostrate at thy sepulcher I will pay congruent thanks, the son too snatched by thy patronage from the tyranny of death I will lead to that place, and thy benefit in the midst of the church with a clear voice I will bring forth. To the knocker the door being opened, and to the prayers place was conceded. The son who was dead, as if loosed from a heavy sleep, returned to life, stood on his feet: his head, shattered by the horse's shoe and pierced with a grave wound, returned to its pristine state; and the pain departing entire health came. That miracle was done in the year of the Lord MDXIV, and faithfully related and annotated by the Brothers of that convent, to whom the aforesaid Lord Psarki, the benefit so entirely afforded to himself and his son, grateful and mindful is written to have related.

[151] Wonderful were the things which we have now said, but no less to be wondered the things which follow. When the calamitous heaven had caused a pestiferous air round about the shore of Warsaw, pestilence raging at Warsaw so that an epidemic plague cruelly infested the people, the heaven worsening daily, a grave time, a pestilent year was that MDXXII. That contagion in almost all the houses of the city of Warsaw spread diseases and deaths: very many of the citizens were infected; almost all the youthful age, the greater part of the women was taken away. Hence followed famine, since no one dared to bring into the market things necessary for food, the mandate of the Superiors withstanding, lest the laborious peasants affected with the pestiferous contagion, should bring the same into their villas. When therefore the savagery of the pestilence and the rabidity of famine both with joined hands raged through that city, slaying whomsoever it met this one or that (for it was not easy to procure aliments for sustaining life, set in such dangers) a certain woman, two of her sons taken with her, her stomach barking and almost failing from hunger, resolved to consult for her life by the deadly fruit of acorns, and to bring help to it. Into the nearby wood therefore having gone out of the city she departed: behold them returning home a certain admirable vision presented to their eyes, fixed them with stupor and admiration in one place. For that woman with her boys saw, about the bank of the Vistula toward the church of the Friars Minor of the Observance, a certain heavenly arch, glittering with admirable splendor; and in its midst sitting as it were a Judge, terrible in aspect and majesty, to whom very many cohorts of Angels stood here and there, ready to render every service. And when so all together, without any terror, after a vision appearing in heaven, they beheld the majesty offered to their sight; they saw in the air a certain Friar Minor, with bent knee and hands extended praying the judge: for no voice was heard, only the lips were discerned to move and open. From this magnificent vision another terrible spectacle called their eyes: for there appeared vestiges of greater horror: a most foul dragon of huge magnitude, an immane and exceedingly formidable beast, from the other part of the Vistula river at the village called Praga appeared, by its tortuous position seemed to wish to gird the city, from its mouth it vomited a fiery flame toward the city with rapid breath. The thing was terrible to see, and horrible with stupor and horror equally and admiration: at these things seen, the woman fixed, trembling with the boys, immovable stood.

[152] Meanwhile there came up a certain man, grave in old age, a cultivator of the cobbler's art, who also for the same cause was making his way toward the wood, that with acorns he might ward off the hunger pressing him. Him when first the woman saw, with words she retained him, and asked him to stop a little while, saying, Come friend stay thy step, and begin with us to wonder, what our God has deigned to reveal to sinners. Raise thy eyes, behold the heaven, consider the admirable works of God. Fix thy gaze upon the Vistula, what things are done opposite the cloister of the Bernardine Fathers, namely the Minors Observant. Seest thou this great vision? He answered, that of these things he saw nothing at all, and discerned nothing new. Let us pray, said the woman, that the Lord may deign, the same things which I see to reveal to thee too, and to open thy gaze to behold these wonders. Those all falling together on their knees, and the Pater noster &c. simply praying, the eyes of that man were opened, and then at last he asserted that he saw clearly that great vision. So all those beholding, and as if existing in a certain rapture, that most foul Dragon, the foul beast, burst in the middle with a crash, and a sound brought forth through the air, as if a thunderous engine were exploded. There also sounded a voice diffused through the regions of the air, and a heavenly voice being heard. descended from the magnificent glory, He who prays the Judge, is a great Lord before God almighty: Warsaw, be grateful. Afterward that whole vision disappeared, and from that time, peace and health being obtained from all-powerful God, the epidemic disease ceased to rage, the bodies infected with diseases began to be healthier, the virus of the pestilence removed, the rabidity extinguished, and as after a vehement hail serenity, health succeeded. Many other prodigies were done immediately after the death of B. Ladislaus, by which his succors to human infirmity were shown. But, as I said, the more select I have chosen, some being passed over; to the more recent, approved and accepted by witnesses in judgment, I direct my course, and this first chapter I close.

CHAPTER II.

Ten miracles wrought from the year MDCXIII to the year MDCXXIII.

[193] Although never, for nearly eighty years, did miracles cease to be done at the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus, Miracles wrought for 80 years were not written: and those stupendous, as from certain men worn out by old age I have understood; that by his merits very many dead were resuscitated, more blind illumined, the lame rectified, the infirm with various pains brought back to pristine health, those vexed by the falling sickness utterly freed from it, paralytics healed, plagues quieted, and other innumerable inconveniences removed: yet because no one cared to write these in letters, and to commend them to posterity and eternal memory, therefore all things as it were buried were given to oblivion. The argument of truth is this firm one, that never was the devotion, never interrupted the recourse to his sepulcher, and the continual devotion of the whole people; but continued graces and consolations, aids of those asking from this Blessed. In this our age, when now a more accurate diligence and care about investigating the miracles, which are done, began to be had, that first occurs, which happened to Catherine, called Luszkowska from the surname of her former husband, who departed from the living, lately again joined in matrimony, and called Golianowska.

[194] She affected with a most troublesome and likewise most grave pain of the eyes, In the year 1608 there is healed with much expense from the professors of the medical art sought remedies, yet she lost oil and effort, seeming to beat an ass; and the more diligently she sought it, a woman becoming blind. the more vehement the pain that oppressed her, she had to undergo a disaster near to blindness. So ill affected her Confessor visited her, about to offer spiritual solace to the afflicted woman. To her complaining that the medicines could bring her no help, he says, that, human aids failing, the divine help must be sought. To her inquiring by what art she could attain this, he answered, that she had need of the patronage of B. Ladislaus: that she should emit a vow of presenting herself at his sepulcher, if through him she should be permitted to enjoy her wishes. The woman consents, and with whole affection of devotion recommended herself to the holy man. And behold she feels the bloody callus, with which the eyes were overlaid, flow down; and a little after the sight and salubrious acuteness of the eyes return. Rejoicing vehemently, she gave thanks to God and to holy Ladislaus: and discharges the vow emitted without delay to faithful execution in the year of the Lord MDCVIII.

[195] That too did not lack admiration, which by the relation of the same Matron was transmitted to posterity, that the Most Serene Prince John Albert, son of Sigismund the Third the King, in the year 1612 the Prince son of the King of Poland, raised first to the summit of the Warmia, afterward of the Cracow Episcopate (to nourish whose infancy by the ministry of her breasts the aforesaid Matron, being his nurse, complied) had been seized by an excessive pain of the heart, and that evil in the tender little body of the Prince had so fixed its roots, that to eradicate and utterly remove them the counsel of no one sufficed. The nurse alone, the human help limping held in contempt, sought the heavenly. B. Ladislaus to bring help to the infant, with humble prayer she invites: the boy a vow being made she offers. Which emitted, the savagery of the raging pain tamed is quieted, the pain hostile to life is driven off; and on the same day the lost sweetness of health, the whole court rejoicing, was found in the year of the Lord MDCXII.

[196] This too can be numbered among the wonders, which of an honest matron a citizen of Warsaw, Hedwig Herlerowa of despaired health, an aged woman, Hedwig Herlerowa, was entrusted to writing. She for the interval of three months, detained by an infirmity overcoming the strength of the body, lay in bed; and since she abounded with copious supply of all things, she pursued the effort of physicians, in driving off her sickness, with liberal money. Nor were they wanting to her, and relying on their precepts, to the raging storms of the infirmities, opposed these and those strongest (as they themselves testified) bulwarks. She spoke to a wall. The rabidity of the disease mocked the arms of the physicians, and held their counsels for vile chaff. It happened that a certain one of the family of the Minors Observant, for the sake of visiting her, had turned aside thither: by whom after pious colloquies asked, whether she wished (the hand of mortals recoiling from bringing help) to be raised by heavenly aid: she groaned, and said that willingly she wished to be helped by so salutary a help, which also she demanded. Then he subjoined: that Blessed Ladislaus, a man of signal piety and admirable for holiness of life, had exhibited faithful help to many in a like case; that he would not be wanting to her either, if she would promise to visit his sepulcher. She answered that his sepulcher was unknown to her, nor explored to her, in what place that Blessed

man rested laid. Instructed by the same Father that his sarcophagus, in the temple of the Bernardine Fathers, in a place conspicuous enough, was seen; Willingly, said she, I will go, and that I will do this I swear, and bind myself by a vow. Wonderful! She recovered her strength, and obtained health in a very short time, and so entirely beyond hope and opinion convalesced. She went to the sepulcher of the Blessed, and the benefit exhibited to her with a clear confession before the Brothers and the people she celebrated; she praised God in the holy man, and paid thanks with a grateful mind. These things happened in the year of the Lord MDCXII, in the presence not only of the household, but also of very many foreigners.

[197] In the same order we shall place the case of the daughter of the same Hedwig Herlorowa, Barbara, afterward joined by the matrimonial sacrament to John Delpace, Barbara Delpacina dying of plague, a citizen of Warsaw. She, the plague raging within the walls of the city of Warsaw, lest she should succumb to the venom of the pestiferous contagion, chose rather to yield her place, with this her daughter and the other household. Into the nearby village called Raszyn therefore she betook herself, about to remain in that place so long, until, the diffused rabidity of the pestilence coming to its prefixed goal, should break its swelling waves. To that place too her daughter, the aforesaid Barbara Delpacina, equally with her mother had migrated, by the fear of the same danger removed from the city of Warsaw. They remaining some space of time in that village, a vehement disease invaded the daughter, the virus of its malice and power into her it infused, and so by its force oppressed the members of her body, that worn out by the languor of debility, fixed to her bed, she remained continually unmoved. Daily the disease to grow, the body to be debilitated, life to be imperiled, health to be broken, and all the members to cease from their wonted services: the senses themselves defrauded without strength, the tongue too deprived of its innate ministry had lost speech; the hands trembling, the feet unable to take steps, fear, vehement weariness, loathing of food, the impending danger of death. She is fortified with the sacraments, and anointed with the holy oil of extreme Unction. The evil is augmented, and the danger of her life is turned in the eyes of all, by the mouth of all the near period of life is proclaimed. The solicitous mother for her daughter to God in tears flees, in whose hand life and death, the breath too of Princes and the heart of Kings is held. The Priest Vicar of that temple the mother goes to, and suppliantly treats with him, that with knees bent before the altar, he should offer her daughter to God and B. Ladislaus; and a vow being emitted should promise that she, as soon as she recovered the strength of her body, would go to the sepulcher of the blessed man, would venerate it, and would offer a condign gift to his holiness. It was done as she had asked: the most holy office of the Mass too to that intention was held, and the vow according to her mind emitted. And therefore the lethal arrows were removed from the body of the sick woman, the bitterness of the tedious infirmity taken away, and the despaired sweetness of health rendered. She convalesced at length, and the plague ceasing returned to Warsaw, and what she had promised by word, by the deed exhibited she attested.

[198] Of no less admiration worthy is that which follows. The noble virgin Sophia Wolinska, of advanced age, a woman laudable enough for the zeal of devotion and diligent effort in completing prayers, on a certain occasion came to her uterine brother, Albert Wolinski, dwelling in the hereditary possession of the village Klębów, to congratulate him according to the custom of consanguinity. And behold in her brother's house she found gold obscured, light turned into darkness, Stephen Wolenski an epileptic, joy into mourning: she tastes for grapes wild grapes, for fragrant roses she gathers pricking thorns; she found the son of her brother, named Stephen, subject to the epileptic disease now for ten years so, that in her presence seven times he was seized by the horrid fury of that evil. The parents grieving vehemently at so great a calamity of their begotten offspring, nor finding a remedy, even the virgin herself touched inwardly by such a spectacle, as by a sharp dart of grief, and dissolved into tears, hastened to the temple; with hands spread before the altar of the Lord prostrate on the ground on her face, pouring out at once her heart with tears and fiery prayers before the Lord, deprecates that He would be willing to pity her nephew, and conserve him free and immune from that unhappy calamity. Blessed Ladislaus too she devoutly invokes, the life of her nephew subjected to the horrible disease she commends, and earnestly insists with prayers, that snatched from that misery of calamity by the patronage of the same blessed man, he might experience a happier condition of life: having obtained her wishes she promises that he should be brought to his sepulcher, and every office of gratitude toward B. Ladislaus for him should be exhibited. Returned into her brother's house, she found the same nephew struggling with the same disease; who as if bidding it farewell, and about to migrate elsewhere from the possession of his body, had yet seized him that one time; and as if driven by force and destitute of strength, thence flew away, nor could it any more have the faculty of returning. The youth was made whole from that time: and the vow emitted most devoutly discharged.

[199] Equally among the wonders comes, what of the same Albert Wolinski was committed to memory. Him the sciatic disease, the father of the same laboring with sciatica and fever, which as to sense bitter enough, and as to the danger of health perilous enough, had invaded; and for a long time so racked by the grave trouble of that evil he groaned, that a fever being contracted thence continual and vehement and no less perilous, he was in danger of life. It seemed to the household, no delay interposed, to announce the danger of the brother to the aforesaid virgin Sophia; and at the same time to ask of her, that as the nephew, by a like reason the brother too, she would render commended to B. Ladislaus by vow and prayers. Moved by the danger of her brother, with whole affection of heart at the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus she conceives vows, and for the health of her brother the faithful servant of God vehemently prays. Nor was she frustrated of hope. After some days came a messenger, asserting, that from both diseases her brother free and immune had convalesced, and now his strength being received had recovered health. Glad at the prosperity of the messenger, she admonishes her brother by letters, that as soon as possible he should satisfy the promise poured from his mouth, and compelled by the vow emitted, should come to the sepulcher of the most liberal Patron, and show himself of a grateful and mindful of the received benefit mind: which also was faithfully done, the same performing his promises.

[200] Not to be passed over also that, which from the same virgin Sophia Wolinska we have received related. She had for domestic services a maidservant, and a maidservant having a fever, named Hedwig, whom a quartan fever, relying on its strength, for some months detained vexed with troublesome anxiety. That happy virgin wont to recur to B. Ladislaus, and always experiencing his benevolent aid, resolved to succor the maidservant by the same way, requires the same aid and obtained it; B. Ladislaus she invokes, and is heard. The fever flees, nor any more returned; health came back, and the maidservant freed began to taste a happier lot of life.

[201] Among the wonders too that prodigy must be commemorated, the greatest of it for this, that the same Sophia Wolinska giving the cause, it was wrought (as is piously believed) by the same B. Ladislaus as author and Patron. There is a congregation at Warsaw of those women, to whom the occupation of devotion in following piety exhibits a common consort. likewise of a bone sticking in the throat, despaired, The foundations of that congregation the Most Serene Queen Anna, consort of King Stephen Báthory, had cast. They live under the obedience of one, whom the office of governance over the rest given has raised. Of their number was a certain virgin of senile age, Catherine Ribinska. She when she was eating flesh, by a fortuitous chance little providently swallowed a bone hiding within the flesh, which in the very throat crosswise strongly stuck; nor from its place, the woman striving with the utmost effort to that, could it in any way be moved. Hence the other present women were struck with excessive terror: for by an unwonted motion of the head, by the gaping of the mouth, by a grave motion of the lips, by the throat coughing, and the breathing as it were stopped, the wretched woman strives to indicate her danger: likewise the eyes are overlaid with bloody gore, the face is clothed with redness, all the limbs are filled with horror. She had now begun to fail and to be wholly at her last gasp, to struggle with death, and for a whole hour to be oppressed by vehement danger of health. All who were present, thought it was over with her, and the matter itself indicated her shortly about to die. The remaining Sisters, destitute of human help, flee to prayer: Sophia Wolinska several times betook herself to the known protection; to B. Ladislaus she commended that arduous case, the impending danger of the Sister's life she suppliant offered, and emitted a vow of presenting her at the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus. Which done, suddenly with one impulse, she cast the bone overlaid with gore from her throat, and so escaped the danger. All with one voice exclaimed: Great is the Lord and exceedingly to be praised, and wonderful in His Saints.

[202] Nor less wonderful, what to the honest man Joseph, afflicted with a grave pain of the foot. gardener of His Majesty, befell, sick in his feet. He had felt most vehement torments in his foot, of which the force was such, that it seemed to him, from the magnitude of the pain, that the leg itself was divided into two parts. With huge clamor and frequent wailing he attested those straits of his: nor did the medicaments employed afford the favor of mitigating. Wherefore he admonished his wife, that she should go to the neighboring devout women; and joined to their sodality, should commend the huge troubles of his body to the Lord God: that he trusted that by their prayers he would obtain some alleviation. She obeyed the monitions of her husband, and sedulously treated that business. Nor did hope deceive the sick man; the pain was met, and command was given to the infirmity, that it should remove the force of the torments and the spurs of the pain from that man. From heaven that benefit was afforded, by the heavenly inhabitant Blessed Ladislaus, with God almighty by faithful patronage obtained. For one of those devout women, the others aiding her faith with prayers, the aforesaid sick man, as soon as she promised by a vow to present him at the sepulcher of the blessed man, forthwith made him whole.

[203] More of admiration was in the resurrection of a certain boy. For in the year of the Lord MDCXXIII a certain Noble, a dead man is recalled to life. separated by no long interval of place from the city of Warsaw, had come to the convent of the Friars Minor of the Observance; who addressing kindly the superior of the place summoned to him, says that he had brought a living host to God, and a sacrifice to be bound to the Divine cult, and through his hands to be offered to God; that not of the fat grease of oxen or rams, nor of the blood of animals a holocaust to God almighty he exhibited, but a son born of himself. Thence vehemently to insist, that he should receive him into his sodality, that to the family of D. Francis he had vowed him; and that he would not that he should ever return home with him, but rather that under the banner of D. Francis, in his Order of the Observance, he should undergo the burden of the spiritual soldiery: that a just reason of equity exacted this from him, that he should be bound to that Order, by whose benefit he enjoyed life. He subjoined more clearly, that the son whom he had brought, had now been snatched by death, and had died by the common fate: that the same offered to B. Ladislaus, and consecrated to this holy religion, had revived, and (as is seen) had returned to life. Wherefore it was at his heart to commit to execution the vow emitted, and to consecrate his son to the holy Order. I present, I offer, I render: take, said he, your debt, and the sacrifice

this dedicated to God and B. Ladislaus by me receive. The Superior of the place gladly heard so admirable a deed. But since the boy was only twelve years old, which age can by no means suffice for one entering the Order, the mandate of the Ecclesiastical Canons prohibiting it, for that time the father with the son suffered a repulse, and dismissed a congruent satisfaction being received gave thanks to God the supreme consoler, and at the same time to B. Ladislaus, at his sarcophagus as to the best mediator and most efficacious intercessor, who could obtain life for the dead by his prayers and merits most acceptable with God.

CHAPTER III.

Other ten miracles done about the year MDCXXV and the following.

[204] Sometimes also the bodies of the Saints enclosed in sepulchers, nay even the sepulchers themselves exhibit admirable arguments too of their holiness, which also of our B. Ladislaus is read to have been done. The Illustrious and magnificent Lady Margaret Zaliwska, consort of the Castellan of Warsaw, an oath being interposed and the testimony of conscience applied, clearly narrated, that she had with her eyes beheld, some nuns of the third Order of S. Francis praying together with her at the sepulcher of Blessed Ladislaus, The tomb of B. Ladislaus was seen to be raised, the tomb of B. Ladislaus, covered with a great stone in the midst of the choir (for this happened in the immediate days before the raising of his body) to move, and upward from the earth to be raised, and in some manner the blessed man from the dark sepulcher, in which laid he had rested from the beginning a long time, to wish to come forth into light, and to hasten his egress. This was wonderful to those looking and to those devout women seeing, but also they said that a huge flame of devotion thence arisen kindled in their hearts glowed, and detained by vehement stupor they accommodated the gaze of their eyes to so stupendous a miracle.

[205] Nor in silence to be wrapped is the grace, exhibited to the Generous Lord Peter Kruszewski, the same B. Father Ladislaus helping. He was sick: and indeed an infirmity near to danger, seemed to plot against his very life. The heart itself, the root and foundation of life, the palpitation of the heart is cured. set in danger, brought a not contemptible terror. A certain tremor, as if conceived from a sudden fear, with assiduous palpitation agitated the heart, and with an unwonted motion brought force to nature. The aforesaid Lord Peter was not wanting to fortifying his life from danger, and used various remedies, but little prosperous and wholly empty. Induced by the counsel of certain ones he resolved to go to the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus, and in effect went: and immediately remained safe and immune from the danger.

[206] I shall relate a greater thing, which not so long ago happened in the city of Warsaw, A fire arisen near the convent, and was found out with sure faith. The suburb of Warsaw, in which place the convent of the Friars Minor of the Observance is beheld situated, seized by a grave fire, conceived a flame devouring in many places the contiguous houses. A clamor thence arose in the whole city, the bells and trumpets giving the signal, by which the sleeping awakened from sleep should quickly rise, the waking should run to extinguish the flame, the rest should beware and look out for their buildings. A great tumult thence, an innumerable concourse of men, noise, vociferation, mourning, fear, the horrid fury of the fire everywhere resounds. The flame growing the roofs fall, smoke and burning sparks occupy the air. Some of the men flee, some carry out their furniture, others carry away their children; the women weep, the boys cry, those lament who behold their houses consumed by the fire burned. In this tumult a certain man, venerable for the hoariness of his head, named James, then languishing with a huge infirmity, terrified at the clamor of many, led out beyond the threshold of his house; when he turned his eyes to the raging flames of the fire, and noticed them approaching the church of the Minors and the convent; he began vehemently both to be saddened and to fear at the same time, lest, the fury of the fire raging, the church being seized, together with the convent, should undergo the last danger. Therefore God and the Patrons he began to invoke for help. To him praying, a vision worthy of admiration was revealed. For he beheld above the convent, by B. Ladislaus appearing it is warded off, in the very region of the air, B. Ladislaus with hands spread instant on prayer, and protecting the convent from the glittering onset of the fire. And what augments the miracle, he beheld him so meeting the flames, that by the smoke and flames growing and covering him, he was deprived of the power of seeing him any more. That horrible fire had leveled to the ground more than fifty houses, which were nearest in situation to the convent and its church: but B. Ladislaus protecting his monastery, the fiery arrows of the horrible fire could not have harmed it.

[207] Admiration too merits this prodigy, which follows. Hedwig, a woman of the village of Nieporęt, of servile condition, seized by paralysis fell. Three days had passed, there is cured paralysis, yet the disease was so far from receding, that more and more it was recognized to pant after extinguishing life. It had deprived one hand and one foot of heat and natural motion, had despoiled the tongue of speech, and so had cast down the wretched woman destitute of all help, that by the judgment of all she was deemed to be enrolled in the catalogue of the dying. Her mistress, trusting in the patronage of B. Ladislaus, vowed her to be presented at his sepulcher: and behold shortly, the infirmity cast into exile, sound she rises from the prison-house in which she lay, no defect of health any more appearing.

[208] In part too similar was, what I bring forward. The Illustrious and magnificent Lord Stanislaus Zaliwski, sciatica, Captain of Warsaw, very often was seized by the sciatic disease; and that troublesome punishment of the body was the graver to him, because for driving off the evil the remedies applied by the counsel of many brought no convenience and help. He complained often before many of that his troublesome enough impediment of health. Among others his Confessor was Father Ambrose, called Smętek, very old, of the same Order of the Minors of the Observance; who to that complaint of the Lord Captain answered, that, human aids profiting little, heavenly aids must be sought, and makes honorific mention of B. Ladislaus: he exhorts, that he should visit his sepulcher, and offer the Lord's prayer with the Angelic salutation five times repeated. The counsel pleases; the vow is emitted, by execution terminated, the disease driven off, and for a long time warded off from the body.

[209] ulcerous pustules This being interposed, the benefit exhibited through the same B. Ladislaus to the above-said maidservant Hedwig compels me again, to bring forth some words about her anew. She had her skin sprinkled over the whole body with certain foul pustules breaking out like ulcers, which in a wonderful manner tortured the ill affected members of the body, and so by vexing pressed her, that they altogether prevented her from taking sleep, nor permitted her even for a modest time to rest. Wherefore mindful of the former benefit exhibited, when she flees to the same B. Ladislaus, again she received health.

[210] In the year of the Lord MDCXXVI, a wonderful deed was transmitted to memory; that the son of the honest man Andrew Buba, otherwise called Mathak, a citizen of Warsaw, named Matthew, a disease believed to verge to death, given over to the most vehement torments of adverse health, had endured for some weeks so great spurs of pain, that destitute of strength he seemed to have lost all appearance, to have put off the form of the body, to have lost the whiteness of the face, but to have retained only bones and dry skin. No sound of voice, nor heat of breathing, but a certain horrid crash of the heart was heard. Bloodless, pale, and dried up in his whole body, the future prey of death, the spoil of life, the guest of the sepulcher to be, by the judgment of all he was asserted. And truly so it was; no hope of life, death too in desire, that it coming the end of the pains and torments, to which that little body lay subject, might be terminated. The father, whose son was infirm, earnestly asked a certain one of the College of secular Priests, that the next day at the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus, by the sacred office of the Mass to be celebrated, he should commend the life of his miserable son to God almighty, and ask of Him mercy. The Priest acquiesced to his requests, and according to the desire of the father, for the health of the son, offered to God the Father the salutary host, invoking the patronage of B. Ladislaus, and requiring from him the medicine of despaired health. Meanwhile the father was engaged in the procuration of things necessary for food in the market: and behold the boy, now debilitated in every part, and aided before by no help of body, raises himself in the bed, sits, and a little after rises; rejoices, and as if having endured nothing adverse, asked from another boy a knife and a piece of wood, which by cutting into parts he delighted for a while, mingling puerile discourses with his companion. There came up meanwhile the father, and him whom he had left near death a short time before, restored to life and health he wonders at: he is stupefied, and from gladness pours forth tears; he clasps the boy with embraces, praises God, celebrates B. Ladislaus, fulfills the vow, and bears a grateful mind.

[211] Notable is, what of a certain Anastasia a widow, an inhabitant of Warsaw, is reported: paralysis. namely that she seized by paralysis, for the interval of five weeks endured that hard scourge; and destitute of hope of recovering health, by a certain Father of the Order of the Minors of the Observance, to whom she entrusted the secrets and hidden things of her conscience, was admonished, that she should confer care and all zeal to obtaining the patronage of B. Ladislaus: and should promise by a vow that his sepulcher would be visited, and that she would present herself in that place. She obeyed the salutary admonition, and forthwith from her body were removed the scourges of adverse health. She survived afterward a whole two years, with all affection and gratitude proclaiming so great a grace exhibited to her.

[212] When in the year of the Lord MDCXXV the plague raged in the city of Warsaw, as the custom of the fatherland bids, very many into the free villages or other safer places, fleeing the danger of life, slip away; then also to Religious persons is not denied the faculty of protecting their life, and migrating elsewhere. Hence a certain Father, named Francis, of the Order of the Friars Minor of the Observance of the Warsaw convent, driven by the fear of the raging evil, tarried in the village called Kalina of the diocese of Płock. But our Fathers, who in the pestiferous time slipped away through the villages dwell outside the cloister, are wont, with the license of the Superiors, to serve the salvation of souls according to the grace given them, nor to indulge idleness: which in the same village the aforesaid Father we have learned to have done. Summoned this Father by a certain inhabitant, to expiate a sick man by the sacrament of Penitence and to refresh him with the salutary food of the Eucharist, having entered the house, happily complied with the infirm man. And behold the son of the head of the family, Paul by name, ten years old, in the presence of that Priest, the falling sickness invaded, and in a horrible manner dashed to the ground, and vehemently afflicted. To the Father pitying, and inquiring how long and how frequently he endured the torments of that adversity, the household answered; that for three years, twice or thrice in a month, that rabidity of disease the wretched boy was wont to suffer. That Father subjoined: Have firm faith in the Lord, and place your hope in the merits of B. Ladislaus; to whom a vow being made, offer this afflicted boy. Let us bend, said he, our knees, and implore the help of the blessed man. All embraced the counsel, The falling sickness, and indeed with happy success. For after some months, when now the epidemic fury had quieted, the parents of the boy, coming to Warsaw to the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus, narrated; that from that time in which they had emitted the vow, no vestige of epilepsy in their son had ever appeared.

[213] In equal danger the wife of a certain charioteer of the Most Serene Queen, affected with the huge difficulty of childbirth and the magnitude

of the evil, had now stood with one foot in the skiff of Acheron, A woman in childbirth is freed from the danger of death. and seized by grave health, bore in her body the image of death; nor was there hope of rising from bed, all destining her to the caverns of the sepulcher. Yet it seemed to some, that she should be offered to B. Ladislaus a vow being interposed. They went on foot into the opinion; the breeze of prosperity was present: recalled from the gate of the sepulcher, she was enrolled among the company of those living salubriously.

CHAPTER IV.

Other ten miracles wrought at the same time.

[214] As a wonderful thing and worthy of knowing committed to writing I found; that the Generous Lord Nicholas Cierniakowski, of the diocese of Płock, felt so vehement a pain of the head, that he was altogether violently withdrawn from taking sleep, and oppressed by the continual vexation of pain. There are cured pains of the head with the lost sight of one eye, Thence followed another evil, which deprived one eye utterly of sight, but had debilitated for the great part the gaze of seeing of the other. The rabidity of the disease was most troublesome, and besides destitute of human counsel; wherefore snatched by the impulse of desperation, he belched terrible clamors, and again and again broke forth into horrible vociferations. An occasion offered had drawn a certain Priest of the Order of the Friars Minor Observant into his house: who made more certain of his calamity, went to him; and asked of him, whether at any time of B. Ladislaus, who rests at Warsaw, he had received any fame with his ears. He answered that a message had been brought to him at a certain time of his holiness, and that his mind was held by the desire of emitting a vow to him, and of imploring his help: let the Father teach the manner, by which those promises and vows are to be celebrated and emitted. The Father going before that man followed, and to the teacher assent is given. A notable remission of the pain followed the promise made by vow, and a little after perfect health was recovered. To his promises he afforded truth; and what he had promised he would do, after the received benefit he executed.

[215] In the place of a portent too was held, what of the Magnificent Lord Martin Volinski we have received related. an unknown and incurable disease, There had occupied the members of his body that force of disease, whose malice the science of physicians could not attain by knowing: it raged in an ardent manner, and was superior to all the art of physicians; it overcame the remedies applied, and the more diligently it was undertaken to be expelled and driven off, the harder torments it brought. Very many to wonder, and all to be stupefied, that they could in no way conceive the nature of the evil. Some deeming it consumption, most said poisonings, part called it an unknown disease. By a certain chance there had come into his house one of the Fathers of the Order of the Minors Observant from the Warsaw convent: with what miserable calamity the Lord was oppressed, and in what an unhappy state of life he led a life more bitter than death, when the household related, he grieved with it with Christian affection; and when the faculty of seeing the sick man was offered to the same Father, a salutation given to and fro, he admonished, that to B. Ladislaus by a humble supplication he should offer himself, and from him by a fervent prayer ask help: that it would be, that he who exhibited like benefits to very many, would afford the same grace to him desiring it. He promised that he would visit his sepulcher, and to discharge this bound himself by a vow. Thereupon the disease began to lose strength, to lose vigor, and all the virus to be removed. But the Lord himself within a few days, who now exhausted and destitute of strength looked forward to the sepulcher, made whole, and his body returning to its lost state freed from all danger, was placed among those living happily.

[216] A wonderful thing too happened in our age. The renowned man, Sebastian Branski, the Royal charioteer, had wholly lost the gait of both feet, a disease impeding. If the necessity of going anywhere impotence of walking, had compelled him to go out of the house; he could not otherwise pursue the way, and pass from place to place, except by props put under the armpits, his feet not being able from pain to touch the ground. The pains sometimes agitated the man with the sharpest spurs, and reduced to those straits tormented him, so that the legs seemed to be divided into parts and shattered. That wretched man was not wanting to himself, nor would he spare expense; he demanded the effort of surgeons and physicians: but they, adhering to the precepts of their art, brought forth vain medicaments, which yet could not exhibit efficacious help. At that time of the Most Serene King to Częstochowa, signal for the miraculous image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, an escort was being prepared. All were ordered, who for expediting the journey were held to exhibit services to the Royal Majesty, to be ready to undertake the way. To him too, whom the disease had occupied, the command brought forth pertained. Anxious he, what chiefly he should do, knew not. Going therefore into various thoughts of mind, it came into his memory, that he should present himself at the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus, and from him ask mercy and patronage. He calls to him the household, opens his mind, and orders himself to be led to the sepulcher supported by the aforesaid props. Not without difficulty and trouble brought to the place, he fulfills the vows conceived, procures the sacred office of the Mass to be celebrated, insists on prayer: and behold he feels the disease gradually debilitated, the feet strengthened, the strength to return, the troubles of the pain broken, and at length the soles to be adapted to making steps. He raises himself on his feet, and with a strong gait stands; he feels too clearly, that affected with the benefit of health he can walk without props: he tries the deed, and experiences perfect health offered. Glad he exclaims, gives thanks, proclaims God in B. Ladislaus; the wooden props, with which before he used to go forth from home, taken into his hands he carries home rejoicing, no more in the following years afflicted with that sickness.

[217] How many other miracles were exhibited through B. Ladislaus, witness is the noble and generous Lord Samuel Drohojowski, huntsman of the land of Nur; who by the subscription of his own hand bore testimony to truth, and by a manifest declaration testified, that to himself and his consort, nay to his whole house, very many benefits had been conferred through the intercession of B. Ladislaus. But especially a signal miracle, exhibited concerning his son, he related not without tears, with all thanksgiving. Very often by the epileptic disease his son was greatly agitated: and when most frequently he had endured that horrid plague, at a certain time, in the presence of one Bernardine Father from the Convent of Praga, a mortal epilepsy in one, seized by that terrible rabidity, so with vehement torment agitated he fell, that his breath being stopped supine on the ground he lay; with no motion of the lips, no breathing of respiration, no cordial and arterial pulse either, he showed the vestiges of life. Held therefore for dead, he was by no means hoped to return again to life. Three hours had passed, and he with no sense, no argument of life, no indication, was recognized to enjoy the benefit of living. The Father, who was present, addressed those present: To God, said he, let us commend the business: but this boy to B. Ladislaus, a promise by vow being made, let us offer, if he shall rise from the dead, to be presented at his sepulcher. The Lord heard them and consoled them. As if loosed from a heavy sleep the boy revived, endowed with that prerogative of felicity, that thereafter by no torment of the epileptic disease he was oppressed, but from it safe and unharmed made he led a sound life.

[218] The likeness of the matter bids to subjoin another example, seen in the same family. The son of the same Lord John Samuel Drohojowski, and another boy, Stanislaus by name, not yet having passed the age of infancy, whom a life of twelve weeks held still hanging on the breasts of his nurse, God permitting cast into the straits of the falling sickness, for three continuous days was tortured. And indeed the force of the disease was such, that twelve times in one day it exerted its tyranny on the infant limbs. Necessity compelled the parents into vows. Having approached therefore with intrepid prayer B. Ladislaus, a vow being emitted they offer the infirm son to him, and fulfill their words with deeds: thence they received the son sound, and for all the time of life immune from that evil they possess him.

[219] Not only to his children, but to the aforesaid Lord John Drohojowski himself alone too the same B. Ladislaus afforded the service of his favor. a lethal disease: Prosperous health of his body had yielded its place, migrating from his members; adverse health rushed upon him, and occupied the place; and endeavored to found its dominion with so strong a possession, that to returning health no entrance any more lay open. The physicians summoned girt with a siege the enclosed enemy: after this were applied the warlike instruments of the salutary antidote, and all the remedies of the medical art set, to drive the enemy from another's house. Strongly had the disease fortified itself, nor did it fear at all the balls of pills, beating the girt walls. Thence arose desperation, that the adversary could not be taken, nor was expugnable, and therefore the siege must be raised, and the effort applied in vain removed. He alone who felt the straits, to ask the help of God, and to invoke the effort of B. Ladislaus endeavored; to whom eagerly the help asked was exhibited. The enemies driven off, all danger of life removed, health was entirely restored.

[220] Nor does it lack admiration, what from the same D. John Samuel Drohojowski we have heard related. Plague is warded off, In the year of the Lord MDCXXVI the most savage plague raging through all the cities, towns, and villas of Mazovia, that the family of the aforesaid D. Samuel Drohojowski infected with the same plague brought him much terror. Three in number of his chamberlains had now been taken away by the plague, whose ministries and accustomed services and intimate presence made them adhere to the side of their Lord; therefore also they seemed to make him a partaker of the danger. His villa, in which he resided called Warsawice, infected with the same pestiferous venom, he beheld the corpses of twenty men now extinguished by that disease: of whose labors as of subjects since the Lord made use, the census and money due from the same, ignorant of the danger, he received. the Fate is made easier, Vehemently terrified at the danger and death of many, he vowed a vow to the Lord, together with his consort, and bound himself by an oath, that he would not make his word void, but would fulfill all that he promised, and would visit the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus, if power were given of escaping so evident a danger. He asked the Lord and He heard him, and from all tribulation snatched him, B. Ladislaus, to whom he had vowed himself, his house, and his subjects, for him (as is piously believed) interceding. After the vow emitted, the cruel Fate is driven from his house and from his villa, the pestilent breeze is extinguished, the danger removed, the most brilliant Phoebus the father of life arises, the serene day of prosperous health returns: thereafter no one was snatched by the onset of death, one girl alone excepted, who yet incurred death, not by the pestilential malice now extinguished, but by another different (as by the household, who well knew the cause, was asserted) occasion.

[221] In the same way the wife of the aforesaid Lord Samuel Drohojowski Barbara, experienced the faithful patronage of B. Ladislaus. She was pregnant; and when the time of bearing had come, compressed with huge pain, she endured the greatest torments; nor yet, hindered by the difficulty of bearing, could she bear. There were present all the aids prepared for such a business: yet all help, if any was applied, was in vain. The anxious husband and compressed with vehement solicitude, mourned,

all the household, an incurable ulcer is cured, cast into the highest mourning, lamented, beholding the lady subjected to the manifest danger of death, deplored. She more and more to strive to bear, but also so much the more to be tortured, and to approach death. At length admonished by a pious recollection, together with her mother, who adhered to the suffering woman, to B. Ladislaus by a devout sigh and prayer she fled; and from him in that necessity, and so evident a danger of death, help she demands. And without delay, she obtains childbirth without danger. Delivered she satisfied with the highest gratitude of mind her promises; and at the sepulcher, venerating the Blessed, discharged her vow.

[222] Great health was made by God to this house of Lord Samuel Drohojowski, an inestimable treasure of benefits there placed by the merits and patronage of B. Ladislaus; not only in his hall, but through that whole villa was diffused the grace, and the divine blessing, as from the above said now clearly appeared. But besides these still a third son, Andrew by name, struck by a certain incurable ulcer in the foot, felt most troublesome pains. The surgeons summoned with all zeal endeavored to meet the raging evil. There were applied these and those cataplasms, ointments, plasters, and that kind of medicaments: they augmented more, than they healed the ulcer. Various interior and exterior aids applied since they brought no alleviation, the disease eluded their vain effort. Thence the evil to grow more, and the virus of the disease more vehemently kindled proceeded to that of malice, that it cast the knee-pan out of the knee: fragments too of the bones, and those not small, a hundred and fifty and more together with the matter flowed out. Thence fear came upon the mournful parents, lest hence their son should be utterly deprived of the use of the foot and become lame. To those bewailing the disaster of the son, more desirable seemed death, than his life subjected to so great a calamity, and they had it in desire. For a whole year that evil crept, until the devout mother fled to the known protection: namely soliciting Blessed Ladislaus with ardent prayer, that he would succor the son, by herself presenting him at his sepulcher. A short time after that virus began to rage more mildly, at length wholly to be extinguished and to perish; and it being finally totally removed, the boy convalesced, limping a little. In sign of gratitude, mindful of so great a benefit the parents, by a silver foot, affixed at the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus, attested a grateful mind.

[223] Before I close this chapter, another exceptional miracle must be written, exhibited in a village of the district of Sochaczew called Kulczowice. That village, of which the Generous Lord Nicholas Jordanowski obtained the possession by hereditary right, was a tavern or public inn. And since from divers places divers men making their journey were wont to turn aside thither, easily it remained infected with the plague, which at that time everywhere raged. The first was the keeper of the inn or stableman, whom we call the innkeeper: him seized by the plague death had taken away from the living. The fate of the subject came to the ears of his Lord, to whom he was subject. The wife of the aforesaid Lord Jordanowski, as are the minds of women flexible to compassion, having entered the inn, grieving with the weeping mistress of the house with her children, with her own hands wrapped the body of the deceased in a winding-sheet, and prepared it for burial ignorant of the danger. She followed too the corpse to the temple, carrying the infant of the deceased with her in the same cart, and besides with all who dwelt in that house most familiarly conversed. Such service to the deceased duly paid, returned home, she is made more certain of the danger. the danger of the plague is shut off. For all, whom the walls of the inn contained (and they were seven men in number) began to be ill affected; to display the signs of the pestilence; and at length shortly all by the plague, one after another, were taken away, and brought huge terror to their lady. Nor is there doubt but that the plague would have poured its virus into her too, had it not, restrained by a heavenly command, recoiled, strongly repelled. There was in the sodality of the Nuns of the Third Rule of S. Francis a daughter of the aforesaid Lady Jordanowska, named Apollinaris; she as soon as by a message brought to her she learned, that the life of her parents was turned in the highest danger; vowed them to be presented at the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus, with tears most devoutly invoking this Blessed for aid to her parents; and fortifying them with such a remedy, by which they should be preserved from the pestiferous rabidity of the contagion. And therefore to no one in that whole house was the virus a harm, the vow interceding.

CHAPTER V.

Ten other miracles recounted.

[224] There can best be joined to the preceding example, another in all things similar. For in the year of the Lord MDCXXVI, in which, the rabidity of the plague raging everywhere, death absorbed many thousands of men, the epidemic disease invading also the house of a certain citizen of Warsaw, with raging brooms, by scrutinizing every most hidden place, so exactly cleaned it, that it suffered no one, who tarried within the walls, to remain among the living. Patronage in the time of plague obtained, But that house, oppressed by the want of poverty, sought its food by the labors of the hands; but especially by washing the linens, towels, and other that kind of garments of the nuns of the Third Rule of S. Francis, which by their maidservants and servitresses were carried into that house to be cleaned, and washed were carried back by the same to the Convent of the Nuns. Hence the aforesaid servitresses carrying them, made subject to the danger of the plague, brought terror of the same danger to the nuns themselves too. Besides this the magnitude of the danger was augmented by the death, begotten of the plague, of the wife of that citizen, who presided over the kitchen of the nuns. Struck with so great fear the Sisters, prostrate in prayer, dedicated themselves to the patronage of B. Ladislaus; and trusting in that remedy, no contagion at all having harmed, immune and safe they remained.

[225] Pleasant to relate is this. Sister Domitilla Bariczkowna, of the third Rule of S. Francis of the Warsaw monastery, seized by a most grave and most perilous disease, was vexed and exhausted by a quartan fever for two years. Scarcely did she breathe: at length affected with a certain much graver infirmity she fell, and was destitute of all human help, and all avidity of food being lost, she seemed to transgress the limits of life, and to prepare a setting out into the region of death. The physicians themselves too made no hope of her health, nay affirmed that after three hours or sooner she would pour forth her spirit and life. Therefore fortified with the protections of the Sacraments, anointed too with the oil of extreme Unction, she awaited the last end. The Sisters, who were present to the gravely sick woman, sent to the Brothers, earnestly with prayers treating, that at the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus a fervent prayer should be held for her. The dying woman is healed after a certain vision in a dream, Therefore the Brothers persevering in prayer, a sweet sleep embraced the infirm woman. To her sleeping thus, it seemed to her that a certain one appeared and reached her a cup, and said: Drink the medicine from B. Ladislaus offered to thee from heaven; by whose virtue recreated, thou wilt be brought back to pristine health. These things heard, after she had, as it seemed to her, sweetly drunk that cup, and felt its taste pleasant enough; she believed that it had passed into a singular antidote for her. Loosed from sleep, she felt herself more mildly, and all the limbs of her body to remain much more quiet. Glad she related the salvation-bringing dream, and convalesced in strength. At length when all the others, then she herself too knew in fact that she had returned from the doors of death to the threshold of life; and within one week, having obtained the benefit of perfect health, she convalesced.

[226] To these is numbered another Sister of the same Order, rule, and convent, named Petronilla Brodowska, likewise another afflicted with a strange disease. agitated by the torment of a certain most grave and incurable disease, for a whole decade: Plica, in our vernacular tongue gozdziec, that disease is called. This evil and virus, not only about the hairs, but also in the veins, nerves, muscles, flesh, and bones sticking, vehemently tortures and racks men; the bones sometimes not only moves from their place, but also breaks into minute parts; rages perniciously through all the members, spurns coarser foods sometimes admits delicate drinks alone; otherwise ready for the fight begets the matter of the greatest pains, and by tortures lays waste all the bowels of the body; penetrates too the inmost of the limbs, instilling vestiges full of pain; especially in all the Provinces of Ruthenia brings forth pernicious germs. To such a disease that virgin had succumbed. On her head was beheld a lock twisted and tangled into itself, dense like a peg, which bound by the thickness of the hairs mutually connected, called Koltun by the Russians, hung from her head, begetting huge pain. Therefore that Virgin, on the very day on which the examination of the holiness of B. Ladislaus's life and miracles was instituted, approached one window of her convent, looking straight toward the church of the Friars Minor of the Observance, in which the sepulcher containing the venerable body of the same B. Ladislaus is had with all devotion: and her eyes turned, bathed with a flood of tears, toward the temple she directed a prayer kindled with the ardor of fervor, and clothed in the vile cloak of humility, to B. Ladislaus the messenger of her calamity, suppliantly asking of him, that by his intercession, the cross of that torment might be removed from her body. The prayer finished, she asks a certain devout woman summoned to her, that she should take in her hand a little kerchief, and wipe with it the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus, and sanctified by that contact (as she trusted), and filled with a virtue divinely curative, restore it to her. She having executed her prayers, returns the kerchief; which the Virgin devoutly receiving venerated, and held her ill affected head wrapped in it. On a certain night, sleep departing from her eyes, she felt that lock, as before thickened, torn from her head, lying at her side; and suffused with vehement gladness, she rose from bed; and recognized all sickness driven from her. In memory of so great a benefit she used the effort of the same woman, that she who had carried back to her the little band imbued with a healing force from heaven, the same at the sepulcher should give thanks to God and B. Ladislaus, and in memory hang that lock at his sepulcher, ever grateful for so great a benefit conferred.

[227] It had happened in the year of the Lord MDCXXVI that the same Virgin again fell with another most grave infirmity, and incurred that danger of life, that to all both the physicians, who well knew that state of life, the dying are restored to health, and the other skilled ones, she seemed about to enter the way of all flesh, and now to depart from the midst of the living. And therefore by extreme Unction, as is the custom, prepared for the last struggle with the evil demon, the Priest by whom she had been armed with the unction of the sacred oil, she begged with a prayer in that strait of her scant life, that by a vow to B. Ladislaus her Patron he would offer her life to him. He executing the promises and the business commended to him, the Virgin is recalled from the threshold of death to the benefit of life and immunity, by an evident miracle.

[228] The same happened to the Illustrious and Magnificent Lord Adrian Radziminski, Captain of Liw. He still set in puerile age, when in the college of Pułtusk he cultivated the Parnassus of the Muses, seized by lientery: gravely affected by the disease which is called lientery, and now seized by a flux of blood, came to manifest danger of life. His sister instructed, a Nun in the Warsaw monastery, of the danger of her own brother, called Mariana Radziminska, to B. Ladislaus at once for the health

of him offered a vow. And it came to pass that within seven days, the trouble of the sickness being repelled, he obtained the grace of health.

[229] Here too is to be numbered a certain devout virgin, Anna Mirkowska, of whom that is memorable: a message being brought she learned that her parents infected with the plague had died, blinded by grief and tears, she oppressed with that magnitude of grief, that by no reason did she admit any consolation; and perpetually occupied with mourning, tears continually sprinkling her face, indulging incessant weeping, had incurred an excessive pain of the head; the gaze of her eyes too dulled by the shower of tears, she underwent the plague of blindness, and for three days could see nothing at all. On the third day at length, which was dedicated and destined for celebrating the festivity of S. Bonaventure, she beheld in her sleep such a vision presented: by an apparition of the B. Virgin Mary, a Lady of ineffable beauty (the Queen of heaven she called her, the Mother of God) glittering with admirable splendor, accompanied by very many choirs of Angels approached her, and from her mouth she heard a voice sweetly flowing; bidden she went to the tomb of B. Ladislaus, and recovered her sight: that she should betake herself to the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus, confess her sins, and be refreshed by sacred Communion; that by that way and no other could the lost health be recovered: these things said the same disappeared. Instructed by such salutary monitions and such an oracle the Virgin obeyed, caused herself to be led to the sepulcher of the Blessed, procured a Mass there for herself, and when at that sacred office to be listened to she was present at his sepulcher and insisted on prayer, at the time of the elevation of the most holy Body of Christ, the right eye its sight recovered beheld the salutary Host: but when she was refreshed by sacred Communion, the other eye having obtained the same benefit of seeing, affected her with great joy. Grateful for the received benefit, she revealed to all the grace afforded her, paying the greatest thanks to God, the B. Virgin Mary, and Blessed Ladislaus.

[230] That too of the same Virgin is clear, that for the interval of seven years, the same afflicted with the falling sickness, the falling sickness exercised a horrid tyranny in the members of her body; and that she each month, on certain days many times was wont to endure that grave burden. She said that poisonings had been the cause of that evil. A vow being made of going to the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus, she hastened to apply her effort to fulfilling her promises. It was winter, the feast too of the Purification of the B. V. M. was at hand, at which time the greatest frosts and the highest harshness of winter extend their hard dominions; the widest rivers too congealed with ice afford to horses, men, vehicles, a safe way like a bridge; for carts laden with the greatest burdens too a free passage lies open anywhere over the backs of the rivers. The aforesaid Virgin, for the sake of discharging her vow, two two-cubit candles being bought, a winter vehicle being mounted, took her journey from Praga to Warsaw, she is carried from Praga to Warsaw over the frozen Vistula, taking with her in company a certain woman. Over the river Vistula, wide and deep enough, yet covered with ice, the way to the church of the Friars Minor had to be pursued. They were now on the way, sitting in the sledge; and behold the horse with poured-out and rapid course together with the sledge snatched away, ran most swiftly, and was carried with so pertinacious a motion, that in no way could it be reined in and restrained by the driver. At the bank of the river a very great ditch was beheld, by the rapid onset of the inundating waters long ago prepared: to it by a straight way the blinded horse was carried, and a manifest and full of terror danger of life was presented. The trembling women, a clamor being raised, implore the help of B. Ladislaus with tearful voices: O Blessed Ladislaus, help us, she escapes the danger of life, pray for us; for the cause of thy service and praise we came hither. O blessed Ladislaus, thy devotion roused us, by thy benevolence toward us we were drawn; help thy imperiled handmaids, nor permit the incautious ones to perish. At this voice was offered help from heaven; the horse in that swift course fell on its knees, and immovable in its place stood; and thence suddenly changed, and from untamed made tamed, performed the rest of the way with a slow and lingering gait. Having entered the church the virgin, while she is wakeful to expiate her conscience by sacramental Confession; began to be vexed by the epileptic disease, whose accustomed signs she now bore. The grace of absolution being received more quickly, she was led to the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus. and at the sepulcher she is healed, To prayer prostrate on the ground so great a multitude of tears flowed from her eyes, that it abundantly irrigated the ground, and her face stuck in the mud. Then sensibly she recognized herself given liberty from the vexation of her calamity. The Mass heard, and returned home she had very many vomits, and felt a struggle with coughing. But from that time the falling sickness, despoiled of its possession in her body, departed; in whose place she was wont to have vomits some times, affected with no burden of the aforesaid disease.

[231] Besides these the same virgin, deprived of the gait of one foot on account of its bad affection, to her is restored the faculty of walking: kindled with an ardent desire of visiting the churches designated for gaining the Jubilee, when the infirm foot denied the ministry of walking; she went herself as she could limping, not without the aid of other women, to the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus: prayers she applied with this mind, that at least she might obtain a truce of ten days from the trouble of the disease. It is wonderful, how the faculty and fortitude for walking suddenly came conceded; the truce given; she obtained her wishes; visited the churches; and the Jubilee gained, gave thanks to God.

[232] That certainly to many men, who both saw and some still live, was manifest, which deed from many trustworthy persons we have received. The noble and devout Christiana Jaroszewska, by condition a widow, from the impious and pernicious mire of the Arians, the divine grace recalling, brought back into the way of salvation; the evil demon suggesting, that as a neophyte easily succumbing to such temptations, she held in some way a doubtful opinion of the miracles of the Saints. She having set out to Częstochowa, in which place the miraculous image of the B. Mary V., painted (as is reported by ancient tradition) by the hand of B. Luke the Evangelist, is venerably kept, led with her as a companion a certain woman, for ten years dumb; who on account of a contusion of the throat and breast, made by a certain chance, as she herself indicated, could not (as has been said) speak for a decade. Returning home from Częstochowa, her devotions and vows now discharged, she stopped a little while in the city of Rawa, indulging her body wearied from the long journey. To her existing there came into her memory the mention of B. Ladislaus, and the recollection came upon her mind of the miracles, exhibited through his patronage, as was commonly celebrated. About to explore the truth, and to recognize it by experiences themselves, she treated with a certain secular Priest, that he should perform a sacred rite according to her intention: the dumb woman recovers speech: which that he might do more willingly, she offered him a liberal hand: but she intended the speech of the dumb woman, to be obtained by the patronage of B. Ladislaus. The office of the sacred Mass being offered by the Priest, she girded herself to continue the journey. And while walking together they take the way, behold that speechless and dumb woman, breaks forth into these words: Lo we have strayed from the way: let us return, about to seek another. Lady Christiana made master of her vow, seeing the impediment of the tongue removed in the woman, gave thanks to God with all hers; and the more confirmed in the Catholic faith, expelled all doubts and scruples from the house of her breast. But the dumb woman, the obstruction of the tongue removed, until death rightly spoke.

[233] Moreover the same Christiana Jaroszewska, also subject to the falling sickness herself, the epileptic woman is healed. most frequently was compelled to have huge torments by its tyranny. A vow being emitted to B. Ladislaus, she had one and that the last struggle with it after such a vow; it being no more strong to extend its jurisdiction. She convalesced perfectly, remained immune from that tyranny henceforth, God and B. Ladislaus assenting to her vows.

CHAPTER VI.

Other ten miracles done in the dead, the dying and other sick persons.

[234] There thrusts herself upon the miracles and examples to be recounted, a certain noble woman, formerly tarrying in the town of Opatów, whose name for reasonable causes and at her ardent instance is here passed over in silence. A most lazy girl She had for her services a girl twelve years of her age, so given to sloth, laziness and somnolence, that as if by nature that vice attributed to her seemed strongly to have adhered. Slow to rise from sleep, quickly and through the day frequently and at any work to desire the rest of dozing, nor (though called with many words) from somnolence to render an answer, but as if with stopped hearing to snore: not to return, if she were sent anywhere by her mistress and the young ladies, unless a very long delay being interposed; nor with eager zeal to perform anything, but all things with a slow gait, with a motion tedious to the beholders to execute. whom the mistress raging Thence her mistress was more often kindled with fury, stimulated by anger, pursued her with harder words, followed her with maledictions, even sometimes rendered curses: and at length was moved to inflicting scourges on the lazy body. Many times beaten with rods, struck with fists, slaps and cuffs, and affected with other punishments, made no better, she remained sluggish. At length on a certain day in the year of the Lord MDCXXVII, kindled by the spurs of anger the mistress, having chastised her atrociously with rods, cast her out denuded beyond the threshold of the house outside: on which day the horror of the raging winter and the most intense frost, all places set with ice and snow, brought a hard turn of cold to human bodies. There stood for no small time the wretched girl, now raised from the rest of sleep, hardly chastised and quite denuded, in the vehement cold of the snow chilled and weeping, trembling, groaning and wailing. in chilling winter had expelled her naked Now all her tender members and bowels had penetrated the burning frost. Not content with the gravity of the chastisement and the horrid inclemency of the heaven and the penetrating harshness of winter raging on the body of the girl, and with her so great rebukes (since there is no anger like that of a woman) she ordered the coldest water, drawn from under the ice freshly from the river, to be brought in a great pitcher: the wretched girl being seized, now from the excessive cold failing, naked furiously into the pitcher she cast, rolled, agitated. Hence the girl, first foul choleric matter violently cast out by the mouth, with teeth compressed began to agonize, and soon was utterly extinguished, displaying the signs of death in the lifeless body. No rhythm of the veins, then immersed in the cold had killed her, no sense of the vital spirits, no commotion of the muscles, but mere lividity and chill, the little body deprived altogether of all vitality and the ministry of the living soul lay. The aforesaid mistress noticed this, and seized with vehement fear terrified, she lamented that she had perpetrated the crime of homicide. There were present also other women of the household, who provoked by her mourning, with all effort strove to succor by these and those devices the extinguished girl, still doubtful of her life, namely by warming the corpse, by injecting distilled waters into the mouth, by agitation, &c. But with vain endeavor, for to recall the step from the gates of death is the work of divine power alone. A certain one then of those women, mindful of B. Ladislaus, vowed that if the girl were rendered surviving to life, she would go to his sepulcher. O power of God! The girl who now for four hours computed among the dead, lay to be rendered to the earth; she is resuscitated: restored to life rose up, and the food offered her she ate with relish. The mistress much afflicted both by her death, and by the fear

of the impending difficulties and troubles by which she was to be agitated by the parents of the girl (who themselves too were nobles) gave the greatest thanks to God and Blessed Ladislaus.

[235] But because the discourse is of recent things, what, I beseech, more illustrious example can be brought than that, which with the noble man Christian Rubach, Advocate of Galachów, Prefect of the Royal salt-works of the district of Zakroczym, in his house was exhibited? And it is such. The son of this man, named Constantius, a boy four years old, affected with adverse health, was deprived of the benefit of life by a long lying-abed. And now the evil daily growing, he looked toward the way by which an entrance lies open to death; and now as if departing and hastening to another region, the mournful parents followed him with weeping, having best deserved of the state of the Religious and Priests. Meanwhile a certain Father of the Order of the Minors Observant of the convent of Nowy Dwór coming up, a little boy is recalled from the threshold of death, about to bring the highest solace to the afflicted parents, entered the house; and approaching the bed, sprinkled the infirm boy himself with holy water. Then prostrate on the ground with bent knees, and admonishing all the household to do the same, B. Ladislaus with a suppliant mind and a vow he invoked, imploring his help and patronage. The vow being emitted, he inquires of the boy, how he was? He answering suddenly (who now had lost the power of speaking, the malice of the infirmity binding his tongue) that he was better, only that his head pained him; he ordered food and drink to be given him. Which taken, he began to convalesce, and convalesced in a short time. These things were done in the year of the Lord MDCXXVII.

[236] I come also to another example of recent memory. The noble and generous Lady Dorothea of Oyrzyn Oyrzynska, consort of the generous Lord Adam Gumowski, skilled in distilling wine by fire, was bestowing effort in distilling the materials prepared for it. A woman scorched by the flames of distilled wine, And now the work being completed, while she tries to inspect with a candle the vessel placed to receive the rivulets of the flowing distilled liquor; incautiously unexpectedly a spark leaping back from the lamp, fell into the vessel full of the fiery liquor. Without delay the thunderous vessel conceives a flame, and boiling with a perilous and exceedingly horrid heat, breaks forth with a furious onset. Terrified vehemently the aforesaid lady, is wholly poured upon the flame, wishing to check it, bringing a fire to the household. Destitute of a more salubrious counsel and help, she does that which sudden temerity suggested: the hem of her garment with which she was then covered being seized, the flame now raging in the vessel, its mouth being stopped, she tries to suffocate. Alas the unhappy chance! The victorious flame prevailed; her garments themselves first the linen, then the rest greedily it invades and pervades impetuously; and the fire conceived the youthful body of the woman it cruelly lays waste, so that from the sole of the foot to the navel health was far from that flesh, the fire through all the parts of the burning producing heat. Aided by the slow help of the household, vehemently scorched, a place, in which for a little she might be freed from the most intense pains, she did not find. The garments consumed by fire, the tender flesh afflicted in a cruel manner, the veins contracted by the burning brought the greatest pain, by which without cessation agitated she could not move herself from her place. And if necessity of raising herself or of turning her wearied right side to the left urged, the faculty was in no way given. By so atrocious a chance of his beloved wife vehemently afflicted the husband, hastened to Warsaw for the sake of seeking medicine, and on the very journey having met the convent of the Friars Minor of the Observance of Nowy Dwór, turned aside to it: by whom kindly received, in the very hour in which the absent husband had made a vow for her announcing the miserable fortune of his consort, he commended her despaired health to their prayers. Willingly the Brothers assent to his requests, yet they give a salubrious counsel conceived, that he should seek a more efficacious medicine and a much more salubrious antidote for his wife; namely that he should offer the infirm woman to B. Ladislaus, who rests at Warsaw with the Fathers, by a vow, the most holy sacrifice of the Mass too at his sepulcher by some Priest being applied, most devoutly. He receiving the counsel forthwith, solicitous for the health of his dear wife, when he came to Warsaw, executed the said things. The matters therefore duly accomplished he returned home, mournful entered the inner chamber, but having beheld his wife at the first sight, finding her wholly changed from her tearful state, glad he saluted her, bringing forth the medicines; and how he had vowed her to B. Ladislaus, she is found healed. and procured devotion to be made for her, he narrated. She in turn related how in that hour the fiery pains had been extinguished, with her vehement admiration; how likewise the scorched skin had easily fallen; the burned flesh restored to its first vigor, the scorched veins vivified, and all the roasted members, by their own nature healed: the body hardened by the flames, now diseased, tender and tractable: and indeed so with favorable winds, that she could rise suddenly from bed, and take her step whithersoever she wished, in that very interval of time. Wherefore without delay rendering a grateful mind to God and B. Ladislaus, exalting the magnitude of the benefit, they appeared at his sepulcher in the year of the Lord MDCXXVII.

[237] But in the very city of Warsaw too a miracle done, equals to itself all the said things, or even surpasses them. There was John Dabski, a citizen and apothecary of this city, who for the sake of quenching thirst, caused by the heat of burning choler, had taken a drink, called hydromel (commonly called lipiec); thence, as his opinion bore, there happened to his body a choleric vomit, mixed with blood in the middle. This easily cast out, having entered his chamber, on account of the copious vomiting of coagulated blood he feels greater and more vehement motions in the heart. Hence huge and violent dejections flowed from his mouth, one after another: and what brought greater horror, they were full of bloody gore: nay coagulated blood in so great abundance piecemeal flowed from the mouth, that for receiving it the vessels did not suffice. The great danger of the head of the family moved the household to bring help. Remedies were sought, the physicians too summoned entered into counsel, in what manner the impending danger and so great an evil should be met. It seemed to all, adjudged to death by the physicians, that a vein should be cut, and certain medicines taken. It was done so: but of these nothing could bring any aid to the injured health. The medicaments applied therefore in vain cut off all hope to the physicians: whence going from his house they admonished his wife, that at dead of night her husband would depart from life, nor any longer endure except by Divine power. All therefore deserted him: the sick man alone did not desert himself: he caused a Confessor of the Order of the Friars Minor Observant to be summoned to him, for the sake of expiating his conscience. Therefore he confesses his sins, conceives grief over the committed guilts: expiated by the Sacrament of penitence in the hands of the Confessor, he made a vow to God, asking that by the intercession of B. Ladislaus, by whose patronage he confessed he had before received offspring, in the danger too of life he might experience the help offered. The vow being emitted, on account of the incision of the vein and on account of the continual vomits cast from the mouth, weary and fatigued sleep oppressed him. To him sweetly sleeping a certain voice was heard, Lord John. by a miraculous voice he is healed. Awakened by its sound, he felt a sudden vigor in his body, the lost strength returned, and the vigor restored to him. Knowing too his mind filled with an admirable sweetness, he asked food to be given him, which offered he ate with relish: and again fell asleep. Loosed from sleep, he required food again. But the household relating, that it was the middle of the night, fitter for sleep than for food, he abstained; and therefore committed himself to sleep. From which at length the sun being now risen awakened, and refreshed with food, he affirmed that he had strength and that he was whole, and therefore for the sake of discharging the vow, emitted in the danger of life, he wished to go to the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus: and he would have gone: but because the silver tablet (the sign of the vow and the received benefit) to be hung at the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus, which he had ordered to be made hastily, had not yet received the last hand of the craftsman; and the debility from the grave fatigue and infirmity was not yet repelled from his body; his friends persuading, he deferred to another time the promise to be executed. Which yet a short time after, girt with a crown of friends, the solemn office of the Mass of the Most Holy Trinity by a Priest being held, with all thanksgiving he discharged to B. Ladislaus, testifying that he owed much.

[238] The benefit conferred on the father redounded too on his only son, the same B. Ladislaus as author. For that boy, also called John, a boy is preserved from death: sprinkled with smallpox on the breast or infected with pustules, was gravely sick. The force of the infirmity had grown strong, and a more evident danger of death appeared, when the said measles having put on the color of blackness, began to be hidden within the flesh. But the mournful parents noticing this, and, what very experience taught, knowing that now the force of the disease and the coming of rushing death was foretold; procured a Mass for the health of the son to be celebrated at the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus, and relying on that remedy received their son sound.

[239] In the same city of Warsaw a no less admirable miracle befell. John Gasiorek, an inhabitant of the same city, cast into the hottest bath of a glowing fever, for the space of six days, endured ardors fervid enough; by which continually agitated, for a whole week he abstained from food, from a continual fever given up by the physicians he is healed: and was turned in manifest danger of health. And since in human things he had no confidence, he resolved to experience the favor of the Divinity's right hand through B. Ladislaus. He sent to the Friars Minor of the Observance, with ardent vows demanding, that they should make mention of him before God by a fervent prayer, and a vow being made to B. Ladislaus should commend to him his imperiled life. The Brothers were unwilling to be wanting to his just requests. A prayer being poured to God, and a vow made to B. Ladislaus, they answered his desire. In the same hour, in which this was done, the fever left him; he hungered, and ate with relish; and him whom the opinion of the physicians had adjudged to death, the grace and benevolence of B. Ladislaus restored to life.

[240] From the house of the same citizen John Gasiorek it is not yet permitted to go forth; the case of his son recalls the step from the very threshold, of John also called. This little infant, an infant crushed by a fall is restored to health: was placed on a table on a cushion or pillow by his mother; but she for the occupation of a certain business going off into the hall, the infant fell from the raised table to the ground by chance. The most tender age, little fit to undergo a grave fall, incurred a great detriment of health: the whole crown of the head pushed in within, made as it were concave; the cranium too remained sunk into the very brain; scarce some vestiges of a living man remaining. No fitter remedy for alleviating so great an evil seemed to the mournful parents, than that they should succor the infant the help of B. Ladislaus being implored by prayers. They executing their promises, no human help being applied, that same night the cranium returned to its place; and the infant while these things were done, a slight weeping being emitted, refreshed with maternal milk fell asleep; and was made sound from then.

[241] And this too is of our age which I bring forward. For in the year of the Lord MDCXXVI the son of the Noble and Generous Lord Krakowicki, an epileptic is cured. pressed under the most grave and most troublesome burden of the falling sickness, every day was fed on its gall, the parents thence saturated with great bitterness. At length certain friends persuading, to whose knowledge the holiness of B. Ladislaus was best known, that they should vow to the same blessed man the ill-affected son, they did; nor were frustrated of hope.

For the disease being driven off the boy made immune they offered at the sepulcher of the blessed man, giving thanks to God, and venerating B. Ladislaus with a grateful mind, because after such a vow never did epilepsy vex their son.

[242] The Divine power showed itself present to a certain countryman, subject of the Illustrious Lord Theophilus Grzybowski, supreme land Judge of the district of Warsaw, in his village called Lewiczyn, to whom for giving faith the hoariness of his age attributed much authority, and his rustic simplicity bore testimony of truth. He related to his Confessor, who was one of the number of the Friars Minor of the Observance of Warsaw, that when an atrocious pestilence made great slaughters everywhere through cities, towns, villas, it had filled his house too with the same destruction, and raged with so violent rabidity, that all whom his house embraced being taken away, his wife, children and household, as many as there were, being killed, he alone remained. And now he too dying, full namely of more than fifty (as he himself asseverated) pestilential ulcers, awaited death, which he had more in desire than life, partly from weariness and a melancholic humor, vehemently afflicting him, partly from mourning over the taking away of so many of his dear ones, partly from the pains which those ulcers inflicted on him. And that he might more quickly come to the goal of life, on that bed he lay down on which his household taken by the plague had met death. And when by rolling himself hither and thither he drew into himself with full mouth and breath the poison of the virulent plague, [Infected with the plague he is taught by a heavenly voice to recur to B. Ladislaus.] he felt a voice brought to his ears. What dost thou, O man? Vow to the Lord that thou wilt visit the holy bones resting at Warsaw, and thou shalt be safe. Admonished by the heavenly voice, he groaned; and resolved with firm purpose, that he, as soon as he should recover strength and health, would obey the words. Forthwith the ulcers opened in his flesh cast out copiously the pestiferous matter: but he made whole, after he had learned from his Father Confessor of the place of the sacred deposit, most promptly satisfied the mandates, and remained free henceforth from all contagion.

[243] A not dissimilar miracle several years before happened, namely in the year of the Lord MDCX. A certain man intent on performing scholastic offices, Nicholas by name, conversing among the Ecclesiastical Cantors at the parochial church of S. John of the city of Toruń, the condition of his state exacting it, A Clerk by a fall made dumb and deaf had ascended the tower adjacent to the church to ring the bells, where by a certain terrible chance struck by a bell, he fell down taken up for dead: then aided by the hands of those lifting him, from the place indeed half-alive he rose, but made deaf and dumb, and in all things rendered useless for performing ecclesiastical offices, expunged from the catalogue of the servitors of the temple, was enrolled henceforth in the register of beggars. For four years tarrying in the same place a beggar, affected with a certain weariness, he had resolved to change his place, and was completing the journey begun into the Duchy of Mazovia. As he passed through a wood near the city of Sochaczew, it pleased him to enjoy rest under a certain tree, and to indulge his wearied body. Sitting and deploring his miserable condition, with tears arising in the bitterness of his soul he emitted grave sighs to God, and by humble prayer raised his afflicted heart upward to God, supplicating that, for His benignity, the merciful God would restore to him his pristine lost health, and bring back the happier condition of his former life. He persevering thus in weeping and the bitterness of grave sighs, behold a voice sounded from behind: Know, O man, that thou wilt recover health, if only coming to Warsaw thou shalt visit the church of the Bernardines, by a heavenly utterance he received medicine. and shalt have confessed thy sins, and there for this benefit shalt have given thanks to God. He was astonished, and hearing looked back, his mind kindled with desire of knowing, whose were the voices so sweet and pleasant: and he saw in white the likeness of a man, but quickly noticed that he had disappeared. All these things to his Father Confessor, then to all the other Brothers with the highest devotion, his health now recovered, that man related: but the Father Confessor showed him the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus, as the place where he should give thanks to God and B. Ladislaus, by whose merits his former health was restored to him.

CHAPTER VII.

Other ten miracles recounted.

[244] Very many wonderful and stupendous deeds of B. Ladislaus having now been related, still much more nay innumerable remain worthy of relation. There occurs for now an aged woman of eighty and more years, conciliating faith to her words by her long age of living, for a certain woman an epileptic son is cured: Catherine Lugowska a widow. She with clear and devout words testified, that from this tree, situated in the midst of the paradise of the Seraphic Religion of Francis, very many fruits plucked by her had stood for the great advantage of her own life and the salvation of her own. That namely many benefits had been conferred by the patronage of the blessed Father Ladislaus, and that she had also drawn and drunk rivulets of consolation from that fountain to satiety. That she had had a son, who for whole five years suffered the hard servitude of the falling sickness. Remedies applied in vain since they profited nothing, the counsel poured from the mouth of her Confessor profited the raging evil. He persuaded that to B. Ladislaus in such a danger of life recourse must be had, by the sacred office of the Mass to be celebrated at his sepulcher. That woman, as soon as she brought to effect the counsel offered, happily rejoiced over the health conferred on her son, who from then was always free from that evil.

[245] To the same woman a signal grace of consolation exhibited recalls the pen hastening elsewhere, and compels me to say not nothing about her again. About the year of the Lord MDLXXXVII her husband out of his mind, the husband to a sound mind from his own house secretly all being unaware having slipped away, through woods, groves, fields, and other pathless places many days wandering, by his absence caused his wife solicitude, tribulation, nay also a sinister suspicion: but to his kinsmen and relatives brought care, murmur, and great anxiety about him. For his friends together with the kinsmen coming together into one, conferred various discourses among themselves, and distracted into various opinions, inquired of one another about the friend not appearing for so long a time. To all that opinion seemed best, that the wife should be interrogated about her husband: since she bound by the Sacrament of an oath, by the matrimonial vow too was held to have care of the husband's life. There are chosen from the number of friends who should go to her, inquire, learn, where in the world her husband was: that she now made a companion to his life by an indissoluble bond, ought to be a partaker of the husband's affairs, works and counsels. She answering, that she altogether was ignorant of the state of her husband, nor could know whither he had betaken himself; forthwith to all a sinister opinion fell about her, conferring with a silent murmur among themselves, that the husband had been secretly given to death by the wife, and is led back to the house whence he had fled. and cast into some dark cavern lay hid. Therefore having addressed her with a threatening speech, they shake the afflicted enough woman with terror, that unless she tell the truth, she must be sought with the noise of the law. The wretched woman seized with vehement terror, and fearing for her life, and lest interrogated by the laws about her husband she should be compelled to undergo the force of tortures; again to her Confessor the aforesaid Father Stanislaus Zdziarski she recurs, asks counsel. He admonishes the same, to avoid so great a difficulty and danger, the way to be held; that the help of B. Ladislaus the most holy office of the Mass being applied must be implored. Which when it was done; the same day the husband returned home, gladdened all by his return, and freed his wife from danger.

[246] Nor is this to be neglected, nay among the miracles done through the intercession of B. Ladislaus to be numbered I deem, of a woman, Eve by name, wife of Valentine of Lwów a furrier, a citizen of Warsaw, obtained by a vow and prayers. The epidemic contagion raging through all Warsaw, the pestilent spirit had invaded her house, and now had killed her two household members with cruel death, had cast them out beyond the threshold, had hidden them buried in the earth. It had leaped also upon her son, whom by its first onset it struck with a most evil ulcer in the navel, directing him to the gate of death. The house infected with the plague is freed and the son is healed, The mother, admonished by the danger of her son, commended herself, her whole house, and her now plague-full son to the patronage of B. Ladislaus. Nor was aid wanting to the afflicted woman. The ulcer of the son broken flowed out, so great a vestige being left in the body, that the bowels lay open to be seen by the beholders. Quickly however, not without a miracle and the admiration of all, he received health; and the whole house free from danger, beheld the corpse of no other dead person.

[247] This most salubrious antidote for subduing and extinguishing the plague, the protection of the blessed Father Ladislaus, exhibited to the aforesaid woman, easily came also to the ears of others. There were two secular Priests, infected with the plague, and therefore separated from others, Two Priests are freed from the plague: awaiting death as it were now inevitable. These through sure messengers besought the aforesaid woman with solicitous prayers, that for the sake of conserving their health, she should procure the sacred sacrifice of the Mass, to be celebrated at the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus, in their name. When to their vows the desired remedy acceded, they remained preserved from the plague. Impelled by the same spirit of devotion toward B. Ladislaus, a woman with a fever is cured: so often having experienced his prompt intercessions the aforesaid woman, when she had vowed another son of hers, by an acute fever cast into the danger of death, to the same Saint, she beheld him suddenly sound. Nay of herself too she related, that by the impediment of a huge ulcer her throat was shut, and an ulcerated throat: and that she could receive no aliment of food. Hence arose the pricking spurs of pains, and a manifest danger of life: but the help of B. Ladislaus implored was so quickly present, that at what time the aforesaid impediment and the very virulent ulcer was removed, she did not plainly notice.

[248] A wonderful thing, and that no small one, which of the Magnificent Lord Stanislaus Smiecinski, land Notary of the district of Warsaw is read. That he about the year of the Lord MDCIX was afflicted with so atrocious a punishment of sickness, that for the space of two weeks, no rest from the urging disease offered, from various infirmities a dying man is healed: he was continually afflicted with pain; the remedies too of the physicians given, were recognized far inferior to the magnitude of the disease; and now by their opinion destined to death, he was thought to undergo the hazard of one agonizing. Such was the force, fortitude and malice of that disease, that it took to itself as a companion the falling sickness: which rushing suddenly upon the wretched old man, raged with such fury and onset in the members of the sick man, that through a natural day eighty times it repeated its pernicious incursions. Oppressed with so huge an evil of infirmity, he was at his last gasp; and therefore the Priests and household, with all things necessary for the soul's departure, assisted him, awaiting the hour. Meanwhile certain friends, of those adhering to him then, trusting in the patronage of B. Ladislaus, decree and vow that if restored to life he should recover the benefit of health, he should be presented at his sepulcher with offerings. Among them his wife joined by the matrimonial bond, the nearer she was to him, the more fervent the devotion with which she was busy to offer her husband to the same blessed man: she brought forth sighs, conceived vows, and uttered devout prayers. And without delay: the promise being established by vows, vigor being received, life together with health

obtained, he was recalled from the gate of death; and as a perpetual testimony of gratitude, he affixed a silver tablet to the sepulcher: by a writing too prolix enough the most wise man followed up that benefit by recognizing it, living a long time after in a good old age.

[249] But I cannot temper myself, but that to this great man, miraculously restored to health, I subjoin another benefit exhibited to a certain most noble matron. And she was the illustrious and Magnificent Lady Hedwig of Przerąb Przerąbska, legitimate consort of D. Stanislaus Paris Castellan of Warsaw. She bore in her womb offspring slain by death, enclosed for six whole weeks. A grave business and grief that case caused the woman in childbed: by an offspring long dead the mother is freed: she carried about a putrid corpse in her womb, a continual torment, produced lasting pains. Whosoever heard the discourse scattered about that unhappy case, with unanimous opinion judged the lady near to death, having endured an inevitable one indeed. The mother of the pregnant woman, mindful of the impending danger, having compassion on the pains which the afflicted daughter suffered, a vow being named to B. Ladislaus, resolved with firm hope that the danger should be met. She vowed therefore, that, if the dart of death being driven off she remained surviving and a partaker of life, she would be led to his sepulcher. To this end was applied a prayer by the Confessor, assisting her there, composed of B. Anthony by S. Bonaventure, but by that Father with the name changed brought forth of B. Ladislaus. These promises, vows, and devotions duly performed, behold the birth of the fetid corpse without great pain was present; the difficulty of bearing taken away; the members of the woman bearing and striving to bring forth the foetus most gently complied, the body so rendered flexible, that with no trouble the fruit of the womb or rather the putrefaction went out: those assisting the infirm woman scarcely being able to depart from the inner chamber, there followed a tearful with joy birth, and the abominable offspring with gladness and congratulation cast into light, which so long enclosed in the womb, remaining putrid, threatened torments and intolerable pains and finally a lethal destruction to the maternal little body. In sign of gratitude an image cast of silver, hung at the sepulcher by the same lady, in the year of the Lord MDCX, is beheld.

[250] Memorable too is the case of the Generous Albert Vituski, who when he gravely pained in the foot, and of both deprived wholly of the ministry for making steps lay; the affected feet are cured and his wife feared, lest he should contract some inconvenience or some limping; admonished of the danger, made a vow to the God of heaven, asking that by the intercession of B. Ladislaus, His most miraculous servant, the help of health from heaven should be exhibited to her husband, and he be freed from the evil. Hence quickly she beheld her husband sound, whom no man could heal. Finally a certain honest woman, Catherine Sweykowska of Miedzeszyn, when seized by a long infirmity she was aided by no aid of human art; and dropsy. the evil of adverse health growing daily, she contracted also dropsy, which a root being sent into her body, could in no way be eradicated, and the dominion once obtained suffered not itself to be despoiled. It rejoiced in a long enough progress, and strove to drive its root deeper: thence pressed the fear of death, the human help limping. But when she demanded the divine help and implores the aid of B. Ladislaus, the swollen dropsy is driven into exile; and health into the house, whence driven for a long time it had been absent, is recalled.

CHAPTER VIII.

Other ten miracles brought forth.

[251] Although all births in the human race, by the decree of the divine malediction, are full of various difficulties, pains, straits, and dangers of life, by which the transgression of the command of God of our first mother was chastised, the Lord saying to her, I will multiply thy troubles and thy conceptions, in pain shalt thou bear children, and thou shalt be under the power of the man, Gen. III; yet some happen more difficult and more perilous than others from divers causes: whence very many in such an act, a torment rather, willing unwilling exchange life with death. This in herself experienced a certain woman, Dorothy Czwolczyna of Pariszów: who when for a whole day and night she had labored in evacuating the womb; could in no way come to the term of childbirth. Sooner the soul than the foetus would go out of that body those assisting hoped, because she was readier now for departure, than the foetus for birth: the enclosure of the womb stronger, than the bond of nature, and the connection of the body with the soul; this yielding to violence, that indeed remaining hardened, and obstinate to all the strokes of the remedies. A woman in childbirth escapes death by a vow. From heaven was need to summon the artificer of the enclosure. Invoked therefore by the devout bystanders B. Ladislaus, to visit whose sepulcher the woman in childbirth was decreed by a vow. While such a vow is conceived and promised, behold the enclosures being unbarred an unexpected birth is introduced, all rejoicing, and blessing God in His Saints, and magnifying together with the woman in childbed the power of God. These about the year of the Lord MDCX.

[251] Nor are wanting in the very Warsaw convent miracles exhibited. There was in that convent a certain Brother named Thomas Lada, of the number of the lay brothers, formerly in the world noble by birth and famous enough for the glory of secular soldiery. He seized by adverse health, hastened to the goal of life: and now destitute of senses, deprived too of the benefit of memory, lay as it were beyond the limits of life. A lay Brother miraculously healed Very much mourning and solicitude the Brothers took from that perilous infirmity of his: for by the labors of his hands, he brought much usefulness to that convent: for he was skilled in the art of making beer, which by exercising in faithful work he showed himself useful to the convent. Therefore for the sake of gaining his health a fervent prayer was poured by the Brothers; a vow too was emitted to B. Ladislaus to this end, that freed from disease he might succor the convent by his services. After therefore such a medicine was applied to the lying infirm man; he is made sound, so that the third day after the vow he was fit for all labors, and exercised them in fact; and the vows emitted for him he himself by himself fulfilled.

[252] Nor was another occasion wanting to the same Brother Thomas, of imploring help from B. Ladislaus by an efficacious prayer. For affected with a grave pain of one hand, also his hand he had lost its use and ministry. Necessity urged, and the burden of his office exacted, that with the service of both hands he should apply himself to the labor. The force of the pain set an impediment to executing this, and recalled the ill-affected hand from all work. Full of hope to B. Ladislaus he betook and offered himself: recovers the lost use: he approached his sepulcher, suppliant falling on his knees: he prayed humbly for the restoration of his hand. Then the prayer finished, the end of the pain came: as he receded from the sepulcher, all the infirmity too receded: and so the impediment being removed, noticing himself fit to exercise work; to right things his loins being girt he strengthened his arm, and to strong things put his hand, applying himself to his office, and bringing the work to a good effect.

[253] How illustrious also that example deduced of the noble Lord Lawrence of Raduanica Kaminski? This man was exposed on a certain night to the ardors of a hot fever rushing into his members, and they invading his body with so vehement an onset that he fell, There are cured the stone and other diseases, so that he was compelled to experience at the same time the punishments of other diseases, especially of the liver: he was agitated beyond measure by the torments of pains of the spleen, stomach, and head, more than nature could bear: and besides the most troublesome strait of the stone pressed him. Noticing himself afflicted with so many calamities; so many enemies of his own health rushing upon him, he judged that death too was present at the doors: but this most of all he grieved, and that anxiety beat his breast, that without the protection of the Sacraments and without the prayers of a Priest present, he felt his departure from life at hand. Hence his wife, together with his daughter Catherine the elder by birth, are busy with profound sighs, prayers, vows, continual prayers, to invoke the mercy of God, and at the same time to demand the help of B. Ladislaus, and to bind themselves by vows of going to his sepulcher. The help of the man of God was not wanting: forthwith the broken rabidity of the pains, like smoke from that body vanished: and he made whole, the next day, what he had promised both by his own mouth and that of others, by deed to execute with his wife and daughter he studiously wished and did.

[254] To me thinking to hasten to others too, behold in the same house of the same noble man his daughter Catherine occurs. She for the space of ten days agitated by a fever, abstained from all food altogether; and a continual fever. but the fever glowing, and like a burning flame through all the members of the body producing a fire, she seemed to all to hasten with swift course to the prefixed line of living, and to have come to this, that to death a greater faculty of killing her seemed given, than to life the power of retaining her among men conceded. Her parents take the way to the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus, and coming supported by hope and sure confidence, about the eighth hour the sun being risen prostrate on the ground, apply themselves to fervid prayer. Returned home, the same hour they find their daughter dismissed from the fever; much rejoicing at the signal benefit of health, conferred on their daughter through B. Ladislaus, whom on account of the violence of the disease the consent of all had adjudged to death.

[255] Nor was the wife of the same Most Noble Lord Kaminski set outside this lot, who, a malicious and contagious fever raging in her house, and the plague the impending danger of death and approaching most nearly to the pestilential, which the Poles call epidemic lozna choroba; seized by that evil, hastened to prepare her journey and setting out from this age into the region of the living. Such force of disease was infused into her body, that when aid was required from the physicians, and an answer was awaited from others knowing the malice of the disease, it is reported that such was given, that linen for wrapping that body was more necessary, and an urn to be prepared for laying up the same body, than medicine to be applied. Such human dispositions being understood, she is twice repelled. to the protection now many times known it seemed good to flee: and indeed with happy success. For a vow being emitted to B. Ladislaus, she who was destined for the company of the dying, returned to the consorts of the living, best sound. The virus of the same disease had infected the whole family of the Illustrious and Magnificent Lady Sophia of Działyń, consort of Nicholas Mniszech Captain of Łuków; and by the same remedy it was removed: the help of Blessed Ladislaus was invoked: it was present; and all who were infected with it it recalled to health, and freed from the raging plague. A tablet cast of silver, affixed at the sepulcher of the Blessed, displays an argument of the recognition of the benefit and of gratitude.

[256] Again the deadly plague of the raging pestilence offers itself. It made huge slaughters of men in the year of the Lord MDCIII at Warsaw, and to the Brothers dwelling in the Convent it brought the same destruction: by receiving the Confessions of men very many contracted that blemish; many infected lay sick, the plague raging in the convent of the Brothers and the nuns soon about to be the food of worms. The house of the nuns too, subject to the same disease, now beheld the corpse of one extinct of the number of the Sisters: some bore signs of the plague appearing in their bodies. The Superior both of the Brothers and of them, by that magnitude of dangers

admonished, prostrate in prayer at the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus, vowed both Convents to him: and it came to pass that all danger ceased, and the peril of life from both being removed departed: those who now truly burned by the plague of infirmity approached death, restored to health and life, made safe and immune, praised God and His servant B. Ladislaus.

[257] Having gone out of the convent of the Brothers, I enter the house of a Councillor of the city of Warsaw. Behold there meets me Gregory Badowski, Councillor of the city, a witness of the miracle exhibited in himself. The plague, said he, was laying waste this our city, when I was still a boy: which holding of little account by puerile judgment, a familiarity being contracted with the son of Simon a chest-maker neighbor to our house, I played with him; and conversing with him most amicably with coaxing colloquies, I drew from him the deadly plague, with which he was now infected. The boy died the next day: me too infected the same fever seized, and produced an abscess in my body. My mother, struck with huge danger, hastened to the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus; procured the most holy office of the Mass to be said as soon as possible; multiplied vows, prayers, sighs; commended my life and the whole house to him. Returned she found me, whom she had left glowing with the fever, now glad, sound, and playing. And from then the whole house remained free from all contagion, nor did any vestige of the plague appear in it afterward.

[258] Not only in his youth alone did the said Lord Gregory Badowski affirm himself heaped with the benefits of B. Ladislaus; but with much more ample ones in the following ages. But among the rest he related, how in the year of the Lord MDCIX he was struck with a grave plague of infirmity, who otherwise agonizing is preserved among the living. with the hope of prolonging life wholly laid down, so judging of himself both the physicians themselves, and all others, who well knew that state of life. Me too myself (said he) the gravity of the infirmity, the magnitude of the pains, and the weariness of life so far induced, that I commanded myself taken down from the bed to be placed on the ground, with this mind that I might hasten the term of losing life. Satisfaction was made to my will: for taken down from the bed, placed on bare straw, I was now almost at my last gasp: and into my mind came B. Ladislaus my Patron; whose patronage, in my youth afforded me, resuscitated still hope in me and raised confidence to recovering health, and life again to be restored, if only to him suppliant I should recur. Therefore in that manner and affection, which the infirmity conceded and the debility permitted, with heart and mouth I invoked his help, made a vow to visit his body, implored aid. And behold, in that very motion of my mind and heart, I felt also a change in my members; vigor was restored to me, my senses sharpened, my spirit gladdened, the power of the disease debilitated, and the grace of health restored to me, I knew. To raise me therefore from the ground I commanded, and again to be replaced in bed: where I received so great strength, that the next day I could go to the sepulcher of the same blessed man: which without delay, as I had resolved, I did. Both these miracles, digested by his own hand, he commended to posterity.

CHAPTER IX.

The remaining miracles duly deduced in judgment. The King, the Palatine of Pomerania and others healed.

[259] Beautiful is and worthy of memory, the miracle which follows. Alexander a boy, son of the Magnificent Lord Stanislaus Lezynski and Anna of Rzuchów, struck by the hidden arrow of an infirmity, lay in bed. The deadly rabidity of adverse health pressed to cut off his life; and now set in the last agony, an onset of death being made, he was snatched away, the household grieving over him. The dying boy suddenly revived in the year 1611. His mother mournful enough with the bystanders, to B. Ladislaus a vow being conceived offered him, earnestly asking, that by his benefit he might still remain in the consort of the living. The vow being emitted, the grave panting and harsh respiration, which foretold the coming of death shortly impending, concluded by a term was silent. Then the mother weeping and wailing, deeming the boy now dead, breaks forth into lamentable voices and tears; and the mournful one begins a mournful song, all the household, who then stood by, the brothers and sisters and the other domestics, singing with her the same song. Weeping, wailing, lamentation is heard. Meanwhile the boy, as if awakened from a heavy sleep, addresses his mother with these words. What is this matter, lady mother? Why do you weep? No evil has happened to me: why do you lament? At this voice all were silent, and intent held their mouths. Sudden gladness occupied all, they wiped the tears from their eyes, the lamentation ceased: the boy rose from bed: and because it was the hour of dinner, he reclined at the table; as if he never suffered anything adverse, glad he ate his food with relish. The stupendous miracle kindled the zeal of very many toward B. Ladislaus.

[260] That too which follows is to be held no less wonderful and celebrated, The Palatine of Pomerania is healed. which happened to the Most Illustrious Lord Michael Konarski, Palatine of Pomerania. He was preparing a setting out in the procuration of certain affairs of the Kingdom, the gravest causes urging it: and behold a disease suddenly rushing set an obstacle to the swift expedition, and cast the Palatine himself seized by a hard scourge into bed. The disease augmented daily cut off the hope of recovering health, brought the fear of rushing death. And now to the household had adhered a more certain opinion, of the Palatine to be taken away by death, than to be retained in life. That fame came with swift course to the Royal Court, and among others most of all struck the daughter of that Lord Palatine, existing in the women's apartment of the Queen, with vehement mourning and fear, and the paternal danger terrified her. Helen Constance was the virgin's name; who having received license from the Most Serene Queen, hastened with swift course to the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus mournful, and solicitous about the health of her most loving parent. Prostrate in prayer, with affection, tears, voice, and profound sighs of the blessed man, for the alleviating of her father's health, she implored and obtained help. For at the same hour, in which the prayer at Warsaw was offered for his health, he began to be better at his home, the violent motion of the disease to cease, and gradually to be silent and the strength of the body to return to him. Thence he to wonder, whence so sudden a change and health. He rises from bed, eats, walks, runs, and enters on the proposed journey. Made more certain afterward, by whose help raised he lived, he gave thanks to God, and followed B. Ladislaus from then with wonderful veneration and observance.

[261] So many miracles, wrought by the intercession and effort of the Blessed Father Ladislaus, now being dispatched, new and new ones were supplied. There are cured pains of the head, For the process being now shut up and sealed to be transmitted to Rome, very many of their own accord thrust themselves to recognize the miracles done concerning them, and especially a certain venerable Father Albert of Czeland, Psalmist of the Parochial church of S. John the Baptist of Warsaw. He when in the year of the Lord MDCXXVII he had come to Warsaw, to be marked with the sacred order of the Subdiaconate; on a certain night going out of his lodging, fell into so great a pain of the head, such as he affirmed he had never felt in his life: he remembered to have endured no bitterer infirmity at any time of his age in his body. By the persuasion and instruction of his uterine brother, the venerable D. Peter of Czeland a Presbyter, likewise Psalmist of the same church, induced, the day dawning, he went, pressed by the greatest pain of the head, to the church of the Friars Minor of the Observance, to the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus, about to recite the Lord's Prayer five times. And as he entered the temple, gradually he felt the force of the disease remitted: and at length the votive prayers being discharged before the altar of B. Ladislaus, continually and plainly free from the pain of the head, he returned to his lodging.

[262] A benefit once obtained rouses hope and mind to obtaining and acquiring others, especially in necessity. The same venerable Father Albert of Czeland the Psalmist, when at a certain time by an assiduous and acute fever for more than one week he was burned; a continual fever, mindful of the former divine benefit, by the intercession of B. Ladislaus obtained, he turned his heart suppliant to him, demanding by his merits and intercessions to be freed from that disease, and vowing that as soon as he should have come to Warsaw, he would perform the most holy sacrifice of the Mass at the sepulcher of the Blessed of the Most Holy Trinity. Which done soon the fever receded, certain pustules breaking out from the head and face. Afterward he felt no pain of the head, nor sustained any trouble or vexation of fever, and fulfilled the vow.

[263] Led by the example of very many the Generous Lord Peter Zaluski, Standard-bearer of Rawa, coming to Warsaw to bear testimony to truth, freely recognized, how by the benefit of B. Ladislaus he had been freed from his most troublesome sickness. gout, In the year of the Lord MDCXXIX the gouty affliction invaded him so vehement, that the torments, which it caused in his feet, seemed to him humanly intolerable; which for three weeks had withdrawn sleep from him, nor permitted him to take food except with great difficulty; wherefore he chose rather to desire death, than longer to endure that torment. No means, no refreshment, no remedy, which even for a modest time might mitigate the magnitude of the pain was found. His consort seeing with the other domestics that the pain was intolerable, to B. Ladislaus her Patron and of her possession Gielniów, in which this holy man was born, over which she then ruled, by a simple prayer recurs, and by a vow bound her husband to visit his sepulcher. This alone remedy, this efficacious medicine against the rabidity of that disease was. For immediately after the vow emitted, as a burning flame by the sprinkling of water, the ardor and spurs of that gout were compressed and extinguished: a placid sleep following vivified the senses, invigorated the members, and made the whole sound: so that the next day, he needed no more either the bed, or any aid, made sound. Which whole by the intercession of Blessed Ladislaus he obtained, he firmly believes and proclaims.

[264] Most frequent are the miracles of B. Ladislaus in his fatherland, who if of other foreigners, but especially of his own household, has care. a lethal paralysis. The only heir now of the town of Gielniów, the fatherland and native place of the blessed man, remaining is Casimir a boy, son of the formerly deceased Generous Lord John Dunin Brzezinski and Barbara of Walowice, now son of the wife of the said Lord Peter Zaluski's second nuptials. He still existing in tender age, seized by paralysis (by which infirmity his uterine brother too in a similar age was taken away) had lost the use of the right hand and foot and of the tongue; nay imitating his brother, adhering to his vestiges, he seemed to enter the same way of all flesh: to whom now agonizing the Parish-priest of Gielniów, R. D. Matthew Silnicki, was spreading the way to heaven by appointed prayers. There came into the mind of the mother B. Ladislaus; she asks the Presbyter, that by a vow he should bind her son to the holy man. He does it without delay: and behold the boy raises his right hand, the ill-affected foot lifts up, and as he could with infant tongue forms words, raises his eyes and finally demonstrates that he has recovered the health of his whole body, sound, by the grace of God and the merits of B. Ladislaus, to this very day.

[265] Not only within the domestic walls did B. Ladislaus, clothed with the divine virtue by the holiness

of his life, exhibit the forces of his power; but most widely too he sometimes expanded them through the whole kingdom, if living, as we recounted above, much more now, when in the heavenly kingdom the egregious soldier triumphs, laureled after so many most atrocious enemies vanquished. Of this his power in his fatherland signs, both worthy and pleasant to relate, he left. In the year of Christ MDCXXV certain licentious and insolent soldiers called Lisowczycy, very many places being laid waste, and provinces, cities, towns devastated, moving their column near the town of Gielniów, sent distributors of lodgings into the town; to whom while these were denied, because they did not depend from the arm of the Commonwealth; the whole troop impetuously invaded the town, the brigands hindered at Gielniów, about to avenge the pretended injury by fire and iron. And now the noble man Andrew Rucki, fleeing to the protections of the temple, with others in the very doors of the church being cruelly slain, and many outrages in the town being perpetrated; when they wished to enter the sacred building, about to despoil and burn it, they noticed the very great icon of B. Ladislaus on the wall: by whose excessive terror struck, trembling they draw back their foot, and terrified all flee; and leaving the town, into the nearby village called Wywóz, and at Wywóz, they direct their steps and forces; there about to invade the Lady of the town, called Barbara of Walowice Brzezinska a widow, and her hall, to despoil, and to burn with fire, in vengeance of the pretended injury. Now with swift course the furious men were carried toward the hall, breathing fire; but the Lady with hers, not able to resist so great an onset, gave herself to prayer, redoubles her Patron B. Ladislaus, invokes, beseeches; that he should show himself now a true pastor, defender, protector; O miracle! When the furious soldiers had come to the cross, marked with the image of the Crucified, situated before the hall; in no way could they proceed further, and pass the limits of the cross. The cruel men agitated their horses with spurs, scourges, heels: yet they did not profit, but only were driven in a circle. They notice at length that the finger of God is here; but yet they call the power of God baleful arts and incantations of charms. It was evident therefore that this Lady had been then by the mercy of God from the fury of those enemies, by the singular intercession and help of B. Ladislaus, whom she had invoked for her aid, freed and protected.

[266] The town itself too at another time experienced the singular protection of this its holy Patron. For in the year of the Lord MDCXXVI when the epidemic plague had crept into it, and had begun to rage in the native soil of B. Ladislaus, and had now killed thirty townsmen; the inhabitants of the town instituted a devotion, in which invoking the intercession and protection of their holy Patron, [the people of Gielniów freed from the plague, assume the image of the Blessed for an arms:] they vowed themselves. Which done soon the plague ceased to rage, nor any more did any vestige of its contagion appear in the infirmity or death of anyone. Which noticing the same inhabitants, in memory of the grace received, chose him anew as Patron of the town in a singular manner. For the arms of their town, which they used from of old, being cast away, they assumed for an arms and a badge the image of B. Ladislaus religiously clothed, holding in his left hand a column with Christ bound to it, and in his right a scourge, and use it as their own.

[267] Very many other miracles were wrought through B. Ladislaus, all which to distinguish in writing would be a work of immense labor, but especially in alleviating the infirm: but still I cannot contain myself from describing one and another. There is distant from the city of Warsaw six leagues a certain noble, an egregious benefactor of the Brothers, and addicted with singular affection to the Religion of S. Francis of the Minors Observant, Lord Martin Cieciszewski; whose wife of the Chlewicki family, when she had come to the point of childbirth, began to labor with various difficulties. Many women strong in the art of midwifery were called; they performed their office; but at length noticing the difficulty, despairing they receded, deserted the woman in childbed. There had assembled some noble Ladies from divers places, about to bring help, counsel, solace to the imperiled woman; but none so efficacious was found, a woman in childbirth is freed from the danger of death. which might in any way relieve the lying woman. The judgment of all was, and the voice and opinion unanimous, that she would sooner bring forth her soul, than the conceived foetus; and therefore she must rather be prepared for such a birth, fortified with the Sacraments, and instructed with salutary arms. There was called one Father from a nearby place of the Order of the Minors Observant, that he might beget a pure virgin soul for God. He came, asks, admonishes, invites, that all bending the knee should pray for her equally with him seven Pater nosters, and should name vows for her to B. Ladislaus. Those noble women answered, that they had vowed her to other Saints, one to S. Ignatius, another to S. Hyacinth, yet had not profited anything. The Priest nevertheless insists, and bids all to be of good cheer, and exhorts to pray seven Pater nosters. His girdle-cord being laid down from himself, he surrounds the infirm woman; he himself bends, prays, binds to the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus. The others prayed with him, but attended more to the agonizing woman, than to the prayer. And behold unexpectedly the woman is delivered of the birth, brings forth the conceived: there comes forth into light what tortured, racked, killed the mother: she is made free. The confused and despairing women, rejoice with the lying woman in childbed: they proclaim great the Saint B. Ladislaus, by whose benefit in so manifest a danger of life, in so arduous a case, the woman easily brought forth the hindered womb, having brought forth what was strictly shut, nor could naturally be loosed except by cutting.

[268] Now approaching the goal of our digests, that miracle here we set down, which rightly and deservedly claimed for itself the first place, both by reason of the most worthy person, in whom God showed the signs of His power and mercy, and by reason of antiquity, because by priority of time it preceded the greatest part of the writings. But we set it in the last place, led by that reason, by which an orator at the end heaps the strongest arguments of his discourse, that namely at the end at least he may effect this, which by the whole oration he could not obtain. Wladislaus Sigismund King of Poland in his youth sick, Strength therefore, authority, weight, dignity, and a crown to the examples now written, by this last miracle I intend to add. Now at length let the Most Serene Wladislaus Sigismund come, by the favoring grace of God now the present King of Poland and Sweden, elected Grand Duke of Muscovy. He in the year of the Lord MDCXII, in the very flower of his youth, seized by a most grave disease, had undergone the perilous hazard of life. The truer opinion seemed, which said he would succumb to a deadly fate, than that opinion, which promised that he would be restored to health. To so great a Prince, and to all the inhabitants of the kingdom at all times most welcome, no aids of human art were wanting: the effort and continual zeal of the physicians was free for driving off the disease: but with vain endeavor the remedies sought were applied. A sinister suspicion arose about the life of the Prince, nay his health was despaired of: death without doubt impending drew near. For in that state was the health of the Prince, that the space of one hour, for retaining life, the speech of the five Physicians who stood by him scarcely promised him. The signs too of death and the indications of failing life brought forth the same opinion. despaired of by the Physicians. Not different from the opinion of the physicians was that of the Most Serene Princess Anna, Royal virgin of Sweden, the aunt of the Most Serene this our King Wladislaus Sigismund, of whom our discourse; who although she was alien from the Catholic faith, yet for driving off diseases and curing infirmities was held fortunate. She testified, that the healing of the Prince had been miraculous, in whom all vital signs had ceased, and all mortal ones had succeeded.

[269] Therefore the health of the Prince set in so evident a danger, a certain Chaplain of the Most Serene Queen, R. D. of good memory George Cerasinus, mindful of the benefits afforded to the other infirm through B. Ladislaus, deeming that recourse must be had to him, came to the Brothers of the Warsaw Convent; to the Nuns too of S. Francis he announces the same, that the Prince was turned in extreme danger of life, deserted by the physicians, and all hope of health being cut off, hastened with swift course to the gate of death; that they should have compassion on the youthful age of the noble adolescent; should grieve with the Fatherland losing a Prince of the best expectation, imperiled of life, and falling in the very flower of youth; that the hope of the Kingdom was perishing, an illustrious nature being taken away, the expectation of all the good eluded: that they should seize the protection of prayer, set the shield of vows to B. Ladislaus the Patron of the place, demand from God with ardent devotion the aid of despaired health, commend solicitously the whole business to B. Ladislaus, and implore the help exhibited to many in a like cause. The Tertiary Nuns, with kindled candles, without delay prostrate in prayer at the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus, with tears poured out cried to God, and required the help of B. Ladislaus. The same zeal of devotion the Brothers exercised, all poured out in supplication, some applying themselves to celebrating sacred Masses, some affixed at the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus, by the help of B. Ladislaus he convalesced. to pouring out prayers to God, others to reciting litanies, making disciplines, chanting psalmodies. Twice they wove the same web: for the disease again relapsing, the Prince seized had undergone the same lot of dangers. So the best Prince, by the benefit of B. Ladislaus, to whom by such ardent vows he was offered, by God having mercy on him restored to health, remained free from disease. May the happy great Prince live, and for long years of age experience happy progresses of life, we all pray, augur, and vow. Be it done. Be it done.

CHAPTER X.

The conclusion of the work.

[270] In this small volume, to conclude all the miracles which God the Best and Greatest deigned to work by the intercession and merits of His servant B. Ladislaus, is impossible: to investigate, to inquire, to scrutinize about them, is too arduous; to collect witnesses, to bring them to the office, to produce the miracles in judgment, to prove, to demonstrate, to discern the true from the false, is a work of intolerable labor, trouble, difficulty, solicitude. The infirmities of various persons cured: Therefore very many related by simple report we have on purpose omitted, although we knew for certain them to be most true. Of that number was the wife of the noble Lord Nicholas Czosnowski, who long infirm without hope of recovering health, by a vow to B. Ladislaus through a certain devout virgin, dwelling at Warsaw, her kinswoman, being bound, suddenly convalesced, with her vehement admiration: for she knew not, lying in the village, what was being done for her at Warsaw. Which likewise at another time to her husband then too and to her daughter to have happened, with sure faith it was related. A certain woman too, of the village of Białołęka, called Marina Łabęciowa, for fourteen weeks vexed by a grave and incurable infirmity, by a vow named to B. Ladislaus, was cured. Not to be passed over Lady Hedwig Zawadzka, who, death brandishing in her its lethal darts, snatched from danger, and made sound, when she had recurred by devout prayers and a vow to B. Ladislaus. Lo there is the Noble Lady Krosnowska, who from a malign fever having suffered detriment in sense and reason, by the same remedy was healed. benefits afforded to very many, Very many houses from the danger of the plague, even whole villages and cities; then various persons in very many places, covered with this shield, remained safe. Many women were relieved of the difficulty of childbirth: some from the dangers of robbers, rivers, journeys, B. Ladislaus being invoked escaped free. Others in the difficulties of affairs, contentions, dissensions

of law, committing themselves to the protection of B. Ladislaus, were consoled; and recognizing the benefits, carried silver tablets and other signs under that name to the sepulcher of B. Ladislaus. Yet more, which is to be grieved, withdrawn by an inordinate shame and modesty, lest they should betray their defects, which they wish to be hidden, are silent about the benefits received from the Blessed: others terrified by the difficulty, that testimonies are not to be deposited except an oath being taken, do not bring them to those to whom it pertains to know and approve the miracles done: the rest, benefits being received, by the merits of B. Ladislaus, partly through unskillfulness, partly through negligence, partly on account of the distance of the place, the difficulty of the journey and various other causes, are silent about them.

[271] Let it suffice to have brought forth these things at this first impulse, for having some knowledge of the holiness of this servant of God B. Ladislaus our Patron, that the people may the more confidently know how to invoke his holy help, and avail to the greater glory of God, and the honor of B. Ladislaus; whose holiness would that quickly might shine forth to the Holy Church of God, and be crowned with the glory of Canonization, and profit us imploring his help and patronage! Happy fatherland, happy city, most happy kingdom, which lacks not its Patrons, who set themselves a shield against the fury of the avenging God. Let them refresh their memory; of the year of the Lord one thousand six hundred and six and seven, and the intestine motions stirred in this most flourishing kingdom of Poland; Poland aided by its Patrons in the year 1606 and 1607 in an intestine war, how atrociously it was agitated by most turbulent dissensions, discords, dissidences; when wholly in arms, to the most certain destruction, God so permitting, it was borne by an onset; so that not only the inhabitants, but also the other foreign nations, augured nothing but its destruction. This judgment was not vain nor specious. For at Rome in the same course of time there was a certain Father, B. Bartholomew Salutius, of the Order of the Friars Minor of the Observance, then still existing among the living, a holy man, most celebrated still in life for miracles, of whose Canonization treatment is now had at Rome. He in a vision divinely exhibited to him, beheld this Kingdom of Poland, filled with infernal powers, striving by their stygian arts to prepare it for destruction; to whom the splendid Crown of the Holy Patrons of the Kingdom most strongly opposing itself, so resisted, that the forces of those darknesses being utterly broken, and their arts dissolved, soon easily and not unhappily, concord, love, and peace were restored, persevering holily even to this day. He is reported, that Father exulting, to have exclaimed: O Poland! many and strong Patrons thou hast, who if they had not now succored thee, into thy miserable downfall through the tartarean powers, made for thy destruction, led, thou wouldst now have passed.

[272] Why should I not say the same of the other dangers more often impending over our Kingdom of Poland? Let the provident reader remember, a few years interposed, in how great perils of its safety our fatherland was turned; why not also in the year 1622 against the Turks? when the Ottoman or Osman Emperor of the Turks, in the year of the Lord MDCXXII against it six hundred thousand, a most powerful and in these ages utterly unheard-of army, that he might storm it stirred with ardent fury, take away its liberty, delete the Christian name in it, subdue it to his most ferocious command, had led. Let him remember at the same time, that of Isaiah XLII and with a pious mind recall, Upon thy walls, Jerusalem, I have set watchmen, all the day and all the night for ever they shall not be silent. And who are these watchmen? not only by the Angels, The Angel-presidents applied by God to men I would say. Well indeed: for God has given His Angels charge over thee, lest perhaps thou dash thy foot against a stone, Psal. xc. Which also clearly Eliseus the Prophet, by his prayer obtained from the Lord, that Giezi his servant should behold the strong army of the Syrians, in the neighborhood now encamped round about, fearing exceedingly. For the Prophet praying for him, he saw: And behold the mountain full of horses and fiery chariots round about. IV Kings VI. Zacharias too in chapter II raising his eyes, saw Angels around Jerusalem going forth, and meeting one another. In sum the Lord Himself in Baruch VI with most brilliant words testifies this truth: My Angel is with you, but I myself will require your souls.

[273] But indeed this too no one can deny, that we should affirm the holy Patrons of places, cities, kingdoms, to be these watchmen. A most illustrious example offers itself in II Macc. XV, but also defended by them, may it be said? the most strong Leader Judas relating his vision in these words. Onias, who was the high Priest, a good and benign man, modest of look, gentle of morals, and decorous of speech, and who from a boy had been exercised in virtues, stretching forth his hands praying for all the people of the Jews. There follows another in the same place. After this another man appeared, admirable in age and glory, and of great comeliness in the habitude about him; but Onias answering said, This is the lover of his brethren and of the people of Israel; this is he who prays much for the people and the whole holy city, Jeremiah the Prophet of God. Very many other similar examples being omitted; here in our fatherland the most holy Patron Florian was once seen to defend his people of Kleparz from the flames of fires, as formerly were seen SS. Florian and Casimir, consuming the neighboring houses, and to extinguish those ardors. S. Casimir, born of a Royal bed, son of Casimir Jagellonides King of Poland, was beheld to have borne, after his happy death, a royal mind toward his Lithuanian nation, whose great Duchy he had holily administered, when to the army of his people proceeding against the Muscovite, showing himself visible, he afforded a leadership, sitting on a white horse, glorious preceding the very column by taking the way; in the most evident sign of victory, which soon followed, the enemies being turned to flight from fear.

[274] Of no less merit indeed with all-powerful God, and of singular affection toward his Fatherland, is to be deemed our B. Ladislaus of Gielniów; and equal to them B. Ladislaus. who as we related above, showed himself not only to private persons an intercessor with God and a helper in necessities, but also of the whole city of Warsaw, nay of the whole kingdom a pious Patron, Custodian, Protector, and Defender. O would that grateful for so great benefits received from him we all might show ourselves; whom God Himself honors, we too may not only follow him with condign reverence, but that also holy mother Church may quickly set him before us referred among the Saints, conspicuous, and to be cultivated with the cult of the Saints, with all zeal, work, solicitude, let us care, referring all things to the praise of almighty God; who be in His Saints blessed for ever.

PRAYER

To Blessed Ladislaus.

O happy Father, B. Ladislaus, amiable Father, O ornament of the Catholic Church, most fervent cultivator and zealot of Divine praise, director and singular protector of chaste souls, subduer of evil temptations after Christ and His Angels, Rector and faithful Patron of Warsaw. Come, take me and all my affairs, the holy Church of God, the Kingdom and all its orders, our Religion, and especially this province, my kinsmen, friends and benefactors, the city, and this place, into thy special tutelage and direction. In temptations, by thy pious prayers protect us; the enemies visible and invisible all repress and subdue, in tribulations console us and strengthen: a salubrious and fertile air, and also for our friends and enemies charity and concord obtain: this fatherland, with all dwelling in it, from all plague, famine and war, the ferocity and power of enemies, preserve unharmed: besides me and all my friends, with their afflictions, infirmities, sadnesses, and whatever indigences, to thee through the vision of the Divine Majesty known, I commend and resign: that all fleeing to thy singular intercession and protection, the grace of God almighty in the present life, and in the future the heavenly glory may avail to obtain. Through Christ our Lord.

APPENDIX

An authentic miracle of the year MDCLXIII.

Ladislaus of Gielniów, of the Order of the Minors of the Observance at Warsaw (B.)

FROM A MS.

[276] What of this Blessed is still desired. Thus far the Life, as it was printed in the year MDCXXXIII: which seeing to be extracted from the Processes, I did not doubt but that several other miracles were contained in the same, here omitted for the sake of brevity. I asked therefore the Guardian of the place, that not only the old monuments about this Blessed should be described for me, but also a supplement of miracles to be collected from the aforesaid processes should he procure; and to these add the rest, which from the year of the said edition I persuaded myself many things had happened, and with equal zeal had been annotated; nay also the effigy of the Blessed himself, which at num. 135 is said to be had engraved on the sepulchral stone, I asked to be delineated to the life, which could be engraved on copper for the memory of posterity. And of some image indeed (yet not of that which is there described) a delineation he sent, and that so rude, how his image is painted. that I despaired that anything good could be made from it: but a miracle only he sent, one. The miracle I shall presently transcribe: of the image this I would say, that there is painted in it B. Ladislaus with a radiant sun above his head, and with arms spread; so that the right hand holds an erect scourge, horrid with goads affixed to the extremities of the hanging parts; the left, a long and round column, and to it bound by hands and feet the effigy of the naked Christ. But in the recess of the tablet itself, on the right is discerned the same Blessed, kneeling on a hill, far from the city of Warsaw to put to flight an immane and flame-vomiting dragon, by which the contagion of the pestilent disease, which he is narrated to have repelled in the Life num. 150, the added writing signified. In a similar recess on the left, above the Warsaw (as the added name indicates) city, an iris drawn in the air has a figure sitting on it, brandishing a thunderbolt with one hand, holding a cross with the other: one would say it was Christ the angry judge, did not the explanation make one doubt by which it is said, Preaching the passion of Christ he is raised in the air: it seems therefore the Blessed himself too here is expressed: and the whole composition is such, that a larger altar tablet a painting of this kind could fill. The miracle, which I said, in proving form was thus transmitted.

[277] In the year of the Lord MDCLXIII, on Friday, the XX day of the month of July, Before the Official of Warsaw the Brothers of the Convent of S. Anne, at Warsaw before the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend D. Matthew Jagodowicz, Doctor of Both Laws, Apostolic Protonotary, Canon of Płock, Warsaw, Pułtusk, Vicar in spirituals and general Official of Warsaw and through the Duchy of Mazovia, Secretary of His Royal Majesty, sitting personally for the Tribunal to render the laws, there appearing the Religious, Francis of Warsaw, Master of Novices of the Convent of the Friars Minor of Warsaw at S. Anne of the Order of S. Francis of the Observance; and Elzearius Babski, Tertiary of the same convent, present in their own and in the names of the whole aforesaid Convent; a certain vision or apparition, made divinely to the same above-said Religious Elzearius, verified by the oath of the same Religious Elzearius bodily taken, conceived in writing below written, or an instrument of the miraculous recovery of the lost

sense of hearing, exhibit an instrument to be published, subscribed by the hands of the Religious Fathers Sigismund Janowski Guardian, Bonaventure of Mlacin Vicar, and of the other Brothers of the same Convent, and fortified with the seal of the Convent, for obtaining all better faith and effect and the strength of perpetual firmness, judicially exhibited: which to be admitted, and for the perpetual memory of the matter in all and each of its points, clauses, and articles universally, to be approved, confirmed, ratified, the strength of ordinary authority and perpetual firmness equally and a decree thereupon to be set, letters of approbation and confirmation and any other necessary ones to be decreed and given out; and the rest for the effect of the premises by law opportune to be done and sentenced, with due instance they asked and demanded. And the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord general Official of Warsaw and through the Duchy of Mazovia above-named, the petition of the instants being heard, the writing produced by them, authentic and making faith, to me the undersigned Notary publicly to be read and published gave, of the following tenor namely.

[278] In the year from the birth of the Virgin MDCLXIII, when the solemn Octave of the Visitation of the most blessed Virgin Mary, at her building, of Fr. Elzearius, his Tertiary, situated in the new city of Warsaw, was being performed; wonderful benefits concerning his despaired health, on the part of the wholly lost sense of hearing, conferred by the Most Blessed Virgin and B. Ladislaus, Fr. Elzearius Babski experienced, of the Rule of S. Francis in the Warsaw Convent at S. Anne, of the Order of the Friars Minor of Regular observance, commonly called Tertiary, on the VIII day of July then current. For from affliction and a more lasting pain of the head, on the IV day of July, who suddenly made wholly deaf, about the time of the common refection, so unexpectedly and violently he was made deaf, that he could hear neither voices, nor clamors, nor any noise; but only by nods or in writing for opportunity he had to be informed. Wearied of which affection the afflicted Brother aforesaid, began to despair of the help of human aid. Wherefore he resolved to visit the building of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary for the VIII day of July: but meanwhile in the time he supplicates B. Ladislaus, that by his intervention he would deign to conciliate for him the grace of the most blessed Virgin Mother of God. And because then by the concourse of the whole Clergy and people of the whole city of Warsaw a solemn procession, with triumph and most glad applause, to the building of the most blessed Virgin in the new city of Warsaw was instituted, for thanksgiving on the part of the dissolved knot of the bound army, the help of the B. Virgin being implored through the prayers of B. Ladislaus, and the restored peace within the bowels of the fatherland of the kingdom of Poland; this Fr. Elzearius satisfying his vow deeming it the best occasion, asks license from the most Venerable Father Custos, that together in the procession with the Brothers he might be permitted to visit the church of the most blessed Virgin: but hindered by the unfitness of his debility, by the discreet judgment of the Superior he is detained: the vow yet to be fulfilled in desire he does not give up, but for the solemn Octave of the Visitation of the most blessed Virgin disposes.

[279] The Brothers returning after the procession, asked Fr. Elzearius sitting at table by signs and nods, whether he had heard the sound and roar of the cannons, discharged in honor of the triumph: but he answered that in this part, as deaf, he was ignorant of what had been done. At length he reclined at table for the common refection: and the dinner finished, soon with a sadder and pale countenance, as if half-dead, he seemed to the Brothers: and rising from the table, he has this one and that one conspicuous in a vision, from debility collapsing, having gone out of the refectory, sat down in the ambulatory of the cloister: and soon by such a vision in waking, at the second hour of the afternoon, he is recreated. He sees with a comely countenance, in the Regular habit of the Friars Minor, a religious man, mature in age, venerable in appearance, with a Virgin associated to him at his right, refulgent in form and decorous dress, marked with a golden diadem, the hairs of her head parted, walking in the ambulatory of the cloister: whose so mutual conversation from both sides soon the same Brother Elzearius began to censure, interrogating with these words the Religious appearing before his eyes; I would wish to know Your Paternity, who he is, and whence he is? It appears that he is not of our province, since to discourse with Virgins through the ambulatory of the cloister is not in the manner usual to our Fathers: nay it is unbecoming, nor lawful here for any women to enter. To whom from then (as is believed) B. Ladislaus answering, said, Dost thou not even know me? Who answers, that he never knew him. To whom meanwhile B. Ladislaus says; by whom he is made more certain of recovering his hearing, Dost thou not know where my bones rest? and he added, I am one inhabitant of this place and Patron. Which words heard, wholly into stupor, from reverence and fear, Fr. Elzearius aforenamed was turned; daring yet to interrogate, who that Virgin associated to him at his right was. To whom the Virgin herself in her own person answered. Who I may be do not inquire, but know that from now thou shalt receive thy hearing. And Fr. Elzearius answered: Indeed, O Virgin, now I best hear and perceive those things which you confer among yourselves. Whom at once the most glorious Virgin exhorted with these words: Satisfy then thy vow, and visit my church as thou hast promised, and henceforth with sharp and good hearing thou shalt be strong.

[280] These discourses finished that vision disappeared; and in the head of Fr. Elzearius there was made so great a crash and most intense sound, that within the cranium of his head he thought some cannon had been discharged. soon he proves himself healed to the Brothers, These things performed rising from the place, he came to the Brothers, wishing to prove whether he could hear those things which they spoke among themselves. But they ignorant of the event of the matter, by nods only and signs declared their meaning to him. But he, as now strong with the best hearing, forewarned them that they should now answer him by voice and not by signs, since now, by the favor of the most blessed Virgin and the intervention of B. Ladislaus, he confessed that he heard best: and the whole series and event of the matter he soon narrated to them: and required by the Superior, and on bent knees adjured, the truth of the matter with good conscience, upon all and each of the things which he had seen and which had happened to him, he confessed. On the third day at length in turn of gratitude by the oblation of a Mass, for the thanksgiving of so great a benefit obtained, at the building of the most blessed Virgin Mary, situated in the new city of Warsaw, presently visiting he appeared. fulfilling the vow made to the B. Virgin; Which that they happened done in that series, sound he recognizes, to the greater honor of the Virgin Mother of God Mary, and to attest the faithful patronage of B. Ladislaus. In faith of all and each of which, we the Discreets, present, with the seal of the convent fortified, with our hands have subscribed. Given in our Convent of the Friars Minor of regular observance of S. Francis on the XIX day of the month of July in the year of the Lord MDCLXIII.

Fr. Sigismund Janowski, Custos and Guardian of Warsaw with his own hand. Fr. Bonaventure of Mlacin Vicar of the place with his own hand. Fr. Benedict Bilinski with his own hand. Fr. Francis of Warsaw, Master of Novices with his own hand. Fr. Adrian Costenus, Preacher of the nuns and Penitentiary with his own hand.

[281] After which publication, the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend D. general Official aforenamed, and the aforesaid all to be true under oath confirms. although indeed that same Religious Elzearius Babski, his recognition of this kind in the hands of the Discreet Fathers of the aforesaid Convent gathered had proved by oath; nevertheless yet for the greater firmness and subsistence of the truth of this kind, this same his assertion the said Religious Elzearius, by an official oath in the presence of the undersigned witnesses to verify he commanded. Which Religious Elzearius forthwith, upon all and each of the premises, a bodily oath, two fingers placed upon the image of the Crucified and on bent knees, judicially took in this formula. I Fr. Elzearius Babski, of the Order of S. Francis of the Observance of the Warsaw Convent at S. Anne a Tertiary, swear to God almighty, one in trinity, that all and each which in this paper schedule, from my true and faithful relation, are noted and written, are not vain or feigned, but really and undoubtedly and presently done: and that not in dreams, a phantasm, or a wandering of mind; but to me being of sound judgment, good memory, and right reason an apparition of this kind exhibited itself. So I recognize and so I assert, under the damnation of my soul; and so may God help me and His holy Passion.

[282] And from then the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend D. general Official and Judge above-named, the Official approving in the presence of witnesses, from the heard and well understood and maturely weighed and diligently balanced and considered narration of the inserted vision, and its juratory verification, by the same Fr. Elzearius aforesaid made, to admit the same, and in all and each of its points, articles and contents by ordinary authority to be approved, confirmed, ratified, the strength of the same authority and perpetual firmness equally and a decree thereupon to be set he judged; as indeed, in the name of the Lord, for the perpetual memory of the matter, he admitted, approved and confirmed and ratified, set the strength of ordinary authority equally and a decree, and decreed by his sentence that it ought to obtain the force of perpetual and inviolable firmness, and ordered the letters of approbation and confirmation to be given out, there being present the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Paul Klosowicz Doctor of Both Laws Apostolic Protonotary, Canon of Płock, Warsaw, Kielce, Pułtusk; Luke Zakrzewski, Commendatary of the Particular of Łowicz; Stanislaus Kaminski, Vice-Dean; Adam Wladislaus Sienkiewicz, perpetual Vicar of the ancient Collegiate church of Warsaw; then the Religious Gaspar Sargha of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus, Francis of Jesus-Mary and Sigismund … professed of the Fathers of the pious Schools of the Mother of God of the Warsaw Convent, and very many other witnesses assisting at this Act, and me Paul Augustine Pfzonha, public by Apostolic authority and of the Consistory of Warsaw for that time Notary.

[283] Extracted from the Acts of the Consistory of Warsaw, and fortified with the seal of the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend D. Matthew Jagodowicz, Doctor of Both Laws Apostolic Protonotary, of Warsaw, as appears from the authentic copy. Canon of Pułtusk, Vicar in spirituals and general Official of Warsaw and through the Duchy of Mazovia, Secretary of the Royal and Reginal Majesties.

✠ Andrew Alexander Groszkiewski, Apostolic and of the causes of the Episcopal Curia of Poznań, as also Notary Actuary of the Consistory of Warsaw, Secretary of His Royal Majesty with his own hand.

ON BLESSED PIUS THE FIFTH

SUPREME PONTIFF.

A.D. MDLXXII

Pius Pope V at Rome (S.)

G. H.

We have obtained a double Life of this Most Holy Pontiff, one in Italian by Jerome Catena, the other in Latin written by John Anthony Gabutius: of how great esteem each is, we gather from the Relation of John Baptist Coccinus, In the Relation for the Canonization the writers of the Lives are praised, Philip Pirovanus and Clement Merlinus Auditors of the Rota made to Urban VIII upon the life and miracles of Pope Pius V of holy memory, in the year MDCXXIX, in the first part of which they speak thus: We among all the histories chiefly received that of Jerome Catena, and of John Anthony Gabutius: who professedly the life and the affairs illustriously done by Pius V have handed down to memory,

and from these if not an integral and conclusive proof, at least an aid arising to the foregoing proofs we judged; both because Catena was a man of signal authority, Jerome Catena, greatly celebrated in the Roman curia, and Secretary then to Cardinal Alexandrino the grand-nephew of the same Pius V, then to the Congregation of Bishops and the sacred Consulta… then also, because the things which he wrote, either from most approved fountains to have drawn, or with his own eyes to have seen he affirms; since he knew Pius V living and looked up to him, and therefore his testimony is to be made the most of… Nay since the volume of Catena seems to have been not only read and approved by Sixtus V, but also by his authority and command printed, and to have been fortified by a Senatus-consult of the Roman People, as is had in the dedicatory epistle prefixed to the same volume, and from the very Senatus-consult printed before the beginning of the history, it is not to be doubted, but that it merits faith. For if it did not rest on truth, the Prince would not so easily have ordered or permitted it to be published into the light.

[2] But to Gabutius we thought no less faith must be afforded, John Anthony Gabutius, not only because he was a religious man and of approved life and opinion, namely of the Clerics Regular of S. Paul at the Column, Provost of his Religion and House, considerable for doctrine and morals (which qualities build up much authority and faith) but also, because the same Gabutius underwent examination in the ordinary Roman Process, and is the second witness and an oath being taken testified the truth of his work concerning the deeds of Pius V: from which Oath what and how great an approbation arises, there is no one who is ignorant… Nay twice Gabutius betook himself to Bosco and elsewhere, that he might faithfully and accurately investigate the deeds of Pius V and hand them down in letters, and that he had collected the Life of Pius from most approved and of entire faith authors and monuments he affirms at the end of his work: and his testimony as trustworthy is brought forward for the holiness of S. Charles in his Relation. Whence also stronger proofs can be elicited from him for proving the holiness of Pius V. To which is added a reason, which with us seemed to urge enough and add faith to the aforesaid writers: because namely their writings were published while many were still living, who had known Pius V, and had been present at the affairs done by him, and especially Sixtus V, to whom the work of Catena is dedicated. Which Sixtus V indeed had been familiar to Pius V, and by him had been marked with the honor of the Cardinalate: and therefore it cannot be believed that they were so impudent, as to set forth lies openly to the eyes of all, lest they should be refuted by their Superiors. These and other things in the said Relation Coccinus.

[3] But how greatly Pope Clement VIII esteemed the work of Gabutius, he testifies in the diploma printed before the Life itself with this exordium: Whereas, as we have received, approved by Clement VIII, our beloved son John Anthony Gabutius, Presbyter of the Congregation of the Clerics Regular of S. Paul, and Provost of the college of the same S. Paul situated in the square of the Column of the City, of Pius V our Predecessor, Pontiff, most outstanding for holiness of morals and all praise of virtues, whose memory be in blessing, the life and deeds, received from approved authors and very many eyewitnesses, and from various monuments and Apostolic letters with great faith and much labor and expense collected, and elegantly and learnedly written, for the common utility of the Roman Pontiffs and Christian Princes and all the faithful of Christ has resolved to publish into the light &c. Which premised Clement concedes a most ample faculty concerning the printing of the said Life of Pius V. There came forth afterward from the Roman press in the year MDCLXXII, Pius V Roman Pontiff, or of the Ecclesiastical Annals, and described by Bzovius, the author being R. P. F. Abraham Bzovius a Pole Doctor of sacred Theology of the Order of Preachers, the posthumous and last volume, comprising the narration of the things done in the Christian World from the year of the Lord MDLXVI to MDLXXII (that is under the Pontificate of Pius V). In which volume Bzovius all things, which properly pertain to the deeds of Pius V and his virtues plainly in the same words, but in the order subsequently changed narrates, as the said Gabutius had described them. The wars however and seditions of the heretics, which are more strictly brought forth by Gabutius, are more amply from other writers deduced by Bzovius. Whom and other writers the benevolent Reader may consult, if he desires also these to be read more accurately discussed; for us the history of Gabutius, prolix enough, abundantly suffices: because he himself used the Italian Life of Jerome Catena, of which chiefly these things in the Preface we deem are to be understood: But what others have left written of Pius, from these used the Italian Life of Catena. (some, as far as there was need, being passed over; many indeed too, if we err not, more truly explained; very many finally, which they had not touched, worthy of memory being added) an illustrious example to all the orders of all the virtues, splendid in this Pontiff, with sincere faith will be set forth. These he.

[4] The same Gabutius had collected the epistles of Pius V to the Bishops, Kings, and other Princes, and had resolved as witnesses of the things related to publish them, as in the Epilogue he adds: but those deferred to another time Francis Goubau obtained, and caused them at Antwerp in the Plantin Office of Balthasar Moretus in the year MDCXL distinguished into five books to be printed. From these various ones Bzovius inserted into his volume, as also various constitutions taken from the Pontifical Bullary of Laertius Cherubinus, in which a hundred and fifty constitutions of Pius V are contained. the Epistles and Constitutions are cited. We have indicated very many both epistles and constitutions among our marginal synopses, that the reader may consult them, where he shall desire a further explanation of the things related. The Life itself too after our manner into chapters and numbers we have distinguished, the notice of the former division, which the author made, being added, that if it be cited by others, it may most easily also with us be found.

[5] We subjoin an epitome of the Relation of the Auditors of the Rota, and the miracles therein related, which by Gabutius are not touched, we shall thence collect, together with a Synopsis of all the miracles produced in the Processes, an epitome of the Relation, which also from the same we shall give: and this we think is enough, since the Relation itself is published entire by Bzovius. There is extant too, which we pass over because it contains nothing singular, a brief Relation by the Congregation of sacred Rites, and approved by the Supreme Pontiff, and at Rome from the typography of the Reverend Apostolic Chamber in the year MDCLXXII printed: in which year on the very Kalends of May Pope Clement X by a solemn rite ascribed Pius V himself to the number of the Blessed, and conceded the faculty of reciting the Ecclesiastical Office under a semidouble rite on the fifth day at Rome in the Patriarchal Church of S. Mary Major, the Ecclesiastical Office. where his body rests; in the town of Bosco, where he was born; in the dioceses of Mondovì, Nepi and Sutri, where he was Bishop; and in the whole Religion of Preachers of both sexes, whose Rule he professed.

LIFE

By the Author John Anthony Gabutius

Pius Pope V at Rome (S.)

BY ANTHONY GABUTIUS

Dedicatory Epistle

To the Most Holy and Most Blessed Father and Our Lord Paul V, Supreme Pontiff, John Anthony Gabutius, Cleric Regular of S. Paul, everlasting felicity.

The things which Pius V, both in dignity and virtue a most holy Pontiff, who preceded Thee, Most Blessed Father, on that supreme summit of Apostolic Majesty now in the eighth place, left as examples of holy actions, Who the deeds of Pius V most worthy of memory, those by the judgment of all the pious and right-thinking are deemed plainly worthy, that they be everywhere celebrated in the letters and tongues of all nations, and in commemorating which not only my slenderness, but also the keener geniuses of outstanding writers should sweat. For by this reason, both the glory of the divine name, which in the virtue of so great a Pontiff wondrously shone, more long and wide perhaps will be propagated; and the minds of mortals, to whom it shall please to read these things, so illustrious an example of virtues being set forth, will be excellently consulted; and finally the memory of that supreme man, which to pious minds was always welcome as well as pleasant, will easily be vindicated from the oblivion of men. the author had written at the exhortation of several, These namely were the causes, why I in former years, not indeed of my own accord, but most ample men, and chiefly Michael Bonello, Cardinal Alexandrino, soon dead, and then Sebastian Gislerius, Bishop of Strongoli, kinsmen of the same Pontiff; and others, from whose nod it was not lawful for me to depart, more often impelling; the life and deeds of Pius to be consigned to letters, with the will of obeying rather than the faculty of completing, undertook. The work therefore both from many other and approved authors, and from various and certain monuments and testimonies, which the same Cardinal and very many other rich and eyewitness testifiers supplied me, the work now printed and approved in good faith collected, although less for its dignity, yet indeed for the slenderness of my genius and the keen zeal of historical truth, God well aiding, written; and by the judgment of the supreme men, skilled in these matters, but chiefly by thy most grave judgment, Most Blessed Father, while thou wast Cardinal and didst function in the office of Vicar of Clement VIII in the City, known and approved, was scarcely yet committed to the press; when behold Thee to the holding of the helms of His holy Church, thinking nothing of this kind, it is offered to the newly created Pope Paul V, for His singular providence God called. And indeed it seems done not by any chance, but by divine counsel, that this work of whatever kind, long ago indeed begun, but for various causes more often interrupted, was reserved as it were on purpose for Thee to be dedicated; that especially supported by Thy patronage, and consecrated to Thy most august name it should come forth into the light, to whom alone of all most of all it was established to be owed. For both the life of the most holy Pontiff and his illustriously done deeds, to no one more than to the supreme Pontiff, his successor into his place and power, both to be reread and to be imitated, are opportunely or more aptly set forth: and the recollection of the virtues of Pius V cannot be unpleasant to him, who an egregious cultivator and propagator of Christian piety, always wondrously cultivated Pius himself; and with the splendor of all other virtues, and chiefly with singular integrity of morals, exceptional meekness, the highest prudence conspicuous, seems so to express him both in morals and in life, that by the admirable consent of the most wise Fathers of the Holy Roman Church, God well providing so, he merited to succeed him, and indeed to sustain the place of Christ on earth. To this is added, that as the best and most learned man, the Patron of the Gislerii, Marcus Antonius Burghesius, thy father, for his singular virtue and zeal of piety, Pius greatly loved; and him therefore Advocate of the poor of Christ, whom the same Pius always bore in the bowels of his sincere charity, long ago constituted in the City benignly preserved in the office, and gladly used his faithful service; so great plainly was the benignity of Thy Holiness toward the Gislerii, kinsmen of the same Pontiff, at all times: which they then chiefly recognized, when

Clement VIII assenting, both the cause of their College of Pavia erected by Pius V delegated to thee by law was settled, and by thy most wise judgment with great labors terminated, and the said Sebastian Bishop they saw consecrated by thee with so willing a mind. For which and other titles, they profess that they owe thee very much; and that they rejoice that they do not so much hold benefits of this kind, as obtain them by thy authority and beneficence.

And so I seem to see, in the greatest number of those congratulating the Pontificate conferred by thy merits, Pius V, most loving of thee, from heaven supremely congratulating thee on the honor entered upon; his worthy Successor and rejoicing that not only with thee in this election plainly admirable, but with the whole Christian people too it has been illustriously dealt; and by divine help, which for thee with the highest vows he implores, hoping it shall be, that what he himself did well, thou mayest best represent; and what Pius V, almost worn out by old age and snatched away by death, left begun; those things and others far greater Paul the Fifth, of constant age and entire health, may most happily pursue and perfect, that in this thy most august and (as we hope) long Pontificate, the cult of God may be propagated far and wide, Christian discipline restored, the dignity and the lapsed rights of the Church repaired, the illustrious institutes retained, the depraved corrected, the enemies of the Catholic religion routed, its place restored to justice, its place to the other virtues. These, and other illustrious offices of this kind of the Pontifical power, and to him after favorable wishes, the Pauls, Leos, Gregories, Clements, Piuses, and thy other most outstanding predecessors in the praise of all virtues left to their posterity successors to be imitated. On these, as thou hast begun, they supremely rejoice that thou liest; and that in these thou shouldst excel with the greatest vows they wish, hope, and with great prayers with God together with the whole Church, whether which is in the heavens, or which is on earth, earnestly pray. That this supreme Pontificate, to the glory of God and to the common safety of the Christian Commonwealth conferred on thee by divine counsel, as in this beginning it filled the minds of all the good with singular joy; so, as it has begun, proceeding most happily, may bear a certain image of the ancient most holy Pontiffs, and be to our and future times most salutary to the whole Church of God. Deservedly therefore this history is owed to thee, Most Blessed Father: of which as the best censor, so indeed of all the supremely legitimate judge and most clement patron, it dedicates itself too. both to truth a testimony, and to the work a judgment, and to the author a patronage with the most sacred gift of the Apostolic benediction benignly to afford, as thou most canst, so most as thou mayest will, suppliant rolled at thy sacred feet I ask Thy Holiness, Most Blessed Father, may God the Best and Greatest for the utility of His holy Church, which most long protect unharmed; and what holily thou meditatest, that they may happily obtain the wished issue, clemently effect. Rome, on the Nones of July, MDCV.

PREFACE.

By a great and plainly divine counsel Titus the Bishop of the Cretans, and together with him all Christians, but chiefly the Prelates of sacred things, Paul the Apostle exhorted, For the sake of good example Christ became incarnate, that in all things they should show themselves an example of good works. Tit. 2. For that egregious Doctor of the gentiles understood, that it was so disposed by nature for the minds of mortals, that to virtue, without which no one can be either good or blessed, all are impelled rather by illustrious actions than by precepts: and as in all other things, so most of all in choosing or instituting a kind of life, the deeds of illustrious men rather than their words they more willingly follow. And so the supreme and likewise most wise maker and moderator of all things God, not content to have given divine laws, to which, as to most certain rules, human actions should be directed; Himself came from heaven, and put on the form of man, that men by His admirable example, both He might recall from vice, and incite to embracing and cultivating virtue. For it was little, says B. Augustine, for the Lord to exhort men by word, unless He confirmed by example. On Psal. 63. Moreover this heavenly and divine master of human life's illustrious both precepts and examples having followed, both innumerable other most holy men, his Vicars imitating Him, and chiefly those who bore His person and power on earth, left us the same expressed in life and morals to be imitated. Those ancient ages saw very many men, plainly divine and most flourishing in the praise of all virtues, who acting as true Vicars of Christ the true God and our Lord, established His Church with the best both institutes and laws, and indeed too with the most illustrious splendor of holy actions wondrously illumined it; nor only living then, but all posterity too, to follow their illustrious vestiges, they stimulated.

[2] Our elders saw, and we too by the singular benefit of God have seen, their legitimate successors, endowed with equal authority and dignity, nor adorned with dissimilar virtue; who having diligently emulated the holiness and zeal of the ancients, each gave us exceptional documents of his virtue; and among these B. Pius V, and by the amplitude of affairs administered with great praise, procured for themselves immortal glory with God and men. In whose number Pius the Fifth of this name, indeed Supreme Pontiff (whose illustrious deeds almost all, who enjoy this light, could either have perceived with their ears, or with their eyes too have beheld) to shine among the first, no prudent or pious man would deny. Since therefore, as a certain Wise man skilfully said, good examples profit us so far, that the recollection no less than the presence of great men helps; and it has been deservedly esteemed to conduce both to the glory of God, and to the advantages of the Christian Commonwealth, whose Life is published in Latin useful to all, if the life and deeds of so great a Pontiff should be consigned also to Latin letters: especially since the utility of this history pertains not to one only kind of men (which in others is often wont to happen) but to all the grades of all the orders most of all. Dost thou perhaps profess a Religious institute? Lo thou hast here an egregious example of obedience, chastity and poverty, and what thou shouldst most admire and at the same time imitate, in the supreme power a signal example of Christian humility and piety. Is another addicted to secular affairs, and either at home or abroad administers either public or private business? But to this one too there are not wanting here counsels full of piety and prudence; with which instructed, and consulting both his own and another's safety, he may wisely moderate all things. Are others led by military studies, and greatly delighted by wars either to be waged or to be read? These too have most salutary precepts, and which they may pleasantly peruse; not vain or profane; but grave, and likewise pious, the greatest wars; and of almost all victories, which ever were reported over the enemies of the Christian name, the most celebrated. Hence finally have (which is the chief thing) the Pontiffs and Bishops, especially to the Pontiffs and Bishops whence for all the Ecclesiastical matter, whether to be ordered, or to be guarded, or to be amplified they may seek examples, and to retaining the cult of the true religion more and more be kindled: and that the more ardently, because to read often the lives of the ancient holy Fathers, and again and again to repeat in memory their well-done deeds, to be the proper ornament of Priests, by the sacred letters we are taught. Exod. 28., Book 1 epist. 24. and Pastoral. part 2. chap. 2. For the Lord had once commanded, that the names of the Patriarchs inscribed on the breast the high Priests should perpetually bear, which Gregory the most holy Roman Pontiff interpreting, To bear the inscribed fathers, says he, always in the breast, is to think on the life of the ancients without intermission. For then the Priest lives without complaint, when he beholds the examples of the preceding Fathers, and considers the vestiges of the Saints without ceasing.

[3] Moreover having entered to write these things by the authority and command of the supreme men, we shall bring nothing into the midst, which we have not received from approved authors or rich witnesses; things written with sincere judgment, or which by too great liberty could rightly offend anyone. For although by the command of another's authority, yet not at the will of another's pleasure, but by the sincere and candid judgment of my mind, I undertook this grave, though to my powers unequal, province of writing. And, the three things which it behooves to be set before those swearing, the divine oracles hand down, that nothing false, or to anyone noxious or futile be brought forth, those for me, having long ago renounced mortal things, professing somehow the studies of a more perfect life, and looking at nothing human, but the sole glory of God and the salvation of men, both in every reason of life, and chiefly in this most grave kind of writing with the highest religion to be kept I esteemed: and I resolved rather many things otherwise true, yet without any injury of historical dignity, by pious silence to pass over; than for anyone's favor to feign anything of my own, or to touch those things, which can profit no one, but either God or men in any way irritate. and with the best faith, All which indeed, that as much as was in me with the best faith I might perform; sparing no labors or expenses, very many both in the City, and abroad, and those most rich and eyewitness, who had been familiar to Pius in almost every grade of life, witnesses I consulted; epistles and many other manuscript volumes supplied me here and there diligently I inspected. But what others have left written of Pius, from these (some, as far as there was need, being passed over; many indeed too, if we err not, more truly explained; very many finally, which they had not touched, worthy of memory being added) an illustrious example to all the orders of all the virtues, splendid in this Pontiff, with sincere faith will be set forth. For as from fire by its own nature splendor flashes forth, and from outstanding ointment a sweet odor is diffused, which S. Basil says; Oration on S. Gordius so from the commemoration of holy deeds emolument comes to all. But now I approach the undertaking.

FIRST BOOK.

The deeds done from his birth to the Pontificate, and in it the statutes concerning the City and the subject dominions.

CHAPTER I.

Birth and monastic discipline.

[4] In that region of Cisalpine Gaul, which pertains to Liguria, in the dominion of Milan, there is a signal and very ancient town, of the diocese of Tortona, distant six miles from the city of Alexandria, called Bosco. It outstanding in the fertility of the soil, the temperateness of the heaven, the frequency and piety of the inhabitants, Born at Bosco in Liguria, is contained within the bounds of the Alexandrian territory, and is held with the title of County by its own Lord at this time. Marquises held it before, of these the chief, whom seven in Italy almost now seven hundred years ago Otho II Augustus instituted, and adorned with great gifts. In this town, of the Gisleria stock, which most ancient and noble from the city of Bologna on account of civil discords is reported to have migrated into various regions, as it were a certain offshoot, of the Gisleria family, in the year from the birth of the Virgin one thousand four hundred and forty-five, they say it settled; and thereafter, as bears the vicissitude of human affairs, although reduced to want, yet among the first families of that place it held an honest grade perpetually. But this is established enough, that the Gislerii most of them about the same time in the civil tumult driven from Bologna, by which

they had gone out, the gate in hatred of the sedition was forthwith blocked up, then in honor of this Pontiff in his time by a Bolognese Senatus-consult opened, adorned, and named Pia, whereas formerly it was called the gate of S. Isaiah. Which there an inscription of this kind cut in stone testifies. The gate, on account of civil sedition for a hundred and more years blocked up, Pius V Supreme Pontiff in the highest tranquillity of the citizens, John Baptist Doria, Bolognese President, (which was also of ample Bologna) for the public advantage and ornament willed to be opened, constructed, and named Pia, by a Senatus-consult MDLXVIII. The peace of the city thence composed, never from that family were there wanting those who, as also before, having obtained the highest magistracies and honors by popular suffrages, at home and abroad bore themselves illustriously. But that this stock long before the Gislerii were driven from Bologna, dwelt at Bosco, both Pius himself the Pontiff asserted sometimes, and also by several and certain documents of that place is proved.

[5] From this place therefore and family in the year of salvation MDIV on the XVI Kalends of February, in the year 1504, 17 January: which day is sacred to S. Anthony, Julius II being Roman Pontiff, and Maximilian the Austrian the first of that name reigning, Paul Gislerius the father, but the mother Dominina Augeria, honest and pious spouses, Michael was born: for this name was given to Pius at the sacred font. Who fourteen years old, when he displayed the best disposition, from the viler arts, called Michael. to which his parents for the slenderness of the family property strove to addict him, by singular ingenuousness of mind utterly abhorring (as one born for higher and greater things) in whatever way he could by cultivating his genius with virtues he began to exercise himself: and moved by the divine spirit, that reason of life to be entered he resolved, by which he could both more freely serve God, and the snares of earthly allurements escaping aspire more easily to heavenly things. In what zeal of piety therefore he had been educated from a boy, having entered the Order of Preachers, in it egregiously profiting, before he was stained with the blemish of perishable things, his name being retained, he put on the habit of the most holy Dominican Order. And that at Voghera, which now is called Vogeria, in the house of that sodality, which professes a stricter discipline in Cisalpine Gaul. Where when he had stirred a great expectation of himself, to the Vigevano monastery, both by the frequency of pious associates, and by a harder kind of life, and besides by the studies of letters in those days very famous, he teaches in various places: enrolled, he migrated thither. Nor very long after, when there he had given illustrious documents of probity and genius, sent to Bologna for the sake of studies, in them he so profited, that in a short interval of time the office of teaching dialectic, philosophy, and theology the Fathers committed to him, and destined him for educating youths in various places. But the office of Doctor with so great fruit of the hearers, whether thou regard the knowledge of things, or the integrity of morals, sixteen years he discharged, that to be his disciple was wont to be attributed to felicity.

[6] Among these things made Priest at Genoa, in the year from Christ born MDXXVIII, and for the sake of first performing the divine service, and consoling his own afflicted by the disasters of wars having set out to Bosco, he is made Priest in the year 1528, when he found the town plundered and burned by the army of the Gauls with the leader Lautrec; for his piety toward his fatherland his kinsmen and friends being piously recreated, at Sezzadio, which village is not far distant thence, by solemn rite the first-fruits of his sacred ministry he offered to God. But when at Pavia he was teaching his Brothers from a higher place, the positions of the best arts and sciences he publicly defended at Parma, he champions theses on the supreme Pontiff, in the most frequented convent of his Order; where both the outstanding felicity of his genius, and his exceptional faith toward the most holy Apostolic See, which thou wouldst say happened not without divine counsel, he well declared. For of the thirty propositions set forth, a good part was concerning defending the authority of the Roman Pontiff, and against the heresies, which in those times were rising. In which studies if any vacant time was given, as in all his life, he always abhorred from base idleness: for both in leisure without sloth, and in the business of letters not without the ardor of piety he was engaged: not ignorant, as leisure without letters is the burial of a living man, so letters and sciences without the offices of charity puff up a man rather than edify him. And so following the illustrious and famous vestiges of the holy Fathers, to stabilizing the perfection of life on a more solid foundation and augmenting the spirit of religion, he applied the assiduous use of sacred prayer; and he shines before with egregious virtue, and the lives of B. Dominic and of other men excelling in holiness, especially of those who had been of the same institute, he often read. Moreover more frequently than the rest to come together to the divine offices at the fixed hours, and other monastic even the most humble ministries promptly to go about, to spurn the company of none, but to all to show himself courteous and easy; to recreate the afflicted, to correct the erring, to teach the ignorant, to confirm the wavering, to all toward the form of a more perfect life by the illustrious example of his virtues to shine before; to display no indication either of levity or of vanity. But if among his equals, as happens, for the sake of mind it happened that he jested; that reason of decorum altogether he always had, that thou wouldst understand his jests both tempered with great gravity, and full of wisdom. And as to those, who in the praise of religion went before the rest, to join himself a companion; so as far as it could be done, detracting and slanderous men he was wont to flee.

[7] He presided over the monasteries of his Order, twice indeed over that of Vigevano, but over that of Soncino and Alba once. over monasteries of both sexes, In which office, not by ambitioning but by obeying undertaken, by feeding at home and abroad the Dominican flock, the parts of a most vigilant pastor, and an egregious master of religious discipline, both by word and by example he filled: and in various places he so bore the care of consecrated Virgins, that very many assemblies of them to the perfect discipline of religion he egregiously conformed; everywhere in all the administration of affairs without complaint, nay with the highest praise of integrity, prudence and piety engaged: which and other virtues he himself, having imitated those ancient and holier leaders of the Christian soldiery, so expressed, that he seemed not so much to have acquired them by use, as to have converted them into morals and nature. When he presided over the Alba monastery (that I may meanwhile omit, he presides with praise. what afterward more conveniently of the Count of the Trinity in its place will be narrated) the exceptional fortitude of Michael, and the zeal of guarding the Dominican flock among the first shone forth. For when in the Subalpine war, which at that time blazed between the Spaniards and the Gauls, three hundred soldiers, either driven by necessity or led by the lust of plundering, about to plunder the monastery over which he himself presided, had assembled at Alba, and endeavored to perpetrate the nefarious work; them he, not by arms, but by a grave oration repressed, as another Leo the Great, whom he was to succeed, repelled and put to flight.

[8] Moreover although in body not very firm, but rather weak, by word and example let him give his assiduity to the divine offices, yet by the help of sobriety he perpetually preserved himself sound, and fit for the ordinary labors and the reason of common life. But the exercise of the divine cult whether diurnal or nocturnal he never either himself remitted, unless necessity compelling, or permitted his Brothers to remit. For this institute in the sacred colleges being accurately retained, there all things both for food and for other uses necessary, God providing, abundantly are supplied. To which thing that they should always show themselves watchful and solicitous, and at the same time should diligently apply themselves to the studies of the sacred letters, his Brothers again and again he exhorted. From these as it were two breasts both of piety and of erudition (which he was wont to use handed down by the holy Fathers) spiritual milk must be sucked, as without which the human mind would wholly wither and be rendered sterile. But that too he said sometimes, that a religious man removed from his cell, has himself nothing better, than a fish drawn out of water. Wherefore as long as he governed the monasteries, he kept the youths almost always at home, nor unless very rarely, and for a grave cause, did he suffer his own to go forth: and the love of the cell, for it was alien from a regular man and institute, to wander rashly through cities and villages, and easily to give oneself into the company of laymen. Which he himself teaching not by word only, but by example too, as often as for the necessities of affairs and of his office he went forth into public, to his companions and to others he was a great document of Christian moderation and religious discipline. For his senses being religiously composed and his eyes cast down, thence called of composed morals S. Bernardine, when in him a certain supreme conformation both of mind and of body wonderfully shone, and in all things he displayed a certain singular modesty and gravity, he procured for himself such reverence with all, that he was no more called by the name of Michael, but by that of S. Bernardine everywhere: inasmuch as he egregiously resembled that most holy man, as in morals, so also in the slenderness of body and venerable aspect: and this opinion and fame so grew strong, that whether this name, or that was proper to him, not a few doubted.

[9] But for many years through the whole time of Lent he held sacred sermons with great ardor of piety, and with equal fruit of the hearers in various places: and both of the rest of any order, a diligent Confessor and indeed also of eminent men, with whom for the fame of his virtue he was in great grace, the sacred confessions he frequently heard. Among these was Alfonso d'Avalos, Marquis of Vasto, Prefect of the dominion of Milan for Charles V Caesar King of the Spains: who for his piety chose him, though absent from the city of Milan almost twenty miles and residing at Vigevano, judge of his conscience and moderator of his life; and trusting much in his virtue, of the alms which he was wont to distribute to the needy he wished him to be his minister. But of what was given for his uses, of these he retained nothing at all for himself: a lover of the common and poor life, but all, as becomes a regular man, he conferred into common: nay even from those things, which seemed necessary to him for use, an egregious cultivator of religious poverty sometimes he abstained. At Vigevano, his associates exhorting him, that of the collected alms of moneys he should reserve something, with which to make a cloak, necessary to him setting out in rainy weather to Milan to the Marquis, by no means indeed did he answer that it was expedient: but that as set over the rest he ought to be to them a good example: that mendicant poor ought to be content with one tunic of whatever kind: that vain was the profession of poverty of those, who after the manner of the rich are splendidly clothed.

[10] Moreover poor indeed he was and slender, but yet studious of neatness and cleanliness: therefore he was wont to say; and truly humble that poverty indeed had always greatly pleased him, but filth never. But to the Diets of his Order, and to the dwellings assigned to him, lest from the laws of his institute he should even moderately decline, he set out on foot. On the journey his little bundles placed on his shoulders he himself bore, rarely conferring discourse with his companions; but either in reciting prayers, or in meditating divine things piously occupied. But the vanity of ambition he so fled, that he gave not even the least

suspicion of it: but to all dignities, grades, and honors without any contention of his own, nay almost compelled, among the offices imposed on him by the Order, as we shall everywhere say, he was raised. In the Diets of the Provincials of his Brothers, on account of the highest estimation of all concerning his integrity, often he was chosen extraordinary Judge: and where the reason of justice and the comeliness of virtue were treated, he was so inexorable, that no one more. In which Diets, sometimes Definitor, as they call it, which office approaches nearest to the dignity of the Provincial President, he was elected.

[11] Moreover with difficulty and with great fear the burden of some administration, but especially of monastic prefecture and of governing souls, as one to be feared by Angelic shoulders, for his zeal against the heretics, imposed he underwent: and to a man very familiar to him he was wont seriously to say, that for the sake of declining the dangers of his salvation, where without detriment to the divine honor or to virtue this could be done, he would most willingly abdicate himself from grades of dignities of this kind: deeming that with them the greatest dangers were conjoined: and therefore for sustaining the office of sacred Inquisitor, and of Judge of violated religion, which was less obnoxious to dangers of this kind, if to undertaking it he were compelled, for his ardent desire of exterminating heretics and his zeal of guarding the Catholic faith, he showed himself more inclined. Which office by B. Dominic by the singular providence of God divinely instituted, and in the Catholic Church received, and for that reason in the sacred family of the Dominican Brothers by a hereditary as it were right thereafter perpetually retained, how useful for plucking up from the Lord's field the tares of heresies, and to the Catholic faith whether to be protected or to be propagated necessary it always was; the most abundant and salutary fruits of piety, which in the Christian world to the glory of God and the safety of His Church daily are perceived, clearer than light show. This illustrious therefore and holy office of inquiring against heretics, by the command of the Superiors conferred on him, he loves the office of Inquisitor. with so ardent a mind Michael undertook and exercised, that he showed himself everywhere always both a most keen protector of Christian truth, and an egregious nursling of S. Dominic. And thence that supreme moderator of all things God, who sweetly disposes all things, and who the pious endeavors and holy actions of His ministers both benignly to foster and largely to remunerate for His immense goodness is wont, took occasion both of proving the virtue, and of illustrating the person and name of His faithful servant: which was of this kind.

CHAPTER II.

The office of Inquisitor, even general, imposed.

[12] About the same time the Rhaetians, who are now called Grisons, inhabit the Alps, where Germany is divided from Italy, on account of their great vicinity and intercourse with the heretic cantons of the Helvetii, as an unskilled and by nature rude nation, were wasting away with the venom of heresy. And this plague spread more widely, On account of the heresies in the Valtellina and Chiavenna, and into the valleys of the Valtellina or Volturena and Chiavenna, the chief parts of the diocese of Como, now had penetrated: and it was to be feared, lest on account of the assiduous intercourse with those peoples and the convenience of merchandise, gradually it should weaken all Cisalpine Gaul. For driving off this so grave a disease and avoiding so great a danger, since there was need of a great and present remedy, the matter being diligently considered, no one could be found, who for bearing the sacred office of Inquisitor at Como seemed fitter and better than Michael Gislerius: and who less for the Catholic religion would fear any danger, and to pour out life itself, if there were need, he is constituted Inquisitor at Como, would doubt. This office therefore in these straits of affairs conferred on him, he so keenly applied himself to it, that there was almost no place there, which he did not survey; or inhabitant, whom either to bring back into the right way of religion, or to keep in his duty he did not strive. Not fearing, to scrutinize all things, to betake himself into those valleys even by night: for which matter he used chiefly the effort of Bernard Odescalchi a Patrician of Como, who from his kinsmen, inhabiting those valleys, was made more certain of all the affairs of the heretics. He was of the sodality of the Cross of that city, a pious man, and with the Cardinals set over the sacred Inquisition very gracious.

[13] But since among the other worst arts of the heretics in disseminating their errors, the chief always was and perhaps of all the most pernicious, that by specious titles, books published and divulged, their venoms far and wide they diffused, and men by a honeyed and pestiferous cup seduced they destroyed: this especially way of deceiving, which namely in Gaul and Germany and elsewhere they had seen had proceeded well for them, to imbue the Catholic minds of the Italians too most evilly, if they could, those pernicious masters of the diabolic doctrine resolved to enter. By this counsel therefore when the heretics of the Lutheran and Calvinian dogma, of books written by themselves, and at Poschiavo of the Rhaetian dominion, nay of the heretic faction a town, printed, he intercepts 12 packs of heretic books: twelve packs from the Valtellina valley to be carried out had procured; that subsequently in various cities of Italy, especially at Cremona, Vicenza, Modena, Faenza, and in Calabria at Cosenza, and in other places, with which a custom of business intervened to them, by a merchant of Como they should be disseminated; of this matter Michael being admonished, and seeing it would be to the great destruction of Italy, if pestilent dogmas everywhere and with impunity were read; suddenly by his authority intercepted the books with the customs-men. Wherefore the merchant fled to the Vicar of sacred things and the college of the Canons of Como, that See being vacant. And so, the merchant asking, without delay, to take away the books the Vicar ran up. But Michael, he excommunicates those resisting, who first had rightly demanded them for his right, when the intercepted books were by no means returned to him, but rather the cause of the merchant-citizen supported by the patronage of many was defended, against the accomplices of that crime bore a sentence of anathema; and of the whole matter to Rome wrote to the Cardinals Judges of violated religion, namely to John Peter Caraffa, who afterward chosen Pontiff was called Paul IV; to Rodolfo Pio of Carpi, and to Marcellus Cervinus, who soon was Pontiff Marcellus II; and to John Toledo; men all most flagrant with the zeal of the Christian religion. Who, the matter known, and Michael's sentence and constancy approved, the Vicar himself and the Canons to Rome summoned: because they especially had keenly threatened the Inquisitor.

[14] By this citation that city moved began to have Michael in hatred. And so a great band of the lowest common people, boys, and other vulgar youths being gathered, with great danger of life. and stones being seized, him entering the city (for outside the walls is the monastery) first petulantly to address; then an attack being made, headlong to assail they did not doubt: but he turned to flight, into the houses of the Odescalchi scarcely could betake himself. Meanwhile the Vicar and Canons to Ferdinand Gonzaga, Prefect of the province of Milan, for the sake of help flee: objecting this, that he himself had cast a tumult into the city: and that this matter should be desisted from, they obtained. Yet he did not think for this his undertaking should be abstained from, or his office deserted, nay rather more strongly insisted on. Stirred by anger Gonzaga, a grave penalty being proposed, commands him, that on the morning of the next day after that day (which was indeed too short a space of time for performing a journey of this kind of about thirty miles) he should be present at Milan. About the same time of the snares, which to retard him so that he should fall into the threatened penalties, his adversaries had prepared, Michael being admonished; a certain guide of the journey being chosen for himself, and that, by which Barlassina (where S. Peter Martyr fell) straight is passed, the way being omitted, through the forum of Licinius (they call it Incino-plebs) having set out, by night on foot he so hastened, that at the hour prescribed for him before Gonzaga he stood: who beholding him with a fierce aspect, would not hear, nay the rest being dismissed, into his chamber hid himself. Then indeed Michael, at Milan to be cast into prison, having recognized a noble man, familiar of the Prefect, asks him, that what the Prince wished concerning him, from the same he should diligently inquire. He performs what is asked, and reports that he was of this counsel, that Michael should be cast into the strictest custody: which yet by the divine and by that intervening friend's benefit did not happen. Wherefore he himself fearing, lest some mark or disgrace importunely he should be compelled to undergo, by great journeys to Rome he hastened.

[15] In this place a pleasant document both of his patience and of his modesty, and a not vain, he hastens to Rome: though full of irony prediction of his future Pontificate, in silence I shall not pass over. Having entered the City, when from the journey weary and fasting, toward night to the monastery of his Order of Saint Sabina carried on a mule he had betaken himself; he who then presided over the place, a man perhaps of a little harder genius, not recognizing the man, ill received the guest: and deeming perhaps that for his own advantage and ambition he had come; What, said he, dost thou seek for thyself in the City? dost thou esteem that thou wilt be supreme Pontiff? namely those (designating the Cardinals) are about to elect thee. To these the man of God, that he had come for Christ's cause, and sought His honor and glory augmented, and besides nothing; but for himself a little lodging of whatever kind for a short time, and for the mule a little hay he asked. Howsoever therefore received, to the same Cardinals therefore, whatever in that cause had been done, with so ardent a mind toward religion present he reported all; that although the Canons summoned to Rome, by the help and favor of many not rightly learned of the matter strove, yet they effected nothing: but the matter illustriously accomplished, and obtains the wished issue: and according to his opinion happily dispatched, the highest praise thence he obtained. Wherefore that opinion of his virtue those most ample Fathers conceived, which of the best and most strong man, to deserving well of the Church of God egregiously animated, could seem to be conceived. Among these to one objecting, that it had been better in these contentions to deal more mildly with eminent men; Michael kindled with the ardor of virtue; If anyone, said he, toward men, bringing violence to the ministers of the Judges of violated religion, has a human regard, he shows that he has an ill-affected mind.

[16] At that time, at Chur, which is the chief town of the Rhaetians, two Canons designated to that Church, were contending in judgment about the election. Of these one was of the family of the Plantae, the other of the Salices. Planta strove with more suffrages: but because he was a heretic and of abandoned morals, sent to Chur he makes void the election of the heretic Canon: his election by the Pontiff's authority could not be approved. The matter was treated before the Cardinals of the sacred Inquisition at Rome: who, Michael's virtue in the Como affair egregiously proved and perceived, sent him to inquire against Planta, and to form the question legitimately, into Rhaetia. But to some, that in another's habit he should set out thither, for the sake of escaping the snares of the heretics most keen enemies of the Dominican Order, counseling; he answered that in no wise would he change his habit: nay even in that very habit, if there were need, for religion willingly he would undergo death, when this by the divine benefit were permitted him. Having set out therefore he held the question, and the held one he caused to be consigned to letters; and from the heretics, recognizing the virtue and holiness of the man revering, suffering no detriment himself, he caused the elected heretic to be condemned.

[17] Thence to Bergamo for the time sent Inquisitor,

with singular fortitude of mind, and not without grave danger of his life, against George Medulacus, a signal heretic, he instituted a judgment. He was by his eloquence, with which he defended the causes of the citizens, and by the affinity, against Medulacus a heretic at Bergamo, by which he had bound many nobles to himself, in the city powerful among the first and illustrious: whence it came, that the Inquisitors, although they judged his crimes by no means to be borne, yet to animadvert upon him, lest they should bring themselves and theirs into the greatest danger, did not dare. But Michael, having obtained the place and power of the absent Inquisitor, esteemed that plague should be utterly plucked from that otherwise Catholic city, before it cast deeper roots, Medulacus being cast into prison, and a judgment against him being legitimately constituted. delivers him to prison, In which a great help to him was the favor and authority of Count John Jerome Albani, a famous jurisconsult, and perpetual and egregious patron of the sacred Inquisition: whom afterward the Pontiff himself, mindful of this pious office, into the most ample college of Cardinals, for his exceptional virtues and merits, co-opted. He therefore, that he might recall that wretched kinsman of his to soundness, together with Michael very much, but to no purpose, when he had labored; at length deeming that religion must be preferred to flesh and blood, and turned to the Inquisitor, that by the laws he should proceed against him, he earnestly asked. and causes him slipped away to be restored: Meanwhile the accused being by night by force snatched by his friends from the prisons, when both to bring him back into chains, and to affect so many guilty citizens with just penalties, was altogether most difficult; that all the accomplices of that crime, by Catholic rite should profess that they repented of the deed, Michael effected: Medulacus, at once by the help of Albani himself restored to custody: who afterward relegated to Venice, there in prison perished unhappily.

[18] Nor very long after, to Bergamo, with Apostolic power, by Julius the Third Supreme Pontiff and the said Cardinals again Michael is destined, against a Bishop, suspected, he holds a question secretly: that against Victor Superantius, a noble Venetian, the Bishop of that city, delated of heresy, he should inspect and institute a legitimate question. For there had crept into that city the heretic plague, contracted especially from the reading of heretic books; by which depraved even the Prelate, with them had filled two chests; and them in a suburban villa, lest they should be detected, shut up he had caused to be hidden. From which it is also perspicuous, that which we mentioned before, how perilous and indeed how pernicious always was the use of little books of this kind, by which as by a virulent fodder not only the sheep of Christ, but the Pastors too sometimes foully corrupted waste away. Since therefore without grave and open danger of those inquiring the matter could not be inspected, because both by the Magistrates and by very many others the Bishop was vehemently protected; Michael strongly and prudently insisting on the business, the testimonies secretly to be received, the question to be held, and into commentaries to be referred cautiously procured. Which when it was found out, the Bishop and the Magistrates sent, who should hunt him to death. But among the other snares laid for him, that was indeed criminal, when on the Nones of December of the year MDL, not without his own greatest danger. at dead of night, with an armed band, the monastery, in which he himself rested, having assailed, the minister of God thence to snatch and to ill-treat they attempted. Which he knowing, rising from his bed, to the impregnable citadel of sacred prayer according to custom fleeing, the divine help suppliant he implored. Nor did God wish the prayers of His servant to be vain, who from heaven looks upon the prayers of the humble, and is the protector of all hoping in Him. For soon full of faith, and fortified with heavenly arms, the rushing cohort with one voice he so repressed, that all turned to flight, brought no harm.

[19] But he mindful of the Lord's precept admonishing; When they shall persecute you in one city, flee into another: from Bergamo by night to depart, a rustic guide, he hastened. Matt. 10 To him departing by pathless ways the snares prepared on the straight road by his adversaries, by divine rather than human counsel, he wonderfully escaped: but the written question, lest it should perish, with Aurelius Grianius a Franciscan he cautiously deposited; and it soon received, to the City he migrated back. Where the matter well done all, especially the Cardinals Presidents of the sacred Inquisition, and at Rome he procures his deposition. extolled with praises; and the exceptional both prudence and fortitude of Michael, and his zeal of guarding religion proclaimed. The Prelate therefore led to Rome, though relying on the favor of many, enclosed in the citadel of S. Angelo, underwent judgment: and was convicted of the foul errors of heretical pravity, and of a most pernicious example: from which it was found, that he made from a pastor a wolf held the worst art, drawn from the filth of Luther and Calvin, of infecting the flock of Christ, unless to so many and so great evils the divine providence through the industry of Michael himself had forestalled. But he at length deprived of his Church at Venice, either by poison, or, as others will, worn out by mourning perished. And so the heretic pestilence being removed, the city of Bergamo otherwise pious, and famous for the cult of the ancestral and Catholic religion from the very beginning of the nascent Church, in the profession of sincere piety thereafter perseveres.

CHAPTER III

[20] But after these things in the year MDLI, in the month of June, Theophilus, Pro-inquisitor of the Dominican Order in the City (whom they call the general Commissary of the sacred Inquisition) at once his office and life being ended, when very many men of approved virtue were proposed as fit into the place of the deceased; Cardinal Caraffa, Commissary general of the Inquisition the chief Prefect of that Congregation, Michael, with the highest will of his Colleagues and indeed of Julius the Pontiff, of his own accord judged fitter for that office and chose. For Michael was both with the other most ample Fathers egregiously approved and dear, and chiefly to Caraffa himself and to Carpi: who him most familiarly both received and embraced; and, allured by that zeal of religion with which he himself was kindled, dear to Cardinal Caraffa and delighted by the simple, open and not at all feigned genius of the man, by conferring discourses with him to satiate their minds seemed not enough able. Therefore Caraffa had commanded his ministers, that they should not announce him coming, as is done, to be present, or prohibit his entrance, but into his inmost chambers at once to enter freely should permit. And so more often, witnesses being removed, retiring, among themselves as long as possible they conversed: which that it might be done more conveniently, he assigned to him a part of his palace, which he inhabited; and to his familiars and to others said sometimes, that Michael was indeed the greatest servant of God, and worthy of the highest both honors and grades of dignities.

[21] While therefore he himself discharged this office, as elsewhere everywhere, an exceptional and strenuous, both for guarding the Catholic faith, and for plucking up the errors of heretics, punishing the pertinacious, and treating clemently those repenting, effort he expended. the converted he benignly fostered. For whom either by private colloquies he had recalled to sounder counsels, or publicly their errors being abjured, affected with legitimate penalties, truly repenting, and to a better fruit converted he had recognized; them most humanely received he consoled, piously fostered, and at his table received as guests: which humanity also toward them afterward made Cardinal he used. Moreover both from all the filths of avarice he always showed himself most far distant, and indeed great praise of temperance, great of beneficence and pious liberality he bore. For with his own stipends and offered alms, although by no means superfluous to himself, not any indiscriminate or unworthy, but the needy, widows, and orphans, whose parent he himself was truly called, and men endowed with virtue he benignly sustained: and was readier to confer than to receive benefits: and as often as it was permitted him to deserve well of others, supremely he rejoiced.

CHAPTER III.

The Episcopal and Cardinalitial dignity, and that of supreme Inquisitor conferred. Liberty in pronouncing his opinion.

CHAPTER IV

[22] But meanwhile on the X Kalends of April of the year MDLV, Julius the Pontiff migrated from life, and subsequently Marcellus II substituted to him, who lived two and twenty days in the Pontificate: to whom on the X Kalends of June of the same year, the See of supreme Inquisitor being vacant the Vicar was substituted Jo. Peter Caraffa, Cardinal of Naples, called Paul IV. Through these days of the Diet the Cardinals of the sacred Inquisition the absolute cognizance and judgment of the gravest matters, a free and ample power being made for him (a few somewhat more atrocious causes excepted) of by himself deciding questions of faith, defining causes, and either absolving or condemning the accused, beyond order conferred on Michael: which power equal thereafter from an occasion of this kind was given to no one. But Paul not only in the administration of that office confirmed Michael, but him too named Bishop of Nepi and Sutri. Which two Churches of slender revenue, distant from each other by a modest interval of places, then Bishop of Nepi and Sutri on the Flaminian way, about XXV miles from the City, long are ruled by one Prelate. This Episcopal province therefore the Pontiff of his own accord conferring and indeed commanding, unwilling indeed he undertook, in the year MDLVI in the month of September, but undertaken thereafter egregiously for three years and more he administered. But because from the dangers of burdens of this kind he had resolved that perpetually he must beware, that dignity to undergo at first refusing, and rather to monastic quiet to return demanding, Paul less indulgent; With these fetters, said he, we will bind thee, that to the cenobitic life now any more thou canst not return. By which words he wished to intimate, that he would refer him among the most ample Fathers of the Roman Church. And so at the next creation the Pontiff summoned him into the chamber of his brother's son, whom that very day in the morning he should read into the Senate, which yet then did not happen. In which Michael nonetheless, as if he had escaped a great danger, forthwith the Senate being dismissed glad; We have escaped, said he, we have escaped. Soon with the Pontiff himself and with others he began to converse, with a mind most peaceful and well prepared for all things. Which thing was diligently observed by many, some, because deprived of the betrothed dignity thence he returned, pointing him out with the finger, and by jest having addressed him attempting to cast shame; but others wondering at his constancy, and the moderation of mind, which he displayed by his very countenance.

CHAPTER V

[23] At length in the year after Christ born MDLVII, on the Ides of March, into the most ample College he is co-opted, called Cardinal Alexandrino (the name received from the city of Alexandria, at length created Cardinal which, as we have shown, is little distant from Bosco his fatherland) of the Title first indeed of S. Mary above Minerva, which signal building of the Friars Preachers then first for his cause began to be given as a title to Cardinals, then of S. Sabina of the same Order: at last, things so bearing it, to the title of the former Church he was recalled. Moreover Paul, when the cult of religion and the discipline of morals greatly collapsed he resolved to restore, and for himself to sustain so grave a mass of affairs, besides the ordinary helpers, to take to himself someone an intimate minister of the judgment of inviolate faith, a new office being wisely instituted, conferred it on Alexandrino; and him supreme and perpetual in the whole Christian commonwealth Inquisitor, in the most ample assembly of Cardinals, with great ceremony declared; whom all the rest, whether delegated or ordinary judges, and supreme Inquisitor even Bishops, in causes of this kind should recognize as Superior: and that this should only to Cardinals henceforth be committed, he instituted; for them and the ministers a fixed stipend

about to constitute: and he decreed that in the time of the sacred interregnum it should not be vacant, after the manner of the office of the supreme Penitentiary. But as before, so after Michael himself, it is established that to no one was it given to be made or called supreme Inquisitor; the Pontiffs reserving this to themselves, and the care of the Inquisition to certain Cardinals, who from the institute of Paul III for this matter are wont to be chosen, as before, delegated.

[24] This office therefore he himself so discharged, that with the excelling dignity he joined also an equal integrity and diligence, and an industry altogether consonant to the will of the most grave Pontiff. Who as he began to bestow effort on best ordering affairs, no more elated thereby so the things illustriously begun would have obtained the wished end, had not the war burning in Italy forestalled his thoughts. In the most ample order Michael so bore himself, that that dignity was rather an index and splendor of his probity and virtue, than that his mind thereby was in any part even lightly changed. Nay his accustomed humility, and the cult of a modest life so diligently he afforded, and by use retained, that except in public actions he never wished to lay down the monastic habits. But what mind, what morals were his, placed in so sublime a grade, what impelled the Pontiff to promote him, what he prescribed his kinsmen thence to do or to feel, finally how chaste and entire in ecclesiastical matters, even to friends and relations, in conferring he was, even from one, which to Paulina the daughter of his sister with his own hand he wrote, an epistle, as from the claw the lion one may recognize. Which epistle since to illustrating more the truth of these matters it pertains, it seemed worth the labor, it from me from the very copy turned into Latin in this place to subjoin.

[25] Today thy letters, given on the III Kalends of March, I received: from which it was most pleasant to me to understand, that thou with thy husband, an upright man, best agreest: and that both, as becomes pious Christians, which even the epistle to his niece declares, of which I by no means doubted, in the fear and love of God order your life. In which if, as we hope, you shall have persevered, that divine majesty will have care of you and of your affairs, since to those fearing God all things cooperate unto good; and blessed are those, whose counsels all are directed to the one God, and look to Him alone, who is far to be preferred to all the treasures of the world, and to be esteemed more than a thousand worlds, if there were so many: for all other things, unless they be referred to God, are wholly vain, and like smoke vanish. Nor let it come upon thee vainly to glory, that thou art the daughter of the sister of a Cardinal: that rather thou oughtest diligently to advert in mind, and thence to the supreme and almighty God to give immortal thanks, that even hence to cultivating virtue He allures and admonishes thee; that thou beware, lest from these small virtues thou degenerate, with which thy uncle God for His immense mercy deigned to fortify; and by which moved His Vicar on earth, by no splendor of ancestors, by no human resources or arts, by no commendations of Princes finally or his own riches (since he was most poor, if any other in the Dominican family, but yet content with his slenderness) ascribed him into the sacred Apostolic College, and the Senate of the Roman Church. Therefore pray God, not that He extol him more on earth, but eternally bless him in the heavens: and know that far greater now are his labors, the disquiet of mind and troubles, than while he led a private life in the monastery.

[26] But what thou writest of Gibert thy husband's brother, so hold, that ecclesiastical benefices are owed not to flesh and blood, but to virtues: and since to this day without these businesses of merchandising of this kind I have led my life, I would not, at this age growing old, burden my conscience. who had commended his relations to him to be promoted. But if your Most Reverend of Tortona or another Prelate, well skilled in these matters, shall have borne me testimony of his sufficient erudition, most willingly, what it may befit him to obtain, that he may obtain, I will strive. But what pertains to Gibert, as soon as by my faculties it shall be permitted, gladly using his service I will consult his advantages. Pray God, that what to His greater glory shall seem good to Him, He may dispose to befall us all. Of Julian, he is still too young: and I am burdened with a greater household, than my most slender revenues bear, especially in the great dearth of grain: but if it shall please the Lord, that I use a more convenient condition, him and others I will aid, provided they wish to cultivate virtue, and to keep the laws of living rightly; not, as certain others, who by their morals effected, that my mind has greatly cooled toward them, lest the citizens of our fatherland henceforth I wish to be with me; having experienced greater fidelity, probity, sincerity, and humanity in strangers. And yet by the benignity of God, I use a household endowed with such morals, that to love it I am impelled, as if they were each my sons, not ministers. Farewell, and salute in my words thy sisters and kinsmen. At Rome on the VI Kalends of April MDLVIII.

[27] There are extant also other letters, which we have seen, of almost the same argument, to Gibert himself with his own hand written back, by which him the supreme man and with the highest affairs always occupied, no less skilfully than piously and humanely admonishes, that he should commit nothing in the same business of his brother against the sacred laws, but that all things chastely and according to God duly to be done he procure. Which we have therefore mentioned, that even hence thou mayest understand, that he did not despise his kinsmen and citizens though humble, he instituted his household after the manner of religious: or by what right and what wrong to enrich and extol them studied: but consulting piously his own and their everlasting safety, in the office of humanity equally and of charity never was wanting. Moreover what to Paulina of his household he writes, it was so few, scarcely that twenty men, and these all of approved life, were reckoned in it: as still of modest faculties, which through the whole time of the Cardinalate to five thousand gold pieces did not come. He wished altogether, that all the household after the manner of religious men should order their life: and them before they gave their name into the household, that not into a hall, but into a sacred monastery they should think they entered, witnessing he forewarned. But often the most holy Eucharist he himself administered to them, so bearing himself with them, that no less the offices of a most loving parent, than of a master flaming with ardent charity abundantly he afforded, and in all things succored them; especially the sick; accurately providing, that in a certain place of the house separately constituted, by the diligent care of fit ministers and office they should be cared for: and to that matter all expenses to the very farthing from his own money should be paid.

[28] Moreover four years and more, when he had presided over the Church Paul the Fourth, in the year from Christ born MDLIX, on the fifteenth Kalends of September departed from the living: to whom after almost four months' interregnum was substituted John Angelus Medici, made Bishop of Mondovì in the Subalpine region, Cardinal of Milan, called Pius IV. Who although to some, relying before on the favor and clientele of the same Paul, openly was adverse, and against very many eminent men his kinsmen gravely animadverted; yet Michael in the very office of supreme Inquisitor he wished to be confirmed; and a little after, that for the dignity of his state he himself might better thence provide for himself, him from the Episcopate of Nepi and Sutri, to govern the Church of Mondovì in the Subalpine region transferred. Of which Church the administration being undertaken, since in it many things both duly to be provided and piously to be ordered he noticed must be, and that various depraved morals and corruptions, which into it, as one near to heretics, had crept in the course of time, in which by the other Pastors, with grave detriment of that Christian flock, long it had not been recognized, must be removed; he esteemed that it must be accurately by himself visited and composed. thither he directs his journey And having entered the journey toward it, on the night following the feast day of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, in the year MDLX, to the baths of Lucca he came: and there he spent some days for applying those waters, to cure the disease of strangury, with which he was often most gravely tortured: which at length was the cause, that, a hard and dire stone being concreted and augmented in the bladder, as afterward we shall narrate, death snatched him away more quickly.

[29] Thence moreover he set sail to Genoa, which for honor's sake sent four triremes to meet him. The Duke of Savoy Emmanuel Philibert, a Prince both by other titles, and chiefly by the praises of Christian piety most illustrious, received him with the highest honors, and his Church being surveyed tarrying with him pleasantly two days. His Church finally he surveyed, and all things, which it behoved, as far as it could be done, best amended and composed, bearing ill that for the punishment of heretics the civil power was wanting to him, at the request of friends turned aside to Bosco: where received with the highest both honors and joys, his exceptional charity toward his fatherland by very many and various offices of piety toward all, especially toward the needy and those detained in prisons, most humanely he attested. Thence to the Vigevano monastery (where as a youth of regular discipline, as we have mentioned, and the novitiate of sciences he had made) with equal signification of gladness and honor he was received: then carried to Milan, and there by the Magistrates and the eminent men of that city honorifically treated, to Rome he returns on the day sacred to B. Catherine, of the year a little before mentioned. And this return indeed was wonderfully welcome both to all his friends, he returns to Rome, and indeed to many most ample Fathers, and chiefly to Ranuccio Farnese Cardinal of S. Angelo: who as long as he lived always made much of him, and indeed for his singular judgment often foretold, that easily it would be, that the power of the keys of B. Peter would be handed to him to be borne: but by the injury of immature death he could not see the wished issue of his presentiment.

CHAPTER VII

[30] Now indeed to the administration of the sacred Inquisition Alexandrino returned, and at all the congregations of that salutary Office, as before, he never not wished to be present. There was held about the same time at Trent the most holy and ecumenical Council, In the consultations held at Rome toward the end of the Council of Trent which long ago by Paul III instituted, but then more often interrupted, by Pius IV at length resumed, finally this year MDLXIII to the highest good of the Christian commonwealth, God well aiding, concluded and completed. Therefore what matters most grave in it were treated, of these at Rome likewise to be treated when the Pontiff wished, in assemblies of this kind the accurate zeal and effort of Michael he was wont to apply: and of his solid and approved doctrine, and truly grave opinions, proceeding from a liberal and ingenuous mind, the greatest always account was had. For private reasons being wholly postponed, both in these, and also in all other assemblies, both privately and publicly, what according to God and for the Christian commonwealth seemed to him to be, freely he pronounced. For to him in all things as proved virtue and integrity gave authority, so conscience

of a most good mind gave liberty to his opinion: gravely and freely he pronounces his opinion for he was not ignorant, that the highest and chief office of a Cardinal is, both in private and in public counsels with the Pontiff, to show himself everywhere an upright and faithful counsellor, and freely to profess, that nothing was older to him than the glory of God and the safety of the Christian commonwealth.

[31] And so such Alexandrino showed himself toward the Pontiffs, as S. Bernard requires the Cardinals to be, when writing to Eugenius the Supreme Pontiff, he introduces him desiring to see the Church of God leaning on such columns, and fortified with such a counsel of sacred Senators, that, if the Supreme Pontiff should wish to deviate somewhat, they would not suffer it, would bridle the headlong one, would rouse the drowsy; and who for their reverence and liberty would repress him exalting himself, would correct him exceeding; but with constancy and fortitude would strengthen the wavering, would raise the diffident: who finally for their faith and holiness, to all holy, to all honest things him and others would provoke. Book 4 on consideration. These therefore illustrious documents of the most holy man concerning the office of a Cardinal, and other offices of this kind of an upright Senator, strongly and opportunely, to execute Alexandrino did not omit. And that of many we may collect a few, on the VIII Ides of January of the same year MDLXIII, when Ferdinand Medici, lest adolescent sons of Princes be created Cardinals son of Cosmo Duke of the Florentines, almost a boy of tender age, and Frederick Gonzaga, son of Frederick Duke of Mantua, an adolescent, the Pontiff (which soon he did) into the sacred Senate proposed to be read; immediately after the dinner, which on the anniversary day of the Pontifical coronation to the Cardinals and the Orators of Princes according to custom was wont to be given, the Cardinals themselves being convoked, and with them the counsel communicated, of that matter singly the opinion of all he asked. Which when in order it was to be said by Alexandrino, he with wonderful liberty answered nearly in these words:

[32] Since there is held at this time, Most Blessed Father, the most holy Council of Trent, in which, besides the accurate treatment of the dogmas of religion, on the Ecclesiastical discipline and morals holily to be restored with the highest labors so many and so great Prelates apply themselves; vehemently he dissuades. they indeed by a creation of this kind would deem themselves greatly offended, if of having account of this dignity a decree scarcely yet completed, at once it should be derogated. Wherefore I cannot indeed but go into all other things: nor will I ever plainly subscribe to this opinion. Besides whither the adolescent age will turn out, since it is altogether uncertain; and since in conferring these dignities the legitimate age must be awaited, that especially should those await, to whom the merits so bearing it, the dignity of the sacred Purple can never be wanting. To this is added, that here is neither the place nor the time of reading Cardinals: the place indeed, because by custom in their public assembly they are wont to be read: but the time, since when it is just from dinner (which indeed he greatly exaggerated) this will give the greatest discourses to men. Moreover the Cardinal of S. Angelo, who besides others had heard all these things, admiring the highest liberty of the man, and his ardent zeal of sacred discipline, said afterward, that whatever even most precious treasure, which ever he could have had, he would willingly expend, if such things, which no one else had dared to say, and that he himself did this he professes. he himself to the Pontiff to make speech had been able. Nor very long after the Orator of the Duke of Florence, when in his name according to custom he had come to give thanks to the other Cardinals, and indeed also to Alexandrino himself; forthwith he; There is no reason, said he, why thou shouldst give me thanks: since I to this election not only did not favor, but greatly was even adverse: not because I hate the Medici stock, but because so to me the reason of conscience prescribed. And rightly indeed that he did this led by no envy he said: for, as from what is to be said will appear, that house he himself both loved very much, and not moderately adorned.

[33] But that too in this kind is memorable. Toward the end of this Pontificate, Maximilian Caesar of that name II, and very many other Princes of Germany, pretending that graver crimes and pernicious examples by this way would be guarded against, by letters and messengers urged the Pontiff, that to the German Priests, by the example of the Greeks, lest matrimony be conceded to Priests, he should make power of taking wives. Which although to Christian morals, the Apostolic precepts, the sacred laws, and all ecclesiastical discipline altogether to be repugnant was established; yet the Pontiff, that what need was of word and deed more gravely he might decree, and the petition of so great Princes might not seem wholly to contemn; the matter to some Cardinals selected for it to be weighed and defined conferred. Among these therefore since Alexandrino was, the sacred laws and the honor of God to the favor of all Princes and to all human things to be preferred deeming, with singular constancy and liberty of mind so he opposed himself, that demands of this kind no one either more ardently impugned, or more keenly contended must be rejected: he dissuades and prevails and he himself is said to have been the chief author, that the Pontiff should answer that this in no wise must be done. For it is not lawful, to do evils, that goods may come: nor for the sake of any matter against all laws must the most holy Priesthood be prostituted, and indeed profaned, which without holy chastity either duly to subsist, or to please God cannot, the Catholic and Apostolic Church always taught. These therefore and other most grave answers of his beyond the rest admiring Hannibal Bozzutus a Cardinal, no less by prudence than by dignity and splendor of birth signal, was wont to say, that the opinion of Cardinal Alexandrino in the most ample College had more weight (let envy be absent from the word) than of all the rest, otherwise most wise, Fathers together joined suffrages.

[34] He moreover vehemently withstood the same Pontiff, the office of the legation of Avignon to abrogate to Alexander Farnese Cardinal, likewise lest the legation of Avignon be decreed to Cardinal Bourbon, and to Charles Bourbon his colleague to commit it desiring: because that matter both with grave danger to the Catholic religion, and little honorific to the most holy See would seem to be. For thence it would be, that the heretics more would grow insolent, since they had seen themselves handed to his command: whose, otherwise well Catholic, zeal toward his nation, by heretic fraud in part deceived, they hoped would be more inclined: since no one is ignorant, that the lust of dominating and the bond of kinship, for changing the minds of men, especially of Princes, avail very much. He added, that not very much must the promises of the King of Gaul be relied on, promising that the heretics would not live at Avignon: both because he was almost a boy, and was governed by the judgment of others; and because if at his own home that he could not afford, the less must it be hoped that in another's dominion this would be afforded by him. Wherefore partly from these, partly from other, which now are omitted, contentions and contrary opinions, and that with some offense of the Pontiff, pertaining to the sacred magistracy of the Inquisition, there were those who said it would be, that by the Pontiff into the citadel of the Hadrianic mass he would be enclosed. To whom he, To me, said he, a place will never be wanting of returning into my Order, as often as for the testification of truth in this college I shall not be able to remain. By these therefore and other things of this kind perhaps moved Pius IV would not, that any more he should inhabit the palatine building, and the authority of supreme Inquisitor to him not a little he diminished.

[35] Meanwhile that, which before we mentioned, the disease and pain contracted from the stone, in the month of July Michael so vehemently afflicted, that set in the highest danger of life, for eighteen days he rendered blood, in place of urine. Wherefore of composing himself for a happy death, and of preparing for himself a sepulcher he began to think: which of such kind he wished to be, fallen into disease he disposes about burial, as in the middle floor of the temple of S. Mary above Minerva today is beheld, with this epitaph. To the praise of D. O. M. Fr. Michael Gislerius, of the town of Bosco, of the Alexandrian territory, of the Order of Preachers by the mercy of God Cardinal Presbyter of the title of S. Sabina, knowing that he will render earth to earth, for the sure hope of resurrection, in the temple of the Virgin Mother of God, desiring to be aided by her and the Saints' and the pious living's suffrages, this place living he established for himself: in which his corpse, when he shall have died his day, he caused to be placed, being in the LX year of his age, and in the year of human salvation MDLXIV. Moreover his health being confirmed, to his Church, that he might feed the sheep of Christ entrusted to him by word and example, thinking to return, to return to his Church, the sacred furniture of divers kinds and his writings, with the impediments of the journey, by sea he gave to be carried away. But He, by whose divine counsel all things are governed, and who for His clemency toward us, whom He loves, He reproves and scourges; as in the affliction of body, so in the detriment of external things His patience and virtue He wished more to try: and therefore permitted, that not far from the port of Hercules pirates should take and plunder the merchant-ship. Which indeed he, the message received, not so much of the other things, whose loss he easily bore, as of the writings, which were of the greatest moment, a grave loss indeed very ill bore. in various ways he is hindered. Thence the disease recrudescing, he changed his counsel of departing: and that the more, because the Cardinals of the sacred Inquisition, bearing his departure ill (since they, as they themselves said, would lose as it were the moderator of their own counsels) had obtained from the Pontiff, that at Rome he should contain himself, he soon in the Pontificate by divine counsel to succeed him.

CHAPTER IV.

The supreme dignity of Roman Pontiff conferred

CHAPTER VIII

[36] Pius the Fourth being dead on the V Ides of December, in the year from Christ's birth MDLXV, and the nine days' obsequies duly performed for him, on the day before the feast day of S. Thomas the Apostle, the Fathers about to read a new Pontiff in the conclave of the Diet shut themselves in. In the Conclave for creating a new Pontiff, It was almost the opinion of all, on account of the frequency of the Cardinals, who to fifty had assembled, and because many were, to whom the Pontificate for various causes was promised, that it would be, that by very many contentions longer the election would be protracted. Yet by long use it is found, that not the multitude of Cardinals effects, that this business be more quickly or more slowly accomplished; but rather (if we regard human things) the zeal of those, who for their authority in the conclave show themselves leaders of parties for the affairs to be done. The Princes of the Diet, and those who in resources, authority and favor were outstanding, were Charles Borromeo and Mark Sitticus Altaemps, sons of the sisters of Pius IV, Alexander Farnese the nephew of Paul III the Pontiff, Hippolytus and Aloysius d'Este of Ferrara, and Ferdinand Medici. The first two had very many colleagues bound by recent and great benefits: since five and forty, and those most choice men, Pius IV into the most ample order had co-opted. Of these most showed a mindful and grateful mind toward the kinsmen of the deceased Pontiff, by the zeal of S. Charles Borromeo and their zeal to Borromeo chiefly deferred. He was then Archbishop of Milan, in age indeed a youth, in morals yet and prudence grave: in dignity, clienteles and the zeal of friends illustrious; but in holiness of life, of which already then he had cast illustrious foundations, and the magnitude of piously done deeds more illustrious.

[37] To him from the laws, which warded off ambition, and prescribed what in this matter should be reserved, by no means

to depart; John Morone is proposed, but what pertained to the glory of God and the dignity of His Church, to do was his purpose. Which thing, as very many Cardinals were held by hope of his protection, and their reasons and thoughts depended on his judgment, so had effected, that whoever was approved by Borromeo, would seem to be approved by all. His zeal therefore was turned toward John Morone Cardinal of Milan: which although at first it pleased to dissemble; yet afterward the minds of many being conciliated, that he would suffrage for him openly he displayed. Morone by various protections and ornaments of virtues far most illustrious, and I know not whether of all the wisest was held: by his father Jerome, most skilled in governing, from his tender years to the administration of public affairs educated; of Paul III, by whom he had been created Cardinal, a nursling of his discipline; over great affairs and public offices often set, finally in very many legations to Kings and Princes egregiously having functioned, by what reasons the dignity of the Church might be procured and augmented, he had best learned: which to him too was ample and glorious, of the Council of Trent he had presided as Apostolic Legate, and it with so happy and memorable an issue had concluded, that those Princes who that longer to be drawn and to be open had desired, so illustrious a deed dared not to censure. To his authority, by the perpetual tenor of a well-passed life acquired (as virtue is always exposed to the complaints and calumnies of the envious) one thing most stood in the way, that under Paul IV, as if of religion he had less rightly thought, accused he had undergone judgment: in which yet he had best purged himself, and egregiously had proved his innocence. And so Borromeo and others suffraging for Morone; some, who by clandestine canvassing had been adverse, their will soon being laid open, openly resisted; and the suffrages being given, of these four for accomplishing the matter were lacking.

[38] When concerning Morone the vain undertaking turned out, Borromeo turned his mind to the creation of William Sirleto. then William Sirleto, Sirleto was, not born in the highest place indeed, but with a most upright life, most chaste morals, the highest piety and manifold erudition endowed. But of languages, especially Hebrew, Greek and Latin, in the knowledge easily the first of all, in the study of the sacred letters engaged, so to all the abundance of his doctrine he had made, that scarce one was found, to whom he was not dear and pleasant: how remote from the studies of ambition he had always been, this was a testimony, that Pius IV, lest he should read him Cardinal, suppliant he had besought. But Alexandrino hidden in his little cell, intent on assiduous prayers and daily sacrifices of the Mass, looking at nothing besides the glory of God and the public advantages, esteemed that by adorning Sirleto the Church would be adorned, for whom Gislerius supremely strove, and the Christian commonwealth well consulted. And so the matter heard, not only his zeal to Borromeo of his own accord he promised, but the Fathers too he went about, and mingling prayers and counsels, the favor of all to conciliate to Sirleto he strove. But to these both Sirleto's merits and the zeal of friends not equally all suffraged: some esteeming it could not be, that a new man, and in public business and great affairs to be conducted by no means engaged: but only to books and the studies of sciences given, so great a majesty and so great an authority could take or sustain.

[39] Wherefore many other men being proposed, plainly in Pontifical virtues and merits excelling, of which singly here it is not needful to relate, the rest being postponed, afterward Gislerius himself, at length to Alexandrino the zeals were turned; Borromeo chiefly and Altaemps with the highest vows demanding him as Pontiff. For the best inclination of Alexandrino toward honest and pious men in the business of Sirleto being perceived, and his life besides most holily and most religiously passed, so was the mind of Borromeo bound to him, that whom before he had loved very much, afterward most studiously he cultivated: and whom at first among others tacitly he had designated, to read him more vehemently he set his mind. As therefore what he had thought, by his own and especially by Morone and Farnese to be approved he understood, the minds of the rest to him to conciliate, and into the same opinion to draw he contended. To the highest merits and ornaments of virtues of Alexandrino only a certain human opinion stood in the way, that he would be of Paul IV, whose nursling he had been, an avenger of his actions, and would be adverse to the kinsmen and clients of Pius IV; finally that of a severer genius, every human respect being postponed. than that the infirmity of many could bear him, by very many he was esteemed. But all the vain contentions and fears of human thoughts the egregious virtue of Borromeo, for whose affairs chiefly there was fear, and of other more pious Fathers, regarding divine rather than human things, and preferring the public safety to private reasons, God well aiding, easily overcame: and persuaded that, which the event indicated, it would be, that Alexandrino, if he were read, would look at nothing besides the honor of God and the comeliness of the Church and the safety of men.

[40] The authors of the election therefore hastening to accomplish the matter, he himself alone of whom it was treated, and who intent on holy prayers, who in vain resisting as we have said, far from business and ambition, content enough with his lot, rested, to refuse; to say that the summit of Pontifical majesty was too high, than that he himself by counsel and gravity could trust himself able to guard it: that there was need of a perfect and as it were divine man, who in the custody of the Apostolic See, as if placed in a watchtower, could afford the Church safe by vigils and providence. What they should do, again and again let them provide: that there were not wanting men in all numbers complete, to whom so grave a province far better ought to be committed. Meanwhile Borromeo and Farnese urging him, and not ceasing to exhort, to ask, and to heap with merited praises; having prayed God, that that matter to the Church of God favorably and happily might turn out, he is led into the Chapel: soon led out of his chamber, in the chapel, where the adoration of the created Pontiff is wont to be made, he is placed.

[41] Threefold is the reason of creating a supreme Pontiff. The first, that each of the Fathers those whom he chooses, in little tablets, written with his own hand and sealed with a ring, having named, and not by the way of scrutiny the tablets into the chalice, which in performing the sacred Mass that day they used, and which in the middle of the altar is wont to be placed, he puts. That matter performed, the Fathers in order sit down: then the chief ones of the Bishops, Presbyters and Deacons (they call them Deans) who to this business are employed as guards and inspectors, the chalice taken up from the altar onto a table placed in the middle, where both they can be seen and heard on every side, carry. The tablets by the Dean of the Bishops from the chalice singly drawn forth, to the Primate of the Deacons to be recited are handed. The Cardinals each have little books prepared, where the names of all the colleagues are written: in these the names of those, who by suffrages are designated Pontiffs, they note, and mark with points. Whoever shall have completed two parts of three of the suffrages, he is led the supreme Pontiff chosen. To this reason of bearing the suffrage the name of Scrutiny was imposed. or by accession, But if it happen, that no one bore the legitimate number of suffrages, by the Primate of the College it is announced, that to each of the Fathers it is free, by the suffrage of voice, whose judgment is deemed most grave, to accede to those who were named and to whom he had not suffraged. To this other institute of creating a Pontiff, for this the name of Accession they gave. The third reason of electing, in the last times more frequent and more usual, from the matter took the name of Adoration: which is then induced, but by that of adoration when, the legitimate number of Cardinals being gathered, by common consent and living voice and salutation, he who is most approved, is declared supreme Pontiff.

[42] When therefore, that we may return to the matter, among a few Cardinals concerning electing Alexandrino it was agreed, and they now had drawn him into the chapel, as we said; as soon as all the rest learned it, he is elected Pontiff, by a certain wonderful consent of minds, trembling yet, and scarcely believing their own selves, not without the impulse of the divine Spirit, to adore him eagerly they hastened. So he who in human resources, who in favor, who in the artifice of conciliating benevolence was inferior to all; by the divine nod, beyond the expectation of all, became superior to the rest, who for the hope of the highest honor seemed born and raised: and when many others as the sons of Jesse were brought to be chosen, the Lord did not regard their countenance nor their height: but this one, as another David, lying in the highest humility of outstanding piety, He raised and chose, who in the midst of the Brethren should be anointed.

[43] The adoration being made, that by the assent of the designated supreme Pontiff the election should be approved, and the whole matter constituted by the formula of stipulation should be committed to public monuments, the law commanded: and this indeed by the pronunciation of this word was wont to be done, We accept. much solicitous within himself, Farnese urging, as Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, that he should do this forthwith; he himself reckoning within himself, that a most ample honor indeed, but that of all the gravest, and full of danger and solicitude he received, thoughtful delayed to answer: and uncertain between hope and fear, by silent thoughts hither and thither hung in mind. First, who would wish to undergo so grave a burden, under whose mass the strongest and most outstanding men had almost succumbed. That he had been from a boy almost educated and accustomed within the straits of a small cell, with Kings and Princes to deal he was not wont. On the other part it came into mind to think, that he had never desired that dignity, and so much the less to obtain it he had either applied any effort or zeal himself or cared that it should be applied for him by others. This doubtful deliberation when it had held him for a little, and at length accepting the office in the divine providence at length to be trusted deeming; which whithersoever it should move itself, what for the human race was first and better, would effect; to the hope of the matter to be well conducted he felt himself roused. And so the word being brought forth, which the law exacted, gravely sighing, the conferred dignity he undertook. Which day to the Christian world happy shone the VII Ides of January toward evening, in the year from the Virgin's birth MDLXVI.

[44] At the request of Borromeo, that to his uncle that honor might be had, Pius, who was the Fifth of this name, he wished to be called. He is called Pius V: Thence into the temple of S. Peter according to custom carried, before the most holy Eucharist suppliant he fell down, and with deep prayers help to the entered honor with spread hands he prayed. There, from how great a humility to how great a summit by divine counsel he had been raised, recollecting, tears flowed: and so far was it, that amid these things to be done he displayed any appearance of one extolling himself effusely and vainly and rashly exulting: that, and he displays a wonderful tranquillity of mind. which is of a great and lofty mind and one measuring human honors by the rule of human frailty, in his daily and accustomed habit of countenance, displaying the manly strength of mind, he offered himself to be beheld. That too was an argument of a settled and tranquil mind, that when on the next night he gave himself to rest, so close a sleep embraced him, that, what never before had happened, and what the disease of dysuria prohibited, eleven continuous hours sopored he reposed.

[45] Moreover this election many, divinely, as they say, admonished, foresaw; and various signs given from heaven foreshowed. Francis Gonzaga Cardinal, in the Diet gravely sick and by night awakened, that Cardinal Alexandrino would be created Pontiff he presensed: This creation foreseen by Cardinal Gonzaga dying, and him as Supreme Pontiff willingly to adore having professed, near death, which he met the day before the election was made, his familiars he called out; complaining, that of that matter nothing by them was reported to him. The same almost a little before had happened to Genesius of Lucca, Prefect of the Dominican monastery at the Minerva: and a Dominican Prior. but he besides had seen, the Pontiff quickly to vanish from his eyes: which he interpreted to portend, that his Pontificate would not be long. And when he himself a little after had announced it to the Pontiff; he, I rejoiced, said he, in these things, which were said to me: into the house of the Lord we shall go. At London in England above that island, then by the tyranny of the impious Queen Elizabeth persecuting the Catholics oppressed, a hairy comet in those days appeared, foretold by a Comet in England, and fires from heaven terrible and of bloody color; besides a hand of immense magnitude, threatening a drawn sword, an indication of threats and curses, and soon of the sword of Apostolic power to be hurled by this Pontiff against that Queen, as below in its place will be demonstrated, cutting her as a heretic from the communion of the faithful, and declaring her despoiled of all right of reigning, a not obscure prodigy.

That too at Bosco was a miracle they narrate. Indicated at Bosco by a messenger compelled to stop. A courier of the King of the Gauls, about to announce the creation of the Pontiff, from Rome by relay horses into Gaul hastening, when he had come to the town of Bosco, ignorant that it was the fatherland of Pius; by divine rather than human leading, beyond his counsel, from the ordinary, by which outside the walls of the place straight is passed, declining the way, that town he entered; and to him trying to pass with swift course, the horse on which he was carried, in the middle of the forum before the high temple of the parish, so pertinaciously stopped, that whatever spurs being applied to proceed, like another Balaam, in no way could he. To those running up for the sake of help, and the horse on every side in vain spurring, and at length whence, and whither he was going, and what news there was, inquiring; when he signified that Cardinal Alexandrino had been created Supreme Pontiff, and that he of that matter bore letters to the King of Gaul; at once the horse by itself the course resumed, the begun journey to insist; and subsequently the matter being divulged, with the highest joys to exult all, to the temples to flock, immortal thanks to God to give, and many other signs of public gladness to display they began. But on the next day from Pius himself made more certain, more plainly they understood, and admiring proclaimed, that not without divine counsel it had befallen, that of so great gladness by a message, as if sent from heaven, the day before they had been wonderfully dignified.

CHAPTER V.

The deeds done at the beginning of the Pontificate: the Ecclesiastical discipline restored.

[47] Now indeed the whole City and Christian world the fame of the created Pontiff being divulged, Created with great joy of the King of the Spains, according to the various zeals and opinions of men, as happens, variously affected minds. Philip II, greatest King of the Spains, by reality and surname Catholic, for his exceptional piety toward the Church of God, this message received, vehemently thence rejoicing, what greatest he could to immortal God gave thanks, and his gladness with other eminent men, with fuller and ampler words, both in person and by letters communicated, promising to himself and the rest that it would be, that under this Pontiff Christian discipline would be brought back to the ancient morals, and a great accession to piety and to the dignity of the Apostolic See would be made. Which hope, heaped with singular joy, took also the minds of other pious men; and them, as we shall show, by no means deceived. Yet very many, especially in the City, the mourning Romans he consoles: ignorant of the truly pious Pontiff's mind and zeal, fear interpreting all things into the worse, mourning and huge dread invaded, almost no one not fearing for himself from the severity of the man: since nothing else, which the people could object to him, he had. This he himself when he had presensed, what about his assumption to the Pontificate the people felt, and what about him commonly was the expectation, from his familiars to him inquiring it was answered, that the fear of ancient and too hard severity had come upon minds. To whom he, We trust, said he, in God, by His help we shall so do, that a greater and longer mourning from our death, than from this undertaken dignity men may take. And that so plainly it befell, and that he departing from life left a huge desire of himself, with the common and lasting grief of all the good, the issue declared.

[48] Moreover since he well understood, that for governing men with quiet and moderation, nothing is fitter than to be loved, nothing more alien than to be feared: nor in any thing do men come nearer to God, than by giving safety to men; the beginnings of the Pontifical office from charity toward the poor, and toward others by liberality and clemency, he wished to begin: which thing both by advantage and by dignity minds otherwise taken, to benevolence, by which kingdoms are stabilized more than by arms, to allure and in duty to retain easily could. On the feast day of S. Anthony, on which day he was brought into light, crowned 17 January with the Pontifical crown, with the highest ceremony duly he was adorned. By the custom and institute of former times, at the very most celebrated hour of the coronation, to the disorderly multitude into the area of S. Peter flowing together, the money then to be scattered and to be spent on a banquet, for the sake of public gladness moneys were scattered: and the crowd rushing most tumultuously, and some pressing others, and in snatching the money clashing, the more valid in age only and strength and bolder obtained this gift: but the rest not only by that liberality were excluded, but of these several trodden and trampled miserably perished. To these inconveniences that Pius might remedy, and that, the perilous institute of the turbulent largesse being removed, the slenderness of the poor more prudently he might consult, the money destined for this work, and besides a thousand gold pieces, with which yearly on the same day a banquet magnificently and splendidly to the Cardinals, to the poor he distributes: and to the Legates of Kings and Princes was furnished, to the needy monasteries of the pious and to other poor he gave out, that custom of the banquet thereafter wholly removed: nowhere that expense more safely, and more holily could be set, he deemed; than if the unnecessary expenses being cut off, and the splendor of the age being left as far as could be done, the want and necessity of others he should succor. Constit. 174 For not because to the Cardinals or Orators with greater care and expense feasts he had not prepared, but because the afflicted families of the poor benignly he had not relieved, on that horrible and to be feared day of the great Judgment from himself an account would be demanded he understood.

[49] Account besides of the other poor being had, and the number reported by the men, to whom this business was given, and great munificence toward various persons being used, them more freely and more largely with alms he sustained. To very many virgins, who had either no, or a scant patrimony, moneys under the name of dowry largely he supplied. To thirty-eight Cardinals of slenderer income twenty thousand and nine hundred gold pieces among them man by man to be divided he gave. To each of the judges of the sacred Rota two hundred each he gave. To the familiars of the Cardinals, who set over the conclave of the Diet had sustained great labors and vigils, ten thousand gold pieces to be given as a gift, and that the immunities and benefits before conferred on them be in nothing diminished he ordered. To many others, by whose effort and best fidelity the Apostolic See had been aided and adorned, rewards were decreed and honors augmented. From the heirs of each dead Cardinal five hundred each gold pieces under the name of rings were exacted; this money, and besides ten thousand gold pieces to the erecting the monastery of sacred Virgins of the Dominican order, which on the Quirinal hill is magnificently constructed, to be attributed he willed. This munificence, the dejected minds he raises: the less it was expected and the more it was seasoned with courtesy, the more welcome it was and more pleasant: and the mist of cares and fear being dispelled, some as if recreated by the light of liberty and the odor of huge humanity, to the hope of a more tranquil life to be raised, others the unhoped greatness of mind to look up to, and all the highest and lowest with one mouth worthy of the highest honor with admiration to proclaim him; and him as the president of the safety of all, as if sent from heaven to venerate. To some yet judging the matter from afar, the cause not inspected, as often happens, what follows, seemed less consonant to the laws, and given to the reproach of largesse: but by those, who the causes of the deed better inspected, otherwise judged. The matter was thus.

[50] Hannibal Sitticus, Count of Altaemps, brother of Mark the Cardinal, a little before Pius IV migrated from life, the sister of Cardinal Borromeo being led in matrimony, in aid of the dowry from his uncle the Pontiff with a hundred thousand gold pieces had been gifted. Upon that matter a diploma written, Half of the dowry promised by the predecessor, and fortified with the Pontifical sign was extant: but the Pontiff's death following, the money from the treasury had not been drawn. And so, although the right of the donation could make Hannibal's mind to the hope of obtaining the gift; yet whether he distrusted the cause, because, what depend from the laws and civil right, various and ambiguous interpretations sometimes receive, or more hope in the benignity of the supreme Pontiff he placed; rolled at the feet of Pius, the reason of his right being set forth, the whole matter to his judgment and will he committed; suppliantly yet to ask, that account of his lot he would have, and the sad condition of a noble Knight and a slender Pontifical kinsman pity. To conciliating the Pontiff's favor this most helped, he liberally gives to Altaemps, that to yield of his right rather, than with so great a Prince pertinaciously to contend Hannibal seemed. For Pius was such, that the sentences of laws to facility and equity he recalled: and held that it was of a magnanimous Prince, rather to others of his own to bestow largely, than from any to take anything. Wherefore since neither him, who used him as judge and arbiter, of the fruit of his confidence defrauded he wished, nor yet the former Pontiff's indulgence toward his own to ratify it pleased (since in the sacred Senate to him, this very thing consulting, almost one of all the Fathers he had constantly opposed) a most fitting temperament of equity being devised, the middle way between strict right and favor he entered: and at the request of almost all the Cardinals, and of Lewis Requesens, the Catholic King's Orator in the Pontifical court, fifty thousand gold pieces to him to be counted he ordered. And so to him there was not a power of avenging an enmity, but an occasion of showing benignity: and the matter itself taught, by how vain an opinion they were led, who suspected that he would be less benign to the kinsmen of Pius IV, or an avenger of past offenses.

[48] But the more indulgent toward strangers, the more severe he was toward his own. For now two months from the entered Pontificate had passed, at the request of many he creates a grand-nephew Cardinal: when not acquiescing to flesch and blood, by the assiduous prayers of the Cardinals and chiefly of Farnese and of eminent men he scarcely could be brought, that Michael Bonello, the nephew of his sister, a Priest of the Dominican order, at Perugia bestowing effort on Theological studies, he should read Cardinal. For he had resolved of his kinsmen to advance no one to a higher grade; nor this one, otherwise with outstanding virtue and approved morals and doctrine endowed, from the course of a more perfect life to courtly, though sacred, dignities to call away. But the supreme men demanding it, and many things, by which this seemed to be for the Christian commonwealth, opposing, at length he esteemed he must assent: and him into the most ample College at the fixed times after the sacred Ashes duly co-opted, with his hat and title to be adorned, and Alexandrino to be called he

willed: and he has him as a helper in business. soon him for the business to be conducted he so employed as a helper to himself, that yet he himself wished to understand and moderate all things, especially the graver, lest through others sluggish by resting he should administer the Pontificate. But with what moderation toward this and his other relations he bore himself, in its place more fully afterward we shall narrate. But his Church of Mondovì to a most upright and most learned man, Vincent Laureo, a Calabrian, who afterward was Cardinal, Bishop chosen by him, to be governed he conferred.

CHAPTER X

[49] But Pius said that this was the chief office of the Roman Pontiff, with the highest effort to strive, that in the city of Rome, from which as from a fountain throughout the whole Christian world both the documents and the examples of all religion and all virtue and holiness are derived, both the divine cult, and the ecclesiastical discipline, and finally the morals of all the city-dwellers, as far as can be done, most upright should be conserved. And so in the first year of his Pontificate and thereafter, on this care especially he applied himself, that the cult of the most holy religion, To his household and familiars a right norm of living he prescribes: where it had lapsed, to its pristine splendor in the City he should recall, and the life and morals of all the orders to the reason of true piety he should restore. Which that sedulously and easily might be afforded, first that very law of living for himself and his familiars he imposed, which in all things to the imitation of virtue would excite and precede the rest: that, as our Savior from His own and the Apostles' example began the conformation of the Church; so he himself from himself first and from his courtiers wished the ordination of the Christian matter to begin. For he understood that very coldly and almost to no purpose were others to modesty, to liberality, to justice, and the other virtues incited by him, whose either life or house, either ambition, or avarice, or injustice, or other vices of this kind stained.

[50] And so first of all his household and all his familiars called together to him, to all vanity of ambition, arrogance, envy, intemperance, avarice, discords, and other most noxious pests of this kind of minds, but especially idleness, as the fomenter of all vices, most diligently to be guarded against and driven off, and to holiness of life, to integrity and innocence, but especially to piety toward God, and mutual charity among themselves perpetually to be retained most gravely having exhorted, what was to be afforded by each he declared. That he would not in his hall tolerate anyone, whose both proved virtue and life best ordered had not been. Wherefore let each so compose and prepare himself, that in all things he be an example of Christian modesty, religion and piety. But of these more conveniently and more fully, of his domestic discipline writing below, we shall commemorate. He ordered moreover to be summoned all the City Magistrates and Judges, the Cardinals too being employed, who touched some part of public jurisdiction or administration: to whom he prescribed a law and a reason of knowing and explaining causes, so that by divine instinct that oration was held very many testified.

[51] He exhorted the Cardinals, that they should commend no one's cause except in those words, As far as justice permits; The Cardinals he exhorts to ordering life holily, and should consider with themselves diligently, by what and how great tempests the Christian commonwealth was shaken at that time: that those were the horrid scourges of God, avenging the sins of mortals, while they all saw the Church, both by the raging heretics on every side assailed and afflicted, and by the most immane and most powerful tyrant of the Turks most gravely vexed. That this time by no means ought to be neglected. That it especially befitted the Cardinals, that they themselves order their own household, and by the zeal of true piety placate the offended God, and to all nations afford illustrious examples of virtues, for to them and to the Bishops especially Christ had said: You are the light of the world, and, You are the salt of the earth. Matt. 5. And so let them reckon with themselves again and again, that they as the most illustrious lights of the world, on the highest summit of the Church divinely constituted, ought to display so great a splendor of virtue to all, that not less by the holiness of life and the other ornaments of mind, than by the exalted grade of dignity they should seem to excel all men to the glory of God: for neither ought Priests and Cardinals to be content with a certain common office of Christians, and a mediocre only course of pious life; but a certain higher and to them proper and indeed necessary reason of virtue had been imposed on them by God: since their life he said was set in a high place, in which to other men an example to be imitated was set forth. Wherefore they must give effort, that not only the hand, the tongue, the mind from all contagion of crime chaste from the reason of their proper office: and entire they should keep; but each his own life and his household's morals with those virtues should order, by whose praise the Priestly order, which for procuring the salvation of the human race divinely is instituted, most is adorned and contained. And so of the holy laws and ecclesiastical sanctions patrons and most strong vindicators they should show themselves; faithful, wise, and upright counsellors, which was their proper office, to the Pontiff everywhere they should offer themselves: nothing at all either from themselves or from others should they demand, which with the other sacred laws, but indeed with the decrees of the Council of Trent was adverse: for nothing such from himself ever would they obtain. Moreover that he would be to all their sound counsels to be aided everywhere most ready: and would do by divine help, that both for the Christian Commonwealth and for their private reasons too, as far as equity bore, perpetually it should be consulted.

[52] Then turned to the Judges, he admonished them, of widows, orphans and the poor especially, To the Judges he commends equity: in their judgments, the care they should bear: but if anyone outside the formula of justice were commended to them, that one to have a bad cause they should esteem. And so the straight way of justice they should hold, of bending which no one from the Pontifical household would be to them an author or persuader: for he had commanded his familiars, that in those matters, which pertain to declaring the law, in no way they should interpose themselves, or commend causes to the Judges. By these therefore and other words of this kind all to performing each his office rightly he exhorted. Moreover upright and entire ministers of the law, to whom for taking up the commonwealth, not money, but virtue had opened the access, to the affairs to be conducted and the causes to be dispatched to be set he procured; mindful of that sentence, He who buys (namely the ministry of justice) must needs sell.

[53] Subsequently the five Patriarchal Churches of the City he visited: he visits the Patriarchal Churches, namely S. John Lateran, S. Peter, S. Paul, S. Lawrence outside the walls, and S. Mary Major; and to each of their Colleges a grave as well as a pious oration he held: and all to the function of their office, and to their life, as that to which the morals of the people are wont to be conformed, more holily to be ordered, and to the divine cult, before more negligently cared for, with greater zeal to be retained, vehemently he exhorted. And therefore at once he chose Visitors outstanding men, who should go about all the sacred buildings of the City, with the highest power of correcting both courtly and sacred men whomsoever to a better fruit. Among them were Nicholas Ormaneto of Verona, and Alfonso Binarino of Bologna, men of proved probity and erudition, and most flagrant with the zeal of Christian discipline: who in this business of ordering affairs gave him egregious effort. the effigies of the gods he eliminates from the Vatican, Moreover the effigies of the vain gods, left by the ethnics, and with great expenses formerly for the sake of adornment in the Vatican and the sacred Palace's theater placed, as altogether unworthy of those places, forthwith elsewhere he ordered to be carried, and them to the Roman people he bestowed; declaring ornaments of this kind to the Capitol, where afterward they were placed, less unbecoming to be, than to the Pontifical dwelling.

[54] Among these things a most grave edict, of expelling from the City and all the Pontifical dominion the harlots, he published. the harlots he causes either to be cured or expelled, For now both their number and petulance had so grown, that inhabiting the egregious houses of the City and the public ways, the eyes of the pious and especially of foreigners they gravely offended. But the triumvirs Conservators of the City, this law keenly resisting, and that it was not for the Commonwealth, especially on account of the detriments of renting the houses, contending, Pius forthwith imposed silence: namely that it was the office of the Roman Senate, to defend the cause of unchaste little women; and for this to clamor against the ears of their Prince, and to care that the laws of chastity be removed. To these things indignant he added; that unless they departed from Rome, he together with the whole curia from the City would migrate. They departed at length; and those especially, who before the rest to offense to incautious men would be, and greater occasions of offending the divine majesty would seem to afford, by name were relegated. Some indeed, that worse crimes might be avoided, to remain he permitted; whom into one corner of the City cast back, and in a remote and ignoble place enclosed he constituted; by this law, that thence they should not go forth; those who did otherwise, beaten with rods should be driven into exile. To them indeed two or three temples, whither to the divine service and the sacred sermons they should assemble, he designated. These laws were forthwith salutary: for of them many to men in matrimony were handed; or to be enclosed in a corner of the City, but other very many studiously and diligently sought a condition, by which from that turpitude and contumely they might snatch themselves, and a laudable and pious life institute. He added too truly Pius a father, that his alms would not be wanting, as it was not wanting, especially to those, who on account of poverty seemed slower to piety to become. That moreover deterred many from that flagitious life; that them Pius had decreed would lack sacred burial, and would be buried in a dunghill, who in that foulness of life without the communion of the Sacraments should depart from the living.

[55] Nor indeed is that remedy to be passed over, by which very many crimes in the public inns and taverns were cut off. For gravely and severely he interdicted, he represses carousings in the inns, that none of those, who dwelt at Rome, for the sake of feasting or drinking together, should go to those places; nor anyone in them be permitted to gamble. And although very many thousands of gold pieces under the name of tax from the wine of the taverns yearly to the public treasury acceded, by which money the burdens and expenses of the Commonwealth were sustained; to these detriments yet Pius preferred to connive, than to so many flagitia, which with the contumely of the divine honor, and the destruction of private souls and of houses, were perpetrated. The inns therefore now from of old free of tax, and as if rendered to themselves, by foreigners only were frequented; and to the convenience of strangers, for whose sake they had been instituted, served. To these the luxury of garments and of banquets through the whole dominion of the Church he repressed. Finally there was nothing, which either to the divine cult, or to morals best to be formed pertained, which he did not with the highest zeal to its pristine and native splendor to recall strive: nor this only in graver, but in lighter things too most accurately he procured. Constit. 39.

[56] But by these and other very many of this kind, which everywhere below will be written, institutes and examples it was effected, that both the Pontiff's hall and the City itself whole a certain new, and plainly pious face seemed to have put on. For thou wouldst have seen meanwhile games, carousings,

stories, ludicrous contests, and the other occasions of crimes grow obsolete; hence a new face given to the Church, but the divine offices more diligently cultivated, the sacred sermons frequented, the hospitals, the houses of the poor visited, the most holy both Confession and Communion through the whole City with greater frequency celebrated; the taxes and tolls partly removed, partly remitted, and all conditioning of money in sacred matters cast out; almost no place of power or favor left; to proved religion and virtue all things attributed; Episcopates, dignities and priesthoods considerately and prudently conferred; the Churches adorned with men, not burdened with men or pensions; the discipline of the Clergy holily restored, the administration of the sacred buildings almost brought back to the approved manner of the ancients; the City purged of flagitia, the calumnies removed; affairs and accounts iniquitously contracted rescinded, no iniquitous condition of usury permitted; the lawsuits not protracted, but by mature judgment settled: for he himself wished to hear, to know, to see all things Pius the Pontiff, and of the ministers of actions, whom he used, Pius V recognizing all things. every relation he repelled, in which even the least mark lay of hatred, love, cupidity. Which indeed all the easier to each were rendered, the clearer the examples shone before his precepts: for such as in the Commonwealth the Princes are, such are the rest of the citizens wont to be: and that is the condition of Princes, that whatever they do, they seem to command. Wherefore since by acting rightly the Prince teaches his citizens to act, for the Christian Commonwealth to be well ordered Pius thought he had need not so much of command, as of example.

CHAPTER VI.

The most holy Council of Trent induced and first concerning Ecclesiastical matters.

CHAPTER XI

[57] These therefore, and many other things of this kind, when through the world divulged with the exceptional joy of the pious were proclaimed; the fame had grown, that in his Pontificate a certain image of the ancient holy Pontiffs shone forth; and filled with great and pious gladness eminent men by letters mutually congratulated, The Council of Trent he procures to be promulgated and observed, that both by the singular benefit of God toward us it had been done, that by the prescript of the sacred Council of Trent men should understand, what kind the Prelates of the Christian religion ought to be; and not long after, him whom the Council requires, they should have as Supreme Pontiff. For indeed Pius providing in mind, that unless the decrees of the same Council, by so many and so great both Supreme Pontiffs and Princes and Prelates, with expenses and also labors, for plucking up heresies and removing corruptions, divinely constituted diligently to be kept were procured, all things would go to ruin and perdition; on this most accurately he applied himself, that for all things both in the Roman curia, and in the whole Christian world to be restored, the Council itself everywhere among the nations both should be divulged, and into morals induced: esteeming that by this salutary remedy, to these times especially accommodated, the state of the Church, by so many depraved morals collapsed, both could piously be raised, and easily restored.

[58] Having become therefore of the Council itself, as a most keen vindicator, The Prelates either to return to their Churches or to abdicate he orders: so an egregious propagator and champion; first the Bishops, Archbishops, Patriarchs, and the rest besides of the sacred order all, especially those who bore the care of souls, to each his own diocese and province to administer he ordered to set out. Which that seriously and quickly might be afforded, daily more he urged; and to them a month he announced, in which either to their churches they should betake themselves all, or should abdicate the benefices, of which also he wished those deprived, who had not obeyed the edict. Epist. 1 & 2 book 1 To all moreover the Prelates of the Christian world he gave Apostolic letters, full of pastoral office, as we have seen, and of paternal charity; by which them to the decrees of the Council itself piously to be received and duly to be executed, and to feeding by word and example the flocks of Christ supremely he exhorted: and that the names of all, who by doctrine and virtue in each Bishop's dominion were outstanding, written and fortified with a seal to him they should transmit, he admonished; rewards, priesthoods, or other public offices to each according to merits to be conferred. Thence many things for the whole Christian commonwealth to be ordered by most holy laws at various times he decreed and constituted. Which indeed in this place, not of times, but of matters a certain order being somehow kept, lest to the same things more often the discourse recur, almost all summarily we shall relate.

[59] The divine service at the evening hours, especially in the vigils of Easter and the Lord's Nativity, or by night, and besides the ancient custom of the Church the power of doing he abrogated. Constit. 5, 12 The sacred rites he orders, To the Greeks lest in the Latin, to the Latins lest in the Greek rite they should perform the sacred things, he interdicted. The Missal book, the Breviary, the fixed and arbitrary prayers, and the office of the Blessed Mary the Virgin he ordered, and restored: to those reciting this the reward of Apostolic indulgence being conceded. Constit. 64, 106, 122. The sacred Catechism for the Parish-priests, in which the chief dogmas of Catholic doctrine luculently explained are contained, by men signal in Christian eloquence and erudition, in Latin first to be made, and everywhere among the nations to be divulged, The Catechism for the Parish-priests he divulges soon into the Italian, French, German, and Polish speech to be turned he procured. But that to God and to divine things, and to sacred places due cult might be afforded; and, where it had lapsed, be restored; adhering to the decrees of Gregory IX Roman Pontiff his predecessor, he cares for the decorum of the house of God, and of the Council of Trent, he constituted, that to the churches the access should be humble and pious, the standing quiet and devout, the supplication religious and intent. Let tumults and clamors be absent; let vain, foul and profane colloquies, immoderate laughters and all noises of judgments, walkings about, and other things, which can perturb the divine offices, depart; nor let the poor in the temples be permitted in any way to beg alms, but before the doors of the churches let them not be prohibited to stand. But all these things let the ministers of sacred things diligently procure, otherwise about to pay the proposed penalties. The sepulchers indeed eminent above the floor, or placed higher he ordered to be removed, and the observance of feasts, and the bones or ashes laid in them, the earth being dug out in a sacred place to be buried. On feast days let no merchandise be done, nor let one give time to other profane and servile works; but let all, with the piety which is fitting, frequent the sacred buildings; intent on divine things, and on other offices of charity and religion.

[60] The simoniacal pravity, the nefarious maledictions against God and the Saints, the preposterous lust, concubinage by severer laws and penalties in the same decree he restrained. Epist. 13 book 2 The sacred indulgences, though perpetual, conceded to any place, The pecuniary Indulgences he abrogates, which those about to obtain certain tokens to confer it behooved, and which made the power of begging alms, he decreed to be void. Which indeed manner of asking on account of the inconveniences, which proceeded from the men chosen for it, into great envy with all had been brought, as full of guiles and fallacies: for sometimes the questings of this kind to itinerant, and other sordid men were sold, who not the glory of God, not the salvation of souls, but base lucre affected. Constit. 30, 99 The office of the most holy Inquisition, The office of the Inquisition he amplifies, which to him most for his ardent zeal of the Catholic faith was always at heart, with most ample decrees he fortified; and the execration of anathema, and other most grave penalties he constituted against those, who the ministers of that salutary office either should impede, or offend, or whose goods should plunder, or whose prisons should break open, or whose rights finally in any way should violate. Constit. 83, 84 But to the ministers of the sacred Penitentiary the conceded faculties and the gifts of indulgence, others better being subsequently constituted, wholly he removed, and this Magistracy more holily corrected, and moderated. To all the parts of the Christian world moreover his exhortations and decrees were brought, for instituting societies and schools, he commends the pious schools which by the sacred catechesis the boys, and the ignorant of divine things should educate; both to those learning, and also to those teaching the divine benefit of indulgence being conferred. Constit. 130 The sodality of the most holy name of God or of oaths, which from the Order of the Friars Preachers draws its origin and increment, only in the places of that Order, or by the concession of its Superiors in other churches too, thereafter to be instituted to be able he sanctioned.

[61] The pious and salutary rite of prayer, which they call the Rosary of S. the Virgin Mary, the rosary of B. Mary, by B. Dominic instituted, and by the Catholic Church received, and with the greatest fruit of souls now everywhere among the nations among Christians used, by a grave decree he renewed, and with the most ample gifts of sacred indulgence those piously using it, or the public procession, which by the Brothers of its sodality each month is wont to be made, devoutly accompanying he adorned: and of this sacred institute the society, with his Apostolic decrees and gifts, everywhere to communicate and to erect, to the one supreme Prelate of the Dominican order for the time existing or to others delegated by him he made power. Constit. 86 He edicted moreover that in popular sermons or other public assemblies, he prescribes how of her Conception it must be spoken, where a promiscuous multitude of men and women is wont to assemble, of the B. Virgin Mary's Conception to dispute, by condemning either part and asserting one's own opinion; or of this very question, under the pretext of any piety or necessity in the vulgar speech to write, or to dictate thereafter anyone should dare, under grave penalties forthwith after the deed to be undergone; and the decrees of Sixtus IV and the Council of Trent upon this matter he confirmed. Const. 114 Moreover as long as by the Apostolic See the matter has not been defined, it is lawful for learned men in the public disputations of the academies, of that question on both parts to discourse, while yet neither as false is reproved, nor any occasion of offense lies. And since Pius was most studious of the doctrine of S. Thomas Aquinas, and was affected toward him with singular piety, The cult of S. Thomas Aquinas he promotes: that his feast day in the Kingdom of Naples should be celebrated, but in the other regions of the Christian world as of one of the four Doctors of the Church should be recalled, by a most grave decree he constituted; and seven and more years of indulgence to each, his chapel at Naples at S. Dominic's for the sake of religion visiting, he gave (in which place namely the doctrine of that holy man, from the mouth of Christ from the cross admirably addressing him, divinely was approved) but to other places a hundred days only he conceded. Constit. 36

[62] He decreed, by what reason the churches of the parishes to each their own ministers should be attributed; and their Rectors to residing, He orders the residence of the Parish-priests: if there were need, by the Ordinaries should be compelled. Constit. 65 In which business many illustrious things he restored and amended; and made that in many places, and especially in Sardinia, very many of them were founded, in which perpetual vicarages he instituted. And since some Bishops the Tridentine decree, of the assignation of portions to be made to the perpetual vicars, less executed; the quantity of portions of this kind by the judgment of the sacred Prelates so to be estimated he established, that neither greater than a hundred, nor less than fifty gold pieces the sum should be, the portions of the Vicars, all even the uncertain emoluments being computed, certain conditions being excepted, of which in his general and perpetual constitution upon this matter more amply it is expressed. Constit. 47, 139 He established besides concerning the resignations of benefices,

which namely in the hands of the Prelates by right can be made, the resignation of benefices, and which cannot be made. But especially he provided, lest they should pass to the kinsmen of those resigning, by a hereditary as it were certain right. Constit. 32, 58 And although very many through this occasion, and on account of other restored matters, complaining that the Roman curia would be overturned; It is better, said Pius, that the Curia or rather the corruptions of men, than that the state of religion and indeed of the Catholic Church should be overturned. Very many things he decreed, both of avoiding the alienation of ecclesiastical things, and of conjoining benefices together, and other things concerning ecclesiastical matters and benefices, and likewise of the spoils of the Clergy to be duly distributed. By holier laws moreover the confidences of priesthoods, as they call them, he restrained: those too who exercised them ill, with a grave anathema he marked; and the same deprived of all ecclesiastical goods, and of public offices, henceforth incapable for the same he declared. By a decree he sanctioned, that the fruits of benefices, the lawsuit pending, should be deposited with a person to be chosen by the Judge, whatever statutes notwithstanding. What they call the indults of the Cardinals upon the collation of ecclesiastical benefices, whence manifold inconveniences flowed to the Christian Commonwealth, partly he removed, partly too tempered: and the custom of receiving anything in the collation of benefices wholly he abrogated. But to the benefices themselves, which through Pontifical letters had less entirely been dispatched, the rights of regress he rescinded.

[63] He edicted, that the Clergy, who for Christ's sake ought to be made a spectacle to the world, to Angels and men, especially ought from those spectacles, the honesty of the Clergy, which savor not of Christ, to abstain. Epist. 42 book 3 Lest with dice, painted cards, and altogether with the die, or any other forbidden and unworthy kind of game they should play, nor be present as spectators of games of this kind. Lest they should be present at carousings, dances, comedies, or less honest banquets; and the taverns or the inns, unless for the sake of a longer journey, lest they should enter. Lest they should pledge anyone, or provoked to drinking should respond: but soberly, modestly and chastely according to the Apostolic doctrine should live. Lest women, even noble, they should follow; nor for the sake of office should stand about the table, them reclining. But in service, even of Ecclesiastical men, vile offices or works, which to the Clerical dignity are not fitting, by no means let them do. But those who in these things should offend, them gravely, according to the condition of the person and the manner of the fault, to be punished he established. But the beneficiaries, who without a legitimate impediment, the fixed prayers, which they call the Canonical Hours, should not recite, of the benefices' fruits to be deprived in proportion to the omission, which he himself prescribed; but those who a pension or other ecclesiastical things as a Clergyman should receive, him to reciting the B. Mary the Virgin's psalmody under the same penalties obnoxious to be he established. Likewise lest to Laymen or Clergy having wives, or bigamists, the sacred pensions should be paid. The faculty of making testaments, the testaments to be made by them. and of distributing ecclesiastical things and indeed taxes and emphyteutic goods to bastards (though restored to legitimate birth) or to legitimately born, or to strangers from the sacred men he abrogated. Constit. 117 And when of these a certain one to his son the paternal goods by testament had left, Pius, by a decree on this especially interposed, that testament itself and others of this kind to be null declared. So far indeed this kind of intemperance in ecclesiastical men he himself execrated, on account of the evil examples which thence recoiled upon the peoples: and likewise, since by that reason both from the churches, and from the needy, and indeed too from the legitimate heirs goods of this kind were snatched away. The decree of the Council of Trent of the promotion of secular Clergy to sacred Orders, to regular Clergy too not professed to pertain he established.

CHAPTER VII.

Edicts concerning Regulars, the rights of the Church and other matters.

[64] All the Orders of mendicant cenobites from every kind of taxes, exactions, and the lodging of soldiers free and immune, He sanctions things proper to the mendicants, the old privileges being confirmed, to be he established, and them with many decrees adorned: and lest into the administration of the brothers themselves or of the nuns subject to them, except as far as the Tridentine Synod prescribed, the Bishops should intermeddle; but should leave all things to their Prefects to be cared for, he interdicted. Constit. II. But of the sacred family, which they call of the Franciscan institute of the Observants, to its pristine discipline to be recalled, illustrious things many he decreed, and restored; and with it those Brothers, whom Amadeans and Clarenos they called, wholly he associated: and to the Prefects of that family the Third Order of S. Francis, which of Penitence they name, wholly he subjected, and its lapsing discipline he ordered: but those whom they call Conventuals in Spain he suppressed, and them to the Observants of the same order he aggregated. Constit. 41 He declared, that the Brothers of the Dominican family, all the other mendicant cenobites, even those, who are of the order of the holy Trinity, everywhere should precede. The discipline of the Order of the Brothers Servites of Blessed Mary he restored, and with most holy laws ordered. All the decrees, by which religious men of any sodality into another society besides the order of common law could be received, wholly he abolished. The apostates, All the apostates of the Regulars with a severer anathema he struck: yet lest from desperation the wretches should resolve anything harder of themselves, he exhorted the General Prelates, that each the deserters of his own orders, if there were any, should receive, and them with paternal benignity should conserve and foster.

[65] The Religious Militias he amended, providing lest into them enrolled, the military orders, whether Clergy or Priests, any ecclesiastical benefice, besides those which were proper of their Order, could obtain, nor to the Militias themselves or their Hospitals should benefices be permitted to be applied. Lest the ill-used, as they call it, Expectative of obtaining an ecclesiastical benefice the Masters of the sacred Militias or Sodalities or Hospitals could give. To some societies of the pious, which under voluntary and religious obedience lived, and from secular Presbyters by their habit were distinguished, that the three solemn vows of religion they should profess, he edicted. Adhering to the decrees of the prior Pontiffs he constituted, that the monasteries and other sacred places, to which ecclesiastical benefices thereafter not vacant were adjoined, and whose fruits in the books of the Pontifical treasury are found estimated, to the treasury itself a quindennial pension in proportion to the fruits every fifteenth year should pay. In the sacred monasteries or other places dedicated to God or in their buildings soldiers to be received in lodging or to lodge by a law he prohibited. the nuns, The cloisters of sacred Virgins well to be enclosed, and their life and morals to be ordered he sanctioned: and provided under the penalty of anathema, forthwith after the deed to be undergone, lest thereafter ever the cloister's enclosures they should go out of, except for the cause either of a great fire, or of diseases, of leprosy or epidemic which yet for the cause of diseases by their Superiors known before and in writing approved had been. Constit. 8 But to women of any state, grade and order, of entering the monasteries of Regular men all faculty he abrogated: the penalty of excommunication of the brought sentence being proposed to those, who otherwise to do thereafter should dare.

CHAPTER XIV

[66] And since almost all the thought and zeal of Pius thither was intent, that the amplitude, dignity and rights of the most holy Church he should guard; by a most grave decree published he established, lest any city or place of the Church tributary ever to anyone into right or dominion should be conceded, He forbids the places of the Church to be alienated, or for the space of anyone's life, either to the third offspring, or by another reason the thing being alienated, to be governed should be handed. Constit. 53. And by an oath he compelled all the Cardinals, and others the same dignity subsequently receiving, lest ever a decree of this kind they should think must be derogated: nor to future Pontiffs attempting this very thing should they assent, nor of that oath's religion should they either demand to be loosed ever or suffer it. But if at any time, whether secretly or openly, of these things so to be alienated anything to persuade they should contend; forthwith both the execration of anathema and other penalties besides they should undergo, and traitors and infamous thence should be deemed; and whoever of them into Pontiff should ever be read, he the same law's most keen vindicator and patron to show himself, again into the same law should swear. But this decree, how salutary and useful to the Church thereafter it was, that beyond the rest in the former years declared; when with it as with a shield fortified the Cardinals, and so Ferrara remains restored to the Church. to Alfonso the last Duke of Ferrara, under Gregory XIV the province of Ferrara, a certain and ancient patrimony of the Apostolic See, formerly to those Dukes into dominion handed, to incapable successors to transfer attempting, and by Pontifical authority this to be confirmed demanding, wisely and strongly resisted: from which a few years after thence it came that we saw, that the same Duke being dead, by the singular constancy, virtue and labors of Clement the Eighth Supreme Pontiff, Ferrara itself and all that most ample dominion to the rights of the Roman See and the free power and administration of the supreme Pontiff, with the incredible congratulation of all the good, and the immortal glory of Clement himself, at length returned.

[67] Moreover Pius that the City and the Ecclesiastical dominion from robbers free and safe he might render and conserve, an edict promulgated, By an edict he purges his dominions of robbers. yearly publicly to be read, against homicides, plunderers, exiles, and other malefic men, and those either harboring or protecting them or their accomplices too: and he decreed that this kind of men, and those banished from the Kingdom of Naples, in no way could in the Ecclesiastical dominion abide; a pact being entered with the Catholic King and with the Duke of Tuscany, that they of whatever right they were, whether in the Pontifical, or in the Neapolitan Kingdom, or in Tuscany should be caught, mutually in chains to be punished should be handed: but the patronages of exiles in judgment to be undertaken he forbade, unless first they should constitute themselves in prison. The refuges of assassins and of pestilent men of this kind in the City he removed: the assassins, and provided lest fire-arms shorter than two palms, or other arms smaller than three palms, under the penalty of treason should be borne: against those too a grave anathema being threatened, who the license of arms of this kind to give thereafter should dare. Lest travelers any violence or injury should suffer, keen penalties he decreed against those either eminent men or peoples, who their bounds from robbers should not guard: and if anyone on the way despoiled thence had been, of the places, in which the robbery had been committed, either the Lords or the inhabitants, the damages to make good were compelled. Which happened in Picenum, where the men of a certain castle, when to repairing the detriments of a robbery perpetrated among them they were compelled, and to the Pontiff that the severity of the decree he should remit, submissively had supplicated; not only nothing they obtained, but that answer too they brought back, that unless with greater diligence and zeal their bounds they should guard, it would be, that with greater money too the losses of men in future they should compensate. The neighboring Princes besides gravely he exhorted, and the pirates: that triremes disposed through the sea they should have; by whose protections the shores and coasts of Italy from plunderers and pirates might be defended: and at Trajan's Port and other maritime places he built towers and watchtowers, by which all faculty might be taken from the pirates of vexing those places, and our men against the Turks safe refuges of them might use. By this manner by land and sea, to the tranquillity of the Christian Commonwealth it was well consulted.

[68] A grave and ample decree likewise he published concerning sailors and the shipwrecked, he helps the shipwrecked, and their goods not to be occupied or impeded; but by those who could benignly to be helped, and with the Christian charity which was fitting to be conserved:

which that more willingly might be afforded, to each of the faithful of Christ, in this kind of piety their zeal and effort placing, ten years of indulgence and as many quadragenes of the penalties enjoined them by Apostolic authority he relaxed. Constit. 7 But the Christians, and the Christian captives who among the Turks slaves were found, together with all their goods thereafter humanely to be received, and free to be dismissed he ordered, segregating from the communion of the pious all those, who to this law by no means complied. But those who from slaves having become Christians, to the Conservators of the City for the time existing for the sake of liberty fled, them by the same magistracy with liberty to be gifted, and Roman citizens to be made able he established. The hospice of Corfu, in which of the whole Christian fleet warring against the Turks the sick and wounded should be cared for, that it should be amplified and augmented by the aids of the pious be sustained, by a law he sanctioned. Against physicians, who, three days passed, the sick of their sins by the Catholic rite not confessed had cured, the decrees of other Pontiffs being confirmed, many penalties he constituted; the kinsmen and familiars of the languishing exhorting, that even to their Parish-priests they should announce the disease. Constit. 3 Of marriages duly to be celebrated, many useful things for the polity he sanctions, of the degrees of consanguinity or affinity faithfully to be expressed, when anyone demands himself to be loosed from the laws; of the impediments of public honesty, and of spiritual cognation, and of affinity from fornication contracted, many things he decreed. The statutes and laws of the Roman people upon the moderation of dowries he approved: namely lest the sum of the dowry, together with the feminine adornment itself, should be greater than four thousand five hundred gold pieces: which law, otherwise to cities salutary, has now grown obsolete.

[69] The power of conferring the ornaments of a Doctor from the Palatine Counts in the City, and some other Colleagues of the Roman curia he abrogated; lest any more, as for the most part was done, to grades of this kind unskilled men, and unworthy should be advanced: who afterward to public and sacred ministries, and indeed to the Episcopal dignity, not without grave damage of the Commonwealth, were assumed. He sanctioned, that gowned laymen, who after the manner of Clergy were clothed, should put on a head-covering folded back at the occiput; that even thence from clergy they might be discerned; as already formerly was wont to be done. He declared, what by right, and what by wrong an exchange of money should be made: and of contracting censuses certain conditions being applied a form he prescribed. Constit. 79 The bloody spectacles he prohibits, The bloody and base spectacles of demons, as he himself called them, not of men, in which the encounters or baitings of bulls and beasts, very many in many places, for the ostentation of their strength and audacity, publicly and privately were wont to exercise, whence slaughters of men, mutilations of members, and dangers of souls frequently arose, by a grave decree he prohibited: who did otherwise, forthwith the penalty of anathema to have incurred are deemed. Constit. 48 The liberal and likewise the laborious arts he fostered egregiously: and many thousands of gold pieces in the wool-working, which he himself into the City to be introduced procured, he expended. Agriculture likewise with great, as we shall say, benefits he affected.

[70] Very many things concerning the Visitors of prisons and the Judges and their colleges he ordered. Constit. 16 and the sale of offices. The tribunals and all the magistrates of the Roman city, from the lowest to the highest, he corrected and with better laws tempered. But those who dignities and offices, to which the administration of jurisdiction was adjoined, either by money or by other evil arts solicited or even obtained (which by civil law is provided against) against them the most grave penalties proposed he renewed and augmented; to which penalties obnoxious to be also he declared, those who for it a price or promise should receive or their effort to this matter in any way should afford: so far indeed the right election of the ministers of the law, and the ministry of justice, as upright as possible he desired to be. Frauds, luxury, his decrees against bankrupts. and the losses of debt he restrained: for when to him it had been brought, that a certain banker for his intemperance had gone bankrupt, him otherwise noble, the penalties of cudgeling to pay he ordered, subsequently establishing, that they, as worse than robbers, not only profane, but also sacred men, Bishops excepted, with capital punishment to be punished, who not by fortuitous events, but by their own either carelessness, or luxury, or other pleasures to be satisfied, their creditors by the cession of goods had eluded; and who their family substance either dilapidated or hidden, their debt to dissolve had been unwilling. Constit. 112 Of the order to be kept, in satisfying the creditors of Prelates dying in the Roman curia, laws full of equity he gave: in the concourse of the other creditors, the pitiable persons to be preferred he established.

[71] The City Jews, into the region near the theater of Marcellus to them attributed, to be enclosed he ordered, and the Jews. by night the doors being barred; animadverting against those, who outside at that time had been caught, and the constitution of Paul IV upon that matter he renewed: and not very long after them all he expelled from the whole Pontifical dominion, except from the City of Rome, where to the light of truth more easily they could be converted: and likewise from Ancona the maritime city, lest namely the merchandise of the Orient wholly should be impeded. Constit. 6 By an edict besides he forbade, lest any Christian for work they should hire (whereas before Christian porters they used) or of those, with whom they did business, the threshold of the house should enter. Constit. 80 For he knew, that which perpetually the matter itself taught, that the intercourse and familiarity of the Jews to the Christian peoples is perilous, and as it were a seed-bed of depraved opinions always has been, just as was formerly to the Jews themselves the intercourse with the Ethnics. Nevertheless both elsewhere often, and especially after he was raised to the supreme office of the Apostolate, as he himself of himself testified, never did he cease, by exhorting, teaching, admonishing; trusting that very many of them to the faith of Christ he would bring. Nor indeed wholly vain, by the benignity of God, were his labors: since enough many of both sexes, and among these some of the chief, as below in its place will be demonstrated, by him with the salutary water sprinkled, the Christian religion received. Finally so many are the things, which either for removing corruptions from the midst, or for matters holily to be restored illustriously he decreed and constituted, that from them a just volume easily could be made. Which indeed I, lest to the reader I be troublesome, on purpose pass over: but the rest, which worthier of memory shall have seemed, since with them they draw a longer narration, below in their places everywhere we shall commemorate.

SECOND BOOK.

Things done for the Catholic faith in Germany, Gaul and Belgium. Aids given against the Turks in the island of Malta and in Pannonia.

CHAPTER I.

For the restitution and conservation of the Catholic faith in Germany various things prescribed.

[72] Meanwhile Pius not only of those matters, which either to the administration of the Roman city and the whole Pontifical dominion, or to all the parts of Ecclesiastical discipline piously to be formed and ordered pertained, took care diligently; but with such ardor either of guarding or of amplifying religion he flamed, that at the same time both to the moderation of the whole Christian commonwealth, and to the gravest businesses of kingdoms an accurate effort he expended; and nothing even in the greatest and most powerful Princes thought must be dissembled, which to the same religion seemed to be adverse. But among the rest, which as soon as he was raised to the Pontificate, sedulously to care his counsels he began, that especially was; that the lapsing cult of the Catholic religion, and the authority of the Apostolic See, greatly imperiled in Germany, to restore and guard with all effort he contended. For when Maximilian Caesar, that of restraining the Turkish army impending over Pannonia he might take counsel, the Diet of the Empire at Augsburg of the Vindelici had announced; in this either the heretics demanding, or the less pious men conniving, under the appearance of quieting some troubles about religion and composing civil affairs, To the Diet of the Empire at Augsburg, besides the other things proposed there was a question of this kind to be defined, by what reason and way the Christian religion to a better and righter intelligence or form could be brought back. Which indeed counsel not at all sound, since with the sacred laws it was repugnant, and wholly derogated from the authority of the most holy Roman Church, for the authority of the Church to be stabilized, to which one alone, as the mistress and judge of all Churches, it pertains the dogmas of sacred religion to propose, declare, and constitute; it was plainly gravely to be feared, lest something there against the Catholic truth should be decreed, and a grave injury to the Pontifical power should be brought, especially since this had fallen in the time of the sacred interregnum. Moreover by this very thing greatly rejoiced the heretics, and the desirous of new sects; since they seemed to see the mind of Caesar inclined toward their own zeals, and for this the future Diet was to be most frequented.

[73] This therefore so grave a danger that Pius might avert, to John Francis Commendone the Cardinal, a man of the highest virtue and singular prudence endowed, and best deserving of the Christian commonwealth, from Poland (where he was with King Sigismund Legate by the former Pontiff) to the City returning letters and diplomas he sent; and the faith to be restored, by which he should be admonished, that wherever among the nations the letters themselves should be delivered, there he should stop; and should understand that he to the Caesarean Diet, of conserving the authority of the Apostolic See, and of the Catholic faith in Germany both to be restored and also protected, was designated Pontifical Legate. Epist. 14. book 2 The letters of his legation therefore at Augsburg being received, the Cardinal saw that to him was commanded by the Pontiff, that before that matter in the Diet should be treated, before the Emperor and all the Princes in a public assembly gravely he should announce, that unless that thought they should cast away, it would be that the Pontiff all authority against those Princes, Cardinal Commendone he sends away: both lay and of the sacred order, to be repressed should exercise, and much more against Caesar himself, whom both of the Empire, and of his dominions, and of all right of successions, and of whatever things besides he trusted himself would be master, it would be easy, about to deprive. But the Legate by various both with Caesar himself and with the other Princes held discourses, to the Pontiff wrote, that the matter was in such a place, that without that public announcement according to opinion all things were hoped would succeed. But the Pontiff for his great zeal in that matter, that without other refusal the same he should edict, again to the Cardinal commanded. But indeed, this mandate how grave offenses to those Princes it could bring, the Legate foreseeing (especially since it was not necessary, the matter now in the Pontiff's name diligently being procured, that an article of this kind in no way should be touched, as in fact happened) his conscience rather, than Pius commanding to obey he did not doubt. And so by letters Pius being taught, and to his deeds he acquiesces: what reasons to not effecting the mandate had impelled the Legate, beyond the custom of almost all Princes, the constancy of their counsels to guard rather than the integrity of their minister to approve striving, with the highest signification of lenity with his own hand he wrote back, that whatever by him had been done with an equal mind he must bear it: nay even to him he gave thanks, that his orders he had not obeyed. In which most openly he declared, that besides the one safety of the Commonwealth, nothing at all he looked at, nothing regarded.

[74] To the Legate besides he commanded, that besides the explained reason to Caesar he should announce, he admonishes Caesar, lest the cause of religion be committed to laymen, that the Pontiff could in no way commit, that the cause of religion any even slight detriment should suffer. That lay men should dare of matters of faith either to treat or to define, an intolerable

temerity it was. Nor in that kind were wanting the examples of Catholic Emperors, who of these matters to hear, much less to decree had been unwilling; but all things, as was fitting, to the judgment and moderation of the most holy Apostolic See to be judged had left: and the example of the most glorious Prince and never sufficiently praised Constantine could to all abundantly suffice. Which afterward in the Council of Chalcedon Martian Caesar having followed, besides the rest in that Synod had testified, that he to protecting the faith, not to exercising any power, by the example of the religious Prince Constantine, at the Synod had wished to be present; lest the peoples thereafter by depraved opinions should be separated. Basil likewise Augustus toward the end of the eighth Synod openly had professed, that for profane men even in whatever grade of dignity placed, and indeed for the Emperors themselves, it was wholly unlawful even to open their lips in ecclesiastical causes, or the Roman Church either its authority or its sanctions to oppose; and if an Angel fallen from heaven should wish to teach otherwise, than the Church herself teaches, as B. Paul says, an anathema he must be deemed. Wherefore Caesar Pius asked, that all private matters being postponed, simply and openly the Catholics he should aid: especially at that time, in which a great discord among the sects of the heretics afforded an opportune occasion of affording that help: that even by this reason in how many and how great errors they were engaged, they might more easily understand, and to the pristine faith and the ancestral obedience of religion more promptly return: namely the most holy Council of Trent being now completed and sanctioned. Gal. 1.

[75] To which Council's promulgation and observation to the utmost of his power that Caesar should think it must be favored, Pius exhorted. he urges that the Council of Trent be promulgated, But if in the whole Empire this could not be obtained, meanwhile to the matter happily he should set about: and even in the dioceses of Salzburg, Constance, Augsburg, Freising, Passau, Brixen and Trent, both to be promulgated and to be kept he should procure: which matter would be both to all Italy a singular protection and fortification against the heretics' either frauds or threats, and to the other cities and dioceses an example salutary in future. Epist. 4, 9, 10, & 13 book 1 Besides this let him deal both with Caesar himself, and with the sacred Septemvirs of the Empire, and with the Archbishops, that, since Otho the Cardinal and likewise Bishop of Augsburg, from celebrating his diocesan Synod for the sake of introducing the Council of Trent into morals, by many had been impeded, the Archbishop of Mainz his Metropolitan, and all the rest each his own Synod to celebrate forthwith should set about, lest the Suffragans in that matter any longer should be retarded. Epist. 39 book 4

[76] But besides since Pius understood, the Archbishop designate of Cologne, lest the faith of the holy Roman Church by the fixed formula he should profess, daily to slip away (which yet all from the same published Council, not only in Italy, but also in Gaul, Spain, Poland, Pannonia, and likewise in Germany the designate Prelates of sacred things had begun to do); and since others of the Septemvirs two to the excuse and cause of the Archbishop of Cologne to favor the same he had learned, he ordered the Legate, that to Caesar and the Caesarean Counsellors, the Ecclesiastical Septemvirs, and to others besides whom there was need, wholly to persuade he should strive, that so pious and salutary decrees all by use to retain they should care: otherwise that by him the Archbishop of Cologne of his See would be deprived. Epist 27 book 1, Epist. 41 book 4 That danger too let Caesar avert of an impending one, that, the Archbishop of Magdeburg being snatched from human affairs, and Catholic Bishops be substituted, that See by the Septemvir of Saxony should be held, who three other Churches had now occupied. But if the elder Bishop of Strasbourg should die, since all those Canons, three excepted, with the Lutheran plague labored; let Caesar beware, lest a heretic Bishop should be substituted: for otherwise it would be that that Church and all the diocese into their own destruction wholly lapsed should fall. Wherefore it seemed must be cared for, that Catholic helpers should be given them, or certainly by another kind of protection the Christian matter there should be fortified.

[77] To all the Catholic Princes of Germany moreover let him announce, that the Pontiff desired, that to him from them for their prudence too something of salutary counsel should be given concerning those matters, which they themselves judged best either to say or to do, for the Catholic faith in those regions either to be guarded or to be amplified, and for plucking up the heresies and inducing the use of the Council of Trent, and for the necessary measure to be applied to the vacant priesthoods, finally for retaining their own authority and dominion, whether Ecclesiastical or civil, piously to be conserved: that all were loved by him with singular charity, and for them to be protected nothing untried he would leave. that these be consecrated and visit their dioceses, Finally to those sacred Princes these things let him command singly, that those who by the solemn ceremony had not been consecrated, they should at the first time be consecrated, and the divine mysteries perform, and to the people all should hold sacred sermons sometimes: that even once in the year the whole, or certainly the greater part of his diocese each should go about himself: the sacred monasteries should care to be restored: all the deserters and abandoned monks should expel and rout. Epist 20 book 2 But if cenobites there were wanting, that he enough many adorned with the best morals, from Italy and the region of the Belgians chosen, thither would send. The Archdeacons and others whatsoever endowed with Ecclesiastical dignity, to the measure consonant to each grade to order their life let them compel, nor in that matter to anyone should indulge. Let them beware too diligently, lest into their dioceses the books of heretics should be carried: for to this plague not to meet, is nothing else, than to consent to the destruction of souls, and openly to favor the heretics. let them procure Catholic books to be printed: Therefore let all effect, that very many Catholic books be printed: for the heretics by books published by themselves a greater, than by another reason, disaster to the Church had brought: and so they easily would be convicted, if the books of the best authors were sought; which at a modest price being sold, more conveniently could the heretics' frauds and errors be laid open.

[78] Let them denounce the heretics and beware, Let the Legate cautiously and prudently act, that from any kind of men he should inquire, whether anyone either an Italian, or a Belgian, or a Spaniard used the intercourse of the heretics in Germany, for the Catholic peoples and provinces to be weakened: and in that matter neither expenses nor vigils, that of all things the Pontiff might be made more certain, should he think must be spared. Eminent men too and all the Prelates let him admonish, lest ever the heretics in their either buildings or dominions they should tolerate: and let them care sedulously, that to the Pontiff's ears it should come, that to this admonition they had wholly complied. But if Catholic men, outstanding in probity and erudition, among them were found; who against the heretics to preach, or by another reason for the Christian matter to sweat were ready; of that matter let them write to Pius who for his liberality of men of this kind the effort to use, and the same with a just reward abundantly to honor had studied. let them foster signal Preachers and Theologians. This moreover diligently let all give effort, that each his own Theologian, both in doctrine and in integrity of life excelling, with himself should nourish and have: nor of educating in the Seminaries the adolescent Clergy, according to the prescribed reason of the sacred Council of Trent, the care should neglect. Epist. 27, 30 book 3 Moreover, since in the dioceses of Speyer and Worms against the Catholics all impiety the Elector Palatine had exercised; let the Legate act, that neither the Princes nor the sacred Nobles Catholic, let the attempts of the Palatine be resisted. nor Caesar himself so immane a crime should dismiss unpunished, but keenly it should avenge: for flagitia of this kind to dissemble or tolerantly to bear, is nothing else, than to incite heretic Princes to their ecclesiastical neighbors to be destroyed. In which Pius his whole effort and help prolixly promised; that even thence men might understand, that he in a matter of so great weight to his office never had been wanting. Finally the Duke of Bavaria, The Duke of Bavaria he orders to be praised. a Prince of proved integrity and religion, both let him confirm in his duty, and to his children with the same virtues to be instituted, and to be separated wholly from the intercourse of heretics, and all effort to be conferred lest anyone affected with a plague of this kind in his hall should lie hid, piously let him exhort. Which indeed almost all and many other things of the same kind, Pius commanding, the Legate, as far as it could be done, egregiously to be afforded procured. And so of the pious endeavors and holy counsels a not contemptible fruit there was. But while these things are so cared for, the dangers of the Maltese had to be met.

CHAPTER II.

Aids against the Turks given: succor to the island of Malta and to Pannonia.

CHAPTER II

[79] For among the other many and those most grave difficulties of affairs, into which the pontificate of Pius ran, keen especially and full of fear and danger was the siege of Malta. It is established enough, that Malta an island of the Libyan sea, not only of Sicily to which it lies near, The island of Malta before long besieged by Soliman he succors, sixty miles from it distant, but also of almost all Italy against the assaults of the barbarians a safe bulwark, illustrious for the hospice of the sacred soldiery of S. John of Jerusalem, to the protection of the Roman Church chiefly pertains. This namely Soliman Emperor of the Turks, the most keen enemy of the Christian name, not ignorant, and into Italy for himself an access to open desiring; a little before this Pontificate with a huge fleet, of two hundred and sixty almost vessels furnished, Malta to storm, and for four months with a grave siege to vex resolved. And when great damages to the Maltese he had brought, and now the citadel, which from Saint Erasmus has its surname, by force into his power had reduced; to the virtue of the soldiers defending at length to yield compelled, with his grave disgrace, and equal detriment and indignation thence had departed: of his thirty thousand, of ours indeed almost nine thousand in that siege being lost. But lest his strength being recovered, with a greater onset and fury thither he should return, no one not feared: for the greatest warlike preparations for this at Constantinople to be made, was announced. And so John Valette, Master of the Order of Jerusalem, that the new city which he designated to found, and with every kind of protection to fortify as soon as possible he should set about, with moneys for founding a new city, and for maintaining soldiers: gravely to exhort and impel Pius did not desist: and three thousand soldiers, whom into that expedition he gave, with stipends he affected: and what Pius IV had promised, and other far greater aids willingly that he would afford he showed. Epist. 3 book 1 And forthwith with fifteen thousand gold pieces he gifted the Maltese soldiers: and other besides five thousand each in the single months into that fabric through six months he conferred.

[80] But since both an edifice of so great a mass, and the grave danger from a most powerful enemy impending, seemed to demand greater aids, which from other Princes would be given the hope was slight; on the authority of Valette there had gone forth a rumor, that the Master of the Maltese soldiers, unless the Christian Princes should bring help to him in time, with his Order, Malta being left, would betake himself into Sicily. Of which matter Pius by Valette himself being made more certain, and at the same time of the various straits with which he was pressed being taught, that the mourning man he might relieve and in his duty retain, not only what greatest aids he could to him to give, but life too and blood for the honor of God and the safety of the Maltese

to pour out he himself well prepared he answered. He concedes a Jubilee to those bringing aid, And so at once the most ample gifts of Apostolic indulgence to all the faithful of Christ he proposed, and them that their errors being expiated the divine help for the Maltese they should implore, and each according to his faculties them should succor, by paternal charity he provoked. From which benefit of Pontifical indulgence and the liberality of the pious, through Italy and Gaul afforded, no modest number of money was collected. Epist. 28, 29, 30 book 1 That this in Spain too should not be done, of the royal ministers, pretending that a good part of the money to be gathered thence into the fortification of La Goleta should be conferred, there was an exception. But indeed when in Lusitania likewise and in the Indies, as he had edicted, the Jubilee itself had by no means been divulged Pius understood; bearing this ill, it being soon abrogated, by an exhortatory diploma the sacred gift of Apostolic benediction only he offered to those, who an aid of this kind benignly thereafter had conferred.

[81] But among these things Philip King of the Spains, and the Viceroys of Naples and Sicily, by letters and messengers, to the promised aids for the Maltese as quickly as possible to be brought, more ardently he stimulated. And to Valette himself letters he gave, of Apostolic fervor, as we have seen, of paternal piety and prudent counsels full: by which him to the new city to be built up at the first time and the island to be guarded impelling, him from the undertaken or pretended purpose of departing he recalled. Moreover these to the perfection of the fabric not at all sufficing, greater himself he confers: greater aids from Pius, in him alone after God all hope to have placed having professed, daily Valette demanded. And so since the greatest expenses Pius, especially against the heretics, at the same time made, nor from elsewhere there was at hand, from which more liberal aids for his exceptional piety to Malta he could confer; the Pontifical ministers, their office having ill discharged, of things confiscated to the treasury, from these four and forty thousand gold pieces, and various gems besides of his, which at almost thirteen thousand gold pieces were estimated, to the very fabric at once he attributed. And to the sacred Maltese soldiers for that matter, that a hundred and fifty thousand gold pieces legitimately to contract in any way they could, the funds of their Order in Italy, Gaul, and Spain being mortgaged, he indulged. On the Neapolitan Clergy moreover for this three tenths he imposed; whence soon thirty almost thousand gold pieces were collected. And for the necessity that more quickly the edifice might be completed, lest on feast days to do work they should be impeded, the workmen and laborers from the laws he loosed; declaring this sometimes to be lawful, either of necessity or of piety or of public utility, which is a certain kind of piety, for the cause: which reasons all to the present matter pertained. And so to the new city, in the year of salvation MDLXVI on the fifth Kalends of April, God especially, Pius V, and others well aiding, begun to be built up, and with fervent work thereafter erected and fortified, of Valette from the family surname of the founder Great Master, after the manner of the ancients a name was given. Wherefore the Turks, hearing Malta best furnished and fortified, thither to return were unwilling: but to fulfill their fury, and the ignominy which from the vain Maltese undertaking they had undergone to avenge, forthwith the island of Chios, the dominion of the illustrious and pious Giustiniani family, to occupy attempting, it to themselves with great damage of the Christians subjected. But the Giustiniani themselves ill received, to the city of Theodosia, which now is called Caffa, captives they led away: whom afterward Pius, by the help of Charles the Ninth King of the Gauls, from chains to be taken out and freed procured.

[82] About the same time a hundred and more French Knights of the chief nobility, whom a huge number of men of their nation accompanied, To the Gauls returning from Malta defended he offers 10,000 gold pieces: from the island of Malta from the Turks' siege to be freed having set out into the fatherland returning, to kiss the sacred feet of Pius for the sake to Rome turned aside. Whom he himself with singular piety from the threshold of the hall of S. Mark, where then he resided, on their knees creeping, to the kisses of the sacred foot benignly received, and to each gave a blessing. Soon to William Sangalletto his intimate Treasurer, that from the Pontifical treasury ten thousand gold pieces to them he should distribute, he commanded: deeming, that foreign men, from a salutary expedition having set out, and by a long journey afflicted, of the aid of moneys had need. The Princes of these were Count Brisac and Philip Strozzi: who together with the others admiring the egregious liberality of the Pontiff, and toward him to cultivate more earnestly inclined, the money, which they professed they did not need, for their modesty refused. But giving immortal thanks to Pius, and acknowledging themselves bound to him by a great benefit, to the city of Ancona to be fortified with a garrison, to which from the Turks' fleet a danger was impending, of their own accord having set out, thence, until the matter was safe, to depart they were unwilling. About the same time when the Turks' fleet into the Adriatic gulf had entered, and fear held minds, lest something graver thence the Christian, especially the Venetian Commonwealth should suffer; Paul Jordan Orsini, Prince of Bracciano, leader of the Pontifical triremes Pius declared, and thither for aid sent: and forthwith four thousand soldiers led with his stipends, into that expedition he gave. Besides many other things, he procures the ports to be fortified. which both then from the fleet of Philip the Catholic King he procured as aids, and the maritime protections of his dominion he strengthened: by which those ports of the Christians and shores he egregiously fortified, and from hostile arms vindicated. But now to the affairs done in Germany let us return.

CHAPTER III

[83] Nothing perhaps wouldst thou expect less from a Pontiff, both by reality and by name Pius, than that to warlike matters either to be administered or to be procured he should set his mind. But, that from the Lord's flock committed to him the truculent rabidity of howling wolves on every side a most vigilant pastor he might ward off and drive away, necessarily for himself to be done he thought, that the good of peace, Against the Turks he procures a league among the German Princes, to which perpetually he was intent, with warlike protections he should guard. For indeed when he saw the Christian Commonwealth by the forces of two most keen enemies, namely the Turks and the heretics, continually assailed and almost oppressed; the immane audacity of those to crush, the fury of these' impiety to extinguish from the very beginning of his Pontificate he thought. And so by epistles, written in secret characters, to Commendone the Legate he commanded, that with Caesar and the German Princes diligently he should treat of a confederate league against the common enemy the Turk to be joined: since he understood that he the greatest warlike preparations was making, that the Christians by land and sea he might assail, with the highest detriment of them. And since of his power it was established, Pius, as becomes the supreme parent of all, the Princes to guarding the Christian matter by the bond of a most holy league to bind had resolved; that not only the dangers nearest impending, but much later too future dangers he might decline: and besides that he, whatever he could, as diligently as possible would afford he promised, both in making expense, and in procuring the help of all Kings and Princes.

[84] All things were done by the Legate diligently. And in the Diet only it was constituted, that against the Turks by the German Princes certain aids should be supplied. and he sends many thousands of gold pieces to Caesar But Pius, the strait of Caesar's affairs being perceived, for that matter sixty thousand gold pieces to him decreed, promising other besides fifty thousand each in the single years until the war should be finished: and a little after to the same asking, other too thirty thousand, for the town of Kanizsa and other places against the Turk in Pannonia to be fortified, at Venice to be counted he ordered: another moreover great force of moneys for this everywhere bestowing. Moreover all the Princes with assiduous exhortations he urged, and procures him the help of the Princes. that the most holy society of war they should enter: and the Caesarean Majesty, against the barbarian Tyrant for the glory of the Christian name fighting, to aid let them not be reluctant. Hence Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of the Allobroges, four hundred horsemen furnished with smaller cannon thither sent, and he himself the expedition with very many other chief soldiers attended: but the horsemen serving Caesar being left, to guard his dominions subsequently necessarily he returned. Alfonso d'Este too, Prince of Ferrara, four hundred men of illustrious name, and three hundred armed with smaller cannon, and a hundred helmeted soldiers, and as many leading cataphracts, thither set out. Among these every noble, three or four volunteer soldiers, egregiously brave, with himself had brought: so that they in number were all about two thousand and more armed: to whom too very many chief men from all Italy, Pius exhorting, having set out, as auxiliaries acceded. Cosmo Duke of Florence with his money three thousand foot thither sent: besides two hundred thousand gold pieces, which he a little before at Venice for this expedition to the Emperor had procured. The Genoese likewise and the Lucchese their help each contributed: and the matter with great money helped William Gonzaga, Duke of the Mantuans.

[85] But among these things a most ample Jubilee being announced, that with these resources of divine arms, besides the pecuniary aids, he might help the Emperor; after the manner of the ancient Fathers, he announces a Jubilee with a three days' supplication to those protections of piety, by which the heavenly wraths are averted from mortals, to flee Pius esteemed. And so solemn and public supplications of three days he decreed, which not at Rome only, but through almost the whole Christian world should be held: to the salutary fruits of penitence all he excited, the Apostolic grace and most ample indulgence on all conferring, who by fastings, alms and pious prayers intent, and to the sacraments of Confession and the Eucharist acceding; against the enemies of the Christian faith victory for Caesar from God should pray. These fell on the summer days, in which the greatest heats in the City are wont to be: yet those supplications Pius himself in person honored. at which he himself was present at Rome. For after by himself at dawn the divine service was done in the building of S. Mark, thence on the first day to the Lateran basilica, on the second to S. Mary Major's, on the third to the temple of Ara Coeli on foot he proceeded. Altogether a great opinion was, that for three hundred years there had been no Pontiff, who with greater frequency, alacrity and piety the sacred office of supplications of this kind had gone about. That was admirable, that when so great to S. John's building at the first supplication had flowed together a multitude of men, that a greater to assemble could by no means seem; a more frequent yet appeared in the second: and that finally in the third, far more numerous than before, to pray piously a throng on every side collected, and to divine things intent, was beheld. Finally in that most celebrated retinue so great the Pontiff excited a zeal of piety, that in all the image of true faith, which formerly the Apostle in the Roman men extolled with praises, themselves to behold very many testified. There augmented also religion a certain ejection of nefarious spirits from some most notorious women, with a not obscure signification of the Pontiff's holiness: of which matter below more conveniently in its place we shall write.

[86] Meanwhile Soliman, into Pannonia having advanced, took the city of Gyula, the citizens surrendering themselves, as not being able longer to resist the enemy: whom all, against the faith given by him, as impiously as perfidiously he slaughtered. Soon with an army of a hundred and ninety thousand Turks furnished, Szigetvár, a citadel and town, Soliman, Gyula taken and Szigetvár besieged, dies. both by the nature of the place and by art most fortified, set in the bounds of Croatia and Pannonia, he began to besiege. In which siege, most atrocious indeed and lasting, not so much the whole arms of the Christians, as the efficacious with God prayers of Pius the Pontiff he

to dread Soliman repeatedly said. Nor was the impious tyrant's fear vain, nor of Pius the Pontiff, which for that matter he poured forth, the prayer wholly fruitless: for three days before Szigetvár was taken, that most keen enemy of the Christian name, when for six and forty years with various disasters the Christian commonwealth he had afflicted, at length seized by a sudden disease, by the just judgment of God, his unhappy life with eternal death exchanged, on the day before the Nones of September in the year MDLXVI, the divine clemency providing, lest he either having obtained victory should rejoice, or what disasters he threatened to the Christian name greater should bring. But his death Mehemet, the chief Bassa, with the highest artifice from his own and ours concealed, until the town was stormed: and Szigetvár being taken, Selim, the second of that name, of the dead parent on the throne at Constantinople to be placed with wonderful celerity and craft procured.

CHAPTER III.

He cares for the Ecclesiastical discipline in Gaul to be restored and the heresy to be undermined.

CHAPTER IV

[87] Although all, who anywhere among the nations either the Christian religion professed or from it declined, both to be cared for and to the way of salvation to be recalled Pius had so undertaken, that the whole world a house of his to him seemed to be; yet, what at that time were done in Gaul, On account of the insolence of the Huguenots in Gaul, on account of the dangers both their magnitude and indeed also their nearness, more held him solicitous. And so from the very beginning of his Pontificate and thereafter continually, both with counsels and with moneys and besides with aids of armed men, the Christian matter opportunely to help he did not desist, that the pestilent sect of the heretics, falling away from the Catholic Church and from their King, utterly might be deleted, and the cult of true piety in Gaul as upright as possible perpetually might be conserved. But indeed the Huguenots (so certain Calvinian heretics were called) of whom he himself many victories reported, either a keener enemy, or to their impious endeavors to be broken than him readier, yet had no one. When therefore Henry II of Valois, King of the Gauls, against certain chief authors of that plague keenly formerly had animadverted, the rest then to raise their head did not dare: but he now being dead, against Francis the Second of that name, his son and successor, a conjuration being entered, by the insane counsels of certain most powerful men, earnestly studying to innovate the affairs of Gaul, confirmed, both against the adolescent King and also against the Church of God a pernicious venom they vomited. By these counsels moreover instructed, first at the town of Blois, where the King in those days tarried, then at Amboise, whither soon he proceeded, after the death of King Francis they appointed a day on the Ides of March; on which day all thither, to him either to capture or to take out of the way, should assemble. But so cautiously (him God protecting) the matter to conduct they could not, but that by Charles of Lorraine the Cardinal they were detected, and their nefarious endeavors vain and frustrate were rendered. And so for the most part cast into chains, their chief was beheaded, and with many others besides was torn into pieces.

[88] Both this cause therefore, and also Francis the King being dead, the puerile age of his brother Charles substituted into his place, to the sect itself an occasion of strengthening itself afforded: therefore on the VII Ides of January MDLXII, a royal for the time edict is divulged, by which it is decreed that those following that religion, by name Reformed, but in reality most corrupt, it outside the cities only could profess. And this especially was permitted to soften the minds of certain Nobles, who before the death of King Francis toward the royal house themselves ill-affected had declared. So indeed it seemed that even by this reason their fury could be tempered: which yet so far was it from happening, that greater too evils thence followed. For forthwith the King, as a nefarious so an open war to bring, and to the whole kingdom, conspiring to the destruction of the kingdom; both the sacred temples impiously to demolish, both innumerable sacrileges to perpetrate, both the innocent blood of the Catholics with immane cruelty to pour out they began. Finally when in that kingdom all things with pernicious wars blazed daily, in MDLXII on the Nones of March, at Orléans, a new mutual pact being made, it was permitted, that in the whole kingdom, certain chief towns excepted, each according to his conscience freely could both live and preach: and this until the King should come into his own tutelage. But meanwhile for some years the Huguenots, now by open engines now by snares, everywhere, but especially in the royal court itself constructed, the destruction of the whole kingdom contrived.

[89] Which evil indeed Pius foreseeing in mind, that so deadly a plague he might avert, milder remedies first using, Count Michael della Torre, Bishop of Ceneda, an Internuncio della Torre being sent who afterward was created Cardinal, a man of the highest piety and outstanding in the praise of integrity, to the King and to Catherine, who as Queen mother through this time held the helm, into Gaul Internuncio he declared. To him, that both to the safety of souls, and to the King from the snares of the enemies to be vindicated, and to his kingdom to be guarded he should provide, many mandates full of religion and Christian prudence he gave. That especially into the royal minds Pius recalled, The King and the Queen mother he animates lest to human counsels they should postpone the divine commands: but a thousand kingdoms and life itself should rather be cast away, than their duty be deserted they should think: especially in the business of the Catholic religion, which by no means was it enough, if the Princes themselves embraced it; but they too must effect, that their provincials and subjects the same should profess, but those following the heretical impiety gravely should be punished. For this was of the royal office, this especially the Kings of the Gauls to afford it behooved: if Christians, and indeed Most Christian both to be and to be called; if their ancestors the Charleses and Pepins, and other strenuous defenders of the Roman Church and the Catholic faith to imitate; if finally, as is fitting, to serve the Lord they wished. For this to all Kings, Princes, and Judges a precept divinely given, which that King and most holy Prophet in these words edicted: And now ye Kings understand: be instructed, ye who judge the earth: serve the Lord in fear. Psalm 2 But this, by the testimony of the holy Fathers, then by Kings abundantly to be done it is established, when both they themselves, inasmuch as they are men, rightly live; and inasmuch as they are Kings, in their kingdom good things command, and evil things prohibit; not only what to human society, but also what to divine religion pertains, by the example of the pious Kings Hezekiah and Josiah, who served the Lord egregiously, the groves and temples of the idols, and those high places which against the precepts of God had been built up by destroying.

[90] Moreover Pius, that the decrees of the Council of Trent should be kept in Gaul, commanded: and when this more slowly to be cared for he saw, nothing such either the King or the Queen demanding, to all the Gallican Bishops letters he gave, commanding them, that either the Council itself to be kept they should care, or the grave penalties of neglected duty should undergo: he commands the decrees of Trent to be kept but the Queen he admonished, lest this to afford she should defer, until the King in age and strength should be increased; since the moments of times were not in our power: and let her remember that on that divine oracle more must one rely, by which God says: By me Kings reign: and that to David greater strength divinely had been conferred, than to Saul, otherwise in stature of body and age more outstanding: whoever to his own strength ever had rashly trusted, him at length himself confounded by God had found. Prov. 8 But Odet de Châtillon, already formerly by Pius IV of the dignity of the sacred Purple despoiled, Cardinal Châtillon to be punished into the King's counsel by no means must be employed: since he was openly a heretic, and from the communion of the pious by right separated. Nor must it be permitted, that he should bear the habit of that sacred honor, of which before the sentence of anathema brought against him proudly he had abdicated himself; nay indeed in contempt of the Apostolic See, it being resumed, had taken to himself a wife. Wherefore Pius announced, that unless the penalties already decreed concerning him were taken, he the dignity of this kind upon anyone else of that kingdom never any more would confer. Moreover of Ecclesiastical benefices and revenues some, who after the manner of the Huguenots a wife had taken, the concubinaries to be despoiled of benefices by the command of Pius were despoiled, and of the same faction very many were removed from the royal ministries; the Pontiff professing, that, the impediments of religion being removed, he meditated and contrived certain great things in foreign places, and those illustrious deeds; by which both the glory of God supremely would be propagated, and the age with wished goods would flourish, and that kingdom a huge benefit of peace would obtain. But especially that edict, which we said was published in favor of the Huguenots, must be weakened; as soon for a great part it was done.

[91] And so from those things, which to the sacred Prelates in diplomas he wrote, the Christian matter began to be restored in Gaul: in most places the Roman Catechism received, and the Catholic discipline restored. Thence all the Bishops, at that time in the royal court tarrying, the Bishops to be urged to residence that to his own diocese each present to be procured as soon as possible they should withdraw, Pius edicted: and he exhorting to the Archbishops letters of this kind the King gave. What calamities at this time we experience, those indeed sufficiently show that the wrath of God against us is exercised. But that He may be placated, there is need, that the sacred Prelates, for their office, both by the reason of a proved life, and by the office of doctrine, and by pious fastings and supplications, to the peoples duly to be taught give effort diligently, and to the cult of God and the observation of His heavenly commands, whom they ought all should institute. But this to do induces us, and piously exhorts Pius V Supreme Pontiff. And so all the Prelates we adjure in the Lord, that to residing in his province each at the first time should set out. the heretics to be driven from their See: Which they at once afforded. But meanwhile seven French Bishops, namely of Uzès, Valence, Chartres, Oloron, and Lescar, and two others besides, even now occupying their Churches, when of heresy condemned at Rome they now were; that condemnation in Gaul to be promulgated, and they being cast down from their See, others Catholic to be substituted Pius procured. And he made that the said Odet of the Bishopric of Beauvais should abdicate himself: which he, with all the priesthoods of which he was master, with the King deposited; and driven by diabolic furies having set out into England, there impiously departed from life.

[92] To all moreover of Gaul itself, as also to the other Prelates of the other nations, Pius wrote, their conscience gravely adjuring, that with the highest faith they should collect an index, in which not only of the cities, but of their dioceses too of all the names they should reckon of the Clergy, who both by right faith and by holiness of life excelled; the Clergy excelling in faith and doctrine to be described, and with such doctrine were endowed, that worthy might be judged and apt, to whom ecclesiastical offices and benefices should be conferred, especially those which had the care of souls adjoined. And if at any time he understood, that perhaps a certain Prelate the index itself had not in good faith made; the religious men of those cities by letters he admonished that the whole matter diligently they should explore, and the described notation should send to himself: deeming namely that this was of the greatest moment, to choose fit men, who should bear the care of the Churches. For while the Pontiffs

this more negligently care, it is wont for the most part to happen; that souls perish: and that they seem rather to care for this, that men with sacred revenues they may enrich, than that the Churches with men they may aid and adorn. But indices of this kind with himself he himself kept diligently.

[93] On this moreover sedulously Pius applied himself, that a certain depraved custom should be removed, which under other Kings now begun even still flourished in Gaul: he forbids benefices and Churches to be possessed by laymen and women, and benefices of every kind and chief Churches, not only on laymen but even on women, through interposed ministers procuring sacred things, under the appearance of remunerating service to confer: from which this besides the rest of inconvenience followed, that the Churches without a legitimate head long were ruled; that layman namely whether man or woman, who enjoyed the goods and had the right of nominating, meanwhile deferring the business, until either a brother, or a son, or a nephew, or another joined to him by blood to a certain age should come; or at length to nominate someone by necessity compelled, after much time not without simoniac blemish someone they hired. But this when Pius noticed, and said that to distribute benefices ill, and to abuse the goods of the Church was too horrendous, namely to cast away the blood of Christ; that those Kings from this matter should temper in future, he effected. And so the Queen promptly affording the mandates of Pius, to the Prelates of the Kingdom wrote, that they should make him more certain, who of this kind occupied benefices. And so the lapsing affairs were provided for opportunely: and especially Rocca, Princess of Surion, a Catholic woman, whom the brother of the Duke of Montpensier of royal stock had in matrimony, the Bishopric of Glandèves, which she for many years without an administrator had held, and certain other ecclesiastical benefices, to her by royal permission conceded, he compelled to abdicate.

[94] He effected therefore, that priesthoods should not be possessed without a title: but rather that to them fit ministers should be set over; and what in him was, that simoniac dealings from the midst should be removed; and in no way it should be conceded, that anyone of a benefice conferred by the King's nod the possession should enter, he commends the care of justice, unless first by Pontifical letters this had been at Rome approved. Besides this, that the King and his ministers the lapsing there justice (which is the medicine of crimes and the associate and minister of true religion, and which removed, as B. Augustine says, kingdoms are nothing else, than great robberies) through the whole kingdom to be retained and administered should care. Book 4 chap. 4 on the City of God For by these things the dignity of the royal name, and indeed both of Kings and of kingdoms the safety is contained: and as the safety of the soul, which the Wise man says is in the holiness of justice; so the safety and felicity of other things, from the same holiness of justice and religion, as from the true fountain of piety flows. Ecclus. 30 For from a certain and true religion, a certain and true justice exists, and from various religions uncertain and false things all follow. For if Magistrates or Kings, for the sake of conserving or augmenting their state, deem it lawful for them to deceive their subjects, to abnegate the given faith, to violate an oath, to deceive with fallacies, to mock with guiles, to confound all things with wars, to have no reason of piety or religion; what thence into the Commonwealth crimes, what flagitia, what sacrileges will flow and break forth? To all the Metropolitans therefore the Constitution published In Cœna Domini, in Gaul to be promulgated, and as in part it was done, into use to be brought he sent. To them and to other Prelates frequent and grave letters he gave concerning the morals and discipline of the Clergy to be corrected; commanding them, that besides the rest the blemish of concubinage they should remove, and Colleges of the Clergy, which they call Seminaries, should constitute.

[95] With his own hand (as elsewhere often he was wont to the other Catholic Princes) he wrote to the Queen, seriously he thinks of abdicating the Queen of Navarre that she should care altogether, lest now any more Joan Queen of Navarre against Ecclesiastical liberty among hers anything should decree: for otherwise, most powerful Spanish Prelates into those Churches and dioceses all by him would be introduced and other things he would contrive, which to the Queen of the Gauls less welcome would be in future. For that he thought, of the Queen of Navarre to be despoiled of the right of the scepter, and her to be condemned as a heretic: and that he by his authority the King of the Spains, to that very part of the kingdom, which Joan held, as soon as it could be done, to seize would induce. But since some promised that it would be, that that woman from heretical perfidy would be recalled, and so the Prince her son to Christ would be gained; it came to pass, that by tolerating the business was protracted: since also between the Spaniards and the Gauls the interrupted wars to renew they feared. Wherefore the Queen of the Gauls Pius incited sometimes, that either that part of the dominion of Navarre to vindicate to herself an occasion she should take: or should suffer, that by Apostolic authority of the same dominion someone of the house of Valois as King he himself should constitute.

[96] He treated moreover with her of the Geneva expedition to be undertaken, Geneva to be stormed, esteeming that an opportune occasion for it was given, the Duke of Alba into the Belgians the army of the Catholic King transporting. Geneva is at the lake Leman in the Allobroges a town, a signal seat and refuge of heretics and apostates: whither, as to a gymnasium of heretical pravity, and a most safe asylum, on every side flow together all the worst deserters of Catholic truth. This therefore so nefarious a dwelling of impiety either to take or to destroy, other certain things usefully he persuades. and the reproach of the Christian name to remove, Pius altogether had resolved: and this expedition continually he revolved in mind, and it after the Turkish, of which we shall speak, war, if to him life had sufficed, no doubt he would have accomplished. He cared likewise, lest interdicted books either should be printed, or also be sold: which indeed by a royal edict was afforded. Likewise lest conventicles should be held; lest to preach, lest to baptize, lest to enter marriages after the manner of the Huguenots anyone should dare: which yet to do they did not doubt the same Huguenots against the agreements. Finally the King of the society, which he has with the Turk, gravely he reproved: for thence the destruction of the Gauls proceeded; and so long as a custom of this kind was not dissolved, in the kingdom domestic enemies never would be wanting: nay that matter to him for destruction would be, just as was formerly to the Hebrews the society joined with the ethnics.

CHAPTER IV.

Against the heresies the Avignon dominion protected, and Gaul aided.

[97] About the same time the Avignon and Venaissin dominion, To defend against the Huguenots the Avignon diocese a certain and ancient patrimony of the Apostolic See, with all zeal to protect, and from the power of the heretics to vindicate Pius resolved. For the Huguenots, a part of that dominion to occupy now having attempted, lest all that tract of the region they should obtain, and with the blemish of their pravity should weaken all things, a not slight danger was impending. The office of Apostolic legation then there discharged the Cardinals, Charles of Bourbon and George d'Armagnac, who sustained the place of the absent colleague. Epist. 3, 4, 18, 21, 23, 28 book 3 That therefore dangers of this kind he might meet Pius, especially Armagnac, to keep the man in his duty, with ten thousand gold pieces he gifted: he spares no expenses, not ignorant that the Prefects of the Commonwealth, striving to afford their duty, sometimes losses of their own affairs undergo. To the same too a great number of moneys at various times he sent, besides five thousand gold pieces in single months to him attributed and warlike aids, by which both the protections of places could be defended, and the assaults of the enemies repressed and driven off. Cardinal besides Lawrence Strozzi, and the Count of Tende Prefect of Provence, and William of Joyeuse Viceroy of Narbonese Gaul, that their resources each to the Ecclesiastical matter to be protected and conserved promptly they should confer, by letters he exhorted. Who all by the Pontiff's impulse with Armagnac by a league coupled, to the places formerly snatched from the Church to be recovered, the forces of war turned.

[98] And first indeed a town was recovered, called Mornas, wonderfully fortified, on one part by the flowing Rhone, on the other by a steep mountain: Mornas being stormed, on whose summit a citadel is placed, into which the Huguenots for the sake of protection had shut themselves. They yet, an incursion by the Catholics being made, were stormed and captured: but those who by the soldiers as captives were led, them Pius for a price redeemed, and vindicated into his right, and brought to Avignon, with a public punishment to be affected for his ardent zeal of religion decreed. Subsequently the same forces serving the stipends of Pius, Pont-Saint-Esprit and Aramon to overturning the Pont-Saint-Esprit called, in Narbonese Gaul, the arms were turned; that to the safety of Provence and of the Allobroges, the intercourse of the heretics being removed, it might be consulted. And when that matter prosperously had proceeded, the castle of Aramon was recovered, all the strongest soldiers of the Huguenots being slain: on which day by the Catholics were slain a thousand foot and three hundred horse, who themselves to that castle aids had come to bring. These therefore three expeditions happily being completed, in a short interval of time, the faculty of freely navigating the Rhone from the city of Lyons to the sea was recovered. Which thing was a great good to those provinces: especially on account of the trade of salt, of which now by want they were pressed.

[99] Moreover by the help of the same cohorts the citadel of Nîmes besieged by the Huguenots again and again was relieved. Finally for the time affairs being composed, Nîmes is freed, Pius would not, that the traitors either to Avignon to their pristine state should return, or their goods should enjoy: for men of this kind, like the Catholics to lead a life in appearance not to refuse, that even by this art they could both home each return, and depraved zeals more cover at the same time and execute. But to his subjects he interdicted the intercourse with those who were of the Principality of Orange, by towns of the Pontifical dominion surrounded, lest namely with the blemish of heresy they should be defiled. From which Principality since the deserters both by new defections to be contrived, and by the intercourse with certain heretics in the city of Avignon lying hid to be retained were fostered; the forces of Pius against those places being sent, by force three towns were taken, and they soon to the Legate subjected: nor very long after a certain conjuration being laid open, the heretics being driven off or repressed; some partakers of it at Avignon were cast into chains and subsequently condemned of head. But the exiles, of whom some in Narbonese Gaul, the King permitting, contained themselves, and joining themselves to theirs furiously drew near; all by the command of the King by the Prefects of those provinces were routed and put to flight, as Pius had demanded, who also provided, lest in future to XV miles either into the Avignon, or into the Venaissin dominion they could approach: and lest the Sectaries should profess their dogmas in those places of the province, in which the Legate and Archbishop of Avignon exercised the supreme judgments.

[100] But indeed, peace between the King and the Huguenots being conciliated, the Admiral Gaspard Coligny, against the new attempts of these of the Avignon and Venaissin dominion to be occupied, relying on his forces, to agitate counsels began: deeming this to be lawful for him without any of the conditions of the peace, in which no mention was made of the Pontiff, either an injury or an offense: for he thought, since the city itself was copious and fore-fortified, in the bounds of Provence and Narbonese Gaul on this side the Rhone placed, if into their power it had come, that it would be, that at once not only a strong protection and a rich

region; but also against the King, if less he should wish to stand by the agreements, a most firm bulwark they would obtain: and so for the opportunity of the matter to be conducted, the Orange dominion being reduced into power, to occupying all the shore of the Rhone they would extend their forces. Of which things Pius being made more certain, some Gauls, whose faith was suspect, Count Torquatus he sets over the soldiery, otherwise relying on the help of the Nobles, being compelled to abdicate themselves from the public ministries; Count Torquatus, of the first nobility a Roman, a man most skilled in the military art, thither with command he sent. He moreover by the command of Pius the Pontiff, the Ascoli expedition against the exiles and plunderers, the same with the highest celerity partly extinguished partly from Picenum driven off, with the highest praise had completed: and in his faith and virtue the Pontiff rested. And besides the armed cohorts, which the Pontifical stipends there continually merited, with him he sent a huge number of Italians, especially Romans, both of horse and indeed of foot, with mandates, auxiliary and subsidiary soldiers in Gaul to enroll; both to defend themselves, and also to sustain every tempest of war strongly and safely. Wherefore the enemies, of whom now very many thither had directed their journey, the business to forgo were compelled. The Admiral not daring to cross the Rhone, into Auvergne forthwith to go hastened.

[101] And although the occasion of that expedition being removed the stipends too ought to seem to be removed; yet Pius deeming that matters more cautiously must be consulted, and concerning Orange to be subdued he consults with the King, Torquatus himself, with those forces which he had brought with him fortified, for two years there to abide ordered. By the help thereafter of this subsidy a castle was recovered in the Allobroges, called Auriol. For indeed unless the highest both care of this Pontiff and munificence of making expense had been at hand to the affairs, all that dominion into the power of the raging enemies easily would have come. No end besides Pius made, of persuading the King of the Gauls, that either to himself he should assent thinking to undertake the Orange expedition; or into this opinion he should go, that the King himself should send those who should govern that dominion: which when into power he had brought, that to the Apostolic See he should attribute to compensate the huge force of gold, which before to the King himself the Pontifical beneficence had given; or finally either by the title of purchase, or of pledge should concede to the Pontiff, and to the Avignon Legate subject. For the Orange dominion, because together with its Prefect with the disease of heretical pravity it labored, and to the Catholics was hostile daily more, and the rebels fostered, for avoiding the dangers of deadly contagion by right could by the Catholics themselves be occupied. To the same moreover Avignon city various, and those illustrious, formulas of matters to be restored Pius sent again and again, to it in Christian discipline piously to be kept, and to the office of the sacred Inquisition duly to be afforded accommodated. But of the heretics, and of the traitors the goods now confiscated to the treasury to religious places he attributed: and that the same in the other regions of that kingdom should be effected, as much as in him was, he procured.

CHAPTER VI

[102] There turned meanwhile the year from Christ born MDLXVII; when the traitor heretics again in Gaul to tumultuate, and another civil war to sow with the highest effort striving, not without a certain destruction both of religion and of their fatherland and of the most flourishing kingdom, of slaying Charles the Most Christian King and occupying Paris to think began. and he warns him of the danger of life and of the kingdom: For into a certain hope they had entered, that as soon as that city, which they had always known to be hostile to their nefarious endeavors, into power they had reduced; it would be, that without great trouble of the whole kingdom they would be masters: and of that matter daily among themselves counsels, as hidden, so full of fraud and impiety, they agitated. There tarried then by chance the King in the town of Meaux, the tenth mile from Paris, where with the Royal house for the sake of mind, of so great matters less than was fitting solicitous, he rested. And so Pius when these things he had learned, the King himself and his mother, as in a like danger he did again and again, gravely both to be admonished and to be exhorted he thought; that the enemies by no means must be trusted, but rather that from his kingdom so deadly and pernicious a plague must be driven off; and especially, from the very court and royal council, the abandoned ministers and the chiefs of the Huguenots without delay must be routed. Epist. 23 book 1 & 5 book 3 who it being escaped But they obeying what was said later, it came to pass, that Louis of Bourbon Prince of Condé, together with the associates joined to him, unexpectedly with huge cavalry supported, to Meaux flew, the King either about to slay, or certainly (as others will) about to ill-treat. The King yet by divine help and the opportune of six thousand Helvetii, whom he himself either for this or for another cause at that time thither had summoned, by the aid protected, together with his mother, brothers and sister to Paris betook himself unharmed.

[103] Meanwhile the Huguenots, who their parts with a strong both of horse and of foot protection confirmed daily, everywhere all things to occupy contriving, the town of Saint-Denis, almost two miles from the same city distant, into power reduced; and the building of Saint-Denis itself with the precious treasure in it laid up to despoil having attempted, and the heretics being conquered in battle, when it transported into a safer place to plunder they could not, confounded they remained. In which places subsequently a contest was joined: in which two a little less than thousand of the heretics being slaughtered, the enemies' forces the Catholics scattered and routed. Among these were slain two Counts, of Saulx and of Clermont, of Damville and very many other noble soldiers: but of the Catholics fifty were lost, and besides others pierced with three wounds fell Anne de Montmorency, the Constable, a man by birth and virtue signal. There therefore when for some days the enemies had stuck, a huge prey being made damage they brought, and many things they devastated with fires. Soon to Casimir, son of the Count Palatine, leading strong troops of horse from Germany to their aid, they went forth to meet, and the sacred buildings by that expedition they destroyed.

[104] Of which things Pius being taught, with his own hand written to those Kings letters he gave, of which this was the sense. That them he now often had forewarned, that of these abandoned men not only the counsel was the true religion to oppress, since they had preferred to the aids of soldiers under whose appearance of kingdoms they contrive the destructions: but the Kings themselves both of kingdom and of life to drive off: therefore it must not be dissembled any longer, nay so immane a crime by arms must be avenged, and he for this what greatest force of moneys he could, where the matter they should wish seriously to care, and Italian soldiery hired with sacred stipends, until the war should be finished, promptly would supply. Soon to Louis Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers, five and twenty thousand gold pieces, on Italian soldiers from the Subalpine region collected to be spent, he sent. Epist. 44, 45 book 3, Epist. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 book 4 But those Kings (to whom many hundreds of thousands of gold pieces, which here singly to recount I omit, at various times Pius procured) of the offered money the condition, which the cohorts affected with stipend more willingly accepted: and this those persuading, who neither the King nor the Catholic religion safe wished to be; but all their vows to private advantages and to insane cupidities impotently to be satisfied, had preferred the money, as in civil wars is wont to be done, furiously conferred. From which it came, that with these resources the King everywhere a victor indeed was, yet of no victory the fruit bore.

[105] And so although he conquered, on iniquitous conditions yet he gave peace to the traitors, as he did on the third Ides of March MDLXVIII, when many stipends to the German cavalry he paid, that from the bounds of the kingdom it should depart; an iniquitous peace he makes with the Huguenots, and many other things, no less to religion than to the kingdom pernicious, to the heretics he conceded, all the good grieving at the deed, and judging that the King, illustrious for several victories and supported by Pontifical aids, easily and honorably could both have pursued the war, and the rebels repressed and the pestiferous root of those heresies utterly plucked up, and the cult of Catholic piety in the kingdom lapsed restored, no condition of peace being accepted: which indeed peace to the King himself little honorable, to the kingdom a fomenter of a greater fire as it turned out, was thought it would bring. This message Pius received, vehemently grieved, and that no more of moneys he would confer on the Gauls he edicted: namely lest he should exhaust the sacred treasury, by an importune benefit of the heretics: against whom otherwise either to be converted or to be overturned, not only whatever of strength to him was, but life too itself and blood to pour out, he well prepared he testified. Moreover that of this false peace the fruits to the King and the Catholics were most bitter; through that occasion preparing new tumults and that nothing else the heretics, except that themselves meanwhile to their impious endeavors to be fulfilled more conveniently they might gird, by this simulation aimed at, the unhappy issue of affairs declared. For not very long after the Prince of Condé, and Gaspard Coligny the Admiral, and Andelot his brother, and other besides chief leaders of the Huguenots, their forces being confirmed, and their minds to making a new rebellion intent, greater than ever before tumults stirred; and a huge number of armed men both of horse and of foot being summoned from Germany, Wolfgang of Zweibrücken the petty-King and Casimir, together with other German chief men, the Queen of the English of forces and money aids contributing, through the whole kingdom all things subverted. And like rabid tigers, against God and the King furious, raging they ran about, all sacred things profaning and from the foundations overturning.

[106] And to me indeed thinking the mind shudders, those both unheard and nefarious crimes to commemorate, which by this eruption and the other tumults of that time, to the destruction of religion and of the kingdom. through the highest injury of the Christian religion and indeed of the divine name, the heretics' impious cruelty and cruel impiety in Gaul perpetrated. All which since to explain would be long, and that neither of our institute nor of our faculty, of these some summarily I shall touch, by which more plainly may be perceived, both with how just and necessary a zeal of vindicating religion and Gaul to be guarded Pius led, so wicked men or rather immane ministers of Satan to be repressed by war and to be deleted he esteemed; and what kind of piety they profess who, from the Catholic Roman Church falling away, into the pernicious of I know not what most pestilent men, Luther, Calvin, Beza, and their like discipline themselves gave over; and therefore, that by its disasters Gaul may afford a document to posterity, how noxious and efficacious a venom of commonwealths is religion despised or neglected, especially when with civil dissension conjoined.

CHAPTER V.

Horrible crimes of the heretics committed in the Gauls: for them to be repressed aids by Pius afforded.

CHAPTER VII

[107] By these therefore, just as if not against men only, but against God too the highest and all the Heaven-dwellers they had declared war, All sacred things overturned, dissipated, profaned, first the temples in many places either burned or destroyed: and indeed in a number almost incredible, namely to ten thousand and more. Which were left, some accommodated to the use of horses, some into caves of robbers turned. The altars destroyed: the images and statues of the Saints either

given to fire, or by raging against them as if alive, the heads being cut off shattered, and affected with other most unworthy contumelies. The sacred relics either by injury dissipated, or burned and the ashes scattered, or into the running stream cast: thus of the holy Bishops Martin at Tours, Hilary at Poitiers; of Irenaeus, Justus, Bonaventure at Lyons; thus of others elsewhere, which each in their places with great veneration were cultivated, the sacred bodies were lost. Monasteries above six hundred plundered, leveled to the ground, very many by fires consumed. Vessels of gold and silver, with which the piety of the elders had adorned the temples, partly by sacrilege snatched and turned into moneys; partly by the Prefects of the provinces for the use of war changed. Epist. 1 book 2 But, what most horrendous it is to say, the most holy Eucharist, than which nothing on earth is holier, nothing more divine, cast to swine (which crime human minds to think, much less the ears of the pious to hear most shudder) trampled with feet, cooked with the sacred oil, and affected with other most foul injuries: while they called it, by a ridiculous among the Gauls name, John the White, calling Christ foolish, because under the figure of bread He had hidden His body. The sacred chalices, either broken, or into the most abject uses turned. The precious vesture, hangings of every kind, and the jeweled ornaments of sacred things, and finally all the sacred furniture, plundered. From bronze vessels and bells warlike cannon were cast.

[108] The libraries, which in Gaul were best furnished and most ancient, everywhere by fire burned: namely because the heretics feel and bear ill, that they by the authority of the ancient holy Fathers and of the best books are especially assailed, there was raging against the living and the dead, and willy-nilly are convicted. Many cities with iron and fire devastated: many compelled to hand over very many pounds of gold to the seditious, threatening the worst things: others by a lasting garrison of soldiers vexed, despoiled of their walls, mulcted with money, oppressed with taxes: the citizens driven into exile, or in the eyes of their wives and children slaughtered. The fields hostilely devastated, the husbandmen by mockery slain. Many captured from the highest and steep places thrown headlong, some buried alive with earth heaped up, others with other kinds of tortures even to death tortured. To pregnant women the womb was cut with iron: the infants dashed against stones, received death before life. Boys cut in the middle with iron, others alive with flames burned up. And lest only against the living cruel and impious they should seem, against the dead too they raged: for the sepulchers of the pious having demolished, the corpses being dug up, them as if they lived, they mutilated, they lacerated, they cast to dogs, they burned with fire. So of Louis XI, so of Francis II, Kings of the Gauls, thus of other Princes and Nobles, formerly outstanding in piety, the bodies they treated.

[109] But the Bishops and Priests, as the intimate ministers of Christ, perhaps did they spare? Nay the greater their hatred against them had blazed, the in innumerable almost places and ways these more gravely they afflicted. especially against the Priests. It is established that above five thousand Priests of every kind, in both tumults, with slow and cruel punishments were destroyed: of these to some the bowels with a twisted cudgel gradually were drawn out; others wounded with Bishops into wells alive cast perished; to others the skin was stripped off, who on the eighth or ninth day at last as if reduced to madness, breathed out their spirit. To many the head was cut off, others to the military punishment of the strokes of smaller cannon exposed, or to the mouth of bronze engines bound, fire being sent forth into pieces torn: very many with a hook fixed to the top of the throat, by pain and abstinence worn out; not few on the crosses of temples hung; very many too, equipped with sulfurous powder and smeared with lard, fire being sent burned up: others with glowing spits alive through the posterior parts transfixed: others with iron nails driven into the shaved crown of the sacred head killed; some disemboweled, whose bowels sprinkled with grain passed into the food of swine. To others with a tight rope they bound the shameful parts, whom for a long space with goaded horses dragged at a hearth they hung, that by the smoke set under they should be extinguished; finally like a sow in a straight line into parts they tore. Others, performing the divine mysteries, captured, in the sacred vestments as they were clothed, a helmet being placed on the head and a spear cast on the shoulders, through the streets led for mockery's sake, the whole day fasting among the rascal soldiers to stand they compelled: very many with other and other exquisite and most bitter torments afflicted, beaten, killed. Many long survived, and perhaps even still today survive, mutilated, the noses cut off, the ears cut, the feet split or burned, the nails drawn out; blinded, wounded, despoiled of their senses: who of these flagitia, and of more than barbarous cruelty the vestiges display. Sacred Virgins and marriageable girls innumerable defiled, matrons violated: finally to no kind either of lust, or of cruelty, or of impiety was there a tempering. Which indeed all are so true, that the heretics even boast that they did many more things and bitterer than these. These namely are the illustrious and egregious deeds of the heretics of our time.

CHAPTER VIII

[110] When therefore, that to the begun narration we return, these things by the heretic traitors with the highest terror of the Catholics were committed; all the good together with the King himself were vehemently consternated in mind. Among these things to aid the almost oppressed King It augmented the grief, that the King was a young lad, and to such matters either to be conducted or to be sustained unequal, with brothers younger by birth, under the tutelage of the Queen mother living. But he by tempests of affairs of this kind almost oppressed, in the great, as of uncertain, so of unfaithful counsels variety constituted, when he had betaken himself to Paris; there all the minds of all the orders both changed and among themselves dissenting he found. Wherefore Pius, by so open and grave a danger moved, knowing, with what highest need of mind, virtue, and aid the Royal house was pressed; as a most benign parent, that he might bring help to him, no either labors or expenses must be spared he esteemed: the Catholics being roused by Pius and Legates he sent with letters to the King, and to the other Catholic Princes of his kingdom, whom all both to convoke, and to exhort, and to impel he did not cease, that with no delay interposed, before the audacity of the abandoned men should be augmented, strongly arms to be taken they should decree: and all themselves to the divine honor, to their King, to their life, houses, and their own homes to be guarded and protected should gird: to whom he himself for that matter, both great money, and a great number of horse and foot soldiers for aid sent.

[111] And by these indeed paternal and Christian monitions, and the aids dispatched proceeding from the magnanimous Pontiff, both the King and the Queen, a war is decreed against the heretics and the other Princes and Catholic Nobles egregiously relieved and raised, in the common danger and a just war quickly arms to be taken they constituted. Thence a great and celebrated, for imploring the divine help, from the Royal chapel to the Cathedral building a supplication was held. Soon all the soldiers having gone out of Paris, Henry the King's brother, Duke of Anjou, supreme Prefect of the forces being declared; when they understood that the enemy of Condé toward Burgundy was directing his journey, that his forces with those which from Germany to him aids came he might join, with all effort the access to intercept, and before he should be augmented in forces with him to engage they strove. And so at the river Charente, these being slain in battle, on the III Ides of March in the year MDLXIX, between Jarnac and Châteauneuf a battle being joined, in which for four hours keenly was fought, the army of the heretics was slain and put to flight; very many of their leaders, and chief soldiers to four hundred being slain. Gaspard Coligny the Admiral, Epist. 41 & 43 book 3 and his brother Andelot, wounded took flight: but the Prince of Condé, the horse which he used being stabbed under him, fell; and the helmet being drawn off recognized by the Guisian horsemen, when for redeeming his life a hundred thousand gold pieces to those sparing he offered, with a brazen ball struck in the forehead perished.

[112] public thanks to God Pius gives, This victory heard Pius, to God the author of well-done deeds, whom he himself for this assiduously prayed, from his inmost senses giving thanks, public supplications, at which he himself and the Clergy and the Roman people frequent were present, at once decreed, and other pious signs of public gladness to be displayed caused. For by this signal disaster to the enemies of the Catholic religion brought, a certain hope into the minds of the pious was cast, that it would be that the broken forces of the heretics from their impious endeavors would abstain, and the kingdom from the tumult of wars would rest. Subsequently indeed twelve standards of the cavalry, recovered from the heretics conquered in war, King Charles to Pius transmitted; with solemn words with him in the public assembly of the Fathers through his Orator testifying, that this to God the victory, and 12 banners sent he hangs in the Vatican. by the prayers of Pius interceding, he received and professed; and for this the banners themselves, as pledges of his grateful and pious mind, in the Basilica of S. Peter, the first Vicar of Christ, whose place that Pius held, to be hung he had sent: relying on divine help that it would be, that by the prayers of the Pontiff himself aided, other far greater spoils and standards of the enemies for piety's sake to him to be brought he would procure. To which words Pius answered, that he the best mind of the pious King supremely commended: and that he to him and his kingdom, with whatever he could prayers and arms to be aided, always would be most ready; and the standards themselves he willingly received: which soon with great ceremonies received, and into B. Peter's building decently brought, the customary prayers being employed, there above the gate of the new temple, whence they for two and thirty years hung, for the future memory of the matter he placed.

[113] But meanwhile, besides the pecuniary aids, with which Pius to storm the Huguenots the King of the Gauls gifted, Aid he obtains from the Catholic King, from the Belgic region too from the Catholic King help to him to be brought he procured, thence a thousand and five hundred horse and fourteen cohorts being summoned, Count Mansfeld being the leader of the forces: and he procured that, lest the enemies of the Catholic name from Germany into Gaul should cross, Caesar should give effort. Epist. 22 book 1 Then to the Catholic King he wrote concerning a league between himself, and him, and Caesar, and the Gaul for removing heresies to be entered: and concerning the marriages, which subsequently between the Emperor's daughters Anna and Philip of the Spains, and Elizabeth and Charles of the Gauls the Kings were joined. Among these things Peter Donato Cesi, Bishop of Narni, a man both in Ecclesiastical affairs to be conducted by experience of things, and indeed by the highest virtue outstanding, who afterward into the sacred Senate of the Roman Church by Pius was read, to all the Italian Princes and to the Commonwealths Internuncio he sent: who how he himself of the danger of the King of the Gauls a grave indeed trouble felt; the Princes of Italy he warns of the things done in Gaul, the slaughters of the good, the overturnings of the sacred buildings and altars, the most holy Sacraments trampled, the nefarious sacrileges, the destructions of perishing souls, before their eyes should set; and them should teach, that Gaul, which almost in the middle between Spain, and Britain, and Belgium, and Germany, and Italy lies, to fall could by no means, but that by its ruin the conjoined parts with itself it would drag.

[114] But the same Gaul, which formerly to its King was most devoted, or rather very many Gauls the traitors

the heretics, was a sure example to the other nations, of conspiring against their Princes through the cause of religion and conscience: pretending namely, that they wished to obey God more than men, and for this to withdraw themselves from the command of their Lords: and therefore that same province to exciting popular tumults was inclined most of all. and a like danger impending over them, Moreover the Calvinian impiety, which the Huguenots profess, to the changing of things was accommodated, because to the other sects of heretics it most indulged, and to popular vices served: nor was the Mohammedan less voluptuary. Wherefore, unless maturely it were resisted, to overturning the state of all things thence the widest access would be opened. Besides this the Huguenots into very many places, and indeed into Italy had sent, who the favorers of their faction should confirm; and should admonish, that arms by them must not be laid down before, than the administration of Ecclesiastical and civil affairs they had changed. But the German motions, since that region is into several, both Ecclesiastical and civil, dominions divided, separated by interval of places, one for fear of another within its bounds containing itself, as those which mutual disasters often to themselves brought, could not make so great progresses. But this in Gaul did not happen, which an ample and by no means divided kingdom having, by the judgment of one was governed: where the heretics prevailing, a horrible to the good impending tempest must be feared.

[115] Moreover by the Italian Princes diligently this must be considered, unless they care to forestall it: that it far is better the nearest fire to extinguish, than by looking on to suffer that with burning flames their houses should burn down: and that the Princes, while tumults were absent, the peoples subject to them for victory could use. But if these monsters of men into Italy had penetrated, it would be, that what bitter disaster and destruction from heresies kingdoms are wont to take, very many would experience. Which indeed plague now too much having assailed Italy, if a little deeper it took root, not difficult to be understood could it be, what torches into the Italian minds thence would be set: in those times especially, in which with their lot the peoples less content, ill obey their lords. Which occasion offered, for himself too to be done Pius esteemed, that he should admonish eminent men, that diligently must be guarded against, lest their dominions with this blemish should be contaminated: nay it must be effected, that those now contaminated wholly should be purged. And he narrated that the present evils from two errors had arisen: of which one was, the Princes' confidence, trusting that those perfidious to God Himself, faithful to men would be; but the other, that the Princes themselves did not notice, that they to the same penalties were made obnoxious with God, His cause to guard neglecting, with which penalties they themselves the perfidious subject to them affected, when in the necessities of their lords both to their life and to their duty to them less present they had been.

[116] By these therefore and other reasons of this kind, according to the condition of persons all he exhorted, to a great number of moneys at Lyons into common to be conferred, then much money for the subsidy he gathers. for the aid of that Royal majesty. For indeed for His immense clemency God wished His holy Church through those calamitous times to favor, a Pastor being set over it, so egregiously vigilant against heresies: against which unless he strongly had opposed himself, as through all his life perpetually he did, Italy especially with that deadly fire in a pitiable manner perhaps would burn. Moreover Pius now other men through all the Ecclesiastical dominion had sent to gathering money, new taxes to be imposed by no means deeming: persuading the peoples, that according to his faculties each to a public necessity of this kind of his own accord they should subvene. But this kind of collection a charitative subsidy commonly was called: which moneys indeed were a hundred thousand gold pieces: and other besides a hundred thousand from the Priests he exacted. But thirty thousand the sacred Orders of cenobites twelve, to which an ampler income is at hand, of their own accord conferred. But before all the Roman people, as soon as the desire of Pius it knew, for its singular toward him and the holy Apostolic See faith and piety, a hundred thousand gold pieces to him of its own accord offered. Which example by Pius soon to the other cities of the Pontifical dominion through Italy benignly proposed, them to the same to be afforded induced.

CHAPTER VI.

Italian aids sent. Victory over the Huguenots obtained.

[117] But since for paying to the soldiery their stipends, and the forces into the battle-line to be led, In Gaul to be collected from the churches money permitting, the Pontifical aids by no means sufficing, the Ecclesiastical fruits in that very kingdom must be sold, the King and the Queen mother suppliant had demanded; Pius acquiescing to the Royal prayers (though with difficulty, and many Cardinals clamoring against it, because before the sacred money in this manner conferred for restoring the Catholic religion little had profited, but rather, what is more to be grieved, to the heretics had been an advantage) through a diploma indulged them, that from the revenues of the Gallican Churches a hundred thousand gold pieces they could alienate, yet by this law, that the money itself by the mandate of the Pontifical Treasurer should be collected, from an exaction of this kind the ordinary royal Treasurers being removed. This therefore by the Internuncio and by the Pontifical Treasurer was procured. And that, as far as it could be done, an obligation or alienation of revenues of this kind might be guarded against, on some churches, and priesthoods (the parishes however excepted) a tribute was imposed, and certain conditions were ordered to be applied in the tablets, of the things sold within ten years to be redeemed, by which conditions that King and the Queen parent to be held they wished. From various parts therefore of the Gauls the sum of the money collected was about five hundred and seventy thousand gold pieces.

[118] With the highest zeal besides he contended, that the King, who now adult had come into his own tutelage, he obtains edicts against the heretics, should publish an edict, by which another formerly at Orléans, in the year MDLXII, by him through excessive indulgence toward the heretics published, as he did, he should antiquate; and to the heretic ministers, that from his kingdom as soon as possible they should depart, should command: openly professing, that he would not use the service of those, who were not Catholic. Pius procured besides, that by the royal command the faculties of the heretics, now confiscated to the treasury, should diligently be exacted; and the honors and dignities, vacant by their being driven off, and the ministries of the commonwealth should be committed to Catholic men. But when at Metz was the King, Fabio Mirto Bishop of Caltagirone, soon Archbishop of Nazareth, then Apostolic Internuncio persuading, the temple built by the Huguenots, in which they were wont to assemble, from the foundations to be overturned he ordered. In which city the message received of the disaster and slaughter, brought upon the Prince of Condé and his forces at Jarnac, he sent aids to recover those towns, which by the enemies were occupied. They soon, the Admiral being leader, arms being resumed, supported by the help of the Queen of Navarre, to their cohorts with the army of the Duke of Zweibrücken, who the river Loire now had crossed, to be joined to go proceeded.

[119] he sends soldiery, But Pius, the promised aids again and again to supply not ceasing, four thousand five hundred Italian foot, and a thousand horse, a levy being held, with stipends affected, and thither destined. To him besides Cosmo Duke of Florence a thousand foot and two hundred horse with stipend paid sent for aid. Of which forces indeed all, and indeed of the whole Pontifical army the commander, by the Pontiff himself was declared Sforza, Count of Santa Fiora, a man with no less splendor of birth than with the praise of warlike virtue and prudent counsel most outstanding: but of the Florentine forces and of all the cavalry Marius, but of the foot Paul, brothers of the same Count, of proved fortitude leaders, were set over. To these acceded also other very many Italian horsemen, signal in nobility of birth and military virtue, who allured by no stipends nor by hope of prey, but by the zeal of vindicating religion, that they might serve Pius and profit Gaul, in this war strenuous effort gave. Epist. 24, 25, 26 book 1, Epist. 46 book 3

[120] But to the leaders Pius for the Christian discipline the reason and formula of the soldiers to be instituted prescribed. laws he prescribes for the Leaders, And the first arms indeed were, piety and religion toward God the Best and Greatest, without which nothing good can be done: but then obedience toward the prefects each their own, and firm concord among themselves: each content with his own stipends, the nefarious maledictions against God to execrate, the corrupt manner of gaming, and other vices to flee: that even by this reason through examples those peoples might know, that to them were sent the soldiers of the holy Church, truly Catholic, who them from the ferocity and impiety of the heretics should vindicate; but not dissolute men, who the goods of the inhabitants should plunder, or houses should despoil. But this number of selected soldiers to be gathered was easy, for the highest liberality of the Pontiff in giving stipend, he provides for the bodies and minds of the soldiers, and his magnificence in remunerating the leaders of the forces; and for the diligent care which, that the victuals and provisions abundantly and conveniently should be supplied, he wished to be borne; and likewise to those, who either from disease or from wound lay sick, a sedulous treatment to be applied: whom too to that place, whence they had set out, as far as it could be done, unharmed to be brought back, at his own expense to care he was for his charity he himself promised, and upon himself took. To these he added other besides many and those not contemptible promises of advantages. Of which thing indeed for many ages a like example not easily perhaps is found. He sent thence Priests, who them to the frequent use of the most holy Confession and Eucharist should exhort, and to the eternal salvation of the dying should consult. From all kind of commerce, and private speech, and disputation with the heretics to be held he interdicted them: lest likewise our men should receive them, lest forbidden either books or writings, which of depraved and detestable doctrine could be suspect, they should use. But if the supreme leader of the forces himself, either of peace or of any composition of things anything to the Catholic religion damaging should presense; he commanded that forthwith either his journey being turned into Italy he should return, or to the Catholic army in Belgium with the heretics warring he should betake and join himself.

[121] But the royal estimation, and comeliness not moderately augmented, By these the siege of Poitiers was raised, which through the whole kingdom had grown the fame of the Pontifical aid of the Italian nations, as in forces most strong so in Christian morals egregiously instructed. Which forces indeed with a comely appearance and order into the battle-line went forth, with the highest admiration of all, the Queen and all the Catholics extolling the Pontiff with exceptional praises. From this Italian soldiery indeed horsemen of light armature two hundred and fifty, and as many horsemen armed with smaller cannon, Paul Sforza and Angelo Cesi being leaders, Poitiers having entered, the fury and onset of the enemies repressed. Epist. 9 book 3 Which signal town at length being freed from siege; our men with joined forces to the Prince of Anjou having set out, the cohorts of both parts coupled, about to join battle. In which business of the Count of Santa Fiora's counsel the same Prince used in all things, as the Queen mother had prescribed to him.

[122] But before they entered the contest, the leaders each in his own tongue the soldiers to assail strongly the enemy kindled. From the nefarious sacrileges of him, the slaughters, and cruelty of the royal they began: who then by the monitions of their leaders animated. they added the cities and towns by crime occupied; the temples by nefarious rapines plundered, and burned; all divine and human rights overthrown. The vengeance therefore of so great crimes let them exact: the glory of God; the religion of sacred things, the liberty of the Gallic kingdom and of Italy in their right hands to bear

they should think. To the conquerors all things safe, to those yielding from fear all things unlucky would be. These and other things the leaders in common. But separately Sforza, the assembly of the Italians being called, thus exhorted them. If you remember at all, by whom you were sent, wherefore hither you have come, with whom your matter is, and what rewards await you; we have conquered, fellow-soldiers. You were begotten of Italian blood: which name not only by brave deeds and military glory has always preceded the other nations, but almost the whole world by virtue subdued, and by victories the Roman Empire far and wide propagated. to conduct the matter strongly for religion, Unless you are about to suffer, that the good implanted by nature in the nation through you should seem basely to have degenerated, by you the glory of the ancestors must be emulated, a fame among the Gauls equal to that ancient one must be obtained, and the same specimen of minds must be shown. That then to your minds you ought to set forth, that you not, as formerly the Roman soldiers, by Julius Caesar or by any other Ethnic King, but by the supreme King of Kings Christ God the Best and Greatest, through His most holy Vicar on earth, who is governed by divine counsel, into Gaul were sent; not that for the liberty of the kingdom only you should fight, but that, the Gauls from false opinions and from heresies being defended, both for yourselves the expiation of offenses and the divine grace you should merit, and they being brought back into the way of salvation, all Gaul in future by the ancient institute according to God should venerate the Apostolic See, with the obedience and cult which is fitting.

[123] Now indeed with whom your contest will be, consider. For by no virtue, or science of the military art, and use are the enemies fortified and firm: but them drive headlong detestable crimes, against rebels to God and to the King, by which both themselves from God they have alienated, and from their legitimate King have fallen away, and with minds and arms imbued with the blood of their kinsmen, themselves to the common enemy of the human race have joined: the wicked sacrileges, the execrable slaughters of Priests, the nefarious prey, with which they have contaminated themselves and their houses, the rapes brought upon sacred Virgins, drag them to the destruction and punishments, which for the impious are constituted. A nation more ferocious to rebel than to fight, with God more angry than the King is about to fight. That for a testimony will be, that as often as they have joined standards, so often they were slain and overcome. Rewards to you are set forth, than which ampler not even men can wish from God. No memory of the annals holds, that any Prince ever, than Pius V toward the well-deserving was more grateful. For he is such, that not only what you shall have merited, but also what you shall desire, and what shall befit you, he will consider, and rewards worthier than your expectation will confer. Wherefore besides that of the preserved Gallic kingdom an immortal glory for yourselves, with the hope of a temporal and eternal reward, and a return into your fatherland illustrious and memorable you will procure, the spoils too flowing with the gore of the heretics to Rome to the triumph you will bring: and, what is the chief thing, to the eternal seats in the heavens an access for yourselves you will open. To those fighting for God's cause, as the divine help will not be wanting, so things worthy of God, that is immense and immortal, whether to live or to die in battle befall, prepared are the rewards. Looking at this so rich a reward, act with God, expedite your arms, and the hostile battle-line invade; and of the barbarous arrogance, with which both Rome and Italy they have threatened to plunder, the penalties demand.

[124] the enemy by a signal battle they rout, But by these words to joining battle most strongly the minds of the soldiers were more vehemently inflamed, and at once the Pontifical forces with the King's being joined, when the Duke of Anjou the battle-line drawn up against the enemies had directed his journey, in the Pictones at a place called Moncontour, the standards being joined, the enemies broken and slain a huge disaster from the Catholics received, twelve and more thousands of the heretics' foot, and a thousand and five hundred horse being slaughtered in that battle: but of ours almost five hundred were lost. From which happy contest indeed a great accession of glory was made to the Italian name: since the Italian foot, in the first column disposed, an attack being strongly made, with so great onset into the battle-line of the Teutons broke, that them, although superior in number, in a short time they broke and slaughtered. But the horsemen with the Count of Santa Fiora himself, who were in the right wing, by the royal wings and the masters of the soldiers aided, the shining hope of victory embracing, with kindled minds the hostile endeavors vain effected. The victory was gained on the V Nones of October in the year MDLXIX, all the Catholics piously rejoicing. But Pius of the matter well done being made more certain, Pius congratulating God on the victory, what greatest he could to the divine majesty thanks he gave: and that the same by all should be effected, public and solemn for three days to the three Churches of the City supplications he announced: at which he himself on foot and the Clergy and the Roman people were present, and with pious joys he wished the whole City to be filled. Soon the City Magistrates for the signification of the grateful mind, with which the Roman people congratulated the safety of the Gauls, and the good of the Catholics, on games and gifts to make great expenses thinking, this Pius not approving to be done, money of this kind to the poor to be given out he judged. Epist. 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 29, 47, 48 book 3.

[125] From that battle the Catholics led a signal captive, the Huguenot Prince of Uzès, Prefect of the hostile foot: the captured Prince of Uzès he dismisses freely: who when for his redemption ten thousand gold pieces he offered, this Pius when he learned, of the Count of Santa Fiora he complained, that he had not done the orders of him, long since commanding, that they must be slain forthwith all the heretics whomsoever he could capture. But indeed, since the authority of the King of the Gauls being now interposed in this the matter was not entire, that the captive should be dismissed, and that for the cause of redemption nothing should be received, he commanded. That even thence it could be understood, that the one glory of God conjoined with the safety of religion and of souls, and besides nothing, Pius in that war looked at: and he is seen to be aided from heaven, for with this counsel and holy purpose to those waging wars the divine help is wont to be present. Which thing both elsewhere often, and in this very battle to have happened is related: for many related therefore to Cardinal Alexandrino, especially a certain military leader of illustrious name, that while the Pontifical banners were unfolded, he saw the likeness of men in the high air, with most bright arms refulgent, against the battle-lines of the heretics, in which he himself was, with drawn bloody swords; and therefore that he had converted himself to the Catholic faith, and to God by a vow conceived had bound himself, if that danger he should escape, that the standards of Pius perpetually he would follow.

[126] Moreover of the same victory so much to Pius must be attributed very many esteemed, that all the whole of it to him after God they referred as received: since especially the Pontifical forces and the auxiliary soldiers the force of the siege of Poitiers strongly had sustained, the 27 banners in the Lateran he hangs, and by a grave battle the enemies had subdued; of those five hundred, a little before all were routed, being slain: since also in the very conflict, an eruption against them being made, the same first had engaged, and from the pursuit of the enemies last had desisted: from whom they took away seven and twenty standards, which sent to Rome by the Count of Santa Fiora, and by Paul his brother, who in that war strenuously had borne himself, in a frequent retinue of the Roman Nobles offered to the Pontiff; he eagerly received in the Lateran temple, where even now they hang, with great ceremony to be hung ordered: with these words, which forthwith he himself dictated, to the glory of God and the perpetual memory of the matter, cut in marble. Pius V Supreme Pontiff the Standards from the traitors of Charles IX Most Christian King of Gaul, a title being added and from the same enemies of the Church, by Sforza Count of Santa Fiora, Leader of the Pontifical auxiliary army, captured and brought back, in the chief Basilica of the Churches hung, and to Almighty God the author of so great a victory dedicated, in the year MDLXX.

CHAPTER VII.

Against the heresies in Belgium things admonished and aids given.

CHAPTER X

[127] While these things are done in Gaul; to plucking up the heresies and quieting the motions in Belgium, The heretics in Belgium rebelling, Pius set his mind. For the Belgians, themselves too by the fraud of the pestilent heretics deceived, when now from the time of Charles V Caesar certain insane counsels to agitate, and thereafter by the example of the Gauls moved tragically to tumultuate often had begun; the matter to this seemed to aim, that the ancient rite of sacred things being wholly cast away, of Philip the Catholic King legitimately ruling them the yoke they should shake off. But of this either to be excited or to be augmented sedition the occasion thence to have been received they report. The same King had formerly commanded Margaret of Austria his sister, Princess of Parma and Piacenza, governing Belgium for him then, that, for conserving and propagating there the Catholic faith, all the edicts of Charles V his parent against heresies formerly published, and likewise the decrees of the Council of Trent, which especially to ordering the discipline of Priests pertained, and certain other pious and consonant to reason institutes, to be promulgated and kept she should care. And although the King wished, and on the pretext of warding off the Inquisition, that such as before under Charles V in those regions the sacred Inquisition against heretics had been, such thereafter by use should be retained; yet the royal orders by the Governess being promulgated, into the common people forthwith were scattered rumors, and then to some magistrates of Belgium and eminent men it was persuaded, that by those edicts the Spanish custom of inquiring against the accused of violated religion, which for the license of former times to the nation severer seemed to be, into the Belgians was introduced: and that this to their ancient institutes and laws, and indeed both to private and to public liberty was repugnant.

[128] Thence moreover among some noble men a league was struck: the same things which the Huguenots perpetrating, into which at first certain Catholics, as far as pertains to warding off the Spanish Inquisition, are reported to have consented; who yet afterward from them separated themselves. But the heretics, a turbulent kind of men and impatient of salutary laws, with joined minds against the Church of God and against their King nefariously conspiring, all sacred and profane things to lay waste, to plunder, to violate, to overturn resolved; and thereafter almost the same flagitia full of impiety and cruelty, which by the Huguenots their associates in the Gauls committed we have related, by frequent eruptions in Belgium for many years to perpetrate scarcely at length worn out by wars they desisted. These evils therefore Pius not without great grief when partly the now past he deplored, that he should set out thither the Pontiff exhorts the King, partly the present he mourned, partly indeed the future he foresaw; to them, as far as it could be done, with all zeal must be met he esteemed. A present and best remedy for so great seditions to be removed, and all things to their pristine state to be restored seemed to be, if the King himself into Belgium should set out, and the rebels either should repress in person or should rout, and the Catholic religion should guard: which lest to afford he should delay, both by letters and by messengers him Pius gravely exhorted.

[129] But indeed, since after the death of Charles Caesar, the old custom of the Belgic administration and the reason of governing the King had changed; there were those who counseled him, that it would be worth the labor, if those nations only to render political obedience he should bring, and the cause of religion to another time

by conniving he should protract, the peoples themselves meanwhile upon that matter whatever they wished power being made. Epist. 5 book 1 Which matter known Pius, to the King with his own hand wrote, and an opinion of this kind vehemently disapproved; showing that because to Caesar Charles V it had been persuaded formerly, that political only in Germany affairs he should procure, but in the cause of the Catholic faith should connive; nor meanwhile of the Protestants a victory reported he had wished to use; it had happened, that peace in that province none he had left: nay even within very few years the contagion into the other parts widely diffused, into that of danger in which they labored the Belgic dominions cast to be seen. But if at that time, in which the Christian religion there was less cast down, the taken counsel of Charles to him gravely was a hindrance, how much worse from a like cause of afflicted affairs an issue must be said to impend?

[130] for this would be the destruction of his own political state, He added, that the Christian Princes, in the first times of these factions, some cause of excuse perhaps could object, not indeed of remitted their zeals in guarding the divine cult understanding; but because whither the factions themselves under the appearance of religion would turn out seemed, less in mind they had foreseen: but soon at length, after so many and so great seditions and tumults of provinces, not only no place of excuse was left to them, that the counsel of routing the heresies at the beginning they had not taken; but also, unless at the first time with expedited and strong protections the Catholic matter to be guarded they should decree, shortly it would be, that by the heretics all faculty of defense and hope from them would be snatched away. And so the patronage of religion dissemblingly to desert, lest either the peoples should tumultuate, or the depraved minds of the neighboring nations more perilously be irritated, meanwhile to them by their judgment of preaching and holding conventicles power being made, is nothing else, than to foster a fire, and to heap fomenter that with greater flames it may blaze. For by the Catholic Roman religion, which alone is true and solid religion, as the solidity of faith and the love toward God and men, true obedience toward the Prefects conjoined with the highest tranquillity of things is wont to bring; so on the contrary the heretic spirit, in the depraved minds of men sitting and lying hid, somewhere at length gravely break forth necessarily must, and a huge perturbation to affairs bring. And a miserable indeed certainly the state of the Christian commonwealth Pius said to be for this, that, the heretics the cause of religion daily more boldly pretending, of the same religion the tutelage the Catholics by dissembling neglected: and therefore God permitting, that by the same reasons of dissembling they themselves should lose their own rights and dominions, which iniquitously to guard without divine help and to conserve they endeavored, to Him who can do all things being unwilling to trust: and so by divine judgment it came to pass, that to the command of their subjects they themselves should be subjected.

[131] That therefore at the first time into the Belgians with an armed band he should betake himself, the King both he admonished and exhorted: or let him believe that the matter can be conducted without arms: and he was wont to say, that in rebellions, while the matter is conducted without arms, laws are not given, but received; nor the orders of the lords are done, but of the subjects. Nor indeed anyone of the Royal ministers, however great and most powerful to that matter to be conducted must be set over; since this in business of this kind would not be opportune, especially among those who foreign Magistrates perpetually had repudiated. And since for expediting the army maturely there was need, he persuaded the King, that to Milan meanwhile he should approach. And the Pontiff's opinion indeed was this, that the King as soon as into the Belgians he had entered, forthwith that plague by the roots should pluck up, nor any place to those dissembling should leave. But all these things to the King he wished to be reported. To whom of that matter subsequently Peter Camaiani, Bishop of Ascoli, Apostolic Internuncio he sent: otherwise it would be, that a deadly example of rebellion from negligence of this kind would follow in his other dominions, and especially in the Milanese, Neapolitan and Sicilian: in which places without doubt evil seeds were now made, and grave offenses of minds were found. To these moreover he announced, that unless by his presence to affairs he should bring a measure, not so great an interval of time after it would be, that both in the Belgians religion now uncultivated would perish, and the King himself despoiled of his dominions would grieve: therefore in that matter must be followed the vestiges of Charles V, who for one Ghent defection, all other things being postponed, from Spain departed; and committing himself to the faith of his rival the King, having sailed past Gaul and into the Belgians advanced, all those motions removed and tranquillized.

[132] Moreover that faculty, which they call the Crusade, to him asking he would never grant, as nor before he had granted, unless the King himself should be present at the affairs to be conducted. Of which kind of faculty at various times to the King letters he gave, The Crusade however he denies him which him from that petition should recall: since for certain he knew, that in that matter corruptions were very many: wherefore by various conditions and bounds delaying it he circumscribed, for he for his conscience otherwise to do could not. The King besides he admonished, lest new taxes and Ecclesiastical fruits to enjoy very much he should care: nay rather for his kingdoms and the safety of his soul more from use it would be, and other useful things he persuades if he deprived himself of those, with which to that day he had used and in the present used. Nor so great account must be had either of his own utility or of the public lest they should be diminished revenues, in the Rhaetian and Helvetian commerce, on account of the contagions of the heretic plague, with the peoples subject to himself of the Milanese dominion by interdicting; as great an account must be had of the detriment, which into the Catholic religion thence would recoil, of which thing Belgium was an example.

[133] To these he added other kinds of monitions, concerning the violation of Ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the Neapolitan and Sicilian kingdoms: of which matters more often he himself with his own hand letters to the King wrote, against the damaging suggestions of the politic men, demonstrating, that this pernicious thought to the ministers of Princes by the instinct of the demon is wont to be set under, through the appearance, that the Ecclesiastical jurisdiction to the Pontiffs to be administered to be left, to lay Princes of civil and human things damage brought: and that this was the first step and cause of falling away from the Catholic Church. But indeed Pius, no delay interposed, Julius Pavesi, a man of exceptional virtue and doctrine endowed, Archbishop of Sorrento, Internuncio sent to the Belgians: with whom he having conversed of the tumults might know, that, the force and cause of the disease being known, a present remedy more conveniently could be applied. Moreover such paternal and pious truly of Pius the Pontiff both exhortation and legation offices, with a grateful mind the King, for his singular and perpetual toward the Apostolic See observance and piety, always received: and he himself both a cultivator and patron egregious of the Catholic religion, what to the same religion to be a hindrance could seem, nothing at all to the dominions subject to himself to be indulged decreed.

CHAPTER XI

[134] But when, for the highest both his and the Pontiff's will, for the gravest causes into Belgium to cross the King himself could not; Ferdinand of Toledo, the Duke of Alba, a man of great authority and great prudence, and for the glory of warlike virtues illustrious, of all those dominions Governor he declared, and him with the greatest forces instructed with command sent. What at the same time and thereafter, To the Duke of Alba sent with forces into Belgium, for those seditions to be removed and the motions to be quieted there did Alba, those to commit to letters would be of another's design: yet some of them as briefly as possible I shall comprehend, which from the undertaken narration by no means seemed to be alien. He therefore with a best-furnished army into Belgium scarcely yet having entered, so great a terror to the heretics and confederate traitors brought, that very many, fearing for themselves from him, into the neighboring provinces forthwith fled. Soon at Brussels honorifically received by the Governess, when from her of the state of the region many things he had learned, and in very many places of the traitors laboring under graver danger new garrisons to constitute he had resolved, and certain chief men, and as many of the sedition either authors or partakers as he could apprehend, into chains he had cast; them with the last punishment publicly to be affected by his power he commanded: although with a harder, than was fitting, judgment against some to have animadverted he was said. Among these were two Counts of great name, Egmont and Hoorn; who, because both to the league of the rebels themselves to have mingled they were judged, condemned of head the penalties of treason gave. To Antwerp Alba thence having set out, when there a most fortified citadel, to keep and fortify that city in its duty, to build he had begun, and the goods of the traitors and heretics to the treasury now had confiscated; from these the sacred buildings and monasteries destroyed by them again he ordered to be restored, as by letters Pius had commanded, and from the King had demanded the Pontifical Internuncio, who that very thing wholly to be afforded procured.

[135] But indeed the Prince of Orange and his brother Louis Count of Nassau, from Belgium into upper Germany fled; moneys he directs against the heretics aided by the Germans: and complaining that for the cause of the Belgic laws and the Lutheran faction, of which they professed themselves to be champions, to be guarded from their seats they had been driven off, help thence they demanded. Hence the Dukes of Saxony and of Zweibrücken, the Count Palatine Casimir, and other besides many of the heretic name, who the amplitude of the Catholic King hated, favored Orange; and for this to gathering forces gave effort. Wherefore Pius the necessity of the matter being noticed, to Alba a huge force of moneys forthwith for aid sent, him with frequent both letters and messengers more and more impelling, to the heretics' impiety greater than all barbarity to be repressed. And to the King upon the churches of the Spains a great number of gold pieces, which five hundred thousand to have been some say, in single years that he would grant he promised, provided he himself at the matter to be conducted in person would be present: but if he did this, whatever besides he had asked he easily would give. and to these after the first disaster, But indeed Alba, great severity being employed, as in the present there seemed to be need, of many a punishment being taken, when to the river Maas, which the German forces of Orange to cross thought, he had sent his army, the enemies he assailed: whom through the Cleves region scattering at Dalheim the Catholics pursuing, of them about a thousand six hundred, and among them many chief men, slew: but of the Catholics only forty were lost.

[136] But indeed the number of the traitors everywhere was augmented daily, and greater aids continually to them were brought. For Count Hoogstraten, with two thousand of horse, these by a great accession of aids being augmented. and four thousand of foot, from Alemannia into Guelders crossed: but from Frisia with Nassau flowed together ten thousand of foot, three thousand of horse. The Prince of Orange too four and twenty standards of foot, eight thousand of horse leading, to our men hostile drew near. Nassau then, by the help of the Queen of the English too supported, and with other aids augmented, certain dominions of the Catholic King to occupy when now he had resolved, his forces at Groningen a fortified town of Frisia held, and there himself with a garrison had fortified, fearing lest some detriment from Chiapino Vitelli, with part of the army ordered to go before, he should take. Alba meanwhile, before Orange with Nassau should be joined, into the battle-line the cohorts led out; to which assiduously a great accession was made of Italian soldiers, Pius persuading, for the cause of aid thither flying. To the enemies

at length when Alba came, deeming that by no means must the war be delayed; their bulwark, by surrounding waters fore-fortified, and again being slain, and the earth deeply dug out filled, and in front well supported, strongly having assailed, it into power he reduced, the hostile forces with a huge column betaking themselves back. But not far having retreated, by the Catholics they were routed and broken; and their leader into flight was so cast, that, arms and garments being cast away, he scarcely could escape. Moreover Alba through the night there abiding of the enemies to be pursued thought: and so at first light to move camp, and pursuing them, a few days after the river Eems already by them in the rear occupied to be, and them awaiting the auxiliaries of Orange, in a place by ditches and canals so fore-fortified, to have sat down he found, that impregnable wholly to be it seemed. But him strongly to invade not doubting, a victor he departed, of the enemies seven thousand and more being slaughtered: to live even to one asking no one was permitted: of the Catholics only eight being slain, and as many wounded. By which battle larger cannon sixteen, and besides military standards twenty, the other four into the river by the enemies being cast, the victors received.

[137] Of which victory indeed the Duke forthwith sent messengers to Pius, who for that matter with assiduous prayers God meanwhile besought. These things known, the Pontiff forthwith, solemn thanks to God he gives, on three days of the entering month of August in the year MDLXVIII, to the three sacred basilicas of the City celebrated supplications, to the poor aids to be given out, and there the divine service with great ceremony to be done decreed: at which supplications indeed, with the whole Clergy and the Roman people, on foot was present himself, to give according to custom thanks to the divine majesty. Epist. 15 & 21 book 2 Which was a wonderful example of piety, while on foot he proceeded, the sacred prayers from the little book, which in his hands he held, piously reciting, both the supervening rain and the heat of the sun making little account of. And to strike a greater fear into the minds of the heretics, he ordered through the whole City, both with fires and the festal noise of all the cannon of the citadel, all to rejoice greatly. Nor so many days interposed his terrific army into the Belgians when had crossed Orange, yet with Alba to join standards he delayed, namely that meanwhile the peoples should rebel. Which when it had not happened, him crossing the river Maas Alba having assailed, to five thousand men he slaughtered. Which disaster indeed he received, into Alemannia for himself to return must be, winter especially now entering, he thought.

[138] But that in this place not to be omitted, that in this war with the great admiration of all, The Agni Dei usefully among the soldiers he distributes, and would that with an equal conversion of the heretics to the right faith, divinely to have happened grave authors in letters set forth. A Spanish soldier a Catholic, among others whom they so destroyed, by Orange captured and to a tree bound, the impious heretic soldiers with the strokes of bronze cannon to slay having attempted, so far was it that they pierced him, that not even by the most frequent and most vehement fiery balls into him discharged could they even the least wound him. Which seen astonished, him of his garments to strip they began; deeming the man fortified with certain hidden arms, which the force of the cannon could not penetrate. But when nothing of protection in him they had found, except a sacred Agnus hanging from his neck, of those (as is the conjecture) which Pius V in the first year of his Pontificate according to custom had consecrated (for of them a great number into Spain, Gaul and Belgium, especially to the soldiers fighting for the Catholic faith to be distributed he had procured) this from him being drawn off, by the first stroke transfixed he fell.

[139] Moreover the King of the Gauls, to bring help to Alba incited by Pius, twice thousand foot with smaller cannon furnished, he obtains for Alba aids from Gaul and a thousand two hundred horse led by the Marshal Cossé, to him for aid sent. Meanwhile Pius men decreed, who the Orders of cenobites and the monasteries there should survey and recognize, and to the old discipline of piety should recall, and the Catholics vexed by the heretics should relieve. But now at length from those places Orange being driven off, the Pontiff to Alba, as one best deserving of the Church of God, to the same a sword and a cap he sends, a cap and a sword decently adorned with gems, and with the Pontifical according to custom prayers consecrated transmitted: whereas otherwise insignia of this kind of virtues, almost at Rome to be taken by the Pontifical hand long had been wont. But by these gifts, both for the cause of honor and of a grateful mind, illustrious conservators of Catholic truth the supreme Pontiffs are wont to adorn, that they in turbulent matters the afflicted Christian commonwealth to guard and protect more earnestly may wish. But indeed Pius, that to the flock of Christ the erring sheep a good Pastor he might bring back, and all in the duty of Catholic piety might contain, now had pardoned all those who, the heresies being execrated, to the faith of the most holy Roman Church should return: from which it came, that by divine help, very many the heretic malice being laid down, to the cult of Catholic truth brought, piously their life instituted. Wherefore to him Alba letters gave to this sense. So great is the multitude of those, who to that, and from heresy many he draws away. which to those wishing to return into the right way of the Catholic religion Thy Holiness has made, grace to be embraced daily flock together (which both by the Bishops and by the Legates and Prolegates of the provinces is reported to me) that their number to be reckoned scarcely could seem possible. And indeed even in this no one does not admire the egregious care and solicitude, which thy Beatitude employs, both with the salvation of all indeed to be desired, and indeed also the same with the highest prayers to God to be commended. To whom indeed I trust it will be, that by thy life so illustriously and holily passed, from the field of the whole Christian commonwealth the pestilent heresies shortly will be plucked up. But the recently created Prelates of sacred things so egregiously afford each his own office, that by Thy Holiness in that grade placed plainly to have been they are perceived. Wherefore to him who shall succeed me, this one thing in these dominions to be afforded is left, namely that in what state the affairs are, in it sedulously he conserve and guard them.

THIRD BOOK.

Various things for the Catholic faith to be stabilized and the heresy to be repressed throughout the world by Pius V strongly wrought.

CHAPTER I.

The ecclesiastical matter in the kingdom of Naples restored. The Bull Cœna Domini, everywhere promulgated.

[140] Now indeed when in the Catholic King himself, both a mind egregiously pious, and exceptional toward the most holy Apostolic See faith and obedience, and finally a singular both of the Catholic religion to be guarded and of the heresies to be routed zeal Pius best perceived; The Pontiff and the King, otherwise best agreeing, with a certain paternal love so him he embraced, and so great between them a mutual confidence arose, that to the highest good of the Christian commonwealth, in affairs so afflicted, two not dissimilar minds of supreme Princes, by the closest bond of love wholly to have joined God seemed to will. For Pius the message of the King's sickness received, his hands raised to heaven, the divine clemency suppliantly implored, that either him He would free from disease, or certainly to himself the firmness of body would diminish, and the years of his life would contract, while to him the same He should add: nay that his life to the Christian commonwealth far more, than his own necessary was. But indeed, as it is difficult among mortals, but especially among supreme Princes, of all things everywhere to agree; it must be confessed, that among them certain complaints there were; of which in the one the cause was a certain holy counsel and purpose of removing all corruptions from the Christian commonwealth; some controversies arisen with peace safe on both sides. but in the other the zeal of conserving his rights, dominions, and kingdoms in that state, in which he had obtained them. By which complaints however or contentions, of which thereafter something to commemorate it will be necessary, the minds of both nothing were offended, but joined as before by mutual benevolence, with great consent on the common good of the Christian matter fixed perpetually were.

[141] Wherefore Pius since he illustriously understood, that nothing is either to ordering the Ecclesiastical matter, or to the Christian discipline either lapsed to be restored, or restored to be conserved more accommodated, So when a Visitor Pius had sent to Naples, than if the dioceses accurately were visited; this himself first having attempted, not only by the Prelates each in his own province, but also by Apostolic Visitors, whom into various parts of the world he sent, sedulously to be afforded procured. And from the kingdom of Naples the matter having begun, Thomas Orfinus, a man of proved integrity, Apostolic Visitor thither with power he sent: who being made by Pius Bishop of Strongoli, both for going about the Churches, and for removing corruptions, and for prescribing salutary laws, to Naples having set out, when to him the Viceroy had edicted, that of executing the Pontifical decree the royal faculty (which they call the Exequatur) he should receive, and the Viceroy opposed him, this to do with a constant mind he refused. Epist. 6 book 1 For that he was sent by the Vicar of Christ, who by no means had need of a power of this kind of laymen, and the less in the dominions tributary to the Pontiff: nor indeed did he need or wish to use commendatory letters, which the Viceroy to the royal ministers to give him offered: since they just as the very royal faculty would avail. At which time at Naples two Magistrates the Visitor boldly to resist not fearing, and not long after both dying, were a terrific example to the rest.

[141] But now when from Pius the Viceroy suppliantly had obtained, that upon this it should be written to the King, and meanwhile the business should be desisted from, so it was afforded. But the answer being brought later, Pius this corruption in no wise to bear he could having professed, the disputation being postponed of the general force of the royal faculty itself, the matter on an easier condition to be transacted he thought; because to the Pontiff, The King wished him to pursue the visitation, who is the head and Prince of all the Bishops, the dioceses to visit much more was permitted, than to their own Bishops: who otherwise their dioceses without a concession of executing of this kind to visit had been wont. And so to him, that the visitation he should pursue, Pius commanded; and to the Viceroy the King himself wrote, that the Pontiff to afford his office he should permit. There were surveyed therefore without other Royal faculty the Calabrian, Otranto, Bari, and other adjacent Churches, and especially the Neapolitan city: in which not only the Churches, and the sacred men subject to the Archbishop, but also those who to the Viceroy himself were of sacred things, immunity objecting, both to be recognized and to be amended he caused. Which matters were a great both public, and private good: and thence in those regions, which before very much had been diminished, the Apostolic See's authority and reverence was restored. And indeed it was wonderful, wherever the Visitor proceeded, to behold a great concourse of peoples, as with great fruit it was done. all of all ages, sexes, and orders men, to receive and venerate him eagerly flowing together; and before him on their knees falling, that even with one Pontifical benediction he would dignify them: as sent by the Pontiff, of whose holiness so had grown the fame, that by all cultivated it was celebrated. The same almost in Spain, in Gaul, in Germany, and everywhere finally, wherever he Visitors or Nuncios sent, to have happened, and most abundant

fruits of piety thence to have followed it is established.

[143] But among these things Pius, to the Christian matter both to be guarded and indeed too to be amplified in all parts for his office always intent, Concerning the bull Cœna Domini complaints being moved by the Spanish Legate, the Pontifical constitution, which by the old and received institute of the Roman Pontiffs, on the day sacred to the Lord's Supper to be promulgated is wont, not only in the City of Rome, but through the whole Christian world too both to be edicted and to be conserved he ordered. Which indeed while sedulously was cared for, behold Lewis Requesens, the Greater Commander of Castile, in the Pontifical court the Catholic King's Legate, in his name with Pius to expostulate began, first of the unwonted divulgation of that constitution in his kingdoms, but especially at Naples, without a royal concession of executing: then because to all those receiving the sacred Confessions Pius had commanded, lest they should absolve those, who that constitution had violated: in it too to have been adjoined many things, which since neither in the ancient ones nor indeed in those which either Julius III, or Paul, or Pius, both of that name IV, had published, were contained, very grave to be seemed: opinions summarily being applied, and words generally signifying, which to the peoples brought confusion, especially on account of the decrees under the penalty of anathema against those, who new taxes should impose: from which of the public quiet a perturbation would arise, some cities those to pay refusing.

[144] Moreover what pertains to the jurisdiction, that the King had ancient and Apostolic decrees and legitimate rights, titles and a most ancient possession, and many other things objecting, and immemorial. That the use of the Pontifical authority must be tempered to the reason of justice, which to no one what is his own takes away undeservedly, and that the less from public Princes in matters. That the opinions besides, of the judgments against the Clergy to be exercised adjoined, seemed against the monarchy of the Sicilian kingdom, which both on Apostolic privileges relied and a most ancient right of possession used. That moreover the King himself was offended, because Paul Odescalchi, the Pontifical Internuncio, of that kingdom on this side and beyond the Pharos and of the Ecclesiastical liberty to be named champion Pius had judged. For thence it seemed, that the Pontiff wished, to introduce Legates into Sicily, nothing the monarchy withstanding; and since the Kings of that kingdom that they are born Legates pretend, that it was a royal office, of the Church and of the immunities himself a vindicator there and patron to profess. Nor indeed less did the King grieve, that the militia of S. Lazarus, he unaware, into his kingdoms had been introduced, and other besides many edicts published, and especially that upon the iniquitous alienations of Ecclesiastical goods published. He complained finally of the armed cohort of the satellites of the Archbishop of Milan, which to use he could not he contended.

[145] But to these complaints the Pontiff to be answered thought, not indeed because of the things done by him an account to lay Princes to render it behooved him he esteemed; but that he might show, by letters to the King sent the Pontiff answering, that what to the King of that matter had been reported, from some proceeded, who led by their own advantages, as is wont, their corruptions to guard endeavored: of which he very many described in a certain schedule sent to the King. That these things he must beware with no other counsel, except that the Christian matter for the office to him divinely committed he might guard, and to the salvation of souls by errors of this kind to be removed, and the Catholic discipline and piety into the peoples to be brought, he might consult. Moreover the wider and broader than of other Princes lay open the dominions of that King, the more also he ought for the safety of his kingdoms to be subject to God, and to His Vicar on earth the Roman Pontiff. he shows that the Bull by ancient use, But the constitution published on the day of the Lord's Supper, now by old custom received, although in the City only by some Pontiffs divulged, yet everywhere on earth, as also other general constitutions to be in force: and that formerly either eminent men or peoples, who of the violated constitution this in any way themselves guilty had recognized, pardon of the offense from the Roman Pontiff suppliantly had demanded. In all moreover either of expiations or of general Jubilees letters, into all the parts of the Christian world sent, and likewise in those which they call Confessionals, of the same constitution mention long perpetually to have been made is found. In the diploma besides of the faculty, which in Spain they call the Crusade, to those Kings asking sometimes conceded, especially named to be a constitution of this kind; since it all mortals, as many as by the Christian name are reckoned, by its obligation binds: nor by general words its force to be comprehended was wont, which both by Paul II and by Sixtus IV had been declared. That therefore more cautiously to affairs it might be consulted, in the old edition of that constitution a custom had grown, of commanding the Patriarchs, Archbishops, and Bishops, that in their own each Churches it they should divulge. Which when at this time he understood by no means to be afforded, and therefore in that matter the very constitution to be derogated, and for this in the snares of anathema men to lie entangled, that he had wished the destruction of souls to avert; which especially ignorance would not excuse.

[146] and for the right of the Pontifical office to be promulgated. Moreover the Priests to admonish of their office, to the true and legitimate Pontiff to pertain: that they leprosy from leprosy to discern, and of sins, especially of which the absolution is reserved to the supreme Pontiff, rightly to judge could. But if there is any privilege, which is hidden from the Priests themselves, the same of these to be taught, to the ministers of Princes grave it ought not to be. But the words either lately adjoined, or in the ancient letters unwonted, ought not hard to anyone to seem: since this now in custom was set, namely some things in them either to take away or to add, according to the variety of times and the quality of corruptions. But that on a royal concession of executing it relied, neither this nor any other faculty of laymen any force to have in Ecclesiastical decrees to be executed, nor in sacred sermons to be held: of which the faculty from laymen to ask, intolerable wholly it would be. For to laymen even religious, what the sacred canons teach, upon churches, persons, and ecclesiastical things no faculty to be attributed: to whom is the necessity of obeying, not the authority of commanding. Which matters are plain, as by the most holy laws and Councils now enough explained and constituted.

[147] by it the Royal power not to be derogated, But that of tributes and tolls was adjoined, since in it more often gravely it was sinned, namely when either by those not having power, or those, who through privileges are immune, such as are all the Ecclesiastics, or by no right subject to themselves, or finally against the holy laws they are commanded. And so to Princes endowed with legitimate power it was not prohibited, but that from the sacred laws on the peoples subject to themselves equal and tolerable tributes they could impose: and although in the Pontifical letters, without other declaration, lest new burdens be imposed, it is provided; a declaration of this kind yet by no means to be necessary; as one which never had been employed, where of those which they call tolls tributes it is treated: which matter from the sacred laws now enough explained seemed. Wherefore not to excite a popular tumult, which rather from immoderate burdens by Princes imposed is wont to be excited; but a reason and way to hand, by which men could in the duty of tranquillity and religion be contained; and those whom it behooved, to admonish of their office, his counsel to have been.

[148] But of the Apostolic privileges, conceded to the Kings, nothing to him to be known, nor from his authority anything unjust to be committed: yet that he saw privileges of this kind ill everywhere usurped, nor by the privileges by the Roman See to him conceded, and thence many things to be done against rights either human or divine: and whoever relied, or also was wont to use the privileges, he without doubt ought to bring them forth and lay open. Since especially the supreme Pontiff, alone and legitimate is of all the privileges by other Pontiffs conceded both the interpreter and judge: who wherever errors and offenses he shall have found, for his office ought without other question to the lapsing affairs to provide. Nevertheless that he wished only that to these matters good ministers should be set over, through whom all things well should be conducted, and of all the King himself more certain should be made; and that he should understand, that of crimes for retaining the divine cult to be judged the right was in the authority of the Roman Pontiff, of Jesus Christ, the Vicar, not in the judgment of lay Princes: to whom by no means by God the Son had been said; Feed my sheep; but they as lambs to be fed ought to permit, without prejudice to the same See: themselves by B. Peter's successor to be led and governed, unless they wish themselves outside the flock of Christ to be led away and driven, and through the appearance of privileges the Ecclesiastical hierarchy to subvert. John 21. Moreover (since that from the piety of the King egregiously Catholic far was distant) the King himself procuring he hoped that to affairs it would be well consulted, especially in the business of the Sicilian monarchy. And so let the King altogether persuade himself, that the Pontiff could not give so many or so great privileges, that the authority of his successors he should diminish, by God to himself conferred for the edification of His holy Church, but not for its destruction: against which authority indeed no prescription could be objected, even the most ancient.

[149] He added, that all contrary things, against an objected cause of this kind, nor that it is new that into Sicily a Legate be sent, rather are found through the Apostolic into that kingdom decreed Legations; and that the Pontiff by his judgment that as gratuitously conceded, but thereafter ill turned, could abrogate. Wherefore the diploma to Paul Odescalchi, Apostolic Internuncio beyond and on this side the Pharos given, on a most firm foundation to rely: since before long in that kingdom Legates and treasurers, in the very times of Caesar Charles V, the Apostolic See had had. But that certain diplomas thither to be introduced he had given, and that especially of the alienated goods of the Church to be recognized; that holily and duly was provided, both for the utility of the Christian commonwealth, and also for guarding against the snares of souls, by which those goods possessing them miserably were taken. Of the militia of S. Lazarus, of the Apostolic office to be such militias to institute or to extinguish, according as to the Pontiffs opportune it should seem: which also to his kingdoms now he himself had conceded, or that the militia of S. Lazarus can be disapproved and elsewhere had removed: nor indeed could the King, as a Catholic, against anything decree. But that militia by him therefore to have been restored, because those soldiers to the Apostolic See, where and as often as they were called, against whatsoever enemies or rebels of the Roman Church, armed to serve and to bring help at their own expense, from their office, and by the Apostolic decree, ought. Of the cohort of satellites moreover, which for the Ecclesiastical discipline to be guarded uses the Archbishop of Milan, from the ancient monuments and institutes of that Church, or the satellite-guard of the Archbishop of Milan. to this very day by use retained, clearly to be established, that against laymen of crimes, either to the sacred only or to both fora promiscuously pertaining, questions and judgments he is wont to exercise, and for this to be armed to use the ministry of a satellite-guard. Finally that he would not so grave errors or corruptions, into the offense of God and the injury of the most holy See recoiling,

in any way tolerate. That the offices of men were among themselves distinct: and therefore that Princes each their own office it behooved to afford; and to the Church to leave, the things which are of God.

[150] But indeed the King truly Catholic, for his singular piety, to his ministers in the dominions of Italy that this was his counsel by letters declared, lest anything against the holy laws should be committed; with which the King acquiesces. nay rather if anything had been committed, it should be corrected. And at Naples to the Pontifical Internuncio of both place and of all preceding the prerogative was given; and to him just as to the Spanish Orator due honors to be had. But since the King's orders his ministers by no means doing, this was borne with impunity, by the laws of the sacred interdict against them to proceed Pius had resolved; and would have done it had not by most ample men, zealous for the King himself, from that opinion he been deduced: very many persuading, that the mildest remedies must be tried first, than so keen a medicament should be applied: for so more easily he would obtain what he desired. And so in those kingdoms thereafter all things either to their integrity now restored, or with severe penalties amended would have been, had not the most grave business of the then impending against the Turks league, soon the mournful death of the Pontiff himself the affairs forestalled.

CHAPTER II.

Various things in the Spains and the Indies constituted.

[151] These things yet, but that Pius both the best King uniquely loved, and to all his kingdoms, in those especially which to Christian piety pertain, lest anything of error should be introduced, diligently provided, in nothing impeded. And so in Spain, that the Christian matter and good morals best should be conserved and where they had lapsed holily be restored, not only through Apostolic Nuncios, but with many salutary edicts and decrees too there divulged, By edicts he abrogates various abuses of the Spaniards, studiously he procured. But especially that to be edicted he ordered, by which, as before we mentioned, under anathema and other most grave penalties he interdicted ludicrous spectacles: in which the encounters or baitings of bulls and beasts, not without some slaughter of men and grave damage of souls, were wont to be done. And the King asking he weakened that power, by which the sodalities of the most holy Sacrament were wont to use or rather to abuse, the foods by the Church on fixed days interdicted permitting: and the faculty he removed, which the Prelates used in the cases reserved to the Bishop, and grace to be made; whence, the moneys which as under the name of the Spanish Crusade they paid to the King, they collected. He established, that all schoolmasters a solemn and legitimate profession of faith should make; and lest inscriptions under the images of those, who condemned of heresy were punished, thereafter should be affixed in the temples; but their houses should be leveled to the ground, and in the middle should be fixed a little column with a marble tablet, in which their life and likewise their end should be described. Moreover that to those condemned with capital punishment, the day before they should be animadverted upon, the most holy Eucharist duly should be administered. The iniquitous dealings of usurers with severer laws he removed, although moneys more difficultly being received on loan, which soon he was to procure in the Belgians and elsewhere, a certain detriment thence the King was to receive.

[152] But the offered condition to receive Pius refused of the spoils of the sacred men on this law to be received, he refuses the offered thence spoils of the dying Clergy that of those spoils the half should be attributed to the King: for although to the Pontiff more convenient it would be and more useful these by the royal ministers to be collected, yet must be guarded against, lest in the Clergy a great thence to himself he should kindle envy, or into the suspicion of avarice should incur. That he grieved moreover vehemently, that so many decrees and faculties upon the three military Orders, and besides the nominations of the Cathedral churches, and other matters the supreme Pontiffs long had conceded: who formerly as much, and perhaps more than the Kings themselves, in the Spains of human matters to dispose and administer could. About the same time chests not a few, with Calvinian Catechisms filled, he procures the books to be introduced to be examined. into the Spanish idiom turned, as is the custom of heretics, through Spain to be disseminated, at Lyons and Toulouse in Gaul to have been detected, to Pius is reported. Which he knowing, gravely grieved: and the danger meeting, of that matter the Catholic King he admonished, that he should beware diligently, lest foreign books, unless first well known and by the sacred Inquisitors approved, into Spain should be introduced: as sedulously was cared for, so great a danger being removed.

CHAPTER IV

[153] There was agitated about the same time in Spain that grave cause of Bartholomew Miranda and Carranza, Archbishop of Toledo, who of heresy accused, The Archbishop of Toledo accused of heresy, by the authority of the Apostolic See there in custody was held. Against him long since when a question had been held, neither Paul, nor Pius, both of that name IV, Roman Pontiffs, that either the accused or the cause to themselves at Rome from the prescript of the sacred laws should be brought, and before them, as the supreme judges of all the Bishops and of the causes of faith, should be treated, could obtain; because with the Catholic King by that Senate of the sacred Inquisition, this of judgment from the Apostolic authority, to itself for the time more often delegated, the Inquisition in vain resisting, to itself to pertain professing, continually an exception was given; Pius V, that both the accused and the question to himself should be brought, what was his authority with the King and opinion of holiness, wholly effected. For for this with the greatest mandates Peter Camaiani, of whom before we mentioned, into Spain he sent, a diploma being given, by which, if less they did the orders, those sacred Judges of violated faith of all authority of judging he deprived, and from the communion of the pious separated he declared: although this to them, because it was not necessary, by no means was indicted. As soon as the King the demands of Pius knew, with what toward the Apostolic See, and especially toward this Pontiff piety he was, although some clamoring against it, constantly he edicted, that one must obey altogether (that we may use almost his words) the most holy Father, and whatever he had decreed, promptly to be afforded: for nothing except holy and welcome to God by him could be established, since by divine nod he was governed.

[154] The Archbishop therefore with his described question under close custody to Rome brought and into the citadel of holy Angelo enclosed, to his cause both to be known and to be judged, the most wise men into counsel being employed, so assiduously Pius applied himself; that very many upon this question being held congregations, those almost all most frequently himself to have been present or rather to have presided, and the matter a sentence being brought nearly to have decided is related. But by other most grave businesses distracted, and by death snatched away, the matter to his successor Gregory XIII to be defined he left: who while he was Cardinal, by Pius IV for this cause into Spain Legate, nothing had brought back. Soon to Pius V in the Pontificate substituted, the accused Archbishop upon such a crime greatly suspect he judged; and certain penalties being enjoined, to a voluntary detestation of all heretic pravity, and a legitimate confession of the Catholic faith admitted, he absolved. He moreover, with the highest document of patience and modesty, who under Gregory 13 having professed the faith, against his adversaries in this cause nothing ever, as they say, having spoken against, the lasting prison eagerly and constantly having endured, at length in the monastery of his Brothers of Saint Mary above Minerva, in the year MDLXXVI on the sixth Nones of May, the most holy sacraments of the Church being taken, which to those departing from life are wont to be afforded, singular piety displaying, at Rome in peace rested: near death often God and men attesting, that he had been conscious of nothing at all ever of those crimes, which by his adversaries objected had made him guilty of such and so great a judgment: which yet he himself unjust to be called did not think, since according to things alleged and proved it had duly proceeded; the imposed penance reverently he undertakes and piously dies, but the just decree of the Apostolic See he revered, and enjoying the testimony of the best conscience the imposed for his other sins penances of penance glad to have undergone, and himself to God in the Catholic faith, which through all his life most entirely he had professed, by confidence of divine clemency relying willingly to migrate. Among these things his soul to God and to the B. Virgin His genetrix, whom piously more often he invoked, and to the other most blessed spirits enjoying heavenly glory, finally to his Dominican Brothers, that for him the most holy sacrifice of the Mass to God more often they should offer, piously he commended: but his body in the presbytery of the same temple with a pious funeral carried, by the Fathers themselves was laid. These things at greater length cursorily to have commemorated it pleased, lest anyone should think that so great a man, and the Prelate of such and so great a Church, with a foul blemish through calumny perhaps marked, with an unhappy issue his life with death had exchanged.

CHAPTER V

[155] Now indeed from Europe into India, not by a long and perilous course of navigation, but by a short and safe compendium of narration, let us pass: for both in those nations, Solicitous for the salvation of the Indies Pius, both to the Christian faith to be converted, both of the now received religion in their duty to be kept, and everywhere of matters to the divine cult and the salvation of souls necessary providently to be cared for, the ardent toward the whole flock of Christ through the whole world diffused zeal of a most vigilant Pastor shone forth. For when he understood that the Christian matter in India, to the East first under the Kings of Lusitania, soon to the West under the Kings of the Spains, in the former years, God aiding by the highest labors of religious men, of the Franciscan first, then of the Dominican and Augustinian Orders, and at length of the Society of Jesus happily indeed to be propagated had begun; but a work of so great a mass with other difficulties lest better it should proceed to labor, then especially both with greater care of neophytes, and of sacred ministers sedulously to need the ministry; with all effort, as far as it could be done, to that rising Christian Church to be succored he esteemed. Epist. 18, 19, 20, 21 book 1 And indeed an Apostolic Internuncio, The Kings of Spain and Lusitania he admonishes, through whom all things better there he might know and procure, thither to send he had thought: but his counsel afterward being changed, the Catholic King of the Indian necessity of divine things, and what to be done there was need, to be taught he wished: and to him many indeed salutary monitions he suggested, by which him to that matter sedulously to be cared for, now running he incited. Epist. 16, 17, 18 book 2, Epist. 24, 25, 52 book 3

[156] For when the formerly undertaken, of those regions by Pontifical concession by the Kings of Spain and Lusitania into power to be reduced, that to the Neophytes they afford the aids of life counsel thither especially aimed, that fit Priests and preachers thither being sent, the infidels should be joined to Christ, this especially with the highest zeal to be cared for; but what in this kind to himself pertained, his office would not be wanting. But since not enough it was the infidels to Christ to convert, unless to the converted and now into the number of the Christians aggregated the necessary aids of life be conferred, both from the collected alms of the pious after the manner of the nascent Church, and from the royal tributes aliments to them to be afforded it behooved; lest by hunger compelled either to their pristine morals and life they should relapse, or the Christian religion, which by these especially offices of charity is fostered and nourished, as hard they should abnegate and reject; and through this occasion the name of Christ through them should be blasphemed among the nations, while to the little ones asking bread there should be no one to break it for them.

[157] But what to the divine aliments of souls

pertains; these the more studiously to them must be cared for, the more excellent the soul is than the body; and the more than earthly things heavenly, eternal than perishable things preferable must be held. Especially this divine work, of all divine, as S. Dionysius the Areopagite testifies, works the greatest, namely in the eternal salvation of souls to be procured; of God, what the Apostle says, to be a helper, and of Christ a minister; this not of any unlearned man, but proper to be of Priests; and of those, who in the Christian sacred things are so initiated, that they can, according to the Apostle himself, others sound doctrine to teach, and to exhort in the word of truth; and those, who contradict to refute, and of that, which is in them, faith, and hope to render a reason. 1 Cor. 3, Tit. 1 And so although to each, as the Wise man says, God commanded the care of his neighbor; and what each according to his strength to his own and others' salvation rightly can afford, that to effect each it behoves, and to God welcome is deemed; yet popular men and unskilled, not so much the office of a teacher as of a disciple to go about it is fitting. Ecclus. 17 Through sacred therefore and learned masters with the Christian catechesis to be imbued either the catechumens or the neophytes: and the adults unless duly instructed to sacred baptism not to be admitted.

[158] But through the mountains and villages dispersed, that more conveniently to the Christian laws and morals they might accustom themselves, the dispersed Indians into one let them gather, gathered in city dwellings, to a social and pious life they should be instituted: which kind of remedy beyond the rest of great for the minds of those nations to the Christian morals to be instituted use to have been, those who saw, thence returned, often testified. But if to ethnics and Christians one lodging there were, to them places dedicated to the cult and superstition of idolatry not to be permitted, but to the ground to be leveled and destroyed it behooved; lest to the baptized of relapsing to impiety an occasion should be afforded: nor must it be tolerated, that the Christians, either in the sacred doctrine to be taken, or in exercising the cult of the Catholic religion by the ethnics should be prohibited. But if to veteran and recruit Christians one dwelling there were, let those beware, lest these by their depraved morals and examples they should destroy: nay rather so let them bear themselves, that, the holiness of their life being perceived, the infidels of their impiety should be ashamed, and to the faith of Christ to be received more should be incited. But if Christians now adult publicly led an iniquitous life, that it is better they publicly should pay penalties, than those long being tolerated an offense and an occasion of sinning to the neophytes and ethnics to afford. Drunkenness, and untimely banquets, and other vices to which those peoples were given, and the nefarious crimes by which all human society was corrupted, wholly to be abolished: and the infidels to keeping the law of nature to be compelled. Lest any woman should have several husbands, but the law of Christian matrimony into morals they should bring. Nor let the royal ministers, in place of slaves, use the service of the Indians, but of those only, who to serve of their own accord had wished: and to them the agreed wage to be attributed, nor them with immoderate to be burdened taxes; but with the equity which was fitting all to be treated.

[159] But the Priests, the preachers, and the Bishops, as is fitting, their teachers let them keep immune from tributes, as the intimate ministers of God, by the Royal Magistrates and others benignly to be received and revered; and them from taxes and tributes exempt and immune to be conserved. To the Bishops and other ministers of sacred things free in exercising their jurisdiction and corruptions to be removed to be left the power, especially in those things which to the Catholic religion to be guarded and propagated pertained. Finally the King himself Catholic men, upright, and of proved virtue Visitors to the eminent men, to the Judges, and to the other besides Magistrates of those nations should decree, who all these things duly to be afforded should care, and the merits of all being known, the oppression of the poor let them prohibit. each with his own reward or penalty could affect. Moreover the oppression of the poor, by which crime crying out to heaven, as the divine oracles testify, the heavenly wraths most are provoked, should never be unpunished: lest namely by their pitiable groans moved God, against the Kings themselves should animadvert. By arms moreover against the ethnics to be taken, and them by war to be subdued, nothing iniquitously, nothing cruelly should be done: nor to the Christian religion they to be compelled; but benignly by the sacred doctrine, and what sometimes more moves by pious examples, from the darkness of infidelity led out most humanely to be received; and their errors to be corrected more clemently, for the gentleness and indulgence to new of this kind lambs of Christ to be exhibited. These and many other of this kind salutary monitions, with which the King and his ministers for those nations to be converted, rightly to be moderated, and in the duty of piety to be kept should use, wisely and piously he prescribed. Lastly, what to himself pertained, his help, as we have said, and of the divine gifts for the Apostolic authority the communication, and of upright Priests legations, and other things both for amplifying and guarding the honor of God, and for procuring the salvation of souls necessary, at no time while he lived would be wanting: as thereafter not to have been wanting the matter itself declared.

[160] But since both by the epistles of Sebastian King of Lusitania, and by the admonition of Francis Borgia from Duke of Gandia General Provost of the Society of Jesus, Into Japan he destines Andrew Oviedo Patriarch of Ethiopia, not so long before Pius had understood, the Christian matter in Japan growing up, among the other straits, with which it was pressed, of the effort of Bishops greatly to need; this new vineyard too of Christ, with what props he could to cultivate for his Pastoral office he did not omit. Epist. 49 & 50 book 3 There was at that time in Ethiopia Andrew Oviedo a Castilian, of the same Society, supreme Prelate of sacred things, by the mission of the Apostolic See, with the Patriarchal dignity and singular holiness of life and doctrine endowed. He when with the greatest labors and dangers having functioned, in those nations to the Christian faith to be brought, long and much had sweated; and when either to his vows the event, or to his labors the fruit little corresponded, wars there with the Turk continually blazing; and that King for his barbarity the true religion detesting, and indeed the Patriarch and his associates persecuting; to him Pius a diploma gave, full of all offices of prudence and paternal charity, with which the minister of God, with most grave troubles and disasters afflicted, benignly he consoled, and to his office strenuously to be afforded exhorted. To him besides the rest he ordered, that if his effort there vain to be he should perceive, Ethiopia being left, which yet to his advantage and safely could be done, into Japan and the Chinese he should cross; and there the Pastoral offices by the Catholic rite to be gone about for the eternal salvation of those nations he should apply himself. To him the decrees of the sacred Council of Trent, then recently with the Apostolic suffrage fortified, he sent: that those especially, which to the doctrine of faith pertained, to be executed and by use to be retained in those shores studiously he should procure.

[161] But Andrew that by the Pontifical letters to depart he was not urged, and a certain on the way for himself if he departed from the enemies danger of life to impend foreseeing, and he having died, by a certain hope too allured that it would be, that both of the made and also of the to-be-made evangelical sowing the fruits he would reap more abundantly, in Ethiopia if he contained himself, better to be he thought: where not very long after, with various troubles and calamities affected, to the eternal rewards of his labors at length he emigrated. And so Pius, that to the Japanese and Chinese Christians he should not be wanting, of the same authority and argument Apostolic letters to Melchior Carneiro a Lusitanian, Melchior Carneiro. of the same Society chosen Prelate of Nicaea, sent: who from the decree of Julius the Third Roman Pontiff, together with Andrew himself and his other associates into Ethiopia sent, to him in that mission had succeeded. He therefore the letters of Pius received, his orders to do, to Macao the emporium of the Lusitanians, not far from the Chinese, where lies open the access into Japan, crossed: and there the Japanese and Chinese Christians flowing together to him, for some years with the sacred Sacraments he initiated, and other offices of the Pontifical power duly afforded. But he too, while into Japan a journey he prepared, with the highest labors and cares having functioned, a man best deserving of the Christian matter, and for holiness and the glory of the other virtues illustrious, departed.

CHAPTER III.

Things done against the Augsburg confession, for the right of the Church of Trent, and for the Catholic faith in Scotland.

[162] While these things are so cared for, a great meanwhile danger to the Catholic religion in Germany to be created, to Pius is reported. Namely that Maximilian Caesar, that graver inconveniences he might avoid, Lest the Augsburg confession be permitted to the Austrians, otherwise to do he could not professing, to two orders, that is the Nobles and Knights of the Archduchy of Austria, and other besides hereditary dominions, that the Augsburg confession, that is, of the Lutheran impiety the profession, they should follow either had indulged, or certainly that he would indulge a hope to them had been cast: and this, as the report was, on account of the huge force of moneys, which the same to Caesar paid: although this of such and so Catholic a Prince among the good incredible almost seemed. Whatever it was, this Pius bearing most ill, no delay interposed, Cardinal Commendone, at Verona residing, Legate to Caesar sent, that if in time it could be done, so nefarious a deed he should impede (as one which errors from errors sowing, deadly to the other nations would be an example) or certainly by Apostolic authority to him should announce, that the Pontiff with all execrations and Ecclesiastical penalties against him would animadvert, and him would deprive of the Imperial majesty; and the Catholic Princes against him being convoked a new Emperor would create, unless a decree of this kind if it had been made forthwith he had rescinded. Of which matter at once Pius to the eminent men everywhere messengers sent, he solicits the intercession of the King of Spain. and especially to the King of the Spains, him exhorting to deal upon that business with Caesar himself, and to teach how certain thence destruction was impending, and how grave to the Catholic religion, which he otherwise ought to guard, an injury was brought. But the King five letters and those longest upon that matter with his own hand wrote to Caesar and to Augusta his sister: by which letters he admonished, that besides that of the highest weight matters of things were treated, to him too must be guarded against, lest the Austrian family, which of Catholic truth always had been most retentive, through him this mark should undergo, since especially the King himself, if no surviving offspring he had, someone from Caesar's house for himself as a successor to adopt had resolved.

[163] Moreover the Legate, as soon as audience to him had been made, and through his Legate he prevails with Caesar. the Catholic King's letters not yet brought, with most firm and most efficacious reasons broke and beat back whatever Caesar had narrated, excusing himself to that to be conceded he could be induced, that the other factions of heretics all he might extinguish; the Legate subjoining this by no means would be, nay this would be the way, by which they more would be augmented, and stable and safe so would be effected, that thence a certain and last destruction of things must be feared. But Caesar the causes, by which by the persuasion of some this to him to be lawful he esteemed, again objecting, the Cardinal, the last remedies being applied, threats and terrors, him so to confute, and before his eyes those with which he labored to set perils insisted, that that Confession, he by no means either to have permitted or to permit professed; but that he wished altogether to be in

the authority of the Roman Pontiff, by whom terrified he said he was, the Legate relating. For it seemed to him that he saw himself standing before Pius, a scourge holding in his hand; by whose effort namely and zeal it had been done, that this was announced; and to him all the Catholic Princes turned their eyes. Caesar therefore at once his provincials, who on account of a religious cause of this kind frequent had assembled, all dismissed: and to them and to others, who about to assemble were reported, he signified, that no more for the same cause they should assemble: and to the Legate he promised, that certain heretic preachers from the neighboring villages he would expel. Which things Pius heard, supremely rejoiced: and by most humane letters, which we have seen, to Caesar given, his piety and toward the most holy Apostolic See zeal commending, him, that what to the patronage of the Catholic faith and to the dignity of the Holy Roman Church to be conserved pertain, for his office to afford he should never desist, more keenly incited. Epist. 19 book 2 And so was from the Church driven off so grave a danger. Nay from this very deed three years after was rejected the counsel and petition of certain ones subject to the Archduke Charles, the same Confession from the Archduke himself demanding.

CHAPTER VII

[164] About the same times, lest ever with eminent men for the Ecclesiastical matter of contending to Pius there should be wanting an occasion, the Archduke Ferdinand the Austrian, in the civil dominion of the Church of Trent I know not what right to himself to be deeming, by the impulse of certain ones to him ill counseling, he defends the right of the Church of Trent, against the old of a hundred years and more custom, to that as if by force to be obtained now to Trent cohorts he had sent, and to the garrison soldiers of that city from his and the Church's fruits stipends to be paid he had resolved. Which things known Pius, of the sacred jurisdiction as the supreme guardian, so the egregious champion, first indeed all moderation being employed him from that counsel to recall; then, when both to exhortations and to prayers a place was not left, sacred detestations against him to be threatened he resolved: and that this very thing attesting they should announce, to Cardinal Commendone the Legate, and to Melchior Billi the Internuncio, for the Apostolic See in the Caesarean court tarrying, he commanded. Epist. 8 book 2 Soon also of that matter Scipio Lancellotti, of the Roman Rota a duodecemvir, who afterward the honor of the sacred Purple attained, to Lewis Cardinal Madruzzo Bishop of Trent, and the College of the Priests of that Church, to the Duke of Bavaria and the Archduke himself, with letters he sent: Ferdinand the Austrian being threatened with excommunication. by which letters singly all he admonished, that to Ferdinand's endeavors they should oppose themselves, nor suffer that the Church should take any detriment. To the same besides letters to Caesar he gave, by which he should understand, that the Archduke from the undertaken counsel must be deduced, and with him must be expostulated, as he did, of the danger, into which himself and the Caesarean Majesty and indeed the whole that house he was casting: of the mark again, which to him would be branded, if by Pius he had been removed from the communion of the Catholics: of the evil example, which to be imitated he was setting to the heretics, all the German Churches to occupy attempting, with the greatest his and the whole Austrian family's disgrace and detriment. That besides again and again must be seen, by how much greater right he relied in that cause he thought, the less by force anything for him must be contrived; and so let him induce his mind, that at the first time from the city of Trent the soldiers he should withdraw, and the controversy either by an interposed compromise or from the law to be settled should permit, and the offended Pius, deservedly somewhat angry with him, should placate. Meanwhile Christopher Madruzzo, called Cardinal of Trent, a man of great authority, and his Colleague Lewis, Bishop of the same city, that from bearing a sentence of anathema he should desist, Pius supplicated: for it would be shortly, which it was, that of that matter without damage of the Church to be composed a reason and counsel would be taken. And so of that Church's right since nothing had perished, it Pius from a grave danger freed.

CHAPTER VIII

[165] Great meanwhile motions in Scotland the fury of the traitor heretics had excited: and inclined now the matter thither seemed to aim, that, the royal stock and all the light of Catholic truth wholly being extinguished, the deadly darkness of error those wavering in the right faith should blind, and of the kingdom the heretics should be masters. There held at the same time the helm of the kingdom Mary, Mary Queen of Scotland daughter of James Stuart the Fifth of that name King of the Scots, deprived of her dear parents, a woman of exceptional virtue, and of Catholic piety an egregious champion. She first the wife of Francis II King of the Gauls, soon a widow, to the administration of her paternal kingdom of Scotland when she had returned; that her affairs she might consult, by the persuasion of her relative princes, to Henry Stuart son of the Earl of Lennox had married. Epist. 8 book 1, Epist. 54 book 8, Epist. 37, 38 book 4 But he through the frauds of the heretics miserably slain, left from her begotten a little son, James by name: who now in England and Scotland reigning, by divine help those nations, formerly with the cult of the Catholic religion most flourishing, to the obedience of the Apostolic See, and the bosom of the most holy Roman and Catholic Church to be brought back, all the good wish and with the highest vows to God pray. Again therefore a widow Mary, when by the snares of James her bastard brother, of the heretics easily the chief, vexed by the heretics the kingdom by the worst arts to occupy attempting, and of the other traitors on every side she was assailed; into the greatest troubles and difficulties had fallen: which in this place to recount would be long, and by no means opportune. Among other things indeed was, that when from the profession of the Catholic faith to be turned away she was attempted, in assiduous danger of life she was turned; and in custody for a year afflicted, when thence by flight she had snatched herself, in no place safe she could rest.

[166] These troubles excited Elizabeth, the impious Queen of the English; and the zeals of the traitors especially fostered, both that the faction of the heretics herself too a heretic she might sustain, and also that Mary, as the rival and heir of the kingdom, she might take out of the way. For the scepters of the English kingdom, A Nuncio with moneys not to the heretic Elizabeth, the incestuous daughter of Henry VIII the King, but to Mary herself Catholic were owed it was established: whose father James had had a mother the same Henry's sister elder by birth. These things therefore known, Pius to the Christian matter even in the most remote parts of the World both to be restored and to be propagated for his office always intent, to Mary the Queen and the Scottish Catholics afflicted, with what he could greatest props to be succored he esteemed. And so to imploring the divine help by his pious and others' prayers fleeing, the Catholic King Philip and other Christian Princes, that aids each their own to Scotland they should bring, gravely to exhort and inflame he resolved. Soon Vincent Laureo, whom for himself after the entered supreme Pontificate, as we showed, of the Church of Mondovì in the Subalpine region Bishop he had substituted, by Apostolic authority Nuncio into Scotland he decreed; whom with twenty thousand gold pieces (more without doubt, if it had borne the occasion, thereafter about to give out) and salutary counsels he instructed: with which things he should use to protecting the cause of religion, and Mary and the kingdom from dangers to take out. Nay also to her with his own hand written, the indices of his zeal and ardent piety, letters of this kind he gave.

[167] Whereas, dearest in Christ daughter, the tumults by thy traitors, and the same enemies of the sincere and Catholic religion, excited we have understood; we did not omit, but that from our heart, as was fitting, to God both by our and by other religious men's prayers we should flee. Willingly to thee altogether with our life and our own blood we would have brought aid: and by consolatory letters he sends with all ardor of mind indeed the Catholic Princes, that to thee for aid they would be willing, we have exhorted. But after we knew that thou from so huge a danger by divine help hadst been snatched, as from a grave sickness we felt ourselves relieved, so if not what we owed, at least what to the best of our power we could, to God thanks we gave. Now since on account of our now worsening age, and so many immense occupations, with which here for the whole Christian commonwealth we are detained, into Scotland to go we cannot, to be sent we have thought our Nuncio, Vincent Bishop of Mondovì, a man of rare and singular almost virtue, doctrine and prudence endowed, who to thee at each occasion may serve. To him therefore equally as to us faith in all things thou shalt have. What pertains to us, we shall strive certainly and effect, that no office of paternal affection and zeal from us thou canst desire.

[168] And so Vincent, all things, which to the office of his legation to be gone about necessary seemed, from Pius mandates having received; under the very heat of the burning Dog-star a long journey having entered, on account of the many and grave tumults of the Scots at Paris to stop he is compelled: nor could he into Scotland cross, as the Queen Mary for her greatest toward the Pontiff piety vehemently wished: who at Paris compelled to stop, for she did not doubt, but that on his most prudent counsels and authority relying, both the Catholic religion to protect and vindicate, and to the safety and welfare of the kingdom to provide at length she could. But if the Queen the counsels, which from the Pontiff, full of prudence and faith, the Nuncio suggesting, proceeded, had used; as afterward was found, the grave calamities, which afterward she underwent, to avoid without doubt she could have. Finally Vincent that the third now month at Paris he was detained, and a delay of this kind both to the estimation of the Supreme Pontiff and of his Legation little honorable to seem, and to the dignity of the Queen herself indecorous to be again and again expostulating; with frequent letters her exhorted, that what in her was, at the first time she should afford; and an egregious of a manly mind constancy and ardor of piety, which by many and various dangers for the Catholic faith undertaken with a memorable example to posterity lately she had shown, not only not extinguished, but augmented too to be she should demonstrate. Wherefore Mary at Edinburgh, which city is the chief of the whole kingdom, an assembly of all the orders held, where two things scarcely at length she could obtain. The one, that, as we said, of her son a little before born the baptism publicly by the Catholic rite, as was done, should be celebrated: the other indeed, though promised, namely that the Apostolic See's Nuncio with the honor which was fitting into Scotland should be admitted, the heretics to afford were unwilling. And so the affairs, whether to the Catholic religion or to the quiet of the kingdom pertaining, being wholly despaired of; thence returns into Italy. Vincent the office of his legation to go about not to be able perceiving, the Pontiff commanding, to govern his Church into Italy migrated back.

[169] Mary then when by the assiduous snares of her traitors she was assailed, Elizabeth feigning herself the condition of the afflicted woman to pity, dissemblingly consoled; Mary then captured by Elizabeth and her help promising, into England that she should cross by fraud allured. By these therefore and the heretics' guiles vexed, and by the perfidious promises of Elizabeth led, nay seduced, into England she migrated; that aid thence she would receive, and into Gaul to her own by whom benignly she was invited, by public faith she would cross trusting. But indeed not a guest from a guest the country, the perfidy and immanity of the heretics anew she is compelled to experience. For when Elizabeth Mary had in her power, whether because the nefarious heresies to embrace she refused, and preferred for the Catholic faith to suffer than impiously to reign, or

because the rights of the English kingdom to Mary (as we showed) to pertain it was established, her into chains she cast. Whom thence Pius by letters more often consoled, and with whatsoever aids he could her to free contended. Pius consoles her, But thereafter for almost eighteen years in close kept custody, when by no either squalor of the prison, or terror of torments, or finally blandishments from her most firm purpose of cultivating the Catholic religion and obedience to the most holy Apostolic See to be afforded she could be moved; by the impious decree of Elizabeth herself condemned of head, from the miseries of an earthly and perishable kingdom to the joys of a heavenly and eternal felicity, as is piously believed, happily flew away.

CHAPTER IV.

Things done for conserving the Catholic faith in England. Anathema against Queen Elizabeth.

CHAPTER IX

[170] There crept meanwhile, especially in the kingdom of England, the Calvinian and other manifold heretic plague, and flowed the evil daily more widely: The Catholics under the tyranny of Elizabeth pressed since the heretics Elizabeth, the not legitimate Queen of the English, with so great pertinacity to be fostered had undertaken, that, the deadly of the old tyrants against the Church of God raging immanity referring, the Catholics there and all the pious by various ways she vexed. For them with most iniquitous laws and penalties to oppress, and their goods either to proscribe or to plunder, both laymen and Priests, besides Bishops too, some with prison, some with exile, some with death to mulct, the most holy rites of the Church to interdict and to trample, and other full of impiety flagitia to perpetrate so had she resolved, that for four and forty years having been master of affairs, at length by divine judgment, this year MDCIII, while these things we were writing, her impious life with everlasting death exchanged. Pius the Pontiff bore these evils indeed most ill, and for his office and ardent toward the Christian commonwealth zeal, Pius strives to help as in Gaul, Belgium, and Scotland, so in England the flame of foully growing impiety either wholly to extinguish, or certainly in whatever way he could to restrain, and the oppressed Catholics from the highest dangers of mortal and immortal life to take out, he strove. To which matter both to be aided and to be accomplished, while the Christian Princes and Kings by letters he exhorted, meanwhile he himself the Catholic English, whether driven from their fatherland, whether in prisons enclosed, whether also with other inconveniences afflicted, with liberal and opportune, both of moneys aid, both of letters solace recreated: and on one part indeed to the Queen of the Scots herself, as now we said, to bring help, and her wholly to free; but on the other the lapsed in England religion to renew he thought: at the same time both that sink of all evils, or, as he himself called it, the slave of flagitia from the midst to remove; if less it could to soundness be recalled. Epist. 22 book 3, Epist. 10 book 4, Epist. 10 book 5

[171] For Elizabeth fostered by her zeals the dissensions of Christians; and these and others against her to rouse. and the impious endeavors of the heretics, in Gaul especially and Scotland and Belgium furthering, the German Protestants she aided. Wherefore Pius to some men in England commanded, that of the affairs both of the Catholics and of the heretics all knowing, all things they should write to him: and to the pristine rite of sacred things in that very kingdom to be restored, the Catholics they should incite. But since by no means it was permitted, that either an Apostolic Internuncio, or any other person of the most holy Roman See sustaining, could there abide; with all zeal to be done he procured, that Robert Rodulfo a noble Florentine, who through the appearance of merchandise there tarried in that kingdom, the minds of the inhabitants to Elizabeth's destruction a rebellion being made should move. He therefore in the Pontiff's name the matter diligently treated, not only with the Catholics, of whom there a good number was, but with many Protestants too, who into this for various causes equally conspired: some indeed for avenging private enmities, by which they dissented from those who to the inheritance of that kingdom to aspire endeavored; but others by a greater hope of innovating things were excited: which indeed a firm foundation of the best success of affairs to be seemed.

[171] aids being implored for that matter from the Spaniards and the Franks: While these things secretly are treated, behold a discord arisen between the Catholic King and Elizabeth, of Spanish ships and moneys at London detained, with which the King to the army in Belgium stipends to pay thought. And when these same, together with the merchandise of the Genoese, to the King demanding by no means were returned; the Duke of Alba effected, that the merchandise of the English at Antwerp and other besides places intercepted equally should be detained. Epist. 11 book 1, Epist. 35 book 4 Wherefore Pius, the offered occasion not to be contemned deeming, demanded of the King, that of the English against Elizabeth piously conspiring the zeals he should foster: since especially by no reason could he for guarding his Belgic dominions better consult, than that Queen being stormed, with whom ruling those regions with perpetual infestations would be afflicted. To these he subjoined the due of guarding religion office, which was the first to move him reason ought to be. With which counsel willingly acquiescing the King, that to Pius remained, that into that very thing both the King of the Gauls, and the Gauls themselves, who the Catholic English likewise favored, prudently he should incline. And this Pius forthwith to do resolved, demonstrating that altogether help must be brought both to the Queen of the Scots, to the Kings of the Gauls by affinity joined, and likewise to the Catholic Britons, who to the Kings themselves help had brought at that time, in which to overthrow the house of Valois with an armed band the Admiral had come. Now indeed when in England matters well constituted seemed, Rodulfo the business so far brought, that the greater part of the nobles against Elizabeth conspired: a chief of the conjuration being chosen for themselves, Thomas Duke of Norfolk, a Catholic man: to whom if the matter happily had turned out, the Queen of the Scots, nor unwilling, as they say, they had betrothed as wife. But to this conjuration both to be augmented and confirmed, and indeed to the now deplored disease the forces to be broken, the extreme remedies Pius to apply resolved.

[172] When therefore he saw Elizabeth herself the place and authority of the supreme head of the Church in all England to herself arrogantly and impiously to have usurped, then the sacrilegious Queen excommunicated the most holy sacrifice of the Mass and the other Catholic things to have abolished, the impious dogmas and institutes, to Calvin's prescript by her undertaken and kept, by the peoples too subject to herself to be kept to have commanded; the Catholic Bishops and Priests from their Churches to have cast out, the same besides both with prisons and keen punishments even to death to have vexed; and of this kind other many things, which to recount would be long, and which now too much to the world are known, examples of impiety to have given; and when of the same Elizabeth the mind so pertinaciously hardened he understood, that not only the pious prayers and admonitions of the Catholic Princes about soundness and conversion she contemned, and despoiled of her kingdom he declares, but not even of the Apostolic See's Internuncios into England to cross she permitted; a most grave edict he promulgated and a sentence, by which Elizabeth herself a heretic and a helper of heretics to be, and together with those, who to her in flagitia of this kind had adhered, the penalty of anathema to have incurred he declared; and besides of all right of the kingdom, if any to her there was, and of all title of dignity and honor her despoiled to be establishing, the nobles and all subject to her from the oath of fidelity to be afforded her he loosed, an anathema being proposed to those who to her thereafter in matters of this kind had obeyed. Constit. 101

[173] But indeed since this edict in Spain and Gaul to be published difficult seemed, the sentence at London being affixed by Felton, lest into those nations more should be irritated that worst woman, and this in England first to be divulged he thought; of it many copies to Rodulfo he sent, by him, as he did, there to be disseminated. And since whence those had been brought wholly was ignored; very many, because with their own hand they had transcribed them, capital punishment publicly endured. Among these John Felton, a Briton, a man both for nobility of birth illustrious enough, and for the confession of Catholic truth much more illustrious: who by the zeal of the true faith moved, when a copy of the same sentence to the doors of the building of the Bishop of London he had affixed, then apprehended, with a most bitter kind of death was affected; constantly asseverating, that he had done rightly, and to the same again to afford he was ready. For those of Pius V Supreme Pontiff letters deservedly to him venerable to seem, and that he recognized him to be Jesus Christ's Vicar on earth: which thing the minds of the natives so moved, that no more to Elizabeth must be obeyed publicly they vociferated. But if in those days of others someone a leader had shown himself, without doubt to affairs by a sudden motion to be subverted, and indeed to be better conformed, the minds of the peoples they would have set. Wherefore Elizabeth struck with fear, as one who the conjuration of the nobles had presensed, to arm herself and to prepare resolved; both that herself she might guard, and also that against the partakers of that conjuration bitterly she might rage.

[174] Meanwhile Thomas of Northumberland and Charles of Westmorland Counts Catholic, fearing lest in their dominions unexpectedly by the heretics they should be detected, the associates of the conjuration and external aids not awaited, To the Catholic Dukes money he supplies by twelve thousand men supported; when they had edicted, that they for this especially name took arms, that the Catholic religion they might repair, and the ancestral laws of piety in England restore; their warlike forces to storm Elizabeth conferred. Nevertheless they by want of moneys pressed, when the expenses of the affairs to be conducted long they could not sustain, into Scotland at length received, nothing profited: but of that, as they say, were the cause of the inconvenience, that Elizabeth led by suspicions, and lest the marriage of the Queen of the Scots should succeed greatly solicitous, the Duke of Norfolk and other besides many, in which number Rodulfo was, in chains ordered to be detained: but since the lurking counsels of the conspirators to learn she could not, the captives all except the Duke she dismissed. Meanwhile Pius a hundred and fifty thousand gold pieces to Rodulfo had procured, and a greater sum for that expedition was preparing daily: with which aid yet he by the prison hindered, the Catholic associates to subvene could not. But he afterward to them counted out a certain part of that money with which in fortified places and bulwarks to sustain themselves and to guard themselves they could: another thence part to the Duke of Norfolk, but another to other secret conjurators, that in their opinion they should persist, he expended. But when again and again it was clamored in the kingdom, Elizabeth certain ones into the palace through manifold dissimulation summoned, yet nothing daring to excite a tumult: who indeed refusing thither to assemble, openly professed, that they by no means would obey her, the Pontifical edict namely being in force: which yet she grave to herself to be repeatedly said, not so much on account of the matter itself by itself, as because it had been done by Pius, whose both admirable to the Pontificate assumption and life most upright she herself proclaimed.

[175] Moreover that on the best foundations that conjuration might rely; Rodulfo with mandates the conjurators sent to the Pontiff, to whom all things, what in them was, prepared to be he should report, that the business both of vindicating religion, and of restoring the Queen of the Scots to her own see undertaken, might be accomplished, and she to the Duke of Norfolk himself in matrimony might be placed; and to Pius he should suggest, that must be incited the King

Catholic, to bringing the aids which they demanded. But Pius, the series of affairs best perceived and the same approved; Rodulfo, through the cause of offering a pact concerning a league, to the Kings of Spain and of Lusitania with letters sent. At which time to Norfolk the captive Pius too wrote, that he should be of good cheer; and should know for certain, that he in no matter ever would be wanting to him. Rodulfo to the Catholic King delivering letters, to him related the counsel of Pius, exhorting him to undertaking so egregious a deed and giving forthwith the demanded aids. To which matter the Pontiff that he not only whatever he could would confer of help, but also, if there were need, that best of the Christian commonwealth he might deserve in person he would be present; and all the revenues of the Apostolic See, and likewise the sacred chalices, crosses and indeed his vestments for this would mortgage he promised. And since these were most true it was established, this enough to be seemed, if the Catholic King from Belgic Gaul into England armed cohorts should transport, the leader being Chiapino Vitelli, where Alba was hindered.

[176] But when the King himself this to be done had commanded, and meanwhile by the procuration of Pius, but Alba casting in delays two hundred thousand gold pieces for that matter in Belgium to be counted out had ordered; Alba interceding, that by various difficulties the business was obstructed (as by suspicions are often entangled the counsels of Princes) reported. For if that expedition, the King of the Gauls unaware, the Catholic should undertake; it would be that the Gauls indignant, their and English arms at the same time against the Belgians would turn; fearing namely, lest England into the power of the Spaniards should fall. But if also the Gauls then by intestine wars hindered, as soon as they could, the English expedition by themselves had undertaken; it must be suspected by the Catholic King, lest that same kingdom they should obtain. Nor indeed the Pontiff himself, what to both was enough, could promise all things safe. These therefore weights of affairs and all impediments, to be considered by the King, by letters Alba proposed. To whom while the King again commands, that by no matter he should be hindered, but that to aiding the associates in England his begun effort he should give, to him Rodulfo being sent with money for that matter; meanwhile by divine judgment it was permitted, and the Franks betraying the conspiracy, that of the series of the whole matter to Elizabeth it should be reported by some, the kingdom of Gaul politically more than piously consulting; and by the state's right (which Pius was wont to call diabolic right) and a vain suspicion being entangled, lest namely England being recovered, of the kingdom of the Gauls the Spaniards should be masters.

[177] Wherefore greater diligence being employed, the letters of the Duke of Norfolk Elizabeth intercepted, with twelve thousand gold pieces, which he himself into Scotland, that forces they might furnish, to the associates was sending. Forthwith the Duke more strictly she bound, and other besides many into chains she cast: in which number was he, who to the Duke himself was secretary: who being put to the question, where the arbitrary characters of the letters lay hid, indicated: from which the Duke convicted, with many others too with the last punishment was affected. But this how huge a grief it brought to the Pontiff, by words to be explained scarcely can be. The King then Catholic before Cardinal Alexandrino, into Spain, as will be said, to him Legate, weeping with him said; that no ever than this either more illustrious or holier stratagem had been composed: nor indeed greater ever had been seen of the conjurators either the concord or the constancy: since through so many days nothing ever by them rashly had been declared, and a great of the matter to be well conducted and opportune occasion offered itself. But indeed that supreme maker of the world, by whose nod all things are governed, whether the sins of mortals it meriting, or that from England the persecution being in force more meanwhile Martyrs of Christ, as thereafter was done, into heaven should fly; these otherwise pious endeavors vain to be permitted.

CHAPTER V.

The Catholic faith in Poland and Prussia stabilized. Elsewhere heresy weakened, and the Clergy reformed.

CHAPTER X

[178] But indeed nor with less danger, the heretic perfidy growing, about the same time in Poland the Christian matter labored. An Internuncio being sent into Poland For when at Piotrków, certain things against Ecclesiastical liberty publicly had been decreed, thence the sacred jurisdiction was violated: and besides the old rites of the Church, and the fixed ceremonies in most places changed everywhere lapsed. Which things known, Pius first Julius Rogerius, Apostolic Protonotary, a learned and prudent man, already by the former Pontiff destined, Apostolic Internuncio to Sigismund King of Poland decreed, with the best counsels and mandates instructed: but especially that King in his duty he should keep, and to him should announce, that whoever religion had contemned, those (which perpetually the matter itself had taught) by divine judgment grave in this life penalties had paid, besides the eternal, which after death await them, most atrocious punishments: and that from the change of religion the destructions of kingdoms are wont to follow. The Council of Trent, by the King himself now received, into use to be brought; the sacred jurisdiction safe and entire to be conserved; the temples, monasteries, and other sacred places, either by the heretics destroyed, or by the negligence of men collapsed to be renewed, and their roofs to be repaired; the laws of Christian discipline to their pristine state to be recalled; among the sacred Prelates controversies to be composed and settled he should procure. Epist. 4, 5, 22 book 2 But the King himself a patron and vindicator of the Catholics should show himself and profess; and his sisters, married to eminent men, through pious men in the duty of Catholic truth should be retained. Epist. 42 book 4 The Prince of Transylvania, the son of the same King's sister, from the morals and intercourse of the heretics, both attempting to seduce, and to all ecclesiastical there to be deleted discipline impiously exhorting, wholly should be separated.

[179] And since the Great Duke of the Muscovites was reported to be about to invade the Polish Kingdom; the Muscovite against the Turks he excites, this Pius, as far as it could be done, to be averted by himself esteeming, sent those who of his counsels should know, and should deal with him, that himself with the Christian Princes by a common league he should associate, and rather to war against the Turk his enemy to the utmost of his power to be conducted should prepare; nay also for that cause with the Pole peace should make: of which matter Pius was about to send an Orator to the Muscovite. There thought at that time that King, the Queen his wife, otherwise legitimate, the sister of Maximilian Caesar, for the cause of sterility to repudiate: which counsel besides others the heretics most commended and fostered: which if it had been done, a royal divorce he impedes, besides that with the sacred laws it was repugnant, as a foul mark on the King to brand, so by a pernicious both to Christians, and to other peoples too, but especially to eminent men, example would be all the good judged. Epist. 1 & 2 book 5 And so Pius by letters with the King so greatly contended, that that thought he should cast away: nay even he obtained, lest anyone in the King's name (which very many from the Pontiff were said to be about to ask) the sacred Communion under both species and the marriages of Priests thereafter should dare to demand. decrees favoring the heretics he abolishes. But indeed when in the Lublin diet it had formerly been decreed and constituted, that from Poland the Trinitarians and certain other heretics should be driven off, but the Confessionists as they call them and the Calvinists should be tolerated; of that matter Pius with the King himself and with the other Catholics most gravely expostulated, showing, that decree to Catholic truth most pestilent to be: nor indeed that he it in any way would permit: nay rather would effect, that by the King's command those heretics from all grades of dignities and public offices should be removed. Epist. 7 book 1 & 23 book 2 & 1, & 2 book 3 & 43 book 4 And so at once it was antiquated and abrogated. Which matter to that kingdom was very salutary: for if otherwise it had happened, their perverse and false dogmas the sectaries would have corroborated, and the heretic plague in a pitiable manner would have been augmented.

[180] After Rogerius Pius Vincent Porticus, of Lucca, an upright man, to another afterward sent he commands that he should act gratis whom afterward we knew Archbishop of Epidaurus, Pontifical Internuncio with the same King constituted: but by his effort the Pontiff there many and those illustrious things so conducted, that thence great praise of integrity, greatness of mind, and liberality he obtained. And first indeed, that from the minds of those nations all suspicion of avarice, of which the Priests were accused, wholly he might pluck up, to be done he resolved, that the sacred business all and the faculties, which as Apostolic Internuncio he gave, with no gain and no intervening either money or fee, but gratuitously he should conduct and administer. Which matter there was a great both to religion to be furthered help, and also increment. But now when the King openly perceived, with how ardent and sincere a zeal Pius was intent on the royal safety and that kingdom's amplitude both to be guarded and amplified; he wished, that the Internuncio should be present at the royal business: for he esteemed by this especially reason it would be, that by divine help all things to him happily should turn out. Wherefore for that very matter's cause only a courier being sent, asking this of him, letters he gave to the Pontiff: who soon to the Internuncio with his own hand wrote to this sense. And to the King asking let him be present everywhere. We have rejoiced vehemently, and thence to God thanks we gave, when we understood, that by thee abundantly satisfaction is made to that Royal majesty; and the same of thy virtue to be judged by it, which already before we too judged. But of us the King himself asks, that as often as of thy effort there shall be need to him, whether in procuring human affairs, or in other business for that kingdom's tranquillity and peace to be accomplished, thy either counsel or office to him to be desired thou suffer not. And since this kind of petition from a sincere and best purpose seems to proceed; to so illustrious a desire to be wanting we were unwilling. Wherefore we command thee and enjoin, that as often as thou shalt be asked, with that diligence and faith to him thou serve, with which to us ourselves thou wouldst serve. At Rome on the XIII Kalends of February MDLXIX.

[181] By these counsels therefore thence it came to pass, not only that a greater between Pius and that King conjunction of minds intervened and benevolence, whence many things honorable to the Pontiff, useful to the kingdom followed. but also that the Internuncio the Pontifical business preferring to the royal, the graver matters thereafter to be accomplished cared. Among these that the heretics being removed, the public offices to the Catholics should be committed: that Stanislaus Hosius, Bishop of Warmia and Cardinal, a man of singular doctrine and equal holiness of life endowed, the King more honorifically should treat, him in the place next to himself into the Senate being admitted; whereas before among the Bishops, as Bishop of Warmia, seventh he sat. To the Internuncio besides the Pontifical it was conceded, that at the right of the King everywhere he should be, as thereafter with him perpetually he was. From this same confidence soon arose and was constituted between Lithuania and Poland the wished concord, which for the space of sixty years now more often agitated could not be stabilized. Hence moreover it came, that the sacred revenues, which to the patrimony of saint Peter by old right pertain, more easily there and more safely could be exacted: which since from the year after Christ born MXXXVIII, on account of the given to the Poles by Pontifical concession King Casimir,

who had been a Cistercian monk, to the Apostolic See, which held at that time Benedict IX, man by man with grateful minds had begun to be paid, thereafter everywhere to be paid had ceased: The sacred Tribute there to be exacted he dissembles: because the Roman Pontiffs for the time to the Kings of the Poles, for keeping those nations in their duty and faith, to remit sometimes had been wont, especially from the year of salvation MDXXX. But indeed when Sigismund the King, all the good assenting, those to Pius to be paid had resolved, forthwith the Pontiff of exacting the same thither sent the faculty. Although lest the matter to its issue should be brought, various intervening zeals of men, soon it was hindered: some suggesting to Pius, that must be guarded against, lest this an appearance of avarice among those nations should display, and so this of damage Pius preferred to dissemble, than either any though unjust mark of cupidity to undergo, or to little-minded men an occasion of complaining to give: although he was not ignorant, that in the office rightly to be afforded and one's right to be retained, either by the complaints of the little-minded or the calumnies of the iniquitous to be hindered anyone it behooves not: but sometimes of one's right somewhat to yield, a great gain to be.

[182] But among these things of the Roman Pontiff in Prussia certain rights to be retained and guarded Pius thought: but his right in Prussia he guards: for Prussia was once a dominion of the Apostolic See, in which the Pontifical Treasurer resided: but that dominion Albert Marquis of Brandenburg, the title of Duke being taken when formerly he had occupied, and to him a son succeeding a heretic even for this to hold it by right could not; to him who the title and that very dominion then usurped, whatever the Apostolic See in Prussia had of right, in the Lublin Diet publicly to be announced, and the announcement itself in public registers to be consigned, as sedulously was done, Pius commanded. Besides indeed, Pius persuading, the King himself with Maximilian Caesar to the Christian matter from the Turks' fury to be vindicated by a clandestine league to join, he persuades a league with Caesar against the Turks, and his sister to be married into the Austrian family to place, and of these and other matters into a colloquy of Caesar himself to come resolved. Which yet lest they should be done, alien, as for the most part happens, interposed counsels hindered. To these to the Society of Jesus, which benignly thereafter and liberally there was received, three colleges, the colleges of the Society of Jesus to be founded Pius exhorting, the King built: and them both with ample revenues, and with the precious gift of his best-furnished library adorned. Lastly the King, that his right toward God faith and toward the Pontiff Pius observance he might attest, all heretic pravity daily more execrating, when by tablets of two witnesses confirmed with faith and fortified with the royal sign, that he in all his life the Catholic religion as before would profess, nor any of the same religion change ever in his kingdom would permit to Pius he had pledged, and them sealed to him the tablets had sent; this very thing more even to confirm, on the day sacred to the Lord's Supper, with the great gladness of the pious people publicly by the Catholic rite he communicated.

CHAPTER XII.

[183] Meanwhile almost everywhere among the nations by the effort of the Pontiff the cult of the holy religion was renewed egregiously. But especially at Danzig, which is a most celebrated city of Prussia, and for the greatest commerce of merchandise among all the European cities signal. a monastery to the Dominicans to be restored at Danzig, There was in that city the light of Catholic truth so extinguished, that all the ecclesiastical Order now being removed, no sacrifice of the holy Mass was done, no sacred sermons by the Catholics ever were held: all things finally, with the Lutheran plague and other worst errors of depraved religion filled, in a pitiable manner perished. But by this Pontiff's help, to the Dominican family's Brothers a temple and their monastery there was restored: which buildings both in amplitude and in workmanship illustrious even still stood, to the lodging and garrisons of soldiers exposed. Which restitution being made, very many egregious preachers and other besides Priests of that Order thither were sent: who at the sacred rites to be done, and with so great a concourse and frequency of those peoples, as scarcely can be explained, at the sermons to be held, by Pontifical both of prayers and of moneys aids assisted, those nations to the Catholic faith brought back. Thereupon through all those regions, with great fruit. for the convenience of those whom to soundness to be brought back the hope was, a huge number of Priests he decreed, with the power, them, provided to sounder counsels they should return, from the crime of heresy to absolve: from which of eternal salvation admirable fruits followed. And therefore the matter was continued, the other for the time ministers thither being sent, for those peoples', by the help of the divine light daily recovering their senses, salvation to be procured: of which indeed singular benefit not unmindful those nations, even to this day with thanksgiving the praises of Pius to celebrate do not cease.

[184] Now indeed when nothing to be either to God more hateful or to the human race more pestilent than heretic pravity, intent on the heresies everywhere to be repressed, Pius best perceived; to this contagion everywhere on earth by the roots to be plucked up, both in all his life, and especially in the Pontificate, both by most prudent counsels, and by pious exhortations, and by most humane monitions, and by warlike aids, arms and penalties being employed, no labors sparing or expenses, nothing not to be done by himself perpetually he thought. This teach those things, which in Italy, in Gaul, in Belgium, in Spain, in Scotland, in England, in Poland, and in Prussia by him against the heretics done to have been hitherto we have commemorated. To these moreover that too is added, that he himself kindled with the same ardor of religion, both of the Italian and of the foreign nations too the Prefects he admonished sometimes, that with the highest zeal they should be wakeful, that if anyone among them infected with the heretic blemish had been detected, he forthwith into the power of the sacred Inquisitors should be handed. Epist 14 book 5 And therefore Catholic and religious men everywhere he sent again and again to scent out, what not only the heretics, but the Catholic Princes too of religion felt, or against ecclesiastical rights permitted, or even committed, and by what reason they lived each with his own family. But since of single things in this place to write, as long it would be, so by no means necessary, one or another example to have brought perhaps would be enough.

[185] When therefore in certain more remote places of the Neapolitan kingdom, The Waldensians converted by Roderich of the Society of Jesus, some long since the condemned of the Waldensians, by another name the Poor of Lyons, heresy following to survive he understood; thither Christopher Roderich, a Priest of the Society of Jesus, with ample power he sent: who them by holiness of life and solid doctrine, with which protections he was well instructed, wisely should convict; and the erring sheep to the flock of the Catholic Church, as he did, by divine help should recall. A certain deserter of the Catholic faith, named Francis Celaria, a heretic preacher, and Celaria a heretic by Casanova a Dominican he procures to be captured, from Morbegno, which is a town of the Valtellina valley, to Mantua, where with great danger of that city the venom of his perfidy he poured out, on fixed days secretly to set out was wont: to him Pius Peter Angelo Casanova, a Dominican cenobite, into the Valtellina and Chiavenna valleys of Cisalpine Gaul sent, and a reason prescribed, by which he to capturing the heretic should use. Which indeed to him very conveniently fell: for him, from a certain assembly of the heretics held at Chur toward Morbegno returning, and about to cross by the mouth of the Adda, Casanova himself there awaiting, by the help of eight men supported, with his own hands seized into a boat prepared for it thrust: and him bound thence to Piacenza, as to him had been commanded, to Ottavio Farnese the Duke brought: who for his toward the Apostolic See faith and piety him to Rome to be carried procured. The condemned heretic the penalty it behooved to follow, that with fire alive he should be burned: whom at Rome being burned, yet the partakers of the crime, who not only at Mantua, but elsewhere too were, being first declared. To which disease, and likewise to the rest, which thence proceeded, evils by an opportune subsequently remedy it was provided. He indeed at length the pravity of his error recognizing, before to fire he was handed, whether by a serene, or a serious penitence to be led he seemed: and so dead by the flames he was consumed.

[186] But indeed by the Pontiff's command, to capture the heretic preacher, the ministers of the Pontiff thither to have penetrated, so great into the minds of the Rhaetians a terror struck, that their heralds through the towns of the Catholics thereafter to wander dared not. Forthwith the Rhaetians to various eminent men of their, which violated to be they complained, jurisdiction to be vindicated legations decreed. But the Duke of Albuquerque, Gabriel de la Cueva, Prefect of the Milanese dominion, to whom especially they had fled, as he was a man very pious and Catholic, this which was the matter to them answered: that the Pontiff an absolute and legitimate into all the parts of the world power had, as often as he himself should wish heretics either to be captured, or with merited to be affected punishments. Wherefore when answers adverse to their vows they had brought back, rewards publicly they proposed to those, who Casanova and his favorers either should have killed, or them alive or dead into their power should have handed. But indeed Pius, but that to other of this kind pests of men, both to that same and to another also to be removed he should send, by no means for this to himself must he desist resolved: who into chains being cast, to Rome to him from many eminent men, without almost any contention, to be brought were procured.

[187] For when Peter Carnesecca, a Protonotary, a citizen of Florence, so also from the Duke of Florence sent Carnesecca is burned, a heretic often relapsed, in the first year of his Pontificate, bound to him to Rome to be brought by one signification of letters from Cosmo Medici Duke of Florence he had demanded, this he at once, with what he always was in God faith, and in the Apostolic See (especially in the Pontiff Pius) obedience and piety, with the highest zeal to be afforded cared: and added that if for a cause of this kind, which from him God might avert the omen, the Prince his son to him to be handed Pius had wished, him by him in chains to him would be sent. But the heretic by the sacred Inquisition magistracy at Rome condemned, and to the secular power handed, the punishment of fire endured: when for twenty-seven years with that blemish infected, with the sacred revenues secretly the heretics impiously he had sustained; and among other indices of pravity, very many to the heresiarch Calvin his epistles with answers had been detected. Guido besides Zanetto of Fano, with the same heretic perfidy marked, and at Padua lurking to be apprehended, and to the Apostolic See's judgment Pius to be brought commanded: and Zanetto lurking at Padua is captured. although the Venetian Senators that judgment to themselves to pertain professing, in that matter to be obtained various concerning jurisdiction contentions intervened. But Pius of all causes of this kind everywhere among the nations the supreme and legitimate judge himself acknowledging, what he wished obtained, edicting, that these from the sacred laws not to the profane, except what to inflicting penalties after the brought by Ecclesiastical judges sentence, to look, but to the sacred power wholly to pertain.

[188] Moreover nothing to Pius more welcome could happen, than if he should see from heresy some recover their senses, Pius rejoices in the conversion of chief men. and to the unity and obedience of the Church to return: and this pleasure of mind although of all he felt,

it singular yet from chief men recovering their senses he took. For he understood, what B. Augustine says, that illustrious men since by many they are known, are to many an authority unto salvation, and to many go before about to follow. Wherefore when at some time he had known, certain Polish noble men to the Catholic faith to have returned; suffused with exceptional joy, most clement letters to them being given, that highest benefit which from God they had received congratulating, most lovingly them to perseverance he exhorted: who afterward in the undertaken cult of piety persisting, were a great to the other those nations, to the way of eternal salvation piously to be held, help. Book 8, Confessions chap. 4

CHAPTER XIII

[189] Keen moreover zeal and diligence Pius employed both to the discipline of the Venetian Priests to be ordered, and in all that dominion the Christian morals and institutes whether to be restored or also to be conserved. For he himself loved that Commonwealth, and to all its either decrees or laws to be guarded, as far as equity bore; ready always himself he showed. When therefore John Anthony Fachinetti, who afterward called Innocent IX a two-month Pontificate most holily conducted, a man with the highest experience of affairs, exceptional prudence of law and integrity adorned, with that Senate Apostolic Internuncio through all the time of his Pontificate he had decreed, by his effort very many there, and those illustrious, and useful to be accomplished businesses he procured. But that the discipline of the Priests he might order, to the Venetians to be considered he proposed; that the heretics, in the Venetian dominion he commands the morals of the Priests to be amended. as on no certain foundation of their pravity they rely, so by the depraved morals of certain Clergy to be objected, their false and iniquitous sect to pretext are wont to the minds of the unskilled multitude blinded. And since to a great ornament of Italy was that Commonwealth, in which so long the Christian religion had flourished, since to the divine laws and the holy Roman Church before the Venetians had complied; with the highest zeal too must be cared, that in the duty of piety all should contain themselves: and that of the peoples, but especially of the Priests the morals and discipline rightly should be. For neither to any Commonwealth was it enough, if the one Prince himself good had been, the peoples subject to him meanwhile a license of sinning being given: from which at length of the Commonwealth destruction would flow and ruin: of which thing both the other provinces very many, and especially the rest of the nations of Gaul not without their great evil admonished. He established moreover, as formerly by the sacred laws it had been provided, lest with women the Priests should dwell, and lest so many to the sacred orders should be initiated: and in that matter a greater both of morals and of erudition account thereafter should be had. For it was better, in the ordination especially of Priests, few good, than many bad ministers to have: because if the blind leads the blind, as Christ says, both fall into the pit. Matt. 15

[190] He edicted besides, that against the execrable against God and the Saints maledictions, publicly constituted men, should animadvert against those, and other many things usefully he persuades. who against the most holy of the Roman Pontiff, and of the Church either authority or dignity should speak ill: for detractions of this kind certain arguments and beginnings once had been of religion to be changed, and of the state of things to be overturned. These and of this kind other many things Pius to the Venetians enjoined, which were a great both to sacred and to profane matters piously to be composed or constituted help: for by these monitions they moved, to the Pontiff's counsels to be aided and his orders to be done, themselves turned. And so the sacred Prelates each to their own places set out: the Abbots, and the ministers of the Churches, and other besides of the sacred order to keep the Ecclesiastical discipline, and to compose their morals all being ordered, some indeed obeyed; but others, who were contumacious and to the rest afforded offense, through all that dominion, either to sounder counsels were recalled or expelled or to undergo the other proposed penalties were compelled.

CHAPTER VI.

The rights of the Church of Milan protected: the Order of the Humiliati deleted. To the Duke of Florence honors augmented.

Chapter XIV.

[191] There blazed also in those days between Charles Cardinal Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan, a man of exceptional praise of holiness most illustrious, and the royal Magistrates of that same city, a grave especially and manifold concerning the sacred jurisdiction controversy. For S. Charles Borromeo, the rights of the Church of Milan. In it besides the rest it happened, that the chief lictor of the Ecclesiastical court, with arms by the Prince's edict prohibited apprehended, by the command of the same Magistrates into prison was thrust, and then publicly with a rope most bitterly tortured into exile to go was ordered. Wherefore when all the accomplices of this deed and the chief authors from the Church's communion the Archbishop by his power had separated, and therefore the President of the Senate of Milan and two chief Senators to plead before himself the cause to Rome Pius had summoned, and a judgment against them being constituted the matter himself to judge and compose had resolved, Philip the Catholic King's procurators in the City, the King himself the orders of the Pontiff all to do upon themselves taking, the business forestalled. Epist. 16 & 17 book 1, Epist. 38, 39, book 3 And so Pius through John Baptist Castagna, Archbishop of Rossano, his ordinary in the royal court then Internuncio, a man of all virtue most outstanding, who afterward to the supreme Pontificate raised, with Philip the King strongly he guards, Urban the Seventh was called, and likewise through Vincent Justiniani, Prelate of the whole Dominican order, and finally through Julius Acquaviva, son of the Duke of Atri, Referendary of both Signatures, men of exceptional prudence, doctrine, and integrity endowed (whom both he himself afterward with the dignity of the sacred Purple adorned) to the King for these and other businesses of this kind by him sent, with him dealt, that its authority to retain and exercise could the Church of Milan. For otherwise a danger was impending, lest thence secretly an access should be opened to heresies: which thereafter to meet, to the same King even desiring it would not so easily be. Of the best indeed of the pious King's will he was nothing in doubt, but lest anything besides or against it should commit his ministers, he now by the matter itself taught feared. Moreover that he the power, which from God supreme he had received, into this would interpose, and in causes of this kind for the Ecclesiastical liberty to be retained life and blood, if there were need, willingly would pour out.

[192] At length after various contentions certain Royal ministers, lest those who had violated them should be held unpunished. to whom that cause more pertained, at Milan, by Pius's concession, by the Archbishop by a fixed ceremony into the Church's favor received, the merited penances publicly underwent, a spectacle before the doors of the greatest building being constituted. But the arms before to the Archiepiscopal ministers now snatched they restored: and by a solemn oath themselves bound, that against the Church thenceforth nothing ever such they would commit. And yet not much after whoever in that fault had been, almost all by various kinds of immature death died: an example being left to posterity, lest anything they should dare against the Church rashly to contrive; but it rather, as pious men it becomes, they should guard and protect. For the sacred dignity or Ecclesiastical rights to violate or diminish, is a crime, as to the Christian commonwealth pernicious, so to God the most just vindicator of His Church so odious and hateful, that whoever in that kind had offended, against them gravely the divine wrath always blazed. Nay even if from ancient memory we recall examples, thence the greatest part of the inconveniences brought upon the human race we shall find. Hence heresies, hence civil dissensions, public disasters, hence finally of cities, kingdoms and Kings destructions by divine judgment to follow always to have been wont, the sacred and profane history testifies. But these, and those things which presently of the Order of the Humiliati I shall subjoin, I shall comprehend more briefly, since the same both more amply and better explained to read it is in the book of the same Cardinal's life, which the egregious man Charles of Bascapè, formerly of this our Congregation of the Clerics regular of S. Paul Provost General, now Bishop of Novara, accurately wrote.

Chapter XV.

[193] The Humiliati, as they called them, Order thence Pius to be extinguished resolved. Intent on the Humiliati to be reformed S. Charles For they when now about five hundred years ago with egregious praise of piety in Italy to flourish had begun, then gradually the discipline of a more perfect life being neglected (as to worse things prone are the geniuses of men, and unless with the best zeals cultivated perpetually be supported, even illustrious institutes easily slip down) from the duty of the undertaken religion declined daily. To which evil Pius for his pastoral care with whatever he could remedies must be met resolving, to Charles the Cardinal himself, into whose patronage now had been handed that Order, of it to be corrected, and to the pristine discipline to be recalled, mandates he had given. But he when the orders of the Pontiff to execute he strove, great with certain of the same Order's Provosts, from a restoration of this kind secretly abhorring, to himself he kindled envy: which so far grew, and to so great a point of their temerity drove their minds, that their own a certain deserter, Jerome Donato, by surname Farina, that the Cardinal in any way they could from the midst should remove, to induce they did not doubt. and therefore by them sought for death, He therefore when the nefarious crime by various arts very often to commit in vain he had attempted; at length on a certain day, which day was on the VII Kalends of November, in the year MDLXIX, in the evening secretly into the Archiepiscopal palace having entered, the Cardinal in the chapel with his family on the sacred according to custom prayers intent, from the open door of the place, with the stroke of a smaller cannon, with a ball and besides some square little bits of lead furnished, to pierce attempted. The noise being overheard, soon, lest from their begun the praying should desist, with a present mind ordered the Cardinal. Both that divinely to have been done thou wouldst say, that both in that moment of time, as if to confirm more the very minds of those praying, with a pious concert were sung those words of the Lord: Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it fear; when the gunshot stroke he had escaped unharmed, and the stroke reaching the Cardinal's back him, from the nefarious striker four or five cubits distant, in nothing offended. John 14 For the leaden ball, when not even the outermost of his garment linen (a surplice or rochet they call it) it had pierced through, but in it a foul vestige had left, and on the spine of the back lightly bruised with a swelling had impressed a mark, into the cloth strewn on the ground fell. But the little bits, he too by no means injured, various places sought: some indeed by a vain stroke the garments being pierced through and scorched, in them scattered were found: but others into the wall and the wood, which were against the door, Charles being in the middle, knocked out fell. And so his servant God protecting, the danger admirably escaped the holy Prelate.

[194] These things heard Pius, as one who Charles himself, a man as in the dignity of honor, so in the praises of all virtues most illustrious, Pius gives thanks to God, uniquely loved and embraced; and who to suffer in no way could, that the most holy either of the Cardinals or of the Bishops authority should be violated, and the less life should be sought, vehemently grieved: and of that matter in the assembly of the Cardinals making speech the case deplored, and them exhorted, that of so great a man through a miracle saved, to God thanks they should give. Soon in his name to the Catholic King letters to be given, and to him the business most gravely

he ordered it to be commended, that he might prescribe to the administrators of the Milanese province the things that were needful, according to the gravity of the matter. But indeed the most excellent King, having himself also vehemently execrated so great a crime, commanded that the sacrilegious parricides be most diligently sought out, and visited with deserved punishments. and having congratulated Charles, But to the letters of Charles, by which he had taken care that the matter itself, accurately described, be reported to Pius through Nicholas Ormanetus, the Pontiff replied with his own hand; that this had always been from the very beginning of the world a custom with the wicked, to hate the just, and to persecute them: but while they tried to harm them, they had rather profited them, and harmed themselves. That he greatly grieved at the blindness of certain men, who labored against their own selves: that he had given thanks to God, because He had preserved such a man for him, and had broken the attempt of the demon: that he should use not only trust in God, otherwise the greatest protection, but also diligence in guarding himself: that the divine majesty would avenge that crime, as it is wont, in time. That he should pray God by himself, and through others, that He might give light to the blind.

[195] Moreover Pius, thinking that so nefarious a crime ought by no means to be dissembled, first of all ordered Charles to disclose those suspected by him: who answered, the same man vainly deprecating it, that he knew many were offended at him for the sake of correction, but that he had no legitimate suspicion: and that he was unwilling, as far as in him lay (which also he testified by a public writing), either that anything at all be done in that matter against anyone, or that any of his men be in any way a participant in that inquisition or judgment: nay, more often Charles as a suppliant asked the Pontiff, that he would pardon the authors of the crime, and remit the deed to God. But indeed the Pontiff, when he had promulgated an edict against those who were accessory to the crime, and it could not yet be discovered; at the beginning of the year 1570 he sent Antonio Scarampa, Bishop of Lodi, he commits the inquisition of the crime to the Bishop of Lodi: who should diligently inquire concerning the misdeed, to Milan with another more severe edict. By which edict, there promulgated through the Bishop, all whosoever did not disclose what they knew of that deed were subjected to anathema; and to those who disclosed, impunity was promised, even if they had consented to the crime. But to this edict, that Charles himself and the other Cardinals might in future be more on their guard, he added a general constitution, by which he established that the penalty of an old decree, sanctioned by Boniface VIII against the assailants of Cardinals, should bind also those conscious of the crime, unless they disclosed it.

[196] Now at length, the conspiracy being laid open, Pius, understanding that the author of the outrage had been received into the town of Chivasso, where among the garrison soldiers he had caused himself to be enrolled unknown, and the guilty punished with death, forthwith admonished by letters Emanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, in whose dominion that garrison is, that he should not refuse to give him over straightway into the power of the Ecclesiastical Judges. Who, as a most excellent Prince and most zealous for the Catholic religion, and inclined toward Charles himself with singular respect, took care that the guilty man be seized, and under close custody be led to Milan into the Archiepiscopal prisons. Those Provosts also, cast into the same prisons and put to the question, and having confessed the crime, were condemned to death by the judgment of the Senate, together with the sacrilegious assailant himself. Wherefore both in detestation of this savage crime, and also on account of other corruptions of that society, in the same year 1570 Pius extinguished the whole Order of the Humiliati, he extinguishes the order reduced to a few. and adjudged their Provostships, priesthoods, and revenues, partly to the Cardinals, partly also to religious places, and to the societies of the pious. Const. 119, 120 But the monks, who were not more than one hundred and seventy-four, he ordered to be sustained from the very distributed properties, with monastic fare as long as they should live, and to be contained in religious discipline by the care of the Bishops. This at last was the end of the Order of monks once most excellent, and such an example did Pius give of avenging neglected discipline, that the rest might learn to be more diligently on their guard.

CHAPTER XVI

[197] But just as Pius did not fear to repress Princely men, if they committed anything against the sacred power and ecclesiastical rights, so when he had learned that they favored the Apostolic See, and protected the dignity of the Church and the Catholic faith with such aids as they owed and could, he was wont to augment Cosimo Duke of Florence he was wont to augment them with the amplest gifts and honors. For since, to subdue the enemies of the Catholic name in France, as we have said, Cosimo de' Medici, Duke of Florence, had brought very much help, and he perceived him to be perpetually intent both upon the salvation of the Christian Republic to be guarded and upon obedience to the Apostolic See; he resolved to advance himself and all his successors to a higher grade of honor, and to distinguish him by the title of Grand Duke of Etruria, a province for the greatest part of it subject to him, by his power: both that he might follow the pious beneficence and merits of a most liberal Prince and a most illustrious house toward the Church of God with the honorable office of a grateful mind; and also that he might provoke the other Catholics and princely men, by an illustrious kind of remuneration, to confer such subsidies or benefits upon the Christian Republic according to the time: Cosimo procuring no such thing in the times of Pius, nor thinking that he would obtain it from him; but the whole of it was managed only by the judgment of the Pontiff himself.

[198] For indeed, that same French war being kindled and now almost finished, the King of France asked the Count of Santa Fiora, that he would keep the auxiliary forces of the Pontiff and of Cosimo, over which he presided, in France beyond the time fixed for him for three other months. subsidies sent and continued into France, The Count sent his minister of letters concerning this matter to Pius: who answered that it was indeed pleasing to him that his soldiers should remain there for the sake of that help; but that concerning the cohorts of Cosimo he could decree nothing beyond the established time, nor did it seem that more of burden should be imposed on him: for Cosimo had abundantly enough done his office, especially since he, at his own persuasion, had lent more than a hundred thousand gold coins to the King of France for the subsidy of that same war. Soon Pius commanded the Count's messenger that he should return into France with this explanation of the counsel, and passing by Florence should inform the Duke point by point of all matters. most well deserving of religion; But the Duke, having received that message; There was no reason, said he, why Pius should fear this from me: for not only will I take care that my auxiliaries with the Pontifical forces remain in France for the Catholic religion as long as he himself shall wish; but also, at his command, I promise to devote my service to him in that war, and whatever of subsidies can be gathered from my dominions, I promise to supply promptly, and most willingly offer it. When the messenger had signified this to Pius by letters, he himself turned his eyes to the image of Christ hanging from the cross, and with joined hands as a suppliant prayed God, that He would not permit him to meet his sad day sadly: as would have happened, unless through the occasion it had been permitted him to give to Cosimo, most well deserving of the holy Church of God, a token of a grateful mind.

[199] Then when it came into his mind, that in the times of the former Pontiff it had been considered concerning augmenting the title of Cosimo, about to augment him with a greater title, when he had more diligently learned concerning that matter, he resolved to create him Grand Duke, the other Princes not being admonished; and with his own hands he designed for him a royal diadem, on which he willed these words dictated by himself to be inscribed. Constit. 88 Epist. 46 lib. 4 Pius V Supreme Pontiff bestowed it on account of his exceptional love, and zeal for the Catholic religion, and especial study of justice. And when he had taken care that a diploma be written concerning this matter, he sent it through Michael Bonelli, brother of Cardinal Alexandrinus, to Cosimo: whose virtues in that diploma, and those merits by which he was most conspicuous, the diploma being sent he sets forth of the Etruscan people he ordered to be set forth: but especially, that he had preserved his province free from the heretical contagion: that the Apostolic See had received most grateful obedience for the most part, and also advantages, by aids supplied by the Etruscans, formerly and recently; and that several Roman Pontiffs, especially Innocent and Clement, each of that name the fourth, Gregory X, Benedict XI, Martin V and Leo X had brilliantly testified to this; so that both that same province, and its Rectors and Magistrates, on account of their peculiar devotion and respect toward the Roman Church, with an inclined and paternal affection ought rightly to be honored and adorned with various gifts and honors.

[200] That Cosimo himself had from the time when he began to rule never anywhere omitted a greater splendor day by day of his exceptional virtue, and a more fervent worship of the Catholic religion, and a preeminent study in administering justice; and the exceptional praises of Cosimo himself that he had to Charles the Most Christian King of France, against his rebels and heretics, with money, infantry and cavalry, Pius himself exhorting, alacriously brought aid; that for his exceptional piety toward God in former years he had instituted the Militia of S. Stephen, for the exaltation and propagation of the right faith; had enriched and amplified it with goods; that the Principate admirably conferred upon him he ruled and moderated more admirably; and that he most diligently contained and conserved it with singular prudence, in the pleasantness of peace and justice, from the beginning of his age; that, most powerful by land and sea, he stood as a most sharp enemy and severe avenger of crimes against pirates, criminals, assassins, disturbers of public quiet and leisure, and the rebels and adversaries of the Apostolic See; that he enjoyed, God blessing, a numerous and frequent multitude of peoples subject to him, with copious and large revenues; that a strong number of foot and horse could always be at hand for him for all uses; that he had very many most flourishing cities, some distinguished both by the dignity of Cathedrals and of Metropolitan churches, and adorned with the celebrity of general gymnasia and the studies of the liberal disciplines, most fortified ports, most strong citadels, safest places, a fleet of triremes prepared and equipped, both for the guard of his own Tyrrhenian sea and of the maritime coast of the Roman See; that he flourished, supported by abundance of all things, the amplitude of his dominion, the fertility of places, continual felicity of life, and finally by the strength of a very famous and opulent people; that, referring all these very things and other goods to the immense benignity of God omnipotent, he professed that they would always be most ready for the divine honor and glory; that by absolute power, by reason of free and right Dominion of Florence, he was subject to no one, so that according to the distinction of Pelagius the Roman Pontiff he could and ought to be reckoned and numbered among the other great Dukes and Princes; that he himself and his firstborn son Francesco were joined by very close bonds of affinity and connection with Maximilian the Emperor-designate, and the greatest Kings of the Christian name; and that they had their origin from the most noble Medici stock, decorated with many honors and titles, and from which so many illustrious men and three Roman Pontiffs had come forth.

[201] For these therefore and other such most just causes, which are more amply related in the diploma itself, he resolved that this honor and title should be conferred upon Cosimo himself and upon that renowned family, and gives him the title of Grand Duke, from the fullness of his supreme Apostolic power: and that following the examples of his predecessor Roman Pontiffs, especially of Alexander III, who made Alfonso, from Duke of Lusitania, King, and likewise of Innocent III, who made Colaionne King of the Bulgarians and Blachi, who

were subject to the Kings of Pannonia, King; and granted to the Duke of Bohemia, that in his letters he might name himself King; and, to omit very many others, of Paul IV, who in our times raised the island of Ireland into the title and dignity of a kingdom. Cosimo therefore, called to Rome to receive the insignia of the diadem, Pius received most honorably in the Royal hall. Soon in the Pontifical chapel amid the solemnities of the sacred rites, on the Lord's Day Lætare, the crown and scepter and a blessed rose, which fell on the third of the Nones of March, in the year 1570, with his own hands he placed upon his head a crown of exceptional price, and gave the scepter into his hands: Cosimo first binding himself by oath, according to custom, to render faith and obedience to Pius himself, and thereafter to the other Roman Pontiffs his successors and to the Church: and amid these sacred rites he presented him with a Rose, consecrated by himself that day according to custom.

[202] Nor indeed did Pius suffer that he should admonish the Emperor or the King of Spain either concerning the journey undertaken to Rome, or concerning the diadem to be received, the Imperial Orator vainly protesting, For he foresaw that some other Princely men, as far as in them lay, would try to impede that matter: which matter nevertheless wholly pertained to the Apostolic See, desiring to remunerate in that manner those well deserving of itself. But before Pius entered the chapel, the Emperor's Orator declared as a suppliant that it was by no means lawful for him to crown Cosimo thus; because he was not the beneficiary of the Pontiff, but of the Emperor, whose were such parts. To whom Pius soon: By what right, said he, are the Emperors themselves either Emperors or called Emperors, except by the authority of the Apostolic See? Then having summoned the Procurator of the Fisc, he admonished him to provide for the interests of the See itself. Who, doing the commands, answered the Imperial Orator; that the Pontiff by no means accepted a declaration of that kind, but repudiated it as adverse to the laws. But indeed Maximilian, repeatedly instigated by his men, and the Emperor himself: who said that the city of Florence pertained to the Empire, took care that certain writings be given to Pius, by which he tried to confirm his rights; that that title might be wholly abolished: for otherwise he threatened many inconveniences that would proceed thence: finally that it was by no means lawful for the Roman Pontiff to determine anything concerning human affairs, in places not subject to him. But Pius, as one bearing power on earth of Christ the Lord, whose are the heavens and the circuit of the lands, would no longer have the matter agitated back and forth: judging that it by no means suited him, who by his most ample authority could effect these things, and others in this kind far greater, for the common salvation of the Christian Republic. Nor yet did he suffer the Emperor to remain longer in such an opinion: to whom also he proves the deed. for through Cardinal Commendone the Legate he ordered to be related to him in person, by how grave an error his counselors had entangled him. And therefore to the reasons, by which the Emperor himself could most be led away from that mind, he added also examples, both of the Empire transferred to the West through the Apostolic See, and of the Seven Electors created in Germany, and of that authority which they have from the same most sacred See: and finally those instances, in which the supreme Pontiffs everywhere exchanged the rights of kingdoms, and once decorated various Princes with new and most ample titles.

BOOK IV.

The preparation and league for waging war against the Turks.

CHAPTER I.

Cyprus begun to be occupied by the Turks. The care of Pius V to acquire help from the Kings of Spain and Lusitania.

[203] While these things were being done, at the beginning of the spring of that same year 1570, Selim II Emperor of the Turks, the treaty of peace, which he had long before confirmed by oath, struck by his father with the Venetians in the preceding year, having been perfidiously violated, Selim the Turk demands Cyprus from the Venetians, threatening a grave and destructive war upon the Christians, strove first of all to occupy the kingdom of Cyprus, as he did: and on that account it was certain that the greatest warlike preparations, if ever before, were being made by him at Constantinople and elsewhere. Cyprus, by far the largest and richest island of the Mediterranean sea, which the Venetians had held peaceably and by legitimate right for more than eighty years, the Tyrant the more desired to subject to himself, by his immense lust for domination and his savage hatred against Christians; because he was confident that thence he could open for himself access to the other islands and coasts adjacent to Italy, and that the Venetians, afflicted at that same time by two very great disasters, could in no way sustain, much less break, the assaults of the Turks. For in the preceding year, both by extreme scarcity of crops, on account of the intemperateness of the weather, there had been distress not only at Venice, but also throughout Italy; as one looking to the right of the Memphite kingdom occupied by him and the Venetian arsenal or armory, the most celebrated in almost the whole world, most fully equipped with engines of war, arms and other things necessary for wars, had burned down by a horrible accident and with immense loss. Selim therefore, this counsel entered upon, sent Cubat his legate to the Venetians, who should declare, that he demanded that island for himself, both for his right over it, and for that possession of the kingdom of Memphis which he had obtained. For since the Sultan King of Memphis (they call it Cairo) already a hundred and fifty years before had taken John Lusignan, King of Cyprus, at Thalame a town of the Peloponnesus, and had made him tributary of eight thousand gold coins for each year; finally whatever the Sultan had possessed, had come into the power of the Turks, who afterward had obtained his empire: and thus Cyprus was owed to him by the law of succession, and unless the Venetians withdrew thence, he would come forth to their extermination with a thousand vessels and more.

[204] But to him relating these things, and besides proudly casting forth other threats, the Venetians answered as was fitting with constancy: that they had at all times kept faith given to the Ottoman Kings, who generously denying it, had paid yearly tributes for the cause of Cyprus, had dismissed very many occasions of many advantages and of enlarging their empire, that the plighted faith might keep its religion, and had judged that nothing more becomes magnanimous Princes, than to render faith given, and everywhere to keep constancy: that they might not be said to have first violated the peace, they had dissembled many things both unworthy and bitter, which they had suffered; that they had not gone beyond their borders; finally that they had committed nothing such against him, for which he could so conduct himself. Wherefore since by the right of the treaty they could not, they would defend by arms that kingdom, which received from their ancestors they possessed by old and legitimate right: after, namely, the death of Catherine Queen of Cyprus, whom the Venetian Senate, as their own citizen, of the most illustrious Cornelii family, had adopted as a daughter to itself for the favor of James Lusignan the last King of Cyprus, before she married him. Who therefore, the same James and the posthumous son begotten of him having departed life, had left by her husband's testament the Senate and Venetian Republic the legitimate heir of that kingdom. and seeking help from Pius, And so the Venetians, prepared to retain their right with all their strength, dismissed the Turkish legate: and took care that the imminent perils be reported to Pius through Michele Soriano, their Orator at the Apostolic See: supplicating, that he would not only bring help to the fleet, which they themselves were hastening to equip well and strong; but also procure that opportune subsidies for that purpose be given through other Princes. But Pius not only did not disappoint the hope of the Venetians, but even far surpassed it: for, judging that this so excellent occasion, as one divinely offered to him, was to be embraced; besides those things which he promised to furnish as great as he could, he invites them to the society of the sacred league, and to procure diligently from other Princes aids, he proposed to the Venetians a social league, which he himself had long been turning over in his mind, to be entered upon with the Christian Princes, to ward off the common enemy, or if it could be done to overthrow him; and he pledged that he would take care of this, and took it upon himself.

[205] The Venetians answered that the prompt and pious offices and zeal of the Pontiff were most grateful to them, and that they willingly committed that matter to be accomplished by his prudent judgment: but because they understood that very much time would intervene, before the conditions of the league could be agreed upon, and the Princes induced to undertake the common war, the present perils not bearing delay, they urged the more earnestly that with the greatest speed aids be demanded from the Christians: meanwhile let the conditions be treated of. This opinion being approved, Pius, all things being maturely consulted and determined in the highest assembly of the Cardinals, that it might turn out well and happily for the Christian name, himself first suppliantly imploring the help of the Holy Spirit, appoints private and public suppliant prayers to God. Soon Lewis de Torres, a Cleric of the Apostolic Chamber, a man of proven prudence and integrity, whose excellent faith and service he had used in other matters, he sent with letters to the Catholic King Philip, as also Philip King of Spain, who both had the chief cause of this war, and, his fleet now equipped, was very strong in power and magnitude of empire: by which letters gravely deploring the state of the afflicted Christian Republic, and showing what bitter annoyance indeed he himself took thence, he was impelling him to join his warlike forces with the arms of the other Christian princes, and to break the attempts of the Turks.

[206] But although in the opinion of the highest men it seemed scarcely possible, that the Princes should come together into this society of war, on account of various causes pretended among themselves, which induced each one to look after his own affair; nevertheless Pius, by reason of the name which he had gained for himself of the best parent of all, and of one looking to nothing else but the public salvation; no place of suspected faith, as far as pertained to him, being left in the minds of the Princes, undertook the whole matter to be accomplished: and charged Lewis, that first of all he should instruct the Catholic King, in what peril not only the Venetian, but also the whole Christian republic was, a war impending from an enemy at once most powerful and most savage: [Showing that it was a question not of Cyprus only but of defending his dominions:] who although he seemed to threaten only Cyprus and the other dominions of the Venetians; yet it was to be feared, lest he should contrive destruction also for the other coasts of the Christians, especially the maritime places of the King himself, according to the opportunity of harming. Which matter should admonish the Pontiff, that according to his pastoral office he should solicitously provide for the whole flock of Christ, and meet the imminent perils. Epist. 13 l. 4 But that the condition of the matter was such, that just as the Venetians by themselves could not long sustain so great a tempest of war, so neither was there enough of protection for the King himself to defend his own shores of the Mediterranean sea. And so it was not clear, for which of them that league ought rather to be in their wishes, which would both diminish the expense for both, and render their dominions safer, but that to join forces was more useful to him, and raise their minds into hope of amplifying them; especially since both the peril was common, and the difficulties of former times were now removed; and likewise both were of such disposition, that each strove to hold his own kingdoms, by no means contending for monarchy. But if the Venetians by themselves

had obtained so great a victory, that would by no means be either advantageous or honorable to the King: inasmuch as without his help they would have attained so signal an estimation of their name, and forces of empire. But if, aided by the Royal aids, they had vanquished the enemy, a great part of the praise of the won victory would accrue to the King himself, by whose help the matter had gone well. But the Turks prevailing, almost the whole weight of the war and the peril of disaster threatened the royal dominions. That it was also of prudent counsel, to determine, that nothing further was to be trusted to an enemy, who had not hesitated often to violate faith given.

[207] Finally that he demanded this aid, for the sake of the King's own supreme piety toward the Christian republic and his due office of guarding the Catholic religion: and that he sought this by his own right; and for the grant of the Ecclesiastical fruits of Spain, which Pius IV had bestowed upon the King himself, that he might bind himself to maintain a hundred armed triremes against the enemies of the Christian name, for keeping the coasts of the Mediterranean sea safe and whole: and that therefore he had willingly confirmed that subsidy, that the triremes themselves might serve for repelling the weapons of the perfidious enemies. But that there was no reason why he should greatly labor in showing the necessity, or utility, or even honesty of this league, so manifest in itself; especially before a King, no less the greatest and most powerful in prudence and piety, than in greatness of mind and empire: who, although his own affair was not at stake, yet for his singular zeal and office of guarding the Catholic Church, would and ought willingly to embrace this occasion divinely offered, meanwhile to ask that he bring help to the Venetians: and to set it in place of a divine benefit. And since the Venetians had committed the management of this matter to the judgment of the Pontiff and their Orator in the City, he demanded that the King through his procurators at Rome should commission with him the things that ought to be done and accomplished, at the first time possible: lest, while through letters and long delays on account of the very great intervals of places the matter is too long protracted, the perils be met after the ruin. That the Pontiff would, for his singular love toward him, and for his merits, with honest faith consult the King's interests, no less than the Venetians' to whom he owed less. Moreover since the league could not be sanctioned within a small interval of time, meeting the meanwhile impending disasters, at least for that year, the King should furnish to the Venetians the help of his triremes. Equipped therefore with these commands, having set out from Rome on the 17th of the Kalends of April, he came by great journeys to Cordoba, where the King then was staying: and being benignly and honorably received by him, he briefly set forth the cause of his legation and the counsels of Pius.

[208] The King heard him speaking attentively and willingly, and having premised some things concerning his singular respect and piety toward Pius the Pontiff, which the King benignly granted, showed that he was inclined to his zeal and wishes, and that for the Pontiff's sake he would help the Venetians with a fleet and supply. But concerning the entering of the society, because it needed greater deliberation, that he wished to consult his counselors at Seville, whither he was then hastening to go. Epist. 15 l.4 Lewis follows the King going to Seville, and again with him and with Diego Espinosa Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, President of the Royal council, and with other highest men, to whom he brought the letters of Pius, and who had very much weight with the King by favor and authority, having often met concerning the business; prudently overcame the various difficulties which were objected: and having thence obtained great praise of his virtue before all, made Pius master of his wish. In which business indeed to be accomplished the zeal and service of Giovanni Battista Castagna, Archbishop of Rossano, at that time the ordinary Pontifical Internuncio with the King, of whom mention was made above, is commended. The King therefore, as far as pertained to the conditions of the league, a space being taken for deliberating, answered that with the greatest goodwill he would obey the Pontiff: and meanwhile, until he should determine to his Orator in the City, and to others, what ought to be done concerning that matter, that he might meet the imminent perils, he ordered forthwith fifty triremes, collected here and there in the Italian sea, granting 50 triremes. to be conveyed into Sicily; and edicted to the Viceroys of Naples and Sicily, that they should make for the Venetians the supply of grain which Pius had demanded; and assigned the triremes themselves to the Venetian aids; and admonished Giovanni Andrea Doria, Prince of Melfi, governing them, that he should comply with the admonitions of the Prefect of the Pontifical fleet. Epist. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 lib. 4

CHAPTER II

[209] But the office of that prefecture Pius conferred this year on Marco Antonio Colonna, Duke of Paliano and Tagliacozzo, Master of the cavalry of the Neapolitan kingdom, on the 3rd of the Ides of June. And him, Pius sets Colonna over his triremes, as a man of most prudent counsel, and signal for praises of warlike valor, he set with power over twelve Pontifical triremes: which matter was accomplished with great apparatus and pomp. For to suppliantly implore the heavenly help for the most happy success of affairs, through Marco Antonio Cardinal Colonna, in the presence of the Pontiff in the public assembly of the most ample Fathers, in the Pontifical chapel, the most sacred sacrifice of the Mass having been performed, Pius, the sacred prayers being applied according to custom, and delivers to him the sacred standard. with his own hands gave to Colonna the standard of the Prefecture, made of red Damascene silk: on which was depicted the image of Christ the Lord hanging from the cross, and on this side and that the effigies of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, with these words inscribed: In this sign thou shalt conquer. That he, who excellently recalled the piety and greatness of mind of that great Constantine, might most happily use against the enemies of the Christian name the same auspicious and saving sign with which he used, as a bulwark of every hostile and dangerous violence. Moreover it was very pleasing to the Catholic King, that this office had been committed by the Pontiff to Colonna, whom he himself esteemed greatly; and he wrote to him, that although he excelled Doria in place and authority, yet he should not think that the counsels of that most prudent Duke and most skilled in nautical matters were ever to be despised by him. Then Pius sent Colonna to Venice, that he might equip the twelve triremes received from the Venetians, and procure the other things necessary for that expedition.

CHAPTER III

[210] Affairs therefore being well settled in Spain, Lewis de Torres hastened to Sebastian King of Lusitania, as Pius had charged him: whom when he had met at Sintra, which is a villa not far from the city of Lisbon, he delivered the letters and commands of the Pontiff: and exhorted him not so much to enter the social league, which Pius feared to impose so great a burden on him, impeded as he was both by Indian and African expeditions, [He asks help also from the Lusitanian King and persuades him to a marriage with Marguerite:] but to bring what help he could to the impending perils of the Venetians. Epist. 11 & 12 lib. 2 Epist. 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34 lib 4 To these he added the things which he had in his commands concerning the Royal marriage to be procured: that it would be very pleasing to the Pontiff and to all good men, nay even very honorable and salutary to himself and his kingdom, if the King should resolve to take to himself as wife Marguerite, sister of Charles the Ninth King of France, from whom offspring worthy of his ancestors, for guarding piety and stabilizing his kingdom, might be procreated. To these the King, as pertains to the Venetians, that he was moved by the common peril and fear: nor was the will to make war lacking to him, but the means: nor had a pestilence, not so long before arisen, afflicted Lisbon, and, devastation being made, consumed rowers and soldiers. As soon as Lusitania had recovered from the disaster, he would not be lacking to the public cause: that for many reasons he ought to do this, but especially, because he vehemently desired to gratify and obey Pius the Pontiff, whom he himself singularly venerated: who answered that he would help the Venetians as he could, that the greatest thanks were to be given to God, because in these calamitous times He had willed to set so vigilant and holy a Pastor over His Church, who strove to conciliate so excellent and necessary a society of Princes, for vindicating the Christian Republic from the fury of the enemies. Moreover that he was joined by the closest bonds of love to the Venetian Senate, whom he knew to have been employed as sponsor in the baptism of the Prince his father: that he trusted that in the next year he would send as help a fleet of thirty vessels and a greater, equipped with a most choice band of Lusitanian youth. But if he should furnish less than was expected, let him excuse this, because in the tract of the new world he continually waged war with the Turks with land and naval forces: that there his help to the Christian cause would be more useful, than if he had increased the forces of the confederates in the Mediterranean sea.

[211] But as to the manner of taking a wife, that he both acknowledged and venerated in that matter also the most excellent goodwill and paternal charity of Pius: concerning the marriage he could determine nothing without the Spaniard. but since concerning that matter it had already been agitated between himself and Philip King of Spain his uncle, and various counsels had intervened, of which the Pontiff, not sufficiently instructed, could prescribe nothing certain to Lewis setting out from Rome, it was to be awaited, what Pius should answer by these letters, which he had lately given concerning that matter to him and to his Orator in the City. These things through the Internuncio, and through Apostolic letters to the King himself, and to Henry the Cardinal his great-uncle, a Prince most grave in age and authority, and to Catherine the King's grandmother, a woman preeminent in no less piety than prudence, when they had been long and much agitated, nothing at last was accomplished. And so Lewis, dismissed by the Lusitanian with a benign answer rather than with the attainment of his object, by the command of the Pontiff is recalled into Spain: that he might keep the Catholic King in his duty concerning the joining of the league; and exhort him, that he should write his commands concerning that matter as soon as possible to his men in the City.

CHAPTER II.

The Christian fleets joined, the league treated.

CHAPTER IV

[212] Meanwhile by letters Pius admonished Doria, that at the first time possible he should take care that the fleet of the Catholic King be joined, according to the agreement, with the Pontifical and Venetian triremes. He did at once what he was ordered. And so toward the end of summer, this year 1570, the whole fleet of the Christians together consisted of almost a hundred and eighty triremes, The conjunction of the Christian fleet. eleven transport ships, and twelve which they call galleasses: and conveyed to Crete it halted that it might be brought toward Cyprus, where now a most strong army of the Turks, with about three hundred vessels, and equipped with both land and naval forces, was besieging Nicosia, a most celebrated and likewise most fortified inland city. But the Christian fleet, taking opportune counsels day by day, and repeatedly made more certain concerning the progress of the Turks for routing them, at last learned that the besieged city had now come into the power of the enemy. At which time an unseasonable controversy arose between Colonna and Doria, Doria professing that he ought not everywhere to follow the decisions of Colonna: and so, concord being disturbed, nothing was being accomplished. This matter known, Pius vehemently grieved: it is rendered useless through the discord of the leaders. and although he perceived the dissension of the Italian people, and the difficulty of striking the league, and that so huge and strong a fleet, almost wholly equipped with Italian strength, was on light

moment torn asunder, yet he did not desert himself: but, judging that he must trust in God, to whom, as will be said, he was wont to flee with assiduous prayers; and having prayed Him, that that controversy might be composed, he obtained it.

[213] Meanwhile the commands of the Catholic King concerning the league are brought to Pius: by which the King, as far as pertained to his interests, delegated the province of treating and accomplishing that matter to Antonio Perrenot Granvelle and Francisco Pacheco the Cardinals, Meanwhile delegates chosen to the Venetians and the King's men, and to Juan de Zúñiga his Orator in the City, the Pontiff being constituted arbiter: but the Venetians decreed Michele Soriano, of whom I have already spoken, for themselves. Which commands, fortified with such authority as was fitting, and the delegated men, when Pius had approved that they were fit both to conduct and to explicate so great a matter, he summoned them to himself and addressed them to this effect. Concerning the greatest matters, and those most necessary to the Christian Republic, deliberation is at this time set before you, beloved sons. For, as you see, you have been employed in this supreme council of the whole earth, to act and to provide, [Pius perorating sets forth of how great moment the matter coming into deliberation is,] by what reason and way, a league being struck among the Christian Princes, a war both very great and most pious and perilous, against the Turks, the sharpest enemies of the Christian name, may not so much be of our own accord brought upon them, as the one brought upon us be necessarily sustained, and be repelled and driven from the necks of all our people. The matter therefore in this cause is concerning protecting the Catholic Church, concerning preserving the salvation and dignity of the whole Christian cause, but first of all of your Princes, to whom the nearest peril threatens: finally (which ought to be older to you than all things) concerning the honor and glory of the divine name, joined with the good of all the pious, both to be guarded and augmented; or even (which God avert) with our great loss and everlasting disgrace, to be very greatly diminished.

[214] Now indeed we behold, and with our greatest grief, nor without the ignominy of the Christian Princes, the Turk growing through the dissensions of the Christians, we perceive, what injuries, what disasters the most savage Tyrant of the Turks has of old inflicted upon us: how many, and those most noble, and most flourishing before in the worship of true piety, cities, and islands, and provinces, and kingdoms he has snatched and usurped from us. The discord of the Christian Princes is the fount and origin of all evils. For while they either by intestine dissensions and wars wear out one another and miserably agitate themselves; or, others wishing one thing and others another, often torn into contrary opinions, each more greedily looks after his own affair; meanwhile that barbarous enemy, not content to have once invaded and subjected to himself almost all Asia, and a great part of Africa, a great part also of Europe, behold in our times has taken the island of Rhodes, and having attacked Malta, has occupied Chios and other islands and regions; and Sziget being stormed, has subjected a good part of Pannonia to his empire. But now Selim, an immense army being prepared by land and sea, threatening destruction to the whole Christian Republic, before all things contends to obtain the kingdom of Cyprus: and growing more powerful day by day to threaten Italy itself: so that not without cause it is gravely to be feared by us all thence, lest the most savage enemy and at the same time most powerful, increased in strength and made bolder day by day for inflicting greater losses upon us, having crossed into Crete and Sicily, and having gotten possession of all the Mediterranean islands, ports, and coasts, may at last burst into Italy, that is, into the bowels of the Christians, and overturn all things. Which indeed, lest God permit it to be done for the vengeance of our sins, as it behooves all Christians to strive earnestly with us by assiduous prayers, and a better kind of life, so first of all the supreme Princes, their senses and forces joined, for the office divinely committed to them of guarding the Christian republic, ought with all power to ward off with us the calamity of the impending peril.

[215] But we, whom though unworthy divine providence has placed in this guardianship of the whole world and as in a watch-tower, wherefore he himself solicitous for his Pontifical office, that we should render the whole Christian cause whole from destruction, free from peril, void of fear, by our vigil and care; and should preserve the Church of God, which He Himself acquired by His blood and committed to us, repaired and roofed; we can in no way be lacking to our office, nor do we wish or ought. Wherefore, since alone we are not able to sustain the weight of so great a matter, we do not cease long since to admonish, and exhort, and ask the Kings and Princes of the Catholic name, according to our authority, that they would be willing to enter with us this society of the common war, for their office of defending religion. and by the goodwill of the Princes, To which matter, God assenting, since we have found the minds of your Princes, whose affair chiefly is at stake in this war, prepared, it is now of your prudence and your counsel, diligently to act, to provide and to effect, that nothing impede or disturb, whereby this most holy and at the same time necessary society may be less able to be joined and forged. But nothing will impede, if in the common peril you procure common rather than private advantages; if (which we trust you will do for your integrity and prudence) you determine, that nothing can be of such value, he exhorts that they conspire to join arms against the common enemy, which you should think ought to be preferred to the divine honor, to the salvation of the holy Church, to the safety of your Princes, to the good of the kingdoms themselves, finally to the wishes of all the pious, all of which are brought into this crisis. If you decree that the common pest ought to be averted by common remedies and forces also; that the enemy of the whole Christian name ought, by the arms and resources of all Christians if it can be done, to be checked, vanquished, overthrown: and that one or another King, however very powerful, cannot by himself sustain so great a mass of war; but that the joined forces of several most powerful Princes, equipped with divine and human resources, can best either break the armies of any Turks and barbarous nations, or repress their attempts, or extinguish their fury, or destroy their empire and name.

[216] There will not be lacking to us for accomplishing this both divine and human subsidies. There will be present to such pious endeavors that very One, who neither before deserted His Church at any time, trusting in divine help nor at present or in future, for His clemency, will ever desert it. Nor can the promises of Him confirming us with those words deceive us: Behold I am with you all days even unto the consummation of the world: Be confident. I have overcome the world: and The gates of hell shall not prevail against my Church. Matt. 28 John & Matt. 16 Which aids nevertheless God has promised us on this condition, that, as far as in us is, we always strive together to effect it. But as for human protections, we have not only the minds of your Princes inclined to this expedition, and having human help in readiness, but also armies prepared, and alacrious to fight; fleets already equipped, and led into battle line, already most valiant and prompt leaders. Only all these things, that they may become firmer, stronger, and more lasting, must be bound together by the bond of a most holy league. Since these things are so, see, I pray, lest it be destructive to the Christian republic, and most grievous to us, and shameful to you, that counsel be understood to have been lacking to this supreme council, especially in a matter so open, which speaks for itself. But seize this opportune occasion, which God offers us: which at other times could indeed be wished, but its equal never certainly be found: nay, if we neglect it, that will deservedly be to us before our posterity an everlasting reproach.

[217] But if we shall be willing to use so excellent an occasion divinely offered, with perpetual honor and salvation, we shall break the teeth of that raging mad dog raging against us: the most flourishing kingdom of Cyprus, about to have a way to the recovery of the Holy Land by Cyprus preserved, which with all our power we ought to guard and preserve, we shall vindicate not only for the Venetian, but for the whole Christian republic: and we shall open for ourselves a way to happily recover that most sacred sepulchre of our Saviour, and the other places of Palestine, consecrated by the footsteps of Christ the Lord Himself, since no other access to them is left us. For when of old the possession of the kingdom of Jerusalem was recovered, a certain humble friar persuading, and Urban II our predecessor impelling almost all the Christian Princes into that expedition; the Christian army was conveyed across through the borders of Constantinople: which now can in no way be done. But since by the single navigation of the Cyprian sea Palestine is more conveniently approached, Cyprus being retained, easy approaches will lie open for recovering those dominions of the Holy Land. Nor ought we to doubt, this league being struck among us, that other Catholic Princes also will hereafter easily conspire to that same thing. For of those whose faith is one, whose religion is one; and about to go before the other Princes by example: of them also for guarding and propagating it there ought to be one mind, one striving: and of those whose peril is the same, of them also for repelling it the same zeal and joined power ought to be applied. So that just as all the virtue of all Kings, authority, dignity, splendor, resources, and power are derived from God, as from the supreme fount of all power; so for protecting His worship and amplifying His glory, all these things should be eagerly contributed. But I, as far as pertains to me, openly profess this; if I trusted that my presence could in any way profit this expedition, not only would I willingly expose myself to all perils, but even among the first, for the glory of God and for the salvation of the Christian republic, would alacriously pour out my blood and life.

[218] By this exhortation the minds of the princely men, presiding over the matter to be accomplished, were vehemently moved: but since neither would be the first in asking, and the greatness of mind and probity of Pius being commended, they met together with the Cardinals set by him over the treating of the league. But these were, Giovanni Morone, Michael Bonelli, Giovanni Aldobrandini, Carlo Grassi, in whose place, life ended, Giovanni Paolo Chiesa was substituted, Pietro Donato Cesi, Girolamo Rusticucci, men most preeminent in prudence, piety, and experience of affairs: all of whom (Morone excepted) he himself had co-opted into the most ample order of Cardinals. At the beginning the matter was at such a point, that it seemed almost to be done for. For the King's men, confident that the Venetians would as suppliants earnestly demand it, were awaiting that they themselves should propose the conditions. The Venetians on the contrary, professing that the league, which they themselves by no means demanded, but the Pontiff, would be of no less advantage to them than to themselves, refused to be the first to treat concerning that matter. Wherefore Pius, that he might remove all difficulty, willed himself to be the one who should as a suppliant impel both to it, demonstrating that this cause, which pertained to the whole Christian Republic, ought to be preferred to all private interests of all. Then moreover he proposed certain heads as it were of matters, by which the business could conveniently be accomplished; and gave these to them to be weighed.

[219] But the King's men, some Pontifical men also assenting, wished this law to be applied to it, that the society be forged against all infidels: and

namely against Mauretania, and the Prince Sheriff, who could be hostile to Philip the Catholic King within the Strait of Hercules. But Soriano resisted: that they had not been admitted to treat of this, which it is decreed must be made against the Turks alone, except that a league be entered against the Turks: this only had both the Princes been asked, this had been given him in commission by his Republic: but to treat by name concerning other nations and Kings, was not to establish, but to overturn, what was chiefly sought. For the minds of those from whom help is hoped should not be irritated, but rather conciliated: nor should suspicion be cast upon those from whom subsidies against the common enemy were to be awaited. For both the Sophy King of the Persians, whom they hoped would be of help to the Christians (which also Cardinal Morone, agreeing with Soriano, premonished) was reckoned in the number of the infidels. But to enter a society against the Mauretanians seemed honorable to them rather than to the allies: and it less befitted the most powerful King of Spain, to seek the help of allies for vanquishing enemies equipped with almost no fleet. This opinion therefore being approved, they judged that a social war ought to be undertaken against the Turks only, and against the places subject to them, by name against Julia Caesarea (which is now called Algiers), Tunis, and Tripoli. There were moreover those who wished, for the more establishing of the league's covenants, that these be bound by the bonds of anathema: but the Venetians demonstrating that faith given among Princes sufficed, it was assented to.

[220] In these and other varieties of opinions, which all to relate in this place would be long and by no means necessary, especially concerning the common contribution of expenses, the reckoning of expenses is entered upon. there was long and much disputation. Those expenses were for each month about six hundred thousand gold coins. Soriano for his Republic decreed a fourth part, besides nothing, to be contributed in common. But the King's men only a half, since meanwhile the Church could scarcely contribute a sixth part, as it did in the league struck in the year 1537, especially because from that time the yearly revenues of the Pontiff were less than four hundred thousand gold coins. And so the Pontiff, having promised that he could contribute only thirty-five thousand, said that what remained of the burden should be distributed in equal portion between the King and the Venetians; yet about to furnish afterward far more than he had promised, as it is established was done.

CHAPTER III.

Don John of Austria elected Leader of the whole army. The conditions of the league, the money subsidies prepared.

CHAPTER V

[221] Concerning moreover the designating of the Leader of the army of the whole society to be entered, there was no light contention. The Spaniards contending, that some royal person be decreed to it for this reason, The Leader of the whole army that both the King himself contributed more subsidies to it than others, and this greatly pertained to the royal estimation: yet they wished that election to be approved by the judgment of the Pontiff and of the Venetians. But the Venetians, to object that the war had been declared upon them: and that it was to be waged in the eastern sea, where their leaders or soldiers excelled in knowledge of the places, where also the peoples subject to the Turks would be stirred up rather by Venetian than by royal or Pontifical standards, to deliver them from that servitude: finally that they were equipped with a greater fleet, and therefore it was fitting that one of their men be constituted Leader of the whole war. At last they assented, that there should be three Imperators, who should deliberate concerning all matters, and their deliberations and counsels, as far as pertained to execution, should be referred to the judgment of the Pontiff. Moreover Pius greatly desired to commit this supreme Prefecture to Emanuel Philibert Duke of Savoy, after various deliberation, as a Prince most illustrious in supreme authority and experience of warlike matters: and when concerning that matter he had explored his sense by letters, he answered for his piety and moderation of mind, that at the Pontiff's nod he would willingly set out into the war against the Turks, only as an auxiliary soldier: and that he would never decline any labor or peril, that he might profit the Christian republic and obey Pius. But that the Pontiff might not become master of his wish, the suspicions of others stood in the way: the Venetians indeed objecting, that since many other things seemed to impede it, so this in the first place because he pretended that he had a right to the kingdom of Cyprus; but the Spaniards opposing, lest that command be conferred upon a very powerful man and one desiring to amplify his dominions, and demanding Don John of Austria alone, son of the Emperor Charles V: yet to these, lest they should seem altogether to dissent from the Pontiff, it was pleasing, that over the land affair indeed the Savoyard himself, but over the naval the Austrian should be set.

[222] But indeed Pius, judging that the sum of the whole war ought to be committed to one rather than to several, so accomplished the business; that, all approving, he declared the Austrian himself supreme Leader and Prefect of the war, Don John of Austria is chosen; who should preside over the naval and land affair with command. He was beyond his age signal for so many and so great praises of warlike matters, that both the affair well conducted a little before in the Baetic tumult against the Moors, and the most happy outcome of this naval expedition indicated that the mass of so great a war could safely be delivered to him. For Pius foresaw that by divine help it would come to pass, that the Christian cause in that war would prosperously proceed; and since, as supreme Leader of the war, it behooved him to hear and follow the counsels of others, it would come to pass that the matter would be more quickly accomplished: and in matters to be deliberated, two of the three Prefects' votes prevailing, the opinion of the Pontifical and Venetian Leaders would easily agree: inasmuch as they desired more to engage with the enemy, and to protract the war would be more inconvenient for them than for the Spaniards. But the Venetians declared first Girolamo Zane, then he being recalled, Sebastiano Venier, men most prudent, and most skilled in maritime matters, Imperators of their fleet.

[223] It was moreover disputed concerning constituting a Vicar of the supreme Imperator, since John could not personally preside over the expedition. That office therefore, after various contentions, Pius conferred upon Colonna, Prefect of the Pontifical fleet, who not so long before, his Vicar Colonna, to communicate with the Pontiff concerning matters both then conducted and to be conducted, had returned to Rome from the fleet: and him then he sent to Venice, that he might confirm the not moderately wavering minds of the Venetians. For they, suspecting that Soriano, exceedingly desirous of hastening the league, had furnished more than he had in commission, had joined to him as colleague Giovanni Soranzo, who obstructed the matter with difficulties. Pius also feared, lest the Venetians, torn by a doubtful counsel, should desire to protract the matter, led by the hope that the Turk would enter a counsel of peace. There were not lacking, however, those who objected to Pius, that it seemed by no means done in keeping with the Pontifical dignity, that someone should be sent by him to Venice concerning that matter. To whom he himself answered, who being sent to Venice removes the obstacles: that for the common benefit of the Christian cause he was willing to suffer whatever was unworthy, and to try the utmost of his strength. But if the Venetians had been unwilling to explicate their counsels, the most sacred blood of Christ poured out for those whom the Turk now held captive would demand penalties from them. Colonna therefore, having set out to Venice, so composed the matter and bore himself so excellently; that, having thence obtained great praise of prudence, he demonstrated that legation to have been necessary. Now indeed the matter was impeded by so many and so great difficulties, that wise men said this holy and necessary league could by no means be made, unless the supreme virtue, keen zeal, singular prudence and patience of Pius the Pontiff, God helping well, all impediments being removed, had brought the matter to its conclusion. After many therefore, and grave, and so the league is sanctioned and long contentions, in the year 1571, on the 13th of the Kalends of June the business was accomplished; and in the public assembly of the Pontiff and the Cardinals the league sanctioned by the solemn religion of an oath, soon promulgated with great gladness of the pious, was agreed upon in these conditions.

CHAPTER VI

[224] Pius V Supreme Pontiff, Philip the Catholic King of Spain, and the Venetian Republic are joined by a perpetual league, under these conditions. both for waging war, and also for repelling the war brought upon them, against the Turk and all the dominions which he possesses, Julia Caesarea (which is now called Algiers), Tunis and Tripoli also being comprehended.

Let the warlike apparatus of the confederates be two hundred triremes, a hundred transport ships; fifty thousand foot of Italians, Spaniards, and Germans; four thousand five hundred horse of light armament; equipped with engines of war, both greater and lesser, with supply, and the other necessary things.

Let resources and apparatus of this kind be in readiness every year, in the month of March or at the latest April, in the Eastern sea; that with these things the leaders of the war may be able to use them, for the utility of the confederates and of the Christian republic, according to the opportunity of matters and times.

But if the enemies undertake war against the places of the allies, let the Prefects of the fleets, either with all forces or with part of them, the expedition undertaken before being left, bring help; and turn all their strength to the aid of those harassed.

Let the Orators of the confederate Princes every year through autumn deliberate and decree with the Pontiff at Rome, concerning the expedition to be undertaken for the following year, and concerning the forces to be prepared.

Let the Pontiff and the Apostolic See furnish twelve triremes, equipped with all necessary things; and three thousand foot and two hundred and seventy horse.

Let the Pontiff contribute a sixth, the Catholic King a half, the Venetians a third of the whole warlike expense. The expenses which the Pontiff cannot make, let the King and the Venetians supply according to the proportion of their parts. If the Venetians give anything more than their portion, let the King be held to compensate it.

Let the Venetians lend to the Pontiff the aforementioned twelve triremes, fortified with engines of war and arms: which he himself shall equip with soldier, rower, and supplies; and the war ended, restore them equipped to the Venetians, unless the force of war shall have consumed anything.

And since it can happen, that a greater supply of things necessary for the uses of war be at hand for one than for another; if anyone shall have contributed more than his portion, let him be compensated by another in the other things.

If supply should be lacking to the confederates, let it be lawful for them to take it for themselves from their own places or elsewhere, as shall be more convenient, at a moderate price, and let the exportations of grain be free to all the allies, for the use of the forces. But let it be lawful for no one to export supply from those places, in which it shall happen to be present; unless first provision shall have been made for the fleets and forces of the confederates. Yet let it be lawful for the Catholic King to provide supply at his own discretion to the people of La Goulette, to the Maltese, and to the necessities of his fleet, conveyed from the Neapolitan and Sicilian kingdoms.

But where a fixed duty has been imposed on those exporting, let it not be possible for it to be increased to the detriment of the allies: but where an ordinary port-toll does not exist, let it not exceed a moderate sum.

But if the Turks, especially from Algiers, Tunis, or Tripoli, attack the Catholic King with war, at a time when no expedition of the confederates is being made, then let the Venetians send fifty well-fortified triremes as aid to the King: which same be done by the King himself, if the Turk should attack the Venetians: and let this aid not be possible to be denied, provided that those who are pressed by the war have not greater forces, than is perhaps the subsidy which they ask.

But if the Spaniard undertake war against Algiers, or Tunis, or Tripoli, at a time when no common expedition of the allies is being made, or no grave peril threatens the Venetians from the Turk, then let the Venetians send him fifty well-strong and equipped triremes as aid. And let the Spaniard likewise send this same aid to the Venetians on a similar condition, when

they themselves should wage war in the Adriatic gulf from the city of Apollonia, which is now called Valona, even to Venice.

If any place of the Pontifical dominion should be attacked by war, let the rest of the confederates strive to avert the peril, and conspire for its protection.

In all matters both to be consulted, and to be decreed, and to be administered, let the three supreme Leaders of the confederate Princes be present: and let that be ratified, which either the three by common counsel or the two shall have decreed.

Of this warlike society and of the whole Christian fleet, and of all the maritime and land forces, let the supreme Imperator be Don John of Austria: who shall moderate all matters either by the common counsel with the other Prefects of the confederates, or at least by the counsel of one. He being absent or impeded, let the Leader of the Pontifical fleet, Marco Antonio Colonna, preside with supreme power.

Let the supreme Imperator in the common expedition use the common standard of the confederates: but in a particular expedition let him who has undertaken it preside with his own standard.

Moreover let an honorable place lie open to the Emperor, and to the Kings of France and Lusitania, for entering this society of war: who according to each one's portion may augment the forces of the league.

Let the Pontiff according to his authority paternally exhort these and the other Christian Princes; that, this social league being entered, they may by forces and arms provide for the Christian republic: and that this be done, let the rest of the confederates also apply all service and authority.

Let the places recovered by the common arms of the confederates be distributed among themselves, as in the league of the year 1537, Tunis, Algiers, and Tripoli being excepted, which towns shall be King Philip's: but the engines and warlike apparatus, wherever they shall have come into power, let them be divided according to the proportion of expenses among the confederates.

Let Epidaurus, now called Ragusa, and its territory receive no detriment or inconvenience from the confederates, unless for some just cause it shall have seemed otherwise either to Pope Pius or to his successors.

Nor indeed for any cause may controversy or impediment be objected among the confederates, whereby either the expedition or the league be not continued: and to judge, remove, or compose such controversies and whatever dissensions, let it be of Pope Pius and his successors.

Let it be lawful for no one of the confederates, either by himself or through another, the other allies not being consulted and not approving, to treat concerning peace or truces, or any kind of friendship with the common enemy. And let the confederates indeed study to keep all these things fully and entirely in good faith, as becomes Christian Princes.

CHAPTER VII

[225] The league being sanctioned and, as we said, promulgated, both to render thanks to the divine majesty, and to implore the heavenly help, that that matter might turn out well and happily, Pius appointed public supplications of three days in the City, at which he himself according to his custom was present on foot, he promulgates a Jubilee: and a most ample Jubilee through the whole Christian world; having gravely exhorted all the Cardinals, that each should compose himself and his household for holding the supplications themselves, and for meriting the Jubilee with such religion, that they might both appease God and be a singular example of piety to the Christian peoples. Soon when he had understood, that the Venetians were sustaining the magnitude of the warlike expenses almost beyond their strength for waging war against the Turks, he grants the faculty of receiving subsidies from the Ecclesiastics. he clemently indulged them, that in the whole Venetian dominion they might through sacred administrators collect from consecrated men a hundred thousand gold coins for five years, the league enduring. And using similar liberality toward the Catholic King, he granted him a manifold faculty of gathering money: and confirmed to him the hundred triremes, which for protecting the maritime defenses of Italy, by the grant of Pius IV, were sustained by the revenues of the Church. Among these, some suggesting to Pius, that it would be opportunely done, if through that occasion he himself should procure rich proceeds or other advantages for his kinsmen with the King, he answered that he was by no means a merchant of sacred faculties: but that he had granted such subsidies for the salvation of the Christian republic gratuitously and willingly, that he might bind the struck league more sacredly by that bond of liberality. And truly indeed that: for he could never before have been induced to grant them, seeing no such cause to underlie.

[226] And since on account of many and those very great things, which both to the Maltese and to the Emperor in Pannonia against the Turks, he collects money and to the King of France and to the Catholic Belgians and Britons fighting against the heretics, he had often sent aids both of money and indeed of forces, the Pontifical treasury was exhausted; he was almost compelled to sell some of the urban Magistracies for the cause of this warlike subsidy, as is the custom. Wherefore he resolved to abrogate from Cardinal Alexandrinus, his sister's grandson, the office of Chamberlain, which he had conferred on him the preceding year, and to hold it venal. But that happened by no means ungratefully to the Cardinal: the office of Chamberlain being sold, nay even he, for the cause of the Christian republic, most willingly resigning such an office in favor of the Pontiff, answered Pius asking it, that if he wished to use that kind of subsidy for such an occasion, he would place it in the place of a greater benefit, than he would have placed by receiving that very office. This Magistracy therefore, which by its own nature was venal, Pius sold for seventy thousand gold coins. And for the same cause he increased the number of the clerics of the Apostolic Chamber, by augmenting the Clerics of the Chamber, since before there were seven, to twelve: from whom he collected a hundred and twenty-five thousand gold coins. On the twelve richer Orders of Monastics, who afterward agreed that they would contribute thirty-two thousand gold coins each year, he imposed a tribute of four hundred thousand gold coins: from which he instituted a Mount of faith, and decreed that it be called the Mount of Religion: by exacting contributions from the Religious. and to the same Orders for the cause of that subsidy, he gave the power of selling some of their goods. On these and besides on other Monastics he imposed six tithes: and the mendicant Orders being taken into account, he reduced their tribute to three tithes, from the old estimation. Upon other sacred fruits likewise and pensions throughout Italy, the Venetian dominion excepted, he appointed six tithes. To these he also once used the monthly fruit of some Magistracies of the Roman curia. He determined finally that exiles both Cleric and lay should be recalled from exile; a fine imposed on them, to be defined by men chosen for that purpose.

[227] There were those who through this occasion proposed to Pius, that it would be greatly to advantage, if he should grant to the Priests regresses to ecclesiastical benefices: yet he refuses to grant the regress to benefices for a price. for thence almost a thousand thousand gold coins could be collected: with whose counsel nevertheless Pius judged that he should by no means acquiesce, because that matter would open a way to many other things both unworthy and unbecoming. For thus it would come to pass, that the Ecclesiastical goods, which ought to be distributed to upright and wise men by the judgment of the Pontiffs, would gradually become as it were the patrimony of inept and unworthy men: and thus provision would be made not for virtue and the utility of the Churches; but for flesh and blood, and even sometimes for impure administrators. Finally that there could be no necessity so great, which ought to induce any good Prince, much less the Supreme Pontiff, to grant publicly things which are by no means consonant either with divine or human laws. But before all things he judged that this was to be done by him with the greatest zeal, that without delay he should decree legations to the Christian Princes, both that he might more and more confirm the joined league, and also that he might impel and provoke them to attempt, if it could be done, the destruction of the Turks.

CHAPTER IV.

The legation of Cardinal Alexandrinus to Philip the Catholic King.

CHAPTER VIII

[228] In the most ample assembly of the Cardinals therefore, held on the 13th of the Kalends of July, he declared Cardinal Alexandrinus to the three chief and likewise most powerful Kings of the Christian world, namely of Spain, France, and Lusitania; and Cardinal Commendone, absent, to the Emperor and the King of Poland, Apostolic Legates. Cardinal Alexandrinus, Apostolic Legate But of Commendone afterward; now of Alexandrinus: to whom he gave letters to the Kings themselves, full of pastoral zeal and paternal charity: by which letters he showed how grievously he was deprived of the present service of one to himself both uniquely dear and intimately joined. To him setting out he willed that several most choice sacred Nobles and most preeminent men be companions. Among these were the chief, Ippolito Aldobrandini, already by Pius himself first chosen Auditor of the Roman Rota, and moderator of this legation and of all the negotiations, now Clement VIII Supreme Pontiff; Alessandro Riario, Auditor of the Apostolic Chamber, Patriarch of Alexandria; Ippolito Rossi, Bishop of Pavia; with an illustrious retinue Giovanni Francesco San Giorgio, Count of Biandrate, soon Prefect of the City and Bishop of Acqui; Matteo Contarelli, of this legation, then Datary of Gregory XIII; Francesco Maria Tarugi, soon Archbishop of Avignon, now of Siena, all afterward Cardinals; Cesare Speciani afterward of Novara, now Bishop of Cremona; Guglielmo Bastoni, now Bishop of Pavia; Vincenzo Ercolani and Bartolomeo da Lugo, both Theologians of the Dominican Order: the former assumed first to the see of Sarno, thence to that of Imola, soon to that of Perugia; the latter to the Bishopric of Terni; Francesco Borgia, a religious from Duke of Gandia, then Provost General of the Society of Jesus; Annibale Grassi, Cleric of the Apostolic Chamber, afterward Bishop of Faenza; Pirro Taro and Giovanni Pietro Ghislieri, Roman prelates; all men conspicuous for piety, experience of affairs, integrity, wisdom, and the splendor of the other virtues: so that we may, and not without merit, have said that this illustrious retinue was the flower of the Roman court, and as it were a seminary of Bishops, Cardinals, and supreme Pontiffs.

[229] To these and all the others Pius ordered it to be provided, that they should accept absolutely no kind of gifts, whether from Princes or from others, nor should the Legates use favor with the Princes themselves for themselves or for others: having set out into Spain for that it was his to affect each of them with deserved rewards. Nor indeed did he suffer the Legate to interpose any delay, the journey to be hastened with the greatest diligence first to the Catholic King, in whom the greater moments of those matters seemed to be placed. And so on the day before the Kalends of July having set out from Rome and on the journey received with great honors both by the other Princes of Italy, and first of all by the Duke of Savoy; having tarried two days with him, and by the conduct of that excellent Prince William of Joyeuse, and at Madrid most kindly received by the King, Viceroy of Narbonnese Gaul, led safe through the midst of the heretics of France even to Avignon; on the 3rd of the Kalends of October of the same year, he came to Mantua of the Carpetani (they call it Madrid): and there by the King, who for honor's sake with the Royal retinue went forth to meet him, was most honorably and most kindly received. The letters from the Pontiff delivered, the Legate showed, that Pius was held by so ardent a zeal of the common salvation, that if his age had permitted, he himself would have come to accomplish these things with the King; but that he was doing absent in whatever way he could, that which he was impeded from furnishing in person: that by the supreme benefit of God the league of the social war against the Turk had been sanctioned, that now a plan must be entered upon, not only that the aids which they had covenanted be not diminished; but that new and those greater if it could be done be added. That to the King, born for guarding and preserving the Christian cause, all things must be attempted and endeavored, that he might repress the raging enemy of the Christian name:

that his resources and empire grew greater daily, those of the Christians were diminished. Unless by trying and daring the King should attempt something according to his strength, peril threatened, lest, as it had begun, the Christian cause should fall: if the King had more ardently undertaken war against the Turk, he could not only avenge the wounds inflicted by him, he exhorts him both to seriously promote war against the Turk, but also gain possession of all Africa. But if the forces of the Venetians were broken, graver perils impended over the King: by the disasters which the enemy had everywhere inflicted upon Pannonia and his Austrian kinsmen, it was shown more than enough, in what crisis the Spanish and Italian cause was placed.

[230] That to the other Christian Princes indeed it would be less shameful, because it befitted no one more than him if, the perils of others being neglected, they guarded their own: but Philip, who was so strong in resources and authority, that he was deservedly held the pillar of the Christian republic and the protection of religion, could scarcely (which he would have said with the leave of so great a Majesty) escape blame, if he should suffer any Princes or nations to be oppressed by the Turk: in the estimation or earnest demand of all, it befitted no one more than Philip, to show himself the vindicator of Christian liberty. To him therefore, that he might provide for the Christian cause and for himself, the most difficult things were to be overcome. For the way of the struck league, which had led from the first counsels of the matters to be conducted to the deliberations, had had great difficulties: but that one would have greater, which would lead from the deliberations to executing and completing the things which had been decreed. First of all therefore diligence was to be applied, that at the appointed places and times the apparatus and forces of the warlike matters be in readiness: since in most matters slowness and procrastination are harmful, so this war needed speed: counsels, as the King himself best knew, were of the times, which were changed by the hour; when the maturities of the businesses had passed, the opportunities of matters were sought too late and in vain. and that provision must be made for the necessary mature apparatus. To conduct the matter well therefore it greatly mattered, that the plans of the war be so constituted, that counsels could be taken according to the matter and the time: lest in sudden and straitened matters, when there was need of haste, the King should always have to be consulted, and, a long space of lands being interposed, deliberations should always have to be awaited from Spain. Moreover the King ought to try and attempt all things, that Maximilian the Emperor and Charles the King of France should come down into this cause of war. But all things would prosperously proceed, if the enemy were pressed by the land and naval forces of the Christians. These things, in which after God the hope of salvation consisted, Pius not only asked and besought, but even as it were demanded as due from that King, whose, God helping well, were the greatest resources in the whole world.

[231] The King heard the Legate relating these and other things benignly: that to Pius, who had never thought of the Christian republic except divinely, he gave the greatest thanks, and held even greater: first, to whom the King assenting because he was of such mind, as it befitted the head and supreme pillar of the Christian cause to be: then because he had sent to him Cardinal Alexandrinus, the image of his uncle's counsels and piety. That the commands of Pius would be a care to him: and that he would diligently do all things as the time and the matter allowed. First of all therefore he commanded Don John of Austria, about to set out into that expedition, that, that year's navigation completed, when he had provided for hastening the war; he should remain in Italy with the triremes and all the warlike resources, although a little before he had ordered the same that he should return to Spain to winter. Then, that concerning no matter pertaining to the entered society, deliberation should henceforth be awaited from Spain at Rome or in the fleet: he permitted free power of cognizance and of decreeing the things that were to advantage, to Granvelle and Pacheco the Cardinals and to Zúñiga his Orator. Whatever they should determine at Rome, that would be ratified and firm just as if it had been done with himself. Besides he ordered, that at the prescribed times the decreed subsidies be furnished: finally by letters he gravely exhorted both the Emperor and the King of France, to enter the society of the league, as the Legate had demanded in the words of Pius.

[232] But the matters of the entered society being constituted in this manner, the Legate shows that he has private commands of the Pontiff to him: he is asked by the legate which although they pertained not to the plan of the war, yet to removing the causes of dissensions. That Pius had always had this mind, that he wished the Kings, friends and zealous of the Apostolic See, not only to lose nothing of their right, but even to be more increased in dignity, favor, and honor. That the things which the other supreme Pontiffs had of old conferred upon the Kings of Naples and Sicily, ought to be so firm, that nothing be derogated from the right of the most sacred See. But that into the administration of those kingdoms many corruptions had crept, which were repugnant to the sacred laws and to the Pontifical authority: as among others, that the King's men, the monarchy being constituted in Sicily, that he should provide for ecclesiastical liberty at Naples and in Sicily, which pertains to the patrimony of the Apostolic See, claimed a right for themselves over sacred men, and that in the borders of the Neapolitan kingdom the decrees of the Council of Trent were not obeyed: and that the Pontifical letters and constitutions, which ought to be immune from the King's decree, which they call the Exequatur, were obstructed. Concerning these and other things the Legate asked in the words of Pius, that there be no departure from the institutions of former times, and from the right so long retained. Nor did it concern the Apostolic See more than the King himself that those evils be met: because where Ecclesiastical rights were violated, there by I know not what divine counsel it came to pass, that turbulent seditions and pestiferous heresies arose; and the peoples, counsels being communicated, conspired against the head and the fortunes of the Princes. But where the Princes had held all things after religion, and had rightly and piously felt that human empires must be submitted to the sacred authority; there they, cares and perils being driven away, enjoyed a solid and safe state of affairs: and that this was established both by ancient and by recent examples. Moreover that Pius cared, not only that affairs be administered without injury, but even without complaint.

[233] That he besides demanded, that an end be put to the controversy of the Milanese Church; and the right lost by the fault of the old Archbishops, that he should leave to the Archbishop of Milan his own right, who had been absent too long, be restored. That the choosing of the Steward of that Church, which the King's administrators had usurped to themselves, ought to be left to the supreme Pontiff, to whom alone that rightly pertains. That the King, who wished all things to be referred to equity, would do a very pleasing thing to Pius, if he had commanded his men, that they should not mix themselves with another's right. That in the Neapolitan kingdom and the Milanese dominion, for sustaining the Turkish war, Pius had appointed six tithes: that that contribution was merely Ecclesiastical, that he should not through his men touch the tithes appointed by the Pope. and that that money was to be exacted by the old institution from the Ecclesiastical administrators: nor indeed was anything to be imparted to the King's men: if anything had before been contributed to them, that had been done by the indulgence of the supreme Pontiffs, nor could a fixed and perpetual law of that matter be constituted. But now Pius demanded, that the King not suffer the money disbursed for warlike uses to be recalled to the gain of his men.

[234] That he should not be indignant at the title of Grand Duke given to Cosimo Moreover this had brought Pius no less care, that concerning the title of Cosimo Grand Duke of Etruria some through envy had reported to the King otherwise than the matter was; and had feigned many things, by which they might alienate the King's mind from Cosimo. But that there was no reason, why the King should think this either grievous to bear or to be believed of the rivals. That there was no Italian Prince, who in the afflicted Christian republic had shown himself more prepared for all chances and more constant, than Cosimo de' Medici. That his offices and zeal, both on other occasions, and especially in the recent French war, could be perceived. That he had judged this excellent man, and most well deserving of the Church, and flourishing in counsel and piety, worthy to be decorated with the title of Grand Duke by his power. That God was witness, that he had conferred this honor neither on one canvassing nor seeking it, but of his own accord. By what counsel and with what hope the rivals had assailed this, the King could attain by conjecture. That Cosimo, who had always devoted himself to this plan, that both the fair and the unfair might understand that he excelled the rest in faith and respect toward the King; would also in future do all things, with great signification of his goodwill inclined toward so great a majesty.

[235] To these this had happened grievous to Pius, that concerning Marco Antonio Colonna it had been reported to the King, or that he had set Colonna over the Pontifical fleet, that he had been chosen by Pius, whom he should set over the Pontifical fleet, and constitute Vicar of the supreme Imperator of the confederates, not, as some complained through envy, because Pius either esteemed others proposed by the Spaniards less than was fitting, or, led by private interests, postponed anyone: but because he had perpetually known Colonna, a leader of most illustrious name and excelling in the glory of warlike valor, most zealous and most desirous of the Catholic King; all these things had been constituted with this mind, that he might gratify the King. That he had passed by others, who were indeed commended by the resources and zeal of Princes, but had given fewer proofs of their virtue. That the former supreme Pontiffs could scarcely or never be induced to confer honors of this kind upon the intimate clients of Kings: that therefore which for the Pontiff, by his charity toward the King, ought to conciliate or augment favor, that had forged envy for Colonna: but that what was equal to glory ought by no means to be turned into a fault. Finally, that the King was asked, not that the favor of Pius should profit Colonna, but that it should not harm him.

[236] That Pius besides was attempting another great work, and was being held by a certain hope, and that he should favor adjoining the Prefect of Algiers to the Christians. that it would come to pass that Uluj Ali the Calabrian, a deserter of the Christian religion, then Governor of Algiers, a most notorious arch-pirate, and likewise signal for experience of land and naval combats, would return to the former worship of the true religion, if provision were made for him of some dominion or a fixed stipend in Italy: for concerning that matter Pius had been made more certain by recent letters. And so that the King would best provide for the Christian republic, if he should withdraw so warlike a leader and one daring so many things from the Turks: but if the attempts had fallen vain, yet that good would follow of its own accord, that on account of that matter Uluj Ali would be rendered more hateful and more suspect to the Turks for all things. And indeed to Pius, no vain hope seemed to be cast in, that if among the Christian Princes that institution were held, that to this kind of men opportune and convenient subsidies for passing life were granted, it would come to pass, that not only deserters of the Catholic faith, but from the Turks themselves also not a few would flee to the camps of Christ. These things set forth, the Legate added, that the inclined Republic could be raised up, if the things excellently begun were constantly brought to their conclusion. That the Pontiff had all hope of the matter well conducted, after God, placed in the most proven piety of the King: which if he had furnished in those wretched times, the impending perils would be far lighter. That he, glad with the hope of obtaining, had come to so great and so excellent a King: that he would depart more glad, if he should bring back an answer concerning such great matters, such as the magnificent and generous institutions of the King had pledged.

[237] To these the King, with no less benignity than before,

answered: The King benignly answers each point. That he held the dominions of the Neapolitan and Sicilian kingdom by that right, by which he had received them handed down from his ancestors: that as he was not wont to occupy what was another's, so it was equitable to guard hereditary and just possessions. Although he esteemed himself superior in possession and cause, yet that he would comply with the Pontiff: and would send from his men to Rome a man skilled in affairs, which he had before refused, who in person should dispute concerning those controversies. Concerning the right of the Milanese Church, concerning the Stewardship, concerning the reckonings of the tithes, that he would be wholly in the authority of the supreme Pontiff. Concerning Cosimo, although others had written otherwise or spoken in person, yet that he would rather believe Pius: nor only would he be toward Cosimo such a one as Pius had wished him to be; but he would soothe Maximilian the Emperor, who had been greatly enraged at him on account of the novelty of the honor. Concerning Colonna, how much he esteemed him, when the matter required, he would show by deeds: nor only concerning preserving, but even concerning amplifying his dignity would he willingly think. Concerning Uluj Ali, that he feared, lest the medicine should be inferior to the disease. For although such was the wisdom and authority of Pius, that he himself ought to be admonished by him, not the supreme Pontiff by him; yet it must be indicated, what he truly felt; that from the dispositions of men of this kind, who were mobile and faithless to every breeze of hope, no good fruit could be expected. That he nevertheless would think, what could conveniently be done concerning this matter. That in all matters he would furnish office, faith, and piety: and to Pius the Pontiff, whom he himself uniquely loved and venerated, in whatever matters he could, he would comply.

CHAPTER V.

The legation of the same Cardinal Alexandrinus to the Kings of Lusitania and France.

CHAPTER IX

[238] When the Legate had given thanks to Philip in the most ample words, he proceeded to Sebastian King of Lusitania: and when he demanded from him nearly the same things, which the preceding year Lewis de Torres the Internuncio had demanded; he brought back nearly the same answers. Epist. 53 l. 3 The same, acting as legate with the King of Lusitania, In conducting these and other matters, the King said, that he not only loved, but even admired the goodwill of the Pontiff toward him, his paternal charity and prudence. But that the causes which had before stood in the way, whereby he might less furnish aids, even now remained: and as the matter now stood with him, not only would they remain, but to the old difficulties new ones also had been added. That it was necessary to send across much greater forces, than he had sent each year into India: that there too for the public good he had to wage war with the Turks. In those regions likewise, he finds him entangled in various wars, where all things were hostile and inimical, where the inhabitants, unsociable, hated strangers worse than all evils, the ports of the empire had to be fortified with great works: and although winter was approaching, yet a fleet had to be equipped, and led out against certain heretic pirates, who, very many ships being oppressed, had slaughtered both many others, and some Priests. That besides it had been found out by him, that the Sheriff King of Mauretania, who in the next preceding year had depopulated the Canary Islands, was now with great endeavor building a fleet, adding maritime to land forces, and augmenting his strength: that it did not seem he should delay, but should meet this enemy. That besides a huge fleet must be prepared and so distributed, that one part should suffice for guarding Mina, another the kingdom of Congo, another the islands. Moreover that a rumor had grown current, that the heretics, peace being made, would lead pirate ships from France and Britain, and depopulate the maritime coast of Lusitania: that these must be restrained by the apparatus of other triremes. And so, the forces of the kingdom being surveyed, nothing remained, by which he could be of help to friendly Princes: yet he hoped, that Pius would take these things in good part.

[239] These things the King put forward openly and plainly: but secretly, as was afterward more found out, he was meditating a Mauretanian war. to meditate new things against the Moors. Most ascribed the cause of that counsel to some Priests of a religious institute, his counselors: whose authority with the King was so great, that the sum of affairs was referred to their judgment and decision. They were said to be advisers to the King, that for the present he should abstain from marriage, and first finish the war with the Sheriff. ^a Which matter had exulcerated the mind of Queen Catherine the King's grandmother, who perceived the hope of the royal stock to be imperiled in the person of Sebastian, and had alienated her from those Priests: she said it was their part to devote themselves to the studies of divine matters, not to mix themselves with the administrations of kingdoms, or dare to make for Kings the measure of marriage and celibacy, of peace and war: that they would by those counsels harm the King more, than they would profit, by imbuing him with holy institutions. Concerning these and other complaints both private and public against her grandson the King, the Queen herself gave the Legate a memorial and letters to be carried to Pius, that he might meet those evils: and unless a measure were put to affairs, she had resolved to return to Castile, whence she had come (for she was the sister of the Emperor Charles V). But the complaints of the Queen and the sadness of the Legate, which he showed forth from the denied aids, restored the fallen matter in some part.

[240] For the Legate (which was the other head of the undertaken legation) in the words of Pius, yet he persuades the marriage with Marguerite of Valois, vehemently exhorting Sebastian, that he should join to himself as wife Marguerite of Valois, sister of the King of France; he at last, that he might seem to have complied with some petition of his, pronounced that he would be in the power of the Pontiff; demanding nothing else by way of dowry, except that the King of France should enter the society of war against the Turks with the other Christian Princes. But the excellently composed counsels had a far other outcome than was hoped. For while these things are being managed in Lusitania, Antonio Maria Salviati, Bishop of Saint-Paul, afterward Cardinal, who then was fulfilling the office of Apostolic Internuncio with the King of France, but that she had been betrothed to Henry of Navarre reports to Pius, that Marguerite, espousals being made, had been betrothed to Henry of Bourbon, Prince of Navarre, himself striving by all means that it should not be done; because he was not ignorant that it would be most grievous to Pius: and since they were joined by consanguinity in the third degree and impeded by other things, Catherine the elder Queen of France asked, that Pius should by the laws release them for the right of legitimate marriage. The matter heard, Pius bore it most grievously, and denied that any sadder news could have been brought to him: that these things not only did not please, but were not even lawful. For Henry, although sprung of royal stock, from boyhood by the companionship of his father trained in wars and the arts of soldiery, and sent into various expeditions, by brave deeds had turned the minds of the French to himself; yet the stain of heretical opinions greatly disfigured this glory. For born of a heretic mother, and educated among heretics, and imbued from tender years with the Calvinian poison, he had already excited great commotions in France: and although by a certain vulgar opinion it seemed that by this affinity it could come to pass, that among the French themselves there should be good agreement, and that the heretics should henceforth abstain from harassing the Catholics, and as far as pertains to secular matters should obey the King of France, so that that kingdom should be restored to its former state; nevertheless Pius, who judged all things according to God, interpreted the matter otherwise: having namely already experienced the depravity of those who tried not moderately to obscure the splendor of the Most Christian name with the false coloring of depraved religion. with grief he understands and disapproves it: And so he not only took all things in the other part, but even refuted whatever they said, foreseeing what evil would thence be. And boiling with grief of the matter, and burning with zeal for the divine honor, he is said to have moved his left hand, which he was wont to use in place of the right, to his neck; and to have affirmed by oath, that he would rather make a loss of his own head, than that he should comply with the Queen demanding unjust things and be lacking to the public cause; and that he would undergo every tempest, lest by indulging certain persons a public evil should be made.

CHAPTER X

[241] Affairs in Lusitania being somehow composed, and the royal minds there being reconciled among themselves, the Legate is recalled into France by the letters of Pius: whither when he had come by very great journeys through doubtful and hostile passes in mid-winter, honorably received, Wherefore the legate, persuading the King of France to war against the Turks, power of approaching the King being given, he diligently sets forth the counsels of Pius. And first that there was nothing which Pius, the Princes, and the Christian peoples more sought, than that the King should have the same as friends and enemies, which the Catholic Church had; and, a society being entered with the other Kings, should turn his arms and strength against the Turks. If he did this, he would both do it for the dignity and office of the Most Christian name, and would soon have all things at home and abroad pacified and tranquil. To these he recalls the excellent institutions and deeds of the ancients, especially of the Kings of France. Epist. 11, 12 lib. 4 As long as the Kings had protected the Holy Church, they had used prosperous affairs, and traversed the whole world with victories and triumphs: if any afterward of them, by associating themselves with the Turks, had merited the wrath of God; now the King, by joining forces with the Christians, would merit the divine clemency.

[242] Then he vehemently disapproved the counsel concerning bestowing his sister on the Bourbon. That Pius, who uniquely loved the King, prayed and besought him by the royal dignity, [he urges that his sister be given to the Lusitanian rather than to the Navarrese.] by the blood poured out by Christ, by whatever was dear, that he should not consult anything graver concerning the salvation of the French and the safety of the Kingdom. That he called God and men to witness, that he would be no vain prophet; unless he had suppressed the rising flame, soon, when no one could be of help, he would be consumed by these nuptial torches: that the matter went ill with him, when strength was added to impiety. Where there was dissimilarity of religion and zeal, there true and safe peace could not be: again and again let him beware, lest by the hope of present tranquillity he should lose perpetual tranquillity: that silent and hidden enmities were more to be feared, than declared and open ones. If he had joined affinity and friendship with the Lusitanian, a Prince by far the most illustrious of the Catholic name, that would be to the King of France and the Kingdom both glorious for dignity, and most safe for security, and most useful for the amplification of affairs: to that matter Pius professed himself a helper and intermediary.

[243] Moreover this had cast great suspicion upon Pius, solicitous for the Christian republic, it is complained that a heretic is legate to Constantinople: that an inimical man, a deserter of the Catholic faith, Bishop of Acqs in France, marked by the abrogation of his dignity, was legate to Constantinople: that he conjectured by inference, that he would do nothing rightly, who had declined from the way of Catholic truth. What he had come to attempt at Venice, Pius had got wind of: and he feared, lest he by urging should prevail, that either, peace or truces being made between the Venetians and the Turks, the social league might be disturbed; or, some new society being entered with the heretics of France, the Turks might be impelled to greater destruction of the Christian republic: especially by bringing war against some dominion of the Catholic King. That the suspicion was increased, because Philippe Strozzi, in France not far from La Rochelle, had already begun to equip several ships; under the appearance indeed of sending them across to the Indies lately found by the French, yet that there were such hiding-places and such recesses of minds, that what could be believed

he was ignorant. These and other things the Legate to the King. But he was heard more benignly than that he could obtain anything.

[244] To which the King thus answered: That the dignity of the Roman Church, and indeed the protection of the Christian republic, The King kindly excuses his forces exhausted by war. had always been the greatest care to the Kings of France: and that they had on that account formerly undertaken great labors and perils, and therefore had filled the whole world with the fame of things done for the Catholic religion. That from his own mind it could be inferred from this, that he had not hesitated to expose his dearest brother for the Catholic faith to the utmost perils of life and the weapons of the enemy: but that, civil wars against the heretics, as he himself knew, having had to be sustained a little before for many years, the treasury was now so exhausted, the peoples so afflicted, that with present forces he could scarcely be content for guarding the kingdom. His affairs being better constituted, he would not be lacking to his office, and would strive as far as in him was, the Legate's mission to Constantinople, that by his zeal and resources in preserving and amplifying the Christian cause he would surpass the other Kings and Princes. That the Bishop of Acqs had undertaken a legation to the Turk concerning matters greatly pertaining to France, and would attempt nothing evil: that he wished from God, that the earth should rather gape open for him, than that he should impede so excellent and holy a league. That the salvation and dignity of the Christian republic had always been first to him and dearer than life.

[245] That he had betrothed his sister Marguerite to Henry, by the counsel of Princes and prudent men, and that there had been many things which urged it: the affinity with Henry, but especially, because he showed forth a greater nature of mind and disposition, than had ever shone in any of the Bourbon house: that many signs were perceived in the man, so that it could be conjectured, that there would be no youth equal in war in those times. That this one thing was intolerable, that, deceived by heretical opinions, he abhorred Catholic truth: whose truth nevertheless was of such force, that it easily defended itself against the figments of false opinions. That this was proper to the Catholic religion, that vanquished it conquered: that those who were besides endowed with great goods of nature, were easily induced, that, the darkness of errors being cast out, they should behold the light of truth. That for curing this disease, especially in the dispositions of princely men, he had esteemed gentle remedies for the most part more salutary than sharp: that he was indeed persuaded, that, the rudiments of true and genuine piety being handed on, he would not only come out such as was wished, with the hope of leading him to the Catholic faith, but would one day be a great ornament and help to the Church: that many were celebrated in our memory and that of the ancients, who, although they had been most hostile to the Christian name and the Catholic religion, had at last emerged from the darkness of ignorance, and had betaken themselves to good fruit. If he, who was the head of the erring, were brought over to the good part, how many and how great advantages would follow? That France, oppressed by great and intestine evils, would at last raise its head: there would be place for counsel and authority: those who raged by contagion would cease to rage. That he confessed, that he had, driven by necessity, borne many unworthy things: but that he affirmed this by oath, that he would rather bring the Kingdom and his head into crisis, than that he should leave the injuries inflicted on God unavenged. But what he was attempting ought not to be declared.

[246] Amid these things the King, a ring being drawn from his finger, to which a diamond of exceptional price was bound; Receive, said he, and a ring being given he promises that he will remain faithful to the Church. Legate, this pledge, the earnest of my promise and faith, which I give thee, that I will never fall away from obedience to the holy Apostolic See, and whatever I have promised against the impiety of these wicked men, I will abundantly furnish. The Legate refusing to accept the ring, said that it was altogether enough for him, the attested faith of so great a King, greater than every pledge and every hostage. But Pius being taken from human affairs, the King sent the ring to the Cardinal: on whose face were carved these words: Not less solid is this piety, that my piety cannot be dissolved by blood. Moreover the business of such a marriage being drawn out to another time, because Pius was unwilling to release them by the laws, it was accomplished by the permission of his successor Gregory XIII. But what afterward followed, for what causes Clement VIII Supreme Pontiff declared that marriage void, and by assiduous prayers, fastings, and tears obtained from God the conversion of Henry himself to the Catholic faith, and received him into the bosom of the holy Roman and Catholic Church, and the received him legitimately placed on the throne of the Most Christian King of France, which he now most happily holds, so that the pious King Charles IX seems to have entirely truly foretold, to set forth more fully in writing, is not of our purpose.

[247] Moreover Pius, on the occasion of male offspring born in those days to King Philip the Catholic, Pius persuades the Spaniard to affinity with the French. procured that Catherine, the second-born of the same King, be handed in marriage to Henry of Valois, who afterward unhappily obtained the kingdom of France; hoping, that by this reason it could come to pass, that by a new bond of affinity the minds of such Kings might be more confirmed in friendship, and associated by a greater bond of peace: from which many, and those excellent, advantages to the Christian cause seemed about to follow; especially for removing the suspicion of the Spaniards concerning the peril of their dominions, lest namely by waging the Turkish war, their zeal thence should be retarded. But such nuptials also, impeded by various counsels, did not succeed.

ANNOTATIONS.

When at Rome I had fulfilled the office of Procurator for the Lusitanian Province and was returning into Lusitania, on the journey, before I came to Lyon, where this book was being printed, I understood, that with the Most Holy our Lord Paul V and the Apostolic See, a reconciliation of the Most Illustrious Republic of the Venetians, not without great congratulation of the whole Christian world, had been promulgated: it impedes his return to Venice, and at the same time I understood that the men of the Society, who before for the good of peace had departed from that same Republic, were kept away from the same. A desire entered my mind of diligently searching out the causes, on account of which there was not the same regress for the Society also into the same, which there was for the other Orders of Religious men, who on account of the Pontifical Censures had departed from that same city. By the hearing of many I learned, that the talk of certain malevolent persons was current, that the men of the Society were pernicious to public affairs; and they kept alleging as an example the once most flourishing kingdom of Lusitania, which from the false report of Jeronimo Franco (by which Natalis Comes also seems to have been deceived, both Italians by nation) had collapsed with the Jesuits as instigators, and that the disaster received in Mauretania twenty-eight years before was to be ascribed to them. I could not but be greatly moved by a calumny so alien to the Society, as its least son; but as a Lusitanian indeed, and an eyewitness of these matters, very vehemently to detest a thing so unworthy, and so abhorrent from truth itself. But lest this false accusation should creep also upon the Most Serene Duke of Venice and those Most Illustrious Senators, how falsely the counsel of Sebastian King of Lusitania is imputed to it I thought it pertained also in some part to my office of Procurator, every occasion taken, to defend our Province with your Paternity and with whatever others from so false a calumny. For from a double head the ruin of the Lusitanian Kingdom and that African disaster could be imputed to us: either because from the discipline of the Society King Sebastian came out so trained, that he wholly disdained marriage, whereby it came to pass that he died leaving no heir: or because we were advisers to him, that by a counsel too immature he should undertake the African expedition. Yet each accusation is both falsely and injuriously imposed upon us. For as to the first, when it was permitted the King by his age, Father Luis Gonçalves da Câmara, of our Society, both his master and confessor, left no rope unmoved, no stone unmoved, him having disdained the marriage which she urged; that he should enter matrimony as soon as possible. And indeed with Queen Catherine the grandmother of King Sebastian, with the Infante Henry his great-uncle, he strenuously exerted all the nerves of his industry, that some princess worthy of so great a King should be sought, whether she were the daughter of Philip the Catholic King of Spain, or of the Most Christian King of the Franks. But both Queen Catherine and Henry his great-uncle feared, lest the same should happen to him which happened to the Prince his father, dying by an immature death, if before a maturer age he were joined in matrimony. Moreover with the King himself he assiduously dealt that he should not cross into Africa (which was the second head of the accusation), unless he first left three or four heirs of the Kingdom in Lusitania. Nay, that he might render the crossing more difficult, or at least safe as if by an oracle of God, if perchance he were unwilling to desist from it, he added, that by no reason ought he to cross, except by the counsel and impulsion of all the Bishops of Lusitania and even of the supreme Pontiff himself the Vicar of Christ on earth, whom he was wont to call the mouth of God on earth. and what he tried to impede in the African expedition undertaken. But when he, tenacious of his purpose, nevertheless persisted in his opinion, and decreed the crossing into Africa, Father Luis departed from the Royal court, and betook himself into our College of Coimbra, distant from the court more than a hundred and thirty miles: from which he gave a letter to the King himself, when he first crossed into Africa in the year 1574, by which he recalled him forthwith into Lusitania, as the King himself afterward ingenuously confessed, the letter being shown, which he carried in his bosom to that same Father when last in fever. But Father Luis being dead the following year 1575, on the 15th of March, almost three years before the King with much nobility of the Kingdom set sail a second time for Africa, where at last he perished (for he set sail from Lisbon in the year 1578 in the month of June), those of the Society who were with the King, although they prevailed with him by now very small authority, he being utterly addicted to the counsel of others; yet were never lacking to their office, left nothing unattempted, that they might wholly turn his mind from so fatal an expedition by themselves and through others. But both prayers and admonitions fell vain, the Godhead namely being wroth. What the Lusitanians themselves wrote concerning that matter

From which it will be ready for anyone to gather, that the full knowledge of these matters did not reach Natalis Comes and Jeronimo Franco (as being foreign men and utterly ignorant of the secrets of King Sebastian), when they sprinkle I know not what stain upon the Society from that disaster. Yet their not true history in these matters there is no reason that I should refute in this place, since Jeronimo Mendoza the Lusitanian, and an illustrious writer of this expedition, has excellently done that lately in a published booklet. And I know that the Lusitanian Senate demands from its King Philip III, that the history of the aforesaid authors be prohibited from being printed in all the provinces subject to his dominion, until from these and other things which they wrote not being well informed it be expurgated by the Inquisitors of the holy Office. These things he, with the best and most certain faith. But if anyone desires to see explained at greater length, how privately harmful, and how to anyone having sound sense those counsels ought to have seemed, of which the Society was said to be the author; let him read the aforecited Francisco Sacchini, and he will understand that nothing can be conceived more alien from all reason of human polity and so also from the likeness of truth, than that he should have wished to keep a King, most loving of himself, and most certainly about to transmit that affection to children if he should have had any, celibate, and to expose him even to the doubtful hazards of wars, with the crisis of the whole republic.

CHAPTER VI.

Legations to the Emperor, the King of Poland, and the Princes of Italy for help.

CHAPTER XI

[247] Meanwhile Cardinal Commendone, of whom we made mention before, having set out into Germany as Apostolic Legate from Pius to the Emperor, concerning entering the league and concerning vindicating the Christian public cause from the assault of the Turks, communicated with him the counsels of the Pontiff. Through the Legate and letters, But to the Legate arriving there Pius judged it must be anticipated, that he should gravely exhort the Emperor by letters to make this society of war, and strenuously to protect the Church of God. For this the title of Emperor, this the dignity and office of the Imperial majesty, this the splendor of his family and of his ancestors, this finally the honor of God and the salvation or peril of the Christian republic, demanded and earnestly required from him first of all by right. Epist. 3 l. 5 But indeed, since Pius understood that for diminishing the forces of the Turks, but not for utterly overthrowing their empire and destroying their name (which, if it could be done, he himself was attempting) the naval forces of the Christians were enough, in order utterly to remove the enemy from the midst, he was thinking of attacking him by land and sea, especially in the borders of Pannonia and Poland.

[248] This counsel therefore besides the rest the Legate declared to the Emperor, vehemently contending from him, that, this expedition being undertaken by him, he should bravely enter to harass the Turk in Pannonia, and, fortified by the Italian help which the Pontiff had supplied, to storm him. He showed that he had been sent to him in so great a crisis, he incites the Emperor to bring war against the Turks in Pannonia, as to the only protection of the Christian republic: that from him all aids were not only hoped, but even earnestly demanded. As he excelled the other Princes in dignity and place, so the greater burden of guarding the Christian cause was laid upon him: from him the examples of all excellent matters were to be sought; and the eyes of all were cast upon him, as upon the patron and vindicator of Christian liberty: such a counsel as he himself had taken, such would the rest also take: if he himself, who by his dignity sustained the person of the Christian name, who also for his own cause ought to be hostile to the Turk, should refuse the society; he would not only alienate the minds of those in peril, but also of the rest; and would furnish causes of speeches to those wishing to disparage. Let him remember moreover, how often both he himself and Ferdinand his father had prayed God, that He would give them the Venetians as allies against the Turk: now made master of his wish, let him be willing to be lacking neither to himself nor to his office. If he should scorn the social league, the Turk would attribute it to no goodwill or counsel, but to fear; for vanquishing them if they be attacked by land and sea: and by his evasion he would more irritate the enemy than soothe him. But if the Emperor trusted in the covenanted truces, he was vehemently deceived: the perfidy of the Turks both by very many other things, and by the violation of the league which they had made with the Venetians, was sufficiently perceived. To Christian and prudent Princes against the Turks a safe and most sharp weapon had been divinely given, that they should have no faith in their promises: and this had been handed down by the divine counsel of the wise man, nay of God, admonishing in those words: Trust not thy enemy forever. Eccli. 12 If, the Christian forces being divided in two ways, the Turk were attacked by land and sea, could it come to pass that he could resist? That the Emperor would never have a greater occasion of conducting the matter well. That it must now be declared by him, whether he preferred to conquer with the supreme Princes joined by a league, or to be pressed by perpetual servitude, or certainly to imperil his own and others' salvation.

[249] When the Legate had set forth these and other things to this effect in the words of Pius; who, doubtful of counsel, the Emperor, because it was established that they were true, did not disapprove them, or wish to be lacking to his office, but began to excuse various impediments. And first indeed he commended the counsel of the confederate Princes, who were prepared to ward off the Turk and vindicate the common salvation with common arms: then signifying that the Christian cause would be a care to him, he promises that, counsel being first communicated with the Orders of Germany, he would give more certain answers. But many days being spent in speaking things that were not to the purpose; the Legate to urge and to show, what duty, what the height of dignity demanded, how salutary that conjunction would be: but so far was it, that anything certain should be expressed, that daily more languid and more perplexed answers were rendered. The Emperor's mind, thinking of things conflicting among themselves, wavered; nor was it sufficiently settled, what he should do, or what counsel he should take. The summit of majesty indeed, the amplitude of dignity, and the reason of his office exhorted to entering the society: but the consciousness of his strength, and the memory of past disasters, and the truces covenanted with the Turks, deterred from thoughts of war. This also stood in the way, that the Emperor was hostile and somewhat angry at the Pontiff, who had decorated Cosimo de' Medici with the title of Grand Duke, which he himself professed (as we said) pertained to him.

[250] Impelled therefore by these things he kept saying, that it was a deliberation concerning a great matter, that the Republic and the majesty of the Empire, and dreading the threats of Selim, which was imperiled in his person, ought not rashly to be brought into crisis: that the blame of evils was wont to be cast not on the last events, but on the first causes of errors. That to others, whose borders and cities were far from perils, counsels were free; that he, who, exposed against the Turk, would receive the first assaults of the enemy, would err at his own peril, and turn upon himself the whole mass of the war. The Emperor's fear was increased by Selim, who, not ignorant that he was being solicited to arms by the legations of the confederates, by letters menacingly written admonishing him of the league entered with himself, exhorted him not to dare to disturb the peace, which he had so greatly experienced. He declared how much surer the hope of victory was for the Turk, than for the Christian. That Maximilian, having experienced both the force and the favor of the enemy, ought to prefer to have the Turk a friend, than an enemy. That he had wished to declare these things, lest, raised by some vain hope, he should fall into an irrevocable chance: that the beginning and the end of the war would not be in his own power. concealing his mind by demanding unjust things, Finally when by various contentions the plan of the begun business was protracted longer, the matter was at last brought to this, that the Emperor demanded to be aided by great forces; nor yet did he express how great. But, sureties being given in Germany, that he should be provided for: for he feared, lest when he was entangled in the war, either peace being made, or some cause obtained, he should be deserted.

[251] The Emperor's counsel seemed to look to this, that he who openly did not dare, should by the difficulty of conditions exclude the business of the league: but Pius, the Legate reporting, preferred to concede many things, than to leave the hope of so great a matter unaccomplished. But the Legate so did the commands of the Pontiff concerning decreeing the Imperial subsidy, that he himself offered nothing point by point; but waited, that the Emperor himself should propose by himself, with what number, or kind also of aid he had need: Pius fearing, lest if he had offered too little, thence an occasion of deserting the business; but if much, when he was urged for a definite answer. an occasion also of demanding more should be taken. Which deliberation was drawn out into many days: while the Emperor was unwilling to define anything. At last the Legate, wearied of waiting, freely declares to him, that he wished to send off messengers to Rome concerning such an entangled counsel: and since he was unwilling to explicate anything certain, let him at least declare this, by what reason he could persuade Pius and the other confederates, that he altogether desired to give sedulous service to this league. And so he left him entangled with many and various thoughts, by which he was agitated through that night. But when the Emperor had thence edicted, that to no one seeking Rome without his being consulted should any kinds of beasts of burden be furnished; on the next day at first light he asks the Legate by a written note, that he should not wish these things to be reported to Rome: for that he would decree concerning the number of foot and horse, of which he had need: as he soon did, demanding thirty thousand foot, but four thousand horse.

[252] Moreover it was determined by Pius, to bring help to the Emperor in this land expedition with twenty thousand foot and four thousand horse, and Pius offered him 20 thousand foot and 4 thousand horse, and to impose nothing graver upon the confederates. But to use for that matter that number both of horse (since they are with difficulty and almost in vain employed in fleets) and also of foot, which had been over from equipping the fleets of the allies: to which number, a subsidy being added, which was to be collected from Italy, as we shall soon say, the Emperor could be content. When therefore the Legate offered these aids to the Emperor, and it was nearly the case, that his delay would be overcome by the equity of the conditions; then at last he objected what before the Emperor had been silent about, that he had covenanted a truce with the Turk for eight years: that it was not equitable to deceive right, faith, and God the witness of the agreements; at last he excuses himself by the league entered with the Turk for 8 years. and to bind his head with perjury, who avenged fraud and perfidy in others. To his words he added deeds less opportune: that he took care that the tribute covenanted with the Turk be carried to Constantinople: which matter as it was a detriment and grief to our men, so it was a joy and help to the enemies. For as it took away from them the care and fear of the German peril, so it utterly cut off from our men the hope of obtaining help.

CHAPTER XII

[253] That therefore he might collect from Italy the subsidy, of which we were lately speaking; forthwith Pius sent Antonio Maria Salviati and Paolo Odescalchi as Orators to the Italian Dukes: that they too, each according to his means, conspiring into the Turkish war, might bring help to the confederates. And so beginning the matter from the stipendiaries of the Apostolic See, from Guidobaldo, Duke of Urbino, whose revenue was rather slender, Various aids are asked and obtained from the Princes of Italy. he demanded a thousand foot: from Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Piacenza and Parma, as many foot and two hundred horse: from Alfonso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara,

three hundred horse, a thousand foot: from Guglielmo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, a thousand foot, two hundred horse: from Emanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, two thousand foot, four hundred horse: from Cosimo the Grand Duke of Etruria, four thousand foot, four hundred horse: but from the Genoese and the people of Lucca together, according to the proportion of the strength of each Republic, two thousand foot and three hundred horse. Moreover these Princes almost all answered that they would obey the Pontiff according to their strength, and would contribute to that subsidy of the war whatever they could. But first of all Cosimo, the Grand Duke, reported to Salviati, that he would willingly furnish whatever of aid besides Pius should decree to be added: provided that the King of Spain, with whom he had covenanted that it was not lawful for him to enter the warlike society of any Prince without his being informed, had first learned this. Which answers were indeed most pleasing to Pius: and amid these they relate that he said, that he wished to set out into that expedition, if only he had first taken away the maritime command from the Turks: that it would be shameful and unbecoming, for him to keep youths at home, while a Prince now finished in age, and that one the highest of all, was going forth to wars. But these things pronounced from the heart for his ardor of guarding the Christian religion looked to this, that he might provoke the King of France and the Emperor, who delayed to enter this pious society of war, the more promptly both to take and to aid such a counsel.

CHAPTER XIII

[254] While these things are thus being done, Pius judged that this also must be diligently done by him, In Poland the King excusing himself by the peace entered with the Turk, that the business of the league be likewise treated in Poland and Muscovy. And first indeed this through Vincenzo Portico, the Pontifical Internuncio; then through the often-mentioned Cardinal Commendone, whom, the German legation a third time fulfilled, he had designated, as we said, Legate to Sigismund King of Poland, he diligently procured. But the things which were done by the service of Portico, let us first relate in order. He therefore, when he had reported concerning the Pontifical counsels to the King, he sends the Internuncio back to the Magnates, and not in vain: the latter answered that he could not give his name to this society, because he had made a perpetual peace with the Turk; but he showed that this one way remained, that recourse be had to the Polish Magnates, whom they call Palatines: and that with some one of them it be treated concerning obtaining a subsidy of thirty or forty thousand horse. For the Palatines, over whom his power was less full, since they had consented nothing to making that peace, whatever they did, violated nothing of the rights of that peace. Hence therefore by the service of the Internuncio it was procured, that Albert Laski, the chief Palatine of Sieradz, promised that for two months he would give thirty thousand horse for that expedition: and therefore Nicolaus Torlaus, a Magnate of great power, should gather another number of horse indeed very copious, that with those forces in the extremity of Poland near the city of Adrianople they might attempt to burst into the Turks, and to break them with joined forces. Epist. 34 l. 3

[255] But indeed when Pius had learned that the Prince of the Muscovites could lead a hundred and fifty thousand horse into the battle line, and that the same was an enemy of the Turks; he ordered Portico tarrying in Poland, that he should thence set out into Muscovy; The same Internuncio ordered to go to solicit the Muscovite, and should show to the Grand Duke of the Muscovites, that he had been sent by Pius, to associate his sense and forces with the Christian Princes, among whom, a league of social war being entered against the Turk, occupying the kingdoms of the Christians, there was now an excellent agreement. Epist. 35 l. 4 That war had been unjustly declared upon the Venetians: and that it was to be waged not only on the sea, but also toward the Hungarian region: that from Italy a huge fleet and forces had been collected: that to bring help to this land expedition not only befitted the Muscovite, but seemed greatly to his own advantage. For the tyrant of the Turks, kindled by the lust of ruling far and wide, other neighboring kingdoms being occupied, would at last not spare Muscovy. Pius indeed vehemently urged, that the Muscovite should undertake this expedition against the Turks: which he, by the amplitude of his empire and the nearness of places, could have happily conducted and sustained, because the empire of the Muscovites lies open most widely. For it is extended from the Altars of Alexander the Great, whose society would be very useful. even to the sources of the Tanais into the farthest lands toward the Boreal Ocean, almost under the very Septentrional regions: but from the East and from the south Muscovy has as neighbors the Scythians, today called Tartars: but the Tartars occupy a most wide plain, even to the Seric province, which inclines toward the eastern Ocean: but those who dwell between the Tanais and the Volga are wont to be in the obedience of the Muscovite, and among them those who are called of Kazan cultivate the friendship of the Muscovites: from Muscovy thence toward the setting sun looks Lithuania. And so Pius, judging that through such peoples, both by the friendship and obedience which they render to the Muscovites, and moved by hope of plunder and the novelty of things, joined with the Poles, the Mohammedan empire could perhaps be destroyed or certainly broken, did not cease repeatedly to impel them to accomplishing it.

[256] and who had once sought from Rome the royal name and masters of the faith; But since Pius thirsted not so much for the slaughter and victory over the enemies of the Christian name, as ardently for the eternal salvation obtained in Christ Jesus for them and indeed for all nations, he ordered it to be shown to the Muscovite through the Internuncio, that he had been moved not only for the cause of the warlike society, but also by a vehement desire of the salvation of souls, to decree that legation, that he might recall the Muscovites, who then had given their name to Christ, when the Greeks departed from the Latin Church, and thereafter followed the Greek errors with great pertinacity, to the worship of Catholic piety and the obedience of the holy Roman Church. That the hope of that matter had been cast in him, because formerly to the Roman Pontiffs his predecessors, Clement the Seventh, Paul and Julius, each the Third of his name, legates had been sent by the Princes of the Muscovites, who should demand certain gifts, namely royal insignia, from the Apostolic See, and that Priests and other pious men, craftsmen of the civil arts, be sent into Muscovy. For Basil, Prince of the Muscovites, desired to be decorated with the title of the royal name by Clement himself; since he judged that to give this was of the most sacred right and of the Pontifical majesty: since he had learned that the Emperors themselves also received from the supreme Pontiffs the golden crown and scepter, the insignia of the Roman Empire, by inveterate custom. And so if the Duke of the Muscovites were in that counsel, which his predecessors had once shown to the mentioned Pontiffs; Pius promised, that he would send Priests and Bishops, who should teach those peoples the truth of the Catholic religion, which handed down by Christ the most sacred Apostolic See holds and teaches, the customs of the people being learned he is ordered to remain. to which by a divine gift it has been given, that it cannot err. But when Portico had fully learned concerning the barbarous customs of the Muscovites, and had written to Pius concerning all the matters, which he had learned from Albert the Pomeranian, who being present had surveyed all things with his eyes, and well knew the disposition of that Prince, Pius answered him, that there was no reason why he should now set out into those regions: although the King of Poland commended and favored that journey: for he was unwilling that he should have any commerce with such savage peoples, especially since he understood that from other legations once sent thither no fruits of piety, as far as pertains to religion, had hitherto been perceived.

CHAPTER XIV

[257] But now what Pius did through Cardinal Commendone in Poland concerning the social league, The Legate Commendone then again solicits the King of Poland: let us comprehend in few words. For him, as we have already often said, he had destined as Legate to the King of Poland, both that he might suffer his diligence in so great a business to be desired in nothing; and also that he might more easily incline the King himself, not only an Internuncio, but also an Apostolic Legate being sent, to entering this society of war. Having set out therefore into Poland he declared to the King himself, that the interests of his kingdom and of the royal estimation first of all demanded, that he himself should bring war upon the Turks, and join himself by a league with the Christian Princes. For otherwise grave inconveniences could thence happen to him: and now new and not light perils were threatened by the Turks, which brought them no moderate hope of conducting the matter well: for to devastate Poland, the Turks had called out the Tartars, once called Scythians. The Turks themselves had constituted garrisons in Podolia at the river Tyras (the inhabitants call it Hister), and there had fortified with great works places safe by their own nature. But if the Turk should turn his cares to occupying the dominions of the Christians, he would not leave behind his back the Kingdom of Poland, which aptly and conveniently adjoined the Turkish empire. But if Selim had set his mind to stabilizing the dominion of both Wallachia, and expelling from Transylvania the Voivodes, who cultivated the Christian religion; it seemed not to be doubted, that he would forthwith bring war upon the Poles. That the Danes and Swedes, separated by the Sarmatian sea, were too remote to be able to come to help.

[258] The King therefore, that he might seem to give something to the Legate's reasons, whom understanding from the proposed conditions to be averse from the league. showed that he wished to enter a league with the allied Princes; provided that certain conditions (which were very hard and difficult) were kept: of which this was the sum. That with him the Emperor and the German Princes, at the same time arms being joined, should bring war upon the Turks: that they should begin the war by expelling the Turks from the Chersonese: that whatever of right in Prussia the Emperor pretended he had, should be ceded to him: that the same should guarantee, that the King of Denmark would attempt nothing against the Poles: and provide that no merchandise be conveyed by the Sarmatian sea to the Muscovites: that the dominions of Bari and Rossano in Italy, which he pretended were of his right, be restored to him: that money, which should be lacking to him for waging the war, be contributed by the confederates. But the Legate so interpreted the King's answers, that he esteemed him to seek not the equity of conditions, but openly to refuse the society. And so he resolved that the conditions offered by the Palatine of Sieradz must be accepted: who, he treats the matter with the Palatine of Sieradz: by his right in the regions of Wallachia, hoped, if he were aided by the help of foreign nations, for stirring up the minds and tumults of the neighboring nations, that he would gather two hundred thousand soldiers, with whom he could harass the Turk by war: and he showed that he had letters concerning that matter, sent to him by certain messengers from those peoples, who together with himself had resolved to meet the Legate of so holy a Pontiff. For the Moesians, Ziges, Triballians, who are now called Servians, Circassians, and Bulgarians, raised at the rumor of war and the hope of new things, had sent letters and messengers to the Legate, by which they promised that they would be partakers of his counsels, and companions of his perils, if the King should have undertaken war against the Turks. With which messengers the Legate having conversed, he increased in their minds the desire of taking up arms, as often as an army should be conveyed through Wallachia: which way without doubt was thought safer and surer, for overthrowing the inmost resources of the Turks. and the King being dead he is ordered to be present at the election. But indeed the grave ill-health of the King, from which a little after he departed this life, caused the counsels to be vain: of which sickness Pius being admonished, bore it

grievously. For since Sigismund left no male offspring, and by his death the name of the renowned Jagellonian people, which for two hundred years had held the scepters of the kingdom in Poland, was extinguished; Pius feared, lest, the comitia being held, some heretic should be substituted. And so he ordered the Legate, that he should not depart thence; but, if anything humanly should befall the King, striving with all zeal that some Catholic be chosen, he should be present at the election.

BOOK V.

The Turkish war accomplished by a happy victory. The death of Pius V.

CHAPTER I.

The disasters inflicted by the Turks in this war. The Christian fleets meet at Messina.

[259] While these aids are being prepared, and our men, not yet sufficiently equipped or in concord among themselves concerning the conduct of the matter, delay to succor opportunely the falling affairs; meanwhile the Turks inflicted great disasters upon the Christians: for so great everywhere, but especially in warlike matters, is the moment that speed or concord has. For in the preceding year, when Selim had sent forth by land and sea a huge army, After Cyprus was occupied by the Turks, in which almost two hundred thousand soldiers were said to be contained, to occupy Cyprus; Mustafa, his chief Magnate, prefect of the land affair, conveyed by the fleet to the ports of that island, in the month of July easily disembarked his forces in plundering fashion: and first attacking to besiege and storm Nicosia, a most celebrated and most fortified inland city, the head of the kingdom, which we mentioned before; a great slaughter of the Christians being made, he at last obtained it on the 6th of the Ides of September of the same year. Then insisting to harass and assault Famagusta, once called Salamis, a maritime city, likewise distinguished and most fully equipped, with a sharp and long siege, he likewise occupied it by surrender, because it could no longer resist the enemy, at the beginning of August of this year 1571, the conditions of the surrender being perfidiously violated: and Marco Antonio Bragadino the Prefect of the city, Nestore Baglioni the supreme Leader of the war, Lorenzo Tiepolo, Giovanni Antonio Querini, Luigi Martinengo, and other chief men by the utmost perfidy and impiety being destroyed by various kinds of punishments. And so that whole most noble island reduced into the power of the Turks brought a most grievous wound and equal grief not only to the Venetian, but to almost the whole Christian republic.

[260] But the Turkish fleet meanwhile, lest the Venetians or others should bring help to the Cypriots, and that it might afflict the Christians with as great damages as it could, striving with the utmost strength; harasses and depopulates Corfu, Crete, Cephalonia, Zacynthus, Cythera, and other islands and coasts of the Mediterranean sea: nay it recovered Cestria a city of Epirus, whose common name is Sopoto, which a little before Sebastiano Venier, while he presided over Corfu, had vindicated from Turkish servitude and added to the Venetian dominion: and having entered the Adriatic gulf, Ulcinj and Doclea, by a new name Antivari, towns of Dalmatia, being reduced into power, Budva and Hvar being devastated by fire, the island of Korčula, which was once called Black Corfu, and the town of Vlato being attempted (which, although not well fortified, the men fleeing away for fear, was protected by the wonderful valor of the women defending it), it had attacked the Rhizonic gulf: and from all these places, having gathered great plunder, it had led captive more than fifteen thousand Christians: and would have inflicted greater detriments, had not the Christian fleet everywhere resisted the enemy according to its strength. But that it should not utterly ward off these calamities and rout the enemy, while their fleet is variously impeded. many things very often impeded it. For while in its station near Zara in Dalmatia it awaits the aids of the allies, laboring with pestilence and famine; very many Leaders and soldiers being consumed, it is not moderately disfigured: soon agitated by various storms, and torn by the doubtful counsels of the Leaders, because it was not yet ruled by the command of one head, it judged it less to advantage to engage with a most powerful enemy. But these things others. But let us, to whom it is by no means proposed to digress further from our purpose, return to the Pontiff.

[261] Pius therefore bearing most grievously the calamity of the falling Christian cause, and perceiving the power and likewise the ferocity of the enemies to grow daily, These at last meet at Messina: as soon as the league was sanctioned, urged, solicitous on every side, that as quickly as possible the fleets of the allies be joined, and that they should invade and vanquish the enemy. And so M. Antonio Colonna, the Prefect of the Pontifical fleet, with fifteen hundred soldiers, who obeyed Onorato Caetani Duke of Sermoneta (besides very many others, whom he was calling out from everywhere into this expedition), and with twelve triremes, which he had received from the Grand Duke of Etruria equipped and hired at Pontifical stipends; those being damaged, which the preceding year sent from Venice to Ancona too great speed had not allowed to be well equipped: he orders to meet at Messina: and there to await Don John of Austria, the supreme Leader of the war, setting out from Spain. For at Messina, on account of the opportunity of the most celebrated port and situation for all matters, the Leaders of the social war, by the command of the confederate Princes, had resolved to meet, that they might there conveniently prepare supply, and take counsels concerning the sum of affairs.

[262] Moreover Pius bearing grievously the rather slow arrival of John, because, the month of July being now almost spent, he had not yet crossed into Italy; applied the utmost zeal that he might hasten the matter: and John of Austria, his delay being excused, about to come, and to solicit him, sent frequent letters and messengers into Spain. He at last about the Kalends of August conveyed to Genoa with a fleet of forty triremes, while he hastens thence to Naples, sends Ferdinand Carrillo, Count of Priego, Prefect of his household, as legate to the Pontiff: who, because it was not permitted him to do it in time, having kissed his sacred feet, and through him imploring the divine help for things to be conducted happily, should set forth the causes of his delay. But the causes were chiefly, that Álvaro Bazán, Marquis of Santa Cruz, Prefect of the Neapolitan triremes, sent by King Philip to fortify with a greater garrison the fortress of Peñón of Mauretania, could not return to Barcelona with the triremes more quickly, as had been prescribed to him; and it had been necessary to wait for Rudolf and Ernest, sons of the Emperor Maximilian, ill at Madrid, and thinking of crossing into Italy together with the Austrian himself and thence returning into Germany. Pius heard Carrillo benignly, and the excuse of the slower arrival being accepted, gravely edicted to him, that, having returned as soon as possible to John, he should admonish him in his words, that, well mindful of what parent he was born, he should be lacking neither to himself nor to the time: but should not delay to go against the enemy, trusting in the divine help that he would bring back a glorious victory. The same indeed to Marco Antonio Colonna, the same to the other Leaders of the war and soldiers, the same to the sacred men setting out into this soldiery, Pius declared in express words.

[263] John meanwhile, received honorably at Naples by Antonio Cardinal Granvelle, at that time Viceroy of the Neapolitan Kingdom, there in the church of S. Clara, the scepter and standard being received at Naples, from the hands of the Cardinal himself, amid the solemnities of the sacred rites, received with singular religion and ceremony the scepter and standard, the insignia of the given honor, sent by Pius the Pontiff. On which standard the image of Jesus Christ affixed to the cross was wonderfully shadowed in gold and silver: under which placed in the middle of the Supreme Pontiff, on the right of King Philip, on the left of the Venetian Senate, and from these by certain little chains attached, hung the insignia of John himself. He indeed a few days after, Bazán being left at Naples, who with thirty triremes (for Granvelle had added ten to the first twenty) and nine transport ships should carry soldiers, arms, and supply, with a favorable wind held with a fleet of twenty-four triremes for Messina: where, by Marco Antonio Colonna, at last he too arrives, and Sebastiano Venier the Prefect of the Venetian fleet, and the other Leaders and soldiers awaited with long desire, and received with great alacrity and honor, he gave great thanks to the Supreme Pontiff and the Venetian Senate, by whom he had been chosen Prince of the whole war; and undertook that he would administer all things with an upright and faithful mind. About the same time Marco Querini and Antonio Canale, as also the Venetian Legates, Legates of the Venetian fleet, who were bringing help to the people of Famagusta (for the sad news of Famagusta taken had not yet been brought), recalled from Crete by the command of the Venetian Senate, on the Kalends of September with nine triremes by a hastened course arrived at Messina.

[264] There are present also Álvaro Bazán from Naples, and from Palermo Juan de Cardona, Prefect of the Sicilian triremes; and Giovanni Andrea Doria with eleven triremes and nine transport ships, leading two thousand soldiers under Sigismondo Gonzaga, and other Leaders, and three thousand Germans under Alberico Lodron, having set out from Genoa. Epist. 24 l. 4 There were present also other chosen Leaders and soldiers from almost all Italy, France, Spain, Germany, who with the greatest goodwill gave their name to this war, by which the salvation of the Christian republic was at stake, Pius exhorting, as befits pious sons of the Church: of whom most, flourishing in birth, age, and resources, sought no other reward of their labors and perils, except that they might profit the Christian republic, and ennoble their name by some memorable victory. Among them besides the mentioned Leaders were eminent, Alessandro Farnese, Prince of Parma; Francesco Maria della Rovere, son of the Duke of Urbino, both youths of the highest hope; Pompeo Colonna, Duke of Zagarolo, and Prospero his brother; and many princely men. Paolo Giordano Orsini, Duke of Bracciano; Antonio Carafa, Duke of Montedragone; Pompeo Lanoja, brother of the Prince of Sulmona; Innocenzo Cibo, Marquis of Carrara; Luis de Requesens, Grand Commander of Castile; Sforza Count of Santa Fiora, and Paolo his brother; Vincenzo Tuttavilla, Count of Sarno; Andrea Provana, Count of Leini; Bernardino de Cárdenas; Ascanio della Corgna, Master of the camps; Ottavio Gonzaga, Francesco Ibarra, Orazio and Virginio Orsini, and very many other veteran Leaders and soldiers, signal for nobility of birth and warlike valor, whose names and merits to recount would be long. But we shall mention them below in their place, as the matter shall bear, without acceptance of persons. Meanwhile Egidio Andrada, an excellent soldier of the Jerosolymitan order, returns from Corfu (whither he had been sent by the Austrian with two triremes, one Spanish, the other Venetian, to explore the hostile affairs), and reports that the Turks had inflicted great devastation on Corfu, and had thence transferred themselves to Butrint: but that they had a fleet (as he had heard from the Greeks; for he himself had not seen the enemy, who had only put in at the Castle of S. Angelo, which is situated in the opposite part of Corfu, which looks toward Italy) of the number of three hundred ships, of which a hundred and ninety were triremes, the rest biremes and shorter vessels: although the number was far greater: for it was afterward learned that the Turkish fleet had two hundred and twenty triremes, thirty-five biremes, besides very many other smaller ships. Epist. 22, 23 lib. 4

CHAPTER II.

After long disputation a battle is decreed, the battle line is drawn up.

[265] Among these things, since Pius had heard, that among the Leaders of the war themselves there was not sufficient agreement concerning joining battle with the enemy, some objecting one thing, others another, each according to his own sense, what seemed to be to the public advantage; he sent Giovanni Paolo Odescalchi the Bishop of Penne, of whom we made mention before, to Messina, who should declare to the Austrian and all the rest, that the battle, not only, if occasion offered, should not be declined; but even should be as soon as possible sought out and bravely entered: for the victory would be the Christians'. Odescalchi therefore having set out to the Austrian, Pius assigns the victory to John, admonishes him most gravely in the words of Pius, that the one hope of salvation was placed in this, if he should decide the matter by battle: nor the occasion

so long desired should he neglect. If, relying rather on divine than on human resources, he should bravely attack the enemy, God would not be lacking to his cause; and that He portended all glad and prosperous things: nor indeed did Pius declare these things rashly or by human counsel, but led by a divine nod and instinct and many tokens. For concerning the happy success of affairs, both in Spain, and at Venice, and elsewhere, many things, as was reported, had been declared divinely to pious men; and the same S. Isidore Bishop of Seville had once foreseen, and left handed down in writing: to Pius, weighing the force and meaning of the written prophecy, as divinely promised: and considering to what it pertained (if the matter had anything worthy of credit), a conjecture was cast in, that all things which had been foretold concerning that matter fell upon the person of the Austrian. Let him therefore follow God as Leader, let him hope for all great and prosperous things: and mindful that he was born of Charles V as father, let him so wage the war, that if he could not surpass the domestic praises, he might equal them according to his strength. By Charles his parent life indeed had been handed to him, but no kingdom left: from Pius all things, which pertained to dignity and to advantage, would proceed to him: the same who took to himself the name and charity of a parent, would bring it about, that he should opportunely and well return abundant favor: this only was demanded of him, that he should show himself worthy of a kingdom. That great thanks must be given to God, because He had opened for him a field, in which his virtue could run forth and be known. Moreover the divine help must be implored by him with pious prayers: but he asks that the license of sinning be restrained, and it would be present, if he should recall the minds of the soldiers from unbridled license to holier institutions, and compose the military discipline in the whole fleet to the form of Christian piety. That assassins, exiles, robbers, debtors, mixed from the lost and lowest dregs of men, were flowing together to give their names: and so let him purge the army by discharges of the wicked: but first of all let him interdict the detestable blasphemies most hateful to God, let him ward off the infamous stains of games and idleness, the greatest allurements of sinning; let him forbid the allies and soldiers from injury; finally let him think that he must wage war first against the sins, by which the heavenly wraths are provoked and the weapons of the enemies sharpened, before against the enemies themselves. If he did these things, he would not only have more obedient soldiers, but would also soon bring back an undoubted victory.

[266] These and other admonitions of this kind of the Pontiff were of so great authority and faith with the Austrian, that he let down those words there into his breast and mind as if uttered by an oracle, Some others dissuade from offering battle of one's own accord, and entered into greater hope of conducting the matter well. He said that he was not ignorant, that by this expectation stirred up concerning him, a great burden was imposed on him; but that he would strive as far as in him was, that what the holy Pontiff had prescribed he might furnish with the utmost zeal and piety. And so, a council being again called, at which the Pontifical Internuncio, the Leaders of the war and other princely men and the chief veterans were present, each being asked his opinion, and ordered to give it in writing, some advised that the forces of the enemy must be more diligently explored, before the last peril should be undergone. Among them Luis de Requesens, a man of great prudence and authority (who had been given to the young Austrian as Legate and moderator of counsels) cautioned that the things which were to be decided by the sword must be administered with the utmost counsel: that for the error, by which, battle being rashly joined, the sum of affairs should be imperiled, a remedy was not easily found. That the famous Scipio Africanus had once shrewdly admonished, that one should engage with the enemy only with great opportunity or under urgent necessity: that it seemed unseasonable to seek battle, when the enemy had withdrawn within the Corinthian gulf (for fame held this), and no facility of drawing him out thence was afforded.

[267] But indeed to the Austrian, to M. Antonio Colonna, Sebastiano Venier, Agostino Barbarigo, the supreme Leaders of the war, to Alessandro Farnese, The greater and more generous part demonstrate it to be necessary, Gabrio Serbelloni, Ascanio della Corgna, and others, most of them great men and excelling in military valor, there was a far other mind: and they demonstrated by firm reasons, that as soon as it could be done, the matter must be decided by battle: nor must it be permitted, that a counsel, which greatness of mind could make glorious and fortunate, the declining of battle should render foul and vain. Therefore, said they, shall the loss of the apparatus, made with so great expense and labor, the devastation of our borders, the insolence of the enemies, our cowardice augment? shall the Turks unavenged provoke us so often? shall we always make a show to the enemy, and never bring arms? we repel war, we do not bring it. So much the more promptly and alacriously therefore must the battle be entered, as the necessity of one warding off peril ought to be greater than of one bringing it. Nor indeed is there doubt, that the enemy, by inborn pride and elated by victories, when we meet him, will lead out his fleet, and make opportunity of battle. But if no other reason, dignity itself should impel us to battle. Or do you think we shall undergo a moderate crisis of estimation, if, content with a vain apparatus, not even a light battle being attempted, and not even the enemy seen, we should return home with the utmost ignominy of us and of the Christian name? The enemies will joyfully boast this silent and to them desirable deliberation of those yielding as an express victory: the confederate Princes and others, who had bent their minds and forces into this care of the war, will justly complain that they have been frustrated of their hope, and wearied in vain by so many expenses and labors: the peoples will grieve that they have been by injury exhausted by tributes: in the next year a greater and stronger fleet of the enemies will threaten us, which may make us a greater business of war and prostrate all things: but we shall never prepare a fleet either greater or stronger. Why therefore do we delay? or why do we not, God being our Leader, and His Vicar on earth Pius the Pontiff promising all auspicious and prosperous things by divine instinct, and with the highest vows and forces together with the allied Princes conspiring to it, enter this battle, which seems not only useful, but even greatly necessary?

[268] These and other things to this effect the supreme Leaders, which were approved also by the rest of the trireme-captains and fellow-soldiers both prompt in hand and preeminent in counsel: to which when the rest acceded, but several, otherwise most skilled in military matters and grave in authority, the causes and reasons of matters being omitted, content with the authority of Pius alone, advised that the battle ought by no means to be deferred. All at last departing into this opinion, so great hope and gladness seized their minds, that whatever of time should intervene, that seemed to snatch the victory from their hands. And so, a fast of three days being at once appointed, supplications are decreed, which fell on the Nativity feast-day of the Most Blessed Virgin Mother of God: and all, the stains of sins being washed away by sacred confession, communicate themselves with the heavenly bread, having obtained the most ample rewards of the Apostolic indulgence, with which Pius adorned those who, duly expiated, gave their name to this expedition. Not a few discordant among themselves, all being piously and religiously prepared, injuries being pardoned, from enemies made friends, showed forth pacified wills and conspiring to administer the common cause well: a wonderful religion, according to each one's disposition, was in the whole army, both publicly and privately: the Priests chosen by the judgment of the Pontiff from various religious Orders and given to this soldiery, by pious exhortations and other offices of charity to be performed, contained all in Christian discipline. And so you might see some from prescribed booklets, others from beads inserted in a circlet, pour forth sacred prayers to God and His Genetrix the Most Holy Virgin, and as suppliants implore the divine help: all to be fortified as with firm coverings by the propitiatory grains, and the waxen images of the Lamb of God, of which things Pius had sent thither a great quantity, and had ordered each soldier to be presented with them: holding for certain, that if anything graver should befall them, they would depart into the heavenly seats: it was a reproach, not to give oneself with the whole mind to the offices of piety: such was with all the authority and example of Pius the Pontiff. You might see in the whole army no one idle or intent on play: he who assailed God or the Saints with curses, did not bear it unpunished: for two, accused of that crime before the Austrian, paid the penalty hanged by a noose: and that cast great terror upon the whole fleet.

[269] These things being thus constituted, they resolve to lead out the fleet from the port and to deploy and arrange it in battle lines, as if then there were need to engage with the enemy: that before they should enter the contest, the fleet is led out from the port: each one accustomed to his own place, all might be more prepared and equipped. The triremes were about two hundred and nine, of which twelve Pontifical, eighty-one Royal, a hundred and eight Venetian, two of the Duke of Savoy, three of the Genoese Republic, three of the Jerosolymitan Order, besides six greater triremes of the Venetians, which they call Galleasses, over which Francesco Duodo, an intrepid man, presided; and twenty-four transport ships, which Cesare d'Avalos, illustrious in birth and warlike valor, governed. But he, sent ahead with the ships by the Austrian, retarded by a storm, could not keep the course of the allied fleet and be present at the naval battle. To these were added about seventy fast vessels, and the number of armed soldiers was about twenty thousand, besides the rowers and the laborers, and likewise those who had of their own accord given their name to this soldiery, of whom there are said to have been three thousand and more. With the battle line therefore equipped in that order, of which we shall soon speak, the Internuncio Odescalchi praying well for the marines by Pontifical authority, on the 16th of the Kalends of October they set sail from Messina toward the East.

CHAPTER III

[270] The Christian fleet was conveyed toward Corfu, whither a little before with great damage of the inhabitants the enemies were reported to have put in, distributed by the Austrian into four parts in such a way, that it constituted a middle battle line, and distributed into ranks, two wings, and the reserves. The middle column of seventy-one triremes the Austrian himself led: whose sides the Pontifical flagship on the right, the Venetian on the left girt; over the former Marco Antonio Colonna, over the latter Sebastiano Venier, the Leaders of the social war, presided with power. The right wing, which was of fifty-four triremes, Giovanni Andrea Doria led, ordered, that before the battle should be entered, always preceding the others he should advance about six miles into the deep, and at the time of the contest be conveyed back into his own place to fight with an even front. The left wing, in which there were likewise fifty-four triremes, he gave to be ruled by Agostino Barbarigo, the supreme Procurator of the Venetian fleet: to whom Sforza Count of Santa Fiora, Prefect of the royal forces of the Italian nation, was joined. The rearmost battle line, which, sailing in the rear, consisted of thirty triremes, Álvaro Bazán Marquis of Santa Cruz ruled, and closed the column, about to bring help here and there, as the chance and assault of the enemies should demand.

[271] A modest interval divided the middle battle line from the wings; the reserves are assigned each to their own places. reserves being assigned to each part, The Austrian Luis de Requesens, his Legate, fortified with his triremes, followed: the flagship of the Genoese, in which Alessandro Farnese was conveyed with Ettore Spinola as Leader, supported Colonna: the flagship of the Duke of Savoy, in which is the Prince of Urbino, by the lead of Andrea Provana Count of Leini, was constituted in the reserves behind Venier: where the middle battle line was divided from the left wing, the flagship of Pietro Battista Lomellini, which Paolo Giordano Orsini ruled, sailed to be a reserve: behind the right wing Pietro Giustiniani, Prefect of the Maltese triremes,

was constituted: Antonio Canale and Marco Querini, Legates of the Venetian fleet, the former followed the left, the latter the right wing: Juan de Cardona, Leader of ten Sicilian triremes, who was in the column of Doria and closed the right wing toward the Royal flagship, was commanded, that with his triremes he should precede about ten miles continuously, and as soon as he should descry the hostile fleet, conveyed back into his own place, should admonish the marines of all matters: and should so divide his triremes, that four indeed should fortify the single flagships of each wing, but the remaining two the Imperatorial flagship. Moreover to each wing, and to the middle battle line, two greater triremes were drawn by a tow-rope.

[272] But for the day of the battle they had agreed, that as soon as they should behold the great standard sent by Pius the Pontiff extended at the stern of the Royal flagship, and the assignment to offices for the time of the battle, all should gather themselves, and equip and arrange the battle lines, the columns being so distributed, that all should oppose one front to the enemy, both in the middle battle line and in each wing; and each should order his own greater triremes to sail a mile ahead, which should singly be separated by so great an interval among themselves, that they should equal the whole front of the Christian fleet lying open about five miles wide, and be a bulwark for it; and, first engaging with the enemy, by the copious force of the brazen engines which they carried with them, should inflict upon him as great damages as they could, and disperse and disturb his battle line, as they did. They had besides distributed five hundred soldiers each, into those greater triremes singly, equipped with smaller engines, who from a covered place safe should beat the enemy with a storm of bullets: for those were very lofty and ample vessels, like most fortified bulwarks. But each flagship bore standards differing and affixed to different places; without distinction of nations, and the triremes which followed the flagships bore likewise signs of the same color with them. The triremes are placed not crowded together, but distant from one another by a modest interval; that for emitting the balls of the engines, when the time should demand, space might be left. Pontifical, Royal, Venetian triremes are intermingled; that the condition of advantage or disadvantage being made equal for all might cast greater care of mutual help upon each. Nay even the weak were distributed among the strong, which, protected as if by the wings of the better, should resist the enemy more strongly: but the soldiers themselves also not all separately by nations, but, to foster mutual concord and help, as should seem more opportune, were distinguished through the whole fleet. And since some Venetian triremes seemed equipped with a smaller number of soldiers than was fitting; for supplying them the Austrian assigned four thousand Spaniards and a thousand of the Italian race.

[273] The fleet equipped in this manner, advancing to attack the enemy, it sails against the enemies: through various chances and perils (which, lest we be too long, we omit to recount) on the 7th of the Kalends of October came to Corfu, thence to Cephalonia. Meanwhile when it was established that the Turkish fleet had withdrawn into the Corinthian gulf, thence they direct their navigation to Petala a port of Acarnania, set opposite the Echinades islands (which are now called Curzolares), with this counsel, that, conveyed to the mouth of the Corinthian gulf, they might draw out the enemy to battle. But, the winds blowing against, again and a third time held back, conveyed into the port of Valle Alessandria, which is situated on the coast of Cephalonia, they halted, until the sea should grow calm; thence, the force of the winds not yet softened, while they move toward the Echinades, the mournful news of Famagusta taken, when they had not yet learned it, was brought: which not only did not break their spirits, but anger, grief, indignity added so great goads to those eager for battle, that by desire of fighting and zeal to wipe out the stain they were the more vehemently kindled.

[274] At the same time the Turks, after the rumor of the Christian fleet having put in, a council being called, what seemed should be done, torn into various opinions, consult. Mehmet Sirocco, Governor of Alexandria, grave in age, experience of affairs, and authority, and some other chief men of the Turks (as our men afterward learned by the report of the captives) said that the enemy by no means must be neglected, who came of his own accord to provoke: and that the fleet, over which the brother of King Philip presided with the most flourishing Princes of the whole Christian republic, had not arrived except most excellently equipped: nor must one fight with stipendiary soldiers, but with honorary Leaders: that within the barriers of the Corinthian gulf, in all abundance of things, they would be most safe: wherefore the sum of affairs, no necessity compelling, ought not to be committed to the rashness of Mars, especially since they had a weaker fleet, very many of their men either consumed by disease or weakened by long navigation: but the Christian fleet would either be dissolved by the dissensions of the Leaders, or dispersed by some storm, if it should persist in these places at this time of year: therefore by sitting still they would plainly conquer.

[275] In this opinion was also Pertev, the other supreme Leader of the war, Prefect of the land affair, a man likewise grave in age and signal for warlike arts: who although he privately refused the counsel of battle, yet that he might show himself free of blame, and might not seem to oppose the decree of Selim, because he esteemed that the enemies would not make opportunity of battle, was drawn over into the contrary opinion: which was that of Ali Pasha his colleague, Prefect of the whole fleet, and of Uluj Ali the arch-pirate, most skilled in naval combats: who deemed it shameful, but the contrary opinion of the majority prevails, that the Turk, always before victorious, should be provoked by arms within his own borders by the Christian, and that a great mark of ignominy would be branded on the Turkish name from cowardice and fear, if they should decline battle. Nor did they doubt anything concerning victory: for both in the number of ships, and in the strength of soldiers, and in the experience gained from many prosperous battles, they were altogether superior. Finally that they had it fully and more than enough learned, what the Christian was worth in a naval battle: whom formerly Suleiman the father of Selim, and other Kings and Leaders of the Turks had often happily vanquished. And so, mindful of most prosperous battles, with brave and alacrious mind let them rush upon the enemy, about to rout whatever there was of Christian strength in one contest: for having attained this one victory, they would perpetually be victors by land and sea. But by nothing were they more moved to that opinion, than that they had the will of the Tyrant Selim, commanding that they must altogether fight, explored; and held it for an oracle, and remembered, that in the preceding year Piali, Leader of the Turkish fleet, because he had not routed the Christian fleet, removed from his place, had lost the favor and dignity of Selim. The counsel of fighting was aided by Caracossa the arch-pirate, a most sharp man and most skilled in naval wars: who, having set out to explore the forces of the Christians, had reported that the six greater triremes of our men, almost immovable by their weight, would be of no use: but the rest, fit for agile and nautical equipment, did not fill the number of a hundred and sixty (because he could not number them well) had affirmed by error. This opinion therefore being approved, the Leaders of the Turks strengthen the triremes by a new levy of rowers; and supply them in tumultuous fashion with a greater number of soldiers, whom they had collected from the nearest garrisons of Achaia, Aetolia, and the Peloponnesus, and prepare themselves with all their strength for the battle.

CHAPTER III.

The naval battle, and the victory won over the Turks.

CHAPTER IV

[276] Meanwhile our men, made more certain of the enemies' apparatus, on the day before the Nones of October, at the third hour of the night, the sky and moon favoring, move from Cephalonia: and on the next day, which day was the Lord's Day, conveyed at first light to the Echinades islands, the 7th of October, they send out Juan de Cardona with eight triremes to inspect the nature of the ports. Then the fleet gradually advanced to take water at the river Achelous, which, dividing Aetolia from Acarnania, widely winding rolls down into the sea. The triremes of the right wing preceded, which followed the flagship of Doria: who as soon as he began to be conveyed out from those islands, about the second hour of light, descrying the Turkish fleet about fifteen miles distant, signified it forthwith to the Austrian: who also from the Royal trireme, the sky whitening, had descried the enemy approaching. The Christians And judging that the triremes thence ought not to be much hastened, lest some confusion should arise in directing them into the battle line, the Pontifical Indulgence being promulgated, he orders the Indulgence of faults, which Pius by his power had most liberally granted to all fighting, to be promulgated, the signal of battle to be raised, and all to prepare themselves to fight. The Priests sent by the Pontiff went about all the triremes, expiating the errors of the soldiers by a brief confession; and carrying around through the ships the effigies of Christ hanging from the cross, excellently exhorted all, to be of good courage; nor to doubt, that Christ the God, for whose most holy name they were about to fight, would bring them help from heaven.

[277] Soon the Austrian, when he had descended into a fast vessel, and had commanded Colonna and Requesens to do the same, sent the former to look about the left, the latter the right wing, and the soldiers being animated, and to exhort the marines to battle: but he himself, conveyed around the middle battle line, ordered each to hold his own place, and sharpened the minds of all to enter the contest piously and bravely with the best reasons. For it must be thought that it went excellently with them, whether they survived, or met death: the survivors indeed, because it had befallen them to be present at so happy a contest: but the dead, because, bravely falling for the name of Christ and the salvation of the Christian Republic, they could happily associate themselves through the most ample expiation of sins with the most blessed souls. Nor indeed must there be doubt concerning victory: especially so holy a Pontiff interceding for them with God, whose cause was at stake. But to these things the soldiers answered, that he should not doubt anything of their valor, that they would do what befitted brave men. Colonna also and Venier and the other Leaders excellently confirmed their men: nor did they omit anything of those things which seemed would be opportune for attaining victory: which things brought great gladness to the Austrian. He having returned to his Imperatorial flagship, by drums, trumpets, and other instruments of this kind the minds of the soldiers were yet more raised and kindled; and with loud voice God omnipotent, Triune and One, was invoked; and the most holy Virgin herself also the mother of Christ, as one who can do very much with her Son (which Pius had prescribed to them), was reverently saluted.

[278] Fortified therefore with both human and divine protections the Christian fleet advanced against the enemy: who, descrying our men, forthwith himself also girding himself for battle, had drawn up his battle lines in this manner. against the enemy, of his own accord advancing to battle In the middle column, which consisted of almost ninety-six both triremes and biremes, Ali and Pertev the supreme Leaders advanced: the right wing, on which sixty-six triremes were conveyed, Sirocco and Caur the arch-pirates ruled: but the left, consisting of the number of ninety-five both triremes and biremes, Uluj Ali led: from whom, somewhat removed, twelve triremes rowed, but thirty biremes, over which Amurat Dragut presided: other smaller vessels closed the column: Caracossa with a great number of lighter vessels preceded the others. To all these very many arch-pirates, and those most valiant, who bore the insignia of lanterns, had acceded as helpers. The Turkish fleet consisted of two hundred and eight triremes, forty-seven biremes, besides many other smaller vessels. Now indeed the enemies, and despising the Christians, with inflated minds and sails conveyed nearer, drawn up in a winding front in the manner of a half-full moon, occupied the sea more widely: inasmuch as they planned to attack the Christians first facing them, then, having passed them by,

even from the rear, and so to surround them, that not even one of their vessels could escape. For since the Christian fleet was subject to different Princes, they thought it would come to pass that, flight being taken, it would look out for itself: and elated by past victories, they esteemed nothing less than that our men would be superior: for they believed the fleet of the Christians smaller than in very truth it was.

[279] And so they make themselves ready for battle: the Leaders promise the soldier the favor of their Tyrant and most ample spoils. they join battle and disturb the first battle line with their engines, Soon ready for battle, a great engine being discharged, they gave the signal for joining hands: to which by an equal signal our men answered, by no means declining battle: and that declaration of battle by the same din of engines, again and a third time, was repeated back and forth. Standards then being joined, at the beginning the Turks had those six greater triremes, which preceded our fleet, opposite them: which, striking them from afar with many and strong blows of engines, dispersed them scattered into various parts; and so disturbed their battle line, that beholding the great slaughter of their men, seized with fear, they could not keep their ranks. Which matter was the more unforeseen and terrible to the Turks, because the scouts had reported that no engines were arranged on the sides of such triremes: nor could they themselves prepare for that kind of contest, never before seen: but as that brought them the beginning of calamity, so it was the greatest help to our men toward victory. There shone forth in this place to the Christians some not obscure signs of present divine help, and of one happily advancing their endeavors. the wind, sun, and smoke favoring being used. First the wind, which up to that hour had favored the Turks, blew back forthwith, and the sea grew utterly calm; and removed all difficulty of composing oneself for battle, and of standing firm in the fight. Then the sun, which had run against the eyes of our men, and impeded their view, the middle region of the sky being passed, with its rays offended the gaze of the enemies; and at the same time a certain breeze, gently blowing from the west, carried the smoke, which the thunders of so many engines excited, from our men against the Turks.

[280] But indeed the Turks, their minds and forces collected, went on, and tried to penetrate by force those great triremes. But they were then so ill received by our men, that a good part of their fleet, scattered and broken, floated. This disaster being inflicted by the first triremes For that the enemies might less be able by a swift course to avoid those blows, they were soon retarded by the wind somewhat increased: which also, all the smoke being driven against them, took away from them almost all faculty of seeing. Our men then heard great crashes, and the ruins of masts and triremes, and the unheard-of shrieking of the Turks perishing. They saw not a few of their triremes consumed by flames; others, their helmsmen lost, come to a stop; the corpses of very many, oars, yardarms, vessels, arms of various kinds, borne upon the waters. And these things indeed were perpetrated by those great triremes alone. But the enemies, although they saw their fleet torn apart in many places and their ranks disturbed, both fleets are mingled into battle. yet stirred by a certain frenzy of fury, and having passed by our greater ships, did not desert themselves. And so soon the flagships and almost all the triremes so clashed, that they now fought not with missiles or engines from afar, but with swords almost foot to foot. For both the prows joined among themselves stuck fast, and the ships were so crowded together in a narrow space, that scarcely any weapon fell vain into the sea: and when some leaped into others' triremes, and with iron mallets, military daggers, poniards, and other arms of various kinds fought among themselves, so great gore was poured out, that the sea seemed to be bloody and to burn from the frequent fires of the engines.

[281] The Leaders and soldiers fighting in so atrocious a battle, now with the whole fleets the battle was joined. The triremes of the allies' left wing, The left wing, while, the Venetian Prefect being wounded which inclined toward Acarnania, sharply clashed first: and sustained a grave and long contest. But the excellence of the Prefect Barbarigo, and besides the valor of the other Venetian Leaders and soldiers so shone forth, that on that side they came out victors first. But Barbarigo, fulfilling the parts of no less an excellent soldier than a most valiant Leader, and strenuously fighting in the doubtful battle, an arrow being shot, his left eye being put out, transfixed his head; and he himself, falling headlong, was borne away among hands: but he would not have the arrow drawn out, until it should be fought: because he knew that, it being drawn out, he would forthwith die of pain, and he wished to die enjoying the gladness of victory. The contest finished, when he understood that the Christians had been victors, he suffered the arrow to be drawn from his head, full of joy, his hands lifted to heaven, giving immortal thanks to God, a man illustrious for singular piety, counsel, eloquence, and military valor, and worthy of eternal memory, departed life. The fall of so great a Leader both battle lines felt: for the Turks leaping briskly into the flagship disturbed by the loss of its Leader, other Leaders bravely succor, it would have been done for, had not Federico Nani and Silvio Porzia by a hastened course bravely opposed themselves to the enemy: by their help it came about, that the half-taken trireme was recovered; and our men, rushing in a more atrocious battle into the triremes of the enemies, the strength of the Turks being slain, with gladness mixed with grief held them. But the valor of no others fighting in this wing shone forth more, than of Giovanni Contarini, Sforza Count of Santa Fiora, Giovanni Battista Benedetti the Cypriot, Marco Querini, Antonio Canale, and Marco Cicogna: by the strength of which most valiant Leaders fighting with singular ardor no less than of the others, it makes the beginning of victory: the enemies being broken, and their Leaders Sirocco, Caracossa, and others finished by manifold wounds, thence victory began to shine upon the Christians: as soon also it came to pass in the middle battle line, where our Imperators exposed themselves to all the perils of battle with unconquered minds; and to strike the enemy with the sword, and with the shields and breastplates, with which they were signally fortified, to receive the blows of the hostile weapons at close quarters and from afar, with so great contempt of life did they not fear, that they seemed of their own accord to seek death for the common salvation.

[282] For in this place among the supreme Leaders of each fleet a more atrocious contest blazed up: the Austrian, from the middle battle line, charging against Ali Pasha, here the stronger part of the triremes, here the strength of those soldiering had stood firm. The Austrian, charging into Ali Pasha's flagship at the prow, sustained from him the assault of a most grave contest: the other triremes of the Turks everywhere bringing help to their men, and defending themselves so pertinaciously, that the Spaniards affected with wounds, with grave peril and mutual slaughter were repeatedly repelled. Meanwhile Colonna, when he had reduced into his power the trireme, with which he had long fought with admirable contention; and had scattered others nearby, like a tempest, with equal valor; wherever he went he made great slaughter of the enemies, and at last insinuated himself into the flagship of the Turks. But the Pontifical trireme, over which Onorato Caetani presided, engaging most valiantly with the signal Arch-pirate Caracossa, assailed him. But he afterward, falling upon the trireme of Giovanni Battista Benedetti the Cypriot, fighting with him is killed: whom while the Cypriot strips lifeless of his arms, a dart being thrown by the enemy from afar he himself also is transfixed. On the other side Venier, otherwise an old man more than seventy-seven years old, having engaged with the enemy with exceptional valor, and by the Venetian Leaders running to his peril had departed victor: and dissembled a wound received in the leg so long, until the enemies were destroyed: and avenged it so, that he took and sank the flagship hostile to him: and the peril being noticed, in which the Austrian was placed, he resolved to attack Ali from the stern; hoping, if he should strike his rear, it would come to pass, that, distracted by a battle on both sides, he would be conquered. As he directed his flagship thither, Pertev the other supreme Leader of the war with a band of triremes so quickly opposed himself, that, when he had shown himself in front, soon he turned the battle to the sides. But Venier, on whose valor the Venetian cause rested, likewise confirming his men by words and deeds, and mingling himself with the fighters, did not omit the offices of an excellent Leader and a strenuous soldier. Many being killed here and there, the Turks more sharply set foot. To our Leaders and soldiers neither mind nor valor was lacking: but pressed by the multitude they would have yielded their place, strenuously aided, had not Giovanni Loredan and Caterino Malipiero, Venetian trireme-captains conspicuous for military fortitude, succored those in peril: who while for some time, the battle proceeding, by strenuously fighting in an equal contest they rout the enemies, transfixed by bullets they fell.

[283] These Leaders being lost, our men do not cast down their minds: but kindled with greater anger more vehemently they rush upon the enemies, and slaughter some, wound others, drive off others. To Paolo Giordano Orsini bravely assailing two triremes, and being in grave crisis, the Count of Santa Fiora was at hand, whose arm, fighting well, is transfixed by a double bullet: after great slaughter on both sides, and by his help the enemies being slain, the triremes themselves broken are sunk. Orsini, himself also wounded in the leg, fortified by the strength of the Pontifical soldiers, charges into the flagship of Pertev Pasha: and having gained the trireme he did not find him slipped away in flight: for he, when he perceived the victory inclining toward the Christians, secretly received from his flagship into a skiff, the insignia of his dignity cast away, had escaped. The flight of so great a Leader seemed both to take away from the Turks, and to add to our men, courage. At last the Austrian and Colonna, supported by the strength of the other Leaders and soldiers, and Ali extinguished fighting most sharply with Ali for almost three hours, by singular valor overcame the Royal flagship of the enemies, very many Turks being slaughtered. Ali, a fragment of wood leaping off from a ball driven from the Pontifical trireme, over which Alfonso Appiani presided, has the top of his head broken, and is pierced through with a double wound. The Austrian commanded the spoils to be drawn off the lifeless body, the head to be cut off, and that, fixed on a spear, to be lifted up: and, the standards of the Turks being lowered, and the sign of the Cross raised, he led the captured Imperatorial flagship of the enemies behind his own Royal one by a tow-rope, proclaiming Victory. having gained the Turkish flagship he proclaims victory: The recognized face of the slain Imperator of the enemies, and the shout of the conquering Christians forthwith heard through the whole fleets, and especially the saving sign of Christ lifted up in the hostile flagship, both made our men more alacrious to perfect the victory, and so extinguished the ardor of the Turks, that, flight being taken, most looked out for themselves. And now the victors gave their effort not so much to slaying, as to binding the enemies, and taking spoils. Many chief Turks and the principal soldiers were captured, more slain: not a few cast themselves headlong into the sea, that they might either be overwhelmed by the waters, or swim to the mainland. Several halted deprecating death, both because the faculty of escaping was lacking, and because they hoped well of the clemency of the Christians. But the triremes which were in the reserves, themselves also sharply fighting, excellently showed themselves too. For both Bazán and Requesens, and Cardona, and Leini, and besides other Leaders, which the Christian captives, their bonds broken, advance: as each part seemed to be pressed or to labor, for the common faith, which they owed to all, briskly sent down aids: and themselves strenuously fighting, contributed no moderate help toward victory. At the same time, those of the Christians who in bonds among the Turks suffered the hardest servitude, when they perceived our men conquering, some to break the chains, others freed to free the bound,

and all, arms being hastily seized, to make great slaughter.

[284] While the enemies in the middle battle line and the left wing are strenuously slaughtered, in our right wing the fighting was less happy. There two most illustrious and veteran Leaders from each battle line had stood opposed to one another. Doria delaying in the right wing, Giovanni Andrea Doria and Uluj Ali, both strenuous and most known to one another, because they had often gone about the same shores. But Doria at the beginning of the contest, equipped with ten or twelve triremes, withdrew himself into the deep; whether because he had cautiously resolved not to bring into crisis the triremes, in which the sum of his dignity was imperiled; or fearing, lest the enemy, who in the multitude of vessels was far superior, should extend his wing more widely, and surround the Christian battle line: for Uluj Ali was chiefly doing this, that he might encircle our battle line, and having passed Doria by from the flank, engage with him at the stern. But that counsel was anticipated by Doria: although he extended himself more widely into the sea, and joined battle later: hence he underwent various reproaches, most suspecting that he had wished to give himself to flight. But others vindicated him from blame, because, cautious by art, he had striven to elude art. In whatever way the matter stood, several Christian triremes were gravely struck in this place, the victory inclines toward the Turks, the Maltese flagship being taken, and first of all the Maltese flagship: for Uluj Ali, descrying our triremes, which had separated themselves from Doria, and were borne on the sea in no order and with uncertain command, with incredible speed surrounded them with a continuous column of triremes: and attacking them, the defenders being slain, struck them most ferociously. In this fight the soldiers of the Jerosolymitan Order, to whom there is as it were a natural war with the Turks, about fifty; and several Florentine knights of S. Stephen, and some Venetian trireme-captains, and not a few others most valiantly fighting, fell.

[285] The Maltese flagship, having sharply engaged with Uluj Ali, at last came into his power: but soon it was recovered by our men, but the battle is restored by the victors elsewhere, Pietro Giustiniani, the strenuous Leader, wounded, being snatched from the jaws of the Turks: and the enemies would have inflicted a graver blow, had not Doria, soon the Austrian, Colonna, Venier, Bazán, and Cardona, the peril being beheld, quickly brought help, and routed the enemy. Whom when Uluj Ali had beheld approaching, and Doria turning his triremes against him, and had learned that by the valor of our men the middle battle line and the right wing had been slain and overcome, by fear he relaxed the ardor of battle: and the triremes which he had taken being left, with the most hastened column he could he cast himself into flight. Him our men, making sail with six or seven vessels to a promontory, pursued, and compelled the rest of the Turkish triremes, which were about thirty, to dash against the shore; and dragged them all out, one being excepted, by tow-rope, but empty, and badly damaged, they recovered; Uluj Ali most swiftly, as we said, escaping: who with some half-broken vessels, which were said to be about thirty, hastened toward Modon, then to Constantinople, that he might present to Selim the standard snatched from the Maltese and the captured trireme, the signs of his fortitude: and in this part too the barbarians are conquered. but him, because it had now grown toward evening, and the rowers, their strength broken, were wearied out, our men could not pursue. The enemies therefore for the greatest part being slain, several cast into chains, the remaining few into flight, the victory stood entire to the Christian name. Which accomplished, our men, the triremes and spoils being gathered, withdrew into the port. Soon a savage tempest having arisen, and the sea being vehemently disturbed, lest in the port they should make shipwreck, and be harmed nothing thence, He who gave the victory, God, protected them unharmed. The spectacle was foul to behold, pitiable, and altogether terrible, to look around at the bodies of the slain men, and the foulness of the bloodied sea, and the arms together with the parts of the broken triremes floating everywhere; and the very stroke of the oars to be impeded by the multitude of corpses swimming on the surface.

[286] There was in the Christian Royal flagship, besides others, a chosen band of four hundred Spanish soldiers, who under the decks, by the great valor of the soldiers and Leaders, for the chances of a longer battle and for the last crisis, were reserved. They, awaiting the nod of the Austrian to rise up, as soon as they heard the signal of rising given by agreement, whole and vigorous unexpectedly arising, succeeded our men wearied and placed in the utmost peril: and a shout being raised, with drawn swords made an impression upon the weary enemies. This unexpected battle line, and unforeseen storm, first confounded and disturbed the barbarians; soon felled them with vast slaughter. Several Spanish nobles, prompt in counsel and hand, stood around the Austrian fighting. Among them Luis de Requesens, his legate; Bernardino de Cárdenas, who bravely fighting met death; Lope de Figueroa, Master of the camps; Miguel de Moncada, Pedro de Padilla, and several other men born of the highest place: who strenuously fighting gave a specimen of exceptional valor. But in the Pontifical flagship, besides the cohort of most valiant soldiers, Colonna had with him a flourishing band of Roman nobles: whose chief are enumerated; among them were Pompeo Colonna, Duke of Zagarolo, whom the Pontiff had joined to him as legate, and Prospero his brother; Troilo Savelli, Vincenzo Vitelli, and others: whose valor, counsel, and brisk service was especially observed in this war: but of them Orazio and Virginio Orsini, and Orazio Carafa, strenuously fighting, fell with unconquered minds. But in this battle the exceptional valor also shone of the Princes of Parma and Urbino, of Leini the Leader of the Savoyard flagship, of Francesco Duodo Prefect of the greater triremes, and of Ascanio della Corgna. Nor inferior to these in slaughtering the enemy were Gabrio Serbelloni, and Pompeo Speciani, Milanese, and others signal in birth and warlike valor. But Paolo Ghislieri, kinsman of Pius the Pontiff, second to none in crushing the enemy, strenuously fighting received a wound in the face, and the trireme hostile to him, the enemies being slain, vanquished by the help of others, reduced into his power. Michael Bonelli also, the Pontiff's nephew by his sister, a brisk youth, sharply fighting slew the enemies. Finally all, whether Leaders or soldiers, of the Pontifical, Royal, and Venetian fleet bore themselves so excellently, that by divine help that huge army of the Turks was wholly routed, slain or captured unto extermination.

[287] This memorable conflict therefore, that day, begun at the midday hour, followed a happy outcome: and in so brief an interval of time, namely about the space of four hours, it pleased God, to give to the Christians the greatest victory of all that have existed at sea within the memory of men: which matter was the more admirable, the more our men were inferior to the enemies in the number both of soldiers and of vessels. And indeed no one could fail to perceive, that this had been done divinely: for, to omit that which we mentioned above concerning the change of the wind, that so huge a fleet, so long a navigation, at that time of year, could be accomplished in so brief an interval of time; that the enemy had come forth to provoke the Christians, when otherwise he could be safe at home; seems plainly worthy of notice. But that the pirate, and not without some error on both sides turned to the good of the Christians, who had come to explore the Christian fleet, had falsely reported, that about 60 of our triremes had directed their navigation backward; just as it had also been reported to the Christians, that from the Turkish fleet as many beaked ships had withdrawn toward the East; this brought it about, that, deceived on both sides, but for our men by a fortunate error, they did not hesitate to advance and join standards mutually. Moreover it was done by divine counsel, that well in the morning our men descried the enemy in that place: for both there was leisure for them to equip themselves for battle and to perfect the victory, and the nature of the place afforded as great a facility of conducting the matter well as they could have wished.

[288] That gulf of the Ionian sea at Naupactus, where the matter was done, offering to beholders the appearance of a theater, to whom the place too and the time favored in its circuit lies open more than two hundred and fifty miles, its coasts distant about twenty-five miles from one another. From the rising of the sun the coast is girt by the mountains of the Peloponnesus and Aetolia; from the south it looks toward the island of Zacynthus, from the west toward Cephalonia and Leucas. Where it looks toward the east, about a thousand paces distant from the mainland, three rocks rise, now called the Curzolares islands, once the Echinades; either because those sharp-pointed rocks recall the form of the spiny sea-urchin, or because there the sea-urchin fish (for both are true) is copiously caught by fishermen. But the name before almost unknown and obscure this celebrated victory ennobled. Moreover the victors, leaders and soldiers, received into the port of Petala, congratulated one another wonderfully: each extolled the other's exceptional deeds with deserved praises, and all with singular gladness stretching their upturned hands to heaven, but chiefly the prayers of Pius availed. gave the highest praises and as great thanks as they could to Almighty God the author of things well done, who had made them masters of so great a victory, and referring it after God to the supplications and piety of Pius, professed that they owed to him those things which children owe to parents. Soon they decree messengers with letters to him and to the other Princes concerning the things done. To the Pontiff the Austrian Ferdinand Carrillo, Count of Priego; but Colonna sent as legates Prospero his kinsman and clansman, and Maturino Romagasso a signal soldier of the Jerosolymitan Order, with the standard snatched from the Leaders of the enemies. Meanwhile our men, intent on tending the wounded, on dividing the plunder, and on refreshing their strength, for some days impeded by adverse waves halted in those ports.

CHAPTER V

[289] There are said to have been slain on that day about thirty thousand of the enemies. The nobler leaders and all the trireme-captains, part slain, Thirty thousand Turks being slain, 3486 captured. part captured, besides Pertev Pasha and his son, and Uluj Ali; with whom a few others, as we said, took flight. In counting the captives, who came alive into the power of our men, in the partition of the plunder indeed three thousand four hundred and eighty-six were found: but many more privately hidden, who did not come into the common lot. Among others, several chief leaders and soldiers, the two sons of Ali Pasha, begotten of the sister of Selim, were captured, Ahmet eighteen, the other thirteen years old, called Mehmet. About fifteen thousand Christians, whom in former years the barbarians had made captive, Christians freed about 15 thousand, were vindicated into liberty. Of our men, a census being held, seven thousand five hundred and sixty-six were missing: and a great part of them Venetians: for four thousand five hundred of them fell fighting: among whom several illustrious men and most valiant Leaders; 7500 Venetians slain, most of them as, besides Agostino Barbarigo, and others whom we mentioned above, Benedetto Soranzo, Vincenzo Querini, Giovanni Loredan, Girolamo and Marino Contarini, Giorgio and Andrea Barbarigo, M. Antonio Lando, Antonio Pasqualigo, Francesco Bono, Girolamo Venier, and others, whom to recount would be long.

[290] But partakers of the same fate and glory were some Prefects of the triremes from the allied cities, and other illustrious men of illustrious name; as Giovanni Battista Benedetti, the Cypriot; Andrea Calergi, the Cretan; Antonio Eudemonti, of Cydonia; Girolamo Bisanti, of Cattaro; Giacomo Mezzo, the Dalmatian; and Giacomo Trissino, of Vicenza; who all, with singular fortitude

fighting even to the last breath, departed from the living. But these and the rest, who in the fleet of our men met death, not so much the force of the enemies struck down, as that One for whom they fought pledged Himself to them, Christ: for it is credible, that those who, first expiated by the Catholic rite, and loosed from all faults, then indeed looking upon God, poured out their life for His glory, at the same time, surrounded by a band of Angels, flew triumphing into heaven. it is credible that all of them were received into heaven. For so great is the force of a sacred war against the enemies of the holy Church, that, as good authors hand down from the divine scriptures, it makes even the little upright into Saints and Martyrs of God, where to be conquered is salutary, but to conquer glorious. There were captured about a hundred and ninety of the enemies', 190 ships captured partly triremes, partly biremes: of which a hundred and thirty were whole; and all of them most fully equipped with every kind of supply, precious furniture, and arms; eighty, partly triremes, partly biremes, either broken or burned, the rest lost or escaped by flight. or sunk, perished, but about thirty more or less were dispersed in flight. Of the forty honorary triremes, which because they bear the signs of a nocturnal light are called by a Greek name Phanones; all, one being excepted, came into the power of the Christians. A hundred and sixteen brazen engines of the greater form were found, but two hundred and fifty-six smaller: all of which were divided among the confederates, according to the law of the league, in proportional part.

CHAPTER IV.

The victory indicated divinely to Pius V, with what congratulation it was celebrated.

CHAPTER IV

[291] On this very day of the battle and the night preceding, at Rome Pius (inasmuch as he esteemed that the fleets were now near, so that they should engage) gave himself to much greater prayers. At the very hour of the battle while prayer is made at Rome. And he took care that this same be done by the sacred men in the Colleges and Convents, through all these days: where to each hour the servants of God were distributed, on that account assiduously beseeching the Lord. For no care more pressed him, than the happy and desired outcome of this expedition: for whose cause he had afflicted himself with so many and so great watchings and fastings, his age otherwise declining; and had poured out so many tears and prayers; by which inclining the divine mercy and clemency toward the Christians, he merited to be heard. Moreover he was held worthy, to whom God, though by so great intervals of places, namely in the Vatican, acting in his chambers, on the same day and hour The victory is indicated divinely to Pius on which it was fought, indicated the victory divinely. Where when he was acting with his familiars, especially with Bartolomeo Bussotto, Treasurer of the Pontifical treasury, concerning grave matters; them unexpectedly leaving, he opened the window; and his eyes lifted to heaven, for a little while fixed he so remained: and then closing the lookout, thoughtful, looking at Bussotto: It is not, said he, now the time of doing business. Go therefore, and give thanks to the Lord God: for our fleet, having engaged with the Turkish one, at this very hour has brought back a victory.

[292] He having heard this, forthwith full of admiration withdrew: but going looking back, as Bussotto noted from his mouth he saw the Pontiff already prostrate on his knees at a small altar, with joined hands giving thanks to God. But although that seemed wonderful to Bussotto, yet besides his domestic and faithful friends, he was unwilling to communicate the matter with anyone: fearing, lest, if the vision were less true, anything should be detracted from the estimation of the Pontiff. Having gone home therefore, in a certain book he noted the memory of that matter, the day, and the hour. When moreover a certain message of the victory had been brought, no place of doubting concerning the truth of that vision and saying was left to him: and therefore Bartolomeo himself related it to many Cardinals and other princely men, the Pontiff especially being dead. Cardinal Cesi also testified, that he had then forthwith entered to the Pontiff, and had seen him falling on his knees and praying. Nor very long after, namely on the 12th of the Kalends of November, Pius was made more certain of the matter well done by a messenger sent to Venice, the truth of the vision being confirmed by a messenger sent from Venice. when Ferdinand Carrillo, and others sent as legates by the Austrian and Colonna to the Pontiff, impeded by adverse winds, could not arrive at Rome more quickly. They relate that Pius often marveled, that the matter was declared to him later than the time demanded: inasmuch as he doubted nothing of the happy outcome of affairs.

[293] This message therefore being received by Pius at the dead of night, leaping at once from his little bed, which received he appoints supplications, and hastening to the domestic chapel, he offered to God, the author of things well done, words as suppliant, indications of singular gladness, and equal piety, and thanksgiving: and his Palatine officials and all his familiars being ordered to wake, he stirred them to the same thanksgiving. But light having risen, all the Fathers flying together to him for the cause of congratulation, venerating alike and rejoicing, and most cheerfully received, and the gladness being communicated on both sides; accompanied by these and very many others, thence he gave as great thanks as he could, in the Basilica of S. Peter, as was fitting, to God: and appointed and performed public and celebrated supplications: and through all the parishes took care that the due rites be duly performed for those who had met death in so excellent a war, and that their exceptional deeds and virtues be celebrated together in public orations. Nay even that the Christian people might perpetually venerate so great a benefit of the divine clemency, with such piety as was fitting, in honor of God and of His most holy Genetrix the Virgin Mary (by whose prayers and help chiefly he professed that he had attained so great a victory) he instituted, he orders the victory to be commemorated yearly. that thereafter forever on the Nones of October, the Commemoration of Holy Mary of Victory should be piously recollected in the Catholic Church: that namely by this exceptional monument of the divine benignity the minds of posterity, stirred to give thanks to God and to His parent, might be raised into this hope, that the enemies of our religion can (provided that the senses and forces of the Christians come together into one) be wholly conquered, routed, and destroyed; especially if hope be reposed not so much in arms, as in the divine help (as was then done), and, the filth of sins being washed away, pure prayers be poured out to God, and the help of His Genetrix Mary be implored with sedulous vows.

CHAPTER VII

[294] About the same time the August Emperor of the Romans and the other Christian Princes, having congratulated Pius by letters and messengers on so happy and singular an outcome of affairs, [There followed everywhere great congratulation of those ascribing the victory to Pius,] referred to him after God so signal a victory. Soon everywhere among the nations the report was spread, that it had been done by divine counsel, that his Pontificate had fallen on those times, in which the Church of God, afflicted by the forces of the Turks harassing the Christians, vehemently needed this opportune subsidy: and that the service of the Pontiff had been so far grateful to God most high, that it had been enough to conciliate the most sacred society of the Princes, and that he himself was the prince and author of such and so great a victory: concerning which matter both in prose and in verse, by almost all men of illustrious genius inscriptions and elogia were everywhere published, and in three nobler languages spread everywhere on earth for the everlasting memory of that matter.

[295] Moreover Selim, his fleet lost, stirred with fury, edicted that all the Christians who were in his kingdom should be slain: which nevertheless God averted, the tyrant being led away from that mind by Mehmet his counselor. nor was the consternation less among the Turks For namely if that were done, it would come to pass that not only would all the Turks who were among the Christians be slain in the same manner; but also the King of France, this savagery being perceived, the old peace counted as nothing, together with the other Christian Princes would conspire to destroy the Turkish Empire. But this it was sufficiently established, that at the same time at Constantinople the Turks, terrified by fear, publicly departed, and fleeing into Asia carried very many things thither: moreover all who had once denied Christ, deserters among the Turks, seized with equal dread, now purged their perfidy, and professed by mouth that they had not renounced Christ from the heart, and so that the time of casting off the Turkish superstition and of returning to the Christian discipline had come. Wherefore the Turks themselves, as if their empire were now about to be destroyed: struck with terror and like men out of their minds, submitting themselves to the Christians, kept saying: When we shall have been in your power, let mercy of us, we beseech, hold you. Such namely was the dread that had invaded the minds of the enemies, and to such estimation had the arms of the Christians come, on account of the celebrated fame of this victory and of the Pontiff's virtue, and that opinion of his sanctity which they had conceived from the force of his prayers.

[296] The fear of the Turks was increased by prodigies shown from heaven, which also seemed to have been foreshown from heaven by various signs which seemed to portend the destruction of the Ottoman empire. For at Constantinople above the Mosque (which was once a notable temple dedicated to God under the name of S. Sophia) a report had grown current that three most shining Crosses, of fiery appearance, had appeared in the pure and clear sky: and that they, attacked by the barbarians with many arrows, could never be harmed: but, raising themselves on high by a swift motion, had rendered the blows vain and useless. In the very conflict also of the naval battle, that Christ our Redeemer, and the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, surrounded by a band of Angels, threatening the Turks with drawn swords, had stood firm in the lofty air. But the Turks themselves, as they say, captured in that battle testified that they had beheld this: which also the skilfully shadowed painting of the battle itself indicates, which is seen in the Vatican in the Royal hall, with these inscriptions appended; concerning which the inscription set in the Vatican intimates something. of which the one seems to intimate this. The opposed fleets, one of the Turks, the other of the Christian society, between Pius V Supreme Pontiff, the King of Spain, the Venetian Republic, the league being now entered, rush together with huge spirits on both sides. But the other is read thus. The perpetual enemies of the Christian Religion, the Turks, exulting in a long success of victories, and rashly overconfident in themselves, equipped with soldiers, Leaders, engines, and finally every warlike apparatus for terror, at the Echinades islands, by the common fleet, in the greatest battle within the memory of men, by the manifest help of the Divine Spirit, are routed. But that by these portents the enlargement of the Christian empire and the destruction of the Turks was portended, the enemies indeed feared: but yet (whether by the dissensions, not to say the idleness, of the Christian Princes, or by our sins meriting it) we have neither yet been worthy to see that done, nor is the blindness of the barbarians moved, to embrace the light of truth, even by signs sent from heaven.

[297] But indeed, that we may return to the victorious fleet, the victorious Leaders, the strength of the fleet being restored, yet because of the victors scarcely 6000 remained whole call a council, and consult what should be done. Some advised that Byzantium the head of the hostile kingdom should be sought, others the Naupactian gulf and coasts, others that other expeditions should be undertaken, and that while the spirits of the victors were warm, and fear seized the enemies, the war should be bravely prosecuted. But since the triremes were almost stripped of rowers, and a good part of the soldiers were wounded, most died, others lay sick; and of those who could fight, scarcely six thousand remained; and they labored under want of the forces which it behooved to leave for garrison, and of supply; then especially, because autumn was hastening on, and winter threatened storms

they resolved to return into winter quarters: yet with this counsel, that with the new spring they should at once go forth into the deep, and, arms being joined, advance into the open and free sea to harass the inmost borders of the enemies. the war to be waged by land and sea is deferred to the spring time. Meanwhile by land Maximilian the Emperor in Pannonia, well supported by twenty thousand foot and four thousand horse, which the confederate Princes, as we said, offered him, should press Selim with war: and the Sarmatians, Muscovites, Persians, Tartars, and other nations neighboring the Turks, called out to attack the nearest provinces with war, should rush together: that, surrounded by land and sea on every side, what Pius was attempting, the Ottoman Empire might be overthrown. These things therefore being constituted, the Austrian with the royal fleet withdrew to Messina, thence to Naples, received with the highest honors; the Venetian kept himself within his ports; Colonna triumphing hastened to Rome.

CHAPTER VIII

[298] And since honor is due to virtue and a triumph to victory, especially since it was once placed in the custom and institution of the Senate and People of Rome, In place of the triumph which the Romans prepared for the returning Colonna, that to their Imperators, returning to the City after enemies vanquished, they should decree a triumph, and receive them more honorably; the Romans had resolved that to Colonna approaching Rome, this signification of honor and common gladness, in proportion to the magnitude of the victory, should be given. Which kind of spectacle never seen at Rome for many ages, while it is publicly being prepared with the utmost pomp and exceptional expenses; behold, it is at once reported to Pius that this less advantaged: both because it seemed fitting that this honor should be conferred upon the Austrian alone, the supreme Imperator of the fleet; and also lest Marco Antonio should thence be brought into greater envy with his rivals, it was only permitted by Pius that he be honorably received: as happened. But indeed Pius, although he loved him uniquely, and esteemed him worthy of the highest honor, yet lest he should seem to make the lesser power equal to the greater, permitted the people to honor him with a moderate pomp: but that if the Austrian should enter the City, he would give him greater honors. Yet the zeal of the Romans could not be restrained from celebrating the entrance of Colonna with triumphal honor, and with a most crowded concourse of all the orders. And so on the 17th of the Kalends of January as he entered the City by the Capena gate, both the kinsmen of the Pontiff, and the Magistrates, and besides other highest men, and the knights of the Pontifical guard went forth to meet him, and having honorably saluted him sitting on a most adorned horse magnificently led him in; the gate, by which he was conveyed, being more sumptuously decorated.

[299] At it they had erected two great trophies, to which some captives were seen bound: but above the gate this elogium had been set. as was done with notable pomp. To Marco Antonio Colonna, Prefect of the Pontifical fleet, and most well deserving of the Apostolic See, and of the safety of the allies, and of the dignity of the Roman People, the Senate and People of Rome. Moreover several other learned and honorable inscriptions were read everywhere, especially at the old arches; by which both the magnitude of the won victory, and the praises of the Pontiff and of so great a Leader were briefly mentioned. But when the procession began to be led, about two hundred captives in composed order preceded, in the dress of the Pontifical household: then a hundred and seventy other captives next disposed followed, and the spoils of the enemies borne up here and there afforded a most beautiful spectacle of the triumph. The knights of the Pontifical guard, then the Magistrates disposed in order, gravely advancing; the standard of the social league, and other military signs were carried before. Colonna's sides were girt by Girolamo and Michele Bonelli the brothers, kinsmen of the Pontiff. As they advanced to the Roman forum the urban militia met them, distributed into seventeen cohorts: which, fittingly equipped, advancing behind the captives, presented an excellent appearance to the spectators and completed the pomp.

[300] In this order they proceeded to the Capitol, thence to the Vatican: after which Colonna offered his captives to Pius, there Pius the Pontiff, very many Cardinals and other highest men looking on, raised up Colonna submitting himself to kiss the sacred feet, and most lovingly embraced him. He, after the custom of Leaders, the things done by him being briefly set forth, forthwith handed over the captives brought forward into the power of Pius. Among them was the younger son of Ali: for although each had been conveniently and liberally treated, just as if they were children of Christian Princes; yet the elder, from the sickness which had deprived him of sleep and finished him by abstinence, had already departed from the living at Naples. But Pius willed the captives, partly in a dwelling prepared for that purpose, partly in the mole of Hadrian, to be kept under guard, and at public expense to be so kindly treated, that they seemed to be in the place of guests rather than of enemies. Pius then showed himself grateful to Colonna: the money given him by Pius he spends on the dowry of poor girls, and not only extolled him with honorable words, but also presented him with copious money. But the mind of Colonna, more excellent than all gold, referring that not to his own private but to the public advantage, disbursed that money to be bestowed on poor girls. But to relieve the poverty of the other needy, for the cause of this public gladness Pius largely distributed other moneys.

[301] Then it was provided, in the Capitoline temple of the Aracoeli, and Colonna dedicates a column made of silver to the Divine Virgin, with great ceremony the most sacred sacrifice of the Mass, for giving thanks to the divine majesty: at which several sacred Prelates, and Marco Antonio himself, and very many other Roman Nobles were present. Where the sacred rites being duly performed, after Marco Antonio Muretus, an excellent orator of that time, had perorated in a brilliant oration concerning the supreme virtue of the Pontiff, the preeminence of the most valiant Leaders and soldiers, and the signal won victory; Colonna with singular piety dedicated a little silver column, adorned with the figures of beaked ships expressed in silver, to the Blessed Virgin Mother of God, the patroness of that church. But for holding these celebrations, so benignly did the clemency of the sky favor, that within the memory of men, through autumn or winter, almost none was ever said to have been more happy or more august. For the sky being clear and temperate, the flowers of roses, and new fruits, hung from the trees, not only in the City, but also elsewhere through Italy, beyond custom; so that everywhere they were a wonder to beholders, and all things seemed to exult at so happy an outcome of affairs.

CHAPTER IX

[302] Pius was not ignorant that the won victory greatly profited for repressing the proud minds of the Turks, and diminishing their forces; Pius solicitous for prosecuting the victory and that for overthrowing the Ottoman kingdom, a great approach was thence opened for the Christians. But since he also well understood, that it was not enough to conquer, unless the victors also knew how to use the victory; lest so opportune an occasion should slip from their hands, he judged that, as they say, every stone must be moved: for if time were given to the Turks to repair their forces, they would return with a greater fleet restored, and avenge the received disaster more ardently. Lest this therefore should happen with great damage of the Christian Republic and equal disgrace, not only the Christian Princes to the social war but rather that they might gather the fruits of so great a victory as abundant as possible, and not delay to destroy the kingdom of the most savage Tyrant the common enemy with allied minds and arms, he asked and besought by letters and messengers not only the confederates and other Princes of the Christian name, but even the Pagans and the Kings of almost the farthest world. Epist. 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15 lib. 5 And indeed, since it for the most part is wont to happen, that things happily done, and great apparatuses of affairs, easily allure the minds of many to joining friendships and resources; he provided with all zeal, that the magnitude of the won victory being more diligently explicated, and the minds and forces of the allies being shown, he might enroll the rest of the Princes into the same society of war. And so to Menas King of the Ethiopians, commonly called Prester John, whose empire in Africa neighboring the Turks lies open far and wide, and who professes that he cultivates the Christian religion; and to Shah Tahmasp King of the Persians and other Eastern Princes, although Pagans, but also invites the Kings of Ethiopia and of the Persians, yet most powerful in resources and forces, he gave letters in the most ample words, by which relating the great moments of the won victory, and the apparatus of the Christian fleet; he exhorted them, as perpetual enemies of the Turkish name, and waging almost natural enmities and continual wars with them, that they should aid the confederates, and, armies being brought up from various places, strike the common enemy with a battle on both sides. If they did this, the enemy, who had often occupied their borders, would be overthrown: and they would recover much more than they had lost, and would bring salvation to the whole world: and that this pertained not only to the sum of the common salvation, but also to the glory and felicity of those, who almost everywhere among the nations excelled in royal majesty and resources. But Pius took care that those letters be carried to them through Sebastian King of Lusitania, who at the Pontiff's exhortation joined his own also to them, skilled men being sent.

[303] Moreover Pius ordered several triremes to be diligently equipped and adorned for the following year, and a huge quantity of money to be collected, and prepares expenses and ships for the following year. a Mount of Faith being constituted under the name of the League: and both human, and also divine rewards of the Apostolic indulgence after the custom of other Pontiffs he granted to those, who should either set out to aid this expedition, or themselves bring help to the war with their means. Const. 146 But to these and others furnishing equal help, he ordered the payment of debt to be deferred, and lawsuits to be suspended. Finally so many are the things which he wisely constituted concerning this sacred war to be happily waged; and procured a firm and holy concord to be retained between the Spaniards and the Venetians, obeying him with most prompt minds; that, very many voluntary soldiers flowing together to him from everywhere, and all the enemies of the Turks being stirred up to vanquish them, if the outcome had answered the undertakings, we should see the Christian republic free from the Turkish tyranny; nor should we, as often happens, so greatly labor under great perils and damages inflicted on us by a most savage enemy.

CHAPTER V.

The illness and pious death of Pius V.

CHAPTER X

[304] But as the outcome sometimes, by I know not what divine judgment, disappoints human counsels and wishes, though pious; and our hopes and vain strivings are often broken and fall down in mid-course; so the just reason of divine providence, In the year 1572 in the month of January he labors with strangury, most wisely moderating all things, ought to contain us in the office of Christian submission. For amid these counsels, and motions of human affairs; the Christians, as it is right to believe, not deserving to have so great a Pontiff longer, their sins so exacting it, it came to pass, that from the ardor of strangury (with which disease, as we said, he sometimes labored), the winter raging, through the month of January in the year 1572 he began to be more grievously ill. From which when he had somewhat recovered, he laughed at the vain divinations of the Astrologers; who, led by their conjectures, discoursed concerning his near death; and intent on his accustomed labors, spared himself little. At the beginning of March, when he was tormented by sharper pains of the kidneys than he was wont before, in the month of March by pains of the kidneys. and made putrescent urine; the physicians began to doubt, lest he had ulcerated kidneys and a bladder, which also contained stones. But he himself, relying on no other human remedy, his age especially growing very heavy, those secret parts of the body

never suffered for his modesty to be either beheld or touched by anyone, and would have no more physicians employed by him; content with ass's milk, his old and accustomed medicine: and the heavier the pain by which he was pressed, the greater quantity of that milk he drank: hence it came to pass that his languishing stomach was not able to digest it.

[305] The forces of the body therefore failing day by day, and the pain very greatly growing strong, The sick man more grievously, although he strove to repress it, furnishing wonderful constancy, patience, and moderation of mind; he secretly poured out certain sighs into the image of Christ hanging from the cross, repeatedly as a suppliant in these words: Lord, increase the pain, provided Thou also increase the patience. Nor yet could he be induced, that through those sacred days he should remit anything of the fixed abstinence of foods: concerning which kind of piety we shall write more in its place below. On the sacred day of the Lord's Supper, on the Lord's Supper he receives the sacred Communion, Cardinal Alexandrinus, his legations now fulfilled, administered to him so commanding the heavenly Bread. But him doing this, and pronouncing those words according to custom, The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ keep thy soul &c., Pius ordered to pause, and so to conceive the words, as they are wont to be made only for those, who are communicated with that most holy Sacrament as a viaticum, about to depart from the living a little after. Then on the Parasceve, which fell on the day before the Nones of April, on the Parasceve he adores the Cross. he ordered the Lord's Cross to be brought into the domestic little chapel near his chamber, which barefoot with the greatest affection of charity he prostrate adored. But when he had withdrawn himself from hearing public affairs, he was commonly said to be dead. Yet in the City such motions of affairs and minds, as are wont to happen in the extreme sicknesses of Pontiffs, were not seen: which matter was an indication of his excellent administration, all things being constituted in order. Moreover forthwith concerning his death, though vain, messages were sent off through the whole world.

[306] Then when he had recovered a little, on the most sacred day of Easter, into the Vatican balcony, where it looks toward the forum of S. Peter, at Easter he publicly blesses the people to consign the people with the saving sign in the accustomed manner, he advanced on foot: that by the same effort he might also teach that that common opinion of the populace concerning his death was vain. Where in Pontifical dress, showing forth a glad brow, not ignorant that he had been bewailed by all, he intoned the fixed prayer with so loud and sonorous a voice, that those who stood in the middle of the square heard him: from which so great gladness seized the peoples, that it seemed altogether wonderful. But not very long after, the disease growing fresh again, when some desired to weave talk with him concerning providing for the affairs of certain vacant Churches, and concerning other businesses; To me, said he, far graver businesses are now to be transacted: and he added, Or do you think that those by which I am distressed are small businesses, since for the last day, which I now perceive to approach, to be rightly met my mind must be composed? Yet the waxen little disks, which they call Agnus Dei, and he consecrates the Agnus Dei, namely in the seventh turning year of his Pontificate, he wished to consecrate with the solemn rite, and that not without a great quantity of tears. Soon his errors confessed again, which was the last for him, he enjoined the Priest, who was for him at the sacred Confessions, that according to that greatest authority which he had communicated to him, by the most ample indulgence of faults he should expiate him.

CHAPTER XI

[307] Moreover on the eleventh of the Kalends of May edicting, that he wished to visit on earth for the last time the relics of those, whom he hoped not long after to see in heaven: I wish, said he, to go about the Seven Churches of the City, going about the seven Churches of the City. to be dismissed to God from those holy places: and this he performed, going on foot a great part from the church of S. Paul to that of S. Sebastian: in which journey not a few feared lest he should die; so afflicted, namely, was he, and his strength cast down. Nor indeed was there any who could recall him from such a counsel. Among others to M. Antonio Colonna going forth to meet him, and advising that, sparing himself, he should be conveyed in a litter, Pius commanded, Colonna's speedy departure that at the first time possible he should hasten to Naples to Don John of Austria, thence with him and the other leaders of the war into the East, about to vanquish the Turks. When he had come to the Lateran church, asked whether he wished to defer the rest of the way to another day, he hesitated a little, and his eyes lifted to heaven; He who has made the whole, said he, let Him Himself perfect the work. Which when he had pronounced in Latin, increased in strength, and with a better color of countenance pursuing the begun journey; advancing to the steps consecrated by the sacred footsteps of Christ our Saviour, the English exiles to Cardinal Alexandrinus tears arising, with singular piety he kissed the lowest step three times, as if about to have the last honor to the august place. He tarried there a little while, lending his ears to the English Catholics, fugitives from that kingdom for the cause of religion, who fixed a kiss on his sacred foot: whom when he himself had kindly received, he ordered Cardinal Alexandrinus to count their names, that he might be able to relieve their necessities: and his eyes turned to heaven, Lord, said he, if it shall be of my office, I will willingly pour out even my own blood for their salvation. In the same journey he heard certain needy men, and Martin Navarrus, a man signal in learning and probity, discoursing with him concerning the cause of the Archbishop of Toledo, of which we wrote above.

[308] Having returned home in the evening, he did not rest sitting before he had read through twelve suppliant memorials. and he commends the sacred league and the speedy creation of a successor. At last his body being tended, and Cardinal Alexandrinus summoned to him, he commended to him the sacred league; and admonished him, that as far as in him was, he should henceforth procure the election of a new Pontiff to be hastened at the first time possible: since he had a great number of Cardinals, whom he himself had co-opted into that order. By which admonition moved, Alexandrinus brought it about, that the creation of a new Pontiff (he was called Gregory the Thirteenth, and most wisely governed the Church of God) was accomplished, the conclave scarcely yet closed: and that chiefly lest the plans of the league should be disturbed. Of which league, and relying first of all on the help of God, Pius then said, that in less than a space of two years after the victory he hoped, that it would come to pass that the empire and name of the Ottoman nation would be destroyed, or certainly very greatly diminished: and he was tormented in mind that he could not, even at the cost of his own blood, behold so many provinces, which the perfidious tyrant of the Turks had occupied by force, recovered by the Christians, and thence take that gladness which he desired: but that he was leaving affairs in that state, and so excellently composed, that it would by no means be difficult for his successor to recover all things by the help of the entered society.

CHAPTER XII

[309] But these things performed, he ordered the seven Psalms, accommodated to salutary penance, to be read before him; The 7 Psalms being read commanding the reader to do it with a loud voice, pausing a little at each verse, that he himself might be able the better by meditating to taste those divine senses. And likewise he often ordered the Evangelical history of the Lord's Passion to be read to him: and when he heard the most holy name of Jesus, and the Passion for reverence he stretched his hand to his little cap: which if through the weakness of his body he could not touch, he indicated by his hand the pious sense of his mind. Four days before his death he was thinking of performing the divine sacrifice, and so of fortifying himself more with divine protections, and of offering himself last to God a victim in an odor of sweetness: but destitute of strength, when he could not do it, he was present at one sacrificing, and received the heavenly food of the Eucharist with the utmost piety. But on the day before he died, through the Bishop of Segni, set over the Pontifical chapel, he ordered the sacred Unction, which he had often earnestly demanded, to be at last applied to him; he receives the last Sacraments. for fifty days and more he tolerantly suffered the most bitter pains, and without any disturbance either of countenance or of mind, repeatedly falling on his knees, and as a suppliant earnestly beseeching God both for himself and for His holy Church, and making words concerning death, which under the very beginning of the sickness he had foreseen to threaten him: and although so long gravely afflicted by the disease and pains, yet he never sent forth any voice or word less worthy of himself.

[310] To him dying there were present Michael Bonelli Alexandrinus, Girolamo Rusticucci, Felice Peretti by surname Montalto, Antonio Carafa, and among the bystanders Giulio Acquaviva, sometimes also Paolo Arezzo Bishop of Piacenza: all of whom he himself had created Cardinals, and besides Serafino Cavalli, General Master of the Dominicans; all procuring that he might meet death as happily as possible. But a little before he breathed out his soul, not unmindful of his inborn modesty, finding that his inner woolen undergarment, which, as we shall say, he had always been wont to put on next to his skin, was turned back to his shoulders, and that he had part of his arms bare; with the modest strength which remained to him himself striving to extend it, and his prayers, he covered the bare parts of his body. Then he formed his hands in the manner of a Cross, and pronouncing with half-dead voice these verses: We beseech, author of all things, in this Paschal joy, defend Thy people from every assault of death; without any other motion, most placidly rendered his spirit to God, on the Kalends of May, toward evening, in the year after Christ's birth 1572, but of his own age the sixty-eighth, he dies 1 May in the 68th year of his age. when he had most holily administered the Pontificate six years, three months, twenty-four days. The loss of so great a Pontiff the elements also seemed to portend and bewail, both earthquakes in certain places of the Pontifical dominion, and the roaring and floods of rivers. This year on the 4th of the Ides of February a thunderbolt struck the tree of the Roman fortress, as various portents seemed to presignify, breaking off the wing of a marble Angel, and the tree itself so caught fire that it burned the whole night. The sacred tower of S. Peter in the Vatican, struck by a thunderbolt, was for a great part cut off. These and other signs of this kind, although they are natural, and not certain indications of the future death of Pontiffs or of affairs to be changed; yet even pious and learned men observe this to be almost customary of divine providence, that it is sometimes wont to announce signal disasters of human affairs, such as was the loss of so great a parent of the Christians, beforehand by formidable signs.

CHAPTER XIII

[311] Soon concerning his death, as before uncertain, so afterward certain messages are sent off in every direction: with the greatest sadness of the Christians, and thence both in the City and abroad, pious men and all good men bore the departure of so great a Pontiff and most holy Pastor of theirs as grievously as possible: so that it was established that that was true, which to some grieving at the beginning of his Pontificate he had foretold, that it would come to pass, that men would take greater grief from his death, than from his dignity undertaken. Weeping together, Don John of Austria, to Giovanni Paolo Odescalchi not long after sent to him, said, Pius being dead, that his parent was dead; nor did he hope that he would ever afterward effect anything good. Finally the common opinion and voice of all was, that for many ages back the Christian republic had received no greater disaster, so great a man being lost. But as truly all Christians and pious men grieved and groaned; so on the contrary the impious and perfidious nations and enemies of the Christian name showed forth great

gladness before them; certainly believing, that all his warlike apparatus would be disturbed and made vain. Selim held wonderful festal days at Constantinople: Mehmet Pasha, his chief magnate, to whom through an Epidaurian scout it had secretly been brought, testified to the former Bishop of Acqs, of whom we made mention before, the Orator of the King of France with the Turk, and the exultation of the Turks, that the Ottoman house could receive no message happier than this very one: and that the Turks had feared the prayers of Pius more than all the arms of the Christians together: for indeed his prayers seemed most grateful to God: nor had the loss of their fleet proceeded from any other source. All these things afterward the same Orator reported to Giacomo Malatesta, Marquis of Roncofreddo, in those days lodging with him at Constantinople.

[312] But he, sent the preceding summer into the Turkish expedition by Pius, when he had been set by the Venetians over Epirus, which eyewitnesses reported, it happened that he came into the power of the Turks: and so he was led to Selim in chains, and for his redemption Pius had contributed three thousand five hundred gold coins: and brought it about, that Charles the King of France demanded that he be given to himself as a gift. Moreover from a tower of the Euxine sea, at the time when Pius had died, he at last loosed from his chains, for three days toward evening at Constantinople beheld great signs of public gladness given; with fires, kindled torches, the boom of brazen engines and shouts, after the Turkish manner, filling all things: and on the same days, for joy of so desired a message, boys going forth in suppliant procession. A new thing, and among them, from the time they have held the kingdom, never before seen. Moreover, Pius being dead, the endeavors and counsels of the sacred league began to fall to the worse: among the confederate Princes a manifold distrust suddenly arose: with whom also the sacred league languished. soon at last, the Venetians making peace with the Turk, the society was disjoined: and to have brought back so great a victory profited almost nothing else, than to have shown that the Turk could be conquered. But if the confederates had been willing to prosecute the undertaken war, the Pontifical resources, nor weak, were sufficiently in readiness: for in the treasury Pius left a thousand thousand gold coins, and besides five hundred thousand in debts, to be exacted three months thence: but thirteen thousand were found in his chamber, which he himself held with his own hand to be disbursed among the poor: moreover William Sangaletto, the inmost Treasurer, had a hundred thousand in his hands.

CHAPTER VI.

The burial of Pius, and his translation.

CHAPTER XIV

[313] He was of just stature, with a grave, very modest, and full-of-sanctity aspect: The form and stature of the deceased are described, and this he showed forth even by the gaze of his eyes. Endowed with leanness, of a ruddy and whitening color, with an oblong face, eyes somewhat blue, a nose very hooked, a long beard, and in the Pontificate now wholly growing gray; bald-headed; of a warm and dry temperament. Hence his memory was strong, and those whom he had once known by face long ago, he easily recognized them all: and the accounts and state of all his dominions and the affairs of the kingdoms he so perfectly learned, that in the first year of the Pontificate he comprehended all those things by mind and knowledge. The physicians disemboweled the body of the deceased, and found three black stones in the bladder of a flatter form, each of the weight of half an ounce, and not unlike one another. Then washed, and adorned for burial fittingly with new garments, Theodosio Fiorenzi and Giustiniano Orsini, the inmost chamberlains, the body lies four days to be venerated in the church of S. Peter in the evening, full of tears, carried it into the greater little chapel of the sacred Palace. Thence indeed conveyed into the church of S. Peter, not only the Roman people, who long bewailed him, visited him, all of every order flowing together eagerly to kiss his feet; but almost all from the borders of the surrounding region through those four days, in which he was there, came together to him most frequently venerating: some strove to touch the body itself with rosaries of prayers, others to cut off pieces of his garment, others to pluck hairs from his chin, to be kept by them for the cause of religion: and it was nearly the case, that they should also tear his flesh. Which flesh indeed, by the testimony of those who handled it lifeless, was soft and flexible, and of a lively color, like a living body: which is wont to be a not-to-be-despised indication of sanctity.

[314] Now indeed lest the body should be in any way harmed by that concourse, it was necessary for a guard of soldiers to be applied to it: and on that account it was placed in the chapel of S. Thomas, whence his foot, projecting from an iron grate, was afforded to the kiss of the multitude, which nevertheless cut off for it the soles of its shoes. And indeed it was wonderful, of how great veneration his garments and all his things were to pious men. The woolen undergarment, with which indeed he was clothed dead, the supreme Prelate of the Dominicans, earnestly praying, obtained: his garments are sent to the Princes asking, and it, adorned as was fitting, he took care to be carried as a gift to Sebastian King of Lusitania, supremely zealous of Pius the Pontiff. But his little caps, shoes, and other things of the same kind other princely men earnestly demanded with great prayers; whom Cardinal Alexandrinus presented with such things. Nay even by the enemies themselves of the Christian name a nearly similar veneration of the memory of Pius was exhibited. For when Caur the Turk, among other captives a chief man, was loosed from his chains; shameless little women at the sight of him are converted, he demanded from the same Cardinal the effigy of Pius to be carried to Selim, and with it, master of his wish, was dismissed toward Constantinople. In those days certain shameless little women, who under this Pontiff had once paid the deserved penalties of their baseness, had gone forth rejoicing to see his body: thinking namely, the bars as it were of fear being broken, that a free approach was open for them to fulfill their lusts; but having beheld it, they suddenly changed their counsel; and they themselves also kissing his sacred feet, began to execrate their errors with tears. Soon indeed in the chapel of S. Andrew, in a small tomb constructed for a time, he was laid; where an elogium of this kind was affixed. Pius V Pontiff, the body given to temporary burial, vindicator of religion and chastity, assertor of right and just, restorer of morals and discipline, defender of the Christian cause, by salutary laws enacted, France preserved, the Princes joined by a league, the victory over the Turks won, by huge undertakings and deeds, by the glory of peace and war, the Greatest, Pious, Happy, Best Prince.

CHAPTER XV

[315] Then in the year from the Virgin's childbirth 1588, on the 5th of the Ides of January, Sixtus V Supreme Pontiff, with an apparatus exceptional and plainly worthy of pontifical magnificence, in the year 1588 took care that the body of Pius be transferred from the basilica of B. Peter to the Esquiline basilica of S. Mary Major. it is transferred to S. Mary Major, Namely from a chapel of no very notable structure, into a most splendid and most adorned one, and from a brick and temporary one, to a marble and perpetual sepulcher, magnificently built up by himself together with the chapel itself, and skillfully polished with excellent works: where that very most sacred Manger, consecrated by the touch of our Saviour being born of the Virgin, is venerated, and on that account the chapel is named "at the Manger." But there are in that chapel two monuments, and those indeed most ample and most adorned. That which is on the left side, that the Pontiff Sixtus for himself; the other indeed on the right, he set for Pius V. In the midst of this is seen the excellent effigy of Pius the Pontiff himself, of most shining marble, in Pontifical adornment sitting after the custom, and it has below the feet two elogia; one in these words: To Pius V Supreme Pontiff of the order of Preachers, Sixtus V Supreme Pontiff of the order of Minors, set a monument of a grateful mind. it is laid up in the chapel at the Manger, The other is subjoined to it in these words: Pius V, of the Ghislieri family born at Bosco in Liguria, an exceptional Theologian, by Paul III Inquisitor of heretical depravity in Insubria, by Julius III Commissary General of the office of the holy Inquisition, by Paul IV Bishop of Sutri, then Cardinal Presbyter of the Holy Roman Church with the title of S. Mary over the Minerva, and by Pius IV made administrator of the Church of Monreale in the Subalpine region; he being dead, by the supreme consent of the Cardinals he is created Supreme Pontiff: who, emulating the old holy Pontiffs, propagated the Catholic faith, restored Ecclesiastical discipline; at last illustrious for the glory of things done, while he attempts greater things, is snatched from us with the damage of the whole Christian Republic, on the Kalends of May, 1572, in the 7th year of his Pontificate, the 68th of his age.

[316] Moreover the sepulcher of Pius is adorned with two marble statues of a larger form; and with other ornaments, and the expression of his deeds, here indeed of S. Dominic Confessor, there of S. Peter Martyr, placed each in its own semicircle, and shines everywhere with many other images, skillfully carved in marble, which set before the eyes certain chief acts of Pius the Pontiff. But first of all the noble apparatus and pomp is expressed, when the Pontiff created is crowned with the solemn rite: but on his right is seen, when he constitutes Marco Antonio Colonna Prefect of the Pontifical fleet. The representation likewise of the naval battle, and the description of the Christian fleet fighting well against the Turks at the Echinades, appears expressed likewise with most beautiful figures: especially the victory won over the Turks. which is narrated by this brief elogium: Selim the Tyrant of the Turks, insolent with many victories, a huge fleet being prepared and Cyprus stormed threatening the Christians with the utmost, Pius V, a league with Philip II King of Spain and the Venetian Republic being entered, setting M. Antonio Colonna over the Pontifical fleet, at the Echinades, the enemies thirty thousand being slain, ten thousand reduced into power, a hundred and eighty triremes captured, ninety sunk, fifteen thousand Christians freed from servitude, vanquished by prayers and arms. But on the left it is likewise expressed with figures, when he declares Sforza Count of Santa Fiora Leader of the Pontifical auxiliary army against the rebels, the enemies of Charles the Ninth King of France and of the Church. and others concerning the Huguenots. And in the same place is seen the image of the battle and victory, which, that same Sforza being Leader, was brought back in France over the heretics; and it has this inscription carved: France, in the reign of Charles IX, harassed by the nefarious arms of rebels and heretics, so that it seemed to be a matter of the Kingdom and of Religion, Pius the Fifth, by the lead of Sforza Count of Santa Fiora, auxiliary forces of horse and foot being sent, freed from peril: and the enemies being destroyed, brought back the victory: restored to the King his Kingdom with Religion: hung up the standards captured from the enemies at the Lateran Basilica.

[317] Moreover this translation of the body of Pius was held with great celebrity and concourse, and the utmost piety and religion of all. The people who flowed together in great number to the translation, And indeed it was a spectacle as pleasant as full of piety to behold the sacred and lay Nobles, almost the whole Clergy of the City, the urban Magistrates and very many others, each advancing in his own place and order: these indeed praying in silence, but others chanting with pious concert the sacred verses, antiphons, and psalms. Everywhere besides from the streets, from every forum, from the workshops and houses an incredible concourse to be made of men of both sexes, both beholding, and accompanying the sacred procession, and recollecting the memory of the holy Pontiff. Who, the body being brought into the basilica whither it was conveyed, almost in a point of time filled that very church, otherwise great and ample:

who could scarcely even by armed soldiers be moved away from the sides of the bier; since for their great devotion of mind toward Pius the Pontiff, the people throng the place for a whole week: all desired to embrace the bier itself, to kiss it, or at least to touch it with the hand or with rosaries of prayers. There gleamed in that translation very many kindled torches, which were carried in their hands. The next light, which was the Lord's Day, although the body had been brought to burial, so great an outpouring of men, and so great a concourse of the people was made to the basilica of S. Mary Major; that almost the whole City seemed piously to have poured out, to recollect the memory of Pius V the Pontiff. The streets everywhere full of those flowing together, the atrium of the basilica full, the church itself filled with the multitude of those praying: but there was no one who did not strive to enter the chapel of the Manger, where as a suppliant he might pray. But on the day after that, in the same temple, with great ceremony, a Mass for the soul of the Pontiff was celebrated by Antonio Cardinal Carafa: at which Sixtus himself, where after the Mass an Oration was held. together with the Cardinals to the number of forty-four, was present. Which matter accomplished, Antonio Boccapaduli, a man excellently learned, held a grave oration, and plainly accommodated to the matter of which it treated.

[318] Pius had once resolved, as we shall say, that his body should after his death be carried away to the convent of Bosco. He himself indeed had commanded that he be transferred to the convent of Bosco, But since for fifteen years and more this had never been done; it seems plainly to have happened not without divine counsel, that the memory and bones of so great a Pontiff, not the town of Bosco, not Alessandria in the Cisalpine region, not finally any other however celebrated place in the world should receive or preserve, except Rome alone: and there especially in the basilica of S. Mary Major, and in the chapel consecrated to the most sacred Natal cradle of Christ God and our Lord. So that namely thence, as from the most frequented theater of the world, the most observed examples of his Pontifical virtues might stir the minds of posterity both to proclaim the glory of God, and also to perform whatever excellent deeds, and might instruct the minds of all nations to cultivate virtue: and he who in his whole life was an exceptional worshipper of the Most Blessed Virgin Mother of God, should rest after death only in the church of that same Virgin, by far the most august of all the urban ones dedicated to her, but this was deferred 15 years, until he might be laid more augustly at Rome. and he who for his singular modesty had chosen for himself whatever sepulcher, at the humble Manger indeed of the Saviour, as at the fount of all humility, according to his desire, should be laid in a monument most adorned for his virtues: and finally he who by a token of a pious and most grateful mind had taken care that the bones of Paul the Fourth Supreme Pontiff, well deserving of himself, be honorably transferred, and laid in a most honorable place, as we shall write; him Sixtus the Fifth Supreme Pontiff, whom Pius first as Bishop of S. Agatha, then as Cardinal created by himself had perpetually embraced, with equal zeal of a grateful mind, and a not dissimilar office of piety, transferred with exceptional magnificence, should set in a most fitting sepulcher. These, namely, besides others, were the causes which impelled the Pontiff Sixtus to provide this most celebrated translation.

APPENDIX

The Order of the Translation, from the posthumous volume of the Annals of Abraham Bzovius.

By the authority and command of our Most Holy Lord Sixtus V the Pontiff, in the year 1588, The brick sepulcher being opened, on the 8th day of January, on the 6th day of the week, at the first hour of the night, in the Vatican Basilica of S. Peter, the brick sepulcher of Pope Pius V of blessed memory, constructed for a time near the altar of S. Andrew, fifteen years and more after his death, was demolished and opened; chiefly by the care of the Reverend Lord William Sarpallero, inmost Chamberlain of each Pontiff: to whom especially his Holiness committed that care. At the opening and demolition of the sepulcher there were present, with a singular signification of piety and the office of a most grateful mind, nine Most Illustrious Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Alexandrinus, the son of Pius's sister, Senonensis, Santa Severina, Rusticucci, and Carafa: these five chosen into that order by Pius himself, the remaining four by our Most Holy Lord Sixtus V; Pinelli, Ascolano, Gallo, in the presence of 9 Cardinals, and Montalto, the nephew of the same our Most Holy Lord by his sister's daughter: besides several others, once the familiars of the Pontiff deceased, to whom he had done kindly. While the demolition was being done, the Beneficiaries and Clerics of the Vatican Basilica recited the Psalms for the dead, with their Antiphon at the end of each Psalm, Eternal rest, and the other Antiphons appointed in the Office of the dead. From the sepulcher the body, which within was laid up in a wooden case, taken up as carefully as could be done into a leaden case, newly prepared, a red silk veil being placed underneath, is honorably enclosed with these words: The body of Pope Pius V. But on the lid of the case was carved this inscription: the body is transferred into a leaden case, Here is laid up the body of Pope Pius V of blessed memory, by the command of Sixtus V Supreme Pontiff, when he took care that it for the cause of a grateful mind be solemnly transferred from the Basilica of S. Peter, to this Basilica of S. Mary at the Manger, and be laid in this his chapel, on the 5th of the Ides of January, in the year from the Lord's Nativity 1588, but from his falling asleep, which was on the Kalends of May 1572, in the 15th year, the 7th month, the 29th day. Then there was in readiness another case of cypress, in the form of an arched sepulcher, skillfully and beautifully made with artificial work: which enclosed in a cypress one and covered with a precious pall, into which was brought that very leaden one, firmly closed with iron nails. But that cypress case covered with a most ample pall of Attalic work, interwoven with gold, which our Holy Lord Sixtus V had newly procured at great expense, drawn far and wide on every side, with fringes of black silk plush or shaggy hanging everywhere on every side and adorned with goldwork, the insignia of the same Pontiff Pius set at each of its corners, was aptly accommodated on the bier. Which soon by several of the Canons who were present and Clerics clad in surplices was carried to the middle of the Basilica, and is placed in a higher place as on a kind of platform: where it remained the whole night, torches kindled and certain guards also applied. There were present besides the Brothers of the Dominican Order, whose Pius once had been, it is kept in the middle of the basilica the whole night, and other religious men; who held vigils by turns, and recited the nocturnal offices appointed for the dead. But of the opening of the sepulcher, and the recognition of the body thence drawn, and of every such action the Masters of ceremonies, called and asked by that name, drew up public records. But on the next day, namely the 5th of the Ides of January, which day was a Saturday, about the 18th hour, the Clergy of the City both of seculars and of regulars almost the whole, and some chosen pious colleges of laymen, to whom on the day before that day on account of the solemnity of the translation a solemn procession had already been appointed, in the atrium and portico of the same Basilica of S. Peter, and the bells being first solemnly rung, whence the body was to be carried out, were in readiness for so great a celebrity. And that the more frequent the people might be present, and the solemnity which was to be performed be signified, and the piety of all be stirred, on that day in the morning until the body was carried thence, the signal of the bells, as when it is solemnly done for the dead, was given most solemn. Which signification of the bells was solemnly made also in the Basilica of S. Mary Major, when the body began to be carried out from the Basilica of S. Peter.

On that very day, at the 19th hour at last, the family of orphan boys, it is carried out from the Vatican on the 2nd of January, the pious colleges of the Confraternities, and four of the Mendicants, and likewise of the Servites, and besides of the Minims, and the Regulars of other Orders most frequent, each in his own place and order, began to advance, one cross only being borne before, of the Basilica of S. Mary Major, to which the body was being carried. There followed next all the Parish-priests of the City distinguished by regions: then likewise the Canons of all the collegiate churches and soon of the Patriarchal Basilicas, the Beneficiaries and Clerics. Who all chanted with pious concert the sacred Verses, Antiphons, and Psalms. But a great supply of torches gleaming and burning went before the bier: which torches were carried partly by the orphan boys themselves, partly by others who are nourished in the hospital house of S. Spirito, and others likewise called from elsewhere. 150 torches shining before in succession, But for carrying these kindled torches there was a singular order, that fifty Confraternity-members of the college or society of the most holy Crucifix, clad in black dress, should advance on this side and that of the bier with as many burning torches from the Basilica of S. Peter even to the temple of S. Marcello: thence into their place, new lights being kindled, others equal in number from the Confraternity-members of the society of Death should succeed, even to the Basilica of S. Mary Major; where torches likewise equal in number should be kindled, when the body had been brought in. Which was done not without a signification of a holier matter: for the number of fifty is full of mystery, as the fiftieth Psalm teaches. Nor indeed is the number of a hundred and fifty void of mystery, of which that whole sum distinguished by turns consists, as from the equal reckoning of the Psalms it can easily be known. But all the torches, which kindled gleamed, and others above 300, by computation were numbered three hundred and more, besides other innumerable torches which were carried in the hands: which was done divinely, not without a signification explained in the Commentary. Next the bier the Apostolic Couriers in togas, carrying silver staves in their hands, two by two went before: and they, as there was need, walked here and there that they might guard the right order of the procession. But the bier from the Basilica itself of B. Peter the Prince of the Apostles, the Canons of three basilicas bearing it on their shoulders, even to the church of S. Cecilia at the Jordan mount, was lifted on the shoulders of the Canons of that Basilica: who clad in rochets and their appointed ornaments, presented in that work a most full image of piety. Thence indeed the Lateran Canons, in their appointed Canonical adornment, even to the church of S. Marcello, which is in sight of the straight way to the Flaminian gate, undertook the burden with an equal signification of due office. But in the third place this pious work most piously also performed the Canons of S. Mary Major, who likewise as they in fitting habit, from that church into their own Basilica brought the bier and body of so great a Pontiff with a rejoicing mind. Moreover at the sides of the bier advanced in order the Helvetian soldiers and the sword-bearers, namely those who are of the guard of the Pontifical Palace: who as escorts supported by spear-armed weapons moved away from it the huge multitude of men, whose concourse to the solemnity was by far most frequent. a great pomp of the Curials following. And indeed the bier was next followed by the family of the same our Most Holy Lord with an equestrian advance. Before this went the Master of ceremonies, and likewise two Key-bearers, who carried silver Keys in their hands. The prince of them all, the Master of the Pontifical house and the Prelates more notable for the splendor of their dignity, who assist our Most Holy Lord, clad in ample cloaks, adorned with Pontifical caps, were conveyed on mules adorned in the Pontifical manner. All these were followed by very many other both Bishops and Prelates of various orders of the Roman Curia, namely Protonotaries, Referendaries, Auditors of the Rota, and Clerics of the Chamber. That manner of advancing was most beautiful to behold.

In this order they went from the Vatican Basilica of S. Peter, by the way which is called Papal, even to the Palace of S. Marco: thence by a turn to the left even to the church of S. Marcello, soon to the Quirinal mount, an innumerable crowd flowing together, then to the left by the Pian way, which once they called the High-path: at last by the Felician way, which lately his Holiness opened, even to the Basilica of S. Mary Major, whither the body was being carried. In the whole journey of the procession, an incredible multitude and almost as great as the city of Rome holds, was in readiness for the solemnity of the procession. Everywhere from the streets, from every forum, from the workshops, taverns, and all the houses a concourse was made of men, both beholding and accompanying the pomp, and recollecting the memory of the holy Pontiff. to S. Mary Major, And in that so huge concourse, a wonderful and holy silence of all. At last the whole procession entered by the door of that greater Basilica. But then the equestrian retinue halted: but the body so solemnly brought into the Basilica, before the sacred place, which is called the Confession, toward the greater altar, was set down upon a platform there erected. Then when it had been so placed, a Canon-Priest of that Basilica, clad in a black cope, duly performed the Office, sprinkled holy water around the bier, burned incense, said the Responsories, Verses, and other appointed prayers according to the prescript of the solemn rite.

[These things in order and rightly performed, when it was now nearly toward evening,] all whosoever were present, except those whose service and presence was necessary, were excluded from the Basilica. But there were present most frequently the faithful of Christ of both sexes, even to such a degree that the Basilica itself, although ample and great, was almost in a point of time filled. Scarcely could they be moved away from the sides of the bier, not even by armed soldiers: inasmuch as for their great devotion of mind toward Pius the most holy Pontiff, all desired to embrace the bier itself, to kiss it, or to touch it with the hand, or to reach it with rosaries of prayers. At last therefore the subterranean sepulcher, which near that honorary one was dug in the ground, about the first hour of the night is opened: opened, the Priest blessed it with the appointed prayers, the ministers helping. Soon thither the bier, surrounded by many lights, was carried with the sacred prayer of the Priests. it is laid down in the new sepulcher's chest, Which matter indeed being done, at last the cypress case itself, which contains the other leaden one, where the body of the Pontiff Pius is enclosed, was aptly lowered into that new sepulcher, and rightly placed: in which sepulcher no one has yet been buried, nor in future will be buried, by the decree of our Most Holy Lord. Thus therefore the body of the Pontiff being given to burial, then at last the sepulcher was closed with a round marble lid, well cohering on every side; since by the command of the same our Most Holy Lord, the Reverend Lord William Sangaletto ordered it so to be done. All these things were done in the presence of the Reverend Lords Ludovico Sarasolio, Silvio Drusolino, Canons of the same Basilica of S. Mary Major; Valerio Atracino, Chaplain of the same Sixtine chapel at the Manger, and Francesco Mucanzio and Paolo Alaleone, Masters of ceremonies of our Most Holy Lord the Pope, being present. And these two indeed, being asked, drew up public records of those acts for the perpetual memory of the matter.

On the day next following, which day was the Lord's Day; namely the 4th of the Ides of January, On the 12th of January a great concourse takes place there: although the body had been brought to burial, so great an outpouring of men to the Basilica of S. Mary Major, so great a concourse of the people was, that almost the whole City seemed piously to have poured out, to recollect the memory of Pius V the Pontiff: the streets everywhere full of those flowing together, the atrium of the Basilica full, the Basilica itself filled with the multitude of those praying. But there was no one who did not strive to enter the Sixtine chapel, On the 13th a funeral Mass is sung in the presence of the Pope, where as a suppliant he might pray. But on the third of the Ides of January, which day was the 2nd day of the week, by the command of our Most Holy Lord, the Pontifical throne being placed in the same Basilica, the seats of the Most Illustrious Lords Cardinals and Prelates being disposed in order around the altar, above whose ciborium the sacred Relics are kept, a solemn Mass at that very altar for the soul of the deceased Pontiff was celebrated by the Most Illustrious Cardinal Carafa: which Cardinal had already been created by him. At this celebrity our Most Holy Lord together with the Cardinals to the number of forty-four was present. There were present also the Orators of the King of France, of the Venetians, and of the Duke of Savoy, who stood by the throne: there were present likewise the Patriarchs and the assisting Prelates, and all the rest whom it is customary to be present. But the cenotaph, representing the body of the deceased Pontiff, covered on every side with the same pall of golden work, of which above, in that very place where on the Saturday next preceding the bier with the body had been placed, was excellently set, forty torches gleaming here and there.

The office of the solemn Mass being performed, Antonio Boccapaduli, a man excellently learned both in all the knowledge of the liberal disciplines and in the doctrine of speaking, an oration is held by Boccapaduli, held an oration grave, polished, and plainly accommodated to the matter of which it treated, which our Most Holy Lord attentively heard, nor indeed without tears, which also happened to most. The oration moreover being held, the cenotaph was carried by the Clerics and ministers thence to the steps of the Pontifical throne. He, when by the singers that Responsory, Deliver me, O Lord &c., with its Versicles was recited, incense being put in the thurible, standing without miter, as is the custom, sprinkled and incensed the cenotaph itself with holy water, and at last duly performed the Absolution. But for this cause at that altar, of which it has been said, and not in the Sixtine chapel at the Manger, was such an office of obsequies celebrated, because it by no means seemed fitting to our Most Holy Lord, that where the Manger of the Lord is, funeral Offices be performed: since it is not right that there be a place of sadness, where is the natal place of life, says the most holy Pontiff Leo the Great.

and the whole matter is described by Pietro Galesini. Thus far that Relation, which is followed in Bzovius by the aforementioned oration of Boccapaduli; just as there had likewise preceded, similarly the before-cited Commentary on the solemn translation of the body of Pope Pius V, by the author Pietro Galesini Apostolic Protonotary: which is wholly spent in the praises of Pius, the description of the Sixtine chapel, and of the magnificent tomb there erected for the same Pius: so that from the now-said citation of that Commentary as his own it appears, that the author of the Relation described by Bzovius is the same Galesini: who to that Commentary of his also subjoined verses, celebrating the same translation, of Friar Angelo Camerti of Rocca, an Augustinian Doctor of Theology, of Giovanni Francesco Bordini Jurisconsult and Roman Presbyter, of Silvio Antoniani and Girolamo Badesi the Roman: which verses it is enough that they can be read in Bzovius.

BOOK VI.

The singular virtues of Pius V enumerated.

CHAPTER I.

Piety and religion: likewise the conversion of Jews and heretics.

CHAPTER I.

[319] Thus far the things done by Pius the Pontiff at home and abroad, and the whole course of his life, His piety observed in the daily sacrifice of the Mass, as far as could be done, we have related in order: hereafter certain chief things concerning his virtues and morals, and other things which fall into this place, that they may be the more in readiness, we shall narrate one by one. That therefore we may also first set forth those which are more important, it seems his religion and zeal of piety should first be treated. For indeed, as in all the other virtues which befit the supreme Hierarch, so first of all in the exceptional praise of piety toward God Pius excelled. To perform the divine sacrifice daily, if he could, or if through his health he could not, to be present at those performing it, he never omitted: so that on that account good and prudent men said, that it was by no means possible, that he should take any counsel except useful and salutary to the Republic, who scarcely passed any day on which he did not receive God as guest and as the author of his counsel. But his thoughts were so perpetually borne toward God, by the sign of the diplomas, that he preferred to all things His divine honor and glory, and desired nothing more, than that he should wholly conform himself to His most holy will: of which matter both many other things, and those far greater, are an argument, and also the sign of the diplomas which he used: on which as proper to himself he ordered that pious wish of the Royal prophet to be inscribed, thus praying to the Lord: Would that my ways be directed to keep Thy justifications. Psalm 118 the continual presence of the Crucifix, But the most bitter torments which Christ our Lord bore for us, he piously recollected with an almost continual memory: and on that account he was wont to have before him the effigy of the Saviour Himself hanging from the cross; with these Apostolic words inscribed: God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Gal. 6 And hence the custom obtained, that he is wont to be painted having such an image before his eyes.

[320] He was moreover vehemently assiduous in the study of sacred prayer: which indeed he said was a singular protection both to all others, and especially to Pontiffs. by his assiduity in praying, And therefore before light in that exercise, the appointed prayers of the Priests being recited, he was wont to remain so fixed, that those coming to interrupt him, unless restored to himself by a pull of the garment, sometimes scarcely heard; and thence withdrawing he often seemed to be rapt into divine things, nor to answer those asking sufficiently to the point: which indeed was a certain indication of charity boiling toward God and of a mind suffering divine things. But while the difficulty of making the public league against the Turks, of which it has been said above, pressed, every night poured out in prayers he long kept vigil. And mindful, that once Moses the divine man, against the Amalekites, came out victor not so much by fighting as by praying; the fleets of the confederates waging war against the Turks, but especially then when it was being fought to the finish, by fastings, vigils, tears, and prayers continually afflicting himself, relying namely more on divine than on human resources, feared even by the Turks, he demanded victory from God; and merited to obtain it announced to him divinely, as we have before related, both foretold it to many, and to the supreme benefit of the Christian republic: which we have remembered to have been confirmed by the one voice of all; and there exist of this matter the excellent and illustrious testimonies both of Kings and of other most grave men, and even of the enemies themselves of the Christian name. And indeed the Tyrant of the Turks Suleiman, in a horrible manner elated by warlike victories, when in lower Pannonia he besieged Sziget, confessed that he feared not the arms of the Christians, not the innumerable forces, not the most warlike armies, but the weapons of the assiduous prayer of the Pontiff Pius, by which he perceived he could be overcome. Nor was his fear vain, since in the very siege, as we showed, he perished. The same moreover we have before related that his son Selim, his fleet lost at the Echinades, the same other Leaders and soldiers of the Turks were wont to say.

[321] Moreover this very manner of praying in conducting graver matters Pius perpetually kept: besides he willed the Litanies and appointed prayers in the Apostolic Palace before himself, by his evening prayers with his household, unless he were gravely impeded, and his whole household being present, in the evening hours, to be piously recited daily. Nor meanwhile yet did he omit anything of those things

which pertained to his office. For he thought that it was the chief office of a Pontiff, to intercede with God for the faults and necessities of the people: and on that account that he ought to be familiar and grateful to Him, with whom he was constituted an intercessor. And so to mingle conversations with God he repeatedly hastened back from businesses; after the example of Moses, frequently entering and leaving the tabernacle; that within he might learn from God the things which without he should teach the people; and he who within by contemplation was rapt into God, by demanding the prayers of others, without bearing the burdens of men should provide for the salvation of all. But he was wont to say, that for sustaining excellently the burden imposed on him, he vehemently needed the help of holy prayers: and on that account both publicly and in the sacred convents, and likewise from private men, he assiduously took care that supplication be made to God for himself and the Christian public cause. To the Most Blessed Virgin Mother of God he had so devoted himself, by reciting the Rosary, that he passed no day on which, even while he was supreme Pontiff and occupied with so great matters, he did not employ the prayer of the so-called sacred Rosary: which manner of praying indeed he heaped, besides many others, as we said, with gifts of Apostolic indulgence. But for the dead also, which he testified had sometimes been a protection to him in great perils, he was wont to pray daily piously and duly.

[322] But the sacred Relics he wonderfully venerated, and collected very many of them, and took care that they be honorably laid up: by his veneration of Relics, and for the sake of piously retaining the most sacred veneration and worship both of the Relics themselves, and also of the sacred places, he abolished the custom of games, which in the suburban region on festal days, at the beginning of the Lenten fast, before flourished: for that there was there not even the least part of the soil, which was not imbued and consecrated with the sacred blood of the Martyrs. Wherefore since he could not, as he desired, wholly abolish such games everywhere among the nations, he greatly repressed them, his pious deeds before Ash Wednesday, and ordered them to be cast back to the Flaminian way, where Pope Paul the Second had once permitted them to be held. At which time indeed, as often elsewhere, the chief seven basilicas of the City, his whole household accompanying, Pius yearly after the custom went about, advancing on foot the greater part of the journey. For that it was worth while, on what days the wrath of God was more and more provoked by the sins of men and worldly corruptions, on these days to do some good, whereby the offended divine Majesty might be conciliated to mortals. In the sacred time of Lent, and by the exact observance of fasts, although he was old and weak, and broken by great labors, and always occupied with the highest cares of affairs, he not only abstained from the foods forbidden on those days, but also macerated himself with daily fasting. Which through the Lord's Advent daily, and also on other appointed days of fasts, he so exactly kept in his whole life, that by no infirmity of body, or by the decline of growing age, did he wish himself to be loosed from the sacred laws. Nay even in the graver necessities of the Church and public hardships, he afflicted himself also with a graver abstinence, that he might appease the offended God to men. Moreover at other times he had appointed himself that law of pious and salutary temperance, that he would by no means wish to depart from it.

[323] Since he had been wont from his early age to eat flesh only three days of the week, his four-day-per-week abstinence from flesh. or rather to taste it, he had charged those who had the care of his foods, that on the other days they should never mix any of flesh into his foods. Yet under his death, he being gravely ill, his administrators, secretly from himself, offered him pounded flesh, mixed with crushed almonds, to be taken on a certain day of those on which he had thus of his own accord been wont to abstain: but neither could necessity conquer his piety, nor pious cunning deceive his palate: for as he brought the food to his mouth, having smelled the benign artifice of his ministers, he would not taste it; expostulating, who they were that wished, for two short days of life, to recall him from the law of living kept for sixty years. kept even by the dying man. Among these things Francesco Rainoso, his master of dishes, who long afterward for his exceptional probity and merits was made Bishop of Cordoba, openly confessing the pious deceit, and asking pardon obtained it; excusing his faith, inasmuch as for the cause of his health he had wished to deceive his taste rather by the thing itself than by words, not his mind; not ignorant that he greatly abhorred, as we shall say, every even slightest falsehood. Often admonished, that he should beware lest he expose his life to these perils: for it would be more acceptable to God, and better for the Church, if he should preserve himself for its long government as much as he could; he was wont to answer with the Apostle: I can do all things in Him who comforts me: and He who has given me strength to this day, will in future for His clemency strengthen me. Phil. 4

[324] by hearing sermons, Moreover in the Apostolic palace during the same days of Lent and Advent he wished a sacred sermon to be held often: at which both he himself, and the Cardinals, and their familiars were present. Nay even he was unwilling that the garrison Helvetian soldiers should lack a German sermon. And that he might stir the minds of all to rightly worship God, and each to procure his own salvation, he duly consecrated very many at various times prayer-circlets, propitiatory beads, brazen both crosses and images of the Saints, by consecrating in great number circlets, wax, and waxen effigies of the heavenly Lamb, things especially accommodated to augmenting the religion of the pious. Which things were received with so great piety and veneration by all, as no one from all memory can recollect. For although they were not ignorant that that salutary force, divinely adjoined to such things, proceeded from the Pontifical power; yet on account of the singular sanctity of this Pontiff, in I know not what manner to these things, consecrated by him rather than by the other Pontiffs, to be more and more affected day by day, and to esteem that, fortified by them, they would be safer in perils, we behold now for almost forty years, both abroad, and in the City: in which even those, against whom he himself had sometimes proceeded, showed an admirable zeal of piety toward him. But neither to those instruments of religion, or even to the sanctity of the Pontiff, was the testimony of divine power lacking: for when one of those waxen circlets, by the command of Pius, had been cast into the Tiber swelling, and flowing down from its highest channel with terror and equal peril of the Roman People, forthwith the impetus of the water subsided.

CHAPTER II

[325] But since mention was made a little before of the sacred brazen images, by brazen medals, whose pious use he himself first either introduced, or certainly greatly promoted, on what occasion this was done, it seems should be mentioned in this place. Margaret of Austria, the Prince of Parma and Piacenza, governing Belgium for the Catholic King Philip, as we showed before, certain rebel heretics raising tumults there offered her a suppliant memorial, containing unjust and impious demands. on the occasion of the Gueux in Belgium taking their own name through mockery, But her bearing this grievously one of her chief counselors, a pious man, consoled; that this should be made nothing of, for that those who had offered the memorial were almost all Gueux: which French word signifying in Latin beggars or knaves, soon spread among the vulgar, fastened on those rebels the surname Gueux. The ignominy of the appellation they indeed first dissembled, and professed themselves in appearance not rebels but faithful to their King; and for his favor to be called Gueux, that is abject and beggars, as it were counted it for glory. Soon they procured a brazen or leaden medal to be cast for themselves: on whose one face the effigy of the King was expressed, with their own hands joined in faith, an argument of the conspiracy entered among themselves, these words being set around in French, Faithful to the King everywhere; but on the other side they had expressed the appearance of a begging man, and bearing scrips or little sacks on his back, words being added, Faithful to the King even to the scrips. With these images therefore hung from their necks, clad in garments of ash color, they advanced.

[326] Then the Catholic men of those nations, that they might be distinguished from the heretics by a certain symbol of religion; for whom the Catholics had taken others, adorned with indulgences by Pius. themselves also carried publicly brazen or silver images hanging from the neck, on whose one face was impressed the head of Christ the Saviour, but on the other the effigy of the Virgin Mother of God, and of the boy Jesus sitting in the lap of His Mother. Of these matters Pius being made more certain by Margaret herself, commended the piety of the Catholics, duly blessed and consecrated those effigies: and to those piously bearing them, or beholding them and praying to God, he granted the sacred rewards of Apostolic indulgence. Which religion therefore so increased, that almost all professing the Catholic faith everywhere among the nations piously strove either to be adorned with these divine gifts, or to be fortified with these protections. And so both by Pius himself, and by the other Pontiffs his successors, we beheld such images and crosses, cast of manifold either material or form, and prayer-circlets, and propitiatory beads, and other such monuments of piety, consecrated with so liberal religion to peoples, Princes, Kings, and the Prelates of the sacred order earnestly demanding them, and heaped with so ample gifts of indulgence, that lest under the appearance of good some evil should creep in, which now was everywhere wont to happen, Clement VIII Supreme Pontiff, for his supreme authority and singular wisdom, judged that the matter ought to be restrained and tempered by fixed laws, a decree being issued upon it.

CHAPTER III

[327] Moreover by that, of which we were speaking, so excellent religion of the Pontiff, and the great power of God found in him, moved by his piety many are converted, the minds of all seemed wonderfully to be kindled to all zeal of piety. And it was wonderful, with how great love, respect, and veneration all orders followed him. A wonderful change of the impure life of many took place daily: nor that so much by fear of punishments, as by the example of his virtue, and a certain firm opinion of sanctity. Hence very many Jews, not only urban, but provincial and foreign, gave their name to Jesus Christ: and among them each richest and most learned, Jews also and the Archisynagogue with his family, but of the urban ones especially celebrated and signal was the conversion of Elijah Carcossius, easily the chief among his own both in doctrine and in riches, who at that time was Provost of the synagogue. Him the Pontiff, while he was yet a Cardinal, had repeatedly with many goads incited to embrace the Christian faith. Which he refusing to do, was wont to answer in jest: Then will I receive the rites of Christ, when Friar Michael shall have entered the supreme Pontificate. Which moreover when it had come to pass, and Elijah congratulating concerning the conferred dignity had approached the Pontiff, Pius again assailed him; and recalled to his memory, that he had promised, that he would be expiated by baptism, when he himself should be declared Supreme Pontiff. Behold, said he, I am supreme Pontiff, by the benignity of God, which perhaps thou never believedst would come to pass: furnish the faith given: at the same time having prayed God for him as before, he took care that his salvation be commended to the prayers of the pious. The Hebrew departed; but a little after moved by divine grace, he returned to the Pontiff; and professed that he wished, together with his three sons

and his grandson, to become a Christian. At which matter the Pontiff so rejoiced, that, the man being called to him, giving thanks to the Lord God, he most affectionately embraced him. Soon he baptized them all, imbued with Christian doctrine, with his own hand, with a wonderful celebrity of the people, and the congratulation of all: then he adorned the neophytes themselves with many benefits and gifts. Elijah, who, his name being changed, was called Michael, together with his sons he enrolled into the Ghislieri family. Of his sons one, about seven years old, with a new name Paul, he took care to be piously and liberally educated in the German College.

[328] Nor indeed did Jews only, but heretics also, stirred by the piety of so holy a Pontiff, likewise heretics, even Princes, begin to return to soundness and to embrace the true religion, with great exultation of the pious. For besides the rest the Prince of Olyka, having at the same time set out to Rome, and having marveled at the sanctity of Pius and his excellent reason of administering the Republic, immediately execrated the heresies with which he was imbued. For he himself, after he had returned into Poland, testified by letters that he had, Pius leading after God, returned to the light of Catholic truth and the right way of salvation, from which he had been led away by the evil deceit of the heretics: and that he hoped it would soon, by divine help, come to pass, that by his own service or example his wife would be brought to the same faith. Moreover a certain heretic from England, a chief man, came to Rome for pleasure of mind, and silently mocked the sacred rites and the ceremonies of the pious: but stirred by the great fame, which increased day by day, of the religion and sanctity of Pius, he was present at the solemn and anniversary supplication of the most holy body of Christ: in which with singular humility and reverence, with bared head, advancing on foot, contrary to the custom of the other Pontiffs (who otherwise rightly for their dignity are wont to be carried in a chair) Pius carried about that most sacred Sacrament. Having therefore marveled at so great religion, he turned himself to rightly worship God: nor long after, prostrate at the feet of Pius, demanded pardon of his sins: and at last having confessed by the Catholic rite, was recalled into the bosom of holy Mother Church.

CHAPTER II.

The beneficence of Pius toward the needy: his magnificence in raising buildings.

CHAPTER IV

[329] But how great was both toward the poor, and toward men well deserving of the Church of God, his charity and beneficence; both from those things which we have touched everywhere above, and also from these things which we shall say below, can be inferred. Beneficent toward poorer Prelates, For not only did he himself sustain the poorer Cardinals from his own purse, and procure for them necessary furniture; but to the ministers of the Church laboring also, especially those who gave service to public either judgments or legations, besides the accustomed stipends, he repeatedly bestowed much. To the more needy Bishops also, or those driven from their Sees for the cause of guarding the Catholic religion, he piously gave relief: or to those who could not pay the fixed price of the writing of the Apostolic letters in the obtaining of their dignity, he remitted the money due. The more notable hospices of the poor of the City and the public infirmaries he sometimes visited, consoled the sick: and how it went with them, whether enough had been provided for both their mental and bodily health, he most kindly asked: and especially that one, which has its surname from the Holy Spirit, which is the greatest of all, the pious places, he presented with twenty thousand gold coins. The sacred convents both of men and of women he liberally sustained with the pious helps of alms. To the Roman Seminary of Clerics he contributed six thousand gold coins. To the sodality of the so-called Annunciate Virgin in the City, besides a thousand gold coins, which he paid yearly for the dowry of girls to be placed in marriage, he added also four other thousand to bestow a hundred of them in marriage. girls and the poor of every kind, He willed the names of all the needy and miserable men then living at Rome to be counted, and to be written down for him in a certain memorial, and the girls who on account of the slenderness of dowry could not marry to be recognized: and provided for all according to the necessity of each. To the urban poor, whether shut up in prison, or litigating, he was a help: and took care that the advocates and procurators should not be grieved to give them gratuitous service. To the places of the Mounts he assigned a huge quantity of money in favor of the poor.

[330] catechumens and neophytes, For the catechumens and neophytes he bought convenient houses; to which he assigned no moderate revenue. For since very many Jews, by his service and example, as we showed, had received the Christian religion; their number had so increased, that now the dwelling, which Paul III had erected near the church of S. John of the Market in the City for receiving and instructing in the Catholic religion the catechumens and neophytes, was almost filled, and not far from it the monastery of the neophytes and Virgins of the Dominican order of Blessed Mary Annunciate was rendered too narrow. And so for so copious a flock of Christ, increasing day by day, since more ample hospices had to be prepared; the church and old buildings of S. Basil, which were of the right of the hospice of S. John Jerosolymitan, he assigned to them and the neophytes, and granted to be possessed by perpetual right, with yearly revenues of a hundred gold coins, besides other helps of alms, which he benignly supplied them everywhere. In the first year of this Pontificate, in the month of August, he acts solicitously in the time of a contagion of the air. a dangerous disease occupied a great part of the Roman city, but most of all those who sought their livelihood by labor and the hand; so that in many places whole families, which were about four thousand, lay in their beds gravely laboring. And so to each sick person he sent money, to all assigned ten physicians, set over them Giovanni Francesco Gambara the Cardinal and twelve chief men, who, that all things might be rightly furnished, should diligently take care; he also assigned them butcher-shops and taverns, equipped with food and medicines; the business being given to pious men, that there should always be present administrators of the sick; and to Priests, that, providing for the salvation of souls, they should visit them: in which office of piety both the charity of other pious men, and especially of the religious Fathers of the Society of Jesus, particularly shone forth.

[331] But indeed that it might go more conveniently with the poor, he often provided for the grain supply: which that it might be at hand more abundantly, he provides for the grain supply, a grave want pressing the Romans, proceeding from the inclemency of the sky, he took care that a great quantity of wheat be brought into the City both from Sicily with no payment of duty, and from France by the benign grant of the King of France, at the expense of the Apostolic See, namely a hundred thousand gold coins. Which done he determined, that it should be sold far cheaper than it had cost him as buyer. Concerning which matter the Treasurer (as the ministers of Princes are for the most part intent rather on the private advantages of their masters than on the public advantages of the peoples) expostulating, and bearing this detriment (which indeed was no moderate one) grievously, and thence affecting some gain; Pius rejected him, edicting, that what was to the safety and joy of the Republic, that ought to be placed not in the place of loss but of gain: and that it was better for the people, rejoicing in the abundance of things necessary for sustenance, than to behold the chests full of idle money: that it may be more copious and more easily had, for that it was unworthy of a King and the more of the Supreme Pontiff, to scent gain from every occasion, and to seek a little profit in a public business. Nay even that the supply of grain might not be lacking in the City, and the necessities of the poor be more conveniently provided for, he augmented and adorned with great and ample gifts and decrees the farmers exercising the noble art of agriculture within the borders of the City itself, and others set over that art. And when he understood that certain richer and very powerful men hid their own grain in storehouses, and suppressed it shut up, and, until they should behold the price increased according to their avarice, abstained from all selling, and by other evil arts affected gain from the damage of the poor; he himself vehemently detesting this execrable cupidity, restrained the rich and avaricious men themselves with a most grave decree; and exhorted them, that, acknowledging the bounty of God in themselves, they should henceforth show themselves more benign to the poor; and from such, as he himself called it, detestable grain-gain wholly abstain, mindful that it is written, He who hides grain shall be cursed among the peoples: but a blessing upon the head of those who sell. Constit. 19, Prov. 11 And so the poverty of the poor, under that Pontiff, was perpetually benignly sustained, and excellently supported.

[332] Nor indeed toward the urban only, but as the most benign parent of all men, toward the foreign also and pilgrims was he excellently liberal. For to those, of whom we were speaking a little before, the dwellings of the poor to be visited, when he had found that the yearly fruits, which to the transalpine nations once setting out to Rome were now assigned as due, were dissipated; the middle part indeed of them to public buildings, but the rest to nourishing the youths, whom for cultivating their disposition with virtues from Germany, Pannonia, Illyricum, and from other parts of the world he called to Rome, he assigned: that they, instructed with the best morals and disciplines, each in his own place, might rightly be set over the sacred offices to be performed, and the Churches to be administered. It happened at the same time, that a long ship of a noble arch-pirate was captured by the Count of Altamira at the Argentaro Mount: in which were about a hundred Christian men snatched from the hands of the Turks, Christian captives, who for almost ten years had served a most bitter servitude. These half-naked and afflicted, sent to Rome, Pius most benignly and liberally received; and dismissed them adorned with garments, money, and also sacred and salutary gifts. Moreover Christian captives he often redeemed from the power of the barbarians: which kind of liberality is the highest and chief, S. Ambrose testifies. Lib. 2 de off. cap. 15 He chose those who, from all the tribunals not only of the City, but of the whole Pontifical dominion, should count the names of those, and those condemned as guilty to the galleys: who from the year 1535 to that time had been condemned to the galleys; and ordered them to be dismissed free, who anywhere among the nations, or of whatever Princes, it was established had finished the time of their servitude in the galleys: and determined that whoever in future should wish to use Christians condemned to such punishments, should first at Rome give surety, that they, the time prefixed for the servitude being finished, would be restored to their former liberty.

[333] Besides he kept little sacks of money with him, which he himself with his own hand on occasion with the utmost alacrity bestowed on the poor. Lavish toward the needy and praised by the Mother of God. There was added to illustrate his benignity a not vain testimony of a heavenly vision. Bartolomeo Bolognetti, a citizen of Bologna, reduced to want, which the multitude of his daughters increased; lest it should go ill with them, had piously committed them into the guardianship and faith of the most holy Virgin Mother of God: who soon appeared to him in his rest: Do not, said she, fear, for thy daughters in time a Dominican Friar will help. It happened then, that he, having set out to Rome, gave himself into the familiarity of Pius, in those days fulfilling the office of sacred Inquisitor: who, learning of both his integrity of life and the straits of his affairs, repeatedly succoring him as he could; afterward created Pontiff, placed his six daughters in marriage honorably into families; and gave to his son a wife endowed with an ample dowry, but the other he willed to be of his chamber: and thus the deeds answered the visions. Now

indeed how far his mind was from all avarice, both from those things which we have said, and also from those to be added no one can fail to understand. In the social war against the Turks, he abominates the arts of collecting money, when he was pressed by a great want of money, and several suppliant memorials concerning the regresses, as they call them, of benefices were offered him, and concerning dispensing from the laws and other arts of collecting money abundantly many things were reported; he indeed heard all things, as if he wished to seize the offered occasion: but soon; God avert this from me, said he, that for the cause of piety I should do or permit anything which either is less pious, or seems to show forth the appearance of avarice. But amid these things he cast all the memorials themselves into the fire. But other examples of the same kind, when we wrote concerning the sacred league, we mentioned above.

[334] A certain man condemned to death, because under another Pontiff he had committed a slaying, when he offered that he would pay ten thousand gold coins for his redemption or the commutation of his punishment, that money Pius not only refused to accept, but ordered that the law be enforced against him: and so he bore himself toward most other defendants. nor does he suffer crimes to be redeemed with money: And he was wont to say that in punishing crimes one ought to regard not riches, but rights: for if crimes are everywhere redeemed with money, penalties will have been constituted by the laws not for the rich, but only for the poor, and perhaps ill-gotten money will render the criminal unpunished, and so it will have profited the unjust man to have been unjustly rich. Certain Spanish princely men, demanding to be loosed from the laws for the cause of marriage, that they might be masters of their wish, offered that they would pay the Pontiff fifteen thousand gold coins. Which when he understood, recognizing more diligently the moments of the demands; and seeing them to be such that it might be permitted to be done, he indulged them, no money being received. The Datary objecting, or for it to be accepted for dispensations. that that sum could be accepted without injury to the laws, and be spent on pious uses: Pius subjoined; The words of the Council are: Rarely, for a cause, and gratis. A certain man, equipped with exquisite and crafty arts, proposing many conditions and ways of exacting money, without the damage of the peoples, as he himself said; Pius judged not only that he should not be heard, but even ordered him to depart from Rome as soon as possible: that it seemed improbable that it would profit a Prince to furnish this without the detriment of the peoples. But this was customary with him: nor was he wont to regard so much what of profit could come from any matter, as what justice, what equity demanded. For he understood that there was no viler vice than avarice, especially in Princes and those governing the Republic.

CHAPTER V

[335] Although Pius said that the Republic ought to be built by Pontiffs not so much with stones as with virtues: He completes many things in the Lateran and the Vatican, yet he himself thought that each ought to be excellently furnished by him. For many buildings, not for luxury or for the vain pomp of the world, but for the divine worship and for the cause of public convenience, both in the City and abroad, he everywhere raised, in which you may recognize the pious magnificence of a liberal Pontiff. And that we may speak first of the urban ones, he completed the begun panels of the middle nave of the Lateran church. He devoted himself to augmenting and completing the structure of the basilica of S. Peter: and for that matter he assigned both other moneys, and various deferred exactions of pious legacies. To the sacred Palace he added an excellent and convenient building, with three both chapels and chambers, three stories one above another so distinguished, that the sick Pontiffs could be more conveniently present at the divine office. A church and house near the Vatican, whither he himself sometimes withdrew to manage the affairs of the holy Church familiarly, he there built. For the Helvetians, the soldiers destined for the Pontifical guard, he raised a temple. On the Aventine hill the church of the order of S. John Jerosolymitan, which he had given to Cardinal Alexandrinus with the title of Prior, he took care to be restored through him.

[336] A temple and a women's convent, dedicated to God and B. Dominic, he founds the convent of S. Sixtus, on the Quirinal he raised from the foundations, that for the cause of a milder climate there might be conveyed thither the sacred Virgins formerly dwelling at S. Sixtus: who, since from the times of Pope Innocent the Third they had received the laws and habit of monastic life from the hands of the same S. Dominic, in that severity of discipline had perpetually excellently continued. The convents of the sacred Virgins, that whole and roofed religious discipline might be preserved from every peril, he took care with his own money, where there was need, to be well enclosed. The palace of the sacred Inquisition at the Vatican, he attempts more things for the public convenience of the City designed by him at the persuasion of another Pontiff, he raised, and adorned with ample decrees and yearly revenues. He made great expenses on the work begun by his predecessor, for conducting the Virgin water to the fountain of the Trevi: and besides he restored other public aqueducts that had fallen. He took care that the structure of the public gymnasium be completed, and recovered the yearly proceeds of that Academy (they call it the Sapienza), embezzled by certain persons; and there increased the number and stipend of those teaching publicly. But for the favor of the students of sacred Theology, he took care that the works of Saints Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure be printed again with bright type and good faith at his great expense. He restored the urban prisons: and to them he added a hospice of the imprisoned, in which the sick might be diligently tended; and houses, in which the whole might be conveniently kept. On the enclosure of the Hebrews, at the Theater of Marcellus, he made no moderate expenses. The tottering walls, sacred churches, towers, bridges, and besides many other buildings for the public convenience, he both raised and also repaired. And these things indeed in the City; but abroad the things which follow.

[337] An ample temple and convent, worthy of Pontifical munificence, He endows and adorns the monastery of the Preachers at Bosco in his native land: he built for the Order of Preachers at Bosco his native land; and consecrated it to the holy Cross and all the Saints; revenues being assigned to it forever, sufficient to sustain conveniently fifty Brothers: which revenues therefore, by the industry of the Brothers themselves, were rendered nearly twice as great. The sacristy of the place he enriched with vessels pertaining to the divine worship, wrought of gold and silver, and with sacred ornaments of the same metal, most skillfully woven with various work. Painted panels besides and images, skillfully made by the work of excellent artists, and a great quantity of sacred and those notable Relics, distributed in gold and silver cases, and gleaming with adorning gems, he sent there; and among them a notable part of the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. A brilliant and excellently equipped library besides, marble columns, and his own sepulcher and effigy, with this inscription dictated by himself: and there, to be buried there, he raises a monument for himself. Pope Pius the Fifth of Bosco, sprung from the family of the Ghislieri, having professed the Order of Preachers, having before his eyes the day of death and of the universal resurrection, from the day of his being assumed to the apex of the Apostolate, commanded that monument to be erected, for laying up his body, when it shall have seemed good to the divine clemency to snatch him from the wicked world. And so that his body, as we mentioned, should after his death be carried thither, he determined: although concerning that matter he afterward never mentioned anything. Finally for the convenience and dignity of that place, he obtained an ample decree concerning secular matters from Philip the Catholic King of Spain.

[338] For the convenience and ornament of his native land, especially for the favor of the Ghislieri family, in the Pavian gymnasium, an ample and magnificent College, which he willed to be and be called of the Ghislieri, he built up: in which at least twenty-four youths, laboring under want of family resources, might be piously educated, a college at Pavia for the Ghislieri family: while they gave their service to the studies of the good arts: and he equipped it with certain yearly revenues, a law being prescribed, by which he willed it to be ruled and administered by his kinsmen and clansmen forever: and brought it about that it should be decorated with some benefits of liberty and immunity by the same Catholic King. The city of Ancona near the citadel he fortified toward the mainland: in which place also he built a bulwark toward the sea. He finished the fortification of the city of Civitavecchia. To ward off pirates and Turks, at the Trajan port, as we said, and other things elsewhere. through all that coast he built towers. He both raised buildings and also restored others elsewhere, which it would be long to mention, for the public utility. But the sum of the extraordinary expenses, which he made for augmenting or preserving the common good of the Christian cause through the whole time of his Pontificate, is said to have come to two million gold coins.

CHAPTER III.

The liberal mind of Pius toward those well deserving of him, his mild and clement mind toward all.

CHAPTER VI

[339] Great indeed was both the magnificence of Pius for adorning the Christian Republic, and his benignity toward the poor or those well deserving of the Church of God: but if you look around at all things, you would not indeed know whether his liberality in returning favor was greater: which he himself said consisted chiefly in three things. First indeed in retaining a benefit received with singular memory; then in adorning its author with praises, and in giving thanks to him; finally in remunerating him opportunely according to each one's means, and that either with a keen zeal of will, An exceptional remunerator of benefits, when you cannot furnish the thing itself. Nay even he testified, that no virtue in some manner was acknowledged by him greater than this very benignity of a grateful mind: by which namely it was brought about, that not only earthly kingdoms were strengthened; but also savage and barbarous nations were joined by a closer bond of love. This virtue therefore, than which nothing is either more grateful to God or more lovable to men, so shone forth in him, that he is reported to have been alone of all the most grateful remunerator of benefits received. For he passed by no one, who had been even moderately benign to him, whose service he did not, beyond all expectation, abundantly compensate: nay not a few were ashamed, that they were so largely remunerated by him for whatever lighter offices toward him, of which they themselves had long since wholly forgotten. And not content to have satisfied liberally as well as prudently both those present in the City, or flowing together eagerly to him of their own accord, led by manifold hope, as is the way; he took care that very many also thinking nothing less be called by letters to Rome from various regions of the world, both about to use their service, and to confer great rewards upon them: but if perchance these had departed life, he placed the benefits with either their sons or their kinsmen.

[340] But mindful how much he owed to Paul IV Supreme Pontiff, his bones, which in the basilica of S. Peter lay in a rather humble place, [he takes care that the body of Paul IV be laid in the church of S. Mary over the Minerva.] he took care thence, by a most celebrated and pious procession of the Priests and of all the urban Magistrates and the Roman People, to be transferred into the church of S. Mary over the Minerva, and there in a magnificent sepulcher of polished marble to be most honorably laid; statues of the same Pontiff being erected there, and likewise of Faith and Religion, with this elogium: To Jesus Christ the hope and life of the faithful. To Paul IV Carafa, Supreme Pontiff, preeminent in eloquence, doctrine, singular wisdom; in innocence, liberality, greatness of mind; a most upright avenger of crimes; a most sharp champion of the Catholic

faith; Pius V Supreme Pontiff set a monument of a grateful and pious mind. He lived 83 years, one month, 20 days: he died 1559, on the fifteenth of the Kalends of September, in the 5th year of his Pontificate. Soon he equipped the chapel of Saint Thomas Aquinas, in which is that sepulcher, with yearly revenues, determining that every year to the Pontiff himself, as has been provided, the funeral rites be performed with the solemn rite. But toward the kinsmen of the same Pontiff he showed himself also grateful. For asked by them, that he should recall to the cognizance of law the cause of their kinsmen, against whom as if ill deserving of the Republic Pius IV had proceeded; and restoring the Carafa family to their former dignity, and the judgment being repeated, restore those who were surviving to their former state; he did not refuse. Concerning these therefore a judgment being constituted, and men preeminent in jurisprudence and integrity being employed in counsel, the moments of all matters, lest he should be deceived, he himself inspected, and willed the cause to be reported and decreed in the sacred Senate. In which all matters being duly examined, by the most grave sentence of the Pontiff and the Fathers, the Carafa were legitimately restored to their former dignity and place. Not that he thought to approve the acts of those who had borne themselves ill; or to reprove or rescind the legitimate judgment of the preceding Pontiff: but that, according to the variety of proofs and times, as often happens, he judged it equitable to judge variously sometimes, and to provide for the honor of an illustrious family without injury to the laws.

[341] And although from that family there were not lacking others, joined by blood to the Pontiff Paul, yet from all he chose one, Antonio Carafa, son of Reginald Rinaldo (as a man signal for the praises of proven virtue and manifold erudition) whom first he made his inmost chamberlain, soon enrolled into the most ample order of Cardinals: a Cardinal Antonio being created from it, the signature of Grace is conferred, by which deed Pius won great favor both with Philip King of Spain and with all other good men. Him moreover not very long after he of his own accord set over the office of signing the suppliant memorials (they call it the Signature of Grace). Which office although he refused for his modesty, yet Pius commanded that he should fulfill it. Besides he honored Alfonso Carafa, son of the brother of the same Pontiff, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, Archbishop of Naples, with a marble sepulcher magnificently adorned, placed in the greatest church of Naples, with this elogium carved in the marble: he raises a monument to the Archbishop of Naples, To Alfonso Carafa, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, Archbishop of Naples, a youth illustrious no less by his own virtue than by the splendor of his ancestors, recalling the religion and integrity of his uncle Paul IV Supreme Pontiff: endowed with such wisdom, that in prosperity all praised his supreme temperance, in adversity his wonderful constancy; Pius V Supreme Pontiff set this. He lived 25 years, 15 days, he died 1565, on the 4th of the Kalends of September. Nor indeed only toward this house, but toward the familiars and administrators also of the same Pontiff he exercised the virtue of a grateful mind: he advances the familiars of Paul in various ways. for of them he augmented some with revenues, others he received in hospitality; to some he even committed public offices: some at last he willed to be present to him either of the sacred service, or of the chamber.

[342] But those whom in labors to be sustained for the Church of God, Remunerating those once companions of his labors, and in guarding the Catholic religion he had had as companions, on them, whether dead or also alive, he abundantly conferred the offices of a grateful mind and the zeal of piety. For when he had had Giulio Antonio Santori of Caserta, a man adorned with singular doctrine and integrity, a most sharp champion of the Catholic faith, he creates Santori a Cardinal, a partner against the heretics; him, as soon as he was created Pontiff, he called to Rome, soon chose Archbishop of S. Severina: and using continually his diligence and faithful service, both in many other Ecclesiastical businesses and first of all in the office of the most sacred Inquisition, and in examining those who were assumed to the Episcopal watch, as we shall say, in the fifth year of his Pontificate, with fifteen other highest men he enrolled him into the sacred College of Cardinals. he builds a sepulcher for Cardinal of Carpi: But friends and companions who had departed life he followed with equal beneficence of a grateful mind. Among them was Rodolfo Pio, Cardinal of Carpi, whom because he himself had once in the salutary office of the Inquisition experienced an excellent defender of the Catholic faith, he likewise decorated with a signal sepulcher in the church of the most holy Trinity of the Order of Minims, on the Pincian hill of the City: and willed his excellent virtues to be attested for perpetual memory by this elogium: To Rodolfo Pio, Cardinal of Carpi, Prince of the Senate, having fulfilled the most ample offices of the Church of God with singular prudence, defender of Ecclesiastical right; equally unconquered by favor, terror, the allurements of pleasures, and adverse chances; born for beneficence, in the highest gravity most pleasant; Pius V Supreme Pontiff to his colleague; and a partner of the salutary Office in guarding Catholic truth, most closely joined by perpetual sentiments and zeal concerning the Christian Republic, made this monument of his love and judgment.

[343] But to his ministers, both according to the dignity of each office and the condition of persons, liberal toward his ministers and according to the reckoning of the time during which they had served him, everywhere in the progress of his Pontificate he showed himself so prudently benign and liberal, and so remunerated their services, that from all memory no Pontiff was ever said to have been equal to him. In furnishing which office of liberality addressing them, from the Gospel he repeatedly used those words: But you are they who have remained with me in my temptations. Luke 22 And besides the extraordinary gifts, and those which every year on the Nativity feasts of our Lord Jesus Christ and of S. John the Baptist he conferred on the administrators themselves, he adorned them with great and sometimes excessive (as was reported) revenues: who had once lovingly served him a poor Cardinal, for it did not seem equitable to him, that those who had faithfully served the Supreme Pontiff, the same should afterward be compelled through want to serve others. And when he found that for so great beneficence toward his administrators he was commonly reproved rather than praised; he added, that they had given their service to him led by no hope of rewards or ambition: inasmuch as he himself was a Cardinal endowed with very straitened means, and supported by almost no protection of human favor, and on that account they could hope no help from him, it remained that, led by love, they had been present to him. But then when God had raised him to that power; he wished even for that reason to remunerate the dutiful labors and love of all, according to the merits and condition of each.

[344] Of them therefore he decorated some with various grades of honors: and in the fifth year of his Pontificate, he creates from them Cardinals Girolamo Rusticucci, Girolamo Rusticucci, a citizen of Fano, who was his secretary, he co-opted into the College of Cardinals: in their public assembly openly testifying, that his proven integrity and virtue demanded that he should be advanced to such a grade of dignity. Which judgment by no means deceived him: for he afterward, made Bishop of Senigallia, having excellently fulfilled the office of Vicar in the City of five supreme Pontiffs succeeding one another in order, in the year 1603, in the month of June, while we were writing these things, departed; having left, besides the rest, an excellent monument of his pious liberality: namely the church of his title of S. Susanna on the Quirinal hill restored and at the greatest expense magnificently adorned, and the convent of the sacred Sisters of the Cistercian order joined to it augmented with many benefits, and polished with various ornaments. Giovanni Girolamo Albani, Count of Bergamo, a man adorned with exceptional probity and equal jurisprudence, and Girolamo Albani. of whom we made mention before, he likewise called to Rome, named Apostolic Protonotary, set over the province of Picenum, and at last decorated with the purple hat, mindful of the office received from him at Bergamo long since. But it would be long to mention one by one those toward whom he showed the zeal of a grateful mind at various times. Yet to these I shall subjoin two or three examples of the same kind, from which the rest can more easily be found.

[345] When from the Lateran church, of which he had then first according to the accustomed manner taken possession, he was returning surrounded by a retinue of the most ample men; Recognizing in the crowd, now Pontiff, those long well deserving of him, he recognized Francesco Bastoni of Bosco, a man among the chief of that town, who at his summons a little before having entered the City had dismounted from his horse, and stood by about to adore the Pontiff: and the litter in which he was conveyed being ordered to halt, the man being called to him he most kindly saluted. Him moreover, because he had known him from his youth an excellent soldier, an honest and upright man, and beneficent toward himself, he forthwith declared Prefect of the Roman fortress; and decorated his sons William and Albert with ample honors. For William, now Bishop of Pavia, a man of proven virtue, he advanced to reporting the suppliant memorials of each Signature, and to the office called Per concessum: but Albert he named a Golden Knight, soon constituted Leader of a troop of light-armed horse, he remunerates with ample honors and gifts. and after his father's death set over the Castle of S. Angelo, and gave him his sister's granddaughter as wife. Having then returned to the Vatican, and passing by the royal hall, from the surrounding multitude he likewise recognized a certain rustic, who sixteen years before had received him into his little hut in hospitality, fleeing by trackless ways from Bergamo toward Cremona, the inquisition, of which we spoke above, against the Bishop Soranzo being dispatched. And so to the man called to him, although then thinking all other things, I, said he, am that Dominican Friar, whom thou long since receivedst in hospitality. Finally he ordered a thousand gold coins to be counted out to him to bestow his two daughters in marriage, and besides another five hundred for his own uses. In the same days that Aurelio, of whom mention was made before, a Priest of the Franciscan order, to whom he had once committed the written copy of the same inquisition to be kept, he likewise recognized in the multitude of his fellows, his comitia being held at Rome, advancing in order to kiss his sacred feet; and created him Bishop of the Church of Lectoure: judging namely, him whom he had known faithful in few things in the keeping of the deposit, to be set, by the counsel of Christ, over many things.

CHAPTER VII

[346] But the mildness and clemency, than which, as that wise man said, nothing is more praiseworthy, nothing more worthy of a great and princely man, so shone forth in Pius, that he is rightly to be preferred to those ancients celebrated for the praise of clemency. Nothing harsh in his morals, nothing proud in his command would you discern: mild and clement but, what is most difficult, he so tempered gentleness with gravity, that neither did facility detract anything from authority, nor severity anything from sweetness. He showed himself easy and most benign to all, but first of all to humble and needy men: and he patiently listened to all so long as they themselves wished, nor interrupted anyone speaking. He was mild in answering: and as often as he could not satisfy each according to his desire, he himself bore it grievously. He being created Pontiff, when very many mindful of their offenses against him thought that they must remove from Rome, forthwith they heard that this must by no means be done: nor did they seem to know who Pius the Fifth was: inasmuch as he had never been an avenger of his own injuries, and was prepared not only easily to lay aside all offenses,

but even to make them equal by benefits. Nay even this was reported, that it sometimes helped to bring offenses to Pius: even toward those ill deserving of him, because he himself was wont to compensate them by services. In which he scarcely seemed to satisfy himself enough: fearing, lest they should suspect any memory of offense, or any thought of vengeance, to lurk in his mind: and on that account he often granted them many things, which at other times could scarcely have been obtained from him.

[347] At the beginning of his Pontificate, a certain rascal, a malicious and famous poem being published, to the author of a biting satire written against him petulantly assailed the Pontiff: he then seized and put to the question, confessed the crime. Wherefore by the laws, once prescribed by other Pontiffs, he was to be punished both with all the fortunes with which he abounded, and indeed with a most severe kind of death. But before the law was enforced against him, Pius ordered him to be set before himself, and to recite his poem, then to set forth, by whose either counsel or will he had written it. To him saying, that he had done it only by the instinct of the evil demon, If thou, said Pius, hadst spoken ill of me as Supreme Pontiff, thou wouldst by no means bear it unpunished: he pardons the fault; but indeed because thou hast cast taunts against Friar Michael, against a humble monk, against Cardinal Alexandrinus, go free, whither thou wilt. But I will always both retain in mind, and willingly confess, the humility of my birth, life, and habit: and I will be vile and abject in my own eyes. Finally he admonished him, that he should no more bind himself with such a crime: and ordered that if he ever found anything done by him less rightly, he should meet him, and report it to him: for that he was well prepared to amend himself: and so he dismissed the defendant unpunished.

[348] A not dissimilar proof of singular clemency he gave both often elsewhere, and indeed in the matter of Giorgio Costa, Count of the town whose surname is "of the Trinity." For while he presided over the Alban convent of the Dominican order, as we mentioned at the beginning of the work, and there had the care of the sacred Virgins of the same order; having once been wronged by Count Costa, the Count himself delayed to pay the dowry of his sister, co-opted into that company of nuns. To him then playing with adverse luck at dice, when the pious Father had approached to be admonished of such a debt with such modesty as was fitting, although at an hour perhaps less opportune; he, bearing indignantly the otherwise just petition, gravely threatened, unless he should depart from him as soon as possible. It happened therefore, that him now made Cardinal, and Bishop of Monreale, having set out to visit his Church, as we showed, the same Count received in hospitality, and treated most honorably, ignorant that he was the one whom he had once threatened: where when after supper they conversed pleasantly among themselves; the Cardinal to him thinking nothing such, I, said he, am that Friar, whom thou, friend Count, didst once so sharply threaten at Alba: the Cardinal excuses the deed, but I deserved that bitter answer, because at that moment of time I should by no means have interrupted thee. And so excusing the man's contumacy, having benignly consoled him suffused at once with shame and fear, he bade him be of good courage: and showed that he was and perpetually would be most friendly to him; even from this, that his heretic kinsmen had never been able to lead him away from the Catholic faith. The Count, having marveled at the illustrious token of a clement mind, began to venerate him more earnestly: who afterward for the cause of congratulation and office, as is the way, at the beginning of his Pontificate, and the Pope receives him in hospitality. being sent as Orator to Pius by the Duke of Savoy, was most kindly received by him: nay he received him not only as the legate of a most dear Prince, but as a singular friend, alone of all the Orators of the Princes, in hospitality in the Apostolic Palace: abundantly returning the favor of the hospitable mind which he had received, and excellently compensating old offenses with recent offices of mildness.

[349] But Pius was wont by his own nature to be suddenly moved; and, because he was of a fervid disposition, to be incited to anger: and as soon as he had foreseen anything annoying, using well his rather fervid disposition. to show forth the kindled motion of his mind in his countenance. But such motions either quickly grew quiet, or were at once converted into love: nor did he think enough done by himself, unless those at whom he had been kindled he soon bound to himself by some office. Nay he so knew how to temper the turbid motions of his mind, that he testified that he had never betaken himself to bed with an angry mind, and much less imbued with hatred against anyone; so that the sun never set upon his anger. But this propensity of nature, in administering the Pontificate, he himself accommodated either to matters to be bravely conducted, or to the splendor of justice to be vindicated from the injuries of wicked men: and that for his ardent zeal of piety, by guarding Ecclesiastical right, was found to be done by him.

CHAPTER IV.

His constancy in keeping justice, even in conferring honors.

CHAPTER VIII

[350] Moreover clemency with justice, and gentleness of mind with severity of discipline, he thought must perpetually be joined by him. Joining justice to clemency, By the former it came to pass, that the good, loving him, cultivated justice; by the latter, that the evil, fearing him, refrained from crimes: but by both, that all were contained in office and faith. While he was a Cardinal, as I showed at the beginning of the work, the voice of all was one, that there was no one who gave his opinion with greater liberty, who spoke less for favor: and the things which were true and right defended more constantly or more spiritedly. But chosen Pontiff, both in all matters, and especially in the most grave judgment of the Signature, and patron of the poor, both in showing favor and in declaring law, he showed himself everywhere most upright. Epist. 6 l. 2 In which judgment if any poor man, widow, or ward had a most powerful or rich adversary, Pius, the cause being known, acting the patron of the poor man, answered concerning the law to each: and when he perceived that into the number of those who were set over reporting matters in that judgment too many had been admitted, he himself reduced them to fewer; and those more preeminent both in integrity and knowledge, and in experience of matters. But when he understood, that as nothing is more usual, so nothing is almost more pernicious in commonwealths, than to protract lawsuits, and perfidiously to adjourn the judgments of poor clients; to give audience to all he spends one day in the week. for removing this perfidy of men, and that, made all things to all, he might provide for the interests of all, especially of the needy; besides that he everywhere lent benign ears to each, he appointed a certain day of each month for all, on which whole day he should give his service to hearing the causes and prayers of any pitiable persons. But hearing the causes of which it was treated, he wished the judges and patrons to be present: and he himself patiently to hear all things, to inspect the suppliant memorials, and if they contained things less equitable, to rescind them in person; to those asking equitable things to declare law forthwith; to leave no place to cavils or calumnies; in the causes of the poor to show himself no less a benign advocate, than an equitable judge.

[351] Judges and pleaders, who it was established had been lacking to their office either by bad faith, or through negligence or ignorance, he punishes the faults of those administering justice, he sharply rebuked, and severely punished; and if anything had happened in these matters worthy of greater consideration, he committed it to the Judge, to whom the business pertained by office, to be defined on this condition, that he should accomplish it by speed in declaring law, lest anything further concerning that matter could be reported to him; but otherwise some had to pay the damages of the poor, others to retire from their magistracy. Among these things you might have seen Judges, not only before him, but at their own tribunal, or the name of the Pope being heard, the clients sometimes appealing to him, forthwith tremble with fear. But when he found that from either the unskillfulness or the fraud of notaries very many damages or the occasion of many lawsuits arose; taught both by the decree of the sacred Council of Trent and also by the thing itself, he took care that the urban notaries and all the procurators of causes, concerning integrity of life and sufficient knowledge of civil matters and jurisprudence, he inquires into their capacity, be diligently inquired into and examined by suitable men: and those being found not suitable, or whenever delinquent in their office, he willed the use of exercising that office in businesses, lawsuits, and causes to be perpetually or for a time prohibited. Moreover the prefects and magistrates of cities and places, in declaring law and punishing crimes, he ordered to use the same severity of the laws which he himself used: and them, whether urban or provincial, having fulfilled their office, each to render to the fisc the account of his administration; and if any of them had been accused of a matter ill conducted, he was by law compelled to plead his cause in judgment. he exacts an account from those who have fulfilled office. But he himself learned all things, yet did not cut all things to the quick: but knew how to apply pardon to small sins, severity to greater: nor to be always content with punishment, but sometimes with penitence; and to take care that the punishment should reach a few, the fear all. And so it came to pass, that all the more easily contained themselves in their office, and lawsuits were more quickly settled, and its place was given to justice; and the interests of all, and first of all of the slender men, were well provided for.

[352] All which things that they might be more conveniently effected, to all, whether privately or publicly, Kind therefore to all, his authority always preserved; he made so prompt and benign an audience, that he suffered no one, though humble and abject, approaching him to be prohibited. Nay to those whom he had known to be impeded by the reverence of the Pontifical majesty, he gave himself of his own accord; and made not only the power, but also the courage, of kindly addressing him and offering suppliant memorials. Nor yet did, what is rare, either facility diminish his authority, or severity his love: but as facility opened to him an approach for the good, so severity warded off the wicked from him. Hence mimes, flatterers, buffoons, and other such monsters of men, which greatly displeased him, when he was declared Pontiff, he hates flatterers speedily departed from the City: and if any of them had remained there, he dared not foolishly open his mouth: and when Pius was present, he hurried himself away in flight: and there was absolutely no one who, making words either in earnest or in jest, dared to flatter before him. Nor without cause did he drive that kind of men from himself, mindful that it is divinely written: They who call thee blessed, themselves deceive thee, and disturb the way of thy steps. Isaiah 3 For deservedly our salutary and true counsels effect nothing, as that holy Martyr says, while by pernicious flatteries and caressings the salutary truth is impeded. S. Cyprian Epist. 28 But to Pius no one was ever either more inimical to lies, or more loving of truth: and liars; which he so cultivated, that whomever he had once detected a liar, he could never afterward return into his favor: and this he declared by the thing itself in the case of his kinsman: whom, as we shall say, on that account he so repelled from himself, that he could never be in his former place with him.

[353] But faith given he so furnished, that no one

more. For he said, that it was unworthy and unbecoming for any man even obscure and vile, much less for a princely man, to promise anything feignedly, which you by no means think to furnish: and that this much less suited the Vicar of Christ; Free of all dissimulation and faithful in his promises and that it was base and unjust, that anyone should depart from that which he had once well judged to be right. But the saying he proved by examples. For a princely man's Orator earnestly demanding the dignity of an office, which Pius was thinking to give to the son of a dead man, to whom he had already before promised it; All, said he, the Princes of the whole world together at once would by no means bring it about that I should not stand by my promises: and that the less toward the dead. Wherefore he judged that that ought by no means to be approved, which is commonly carried about as said, He who knows not how to dissemble, knows not how to reign. But he himself, having openly professed, as was equitable, the utmost integrity and faith, he wished his ministers too to be such. perpetually took care, lest he should either deceive anyone, having one thing ready on his tongue, another shut in his breast, or should declare to anyone the secrets entrusted to his faith. Such as he himself was, such did he desire his administrators to show themselves, such also all, especially those with whom he had business. To Kings and Princes he declared, that they should send to reside with him Orators who excelled in zeal of religion and the praise of a noble mind, and who would accomplish all things in good faith.

[354] But he showed himself difficult both in granting those things which were repugnant to the Ecclesiastical sanctions, and in showing favor and loosing from the laws: how tenacious he was of the laws so that on that account men dared not ask anything from him, which seemed less right or unjust. And indeed of the virtue of Pius so celebrated a fame had grown current, that they were counted fortunate, who had been able to obtain anything from him: for even by this reason they not only guarded their own respect toward him, but also conciliated to themselves a great opinion of probity with all. When in Bohemia, the most holy Communion under both kinds, once granted to those peoples, he had perceived very many to use perversely, The Bohemians experienced it, concerning Communion under both kinds: and that thence an occasion of error was given to the other nations neighboring them, he had long since interdicted the Archbishop of Prague and the other Bishops of that nation, lest they should initiate to sacred Orders anyone a partaker of that Communion. Epist. 9 l. 2 And so Maximilian the Emperor, contending by letters from the Pontiff that that interdict might be relaxed, alleged many things: by which Pius nothing bent, could never be induced either to loose those peoples from the interdict, or to indulge anything against the common discipline of the Church. But it would be long to mention many other examples of the same kind left by him. But this he diligently devoted himself to, that he might recall to that ancient splendor of religion and veneration among men, both the dignity of the Apostolic See and also the whole state of the Ecclesiastical cause, and that all might lead a pacified and tranquil life. Which indeed to accomplish it was necessary that severity of discipline be applied: and that a certain part of wicked men be punished, lest the whole Republic should perish: knowing, that a finger must sometimes be cut off, lest the arm and the body itself rot away.

[355] And so the Pontifical dominion, and indeed Rome itself, by the license of former times, since it had often been harassed by exiles and routed robbers; purging the dominion of robbers, for exterminating this pest of men, at the beginning of his Pontificate Pius chose ready ministers, to whom he gave ample power, and gave money and soldiery, the stipend being paid. And so very many were driven off, several slain, the rest dispersed in voluntary flight: from which all things were made safe and tranquil. Yet he took care that this be furnished with the utmost faith and equal integrity: suffering no one to be circumvented by fraud. There was at that time a certain Mariano of Ascoli, a signal leader of robbers and exiles, who gravely afflicted the Ecclesiastical dominion with various robberies and slaughters. Him a certain man promised to give bound to Pius; but asked by the Pontiff the reason and way of accomplishing that matter, he answered that Mariano was his friend: nor does he wish to use fraud even against these. and on that account, since he trusted his friend, drawn aside into his house he would by ambush be easily captured. To whom Pius; Thus, said he, wouldst thou deceive faith, and betray a friend? We will by no means suffer this to be done, trusting in God that an opportune occasion of proceeding against Mariano, and of vindicating this province from the hands of robbers, will not be lacking to us. Which when Mariano had learned, the greatness of mind, clemency, and faith of the Pontiff being vehemently commended, of his own accord together with his whole retinue he departed from the borders of that region: nor, under this Pontiff, did he wish to harass the Ecclesiastical empire any more.

CHAPTER IX

[356] But indeed as he detested depraved men, or rather the wickedness of the depraved, and those who did not hate it, and the malefactors as a pest; so the upright and those cultivated with virtues he vehemently loved, and embraced them adorned with great gifts and offices from himself. he confers honors on the more worthy: Nay even by letters he was wont to ask of all the Bishops, as we have already often mentioned above, and of those who approached him to inquire, whether through the world they knew men preeminent in probity, erudition, and experience of matters, who could give service to the Christian republic: and if he understood that any were, he either called them to Rome on honest conditions, and there or elsewhere set them over public offices. And so as he was a most sharp judge in estimating the merits of men endowed with virtue; so also in both stirring and advancing them to whatever excellent things, he was always of a prompt and efficacious will. Hence indeed it came to pass, that twenty-one most choice men into the sacred College of Cardinals, by three creations, twenty-one Cardinals being created held at appointed times, he prudently co-opted. Concerning whom one by one to write in this place is not necessary: yet most, as the matter bore, we have named in their place. But the fewer Cardinals, because he had found enough chosen by Pius IV; the more, than other Supreme Pontiffs, for the time during which he sat, he created Bishops in various places: whom I find to have been three hundred and fourteen. The cause of augmenting the number could be threefold: Bishops 314, that he had abolished the accustomed regresses to sacred dignities; that he had instituted some new Episcopal Sees; that he had taken care that all the prelates by the decree of the Council of Trent should each reside in his own See. Moreover in choosing these and other ministers of the sacred order, he was wont to regard not so much external splendor or the favor of Princes, as the signal integrity of a proven life, and the other ornaments of minds; nor so much to adorn and aid men by dignities and Churches, as dignities and Churches by men. [Epist. 13 & 14 lib. 1, Epist. 2 l. 2, Epist. 31, 32, 33 lib. 3, Epist. 9 l. 4] Which that it might be furnished by a more right counsel, he himself by the sanction of the same Council first brought it about, that those who were to be promoted to the Episcopal dignity and burden should first concerning integrity of life, a fitting examination being premised. and concerning the erudition and knowledge necessary for so great a ministry, be diligently examined by skilled and proven men chosen for that by him: but those who were found less suitable should be rejected.

[357] And although acceptance of persons had no place with him, and provided he were worthy, He shows himself more inclined to promoting Religious, he excluded no one; yet from all he more willingly chose those, whom he knew in the sacred families of the Regulars to have been much instructed and long exercised to the form of Christian perfection, which ought chiefly to shine in Bishops, and to ruling souls: whom especially to that not ambition, but charity drove, obedience urged. From this number two among others for example's sake we shall mention; one a Cardinal, the other a Bishop. Girolamo Souchier Socherus, a Frenchman, General Prefect of the Monks of the Cistercian order, on account of the excellent sanctity of life and doctrine chosen Cardinal by Pius, for his singular modesty, constantly refused to undertake so great a dignity: among whom were Souchier and Sauli. but he could not longer resist the Pontiff commanding once and again in virtue of holy obedience. Epist. 7 l. 2 The other (that from domestic examples we may bring forth something not for the cause of boasting, but for the zeal of a pious and grateful mind) Alessandro Sauli, son of the most illustrious patrician of Genoa Domenico, an exceptional Theologian, and preeminent in the utmost prudence and equal probity, we knew excellently: whom Pius from this Order of clerks regular of S. Paul, then Provost of the Milanese college of S. Barnabas, although unwilling and with great modesty professing himself unworthy, and with tears long resisting (Carlo Borromeo Cardinal of S. Praxedis, Archbishop of Milan, by whom he was consecrated Bishop, procuring it) he drew to the Episcopal See of Aleria in Corsica. Which Church when he with the utmost labors by word and example, for twenty years and more, had excellently instructed to the reckoning of Christian discipline, and as it were from an uncultivated wood had rendered a flourishing garden; Gregory XIV Supreme Pontiff transferred him to govern the Church of Pavia: but while he strenuously surveys this, to the great grief of his whole flock and of the good, an excellent pastor and truly called the father of the poor, to the eternal, as we piously believe, rewards of his labors, in the year 1592 in the month of October, an old man, departed.

[358] Moreover that the Church might keep its authority, Pius edicted to all the Bishops and Prelates, Sedulous for guarding the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, that with no fear each, bravely furnishing his offices, should hold court, exercise judgments, and guard the Ecclesiastical power: and if ever he had understood them to be impeded in declaring law to the Priests by lay Princes, as happens, or assailed, taking the care himself, he interposed his authority: and gave his effort, that the Church might retain its right: and the Princes themselves should count it a great benefit, if they could obtain pardon concerning matters done against the sacred rights. But for hearing, defining, and protecting the businesses and causes of the Bishops, which often arise, he himself first set over them a certain number of more learned Cardinals, who, gathered together on appointed days and hours, by Apostolic authority, what seemed to be right, he instituted a twofold Congregation of Cardinals for it: should decree and answer; but if anything graver happened, should report it to the Pontiff: as was afterward furnished. He moreover instituted another congregation of Cardinals, who, set over the books interdicted or to be interdicted, should inspect them; and either to be corrected, or to be condemned, or already in the Index marked by Apostolic censure to be guarded against, by equal authority should take care. Moreover he willed any Clerics to be segregated from the company of the pious, and sharply forbids recourse to laymen. who thereafter in Ecclesiastical causes had either appealed to a secular Judge, or by the favor of lay Princes tried to defend themselves against the Church: and declared them marked with infamy, never to be suitable for sacred Orders, and for obtaining benefices: depriving them of those which they already obtained.

CHAPTER V.

His fortitude, prudence, modesty of mind, chastity, frugality.

CHAPTER X

[359] Defending therefore the Ecclesiastical dominion and rights with singular and perpetual constancy, restraining the wicked, but adorning the upright with rewards, the Pontifical

majesty he greatly augmented. For intent upon the one care of the Christian republic, In exercising his office free of all human regard, referring that supreme dignity as received not from human counsels, but from the divine will alone, and regarding the power or favor of no man, he bravely exercised his authority: having openly professed, that he not only was led or moved by no either disturbances of mind, or private advantages; but also that in his actions he looked to nothing except the one good of religion, and whatever was joined with it. And on that account he said, that among Christians this law of living ought to be perpetual: that all things be directed to the rule of the most sacred religion, and that nothing be preferred to the divine honor. And so he could not hear those who tried to prefer the right of dominion or the cause of state to the sacred laws or to Christian morals: and he was wont to say, that such a cause was a diabolical cause: and yet he so brought it about, that the Princes and all the nations both loved him uniquely, and indeed also revered him. Inasmuch as they well knew and were wont to say, that his life was such, that in it while they always found something good which they might imitate, the wicked could find nothing which they might calumniate. But just as he was accustomed in body to enduring all labors, he professes that not even death is feared by him. so there was in him so great a vigor of mind, that he neither melted away or was vainly elated by the insolence of prosperity, nor was ever broken by any kind of calamity. But whoever had contended to overcome him either by authority or by threats, him forthwith he did not fear to repel, and to make his attempts vain: even objecting in person, that he not only did not dread the punishment of martyrdom, but even vehemently desired it: for as God had placed him in that state, so He could excellently defend and divinely guard him against every assault of human power. And so of him it can truly be said, what B. Cyprian writes in a certain place: that the soul was not lacking to the martyrdom, Serm. de mort. but the martyrdom to the soul. And relying on such hope he so greatly trusted God, that he bravely resisted any greatest and most powerful Princes for the cause of religion: and since he did not study to please men, he spoke in the sight of Kings, and was not confounded.

[360] Moreover he was endowed with such wisdom, such prudence, and moderation in all matters, Slow to receive accusations of ministers proven to him, that the lights of heroic virtues wonderfully shone in him. His administrators and servants, whom he had for a long time experienced good, he could be induced by no calumnies to think should be deserted: judging that to change easily the implanted and inveterate opinion of their probity was a kind of levity. In which he judged that he ought to be the more constant, the more often, by secretly and cautiously exploring the truth of the matters of which they were accused, he found them sometimes wholly feigned. In which kind how cautious he was and by no means precipitate, both in very many actions, and first of all from that which happened to Giovanni Morone the Cardinal, it can be openly understood. Paolo Maria by surname Castellano, Vicar of the Prefect of the soldiers of the Pontifical guard, once reported to Pius, that two men from the town of Castellatio, not far from Bosco, had reported, that they had both in person and by letters, in the name of the same Cardinal, been solicited with the greatest promises to kill the Pontiff: of which matter so many indications were brought, which could impel Pius to exercise the question against Morone. But foreseeing himself, because he had often found them calumnious; that, what the matter was, it had been deceitfully feigned, having conversed with Morone, he wished to be no annoyance to him: but by the service of the same Castellano he took care that those calumniators be cautiously led to Rome. Where for the cognizance of truth put to the question, they confessed, that, led by the hope of the greatest rewards, they had wickedly devised it: and on that account not with rewards, but with deserved punishments they were publicly affected. Nay Pius always esteemed Morone himself greatly, as a man preeminent in the utmost prudence and experience of matters: and willingly used his prudent counsel for conducting graver matters.

[361] he trusts less the Cardinals obliged to another, But indeed he trusted little the Cardinals procuring the businesses of Princes; understanding that almost all of them each looked after his own affair. But if anyone had wished to use the service of such Cardinals with him, he, unless he had acted prudently and moderately, rendered himself suspect; and underwent not only the loss of estimation, but also other detriments. Moreover he was held of a suspicious disposition, nor did he easily believe the speeches or counsels of others: not ignorant how greatly in the minds of men each one's desires of his own good prevail, and the longings for one's own advantages. But the thought which had first settled in his mind, that indeed was wont to stick fixed more deeply in him. though easy to hear the counsels of others. In hearing the counsels of others, however, and in consulting on matters he was not pertinacious: but as most capable of the right and of reason, he was easily led over into another's opinion, when it was better and safer. And of this matter indeed, against a certain common opinion, I have the Orators of Princes and other highest men, who often dealt with him, as most full witnesses.

CHAPTER XI

[362] No gem is more splendid, especially in all the adornment of a Pontiff, the testimony of S. Bernard, than humility itself: for the loftier he is above the rest, the more illustrious by humility he appears even than himself. Lib. 2 de Consid. Wherefore, although for one placed on high not to be high-minded is difficult and altogether unusual, and the more unusual the more glorious; yet from Pius, otherwise placed on the highest summit of human affairs, The loftier the more humble, so far was it that he ever either thought or proclaimed high things of himself, that in his own eyes nothing was more abject than himself, nothing more humble: inasmuch as he knew that he bore the person of Him who said: Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart. And so, following the counsel of the Wise Man, the greater he was, the more he submitted himself in all things: and thus he found the highest favor before God and men. Matt. 11 Eccli. 13 By which virtue indeed he so excelled, that as great an accession was made in him to Christian humility as to dignity and honor. For as a youth, when among the Dominican Brothers at Bologna, as we said at the beginning, he tarried for the cause of studies, and there the name of the Ghislieri family was held illustrious; as a youth he had concealed his family's name, that he drew his lineage thence he not only did not show off, but diligently took care that it should be known to no one: fearing, as he himself afterward said, lest from the honorable name of the family something of vainglory should cling to him; contrary to the institution of Him who had professed Himself to despise all human vanity. The more moreover both as Cardinal and as Supreme Pontiff thus as Pope he flees all pomp: he avoided all the vain pomp of the world and precious apparatus, privately and publicly, as far as he could for his dignity. For his chambers were either bare, or adorned with less exquisite hangings, and in them no profane panels, no vain images were seen: but, these removed, it delighted him to have the effigy of Christ hanging from the cross and sacred images.

[363] On the sacred day of the Lord's Supper, after the custom of other Pontiffs, to thirteen poor men, by the singular example of Him whose place he held on earth, he was wont not only prostrate to wash the feet, washing the feet of the poor but even to kiss them. Among these things he was once to many an exceptional proof of virtue, when so great and so high a Prince did not shrink to fix a sacred kiss upon a foul ulcer, with which one of the very needy labored in his foot, for the favor of Him who washed the filth of our souls in His own blood. he even kisses a foul ulcer: Which matter so moved the minds of the beholders, that for pious admiration they could not refrain from tears: and among them a princely man weeping more profusely, declared: If before all men this example could be given, it would be impossible but that even obstinate heretics would be converted to the worship of Catholic truth. But those who corrected him even in the least things, which is, the testimony of B. Gregory, a great indication of Christian submission, them he greatly loved: he loves those who reprove him: and trusted little those who, as happens, especially before princely men, praised all his sayings and deeds. When once someone of his household was commended to him, as upright, and endowed with those virtues which are wont to make anyone lovable and dear to his master; A good man indeed, replied Pius; but he never contradicts me. For he was not ignorant, that a Prince is wretched with whom true things are kept silent: and that the resources of Kings are more often overthrown by flattery than by enemies. But the splendor or magnitude of human affairs he made little of: nor indeed did he ever aspire by evil arts, either to the favor of men or to honors. Nay rather, him thinking nothing less than of honors, and raised to the throne by the merit of virtue alone, and walking always by the right way, and solicitous of virtue alone, honors themselves followed of their own accord. For neither the smoky images of ancestors, as a certain grave author left written of him, nor the envied magnitude of riches, nor the wheedled commendations of Princes, prepared for him the way to the Pontificate, but that same virtue, which accompanied him taken up from his cradle, with its own hands placed him on that highest throne of dignity.

[364] He therefore narrated true things, exhorting his familiars to beware of ambition, when he said, that for obtaining the Pontificate he had applied neither money, he confesses that he aspired to it not even in thought, nor the favor of men, nor even a thought: nay that such a grade, to which otherwise many strive to come with the utmost contention, ought not to be desired by anyone: and that the annoyances which accompany it seemed graver to him, than ever was either the burden of poverty in the convent while he lived there, or any other kind of affliction or even labor: and that that dignity was in some manner an impediment to him to eternal salvation: and so they should believe his condition to be pitiable rather than to be envied: for from that day on which he had been raised to the Pontificate, but that he had found in it nothing desirable: he had passed no hour without solicitude and annoyance. Nay rather the splendor and magnitude which you behold in me, said he, I always reckon nothing else than most pricking thorns: which goad my mind, as often as the recollection comes, what I ought to furnish of office, and what account of the office committed to me I shall render to Almighty God. Wherefore since the conventual life often came into his mind, like another Gregory, panting for it with the highest vows, he said, that he had never attained tranquillity of life or perfect quiet, except in his own province, while he led a religious life: and he repented that he had undergone that burden, for sustaining which he felt himself unequal in strength: and on that account he sometimes thought of resigning it. Concerning which matter to Pietro Monti, Master of the Jerosolymitan soldiery, he gave with his own hand letters, which are extant:

but, what may be read in those letters, at last acquiescing in the reasons, he thought he ought to conform himself to the divine will. But, that I may pass over not a few other proofs of his singular modesty, that one in this place seems by no means to be kept silent, by which he openly declared how much those things ought to be esteemed, which mortals are wont to marvel at. When the Romans, admirably extolling his integrity of life and his excellent reason of moderating the Republic, he forbids a statue to be erected for him in the Capitol. had decreed a statue for him in the Capitol; he himself commanded that they should by no means do this: for if anything good were done by him, thence all honor and glory was to be attributed to Him who is the supreme author of all good things. For he preferred, to the glory of God, that an excellent example of virtue be sculptured in the breasts of prudent and good men, than to stand perpetually in the forum of marble or bronze: not ignorant, that exceptional virtue of its own accord obtains its own honor, nor that there is any more beautiful statue, than the illustrious memory of a life well lived.

CHAPTER XII

[365] Moreover he flourished with such praise of continence, that nothing not chaste and pure was ever heard of his life: nay this is reported to be certain, that he kept the flower of his virginity perpetually unsullied. Although he lived in unsullied virginity But of that integrity, besides others, a most full witness was Arcangelo Bianchi of Vigevano, a man signal in piety and doctrine, whom he himself, assumed from the Dominican family, first created Bishop of Teano, then Cardinal. For he testified, that he had heard his confessions in his whole life, that is, when he acted as a conventual, a Cardinal, and finally Supreme Pontiff, nor yet had ever found in him the stain of a deadly fault. free of every mortal fault, The same moreover the Bishop of Bagnorea asserted, who also for many years was his confessor. Yet there were not lacking rascals, who by fraud and calumny tried to brand on him the foul mark of unchastity: as the virtue of the upright is wont everywhere to be exercised by the zeal of the wicked. A young servant of a baker, having set out from Naples to Rome, openly kept saying that he had been begotten by this Pontiff. Wherefore it was doubted, yet there was one who feigned himself his son, lest he had been impelled to that crime either by heretics or by other pests of men, striving to obscure the illustrious name of Pius. Concerning that matter he repeatedly composing letters, in fetters at last is compelled to plead his cause: where put to the question, as often as he was questioned, so often is he found by no means consistent with himself and a liar. For the letter, which he said he had received from the Pontiff acting as Cardinal, was established to be forged: inasmuch as it had been given in the month of January, in the year 1557, when he himself in the following month of March was created Cardinal. And so it was dictated by the rascal himself: as also by the constant testimony of the two witnesses, before whom it had been written, and of him who eight days before he was called into judgment had drawn it up, it was proved. At last he, having confessed that, to look out for his own advantages, he had taken that depraved counsel, by decree of the Judges beaten with rods through the city of Rome was condemned to the galleys forever. openly convicted of calumny. Moreover a certain Roman Judge, by name Pietro Albicino, for certain causes made hateful to Pius, withdrew into France: where often asked by the Admiral Coligny and by other Leaders of the Huguenots he was enticed with rewards, to lie that that youth had been begotten by the Pontiff: that namely they might sprinkle so foul a stain upon Pius, well spoken of among those nations: but God averted such a calumny, and so iniquity lied to itself.

CHAPTER XIII

[366] Just as Pius was both liberal toward the Republic, and toward those whom proven probity, or a furnished office of serving, or by another reason a virtue of benignity exercised toward him commended, wonderfully beneficent and grateful, so toward himself he perpetually exercised great frugality and parsimony. For both in his whole life, and first of all placed in that highest grade of dignity, he retained such temperance, that in the Pontificate he willed very small expenses to be made for his daily sustenance. Moderate and frugal in the refreshment of the body But he was wont to say, that a man addicted to the allurements of gluttony could not be chaste; and on that account he admonished, that food was to be taken as a medicine for restoring the strength of the body, that, it being taken, each might not be impeded from giving his service to his actions: and this indeed in his whole life he himself diligently kept. That he might more freely give his service to hearing matters, for the most part he did not dine: but, the divine sacrifice being seasonably performed, he took a brief breakfast, either by sipping two eggs, or by drinking a little broth: but sometimes he also dined and at the same time supped: and that more frequently in public. But to drive away thirst, whether at dinner or at supper, two or three times at most he drained a well-diluted little cup. But his foods for the most part he wished to be of bitter herbs, and with great simplicity, with salt only and oil, especially while he fasted, nor seasoned with spices or savors sharpening the taste: otherwise using a little more convenient fare than when he was a Cardinal. But to him reclining at table he wished to be applied both great cleanliness of all things, applying a reading at his table and first of all perpetually a sacred reading: and especially he took care that the books of S. Bernard on Consideration to Eugenius (in which namely the things which ought to be considered for the honor of God and the good of the whole Church and the salvation of souls are brilliantly taught) be read aloud often: and most attentively weighing the gravity of the sentences, what he should execute in its own time and place, he diligently considered with himself. Which manner indeed of reading aloud, truly very ancient, intermitted by many, both Cardinals and besides other sacred Nobles, by his example, afterward began to recall into use.

[367] Nor indeed did he procure for himself new kinds of garments, content with the old ones of Paul IV, as far as they could honestly be worn: nor likewise through the whole year did he wear anything new of clothing, and accustomed to old and rougher dress, except a woolen little tunic, which in place of a linen undergarment he always used: and he rebuked the minister, who had had such a tunic made for him of finer cloth; which also on that account he was unwilling to put on, wholly content with his accustomed one, which was rougher and meaner. An offered gift of cloth of Cuenca wool, which seemed to him more precious and delicate than his use bore, he refused. He changed nothing therefore in his garments, nothing in the rest of his manner of life, except the exterior habit: but the same slenderness which he had as a private man, the same culture and severity of discipline he furnished. Moreover the most sacred sacrifice of the Mass being performed, and that breakfast, he spends himself wholly on dispatching businesses, which we said, taken well in the morning, he spent his effort on hearing businesses. In which labor, in summer indeed even to the ninth hour, but in winter even to sunset, and often even far into the night, he persisted wholly motionless: but he rose so long before light, that to consult him people came with torches borne before. To his physicians and familiars warning that the excessive labors in so assiduous and long a hearing would be the cause of a shorter life for him, he answered with a sentence worthy indeed of a princely man: namely that he had been placed by God in that grade, not that he might procure his own, but others' advantages: and that the Prefect of the Republic ought to satisfy his conscience rather than his body. He was wont to speak more rarely and more slowly: often laboring in the finding of words which seemed to him proper and significant. Moreover scarcely any word is said to have fallen from his mouth, which did not pertain either to the honor of God, or to his own or others' salvation.

CHAPTER VI.

His moderate affection toward kinsmen and domestics.

CHAPTER XIV

[368] Nor indeed toward himself only, but toward his agnates also and kinsmen did he hold exceptional temperance and modesty. For he did not, as we said, acquiesce in flesh and blood, nor did the love of his own bend him from the right: but toward them he so bore himself, that he seemed neither to have despised the poor and humble, nor to have augmented the tender with ample riches and honors, nor to have been lacking toward them in the office of Christian piety. Paolo Ghislieri, his grand-nephew by his brother, than whom no one survived more closely joined to him by blood, a youth captured by pirates and bound to the galleys, the Turks being ignorant that he was the Pontiff's kinsman, Paolo his grand-nephew redeemed from the Turks he willed to be redeemed with a modest sum of money, and, having set out to Rome, to see: but in no other habit, than that very one in which he had been clad while he was in chains. Him moreover he gravely admonished, that, snatched from that calamity, he should learn, while he lived, to give great thanks to Christ the Redeemer, and to keep more diligently the commandments of God. Then presented with a horse and an office, whence he might have a hundred gold coins yearly, he kindly received him: soon, because he was an excellent soldier, set him over the suburban region and his own guard: and gave him a yearly pension of five hundred gold coins, and set over his own guard, and the suburban villa, in which he himself had built the house, of which we made mention before, called the little estate of Pius V. But when he, slipping by a youthful error, had once violated the prescribed laws of the Pontifical household, and besides had wished to cover his fault with a lie; he not only deprived him of his offices and almost all the things given, he sends him away for one lie. but at once banished him from himself and from the whole dominion of the Roman Church, on this condition, that he should henceforth not come to Rome. So far both an enemy of lies, as we said, and a vigilant and tenacious guard of domestic discipline, and toward his kinsmen, whom he wished to be an example of modesty and obedience to the rest, was he more severe than indulgent.

[369] Moreover of the three nephews of his sister Gardina, Antonio, Girolamo, and Michele Bonelli, one, Antonio, who had given himself to the Dominican order, Antonio his nephew he indeed creates a Cardinal, and, his name being changed, was called Friar Michael, a man endowed with probity and doctrine, by the exhortation of the sacred Senate and the Royal Orators, to retain their confidence in transacting businesses, he could scarcely at last be induced, as we before related, to co-opt into the sacred College. Him therefore called Cardinal Alexandrinus, he so employed as a helper to himself in conducting matters, that, retaining his own authority, he conferred not all things upon one; but he himself learned whatever was graver, and moderated all things by the counsel of the most ample Fathers. When at the beginning very many wished to be enrolled into the new Cardinal's household, Pius edicted, that he would have no one admitted, except those whom he himself had designated: that not only proven, but also few should be employed in his ministry: for he wished him to be numbered among the poor Cardinals, [but wishing him to remain poor, not unwillingly takes away the office of Chamberlain] such as he himself had been. And although he had conferred upon him the highest office of Chamberlain of the Apostolic See, vacant in the third year of his Pontificate, yet in the following year, when for waging the social war against the Turks he needed money, which otherwise he could collect from elsewhere, by a singular example he abrogated that office from him not unwilling,

and, because it is venal like also some other Urban magistracies, sold it to Cardinal Luigi Corner for seventy thousand gold coins: which, as we before mentioned, he contributed to augmenting the forces of the Christians against the Turks.

[370] But amid these things when another year had passed, from which the sacred soldiery of the Maltese Order, with the highest vows, for its exceptional piety toward this Pontiff, [The same being made Protector of the Maltese Order, when he had imposed some pensions,] had chosen Cardinal Alexandrinus as their Protector; the title of Prior in the City of the same Order, then vacant by the death of Bernardo Salviati the Cardinal, with the yearly revenues, which then were about six thousand gold coins, Pius assigned to that same Alexandrinus, some yearly pensions, as we shall soon say, being reserved. But when Jean de la Valette the Master of that Order, of whom we made mention before, bearing such a collation most grievously, had gravely expostulated concerning that matter by letters given to the Pope; the letters read through, the Pontiff indicated that, if the matter had been untouched, he would have refrained from it. Nay even, lest he should seem to have done anything in offense of that man or of the Order, whom he himself greatly loved, he would have rescinded the act; had not Giuseppe Cambiano, then Orator of the Maltese soldiery at the Apostolic See, made the private and secret complaints of Valette public, and rashly published his secret letters to the Pontiff full of complaints through the City, nay through the World. Which matter gave talk to men, and gravely offended the estimation and mind of the Pontiff: most, as happens, judging the matter wrongly from rumor rather than from the deed. And so Pius, showing that whatever he had done, he had done by right, ordered Cambiano, as an imprudent author of the rumor, to depart forthwith from the City, no more to return to the same.

[371] Moreover that there was no reason why Valette or anyone else should think himself offended on that account: for if any detriment thence fell upon that Order, he shows that the order ought not to complain about that matter, that was not done unjustly, nay he had before abundantly compensated it by very many and very great benefits conferred upon it; he had willingly approved anew the privileges and honorable decrees of that sacred soldiery, as far as had been permitted by the sanctions of the Council of Trent; and he had made huge expenses, as we showed, on fortifying that island and soldiery with various defenses, and on conserving it whole and roofed. And although by his supreme power he could grant the vacant benefices to whatever worthy person he pleased; yet, since he wished to assign to the temple and convent of Bosco, of which we spoke, built by him, the Commandery of S. John of that same Hospital Order, which has its name from a torrent near the City, not far distant from Bosco, and in exchange for it had designed to hand over to that Order an ample priesthood, which the Apostolic See had in the diocese of Mazara in Sicily, under the name of an Abbey with the title of S. Mary of the Mares; he was unwilling to do this for his modesty, lest he should offend anyone: unless all those sacred Soldiers of the Italian name and indeed the whole Maltese council were first consulted and consenting with the utmost goodwill. Nor indeed did he mention these things for the cause of reproaching, but of approving.

[372] Moreover upon the fruits of that Priory Pius imposed three pensions of two thousand gold coins yearly: one of five hundred, and applies them to maintaining his nephews. to Giovanni Paolo Chiesa, a citizen of Tortona, a most illustrious jurisconsult, whom he himself from the Royal Senate of Milan, for his singular integrity and jurisprudence, chose into the most ample order of Cardinals; another likewise of five hundred, as we said, to Paolo Ghislieri himself, but the third of a thousand gold coins, to Filippo, Sebastiano, Antonio, Michele, and Giovanni, youths of good disposition, his kinsmen, the legitimate and natural sons of Paganino Ghislieri of Bosco, he assigned two hundred each. To which brothers besides, that they might sustain their slenderness, he bestowed offices of the Roman curia, whence each might have a hundred gold coins yearly: and them first he took care to be instructed in the City in the German college with the best disciplines and morals; then Filippo the elder by birth, presented with the Ghisleri villa, from which, as has been said, Paolo had been cut off, he took care to give his service to civil law in the Paduan gymnasium with Niccolò Ormaneto, whom he himself had constituted Bishop of that city. But Sebastiano, under Sixtus V having honorably administered many Prefectures in the Ecclesiastical dominion, under Clement VIII having fulfilled with praise in various places the office of Apostolic Vicar, by the right of kinship together with his brothers succeeded into the right of patronage of the Pavian college of the Ghislieri, founded by Pius, as we related, and into the other rights of the entail of the Ghislieri family instituted by him: and by the same Clement made Bishop of Strongoli in Calabria, he tries to emulate the excellent virtues of Pius.

[373] Moreover Pius greatly loved a private and humble state in his own. It is sufficiently established that a princely man, illustrious in titles and resources, in order to contract affinity with the Pontiff, sent men to offer his daughter with the highest dowry as wife to Girolamo Bonelli, the Cardinal's brother. one of whom is offered an illustrious marriage which he refuses: To whom Pius answered, that he held him in great thanks: but yet that he wished neither the title of Duke, nor of Marquis, nor other illustrious titles to be introduced into his family, by which it had never before been illustrious. To him therefore he gave as wife not a princely woman (as neither to his others) nor one endowed with the most ample riches, but a slender one, the daughter of the sister of Girolamo Rusticucci, a noble citizen of Fano, of whom we spoke, not yet a Cardinal, who was his secretary, by name Diamante. But by a singular example of Christian moderation he willed her to be brought, not with a frequent retinue of Nobles, not with splendid carriages or any magnificent apparatus, but humbly and privately on a pack-mule in panniers from Picenum to Rome, and in the City to be kept submissively and modestly. Among these things to Emanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, adding that if they were good they were to be exalted by another. suggesting to Pius through Vincenzo Parpaglia Abbot of S. Solutore, that he should deal more liberally with his kinsmen according to his dignity; he answered, that if his kinsmen had been preeminent in virtue, there would not be lacking those who would deserve well of them. The event proved the prediction: for Pius being taken from human affairs, the Catholic King Philip, for his singular piety toward this Pontiff and most grateful memory, named Girolamo himself Marquis of Cassano in Insubria; and augmented him in the Milanese dominion with riches and honors. But to Cardinal Alexandrinus he bestowed seven thousand gold coins yearly, and a sideboard equipped with gold and silver chased work, which was also done to each, Pius being dead, which was estimated at twelve thousand gold coins and more, and thereafter adorned him with many other honors and benefits. Moreover Michele, the younger by birth of those brothers, the same Duke of Savoy, for his exceptional respect toward that Pontiff, augmented with revenues: and, enrolled into the sacred soldiery of the Annunciate Virgin, declared him Commander of the Subalpine Province. To Paolo Ghislieri finally, after his strenuous service furnished in that memorable naval victory against the Turks, the King himself gave six hundred gold coins yearly.

[374] Moreover Pius, in the whole time of his Pontificate, gave nothing to Girolamo, nothing to Michele, except the yearly pension of four hundred gold coins each; who besides a modest sustenance had given them nothing, nothing to Isabella their sister, who afterward, Pius being dead, by the help of the Cardinal her brother, on a more honorable condition married Pomponio Torelli a Parmesan, Count of Montechiarugolo and Coenzo, no less preeminent in virtues and liberal disciplines than in nobility of birth. But to the girls his kinswomen by his sister (which I myself saw attested by documents confirmed by public authority) he disbursed for dowry a thousand gold coins each: with which they both were placed by their families in marriage with honest men on an equal condition. and that not without scruple. Nor were there lacking other princely men, who sometimes suggested to him, that such dowries and other subsidies given to his kinsmen seemed slenderer than befitted the kinsmen of so great and so distinguished a Prince; and that it could be dealt with them with a more liberal hand. To whom he said, Nay even concerning these modest things, whether we have given them with a safe conscience, it often comes into our mind to doubt: for these are the goods of the Church, destined by the holy laws only for its sacred uses, not for luxury or for enriching kinsmen. And when a chief man praised his mind concerning aiding kinsmen modestly, and said that this brought the greatest consolation to all good men, and prayed God to preserve that mind in him as long as he lived; Pius received it with a grateful mind: and added that he had been called by God to the supreme Pontificate, to serve the interests of his Church, not of his kinsmen or their advantages or cupidity. A truly excellent saying, and as wholly worthy of so great a Pontiff, so for all ages to posterity succeeding him as an example greatly memorable.

CHAPTER XV

[375] But Pius was sometimes wont to say, that for one desiring to rule others well it was necessary that he himself first and his household be well moderated: otherwise he would by no means be obeyed. Having begun the Pontificate from rightly instructing his household, For to men by their own nature free it was so ordered, that one less willingly obeyed another, than the laws which they saw kept by chief and princely men. And so by his example and ever-vigilant solicitude he took care that the form of the best discipline be introduced into his household, judging that the saying of the Apostle especially suited himself, saying, If anyone knows not how to be set over his own house, how shall he have care of the Church of God? 1 Tim. 3 For he saw, that although the moderation of the whole Church had been committed to him by God, yet the singular care of his domestics pertained the more to him, the more certainly he understood that by the example of his familiars the rest of the families of Ecclesiastics, not only through the City, but through the world also, were to be composed. and wishing it to be an example to the Cardinals. Wherefore at the beginning of the Pontificate, to those with whom was the care of domestic matters he edicted, that he had it in mind, to have with him only men of proven integrity; and that he wished the domestic discipline of the Pontiff to be a lesson to the Cardinals, and that thence the beginning of ordering matters should be taken. Moreover all his familiars being ordered to come together, he received with a grave sermon: in which the goal of eternal felicity being set before their eyes, he taught that the precepts of God and of the holy Church, if duly kept, were the right way to attain that happy end. Then exhorting them to the perfect keeping of them, he prescribed certain heads of matters to be carefully kept by all who should be of his house. he prescribes certain things to be observed by all, Among them, that each one should declare his name, and to what Orders he had been initiated, and what priesthoods he possessed. All these things he said he wished to know, that he might satisfy himself: which seemed to pertain to this, lest anyone should obtain more benefices than he lawfully could, nor any be permitted to be absent from the Churches which demanded resident Prefects: then also, that if any benefices were to be conferred, he might understand on whom they ought to be conferred.

[376] He determined besides, that all the domestic Priests, even if they were bound by no Ecclesiastical benefice, concerning the use of the sacraments. should at least three times a week celebrate the divine mysteries; lest they should subtract from the public utility the heavenly benefit of the holy sacrifice. But the rest, especially

Deacons or Subdeacons, should at least every fifteenth day frequent the most sacred table of the Eucharist: that, refreshed by this salutary food, they might take greater strength to overcome the enemies of souls. And that the exterior culture and habit of the body might be a testimony of a good mind, he edicted, that as many as were constituted in any sacred order or received Ecclesiastical fruits should put on the habit of Clerics (which to do in their households he had also admonished the Cardinals) the moderation of dress, and by the tonsure of the head and ankle-length garments be separated from the culture of laymen. But he willed garments to be made of simple wool only, and nothing of all-silk within or without to be tolerated in the adornment of his household: but secular hooded cloaks and broad hats, except for warding off rain, he wholly interdicted. From the linen undergarments he ordered the folds, which projected outside for the cause of ornament, to be cut off, and swollen breeches to be cast away, and simple leggings to be worn. And since he was not ignorant that innumerable vices proceed from the root of idleness, sacred reading, and that a good part of the courtiers abounded in idleness with a most grievous loss of time; he determined that all should be present at the sacred reading, which he wished to be held three times a week in the Apostolic Palace. Besides he supplied them with sacred books, forming their minds to piety; that in reading them they might pass their time with honest occupation: admonishing, that of the things heard or read they should repeatedly confer; or otherwise propose among themselves subjects of conversation worthy of noble and Christian men. He willed idle conversations, and immodest speeches, and finally every even least occasion of sinning, to be wholly exterminated from the sacred court.

[377] He exhorted them besides, that in all their actions they should show themselves not secular, light, or vain, the gravity of morals under the Provost Ormaneto. but pious, prudent, and truly religious: and at home and abroad should have commerce only with honest and grave men. Which that it might be more perfectly effected, he enjoined Niccolò Ormaneto, whose service for restoring the ecclesiastical cause, as we mentioned, he used, that he might both note those who did otherwise, and admonish, and chastise, and expel the contumacious: and constituted him from that day Provost of his court in such spiritual matters, and provided that all those be noted who from the second hour of the night either went forth from the sacred Palace, or entered it; and that note he himself for some time wished to see daily. he diminishes the number of servants, and doubles the stipend of those retained; But the expenses which the Pontiffs had been wont to make for the splendor of their dignity he ordered to be diminished, and concluded within a slender sum: professing that he did this, that he might have at hand whence he could more liberally sustain the public slenderness of the Church. Wherefore he diminished the number of servants: but to those whom he dismissed from himself, he gave a certain sum of money as a gift: but those whom he retained, he willed to be augmented with a double stipend: namely lest they should ever gape after the means of benefices or pensions. But after he mentioned the causes of these ordinances, he added, that it pertained to his office, to lead all his domestics by the right way to their end. For although I am a Prince, said he, yet I acknowledge the office of a Pastor to be older and more worthy than that of a Prince. Then to the Prefect of his bodyguard he prescribed, that of those things which he had heard he should take care that those be furnished by his soldiers, which their condition could bear; and should compel them to live tranquilly and without insolence; and should beware above all, lest these laws be violated by any acceptance of persons. Finally he tolerated nothing vicious in the morals, habit, conversations, and finally the whole manner of living of his men, and which was of a depraved example: and omitted nothing which pertained to rightly instructing the household of an excellent Prince and a most holy Pontiff.

[378] These things indeed, and very many other things of this kind concerning a Pontiff, Pious no less in deed than in name, are truly narrated: but to pursue them one by one seems not necessary. Only to know to glory and to the utility of mortals the excellent actions, morals, and virtues of so great a man, truly a Pontiff by S. Paul the Apostle. to have mentioned these few things may perhaps be enough: that no one may fail to see, that Pius wholly showed himself such, that his life recalls a certain image of those ancient Pontiffs, whose sanctity and divine actions we especially venerate: and such as the Apostle forms, irreproachable, sober, adorned, prudent, chaste, hospitable, a teacher, modest, well set over his own house: such finally, as S. Bernard describes the Roman Pontiff to Eugenius in these words: and described by S. Bernard. A form of justice, a mirror of sanctity, a pattern of piety, an assertor of truth, a defender of the faith, a teacher of the nations, a leader of Christians, a friend of the bridegroom, a paranymph of the bride, an orderer of the Clergy, a pastor of the peoples, a master of the unwise, a refuge of the oppressed, an advocate of the poor, the hope of the wretched, a guardian of wards, a judge of widows, an eye of the blind, a tongue of the dumb, a staff of the old, an avenger of crimes, a fear of the evil, a glory of the good, a rod of the powerful, a hammer of tyrants alike and of heretics, a father of Kings, a moderator of laws, a dispenser of canons, the salt of the earth, the light of the world, a Priest of the Most High, a Vicar of Christ, a Christ of the Lord, finally a God of Pharaoh. 1 Tim. 3

CHAPTER VII.

The sanctity of his life, confirmed even by miracles.

CHAPTER XVI

[379] Among these ornaments at last of a Pontiff, that also shines in Pius, which the Apostle commending: It behooves him, says he, also to have good testimony from those who are without. 1 Tim. 3 For just as the sun by its splendor often lights up even those who hate the light, will they nill they, so the most bright light of this Pontiff's virtue so met the eyes of all, He is praised by the worst heretics, that even the blind enemies of the holy Roman Church were compelled to speak honorably of him. Which Elizabeth, who called herself, Queen of the English, did, and the Admiral Coligny in France often, with other Huguenots: and in Germany certain chief heretics kept saying, that the demon, to deceive the Papists (for so they call the Catholics) had given them an excellent Pontiff preeminent in sanctity of life, that they might more pertinaciously fix their minds in their opinion concerning religion. The same moreover Jeanne Queen of Navarre did, who in a long discourse which she held concerning Pius, in the cause of the princely woman of Rouen brought to the sacred tribunal of the Roman Rota, asserted that he was a man endowed with the utmost virtue and sanctity.

[380] But against them the mouths of detractors God beat back. And indeed in a certain jurisconsult, whose name was Wright, who depravedly hated the fame of Pius and the true and Catholic religion, an example of divine vengeance shone: for he at Oxford, which is a town in England, when he had mounted the pulpit to make a speech; having petulantly spoken against the Pontiff Pius and against his authority, and explicating or rather entangling those words of B. Paul; Christ for the building of the Church gave some Apostles, and the detractor is divinely punished with death: some Prophets, others Evangelists, others Pastors and Doctors: the heretic subjoined of his own, No mention is here made of the Pope. Ephes. 4 But toward the end of the speech rendered nearly dumb, and suddenly seized by disease and carried home, on the eighth day after, the wretch perished. The procurator of the same Queen of the English, as we said, with Philip the Catholic King, when he had not hesitated to speak against Pius for the Prince of Condé; was expelled by the King himself, and banished far from the court, until the Queen should substitute another in his place: who therefore reported that from those words of her administrator against the Pontiff she had received no moderate annoyance. Since these things are so, even from these, and indeed from the whole course of this Pontiff's life, let, I pray, the enemies of the Catholic name learn, no more either to hate most evilly the Roman Prelates and those obeying them, or even to assail them with curses: but rather let them understand and confess that the obedience and veneration which they owe ought to be furnished to them; since they perceive their own princes, even unwilling, to have spoken honorably of Pius.

CHAPTER XVII

[381] To those things finally, which we have narrated, many everywhere, concerning the sanctity of Pius, and the divine virtue shining in him, there are added certain other, and those not obscure testimonies of the same matter: which since good authors have committed to writing, it has seemed good to us in this place not to pass them by in silence. And indeed a certain heavenly power in him for expelling the nefarious spirits from human bodies especially shone forth, in the individual supplications which were to be held, of which we before made mention, for imploring the divine help for the Emperor against the Turks. four energumens are freed by him by the sign of the Cross, For when at the first supplication a woman possessed by the evil demon had intervened, and had begun to give forth great and horrid clamors; she was brought to the Pontiff. Her he piously signed thrice with the holy Cross: soon she who could not be held by several, fell to the ground as if lifeless: nor was it learned by rumor only, but in very truth, that the same forthwith wholly recovered. Which matter since it could not long lie hidden, on that account at the second supplication three other women seized by the evil spirit were led: whom when Pius had signed again and a third time with the same salutary sign, each was restored to health. Of these one is said to have been not wholly ignoble: and although often cured by various exorcists, yet she could be no better, except after the service of the holy Pontiff. In the same second supplication another thing also worthy of admiration happened. A certain woman with great clamors asked that the Pontiff would bring help. Her he ordered to be set before himself, because he thought she would demand judgment against an adversary: but she complained of a perpetual pain of her head, with which she had now labored for many years: and demanded a present remedy from him. Here the Pontiff smiled, seeing the singular simplicity of the little woman; a sufferer of pain of the head, nor yet refused to put upon her head the stole hanging from his neck, and to affect the woman with the sign of the Cross: soon it was found, that that sick woman had returned to her former health.

[382] Nor much otherwise did it come to pass in the third procession: for a certain other woman vexed by a demon, the Pontiff entering the church, filled all things with a horrible din. two other energumens, Then the Pontiff, pausing a little, signed the wretched woman with the same sign. But in freeing her there was more business than in the rest: he cast his stole upon her head, and ordered the demon to depart, and to give a certain sign of his departure. Then the woman leaped, the demon thus impelling her: who at last with a light breath extinguished a torch, that there might be a testimony of his departure: then she fell to the ground, so that she had the appearance rather of a dead than of a living woman. She returned moreover not long after to breathing, and learned that she had been freed of a most evil guest. To these moreover is added another argument of the same kind. When once near the Lateran basilica he visited a most religious place, called the Holy of Holies; asked by chief women that he would bless a certain energumen; he assented, and halted. But when she cried out more vehemently, and with the utmost force strove and resisted that she might not approach the Pontiff, some of the Pontifical household, lest the Pontiff should be longer detained, dragged her seized to the kisses of his feet:

whom when Pius had signed with the salutary sign, she fell down as if lifeless: and a little after, the Pontiff departing, rose up unharmed.

[383] But not at Rome only, but also elsewhere, especially in Spain, where the memory of this Pontiff is venerated with a certain particular veneration, A Dominican is healed of a bitter torment before his image. more signs of his sanctity are recorded to have been given; of these some, which we have received from certain and proven authors, in this place we shall report with sincere faith. At Palencia in Spain, a conventual of the Dominican Order, entangled in an old and grave disease in the more secret parts, could scarcely perform the necessary offices of nature, and oppressed with great pain was believed near death. The human remedies, by which nothing was relieved, being omitted, he fled to the divine. The fame therefore of the sanctity of Pius V, not so long before deceased, growing current in those days, before his image, which Francesco Reinoso, of whom we made mention before, Bishop of Cordoba, had taken care to be carried from the City into Spain, in the very heat of his pain he prostrated himself as a suppliant: and embracing the same image closely with singular piety, he implored the divine help for himself in this manner: O most holy man of God, as I doubt not that thou enjoyest the blessed presence of God in the heavenly seat, and firmly believe that thou art now in heaven associated with the company of His Saints; so let thy intercession with God, I pray, help me; that through thee I may wholly recover. He had scarcely ceased to pray these things, when behold he perceived himself made master of his wish. And so straightway made free of all pain and the impediment of disease, he joyfully professed that he had felt nothing of such annoyance thereafter now for many years (namely up to that very day on which he attested these things), and devoting himself daily as a suppliant to this holy Pontiff, had obtained great benefits from God through him. All these things he himself, who having suffered such things was divinely healed, narrated as most certain testimonies of truth and divine power to Antonio da Fonte Mayor, a man of proven faith, who committed to writing that he had diligently both investigated, and heard, and seen these things at Palencia from him. In Spain also (the same Antonio adds; although in these things the place, time, and names of persons, and other moments of the matter testifying the deed more clearly neither does he set forth, and I, investigating, have not yet been able to learn) A Franciscan is freed from a demon in the name of Pius a certain Franciscan, long ill-vexed by a demon, when he could be healed by no remedies of the exorcists; those sacred administrators of Pius V, while (as is likely) he was still among the living, led by the opinion of his sanctity threatening that they would lead the energumen to the Pontiff, that he might be cured by him, to Rome, the name of Pius being uttered (as if he were another that most holy Anthony, of whom similar things are narrated), wonderful to say, forthwith the demon bursting forth, came out unharmed.

[384] Moreover in the year of human salvation 1582, on the Nones of February, at Valencia in Spain, to Guglielmo Raimondo, a noble man and of exceptional piety toward God and His Saints, who also appears with other Saints to a dying man, a little before he departed from the living, a most joyful choir of the Saints of the Dominican Order and of others, whom he himself in his whole life had venerated with singular religion, was present. But among them the most blessed Virgin, Mother of God, S. Dominic, S. Vincent, Pius V, and some other holy Roman Pontiffs, and B. Luis Bertrand (whom Guglielmo himself living especially venerated, and from whom dying not so long before he had received a pledge, promising that after his death he would be well mindful of him) who all surrounding his bed, reciting the Litanies for him, and themselves piously addressing one another by mutual invocations one by one with the other Saints, prayed for him. All these things as he had seen, the sick man ordered to relate before many grave men of both sexes, he added: that Pius the Fifth in that visitation had been to him a great benefit. Then asking Geronima Vives his kinswoman, that as often as she went to the church of the Dominicans, she should give the greatest thanks to Pius V: for that he owed very much to him. Moreover whether these things were true, or the mockeries of demons, or frenzied specters, those who were present doubting, and in various ways, as is usual, striving to explore the matter again and often duly; when he had pronounced certain sacred words, and had repeatedly affirmed that the matter was so as he had narrated; at last, Enough, said he, the matter is well explored, nor is there need of more testimonies. At last after many trials skilfully made of investigating the truth, those asking whether that choir of the Saints had departed; he answered, that they had not departed: but were urging, that he himself together with them might as soon as possible migrate into heaven. All which things are reported soon to have been publicly entered into the records: a little cap of his being piously used. and besides the rest who were present, Geronimo Garzia, a noble doctor of physic, asserted as a full witness that in all these things that sick man was master of his mind, and endowed with sound judgment. But that benefit which he said he had received from Pius V, is thought perhaps to have proceeded thence: that for the cause of piety he had not so long before placed upon his head the little cap of the Pontiff himself, with which little cap Cardinal Alexandrinus, fulfilling the Spanish legation, had presented at Valencia Friar Vincenzo Giustiniano Antisti, a grave Theologian of the Order of Preachers: that very man, who wrote the life of that same blessed Luis Bertrand his companion: in which all these things, which we have briefly related concerning that vision, are more fully narrated.

CHAPTER XVIII

[385] But at Agabra, which is a town in Spain not far from Cordoba, in the domestic chapel of the most illustrious man Antonio Cardona y Cordova, Duke of Sessa, a thing happened greatly memorable for indicating the sanctity of Pius. That chapel shone with beautiful hangings, and adorned everywhere and piously equipped with various panels both of notable Saints and of Roman Pontiffs, skillfully painted on canvas. But among others of Pius V, whom the Duke himself, two images of him together with the most religious woman Giovanna of Aragon his wife, wonderfully venerated, two images hung: one on canvas at the altar; the other of paper hung at the door of the chapel. It happened on a certain day, which day was sacred to the holy Apostle Thomas, in the year 1586, that the most sacred sacrifice of the Mass and the prayers being duly performed, the lights extinguished and all who were present having gone out, the chapel, after the custom closed, burned wholly within: namely a modest spark, as is the conjecture, secretly falling from the burning waxen tapers and gradually exciting a fire. Which when on the next day only it was discovered, the matter heard, the Princely spouses hasten to the place with their household: grieving they behold the foulness of the fire. But forthwith admiration overcame grief: for while they grieving inspect the hangings, and all the panels, and the ornaments of the altar, finally all things that could be burned, either consumed or disfigured by the fire; they remain unharmed from the fire consuming all things. behold both images of Pius V himself, wonderful to say, in the midst of the flames not only not burned, but not even in the least harmed, they marvel at: and that this could not have been done except by divine power, all declare. It increased the admiration to the beholders, that the force of the fire was so great, that the plaster of the vaulted chapel being everywhere broken, two silver images of a larger form and others which likewise were cast of silver being melted, the sacred stone of the altar being reduced to pumice, the images of Pius nevertheless were to be seen, the one indeed, by which it touched the effigy of another Pontiff with a wooden frame burned up, to have fallen upon the carpet with which the benches of the altar were spread, and there to lie wholly unharmed; and the carpet itself burning everywhere to have begun to be consumed, but where the figure of Pius was covered nothing offended: but the other of paper, the hangings and the other panels with which it was girt, as we said, being burned up, to have remained whole in its place and only lightly darkened by smoke.

[386] one of which is held in honor among the Dominicans at Baena, This then the sacred Virgins of the Dominican Order, in the convent which has its surname from Holy Mary Mother of God, in the Spanish town of Baena, for their piety toward this Pontiff obtained by prayers, they preserve with singular religion. But the other, equipped as it was with its wooden ornaments, wholly immaculate; and the carpet itself, scorched and repaired, those same Dukes showed us at Rome, while we were writing these things: and the whole matter, which, the other the Writer saw at Rome. as they themselves most full and eyewitnesses related to us, set forth, we handed to them to be recognized, they confirmed again by their own testimony in the year 1603. At which time the same Duke, no less signal in religion than in nobility of birth, resided in the City as Orator for the Catholic King Philip III with the Supreme Pontiff Clement the Eighth. Moreover that image and carpet, as perpetual monuments of so great a Pontiff and so admirable a chance, with themselves, as we saw, with wonderful piety they retain, and to whatever places they go carry with them as divine protections of salvation, the Dukes themselves piously profess. Moreover none, as far as I know, except images of the Saints, in this or a similar manner from fires have been wont sometimes to be preserved by divine power, both other examples testify, and first of all two, which it is established happened in former years, one at Rome, the other at Naples: where (that of this first) when in the church called of S. Catherine de Formello, in the year of salvation 1587, on the night of the feast of S. Barnabas the Apostle, God thus honoring the Saints in their images. fire having broken out the ecclesiastical furniture burned, and among other things a pall of white silk burned wholly; the effigy of S. Catherine of Siena, painted in the midst of it, remained wholly unharmed, the Neapolitan city being astonished. But at Rome, in the temple of S. Salvatore at the Laurel, in the month of September of the year 1591 a fire having arisen, the image of the most holy Virgin Mother of God painted on canvas, all things around being likewise burned up, the fire raging everywhere, we saw to have been divinely preserved whole and immaculate, and of so great a miracle with the utmost admiration the Roman people is a witness, a singular worshipper of that same most blessed Virgin Mother of God. These namely and other such miracles of His divine power, both to confirm our faith, and to illustrate more the sanctity of His Saints, and finally to convict the perfidy of the impious image-fighters, that supreme maker and moderator of things, God, is wont sometimes to give; who as He is wonderful in His Saints, so is always and everywhere praiseworthy.

[387] These things I had which concerning Pius V, the Supreme Pontiff, from various and proven authors and full witnesses, The conclusion of the author. from his Apostolic constitutions and epistles, from the institutions and deeds of the Legates and Internuncios, and from other monuments of proven authority, collected in good faith and with great labor and zeal, I should set forth in writing to posterity for imitation and for the public utility. But from the epistles given by him to the Prelates of the sacred order, to Kings, and to other princely men, and the answers received (which, drawn from the archives of the Roman Church I inspected, and described from the chief exemplars I received, and fortified with public faith I keep with me) at the end, as I before promised, most of the more brilliant, and which to the public

cause seemed more useful, I had selected to be published as witnesses of the things mentioned. But since, lest the work should swell out almost into another volume; but indeed still more, lest they should come into the light without other monuments of the same Pontiff promised by us, which we have not yet been able to have; it has seemed good to defer them, to be published either separately, or with another edition of this work (which, if life remain, perhaps we shall provide). But meanwhile I would wish the pious reader to be asked, that if he should either find anything worthy of notice, or have anything which he should judge to pertain to either enriching or bettering this work (for not all of us can do all things), he should not be grieved benignly to suggest it to me, for his office of Christian charity. That what, for the weakness of my disposition and strength, could not be perfected, that in another, if it ever be prepared, edition, to the glory of God and to the common utility, may be supplied by another's industry.

ANALECTA

From the Relation of the Auditors of the Rota, made to Urban VIII in the year 1629.

Pope Pius V of Rome (S.)

FROM THE PROCESSES.

[1] Since the fame of Pope Pius V grew current daily, and the rumor of his virtues and miracles increased, At the instance of the Convent of Bosco, the Prior and Brothers of the convent of Bosco of the order of Preachers resolved to ask of Paul V the Pope of happy recollection, that a process be formed. Wherefore, by license of the Father General of the said Order of Preachers, they sent as legate to Rome the Reverend Father Friar Arcangelo Caraccia, Master of sacred Theology, son of the said Convent of Bosco: who from the Supreme Pontiff Paul V of happy recollection, to whom he had offered a suppliant memorial, and had instantly announced the fame of the sanctity of Pius… remitted to the Congregation of sacred Rites, received this rescript from the same: Let the petitioners use their right by the ordinary way. The Most Reverend Cardinal Millini therefore, a word being first had with the same Paul V of happy recollection, ordered an informative process to be made, the faculty of taking informations is given, and witnesses to be examined in the Curia by ordinary authority; and on that account deputed Pietro Mazziotto, Chancellor and secretary of the Curia, as Notary: and there were examined in the Curia about sixty witnesses. By equal authority, namely ordinary, outside the Curia at Bologna, Osimo, Fano, Urbino, Milan, Bergamo, Tortona, and Madrid several witnesses also underwent examination.

[2] These things performed and transmitted to the Curia, and by the same Most Reverend Cardinal Millini, deputed by the sacred Congregation, then the commission for the Remissorial Processes, diligently inspected and a relation made, the Congregation judged, if it pleased your Holiness, that one could safely proceed to examine the witnesses by Apostolic authority. The commission therefore being obtained signed by your Holiness, and presented to the sacred Congregation to which it had been directed, there were deputed by the same Congregation subdelegate Judges, the Most Reverend Lord Alfonso Gonzaga, Archbishop of Rhodes (he being absent, there was subrogated the Most Reverend Lord Montorio, Bishop of Nicastro), and the Most Reverend Lord Sacrato, Bishop of Comacchio; and the Most Reverend Lord Mantica, Bishop of Famagusta… There were also decreed Remissorial letters for examining the Witnesses outside the Curia, the places and cities being expressed in which they were to be executed: and by force of such letters there were fabricated by Apostolic authority the process of Osimo, of Fano, of Bologna, of Tortona, of Milan, of Toledo, of Bergamo, and of Urbino. There was likewise produced the instrument of procuration from the Most Reverend Father General of the Order of Preachers in the person of Father Friar Arcangelo Caraccia: who produced the articles admitted by the said Congregation for examining witnesses, both in the Curia and outside. He produced also witnesses to be examined in the Curia, who, the solemn oath taken, subjected themselves to examination to the number of forty-three… Whence since it is established concerning the delegated and subdelegated Apostolic Jurisdiction… concerning the legitimate mandate of the one appearing… concerning the relations and citations solemnly required… concerning the oath of the witnesses… and at last it is clear that the witnesses first deposed concerning the interrogatories, the Roman processes are judged to be legitimate, then concerning the articles… we pronounce that this Roman process, Remissorial and made by Apostolic authority, was duly and rightly fabricated, and is in proving form… But the other process, namely the informative one made at Rome by ordinary authority through Pietro Mazziotto, in which in the year 1616 and 1617 several witnesses were examined, we likewise judged is to be admitted and to make proof… And the more easily we went into this opinion, because almost all the witnesses, examined by ordinary authority in the Roman informative process, were thereafter repeated by Apostolic authority, and the attestations of those who, prevented by death, could not be repeated.

[3] As for the other remissorial processes, we esteemed that it was sufficiently established concerning their validity and legality. as also eight others elsewhere, formed, For there were decreed by the sacred Congregation of Rites Remissorial letters, and there were deputed, at Osimo the Most Reverend Lord Cardinal of Aracoeli, Bishop of Osimo; and Lord Decio Longo, Protonotary and Vicar of the same Bishop; and Lord Paolo Emilio Gallo, formerly Archpresbyter of the said city. At Fano, the Most Reverend Lord Cardinal Boncompagni, Bishop of Fano; Lord Cesare Bracci, Episcopal Vicar; Lord Cesare Carari, Archdeacon of the Cathedral. At Bologna, Lord Evangelista Carbonesi, Archiepiscopal Vicar; the Provost of the Metropolitan church; and the Reverend Lord Angelo Michele, Lateran Canon, Abbot of S. John on the mount of Bologna. At Tortona, the Most Reverend Lord Bishop of Tortona, the Lord Vicar of the same, and the Lord Archdeacon of the Cathedral. At Milan, the Most Reverend Lord Cardinal Borromeo, Archbishop; the Lord Episcopal Vicar of the same, and the Lord Metropolitan Archpresbyter. At Madrid, the Most Reverend Lord Apostolic Nuncio, the Lord Archbishop of Tarentaise, and the Lord Bishop of Bizerte. At Bergamo, the Most Reverend Lord Bishop, the Lord Vicar of the same, and the Archpresbyter of the Cathedral. At Urbino, the Most Reverend Lord Cardinal Gypsius Gessi, Bishop of Rimini and President of the State of Urbino; the Lord Dean, and the Lord Metropolitan Archdeacon… And from the inspection and review of each process we found… it established concerning the validity and proving form of all…

[4] Moreover we judged it not to be passed over here, that for showing the sanctity and miracles of Pope Pius V, beyond the processes examined above, to these are added most proven authors concerning the life of Pius. we drew also no moderate corroboration to the proofs resulting from the processes from the monuments and Chronicles of Historians; namely from Surius in the Commentaries of things done in the world; Antonio Cicarella, in the additions to Platina; Ciaccone, in the Lives of the Pontiffs; Henri de Sponde, in the supplement to the Annals of Baronius; Antonio da Fonte Mayor, in the Life of Pius V written in the Spanish idiom, and other Historians: to whom faith ought to be given is received by the common consent of Canonists and Legists… And we among all the histories chiefly received that of Girolamo Catena and Giovanni Antonio Gabuzio, who professedly committed to memory the life and the things excellently done by Pius V: and from these, if not an entire and conclusive proof, at least a most urgent support to the foregoing proofs we judged to arise… And these things concerning the validity of the processes and the quality of the proofs to have premonished has seemed good to us enough.

[5] These things and many others for the confirmation of these and of their opinion the Auditors of the Rota: who then, the life of Pius being briefly explained, pass to setting forth his virtues, treating one by one of the excellence of faith, of hope, of charity, of prudence, from these his eminent virtues are proved: of justice, of fortitude, of temperance, of the other indications of sanctity; all which both from Gabuzio can easily enough be gathered, and with Bzovius can be seen already gathered and weighed: yet certain things, because passed over by Gabuzio, here it helps to excerpt. Such is what to the 1st article on faith, for demonstrating the diligence of Pius in promoting it, is brought forward in the third place, that he, constituted General Commissary of the Inquisition, took pains in clemently treating those returning to a sound mind. For among others, say the Relators, Sixtus of Siena, of the order of Minors, who also foretold the conversion of Sixtus of Siena, condemned to the flames for heresy more often repeated, he recalled to the sense of the Catholic religion. And foreseeing in a plainly prophetic spirit, that he by his doctrine would be to very many a salvation, he contended with the Pontiff by prayers, that he should be absolved from the punishment of death. From which then it came to pass, that Sixtus, having entered the Order of Preachers, by colloquies, sermons, writings illustrated the Church; especially that work being given, to which he gave the name of the Holy Library, and dedicated as a pledge of a grateful mind to Pius V. And in the dedicatory Epistle Sixtus testifies this very thing: and professes that he was by the benefit of Pius recalled from below, snatched from the darkness of errors, reborn into a son and adopted by the Holy Spirit: from which sayings, as about his own deed, a sufficient proof results.

[6] poison prepared in the feet of the Crucifix he miraculously escaped, Article 2 on hope is thus concluded. Nor indeed did his hope of divine help deceive him: which as often elsewhere, so in that excellent deed which we are about to narrate could be observed. After prayers, poured out before the effigy of Christ crucified, Pius was wont to kiss the feet of his Saviour. When once he attempted this same thing, behold the image of Christ so drew its feet to itself, that the servant of God could not touch them with a kiss. Thinking indeed that he had committed some crime against himself, dissolved into tears he demanded pardon: when at last it was signified to him by God, that this had happened, not on account of any fault contracted by him; but lest he should drink the poison, with which the feet of the Crucifix had been infected. This is testified by the 6th and 10th witness in the Roman Process by hearing from the inmost chamberlain of Pius, Marco Antonio Florentino; and the 31st witness by hearing from Matteo Ravario, the cupbearer also and familiar of Pius himself.

[7] he was a virgin, proved by physicians, In the article on Temperance, to confirm the testimonies asserting the perpetual virginity of Pius, there is especially appended from the ordinary Roman Process the deposition of Lord Ludovico Montiali, the Pope's surgeon, the 24th witness, who disemboweled the body of Pius; and the 23rd witness, who was present. For both these affirm, that the parts of the body which serve generation were found in Pius with such integrity, that they recalled the cleanness and purity of an infant. Which integrity of the private parts is the surer sign of integrity, that can be had; as Girolamo Mercuriale excellently wrote, declaring more amply, in book 6 of Various Lectures chapter 23, and Capivaccio in his Practice book 4 chapter on virginity; where he asserts, that it is very difficult to prove virginity in a man in another way… And the mark of virginity being taken, although it be not wholly certain and necessarily concluding, yet it has seemed to be sufficiently proved; especially joined with the assertions of his Confessors and witnesses, the innocence of the life of Pius… a certain inborn hatred of him for the vices of the flesh… his special zeal in the cleanness of the body and exceptional modesty, signal sobriety which is the companion and protection of virginity… frequent reception of the Eucharist… public voice and fame… and that it can be judged to have been done by the special counsel of God, lest Pius should differ from the other foster-children of the Dominican family, all of whom, as many as have been entered into the Album of the Saints, it gave and educated as virgins, namely Dominic, Raymond, Peter Martyr, Thomas Aquinas, Antoninus, Vincent, Hyacinth, Catherine of Siena,

and others: who although various and dissimilar among themselves in the preeminence of morals and virtues, yet all agreed in the praise of the one virginity.

[8] In the article on Justice, inasmuch as this virtue gives to God and divine things the due worship, he held the dust of the Vatican for Relics, there is related a memorable thing, and recalling the times of Gregory the Great. The legate of the King of Poland, about shortly to depart from Rome, meeting Pius, from whom he had asked sacred Relics to be carried away with him; had him meet him in the square of S. Peter, and pressed his prayers for Relics to be had. Then Pius leaping down from his litter, having received from him a little handkerchief and spread it out, filled it with a handful of dust taken from the square, and bound it and handed it to the Orator. Who, thinking himself mocked and having returned home, the little handkerchief opened, found the dust turned into blood: wherefore meeting Pius at once, full of fear and joy, he discloses the whole matter. Then Pius, it was wholly known to us, that the Vatican dust is full of the blood of Martyrs, and on that account we judged that the public games ought to be banished from that part. This is testified in the Roman remissorial Process by Witnesses 4, 6, 10, and 31 by hearing; and by sight, the 34th witness.

[9] Moreover among the other indications of sanctity, he knew the secrets of hearts; of which it is treated in the last article, there is noted first prophecy: wherefore Marco Antonio Colonna and the Marquis Malatesta, before they transacted businesses with Pius the Pontiff, tractable after death, expiated their conscience by Confession, otherwise they heard their own crimes narrated by the Pontiff: as Chrysippus Prentus testified. Secondly the wonderful things which happened about his body. he gave forth from himself a sweet odor, For his flesh, the fourth day after death, was so soft and flexible and of a lively color, that it still seemed to breathe… and concerning this depose Lord Angelo Formento, Lord Abbot Rusticucci, and the Most Reverend Santori… That the bones of the same Pius gave forth a sweet odor is testified by Friar Giovanni Antonio Zerbo, he was seen in heavenly glory, Lord Nicola Berlingieri, and Lord Giovanni Antonio Gabuzio… Thirdly the visions which illustrated his death: for at the time of the death of Pius V a certain young girl at Rome, adorned with many virtues, while she was breathing her last, turning herself to her mother and the bystanders; Behold, said she, the great glory, with which the soul of Pius V is led by the Angels into heaven: which said, she expired. Antonio da Fonte Mayor relates this in the Life of Pius V, published in print in the Spanish idiom in the year 1595, book 6, folio 243. Moreover the same Pontiff, girt with a triple crown, and accompanied by two Angels on this side and that, appeared to Sister Maria Margherita Delfina, who lived with great opinion of sanctity at Alba, in the monastery of S. Mary Magdalene of the Order of Preachers, as is clear from her life printed by Friar Giovanni Michele of Bologna, of the Order of Preachers, Milanese Inquisitor…

[10] There is added in the last place the testimony of the most grave writers, who either professedly or in passing, an occasion being seized, commended the sanctity of Pius V. he is everywhere praised by writers as a saint, These are among others Cardinal Bellarmine in his response to the apology for the oath of fidelity, page 647; Génébrard, in his Chronology, book 4; Jacques Gaultier of the Society of Jesus, in his Chronographic table, page 740; Jacques Gourdon of the Society of Jesus, in his Chronological work, page 429; François Rossier, of the genealogies of Lorraine, volume 5, page 362; Andrea Morosini, History of Venice, book 8, page 334; Severino Binio, in volume 4 of the Councils, part 2, page 397; Arcangelo Giani, Century 4 of the Annals of the Order of the Servites, book 4, chapter 2; Michael ab Isselt, in the history of his time, page 29; Lorenzo Surius, in the Commentary of things done in the world to the year 1566; Juan Mariana of the Society of Jesus, to the history of Spain in the year 1566; Papire Masson, book 6 of the Lives of the Pontiffs, page 412; Paolo Manuzio, in his epistle to Marco; Jacques Auguste de Thou, of the Histories book 51; Girolamo Plati of the Society of Jesus, on the religious state book 2 chapter 28; Orazio Torsellino likewise of the Society of Jesus, Epitome of the histories book 10; Nicholas Sander, book 3 on the English schism, page 422; Domenico Gravina, in the book entitled Vox turturis, part 2; Henri de Sponde, in the Chronological supplement to the Annals of Baronius, page 76; Cardinal also Baronius, of the ecclesiastical Annals volume 7 under the year 533; Antonio Gallonio, in the life of S. Philip, page 114; Giovanni Pietro Giussano, in the Life of S. Charles chapter 13 book 1; Marco Antonio Mureto, in the public oration held at the funeral of Pius V; Cardinal also Sirleto, in an Epigram printed with Antonio da Fonte Mayor; Pietro Galesini, in the Translation of Pius V; Antonio Maria Graziani, on the Cyprian war; the Abbot of S. Fronto, in the Lives of the Pontiffs; Ciaccone in the Lives of the Pontiffs; and the writers professedly of the Life of Pius abundantly in many places commend his sanctity.

[11] wherefore it was even forbidden that a Requiem be made for him. The elogia drawn from the individual authors, which by the cited book and page or chapter are here alleged, for brevity's sake I have omitted, holding it enough to have indicated their names, which in so solemn and judicial an act before the Supreme Pontiff the Relators thought ought to be mentioned: because the illustrious and uniform testimony of great men ought greatly to be esteemed for proving the sanctity of Pius; just as it was greatly esteemed in the Relation of SS. Charles, Ignatius, Theresa, Raymond. But this third part will be closed, say the same Relators, by the attestation of the sacred Congregation of Rites, which decorated Pius with this honor, that the sacred rites of the dead could not be celebrated for him: but in their place, on the anniversary day of his depositing, a Mass of the Most Holy Trinity could be performed: as is clear from the Decree made on the 1st of February 1625.

[12] inasmuch as he was illustrious for miracles in life, Now let us see the miracles done first by Pius before death, then also after death. 1. By the contact of his stole and by his benediction an energumen is freed. 2. The naval victory is foretold and known by Pius. These things being set forth, weighed, proved, the Relators pass to the miracles after death; and among them they place: 1. that the Images of Pius are not burned in a very great fire: which indeed when they had proved is rightly judged a miracle, they subjoin these words: Something similar happened lately in the palace of the Most August Ferdinand II the Emperor, in which a fire consumed all the other things which were on the altar of the domestic chapel; and passed by unharmed only the waxen circle, which we call Agnus Dei, blessed by Pius V; as the same Imperial Majesty testifies in a letter directed and exhibited to your Holiness under the date of the 23rd of July 1627: and in other recent letters, of his own motion and no one demanding it, only to confirm the sanctity of Pius, written to the same your Holiness, under the day of the 13th of October 1628, he confirmed it.

[13] At Osimo Tiburzia Florenzi, seventy-two years old, and after death by curing a pestilential fever. had been brought by a spotted fever to such a state, that within three hours she was believed about to expire, the physician so affirming. But when she had asked that the woolen undergarment of Pius V be brought; and it being brought, and placed upon her, and having earnestly commended herself to this Pontiff, she was taken by sleep: from which awakened wholly free of fever, she rose from the bed, with the greatest admiration and joy of all. The fact is evident from the copious narration of the physician… But that this is to be judged a miracle, and placed in the third order, can be doubtful to no one, if account be had of the gravity of the disease and the despaired-of recovery, and the sudden cure in an old woman, who afterward also lived for many years… Nor is it less certain that it is to be ascribed to Pius V, since she both applied his undergarment when sick, and commended herself to his prayers…

[14] an incurable pain of the head, Giulio Nipotello of Perugia had suffered for a whole year an intolerable pain of the head: for driving away which all remedies, even the most violent, such as cantharides and fire, had been vainly applied. At last the physicians resolved to cut the skull, that, it being uncovered, they might scrape the bare bone, and completed the work: but with vain endeavor. No confidence therefore remained in human remedies. Wherefore the sick man, recalling to memory what he had once learned from the Abbot Rusticucci, whose house he himself managed; namely that the Lord Ravario, the cupbearer of Pius V, had at the contact of the bone of the same Pontiff been freed of a similar disease; made a vow together with his wife to Pius V; and earnestly asked his Lord, the Abbot Rusticucci, that he would touch and sign his head with the relics of the same Pius V. Which performed, forthwith free of pain rising from his bed, he sought the sepulcher of Pius V bound by his vow, nor was he in future vexed by a similar annoyance. The truth of the fact seems sufficiently proved by the deposition of him who obtained the cure, of his wife, of the surgeon who applied the remedies, and of the Abbot Rusticucci who brought the Relics and signed the head…

[15] Sister Angela Mareri, Prioress of the monastery of Humility at Rome, from a great distillation a dying Prioress. had contracted the greatest pains of the head and stomach and a slow fever: by which she had been so weakened, that, the peril of death threatening, the physician asked and obtained that a colleague be joined to him, not confident, for the following day. Meanwhile the nuns, when they had received the relics of Pius V brought to them with a religious mind, and had poured out fervent prayers to Pius; placed them upon her head: and at their contact the pain departed, and on the next day she was found by the physicians without fever. The truth of the matter is had in the Roman process from the attestation of the sick woman, of the physician, and of the Confessor, who was prepared to administer the Viaticum to the sick woman…

[16] a desperate woman in childbirth, At Osimo Peregrina, wife of Lord Jacopo Rasti, near her delivery, was tortured with the greatest and longest pains: which abating, for three whole days she perceived absolutely no motion given from the foetus in her womb: and she was left so weak, that she could not take food, and lay wholly cold and destitute of heat. Wherefore by the midwife and the other women skilled in these matters, the foetus in her womb was esteemed to be dead; and a remedy to extract it was provided, but not applied. Meanwhile there was brought the woolen undergarment of Pius V, which the mother of the languishing woman Peregrina placed upon her womb, the help of the holy Pontiff being first invoked by prayers. Wonderful to say, within the space of a quarter of an hour the foetus began to move in the womb. Not yet had an hour passed, when the woman unharmed bore a male, who still lives, twelve years old. The series of the matter we judge sufficiently proved by four eyewitnesses… nor is it less clear, that a miracle intervened in this birth… And this miracle is one of the two which Clement X on the 15th day of November in the year 1671 approved and confirmed, as the Decree of the Congregation has it, for the Beatification of the same Pius, to be made whenever it should please his Holiness, issued on the 8th of March 1672, but the other was concerning the images unharmed by fire: to which there was also added the approbation of the revelation concerning the naval victory, and a fourth miracle concerning the multiplication of grain to be related below.

[17] Nicola Brauzio the Dalmatian, Bishop of Sarsina, had fallen into an acute and lethal fever, on a Bishop in his last extremity, account of which, wearied by heat, pains, and inextinguishable thirst for three days, he had been reduced to such a state, that he no longer heard, or felt, or being questioned answered to the point: nay, after a vehement agitation of limbs and spirits, his eyes were now fixing, and gathering the bed-coverings he uncovered himself unaware of the matter, although by his own nature he was of a most modest custom: and at last his feet and the other parts of his body had begun to grow pale with blackness mixed in, so that without doubt he was esteemed by all, as many as for office's sake came, certainly about to die; a nature sixty years old succumbing to so sharp a fever, aided by no drugs or medicines, according to the custom of his nation namely, since the Dalmatians, hating physicians, commit all things to the benefit of nature. Therefore on the third night there came into the mind of the sick man a recollection of Pius V the Pontiff, whom he had often heard named, and concerning whom he had conversed with Father Arcangelo Caraccia. Hence prayers being poured out to the servant of God he fell asleep: and forthwith he seemed to himself to be in the hall of the Vatican, which they call the Royal: where, advancing in a long order, a Prelate of great stature went before, in Pontifical habit, with an Episcopal miter, and surrounded by several Presbyters, clad in white garments and carrying tapers, after he appeared to him whom he seemed to hear singing the praises and encomia of Pius V the Pontiff. That he might give place to these, while yielding from the way he withdrew himself into a corner, he forthwith awoke, and felt himself immune from fever, vexed by no thirst; so that, neither his drink, nor food, nor strength, or other faculties of the body being impeded or diminished in their affections, he knew that nothing of health was less present to him, than had been before, when not yet laboring with that fever. This fact is proved from the sayings of the Bishop himself, from Muzio Baraccino his servant, from Cesare Megazzi a Priest, and also from Count Francesco Cionino. The sick man indeed both the gravity of the disease and the visioned health amply sets forth: the servant confirms the same with the indications of death, and that his master, upon his sudden recovery, narrated to him what he had perceived in the night: but the other two witnesses, because they had been wont to visit him for friendship's sake, kept saying that on the third day of his sickness it had been a matter of his life, producing another fellow-witness: but on the next day they found him restored to his former strength; and holding it in place of a miracle, and asking the outcome of the matter, they understood the prayers applied to the Servant of God and the visions of the preceding night. From these things we have found that there was a miracle from those things which are placed in the third grade by the common doctrine of S. Thomas…

[18] Thus far, Most Blessed Father, we have related what was found concerning the life, from which it is concluded he is to be canonized. virtues, and miracles of the servant of the servants of God Pius V Supreme Pontiff. We now leave to the most wise oracle of your Holiness, that he who once a most pure light shone among men, now at last enrolled among those above, may not know a setting on earth; nay rather by a revived obedience of piety may henceforth preside over posterity from heaven more splendid; whence he may show himself a most certain Pole-star of Peter's bark, just as with a most happy course and the supreme good of the Church he long gave himself as its moderator. Thus far that Relation, of which the copy described at Rome in the manner in which copies of such things are wont to be given described to the Cardinals present, the Most Illustrious and Most Ample Lord Heinrich Julius Baron of Blum, Imperial Counselor in the Tribunal of appeals, had and sent to us from Prague: but now we also see the same printed in the posthumous volume of Bzovius: to which whoever desires more fully to know the reasons and foundations of the judgment to be made concerning the individual articles can have recourse. The same Bzovius adds to the said Relation as an Appendix a Note of the miracles, wrought by the servant of God Pius V, proposed in the Congregation of sacred Rites for his Beatification under Clement X.

[19] The first ten are related from the Roman Process, as wrought by Pius V in Life: But there had been proposed to the Congregation 10 miracles in life, all of which either related by Gabuzio in the Life in the last chapter, or received from the Auditors of the Rota we have already given, except the last, which is this: A certain girl, sprung of noble stock, possessed by unclean spirits, led by her mother to Pius V, while passing through the Royal Hall she proceeded to the Sixtine chapel: where a prayer first being made, he placed his foot upon her body saying, Upon the asp and the basilisk shalt thou walk, and shalt trample upon the lion and the dragon; and the sign of the Cross being made, she remained free. Beyond this the short Note has nothing: the author or witness would have to be sought from the process: which for that one is not worth the trouble. More to the point it would be, from the said Roman process and others, to have collected the miracles, about seventy, wrought after death, of which we have a slender specimen already from the Relation in the five miracles narrated before: but a summary explanation in the Note: in which yet from the Urbino and Tolentino process there is nothing; so that those Processes seem either not to have been at hand when the cause was resumed under Clement X, or to explain no miracles distinctly. Besides from the Decree of the Congregation, in favor of the Beatification to be made, seven others afterward brought. of which above number 16 mention was made, we learn, that of four miracles, brought to another Congregation in the year 1630, and three newly adduced (probably in that very year 1671), the third, of the multiplication of flour in great quantity, in the monastery of the nuns of S. Dominic of Prato, as duly proved his Holiness (namely Clement X) admitted: but what the remaining six were we have not yet found. Moreover we have given effort that concerning all the things already indicated we should receive a fuller knowledge, from the words of sworn witnesses, in the manner in which in April we collected the miracles of S. Francis of Paola and of other Saints: but to the dutiful promises of those, to whom the honor of that Blessed Pontiff ought to be a special care, the effect has hitherto not answered: which while we go on to await, either to be given in the Supplement of the work, have the aforesaid Note here.

NOTE

Of the Miracles, after death, taken from the processes.

Pope Pius V of Rome (S.)

FROM THE PROCESSES.

Don Michele Bonelli, Prior of the Hospital of S. Mary of Consolation, from a certain scrofula in his throat with continual pains, of the size of more than one loaf, with which he had labored for six years and more, being commended to the Servant of God, is at once freed.

Nicola Brauzio, Bishop of Sarsina, from an acute and dangerous fever is healed in an instant, the help of the aforesaid Servant of God being invoked.

The husband of Cleopatra Storchi of Urbino, struck with a most grave pain of the head, by the touch of the Relic of Pius V is healed.

The Reverend Father Lord Ravario, from a huge pain of the head, suffered for several months, by the touch of the Relic of the same Servant of God is freed.

Giulio Nipotello, detained with a catarrh and distillation in his eyes and ear, with a grave pain of the head, and abandoned by physicians, by the touch of the Relic of the same has obtained his former health in an instant.

Tommaso Trevisano, a Roman Priest, freed from a grave pain of the sides and a retention of urine, the help of the said Servant of God being invoked.

Gerardino de Gerardinis, laboring in the last extremity with the infirmity of quinsy, by the touch of the shoe of the aforesaid Servant of God came out sound.

Gregorio Donato a Priest, laboring in the last extremity with a double tertian fever, the help of Pius V being invoked, is healed.

Eduardo Lopez a Physician, oppressed for twenty days with a most acute fever with lethal symptoms, being commended to the said Servant of God at once received his former health.

Sister Angela Mareri, from a catarrh with distillation, a huge pain of the head and stomach, and a fever, is freed, the Relic of the aforesaid Servant of God being placed upon her head.

Sister Maria Teresa from a copious spitting of blood, with pain of the head and stomach, the help of the said Servant of God being invoked, is forthwith healed.

The Prioress of the nuns of Humility, laboring with a dangerous fever, so that she was held by the physicians as lethal, being commended to the same Servant of God, in an instant received her former health.

The three daughters of the Marchioness Bonelli were preserved from death, by the intercession of the same Servant of God.

The two images of Pius V preserved from a fire.

A certain Giulio, freed from a huge and continual pain of the head, by the intercession of the aforesaid Servant of God.

Michele Bonello a Presbyter is freed from a certain deformed monstrosity, by the help of the aforesaid Servant of God.

A certain English heretic, called Wright, having petulantly spoken against Pius V from a pulpit mounted, was made dumb; and seized by a sudden disease and carried home, the wretch perished.

A certain Friar of the Order of S. Dominic, in the city of Palencia, in the kingdoms of Spain, afflicted with a grave and troublesome infirmity in the more secret parts, near death, prayers being poured out before the image of the aforesaid Servant of God, received his former health.

At Valencia in Spain, to Guglielmo Raimondo a noble man, a little before he departed from the living, a most joyful choir was present. In it were the most blessed Virgin Mother of God, S. Dominic, S. Vincent, S. Luis Bertrand, and Pius V, whom Guglielmo himself living especially venerated: who all surrounding his bed, reciting litanies, prayed for him. And he reported that the aforesaid Servant of God had been to him a great benefit, whose little cap, carried into Spain by Cardinal Alexandrinus, he had before placed upon his head.

Giovanni Serpa, attacked by a certain assassin, who with a poniard unsheathed tried to kill him, the case being shown to him, in which were certain waxen circles of the same Pius V, is freed, the poniard and the said assassin falling to the ground.

FROM THE PROCESS OF OSIMO.

Tiburzia Florenzi, seventy-two years old, oppressed with a spotted fever and other lethal infirmities, near death and abandoned by physicians, by the touch of the undergarment of the aforesaid Servant of God received her former health in an instant.

A certain sick woman, with her leg lost, by the touch of the shoe of the aforesaid Servant of God is healed.

Antonio Florenzi, Archpresbyter of Osimo, from a grave distillation, inclining from the head to the throat of the palate for seven months, human remedies being applied in vain, is commended to the said Servant of God, with the emission of a vow of celebrating the most sacred sacrifice of the Mass, of visiting his sepulcher, and of hanging a votive tablet in the church of B. Mary of Osimo, and is forthwith freed.

Pellegrina, wife of Jacopo Bacci, having suffered difficulty of delivery for three days, oppressed with a fever, not without evident peril of death of the creature which she bore in her womb, by the touch of the undergarment of Pius V, at once bore a living son and came out sound.

Maria Biagini, twice pregnant, had been so vexed by unclean spirits, that she miscarried: a third time pregnant, while she was much agitated by the same spirits, and was seen near miscarriage, by the touch of the shoe of the same servant of God the vexations of the demon ceased, and at the due time she bore.

Sulpizia Fiorano, lying in bed for many months, oppressed with various anguishes, by the touch of the shoe of the aforesaid Servant of God is healed in an instant.

The wife of Pietro Angelo Mendolfi is freed from a difficult delivery, with imminent peril of life, by the touch of the undergarment of Pius V.

Elisabetta, wife of Domenico Franceschini, vexed for three continuous days with the pains of delivery and near death, by the touch of the shoe of the aforesaid Servant of God at once bore, and was seen sound and immune.

Giulia, wife of Agostino Pontiricio, afflicted with a huge pain of the head, human protections nothing helping her, by the touch of a little piece of the undergarment of the aforesaid Servant of God, is forthwith healed.

Isabella Partighelfi is at once freed from a difficult delivery, the ivory Crucifix of the aforesaid Servant of God being brought to her.

Aurelia, wife of Giovanni Crocchini, from the pains of delivery, with which she greatly labored, by the touch of the undergarment of the aforesaid Servant of God, at once bore.

Pandora, wife of Vincenzo Vitalini, is freed from similar pains of delivery, by the touch of the silver spoon of the aforesaid Servant of God.

Giovanni Battista Lucio, laboring in the last extremity with the pains of the stone, by the touch of the shoe of the aforesaid Servant of God is forthwith healed.

Francesco, son of Antonio Calvi, from a lethal infirmity of the hip, by which he ought to have died or remained crippled in the judgment of the physicians, by the touch of the Relic of the aforesaid Servant of God, at once recovered his former health.

The son of Giovanni Leopardi is freed from a dangerous infirmity, by the touch of the shoe of the aforesaid Servant of God.

Tiberia Pranzi, seized with a grave apoplexy, by the touch of the shoe of the aforesaid Servant of God forthwith came out sound.

FROM THE PROCESS OF FANO.

The wife of the knight Gentiluccio Rocchi, by the touch of the undergarment of the aforesaid Servant of God, is freed from a difficult delivery with peril of life.

The Vicaress of the monastery of S. Philip of Fano, is freed from a contraction of the hands, by the touch of the shoe of the aforesaid Servant of God.

Gentile Bartorella de Durantibus, from a grave pleurisy with an acute fever, a pricking pain in the left side, a cough, difficulty of breathing and a hard pulse, and in the judgment of the physicians placed in the last extremity, by the touch of the shoe of the aforesaid Servant of God, at once and immediately is healed.

Piera Bartorella de Ussudutiis is freed from a pain of the head with a fever, by the touch of the shoe of the aforesaid Servant of God.

FROM THE PROCESS OF BOLOGNA.

Father Friar Virgilio Paseri, of the Order of the Servants of B. Mary, laboring in the last extremity with a long flux of blood, being commended to the aforesaid Servant of God, is forthwith healed.

Several freed from pains of the head, by the touch of the Relic of the aforesaid Servant of God.

FROM THE PROCESS OF TORTONA.

The son of Girolamo Baddi, laboring for four months with a fever and abandoned by physicians, being commended by his mother to the said Servant of God, is healed.

Caterina, wife of Andrea Masini, is freed from a fever with lethal symptoms, the help of the aforesaid Servant of God being invoked.

Girolamo Baddi is healed from a dangerous and long infirmity by the help of the said Servant of God.

Maddalena Bianca, gravely ill after eating mushrooms, so that for three continuous days she remained without speech and sense; the help of the said Servant of God being implored, recovered her former health, the rest who had eaten the said mushrooms having died.

Angelo Tommaso Passeri, oppressed with most grave pains and near death, a vow being emitted to the aforesaid Servant of God, and a waxen circle blessed by him being placed upon the offended part, at once and forthwith is restored to his former health.

The same, thrown from a horse to the ground, by the intercession of the aforesaid Servant of God is freed from an injury of the arm and shoulder.

Giovanni Passari, laboring with an intestinal hernia, being commended to the aforesaid Servant of God is healed, without the application of protections.

Michele, son of Annibale Raddi, oppressed with a fever and placed in the last extremity, the help of the aforesaid Servant of God being invoked, came out unharmed.

Giuliano Albertini Rizzi is freed from scrofula by the help of the aforesaid Servant of God.

Baron Pusterla, laboring for a month with a malignant fever, and placed in the death-agony without motion, sense, and speech for three days, and held for dead, being commended to the said Servant of God, received his former health in an instant.

Sister Chiara Maddalena Verzola, a Nun of S. Dominic of the town of Salatum, was so oppressed by an arthritic gout, that she could in no way move herself; a vow being emitted to the aforesaid Servant of God, at once came out unharmed.

Sister Daria Francesca Frascarola of the same Order, from a huge tumor arisen in her head, so that she could neither see nor eat, is freed by the help of the aforesaid Servant of God.

Don Cesare, son of the Marchioness Maria Grimaldi Bonelli, long oppressed with a continual fever with dysentery, freed by the help of the aforesaid Servant of God.

Sister Maria Caterina, a Nun of the Order of S. Dominic, freed from a continual deafness, by the merits of the said Servant of God.

Sister Giovanna Maria Grassa is freed from a flux of urine, suffered for several years, a vow being emitted to the aforesaid Servant of God.

Nicola Busuzio riding on a horse, fallen into a marsh, freed from an evident peril of death, the help of the aforesaid Servant of God being invoked.

FROM THE PROCESS OF MILAN.

Michele Crescenzi, Doctor of Theology and Apostolic Protonotary, laboring with a grave and continual pain in his thigh, so that in the judgment of the physicians there was no other remedy except to cut off the thigh; all things necessary for it being prepared by the surgeon, he himself commending himself to Pius V at once rose sound and unharmed from his bed.

FROM THE PROCESS OF BERGAMO.

A bone extracted from the body of the aforesaid Servant of God giving forth the fragrance of a most sweet odor.

Cabrino Cabrini, his back broken by a certain fall, so that he could by no means move himself, together with intense and continual pains, by the help of the aforesaid Servant of God came out unharmed in an instant.

Friar Emilio of Bergamo, of the Order of Preachers, freed from a malignant fever, by the intercession of the aforesaid Servant of God, who appeared to him sick, together with the most blessed Virgin and S. Dominic.

Francesco de Cerri, seized with a most grave fever with pain of the head, the image of the aforesaid Servant of God being kissed, is forthwith healed.

Barbara, daughter of Sebastiano Strozza, oppressed for several days with a malignant fever, and abandoned for dead, as being deprived of speech and senses and placed in the death-agony, being commended to the aforesaid Servant of God forthwith came out unharmed.

Apollonia, wife of Ambrogio Selari, laboring for four months with a fever and an energumen, exorcisms nothing availing, being brought to the image itself of the aforesaid Servant of God, to whom she earnestly commended herself, at once is freed both from the fever and from the unclean spirits.

Orsola, wife of Pietro Marchesi, gravely afflicted with a double tertian fever, her legs, kidneys, and face swollen, and placed in the last extremity, being commended to the said Servant of God, at once was found unharmed.

Orsolina of Casale a cook fell into the fire, whence the left part of her face, with the eye, nose, and ear was burned and afflicted with intolerable pain: at the touch of an Agnus Dei blessed by Pius V, to whom she commended herself, forthwith was taken from her pains, and in the space of twelve days was healed without any deformity.

Antonia, wife of Stefano Trotti, being commended to Pius V, freed from a mortal infirmity.

Thus far that Note. But that the rest of the page be not here empty, receive the Poem of Girolamo Badesi the Roman on the statue and tomb of Pius.

Hail, O ashes of the Pontiff Pius, hail. It is no longer fitting that you be shut in a scanty tomb, which hid your glory now too long.

To celebrated obsequies Sixtus bids you be borne, splendid with a wondrous order: here a nobler place will receive you, than which nothing is more magnificent.

Here the marble shines whiter than snows, recalling the breathing effigy of Pius. Here the gems with their many-colored speckles surpass the father of the stars.

Here stand of Parian marbles the Leaders. The one, France oppressed by sacrilegious soldiery, returning victor from the enemies, restored to her King.

The other made bright the trembling Echinades, while he sank the fleet in the swelling sea, and the monster bearing destruction to the Italian cities he repelled far off.

Here it is permitted to behold the battles fought in the farthest places: here the horsemen rush, here the falling cohort of footmen lay prostrate, here flows the warm gore.

But on the other side they swim, or, oared, the ships shattered everywhere by the fire-bearing blows; now the sea, heavy with floating bodies, shudders.

Hail, O ashes, not a second or fourth time, but as often as the sun brings back its bright radiance, rising from the Ocean, until the last day shall bear destruction to the lands.

Then your spirit, which now mingled with the souls above deservedly enjoys God to the full, will clothe you bright with rays, never to be separated.

How great things, Rome, dost thou owe to repay the merits of Sixtus? who suffered not the relics of that Father to be torn from thy bosom, who has now restored thee to thyself?