ON B. MICHAEL GIEDROYĆ
OF THE ORDER OF CANONS REGULAR OF S. MARY DE METRO
AT CRACOW IN POLAND.
A.D. MCCCCLXXXV
PrefaceMichael 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.
AnnotationThus 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.