Day Of Easter With Honors He Amplified. [piously Dead.] Who Forthwith

on the holy day of Easter with honors he amplified. piously dead. Who forthwith into infirmity fell, and after some days died. He left to all the Clergy, the monasteries, the diaconia, and the keepers of gold pounds thirty. He made but Bishops through diverse places to the number n twelve. Who also was buried at B. Peter the Apostle, under the day eighth o of the Ides of May: and ceased the Bishopric months two, days fifteen.

ANNOTATIONS.

ON S. STANISLAUS THE MARTYR

BISHOP OF CRACOW IN POLAND.

IN THE YEAR MLXXIX

Stanislaus, Bishop of Cracow and Martyr, in Poland (S.)

By the author D. P.

[1] Cardinal Baronius, in the Ecclesiastical Annals at the year MLXXIX toward the end, these things writes: To the conclusion of the present year we append the crown and purple of the most holy Martyr Stanislaus, The Encomium of Baronius Bishop of Cracow: who in the spirit and virtue of Elijah reproving Ahab, and of John the Baptist rebuking Herod, while he argues with Boleslaus enormously offending, and is not heard; and again rebukes, and is contemned; and again upbraids, and is despised; the sentence of excommunication on him he inflicts. For which cause by the King himself, while at the altar he was to God of the Mass the sacrifice offering, most cruelly cut down, on the eighth

of the month of May the palm of martyrdom he obtained: and with very many miracles as well living as dead illustrated. Whose deeds illustriously done, and martyrdom more illustrious death, from more ancient monuments John Longinus in the Polish history wrote: who also separately of the same most glorious Martyr the Life most copiously elaborated, to the Church to be read delivered. Him indeed with solemn rite Innocent the Fourth the Roman Pontiff publicly to be venerated commanded. Thus Baronius: by whom cited John Longinus or Dlugossus, John Longinus wrote a Polish History, Canon of Cracow, wrote a Polish History into twelve books divided: of which the six former books, by the authority and at the expense of Herbultus Dobromiski, in the year MDCXV exist published. But that the rest of the books be printed the Poles forbid, judging that in these very many secrets of their kingdom are betrayed.

[2] But we have the said history even to the year MCCXL printed, in which all things which about S. Stanislaus were done sufficiently are indicated, and by us in the Annotations are referred to the very Life: which the same John Longinus or Dlugossus in three books or tractates most copiously to have elaborated is said above by Cardinal Baronius, and the Life of S. Stanislaus, who in the Notes to the Martyrology says it to be found in Surius. But he prefaces, on account of the too great prolixity, the style being almost changed, by him it into a compendium to have been reduced. We give it entire and in the original style, at Cracow printed in the year MDXI, of which the former part which the deeds in life done and the glorious martyrdom contains, we have from the very, whence made seems the printed, parchment book excerpted, and with the seal of the venerable Chapter of the Cathedral church of Cracow strengthened, the transcription at his own expense taking care the very R. D. John Dobrzycki, Canon of Skarbimierz and of the Archpresbyteral church of B. V. Mary Penitentiary; and to it subscribed Thomas Hykoroski, by Apostolic authority of the Acts of the venerable Chapter of the Cathedral church of Cracow Notary and Secretary. This with the printed comparing, in it noting the same almost all of writings', transpositions', omissions' faults which in it are found, of them the cause we are compelled to refer, to the style too much flowing-apart luxuriance; which in the first tractate especially used the author, to the copyists, whom not most exercised he had, difficult he made the transcription; and therefore desirable it would be to find somewhere of the very Longinus's autograph exemplar, or another by his hand emended. Meanwhile, of a better exemplar in the defect, we have taken care ourselves by conjecture to supply the gaping periods, the distorted to a sound sense to direct, the faulty to correct, the words however and the style being safe, which by this necessary and slight correction, we do not seem to ourselves to have changed; unwillingly otherwise even so little to depart wont from the originals. That there exists the same Life in MS. in folio at Świdnica in Silesia in the college of the Society of Jesus, wrote to us from Wrocław P. Theodore Moretus, of the same Society ours a Priest, and by various learned books published known: another exemplar MS. in the library of the Professed House to exist at Cracow signified P. Nicholas Cichovius, some years ago as also the former Life dead. But this life now to the press prepared, came to us by the aforepraised John Dobrzycki's care, of the same in the year MDCLXVI reprinted an exemplar, "The Ornament of the Poles" for a title bearing; whose curator the very R. D. Stanislaus Dobielowicz Dean of Chodel, Parish-priest of Opole, to single chapters summarily prefixed a compendium, and the Latin idiom's harshness somewhat corrected: and added the miracles which in the tablets of the church of Piotrawin found: which thence we to the end give, as willingly to give also those which at Cracow either at its sacred relics or in the place of slaughter no doubt wrought also in this century many, if described they were found.

[3] How illustrious a man was the writer of the said history and of the Life of S. Stanislaus, his very pen clearly indicates to the reader, a man of exceptional virtue and doctrine, and Santwoges de Czeckel, Provost of the monastery of Kłodawa, of the Order of the Regular Canons of S. Augustine, to whom this Life he had inscribed, in his response under the end of the third book added, the author highly praises for his doctrine and virtue, and him says to have excelled in chastity and eloquence. The Life of the same exists at length deduced before his History Polish, from which a few I pluck. dear to Cardinal Sbigneus, Sbigneus the Cardinal, Bishop of Cracow, him among his familiars took; and to him for years two and twenty entrusted the care of all his faculties, and at length by his testament executor set: by his counsel the Duchy of Siewierz he bought, and to his in the Bishopric successors left: that the said Sbigneus the Cardinalate should accept, both at Rome and in Poland he performed. Various monasteries he constructed: the Brothers of S. Paul the Hermit he introduced into the church of Skałka, in which S. Stanislaus by martyrdom was crowned: to the Regular Canons he procured of Kłobuck of S. Martin the church, another monastery indeed he obtained for the Cistercian Order; B. John of Capistrano of the Order of Minors he drew into Poland, that this with his miracles might be illustrated. Legations several for King Casimir he undertook: and to King Casimir. his marriage with Elisabeth of Albert the Austrian he effected: Marienburg he bought for the King, by whom sent the civil war he settled: the peace's conditions between the Grand Master of Prussia and the King he conceived, and written delivered to each party them approving. The instruction at last of the Royal sons he undertook, as at length deduced before the Life of S. Casimir at the day fourth of March. This therefore is the Author, having used various ancient monuments, who in the year of the Lord MCCCCLXV with exact diligence by him elaborated the Life of S. Stanislaus published, having used ancient monuments, but (as writes the cited Santweges de Czechel) nebulously and truncatedly by the more ancient written. Meanwhile the very Longinus prefaces, that office by the ancient writers neither imprudently nor inelegantly to have been preoccupied, himself however from many the more notable to write, and the more notable places to wish to touch, which either of his own histories or of others' relation indicated he knew. At last under the end of the Prologue he says, himself of this work the labor to have undertaken, for the amplitude of the praise of our Redeemer and Creator God, for declaring and illustrating the life of S. Stanislaus, for the edification of one's neighbor, and for attaining and meriting perennial life. Which also we among so many labors the last of our studies end have undertaken.

[4] to this life a more ancient synopsis is prefixed Baronius in the Notes to the Martyrology writes, himself some things to have received concerning the same most holy Martyr from the old monuments of the Poles' church, from Stanislaus Reschius of the H. R. C. Protonotary. We have received also we various other shorter Acts from various old monuments collected; as also a Prose or Sequence from a very old Cracow Missal at the day VIII of May on the birthday, and XXVII of September on the feast of the Translation to recite wont. From all these we prefix one short writing, that the reader in few may learn, what then most widely are deduced, chiefly because some circumstances there reported, are not found in the Life by Longinus deduced, so that it can seem from the ancient to be writings of which he himself made mention, or certainly from old monuments taken. He drew it from hiding-places and to us transmitted in the year MDCXLI our P. John Gamans, whose great in this kind skill and diligence often it has befallen in this work to be praised: and by his beneficence we received that old exemplar printed, of which above we made mention.

[5] Memory on the day 8 May, His memory at the day VIII of May, on which the Martyr died, is referred in the MS. Martyrology of the church of Prague in these words: At Cracow of S. Stanislaus the Bishop and Martyr, who by the Duke of Poland piece by piece was commanded to be divided, but by the guard of eagles by the Lord preserved, to be reintegrated he merited. Him canonized Pope Innocent the fourth at Assisi, in the place of the Minor Brothers. On which likewise day VIII his feast is referred in the MS. Florarium of the Saints, and in the Martyrology of Cologne and Lübeck in the year 1490 printed: likewise in Greven, Molanus, Canisius and others. But afterward Clement VIII willed everywhere his feast under a semidouble rite by the Ecclesiastical office to be celebrated, and because the eighth day to the solemnity of the apparition of S. Michael the Archangel was dedicated, and the ninth by the festive cultus of S. Gregory Nazianzen impeded; he commanded the feast of S. Stanislaus to be held on this VII of May, 7 May to which day in the first place inscribed he is in the Roman Martyrology, and his life into various Legends or Histories of the Saints inserted. The same inscribed in the Natales of the Canonical Saints Constantine Ghinius, and in the Benedictine Menology Gabriel Bucelinus, for although, he says, ours by profession he was not, by vow however he was. In the Acts I read, to him to have come the desire of some stricter religion to be entered, but such at that time alone almost professed the Benedictines, into some branches distinct. In the whole kingdom of Poland is venerated the feast of S. Stanislaus on the day VIII of May with an octave, the solemnity of the apparition of S. Michael to the day X of May translated; and besides at the day XXVII of September, 27 Sept. is celebrated under a double rite the feast of the translation to the Cathedral church, which also is indicated in the MS. Florarium of the Saints, and in the Auctary of Greven to Usuard and others' calendars. Another of his memory is inscribed at the day XI of April, and 11 Apr. in the said MS. Florarium and the Auctary of Greven and Molanus of the first edition, likewise in Galesinius, Canisius, Ferrarius, as then among the Passed-over we indicated.

[6] Mention in other writers At last the deeds of S. Stanislaus and his martyrdom briefly touch or treat more fully the historians everywhere all chiefly the Writers of the Polish Affairs, such as are Martin Cromer, Matthias of Miechów, Jodocus Ludovicus Decius, Alexander Guagninus, Clemens Janitius, and others more recent. Of all however, as well ancient as new, there is none, who the year of his death into doubt should call, but that it was of the Christian Era MLXXIX, and the day of May VIII: but while it is added in the Life, as well MS. as printed, part I n. 136, the Saint consummated, when the year nearly fiftieth he was passing, eight years the Pontifical Priesthood being administered, first indeed not can we entire these years take, since n. 25 it is said the predecessor Lambert to have died on the twenty-fifth day of the month of November, The chronology of his life in Longinus intricate about the time of his See, in the year of the Lord one thousand seventy-first, and for substituting a new Pontiff of the assembly the day the second of February said, namely of the following year MLXXII, from which again so much of time to be subtracted, as was needful in seeking from Rome and bringing back into Poland the decree of the Pontifical Confirmation, before the new Bishop should be consecrated: so that that consecration, even if much to it was hastened, scarcely could by a few weeks precede the said day of May, and so only it would be held in the year MLXXIX begun a little time before the year of the Bishop the eighth.

[7] Cromer book 4 on the affairs of the Poles, slain the Saint asserts, when scarcely a triennium Bishop he had been: nor this efficaciously overturns the three-years-dead man, from whom, while he lived, bought had been a field, the calumny against the Saint afterward forged the occasion. For he could have been bought, when the Bishopric Stanislaus for Lambert administered,

his as now we call him Vicar general: and so perhaps are computed eight years from MLXXI begun, after which Lambert still lived even to the year of that century LXXV; then indeed he died, and to him substituted was Stanislaus about the end of May MLXXVI, and so dying he did not complete the year of his Episcopate III, of the same however administered the eighth he passed. Another in the opinion of Cromer difficulty is, that when after the return of Boleslaus from Russia, [nor expedited enough in Cromer, while the 8 years of the Episcopate to 3 he restricts.] which to the year MLXXVI seems to pertain, to the whole female sex most hostile he himself was, because for their cause deserted by his army he had lost the fruit of his victory; so that the adulteresses, their offspring being taken away he condemned to the puppies of dogs with their breasts to be suckled; it seems incredible, so severe an avenger of feminine lust, that with brute animals to mingle himself than with women he preferred, just as at length deduces Longinus; to have been able Christina, from her husband by force snatched, so with insane love to perish for, as describes the very Cromer; while for this very cause rebuked by Stanislaus the King, to construct against him a calumny induced he narrates; more incredible however, that consequent according to Cromer it would be, not even by the miracle of the raised dead man to have been in any measure amended. To be said however even to this it can, by the just judgment of God permitted to have been, that, who to roving lust with his army indulging in Russia, the cause had given to matronal incontinence in Poland; and afterward more than just severe of it an avenger, with the human race's contumely, had been; should slip himself into adultery most foul, and in it and other most grievous crimes obstinately persevering, when the constructed against the holy admonisher calumny by so great a miracle had been overturned, not confounded healthfully, but driven into rage, a cruelty more than beastly he should exert. But the ancient Synopsis of the life more verisimilar to us makes, while to it consonant, the order of the narration which follows Longinus, a more long-lasting See's time requiring, that the adultery of Boleslaus and the raising of the dead man through Stanislaus, the Kiev expedition preceded, but followed the same the barbarous against the deserter soldier and the adulterous sex weaker cruelty, with the abominable of the venery brutal use, by which compelled was Stanislaus the first admonitions, which the following of the dead man's raising once had made not wholly vain, with the graver of ecclesiastical censure's threats to iterate.

[8] Another difficulty about the Saint's age. A greater in Longinus difficulty has, that passing the sixth and thirtieth; and that n. 14 is read born reigning among the Poles the King Mieczislaus the first, in the year of his reign the third, but from the rising of our Saviour the one thousand thirtieth. Which all things among themselves conflict. And indeed as to the year III of Mieczislaus, composed with the year MXXX of Christ, it is established a new repugnance to be, with those things which of that King's beginnings writes the very Longinus and others in the Polish history, while Boleslaus Mieczislaus's father dead he establishes in the year MXXV on the third of April, and his son crowned on the next feast of Pentecost in the city of Gniezno, and that by the Archbishop Hippolytus, whom he says in the year MXXVII dead. As therefore to the year of age XXXVI it pertains, this to have passed I believe when a Priest ordained he began to preach. not except by conjecture to be removed. For thus his first age to be distinguished can be I judge, that born in the year of that century XXX, to Gniezno for Philosophical studies he betook himself about the year of age XX; thence after three or four years having set out for Paris, after a spent in Canon Law and the studies of Theology seven years, he returned into Poland about the year of the century LXI, of age XXXI; where to Lambert, created lately Bishop of Cracow, insinuated, by him through all the sacred Orders' grades promoted, then also added to the Canons of that Church. But these all not sufficiently distinctly noted finding Longinus, I know not by what of the numbers among themselves to be composed negligence the chronology confounded: for not to be devised can a reason, by which errors so great into the copyists be cast, first perhaps I expect, where the year of Mieczislaus the third, in place of the fifth, composed is with the year of the Christian era MXXX, which can to a cipher more obscurely by Longinus written, and wrongly afterward read and extended, by the fault be imputed.

[9] The third about the Legations for the canonization Nor in these only, which already we have touched, places we find Longinus unhappy to have been of chronological calculations a subtracter: but also in the canonization's business similarly to have hallucinated we find, the order of things being disturbed. The third time the Legates to have gone to the Pontiff it is established, who the first time at Lyon found Innocent the fourth, and obtained that of the case in Poland to be examined he should name Commissioners, the Bishops of Gniezno and Wrocław with the Abbot of Lubiąż. These of their commission having discharged, returned the Legates; and the Pontiff, in the year 1251 in the Paschal week into Italy returned and no more thence about to go out, they found at Perugia; where a new of the matter to be accomplished delay being injected, they took with them Fr. James of Velletri, again the single things about to review with the aforesaid Commissioners, according to his Commission's letters given at Perugia VII of the Kalends of June, in the year of the Pontificate IX, of Christ MCCLII. Finally he also his commission having discharged, the return the third time to the Apostolic See by the Legates, Fr. James accompanying; and the case was accomplished XV of the Kalends of October, of the Pontificate in the year XI, of Christ MCCLIII.

[10] from the Apostolic letters to be explained. This order of things appears from the Apostolic letters, by Longinus himself produced; who meanwhile the second legation postpones to the mission of Fr. James into Poland; and he his commission having discharged, for the second time sent Legates he says even then to have found the Pope at Lyon; adding "for not yet the Gauls had he left"; and he new delays weaving and commanding, he will in Poland a new to have been instituted examination, and it the third he calls. Three indeed examinations willingly I would admit: but so that the first was made through the Bishop and Clergy of Cracow, whose acts with them carrying to Lyon the Legates, the Apostolic Commissioners obtained: the second by these was performed and offered at Perugia: the third by Fr. James instituted, he affirming duly done by the Commissioners to have been all things, and new documents bringing, followed the Canonization was, so that no other examination was after James's to the Pope return in Poland made. But the aforesaid errors of Longinus, to write a history professing not easily to be pardoned, nothing detract from the very things' certitude; of which the substance received from the said examinations' Acts of all faith most worthy; to be indicated however to the Reader they were, lest from the unexpected caught, doubtful also to other things they should render.

[11] The elevation of the body in the year 1254 in the Cathedral: The canonization's solemnity at Assisi being performed on the Nativity of B. Mary VIII of September, decreed was the body's elevation and made very honorably. It had been from the suburban S. Michael's church, in the year MLXXXVIII on the day XXVII of September, translated to the Cracow Cathedral church, then to S. Wenceslaus the Martyr sacred, now of the very S. Stanislaus by the name distinguished, and placed in a tomb, such as is described book 2 chapter 1. But when, the returned into Poland messengers having brought, shone the day VIII of May, on which the feast from the Decree Pontifical for the first time was to be celebrated (for I do not see the year MCCLV) the sacred bones elevated from the tomb, and with various churches were communicated. Whence also notable two fragments to Prague were brought, as is written in the Diary of the Relics of Prague: whose author, a fuller of them notice to send asked, Relics at Prague and Pilsen. from an Anonymous Prague Canon's MS. Codex these words brought; In the same year (namely MCCLIII) by the procurement of Bishop Nicholas, were brought the Relics of S. Stanislaus the Martyr from Cracow XI of the Kalends of November, and received in the church of the people of Prague with a procession solemn. More however than there now are kept, brought to Prague fragments were: for the city of Pilsen, in the same Bohemia after Prague chief and always Catholic, when in the year MCCCCXXXIV on the feast of S. Stanislaus the day VIII of May, had been from a grievous and long-lasting of the Taborites' siege freed; asked and obtained from the Chapter of Prague of the same Saint's Relics a notable part, and thence it religiously keeps, as to us most recently wrote the most Reverend Dean, Bishop of Samandria, the author of the aforecited Diary, and also of a greater work under the title of the Moravian Mars now first published, where book 5 chapter 4 of the Pilsen siege the history he sets forth, adding that to this even time remains among the people of Pilsen of the freed in this manner city the solemn memory, and a festive day anniversary, namely the Sunday to the eighth day of May nearest, the solemnities being protracted the whole that week even to the 6th weekday. From the same S. Stanislaus's body, as says the same in the aforecited Diary, a Tooth was given to the Emperor Charles IV at Cracow, by Casimir III King of Poland, in the year MCCCLXIII, and a finger: of these but on account, in the Calendar of the Prague Church of the year 1578, is noted the feast to the day 9 to be transferred: which until the change, by Clement VIII made, was kept.

[12] The chief meanwhile of the holy body's part at Cracow remained in the aforesaid basilica, cultus on the 6th weekday in the place of the first burial. and is kept enclosed in a tomb of silver, which six Angels of the same metal sustain, as says, in the description of Cracow Georgius Braunius, of the whole world the chief cities in bronze tables expressed setting forth, and of that temple the magnificence explaining, which Clerics LXXX, Canons XXX, Prelates VI with a Suffragan serve, which to a fuller of the history understanding it will profit to have observed. The very moreover S. Michael's church, in which the wrought slaughter was, nonetheless is frequented, the name being changed called the Skałka of S. Stanislaus. For it is as describes Longinus in the edition "Skałka," on a level rising up, built: which I know not how mostly in book 3 is called "at Rumpella" or "in Rumpella": and n. 35 it is said it through the year by the people weekly to be visited wont on every sixth weekday, because the Cathedral, within the castle is shut, and situated is on a lofty mount, a difficult from that part ascent having. But that church, then outside the city, now is included in Kazimierz, by Casimir the King in the year MCCCXLVI founded, and only by the river Vistula divided from that of the city of Cracow part, which to the castle subject Stradom is called.

SYNOPSIS OF THE LIFE

From an ancient MS. drawn by P. John Gamans.

Stanislaus, Bishop of Cracow and Martyr, in Poland (S.)

BHL Number: 7843

FROM A MS.

[1] Stanislaus Szczepanowski a Pole, of a noble family of the Prussians, his father Velislaus, Of pious and long sterile parents born. his mother Bogna, of pious and wealthy parents was born. These, when for many years sterile they were, to God of all fecundity the author flee, that for His benign will to them children to give He would; having covenanted by a vow, themselves, whatever it should be, which from them should be born, to Him alone and His worship most holy to consecrate. To the thirtieth nearly however year their desires were deferred: whence, when they conjectured, that God did not wish it, which they wished to remove; their will to the divine will subjecting, all care and solicitude from flesh and blood, to the fruits spiritual they transfer.

God to be unwilling, what they wished to remove; their will to the divine will subjecting, all care and solicitude from flesh and blood, to the fruits spiritual they transfer.

[2] But behold there is present, and not even hoped for indeed, without great of the mother trouble, a birth: he grows, not more in body's, than in mind's strength: modest, chaste, to every kind of doctrine and piety inclined a boy. At Gniezno and Paris in sciences cultivated, Which while the parents see, to their vows and the boy's genius to be wanting they will not. To Gniezno him, both of the Kingdom and of letters then the seat, they send. But not long this nest only could contain so great in the studies of letters from of old famous, he is sent. Here himself wholly with other studies, both especially to theology and Canon law he delivers.

[3] He returns home, as from merchandise a merchant good; with his things entire, piety, modesty, chastity, sincerity; with many things acquired, with excellent doctrine, of things to be managed dexterity the highest. By his fame moved Lambert the Bishop of Cracow, a pious man, the young man, reluctant more than himself thrusting forward, to the sacred Orders draws. A Priest first, after a Canon, and Preacher of Cracow he makes him. So Stanislaus, A Priest and Canon by preaching greater fruit makes. as a fecund and precious plant, into a richer soil translated, most rich fruits to render began; in all things himself showing an example of good works, in doctrine, in integrity, in gravity, the word sound and irreprehensible; that those, who from the adverse side were, feared, nothing having to say evil of him. Which while Lambert, by old age and years worn out, in him sees, him over the whole Church, and even over his house own, as another Joseph, he sets.

[4] There dies full of days Lambert: into whose place by the sacred College, the whole people demanding, is substituted Stanislaus. There is placed a lamp burning upon the candlestick, ordained Bishop that it may shine in the house of the Lord. He hesitates much the strong athlete, nor so easily into the stadium enters. He shudders at the burden to Angelic even shoulders to be dreaded: overcame however charity: overcame the will, to the will of God and of elders to obey accustomed. The most strong soldier having entered into the arena, from which not except a victor by death he was about to depart: he insists on the word of God he puts on the breastplate of justice and charity, he shoes his feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. In all things taking the shield of faith, in which he can all the darts of the most wicked one fiery extinguish; the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God he receives; through every prayer and supplication praying at all time in the spirit, and in it watching, in all instance and supplication for all the Saints.

[5] Thus armed, first around himself all things diligently he sees, lest anything open or superfluous be, by which by the enemy to be held, and in which a wound to be inflicted can be: of his house then all the paths he considers, lest by robbers it be undermined, lest by an enemy man it be set on fire. Which same house, of the poor and of guests a lodging he makes: he helps the poor, the orphans and widows to be enrolled he commands, that to each one bread he may break in his time. he visits the diocese and the Priests' life: He goes around in single years all of his diocese the parts, not only of the altars or sacred furniture the cleanness seeing, but much more of the Priests themselves, who the altars serve, the life and integrity examining, that holy things holily they administer; nor that they alone holy be, who carry the vessels of the Lord, but their house also and the whole family well they preside over. In which all his zeal patience was of a singular kind: since God did not place him into wrath, but into the acquisition of salvation.

[6] He saw and envied the enemy of our salvation daily a new to himself prey to be snatched, new joys in the heavenly things to be excited: the halls therefore and palaces of the King, as is wont, he seeks: business and perils to Stanislaus he weaves. There reigned then in Poland Boleslaus, The King among illustrious deeds to be filled with vices he grieves: from warlike virtues called the Bold, a King from the beginning pious and of his fatherland loving, but the huge man's virtues huge equaled vices. There was a mind for undertaking perils great, there was constancy in wars to be pursued and labors to be endured incredible: but on the other part there was cruelty the highest, avarice not to be borne, a mind impotent and in things prosperous insolent, but before all into every most foul lust plainly poured forth. Grieved the holy Bishop, that so great virtues by so many and so great vices were contaminated. The King therefore to attack, and him of his office to admonish he determined.

[7] that the estate by himself bought lawfully he may show He had bought by chance Lord Stanislaus from Peter, a noble man, an estate at the bank of the Vistula, in the territory of the Lublin tract, not for himself, nor for his own, but for the Church. Dies Peter before than the sale into the public tables was referred. He takes hence a handle of harming Boleslaus, Peter's nephews he exhorts, that Stanislaus into court to his tribunal they should call. Is called into court the Bishop: he presents himself at Soletium, where then under tents, in the manner of the elders, the King gave great judgments. He is bidden to exhibit the title of the estate possessed. He calls to witnesses, but no one dares, the King forbidding. Then the holy Bishop, he adduces the witness of the dead seller. of all aid human and witness destitute, into this voice mournful bursts: Since, he says, diminished are the truths from the sons of men; from the earth let truth arise, and justice from heaven look down. In the name of Jesus Christ, whom I serve, and whose church I protect, I undertake, myself from hence on the third day, the very Peter alive, to bring.

[8] He comes to Piotrawin, into prayers and fasts himself wholly pours with his own: on the third at length day to the temple of S. Thomas, where Peter was buried, he proceeds; God, the highest and first of truth the vindicator, and him by prayers with fasting poured forth he raises, with knees bent he invokes; and a witness of his innocence with Susanna he calls: Peter then in the name of the same God omnipotent he addresses; Come, he says, forth Peter, and to the buried by the living truth, dead from the sepulchre bear testimony. There comes forth he three-years dead: stupor and admiration invades all: by the right hand grasped to the tribunal of the King, just as he had promised, leads him the Bishop. Is dumbfounded the King: is astonished the whole tribunal: no one speaks that Peter, who a witness of the truth about to return, from the seats of quiet I come hither. To him I my estate at a just price sold and conveyed: the King then and the nephews he rebukes, who the holy man without cause a business cause. Vanquished and forced the malice, according to the truth a sentence he bears.

[9] Leads away from the judgment his witness the Bishop: asks of him, whether, even for penitence's cause, life to himself prolonged he would. Which when he had denied, he leads back to the sepulchre, now namely himself the greater part of his penalties in purgatory to have paid, nor again to the perils and storms of the world and of sin himself to commit to wish, trusting himself by the prayers of the holy of God from the remnants of penalties to be freed; he leads him to the place of quiet: which when first he touched, he expired. There asked many Peter, about the things of the other world: but he nothing to anyone answered, except that: You have Moses and the Prophets: not to evangelize, but to testify I have been sent. They had heard this the neighboring nations and rejoiced, because magnified the Lord His mercy: and thanks they gave to God, who so great power gave among men. Confirmed that matter the Poles' minds in the faith, and confirms the Poles in the faith by Russian errors for seven years stained: and the name of the nation it illustrated everywhere, but also of the neighboring nations the hearts to the Lord God it converted.

[10] There had subsided for a while the King's wraths, which however afterward easily flamed up. There had made an expedition the King against Russia's Dukes: whom vanquished and routed, and Kiev taken, he himself with his soldiery, the city's amenity and delights captured. Meanwhile the soldiers' wives, of the longer (absence) in the manner wearied, for husbands servants take. The King for cruelty and lust often admonished he excommunicates: The soldiers, the matter known, the King being left, home hasten. First against those very ones as deserters, then also against the wives of them, the King with monstrous cruelty animadverted. Besides by rapine and lust nefarious himself he contaminates. Not to be borne this thought the good Pastor: a contest the third with the King wicked he enters: once and again to him he comes, and from cruelty he dehorts; that from his eye the beam first, then the mote from the eyes of others he should pluck out, he admonishes: unless he do it, himself him about to excommunicate he threatens. While nothing he profited, and while he saw with jest and laughter to be received all things, on the holy day of the Lord at the altar the King he excommunicates. Struck that matter the mind of the King and exasperated; so that nothing more, except of the life and blood of Stanislaus to think he seemed.

[11] He performed the sacred rite Lord Stanislaus on the eighth of the Ides of May in a chapel of Cracow suburban, of S. Michael called. Which matter known the tyrant, the most audacious each of the soldiers to kill the Priest of God destines. Who when to the place of the slaughter to be designed they come, to be stupefied they begin, others to grow blind, to fall backward the rest. There were signified these things by the Clergy to Lord Stanislaus; but he his men nothing to fear bids: by whom at the altar after the sacrifice of the Mass he is slain, for the King God he beseeches: himself and his sheepfold to Him he commends. The King when to delay his men he sees, others and others he sends, who the hand of the Most High to be present to the Bishop report. Seizes himself he pursues; and the same all things, which the soldiers had endured, in himself he experiences. The sacred rite at length performed, when God Himself permitted, with a lethal wound the head of the Martyr he cuts through, and his brain the wall bespatters. The ill-begun work of the King, the body into 72 parts cut asunder, the wicked ministers worse perfect: the body of the Saint from the temple they draw out, into parts seventy-two they cut asunder, and to dogs and birds to be devoured they cast: the nefarious at last work performed, they go away.

[12] God did not suffer His soldier's body long cast away and infamous to lie: there is present a heavenly guard of eagles, which the body scattered, by an eagle guarded it is reintegrated. while the Clergy gathers itself, guard. After two days recovers its courage the Clergy, by terror and fear dispersed, and its Bishop's members honorably composes. Effected the omnipotence of God, that so together they grew, as if never torn apart they had been. One finger was lacking; but not even that long to lie hidden suffered He, who guards the bones of His Saints. A lamp it heavenly, into a neighboring fishpond cast, and by a fish devoured shows. Collected and grown together the body, in the vestibule of the same chapel, with great piety and reverence is placed. So Stanislaus in the eighth of his Episcopate's year, by martyrdom is crowned, and his mortal life for an immortal exchanges.

[13] For behold Stanislaus is counted among the sons of God, and among the Saints is his lot. Honored

him the Father eternal, who in the heavens is: a hundredfold he received in this life, illustrious for miracles, and life eternal he possessed. For he who alive to the blind the way demonstrated, dead the blind illumines: who alive one only dead man, with great admiration of our world, from the dead raised, dead several from the lot of death took away: who alive to the sword of Boleslaus yielded, dead whole armies, and battle-lines entire, of pious Kings the Patron and helper and of his nation a lover, puts to flight. And so when that place, where he was laid, the people's concourse, he is translated to the Cathedral church, which thither for help's cause fled, contain not could; Lambert of this name the third, his successor, and the Prince Vladislaus, by divine visions admonished, the bones of the Saint, an odor most sweet breathing, holily and reverently into the chief temple of Cracow, of S. Wenceslaus then called, transfer. So to his altar the Bishop, to the Chair the Doctor, to the temple the Bishop, to the people the Pastor, after a decade is restored.

[14] After a hundred at length and seventy years, the Lord excites the spirit of Prandota the Bishop of Cracow, his consort Kinga, a woman most chaste. by Innocent IV, Who the miracles of the holy Bishop collected, and with public faith, as if by fire proved, legates to Innocent the Fourth the Supreme Pontiff send; and that so great diligently they beseech. There is made a consultation at Assisi, where then by chance was the Supreme Pontiff. Among others then one was opposed to the cause of Divus Stanislaus, Reniholdus Cardinal of Ostia, a man of first authority. Falls he into a grievous and lethal disease: to whom in sleep appears Divus Stanislaus; after the Cardinal of Ostia healed, unworthily him to do he teaches, who to God's will resists. Is awakened the old man, to the Divus himself he commends, convalesces, the cause before opposed he protects. There is made the highest consent of all: the Bishop holy among the Martyrs is referred.

[15] and a dead man raised. It had happened, God so ordaining, amid the very sacred rite, that a dead youth by his mother into that temple of D. Francis called was led. The Pontiff God suppliant beseeches, that by a new miracle his deed He would confirm: raises himself suddenly the youth: there is made huge gladness of all. The Supreme Pontiff from the pulpit thanks to God gives: to the Saints he is ascribed. the Martyr with a most splendid oration he celebrates: the day VIII of the Ides of May his memory solemn he assigns. Return the legates with huge gladness, announcing how great things God did with His Martyr. Prandota the Bishop the bones of the Saint from the dust of the earth raises, the sacred bones to the altar are placed. and them in the manner wonted in the altar he lays up, Boleslaus the King chaste and the Queen most chaste, and the rest of the Bishops and Dukes of the kingdom and of the neighboring Provinces assisting. And it was made on that day a great joy: and blessed the Lord the last things of Stanislaus, more than his beginning.

LIFE

By the author John Longinus or Dlugossus, Canon of Cracow.

Stanislaus, Bishop of Cracow and Martyr, in Poland (S.)

BHL Number: 7839, 7840, 7841

BY THE AUTHOR JOHN LONGINUS.

DEDICATORY EPISTLE.

[1] To the Excellent and Venerable Father, Lord Sandiwogius de Ezechel, of the Arts and sacred Theology Master, of the monasteries and house of the Regular Canons of the Order of Saint Augustine in a Kłodawa of the Gniezno Diocese Provost, Lord and Father most to be venerated, John Longinus, Canon of Cracow, your, and who with you together for Christ soldier, of the servants of God a servant, greeting very much says, and beatitude to contemplate eternal. There had come, in the preceding days, to my mind, Venerable Father, and that frequently nearly with assiduous meditation it concocted my breast, and the honor and glory of the most Holy Bishop of Cracow Stanislaus, the Poles' Protomartyr, something of letters I should compose. This when neither by age and genius, nor by the storms then public and private to do it was permitted; at length the reluctant mind, divine relying on the compassion, which to pious endeavors to be wanting never has been wont, to the labor I subdued; and the work, would that as eloquently and accurately, as officiously, on a domestic sheet I published; no one of the Saints judging, there are given his deeds most illustriously done and by martyrdom finished: to whom at any time our fatherland, either for work or office, or for life and martyrdom more should owe; whose so great and such a virtue stood out, by divine relying solaces, that the troubles of any harsher fortune and loftier power, for the honor of God, for the orthodox religion, for the salvation and liberty of the Polish people, he despised, and the zeal of piety in an arduous of the times' juncture, showed, his unconquered soul in faith and religion preserving: which indeed thing not by alien auspices, not by external suffrages, but by God's only protections, and his martyrdom he accomplished.

[2] But to describe the Life of the Saint not content, also the prodigies at the invocation of his name, and the miracles followed, with the Canonization. after by happy gore he was condemned, done; likewise also of his Canonization the Apostolic Bulls into the present work I have inserted; that a gift more heaped both to you and to readers I might bestow, at the same time also a thing worthy judging, which of a proper work's narration to have it might merit. And although of his martyrdom the dignity much greater is, than either by me to be described, or by my genius to be comprehended can be; I will strive however according to my strength, lest anything by me omitted to be, which to the matter to pertain I thought, should happen. This also before you and any readers to preface concerning our Saint be permitted, no one of the Pontiffs of the Polish Church for faith and justice, no one for liberty and religion, both of ancient and of our memory, more strongly to have fought; no one moreover among the Saints to have been, who for his merit by our tongue's men is more to be venerated, more to be loved, and more in delights and admiration to be held.

[3] But me turning in mind, and much and long with silent cogitation reckoning, to whom the little book, on the Life of the Saint published and full of beautiful variety of deeds, I should dedicate; to You, whose with of our region's peoples the greatest is in doctrine and religion the name; to You, already long a veteran soldier of Christ, but once my fellow-comrade, me however both in genius and in mouth's eloquence and doctrine and the other arts of this kind far surpassing, my mind I turned. To you, a man of all most humane and best of me deserving, they are offered to the Provost of Kłodawa whatever kind this labor ours was to be dedicated: that there might be with you of perpetual love ours a monument: you will find for in the present work very many things, both pleasant to know, and to be known necessary. You a Pierian man of spirit, and sacred and human cultivating studies, and whom, by the peace of the rest, the Polish Beam I would dare to call, among many to my mind you occurred: whom also in our religion and in doctrine, and in great things' knowledge most observant and most desirous to be I knew. Not another than you of the present gift more grateful judging, because both to the Saint, of whom now we treat, a more propense cultus you exhibit, and something with him you have common, of his deeds also and life an emulator you exist; in mind long inwardly placed mine, whom by religion and benevolence you have preoccupied. Finally by your familiarity drawn, which to me bore your dignity and faith mine, my lucubrations and labors, (of which you not so much the chief inspector to be I wished as censor) nowhere more confidently than in your ears and eyes I deposit, c and to your best and most grave judgment our work proved or weakened to be I trust.

[4] For this from you one most especially exacted to be I would wish, that of the present little book (which the little vein of my, of whatever kind it is, and to his censure they are subjected. gushed of genius) the blemish and harshness by your industry be filed, be imbued by eloquence, be adorned by doctrine. Then also first to others to be seen and to be read it be furnished; and by your supported favor, then at length let it come forth into public. For what you shall have approved, by the rest also to be approved and to all to suffice I trust: nor anyone will reprehend, what you shall have approved. Take therefore, Man most illustrious, from me the present writing, and willingly examine; of your also integrity and doctrine additions and detractions applying, by your labors it purge, and whatever it be, which to your prudence's lynx-eyes is offensive, or of others is about to be offensive, by the file of your correction cut away, and by your eloquence's skill of my unskillfulness the errors dissolve, of the deficient style also supply the defect. For more benign our work to be about to have I deem reprehenders, readers, and interpreters, if from you it they shall have known censured. For according to its dignity the series of the whole life of our Saint, by me more diligently and scrupulously investigated, somewhat more grew than my genius would bear, and nobler even than mine is about to load. Accordingly by that lively your, so to speak, sulphur, if anything incomplete, if anything superfluous, if anything less polished, if anything tepidly or remissly by a fasting and miscarrying genius begotten you shall find; burn up, and by your new song what squalid shall have been soothe: or, if it expedient you shall see, utterly scrape away; not mediocre to me grace about to furnish, if my errors by an easier vein d you shall have corrected; and what insipid and dry are, by the abundance of your eloquence you shall have led into greenness. For nor by another law, by another trust the little book present, of my humility by the most slender written sense, to you I dedicate, to you I ascribe; except that it, not before than by you filed, polished and censured, and by your judgment approved, by the rest to be read and to be published I think, more of value your judgment than of anyone's esteeming: that, if perhaps faulty speeches some shall have offended, the author being neglected, the single defects, deformities, and faults on you fall back the censor.

ANNOTATIONS.

BOOK I.

The deeds and martyrdom of S. Stanislaus.

PROLOGUE.

[5] If so great were to me of style the virtue, and that of writing faculty infused by the Powers above, about to write the Acts of S. Stanislaus or by nature procured or by art, as great the of writing ardor; long since, of illustrious men the prayer and desire, of the man whom ever Poland bore most holy, Stanislaus, of Cracow Bishop, and of the Poles Protomartyr, the life and deeds by me to be written desiring, the custom I would have indulged. But I was deterred hence by writing's unskillfulness, thence by the greatness of the matter. I knew moreover that office, by the ancient Writers, neither imprudently, nor inelegantly, to have been preoccupied: on account of which to be applied for the matter more cultivatedly to be raised, another man of a coarser a Minerva I longed; to whom both a more fertile genius,

and an ampler of speaking skill, and a greater of writing artifice would have befallen; who to the excellent narration and virtues merits with a more exquisite might bring forth of eloquence beauty. Lest, if too little ornately and too little fully and inelegantly the life by me of the Saint described were; to a work inconsiderately undertaken succumbing, unskilled in speaking I should seem and worthy of reprehension I should be judged, who could not the mass of the undertaken burden sustain, for persuades our Seneca, that while things are brought forth exceptional, to their also majesty the cultus of speech be adjoined: hinting that things in themselves excellent, by the writers' industry (which also in most external works one may behold) both more to be able extolled and more celebrated to be rendered. For not the life of our Saint, for its excellence and dignity, with the usual kind of writing is content: but it requires a kind of speaking rare, excellent and polished.

[6] several things omitted to select the more notable proposes the author By the impulse after these things not now of those asking, but for each one's over me right and office, either exacting or commanding, by a stronger constrained, the labor of writing I undertook: about to write from many the more notable, very many also being omitted, lest to readers a weariness I be, the more illustrious places sufficiently judging to touch, which either of his histories or of others' relation indicated I knew, and which to our Saint's dignity or honor, but of neighbors to the salvation to conduce I judged; hoping of my unskillfulness the faults, the single ones, who these our things shall have read, with fair ears will bear, while an unpolished speech to be brought forth they feel, not from my judgment and genius, but from the authority of those commanding. For neither me with that of doctrine and writing art endowed I know to be, that more cultivatedly and more ornately, the life of the holy man, than the rest wrote, to have accomplished I should judge. serving the will and utility of several, For to me reviewing and treating the strength of my little genius, I feel how fasting to myself and dry I seem, that by the very tenuity I ought to have been deterred from the office of writing-much: knowing all things beyond strength dared to be dashed. But that toward the Saint devotion I may bring forth, and toward the fatherland to which me all things to owe I do not deny, I may demonstrate charity; the command also and the expectation I may answer of very many, preferring from obedience to be judged little prudent, than from refusal cautious and wise b to writing I approach; not the ancient and approved that of speaking sweetness and eloquence, but a rude and simple about to represent. By His propitiation to be attained to me I trust the protections, who obedience to victims preferred, and not to acquiesce to those rightly admonishing a crime to savor of soothsaying dictated.

[7] To provoke moreover me I think by the present work very many ingenuously learned, who more elegantly and more probably the Life of the Saint to commit to letters will be able, and with their amplest praise in this kind of writing to be versed; worthy and most necessary judging, our athlete several and memorable of his virtues to obtain heralds. That also respect moved and enticed me, to those things, which long since of the man holy were explained by others, some of addition matter to confer, [because I could hope the same life] by the learned and erudite men's geniuses (of whom the kindly parent ours the University of Cracow, by divine gift, fertile is) by ours to be excited to be spurred, more polished and more illustrious the Lord giving to be about to come out. For it both of art of any kind and of a thing it is established to be the nature, that mostly the first or to the first nearest more blunt and ruder d are, the following indeed to those after most either conferring or into better changing, both more grateful and more cultivated: and wishing that the same with a more elegant style by another be written. which also to the more common rivers happens, of which the of denomination greatness, not from a fountain small and thin, but from the of waters flowing-in augmentation to be regarded it behooves. Enough therefore it will be also to me rudely some things of our Saint the more excellent to have written, and not of matter only but also of an incitement a specimen to others to have given. It will be perhaps and not unpleasant, in another scheme the Saint's to explain the life, that by variety of covering, an appearance more glad to those beholding it may show: for in this even most especially way, to of the deeds and of the praises of the holy man to be brought forth the splendor, a herald some I hope to be about to approach, who of that life and of the deeds the wonderful excellence with equal of words may equalize beauty, and his most illustrious deeds, with the ears of the single ones by the sweetness of eloquence may diffuse; and hearers' breast about to beget.

[8] For the life of a Saint the more fully and eloquently it is described, so much the more in the breasts of readers and of hearers it is sweetened, and the minds of mortals of the supernal gift with sweetness refreshes and delights. that they may delight and profit more For who would deny of works however sublime the glory, whether virtue you regard theological or heroic, through the writing's brilliance more to shine forth? Thence also it is established that some of the highest men, that more illustrious they might come out, for the deeds of their works to be written or statues to be placed, the more skilled each either have applied or desired. To the Saints also an ampler felicity and glory we believe to accede, if of their things and works eloquent they obtain writers: which in B. Paul the first hermit, Paula, and Hilarion, whose Life B. Jerome; likewise in B. Martin of Tours, whose Life Severus the Gaul; likewise in B. Nicholas of Myra Bishop, whose life Simon by surname Metaphrastes and Leonardus the Venetian with artful published eloquence, and very many other as well Greek as Latin, we experience writers: who of works and virtues by Saints done the effigy, with admirable geniuses accurately and thoughtfully left expressed and polished, and with evident of their persuasions stimuli and praises celebrated, made it more happy and more closely to be imitated, when to the life's splendor the light also and the beauty answered of speech. For a greater delight to readers, with speech to gracefulness instructed, and rustic one. Which in popular also to happen perspicuous it is declamation, in which a witty and skilled one more to be able no one doubts, than a rude one; because the witty one the greatest has of capturing and delighting the minds, of weeping also and of sobs to elicit the force; the rude one indeed to weariness to be is wont, sometimes also to contempt.

[9] But of me if anyone account to be had shall have judged, into the part more benign by ventilating his judgment let him turn, and that of me opinion from me asked let him conceive, His pure intention nothing me for capturing earthly and popular air, nothing for retaining or extending fame, but for the amplitude of the praise of the Redeemer and Creator our God, for declaring and illustrating the Life of the holy man Stanislaus, for the edification of one's neighbor, and for attaining and meriting perennial life, of this work the labor to have undertaken; with that indeed judgment and pact, that to readers of doctrine and imitation an exemplar; to me indeed a sinner, for speaking and writing rude and ignorant, by the conscience moreover of delicts gnawing burdened, by the suffrage and prayer of the holy man, whose Life I am about to write, a retribution sempiternal and unfading, for a perishing one (which I spurn, and which I disown) through the grace of the Remunerator eternal may come; judging our labor, even if not to those in speaking sated and skilled, yet at least to those from letters' savor fasting, about to suffice. And while these arduous things, and than my strength greater to attempt I undertake, help I will implore divine, that whither to ascend my dullness cannot, by heavenly suffrage aided I may pass over.

ANNOTATIONS.

d Likewise, "habita."

CHAPTER I.

The piety of the parents. The birth, education, and first studies of S. Stanislaus.

[10] About to make known the Lord to the sons of men His power, and for of His piety the abundance to His faithful unhoped goods about to bestow, of wonderful fortitude men, into the consummation of the Saints, into the edification of His body mystical, in diverse times raised: that through them of the faith and religion orthodox, into the salvation and confirmation of believers, the illumination of the nations, the extermination of schisms and errors, the truth like a star might shine more brilliant than the morning one. S. Stanislaus in Poland born, Among others however, the century declining into old age, the inhabiting in the region Northern Poles, the faith of Christ long before having professed, and in their circuit various nations to idolatry or errors given having, B. Stanislaus, from their nation and stock arisen, like a glowing star, and the darkening of his time's centuries with his brilliance's lamp illustrated: who both in mortal conversation soldiering, and then in the heavenly hierarchy triumphing, with prodigies coruscated stupendous. But by the powerful of miracles and works virtue, of how great he is and was merit, by Him, into whom all his cares and cogitations he had turned, whom with a chaste and faithful breast and clean heart above all things he had loved, it was declared. For conferred on him of virtues the Lord, not among the Poles only, but also in the whole Catholic world, of his name the brightness.

[11] But there was to the blessed man Stanislaus an origin from the Poles' nation and from the Cracow province, and his native soil of the village of Szczepanów, two miles from the town of a Bochnia, in which salts are dug, from Cracow indeed seven miles situated; in itself indeed obscure, but by the holy man's birth signified and divulged. His parents, for the condition of the flesh and the world, noble to him were and most excellent, and of such a son worthy. in the village Szczepanów of the Cracow province, His father Wielislaus for his arms and of nobility insignia, excelling [was] of stock, as by of virtues splendor: his father Wielislaus, of his house and family the fellow-tribesmen, first and chief was held: but also among other of the Poles Nobles, by manners' and virtues' beam and of military affairs glory eminent. His mother Bogna, his mother Bogna, a woman and herself by stock free-born, but by chastity's more decorum noble, of rare a religious woman, illustrious and celebrated among the women of her region and of her time was held. To both of hospitality of the needy, of orphans and of pilgrims, and of all wretched and indigent persons the care was in price: who given to abstinence and alms, both of fasts and abstinences a pursuer, daily in virtue and merit both by exercise grew: daily both into the single ones suffering necessity their substance according to their strength bestowed: both to probity, modesty, frugality, and the other of that kind of mind ornaments more earnestly gave labor: both with fasts, vigils, and the rest of holy purpose's austerity the body afflicted: both, zealous both of the precepts and of the divine counsels an observer: ample to both of lordship a patrimony, answering and condition; but which whole into

the poor, with prompt and fervid liberality was poured out.

[12] they construct a church, But while rarer through that time among the Poles were temples and the sacred things of the Powers above, Wielislaus in his inheritance Szczepanów, his provident consort Bogna both suggesting and instigating, a temple builds; and a dowry from the paternal census not degenerate, by the ministers to be received, to it he gives, disposing to B. Mary Magdalene to be dedicated the temple, to whom each of the spouses with a wonderful of devotion was borne ardor; bestowing moreover on the temple noble vestments, and vessels with silver and gold gleaming, and the rest with which the divine service is wont to be performed. But to the temple's Priests and ministers, the tithes of all things they offer: all of their estates and of all things being born, which the soil and cattle beget, a faithful of all substance tithing selecting, from the single ones he offered the better; that an excellent toward God mind by excellent also gifts he might testify, and the of the malediction of Cain sentence avoided, of the benediction of Abel imparted, to himself also to be imparted, more apt he might be and more capable. Each moreover of the spouses by alms and pious and of compassion actions giving labor, also by each the temple's doors and thresholds by night and by day were worn; and with a wonderful of devotion love to prayers and supplications they gave themselves, they give themselves to prayer and pious works. not only for the time in which the Priest the divine service performed, but also for other hours and times, which to themselves for that singularly they had deputed: vying one to prevent the other, and to conquer by delay and long-continuance; in the commands and ceremonies of the Christian law to be fulfilled, so religious, so sincere, that their life and conversation to the rest a wonder became, as which from the monastic differed little c.

[13] By these to the 30th year of marriage being sterile But while things flowed to their wishes, by sterility's reproach Wielislaus and Bogna were anxious, that with no endowed of stock hereditary successor they should be about to depart. Not on that account however anything of homage toward God and His Saints, or of office toward the needy and by any necessity burdened had they remitted, [but] with one mind and the same of devotion and charity tenor toward God and neighbor having used, fecundity to themselves to be furnished by vows very many they besought, an offspring to be born to the homage and lot of God about to consign. The year now of their marriage thirtieth was extended, and as well by their own as by alien judgment, because the age of each into the setting was prone, none themselves henceforth they thought to be about to receive gift, the closed more wonderfully opening wombs, herself felt Bogna to have conceived and a womb to bear. she is born July 26 without the mother's pain All however the pleasures and delights, with which herself long for Christ's name she had disowned, even then loathing, and as well in victual as in raiment chastened and simple content, while after the lustrated at noon time flocks into her house from a near grove she returned, at a well; not far from her dwelling among oaks and thickets standing, a son most beautiful, no midwife's intervening suffrage, on the seventh of the Kalends of August, in an age now matured and aging, brought forth; and in the fountain at which she had given birth washed, home glad and unhurt she carried back; no pain, no weakness in the birth as also after the birth having experienced. To the church then of S. Mary Magdalene, for the conferred infant and the birth's gift, thanks to the divine majesty in tears' abundance rendering, the brought forth one with the fountain of Baptism, the father Wielislaus in presence being present, she regenerates, and with a name fitted Stanislaus calls, not without an evident presage, both of the name itself and of the word's signification: that the infant then arisen perpetual would be and divulged of his name and triumphant Jerusalem about to attain.

[14] Moved the birth so prodigious of the new and long wished-for son, with the joy of all and a presage of things to come, not the parents only, from the long sterility's confusion taken away; but also the single around neighbors: to whom not only congratulation, but huge admiration was injected, that a matron otherwise of more advanced age, than they thought, for of days and years the proclivity, in which she had proceeded, unfruitful, beyond human estimation had borne. Wherefore also the son arisen, already then greatest about to be they ominated; to be reduced to the merit and number of the most holy and great men, John the Baptist, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Samson, who also themselves parents had, of womb indeed sterile, but in virtue fecund: and for things great and illustrious by him to be done him they destined, to the Polish stock a great solace about to procure, and to profit it arisen (since by nature so it is constituted, that great and long to endure are wont more tardily to be born) and happy they called the fatherland, which so celebrated an infant with a favorable star had produced; happy the parents, of whose seed he was sown; happy the times, in which he was preserved; most happy the magistracy over which he should preside. But born was Stanislaus reigning among the Poles the King Mieczislaus the first, in the year of his reign the tenth third, but from the rising of our Saviour Christ the one thousand thirtieth seventh e.

[15] The birth from a vow above their hope Wielislaus and Bogna having obtained, the parents continence by a vow keeping that to the supernal giver more grateful they might repay homages, with a perpetual chastity's and abstinence's law they bind themselves, and a celibate from that time themselves to vow to keep life: which indeed of Holy intention purpose, with scrupulous by them even to the day of death was observance kept. He was still Stanislaus in his cradle, and by maternal nourished breasts; his father however Wielislaus, by a spirit driven divine, frequently him in the cradle being approaching, and the bands with which he was wrapped from his little breast drawing, by sight him and embrace as a Holy Spirit's dwelling he caressed. But the holy and religious nature not even in the boy indeed lay hidden. For a tenderer infancy having passed, often he was found the soft bed, into which by his parents' indulgence he was placed, to have deserted, and on the bare ground or on a straw of chaff the rest of his quiet to have passed; the boy is found in chaff or on the ground lying: each parent wondering at that his disposition and without a monitor conceived religion, for whose forming and shaping all cogitations, all cares, and vigils of theirs were turned.

[16] As soon as then suffered the age, to letters to be delivered and to be instructed the boy in the liberal arts (that more easily to greater things his might be exercised genius) each parent commanded: in which to be learned appeared, having obtained a genius and memory happy, him a docile genius to have obtained, desirous of letters and prepost erous, and which a hope not mediocre to the instructors injected; a memory besides tenacious, which them to the boy more laboriously to be imbued drew: but his manners modest, cultivated, bashful and ingenuous, from all wantonness: of all in fine games, with which the puerile age to be implicated is wont, in scheme abhorring, to shine were seen. ingenuous manners, So great moreover in gestures and manners and the single actions modesty, so great in speech and countenance modesty to have kept he was beheld and an inclination to virtue, that neither to jest nor to laughter to have indulged more profusely he was noted: and many therefore grave men to his love and admiration he enticed. Of quiet and refection chastened with him were the times, in which with a sparing and thin, as well sleep, as food content, the rest in letters to be perceived he expended: if anything indeed remained of time, in prayer consumed. In that also age, although puerile and tender, it is established him to compassion and piety to have given labor. and benign toward the poor. Of compassion therefore to be divulged toward the needy, whatever by the license of his elders to have he could, to them he bestowed: about to bestow all things, unless by his pedagogues' opinion to himself formidable he were forbidden. By nature a youth through all things moderate and of bashfulness ingenuous, and an offspring generous and noble, in Angelic offices to be placed. These were Stanislaus's rudiments, this the game of infancy, these from a tender one of religion and piety indications; and of so great virtues fervor, by divine aided providence, redounded in the boy.

[17] To Gniezno for studies' cause proceeding, But afterward than, adolescence attaining, for the grace of higher to be obtained doctrine, the Schools of Gniezno about to approach (because at that time more fertilely there a study, and erudition more copious was held) into the village Borowno he had come, and the baths for the soldiers of the village adapted having entered his body to care and to wash he proceeded; by the supervening soldiers, and grievously themselves by that, that without their command the baths to enter he had dared, by injury affected complaining, for those beating him he prays, with cudgels on his bare body beaten, and contumeliously cast out he was. With a patient however mind and without all murmur and complaint into a field neighboring having gone out, there a little he stood: and on a stone (which even to the day of today is shown) his knees fixing, pardon to be given to those, who him so inhumanely had cut down, he prayed: and of how great a youth of patience he was, of how great toward his neighbor of charity, by that deprecation not unexpressed he left. But in a wonderful manner the of vengeances Lord, whom however God punishes. designate wishing how much to Himself the beating impious of Stanislaus His servant had displeased, the soldiers and their stock of the shins with a grievous ulcer struck; and the field in which the servant of God had poured forth his prayer, with sterility's confusion (which for several years' hundreds it is known to have endured) he condemned, no germ although it were sown produced. To the field thence a name was given, Popowa-góra that is the Priestly mount, which there to the present day persists. So great moreover modesty his adolescence composed, that in his youthful age the authority he obtained of old men: and all the wantonnesses, all the blandishments of the body, which that age with itself bears, abhorring and avoiding, he gave an expectation of not small future of himself probity.

ANNOTATIONS.

then 8 of April: accordingly 26 of July in the year 1030 of Christ, fell into the year of his reign not the third, but the fifth.

CHAPTER II.

The studies at Paris performed. The Canonicate, the Priesthood, sermons. The diocese for the Bishop administered.

[18] To Paris having set out, The age of youths Stanislaus having passed, when of youth the times he had attained, and in the trivium more exercised and more learned he had come out; when with the highest of studying he burned desire, the studies of the Gauls (which by the assertion of very many most flourishing he understood) to approach a longing him took: and his parents and kinsmen city he betook himself, for seven years to Canon Law and Theology he studies, and in the divine and canon Law to erudition so sedulously he insisted, with so great of learning burning desire, that nothing he omitted, which to the institution of a highest future man to pertain seemed, from those arts and doctrines, which him to of the highest perfection the norm might erudite. And when various were the kinds of learning, in which much with praise he could be versed; the most illustrious however of Theology or of Philosophy divine science he chose, and the mundane Philosophy into the divine commuted. A wonderful in words sweetness, in deeds indeed with courtesy seasoned gravity was beheld. All his works to the best and salubrious to reduce having endeavored part, to doubt very many he forced, whether from middle Poland, or from Gaul he had been born. By the studies exercised of Paris, in manners moreover ingenuous and grave instructed, maturely to of perfect virtue the fruit he ascended; and it not in parts but whole together he comprehended, with good manners and famous institutes, no less than with letters delighted; to the matter most to pertain understanding, that famous through each, namely arts and virtues, he might come out; the resisting to himself carnal pleasures, as longest putting to flight; a man for virtues to be acquired meanwhile a serene having and virginal mind, tranquil, pacific.

[19] There was to him wisdom the highest above the age's granted measure; and before than of a perfect man he had obtained the time, already in him a singular as well of prudence as of doctrine lamp scintillated. Modesty, humility, probity, chastity, temperance, piety and the other virtues, companions to himself and familiar he had made. His mind moreover both against avarice, and the flesh's and world's petulance clean and unconquered, and to the flesh to be tamed intent. venery and of blind love the stimuli, of which difficult is the avoidance, in his power he had. Nothing weighing human glory and to the soul's passions manfully resisting; the flesh also, lest to be wanton it should begin, and the hot of his age's flames by fasts' cold and of the flesh maceration he took care to extinguish, guarding it from all enticement, and from all of women fellowship and contagion; perpetual choosing and guarding chastity, and in a mortal body of the heavenly emulating the nature. Thence, on account of these and other many of his mind excellent virtues, to several good and learned men amiable himself he had shown.

[20] He was solicited by very many grave men's from the school of Paris admonition, whose to himself familiarity by probity and virtue he had procured, the Doctor's title to be adorned with refusing, that himself with Canon Law's or Theology's Doctorate to be distinguished he should suffer. But he the endeavors of his friends, the fasces to himself of the Mastership thrusting, from humility declining, not to need his condition a Chair Doctoral answered, sufficient to himself judging, if learned more than a Doctor he had come out. of the monastic state he deliberates, There came up to him into mind, while at Paris he was versed, of a Religious some stricter to be entered a longing, and of the Evangelical perfection's doctrine in his breast with continual meditation had settled, that of sublime magistracies and honors, which to himself in his fatherland to be about to come he did not doubt, the stimuli being trodden, and all earthly things being left, the naked Redeemer naked redeemed he might follow. But this his conceived purpose, lest by him it should be perfected, to a greater contest, than which in a monastery is wont, the Lord reserving, turned away.

[21] A seven years' period in the Paris schools Stanislaus in the highest of learning solicitude spent, [Returned to his fatherland his parents being dead his goods among the poor he distributes:] a not unworthy with himself library carrying back, into Poland returned; and by both parents' death in an inheritance wealthy himself seeing left, all his substance into the poor of Christ and the throngs of the needy (cherishing the poor beyond his measure) with a pious and liberal bestowal distributed; more readily without burdens earthly the Lord to serve. For not yet all purpose of taking up a Religious life from himself had he relegated, and what manner to a better to live he should take up, by assiduous perplexity was held: when sometimes to him a private and cenobitic life appeared safer, sometimes indeed to hide the received talent, and to himself only, others being neglected, profit to confer, not sufficiently salubrious nor of ample merit seemed a work.

[22] There presided at that time over the Cracow Chair Lampertus, who also Lula (who b to Aaron Archbishop of Cracow succeeding, and to seek the insignia Archiepiscopal neglecting, by Lampert Bishop of Cracow he is created Canon. the See of Cracow from Archiepiscopal into Episcopal drew down) of approved virtue a Pontiff, and of rare toward God a man of religion, courteous and frugal: whose then approved and celebrated in all the Polish Church was opinion held, by faith's height, and piety's summit. He Stanislaus, held by an ambiguous struggle about entering of life (very much for of life and doctrine to him he had learned to be a brilliance, and for expelling any necessities and causes skillful, and of a fat Minerva, and of a pure and cleansed mind already then springing with virtue) whom to taking up of the Ecclesiastical State the order he entices, and in the Church of Cracow creates and constitutes Canon c, of great him, as he was, price a man, in the present and future, by divine instinct recognizing.

[23] and a Priest ordained, sermons useful he holds: And when by the same Bishop admonishing and exhorting into the Priestly sacred things he had been initiated, so in the order soldiering, just as both our religion and the undertaken prescribed office, all the Priests by his gentleness he conquered. The of preaching then care of the diocese and the Church of Cracow he undertook; where by the sweetness of his eloquence most grave very many of mortals into the love of God he kindled; when his doctrine, by life's brilliance and of a cleaner conversation's example adorned, to all he proposed to be imitated. He was beheld indeed in him a mild and humble mind, modest, quiet and pure, to taming only vices erected; whom neither arrogance ever extolled, nor indignation precipitated. Of great love toward God and neighbor toward the poor an indication he showed before. To desires intent to be repressed, and to wisdom's profit to be obtained, by night and by day with abstinence's thongs himself constricting, in every virtue he excels: and unceasingly to the divine books' reading adhering, his body with fasting and continual meditation, vigil and exercise he tortured, and with glorious for Christ sweats himself to exercise continually he busied himself. Who when such he was, he was eager however more to be ignored than to be recognized.

[24] he is desired by Lampert as successor, And since Lampertus the Bishop, by broken now and weary age, and in body weak himself knew; Stanislaus to himself to succeed he chose, that of old age and of weakness the leisure he might enjoy: But Stanislaus to consent by no means could be induced. There took Zula the Cracow Bishop from Stanislaus's life and doctrine and merit pleasure the greatest, and with exultation so huge he was affected as no one more; seeing of his election by the judgment a hope most rich to have answered, and Stanislaus's name and fame through illustrious arts and studies propense to be made. There was made to him from the whole of Poland the kingdom a frequent as well of Ecclesiastics as of seculars concourse, either to be erudited in cases ambiguous asking, or for their consciences to be counseled beseeching: whom he as he was from nature easy and gentle, benignly received by his institution and doctrine refreshed, the implanted from nature prudence with doctrine having grown together, and a glorious having from God furnished spirit and lofty, and a benign genius and clement. By faith and hope full his mind, by good works assiduously was fed all simulation and dissimulation abhorring, simple he was and of an open breast, only truth having in estimation and in cultus. To assiduous reading or preaching of the word of God, or to causes' expedition, and for him the diocese he administers. which with him a confluence to flow apart he did not suffer. Seeing at length Zula, who also Lampertus, the Cracow Bishop, himself with a greater age laden to be, the care all of the to be ruled diocese into him he turned, and it to himself he commits; in which so he was versed, that whatever business by himself with provident deliberation he should discuss, and wonderful himself to all not from deeds only but from words he might show, by counsels eruditing and curing the hearers.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER III.

The Bishopric of Cracow taken up, and in it virtues exceptional.

[26] Lampert at length the Cracow Bishop, by the condition mortal, on the twenty-fifth day of the month of November, in the year of the Lord one thousand a seventy-first, by death consumed, Lampert the Bishop being dead, and at the Cracow Church entombed, of substituting a new Pontiff the of the assembly day the second of February said was. To which when of the Prelates and Canons of Cracow a more frequent order had flowed together, and in all's breasts the same of inspiration will was turned and the same sense, none than Stanislaus Szczepanowski of the Pontificate worthier; went around himself the single ones' houses and doors, and himself for that height by a long persuasion showed unworthy. But in a wonderful manner an incredible multitude, not only from the Cracow city, with concordant votes is elected Stanislaus but moreover from the neighboring towns and villages of parish-priests, of military men, of citizens, and of country-folk, as if by agreement and a sign given and received, to suffrages to be borne convened. For one will, the same vow, an equal and conform vociferation and acclamation, Stanislaus of the Cracow most worthy of the Bishopric, happy to be the church, happy the city, happy the people, by so renowned a Pastor, and celebrated by so notable and glorious a Priest. By an incredible then desire by all's suffrages Stanislaus Szczepanowski, of the Lord chosen, and a vessel of election admirable, in eloquence and wisdom excelling, and also skilled in law divine and human erudite, in riches celebrated and in great things' assiduous practice and use polished, Bishop is declared: which honor before him was held by no one.

[26] for a long time himself unworthy professing, But he, as he was a man wonderfully smelling of gentleness and humility, by prayer and assiduous instance asked, for several days about consenting struggled, asserting himself of so great an honor and burden unworthy, nor to his weakness the sickles of the Pontifical dignity to befit: another with more vigorous arms and of more vigorous genius a man let them seek, to whom a Magistracy so sublime and in so difficult a time they might commit:

himself to their petition and to the highest Priesthood to seem to himself unmerited, nor to the conceived hopes about to answer. By much force of prayers and supplications, at length he gives assent: by many of supplications' weepings, with great labor by men notable and most adorned, pertinaciously contending at length stormed, fearing and trembling, by the force indeed of charity impelled, the office Pontifical he undertook (although with great desire to lie hidden in quiet he burned) and to his election with profound enough and bashful shame, scarcely at length he gave assent; lest to the ordination divine he should seem to resist, which through so many mouths and suffrages human to him became known.

[27] And by the highest Pontiff Alexander Pope b the second (to whom the condition of Stanislaus not by letters only of Boleslaus of many had been laid open) confirmed, by Alexander II confirmed, he is consecrated: and by his command into a Bishop consecrated; the principate of the Cracow Church and the yoke of the Lord, to the proud indeed grievous, to the humble indeed for the necks light, in the love of God about to feed to himself entrusted the flock, he took up. The year of life passing d the sixth and thirtieth by sole probity and virtue, by sole life's merit, by sole vocation divine and human, the most illustrious among the Polish Church's Chairs See, in the city of cities Polish Cracow, he obtained the Pontificate; then indeed of the Clergy, of the people and by every common voice, by the Apostolic moreover decree, designated Pontiff; but of manners, of virtues, of laws and of all ceremonies Pontifical from youth a most skilled observer; before by God elected. then indeed by the Pontiffs' unction visible consecrated, but long since of the Holy Spirit's charisma invisible most abundantly suffused; then into the highest Priesthood by men raised, but long since from the womb of his mother by Christ the Lord, who him to Himself a vessel of election had foreseen to be future, to the Polish flock a Pastor predestined. He offered then at the altar bread and wine, Melchizedek the Priest's manner emulating; not much after time of his body liberty, into an odor most sweet about to offer. But the human election then concerning Stanislaus made showed God, as in the proceeding discourse we shall narrate, to His congruous will, a wonderful him, strong, and excellent declaring Pastor. But that then of Stanislaus to the Pontifical summit elevation, and as well the passed as the following life's conversation, how much from of the modern age most Bishops it differs, there is no one who does not know, of whom if the life, if the conditions, if the manners, if finally their ambitious and depraved entrances you shall have searched out: you will find indeed not by zeal of God or of gain of souls, not of one's own not of one's neighbor's salvation's profit into the office Pontifical to be led, but by enrichment ampler and substance, as to a business, to be invited.

[28] The Pontifical order and burden Stanislaus the Cracow Bishop having obtained, of true humility the virtue by that ascent he did not lay down, but his life all and all his manners and actions by a sharper custody and chastisement, with stricter also of continence bonds he constricted, and into of religious men's form he reduced. Into a man also suddenly changed divine, to the highest perfection he tends: to the love of heavenly things, the earthly being trodden, assiduously directing his affection, by a true and perfect of heavenly things desire he was held; knowing both to himself and to any other, the Prelatical eminence bearing, a necessity imposed, of the Apostolic life to be emulated, and above all of the monks the lot professed to excel: ridiculous nay perilous judging, not to follow them in conversation and merit, whom he followed in order and dignity; and to the Pontifical summit not to add of a more sublime life the perfection. From the new moreover of the dignity accession more ardent also, with a hair-shirt he is clothed, and the flesh to the spirit he subjects: his mind to the right and exquisite of living norm acceded. To the spirit therefore the flesh about to subject, with a hair-cloth gown it he clothes, with which on the day of his death he was wrapped. His flesh therefore with its vices and concupiscences he crucified, knowing not otherwise by himself to be able the flesh's incitements and the demon's fallacies to be overcome, unless first the flesh being tamed himself he should erudite; that the flesh being attenuated by parsimonies, both the spirit might be made more robust, and the flock to him commended more might be instructed by example than by voice. Nothing to himself more excellent, nothing more officious judging, than to follow, through all endeavors and zeals and through all life, the Saviour's venerable footsteps.

[29] Nothing moreover he had either more proper or more usual, bountiful in alms to be given: than good men by counsel to help or by aid; his heart and mind from affections relegating earthly, and to the supernal it with all striving and endeavor fitting. In of alms the bestowal so fervid, so profuse, that his house of the needy and the languid was with a multitude filled: the mother [for] of a good work compassion and piety even from a boy with him remained. Over all also the needy and the orphans, the widows and the wretched, of his mercy the works were poured. Of the blind he was either to the indigent and to the churches' fabrics distributing, or in the hungry's bowels laying up, the money of his Lord by faithful dispensation lending, of heavenly riches the holy he sought interest. In every kind of virtues perfection having obtained, in hope great, in faith firm, in humility notable, in chastity celebrated, and in every kind of virtue exceptional, in abstinence admirable he shone forth; in whom shone humility the last, gentleness ineffable, compassion immense, with conversation discreet and a just balance of the rich as also of the poor treating the causes and judgments: to whose more sincere decision, if anything more difficult to be judged had occurred, the Prelates and Canons of his Church, in doctrine and use more skilled, he applied; always himself showing humble, always benign, always mild, always modest, always sweet, always amiable, and from every part with one and the same tenor sweetly breathing.

[30] the parishes through himself he visits: Of the single Churches, to himself and to his diocese subject, the parishes, not through Archdeacons and substitute persons, but personally yearly he went around; with a scrupulous search the single things both in the ministers and the Priests, and in the peoples surveying; and the single excesses, deformities and vices, with benign sedulity correcting, extirpating and to the right things transforming; and that most especially providing and precaving, lest those of the Priesthood and care of souls discharging, by women's embraces and fellowships should be defiled; but a chaste and religious might lead life, before the eyes of the Divine Majesty bright, and in the sight of men exemplary; the chastity of the Priests he takes care of: knowing easily God the transgressions of the people about to pardon, and His indignation about to avert, if the sacrifice to Him and for the sins of the people victims of those offering grateful were the countenances. But the common and popular ones by assiduous doctrine, exhortation and example to faith's firmness, to religion's and charity's augmentation, to virtues and good manners to be followed, to of the mind the cultus continually to be retained he stirred.

[31] benign toward each one, The highest to him integrity, the highest gravity, the highest of life moderation, a singular also and cautious to every speech accommodated method, that nothing ever he should bring forth either light, or not full, or not worthy of a highest honesty man: a humanity so civil, so benign toward each one pouring out, that of all he seemed a common parent; to this one being bent, for this lucubrating, that he might profit very many. Whatever of leisure from public and private business remained, that all either to supplications, or of Sacred letters he conferred reading. By day and night in prayers giving himself, a great of himself to chaste minds he gave edification. His mind to him in counseling, in judging, in decreeing free from all ambition, from all cupidity or envy empty and pure: of all indeed mortals the desire from the seat of his breast he had eliminated. A care to him chief and familiar was of the oppressed the causes to take up and to protect; wont to bear to the oppressed a refuge, defense to the weak, protection to one by any calamity shut in.

[32] His garment simple and neglected, all pomp and brilliance excluding, to modesty's composed cultus, a simple raiment having used and which contemptibility among the rude and ignorant only would exclude modesty keeping in countenance, and in gait charity, and gravity in speech, and tenuity and simplicity in garments, of whose luxury and splendor of our age the Pontiffs, and by their example of an inferior order the Priests, so presumptuously to use I see, that any of purple, of furs, and of garments kind, which scarcely in laics tolerable would be, they do not loathe. For raiment they seek and bear, not as others and the Priests, with pompous and varied, which extols rather than covers; not which the cold from the body wards off, but which through softness and heat runs riot. With which garments of the Levites the kind and the Pontifical to be clothed, both contumely savors against God, and impiety against the soul, forgetting, as I think, of the vengeance Divine, on Tullus Hostilius taken: who although both a King and a Gentile, of all also our Christian religion devoid, and to the cults of idols given, because the first purple among mortals he had put on, from a thunderbolt struck with all his house burned perished; by so horrendous destroyed thunderbolt, that not even the supreme honor to him by the Romans could be paid, by the heavenly flame into that condition reduced, that the same household-gods and palace and sepulchre he had: forgetting also of the rich banqueter, whom the truth Evangelical, because in fine linen and purple clothed he banqueted splendidly, to perpetual torments at the lower regions deputed commemorates: forgetting also of the Apostles, into whose succeeded place, with whom both in raiment and in habit nothing could be noted bright, nothing soft, nothing noble, besides the example of the Apostles: nothing accurate. And so more it would befit that Ecclesiastical men to the cultus of the soul than of the body should be intent, and should endeavor it assiduously to make more beautiful: when also in the old law, although more grossly and more carnally then in a certain manner the human was eruditated kind, of garments the ornament even to seculars was interdicted.

[33] with manners best adorned But from the narration's digression's path myself I will recall, and to our Stanislaus, of whom to me the present style was undertaken, I return. His manners of his virtue full, with wonderful humility, gentleness, piety, benignity, to every norm of Evangelical perfection and doctrine composed, by which easily in his body's temple to the Holy Spirit in him a grateful benignity, an accepted humility, a conversation gentle, a life bright, and as well in words as deeds gravity, with wonderful seasoned courtesy. The manner moreover of Blessed Sylvester the Roman Pontiff imitating, of all the widows of his diocese he had the names written, to whom and to others whom by want he knew to be pressed, liberally and according to the measure of his faculties he succored; toward the of the needy and poor provision not only by the mind's piety, but also by the body's labor solicitous: in whose refreshment more frequently him it was established, the poor he helps: the servitors' offices being excluded, with his own hands the single of food and drink necessaries to them to have administered, their nakednesses also with a new covering to have covered, bread to the needy with his own joints to have broken, their pots and chalices to have washed, in washing of feet the office many times to have administered, the common of the Pontiffs of Poland, building

Zion in bloods, and into kinsmen, brothers, blood-relations and nephews to be enriched the patrimony pouring forth of Jesus Christ, detesting, a way more exquisite and more perfect he chose, and the Pontifical incomes into the needy's and widows' expenses he expended, and their poverty he consulted and their modesty: for very many of them by clandestine want chose to be afflicted, than publicly by alms-begging to be confounded.

[34] he keeps watch over the whole diocese: To of all in fine the men, in his diocese existing, care, salvation, and custody vigilantly himself and pastorally exercised: and about the flock to him committed the custody with solicitous watches superintending, this he did, this he provided, this most especially he took care of, this with laborious he executed endeavors, that each pious and religious one to an ampler of virtue might grow harvest, and the lapsed or obstinate to the royal might be recalled f hall; the dispensation of an amplest dignity, and of a far and wide extending diocese the account, not only for things done, but also for neglected and omitted, by the most just Judge, who cannot be deceived, assiduously commemorating to himself to threaten. The twin wings' flight holding, both by purity of mind he was borne through contemplation into God, and by the burden he was not depressed of secular cares, from all earthly things in his inmost mind suspended contagions. But in the execution of the Pontifical office so virtue divine to him seemed to have stood by, for virtues by fame celebrated. that not in the province only Polish, but in the surrounding regions illustrious and celebrated he was held; of his virtues' aromas with an odor most grateful through places very many diffusing, and as a cedar of Lebanon in the Church's paradise planted, by the height of contemplation erected, by virtues' odor sweet, by fame's sincerity utterly incorruptible: on account of which offices was exhibited honor, such as before him obtained no one.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER IV.

Fortitude in adverse things to be borne and in admonishing the King concerning his unbridled lust.

[35] To pardoning injuries, and to tolerating he was most facile. For when at a certain time by one of his diocese's soldiers John de Brzeźnica, to the benediction's office of his Church in a Brzeźnica to be bestowed, To a dedication of a Church invited into the aforesaid little village of consecration the work about to complete he had come; by the same soldier, the right of hospitality violating, by injury thence driven and ejected he was, some familiars and servitors of his being tyrannically beaten and cut down: and as if nothing of injury having suffered, with all alacrity into the village, which hitherto Pustynia is called, he hastened; and the night's first darknesses in hunger, the second indeed in prayer, with his Priests and familiars in a meadow of the neighboring village he passed, and contumeliously ejected. with this only voice for his ignominious exclusion and the reproaches and revilings with which him John the soldier had affected (imposing on him that from a father of slender lot, and pitch to brew and to handle wont sprung he was) content; When, he said, Lord, in the destined place to bestow the benediction I have not been admitted, do You to this in which I stand the benediction bestow. Thence to the place a name was given, the appellation of the Holy-meadow to this even day having obtained. to the same he returns unmindful of the injury, On another also day John the soldier thither coming, and his guilt with profound professing shame; clemently and easily, by his pacific breast's levity, his and his own's of violation the disgrace, and the single injuries he pardoned: and when enough and over it would be the injury to remit, he added also charity, saying himself by contumelies and reproaches not to be moved to injury, but more to be firmed to charity. The little village namely Brzeźnica, from which the day before contumeliously he had been excluded, seeking again; and of clemency rather, than of any hurt signs showing; the work of the dedication he completed, and the injury with a benefit repaid; knowing to himself from the condition and sanctity of the Pontifical order the glory imposed to be of pardoning.

[36] But not even of so illustrious a deed, which both the soldier against the Pontiff, and thereby he merits that in the place of reception a church being founded and the Pontiff against the soldier did, to be obliterated could the condition: the place namely, into which himself the Saint, after from Brzeźnica he had been ejected, with his own had received, of grace divine did not lack, but with several prodigies at the invocation of the name of the man Holy shone forth. In days also our with a greater veneration to be frequented it began; while it of the faithful the devotion, b of Zbigniew the Cardinal and Bishop of Cracow by permission, a built up in honor and title of the Martyr church covered, to which of Christ the faithful a multitude on each of the Pontiff's feasts to run together is wont, various of the Martyr having experienced benefits. But if anyone Stanislaus's clemency and facility, with miracles it should coruscate. both in the aforesaid work and in very many others, as often as either he was injured or violated, with of the modern time's manners should wish to compare; a deep indeed sequestration between each he will find: in which the Pontiffs, if ever either by a light are dashed offense, not themselves only which also itself monstrous is, show inexorable; but of all kinds, against those who had offended, avengers. Of our Stanislaus the ornament amplest is, that greater of benignity and clemency, than of justice and rigor he preferred to have left monuments.

[37] While therefore Stanislaus the Cracow Bishop, virginal, and from the incentive flesh's enticements alien, with vigilant and indefatigable care, over the flock to him committed the custody, and toward all the Priesthood's care, by days and nights sweated; and not in word only of perfect doctrine, but also in work of consummate discipline a man himself through all things by faith, knowledge and virtues Apostolic he had demonstrated; illustrious for virtue and doctrine, great fruits he makes: such having word as also life, so that neither doctrine was lacking to action, nor action to doctrine, but with equal steps what he taught he did, and in charity rooted the branches of sacred doctrine far and wide he diffused; by life and his eloquence eruditing very many, and to be converted making to the Lord transgressors; and when many he taught by words, more nevertheless he formed by examples, nothing commanding to others which not first he himself from himself had exacted. While moreover the incomes of his Episcopate by circumspection provident to a richer abundance he had reduced, and to the old estates new through purchase he had added, and in the highest quiet the burdens of his Pontificate he administered; did not bear the human race's enemy hostile, neither the tranquility Ecclesiastical to grow with glad successes, nor of Stanislaus the Pontiff the virtues and zeals without envy to be versed: but against him that the man of God Stanislaus a life through all things having followed Apostolic, many and best in his subjects' breasts virtues had sown; in some indeed the deformities of vices and depraved manners he had coerced; several moreover to religiously and holily to live in each state, namely Ecclesiastical and secular, he had formed by examples. Of which indeed adversity we shall treat in the following, after we have explained some things, without which the order of the things to be narrated to clearness could not be discerned.

[38] There presided at that time among the Poles of affairs the chief (as in the foregoing abundantly we touched) Boleslaus the Poles' King, by paternal, ancestral and great-ancestral succession lineal and direct the kingdom having obtained, of this indeed name the second, but in order, from which the Poles' affairs to the Kings' rights by the benefit of Otto the Emperor the third were converted, Boleslaus 2 the King strenuous in war the fourth King; a man of dexterity singular and rare, of propagating the fatherland and of war zealous, of military affairs also, of arms and of riding skilled: who using propitious fortune, whatever his undertakings wonderfully favoring, illustrious and notable deeds had brought forth: who c the Pannonians and Ruthenians peoples, to himself and his kingdom bordering, in several battles had routed; of their camps also stripping, the rich spoils either among the soldiers had distributed, or into the fatherland had carried: who the Pannonian d Dukes Geysza, Vladislaus and Lampert, by near to himself kinship bound, and by Solomon the Hungarians' King on account of envy of dominion expelled, with benign humanity with himself in Poland cherished, into their seats their own by bodily presence and an armed hand he had restored, and between them and Solomon the King on equal conditions peace he had dictated: who a monastery in Mogilno of the Gniezno diocese and of the Order of S. Benedict, an ample dowry to it bestowing, e had founded. Who Iziaslav, of Kiev and Russia the Duke, by Vseslav the Polotsk Duke from the Kiev seat dislodged, the Polish army being led even into Kiev, to his seat and all his fortunes had restored: in whom although shone virtues, not vulgar but Royal, and liberal, huge in the first place, as we set before, liberality, by which so he excelled, that in the kind of bestowal all before him not only the Kings, but also the Princes of the Poles easily he surpassed; by use of arms strenuous, swift of body and of genius cunning, of labor beyond belief patient. Of food and drink, a natural and limited to him measure: of cold as also of fasting endurance, even in any common soldier admirable: commiseration and humanity toward strangers and the calamitous, and humane: gravity moreover and magnanimity most rare, of those seeking and approaching him an affability.

[39] These virtues however by vices he obscured, by cruelty namely and tyranny, of the innocent by despoiling, by haughtiness and pride, but cruel, lascivious, and by other vices ensnared: by lasciviousness and lewdness, above the rest indeed of men into venery sumptuous and poured out, against continent virgins and matrons ill tempered, of delicts a most keen punisher. Of the flesh him and of lust it was established to be a follower: he furnished also to flatterers credulous ears, and headlong himself at times in punishments to be furnished he drove to wrath's furies; of virtues and vices he should bend. But of the King, of whom now we treat, not

it has been my practice to set forth in detail the several deeds on either side,

recalling that elsewhere I have written of them more largely ^f,

especially since it is rather permitted to be free for the carrying out

of the other matters of the undertaken work.

[40] Now the sixth year ^g in the Pontificate of Stanislaus

the Cracow Bishop was being drawn out, while the Polish Kingdom

both flourished in the Christian Religion, he is incited against St. Stanislaus; and in its own commonwealth

was diffusing its amplitude; when the envy

and ardor of Satan, about to precipitate the course of his prosperity,

undertook to assail and disturb it by his tortuous and crafty wiles:

and that the artificer of harm and the deceitful

enemy might more perniciously weave ruin for him, beginning from the head, the more easily to shatter the lower parts,

he stirred up King Boleslaus against the Cracow Bishop

Stanislaus through various windings.

For the aforesaid Boleslaus, King of the Poles,

reared in the royal court more indulgently amid

the abundance of all things, and elated by the felicity of his successes, and with affairs

flowing prosperously to his will, setting no measure

upon them, was carried away more proneward

and intemperately to the satisfying of his lusts. rushing into open lust, For but little content

with his lawful wife, toward virgins and freeborn matrons,

and those whose comeliness and form

captivated him, he cast his mind: and using more frequently their base

and rank companionship, he left them prostituted and defiled.

And at first indeed doing these things secretly,

he endeavored to conceal the deeds of his slipperiness, and that they should

be kept hidden: for not yet did he seem to have banished all shame

from himself. Then weighed down by the stain of carnality

and by use, and content with no single kind of lust,

he was carried headlong by assiduous degrees.

Divinity also being neglected, which had conferred upon him famous victories,

and human reverence being repudiated,

straddling his steps through the fields of license, he kept

a divorce with both.

[41] The Polish Pontiffs wavered, the Royal

Confessors wavered, the friends also and the guards of the Royal

body wavered: but the very head also of the Polish Church

and the Gniezno Primate ^h, the Metropolitan,

was held by the same waverings, the others being silent, by the same knots. Dread

indeed had pervaded the breasts of all, and they were restrained by an equal and

one regard concerning the rebuking of the King:

namely lest either their temporalities should be lost,

or they should experience the tortures of tyrannical cruelty.

What therefore the several Pontiffs, driven by various trepidation

or cause, refused to speak out; Stanislaus alone

openly advanced against the King, who pursued soft slothfulness and the languid

leisures of luxury, and against the rest of the ministers of his lust and

factions. Stanislaus alone,

the Cracow Bishop, he is admonished by him the obstacle of either consideration

being trodden down, fearless in wrath, proceeds to execute

the Gospel precept upon the King: and the King being met with

in the secret of the bedchamber, all witnesses being excluded,

into how foul, into how filthy a vice

the King had slipped, how great and what kind of revilings concerning him

are sown among the men of all orders,

with what curses also and execrations the King

is carped at, he declares: asking and beseeching that he restrain the onrush

of unbridled lust, that he repress the passions,

and using the vessel of his own matrimony, not befoul the

purity and brightness of the rest: but if

he should proceed to act otherwise, let him know that he would both do

contumely to the Divinity, and an injury not to be borne

by men, and would dishonor both himself and his kingdom and his past

trophies. Let him recall the manifold benefits

of God, through which from a humble lot

he had come to his present glory and substance,

nor let him render himself ungrateful to God.

[42] But if he were not moved by Divine things, let him at least behold

the honor of the kingdom to be contaminated by those vices, with great charity:

and since he would wish the highest things to be rendered to him, that it befits

that he also himself should render all the highest things concerning himself. That he,

drawn by both the safety, and the honor, and the charity of the King, in admonishing

him, while the rest muttered, had assumed the foremost

part, besides his inborn love, also constrained by the bond of his

Pontifical office. Therefore

let the King attend, to how slippery a path he had slipped;

let him recall himself from that depravation, and

let him himself take counsel for the salvation of either man of his, before

he be smitten by Divine vengeance. That this crime is wont to bring destruction

to souls alike as to bodies,

nor to cease there where it had begun; but to draw on many companion

and serving viciousnesses, and to find a headlong

fall: all which he confirmed by evident examples of the old

Testament, and some also of the time of Grace.

[43] The King, although he had drunk no slight bile in his mind,

yet the condition of the Pontiff, who answers him dissemblingly. by whom he was admonished,

being recalled to memory, knowing Stanislaus

to be strong in venerable actions, and conspicuous for the brightness of sanctity and religion,

and a chief cultivator of justice,

and not about to yield to his terrors; suppressed all wrath,

and certain painted excuses being brought forward,

strove to shadow over his deed: and to the Bishop

he answered benignly for the time (although it was certain that he

had in mind borne and revolved other things). To which the Bishop again replying,

whatsoever the King had said in his own purgation he refutes, and

in meekness of spirit makes his words, about to save the soul of the King,

if he had thought fit to acquiesce in them.

[44] But although to the man of God Stanislaus the Cracow

Bishop, admonishing him with paternal benignity,

Boleslaus King of the Poles had preserved reverence

and decency, and not only did not violate him by any grave

word, but did not even address him with an unclement one,

revering in him not so much the dignity of the Pontifical

state, as the preeminence of religion and life

(which it is also established that often wild beasts and animals,

devoid of all reason, by the nod of God have admired and

venerated) yet all the most salutary corrections forsook him,

after Stanislaus departed from him: and afterwards he is more indignant at him, but even if at any time from the Pontifical

reproof some crop of contrition arose in the royal mind,

it was yet too quickly dissipated by carnal delight:

and there crept upon his mind, of itself

proud, a grave choler and indignation, that

he had been overwhelmed by so dense and rigid a discourse, by his estimation,

from him, and that, before all the others being silent,

Stanislaus the Bishop had claimed for himself the office of admonition,

and had forestalled a reproof too little ripe;

nor had had regard of the royal excellence or power, on account of which

the King believed that much graver things would be permitted to him. These complaints also

and this indignation he used not even silently,

but he wearied with them the ears also of his friends and the guards of his body,

the courtiers with their wonted vanity augmenting his

swelling, and soothing the indignation which they

ought more justly to have lessened. From

all which against Stanislaus the Bishop, snatched away by lust. ill agitated by the cloud

of indignation, the Royal mind grew sore afresh:

he was also more inflamed toward forbidden venery by the torches

of lust, holding wrath and the enticement of his pleasure of more worth than safety and

honor: for being made a slave of lust, he could not

keep piety.

ANNOTATA.

the North almost 34 leagues at the eastern bank of the river Wartha, whence across the same river toward the West lies Busenin, which is here perhaps called Pustynia.

Eugene IV in the year 1429; died in the year 1455. He procured the Duchy of Severia for the

Church of Cracow: whence both he and his successors

were Dukes of Severia.

CHAPTER V.

On account of a married woman seized by force by the King, the rest of the Bishops being silent, the keen admonition of St. Stanislaus.

[45] There was at that time to the soldier Mscislaus of Bozemno,

in the coast of the parts of the land of Sieradz ^a, a

wife, Christina by name, having a rare beauty of body,

and one who easily would surpass the rest of the women in comeliness.

To the efficacy of beauty there had also accrued winning manners, eloquence

too slender, a married Matron by which she would seize, as by a certain

hook, more mortals beholding and approaching her. When therefore to the notice also

of Boleslaus King of Poland the woman's beauty, divulged

with the procuring testimony of very many, had been

brought; a little-sober desire stole upon the King

of seeing her, and of experiencing in person what fame had reported.

The occasion therefore of the cause and of the time being sought

and found, in vain attempting to allure her to the crime he approaches the woman: by whose beauty forthwith

and the sweetness of her converse he was captivated and poisoned,

and overcome by the marvel of the woman; and the lust of the King,

now reining in his cupidities but little, again

raising itself, seethed with greater flames. Setting himself also

to storm the woman's chastity, esteeming that she,

after the manner of the female disposition, would easily put her own

form and beauty up for sale, by largess of

gold and gems and pearls, with which the ambition of the female condition

is wont to burn, and likewise

by various promises and terrors, and other blandishments of this kind,

he endeavors to break through: but each thing,

upon which the solicitude and expense for fulfilling the crime was cast,

falling back to nothing. For the soldier

Mscislaus, not unaware that by exquisite gifts

and wiles the chastity of his wife Christina was sought

to be prostituted, had directed to the keeping and conservation

of her every care also and solicitude, about to look out for his

own honor and that of his wife and their common children.

[46] But when the King was day by day pricked by the greater

goad of lust, having lent himself out for love of the woman; and despaired of

fulfilling it save by force; using power for right,

he sends a not-to-be-despised band of soldiers and clients,

who breaking into the house, in which the woman had been wont

to have her domicile, drag the woman away

from her lawful husband, seized by military force, lamenting and wailing in vain over the unworthiness and

greatness of the injury,

and lead her into the royal court. Whom the King, he keeps for a concubine: not otherwise

than was befitting to a lustful and slippery man,

receiving with greedy pleasure, joined her from then and thenceforth

to his profane embraces, and by an incestuous compact,

and using her for a concubine even took offspring

from her.

[47] But the outrage and the rape and the incestuous intercourse,

which the King had perpetrated, was punished by the solider lash of Divine

vengeance, after it could not be smitten or rescinded

by human means. For all the progeny, the heavenly vengeance transfused into the adulterous offspring.

taken from this adulterous wedlock,

which the King was striving to have enriched with possessions of fields and estates,

first a trembling of the limbs

in manly age, also a deformity of the gross nose,

then an alienation of sense and a dementia of mind,

when an older age had come on, seized: and

this disease was inflicted through the justice of God, not on those only

who then were begotten by incestuous commixture,

but on all who should have touched a stock of this kind in any

part, hereditary through all

successions, after the King had defiled himself with a crime

of this sort, derived even to our times:

so that sufficiently stupendous and to be greatly feared is the animadversion of Divine

justice, which not through generations

only, but ages, in detestation of the royal crime

we see brought forth and continued. But also King Boleslaus seems

to have followed up no little inconvenience and infelicity,

in that his iniquity was not punished at once:

since from the protraction of vengeance he reckoned a greater

place for himself for completing transgression

and audacity against God; exercising adulteries more impudently,

and unmindful of the Divine vengeance to be incurred,

which no mortal is known to have escaped by contumacy

and wicked daring, but by humiliation and penitence.

[48] The unworthiness of the deed committed by the King

against the seized and defiled consort of the soldier Mscislaus,

Christina, moved each of the Polish Nobles: the Archbishop of Gniezno refuses to admonish him, and by clandestine

reduplications of complaints, since they did not even dare

to mutter, constrained by the tyranny of the King,

they uttered the greatness of the injury; fearing

that the monstrousness of the execrable royal lust against their own

daughters, wives and kinswomen, unless it were restrained and inhibited

by some antidote, would at some time penetrate,

and that the King would dare like things against themselves. There was discharging

at that time in the Gniezno Church the Metropolitan

dignity and Pontifical Priesthood ^b Peter,

who, when Stephen, his immediate predecessor, departed life,

had been substituted to the governance of the Gniezno Church;

as for life and conversation; in a time

of tranquility indeed, skilled in governing;

but when a tempest rushed on, about to have little courage, little

resistance. He, although urged by frequent admonition not from the Nobles

only, but from very many Ecclesiastics and God-fearing

men, whose breasts the zeal of God had touched,

since he had obtained the first See

with the Polish Church, that reproof would seem to demand him

more principally also: because in his own diocese the crime of rape

had been committed, that he should first also go forth into the line of battle,

and first oppose his reproof and resistance

to the deed of King Boleslaus; nor should suffer the conjugal

rights to be profaned. But

although Archbishop Peter assented to his admonishers,

yet he showed himself a delayer rather than a reprover,

dread besieging his mind.

[49] There presided also then ^c over the people and city of Wrocław

Bishop Peter, with whom King Boleslaus had chosen for himself a more

peculiar and assiduous abode and seat.

There governed the Poznań Church ^d Thomas,

the Włocławek ^e Honoldus, the Płock ^f Lupus,

the Chełm ^g Martin, the Lubusz ^h Laurence,

the Kamieniec ⁱ Stephen: who also,

themselves being asked, and 7 other Bishops, that they should bestir their turns and pains for correcting

the King, and go to meet the public deed;

showed that they had no more courage than their Metropolitan in cutting back the crime,

not daring to expose themselves to the sea

of tyranny, fearing the crises of perils;

and for this contest and into that wrestling-ground they destined

Stanislaus the Cracow Bishop alone; they cast this burden upon St. Stanislaus,

and in him alone they placed all the strength of correction.

That he was the one whom it was established the King

revered, and toward whom the King was wont to bear himself more indulgently:

that to him there was fervor enough, and religion enough, and courage enough

for fulfilling the office of reproof upon the King:

that the King would not dare commit anything sad

against him; against the rest, if they should proceed to reprove,

he would rage with grave tyranny and savagery. as most fit. For

Stanislaus the Bishop was suited to striking

shame and turning the King away from depraved actions,

since he was conspicuous for chaste discourses and wise counsels,

and admirable also for glorious works,

and an old man no less in age than in manners, and

in the office of Priest. For it was not unknown to each one,

how Stanislaus the Bishop had sprung from an illustrious

stock, how subtle and vehement

an instructor, how provident a counselor, how just

and lovable a Bishop, how truthful and incorrupt

a reprover.

[50] All the Bishops of the Polish Church muttering at correcting

the King, He, asked by very many, and with a hand laid over their mouth,

and the pipe of their tongue stopped, closing the gates of their lips

with taciturnity and dread, portending finally

that the extremest things hung over them for the reproof,

upon Stanislaus the Cracow Bishop

was turned the whole confidence of all: who by the chastity

of himself and the purity of his life, and the glory of his heavenly

conversation, and singular doctrine, wisdom and faith,

and holy works, like a great luminary with his own

splendor irradiated all Poland. Nor did

that most celebrated Prelate withstand the prayers, brought in frequent number,

of very many men of the Ecclesiastical

and secular order, approaching him for that matter: but

understanding by universal demand and consent that office of duty

delegated to himself, although he had felt the hatred of the King

infused into himself, he girded himself fearless

to fulfilling it. after prayers and sacrifices Yet thinking first that supplications to God and the holocausts

of sacrifices were to be used,

he consumed many days and nights in them; believing better arms

to consist in prayer than in valor:

beseeching both that the King be loosed from the adulterous incest,

and that there be afforded to him those words of reproof, which might be turned

to the King's salvation and compunction. Having emulated

the constancy as well as the virtue of Elijah the Prophet

and John the Baptist; and knowing himself constrained by that necessity

from the Pontifical Office, that

he ought to restrain not only those sinning, but also those longing to sin;

having followed the measure of Apostolic virtue,

being applied to the matter, he reproves in the King the incest of another's bed,

he approaches the King: and makes his words before the King

in this manner.

[51] he sets forth the enormity of the crime, When formerly, O King, I exhorted thee to lay aside

very many of thy transgressions and carnal enticements, by which

the summit of thy Majesty was vehemently darkened,

and to bind thy bed with the thongs of chastity;

the greatest confidence had seized me, cast in from the regard of thy modest response,

that thou wouldst with prone devotion amend each thing, for which thou wast argued by

me, and wouldst come forth into the fruit of a more brilliant and chaste life.

Now, what I commemorate not without bitterness of spirit,

I see that thou hast added a deed graver than thy former evils;

and hast mingled impious intercourses, the consort of the soldier Mscislaus

being seized, royal gravity utterly cast off;

and hast loosed the bond of unspeakable lust, which I

was thinking thou wouldst opportunely suppress, that thy honor, and our common

honor, might be consulted. Come,

if thou, the scandal of the subjects the King of us all and the image of the supreme King on earth,

shouldst roll thyself forward into these so obscene vices;

whom of thy subjects will it irk not to follow them?

since this is the nature of all peoples; that whatever

they shall have seen done by their Rulers, in that they too are headlong

and proneward. The miry way, by which thou walkest,

is filled with snares, and beset with thorns; about to add thee to a destructive

crisis, unless thou recall thyself.

[52] Groan therefore, O King, and dilute thy deed

by assiduous lamentation, and restore the seized woman to her husband,

and bind thy loins with the girdle of continence; lest

thou provoke the divine and human censure against thee;

lest with those, who have fallen into the pit whence they shall never climb out,

thou merit eternal fellowship.

Such turpitude indeed, by seizing and defiling the spouse of another,

in thee a King of so great excellence,

as it ought neither to be named, the deformity following and to follow

being weighed both manifoldly in fact and by example,

so neither can it be kept silent by me, whom

the Lord constituted the watchman, though unmeriting, of thy house and thy

person and state: since if my denunciation,

that thou return from thy perverse way, hateful to God

and men, shall have been quieted: I know thy blood, according to the testimony

of Scripture, will have to be required of my hands. But

not only the debt of the Pontifical office impelled me to admonish thee,

the ruin of the kingdom, nay rather both the sincerity of charity,

and the peculiar solicitude of thy salvation and thy honor

drew me, lest in that kind of sinning I should suffer thee

to go unreproved, from which I foresaw a singular ruin to hang

over thee as well as thy Kingdom.

[53] For there is none among thy virtues, O King, for the sake of which

thou shouldst be magnified by God, and in which thou

couldst equally glory, as continence and temperance

of lusts. No crime equally for thee, on account of which

thou shouldst be cast down, fouler than carnal luxury.

With the highest endeavor therefore beware, lest by one vice thou deform

thy many goods and the most beautiful aspect of thy soul,

and corrupt thy meritorious actions by one prevarication, the infamy of thyself.

about to exterminate the comely beginnings of thy governance.

There is none, believe me, of thy soldiers and

subjects, who tranquilly bears thy crime, who

scatters not reproaches upon thee, who through thee laments not the conjugal

right, the Catholic right, nay the right of nations violated:

all reckon the injury of the one soldier as their own. It is not of thy

greatness to oppress subjects,

to flow loose in venereal outrages, to be defiled with adulterous

filth. Leave, I pray, these base and

obscene things, to be detested even in a vile and barbarous man,

the insidious luxury, the flattering evil. Sanctify

thy heart and body from so many enticements, and by worthy

penitence forestalling the wrath of God, withdraw thyself also

from the vengeance to come. finally he threatens Ecclesiastical censure, About to diffuse

thy kingdom and throne by the increase of continual prosperity,

incline rather to the virtues which befit thy excellence:

which can direct thee and thy state to salvation and

decency, and tend to the profit of either man.

But if thou shalt have thought fit to persevere

in crime, know that I will have regard both of my office

and of thy crime, and will also unsheathe the sword of Ecclesiastical

coercion against thee.

[54] By these and very many other things while King Boleslaus had been

benignly and nobly admonished by the Prelate Stanislaus, At which the King being moved and threatening,

driven into headlong wrath, he answered nothing courteously, nothing

modestly: but inflated with the spirit of vehemence,

breathing ferocity, and very like one raving, more ferociously

than befitted a King he inveighed against the man of God his reprover.

Using also very many reproaches, he laid it down that he was sprung

of a rustic and humble stock,

and unworthy as much of the Priesthood as of the Pontificate,

and by his manifold and vain rashness deserving

to be thrust down from the Prelacy into the pasturing

of beasts and sows, about to receive there the erudition

what fear, what reverence, what honor ought to be

bestowed on Kings; gently answering and should stand also as a document for terrifying

the rest from like rashness. As the King uttered these things

with menacing voice as well as countenance, Stanislaus,

not knowing how to recede from the love of true charity even when injured,

in admonishing the King, every motion

being circumscribed, persisted constant, and arming his breast with the shield

of patience, to the King inflated with swollen elation

he added to speak, with that noble eloquence in which he was strong.

[55] he teaches that nothing was said by him Beware, said he, O King, lest thou wrest into pertinacity and

obstinacy my reproof: those things

which are of thy salvation and which are of my right, nay also which

are of love, I have heaped upon thee, abundantly, as I hope, observing about thee

the honor both of safety and of honor. With a more careful

reproof toward thee than the rest have I used, and perhaps

to be conjoined with that of the many who obey thee.

For since in single men insidious

base luxury is, besides the reverence owed to the King; yet in the administration of the supreme empire,

over which thou presidest, it is most base; concerning an evil, ravaging not

in thee only, but in very many, I speak with thee,

and bring in remedies; about to congratulate thy safety and the public's,

if thou shalt have acquiesced; if not, mine: likewise beseeching,

that thou irritate not the Divine benignity, and

overcome depraved things by better offices. I know, I confess,

the eminence of thy summit, that it is to be cultivated and honored by each of thy subjects,

by me also. I know

plainly what is owed to Thy and the Royal veneration,

nor in carrying these out do I reckon anything

either diminished or forestalled to thee by me. But the Apostolic power,

with which I am endowed, is to be esteemed by many degrees

superior to the Royal, and is without doubt to be appraised so by thee.

And, if thou wilt ingenuously know the efficacy and

virtue of either, by how much the lunar splendor toward the solar radiance,

and the appearance of lead toward the gleam of gold, is held

inferior, by so much is the Royal dignity, if thou

refer it to the Apostolic by a just comparison. There is therefore nothing

whereof thou canst justly complain of me, [let him see that, preserving the obedience owed to a Bishop, he obey the admonition:] by the ordination

of the supreme Ruler, whose wisdom is incomprehensible,

it is brought to pass, that Kings and Princes and persons however

sublime should hearken to the precepts and commands

of Pontiffs, even of those sprung from an obscure lot.

Thou indeed, if thou attend to thy Royal condition,

if thou fear God, if thou reverence men, if

thou be moved by any care of salvation, owest much to me, that

thou hast begun to hear from me things truer rather than specious,

preserving first thy salvation then

thy honor, about to have a more lasting empire, a more faithful obedience, a more appeased

God, more favorable successes, a happier

consummation, if thou shalt have obeyed my admonitions.

[56] And although Pontiff Stanislaus, as the most keen

vindicator of common liberty and conjugal rights, had been heard

with equal ears; his exhortation also

with the immense favor of all, and not only by their assent,

but also by the expression of their voice, had been received by

the bystanders, so that very many admired his prudence,

all approved it; yet the mind of the King,

beset by slippery pleasure, and toward his own

goods little provident, little cautious, he could not move and

draw to a better mind. Who from the bedchamber, by which he had sat,

with headlong motion, kindled by the fire of hatred and rancor, unrolling himself; but all in vain.

and shuddering at the ampler voices of the Bishop

Stanislaus so wisely, so benignly enchanting him,

after the manner of the deaf asp,

leaps up; complaining himself grievously and enormously injured

with disgrace by Bishop Stanislaus, and

attesting by an oath that he, as soon as possible, would take

vengeance on Bishop Stanislaus by every effort and striving.

In all ways therefore he prepared to seek the engines

of calumnies and grievances against him:

and from the Royal wrath conceived against the Bishop, also

the malign insultation of the envious began to creep upon him.

ANNOTATA.

province was of old attributed to the second-born of the Kings: it is now

and Gniezno, but twice nearer to the latter than to the former.

in the History of Longinus and in the Lives of the Bishops of Poznań, written by Longinus himself

also and published under his name in the year 1604, and he

sat from the year 1065 to the year 1087: so that it may be doubted, whether these things be from the hand

of Longinus himself.

he excuses him from this admonition of the King. He presided over the said See 19 years,

created in the year 1067, dying in the year 1087 on the 8th day of August. The city of Płock is

situated in Mazovia.

g The Chełm See

is twofold, one at the flowings of the Vistula, the other in black Russia, translated to Cramstovia

through fear of the Tartars: of both Longinus treats among the cities

of Poland.

CHAPTER VI.

On account of the estate Piotrawin bought, the seller, dead for three years, is called forth from the tomb.

[57] To King Boleslaus inquiring, and investigating by assiduous consultation

as well as search with his courtiers

and the guards of his body, the King breathing vengeance against St. Stanislaus, in what manner

and order a vengeance more atrocious than according to his desert might be taken

upon Stanislaus the Cracow Bishop; when none

sufficiently worthy could be fitted for executing the purpose,

although several ways were proposed (for nothing

against Bishop Stanislaus, by reason of the sanctity of his life and the integrity of his conversation

and the norm of his manners, could be objected)

while the King despaired that he could burden him by true

judgments, as one doing each thing chastely and innocently,

he reckoned that calumnious ones must be used: and

the person of King laid aside and that of an enemy put on, seeking a knot

in a bulrush, he resolved to burden him in every way.

But while the King revolved this in mind and thought,

and seethed to commit his purpose to execution,

than as a grand one, was offered.

[58] For Stanislaus the Bishop, about to enlarge the revenues

of his Cracow Bishopric, and to return the talent

received into gain with just interest,

that from the eternal King, from whom he had received these to be dispensed,

he might as a faithful servant deserve to be commended, and

to be set over a ten of cities; the estate Piotrawin, at the waves

of the river Vistula ^a, and within the bounds of his diocese,

situated in the region which by the ancients was called Zawichost, the estate lawfully bought by him by the moderns

Lublin, from Peter the soldier,

the sole heir of that same estate, for a certain quantity

of silver, fully paid out to him, into the perpetual

lot of the Cracow Church had bought up: and to the contract

also and the purchase and the satisfaction (that it might not

be denied or calumniated by anyone or in any way called into

doubt) he had applied lawful witnesses and

every solemnity, and possessed for three years, with which the buying and

resigning of inheritances among the Poles at that time was conducted:

into the possession also of the estate then bought by him he was put

by Royal authority, which also for a triennium

now nearly elapsed he was known to have possessed peaceably and without

any impeaching of any person whatsoever.

[59] But because the aforesaid Peter the Soldier, after the selling

of the estate of this kind and the contract entered into with Bishop

Stanislaus, he incites the seller's nephews to a calumnious reclaiming of it, living a short time, had

departed life, and at the Parish Church, founded in Piotrawin

under the honor of St. Thomas the Apostle, had received

burial; his nephews, his own brothers Peter,

Jacob and Sulislaus, to whom the succession of the aforesaid estate Piotrawin,

if their uncle Peter the soldier had not alienated it by a

perpetual selling, ought to have devolved,

the King allures and arms to impeach Bishop Stanislaus for the estate Piotrawin,

promising them an easy victory ^b,

and bidding a divulged and most known matter to be brought into contention,

about to oppress the justice of Bishop Stanislaus

and of his Cracow Church, by royal authority and suffrage:

offering himself to deter from the office of bearing testimony

each witness, on whom the victory of Stanislaus depended;

and to strive with all power and suffrage

for casting down Bishop Stanislaus from the estate

Piotrawin, and translating it into their property.

Conquered by love of the estate and the enticement of gain,

Peter, Jacob and Sulislaus, the nephews of Peter the Soldier,

consent to a calumnious matter and one full of injustice,

and devote themselves to vex Bishop Stanislaus for the estate Piotrawin.

From that time therefore

Peter, Jacob and Sulislaus, the nephews of Peter the Soldier,

both about to fulfill their avarice, and to gratify the hatred of the King,

move an unjust suit against Stanislaus the Cracow Bishop

for the estate Piotrawin, drag him to the Royal tribunal,

and name a day; asserting

that he possesses with bad faith the estate Piotrawin, devolved to them

by lawful succession; about to abstract by wickedness the land sold

from the lot of the Cracow Church by calumnious

devices and Royal tyranny. From

which it can manifestly be conjectured, that both the King and the aforesaid

nephews of Peter the Soldier were earthly and given to passion,

and acted concerning the land through iniquity; and were ignorant

of the justice of almighty God, which comes from the heavens, and

forbade to inflict calumny on a neighbor and to covet

his goods.

[60] Stanislaus cited by them to the Royal Tribunal, The day of the general judgment was approaching, which by the name of Colloquy

is wont to be called among the Poles, in which

Stanislaus the Cracow Bishop, summoned for the inheritance

of Piotrawin, ought to appear; and to answer at the Royal

Tribunals to the nephews of Peter the Soldier,

Jacob, Peter, and Sulislaus, vexing him. For neither

is it lawful to withdraw or neglect the decisory term of the general Colloquy,

of which there is held among them so great a kind of sacrosanct authority

and power, that from a definitive Colloquial sentence, however

iniquitous and unjust, it is not lawful for anyone to appeal;

and the kind being cut off in single judgments, the Polish

law was wont to treat and decide causes. A custom finally

kept among them from olden time had obtained,

that the judgments of Colloquies, which some

call Great, should be conducted not in cities or villages, but in

meadows, which should have woods and waters near; insofar

as for the great multitude, which thither

assembled to seek their rights, where the King alone decides causes, and was compelled to dwell under pavilions

or tents, for many days and until the dispatch

of all causes should come about, there might be furnished material

for the nourishment of fires, and for feeding horse and cattle.

The King finally or the Prince alone presided at the judgment, alone

decided the causes of the litigants, whose arbitrations were for laws.

Yet long since this custom has been abolished, the Poles having obtained

milder and more civil dispositions, and municipal laws also reduced into

writing, by which judgments are regulated,

and the colloquial and any other judgments brought back from the fields

and groves into the cities. But thus far concerning

the judgments of the Poles, now let us return to our matter, for the sake

of which we wrote these things.

[61] Boleslaus therefore King of the Poles, following this ancient

custom for celebrating the general Colloquial

judgment, having chosen a wood full of meadows, situated near the Royal

citadel and the town Solec ^c, imitating the form of an island

(for two rivers, the Vistula and Crampa ^d, and

some pools surround it) he chose; a place

both opportune and suitable for dispatching the office of judgments,

about to furnish abundantly seed-grass and wood.

Into this also the Soldiers of the neighboring regions, he appears confidently and

any demanding judgments, he bade to assemble. Stanislaus

the Cracow Bishop was compelled to come to that same

judgment: for nearest to the place is the estate

Piotrawin, for which he was impeached, separated only by the channel

of the river Vistula, which in that coast vomits its more swollen waters,

and by a modest space of land from the tribunals.

There came thither therefore the upright and simple man, ignorant of all

the devices which the King's craftiness had fabricated

against him; hoping both from open justice,

and from the deduction of witnesses, who for plainly recognizing the matter

had pledged themselves to him to be compliant,

to carry off an easy triumph over the impeachers. There presided

in that judgment King Boleslaus by his personal presence,

for a judgment of that kind admitted no other than

has hitherto been transferred to the Palatines of the provinces, who

both discharge and are honored with the office of Princes.

[62] The judgment finally being set up, and the order of the Courtiers

standing on the right and left of the King, accused of unjust possession, the cause

of Stanislaus the Cracow Bishop first began to be pleaded.

And when the plaintiffs by complaint set forth, that Stanislaus

the Bishop had unjustly occupied the estate Piotrawin, devolved to himself

by hereditary right by the death of Peter

the Soldier, their uncle and own brother, asking that he be removed

from possession of it and that it be restored to them as the lawful

heirs; Stanislaus the Bishop in answering

opposed the selling and buying lawfully celebrated with Peter

the Soldier, while he yet lived, and the full

satisfaction of the agreed money. The plaintiffs

finally constantly denying both the selling and the buying,

Stanislaus the Bishop offered himself, about to prove the contract

by suitable witnesses greater than every exception:

and being easily admitted to that opinion by the King's decree,

he recites the witnesses at the King's Tribunals;

and binds himself to produce them, after nothing should be objected against them

by the plaintiffs. But the witnesses,

solicited by Bishop Stanislaus about bearing testimony,

began forthwith to turn away from the Episcopal requisition, and

to deny their own response. he is deserted by the witnesses. For the Royal dread

had constrained them; and they feared they would suffer the extremest things,

if they should dare to profess the truth (for thus

it had been denounced to them). Bishop Stanislaus finally,

using prolix prayer and persuasion with them and each of them,

could not shake out the dread which

had once pervaded their breasts.

What, I pray, would these have done in the grief of penalties,

who hid the truth on account of mere threats

of words.

[63] The day was inclining toward evening, and the imperiling of the whole

Episcopal cause threatened almost within an hour, unless the consigned witnesses

were produced. There had begun in the Bishop's adversaries

they seemed already to exult over an obtained triumph: and the same

hilarity held the King, which he was seen to display both by gesture

and countenance. therefore destitute of human aid, And while the cause was proceeding beyond hope,

and the calumny of malignity rather than the equity

of right and justice had prevailed; Bishop Stanislaus,

the Soldiers, who had pledged themselves to bear testimony to his most just cause,

being implored to no purpose,

seeing himself constrained and his cause imperiled,

what he should do, what counsel he should take, what Patron

he should implore, or by what ways and devices he should dissolve the knots and

nets of impiety prepared for him, had little in

prospect: fluctuating also within himself with doubtful deliberation,

he was noted by the beholders as changed even to the suffusion of his countenance.

Yet thriving by the sublimity of faith and hope,

which never failed him, to his wonted

arms he turned: and lying upon prayer for some time,

he cast all his confidence to the Divine

protection; not doubting that he and his cause would be absolved

from the calumnious bonds by the heavenly suffrage.

[64] he flees to the Divine: At length inspired by the Holy Spirit, who in his most chaste

and most pure breast had built for Himself an assiduous domicile;

by a skillful or rather Divine reasoning

he dared to promise a thing new and incredible, in defense of his cause,

most full of miracle and astonishment,

about to have perhaps more of admiration among posterity from the weakness of believers,

than of faith before the presence of the King and his Tribunals. While

he was urged either to produce the named witnesses, or to hear the sentence

pronounced against him, glad and displaying something Divine

in his countenance, and the greatness of his faith,

he came forward; and arming his breast with the confidence

of truth, he addressed the King and his whole council

with these words. Forasmuch, said he, as there is no help,

and he promises to bring Peter as a witness from the sepulchre, no protection in the living; since

among the sons of men impiety has succeeded for justice, iniquity

for truth, the malignity of calumniating

for rectitude; I will turn me to the most equal Judge

God, whose rectitude of justice can neither be turned aside by anyone's terror,

nor be darkened by the subtlety of calumnies;

and I will seek that truth, trodden down and oppressed on earth,

be afforded me from heaven;

and what I could not from living witnesses, I will borrow

from the dead; and Peter the Soldier, the principal

seller of my estate Piotrawin, although three years ago

withdrawn from the condition of the living,

for clarifying the justice of my cause, I bind myself to produce

after three days; about to yield the cause unless

I produce him; about to borrow the testimony of truth from

the dead, after among the living, from the cloud of dread

shed over human senses, it had perished; confiding

that my cause, depraved by human spite, can from on high

both be raised and made illustrious.

[65] All being amazed, and their minds astonished with huge

amazement, with the laughter of the adversaries, and admiring the virtue of so daring a mind,

or (to speak more truly) of so perfect a faith,

the impossibility finally of the obligation being discussed,

the matter was turned almost among all into laughter, nor

was any credit given to this deed; they esteeming,

as it was, that Bishop Stanislaus had pledged

one: and with many cackles and slightings

assailed the Bishop, no otherwise than as a madman,

and little sound in mind and brain. with the admiration of others. Yet very many

of them, more sensible and more religious,

again began to admire and consider, that

Bishop Stanislaus was not wont, by reason of the gravity of his manners,

to deceive, or to do anything lightly,

nor that he would offer with so solemn

bearing minds consternated between hope

and dread, to what

end the promise of Bishop Stanislaus would fall, of what kind

also the consummation of an offer of this sort would be,

passing various discourses among themselves, awaited the third

day. For King Boleslaus, the impossibility of the offer

being weighed, and that he might pronounce a juster sentence against the Bishop,

the condition not standing,

granted the respite, which Bishop Stanislaus had sought,

for three days; esteeming that the corpse of Peter the Soldier,

who, as we premised, had now departed life, after the course

of time was measured out, could not be vivified.

[66] The respite of three days, for setting forth the principal

seller Peter the Soldier, being obtained,

Bishop Stanislaus, After three days spent in fasting with Clerics and a few certain

laymen, departing from the Council, betook himself to Piotrawin,

an estate distant a hundred paces or less from the place

of judgment: and indicting a three-day fast to all his own;

he himself also, clad in a hair-cloth garment next

his flesh, was lying upon sacrifices with the Canons and Priests

through the day; but through the night prostrate at the altar,

by continuous supplications he was making God for himself and his Church,

by many showers of weeping,

of the King, and for fulfilling what he had pledged, there were no

other and more efficacious weapons and protections: asking and beseeching

that the spirit of the dead be turned back, and Peter the Soldier

long dead be rendered a living man: bearing also a most certain

hope, that the Divine power and

grace, in things so narrow and (as the common

assertion held) desperate, he comforts the Clergy: would not in any way desert him and his cause

and that of his Church:

persuading his Clergy, fearful and wavering,

that not only those things which they had undertaken to ask, but

greater than these, if they should have faith like a grain of mustard,

they would easily obtain from the Divine clemency: for he had seen

him waver on account of the excellence of the pledge.

[67] with solemn procession he approaches the tomb: The day at length coming, Bishop Stanislaus,

the Divine office being performed after the custom, with a multitude of the people and of some

military men present, which had flowed together to contemplate

by what actions he would use and to what issue

his pledge would come; to the mausoleum

of Peter the Soldier, with a frequency of ministers of the sacred Order

and of crowds, the processional order of Clerics

preceding and following him,

clad in the Pontifical vestment he came. And first he bade that

sand to be loosened, and until the corpse of Peter the Soldier, rotting for three years,

were penetrated, to be laid bare and opened.

Which being uncovered, he found the corpse of Peter the Soldier, in a wasting

decay, the sinews flowing away, the flesh and skin dissolved,

reduced almost to ashes and dust: and unless recent

witnesses, who had buried him, who had paid the funeral rites,

had flowed thither; unless the burial of Peter the Soldier celebrated

three years before had been known to all; he bids the corpse to be uncovered: unless a singular

tomb, and to no other in common with him, had been adapted

for him; no one would there have recognized the corpse of Peter the Soldier

to rest, But all by clear testimony

declaring that Peter had there been buried;

Stanislaus the Pontiff, with his mind raised to God with confidence,

falling on his bended knees, his countenance bedewed

with weepings, his eyes fixed on heaven,

poured forth these words to the omnipotent Lord, whom now he had presensed

familiar to himself and about to be propitious to his cause.

[69] and thence after prayers poured forth, Most clement and most merciful God of all,

Lord Jesus Christ, to whom all things are subjected

and live, and by whose virtue all things, created from nothing,

subsist; who, about to abolish the deadly handwriting of the human

race, descending from heaven to the earth,

didst recall to life by the word

of Thy virtue the daughter of the Ruler of the synagogue, the young son of the widow,

and the four-days-stinking Lazarus, and to the faithful believing and about to believe

in Thee, didst pledge by a word never variable

that Thou wouldst bestow equal and greater virtue;

look from the lofty throne of Thy glory, upon

the prayers, groans, and weepings of Thy suppliants: and

by Thy manifold benignity, which Thou art wont to afford even

to the unmeriting, grant, that Peter the Soldier, about to bear

testimony to justice and truth, may rise again from the dead,

and stand by a truthful witness; and the cause of my Church,

which in Thy name I undertook to defend,

recalled to life by the arm of Thy power, may he make illustrious

and vindicate from human malignity: that Thy promises

may be verified in all generations and nations,

and Thy name great and tremendous

be glorified for ever.

[70] he calls forth Peter in the name of the Trinity And when by the whole Clergy and the assembly of the peoples

it was answered, Amen; approaching the tomb,

touching the corpse of Peter the Soldier, he says: In

the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and in

the virtue of the Blessed and individual Trinity, I command

thee, Peter, that thou rise again from the dust, rise up from

the dead; and bear testimony to truth, prostituted and deserted by the sons of men: insofar as the faith

of believers may be increased, and the wicked rashness be corrected

of those assailing the truth. But the Lord

hearkened to the holy lips, assenting to the prayers proceeding

from an immaculate tongue, and confirmed Stanislaus

the Bishop's obligation and prayer, and by works showed him

to Himself lovable and glorious. No

delay intervened, no tarrying held back the dissolved one

at the voice of the Pontiff, in the name of the Lord Jesus

Christ commanding; and he leads the resuscitated one to the altar, and the spirit returned into the body and bones,

and the Divine virtue reduced the ash into flesh;

and the body, brought back to life, out of earthy dryness, grew up

composed with the lineaments of its limbs; and Peter

the Soldier, his mind separated three years before, animated,

as if from a most light sleep, rising with body whole as before,

and going forth from the monument, stood alive;

and he first among the Poles signalized the virtue and sanctity

of Stanislaus the Cracow Bishop, hidden until that day;

and of how great merit before God

he had been, first of all bore testimony to him ^e.

[71] To whom the man of God Stanislaus stretching forth his hand, the standing-by

multitude being amazed, and with great vociferation

extolling the works of God, first to the greater Altar,

celebrating in it most ample acts of thanksgiving ^f;

then to the Royal Council, then to the royal Council. the frequent multitude

following him, wrapped about with a cloak,

led him: and showed his pledge, not in word only,

but in deed: and made both the King and the Satraps

spectators of his pledge, whom he had borne as scoffers. Nor could King

Boleslaus be brought into belief

of the resuscitation of Peter, by the relation of the Soldiers who

had stood about the raising, except by seeing Peter

the Soldier: and not crediting his ears enough,

he committed the judgment to his eyes. To see whom the whole

multitude, which from the notable miracle had put on amazement

and admiration, from the pavilions and the standing-camps,

deserting even any riches whatsoever, vyingly

poured forth flowed together; roused with an incredible zeal

of seeing Peter the Soldier: and, as much as it could, fixing every

gaze upon the man brought back to life, enjoyed the pleasure

of the new vision and the new miracle.

ANNOTATA.

CHAPTER VII.

The resuscitated man, the selling being affirmed, is led back to the tomb: the certitude of the miracle itself and the utility of the example are weighed.

[72] But Bishop Stanislaus, standing at

the King's tribunals, with his witness Peter the Soldier,

in this manner makes his words to the King, the Soldiers in a circle

standing about him, and to the Nobles.

Lo, says he, the Principal seller of the estate

Piotrawin, Peter, O King, I set before thee: lo, he is here alive,

not by jugglings, but by Divine virtue; from the dead,

commanded to rise again to bear testimony to truth. Peter offered to the King I doubt not

that his person will be most known to all who are present,

having conversed with you three years ago.

Let no one esteem him to be either a spirit or a phantasm,

having the flesh, bones, sight

and all the senses of a true and living man. This is the effigy and

image, which easily and readily by anyone doubting

can be proved. This man I set as witness of the perpetual

selling, and as vanquisher of the impediment moved against me

through spite.

[73] the King with his own being astonished and silent There was after these things some silence in the King's tent, of those

beholding one another: for the most famous

kind of miracle, to King Boleslaus as to his

Nobles, had cast in a grand amazement and horror:

by which struck, silent and tongueless, daring

neither to speak out anything nor to mutter, they sat.

For a matter so wonderful as unhoped-for; and never

among the Poles seen, administered only by Divine

help, had turned all into a kind of ecstasy.

The King also and his Satraps, stirred by admiration,

for a good while kept silence. The silence at length being broken,

Peter the Soldier broke into these words. I, said he,

at the Divine command, and at the prayers of the blessed man, he attests the selling made by him:

Stanislaus the Cracow Bishop, raised from the dead,

come, O King, to thy tribunal as witness and vanquisher;

professing and attesting with clear and open voice, that the estate

Piotrawin, once my patrimony, I sold to the

blessed man, Stanislaus the Cracow Bishop, and his Church,

by a lawful and perpetual contract; and the silver,

concerning which between me and the blessed man, Stanislaus

the Bishop, it had been agreed, I bore in full; and that my nephews,

Peter, Jacob and Sulislaus, had no right,

no property, no devolution in that village,

and that they vexed the man of God Stanislaus the Bishop through

crime and iniquity.

[74] Then turning to his nephews, Peter, Jacob and

Sulislaus and the rest of his kinsmen, who had revolted

from testifying through the terror of the King;

What madness, he argues against the nephews and witnesses, said he? what daring bore that dementia in you,

that you, by calumniating, you, by hiding

the truth; should contaminate yourselves on both sides with a grave crime,

and impose on the man of God the necessity, by his prayer

of recalling me from the dead. Take care therefore to dilute your deed

by worthy penitence, before through

the justice of God you fall back into the foulest torments, prepared for you

on that account, which I denounce to you as seen by me:

predicting moreover to both, that unless of these

evils which they had done against the Holy one of God, they should do worthy penitence

and satisfaction, that besides eternal

burning, they themselves and their stock, in

the present life, would by no means escape want. Nothing to these things

did the nephews and kinsmen of Peter the Soldier dare to answer,

and by silence professed the deed of their prevarication:

but from the standing-by multitude a confused and

discordant murmur rising, denoting that the man of God Stanislaus had unjustly

suffered vexation, shook his impeachers

with reproaches; affirming that they had deserved that

they be punished with the penalty set forth against calumniators, about to be a document

of presumed calumny.

[75] Meanwhile King Boleslaus, his spirit, which dread

had shut in, somehow resumed, and the clearest and

evident testimony being received, admonished moreover by the greatness

of the miracle, then also clearly conscious of the truth and justice of Stanislaus

the Bishop, pronounces the definitive sentence

for Bishop Stanislaus and his Cracow Church, The estate is adjudged by the King to Stanislaus.

not however without grand bitterness and

trouble of his mind: and groaned that whom he had known to be accused in vain,

first by a divine and stupendous miracle, then by human

judgment was absolved. Nor did he dare to condemn the cause

of the Pontiff, which he had set up to destroy;

deterred by the weight of Pontifical authority,

and struck by the virtue of the rare and magnificent prodigy;

and he bids him be restored into possession of the aforesaid

estate Piotrawin, with the highest consent and judgment as well of himself

as of all the others sitting by, which to the Church

of Cracow even to this day endures in property.

But Peter the Soldier was impeached by the little questionings and interrogations

of very many, conjoined to himself rather

while he lived by familiarity or some need:

to which with sparing and chastened speech, and not save

by the leave of the man of God Stanislaus, he answered; but at that one's

bidding he answered that it was not lawful for him to report anything:

and under this manner he loosed the knots of various questions,

either by saying what was to the matter, or by keeping silence.

[76] Here he leads the resuscitated one back to the tomb, The judgment being ventilated in this manner, which we have premised,

and victory over the plaintiffs by the glorious

testimony of Peter the Soldier carried off, Stanislaus the Cracow

Bishop, a most sacred man, returns into Piotrawin from

the tribunals; and with the multitude of all the Poles, which had

assembled to dispatch the judgments, accompanying him

(so that even the nephews of Peter the Soldier, Peter,

Jacob and Sulislaus, and the rest of their

helpers, who had impeached Bishop Stanislaus for the property of the estate Piotrawin,

from accusers being made venerators,

followed, and the King almost alone

remained deserted in his tent) leads back his witness and

vanquisher Peter the Soldier, to the church of St. Thomas

in Piotrawin, about to render him to the earth and the dead;

whom before he made re-enter the place of his sepulchre,

not desiring to remain in life, he addressed with this kind of discourse: Wilt thou,

said he, Peter, the space of this earthly life to be prolonged into some

years, or some other gift pleasing to thee

to be conferred by my Lord Jesus Christ, at my prayers?

To whom the Soldier, Not this life, said he,

which, more like to death than to life, it befits me, who

have experienced both, to esteem, holy Father;

but that, in which the blessed and happy enjoy the vision

of the Blessed Trinity, with all endeavor to seek after.

Wherefore permit me, I pray, to seek back the dead,

among whom, although by the most just law of God, for

expiating my guilts, three years now passed, I have borne deserved

torments, yet to leave them and be withdrawn from the appointed penalties,

and into the fellowship of the heaven-dwellers

to be conveyed not after long time, by the Divine propitiation, I

hope: but to be freed from the penalties of purgatory, one thing by thy supplication and intercession

I beg to be afforded me, that the time of cleansing and of purgatory,

whatsoever and how-great-so-ever it be,

either thou wholly remove by thy prayer, or, if the Divine

justice and my crimes forbid that, make it more curtailed; about to afford

me a most grateful gift in obtaining the other, although the first

would be more grateful.

[77] Stanislaus assenting to his wishes, and pledging that for his

liberation he would offer supplications, victims, and libations

by continual and faithful sacrifice; Peter the Soldier re-entered

the sepulchre. In which place, his soul breathing out from the body,

Bishop Stanislaus, with the Clergy and people

assisting him, psalms and prayers from the Catholic tradition

being most devoutly paid over the commendation of the soul;

composed the tomb of Peter the Soldier, sand being cast on, after

the custom: which among us to this present day

perseveres a sempiternal guard of justice to be administered,

and to be preferred to every passion and favor and every mortal

action. For in it, in a miracle as most rare as

stupendous, it was known how great a favor

God grants to the faith of His religion, and how much He is proven

to love just, and to execrate depraved judgments; when He commanded

to rise again: insofar as from the dead the

living might learn, how great providence and caution they ought to apply

to just causes, lest it befall them to be calumniated.

For the right hand of the Lord then showed a most celebrated

virtue, with an example useful for many things, and accommodated the help of His favor

in a thing grand and difficult, from which He saw human credulity

to shrink; clarifying both the article of the future resurrection,

and showing the greenness of that same resurrection,

and bruising the ambition of the impeachers of the lot

dedicated to His name. Illustrated moreover was by that

very prodigy the most pure credulity of our Christian religion, of our justice,

of our worship and faith; and

through the partial resurrection from the dead of one individual,

the trophies of our future resurrection, which by credulous faith

we profess, were premonstrated, and the Catholic

truth foretasted by a visible effect.

[78] whose truth shone forth from the witnesses, But the things which concerning the three-year resuscitation of Peter

the Soldier are narrated by me, were done not in the obscure, but

in public, but in the open, and in the sight of a great multitude,

as well of Ecclesiastics as of seculars, who handed these things

to us; explained also before examiners by witnesses

solemn and greater than every exception, while the business

of the Canonization of the holy man was treated; the 3 places afterwards being honored, and the whole Polish Church

attests this truth. The places attest, in which

both the resuscitation of Peter the Soldier and the Royal judgment

were conducted: which even to these times, as testifying the greatness

of the miracle, retain much veneration,

and are frequented with a frequent concourse of peoples:

of which the one Zbigneus of blessed memory, Cardinal

and Bishop of Cracow, signalized with baked-brick wall, from the approbation of the Church, the other with wooden

fabric, most beautiful churches being built over them.

Attester also is the sepulchre of Peter the Soldier, on which

the Cardinal himself superimposed a chapel of similar wall.

The Catholic Church too attests, which in the general

Council of Basel, against the fourth article

of the Hussite heresy, disputing of the temporality of goods to be rescinded

from the Church, signally commemorates a vivification and resuscitation

of this kind; and using it among other things as a greatest

argument, in that Blessed Stanislaus

Bishop of Cracow, about to prohibit the occupation of an Ecclesiastical village,

led a man dead three years resuscitated

as a witness, slew that pestiferous dogma with

its assertors.

[79] But from that time and thenceforth the name of the blessed man

Stanislaus began to be held of great virtue, not among the Poles

only, but also in the neighboring regions;

and to be reckoned by all the germ of the true Apostolic Seed, as it was;

and the clemency of omnipotent God,

from His work, to be turned into grand admiration,

who by so great a miracle, granted to no other mortal,

willed Bishop Stanislaus to be conspicuous. The name of Stanislaus signally augmented by this miracle, For Stanislaus was in the mouth and discourse of all,

heaping the highest praises upon him,

who through the resuscitation of Peter had received a valid argument

of his life and dogma; nor was any other

held nobler, nor more celebrated among Pontiffs than he:

nor was there any of the grave and learned men,

who did not with great praise extol the greatness and warmth of the faith, which in Stanislaus

then shone forth, who did not celebrate

him with assiduous discourses: so that, held at home and abroad

with great proclamation, he was thought truly a holy man,

truly Apostolic, truly Divine, truly potent in

speech alike as in work? For what

for that time among the Polish Church

was more wonderful, what more sublime, what more notable, what

more magnificent than Stanislaus the Cracow Bishop? who

asserted that a man, three years before dissolved, consumed by decay,

reduced into ashes, which the breasts of mortals

could not only not believe, but not even suspect,

in a manner forgetful of his own condition,

he would produce as witness: relying namely on that

faith, as though life and death stood in his power and

arbitration; and as though he believed himself to accomplish through faith,

what he knew men would by no means assent to through credulity:

to whom the dead were penetrable, which ought to be reckoned to have been done the bars

of Acheron passable, who showed of how great sublimity he was,

of how great innocence, of how great merit, then first,

although long in his simplicity and humility he lay hidden,

he showed. Very many moreover other miracles through him

it is established that God wrought, subjecting to him demons

and granting the cures of various sufferings.

[80] But it is wont by some moderns, having a faith

fluxile and ambiguous, not so much for the cause of preserving a temporal good and who disbelieve

that all things are possible to those believing in the virtue of God,

that the greatness of the miracle, set forth by the blessed man Stanislaus

in the resuscitation of Peter the Soldier lying three years

in the funeral, is called into doubt: to which wavering

they are moved from the length of time and the rarity

of the example, since none or at least rare of the Saints

is read to have given life to a dead man of so

inveterate a time: and the cause for which the effect

of so wonderful a prodigy was granted, less arduous and sufficient,

and which with the causes of faith (which the Divinity deigns to illustrate

with unwonted miracles) has nothing in common, than for the increase of faith

but seems to pertain to the conservation of temporal things.

But easily can these their objections be refuted,

broken, and dried up. For not on account of

the preservation of one estate (as these are not afraid to babble with

lethargic sense); but for the great increase and sempiternal strength

of the holy faith and the orthodox religion, which the Polish

nation, imbued for seven years with the arts of the Ruthenians

and Barbarians, had begun to loathe and hold for show:

that the Poles,

who had never seen signs in themselves and their elders,

in the faith once begun, the so great miracle being seen, to be handed down

also into their posterity with a memory ever green

might be confirmed. For the Divine propitiation,

consulting their present and future weakness

by benign providence, lest they should slip into any superstitions, heresies and schisms,

is believed to have granted

the stupendous and unwonted miracle to the blessed man

Stanislaus (whom in life and after death equally

conspicuous for great things to the whole world He was disposing to demonstrate)

as a kind of earnest of His future glorification.

But neither can the length of the three-year

time and of the miracle, as they say, perpetrated without

example, move them by its greatness. and a specimen of the general resurrection. For our God

and Lord Jesus Christ, who first

raised His own body to immortality, gave the resurrection

of men in [the] common as an example;

with whom there is no difference, whether now or on the last day

the whole body of man, diffused or disseminated

through the elements, no longer to one some more, but

in its own measure, rise again.

[81] For slaying and amputating that hesitation, or more truly

that incredulity, The same is confirmed by other examples. we will exhibit two like

miracles: which surely can dissolve the perfidy of any

ungrateful and incredulous one, and admonish,

that bodies fallen and in death dissolved rise again.

The Roman Emperor Trajan, himself a Gentile

and barbarian, moreover a shedder of Christian blood,

and a most keen persecutor and enemy of the Catholic

faith and of our Religion, at the prayers of the most Blessed Gregory

namely the administration of justice to a widow complaining against the son of Trajan himself,

not after three years

only, but more than four hundred years

dead, whose body also through its single

members rotted away, and reduced even to dust, the tongue alone

excepted, is read to have been raised.

[82] A whole human head moreover, as Peter

de Palude writes ^d, at Vienne, a City of the Gauls,

found by diggers more deeply under the earth,

since in every part stripped of sinews and bones,

yet the lips retained fleshy and red, believed to have

and adjured by the Bishop whose head it might be, and for what cause,

in all places stripped both of skin and flesh,

it retained only fleshy and purple lips;

it answered that it was and had been the head of a certain Saracen,

dead in the faith of the Pseudo-Mahomet;

and since in his own nation while he lived, he discharged

the office of judge, nor ever from his lips

had an iniquitous judgment proceeded, the Divine

mercy, to which the cult of justice was ever a most pleasing

obedience, granted it to retain rosy flesh

in the lips, until it should be baptized

in the name of the holy and blessed Trinity. Which heard, the Bishop

of Vienne, bidding water to be brought, baptized the head of the Saracen,

so speaking by the Divine propitiation, in the name of the Father

and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and forthwith,

baptism being received, it was dissolved into ashes together with

the lips, that the efficacy of his words might come forth evident.

[83] From which and many other things by divulged experience

it has been ascertained, that to those loving God all things

are passable, all things most easy; and that no miracle

and no benefit to be afforded by Divine virtue

ought to be thought incredible. But what wonder

and incredible thing ought to be reckoned among the minds of the faithful, if

the resurrection, which our Redeemer showed in Himself;

He showed also in Peter the Soldier after three years,

about to show it universally in the human race at the end

of the world (which by credulous faith we have learned, and most firmly believe)?

For neither did God, who, about to pass

to the Father, delivered to His followers the power of working greater signs than what

He Himself had wrought, either will to neglect

the virtue of faith thriving in the Pontiff's breast,

or suffer justice to be ruined by calumny.

ANNOTATA.

12 of March, and in

both there is treatment of Trajan, but otherwise than in this place. Consult chapter 5

of the former Life and our annotations to it. There was moreover here by some

transposition of words a sense to be restored, otherwise most intricate.

Order of the Preaching Fathers, flourished about the year 1320, and wrote several books,

which Antonius Senensis indicates in his library, of which various ones

we have: but the thing being indicated without certain circumstances of time and of the particular

book, it is difficult to dig out further

knowledge.

CHAPTER VIII.

The royal crimes most wickedly multiplied, by repeated admonition Stanislaus corrects.

CHAP. XIX

[84] The Royal fury against Stanislaus had quieted after some time:

for the King, deterred by the greatness

of the miracle shown by the blessed man in the resuscitation

of Peter the Soldier; was compelled to lay aside both the ferocity and the choler,

long since conceived against the Bishop,

nor was he suffered to meditate extreme things against the man of God.

But the enemy of the human race, the emulator of peace,

the sower of tares, about to shake the quiet of the Polish Kingdom

and its state, forged new devices of disturbances.

For, time proceeding,

when King Boleslaus against Wschewold the Kievan

Prince and the other Dukes of Russia had taken up arms,

and after affairs happily and victoriously waged by him

in Russia, had gone to the metropolis of Russia, Kiev ^b, with

all his forces, while after Kiev was subdued, and there in all abundance

of things (for the Dukes and Nobles of the Ruthenians,

contending in offices, had bent both obedience and gifts)

had wintered ^c; military discipline gradually

slipping, after it was kept holiday from external

battles, in the mind also of the King a greatest

change of things came on, which infused into him and the soldiers

loosed into various pleasures, lusts and vices,

was given to harlots, carousings, ointments and baths;

and the deed of luxury and intemperance had pervaded all states

and orders, and even the victorious army of the Poles let itself

be taken and conquered by the vices of the Ruthenians. with his Nobles

Nor had the flattering evil of luxury seized the mean

and lowest only, but also the very chief Nobles of the Poles;

for they too,

captivated ^d by the comeliness of the women of that region, were even

detained by their company.

[85] Moreover Boleslaus King of the Poles, enticed

by his former adulteries, the slippery King indulges lust, above all the evils which

he had done, coming to the heap of so great dissolution, began to flow

with delights, and to be loosed into lasciviousnesses, not only permitted,

but also forbidden, and to be configured to the nation of the Sodomites and Gomorrheans;

and immersing himself into the abominable

whirlpool of perdition, and the foulest

vice, with beasts of burden, as though permitted pleasures

little sufficed him, was mingled. And although

before he acted wantonly in secret, his abominable

luxury, the reins of impudence being loosened, he was not ashamed

to publish in the open. It had been better therefore neither

to have carried off victory from the Ruthenians, nor to have subjugated their regions,

than to be conquered by the vices of those whom by arms

he had conquered.

[86] But God the avenger of all crimes did not bear

the prevarications and impieties of King Boleslaus and his army:

but by a most just turnabout He sent in His animadversion

for them, and a domestic sedition interrupted the prosperous

successes of warring. on account of the announced incontinence of wives and daughters,

For the wives, sisters, and daughters of the Nobles and

soldiers of Poland, hearing that their husbands had slipped

into the company of the Ruthenian women,

that some had departed life, that others had been lost in conflicts;

moreover wearied by long expectation of them, about to avenge

the crime of concubinage by another crime, every matrimonial reverence

cast off, prostitute their conjugal chastity

to their own servants, and just as if their husbands

would not return, marry them; and confer the ornaments,

fortunes and wealth of their elders upon them: and the chastity of the other

women was stormed by persuasion and violence.

When this evil by frequent report had spread among

the ears of the Polish army; a great grief forthwith

arising in the breasts of each, first turned them into

of fury. For not otherwise than as frenzied,

running to and fro through the tents,

they lamented their calamities with huge bitterness, and approaching

the King begged dismissal; denouncing

that they would break the command, unless quiet were made for them.

The opinion flowed greater than any report, and by the terrified

and solicitous all things were believed which were feared.

There crept also assiduously the grief and indignation

of the Soldiers, since rumor with sad messages, extolling things above

the truth, daily added something graver. Therefore by no military discipline could they, the greater part of the army melts away:

but neither by the chastisement of the Leaders be contained in the camps:

but at the King's bidding-not, that being deserted in the hostile land,

the greater part of the army melted away into their own land with hastened step;

and partly by art and device, partly by open force overpowering the servants

and adulterers, took punishments of them;

condemned also certain women to death.

[87] A more truculent fury after these things of King Boleslaus,

arisen by the habit of new fortune and of the new disposition which in Russia

he had acquired, having nothing weighed, nothing moderate, he rages against the fugitives,

began to rage both against the soldiers and against the women, because, he being

deserted, the soldiers had fled away from him; and to his harsh manners

he joined a pride and cruelty not to be borne.

Whence, not otherwise than against deserters, against them

he animadverted; and some, who had made the beginning of deserting,

he smites with death; and likewise against the women, others into prison

he thrusts, the goods of others he confiscates. The women, whom

their commiserating husbands had spared, with a singular kind

of cruelty he punishes: to whom, the servile offspring being cast off, little dogs

at their paps, busying himself to avenge the servile defilements, he applies;

saying them unworthy to suckle human offspring,

but canine, who, forgetful of humanity, had preferred unlawful intercourses

to lawful. Nor sparing youthful

and infant age, and the infants, cruelly and without the piety of commiseration

he executed the thing. Made finally more pernicious against his own than against

enemies, defiling the matronal condition

by a new and more-than-inhuman invention of penalty,

through the whole kingdom, he showed himself an inexorable and keen punisher of matronal error and violated

chastity. Nor in

one coast only, but through the whole Kingdom, were the things which the King's truculence

had excogitated conducted with diligent wickedness.

[88] Although these things were detestable in themselves, yet of all

detestable actions nothing more detestable could be done,

himself detestable for brutish lust, except that Boleslaus King of Poland seemed to have increased,

not remitted, the brutal use against nature usurped in Russia:

whom, inflated with the swelling of present and

past fortune, a forgetfulness of justice and rectitude had seized;

and to him, setting no measure to affairs flowing prosperously and to his will,

would have a greater and more pernicious

peril from the foulest vice of Sodomy,

than from the surrounding enemies; who exemplified his

horrid and most rank lust in the love of brutes,

transferring his mind from warlike arts to

all sordid and unspeakable things: and from then began

to have a greater reckoning of pleasure, than

of decency or virtue.

[89] ^e After therefore Boleslaus King of the Poles,

openly loosing his cupidities, the law of nature

contemned, miserably bursting into the ways and passions of unlawful lust,

had turned his excellent deeds into forbidden

lasciviousness and pride not to be borne;

to the Cracow Pontiff Stanislaus, long since, by reason of his life's

integrity candidly, virtuously and innocently led through,

transformed into a heavenly and divine man,

the Laurel of martyrdom: insofar as

through battle to be entered with the King, and torments to be inflicted by

him, just as gold in the furnace to be tried,

he should be proved. St. Stanislaus, the Archbishop not applying correction, Who the aromas of his virtues

with a most grateful odor, not only in that diocese over which he had presided,

but in the whole Polish Church, and

through very many places he had now and now diffused. But each thing

which was to be administered for the reproof of King Boleslaus

he was about to accomplish with hastened work;

to the Gniezno Metropolitan Peter the first parts of reproof

against the King he was leaving.

[90] But against the Royal tyranny and the truculence creeping day by day,

of all the Pontiffs of Poland,

who then were nine in number, none made opposition;

and for some time, deferring to the Archiepiscopal dignity,

he thought he must abstain from correcting the King.

But when he had seen him by sluggish indulgence and Royal dread

dissemble the deeds, but the King to serve

the foulest pleasures more and more: understanding the office of reproof

devolved upon himself through the negligence of the Gniezno Prelate

Peter, understanding that office to lie upon himself, he thought it must no longer be tolerated;

but about to shut out the inconveniences of his flock and of the other

Polish Churches as a strenuous

Pastor, he rose up, and bore himself a man through all things

Apostolic. Fearing lest he should receive the sentence of Divine justice

upon himself, if he longer dissembled the Royal deeds and the oppressions

of the peoples; and if in defending

religion and truth, in liberating the oppressed,

in taking away the most obscene crime, he should act more remissly,

he should constitute himself both a deserter and a betrayer, knowing the parts

of the whole kingdom disturbed by his decrees. Lofty

indeed and arduous and besmeared with perils was that way

of reproof, which by a weak mind and a lame faith

could not be approached; and that thing needed a great,

sublime, and robust soul: for our Maker knew

when to permit the storm of persecution to arise;

and according to the ineffable providence of His benignity,

He disposed under the same time Stanislaus the Pontiff

both to arise and to preside in the Cracow Pontifical seat,

about to contend courageously for the defense of the weak.

[91] The King daily slipping into worse things Now indeed Boleslaus King, equity, justice, clemency,

and shame being banished from him, walking the track of the corrupt way,

had shown himself burdensome to all states;

oppressing the rich, treading down the poor, humbling

the nobles, and aggravating the common folk, exacting frequent

conveyances, and imposing grave tributes,

and either snatching or consuming the goods of the husbandmen and the crops with proud

ostentation. He had come also to that of vanity

and dementia, that to those approaching him he gave

answers only through messengers and interpreters.

So he raged into tyranny, that he yet seemed to keep some appearance

of the Christian Religion. He now disdains to think

of simple transgressions,

he attempts all grand things both against God and men.

Coming also into a kind of desperation and contempt,

and as if delivering himself wholly to a precipice,

he suffered himself inferior to none in outrages,

and by depraved cupidities he flowed down ruined to a pernicious lust.

Fixing the eyes of his mind and body on the

nefarious turpitudes of forbidden lust, by pernicious

affections he was vexed. Unbridled by prosperous things,

forgetful of his nature, dignity, and excellence,

he had begun to be vehement and headlong in inflicting punishments,

so that he punished very many with an unheard-of destruction. setting no measure to his outrages, But among

the very deeds of Royal cruelty, there was no

commiseration of feminine infirmity, no regard of tender and infant

age: but cruel and assiduous, through the lictors

and Prefects appointed by the King, against women in childbed

and nursing women the decrees of execution were set forth; from

all which the number of those laying their distresses before Stanislaus

the Bishop, and interpellating him for their

safety, was multiplied.

[92] Stanislaus therefore the Cracow Bishop, seeing the Royal

impiety to ravage into a divine and human

offense; and through the fields of mortals, and through

the roads, the King to run about, about to bring upon himself and the kingdom perpetual

ruin and disgrace; seeing assiduously so great

all things confused, thus all things dissolved, that they seemed

languid with the worst decay; the royal motions moreover and factions

to have gradually progressed and to be about to progress to greater things;

considering moreover that in reproving the King,

in Ecclesiastical liberty, in defending divine and human

right, he had no Companion; to the King

personally, pure and fervent a lover of the King's safety,

with no less spirit again he approaches; and first

by benign exhortation, then by mild reproof

he rebukes him; the Royal mind, first he benignly admonishes him; swelling from fortune

and the license of affairs, by simple and placid reproof

hoping he would heal: beseeching and

attesting, that he leave the most obscene venery, the enemy

of nature; that he no longer contaminate himself with so foul

of clemency; that he rescind the execrable contumely of matrons and the suckling of whelps,

against right and divine law imposed: that he dissolve

the imposition of tributes and the exaction of conveyances;

that he exercise toward his subjects mildness rather

than wrath; that he profane not equally the laws of God and the rights

of nature; that he retract the ill-conceived

decree; that he restore to all the substances which he had taken away

by force; and that he show not himself ungrateful to the heavenly

benefits flowing upon him beyond measure.

[93] then he rebukes more harshly By these and many other things, by the Bishop Stanislaus,

with clement and most mild address, King Boleslaus nobly

being admonished, with obstinate contention first

defends his institution concerning the whelps; asserting, that conjugal

prostitution ought to be punished, not only with that penalty

which was inflicted, but with a more savage and rigid one,

and that he had not exceeded the track of punishment.

But Bishop Stanislaus replying, and discoursing that the punishment

contained Royal barbaric cruelty,

and confirming that unless it were removed he would by no means tolerate it;

and showing more frequently

how much the King's outrages exasperate the divine Majesty;

soon he began to be driven into immense bile, as the condition of Kings

has it: and exasperated with Royal haughtiness and wrath,

destitute of a sound mind, salutary and better things

he could not feel. For being unwont to be admonished

by reproofs so rigid, deaf to all things the Prelate's discourse seemed more

indignant to him, than ought to be received by Royal ears;

unwont also to hear the truth,

favoring only his own vices and pleasures, and toward his own goods,

toward his kingdom, toward his commonwealth little cautious, little

provident; he used wrath, fury, vehemence, and pride,

as the worst counselors. Many things then

also, forgetful both of his Royal and the Pontifical dignity,

he poured forth against Bishop Stanislaus with a saucy mouth, reproaches

and curses; about to pour forth more, unless Stanislaus

the Bishop, breathing a wonderful mildness and

patience concerning himself, had blunted the stings of his fury, often

yielding to the royal spite as well as fury, hoping

that he would easily heal the proud and inflamed mind by his humility

and modesty.

[94] Then assiduously the matter proceeded for the worse, and with blind

darings the King's impiety ravaged into destructive

precipices, and all the royal actions were either turned into ampler

tyranny, or driven into abominable turpitudes.

And bound and fettered by his passions he was carried by infelicity;

and inflated by prosperous things. and nothing of shame,

nothing of penitence did he, admonished, take, binding

his soul with various chains, and gathering for it from every side

clouds of bodily pleasures. For prone to wrath

and lust, to foul pleasures he had given his hands:

and the greatness, as I reckon, of affairs, and their conversion to all

the more powerful felicities, furnished the occasion

and ministered the cause, that the King to so impious

and wicked actions was turned, whether induced by deadly

luxury, or by disposition, or by malign fate, about to relapse

from the highest to the lowest more swiftly than he had ascended.

[95] For Boleslaus the King seeing, that not at once

was he struck by the God of mercy for his deeds,

but the vengeance of his manifold prevarications deferred;

grew sore the more hardened, and not

feeling himself dead, ravaged, to his own destruction and the Kingdom's, with foulest

prevarications against God and men. and himself rolling into worse things.

Nothing for his own safety and decency weighed, nothing

just or lawful did he hold; but confounded the offices of all states

into the Orders, turned humanity and

clemency into tyranny, and indulged Sodomitic

filth; and it was established that the virtue, shown in the beginning

of reigning, was feigned and not true,

and the covered vices, could not long lie hidden. In

so great a dregs indeed of outrages and crimes, in so great

of his state, office, and dignity seized him; that the beast

with which he was wont to mingle himself, he clothed with silken cloths and other

royal-purple ornaments; and of the savagery,

with which he had given human milk to be sucked by dogs, the tender offspring

being cast away; with which by tributes and conveyances

he had burdened the rich alike as the poor, he remitted nothing.

Nor satiety, nor counsel, nor reproof,

nor dread seemed about to set any measure or end to so many

and so great evils. Contumely also

about to do to the Divinity he was doing this, that to crimes perpetrated

he should add new ones, and for the worst dare worse: and it appeared

that no fouler track under the sun could

befall the Poles and their region, their King

being involved in the foulest deed, themselves indeed in the harshest grievance.

[96] Wherefore moved more vehemently, The Cracow Bishop Stanislaus therefore, celebrated by the dowry

of virtues and notable for the merit of faith; although

in all his life, which to that day heaped with all praise

he had led forth, both most religiously and scrupulously,

he had worshipped omnipotent God and His law;

yet the King's impiety being beheld, and seeing the Polish kingdom

thrust down under the burden of oppression, to his piety

and faith he added a spur: and reckoning himself

raised to the Cracow Pontificate by the supernal provision

with this condition, that first all bitternesses, then

all torments, finally the most cruel death itself,

for the law of his God and the safety of the people committed to him

he should bear, about to vindicate by his passion and his happy gore

the Polish people into liberty and safety:

he prepares to go to meet so many and so great Royal outrages.

The Royal prevarications therefore and vices animadverting

to ravage against God; and the state and honor of the Polish kingdom,

through them to be made to totter; he afforded the work and faith

of an Apostolic man, and using free contumacy, and a lofty and

unconquered mind to the last, others through dread

fleeing away, he resolved to stand for his justice and truth:

and bearing forth no sign of trepidation,

nay even showing a glad countenance, to

the King obstinate in the authority of free rebuke

advancing, again he approaches the King: then thronged about with a great band

of Soldiers and Nobles, about to use a new kind of reproof against him

he approaches; and with constancy worthy of a Pontiff magnificently

preaches before the King; and desirous of his own salvation,

not of penalty, full of religious affection of piety,

he addresses him with this kind of discourse.

[97] Although, says he, I know, O King, that thou hast heard

my most salutary admonitions, formerly heaped upon thee by me with prone charity,

with stopped ear; rebuking his brutal lust, and loaded with grave

wrath, hast assailed me also with grave contumelies and reproaches;

yet easily forgetful of all those things, and

inflamed by the charity of thy safety and decency, and by the debt

of my office; I come to thee again, seeing

and knowing thee, plunged into the passions of desires, to have aggravated

the greatness of crimes: and I prefer my reproof

to displease thee, than to desert the cause of truth and justice.

Thou indeed, King, stirred by the virulence of the ancient enemy,

the order of nature being transmuted

and perverted, the indulgence also of nature passed over,

hast shown thyself more unclean than the brutes,

which guard their own times and rights; above which the enormity

of thy excess in the guilt sets thee (for wild beasts know not this misshapen

luxury) disgracing the Royal glory by the opprobrium

of confusion, and infecting the nobility of the Polish nation.

[98] his savagery against women, Thou, justice being prostituted, through which from the merciful

Father of all, God, thou hadst known thyself for the whole time

of governance to be directed in prosperous things and in blessings

to be amplified, by an unheard-of and unwonted kind of savagery,

givest women in childbed to be sucked by dogs;

and contaminating the tenor of the human lot and the honor ennobled by the redemption

of Jesus Christ through canine bites, strivest to confound

human dignity and render it viler than the beasts. Thou, the wealth and

revenues Royal being uselessly distracted into profane uses,

castest greedy hands upon others' lands. thy rapacity, Thou by the tears

and distresses of thy subjects art not moved. Thou their

substances devourest, and through frequent conveyances

demolishest all fortunes and furniture;

and the dread of prevariation being cast off, thou ensnarest thyself in the snares of a depraved

hope, as though these crimes ought easily to be forgiven thee,

thinking the penalties of Divine vengeance, which on this account

await thee, can be torn away. How long doost thou foul

thy soul, and precipitate it into its own destruction?

shutting against thyself by the monstrousness of transgressions the gate of the heavenly

kingdom; from all which, thy impiety: how profane

and impious thou hast been against the Divine Religion, do thou thyself

consider. These are deathly darings, not Royal ones; barbarous

manners, not Christian: and about to bring to thee and thy Kingdom, unless

thou correct them, loss and ruin.

[99] Be not willing to think thyself only a King, but a man;

be not willing only to contemplate thy throne and empire,

scarce about to last unto the morrow like rotten smoke,

but consider also the nature and condition of thy mortality.

For of the same nature, of the same

condition; as thou thyself also retainest, he recalls him to the regard of human nature, know that thou commandest men:

who by the lot of mortality from any

rustic man differest not: who, although by the singularity

of summit thou excellest, yet attend the equality of condition.

Cease cruelly and most savagely to assail the image of God and thy fellow-fashioned creature

by thy detestable commands:

for thou irritatest the Creator, while by his execrable

example thou afflictest the image, about to bind the Lord of heaven against thee

to like severity, because thou thyself

now excellest thy equals and fellow-servants. Nor therefore esteem him

unoffended by thee, because thou hast not yet experienced

him angry; about to feel him a severe judge, if me a benign

admonisher thou despise. Cease to use the most rank vice of sodomy:

for thou bringest contumely to the Most High

and constitutest thyself an enemy of nature. Thou destroyest and corruptest

in thy body the temple formed of God, by God, unless

thou desist, to be destroyed: since so great deformities

of deeds await nothing but the rod of vengeances and eternal

burning.

[100] of the benefits conferred by God Confide not in royal excellence, nor in

the purple mantle, a Prince and fellow-servant of equal men:

believe that the one Lord of all, King

and Creator, will answer thee and any other, equally

for merit as for demerit: who is the protector of thy kingdom

and the helper of thy salvation; through whom

so great virtue, so great felicity, such an empire finally,

were bestowed on thee that thou shouldst possess kingdoms and external dominions,

and subjugate the nations round about. But it befits

thee to keep the inheritance of thy father's piety, to himself and his father, and to have also

an excellent reckoning of clemency and commiseration,

and not to be corrupted by the success of affairs and grow

insolent; since he, both by piety and religion in worshipping

God, had recovered the lost Kingdom, had vanquished

the Tyrants, and had shown himself lovable both to God and men.

Be willing moreover to attend, and by assiduous meditation to search out,

that thou art sprung of a most illustrious stock,

and through either parent a celebrated lineage touches thee:

that by the right of primogeniture preferred to thy brothers,

raised by the diadem and the governance of the kingdom,

that thou holdest a place not only among thy brothers, but among

all the Princes of the Slavonic tongue, more lofty.

[101] So great therefore and so sublime benefits

being diligently apprehended, I beseech thee, I admonish thee, I

attest thee, both by God Himself, to whom all iniquitous

is filthy, and by the orthodox Religion, and

by thy Royal honor, and finally by thy Polish Kingdom,

which is the precious inheritance of thy majesty;

that by thy execrable works thou irritate not, nor

exasperate God: of thy dignity and office, but in His precepts and law

walk without offense; nor turn the sword, which principally

from the Lord for the defense of the innocent thou hast received,

into tyranny: but worship justice

and love equity, afford piety to each,

to which thou shouldst understand thyself chiefly preferred to men partakers

of thy nature; that not only in this

caducous life, but moreover in eternal honor thou mayest

grow bright; and by how much higher a state above the sons

of men by the favor and nod of God thou seest thyself to have ascended,

by so much the more devout obediences and purer works thou mayest exhibit

to the bestower. For He who benignly created thee, most benignly

desires to save thee; about to pour out wrath upon thee irretractably,

if thou refuse to be converted.

[102] Look, I pray, what kind of fable thou makest of thyself for the present and

future age, of present infamy and how great toward the precipices of luxury

an authority concerning thee grows upon the rest, how great

than it befits a man and a King,

handle thy body: but for each crime bring forth

tears, and involve thyself in the confusion of penitence, burn up all

the rust of thy vices, about to escape the threatening

sentence of the Lord and the avenging fires of the flames

of perpetual torment. and what follows, of eternal life happy or unhappy: And if by the law as well

human as divine thou art not moved, at least by the religion of nature

mayest thou be moved, for whose sake He both binds the beasts, and

censures the brutes. Moreover doubt not that to thy momentary

pleasure, first bereavement and the destruction and extermination of the kingdom,

then perpetual torments and penalties

will answer; from the earthly kingdom first, then

from the heavenly, unless thou come to thy senses, by the just judgment of God

to be excluded from the inheritance, and with the Gomorrheans and Sodomites

to be judged in the trial of sulphur.

[103] But if, by desisting from outrages, by penitence,

satisfaction and weeping thou dilute the things committed; lasting

successions, and flourishing affairs, and eternal and most luminous

seats, to thee and thy posterity, a faithful

and true sponsor I promise back; ready for thy soul

to lay down my soul. Nor will there be to thee, if to the full

thou come to thy senses, a tardy soundness: about to experience a greater merit of amendment,

for the superabundance of fault, in thee and in thine

by the Divine benignity: to him coming to his senses he pledges all prosperous things. of the blessing also

promised by me I assert that thou and thy stock will be

possessed, if thou contend that what I salutarily admonish be fulfilled.

But if otherwise thou proceed to go, with too iniquitous a turnabout

dost thou answer the Lord, by which He granted thee over the nations and

kingdoms the principate of earthly empire. For

although at present thou be sound, whole, and strong, and

King of so many and so great Lords, in wealth, power,

esteem certainly not among the last: yet all these

things for attaining future beatitude, unless

by piety, contrition and satisfaction thou make God appeased toward thee,

esteem will profit utterly nothing. And if

all these things move thee not, at least let that terrific tribunal

of Christ, at which it behooves thee to stand, move thee;

come to thy senses, return, and forestall the way of conversion

with swift footsteps.

ANNOTATA.

CHAPTER IX.

Further attempt at the amendment of the King. Prayers, penances undertaken for his salvation. An excommunication added with peril of life.

[104] Superfluous seemed the discourse of Stanislaus the Pontiff,

most well and salutarily admonishing, when

as well of the King The King flaring up at the admonitions as of some of his Nobles

and Soldiers, soothing his wrath and rashness,

the consent had been proner to all the worse things,

by which he was preparing and weaving for himself and his own kingdom

were heaped on he trod under, and bearing an unweighed will

against the sound counsels of Stanislaus, to all things which

fury, rashness, wrath and indignation suggested,

he had turned his mind; from the paternal admonition more

enraged, nor could any salutary remedy be sown

in a soul full of confusion, which the multitude of sins

had woven over. For in the malign breast, now

given to tyranny, now occupied with slaughters and severity against matrons,

now defiled with the filth of unspeakable

lust, no salutary admonition could settle.

No paternal and clement reproof softened it;

and against Stanislaus the Pontiff with the torches of fury he the more

took fire. For in this manner, which we have premised,

courageously, as was meet for a Pontiff and an Apostolic man,

Stanislaus admonishing, beseeching, and chiding the King,

Boleslaus the King, loosing the reins of his irascibility,

poured a more pertinacious fury upon the Bishop;

rebuked by him, and overwhelmed with contumelies and terrors and the other

reproaches of that kind, a denunciation moreover being added,

that, unless he desisted in good time, he should know he would perish.

[105] But St. Stanislaus, a man full of God, fearless while

he was assailed with curses, and more constant, remained with mind hardened

and made firm, to bear each thing for the name of Christ

and the liberty of the Polish people. For making little

of the Royal terrors, he sprang not aside, nor as

by no means terrified by the threatening of death, and his soul

ingenuously and magnanimously he composed for undergoing

any sufferings whatsoever. For all his cares,

hopes and thoughts, not to the caducous, but to the eternal

life to be led forth and attained he had turned. Therefore,

provoked, he showed himself stronger, a contemner of all terrors, of all

bitternesses and torments: and

endowed with perfect charity, and casting far off fear,

about to extinguish the flames of irascibility raging in the King,

by the placability of a mild mind, fearing nothing he urges to penitence. he sustained with the untiring constancy

of a Christian breast to exhort and admonish the King again,

that for things committed he should bear penitence, that

for crimes he should weep, and bind by the abundance of tears

the avenging flames of penalties, which awaited him;

predicting to him, unless he came to his senses, that his luminary must

be extinguished, the lot and sword of his felicity blunted,

and his single actions made funereal with a foulest expiation,

nor let him hope they would ever rise again, when once they had fallen.

But these things not so much for himself as for all the Kings

and Princes of Poland, he seemed to me most truly

to have predicted.

[106] But the foregoing and very many other things, for moving

and reproving the King, with the amazement of the hearers: saying, he was filled with confidence at once

and gladness, so that the alacrity of his countenance, the constancy of his responses

and reproofs, the crowd of Nobles

and Soldiers, which was present about the King, with huge amazement

admired: and moreover he was extolled with the silent though

praise of very many, that one among the Polish Pontiffs

stood forth, who dared to provide what was right, just and salutary,

and constantly to predict to the King, and for the Polish

people and its injury to go forth into the line of battle,

like a most keen defender of justice, a strenuous champion of the commonwealth,

afflicted. The Pontifical correction would have moved even

more rigid than iron, was not moved.

[107] Considering finally Bishop Stanislaus, that

King Boleslaus, coming into contempt of all corrections,

so seemed to have repelled from himself both the discipline of Pontifical

reproof, and the fear of God, and the reverence of men,

that, taking up the helm of pertinacity,

he was neither urged by the goad of conscience, nor confounded by the shame

of infamy, nor terrified by the gehennal penalties denounced

to himself by himself; about to use a more rigid kind of animadversion

against the King he makes his words. Forasmuch, says he, as plunged and fixed

in the deep and tenacious mire of outrages,

most perversely and nefariously thou ravagest against God, who

through prosperous things exalted thee, who by various gifts glorified thee,

who increased thee with very many benefits; since thou showest thyself both

his deserter and offender, since his manifold benefits

thou bringest to nought, he threatens censure, since thou prostitutest conjugal rights, afflictest

the Kingdom, followest obscene venery, fouling not the body

only and the spirit, but the very breathings even of the airs,

and settest no measure to crimes and oppressions; know that henceforth not by admonitions,

but by precepts; not by reproof, but

by censure, I will deal with thee; and the Ecclesiastical sword being drawn,

thy wicked actions, after they cannot otherwise be rescinded,

I will coerce.

[108] The King grew hot at these things heard with huge choler, since

neither God, nor his deed, permitted him to feel better things,

and uttering a roar against the Bishop, as though about to lay hands on him,

with terrors, as is the manner of that power, and

with contumelious reproaches he acts; he began also to breathe bile and vengeance,

and that unless he desisted he should know destruction would befall him very soon;

and he asserts himself ready for martyrdom: there had long been blazing even then in

the most Blessed Stanislaus the Martyr a glorious ardor: wherefore

saturated with opprobriums, to the smiter he offered

the other cheek; and intrepid without any perturbation of mind,

illumined with supernal light, the contumelies

of reproaches and the opprobrium of denounced death

deriding with free disdain, to the King thus threatening him he answered these things.

And would that God be propitious to me, and

though he signify me unmeriting, and grant the gift of my body

to be offered to him in holocaust of an accepted victim.

But although the King's wrath against the Pontiff gushed forth,

yet none of the apparitors, A few certain ones attempting to appease the King, nor of the soldiers

which surrounded the King in a crowd, dared then

by deed or word to resist, or to refute the Pontifical

reproofs, or to inflict any contumely on him or

the injury of violation.

[109] Nay rather, by some of the Nobles and Counselors,

the King was assailed with admonition and prayer, that the Prelate's reproof,

not otherwise than an oracle sent down divinely,

he should let down into his breast and mind, and the piety

of the Heavenly Lamb by his outrages henceforth not irritate;

and not so much for himself, as for the Kingdom, his children also and

subjects with a juster order provide. But fortune envying

the King, the tamer of neighboring nations, was arming him both

to his own and the Polish Kingdom's destruction. For salutary

admonitions being heaped on by modest and God-fearing men,

the prevailing suggestion of the malign prevailed,

and the King, of himself raving, kindling him to meditate

all wicked things against the Bishop, easily blew away the counsel

of those admonishing right and true things. For most difficult

it was to hear a Father benignly admonishing,

and to insert his sound and others' erudition

into a head beset by a grand outrage, which both proper

iniquity of mind enraged in him, and the oil

of perversely persuading counselors fattened. with very many of the exasperating ones, Nor on

that account however did the zeal and study of Stanislaus quiet, but more obstinately

and remitting nothing of rigor, with uniform purpose in correcting

the King he endured; and fortified with the breastplate of patience,

so far as he could, he struggled against the Royal impiety.

[110] After these things Bishop Stanislaus deliberating,

by what order and process thenceforth against Boleslaus

the King he should discharge his duty, and revolving with himself various things upon these matters,

the supplication of some Ecclesiastical men of the Church

of Cracow assails him, the Clergy persuades Stanislaus that he dissemble with him: that the Royal tyranny

he should decline, that the begun severity of reproof

he should remit, that he should spare himself, that for the Church and people

committed to him and to be widowed by his death he should take counsel,

and should judge the King's fury rather to be softened than exasperated.

But he, like a vessel of election long since foreseen by

the Lord, more inflamed by prayers of this kind,

and to the love of martyrdom and to the King's salvation

and to the liberty of the Polish people more alacritous and fervid

was rendered. but he himself desirous of martyrdom, So great was in him a love of justice

and of truth, so great a hatred of evil, that of all peril

meanwhile he forgot; nor by a greater desire of any thing

than of shedding blood, than of receiving martyrdom

was he held: this by night and by day he meditated:

this was his assiduous consultation with Ecclesiastical men,

this his profound deprecation to God, that to die

for His name and honor He would grant him; and by no

by terror nor by any persuasion could he be torn away from the resolve of what was just and honorable; he remained, in adversities, the more powerful, adorned with gentleness and purity of conversation.

[111] He burned, moreover, with so great a desire of martyrdom, that he seemed to pursue death itself and to long for it, adding that the liberty of the Church and of the Polish People would come about in no other way than through his own slaying; nor otherwise could the seeds of the tares, he perseveres in his purpose: which are known to have sprouted, be plucked up by the roots; nor the sheep be freed from the bites of the wolves. "My life," he said, "is set in a mirror before all; and if I shall waver a little, or remit my rebuke, I shall be cast up as having taken to base flight, as having fallen by a base fall, and I shall be seen a deserter of my flock and no shepherd; nor shall I escape the Divine judgment, if for the present I shall not stand against the tyranny of the King for the injury of the people." Thus, perfecting his steps in the paths of the Divine law with full solidity, and persevering immovable against the Royal terrors, he did not suffer his immovable footprints to be moved, displaying a purpose durable and firm against every chance.

[112] Turning thereafter to entreaties and supplications, he sometimes consumed whole night-watches, beseeching pardon for the King through weeping and sighs, meanwhile pressing on with prayers and tears for the King, lifting up consecrated and pure hands to the Lord for the reprobate and reprobate-to-be King; not otherwise than Samuel once interceded for Saul. And for his conversion, that he might avert the ruin of himself and of the Polish Kingdom, tortured by paternal affections, he more frequently kindled the incense of the most holy sacrifice, and tearfully immolated the calves of the lips. And the more strongly he felt the King's truculence rise up and his impulses run riot, the more, all poured forth in the bowels of compassions, he strove to render the merciful God, the supreme assuager, propitious and appeased toward him; continually and assiduously, by daily prayers and watchful nights, pouring forth for him and for his conversion to almighty God fountains and rivers of tears. For whenever he called to mind the transgression and obstinacy of the King, whenever he weighed his crime, whenever he reflected on the ruin of the kingdom and the deformity of the commonwealth thence to come, he was dissolved into manly tears worthy of a Pontiff; which the magnitude of his compassion struck out of him from the affluence of his charity; and bedewing his garments and the place of prayer with the dew of very many tears, he supplicated that the Royal crime might be wiped away: and more frequently, turned toward the image of the Crucified, full of grief and with moist eyes, he besought that He might be touched by the miseries of the afflicted, and might not take vengeance for the Royal offenses, but to both might furnish relief with propitious kindness.

[113] he declines his company. To his entreaty, moreover, he added abstinence, and afflicting his body with fasting and a hair-cloth girdle, he also withdrew his conversation from the King: and shunning his company and communion, and in every way sequestering himself and his own from him, he indulged and lamented with assiduous wailings, with the most abundant fountains of his tears, and with continual deprecations; if perchance he might be able to turn the obstinate King away from his misdeeds, and by his supplication obtain for him conversion and Divine propitiation; a strong and diligent Shepherd on both sides, an admirable mediator; while both against the raging King he set the defense for the flock and the whole Polish people, and against the sinner a just rebuke; and for both assiduously interceded by the virtue of prayer and Sacrifice.

[114] But when the overflowing of bitter oppressions became greater day by day, nor did the King seem either about to set an end to them or to relinquish the obscenities of his vices; Stanislaus the Bishop, judging that there must be no further delay nor proceeding with gentleness, and that in so evident a peril there was need of deed, not of deliberation; not bearing those outrages, those furies, those heaps of crimes, those turpitudes, began to apply so much greater an effort of Apostolic rigor against the King, and at length, after all remedies applied in vain, the more by harsher vexation the truculent oppression of the King against his subjects seemed to grow strong; and his nefarious lust, both by occasion and by example, to be spread to the dishonor of God and to the destruction of his subjects. By the degrees of the Royal fault, moreover, Stanislaus the Pontiff also increased the order of censure. For matters had so fallen into the extremities of disgraces and wickedness, that they could by no means be borne any longer by the Pontiff without offense to God and faith, or without the ruin and detriment of religion and the kingdom. About therefore to put his hand to strong measures, and to brandish the sword, rising up from the opposite side for the House of the Lord, a true soldier he came forth into the battle-line; nor did the most vigilant Shepherd hesitate to lay down his soul for his flock. And so, keeping in each particular the norm of Evangelical and Apostolic doctrine, Boleslaus King of Poland, long since admonished by him only verbally, he excommunicates the King: he excommunicates; and commands the excommunicate to be shunned by his subjects; then he brings forth against him greater sentences; at the last he strikes him with anathema, forbidding him entrance to that Church, about to cut down the pestiferous shoot with the Apostolic sickle.

[115] But Boleslaus the King, bearing his corrector most harshly, and acting ferociously, and contumacious against every remedy who is therefore driven into fury, which by medicinal censure was applied by the Bishop; from that time, swelling with most grievous fury and barbarous hatred against Stanislaus the Bishop, the defender of piety and justice, is borne headlong in rapid course, so that with full and consummated will he destined him to be consumed by the crueler kind of death he could; which fury of his insane actions and lusts precipitated him into this very torrent of his madness, that he reckoned himself to be pure from the contagion of execrable filthiness, if he should have removed by the sword the man of God and his reprover Stanislaus the Bishop: and being eager to conceal his crimes, he so acted that they became common talk to all. But although many a time he had stretched and renewed manifold ambushes for him, yet, the Most High protecting him, he escaped all perils, all snares, all torments to which he was destined; he attempts many things in vain against the saint, who could not be turned from the rectitude of his state and firm purpose, neither by the Royal terrors more frequently announced to him, nor by the persuasions of Ecclesiastical men urging flight; nor by the blandishments of friends counseling him to a Royal reconciliation: nor, boiled down and burned out by the flame of various persecutions, could he be consumed in any way in the constancy of his greenness: but amid all dangers, an asserter of truth and a champion of justice, he did not abandon the path of religion and the Christian faith, the cause of the oppressed and the burdened, about to undertake with equanimity whatever the madness of the raging King might have devised: keeping also a strong and solid breast, by no temptation could he be laid low.

[116] Against so many engines of persecution he stood with unconquered constancy; with unbroken equanimity setting against the tyranny of the King the Apostolic rebuke, with strong constancy against the armed one, and against the horrendous crime a most pure life. For greatly desiring eternal things, he took strength from adversity; and as the fight increased, he did not doubt that a more glorious victory would come forth for him. Bearing, moreover, in his Pontifical and Apostolic breast an admirable sweetness and delight, if it should befall him to be condemned with happy gore for the honor of God and Religion, for the injury and oppression of the people. And against the Royal vices gradually growing strong, deserted by all, he stood alone; and lest he should ruin the King and the Kingdom, lest he should ruin the Commonwealth, inasmuch as it could be withstood only by one head, prone and intrepid he resisted; omitting nothing which it had been fitting for a most vigilant Shepherd to set against it for the salvation of the King and the flock: showing his bowels to blaze with an immense ardor of charity, since both for expiating the King's offense he boiled with the fire of suppliant prayers and sacrifices; and for the liberty of the Polish people he devoted his own flesh to torment.

[117] Boleslaus King of Poland, despising the sword of the Church—which is wont to strike only unto salvation—as a stubble; and blinding his mind with such great folly and such great grossness of darkness, that he reckoned he would by his material sword and the power of his strength exterminate at his pleasure laws divine and human; contemptuously presenting himself at the Divine offices, assiduously thrust himself into the divine Offices; Stanislaus the Bishop bewailing his blindness, and by his assiduous supplication beseeching for his conversion; he further sought out and perpetrated this for the other evils of disgrace, that the beast which he abused as an enemy of nature, and led his beast of burden around, he ordered to be covered with finer purples, and, to the reproach and contumely of Stanislaus the Bishop, to be led with him along the public roads where it happened that he should pass; also before the doors of the Churches, while the wicked King, condemned by anathema, mingled himself in the Divine rites, to be displayed in mockery of God and to the human gaze: nor did shame call him back from baseness, fear from peril, or reason from fury.

[118] Stanislaus saw and grieved, and his reins trembled, and his fury was kindled according to the judgment of the law; and illumined by the rays of Apostolic grace, he did not bear either, he orders the sacred rites to be ceased, since the matter, of itself most evil and detestable, was put forth with an even worse example: but for cases so full of danger, for excesses so detestable, the zeal of the blessed man was kindled not without cause, and the fire blazing in the anxieties of his meditation: and he ordered the divine office to be kept silent by the Churches, during the whole time the King should be present; and tearing off from the beast all its covering, to reveal the King's ignominy, he cut off with his own hands its nostrils and the whole snout of its mouth; and he himself lends a snout to the beast: and rendered the beast, deformed of itself, the more deformed, by that very work demonstrating his ardor and purity in the Religion of God.

[119] Most judged that work to be of presumption, not of zeal, not of religion, not of wisdom: and they reproached the virtue of Stanislaus the Bishop, and called it temerity and insolence, vehemently blaming him, who had striven to provoke into peril of himself the King already raging of his own accord; with varied judgment of various men. while the rest, whom a more upright and more just judgment held, extolled and admired in Stanislaus the faith and virtue of a Pontifical and Christian breast: who, possessing a great force of love toward God, a great one toward the neighbor, all the Royal terrors trodden down, struggling against sin unto death, showed that there is nothing more imperious than charity, whose efficacious zeal and zealous affection, as a faithful herald and a strong athlete, he followed up by word, example, and work in a perilous time; and harvested useful fruit from the seeds of his piety and religion and zeal, while the zeal of Christ rendered him more illustrious.

[120] This matter forthwith increased the ferocious madness of the King, increased his insolence, he then withdraws on account of the King's wrath, and pouring out the livid venom of indignation against Stanislaus the Bishop, he would have proceeded with overhasty endeavor to behead the Pontiff, had not Stanislaus the Bishop meanwhile, preserved more by the zeal of friends and Ecclesiastical men than by his own, withdrawing into more hidden places, declined his fury. The King then was agitating counsel, both with himself and with others: nor by night nor by day could he keep holiday, somewhat fuller of furies and wraths than he had been before, on account of the brand of the interdict laid upon him. And the mutilation of the beast inflaming him to greater bile, he was tortured day and night with the desire of slaying the Bishop. There was not lacking, to him who was contriving these pernicious things, the flattery of his Purpled ones, increased by the instigation of the nobles, innate in the Polish race, wont to deprave and pervert the resources and minds of Princes more impetuously than a hostile fury. And there were also, from

the order of Soldiers, more in number, who not only turned not aside the King's truculence by any remedies, but moreover nourished it with the soft poisons of flatteries. There were not lacking those who, moved both by the King's benevolence and by hatred of Stanislaus, and also by the hope of obtaining some Magistracy and Dominion, sowed ampler flames.

[121] Impelled by these, the King, driven by wrath and vehement temerity, would neither foresee the perils of himself and of the Kingdom, nor would he weigh with a just estimation the faithful and salutary rebuke of Stanislaus the Bishop; weighing as nothing the punishments about to punish himself and his generation for the magnitude of the crime; providing little for himself, little for the Kingdom, little for the Polish race, little for the children whom he had already begotten; nor with mind sufficiently measuring, blinded by the densest wrath, and is by him destined to slaying, to what point the immensity of the crime to be perpetrated would pour itself forth; taking to himself such great spirits, such great arrogance, and roaring with such great motions of his indignation, that he reckoned divine as well as human laws to stand within his own power. But neither were there lacking faithful Counselors, a few dissuading in vain, very few however and rare, who would turn the King from the purpose destined for the slaying of the Bishop, beseeching him not to persist to rage even unto parricide, and not to pollute his royal right hand with Pontifical blood; and they urged that he should not make his wrath of more account than safety, both his own and the common one: but a mind oppressed and blinded by lust and passion could be neither capable nor tenacious of the just and right; and to the Royal mind, already boiling over with wrath, nothing of right persuasion could come to aid.

CHAPTER X.

The Slaying of S. Stanislaus perpetrated by the King.

[122] Boleslaus the King, destined to his own lot, could be drawn back by no sound counsels, by no persuasions, by no terrors at last, from the slaying to be inflicted upon the holy man Bishop Stanislaus: but stimulated, first by the inconsiderate ardor of wrath, then by fury or rather by a demoniac suggestion, he bent his mind to the impious and nefarious slaying; and his fury, fiercer than the fires of Etna, and belching forth a flame kindled with the desire of vengeance, began to take counsel with the Soldiers favoring his purpose, the King's fury increased through his courtiers, concerning the killing of the Pontiff Stanislaus: and the more loftily he had hitherto shone in Royal dignity, by the operation of the Church; the more with crueler vengeance he raged against it, turning the strength of his power against it by the nefarious perversity of his mind, sharpening unto the destruction of its own spouse the sword which he had received from it to be brandished against its enemy. Nor is it established that he and his nefarious Soldiers—inasmuch as they had neither eyes nor soul—considered anything of weight, what waves, what tempests that crime would stir up and pour forth: and a blind obstinacy and a certain swelling and rabies of the King and the Soldiers had pervaded their minds, and was arming their minds and breasts together for the Episcopal slaughter; the King having fallen into such madness, that, Pontiff Stanislaus—by whom he was rebuked for his outrages—being slain, he believed both that his crimes would lie hidden, and that each thing would succeed for him according to his will. To accomplish therefore the crime long meditated, a blind day, time, and place are sought, a day, a time, and a place suitable were sought: for he seemed to be driven headlong and crosswise so blind with the lust of avenging, that he in no way considered whether he did this honorably and to his own advantage, or otherwise; about to bring back bitter fruits and unhappy germs from that work of parricide, to himself and to his posterity and race.

[123] Now there is, not far from the city of Cracow, a Church, built of white stone in a round form upon a higher little rock rising up in a plain, Outside, in the Church of S. Michael, and dedicated to the name of S. Michael the Archangel and of all the Angels, surrounded on one side by a small lake: at which the Poles once, before they were converted to the laws of Christianity, rendered sacrifices and incense to their idols with profane worship. Into this Stanislaus the Bishop, who had long ago put on the affection of suffering and dying for the faith, for religion, for truth; about to sacrifice for the conversion of the King and for the sin of himself and of the Polish people, not fearing the King, not pressed by the dread of the death announced to him, on the third of the Ides of May, then falling on the fifth weekday, descended together with steadfast Clerics, about to shun the communion of the anathematized King; reckoning that there, as in a withdrawn place, he would quietly complete the divine office. That matter did not lie hidden from the King, Stanislaus celebrating Mass, who through his henchmen explored every step and turning of Stanislaus the Bishop. Rejoicing therefore that the opportunity of killing the Bishop had come, the soldiers favoring his purpose having been ordered to follow him in a denser number than he was wont, he proceeds to go thither to accomplish the nefarious slaying, to perpetrate the savage crime, and to seize the notable title of cruelty, he is surrounded by the King and his soldiers, the first author among the Poles and among the Polish Kings of an execrable example, full of a certain insane temerity, about to avenge with the sword the most just rebuke of Stanislaus the Bishop, with a band of soldiers going forth to execute with conforming cruelty one crime of parricide, about to deface his exceptional good things with one vice. He hastened, moreover, to the place with rapid steps, fearing that the man of God Stanislaus, his coming being discovered, would escape by flight from the church of S. Michael: and arriving there, he orders the place to be encircled in a ring by the soldiers and watched diligently, lest it should be permitted to Stanislaus the Bishop to escape.

[124] Although, however, Stanislaus the Bishop had recognized, the Priests announcing it to him, that a cohort had assembled against him; without fear, secure, although he had perceived the terrible roars and clatterings both of swords and of arms; yet he kept his eyes raised on high, gave no sign of trepidation, in no way trembling at the harshness of the suffering to be undertaken, understanding that the day had come which demanded that he prove his will by the effect of the deed. He was noted neither to dread the cohort of roaring soldiers at all, nor to have changed anything from his cheerful countenance: but secure by the virtue of his soul and the constancy of his faith, and free from all fear, he was rendered thereby more approved and more magnificent: and despising the rabies of the King and of his soldiers, and the bloody and impending swords, he expressed himself a most approved Confessor of faith and justice: and showed in himself that the love of Christ could prevail more than the torment of the Tyrant, and, solicitous only for the salvation of his sheep and of his persecutors, with eyes lifted up to heaven, with a countenance finally undaunted and quite blessed, pouring forth a prayer, he prayed that constancy in suffering be granted, and to the Polish people and to his slayers pardon, and to his flock the protection of divine mercy, saying:

[125] he pours forth a prayer, "O God, most merciful Creator and Redeemer of all, before whom all things live, by whose nod all things are directed, by whose benefit the souls of all dying for Thy name are changed for the better; I bless Thee, who hast deigned to lead me to this hour and to this passion, that I might be a partaker of the passion and of the chalice of Thy Christ. I glorify Thee through Thy only Son, the eternal God and true Pontiff, the Lord Jesus Christ, by whose passion's intercession and merit I beseech Thee, I deprecate Thee, that for Thy name, honor, and justice, for Thy religion and the liberty of the Polish people, Thou wouldst confer a hardened and patient soul to endure whatever torments: and grant to the Polish people indulgence, he was for his slayers, but to my sheep—nay, to Thine—the protection of Thy propitiation, and impute not the ignorance of the King or of his henchmen unto sin." That prayer completed, vested in his Pontificals, with the order of all the ministers who were assisting him trembling, he prosecuted the solemnities of the Mass. After the sacrifices were performed, and he completes the Mass: the man of God, most strong by the virtue of his innocent action, was forthwith about to deliver up another sacrifice, another holocaust also—namely the victim of his own body, and most just by the constancy of a living mind—unto the punishment of his persecutors, and was arming his body also to bear all torments.

[126] against whom soldiers are sent in, The King restrained himself, seized by a Divine nod, until the sacrifices of the Mass were completed by Stanislaus. But, as he was ferocious by nature and impatient of all delay, terrified by wrath, kindled by fury, and vexed by a certain rabies, he sends at last soldiers, who should slay Stanislaus the Bishop even while sacrificing. Forthwith Divine virtue was present, manifesting the power of His right hand. For at the sight of the Pontiff, the armed cohort, sent to kill, after it dared to enter the church, grew pale, its limbs and knees also trembling, but its mind dismayed by a great and sudden dread, and such as God is wont to send upon the authors of impiety, while it strove to touch the man of God with drawn swords, fell, making a great crash of bodies and of arms. Then rolled out of the church in the manner of those creeping backward, chastised by Boleslaus the King because it had returned empty; and being commanded by an inclement order to execute the deed again; with sword and spirit resumed, about to resume the crime also, it re-enters the sacred building, and, having undertaken to perform the crime entrusted, is dashed headlong to the ground a second time. The King Boleslaus seizes upon this cohort, returned from the church with the undertaking unaccomplished, as if timorous: he upbraids it also with the fierce force of words, that the slaying of the Pontiff, neglected at a double entrance, be hastened. [But] all that cohort was moved, but by royal fear it suppressed both its indignation and the timorousness sent from above.

[127] But while both the King and the soldiers still raged, and were by no means seized by divine long-suffering, when the soldiers had entered the church to fulfill the King's commands, all grew stiff; and not otherwise than dead men they were finally dashed to the ground supine, and were laid low by a blow more vehement than before: they are even a third time prostrated, nor touching the blessed man, now a third time seized by terror, they leap forth one by one from the church, and announce to the tyrant their unwarlike right hands for inflicting the slaying upon Stanislaus the Bishop; and themselves, the divine virtue protecting Stanislaus the Bishop, a third time prostrated, overwhelmed, and terrified; that the parricide be accomplished not by a military hand, but by the Royal one, and by the function of public rather than private office. To what end these things? unless that, by a visible sign, to which a sister-sign had come in the garden of Olivet and in the captivity of Christ, just as it had likewise befallen Christ of old. the Lord, about to magnify His Saint, might shine forth openly, because we are not slaughtered when the Tyrant commands, but are seized when He Himself has approved: and that the future Martyr, by a chance like that which befell Christ, might be glorified with most ample honor—he who, by being silent and praying, himself unarmed had likewise a third time laid low his armed slayers to the ground. The supreme providence judged it, as I think, unworthy that the Christ of the Lord, to be designated by a future martyrdom, should be touched by anyone before the King, who was himself also the Christ of the Lord. The Divinity also reserved the first-fruits of the parricide to the King alone (which could be plainly understood from the threefold fall of the soldiers).

[128] But I return to that whence I had digressed. Boleslaus the King, the King kindled with fury, moved by nothing of these things which were announced by the soldiers, kindled by the excess of irascibility, and stimulated by avenging furies, and vexed by the stings of his nefarious crimes, forgetful moreover of the divine virtue, and blinded by diabolical darkness, not heeding also the divine interdict which God had plainly shown him by the threefold fall of the soldiers in a manner of wondrous mercy, to avert his fall; reckoning the threefold fall of the soldiers either to have happened by certain juggleries, or that the soldiers, dismayed by panic, had feigned themselves seized and laid low; with a menacing countenance full of fury upbraids and seizes upon them, saying: "O! degenerate and cowardly ones; women, not men; pusillanimous, not soldiers: I behold you struck with such great panic and trembling, that you, armed and more in number, dread to drag one unarmed Presbyter from the church, and to avenge in him my grave injuries?" Saying thus, with sword drawn he himself rushes into the church, as he was exceedingly vehement and ferocious by nature, instigated by demoniac suggestions, and avid of shedding blood; although, as we have premised, he had received an interdiction against raging upon the Christ of the Lord, by the threefold turning-back of his soldiers: he draws the sword, attributed by the supernal power to him and to any other King, not for inflicting but for repelling injuries and innocent slayings; about to use a new and unheard-of kind of butchery, and driven by so vast a heat of fury, that he reckoned he must not even wait for himself, until the Pontiff should complete the Divine office.

[129] Into the church, therefore, which in his coronation he had devoted himself by oath to guard from the tyranny of others, he leaps in with a throng of butchers, about to kill the soldier of Christ Stanislaus; harshly inveighing against Bishop Stanislaus, who, more benign than just in being zealous for his own salvation, had appeared toward him: he pursues him with reproachful contumelies: and violates the temple in which the Holy Spirit had dwelt by night and by day: and deterred not by place, not by time, not by Pontifical and Apostolic order, [and he plunges his sword into the head of S. Stanislaus as he is completing the Mass:] not fearing the Divine, not the present Majesty of the Saints, having altogether put off the gentleness of humanity, into the very crown of the holy head of the most Blessed Pontiff Stanislaus, as he was completing the solemnities of the Mass, he plunged his sword, more deeply than he was able; and burst asunder the holy crown of the head; and mingling the Pontifical gore with the recent sacrifices, the impious and wicked King prostrates, slays, and extinguishes the man of God Stanislaus, the lamp of the Polish Church, as he was beseeching pardon for himself and his henchmen; and the impious parricide consecrates a Martyr worthy of God, well-nigh slaying and beheading the spouse in the bosom of the bride, the shepherd in the sheepfold, the father in the embraces of a daughter, and the son in the maternal bowels, seething the kid in its mother's milk, and inebriating the earth with the gore of Pontifical blood, the wicked man slaying the holy one, the tyrant the Prelate, the incestuous man the chaste one, the lewd one the pure one.

[130] Not content, moreover, with slaying the Saint of God, he adds also contumely and mockery upon the slain one; and upon the blessed body, still palpitating on the pavement, that blood might touch blood, and the deep call upon the deep, obscuring with the crime of impiety all the glory of the probity sought before, adding upon the dead man a grave contumely, he cut off with his own hand the nose and the cheeks and the parts of the mouth, that he might be rendered more deformed. For this the butcher had first taken upon himself to be done to the slain Bishop, that, in vengeance for the beast—from which the man of God Stanislaus, kindling his soul with zeal, had cut away the nostrils and the lip—he cuts off the nose, cheeks, lips of the slain one: he himself also might inflict an incision upon Prelate Stanislaus in those same human parts; and by the mutilation of the Apostolic body might make satisfaction to the bestial body, which fostered his more-than-bestial abuses: and he set a stain upon his glory, and obscured the Royal baldric with innocent gore.

[131] Although the ferocious tyrant, with his henchman, had perpetrated what he had decreed, yet his breast, avid of slaughter, could not be quieted, and these things which he had already done before, by killing the man of God and deforming and mutilating the slain one, seemed small and slight to the impious King; nor was his bloody soul and impious mind sated with the Pontifical slaying: for after he had removed the living one whom he hated, yet he persecuted his corpse. He drags the corpse of the Saint outside the Church, and delivers it to the soldiers to be cut to pieces. and he casts to the soldiers the corpse drawn by him from the church. For there stood before the doors of the church the armed cohort of soldiers, the spectator rather than the helper of the Royal slaying, moved to that by their threefold fall; about to see also to what end the wicked daring deeds of the King would fall back. But the Royal impunity being beheld, about to wipe off as it were the former pusillanimity reproached to them by the King, against the lifeless body of the Saint cast to them by the King they vie in raging most cruelly with points and daggers, having vented their savagery upon him in the manner of barbarians: and what against the living one, prohibited by the supernal power, they had not been able; upon the dead one, one outstripping and hindering another, they deal most frequent blows: so that each one of them reckoned it as the place of a highest offense, unless he had inflicted something of singular savagery upon the Saint: inasmuch as, the King beholding the savage work of each one, he was held the more in Royal favor who had struck more cruelly upon the Saint.

[132] the right hand and the crown of the head being cut off, Whence it came about, that, that right hand being cut off, with which he had frequently signed the bread and wine to be converted into the body and blood of Christ, and the head being beheaded, the Crown which he bore as a token of clerical Religion in imitation of the Prince of the Apostles, they cut off with drawn swords from the rest of the head, not heeding that both upon his head and upon his hands the ointment of most holy unction had been poured. Right, and law, and shame, and reverence, the Pontiff, and the temple, and all rights divine and human, the King acting, the King commanding and present, were both profaned and confounded: they cut the body also of the man of God little by little into a thousand particles, to be cut into a thousand particles: that the King might decree he had wished to exact a singular punishment from each member, and had judged the man of God to be smitten with as many deaths as cuttings; as if they wished both to eat what they had slain, and to set forth for sale what they had taken by so impious a cutting: the King and his henchmen reckoning that the memory of the holy Pontiff would be taken from the earth and from the memory of the living, if they had cut him into so many parts. But that matter turned out far otherwise than the King had reckoned. For while he is eager to erase his name from the earth, he fixed him in the memory of all ages, which—leaving the Clergy untouched— more deeply than it could be effaced. And although he had compacted so atrocious and tyrannical a butchery against Stanislaus the Bishop, yet from the Archdeacon and the Canons, and the rest of the men of the sacred Order who had ministered to the Pontiff, he restrained his hand.

[133] Now in Stanislaus the Bishop the recognition of the human condition had perished: and not only who he had been, but also what he was, the figure of nature being snatched away, the cruelty of torments and cuttings, lest he could be recognized, had taken away. For the lifeless body lay pierced through, he commands to be dispersed, wounded, cut: the neck severed, the brain torn apart, the once-white members smeared with gore and deformed with mire: yet in the King the fierce and barbarous manners could not grow gentle. For he himself, swelling with his wonted rabies, and declaring himself not sated with a crueler butchery, orders the cut members to be scattered into various and more remote places, and to be poured out upon the earth, and to be cast away and exposed, that they might be devoured by beasts, wild animals, dogs, vultures, ravens, and the other blood-seeking birds; about to set his carrion as food for the birds of heaven, and his flesh for the beasts of the earth; not knowing and raving, what he was doing by this cutting and scattering of the holy body. He was cutting up his own Polish Kingdom, and scattering it to foreign nations as if to blood-seekers to be devoured and destroyed; he was also depriving himself and his race, by such madness, of the Royal splendor and diadem: and believing that by such cutting and casting-away, savage and abominable, he was building ignominy for the Saint of God; he built him a step unto an ampler glorification.

[134] of these, one finger falls to the fishes. Soon the soldiers, the King looking on, perform his commands, and disperse the parts of the sacred body round about, and rage against the human body with humanity lost: and they provide this with the greatest care, the King commanding, that by such castings the sacred limbs be torn even into more remote places: whereby it was effected, that, while all the members of the Saint, all the limbs which the swords of the impious and the lances of the henchmen had cut apart, all the bones with the sinews which the iron had furrowed, lay separately, cast away and lying far apart from one another, one joint of one finger, falling into the pool nearest to the church at which these things were being done, was swallowed by a fish.

[135] Then to the Royal palace Boleslaus the King, dripping with the nefarious and recent Sacerdotal slaughter, returned with the cohort of soldiers, and gloried among the soldiers that he had discharged a heroic deed. There stood by a throng of nobles and soldiers and henchmen, heaping up praises with that adulation which is wont to be a disease domestic to Kings. Alas, with how great a darkness are the wretched ones blinded! They asseverate that it was rightly counseled, most rightly done, and they consoled the King in turn, as much as each one most could; and they nourished his crime with foolish proclamations; and the parricide and the Royal crime, Thence returned into the court, by his flatterers, by which he defiled his impious hands with Pontifical blood, they not only do not extenuate, but commend, by praising what they ought to have rebuked: that the King had committed nothing rashly, nothing truculently or inhumanly, nothing harshly or tyrannically in the Episcopal slaying; but had been justly provoked, and that the wrath, deferred longer than the mass of the transgression demanded, had been just—as human characters are, far too eloquent for lightening the fault of him whom they flatter; nay rather they whisper that Stanislaus the Bishop had been slain worthily and by a just example. Soothed by which discourses, he grants the Episcopal residence to be plundered. and by their adulation, reckoning that he had done a right work; he commanded the Pontifical residence and the fortunes of the Priests and of his domestic familiars to be plundered by a military irruption; assiduously investigating with blind breast, whether he could bring anything further upon him who had already passed the threshold of this life; by one perverse work of his parricide twice impious, and twice profane, who both did not blush at his reprover urging salutary admonitions, and slaughtered the Pontiff while handling the Divine office.

CHAPTER XI.

The Glory of S. Stanislaus crowned among the Martyrs. The Body miraculously made whole.

[136] In this manner Stanislaus of holy memory, Bishop of Cracow, Slain in the 49th year of age, the 8th of his Episcopate, in whom from the cradle there was vigor of faith and religion, by the merit of his life long since a Martyr, like a chosen ram taken up from a great flock, offering an acceptable holocaust to almighty God; having attained the palm of eternal glory, which is bestowed upon those who intrepidly plead the cause of God; he seized the most illustrious palm of blood, by a glorifying and glorious Martyrdom, by human hands indeed, but with a bestial mind; under Pope Gregory the Seventh, while he was passing nearly his fiftieth year, consummated; and through death attaining the rewards of mortality, the Priesthood having been administered for eight years in the Pontifical office in the Church of Cracow: if that is to be called death, which gave the beginning of living. In this manner a victim most pleasing to God was offered, he himself a true Priest of God and a victim, by the pouring forth of his own blood following Christ the victor, himself a victor, to heaven. In this manner a Bishop constant only by his own strength both triumphed over a most powerful King and victor over many peoples and nations, and over his armed soldiery; and rendered his Pontificate to our Lord Jesus Christ, consecrated by the pouring forth of his most noble blood. In this manner, by a greatest contest and a sublime sturdiness, he completed his martyrdom, who is known to have supplied in his own body, by his notable and wondrous martyrdom, that which was lacking to the passion of Christ, according to that which the Apostle testifies of himself.

[137] His blessed soul, by so many blows and torments

of the butchers, it is received among the Martyrs in heaven: excluded from the body by so many torments and pressures, returned by swift flight to its own; about to behold, by reason of the singular merit of its martyrdom, the mirror of the blessed Trinity with most profound vision; and about to perceive among the first orders of the Martyrs a most splendid and most ample place; by Angelic ministry, the whole celestial Hierarchy honoring its coming, it was carried into the ethereal and everlasting mansions of the heavens, whence was its origin; received into the council of the blessed spirits, and into the kingdom of God with a notable triumph; associated with the Hierarchic splendors, made a perpetual contemplator of the Divine majesty, received at the sacred gates and into the celestial bridal chamber with an admirable and glittering splendor, and admitted into familiar colloquy with God, and taken up into participation of the eternal inheritance. From his slaying there came forth a sound very melodious, which drew the whole Catholic world to loose their mouths in praise of the Creator, and stirred the hearts of the orthodox into his love.

[138] Not rashly, but religiously and piously would I believe, that to Stanislaus the Bishop, returning from a most hostile war, and crowned by Christ, from a most cruel battle, smeared with gore and cut into a thousand parts, bearing back triumph and the palm from a most powerful King and his army, Christ the Lord, who had joyfully watched his contest, who had aided him as he fought, came to meet him with all the throng of blessed souls; and addressing His soldier most graciously, extolled him with wondrous proclamations, and offered him a crown woven of various flowers, as to a great victor, recompensing his contests with an eternal reward: before whose Majesty the Man of God Stanislaus could use this complaint: "Dost Thou see, O Word of God, what things the reprovers of nefarious crimes suffer? For behold, Boleslaus, King of the Poles, not bearing my rebuke, after the recalling from the dead of Peter the Soldier after three years, and the threefold fall of his soldiers coming by his command to kill me, deterred moreover in no way by the presence of Thy Majesty, with sacrilegious daring seized upon me at the altar; and cutting my body into pieces, tore it apart to be devoured by wild beasts." To which complaint Christ the Lord may be presumed to have given such a reply: "Yet I saw thee, I saw thy contest: nor was I present as a spectator only, but as a helper: A Patron is given to the Poles. and since for My name thou didst not shudder at the battle, I decree thee a victor and a Martyr to the whole world, but to the Poles a Protomartyr and a magnificent Patron: thy body, illumined with new rays and celestial luminaries, I make whole again without the mark of scars: I assign to it the custody of Angels; I adorn thee with a tripled laurel-crown, thy virginal body bearing back a triumph from the enemy."

[139] The slaying of the blessed man Stanislaus the Bishop having followed so cruelly and tyrannically, The hidden mourning of the good, the whole mother Church of Cracow was provoked first to grave tears and laments, then to immense exultation and joy. For she rejoiced on account of the confession and constancy of her Pontiff, that he had performed so most valiant a contest of himself: she wept on account of her widowing, that she grieved a spouse so comely and beautiful above the sons of men taken from her; and she groaned, and in her groaning and sighs through every night bedewed her bed with tears, and there were continual tears upon her cheeks. This too had been added to her groaning, the more mournful, that no one was found at that season, joined by so close a bond of blood or familiarity, by so holy and solemn an office to Stanislaus the Bishop; nor any one of the Ecclesiastical men filled with so great zeal and charity, who would dare either publicly to put forth mourning, or to render the funeral rites, the offices of burial also being prohibited. or to gather up the sacred body, and to carry it into the greater Church, nay nor into any whatsoever, or to emit a free voice. Each one feared, each one blushed, each one shunned to fulfill the solemnity of mourning; and no one dared to mutter, except in corners and in darkness in fear; because the Royal terror had claimed all this to itself, prohibiting by a penal edict that it should be permitted to anyone to gather up or to bury the blessed body, and not suffering those whom he had afflicted with mourning to mourn. He forbade each one to grieve, and neither by public nor by private office did he permit the holy Body to be cared for, reckoning that to have perished, which the cruel sword had consumed for the name of Christ: and he strove to exterminate even after death the greatest luminary, eager with a great heat of mind that the sacred limbs and flesh of the Pontiff should be devoured by wild beasts, birds, and dogs.

[140] while the fame of Stanislaus is mendaciously rent and blackened, To lighten, moreover, the crime of the King, ample adulterous deeds, contrivances of lies, were heaped up against the Saint by his nobles and henchmen, neither pricked by the impiety of conscience, nor mitigated by the effect of the parricide, and the slaying of the Pontiff was iniquitously insulted: and grave crimes were objected against him with a viperous mouth, that the name of the holy man might be obscured. And while no true cause of accusation lay beneath, having attempted to darken him with calumnious figments, they began to patch together malign lies against him; and as a solace for the perpetrated crime, they attempted to darken the life of the most Holy Pontiff with false accusations, being eager to defile the man of God with concocted reproaches. That this might more easily come about, and might be fixed in human credulity, the calumniators objected likely names of vices against the virtues of Stanislaus. The iniquity, emulous of his sanctity, strove also to pervert his holy works, or, if that proceeded less, to darken them, by the cord of figments and the argument of witty discourse; and they called him not a Prelate but an oppressor; an executioner, not a watchman; a hireling, not a spouse; a wolf, not a Shepherd; a searcher not of minds, but of reins; and many other things which calumniators and the envious are wont to cast, by the wish of wickedness, snarling with a saucy mouth ever armed for reviling, with the calumnious lips of detractors, and with the venomous inventions of factions; and by manifold cavilings they strove to assail the sanctity of Stanislaus, and to deliver the Royal crime to oblivion, disgracing not only the King but also themselves.

[141] These figments of accusations also King Boleslaus had commanded to be divulged, being eager that the esteem and praise of him, both in words and in deeds, should be undermined, according to the King's wish. and utterly exterminated. All his intention tended to this, that he should violate the reputation of the holy man and cast down his fame; envying the contender for truth and justice, in the appellation of Martyrdom and likewise of honor, so that the name of Stanislaus should be sprinkled with the wit of all, the mockery and jest of all the tables. But that great eye of Divine providence does not rest for long, and the imprudence lying to itself could not darken the operations and merits of the holy man, meanwhile God's providence beginning to glorify him, nor was it able to dishonor his celebrated contest; whose light shone forth the more brightly, the more zealously human endeavor labored, both with hand and with tongue, to darken and extinguish it. For after it seemed that nothing of the affairs of Stanislaus the Bishop remained left among men, the providence of almighty God did not suffer the feeble minds of men to be imperiled by extreme despair. For immediately the Lord, after the contests were finished, after the struggle completed, began to magnify His Saint; and whatever the impious King had decreed for his ignominy and disgrace, He turned to the increase of copious praise; dissolving the engine of his tyranny, and confounding the lips of those speaking guiles and falsities.

[142] For when, after the slaying of the blessed man Stanislaus, another day had dawned, He sends 4 eagles to guard the dispersed limbs. and Boleslaus King of the Poles, and his henchmen and soldiers, and the partners in the crime perpetrated against the holy Pontiff, and the rest who flattered their deed, had believed the blessed body, cut up and dispersed by them, to have been consumed by wild beasts, birds, and animals; from the four parts of the world, four eagles of rare form and rare magnitude were seen to have flown, about to guard the scattered limbs: which, by circling more loftily about the places of the passion and of the limbs of the blessed body, and with singular vigilance, drove off the vultures, ravens, and the rest of the beasts and birds from contact with the sacred body. around which lamps also were seen to burn: Moreover there were seen by certain timorous and devout men, the night following the slaying of the Martyr, celestial rays of wondrous redness to have descended upon all the parts of the cut body, and to have joined their splendor with the dawn of the following day: and as many supernal lamps shone in the several places, as there had been scattered parts of the sacred body. By an evident sign the Most High demonstrating that He had signified His soldier by as many crowns, as the truculence of the tyrant had destined him to deaths, as much as in it lay. Then too iniquity first contracted its mouth, when it recognized the sanctity of Stanislaus the Bishop to be declared by celestial miracles: so that the celestial lamps then cried out that he was holy, just, and dear to God; while the contumelious cavillings of the malign pursued him, even when extinguished.

[143] For three days, therefore, these prodigies, divulged not by rumor only, but beheld by the faithful in frequent vision, These, after three days collected, and turned into admiration and religion, injected care into some devout Fathers, the Prelates and most of the Canons of the Church of Cracow, and laymen also, few indeed in number, but of integral faith, and many in religion, and gave them daring, to gather up again the parts of the sacred body, and to lay them in a just burial. Therefore in no way deterred by the King's atrocity and edict, approaching step by step and fearfully to the place of the passion, they accurately gathered up again the parts of the body which the deadly henchman had left, dispersed in various places, and guarded until their coming most scrupulously by the eagles, and with diligent care, by joining together the torn members and bones—white and red in the manner of the rose and the lilies, dearer than the most precious gems, and more probable than all gold—in a fitting and congruent order, they were eager to compose the lacerated body into the appearance of the symmetry from which they seemed to have been cut.

[144] Upon wondrous things follow things more wondrous. Astonishing to tell, they are miraculously united among themselves, but most easy for the supernal artificer and the eternal rewarder of His athletes. Suddenly they behold the sacred body, by a celestial medicine, made whole again in its several parts most solidly, without any mark of scars. And so it turned out far contrary to what the impious King had thought; and that very body, divided into a thousand parts, and exposed to the maws of wild beasts to be devoured, was guarded by Angelic ministry, and restored by Divine artifice to its first appearance (which can scarcely be believed by the unfaithful): so that the cruel cutting seemed to have conferred upon him rather a remedy than a punishment: and the body of the Martyr of God Stanislaus appeared whole and restored, to be wondered at by all, to be venerated by all. For who would not be astonished? who would not wonder, that a body lacerated by a thousand sections returned to the union of a solid body? Who would not be terrified? that the several members, manifoldly divided, by no force of pigments, by no solicitude of friends, but by their own celestial virtue sought again their places and proportion, and were void of all scars.

[145] no mark of the monstrous butchery left in the made-whole body. For then the supernal Physician deleted, wiped away, from the body of His athlete whatever the most menacing King had cut off, whatever the bloody butcher had inflicted: then to the military contumelies and reproaches there sufficiently responded the making-whole of the sacred body without the mark of scars, and the custody of the eagles, and the frequent descent of lamps to the tomb of the Saint of God; and it vindicated the Saint of God from all darkening: so that in each particular there might respond to him the brightness of a great and lofty glorification, who had borne so horrible a death

and cutting, for faith, for justice, for truth. Finally, so sweet a fragrance was breathed from the body lying and made whole, and so immense, that all were filled with it.

[146] The faithful, gladdened by so kindly a spectacle of this matter, he is buried in the Church of S. Michael, with less hesitation bear the sacred body to the church of S. Michael de Rupella, in which the Saint had borne his martyrdom (for the savagery of King Boleslaus even then forbade it to be carried into the greater church), with due honor and the greatest alacrity of all who had deserved to be present at this office: and before the doors of the church, in the open and under the sky, fearing the tyranny of the King and the casting-out of the sacred body, without mourning, without wailing, without ceremonies, they place it in a mean sepulcher, and according to custom store it in a tomb filled with spices; and the making-whole which they had perceived in the holy body, returned from the office of the funeral, they recount to all, all being astonished. Which manner of burial indeed, by a portion of dread and divine terror, was rather not prohibited than granted.

[147] Of all the pieces of the blessed body, one joint of the index finger of the right hand was noted to be lacking, with the finger-joint found in a fish. cast into the nearest lake: but this too the divine mercy showed must be sought and found. For that fish which had swallowed it, wherever it turned itself swimming, a certain brightness of supernal light, and eminent above it, betrayed: and so, easily caught by the boatmen, scrutiny being applied to its entrails, the joint also which was missing was found, and being set to the rest of the body, increased the magnitude of the miracle in the sight of each one. which also made salubrious the waters into which it had been cast. But to the waves of the aforesaid lake, by the contact of the sacred body, a singular power was attributed by divine propitiation from that time, that they heal the sufferings of various ailments: and if ever they are applied to human uses, they infect rather than fulfill them; declaring that they are no longer fit for that, and have in a manner changed their nature: which, the Lord granting, we believe we shall explain more fully in what follows.

[148] This was the pomp of the holy funeral, this the burial of piety, Henceforth the Saint began to be celebrated, procured first by Angelic ministry, then by human, more celebrated in expense and office than all Royal pomps. There came forth even then new joys from the new champion of faith, triumphal signs became known, the voice of poured-out blood thundered, the trumpet of his renowned martyrdom blared, the sweet earth was not silent of the sprinkling of gore, the Polish region resounded, endowed with a noble warrior; bearing before it the sure proofs of faith, and the most worthy monuments of the sacraments. On account of which the heavens and the earth rejoiced, a great cause of gladness accrued to mother Church, a manifold matter of joy came forth to her. She has whence to sing a new canticle to the name of the Most High, whence to render to God a hymn of immense praise, whence to rejoice with glad spirits, whence to chant the due thanksgivings to the Creator.

[149] We read that various Saints were illustrated by the most merciful God with various miracles and virtues, Renowned for miracles, according to their actions and merits. But the sanctity and merit of this most holy man Stanislaus, Bishop of Cracow, both in life and in death, was declared and illustrated by so many prodigies and portents, that they almost exceed the credulity of men. For who would not wonder that the blessed man, after three years' ashes, raised up Peter the Soldier? and that the soldiers of King Boleslaus, destined to slaughter the man of God, thrice fell backward? When both Lazarus, raised up by Christ our Lord, was only four days dead, and Judas Iscariot, about to seize Jesus Christ our Lord with the Jews, fell backward only once. Who would not wonder that he kept the price of rare virginity, in all his life, in mind and body? Who, moreover, would not be astonished that the sacred body, cut into a thousand parts, by the ministry of Angels more truly than of eagles, was guarded by night and by day from any contact of wild beasts, and moreover, illuminated by supernal luminaries, shone? and that the holy body, lacerated by so frequent cuttings, resumed a perfect making-whole even without the mark of scars? For although one and the same faith exercised all the Saints of God in passion, yet by a diverse kind both of merits and of glories it approved each one a victor.

[150] This therefore is the notable and most celebrated Martyr; who, when in his mortal body he had shone as a morning star to the living, eminent in virtues, now, his life ended, shines as the evening star to the dead: who, when in faith, mercy, zeal, vigilance, and all the institutions of the Christian religion he had flourished almost above men, perfect in word and in all erudition, unafraid and secure amid all adversities and injuries, enduring tyranny also with undaunted mind, deserved to grow bright even above the rest of the Saints with manifold prodigies. This is he who in all his life stood forth a man of Angelic life, virgin and martyr, and bearing integral virginity as well in mind as in body, a Virgin remaining until the consummation of martyrdom, and for the injury of God and of the Church and of the people, the other Bishops of the Polish province dissembling, about to surpass the office and negligence of all the others, placing himself in the perilous battle-line, and contending unto death for truth and justice, deserved to be magnified by almighty God with such sublime prodigies.

[151] Whence not without cause the whole Catholic Church, diffused throughout the world, sings in his most ample praise:

The true ray of the sun, the celestial physician, Is the author and the witness of the Martyr's merits. Signing chastity in the splendor of his body; Designating love, since it renders him whole.

O man magnificently humble, and humbly exalted! whose body was God's care, who, driving the tossing bark of his nation amid hostile rocks, could not be overcome by adverse waves. Who will dare to call this man dead, nay rather, who will dare not to call him living? whom God first willed to live on earth, notable for the rareness of his life, then carried into the celestial places by a glorious triumph: and about to prepare for him immense glory, permitted him to be invaded, to have his brains struck out, to be mutilated, to be cut up, all his members to be split, cut apart, exposed to wild beasts to be devoured: and when he was thought by all to be destroyed, suddenly and beyond the hope of all the power of the Almighty shone forth, and at the same time it shone how pleasing was the holocaust of his body: for He restored the whole body, cut up little by little, void of all mark of scars. He assigned Angelic guards to the lacerated body: He made celestial lamps shine at his tomb: at the invocation of his name He healed various kinds of diseases and very many ailments.

[152] O how happy a Pontiff! who for one temporal life, and that brief and uncertain, and his soul honored with a double triumph. and ever exposed to a thousand chances, attained two crowns, so to speak, of illustrious virtue in eternity: one namely in the triumphant Jerusalem, the other in the militant one; inscribed in both with most lofty names (because his virtues and trophies will be praised with all perpetuity among mortals) about to have an eternal proclamation of his works unto all generations, and among the celestial Spirits a Seraphic place: noble in living, but in dying more noble. The magnitude of his sanctity could be noted and discerned from wondrous and most rare effects. For unless he lived in heaven among the foremost and most blessed Saints, unless he excelled by singular merit and celebrated martyrdom; neither the splendor of his body without the mark of scars; nor the splendor of his body already torn from its flesh, brighter and more splendid than the sun; nor the lamps of wondrous redness, shining above the cut limbs; nor the bulwarks of the celestial eagles; nor the frequent and assiduous cure of the sick at the invocation of his name; nor the unusual prodigies, by which a man truly Apostolic, truly most holy, was declared by Christ the Lord, would have come about.

[153] The Man of God Stanislaus was made equal (as can be held by most perspicacious credulity as well as conjecture) compared to S. John the Baptist: to the greatest among those born of women, John the Baptist: who had almost everything that is preached of John in common with him. For each was begotten of a barren and long-closed womb, each a virgin, and each a herald and asserter of truth, each a reprover of incestuous lusts and unlawful nuptials in a King, each an announcer of the wrath to come, each strong in prophetic spirit, each a shedder of his blood for the law of God, for justice and truth, each a worker of astonishing miracles, each glittering with heroic virtues and sanctity, each a star irradiating in celestial glory, each garlanded with three little crowns. Although John was declared by the testimony of Jesus Christ alone, Stanislaus by an astonishing heap of miracles: the bones of John were contumeliously treated by heretics, scattered, burned up; the body of Stanislaus by King Boleslaus and his Soldiers, men of Belial, was lacerated by a thousand cuttings, exposed to wild beasts and animals to be devoured. The index finger of the one could not be burned up by fire, the index of the other could not be consumed by a fish.

[154] Truly therefore our Stanislaus is to be held most blessed, truly most glorious, truly most excellent, and especially to be venerated by all the Poles, and to be extolled by the mouths of all the faithful of Christ, but especially of his nation of the Poles, and to be followed with careful honor and worship: who, living, shone forth with various virtues, dying, blazed forth from heaven with innumerable prodigies: working assiduous miracles among the Poles even unto the present day, he shines bright by his passion and merits, preaching to all the virtue of piety. O thrice and four times blessed by the present and subsequent suffrages of glories: to whom it befell most gloriously to meet death for justice and religion, and to leave to posterity a notable testament of his faith, religion, and virtue, written not in ink but in blood; not on a tablet, but in his body; about to profit not a few, but all! For now he is in safety, nor can he be approached by anyone of the lofty: now, having passed beyond all tribunals, he spurns the threats and fierce countenances of all mortals: and resting in the ashes of his martyrdom, he awaits asleep the last trumpet for rising again into everlasting glory through a body to be glorified. He who was believed dead, has been translated into a better life: he whose eradication of memory and name from the earth was sought, rests secure: there is no one to terrify him henceforth; by whose consecrated and triumphal gift and the shedding of his blood, not only the Church of Cracow, but the whole Polish Church has been ennobled, and magnificently distinguished by his happy martyrdom.

[155] Rightly therefore would I say our Saint to be something more than a Martyr, who, when the soldiers entered the sanctuary first, second, by his most glorious martyrdom, and third, thrice bore martyrdom as much as in him lay: who, beheaded and his brain scattered over the pavement, endured the cutting-off of his nose and lips: who finally at the last, lacerated into a thousand little pieces, received the most rare palm of martyrdom, while, being cut up, he did not perish, but, made whole again, blazed forth: who, when he was thought consumed, arose like the Morning star, and grew incandescent like the noonday splendor, attaining the more certain rewards, the more harshly he endured torments for truth, faith, and justice. Wherefore there is afforded to us, by the provident dispensation of the Most High, a more just and true matter for rejoicing than for grieving over the slaying of the Saint of God. those rejoicing together deservedly. For I believe that no Pontiff, neither of his nor of the former age

(which I reckon more admirable) nor of the age that ran afterward, was to be compared in Poland to Stanislaus, either holier in life, or in religion, or in order, or more approved in defending justice and truth, in reproving the King, in averting and repelling oppression, in cultivating and holding fast religion. A man most gentle and most constant; a most valiant man, of a generous and lofty spirit, worthy that adversity should assail him; equally about to rage against other Pontiffs of our and of any other age, if it should find them equally qualified. For virtue is never seen to have established soft proofs of merit: nor is it known to be safe and inert; but to pursue arduous, but perilous things.

CHAPTER XII.

The Anathema laid upon the King and the slayers: the kingdom subjected to Interdict and various calamities.

[156] With various men variously thinking, very many mourning, After these things various and diverse faces were born in the breasts of men, in the days following the slaying of the Blessed Stanislaus. For King Boleslaus and his Purpled ones, those especially who had defiled themselves with the nefarious slaying of the holy man, strove (as is in the manner of power) manifoldly to lighten and attenuate their crime: on the contrary, by Ecclesiastical and timorous men the death of the Saint was most indignantly received and borne, and more frequently indulged in freer words and complaints: the King moreover is assailed by the reproaches of very many, that a Prince, otherwise distinguished with the Christian character, endowed with royal honor and dignity, had undertaken so enormous, so foul and monstrous a crime: whence the King's hostility against very many followed, neither hidden nor obscure. The minds of the rest, suppressing their passions out of Royal fear, were suffused with ineffable mourning, while they could neither hear of the tyranny committed against the Saint without bitterness of heart, nor recall it when heard without great execration and sadness.

[157] Meanwhile there came forth very many things avenging the slaying of the Saint and portending vengeance. Luminaries are seen to burn at the sepulcher: For on continual nights the sepulcher of the blessed man Stanislaus was illumined with the splendor of supernal luminaries and lamps, which could be discerned not only by devout and religious men, but everywhere by any whatsoever, and by the butchers themselves. Moreover, when the mournful tidings of the slaying of the man of God had been carried to the Supreme Pontiff Gregory the Seventh, the matter was long held as doubtful, the Pope and the Cardinals disbelieving that the Christ of the Lord had been slain by the Christ of the Lord. by Gregory VII the King and slayers are struck with anathema, But after the horrendous crime was confirmed, both by letters and by the relation and testimony of very many; the Supreme Pontiff, rushing into lamentable lamentation, and deliberating with what rigor and what animadversion so atrocious and barbarous a crime of King Boleslaus and his Soldiers should be punished; at length, by the authority of God almighty, anathematizes King Boleslaus, the Soldiers, the slayers of the blessed man, and all and others, by whose favor, counsel, assent, mandate he had been slain.

[158] Then to Peter, Archbishop of Gniezno, and all the Bishops of the Church of Poland he gave in mandate, and the kingdom is subjected to interdict. that, in execration and punishment of the parricide perpetrated by the King and the Soldiers, they should observe an interdict throughout the whole Gniezno province: and that both King Boleslaus and the Soldiers, partakers and accomplices of the crime, on Sundays and feast-days, the bells being rung and candles lighted, should be publicly and solemnly, by name and expressly, denounced as interdicted and anathematized: the whole kingdom of Poland also being subjected to a general interdict: so that, except for the baptism of infants and the penances of the dying, no Ecclesiastical or divine office should be celebrated in the churches and parishes of the Gniezno province, nor should the bodies of the deceased be delivered to burial. From King Boleslaus also and the slaying soldiers, but also from their families, nothing should be received in oblation, nothing admitted in alms, nor should any Sacrament be bestowed upon them, except the baptism of children and penance for those laboring in their last extremity. The same strictness also he commanded to be observed in each place to which, outside the Gniezno province, the King and the other slayers and accomplices should come, as long as they should there tarry present.

[159] Moreover he deprived King Boleslaus and the Kingdom of Poland of all honor, [the title of the Kingdom being taken away, the accomplices are declared irregular unto the 4th generation:] dignity, and Royal excellence: and absolving all the Princes, Barons, Vassals, subjects, from his subjection and dominion, he forbade the wonted obedience and subjection to be exhibited to him. To the sons moreover and grandsons, heirs and posterity of the Soldiers, who had slain the Saint, and who had furnished aid, counsel, or assent in perpetrating the crime, he interdicted, unto the fourth generation, ascent to any benefices whatsoever, both Ecclesiastical and worldly, offices, dignities, honors, so that in the memory of their paternal crime they should waste away with assiduous blushing, and deprived them of benefices, offices, honors, dignities held and to be held. Forbidding the same Archbishop of Gniezno, Peter, and his Bishops of Poland, to dare to crown and anoint anyone of whatsoever grade, pre-eminence, or status as King of Poland, the Apostolic See not being consulted.

[160] which mandates being put into execution, But Peter, Archbishop of Gniezno, and all the Prelates of the Polish Church, the Apostolic mandates being received, although great and bitter things were commanded, and although they held the tyranny of King Boleslaus and the Soldiers in dread and regard, lest with their wonted severity they should determine anything graver against their bodies or fortunes; yet not daring to prevaricate the Apostolic mandate, publish the interdict and the Apostolic anathema; and the several Churches being shut up, suspend the instruments of divine praises, not without the wailing of themselves, and also of the Clergy and the Polish people. The King also Boleslaus and the Soldiers, partakers and consorts of the slaying of the blessed man, they denounce publicly and by name as excommunicated, anathematized, and interdicted. It was moreover revealed to certain devout and religious men, by a divine and open oracle, that for the crime committed against the man of God Stanislaus by their King Boleslaus and his Soldiers, a revelation also being made concerning the future state of Poland, the kingdom of Poland and the provinces subject to it would be rent into as many monstrous divisions, as Boleslaus the King had dismembered the sacred body by himself and the Soldiers, and after some ages, after the humiliation and contrition of the Poles, God being appeased and propitiated, it would be made whole again, in the manner of the holy Prelate, void of every mark of any scar. Which oracle's denunciation, now afforded to human notice, and verified by the process of days, the succeeding age saw: our age also experiences and sees it; and the future, Christ the Lord granting, is about to see it.

[161] By these therefore and by very many other events, the esteem of the parricide perpetrated by the King and the Soldiers began to be refuted, and in their breasts, however obstinate and stony, a certain repentance began to arise: but Ecclesiastical men, repentance arising everywhere concerning the slain Bishop, and especially the Prelates, Canons, and ministers of the Church of Cracow, both for the monstrousness of the crime, and because they grieved that the holy and divine Pontiff had been taken from them, on account of the signification of present and future vengeance, a long sadness held. Then too for the first time, with freer complaints, with many laments also, with much grief and groaning, the slaying of the man of God was prosecuted, not only in the Cracow diocese, but in the whole Polish kingdom. and indignation against the King Then too, both against King Boleslaus and the Soldiers conscious of the slaying, many curses, revilings, and reproaches were brought forth, and their savagery manifoldly accused: which gnawed at the King and the Soldiers, as raging and recalling the audacity of the crime, with the grave sting of repentance; foreboding, in the manner of human disposition, that the judgments of God, which they had merited by the parricidal crime, would not be quieted for long: and now a secret punishment of the mind burned them; and the recollection of guilt became a torment to each one.

[162] and against his ministers. And although various Soldiers from various houses, families, and clans were reckoned to have performed the slaying of the holy man together with the King; and the monstrousness of the crime bound each of the King's ministers and Satraps who were present; yet the sum of the parricide convicts more the Soldiers of four families and clans, who are said to have held a greater principality in that crime of parricide; namely bearing the Labarum with a cross in a sky-blue field; likewise the river Sczenewa with a cross; and those who were split off from them bearing a simple river without a cross in a red field, who call themselves Druszyna; likewise a stirrup in a red field, bearing it as an ensign: whose succession and progeny endures in Poland unto this day. Upon these more frequent reproaches were scattered, upon these also more heaped-up revilings were piled; as if these, with more deadly and more overhasty right hands, had raged more cruelly than the rest unto the slaying of the Saint; and had inflamed the mind of the King, of itself raging and kindled, to hasten the crime.

[163] The King contemning the interdict, The anathema, by which through Pope Gregory Boleslaus King of Poland had been condemned for the crime of parricide, being lightly weighed and neglected, weighing as nothing also the privation of the kingdom and the ignominy of the Ecclesiastical interdict, he conducted himself as King for a whole three years; constraining each one to obey his commands, and complaining that he and his kingdom had been struck by an anathema scarcely just, and that for the slaying of one Bishop, slain for his own temerity and fault, he was not to be mulcted with so many penalties, pretending many causes for the patronage of the crime. Which space of three years' time I reckon the divine kindness to have granted to the King by its own long-suffering, that he might repent and be converted, and by the wondrous propitiation of His piety to have prolonged the times of his living unto three years. Obstinate however in his pertinacity the King (although Peter, Archbishop of Gniezno, and all the other Polish Pontiffs persuaded that the Apostolic See should be appeased, and the admonitions of the Bishops, and that satisfaction should be made for the crime by a fitting expiation, solemn envoys being destined) presented his back to the one chastising; reckoning it unworthy and base for himself to be converted to the one striking and admonishing him, and desiring his salvation: and being struck he did not grieve, and being worn down he refused to receive discipline: reckoning that he would not fall into any peril, nor be oppressed by any calamity; committing his several actions to chance and temerity, and neither conceiving nor admitting any salutary counsels: so that no one doubted that he, on account of the crime of parricide with which he had defiled himself, bore himself stripped of all the prudence and industry in which he formerly excelled, of all upright and sound sense in fine. For the once-great magnitude of his felicity and the power of empire forbade the recognition and expiation of his offense.

[164] The King had been opulent, before the crimes were perpetrated, in the gain of praise and wisdom; but after, exposed to the blows of all reproofs: before, nothing nobler than his name, nothing more sounding; but the parricide committed, nothing more worthless, nothing more ignoble: once flourishing among scepters and diadems, now deformed in the eyes of his own and of strangers; falling also from the felicity of fortune, whose course unto that day he had held with full sails, into the abyss of misfortune and ruin: and dissolving by the perpetration of one crime the heap of acquired things, by which he had either transcended or equaled the ancestral and paternal glory, and contracting for himself eternal stains, which the rest of his life could not wash away.

[165] Although, moreover, the censures of anathema and interdict were exceedingly grievous to King Boleslaus, yet more by the descent of luminaries and lamps to

the tomb of the man of God, Having then experienced the descent of luminaries and lamps, and by the prodigies and cures coming forth at the invocation of his name, he was offended: but reckoning that a feigned rumor concerning these things had been brought to him, and about to test whether it were true or fabricated, ascending into the watchtower of the Cracow citadel, and discerning with clear sight the supernal luminaries and lamps to descend, and to render veneration to the sacred body, he both desisted from assailing the Saint with reproaches, and began to fear more vehemently for himself on account of the parricide committed against him, then for the first time recognizing the mass of his crime: especially since both the contempt of his soldiers, swelling unto that day, afflicted him, and the not-unknown execration of strangers, for which the mere sight either of the luminaries or of the celestial lamps ought to have sufficed, to soften a stony and obstinate heart.

[166] In the former days indeed, both his own hope soothing him and the flattery of the soldiers, he reckoned himself to have committed a slight crime in the slaying of the Bishop: and he seemed to have had small account of the slaying, less of the vengeance, and other miracles to be done, none of the future time in his counsels, about to bring perpetual destruction and disgrace as much to himself as to his kingdom. But when in the process of time he saw, contrary to what he himself had reckoned, the divine providence magnifying His Saint with prodigies, the minds of the soldiers and subjects alienated from himself; that he too would become more odious and more despised, as one who was borne by immoderate fury; then at last, in the place of wrath there succeeded esteem, little by little he is pricked, though late; then too he began to feel and understand how great a man, how great a Saint, how useful to himself and the kingdom, and a zealot of his salvation, to be venerated by him even with private office, he had extinguished by a cruel butchery, and had corrupted the glory of the magnificent deeds done by him. For now the King, unburdened of wrath, after he whom he had hated had ceased to be; the envy being transmuted into commiseration, began with a late estimation to review the magnitude of the crime; and now scrutinizing more scrupulously now the person of the slain, now the cause of the slaying, he was tortured with anxiety of mind and spirit: and a vehement repentance and bitterness invaded his mind, that he had slaughtered a holy and celestial man, the preserver and guardian of his salvation and of his honor, urging upon him not only true but also useful things, by the detestable ministry of a butcher: nor content to slaughter, had finished him off, butchered with the tiniest blows. Nor in the King alone only, but also in the breasts of his Nobles and Soldiers the same commiseration, as also his nobles; the envy being driven away and fear arising, after they had seen the Saint grow bright with wondrous signs, was turning: and by the manner rather of vice than of human disposition, understanding the future, they more laboriously scrutinized the things transacted: because by the crime committed against the Saint, they recognized all their glory and peace, all their posterity, all their esteem in fine, together at once, to have fallen.

[167] Therefore it is sufficiently to be grieved, nay also to be wept, that King Boleslaus was so from himself diverse, who was too diverse from himself: that in that part wherein he is written to have brought back and performed trophies over very many peoples and regions, either subdued by him or sent under the yoke, and other things which mortals account first, and concerning the contempt of money and exceptional liberality toward all, military discipline also, he has no equal among the Kings of Poland; but in that part, wherein he polluted himself with impure and most obscene lust, wherein he applied pups to women in travail, the babes being cast away, wherein he burdened the provincials with manifold tribute, wherein he despised salutary reproof, wherein he beheaded the Saint of God Stanislaus, no one seems to have fallen into more deformed depravities, no one more reprobated by God, no one assailed by a more just hatred of his own. But no other things begot his furies, raging against God and men, than excessive felicity, vast resources and riches, which it would have been better to have lacked. For incited by these he put on foreign and barbarous manners, by these he flowed down into prohibited and condemned pleasures, not only to himself and his own, by these baited he suffered himself to be led about by no salutary admonitions not to use his pleasures for things lawful, by these finally he laid wicked hands upon Christ the Lord, by these he defiled and ruined a noble kingdom, and by a savage crime confounded the whole glory of the kingdom of Poland.

[168] For whatever had been acquired and ordained by the virtue of the ancient Kings and Princes, but he most grievously harmed the whole kingdom, by that one parricide fell, depraved; and the destruction of the kingdom burst forth from the King himself, whence it was least expected; leaving it uncertain, whether the King was more wicked against God and His religion, or against his fatherland, which by that foul crime he prostituted, ruined, violated, and whose glory he plucked away and overthrew; and cast a foul and mournful firebrand, to burn for a long time, into the commonwealth of the Poles and his own race. For from that time a dark whirlwind enveloped the Polish kingdom, and with the cold of a horrid tempest so shook it, that, the splendor of the kingdom being lost, fallen into various monstrous dissensions, by mutual slaughter, hostile invasion, the multiplication of Princes, it wove its own destruction for itself. For by that one slaying of Stanislaus the Bishop, the Polish kingdom had sent all its glory, acquired and to be acquired, into many ages and generations. For on account of that one crime of parricide against the Saint of God, I judge that God turned away from the Polish nation and kingdom, and not only by his just judgment mulcted it with the reproach of collisions and civil slaughters, but also for over ^b two hundred years from that time deprived it of the diadem of honor; and delivered the principalities and dominions of their kingdom to foreign nations and neighboring Princes, for usurpation and plundering.

[169] But even, the royal honor being restored, which the delay of so great a time had withdrawn from the Poles; the fury of divine indignation was proved not to have rested against the royal seed: while, only three Princes, which was thereafter delivered to foreign Princes. namely ^c Premislaus, ^d Wladislaus, and ^e Casimir, deriving the stock and origin of the ancient Kings of Poland, being permitted to reign in the Polish kingdom (although Premislaus reigned for a very short and almost usurped time), He granted to foreign seed the power of reigning over it unto this day. And although to the kingdom vacant by the death of ^f Louis the First, sprung from the house of France, Gemowith Duke of Mazovia, likewise after sixty years to the kingdom vacant from the death of ^g Wladislaus the Third (who, fighting with the Turks in the year of the birth of Christ one thousand four hundred forty-four, fell by a glorious martyrdom) Boleslaus Duke of Mazovia, by the concordant wish of Ecclesiastics and seculars, had been elected and designated, and days for the coronation of each had been appointed at the church and city of Cracow: yet in the place of each, by the astonishing will of divine dispensation, each being reprobated and judged unworthy of the royal throne, foreign Princes of the Lithuanian race ^h were substituted, as if not yet had satisfaction been fully made to the sacred blood of the holy Pontiff Stanislaus by so long an exclusion of the proper and natural Princes. The Divine majesty also, which showed itself propitious and pleased to the Polish nation by the restitution of the Royal diadem; yet to the Polish Princes does not show itself quieted in the wrath of its indignation, conceived against them for the slaying of the blessed man Stanislaus and other misdeeds: the progeny indeed has been and is continued in the Dukes: but in the Kings, God permitting, it received a discontinuation.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER XIII.

The Death of King Boleslaus. The Succession of his brother and of others without the title of King.

[170] The third year was now running its course, after the holy man Stanislaus, Bishop of Cracow, had been slain by the impious King Boleslaus, yet through all that time no zeal was seen to be generated of providing or succeeding to the Cracow Episcopate, which from the death of the blessed man was vacant. For no one dared to succeed so illustrious, so holy, so glorified a Prelate. The Cracow See vacant for a third year, Certain considerations of the King turned them away, who in their minds destined that savage man, and prepared for slayings: the others a civil and intestine war, soon to arise, shook. There was added also the resistance of the supreme Pontiff Gregory the Seventh, smacking of open severity, by which he refused another Bishop to be ordained at the Cracow See: and to the Clergy and people of Cracow, more frequently demanding that a Bishop be substituted for them, he showed himself inexorable. Greater than all the aforesaid was, for each one, the anxiety of the observance of the interdict throughout the whole kingdom of Poland, which seethed the breasts of every one with grave mourning, and kindled them into reproach and reviling of King Boleslaus: who, polluted with Pontifical blood, was cried out to have kindled the divine and human censure against himself and his race.

[171] But also King Boleslaus a secret punishment of the mind, never knowing to rest, pursued: The King taking no rest of mind, and the mere recollection of his guilt stood forth to him as a torment: while with assiduous meditation he probed and recollected, how by that brief butchery, and (as he flattered himself) about to have nothing of vengeance, he had bound disgrace not only to himself but to his posterity and progeny; and had transfused into his descendants the decree of reprobation, by which all the glory of the kingdom fell. And so, conscience clamoring against the wicked man, he could take neither rest, nor food, nor sleep at pleasure; nay through slumber by the furies of the committed parricide, by the stings of his conscience and the appearances of impending punishments he was agitated, reckoning his crimes with himself: nor from the persuasions and counsels of friends, bidding him to hope for better things than those he had drawn into his mind, could he receive solace; nor lay aside the conscience of the crime, although he was confirmed by the solace of soldiers and friends: because a deeper sense of the vices perpetrated by him had settled in him. For from fornications into adulteries, after into the condemned lust of the execrable sodomitic vice, from this consequently into parricide,

and at the last into contempt and a certain desperation, precipitated by a most grievous fall, he showed vices to be connected: and that, upon the defilement of one, unless it be washed away by speedy repentance, the rest more swiftly follow on.

[172] By these vices King Boleslaus built himself a step into the abyss: and finding himself contemned at home and abroad, by these the light of the Polish kingdom, as if obscured by a black cloud, was first driven away from him, then at the last exterminated, and every engine of his once-brightness and excellence, of all majesty and power, of all tyranny and munificence, dissolved. The once-happy and green state and condition both of himself and of his kingdom, while all things yielded to him according to his wish, was rolled down to a specimen of great reproach and disgrace. When both very many Ruthenian provinces, subjugated by him, the yoke of subjection cast off, refused him tribute and the wonted imposts; and from his own Nobles a hatred and contempt crept upon him daily. For, as the mobility especially of the military rabble is, compunction over the perpetrated crime had grown: and the King had become hateful to all his own, in whose breasts the crime of parricide had by divine nod broken out afresh: and the kingdom began to be in tumult, and public affairs to be turned about in a heaving and discordant action and order. and understanding himself odious to all. For no one of the foremost of the Barons and Nobles was found, except a few partakers of the crime, who would look upon the King but that he would groan; no one perchance, who would not execrate his principality; no one, who would not imprecate destruction and death upon him. Each one hated him as a pestilence and an unhappy omen, avoided him, fled him, detested him. The hatred moreover both of the Nobles and of the Commons had so boiled over, that very many conspired for his slaying or captivity: reckoning that they would not otherwise obtain the glory and ensign of the Royal diadem, not otherwise the relaxation of the divine offices, not otherwise finally the averting, gradually swelling, of the divine vengeance, than by his being slain or captured.

[173] and dismayed by the fear of God's impending vengeance, Understanding therefore that neither the Powers above nor men would bear his impious and wicked deeds, and that on account of the crime of the parricide committed against the Saint he was being sought by swift vengeance; and that he was to be oppressed and condemned by the most grievous judgment of all his own, King Boleslaus was shaken with a most strong and most bitter mourning. There came over his mind and consideration, on this side the judgment of divine vengeance, visiting sins upon several generations, on that the fear of punishments; on this side the recollection of the crime perpetrated against the Saint, on that the divine and human persecution, which so vexed and seethed him, that he seemed almost finished off unto destruction by mourning and the worm of conscience. Often he confessed to the ears of his friends, that he was driven about by the appearance of parricide and by the shades and phantasms of the furies. Then the memory of the counsel of the blessed man Stanislaus—ill [not] believed, frequently spurned, and late approved—came over him. he recognizes that he has sinned, Then the impious crime, the truculent envy, the unheard-of malevolence, with which he raged unto the slaying of the Blessed man Stanislaus, were turned before his mental and bodily eyes, not without a most grievous and penal conflict. Then for the first time he began to profess to the ears of his friends, that by the nefarious and execrable crime of parricide prepared by himself, he had cast the seed-bed not of quiet but of most turbulent commotion, not of peace but of war, not of amplitude but of want; and that he had despoiled first himself, then his race and fatherland, of the royal diadem and excellence; and that he had ruined the regions of the Poles with miserable disasters, about to arise by the just judgment of God for the slaying of the man of God, crying out that he had committed a perilous error for himself and his fatherland, and one which had plucked away all glory from all the years and acts of his life. Then a man otherwise magnanimous, who had shown himself strong and vigorous in wars and contests, was dismayed with a vast panic; dreading that the vengeance, on this side of the divine judgment, on that of human envy, was now present and now pressing on; yet he did not turn himself to the repentance of tears, yet not unto repentance: which would have made God propitious and placable to him, if he had been able to grow wise even after the slaying of the Pontiff.

[174] Boleslaus King of the Poles, seeing a horrid tempest arisen against him for the crime of parricide, his mind being assiduously tortured within by the recollection of his deeds, understanding his contempt and the envy assiduously increased, and that he was hateful to the Provincials, and would be constrained by a too-hard lot; and pondering the confusion of his way of life, reckoning with himself what crime he had committed, he bore the parricide before his eyes, perturbation in his soul; and the indignation that he had slain an innocent man was turned into commiseration. For various revilings from every side burned his anxious mind, and agitated by the desperation of his affairs, every kind of reproach: no sleep could befall his eyes, no quiet his soul: his sick heart was seethed with assiduous grief and groaning and deep sighs also. The King at times breathed forth ferocious words, yet his mind, fearful from conscience, was discerned. Hating the present light and life, and drawing an unpleasant breath at each thing, about to shun the sight and presence of those who had conspired for his ruin, and their machinations, about to give satisfaction as soon as possible to the most just and great hatred of the citizens, and goaded moreover at the last by a profound shame; he decreed to undertake flight into Pannonia, not from contrition of the crime, but for the sake of avoiding the whirlwind arisen and to arise. For he judged that region more fitting both to his flight and to the lot into which he had been thrust down.

[175] And so, a heavy quantity of gold being heaped up, taking with him his twelve-year-old son Mieczslaus, who, the rest being consumed by fate, remained alone to him, Borzywoj son of Msta and all the rest, Poland being secretly deserted, who together with him had butchered the Saint of God Stanislaus; fearing extremities to be brought upon them by his departure, if he should leave them in Poland; the kingdom left, the fatherland left, the diadem left, the tyranny and wife left, turned to flight, the conscience of impiety pressing on; he was compelled to bring exile upon himself, the magnitude of grief goading him: as one who, placing no confidence in the charity of the Nobles, through the destitution of soldiers dreaded to be sought by the javelins or poisons of the conspirators. And so, by a most swift and clandestine course, the Royal majesty overshadowed with servile clothing lest he be detected by the conspirators, and keeping his eyes suffused with tears, upbraiding his soul, which had driven him into so nefarious a daring of savage parricide; Cracow left, as if by escape about to elude God, dismayed in mind and like one bereft of reason, undertaking the Pannonian flight, turning aside to the most holy Wladislaus King of Hungary, his kinsman and foster-son, about to undergo there his fate, he arrived: he flees into Hungary to S. Ladislaus: by whom he was received with great honor, and for some time was treated with just favor, both by right of blood and of hospitality afforded and to be afforded and of requital (for he professed himself restored by the power, expenses, and arm of King Boleslaus to his paternal inheritance).

[176] But striving to extenuate the magnitude of his crime before S. Wladislaus King of Hungary and his Nobles, charging many and various deeds upon the Saint of God, he made out that he had been slain by him with right. Yet he could not flee from God, the inspector of all, neither by discourses, however craftily composed, for washing away the crime, nor by the Pannonian withdrawal and hiding-place: but he received punishments worthy of his presumption, while an unhoped-for and destructive end seized upon him. For not bearing his Royal excellence to be diminished in the estimation of Wladislaus King of Hungary and his Nobles, because he was an exile and a parricide, where, not bearing the contempt of himself, a clandestine murmur at times penetrating into his hearing, and trodden down by the contempt and disdain of his own as well as of strangers, tortured moreover by the worm of conscience more than while he dwelt in Poland (for from a King made an exile, from rich needy, from glorious despised), that change was not easy for him to endure, as one held untrained and unexercised for it. he falls into madness, and dead, is devoured by his own dogs, In the second year therefore of his exile, seized by a sudden languor, and turned into madness, the Alps, forests, groves and other pathless places, hating human company, and now worthy to be met by the price of his parricide, now about to undergo the ripe vengeance of his outrage, seeking them raving, and running about in them; by his own dogs, accompanying him alone, while wearied and panting he had breathed out his soul by a sudden death, eaten and devoured, afflicted with that most foul punishment, he ended his impious life by a worthy death: and since he despised to hear the one salubriously admonishing, according to the prophecy of Job he perished consummated in folly, and found an end of life worthy of his manners and deeds, and obtained outcomes equal to his impious and evil works: worthy of that punishment, who had violated faith by sacrilege, piety by parricide, chastity by incest; the Divinity inflicting upon him this requital and punishment fittingly and most justly for his impiety.

[177] having obtained an end worthy of the crime committed against the Saint, For he who had decreed to extinguish S. Stanislaus, and to delete his memory from the earth; was extinguished and deleted. He who had attempted to exile him; was compelled to bring exile upon himself, and, turned into madness, to perish by a base death. And he who had assailed the Saint with revilings and reproaches, was himself, in life and in death, pursued with dire execrations. And he who had cast the sacred body, cut up little by little, to be devoured by wild beasts and birds; was himself torn apart by the maws of his own dogs, was their fodder and food. And whatever of tyranny, cruelty, and ignominy he had inflicted upon the Saint, that brought upon himself, with the admiration and trembling of all men scrutinizing the works of God by upright judgment, the present age and the later one shall recognize. Then the light of the impious man was extinguished, and the flame of his fire ceased to shine; who, precipitated by malign counsel, found so horrendous an end, everywhere terrified, everywhere stupefied, everywhere spurned, everywhere contemned, marking the magnitude of the crime perpetrated against the Saint of God. Nor could any retribution subtler, stricter, and more equitable be bestowed upon him.

[178] And so Boleslaus King of Poland, indulging in the pleasures and enticements of the flesh, even in the very condemned lust, above the rest of the outrages and disgraces perpetrated by him, and in other passions of flesh and spirit, lost all his and his kingdom's celebrity together with his life: and walking by a headlong way, met bitter ends; and his corpse was the food of birds and the devouring of dogs. while the name of Stanislaus is everywhere praised: The faith and constancy of the Pontiff Stanislaus, beheld even unto the most cruel cutting, shall be praised, about to have everlasting glory through all perpetuity. King Boleslaus, rolled down into most foul disgrace, turned the light received from his ancestors into the densest darkness; whose name and all royal seed, God exterminating it, perished. The contest and virtue of Stanislaus, fixed in the memory of all ages, by land and sea, is extolled, venerated, admired, and sung by the universal church.

[179] O! how much better had it befallen so great a King, if before the parricide, turning away both his own and the kingdom's destruction, he had departed life; about to obtain even after his fate and ashes happier offices and gifts! For in the Alps and forests, in which by divine vengeance he perished, no troops of mourners were beheld for so great and such a King

throngs of servants, no pomp of soldiers or clients, no crowd of friends, of bystanders or bodyguards, no cohort of matrons or virgins, no price of burial, no splendor of funeral: and not deemed worthy even of the honor of a sepulcher, and he was condemned to so great an ignominy, the most just God permitting, that, denied even any little plot of profane earth, he was buried in the bellies of dogs: not embalmed with spices or in a royal Mausoleum, but overwhelmed with dung and stench. How foully, how basely he lived; the time, place, condition both of his death and of his burial most efficaciously showed. For God being a just censor, by the things by which the wicked King himself sinned, by those same he is tortured. For because, out of his ferocity, he commanded dogs to be applied to suck human milk and to torture the breasts of women; and ferociously ordered babes to be hung from their mothers' nipples for the suckling of bitch-pups; it stood forth, by an equal balance, worthy that—provoked at the jaws of those pissing against the wall—he should, like a wild beast, be eaten and consumed by wild beasts. Finally, with scrupulous diligence it is to be noted, how great labors, how many endeavors, how great expenses and sweats fell smitten by one parricide, and the King and the kingdom were precipitated by one transgression.

[180] for an example to the Kings and Princes of Poland, But King Boleslaus ought to be a greatest lesson to the Kings, Princes, and Nobles of Poland, lest they be proud of successes and the power of affairs flowing at their nod; but show themselves humble and remiss: nor on account of the glory of race or blood, or victories gained, bear themselves more insolently; but with trembling await the divine sentence concerning themselves, to what end or odium their felicity is about to come: lest by the flatteries of henchmen, soothing their wraths, they grow insolent: lest against the just reprovers of their transgressions they be roused by any cloud: lest in shedding Sacerdotal blood they use an overhasty and fervid disposition; about to understand, from the ruin of King Boleslaus, that empires and all power, nay even sense, are easily lost by prevarication against God, but preserved by the fulfillment of the decrees of God.

[181] King Boleslaus being consumed, judgments graver than the former ones, both of the Nobles and of the commons, were cast against him: that he had been grave and cruel: ruling proudly and iniquitously, a tyrant rather than a King, that he had burdened the region with tributes, afflicted matrons with pups, violated nature with lust. and the supreme mourning of the Queen, The royal consort, putting on at once the dread and the credence of his death and downfall, began miserably to deplore that she had been reserved for these fruits of fecundity and life, that she should bear ears burdened with the reproaches of her husband, and in his green age be deprived of his consortship, nor had been able to render him the last office. Some are said, from the death which befell King Boleslaus by so unusual a chance, to have given place to fables, derived even unto our times; which asserted that he was alive in the Pannonian forests, and that, for the atrocity of the crime committed against the Saint, vultures and blood-seeking birds devoured his flesh by night, which by days would grow back, and being consumed, were born again; and that after the expiation of the crime he would at length return to Poland, and reign in it. Not only moreover against Boleslaus King of Poland, the punishment of the other accomplices. but also against his soldiers, the counselors and partakers of the parricide, the divine vengeance raged. For by a various and bloody kind of death, according to the magnitude of the parricidal crime, according to the gravity of demerits, they were consumed. Their progeny moreover the divine wrath pursued with manifold languors, downfalls, misfortunes, sufferings: by whose example especially the divine power is to be dreaded by others, who do not fear to act against right and divine law.

[182] There succeeded to Boleslaus, the aforesaid King of the Poles and parricide, his brother Wladislaus succeeding, after his own and his house's base downfall, contracted from parricide, flight, and most base death, ^a Wladislaus his own brother, surnamed Hermann, younger by birth, and who, his two elder brothers Casimir and Otto being consumed by an untimely death, remained alone to the kingdom, as well in the kingdom of Poland, as in all the Polish Principalities and Dominions. Yet he lacked the honor of benediction and diadem, nor deigned to entitle and name himself King of Poland, but only called himself Lord and heir of the kingdom of Poland (which we too have seen in his original letters); without royal title or unction, the Archbishop of Gniezno, on account of the prohibition of the supreme Pontiff, refusing to bestow the gift of his royal unction and consecration upon himself and his stock, as though the royal glory and fasces had been granted to that man, not to the province. From which time the inheritance of the Polish Kingdom and of its dominion was rent among several Princes, through a long series.

[183] But Wladislaus the Duke, having obtained the principality of the kingdom of Poland by the approbation of all, since he was a man of rare and remarkable devotion and religion toward God and the Church; and from the headlong downfall of his brother Boleslaus King of Poland fearing greatly for himself and his estate; had intended all his offices unto the Christian faith and religion; he took care that this first be done, that the Ecclesiastical interdict, laid for the slaying of the blessed Pontiff Stanislaus, he seeks the interdict to be lifted, which pressed unto that day upon the kingdom of Poland; and that the bereavement and widowhood from the Church of Cracow, no one daring to succeed a Father so most worthy as Stanislaus in so many fluctuations of affairs, be taken away. And because the censure of the interdict had come forth from the authority of the Apostolic See, he sends solemn envoys, Ecclesiastical and secular, to Rome to Gregory VII. By whose assiduous prayers Gregory VII being overcome, when he had received as ascertained that Boleslaus, King of Poland, the slayer of the holy man, had departed from the kingdom of Poland into exile to Pannonia, and there, turned into madness, had perished, and that his brother Wladislaus had succeeded into the Principalities and dominions of the kingdom of Poland; both lifted the interdict, hitherto continued in the Polish Church; and ordained ^b Lampert the Gaul, a man known to him for many years, and a Bishop of Cracow to be established, and sincerely versed in the affairs and offices of the Roman curia, as Bishop of Cracow.

[184] Not long after there returned ^c Mieczslaus the Duke, son of Boleslaus King of Poland, with the Barons and Nobles of Poland: Mieczslaus son of Boleslaus is recalled to Poland, who, together with the King, conscious of the crime perpetrated against the Saint of God, had gone into Pannonia to exile; recalled to Poland to his native seats by Wladislaus Duke of Poland, his own paternal uncle, lest, to the contumely and reproach of the Royal seed, he should be constrained to live on alien alms with the Soldiers following him, with ^d a wife, received from the princes of Russia. But both on account of his vigorous disposition, with which many had already then noted him to sparkle, and on account of the offspring to be undertaken, the malign emulation of the foremost of Poland, especially of those who had conspired in the slaying of his father, fearing that the paternal injuries would be avenged on themselves or their sons, by poison secretly administered ^e took off the youth in the first flower of his age, he is extinguished by poison, and eradicated him as it were a certain germ of future tares; he is believed by so untimely a death to have paid the punishments of paternal impiety, and to have given grave penalties for his father's offense: to whom, on account of the paternal offense, it is noted to have come, not the inheritance of the kingdom, but of hatred and vengeance and untimely death. But at his obsequies, while they were conducted among the people of Cracow by the mother of the youth, deploring his death with great weeping, and by Wladislaus the Duke his paternal uncle, great honor was given; a great multitude of country-folk running down from the fields to honor his funeral: in whose breasts the longing as well of King Boleslaus as of his son Mieczslaus lately dead had grown strong; in the manner of human disposition, by which we more vehemently desire the things that are absent, neglect the things that are present. But from the death of Mieczslaus the Duke all the stock of Boleslaus, once King of Poland, regarding the more direct line (so that the word of the blessed man Stanislaus, and with him the progeny of Boleslaus. by which long before he had foretold this to him by a faithful prophecy of prophetic speech, might be verified) was consumed; and it was fulfilled to the letter, which is written in blessed Job concerning the iniquitous man: "His seed shall not be, nor his progeny among his people, nor any remnants in his regions." Job 18, 19

[185] But Wladislaus the Duke, surnamed Hermann, obtained the monarchy of the whole Polish kingdom: under whose rule and that of ^f his sons and grandsons the face of the whole Polish kingdom was in a short time changed, the Princes disturbing and rending the Polish kingdom, not propagating it, but pressing it with grave exactions, levies, and tributes; waging Civil wars also, not external ones; and on account of the want which followed, in no way able to defend the borders of the kingdom, which were occupied by neighboring Princes, and the comeliness of the kingdom, so that in the place of a fecund crop and a glad vineyard, a squalid and stinking field was noted to have risen up; the region of the Poles moreover, from the most honorable and lofty summit of royal dignity, fell down into a low and slender place, turned from the right of Kings into the right of Dukes, which for more than two hundred years, not without the grave creaking of civil wars and schisms and alienations, afflicted under Dukes for 200 years: bore disgraces; and obtained a far unequal state and quality under Dukes than under Kings, who rent and enervated its monarchy. But I, when I behold the Polish kingdom, on account of the slaying of the blessed man Stanislaus, despoiled of royal splendor, the fasces of the diadem withdrawn from it, enveloped in civil disasters, and rent into various monstrous principalities and divisions, very many provinces usurped from its body, and all its comeliness and strength languishing; am driven and reduced into this doubt, whether by royal prevarication only, or also by a crime of the Polish people, these very evils, which had lasted for nearly two hundred years, had happened: but, if we wish to confess the truth, both the King's and the people's crime compelled the Divinity to bring vengeance.

[186] to which at length restored, We therefore who did not see the ancient times, in which the kingdom of the Poles was worn and dashed by various tossings; but by divine mercy have fallen into better times, under which the making-whole of the Polish kingdom for the great part has come about, let us venerate our most worthy Prelate Stanislaus, excelling in all the offices of virtues. Although the whole people of orthodox religion concelebrate his victorious contest with suppliant devotion; S. Stanislaus to be honored above all yet a gladder Poland admires, venerates, and honors his insuperable constancy in suffering for faith, for religion, for liberty: for which there is to be a more exultant glorying in his martyrdom, by whose intercession and merits the making-whole itself has come about, and is believed in the future more fully to come about. Let us follow his manners, life, conversation, religion, constancy, patience and all his footsteps step by step (as far as it is granted to us by the grace of the Most High), and to be imitated, that by his intercession and suffrage we may deserve to attain to the consortship of the citizens above: which from the merit of his passion may He deign to grant us, who is to God the Father through all and in all coeternal, consubstantial and coequal, Jesus Christ, with the same Father and the Holy Spirit one God, eternally reigning, blessed through the ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

The things which are said in num. 184 concerning the deadly end of Boleslaus, and pathetically

exaggerated thereafter, since they are said to have been done with no one conscious of them, have perhaps no other foundation, [The tradition concerning the final repentance of Boleslaus among the Carinthians.] than that the unhappy man, having gone out to hunt, appeared no more in those places. Wherefore the milder things which the Carinthians narrate of him do not seem altogether to be rejected, in Georg Crugerius, in the Triumphi Majales of the Kings of Bohemia, published at Litomysl in the year 1669, saying that Boleslaus came wandering to Villach in Carinthia, to a Benedictine monastery: received in it, because it was not known who he was, he consumed many years in rigid penance: but with death now imminent, the straits of conscience agitating him, he at length revealed himself to be the King and the series of his deed to the Abbot and the Brethren, and so in good hope of a propitious eternal Judge departed to the immortals. The relaters of such an event add moreover that, within their memory, there existed at Villach a sepulchral stone, from which any inspector whatsoever could read and learn these things. If these things are true, as we wish them to be, they will not slightly exaggerate the merit of the glorious Martyr Stanislaus before God, who obtained after death, by regard of his blood, the salvation of a most desperate man, for which he labored so greatly in life.

e In the year 1089.

BOOK II.

The Miracles perpetrated after the translation of the body.

PROLOGUE.

[1] The series and order of the Life of the most blessed Martyr and Prelate Stanislaus, woven together as best it could be by a meager and slender talent through divine propitiation, demands, as well of the things to be said as of those promised, that we begin the beginning of the miracles following his happy contest. Yet let it be permitted me to preface in this exordium of speaking, that it is not in my mind to describe all the miracles of the Saint (for time would desert me sooner than the matter): but only the more divulged and more notable ones, and those which have come to our knowledge. For very many existed, Miracles perpetrated in the first decade after the martyrdom, and exceeding as well number as credence, which came forth in the whole decade following his martyrdom; but of all those, as well the astonishing magnitude as the progress and quality, partly the fear of the tyrant Boleslaus King of Poland, while for three years he ruled among the Poles, the holy man being slain, withdrew, partly the prohibition of the succeeding Prince Wladislaus, brother of King Boleslaus, enveloped in the mist of oblivion: no one daring to extol and publish the miracles of the blessed man, which came forth at the invocation of his name with frequent and assiduous repetition; nor even to annotate and transmit them to the succeeding age. For the man of God Stanislaus, living and dead, in which the apparition of lights at the sepulcher. by the merit of his virtues shone forth wondrous to all, growing bright with assiduous prodigies; which although the wickedness of wicked men, and especially of those who had slaughtered him, strove malignantly to darken and obscure; yet this one thing it was able neither to contaminate, or to deride, nor to becloud, nor to overwhelm and cover with oblivion, that during all that whole decade, following the passion of the Saint, to his sepulcher on continual nights supernal luminaries, testifying the exceptional sanctity of the blessed Pontiff, descended, and celestial lamps shone at his tomb. Stanislaus also was seen by several devout and religious men, and the Saint himself within the Church. keeping watch night and day at his sepulcher in the church of S. Michael, at whose doors he had been entombed, the lamps shining and illuminating the whole church with a wondrous light, to stand at the altar vested in his Pontificals and to bestow the gift of benediction upon the men who had assembled. He was also seen, with two choirs of venerable persons surrounding him in a crown, to chant the Davidic Psalms, and to diffuse a sweet harmony. But the ashes or pebbles, brought from his sepulcher to the sick, conferred upon the ailing full remedies of health.

[2] But the canonization of the most blessed Stanislaus could have come about, within a few years following his death, compendiously and easily. For he, to whom the raising up from the dead of Peter the Soldier, produced after three years as a witness; and the martyrdom and the cause of the martyrdom, for which and other things he could at once have been canonized, and the making-whole of the body dismembered little by little, excluding any scar; the three-day protection of the eagles guarding the parts of his body by night and by day, lest any be torn away by wild beasts: moreover the decade-long splendor of the lamps and celestial luminaries, abundantly afforded a most ample and copious matter of sanctity; all things through that season most known and common among the Poles, and which could be supported before the ears of the supreme Pontiff by universal and frequent testimony. But the canonization of so most worthy a Martyr, both while it gushed with recent martyrdom, and while it shone afterward with astonishing prodigy, was impeded, the Princes of Poland prohibiting it: whence neither did the writers of the annals of Poland dare clearly, nor even compendiously, to insert the cause of the martyrdom of the blessed man, concealing the royal crime concerning the condemned lust and the nefarious abuse of the beast: [unless the Princes had stood in the way, even forbidding these things to be written:] lest namely an ignominy be branded as well on the race as on the nobility of future offspring; and a record of a base stain in the genealogy, vehemently spotting and disfiguring the very succession of the Princes, be set. Thus the man of God, not living only, but also dead, bore the hostilities and hatreds of the Princes of Poland; and for him, buried and consumed from human affairs, even an atrocious envy and malice was prepared.

[3] But the Lord's field, sown as it were with the most pure grain of the blood of Stanislaus the Bishop, the Princes of Poland and any earthly Powers whatsoever in vain turning away or prohibiting, rose up into a most ample crop and harvest; and from then sprouted most abundantly with a most fecund offspring of virtues, merits, and prodigies, and now sprouts, about to sprout, God being propitious, unto the end of the age. those things nonetheless abounded, And he whose blood one King of Poland persecuted, today the several Kings, Princes, and Nobles of Poland beseech that they may by his special patronage be prospered, aided, and directed. But compare, if it please, the trophies or triumphal arches or funereal pomps of any Emperors, Kings, and heroes whatsoever, conducted with however magnificent expenses, or signs and tablets, or applauses or wailings; yet you will find the funeral pomp of Stanislaus more celebrated, more famous, notable and lasting. and made the Saint glorious above Kings. Whom we believe to have been honored for a whole decade, not by men nor by simultaneous praises, nor by several and circumscribed days; but by Angels and the most just proclamations of very many years; not by tapers, fashioned by the work of bees, but by supernal luminaries and the glittering descents of Angels and celestial lamps.

CHAPTER I.

Apparitions made to certain persons: the Translation of the body to the Cathedral Church.

[1] The right hand of the Most High did not, after these things, cease to magnify His Saint: Meanwhile the Saint is beheld by a pious woman celebrating Mass, but began to extol him against human sentence. For the decade having elapsed, while at his tomb a religious and noble woman, Swanthoslaua, kept frequent watches in the deep nights, and implored the merits of the most blessed Stanislaus for the fulfilling of her own and others' necessities, and discharged her vows by continual entreaties; a certain slumber, midway between rest and waking, crept upon her at dawn as she more deeply intended that devotion: and as if rapt into a certain ecstasy, she seemed to herself to have entered the church of S. Michael de Rupella, glittering with much light: and at the same hour of her entrance she beheld B. Stanislaus the Bishop, clad in Pontifical ornament, the orders of venerable persons surrounding him and assisting him and bearing suffrages, performing the divine office at the altar with solemn rite; and she was present both at the beginning of the solemnity and of the mysteries, which were performed by the blessed man, and at the end. Which when they were finished, that woman, bidden to approach nearer, and to lay aside all the fear by which she was oppressed; he complains of his neglect, gathering herself somehow from her dread, came into the sight of so venerable an assembly. With whom that venerable Prelate, more august than the rest who were assisting both in form and in dress and veneration, complained in many words; wherefore by the sloth and neglect of the Poles, and especially of the Ecclesiastical men presiding over the Church of Cracow, for so long a space of time his body was covered by the hiding-place of cheap dust, asserting that this befitted neither their lot nor his own. To his most modest complaint, his name being made known, and he commands the body to be translated to the Cathedral, namely who and of what kind he was, he added commands: "I am," he said, "Stanislaus, Bishop of Cracow, by thee, daughter, devoutly and religiously worshipped unto this day: for the merit and favor of which thing I have judged thee worthy as the messenger of my commands. Go therefore, daughter, and to my successor the Bishop of Cracow, Lampert, and to the Canons my Brethren announce, that they suffer me and my body no longer to lie hidden, and my bones to remain under the open sky in a dusty covering: but that they be eager henceforth to translate it into the Church of Cracow, whereby more of veneration may accrue to God, and of benefits to mortals." By so faithful an oracle of the noble and religious woman Swiamskoslaua, Bishop Lampert and the Prelates and Canons of Cracow being moved, when it was announced to their ears; to which moreover they had afforded easy credence, because the testimonies of very many others, relating it as a sister's report, corroborated her; the Prince of the kingdom Wladislaus the Duke being first consulted and permitting, they decree the sacred body to be translated. The solemnity of the translation being also instituted, and published for several days, the tomb of the sacred body being unsealed, which while it was uncovered breathed a wondrous fragrance of odor, they raise the sacred and venerable body, the singular ornament of the world, from the earth with praises and tears: and placed in a most honorable ark, amid the frequency of the numerous people who had flowed together from the fields and cities, as it was done 27 September in the year 1088, the Bishop and Canons bearing the sacred burden, on the fifth of the Kalends of October, in the year of the Lord ^a one thousand eighty-eight, they translate it, and in the greater and Cathedral temple, situated in the citadel of Cracow, which among the Poles was held the most adorned and greatest at that season, dedicated primarily to the name of ^b S. Wenceslaus the Martyr, with all due honor and reverence, a mausoleum being erected, and in the middle of that temple, in a most beautiful sarcophagus fashioned of stone, and covered over with a golden plate, which denoted by carved images the series of the blessed man's passion, they lay it. To which they add also these verses inscribed in golden letters as an Epigram:

This tomb covers the ashes of Blessed Stanislaus: Because he favored not the impiety of King Boleslaus, By martyrdom he passed to the deserved abodes of heaven: Happy he, to whom the Deity is the reward, to whom the stars the seat.

But from that time of the translation, on account of the eminent and astonishing deeds of virtues and prodigies of Stanislaus the Bishop, whence now it is called the church of S. Stanislaus. the Basilica of the Cathedral of Cracow, the ancient title being for the great part abolished among the common folk, passed into the name and title of Stanislaus; and suppressing the name of B. Wenceslaus, illustrated by the happy gore of Stanislaus's martyrdom more than of its own, learned more of him, through the eyes, not through the ears, and assiduously learns; and began to worship, admire, and venerate him. To whom the blessed Martyr Wenceslaus also, on account of that most ample charity which thrives among the blessed souls enjoying the eternal age and contemplation of the divine Majesty, as if about to honor his guest, seems to have yielded his lodging; not an envious declarer of the glories by which Stanislaus shone in life, in death, and after.

[2] and it is illustrated by his miracles. But lest, by the malevolent and envious, a malign interpretation being made, the miracles of the holy man, perpetrated in life and in death, and in the decade following his death, could be carped at as phantastical; and the glory and splendor of his sanctity be believed to have flowed away after the lapse of the decade; the piety of the celestial Lamb, about to glorify His athlete in the breasts of all, and to show of what merit and of what sanctity he was, continued His prodigies concerning the blessed man Stanislaus, after the clod of his sacred body was carried into the Church of Cracow, with frequent succession, not suffering them in the process of time to be lessened by extenuation in the esteem of mortals. And since the condition of the Poles was ungrateful for the divine benefits, which were afforded to them through the suffrage of Stanislaus the Martyr more than usually at that season, it delivered very many miracles of the Saint to oblivion, by not weighing, by not annotating the things that are celebrated; we shall subjoin a few of the many which we could gather scattered in several places, done before and after the canonization, for the solace of the faithful of Christ.

[3] The end of the year under which the holy body was translated into the greater Church of Cracow, and the beginning of the following one, was passing, when on one of the nights, in which the bells being rung by night divinely, at the vigil of the first watch, the ringing of the bells at the Church of Cracow was heard by all. By whose sound Damian the Dean, John the Provost, Benedict the Scholastic, and the rest of the Prelates and Canons of the Church of Cracow, since they had both their dwellings and abode in the citadel of Cracow at that time, when the citadel and the city were distant from each other by a long interval of separation, the river Vistula also being between, awakened from rest, and roused by the novelty of the unaccustomed ringing, run together to the church; about to seek what of cause or mystery the novelty of the ringing contained. But when they had found the doors of the church closed and made fast with bolts, a greater desire of investigating the unusual ringing of the bells came over them, and, by frequent striking of the doors as well as by clamorous voices, the keepers of the church being called—who among the Poles are wont to be named Sanctuaries (for, deputed to the lot of the church and to its ministry by the bounty of Kings and Princes, freed from all servitude, tax, burden and tribute, and made more free, by the keepers of his sanctuary, about to serve the sanctuary of the Lord by perpetual succession, they obtained the name of Sanctuaries)—they inquire of them the cause of the untimely ringing. Of whom although all summoned had presented themselves, yet two, grave with old age and years, who, the rest resting and tending their bodies, were performing their watches in devout prayer, namely Pyotrek and Gromalza, to the Prelates and Canons more scrupulously inquiring into the matter, respond in this manner: "Reckon not, venerable Fathers," they say, "that we have committed anything new and unwonted. For neither we, nor our comrades, rang the bells: the Saint is beheld celebrating Mass: but for certain and ascertained we set forth to you, what we have seen with our bodily eyes, that the most blessed Stanislaus the Bishop, a crown and order of venerable persons assisting him, standing at the high altar, performed the divine office under our sight: and while it was being performed, the several bells, without our and all human use and aid, by themselves rang." Which satisfaction being received from the Sanctuaries, each one, turned into stupor and admiration, a thanksgiving to God being celebrated with most abundant weeping, returned to his couch. But also in the following days the aforesaid Master Benedict the Scholastic, a man celebrated in life and reputation, while he remained all night in the church; and, wont to anticipate the matins office long before, offered the calves of his lips to God in a great ardor of devotion; in frequent sight, and to impart his benediction, with those whom we have named and several other Sanctuaries, deserved to see B. Stanislaus, veiled in his Pontifical vestment, with a multitude of blessed souls and celestial spirits surrounding him, both handling the divine mysteries, and going round about the several altars of the church, various lamps and tapers shining wherever that blessed assembly turned itself, and bestowing the gift of benediction. But time admonishes me to proceed to relate those who were restored from the dead to life, by the merits and invocation of our Saint; and those who, from innumerable kinds of diseases, in which the art of physicians had sweated in vain, were cured with swift facility at the invocation of his name and restored to wholeness.

ANNOTATIONS.

Since this book is divided into as many chapters as miracles are described, it seems superfluous to note their beginnings in the margin, as was done in the former book.

CHAPTER II.

Six dead persons raised to life.

[3] An infant dead without baptism revives, When at the city of Cracow, Christina the wife of Richard, having his dwelling in the same city, on the fourth day of the month of May, had brought forth alive at one birth two infants, one male, the other female; on the next day the male, before he was reborn at the font of baptism, died; and afflicted both parents with grave mourning, deploring not the death of the flesh, but of the soul. But the father of the boy, Richard, solicitous about rescinding the loss, not of fleeting, but of eternal life, approached the sepulcher of B. Stanislaus relying on great faith, and with most abundant tears and importunate prayer suppliantly invoked B. Stanislaus, that he would by his intercession restore his little son to life, only for the receiving of the grace of baptism: and filled with that hope, he forbade his lifeless son, stiff in all his members, to be buried: and permitted him to lie dead from the matins hour until the hour of Tierce. until he be baptized. When he had scarcely discharged his vows and prayers, the dead boy revived, and being carried into the church of S. Mary, washed at the sacred font, and living until the next day, at length breathed out his soul: and was a great and twofold solace to the parents, who both had received the living one from the dead, and from a son of wrath, by the merits of S. Stanislaus, one a partaker and heir of eternal salvation, having obtained the sonship of divine adoption, abundantly unto salvation and unto their wish, by the merits of S. Stanislaus heard.

[4] now about to be buried, Seized by a grave languor, Witkerus, son of Wenceslaus the Soldier, heir of Polukarczicze, when on the day of B. Martin the Confessor at the time before dawn he had begun to be sick; the ailment growing strong, about the rising of the sun, on the next day the force of the disease, none of the remedies which were applied profiting, extinguished the sick man. And when relatives placed far and near were invited to render the funeral rites, it pleased that the unburied corpse be kept until their coming. Which custom we see to have lasted even to this day among the several Polish Soldiers; whereby they entomb the corpses of their dear ones in the presence, under the assembly of friends and kinsmen. But the relatives coming too tardily, the mother of the deceased, Sthronislawa by name, both for the disease by which she too was vexed about the same time, and for the death of her dear son extinguished before her eyes more vehemently afflicted; from the lower chamber, in which the lifeless corpse of her son lay, she ordered herself, lest the sight of the corpse should redouble of itself her great grief, to be carried into another habitation: and there, all the ministers being excluded, with tearful wailing and groaning, she began to invoke S. Stanislaus: and for her own liberation, and for life to be restored to her son, commended to the Saint by his mother, vowing that she would honor the Saint of God and his sepulcher with victims, oblations, and manifold bounty (if he should make her partaker of her vow). But when, fatigued both by prayer more vehemently poured forth and by disease, she snored rather than slept, pressed by slumber about sunset; a certain hoary and reverend man appeared to her; and gently addressing her said: "O woman troubled and afflicted, as one appearing here had foretold, be certain that the merciful God has heard thy prayer, and seen thy tear: and that by the suffrages and merits of B. Stanislaus, the glorious Pontiff and Martyr, whatever thou hadst sought has been obtained, and therefore this night both thou thyself shalt be liberated from disease, and shalt see thy son living: about to render a special vow to the Saint, on whose day thy son began to be sick, beyond those things which thou hadst already vowed." Made gladder than can be believed by that vision, Sthronislawa recounts it to all who had assembled to bury her son: and led back into the chamber, where she had left the body of the deceased, applied a single hair, which had been taken from the tomb of B. Stanislaus, to the breast of her deceased son: and to blessed Martin (since on his day her son's ailment had come about) she vowed a vow. And so there were performed over the funeral, as well of the parents as of all the diligent who had assembled, watches under that night; and each one scrupulously awaited whether the oracle of the vision should happen to be fulfilled. At length at the first cock-crow, the dead one opened his eyes, all being astonished and invoking, he is raised up. and closed them again: and when, opening his eyes a third time, he had yawned several times, all glorifying and invoking blessed Stanislaus through weeping and sighs, the deceased fully recovered his breath; but his mother Sthronislawa fully resumed good health: and vows and thanks in the subsequent days, manifold ones in order, to B. Stanislaus at his sepulcher, were discharged by the parents and the raised one, amid a frequent and copious multitude of men.

[5] As Peter the Hungarian was going from Pannonia into Poland for the sake of gain, likewise a Hungarian youth, and turning aside with his family and consort into the village Mislawczicze into the house of Woyaszo, his son called Polech, on the Monday before Palm Sunday, began to be vexed with an immense languor. On the eighth day too, the disease pressing, he is consumed from human affairs: and he lay from the hour of Tierce until midday unburied. But both parents inconsolably mourning their son through weeping and laments, at the salubrious instruction and instigation of their host Woyasz, the most Blessed Stanislaus is suppliantly besought by the parents for the raising up of the corpse. While they were scarcely finishing the prayer, that the Lord of mercies might diffuse the merits of His servant Stanislaus far and wide, not among the Poles only, but also among the Pannonians, the dead son rises: and having attained the strength as well of perfect health as of life, began to walk about more perfectly than could be believed by human estimation

hence the Saint began to be venerated by that nation. And soon and forthwith, coming together with his parents to Cracow to the tomb of B. Stanislaus, the vows which the parents had emitted for his raising up being rendered, he had a great glorification of the Saint for the life conferred upon him. Returned thereafter into Pannonia, they divulge the sanctity of B. Stanislaus in that region. From then the Pannonians began in throngs to frequent his sepulcher with solemn oblation, and to carry round those burdened with various sufferings to him at Cracow, and to receive at his invocation the full cure of their ailing ones.

[6] Andreas the Soldier, son of the noble man Damian, Armiger of the diocese of Wroclaw, about to pass from one village of his dominion into another with his family, pledges and all furniture, had need to cross the river Oder, then more than usual swollen with waves (for it flowed between his inheritances). And so he orders the nurse of his two children, with a son one year old, and a daughter four years old, to cross the river. The boat overturned, those commended to S. Stanislaus And when the boatman, the nurse and the children being placed in the skiff, was driving the boat through the river; the boat, driven by the eddies of the waves to the middle of the river, dashed against the trunk of a tree, overturned both the boatman and the nurse with the two children, and cast them into the waters. But on account of the peril of the children, a vast bitterness came over the parents looking on from afar on the bank: for they saw their children confounded by the waves in inevitable peril, and that they would be succored by no human help. And so, both they themselves and others who were present turned into mournful wailings, with deeper weepings than voices they interceded with Blessed Stanislaus for the safety of the shipwrecked, offering that they would render him various things. At the invocation of B. Stanislaus the boatman by swimming escaped the peril of the impending death: they are freed from death. but the little infant and the nurse who embraced him in her arms were succored by some mortals running up in boats: but the little girl, when she was borne headlong by the force of the waters, a vast clamor of those standing on the bank and crying out, "O B. Stanislaus, save her," was raised. Yet, the waves swelling, she is suffocated, and by the scrupulous diligence of the boatmen, the stream carrying her down to the cast of one arrow, found, she is drawn out of the waters, and brought back lifeless to the shore. Then indeed, the parents running up to the body of the deceased little girl by other vessels, a new crying-out, a new groaning is raised. To S. Stanislaus also with new tears, new vows for the raising up of the girl supplication is made. But the parents and the multitude of men of both sexes, the drowned girl is raised up. which had assembled to that spectacle from the neighboring hamlets, instant in prayer and vows, much water burst forth from the suffocated body, and yawning she opened her eyes, and fully revived; though from the first hour of the day until the hour of Tierce she had lain dead and suffocated: and sound and unharmed, led to the sepulcher of B. Stanislaus at Cracow, as the parents had vowed by a solemn vow, she divulged to all the benefit of her raising up—which by herself she could not—by the mouth of her parents.

[7] A little boy of three years, at the maritime town of Gdansk of the diocese of Wladislaw, likewise a little boy near Danzig suffocated in the Vistula. where the Vistula glides into the level of the Ocean by one mouth, playing with his coevals on the bridge before the citadel of Gdansk, by an unlucky chance is precipitated from the bridge into the waters of the aforesaid river Vistula: and before he could be succored by human aid, suffocated by the immensity of the waves, descended to the depths of the stream. But sought a long while by seafaring men, skilled as well in swimming as in boating, and not until after the running-on of a long time found with difficulty under the waves, he is brought back to the bridge, from which he had fallen into the waters, dead: and from the delay and length of time grown livid, in his whole body swollen and inflated, he showed no sign of life to be restored. Which when it had been announced to the wretched parents, each, rushing into mournful groaning, moved all the people of Gdansk both to commiseration and to a concourse, and led them to the place at which the suffocated boy lay. There was also then among the Pomeranians (for they were contained, like the other regions of the Poles, in the dominion of one Prince) the celebrated name of Stanislaus, because they had learned that he had afforded, more certain than certain, various benefits by land and sea to those invoking him. Wherefore with conforming voice and vow, as if you would believe them commanded and instructed, or (which I rather reckon) inspired, the patronage of Blessed Stanislaus is invoked by each one, and his mighty deeds are besought. At length, all who had flowed together pouring forth tears for the raising up of the boy, and with sedulous and devout prayer discharging vows to Stanislaus; that he might both take away from the parents of the boy the bitterness of grief, and afford to all the people who had assembled the grace of his consolation; suddenly from the corpse of the suffocated one water burst forth, and the boy drawing yawnings and sighs, both the lividness and the swelling began gradually to slip away from the body of the deceased. Then therefore that assembly itself, filled with the best hope, reckoning that the pure and sacred prayers of Stanislaus had attained to the grace of being heard, raised a clamor (as is wont to be done in such a matter). But all who were present crying out together the power of Jesus Christ, and most devoutly imploring the merits of the glorious Pontiff Stanislaus, the boy, as if awakened from a heavy slumber, opened his eyes: and by the parents and the rest of the bystanders, vying to rush to him, was raised onto his feet, and as if wearied by too great labor, stood firm; and to all who saw him, raised up after so long a death, he was a miracle; then led into the paternal house, the throng of the city accompanying him, he remained unharmed from that day, each parent discharging his vows. with an increase of worship among the Pomeranians. But although, as we have premised, the name of Stanislaus had long been notable and celebrated among the Pomeranians; yet from the evidence of this prodigy which we relate, Stanislaus moved and drew the breasts of all mortals, dwelling on the sea and on the continent, to admire and venerate him, and to implore his suffrages in every necessity and chance, emerging by land and sea: whose magnitude of sanctity, by the sublimity of very many other signs, from then shone forth at the Sarmatian ocean.

[8] To Martin, Nicholas, and Philip, laymen, going to the threshold of the most blessed Stanislaus, on account of a singular devotion conceived for the exceptional miracles and merits heard by them concerning him, in simplicity and alacrity of heart, and having entered the forest Przegina, two robbers for the sake of plundering, from the hiding-places of the grove, rushing out unexpectedly with arms and arrows, invade them. And Martin indeed and Nicholas fleeing away from panic, Philip alone (since, as bolder than the rest, in no way deterred by the invasion of the robbers, he opposed resistance) two prevailing against one, is captured and was dragged into the interior of the forest, to be more freely plundered in the byway. But seeing himself suffocated, and grievously constrained by the robbers, reckoning also that the extremities were imminent for him, with his heart, although troubled and afflicted, more devoutly as he could he began to invoke blessed Stanislaus, commending himself to him and beseeching, his throat and gullet cut by the robbers, that he would not suffer a pilgrim of his name, a devout venerator, to be oppressed and butchered. At which prayer, immediately feeling himself snatched from the hands of the robbers, with greater confidence and spirit, the robbers not deferring to the miracle, but contriving to lay hands upon him again, resisting, he fought with them. Who although he had begun excellently to prevail against one, yet invaded by the other, about to repel the peril of his comrade, and struck by a vehement blow of the sword cutting his throat and neck, flowed down to the earth dying. Then not only of his goods, but also of his clothing, the body despoiled by the brigands lay naked and trunk-like on the ground: but B. Stanislaus did not even then desert his extinguished servant, but, as it seemed to the dying man, personally approaching, and applying the force of unguents, made whole again the cleft of the neck and throat, and as if from sleep commanded the sleeping one to rise. Who suddenly awakened, and finding himself naked and despoiled, B. Stanislaus appearing, he is healed. with immense thanksgivings magnified and celebrated B. Stanislaus, his life-giver: and the journey being continued, having overtaken his comrades Martin and Nicholas near Cracow, and then having entered Cracow with naked body, bearing only the made-whole scars of his throat and neck, he afforded a great miracle as well as spectacle of himself. Narrating also at the church of Cracow, how great mighty deeds God had shown him through the merits of B. Stanislaus, and how He had recalled the slain and extinguished one to life; he filled the minds and breasts of all present with wondrous devotion, but left the mouths and eyes of some suffused with tears.

CHAPTER III.

Six blind persons, by the patronage of S. Stanislaus, receive their sight.

[9] A Priest of the city and diocese of Wroclaw, John by name, German in tongue and nation, burdened with assiduous ailment, deprived of the light of his eyes, A blind and poor Priest had so lost his sight, that he could not walk a single step without a boy, deputed to direct his steps. To him, resting one night in a remote place, and drawing various sighs about his blindness, and revolving various thoughts of his desolation and misery, also an Evangelical sentence bringing him greater bitterness occurred, that he could not dig and would blush to beg. But amid those thoughts, succeeding one another in turn, while he was turned into slumber; a man hoary and of reverend face appeared to him through a vision, saying: "I have compassion, servant of God, on thy beggary and desolation, for the rescinding of which use thou my salubrious counsel, and devoting thy necessities to the most blessed Stanislaus, hasten as soon as possible to go to his sepulcher in person: but meanwhile transmit all the money, to be found in thy purse, as an oblation to be made to the Saint by the first pilgrim who shall meet thee." But John the Priest answering, and interposing an oath by his soul, [admonished through a vision to offer to the Saint the coins to be found in his empty bag,] that he had no money, of which an oblation could be made, he bade him seek it, more certain than certain to find it. And so the Presbyter, gladdened with great joy, rising at dawn, recounts to his comrade and fellow-presbyter Matthew in order what had been shown him through the vision: and inquires who B. Stanislaus the Saint was, of how great sanctity, of how great merit (for he had been unknown to him unto that day). Who answering, that the Saint of God Stanislaus had been Bishop of Cracow, and slain for the law of God, justice, and truth by the impious King of the Poles Boleslaus, that he was wondrously notable in sanctity and suffrages; John the blind man, drawn by the religion of the vision and the sanctity of Stanislaus the Martyr, applied his mind to believing, and with these words to Matthew his comrade began as follows: "Although," he said, "I have it ascertained that I possess no money, yet about to obey the command of the oracle, I put my hand into my bag, about to offer the money to be found to S. Stanislaus by a messenger." And immediately dipping his hand into the purse, he brought forth two silver coins. At which point of time, opening his eyes closed and blinded for several years, and beholding the men standing around and the coins which unexpectedly he had brought forth from his pouch, he burst into a canticle of jubilation and praise with a great voice, saying: he finds them and receives his sight, "Blessed be almighty God and His Martyr Stanislaus

the most blessed Pontiff, by whose benefit I profess on this present day, the darkness of blindness being put to flight, my eyes to be opened and illumined. For now I behold both the quality of the coins, and the image and superscription with which they are stamped." And he expressed the sign of the images and the superscription. Then running to the Church, his guide cast off, about to render due thanks to the merciful Lord and His Martyr B. Stanislaus, he found a pilgrim, seeking the threshold of Blessed Stanislaus and praying at the doors of the Church. Whom forthwith meeting, he delivered those two coins which he had found into his power, to be offered to Blessed Stanislaus; vowing that he would shortly follow the pilgrim. And so, sending back to his parents the boy whose guidance he had used, about to narrate the mighty deeds of God and B. Stanislaus to them and to any others, the viaticum for the journey being procured, and he comes to Cracow: he hastened his course to Cracow; and with quickened step, and enjoying entire sight, arriving at the tomb of the Blessed Martyr Stanislaus, he publicly proclaimed before the ears of all who heard the whole grace of his illumination, afforded to him by the merits and grace of B. Stanislaus: and his vows being discharged, he returned glad to his home, unharmed in the votive integrity of his eyes until the day of his death.

[10] an infant born without eyes and ulcerous The consort of Jaroslaus Chelm, Gothusia by name, bringing forth an ulcerous and blind son, was saddened with vehement grief, on account of the languid and prodigious birth, and the same grief held Jaroslaus her husband. For the infant had no seats of eyes; no signs: only a certain subtle and slight tract appeared midway between the eyelids; but the skin of the head and of the whole body, ulcerous, emitted blood mixed with gore. But when on the next day the infant, carried to the church, had been marked with the wave of baptism; the Presbyter of the place, the penal blindness and ulcerousness of the boy being beheld, counseled the parents and kinsmen of him with salutary persuasion; that in honor of B. Stanislaus, a three-day fast being kept, they should pray for his patronage with frequent entreaty for the health of the infant. They executing that which the Presbyter had suggested with all devotion and humility (for nothing seemed arduous or difficult to the parents, he is healed: burning to be freed from that reproach); when now the second week from the boy's birth had passed, a new keenness of eyes appeared; and a new and comely skin, every ulcerousness repelled, covered the infant: for which solemn victims were performed by the parents at the tomb of B. Stanislaus.

[11] The virgin Osanna, whom the Polish tongue entitles Offka, twelve years of age and noble by race, likewise a noble Virgin, born of Martin the Soldier, heir in Boyscherry, and of Agnes his consort, from the district of Kathibor and the diocese of Cracow, was tortured with an immense grief of the eyes through the space of one year: and was so seethed with a most strong grief, that, the eyelids being shaken and burst, at the last miserably blinded, not even the seats of the former eyes could be noted in her. Who, when for some years she had borne the molestations and likewise the reproach of her blindness, and her parents, consumed with manifold anxiety for the long-lasting and irreparable blindness of their daughter, intended assiduously to prayer and the bestowal of alms; the mercy of the Lord, showing itself propitious to them perseveringly invoking, animated their breasts with the dew of His divinity, to invoke the benefits and merits of His most blessed athlete Stanislaus for the health of their daughter. Who, when, obeying the celestial inspiration, they had devoted the aforesaid Osanna their daughter, with mournful devotion and constant confidence, to the blessed Martyr Stanislaus, with offerings of victims to be presented at his sepulcher; soon and forthwith the aforesaid Virgin Osanna, through the merits of the magnificent intercessor Stanislaus the Bishop, was both taken away from the darkness of her long-lasting blindness, and obtained new seats as well as rays and eyelids of eyes. And to the church of Cracow and the sepulcher of B. Stanislaus, presented by her parents with a solemn oblation, she proclaimed the wondrous works of B. Stanislaus upon her as well by sight as by voice.

[12] and a girl blind for several years: To Cinerus a citizen of Cracow and the woman Amletha, Margaret their daughter, vexed assiduously from the very maternal womb from which she was brought forth into the light by a great blearedness of eyes; had inflated and bloody eyes, and suffering an ardor of the head, more rarely took sleep. At length blinded in the sixth year from her nativity, while the blindness stretched on afterward into several years, and moreover the magnitude of the disease and languor could not be dispelled by the various medicines which the care of her parents applied; not only molestation, but also a desperation of health began to be extended as well to herself as to her parents: at length the mother Amletha, solicitous for her daughter, whom she had seen to be neglected by all human relief, turned herself wholly to the protection of B. Stanislaus: and devoting very many vows to the Saint, and humbling herself before the Divinity in abstinences and prayers, leading her blind daughter under her cloak to the church of Cracow and to the sepulcher of B. Stanislaus, approaches with strong confidence. Then lighting the candles which she had brought, and discharging the rest of her vows with oblations, and hanging up at the sepulcher of B. Stanislaus the form of the eyes effigied in wax, with laments and sighs she more earnestly prayed for the cure of her daughter from the Saint of God Stanislaus; teaching her daughter Margaret, that she too should remain more devout, redoubling prayers for her own health. But the Lord, propitiated by the supplication of each through the merits of His Martyr Stanislaus, responded to their necessity with His wonted piety. For while, the prayers and vows being discharged, they had gone out of the church, immediately the daughter, blind for several years, feeling herself healed by the divine protection and the merit of the most blessed Stanislaus, unwrapped herself from her mother's cloak; and gazing at the sun's rays, and walking without a guide, began to go before her astonished and rejoicing mother. Then coming into the house, while they took refreshment, the daughter indicated to her parents her now more perfect and entire health: and from that day escaping blindness, enjoying good health of the eyes until the day of her death, she blessed with assiduous praises the Saint of God Stanislaus, the curer of her blindness.

[13] likewise another woman, For two whole years suffering a most grievous grief of the eyes, a woman Sobotha by name contracted blindness from the languor, her visive power at the last beclouded. Who, when she was afflicted with immense anxiety from such blindness, on account of the molestation of her parents, bearing her blindness more grievously than was fair, and found no relief of her bitterness; turned herself wholly to B. Stanislaus: and her mother being present, vowing that she would go to the sepulcher of B. Stanislaus, and would afford an oblation to his sanctity, she also bound herself that she would revere S. Stanislaus for all the time of her life, and would bestow upon him all devotion and service. Under this vow therefore led to the sepulcher of the man of God at the church of Cracow, the vow which she had vowed being discharged, she returned to the light long lost: and returned home, enjoying the entire vision of her eyes, performed any labors and servile works.

[14] Rinardus de Cizyschanowicze, a young noble and Armiger of the diocese of Cracow, following the manner of certain military men of Poland, an Armiger at length deprived of sight for a neglected feast of S. Michael. who weigh the solemnities of holy days with a slight balance, on the feast of S. Michael the Archangel, the divine office being neglected, for the performing of which the bells of the church of the same village in Cizyschanowicze had rung, dogs and a bear being taken, betook himself into the fields to hunt. Whom returning a divine chastisement forthwith, for the contemned religion and the violated feast, afflicted. For falling into a languor as well of the head as of the eyes, for fifteen days he was tortured with horrible grief. Moreover the languor grievously growing worse, his right eye, plucked out of its socket by the magnitude of the grief, and flowing down onto his face, visibly hung. The left moreover from the same languor burst: and both being lost, the aforesaid Rinardus was blinded with perpetual loss of the light. And so, his brother and sister by blood persuading him with strong inducement, that he should devote himself and his most grievous necessity by a solemn vow to B. Stanislaus, he confidently hoped that he would be healed by his protection. And so, his sister drawing him by the hand and affording him guidance, arriving at the church of Cracow at the sepulcher of the blessed man, persisting there a long while in prayer, with flowing tears smeared with gore, he prayed that the aid of the most holy Stanislaus be bestowed upon him. But when, his vows and prayers being discharged, he had risen from prayer, both the hanging right eye was drawn back and bound again into its place, and the left which had burst was healed entirely: and having from then obtained perfect health, until the day of his death no sign of any rupture or deformity appeared upon his eyes.

CHAPTER IV.

Cured abscesses, paralysis, epilepsy.

[15] Voyslaus a layman, invaded by the pestilence of an epidemic, was vexed with a grave abscess bursting out in his throat: and the magnitude of the disease growing worse, for some days he could take neither food nor drink, A pestilent abscess of the throat of a dying man is healed, nor swallow anything else, the abscess constricting. When desperation of his life had come over both himself and his kinsmen and domestics; in his agony, now even to the dying man a lighted candle was placed in his hands, as to one about forthwith to expire. At length a venerable man in white garment appearing to him through a vision, admonished him, that he should rise as quickly as he could to the church of Cracow, and seek from Troyanus the Keeper of the same church the showing of the tomb of S. Stanislaus, about to receive full liberation from the impending death by it being venerated and kissed. But when the sick man, closed off by the disease, could speak no word, with mind and thought he devotes himself to obey the aforesaid admonition: and immediately, the abscess being burst, Voyslaus, recognizing himself snatched from the threshold of death by the benefit of S. Stanislaus, at length on the fourth day arriving at the church of Cracow and at the holy sepulcher, both set forth to the Keeper Troyanus and several others the things which had been done with him, and gave thanks to the most blessed Stanislaus his liberator through prayers and oblations.

[16] and to the Prince of Opole in his thigh, To the Prince of Opole, Wladislaus, an illustrious man, hastening to go to Cracow to hold a colloquy with Duke Boleslaus of Cracow, lest he should neglect the day about which it had been agreed, a horrid abscess in his thigh emerged in one night: which made him so fearful and sad, that, the begun journey being abandoned, he disposed to return to Opole, about to provide for his last things. Who, when, established in mourning and anxiety of this kind, he had given himself to slumber and sleep; a voice sounded to him through a vision: which bids him be of good confidence, that he would shortly be liberated from this peril, only let him cast his hope on the Lord, and approach the sepulcher of the most blessed Bishop of Cracow Stanislaus, about to be cured by his intercession. Who awakened, burst into a vow, to be discharged as soon as possible by him to the blessed man of God, invoking the most blessed Stanislaus: and immediately the abscess, plucked from his foot, perished. Yet a scar showing the place of the abscess remained a long while in his body, yet bringing no grief. Who coming to Cracow, and discharging his vows to the blessed man at his sepulcher, divulged among very many how suddenly and how magnificently he had been cured by the blessed man.

[17] paralysis of the left hand and foot, Juthka a woman, consort of Nicholas de Coszmaizow, of the diocese of Cracow and the Parish of Luborzicza, invaded by a vehement grief after childbirth, from

the twenty-first day of May until the first day of October, was assiduously tortured night and day: and then struck with paralysis, she had been utterly destitute of the use and office of her left hand and foot. To her, so desperate, shaken, and afflicted, a certain reverend man, clad in a white surplice, appeared through a vision; and a gentle consolation being premised, said to her: "Receive, daughter, the salubrious counsel which is proposed to thee by me, that, all human medicine being omitted, which will profit thee in nothing, thou commit thyself wholly to the protection of the blessed Pontiff and Martyr Stanislaus, about to receive by his benefit the cure of more perfect health." And so, the woman admonished by this vision, devotes herself wholly by a mournful and solemn vow to the most blessed Stanislaus, about to honor his sepulcher by bodily visitation and oblation. But as soon as she had poured forth a vow of this kind, she stretched out the hand and foot which had been dead through paralysis, and the entire use and office of each being received, she discharged the vows which she had promised, at the church of Cracow and the tomb of S. Stanislaus.

[18] another with a contraction of the whole body, The daughter of the country-man Nyewglasch, Agnes by name, of the parish of Jasszet of the diocese of Cracow, seven years of age, was paralyzed in her whole body and contracted in each member, having her mouth bent and twisted back, her eyes likewise drawn apart and twisted back, her feet straddled, but her hands and the rest of her members suffering an assiduous tremor. Moreover so great a deformity was in each member, that no member of hers could sufficiently retain its office, but all seemed to have departed from their places and joints. By the commiseration therefore of her parents, groaning over the condition of her affliction, carried to the parochial church in Jasszel, and confidently devoted to B. Stanislaus the Martyr, after the benediction which the Priest of the church had completed by reading over the sick girl with the invocation of the name of S. Stanislaus, he also touched and signed the twisted and languid body with a little silken cloth, in which the bones of B. Stanislaus were wont to be enclosed. And when he had redoubled this signing and contact for three days; at length, the third signing being finished, Agnes turned into slumber, reclining her head in her mother's lap, began to drowse. Under this drowsing also, carried home by her parents, before she touched her own house, they behold her sound and unharmed in all her members; and loose their mouths into the praises of Jesus Christ and His Martyr Stanislaus: and on the morrow, walking by herself with perfect gait, arriving at the church in Jasszet, and showing to all the people the mighty deeds done for her through the protection of B. Stanislaus, she was both an admiration and a stupor to each one, who had before perceived the variety of her languor.

[19] The matron Catharine, a woman from Skarbimiria, suddenly falling into a paralytic ailment, was tortured with grave grief: moreover the paralytic languor had so grown strong upon her, that by the force of the grief her mouth remained twisted back even to the ear for a very long time, a third with a distortion of the mouth, and an impediment of the hands and feet: affording to those who saw it a monstrous spectacle of herself. To all which there acceded also a vast grief of the head, wondrously torturing her. But she remained so constricted by paralysis, that even the use of her feet and hands was denied her. By which evils the woman being oppressed, brought to Cracow for the festivity of S. Florian to the sepulcher of B. Stanislaus, of whose astonishing miracles she had been well taught, she was carried by the hands of servants; and prone and suppliant praying for two days, she did not obtain health. Yet distrusting nothing of the kindness of God and the merits of B. Stanislaus, she prolonged her supplication into the third day. And so on that day, filled with the ardor of contrition, she began with weepings rather than prayers to intercede with the most blessed Stanislaus for her cure. By whose benefit and merit immediately, all the twistedness of the mouth returning into its place, both all the ailment of the head was taken away, and all the deformity from then thenceforth dispelled. The aforesaid woman Catharine also, cured of all paralysis, restored to health from her dead-before members, returned on her feet to Skarbimiria, and herself carried about her miracle.

[20] Vithkerus the German, a citizen of Cracow, while he had two sons full of grave ailments, was afflicted in mind and spirit with assiduous grief over the sufferings of his sons. likewise a paralytic boy deprived of almost all sense, For one, whose name was Gerard, four years old, was vexed with a most grievous paralysis; the other, Richold, six years old, with a most hard epilepsy: yet the paralytic one had brought greater straits upon the parent than the epileptic, who, receiving his torment by intervals, sometimes obtained health; but the paralytic, bearing an assiduous suffering, with the use not only of speaking or walking, but also of touching utterly lost, was rolled about by another's ministry not otherwise than a dry trunk. Moreover seized by a grief of the stomach, and all appetite prostrated, for twenty-two days hating all food and drink, only by water at times, which he sucked in a linen cloth, he was lightly refreshed. And so Vithkerus the father saddened, both for the vehement suffering and for the death which was imminent of his son, running down into the greater church of Cracow, began with a great crying-out to invoke the most holy Stanislaus: "Free," he said, "most blessed Prelate Stanislaus, both me, a pitiable and miserable father, and my dying son from the torment of death and of languor, and bestow the force of thy sanctity: whom with full faith I vow to present at thy tomb together with silver, weighing a ferto." and his epileptic brother. When Vithkerus had completed the speech of his vow and supplication, returned home, he found his son Gerard speaking and walking, whom he had left dying, mute and tongueless. Raised therefore into greater confidence, the health of one son laboring with the graver disease being obtained; he began to hope these same better things concerning the other, and with a new vow and a new supplication to beseech his soundness from the most blessed Stanislaus. But the most merciful God heard his prayer; and through the merits of His chosen Martyr Stanislaus, even Richold from the epileptic disease, which he had borne by falling sometimes thrice and four times each day, He so most fully absolved, that not even a vestige of the former ailment remained in him. But Vithkerus began with immense alacrity and gratitude to testify that he had obtained the liberation of each son: for going to the sepulcher of B. Stanislaus with his wife and his healed children, he offered the gift which he had vowed to the Saint of God, and divulged his wondrous solace shown upon himself and his sons: and returned home, friends and relations being summoned, he exhibited a great banquet over the soundness of his sons.

[21] Vlosciborius, Armiger of the diocese of Cracow, falling into a grief of the eyes, blindness, dispelled, had come to such a burden and blindness, that the orbs of his eyes, overturned by the disease constricting them, seemed to have only red flesh, succeeding in the place of the visive virtue. the extinguished eyes are cured Who, while he was urged by anguish of mind, on account of the blindness which had befallen him; obtained that he be conducted to the greater church of Cracow, and to the sepulcher of the most blessed Stanislaus, and also that the places of his eyes be first signed with his ring, then washed with water dipped in the ring: and immediately, the redness gradually departing, he received perfect health of the eyes: he also resumed the same day the desire of food and drink, which the immense grief of the eyes had prostrated.

[22] Przibislawa a virgin, daughter of Kignerus a citizen of Cracow, suffering a grief of the eyes, and teeming with worms, began to be more strongly and vehemently tortured in her left eye. And when the grief assiduously grew strong, also a multitude of worms, procreated through the corruption of humors, sensibly redoubling her suffering, began to appear. Which when by no human ingenuity or art they could be plucked out, since, while they were sought, they fled into the hidden parts of the eyelids; and the peril of perpetual blindness was imminent for the aforesaid woman; she is carried by her parents into the temple and to the sepulcher of B. Stanislaus, who for the cure of their daughter besought the Saint of God with suppliant devotion. But one of the ministers of the church of Cracow touching the ulcerous eye with a pebble taken from the sepulcher of S. Stanislaus, the multitude of worms, as if commanded, departed. But on the following day, when only one thick worm appeared, and that too, by fleeing, did not suffer itself to be seized under the eyelid; at the invocation of S. Stanislaus it vanished, and the girl recovered the sight of entire health.

[23] likewise two epileptics. Boguslaus de Pelgrzimowicze, a noble, had a four-year-old son, Nicholas by name, who, burdened with the epileptic disease, foaming and rolling about on the ground, was so vexed with the suffering, that more frequently he was reckoned to have breathed out his soul. He, the miracles of the blessed man Stanislaus growing frequent, carried the aforesaid son Nicholas to his tomb: and as soon as he touched it by kissing, from that time and thenceforth until the day of his death, he received perfect liberation.

[24] Boguslaus of the village of Brodzina, a Soldier, a different one from the former, was tortured with assiduous and vast affliction, for his son Damian, that he was vexed by the epileptic disease so frequently and assiduously, that ten times a day he felt his grave invasion, all seeing and shuddering. And when the disease gradually growing strong stretched on into a year and a half, and both the father of the boy and all his kinsmen and familiars were afflicted by the duty; conceiving full confidence in the merits of the most blessed Stanislaus, he carried the boy to the sepulcher of the blessed man with a solemn oblation, vowing that for the health of his son he would bestow an annual victim, one lamb from his flocks, upon the church of Cracow, in which the bones of the Saint of God Stanislaus rest. And when he had discharged his prayer and vow for the soundness of his son; Nicholas the boy was freed from the long-lasting disease, by which he was assiduously held and vexed.

[25] Martin de Morawicza, a man of the Military order, seized by a grave languor, began to have a most grievous abscess which had emerged in his throat: a perilous abscess of the throat, which, taking from him first the power of speaking, then of eating, took away also the power of breathing and of drawing breath. And so understanding himself to have come to the gate of death, since his suffocation was plainly noted by very many times both by himself and by the bystanders to be about to come, the ring of B. Stanislaus from Cracow, by great prayer and great endeavor, he obtained to be brought to his house. For he had heard a voice saying to him through a vision, that he should make a confident recourse to the patronage of the most blessed Stanislaus, about to be especially cured by his magnificent suffrage. And so when the ring of the blessed Pontiff, solemnly brought to his house by the ministers of the church of Cracow, and the place of the throat and the abscess had been blessed by its little seal; immediately the abscess was halved and burst: and the ailing man, as had been shown him through a vision, returned to full soundness.

CHAPTER V.

Various dying, demented, and others aided.

[26] The perils of the dying dispelled, of one from a long disease, From the same village Morawicza, which we noted a little before, Goslaus a Soldier, born, was vexed with a grave and long-lasting ailment, namely from the day of S. Michael the Archangel to Good Friday. And so when, both by his own and by all others' judgment, he was believed about to depart hence near the day and near the hour; at the faithful persuasion of his consort, he began to beseech the most blessed Stanislaus for his soundness, vowing that he would visit his threshold with a solemn oblation, as soon as it should be permitted him for his infirmity. Which promise being emitted, gradually he began to resume his long-languid strength: and at length,

sustaining his still-weak limbs with a staff, about to fulfill his vow, he came to the sepulcher of the blessed man: where he testified that he was entirely healed.

[27] of another from a grave languor, A woman of the same parish of Morawicza, German by race, Gertrude by name, seeing her son Martin, having the age of about three years, about to die from an assiduous and grave languor; devoting him to the most blessed Stanislaus, with what devotion of greater mind she could; hastened as quickly as she could to his tomb with her son carried in her arms. And when she had discharged the vow which she had promised and the prayer; forthwith the boy was freed from the infirmity by which he was held: whom the mother, exulting, and magnifying the Saint of God Stanislaus in the ears of all, carried home unharmed.

[28] of a third likewise from a swelling of the throat, Andreas the Soldier, heir of Proschowicze, having obtained in his throat a swollen and inflated flesh assiduously growing, begotten through peccant humors; was afflicted first with weariness and disgrace, but at the last with peril of life (for, it constricting, it was not permitted him to eat or to drink): moreover sometimes the grief of the disease so cramped the vital spirits in him, that absolutely no hope of living henceforth was left to him, no physician daring to bring him an antidote. And so when he was driven by extreme desperation, recalling the benefits of the most blessed Stanislaus conferred upon very many, he began, full of faith and hope, to cry out for the solaces of his sanctity, as best he could; vowing that he would visit his sepulcher and threshold. And soon at the invocation of this kind all the heaviness by which he was held being removed, the visitation of the sepulcher of the holy man being performed, also all the swelling and goitre perished.

[29] The same Soldier Andreas of Proschowicze, of whom we narrated immediately before, had fallen and then from an ulcer into another grave infirmity, from which there burst forth for him an abscess and a lethal disease, which was called anthrax, vanquishing all the art of physicians and the force of medicaments. Who, making his recourse to his wonted remedy, while he was afflicted with the grave torment of the disease, devotes himself totally to the most blessed Stanislaus, promising that he would visit his sepulcher, with his consort, by a pedestrian toil. And immediately, the night following the vow, the mortal abscess which he feared would slay the man, not without the admiration of many conscious of this matter, vanished; and the sick man, gladdened that he had obtained all health, most devoutly fulfilled his vow.

[30] of a fourth from a grave ailment, A noble man, Szmil of Moravia, falling into a grave ailment; was so afflicted by the molestations of his suffering, everywhere suddenly with adverse health, that he remained utterly deprived of the office of his right foot. Wherefore moved by the bitterness of the grief, and altogether despairing of life, a testament being composed in the presence of his Prince and of his military neighbors, he seemed about shortly to breathe out his soul. Yet conceiving a singular confidence concerning the divine propitiation and the suffrage of the most blessed Stanislaus, he devotes himself, to be cured by his intercession, to the most blessed Stanislaus, and obtains also that his dry, or rather dying, foot be blessed by his ring. Which done, the cure of the foot forthwith followed, all who were present being astonished: and he himself, going to the sepulcher of the holy man, and discharging his vows, returned to the perfect health of which he had despaired.

[31] and a fifth from a monstrous change of the whole head. Catharine, wife of Peter the Soldier de Kadzimicze, was pressed by a great and horrible infirmity: for a vast swelling, vexing as well her head as the other members of her face, had so pervaded, that the appearance of a human countenance could not be discerned in her, the swelling beclouding it. Only the snub of the nose moderately projected somewhat from the face; the skin of the face shining, just as if it had been smeared with oil: but both the head and the face were overspread with a foul lividness: moreover a black swelling had darkened the ears, so that it moved in those who looked on a certain horror by its monstrousness. And although for her cure the long and assiduous industry of physicians had sweated; yet no effect responded to the labor expended by the physicians; wherefore deserted by the physicians, she was believed about to die the next night. Then her husband, Peter the Soldier, began to care no longer about the temporal, but the eternal life of his consort; and was vehemently troubled, that she would depart with Confession not yet performed and without the salvific Viaticum (for the horrendous swelling had forbidden both to be applied). And so rising at the dead of night, and confidently devoting his consort to the most blessed Stanislaus, he hastened to Cracow: where he sought from the Dean and the rest of the Prelates and Canons that a Cracow Presbyter with the ring of the blessed man Stanislaus be transmitted to his house. Who when he had reached there speedily and at dawn, blessed the sick woman first with the little seal of the ring, then began to anoint the turgid and swelling places with water dipped in the aforesaid ring: and immediately the swelling gradually began to gape open, and the languishing woman, all being astonished, began to have the use of speaking: soon also receiving both the sacraments of Confession and of the sacred Eucharist from Brother Martin of the Order of Preachers, as a gift most pleasing and necessary to her, after a few days she was entirely liberated from the remnants as well of the humor as of the languor.

[32] from a lightning-bolt deaf, mute, and delirious, Preduogius an Armiger, Bohemian in tongue and nation, with two men of his condition was making a journey toward Prague. Who, while he was distant not far, by a space of half a mile, from Prague, a most violent tempest, arisen from every side, brought forth rain, hail, and lightning more frequently than usual. Whose peril the aforesaid Preduogius, about to avoid with his companions of the journey, turned aside under one nearer oak. As he stood there, the force of a lightning-bolt, cleaving the third part of the tree from the top down to the bottom, slew one of Preduogius's companions, burned the other in the hair, and cut off the head of a dog accompanying them as if with a most sharp sword: but Preduogius, by its terrific stroke, it rendered deaf, mute, and delirious. Whom his kinsmen and acquaintances, making the journey by the same way, carry to Prague half-dead. He, when, placed at Prague in the church of S. Gall, he had given himself one night to slumber; a certain venerable man, and one who was clad in Pontifical garments, appeared to him through rest, saying to him: "I wish to bless thee:" then he read over him the Gospel, "The Beginning of the holy Gospel according to John, In the beginning was the Word." Which completed he said to the sick man: "Rise and go to Cracow, clad in haircloth and barefoot, to the sepulcher of B. Stanislaus: B. Stanislaus appearing, he is healed, and a fortnight in the abstinence of fasting being there kept, immediately thou shalt be liberated." But the sick man, thinking this one, who had appeared to him, to be of the Priests of Prague, interrogated him, saying: "Who art thou, Lord, and by what name art thou called?" To whom the Saint of God: "I am," he said, "Stanislaus Bishop of Cracow, the consoler and physician of thy infirmity." At which voice soon freed from sleep and the vision, and rejoicing that the use of fully hearing and of speaking and understanding rightly was restored to him, he began to magnify the Saint of God Stanislaus in the sight of all the people of Prague. Then going to the city of Cracow in haircloth and unshod, he fulfilled with all devotion all the things which had been commanded him through the vision; having obtained perfect health, over all the injury which had befallen him, by the benefit of the Martyr Stanislaus.

[33] a swelling of the tongue is cured, Anna a girl, daughter of Jacob a country-man, a languor first invaded her body, then a certain swelling, swelling from the languor, her tongue: moreover the magnitude of the swelling so grew strong in the tongue, that for the thickness of the inflation she could not bring her tongue within her jaws. But when the several antidotes which were applied brought forth no profit; the parents of the girl, persuaded by neighbors, with great devotion and effusion of tears, devote their daughter and her cure to the most blessed Stanislaus: and immediately, at the emission of the vow and the invocation of the holy Martyr of God Stanislaus, both the ailment of the body and the swelling of the tongue perished.

[34] an infant born without skin Margaret, a noble woman, consort of John the Soldier de Koslow, when at one birth she had brought forth twin sons, one of them called John obtained perfect members, but had taken away an equal perfection from his brother, who was named Martin, as more frequently happens in the birth of twins. For he had no skin on his whole body: on account of which defect, without a certain abomination and horror, and what is more and more wondrous, without peril of death he could nowhere be handled. Which molestation his parents, since it seemed he could not be humanly succored, about to escape, turn themselves totally to the divine [aid] and that of the most blessed Stanislaus, and devote the so monstrous boy to the Saint of God Stanislaus. Who in a wondrous manner, the parents and kinsmen making prayer and emitting vows, was clothed with an efficacious skin, which nature had denied him, and vindicated from reproach and death by the merit of B. Stanislaus.

[35] a boy's belly rotting away, Stanislaus a boy, son of the noble parents Paul and Isana de Zlothmky, was tortured from the years of his boyhood, nay almost from his very birth, by a miserable infirmity: for his belly daily rotting away had uncovered all his viscera and intestines, laid bare. Yet there was born and succeeded daily in the place of the putrefaction a certain flesh, in the manner of a thin skin; which suddenly and on the same day on which it was produced rotting, seemed to be begotten and to fall away each day: bringing greater torture to the boy, through this vicissitude. At length his parents, fatigued with various anxiety over the health of their son, understanding that he could not be remedied by bodily aid, observing moreover that the most blessed Stanislaus bestowed most abundant benefits upon mortals; the aforesaid boy, whom they had had baptized under his name, with all devotion and immense weepings, as best they could carry to the tomb of Blessed Stanislaus: for not without peril could he be carried, who almost at every moment pronounced himself about to die. And so when his parents, suppliant and devout, at the sepulcher of the Saint for the salvation of their son besought as well with voices as with weepings for three days, and the miserably putrefied and bared viscera of the boy were washed each day with water dipped in the ring of Blessed Stanislaus, at length on the third day a new skin and new flesh, no longer putrescible, but sound, continuous and concrete, burst forth, which rendered the boy thenceforth unharmed from all torment and suffering. Who in the process of time coming into greater years, assuming the order of the Minors of Blessed Francis, there laudably consummated his life.

[36] mute and rabid, A certain country-man, a man of simple disposition, and father of one son, Radoslaus de Scothinky, very anxious, that his aforesaid son, Peter by name, seized by an ailment, had also become mute, and remained mute for three weeks; but was also snatched by an immense weariness, rising day and night striving to escape the hands of those holding and guarding him, and to flee into the forest and groves. And so his father Radoslaus, solicitous for the health of his son, and using the salubrious counsel of those persuading him, that he should devote his son to the most blessed Stanislaus, and promise his cure to the Saint, hastened to Cracow with his son: and for his soundness, an oblation being made at the sepulcher of the holy man, suppliantly besought the Martyr of God Stanislaus. But when, the prayer and vows being consummated, the sick son had been signed with the ring of the Saint of God; and the water, in

which the same ring had been dipped, had drunk; immediately, all obstacle of the tongue being removed, he burst into a perfect and articulate voice; and there fled from him all ailment and tedious bodily molestation.

[37] a furious man led to the sepulcher Martin de Lantkowicze, falling into a grave infirmity, at length on the eighth day is made furious: who, lest he should injure the other men, was bound with a strong rope. And when through fifteen days he had been driven by continual madness, on the sixteenth day he caught something of a lucid interval. During the space of which interval, turning himself wholly to the protection of the most blessed Stanislaus, he prayed that he be liberated from so great a destruction, vowing that he would visit the sepulcher of the Saint as soon as possible: he is at length led by guards to Cracow to the sepulcher of the holy Martyr, chained and bound, lest he should burst forth to the injury of anyone, and for four days and as many nights, the guards keeping watches about him, he remains at the sepulcher of the Saint: first seeming to himself to be called by S. Stanislaus, and when at the silence of the fourth night, pressed by slumber, he had fallen asleep, the most blessed Stanislaus appeared to him through a vision, clad in the venerable garb of a Pontiff, saying to him: "Come with me, and immediately thou shalt be liberated." Who awakened from sleep arose, and with quickened step attempted with great effort to go out of the church: yet the guards detaining him, he could not go out. Whom seizing he said: "Let me go, since S. Stanislaus visibly appearing to me commanded me to come with him, and to go out of the church." But to the guards words of this kind seemed delirium: wherefore they began to keep him led back to the former place in stricter custody. When at length he had fallen asleep a second time, he saw through rest two venerable men come to him, and admonishing say: "Come with us, since by our guidance thou shalt be able to come to the most blessed Stanislaus": and it seemed to the sick man that at these words he rose, and went with those men. And they leading him, then in a vision led to him, entering the church of S. Andrew, at which now the Nuns of the Order of Saint Clare dwell, he found S. Stanislaus, clad in a chasuble and holding an open book: who also said to him: "Art thou that one, who art driven by the affliction of fury?" Who when he had answered himself to be that one: "Stand," he said, "wait a little while and thou shalt see." At this voice, the sick man looking on, there began to come from various estates very many known to him, driven by various furies, who were afflicted with diverse punishments and torments. But S. Stanislaus, turned to the furious Martin, said: "Knowest thou who and of what kind these are, who under so many torments come, thou seeing?" Who answering that he knew not: "These," he said, "are of the race of the Poles, and various sinners shown to him, who bear false testimonies; but some who decree unjust judgments; some who establish iniquitous laws; some who oppress, despoil, shake the lowlier; some who serve the belly, the gullet, lust, and drunkenness; some who handle others' business fraudulently and deceitfully; some who devour the substance of orphans, wards, the needy, and widows; some whom pride raises up, avarice wastes away, pleasure dilates, malice straitens, wrath inflames, discord separates, envy ulcerates, luxury defiling slays: and on account of these and other crimes, they are tortured in such manner, as has been shown thee; from all which do thou henceforth contain thyself, lest thou fall into a worse languor. bidden to admonish to repentance, he is healed. But also admonish those whom thou hast seen in torments, that, repentance being done, they recoil from their depravities and impieties, about to escape the punishments prepared for them. But thou, by my intercession, to which thou hast confidently had recourse, know that from this hour thou art to be healed." After these words the sick man, freed from sleep, awaking, and revolving with himself about the things which he had seen through rest, narrated in order all the things which he had seen, and which he had heard from Blessed Stanislaus, in the presence of the Church of Cracow, and within the hearing of all the people which had flowed together. Freed at length from all madness and fury, he obtained from then and thenceforth entire health, magnifying the mighty deeds of God in the Holy Martyr Stanislaus.

[38] The youth Peter, surnamed Pyetrzez, of the Village Nyeszyth, seized by a demon, full of the demon was driven with continual fury. possessed by demons Who, although closed in a house with iron chains, and sometimes bound to a stone column standing in the house; yet, all the straps being burst (so great strength was in his weak age), he would shake and pluck from the earth that which eight men could scarcely move from its place. But as often as he was led into the church bound, he was seized with a blow, since otherwise he could not be restrained from the utterance of base and scurrilous discourses. Moreover he was distressed with sudden terrors, and shaken, which were brought upon him through the demons. But asked why he was whirled with so assiduous a dread, he answered that there ran to meet him, in the form of cattle and beasts, and in any other kind of wild animals whatsoever, demons, threatening him in all manner of ways to harm him. He, when on one of the days he stood bound before the church of all the Saints in Cracow; by the multitude of Clergy and people, surrounding him and pouring forth prayer for him, was admonished and asked, that he should invoke the name of the most blessed Stanislaus, dreadful and formidable to the demons; for it would come about by God's propitiation, that by the invocation of his name the demons, deterred, would leave him. At which persuasion the youth began rather more freely to exclaim. he is freed through S. Stanislaus. "Why am I tortured, bound by chains and irons, when in this very hour I have obtained full liberation?" And when concerning the manner and order of so unusual a liberation he was asked by the bystanders with scrupulous inquiry, he answered: "S. Stanislaus, Bishop of Cracow, taking me up onto a very lofty mountain, and driving away all the demons vexing me, commanded that they should depart and never harm me: at whose command all that assembly of darkness departing left me. Moreover the most blessed Stanislaus, Bishop of Cracow, loosing me from the chains, said these things to me: 'I am Stanislaus, Bishop of Cracow, thy liberator: give thanks to God: and go under my benediction in peace.'" He was freed forthwith, after he had related these things to the bystanders; since besides these a sound mind had also already been perceived in him: and entering the church he discoursed thanksgivings to God first, then to His Saint Stanislaus. His sins being confessed to a Priest after these things, he received the most sacred Viaticum: and from that hour, he obtained for several years and times full health.

[39] Paul, son of John the Soldier de Ulina, passing his fifteenth year of age, as also a demented man contracted a grave dementia: so delirious and insane, that he struck with blows each one known as well as unknown, and showed himself furious and demented as well by deeds as by words. Over whose dementia his father John the Soldier, driven by great molestation and disturbance, knew not utterly what he should do, or by what means he should seek the health of his son, the medicines which were applied not profiting, turned into a certain desperation. At length, Prandotha Bishop of Cracow admonishing him, he devotes his son to the most blessed Stanislaus, and leads him with a solemn oblation to his tomb in the church of Cracow. Who when, after the prayer poured forth by the father and the bystanders, he had tasted water dipped with the ring of the glorious Pontiff Stanislaus; the water dipped with the ring of S. Stanislaus being tasted, suddenly he put off all dementia and fury: and with all integrity as well of mind as of body, safe, he is recovered home, the father exulting with too great joy.

[40] A certain man, Syedlecz by name, about to show a singular devotion toward the Saint of God Stanislaus, of his own accord devotes himself, retracting the vow he had made, to offer to the Saint of God a cow with a calf. But when he saw his sister Agnetha needy in visiting her, the vow which he had vowed to the Saint of God with distinct lips in the hearing of very many being varied; he firmly determined in his mind to give the cow with the calf rather to his sister, about to succor her laboring in want: reckoning that he would perform a more salubrious and more perfect work. having fallen into blindness and dementia. But when from his sister's house, certified about the cow and calf to be given to him, he proceeded, struck with sudden blindness, he also perceived an alienation of mind to succeed him. Deterred by which evil, a Priest being summoned, the crime which he had committed against the Saint by violating his vow and retracting his gift, he expiated by confession and penance: promising that he would henceforth more cautiously fulfill what he had vowed: and immediately, the Priest being present, he resumed as well sight as sense. To the sepulcher of Blessed Stanislaus also with his kinsman Paul, the gift which he had vowed not being taken, he began to set out. But when, placed on the journey, he had again felt himself disturbed, it being discharged he is healed, and invaded by dementia; returned to his own, Paul his kinsman leading him, taking the cow with the calf, and leading them to Cracow, he offered them to Blessed Stanislaus, as he had vowed; from all ailment and disturbance of mind and spirit from then and thenceforth made quiet: about to be a lesson not unavenged, lest anyone by violating vows should mock God and His Saints by his own presumption.

[41] likewise a dying man from a swelling of the body Nicholas, son of Wlostiborius the Soldier, passing the sixth year of his age, seized by a sudden ailment, burdened by an excessive swelling as well of the throat as of the head and breast, was deplored by his parents and family as one dying. But his father, about to avert his dissolution out of natural charity, leads him in a four-horse wagon to Cracow to the sepulcher of Blessed Stanislaus: who as soon as he touched by drinking the salutary liquor of water, dipped with the ring of the blessed Pontiff; forthwith all that swelling of the head, breast, and throat, and all the force of the pestiferous abscess languishing, all who were present being astonished, vanished: and the boy, his father being present and weeping, received full convalescence.

[42] and another from hemicrania Vitus, Provost of the church of Saint Florian outside the walls of Cracow, struck with a grave grief in the left middle part of the head, was afflicted with so most vehement a languor, that all speech being lost for four days, able to take neither food nor drink during that four days, he dreaded to be consumed shortly. At length on the fourth day, breaking words rather than speaking them, he suppliantly sought that the ring of Blessed Stanislaus be brought to him. Which receiving with singular devotion and reverence, he touched the place of the grief with it; and immediately felt the magnitude of the grief to be diminished. But also of the water, dipped with the ring of the Saint, sipping some part, and anointing the place of the grief, he commanded the remaining part to be kept. But when on the following day, the grief growing strong by a like disease, he was vexed, he sipped the residue of the preserved water as best he could; and by sudden flight all the grief, which had assuredly worn him to death, departed.

CHAPTER VI.

Various sick persons healed: others freed from drowning and fire.

[43] There are healed from ailment and grief a man growing blind, Crzisanus de Pyotrkowicze, a country-man, fell into a hard and grave ailment, which, suffering him for several days to take neither food nor drink, had also made him grow blind by the magnitude of the grief. Who, in

seeing himself fallen into such difficult bitternesses and molestations, began to be driven by a desire of visiting the sepulcher of the most blessed Stanislaus, and of committing to him the care of his health: and immediately devoted himself to the Saint of God, promising that he would go to his threshold as soon as possible. But when he could in no way fulfill that by himself, on account of the necessity which had befallen him; Stephen, his neighbor and gossip, being more earnestly besought by him, set him upon his beast of burden and led him to Cracow, and then to the sepulcher of the Saint of God Stanislaus: where praying with confidence and tears, freed first from blindness, also from the grief and disease which had pervaded him, he deserved to be entirely liberated, having from then and thenceforth obtained full health.

[44] from a long disease mute, Anastasia, daughter of Peter a citizen of Slawkow, having passed her third year of age, began on the day of the Lord's Epiphany to be sick with a grave infirmity. Which gradually growing strong, on Palm Sunday losing the use of speaking, until the day of the Finding of the holy Cross she remained mute and tongueless: and was so pressed by continual grief, that no hope of her health was left to her parents. Who, troubled by her long ailment, devote her to the most blessed Stanislaus: and taking her placed in a four-horse wagon, undertake the journey toward Cracow: but scarcely half a mile being passed, the bond of her tongue was loosed, and she began to speak rightly. But when on the following day she had been brought to the tomb of the holy man by her parents, suppliantly discharging their vows and prayer for her; under the eyes of all who were present she received entire health, by the benefit of the most blessed Stanislaus.

[45] Jawitha, consort of Buguslaus de Chelm, invaded by a sudden and grave infirmity, and another afflicted with an evil of the throat, her throat constricting with assiduous vexation, for six weeks took food only with great difficulty and heaviness. Therefore she devoted herself to God and to the most blessed Stanislaus; and at length arriving at his sepulcher by a pedestrian journey, according to the quality of her vow, at the invocation of his holy name she obtained a sudden and perfect liberation.

[46] a girl dissembling her lost virginity, Ursula of Cracow, a woman of German race, marriageable and grown, prostituting her virginity to a certain youth, yet bore herself privately and publicly as a virgin; reckoning that by such pretense men would not know her crime, not reflecting that everything which is dissembled or feigned displeases God. She once, the solemn feast of Pentecost being imminent, to the greater church of Cracow, with her mother conscious of her crime, about to visit the threshold of Blessed Stanislaus, proceeded. And when they had reached the foot of the mountain, Ursula, who hitherto for the heat of the fervor had had her head veiled, her mother admonishing her that she should enter the church with veiled head, her maternal counsel being neglected, removed the veil; and wearing a garland on her head, entered the greater church, in approaching the sepulcher, approached the sepulcher of the most blessed Martyr Stanislaus. And when, falling down in prayer, she had reclined her head a little to the ground, the garland fell from her head. Who, taking it up, rising, attempting to adorn her hair and to replace the garland on her crown, drew off the whole hair of her head; and stripped and made bald of all her tresses, just as if she had been shaved with a most sharp razor, she appeared in the sight of all the multitude. Seeing herself, by such a reproach of confusion, detected for her temerity at the sepulcher of the holy man; by contrition, then through prayers, she is punished by sudden baldness and confesses her sin, she did not blush to proclaim her crime publicly in the hearing of all the people; and approaching the Priest and receiving absolution, by a worthy penance she expiated her crime; she expiates it by confession. through the ignominy of confession, by the merits and intervention of the most blessed Stanislaus, led and established unto the fruit of salvific compunction and penance.

[47] As Count Fanussius, a noble man, son of Jaroslaus, with his own brother's son Peter, son of his brother Henry, and very many others, were going to the threshold of BB. Peter and Paul in the city of Rome, A ship going to Venice Peter the Pole, a Cleric, about to go to Bologna for the sake of obtaining knowledge of Canon law, came as an inseparable companion to their company, bearing with him relics of the most blessed Stanislaus, obtained with suppliant devotion from the Prelates and Canons of Cracow, for the obtaining of the security of his journey. But using a prosperous outcome, coming to Aquileia, a ship being hired, having obtained the company of many others, they sail by sea to Venice. But about to avoid the peril of a tempest, which by evident conjecture, on account of the intemperance of the air and the season, they dreaded would come; the deep sea being neglected, lest they should be overwhelmed by the waves and storms, they performed their navigation near the shore at five or six bowshots' distance. And when they had sailed near the city of Carniola, a sudden tempest arising, brought into the utmost peril of life, they boiled to bring the ship back to the shore. But the sea more and more swelling, and imperiled in a tempest, the waves struggling against them, all human endeavors fell back into vanity. But the ship now stood so weighed down by the eddies of the waves, although by frequent throwing-out the water was vyingly poured from it; that to each one being in the ship the water had risen to the knees. Then, by strong and creeping storms, the rudder and yard being broken, fearful and trembling they awaited that they would undergo the destruction of suffocation. And so all turned into desperation, proclaimed various Saints according to the variety of regions; some namely Saint James, others Saint Nicholas, others Saint Martin, but the Poles the most blessed Stanislaus. Then Peter the Cleric, the relics of Blessed Stanislaus which he carried with him being brought forth in public, bids all the rest be of good cheer: "Lo," he said, "He is present with us, the Relics of the Saint being brought forth, whose protections we invoke, only trust: He will not suffer us to experience the final shipwreck." At which exhortation, when all minds, terrified and broken by extreme desperation, had been raised into a better hope; the clamor of all is raised to heaven, and the rest of the Saints being omitted, the patronage of the Pontiff and most glorious Martyr Stanislaus alone is sought by all. At the moment of which supplication, one storm, thicker and more eminent than the rest, coming with a sudden blast, raised the ship on high, and well-nigh in the twinkling of an eye cast it into a certain neighboring reed-bed. But the ship being overturned, although all had touched land, it is cast to the shore, all being safe, yet no one of them had been lost: but safe and unharmed with their goods and persons, each remained in the waves, some up to the breast, some to the arms, some up to the neck. But the tempest being assuaged and the ship repaired, when by a more prosperous navigation they had come to the city of Venice, the divine virtue and the merit of His Holy Martyr Stanislaus was extolled, divulged by all in common: it was then held as ascertained that the Saint of God Stanislaus the Martyr, by his powerful intercession and merit, had shown his clemency and his suffrages to mortals invoking him, not on land only, but in the waves and on the sea; not only in the one race and nation of the Poles, but in all the nations and climes of the world. The very bodies also of beasts of burden and brutes were not without the benefits of the Martyr, which the following prodigy will declare.

[48] Among several persons making pilgrimage to S. Stanislaus About to honor the Saint of God Stanislaus, and to visit his threshold, when now of his sanctity and prodigies and astonishing miracles, assiduously growing frequent, a most celebrated opinion was held throughout the whole Polish region and its neighborhood; certain men of both sexes from the regions of Lancicia and Mazovia went in clusters and throngs to Cracow: among whom one, Matthew by name, was held more witty than the rest, by the curiosity of his witticisms provoking the other men into laughter. Who also had a one-eyed horse, which carried the victuals and packs, during the time of the pilgrimage, for Matthew himself and the companions of his journey. And so when they went together at once, and used jocose witticisms in alternate relation to lighten the labor of the journey; greater opportunity of witticisms being supplied to them by the wine, of which they had drunk more than usual that day, the aforesaid Matthew, more loquacious and witty than the rest, proceeds to use witticisms of such deliriums against the Saint of God Stanislaus. "What of admiration," he said, "is it, and of prodigy, one of whom wishes the Saint's virtue to be proved even on his one-eyed horse: if our holy Martyr Stanislaus, having entered into the courts of the Lord and into His powers with a triumphal palm, is wont, being asked, to confer sight, hearing, gait, and other innumerable benefits upon mortal men, yet using reason, beseeching him for various their necessities and diseases to be cured? But how much more celebrated would be the miracle and an ampler proof of his sanctity, if, extending also to brute animals, not having the virtue of falling-prostrate and supplicating, the efficacy of his prodigies, at the present time he should grant to my one-eyed horse the lost eye; and by such a prodigy declare that he can confer a benefit even on one not seeking it, who is wont to afford a benefit only to one supplicating and seeking it." And when he redoubled blasphemies of this kind; and, the rest of his fellow-tribesmen arguing him concerning so unbecoming witticisms, the vain and unwashed speech could not by fraternal correction be driven from his mouth; forthwith his eye burst, and he himself loses his eye, the horse receives it; but the horse began to have entire the eye which it had long lost. Then stupor pervading all, mourning also and anxiety and confusion occupy all their breasts, over their comrade struck by so sudden a vengeance. Moreover the admirable magnitude of the divine power, and of His Martyr Stanislaus, is celebrated through the mouths of all: which by a prodigious temperament of moderation, while it took away the eye from the blasphemer, granted it to the beast. Then at length Matthew, vexed by such blindness, understood that he had brought forth not witticisms, but blasphemies against God and His Saint Stanislaus: and began to recognize the magnitude of his guilt. Wherefore coming to Cracow to the sepulcher of the Martyr of God Stanislaus, but repenting he receives it. in a humbled and contrite mind, confession being first made of his crime, doing penance, he expiated it with weepings and assiduous supplication at the sepulcher of the Saint of God Stanislaus: until the Lord of mercies, through the suffrage of His Martyr Stanislaus, regarding him, by consolidating restored the eye, which he had lost by blaspheming: granting sight of each eye to the penitent, that in the multiplication of His mercies, as David had sung, He might save man and beast.

[49] When several Polish Soldiers had betaken themselves to Prussia for the general passage proclaimed by the supreme Pontiff against the Pruteni, idolaters and barbarians, the Cross being taken, girded for warring and exterminating the aforesaid Pruteni, In the Prutenic war and there waged continual wars with the barbarians for the Christians and the Catholic faith, about to subjugate them to the orthodox faith; Andreas de Moravicza the Soldier was held among their number a man of remarkable probity: who had heard and learned from his progenitors that the most blessed Stanislaus, Bishop of Cracow, was notable and celebrated in sanctity, and grew bright with the great sublimity of his prodigies. a soldier from infancy devoted to S. Stanislaus Wherefore from the years of his boyhood, and until he came forth into manly strength, and thenceforth, he was borne with a singular ardor of devotion toward the Saint of God Stanislaus; affording him reverence and worship with a wondrous affection of religion and reverence, and commending himself and all his things and his necessities to the Saint

of God Stanislaus, for every place and time. And so it befell him, waging wars in Prussia, that, the forces of the Pruteni being defeated, coming with his companions to the court of a certain noble Prutene, very beautiful and fortified, he was admonished by the rest to set it on fire and burn it. About to execute their command, when, bidden, he sets fire to the hostile court, hesitating long enough he investigated, solicitous by what means he should enter that court, closed and barred on every side. At length, through scrupulous exploration, finding one portico, narrow enough, low and so sloping, that he was compelled to descend from his horse, he burst into the interior of the court, and in some places set flames. But when that fire, all things round about being seized, had spread more widely, it shut in Andreas the Soldier also, surrounded on every side: and when all power of escaping and fleeing was taken away, now it raged even against its own author. But neither did his companions, who stood around outside, employ any effort to snatch him from the midst of the flames, reckoning that he had long ago leapt forth from the midst of the fires. And so thrust down at so perilous a moment of necessity, or rather of imminent death, enveloped in flames, when he saw himself sought by the gulf of flames, by his companions also, not able to perceive any clamor if he should make one, no hope of any solace to be borne remaining; to the protection of his Patron the most blessed Stanislaus, placed in the midst of the flames, he turned himself wholly, knowing and trusting that the most blessed Stanislaus never deserted those who followed his devotion and hoped in him; but protected them everywhere by his pious and strong protection. And so groaning to God with grave sighs he prayed, that through the intercession and suffrages of the most blessed Stanislaus he be snatched from the imminent destruction of the flames. Nor was there delay: the most blessed Stanislaus was present, and bearing aid to his faithful servant, by his patronage he escapes unhurt, anxiously looking hither and thither where he should set his step, divided the globes of flame, and made the power of escaping. For Andreas himself, when he had observed, what nowhere else he could note, the flame divided in the manner of a vault opposite the portico by which he had entered; understanding an escape to be prepared for him through the merits of the most blessed Stanislaus, approaching that portico; and finding it broad and spacious in the manner of a gate, as it seemed to him, and which a little before he had known to be tight and narrow, sitting on his horse through the same, which a little before did not admit a rider sitting, he went out unhurt and free of all burning. But by his companions, greatly astonished and exulting with admiration over his soundness and great escape, received with vast cheerfulness; he recited in the ears of all the wondrous solace of the most blessed Stanislaus, which he, invoked, had afforded him in the midst of the flames, and in what manner he had granted him soundness. Wherefore the hearts of all who heard these things were stirred into the love and devotion of the most blessed Martyr Stanislaus: and the power of God in His Martyr Stanislaus was magnified by all, through whose suffrages and merits the perils as well of shipwrecks as of fires were averted from His faithful; and the Saint himself was always and everywhere held great in heaven, great on earth, great in the waves, great in flames, illustrious, wondrous, powerful, and notable.

CHAPTER VII.

Various apparitions of S. Stanislaus, especially concerning the procuring of his Canonization and the elevation of his body.

[50] When the Palatine of Cracow, Fulko, whom the Polish tongue calls Pelka, seized by a grave infirmity lay in his bed; The Palatine of Cracow sick to him snoring rather than sleeping, a venerable man in Pontifical ornament appeared, thrice in a vision strengthened by S. Stanislaus and consoling the trembling man and bidding him be of good cheer, said to him: "I am Stanislaus, Bishop of Cracow, by whose merits doubt not that thou art healed: tell all who endure any necessities, that they confidently commit themselves to my care, and invoke also my suffrages; and visit my sepulcher, about to receive by my intercession the votive consolation of all their necessities." But when the sick man, having enjoyed that vision, had awakened, and, astonished, revolved with himself silently about the things which he had seen; relapsed into the former drowsing, at length a second time he had a vision equal to the former; and awakened, and turned into greater admiration, he handled with a varied discursion of mind what as well the former as the second vision meant for him. Again a third time the same Pontiff appearing to him admonished the man to hope well concerning himself, and bade him that, health being obtained, he should also bid the rest be of the same hope. Who awakening and recognizing himself restored to entire health; he convalesces and his dying son is healed: constituting himself a herald of the man of God, began to extol his magnificent suffrages toward all. At length in the process of time when his son Peznan grievously languished, and by the judgment of the physicians was destined to death; his father Fulko the Palatine, recalling too late the admonition made to him through the vision, with weepings and lament began to devote his son, now in his death-agony, to the most blessed Stanislaus, suppliantly beseeching with great confidence, that what he had confirmed to him by a triple promise he would execute in his sick and dying son. At which voice the son opening his eyes and seeing his father wet with weepings: "What," he said, "my father, dost thou narrate to me concerning the most blessed Stanislaus?" But he: "I vow thee," he said, "my son, to B. Stanislaus, and commit the care of thy health to his sanctity: hoping that thou art to be healed by his merits." Then the sick one: "A salubrious thing," he said, "although a little too tardily, thou hast done, father, for by the prayers of the most blessed man Stanislaus I am restored both to thee and to life. Bid me therefore be led as quickly as possible to his sepulcher, about there to obtain immediately a fuller liberation." Then Fulko the Palatine, freed from great mourning, resounded thanksgivings to God and his Saint Stanislaus with all his house and family. And since the dead of night, which the son had requested, forbade it to be done, the dawn breaking forth, he led his son to Cracow to the sepulcher of the most blessed Stanislaus with a solemn oblation: where, to him weeping, praying, and wailing, the divine propitiation bestowed upon his son Poznan, at the invocation of his beloved Martyr, a fuller soundness.

[51] Vislaus Bishop of Cracow, who had presided over that See for twelve years, dying, Prandotha de Byalaczow being substituted in his place, Falslaus the Soldier, To Falslaus a sick soldier oppressed for a long time by a most grievous ailment, had this vision through rest. For it seemed to him, that on a certain most celebrated feast-day, for the performing of the divine office, at the greater church of Cracow the great bells were rung: and the sick man himself, that he too might be present at so festive a solemnity, was hastening to the aforesaid church with quickened step. When, placed at the foot of the mountain, he found Vislaus Bishop of Cracow, long ago consumed, despoiling himself of the red and Pontifical garment. the deceased Vislaus, Bp. of Cracow, appearing Which seen, great admiration came over him, and he began to think silently, what cause there was that the Bishop should strip himself of the Pontifical vestment, and how scarcely rightly the solemnity of that day, the Bishop not performing the divine office, could be completed. To whom, distended with that admiration, Vislaus the Bishop turned, as if he had clearly known his thoughts, said: "Thou art struck with a superfluous admiration: for I am barred from the entrance of this church, which I once administered; since for the twelve years, in which I presided over it, I permitted the body of the most blessed Stanislaus Bishop of Cracow to lie in the dust of the earth, and moreover I neglected to employ my effort for his canonization. Lo, as slothful and sluggish, [he indicates that he is punished for the neglected Canonization and elevation of the body] I am stripped of the Pontifical raiment, and driven from the entrance of the church. But thou, asked by me, go to Prandotha, the present Bishop of Cracow and my immediate successor: and admonish him in my words, that, deterred by my loss, he both lay up the bones of the most blessed Stanislaus, washed in wine, in an honorable shrine; and prompt and suppliant incline with all endeavor and all effort to his canonization." But Falslaus answering: "Prandotha the Bishop will not give credence to the relation to be borne by me in thy name." To whom Vislaus: "Adjoin," he said, and bids the successor be admonished to take care of it. "also this to him, which I am about to prove and he will believe. If," he said, "thou shalt have hearkened, if with due intention thou shalt have weighed both the horrendous death which the most blessed Stanislaus endured, and the cause of the martyrdom, for which he was cut by the impious King into a thousand little pieces; thou wilt easily execute the things which I decree to be fulfilled. And if thou art not bent by my requests and advisements, at least be moved by the magnitude of the prodigies, which through His Saint the Lord works abundantly upon all the sick and those suffering necessity. But also take this as a proof: that if his ring has worked in very many the virtue of healings, what thinkest thou, what judgest thou, his bones, after they shall be raised from the earth, will work?" These things said, when so efficacious a vision had vanished, health also forthwith full and perfect followed Falslaus. Which although it had afforded greater efficacy to the vision, yet Falslaus neglected the mandate, which had been enjoined upon him by Vislaus the Bishop, to announce to Prandotha the Bishop. Thereupon the sick man is healed but neglecting to execute the commands, Wherefore after three weeks, in which he walked sound, he relapsed into a recurring ailment. In which while, by the estimation of each one about to die, he had come into an ecstasy; he saw a man clad in a surplice, standing over him, and upbraiding him with a certain indignation and saying: "Why hast thou shown thyself a neglecter of the mandates, which thou hadst received from me, and for the sake of whose fulfillment thou hadst sought health? Deservedly therefore thou art afflicted with the present blow; about to be beaten with a greater one, if thou shalt persist contumacious." At this voice Falslaus, he relapses: and being again healed although filled with too great pallor, which he had contracted from the terrific countenance of the person admonishing and upbraiding him, suddenly rising from his bed, commanded his familiars that a horse be fitted and saddled for him, intimating that he would set out from the temple to Bishop Prandotha. Who, placed between hope and fear, since indeed they could scarcely be led to believe their Lord to be of sound mind and health, performing his commands; mounting the prepared horse, having now obtained full health, he came to Bishop Prandotha: he fulfills the commands. and the vision which he had seen being faithfully announced in order, he narrated also the punishment, which he had endured inflicted for his negligence.

[52] A matron afflicted with fever Adelheid, a matron of German race and religious and devout, vexed for a whole year by a grave fever, assiduously both torturing and consuming her members and vitals, when in her bed, despairing of life, she lay anxiously reclining at the middle of the night; and all the rest who were in the house being weighed down with sleep, only her daughter, solicitous about her mother's ailment, kept watch; a certain matron unknown to her, and never elsewhere seen, of venerable face and countenance, seen through the door of the dwelling, in which the sick woman lay, admonished her, calling her by her own name and saying: "Rise, Adelheid, and go to the sepulcher of the most blessed Stanislaus, concerning the promoting of the elevation of the body, once about to receive by his merits and suffrage good health. But thou shalt announce to Trojan, the Keeper of the church of Cracow, that

he should admonish Prandotha, the Bishop of Cracow, that he suffer the bones of the most holy man Stanislaus no longer to lie hidden in the sand, but, washed with wine and water, lay them up in a clean vessel: but if it should happen that my present command be neglected by thee, know that thou canst not be freed from the torments which thou sufferest." At this voice and vision awakened, prone rising from her bed, she declares the vision as well to her daughter as to all others dwelling together with her in the house. As soon at length as the following day dawned, going to Cracow, she approached the sepulcher of the Saint of God Stanislaus, and for her liberation poured forth suppliant prayers to God. Yet that announcement, which was to be made known to Trojan the keeper, she suppressed out of matronly shame: wherefore she could not obtain health according to the vision of the oracle. But on the following night, while rising earlier than usual, her daughter sleeping, she persisted in prayer; she sees a venerable man standing before her and commanding her in the German tongue and saying: "Go," he said, "Adelheid, to Cracow, and to Trojan the keeper of Cracow, and she is again healed according to the command of the former oracle, which was shown thee through the matron the night which preceded, bear my commands: that he may have Bishop Prandotha admonished, that, my bones being raised from the dust, and washed with wine and water, he enclose them in a clean vessel. But thou go to my sepulcher at Cracow as quickly as possible, and signed with the little seal of my ring thou shalt forthwith obtain health." Which when she had fulfilled on the next day, and had narrated in order to Trojan the keeper of Cracow the doubled vision and admonition, which she had seen and heard, and moreover had been signed with the ring of the Saint of God Stanislaus; immediately feeling herself repaired perfectly and entirely to good health, she began with manifold proclamations to magnify and extol the Saint of God Stanislaus, the author of her health.

[53] The multitude of the rest of the miracles, which remained, being omitted; lest, proceeding further, I be a weariness to the reader, especially since very many also are to be inserted in what follows, I judge it necessary to subjoin only one, for a conclusion, of those which followed the Canonization of the Saint of God. Swyanthoslaus, a citizen of the Episcopal town of Slawkow, a tanner by craft, a man simple and upright, and of rare devotion toward God, and profuse in the bestowal of alms; giving himself by day indeed to the work of his craft, but consuming the spaces of the night in prayers; when in summer time, anticipating the hour before dawn, he prayed according to his custom in the upper chamber of his house, he began to see, on the part of the aforesaid city situated beyond the bridge and the river Przenischa, which flows past the city, a copious and almost innumerable multitude of people of both sexes. to a pious living man praying And suspecting this to be a hostile army and about forthwith to attempt hostile things (for it was filled with various kinds of men), he was suddenly shaken with a vast panic, fearing as well for himself as for his city, and greatly shuddering at the peril which he had believed to be imminent. in a vision a solemn procession appears But there held among them a midmost and higher place one man, distinguished by Pontifical garb, reverend in hoariness and countenance; surrounded by a multitude of clerics, clad in white surplices and stoles: but also very many religious and remarkable men, with whom women too had been mingled, surrounded his sides in a frequent throng: he noted the faces of all that innumerable multitude turned to the Pontiff alone, who also humbled their knees, suppliant and inclined, to receive his benediction. For the aforesaid Pontiff, looking out from the higher place, in whose midst was S. Stanislaus, sanctified all that multitude of peoples accompanying him, with his hand extended on high toward the four parts of the world, namely the East, West, South and North, with a frequent and multiplied benediction. Which bestowed, all that multitude ordered processionally, very many banners and standard-bearers preceding, the Bishop standing in the midst, having crossed the bridge and river, of which we premised before, toward the city, seemed to advance to the church of Slawkow; a very great and innumerable multitude of people of various and mixed estate, both preceding the Bishop and following, with one mouth, and with one chanting and singing voice: "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." But when all that procession stretched over a long space, and the Bishop had come opposite the chamber, in which Swyanthoslaus the tanner had prayed; the aforesaid Swyanthoslaus drew himself back within the column of the chamber, and contemplating through a certain chink the things that were being done, silently with himself and astonished wondered at the most ample splendor and glory of the aforesaid Pontiff. And immediately one man from that cohort, hoary in hair and comely in countenance, who himself also was clad in a white stole, meanwhile slackening his step from the procession as if by arrangement, turning aside approaching the house of Swanthoslaus the tanner, calls him, placed in ecstasy and stupor, and addresses him by his own name: "Why," he said, "Swyanthoslaus, art thou agitated with stupor and admiration? hide not now, suppress not thyself: we have come as friends, not enemies; about to afford benefits, not to inflict hostile things." But Swyanthoslaus rather astonished at the speech of the man who spoke with him, and not daring to speak forth, as another indicates to him, explaining the matter desired, nor even to open his mouth (for suddenly he had grown stiff with trembling), that man proceeds to interrogate Swyanthoslaus concerning the rest: "Knowest thou," he said, "Swyanthoslaus, who is that Pontiff shown to thee, and what are the throngs of peoples which thou seest, preceding or following the Pontiff?" Who answering that he knew not, and saying (for now he had collected himself a little from fear), "I know not, Lord," "That," he said, "is the most blessed Prelate of Cracow Stanislaus, in the sight of the Lord God and of all the citizens above a magnificent Martyr, the Protector, Advocate and Patron of the Poles, and the wondrous Intercessor of all who beseech him for their necessities. But so frequent and so innumerable, as thou beholdest, a multitude of peoples, which accompanies the man of God by preceding and following, and chants praises unto his glory; is the Christian people, saved and to be saved by the prayers and merits of the most holy Prelate Stanislaus." Then with these things said he imposed a precept upon him, saying: "Thou," he said, "giving thanks to God concerning the vision which has been shown thee, who has judged thee worthy of the present revelation, go to Cracow: and to Brother Vincent of the Order of Preachers, whom thou shalt find sitting at a column in the church of the Holy Trinity of his Order and giving himself to the hearing of confessions, after confession to be first performed also by thee, relate in order all these things which thou hast seen, and which thou hast heard from me. [and likewise signifying that there are six other Saints in Poland, to be revealed in their time,] Moreover thou shalt announce also these things to him, that besides this most holy man whom thou hast seen, the Bishop of Cracow, there are six others in the church of the Poles, Saints, whose death is accounted celebrated and glorious in the sight of the Lord, not inferior to B. Stanislaus in sanctity and merit, to be revealed by divine propitiation in their time, to an aging and declining age, depraved and to be depraved by very many vices, for the rousing in mortals of charity, which then will more grow cold, and unto the salvation of all peoples, but the glory and consolation of the Polish Nation." Which completed, that man conferring with Swanthoslaus, and all that procession of holy souls, withdrawn from his sight, vanished. Who, suffused with the wondrous sweetness of such a spectacle, on the same day coming to Cracow, faithfully narrated to Brother Vincent, whom he found in the place designated to him, all in order, the things which he had seen and heard.

ANNOTATIONS.

1489 on the 15th day of April. Whence, aggregated to the citizens of heaven, he can now obtain from God for those supplicating more gifts than when he lived. Thus far that Life, into which a certain other vision of Suentoslaus concerning the burial of B. Michael Gedrocius is inserted; which has already been printed in the Life of this man, on 4 May, where also are named the holy men of the same time, with whom Suentoslaus cultivated a spiritual friendship. If, moreover, the Carmelite Fathers should wish that B. Suentoslaus to be numbered among the Tertiaries of their Order, the argument being taken from his pious affection toward their Convent; no one, I think, would contradict.

BOOK III.

On the canonization of B. Stanislaus, and the miracles afterward perpetrated.

PROLOGUE.

[1] For the Canonization men labored unto. About to write concerning the third and chief difficulty of the Canonization of the Saint of God Stanislaus, after it has befallen me by divine propitiation to discharge the two others, the merciful and provident ordination of the divine goodness came over my mind, so that I should be astonished and wonder at it more vehemently than usual: which, unto that time, in which it had decreed the canonization of His beloved Martyr Stanislaus to be consummated and perfected, preserved both a Bishop of Cracow and a Prince, men filled with rare and singular virtues: of whom one, ^a Prandotha, was held full of faith, charity and religion, and eminent in the magnitude of his virtues; the other, ^b Boleslaus, Prandotha the Bishop, son of Lestho the White, about whom then the sum of Polish affairs and the monarchy consisted, Boleslaus the Prince, notable in chastity and religion. There acceded also the consort of Prince Boleslaus, ^c Cunegundis, daughter of Béla King of Hungary, his wife B. Cunegundis, of maternal progeny from the own sister ^d S. Hedwig Duchess of Poland, the own niece of S. Elizabeth; a most illustrious offshoot, surpassing in the loftiness of virginity, which she had preserved uncontaminated in marital wedlock, and in the astonishing miracles which she had worked in life and in death, in the raising up of the dead and in the cure of the languishing; in nothing inferior in sanctity to her grandmother B. Hedwig and her aunt B. Elizabeth; in this alone only somewhat unhappy, that, having obtained a Principality among the Poles, by their sloth and neglect she has not hitherto been distinguished by the glorification of canonization, although unto this day she grows bright with singular miracles: who herself also poured out for the canonization of the Saint of God Stanislaus all her Ducal resources, with a magnificent and liberal spirit. There acceded moreover also a venerable man, Jacob de Skarzeschow, although by race a commoner and small in stature, Jacob de Skarzeschow the Dean, and others, yet in virtue and doctrine noble and great, Doctor of both laws, Dean of Cracow, and Canon of Wroclaw: who had turned the eloquence and singular doctrine in which he was strong, but also his labors and expenses to this one thing, that the glorification of the canonization of the Saint of God Stanislaus might come about, all things being trodden down which were brought, as well adversities as difficulties, spirited and a principal co-worker among the envoys. There acceded also some others, men notable as well in religion as in probity, who employed their efforts unto the happy consummation of the canonization, whose names we shall subjoin in the progress of the narration. There acceded finally also the whole Clergy of the diocese of Cracow, which, for the votive expediting of the business of the canonization, and by contributing a certain quota from each benefice, liberally expended. But about to prosecute my purpose, I return to the principal matter.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER I.

Legations destined to the Supreme Pontiff for the Canonization. Repeated examinations. The hindrance removed by an illustrious miracle.

[2] The magnificent and astonishing prodigies growing frequent, which the clemency of the Savior of all, God, through the glorious merits of the most blessed Pontiff Stanislaus, worked in the church of Cracow and in very many other places, at the invocation of his name; Boleslaus the Chaste, Prince and Monarch of the Poles, and Prandotha Prelate of Cracow, both men, as we have premised, of fervent devotion toward God, transmit their envoys and those of the whole Polish kingdom and Church, namely Master Jacob de Skarzeschow, Doctor of Decrees, Dean of Cracow above named; and Master Gerard, Innocent IV, a revelation for the Canonization being received in the year 1250, Canon of Cracow, to the city of Lyon of the Gauls, to Pope Innocent IV, in the year of the Lord one thousand two hundred fifty, about to set forth the miracles of the Saint of God. Which although they had been gravely and eloquently narrated to the supreme Pontiff Innocent in the face of the public Consistory, through the instrument of Master Jacob de Scarzeschow Dean of Cracow, not so most valid as most certain proofs of his sanctity and of the Martyrdom undergone; yet the Supreme Pontiff, observing the gravity, wont to be guarded by the Apostolic See in similar matters, by special letters commits and remits the examination of the miracles of B. Stanislaus to the Archbishop of Gniezno, the Bishop of Wroclaw, and the Abbot of Lubens: he commits a new examination to 2 Bishops and an Abbot, bidding them singularly and enjoining, that on account of the long and aged protraction of those matters, which were reported concerning the passion and martyrdom of B. Stanislaus, they should take care to examine with all diligence and solicitude a certain centenarian Soldier, Bedka he was: who although he did not know S. Stanislaus, yet was known for certain to have known those who had known and seen him. And they relating that they had fully learned the purity of the life of B. Stanislaus and his conversation, conducted innocently and religiously through all his age, and also the order and cause of his martyrdom, moreover the miracles perpetrated in death and life; although, proceeding according to the form directed to them of the Apostolic mandate, they had made a scrupulous examination over the several articles, produced by the Promoters of the business, and had made full credence by writings to the aforesaid Pope Innocent of all things which had been known by them; yet Pope Innocent, about to know the matter and bring it to clarity, and the inspection to Jacob of Welitra a Minorite, transmits to Poland ^d Jacob of Welitra, a Brother of the Order of Minors, a man both of rare religion and doctrine; to inspect the persons of the witnesses produced, and especially to inquire from two veteran and centenarian men, described in the former acts, who were said by some to have received from those who knew the same Saint, and heard concerning his honorable and illustrious conversation, and to feel the legality of all the witnesses produced; about to inquire also whether the diocese of Cracow is bordering on pagans and schismatic Ruthenians: and also to see the writings, books, chronicles and annals, testifying the sanctity and martyrdom of the Blessed man, to be taken from the public archives as well of the Royal as of the Church. Of which commission there exists such a copy.

[3] sent into Poland with these letters, Innocent the Bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved son Brother Jacob of Welitra, of the Order of Friars Minor, health and the Apostolic benediction: Although, our once venerable Brother the Bishop of Cracow, and our beloved sons, the Chapter and Clergy of the city and diocese of Cracow, intimating to us by their letters, understanding that the wonderful God in His saints gives to Stanislaus Bishop of Cracow of pious memory to glitter with so many and so great miracles, that his sanctity is proved by open proofs, and that it is unworthy that his suffrages not be invoked among the other Saints; we had given in mandate by our letters to our venerable Brothers the Archbishop of Gniezno, the Bishop of Wroclaw, our beloved son the Abbot of Lubens of the Cistercian Order of the diocese of Wroclaw, that, religious men and those fearing God being taken to them, inquiring most diligently concerning the virtue of his manners and the truth of the signs, namely the works and miracles, they should faithfully intimate to us by their letters what they should find; and they proceeding in this business and writing back to us, we should adhibit credence as is fitting to their process. Yet because in so great a business one must proceed with gravity and maturity preceding, transmitting thee to the same parts, by Apostolic authority to thy discretion by virtue of the present letters in virtue of obedience we strictly enjoin, that from the said Inquisitors, if they shall be surviving and present in the province, thou inquire whether they have so proceeded, as we have received under their seals; and that thou carry with thee the copies of their acts for greater certitude; causing to be presented to thee those who are said to have been freed from various infirmities, whom and how many thou shalt be able; and those two centenarians, if they shall be surviving, of whom there is mention in the acts, or one of them: who are said by some to have received from those who knew the same Saint, and heard, while they lived, concerning his illustrious and honorable conversation: about to inquire from them, whether it be so, and nevertheless about to inspect the devotion of the people and the common fame concerning the martyrdom and the cause of the martyrdom and also his sanctity. Inquire moreover whether the diocese of Cracow is bordering on pagans and schismatic Ruthenians, that through this from their confine a gain of souls may be able to come about. To this consider diligently the book of Chronicles, as to the chapter pertaining to the aforesaid business, edited from the archive of the Duke of Poland, and also the book of Annals and the epitaph: and these things being summarily understood more fully under the obtestation of an oath, where it shall seem good to thee, before the former Inquisitors taken; if any witnesses over the former or new articles shall have been presented to thee, prudently receive them sworn according to the form of receiving witnesses and take care to examine them diligently; and thus instructed return to us, that by thee we may be more fully instructed over these things. in the year 1252 Given at Perugia the seventh of the Kalends of June, in the ninth year of our Pontificate.

[4] The Apostolic Commissaries, the Archbishop of Gniezno Fulco, and the Bishop of Wroclaw Thomas, and the Abbot of Lubens, and Brother Jacob of Welitra of the Order of Minors, the several things committed to them, with due gravity and maturity exacted, in the matter of the Canonization of B. Stanislaus expediting, and reducing into a public and solemn writing all things which they had ascertained, the former envoys of this business, who had long ago returned into their fatherland, namely Master Jacob de Scharzeschow the Dean, a new legation destined to the Pontiff, and Master Gerard Canon of Cracow, about to solicit the canonization of B. Stanislaus before the aforesaid Innocent the Fourth, are transmitted a second time to the Roman curia, provided by Prandotha Bishop of Cracow and the Chapter with expenses given. And that the matter itself might more easily be transacted and obtained; to the aforesaid envoys some Friars Preachers and Minors, of the house and monastery of Cracow, learned in divine letters and having the zeal of God, were adjoined. Who, Pope Innocent at Lyon, for he had not yet ^f left the Gauls, being met, although they had eloquently and splendidly announced the great miracles and astonishing works, moreover the order and cause of the Martyrdom of the blessed man of God Stanislaus, before Pope Innocent and the assembly of Cardinals, in the public Consistory, by their own instruments, moreover had shown the examination of witnesses

made by the Apostolic Commissaries and reduced into writing; by solicitude also and vast vigilance, first indeed the supreme Pontiff Innocent IV, then the several Cardinals, but especially ^g John Gaetani, Cardinal Deacon of the title of S. Nicholas in the Tullian prison, the Commissary of the aforesaid cause specially deputed to see the said examinations of witnesses, they vexed by going more frequently about the consummating of the office of canonization; yet some Cardinals, on account of the antiquity and remoteness of time, hesitating concerning the truth as well of the martyrdom as of the miracles, and demanding greater and clearer proofs of the sanctity of B. Stanislaus; the envoys being bidden to return into Poland, a delay being interposed it is remitted: bore new Apostolic mandates to the former Apostolic Commissaries: by which it was commanded that they should investigate more scrupulously the life, race, order and cause of the martyrdom, the prodigies, the sanctity and merit of the most blessed Stanislaus, both from those whom they had already examined and from others, and by new writings and testimonies make the Apostolic See more certain of each particular. Whether that difficulty was interposed deliberately, that the truth concerning the sanctity of the Martyr might be made clear to clarity; or whether, as Roman industry is wont, to repel some matters more honorably by interposing difficulties, it had interposed the aforesaid difficulty to this one too, we hold uncertain.

[5] By this delay the excellent and best man, Prandotha Bishop of Cracow, made nothing slower, which perchance would have compelled another to despair of prosecuting it, but full of fervor and zeal, both the former witnesses and several others new ones; a new examination being accurately made but especially Betka, the centenarian Soldier, he brought before the Apostolic Commissaries: and procured them to be examined by a deeper inquiry, and their sayings to be written down, and consumed half a year in completing the business of such examination, taking care of and approaching each particular by himself. The examination over the life, a third legation is sent, in the year 1253 cause, and order of the martyrdom, and the magnificent and famous miracles, and all the other things, which seemed to conduce to the consummation of the canonization of the most blessed man Stanislaus Bishop of Cracow, being justly and rightly expedited a third time; the former envoys Master Jacob de Skarzeschow the Dean, and Master Gerard, who was also called Gostinimus, Canon of Cracow, with Friars Preachers and Minors; provided by Prandotha the Bishop and the Chapter of Cracow with expenses which would abundantly suffice for the business; set out to the supreme Pontiff Innocent IV, who, nine ^h years having been spent among the Gauls, had returned to Italy, a third time in the year of the Lord one thousand two hundred fifty-three. Whom when they had met in the city of Perugia, they exhibit to him a new examination concerning the life, martyrdom and miracles of B. Stanislaus: they offer new writings of all the Pontiffs and Princes of the Polish region and Church, testifying the sanctity of the man; and for their ampler firmness also notable witnesses, with witnesses of the miracles: and greater than any exception, living and present, they produce; upon whom either through the merits of the most blessed Stanislaus miracles had been conferred, or who had seen and known those upon whom they were conferred restored to good health from many languors holding them. In whose depositions it most clearly stood, how the Saint of God, invoked, opened to many the bars of their tongues, and after a horrific lowing of inarticulate voice, the bond of the knotted tongue being burst, from the barred mouth a sensible and right speech proceeded; that a blind man received light; and that the light-bearing gems, which violent grief, obscuring with a cloud of thick humor, had snatched from the seat of the orbs, he restored to the orbs: that he restored to life many laid low by death, that he drove the stain of leprosy from many, that he conferred full health upon epileptics, the paralyzed, and the contracted; whom the elements seemed to have served: at whose invocation frequently a fire was extinguished, the sea and the clatter of the waves, also the crash of the aerial powers, grew quiet: at whose command hell loosed the soldier Peter, whom for three years it had held captive.

[6] Now the envoys of Cracow had spent several days, soliciting the things which they had seen necessary for the matter: now the best hope concerning the expediting of the business had shone upon them, promised by the Pope and Cardinals; and as if, all difficulties and the obstacle with hindrances being discharged, about shortly to perceive the glorious fruit of their labors, and the matter which was now believed accomplished concerning which John Gaetani the Cardinal Commissary had made them more certain, they glad and alert awaited the happy outcome of the business; when suddenly, the same John Gaetani the Cardinal relating it, they hear that the matter, clear and certain and darkened by no mist (concerning which the Cardinal himself, indignant, was moved with great admiration), had fallen back to the ambiguous and uneffected, Reginald ^k Bishop and Cardinal of Ostia; who afterward, succeeding Innocent IV taken into the Chair, through Cardinal Reginald was called Alexander, a man of great gravity and prudence, to whom also the rest of the assembly of the conscript Fathers, following his authority and not their own judgment, assented, perseveringly opposing the canonization of the man of God Stanislaus, on account of the long-lastingness and delay of time elapsed from the day of his martyrdom: and asserting it unworthy and incredible, that the brightness of so illustrious a martyrdom and so notable a sanctity, if it were true and not feigned, should have lain hidden for so long a time from the Apostolic See and the universal Church. And so his Commissary John Gaetani the Cardinal, to the envoys of the Church of Cracow, it is retarded struck with great disturbance and anxiety, consulting what needed to be done; he himself inspired and moved by the indignity of the rebuff, although, as he was afterward wont to relate, believing himself to speak by chance, answered, that the matter needed not the argument of human testimony, but the corroboration of divine virtue. "Wherefore," he said, "your Saint Stanislaus has need, a new miracle being required. after so many prodigies which it is ascertained that he has done, to work one final miracle, if he wishes his canonization to be perfected, that he may impel the discordant into one and conformable sentence. For thus those who oppose the Lord's, if by a new and prodigious sign (since each other one, as if grown obsolete by antiquity, he calls into doubt) can be led to consent." Thus to the most glorious Athlete Stanislaus, who for faith, for religion, for truth had contended with the greatest forces and infinite sweats, who, cut and slaughtered, had endured innumerable wounds; who had devoted his whole life to virtues; and who had adorned his life with strong deeds and holy and astonishing prodigies, a most just canonization was unjustly and unworthily denied: although both the sanctity of his life, and the truth of his martyrdom, and the multiplicity of his prodigies built up a most efficacious order for his sanctity. What should the envoys of the Church of Cracow and the chosen Proctors of the business of the man of God Stanislaus do? whither should they turn their step, what Patron approach, whose suffrages implore; each one in a manner, through the sentence of Cardinal Reginald, being turned, from so solemn a kind of proofs, into ambiguity? What moreover should they add to the consummation of the work, by which the supreme Pontiff and the Cardinals could be moved to the canonization of the Saint of God?

[7] which was done in him himself dying One thing remained, and that they should most tenaciously trust that they could not be deserted by Christ and His most blessed Martyr Stanislaus, who suffered for His Church and truth: who therefore permitted the glory of the canonization of His glorious Martyr Stanislaus to be made difficult, that He might render it more illustrious, declared by new prodigies. The business therefore of the canonization of the man of God Stanislaus being languished, and slipped from all hope and care; while only the envoys of the Church of Cracow, intent night and day upon supplications and entreaties to God, had not fallen from faith; the Divinity alone showed that the care of the matter deserted by all had been His own. Reginald the Cardinal, the aforesaid Bishop of Ostia, the chief enemy and adversary of the canonization of the holy and chosen of God Stanislaus; whose sentence and counsel also, on account of the man's noted skill and probity in both sciences, Pope Innocent embraced, was seized by so grave a disease, that as well by his own as by the physicians' judgment he was reckoned about to die near the hour. In which when he had labored for some days, to him keeping watch and remaining solitary in a private chamber, the most blessed man Stanislaus, in Pontifical garb, and the deed being done after a rebuke to the one healed. with a great splendor of brightness, appeared; and to him lying in his bed, and astonished at the vision and the unusual splendor of the unknown person, the man of God Stanislaus said: "Dost thou recognize me?" Who trembling and astonished, and scarcely forming words, "I do not recognize," he answered. "Yet I beseech thee, declare who thou art, who with so great a light, the doors also being closed, hast entered my chamber." To whom he: "I am," he said, "Stanislaus Bishop of Cracow, for the name of Jesus Christ and also His truth and religion condemned by a glorious martyrdom by Boleslaus King of the Poles: to whom thou hast constituted thyself an adversary, by thinking not rightly concerning the life, martyrdom, and prodigies perpetrated by me, the Divinity being propitious." To whom Reginald the Cardinal, his spirit resumed: "Pardon," he said, "me and my ignorance, most holy Prelate, and be willing to afford pardon to my error: about to have a stronger promoter of thy canonization, than thou hadst endured an impeder." To whom the man of God Stanislaus: "That thou mayest recognize," he said, "that I have obtained glorification and sanctification in the sight of God and the Saints by the martyrdom which I received, from the bed of thy ailment by which thou art held, rise forthwith strong and unharmed. Beware also lest thou henceforth be adverse to my canonization, which the divine clemency has decreed to consummate not only unto my amplitude and glory, which I now most fully enjoy in seeing God; but unto the salvation, consolation and profit of all the faithful." Reginald the Cardinal promising that he would obediently fulfill all the things which were commanded, the vision vanished.

[8] He, his familiars being summoned, commanded a horse to be saddled for him, by which he might be carried to the Papal palace: when from him the Pontiff had learned but his familiars, although they had first believed their Lord to be raving, yet, he without a helper and rising from the bed and mounting the horse, themselves also turned into great ecstasy at the sudden convalescence of their Lord, accompany him joyful even into the Papal palace. At length Pope Innocent, understanding Cardinal Reginald to have come, and to be unharmed, whom he had already believed to have breathed out his soul; receives him alert, and congratulates him on his soundness. At length to Pope Innocent inquiring of the Cardinal the order and manner of so sudden a cure, Cardinal Reginald answered: "The most blessed martyr of God Stanislaus," he said, "Bishop of Cracow, of whose canonization with thy Holiness I was the impeder, this same hour appeared to me with a brightness scarcely to be borne; and the crime of my ignorance being kindly rebuked, also restored to me, for a most evident sign of his sanctity, the health by which thou seest me to be strong, from a man a little before infirm and judged to death, and repaid a benefit for an injury; threatening also vengeance, if I should henceforth resist his canonization. The crime therefore of my ignorance being recognized before thee, and prone to the canonization of the most blessed man Stanislaus, and for its acceleration suppliant at thy feet, lest thou longer defer it, I fall down, testifying also his intercession by my falling prostrate to the earth." But the effect of this miracle, outweighing any relations and prodigies, which above were recited in the ears of the supreme Pontiff and the conscript Fathers, and more solemn and clearer than any deposition whatsoever, the ambiguous and wavering breasts of the Cardinals and the rest of the Prelates, following the Apostolic Curia, to beseeching

for the canonization of the holy man of God Stanislaus, kindled.

[9] For as soon as that miracle ^l in the city of Perugia, had been divulged by grave and celebrated discourse, and the minds and breasts of all, especially of the Poles and the envoys of the Church of Cracow, soliciting the canonization of the Saint of God, had been struck with inestimable admiration and immense joy; all vyingly declared the man of God Stanislaus most worthy of canonization. But also Pope Innocent and the assembly of Cardinals, moved by the prodigy which had befallen Cardinal Reginald, all hindrances, which were interposed by both diabolical and human contrivances, being utterly circumscribed and as if dried up by a certain sun; reckoning that there must be no further delay, he decrees the Canonization on the Nativity of B. Mary, decree the man of God Stanislaus, glorious and magnificent in his sanctity, to be canonized: and they appoint the day of the nativity of our Lady the blessed Virgin Mary, which was ^m nearer to the time at which these things were being done, in the church of Assisi, and in the city in the church of S. Francis at Assisi to be celebrated. in which the Seraphic man Francis bodily rests (for thither Pope Innocent had affirmed himself about to come). Thus the word of John Gaetani the Cardinal, spoken by chance to the envoys of the Church of Cracow, was noted to have come into effect. It willed, I reckon, not fortune, but divine providence, that that very difficulty which had been brought, but also the tardiness and delay of so great a time which had elapsed, should be not a hindrance to the office to come from the canonization of the Saint of God; but a proof and document of his more certain and clearer glorification. But it is fitting that this matter, which I write, be verified and defended (if perchance anyone think it phantastical or fabricated) by the original letter, written by the aforesaid John Gaetani the Cardinal to Bishop Prandotha and the Chapter of Cracow on parchment, frequently seen and handled by us, laid up in the chests of the Church of Cracow: of which such a copy exists.

[10] A letter to the Bishop of Cracow congratulating him on such a Martyr, To the venerable Father in Christ and dearest friend, the Bishop of Cracow and the Chapter of the same Church, Brother John, by divine mercy Cardinal Presbyter of the title of S. Laurence in Lucina, Health, and to venerate with a glorious proclamation of praises the King of the Poles also, who adorned the bounded flock of the Lord's sheepfold with the notable Martyr Stanislaus. O pleasant judgment of divine piety, that Boleslaus, by conquering, is conquered, while from his cruel ministry an eminent Protomartyr is wondrously ministered to the Poles: let Cracow congratulate itself that it has been happily illustrated with so great splendors of prodigies, and distinguished on every side with miracles so glittering, of whose multitude there is a sufficient heap. Let the cathedral church rejoice, to which a just title and good faith have totally appropriated the precious clod of the Saint, with the prescription of long time: from whose happy presence not only does sanctity accrue to the place, but from the frequent confluence of people a fecundity of fame and of honor. Rejoice ye and exult especially, who, a quadrennium now elapsed, have labored with all your forces for the canonization of so great a Father, that he might be ascribed to the catalogue of Saints, constituting as proctor for this the Provost of your Church, a man of clear-eyed discretion and provident in all circumspection: who labored constantly, faithfully prosecuting the business in the curia with all effort. But with how many afflictions and straits he was affected in the very prosecution with the colleague deputed to him, there is no faculty for us to express in the present: since the tongue would fail, nor would the pen suffice, nor the inventor of algorism with his extractions of roots, be able effectively to write out the adversities which they suffered. For if it were permitted to describe the affairs of those opposing, through sharp obstacles and toothed objections, seriatim in order, as the truth has it, by distinguishing; scarcely could the number be held, in the thousands, of so monstrous perplexities of the matters, that anyone would wish to adhibit confidence to the narrators: for it frequently happened that when the business was reckoned about to be consummated or as if by probable conjectures, from then suddenly there supervened an impeding tempest of the process held, which in fact consumed what reason had foretold consummated. Thus they experienced by the effect the motions of Saturn, which planet is called malevolent, proceeding and receding in a retrograde order. And thus they long-sufferingly exercised the studies of the Curia, that they advanced much and profited little within the triennium, the prize not being in their course.

[11] and the difficulties are overcome But at length when Brother Jacob the faithful Legate had returned, and the firm soundness of the business had scarcely been obtained from him for relating in particular audience (although he himself had seen the sworn ones and examined the primary inquisitors, who had proceeded in all things in good faith) we finally, stupefied at so great a heap of proofs not being admitted, said to the Provost the proctor as it were parabolically: "Your Saint has need finally to work one miracle, which may wondrously make those discordant in the miracles concord." And it came about, that where the disease graver, there health arose nearer; and suddenly, those before discordant, were turned unanimously to the concord of concord, decreeing uniformly such a man most worthy of canonization; and, through the miracles which he did, of which there exists a luculent proof, to be truly a Saint. Truly we recommend the aforesaid proctor and his colleague, for their manifold diligence, to your love manifoldly: for it is our interest that they be honored, who stood by us in the contest of the struggle; and that they be treated by us as well deserving, and at least for our name be revered. For whatever of honor, favor or grace exhibited to our said friends, both for their probity and for our prayer, by you, we shall account generally to have been bestowed upon us: and for the defense and conservation of your church in its rights we shall liberally present our slender power to you at their diligent instance. Farewell in the Lord Jesus Christ.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER II.

The solemn Canonization of Stanislaus: concerning this the Letters of Pope Innocent IV.

[2] [On the very day of the Canonization, the Supreme Pontiff celebrating at S. Francis] The Nativity of our most excellent Lady the Virgin Mary coming, Innocent IV, with the college of Cardinals and a multitude of Prelates from diverse provinces and kingdoms, into the basilica of S. Francis in Assisi, from the Apostolic palace, about to complete the canonization of the blessed man Stanislaus Bishop of Cracow, descended; and found it filled with a multitude of people, which, the future canonization of the man of God Stanislaus being divulged, had flowed together from almost all Italy. When he was performing the divine office solemnly in the aforesaid church, the piety of the celestial Lamb made known to the supreme Pontiff Innocent himself, of how great merit with Him the Saint to be canonized was. For a certain youth of Assisi, John, at the very moment of the Canonization, was carried to the church of S. Francis by his parents, brothers and relations, with great wailing deploring his untimely death, and seeing the dead one carried in either to be entombed or to be vivified by the merits of the Saint to be canonized. And so the near parents and kinsmen emitting assiduous entreaties and voices for his raising up; Pope Innocent, prostrate before the altar at which he stood, he asks him to be raised and obtains it, poured forth his prayer in these words: "O most merciful Lord, if the things which concerning the most blessed man Stanislaus, Pontiff of Cracow, Thy Martyr, have been narrated in our sight, rest upon truth, as human credence holds, declare today the new Saint to be canonized by me by a new sign: and through the raising up of the present dead one magnify and illustrate his sanctity, in the sight of the people standing by." Scarcely had the supreme Pontiff made an end of praying: and the deceased is announced ^a to have returned to life.

[13] Then therefore, all both being astonished and rejoicing, and bearing burning tapers and lighted luminaries, so that you would think the church burned with a continuous fire, the supreme Pontiff prosecutes the solemnities of the Mass. Which completed, a sermon being delivered at length concerning the life, martyrdom and miracles of the most blessed Stanislaus, the supreme Pontiff, ascending a higher chair, canonizes the most blessed Martyr Stanislaus and glorious Prelate of Cracow, and declaring him a Saint in the sight of God and men ascribes him as well to the number as to the catalogue of the Saints: commanding ^b his feast and the day of his birthday on the eighth of the Ides of May, and declares Stanislaus a Saint on which day he was consummated by his happy gore, to be solemnly and with due veneration celebrated every year by the whole Catholic Church, among the illustrious festivities of the Martyrs; decreeing that day to be solemn and festive for all Kings, Pontiffs, Princes, nobles, the noble-born, orders, dignities, and the whole race of all the Poles. But to all present he bestowed one year and forty days from the treasury of indulgences. Moreover he edited a prayer concerning the aforesaid Stanislaus, touching in it the glorious merits of his sanctity, and by himself publicly pronounced it, which begins: ^c "Thy people, we beseech Thee, O Lord, B. Stanislaus interceding."

[14] at which time a banner distinguished with his image appears. The providence of almighty God did not at length cease,

while the work of the canonization was being performed, to magnify His beloved most blessed Stanislaus. For at the very moment of his canonization and pronouncement, Pope Innocent still standing in the chair, a banner woven of red and crimson color, having a Pontifical person as ensign, hanging on high, borne by Angelic ministry, ^d appeared; beheld by several faithful of Christ, to whom the divine clemency willed to reveal it, not without admiration, signifying by the red color the shedding of blood, and most openly figuring by the Pontifical person the most blessed Stanislaus. Moreover there was constructed, a chapel is built for him, both unto the comeliness and glory of the most blessed Stanislaus, and unto the perennial remembrance of his canonization, on the side and within the church of S. Francis, in a higher place, a pendicular ^e chapel, frequented and seen by us several times, in which his glorious martyrdom stands sculpted. But all things being rightly perfected, the canticle "Te Deum laudamus" being begun by the supreme Pontiff and completed to the end by the whole Clergy, and the ceremony is finished with a distribution of candles there was made also a general distribution of candles to the men of both sexes who had assembled ^f, so liberal and prodigal, that each one testified that he had never at any time seen liberality of that kind, nor even heard of it from the age past. In this manner truly the most blessed Patron of the Poles and Prelate of Cracow, who for one hundred and seventy-five years had lain hidden without the honor of canonization, was translated among the holy souls and the partakers of the Divinity, not so much by the judgment of the supreme Pontiff and the universal Church, as by celestial demonstration and sign: in this manner numbered among the loftiest stars, shining in the celestial firmament: in this manner reckoned among divine men: for fuller evidence of all which things, we have inserted also a copy of the letters of canonization which the church of Cracow retains, which is such.

[15] Innocent the Bishop, servant of the servants of God, to the venerable Brothers the Archbishop of Gniezno and his Suffragans, The Pope then by a letter to the Archbishop of Gniezno health and the Apostolic benediction. Once, the worse mist of darkness withdrawing from the eyes of the Gentiles, and the winter of cold infidelity withdrawing from their hearts, thereupon there succeeded a vernal amenity, comely with the comeliness of fragrant flowers, in that to the Church before deserted and barren sons, eminent in devotion, fortified also with the rampart of constancy, are born: who as first flowers both breathe a diffused sweetness of odor, and bring forth for themselves through God's grace the fruit of a more abundant honesty: and thus, an innumerable multitude of sons coming forth to her, and the place of her tent being dilated from sea to sea, within its terms there prevailed the voice of the turtledove, of groaning and grief, while the savage cruelty of tyrants, growing mute, the idols being delivered to extermination, wondrously turned itself to the laments of penance, that One favoring whose works are astonishing. Let therefore the Church itself rejoice on this account, the gladness of the Church concerning the abundance of sons, that, casting away the detriments of reproachful barrenness, it has received the increases of salubrious fertility; and is now graciously joined by a nuptial covenant to Him, by whom, before it was taken from the Gentiles, it had found itself deserted. Let it rejoice therefore, and to its rival, the Synagogue namely, even cast out of the earthly Jerusalem, long ago casting upon it the inconveniences of such barrenness, securely answer, that now by the fecundity of its offspring the scar of the mute heavenly Jerusalem is overspread; and the dwellings which the ancient inhabitants left empty, it shall itself illustrate by the presence of its universality, rejoicing afterward in the happy perfection of itself and its integrity. Further, lest by such exuberant gladness anyone in the vale of misery, the land of the dying, to be mixed with grief, could promise himself continual rest, whose life is a warfare against the assaults of enemies, the camps of strangers, upon the earth; and lest the aforesaid Church, which is the mother of all the faithful, should be without the maternal condition; if it did not undergo the wonted molestations of mothers giving birth, especially in the birth of certain of its sons: let an opportune adversity be in a manner sometimes restored to it.

[16] As in the passion of B. Stanislaus of pious memory, Bishop of Cracow, he shows in S. Stanislaus by whose merits the aforesaid Church shines, it evidently appeared. For when the same, worthily called by the Lord to the lot of the Pontifical ministry, prudently watched over the custody of the flock committed to him; he sagaciously explored the ambushes of the enemies, anticipated the counsels of the malignant; and detecting the snares of our rival, cautiously dissolved his nets. For he had given his heart for his sheep to watch at dawn, that if perchance he should detect anyone shaken with a grave temptation, soon, the breast of consolation being applied, he might raise up the desolate one; who administering his Episcopate excellently and whomever he observed profiting in good, him with the breast of congratulation he might forthwith comfort, that no less by this to failing than to profiting subjects, he might show himself by clear proofs to be a mother. But when not without anguish of inward mind he discerned the King of the Poles, by name Boleslaus, to be subjected to so great horrible pleasures, and to be enervated also by the nefarious enticements of the flesh; so that, delivered into the passions of ignominy, and afflicting his body with inhuman contumelies, he applied to the breasts of women, their own children torn away therefrom, pups to be miserably reared; lest he should seem to foster execrable malice and to favor by dissimulation the iniquity of the same King, by the King, incorrigible and therefore excommunicated the aforesaid Pontiff, after he could not recall him from the aforesaid outrages by sedulous and paternal correction, deliberately drew against him the medicinal sword of Peter, hoping in the spirit of gentleness; that, struck and grieving, he might return in humility to the one striking him, suppliantly seeking the Lord of hosts. But he, with hardened heart shuddering at the medicine, and abominating the rebuke of discipline, nay reckoning the mallet as a stubble, not only corrected himself by no repentance, but also provoked to worse things unto the heap of his damnation, beside the altar, deferring not to order, not to place, nor to time, commanded the Prelate, vested in his Pontificals, to be assigned by his henchmen to dire torments of the body: but as often as they attempt to rush upon him, so often, pricked, so often they grow gentle, prostrated. And then the same King, cruelly slain and cut up, impetuous, serving his tyranny, turned his sacrilegious hands upon him: he drags away the spouse from the bosom of the bride, the shepherd from the sheepfold, and well-nigh slew the father amid the embraces of a daughter, and the son in the maternal bowels, making, irritated by a wild atrocity, his body, alas! to be inhumanly cut into pieces, as if the infliction of punishment were owed to each of the parts of the members.

[17] illustrated by God, by the miraculous conservation of the body But He, with whom the patience of the poor shall not perish unto the end, not only illustrated the parts of such most sacred body with glittering splendors of this kind; but also, no vestige of a scar appearing in it, restoring it to integrity, by the protection of His eagles, miraculously preserved it from the bites of wild beasts. At length, the chalice of a most bitter passion being tasted for the zeal of justice, when he was thought to have been totally consumed by the same tyrant, behold he arises like the morning star, and rises like the noonday splendor in the firmament: on account of which some most devoutly beseech his face in their necessities. He indeed, buried, sleeps secure, rests, and there is no one to terrify him now. (Nor a wonder, since he, distinguished with the crown of honor and glory, inhabits that city, where is a secure abode, a people without murmur, and a fatherland containing all that delights.) But lest the militant Church, of so great a Patron, so atrociously withdrawn from it, should inconsolably emit as it were sobbing groans, if the affluence of his benefits did not touch it, more often delectably to be irrigated; and by frequent miracles behold the Lord glorious in His Saints, willing to express the plenitude of the glory of the same Father by manifest tokens, and to confer upon the awaiting Church grateful remedies of recreation over this, made him glitter with so many and so great famous miracles: of which full credence has stood for us and our Brethren, as it ought, by suitable witnesses. Whom to implore his aid among the other Saints, we have reckoned deservedly not unworthy: for to the dead life, to the blind light, to the deaf hearing, to the mute speech, to the lame gait, to epileptics strength of brain, and to demoniacs, the unclean spirits being cast from them, rest of bodies, at the invocation of his name, are suddenly conferred by the celestial right hand: on account of which lest such a glittering lamp should perilously happen to be hidden under a bushel: which the same Lord by so many wondrous signs rightly disposed to be honorably placed upon the candlestick of the Church, especially since by this the darkness of those ignorant of God is driven away, the dogma of perverse heretics is confounded, and the blessed credence of the faithful is augmented: the counsel of the same Brethren and also of the Prelates then existing at the Apostolic See being communicated, he deserved to be ascribed to the catalogue of Saints, we have reckoned the aforesaid B. Stanislaus the Bishop worthily to be ascribed to the catalogue of Saints. Wherefore to your universality by Apostolic writings strictly commanding we mandate, that on the eighth of the Ides of May, namely the day on which, freed from the bond of death, about to live perennially, he went forth to the fount of supernal pleasure; you celebrate his feast, as the wondrous magnitude of his merits demands, and cause it to be solemnly celebrated: to be honored by an annual feast that there may come to you from the celestial treasures by his pious intercession that which he, the Lord granting, is recognized to have received, and glories to possess perpetually. Moreover, that to the universality of the faithful there may be a faculty of obtaining the delights of the invisible court, from the power granted us from above by the Lord being propitious: nay even, that the name of the Most High be exalted, that of our own accord we may procure his venerable burial to be frequented by the accesses of the faithful; to all truly penitent and confessed, who to the said burial, on the said feast and unto its octaves for the cause of devotion shall have come, every year about to seek his suffrages, trusting in the mercy of almighty God and the authority of His BB. Apostles Peter and Paul, one year and forty days; but to those coming every year to the aforesaid sepulcher within the fortnight of the same feast, forty days of the penance enjoined upon them, we mercifully relax. Given at Assisi, in the said year 1253. the fifteenth of the Kalends of October, in the eleventh year of our Pontificate.

[18] Innocent the Bishop, servant of the servants of God, to the venerable Brothers, The Pope writes almost the same to other Poles. Patriarchs, Archbishops and Bishops and beloved sons the noble men, Dukes of Poland, Abbots, Priors, Deans, Archdeacons, Archpresbyters and other Prelates of the Churches, to whom these letters shall come, health and the Apostolic benediction. Once, the mist of darkness being wiped from the eyes of the Gentiles, etc. ^g We have reckoned B. Stanislaus the Bishop worthy to be ascribed to the catalogue of Saints. Since therefore, although elsewhere, especially in your parts, the aforesaid B. Stanislaus has been made a physician to very many sick, as the cause of their languor had demanded, confecting the unguents of sweetness and the anointings of health, as those cured of various diseases by his merits publicly protest, and the evidence of the matter manifests; we ask, admonish, and earnestly exhort your nobility and universality, that, according to the word of the Wise man, inviting you with sedulous exhortations to the honor of the physician, you so more studiously take care to venerate the feast of the Saint himself with due honor, whereby you may both be able to be conserved unharmed in a state of prosperity, and, from imminent pestilences, if (which God forbid) according to man either should assail, be freed by his patronage. Eccli 38, Given at Assisi the fifteenth of the Kalends of October, in the eleventh year of our Pontificate.

ANNOTATIONS

b I remember

in similar acts elsewhere observed by me, that the mandate is not to be understood absolutely concerning the celebration of the feast (for how would it never be reduced to use outside Poland?) but concerning the feast by those who shall wish to celebrate it, by being done on such a day. See 3 April, in the Life of S. Richard Bishop of Chichester book 2 num. 27, the bull by which Urban IV promulgates his Canonization in the year 1262.

CHAPTER III.

The sacred bones are elevated: a dead horse is raised up.

[19] To the Envoys of the Church of Cracow, namely Master Jacob de Skarzeschow the Dean and Gerard Canon of Cracow, with the Friars Preachers and Minors, returning from the Roman curia, [The Legates bringing the letters of Canonization are received with a public procession.] and bearing with them the letters of Canonization, about to enter the city of Cracow, all the people poured forth. Prandotha also Bishop of Cracow and the whole Clergy, with a procession of all the Churches of the city of Cracow, honorably received them. Wholly worthy were they that that honor be bestowed upon them, as upon athletes and triumphators, and wearied by the long labor of pilgrimage, bringing back moreover a public benefit. Most happy certainly, to whom that labor and the fruit of the rewards, preserved unto their days and times, befell: worthy moreover of everlasting memory among the Poles, who had conquered so many difficulties, dissolved so many hindrances, trodden down so many labors and sufferings.

[20] But for the elevating of the bones of the most blessed Stanislaus from the tomb, for the proclaiming of his canonization in the Polish Church, Prandotha the Bishop appointed the eighth day of May, on which the feast of the same was sanctioned by the Roman Pontiff to be celebrated, On the day 8 May and ordained it to be preached and divulged throughout the whole region of the Poles and the neighboring provinces. On which ^b day coming, from all the shores of the Poles, but also from the kingdom of Hungary, so great a multitude of people assembled in the city of Cracow, that so great a city did not hold the men coming as strangers; but also in the fields and meadows the crowds stood in flocks. There had moreover flowed together, for the completing of the solemnity of this kind of the elevation of the bones of the Saints, by the Bishops with the Apostolic Envoy, several from the Polish Sees, namely Fulco Archbishop of Gniezno, Opiszo Abbot of Meszano the Apostolic Envoy, Prandotha of Cracow, Thomas of Wroclaw, Wolmir of Wladislaw, ^c Boguslaus of Poznan, ^d Andreas of Plock, ^e Gervard of the Ruthenians, ^f Vitus of the Lithuanians, Bishops. Likewise Abbots, Provosts, Deans, and the rest of the Prelates and Canons, and the Rectors of the Parochial Churches, and all the religious from the city and diocese of Cracow and of the other Churches of Poland. But the Bishops of Kulm, Lebus and Kamien an occupation had withdrawn. in the presence of the King and Dukes And there had assembled ^g the Princes of the Poles, namely Boleslaus the Chaste, Duke of Cracow and Sandomir and monarch of the Poles, Przemislaus of Greater Poland and Poznan, Casimir of Kuyavia and Lancicia, Semovith of Mazovia, and Wladislaus of Opole, Dukes. Under whose presence and an infinite multitude of people, the sacred bones of S. Stanislaus are elevated, the bones of the holy man Stanislaus were washed with wine and elevated from the tomb, existing near the southern gate in the church of Cracow, by the Pontiffs who had assembled; and, the people applauding and crying out, and imploring the patronage of the Saints, shown; and then a portion of them distributed into the Cathedral, conventual and collegiate churches, and the other more principal ones, the head, arms, breast and other more notable parts remaining at the Church of Cracow with the ashes of the sacred body. Yet to the Church of Gniezno, whereby it glories even unto this day, there fell the ring of the holy Pontiff, bearing his title and face, a rare and venerable ensign.

[21] various temples and altars are erected to his honor: But from that and thenceforth time, in the whole Polish Church and in its several dioceses, in very many cities, towns, castles, villages and hamlets, several parochial, conventual and collegiate churches, altars, prebends in honor, title and comeliness of the most blessed Stanislaus were founded, endowed and erected, and unto the present are founded and erected. In the age also which preceded ours a little, when the peoples of Lithuania and Samogitia, by the work of Wladislaus ^h the second King of the Poles, had been converted to the laws of Christianity from the cults of idolatry, and the Cathedral of Vilna. the Cathedral church at Vilna in Lithuania ⁱ was dedicated to the most blessed Stanislaus, and in the whole kingdom of Poland and the provinces subject to it the name of Stanislaus is greatest and most celebrated, and the greatest honor and worship is borne to him by all.

[22] among those running up from Hungary. Peoples of diverse regions, tongues and nations of both sexes going to the celebrations of the birthday of B. Stanislaus (since far and wide, after he was canonized, the sublimity of his sanctity had been divulged, and he was held celebrated among all) to Cracow, about to honor his name and tomb with a frequent concourse; it befell among others that Stephen of Hungary, a courteous man, who was borne with singular faith, devotion and religion toward the Saint of God Stanislaus, with his wife and tender children and all the family of his house, set out to the threshold of the same blessed Martyr, a four-horse wagon and one horse conveying the unwarlike age of the children, the packs also and victuals and the rest: which Stephen himself by a pedestrian journey with his wife, himself unencumbered and free, preceded. When he was established in the Alps which separate Poland from Pannonia, and now touched the Polish borders, the horse ^k drawing the wagon, fallen to the earth, was extinguished by a sudden death: to the father of the family coming, which his driver flayed, and, the skin imposed over his shoulders, followed his master as quickly as he could. Which overtaken (for Stephen, wearied from the journey, awaiting the wagon, was sitting with his wife beside the way) when he had announced the extinguished horse and the wagon left by him at the Alps, [the horse, drawing the vehicle after him, is announced dead, its skin being brought,] a grave disturbance and mourning came over the man, not so much that he had perceived the loss, as because the pledges and packs with the victuals, into what place he should convey them, he did not find; but to carry them on his shoulders, he judged hard and burdensome. And to him wavering in this manner with a varied heat of mind, and disposing to return into his own home more than from the midst of the journey, his wife, a sagacious and provident woman, using salubrious counsel, consoling, compelled him to cease from his undertakings, saying: "It shall not be," she said, "to thee and to me, my Lord, that, our fellow-tribesmen running with glad spirits to the solemnity of the most blessed Stanislaus, we for the death of one horse go back; and deprive ourselves of a present and future good, about to have shame from our fellow-tribesmen. For if another way be lacking, at least the packs and victuals being left, but to him nonetheless prosecuting the begun journey, we shall carry the children on our shoulders; about to commend them to the most blessed Stanislaus, if it should befall us to be wearied and to halt." The faithful man being reduced to good mind by the discourses of his wife, while, the journey resumed, with the children together at once and the driver, carrying the horse-skin on a pole, they went, and had drawn out a long discourse concerning the sudden extinction of his horse; they suddenly behold a solitary horse neighing and running about through the thickets. Which both by the color and the disposition of the body and the neighing the woman forthwith recognizing, addressing her husband: "I hold it ascertained for truth," she said, "that this horse is either ours, or such a one as expresses ours in all its lineaments." Whom Stephen deriding said: "By how foolish an estimation art thou deceived, and meditatest certain phantastical dreams, that thou believest our horse to run alive, whose skin drawn from his dead corpse it is certain that we carry"; and he looked at the driver, about to demonstrate the skin with his finger. Which when he had not found, the same horse meets them, its skin resumed, whither the skin had escaped, he began to investigate the driver. Then also the driver, turned to the staff, by which he carried the skin, wondered enough with himself who had taken the skin, or how it had fallen from the staff. Asked then by Stephen, whether he recognized the horse which had come to them, he hesitated enough what he should answer; knowing that he had left the horse, as well dying as dead, near the Alps, and had brought the skin drawn from the corpse: by what reason however the skin had vanished, or how it had slipped from his hands, he could by no reason suspect. And so, the cause of admiration and doubt being a long while vyingly ventilated between them, they approach nearer to the horse (which itself also, seeming to recognize its masters, by whom it had been nourished, joined itself more familiarly to them), and, the recent stigmata and incisions, smeared also with blood, keeping the bloody signs of its flaying. which the knife of the driver flaying the corpse had made, being beheld, recognizing with vast admiration it to be their own, they exclaim: "In truth this is our horse: in truth the merit of the most blessed Stanislaus is greatest, who has conferred even those things which we would not have dared even to wish, unasked, showing himself to his devout servants in any of their necessities a wondrous helper, who has restored both life and skin to our horse: who also has willed to be recognized as powerful in the raising up of beasts of burden, and clement and propitious in miracles." And so the horse being seized and bridled, they return to the place in which the wagon had been left: the corpse also of the horse being nowhere found, which the driver knew he had there left empty of skin. for which a waxen figure of a horse is offered. They convey the wagon joined to the horse, and, both the pledges and all their furniture being replaced in the wagon, they come to Cracow glad and alert; and the vows at the sepulcher of the most blessed Stanislaus being discharged with great devotion, they show to all the horse wondrously vivified by B. Stanislaus, cauterized with recent stigmata; and how great mighty deeds the most blessed Stanislaus had afforded them,

they declare openly before all in public. In memory also of so unusual a prodigy, leaving a horse effigied in wax at the sepulcher of the most blessed Stanislaus, returned exulting into their home, they divulged among all the Pannonians, by a celebrated discourse, how powerfully, how clemently and propitiously the most blessed Stanislaus Bishop of Cracow bears solaces to his suppliants; their discourse being confirmed by the vivified horse, distinguished with recent scars.

ANNOTATIONS

CHAPTER IV.

Various miracles perpetrated from the year MCCCCXXX to the year MCCCCXLI.

[23] In the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred thirty, in the town of Byecz ^b of the diocese of Cracow, In the year 1430 a girl is healed who had been crushed by a cart, a loaded cart trod on the little two-year-old daughter of John the baker. To whom, when the injury would have sufficed unto death, nay not only for her, but also for a man whose bones and limbs should enjoy full consolidation; the little infant, now belching out her soul, is devoted to the threshold of S. Stanislaus in the rupella of Casimir, and is restored to unhoped-for health. Who at seven years, presented with a living oblation at the tomb of S. Stanislaus by her parents, engenders in each one who sees and hears admiration and veneration of the Saint of God Stanislaus.

[24] In the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred thirty-five, Thomek of Greater Poland, In the year 1435 of the village Crinow, a country-man, pressed by an infirmity of the body, the languor compelling, breathed out his soul: to whom, performing his death-agony five times in a relapsing manner, a lighted light was brought. The disease at length overcoming nature, lifeless he is laid low, and dead, as he was, is deplored by the kinsmen and friends standing by. But when his friends were disposing to bury the funeral, the own brother of the deceased by prayers prohibited the burial, saying: the dead one is raised up. "Beseech, I pray, with me the merciful Lord, and the blessed Martyr Stanislaus, that these my nephews, the sons of my deceased brother," pointing them out with his hand, "be not now left orphans. For I scarcely suffice to nourish my own: how shall I intend the rearing of these orphans?" And when by his wailing he had provoked all the bystanders to tears, all praying and persevering in prayers for the space of one hour, he who had been dead, revived: and his spirit resumed he said, that he had conducted a certain venerable man, endowed with the dignity of the Priesthood, toward Prussia, and had received as the wage of the guidance a certain letter and two groats. Who was, and probably seemed to him to be, the blessed Pontiff Stanislaus, who ^c led him back from the dead to this world to perform penance. And so praises are rendered in common by all to God most high, and the wondrous suffrages of the most blessed Stanislaus are diffused in the ears of all, because he both conferred life upon the extinguished one, and freed the living from mourning: but Thomas, bearing the proclamation of his vivification in person even to Cracow, both approached the sepulcher of his liberator at the greater church, and suppliant discharged his vows to him.

[25] and a woman extinguished in childbirth The wife of the noble Peleze de Gorka, of the land of Sirad of the diocese of Gniezno, laboring in childbirth, the birth being brought forth, dies suffocated: and when she had been clothed in a linen garment for burial, the husband exasperated the bystanders with vast weeping, wailing and saying: "Woe is me wretched! who, directing his eyes to the children, shall foster these wards? who shall rear this little infant just now born? Weep, I pray, with me, and weeping seek God and the glorious Martyr Stanislaus, that, taking pity, not of me, but of these wards, and of this scarcely born little infant, he may obtain for my consort a space of living." Who when on bent knees and falling prone to the earth they weeping prayed: behold the woman, although now altogether dead and extinguished, in whom utterly no vestige of life appeared, as if raised from sleep, sighs: and praising the diligence of her husband, cries out that she has been healed and restored to life by the merits of B. Stanislaus: and coming even to his threshold together with the little infant, about to give thanks, she divulged to all in common, both at the greater Church of Cracow, and at ^d the Rupella, the astonishing benefit of her raising up conferred upon her by the most blessed Stanislaus.

[26] In the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred thirty-five, the wife of Matthias the tailor, called Zakwapen, of Lancicia, ^e pregnant, moreover grievously seething with grave fevers, was so fatigued by these, that long before the apt time of giving birth, by three and more months, she miscarried a scarcely breathing little infant. Which the father, anxious, understanding, with tears on bent knees prays to the Lord, and entreats S. Stanislaus, that he would not suffer the little infant begotten, nay more truly miscarried, to die before it be regenerated at the font of baptism: in which if he should see his prayers heard, he promises in his own person to visit the threshold of blessed Stanislaus. Scarcely had he completed the prayer, and the little infant, although not yet immature, but (as has been said) perhaps the same day ^f vivified, obtains entire health: and not otherwise than if it had completed the perfect time of being born, although of too small and unusual quality and stature, is carried to be baptized, and baptized lived until the next day: and at length breathing out its spirit was reborn unto everlasting life.

[27] In the following year one thousand four hundred thirty-six, in the year 1436 his brother dying is healed, to the same Matthias another boy grievously sickens: whose infirmity so grew strong, that he seemed to have breathed out his soul from his body. Which discerning, the father filled with bitternesses, his knees placed, tears poured forth, beseeches the Lord, and implores the patronage of S. Stanislaus, that life be restored to the deceased; vowing that he would visit the threshold of S. Stanislaus. While he prayed, the little infant, as if roused from sleep, and a small interval being made, is received sound by the parents, and vows and proclamations to the Saint of God Stanislaus are discharged. likewise another woman dying The little six-year-old daughter of a certain woman of Cracow was sick unto death. And so those who stood by, suspecting the peril of death to be imminent for them, thrice rekindle the extinguished candle, so many times reckoning her dying. But the mother, weeping and mourning, promises to present her before God at the church of S. Stanislaus in the Rupella: at the emission of which vow not only does the dying one revive, but also rising into full and perfect health, she took away mourning from the mother; but brought vehement stupor upon the bystanders. and a man dying. The husband of a certain woman, while he was dying, the infirmity growing strong, the woman anxious and dreading the bereavement of widowhood, solicitous about the health of her husband, vows to visit the threshold of the most blessed Martyr Stanislaus with a living oblation, promising to order a mass of B. Stanislaus to be celebrated. Soon the vow being omitted, and not begun to be fulfilled, the man revives, and after the interval of a little time is restored to former health.

[28] In the year 1438 a little infant drowned In the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred thirty-eight, on the vigil of Peter in Chains, in the city of Cracow, Agnes wife of Thomas Szrzinsky the shoemaker, was washing her little son in a ^g tub in the wonted manner. He being deposited in that place from the bath, reclining him in the bedding, she too alone, the hour being midday, inclined her head a little to rest. And when, slumber strongly binding her senses, she had fallen asleep; the little boy, somehow creeping from the bedding, seized the edges of the tub, in which he was washed, and at length fell into it head down and feet raised up; and was drowned in the waters in which he was washed. But the mother awaking, and not finding the boy in the bedding beside her; presuming that the maidservant the boy's nurse, having taken him, was carrying him, fell asleep again, and made a sleep longer than the former. And when, rising from sleep, and walking about the house hither and thither, suspecting nothing sinister about the boy, she had ordered the waters to be poured from the tub; seeing the little boy immersed in the waters, and now blackened in the manner of a black cloth on account of the coagulation of the blood, and altogether dead; anxious with grief, almost falling dead, she could scarcely raise her voice, nor even express words. To whom when the neighbor women had run together, and felt the little infant, now dead, now extinguished, now cold; she, a little returned to herself, with vast weeping and wailing cries out to S. Stanislaus for her consolation, and beseeches that he suffer her not to offend so grievously, and on the part of her aforesaid husband to incur the threats which she feared: and supplicates that she may obtain the little boy to be raised up and his spirit to be reinfused into his bowels; promising that she would visit his threshold with the little boy.

[29] At which crying-out forthwith and suppliant invocation of S. Stanislaus, the little boy, at the vow of the mother revives. held by all for dead and extinguished, whose little body also had now grown stiff, began to receive its former color, and to lay aside that foul and deadly color; and at length seemed to breathe as it were a very little under the place of the breast.

So the anxious mother rising with the other women, the little boy snatched up, ran to the church of S. Stanislaus in the Rupella, just as if one flees from the face of a wild beast; and the little boy being placed on the altar of the blessed Virgin, she began to repeat her former prayers. At length the boy began to breathe more and more notably, and when "Te Deum Laudamus" was solemnly sung there, the boy opened his eyes, and as if awaking from sleep began to roll his head. Scarcely is the canticle "Te Deum laudamus" with the antiphon "Salve Regina" finished, and the boy is found sound, if ever he was so seen, and is carried home unharmed. Which although it may not seem a miracle to anyone, that the aforesaid boy, being briefly in the waters, revived, inasmuch as he was not yet fully extinguished: yet in this no one can fail to wonder, that he obtained so swift and perfect health by the merits of S. Stanislaus. And whereas in old and robust men we see this, that if they are seized by some molestation of the body, as for instance if they are throttled, or if any are violently immersed, although they are not much near to death, yet on account of the violent perturbation of the body, they sometimes become long infirm: but this little infant, although tender in body, although small in strength, after that suffocation, forthwith brought back the full recovery of health by the merits of S. Stanislaus.

[30] Since almighty God does all the wonderful things from the beginning, by Himself and the Saints, for this, that He may make known His mercy and power to men, that by this He may be praised by all; therefore He commanded, that the wonderful things which He works be preached and published to men. For He says through the Prophet in the hundred and sixth Psalm: "Let the mercies of the Lord confess to Him, and His wonderful works to the children of men": which Verse in the same Psalm is repeated four times. For after any benefit, miraculously afforded to the children of Israel, which are there enumerated, that Verse is redoubled: and at the fourth repetition it is said; "Let them exalt Him in the church of the people, and praise Him in the chair of the elders." For God demands no other praise from us. Whence it is said in the psalm: "If I be hungry, I will not tell thee: for the world is Mine and the fullness thereof." Psal. 49. 12 & 14 And below, "Offer to God the sacrifice of praise, and pay thy vows to the Most High." Whence, that He might augment His praise in us, He granted His Saints, whose bodies and relics are with us, to do many prodigious wonderful things. For certainly in the church of S. Stanislaus de Rupella, on the third weekday ^h next before the feast of B. Margaret in the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred forty there happened a miracle, In the year 1440 most worthy of relation and praise; on account of which God is worthily to be glorified in His Holy Martyr Stanislaus, A boy deprived of sight, speech and motion, since He is good, since His mercy is unto the age. In the town of Szywicez ⁱ of the diocese of Cracow, the son of a certain layman Peter in Nyemyecykye, called Wyeprze, about thirteen years old, fell into a wonderful, unheard-of and exceedingly grave infirmity, namely such, that he lost the use of seeing, of speaking and likewise of walking; and was constrained by such an ailment, that he could not move any member of his body: only palpitating and sipping a little nay nor his jaws or tongue, that he might at least chew the food offered him for the sustaining of his wretched life; whence he appeared to those who looked on him more dead than alive. Only the vital spirit was perceived to palpitate in his breast. And when the languor more protractedly raged day by day, the parents could not foster him otherwise, than that they bedewed his lips with some very thin sip; which yet he could scarcely swallow. Thus therefore, I will not say half-dead, but indeed a very little alive, from the feast of ^k S. Martin until the day of the perpetrated miracle he lay immovable. On account therefore of the protraction of the infirmity and the tenderness of his members, his feet and hands and all the members of his body, altogether dry, contracted and useless to their offices, he wholly retained.

[31] His parents therefore afflicted by this bitter blow, knew not what they should do, with what kind of remedy, with what kind of food they should refresh the languishing one, what more they should confer upon him: who could neither, attenuated, by human judgment live, nor, on account of the proof of the very thin spirit palpitating in his breast, be entombed. Wherefore they desired death, to which he was very near, rather than his life. And when the days had proceeded at length, He who reserved the sick one to be healed by His protection, inspired them, that they should vow him to be carried to the threshold of S. Stanislaus. Which as soon as they did, forthwith the gratuitous piety of God both made favorable that which they desired, and added to their desires greater things. For the boy, at the emission of the vow made by his parents, opened his eyes, closed from the beginning of the infirmity and meanwhile never opened. invoking S. Stanislaus he opens his eyes, Which miracle being seen, confiding more in the mercy of the Lord and the patronage of S. Stanislaus, the sick one being placed on a cart, they set out for Cracow. And so coming to the church of S. Stanislaus in the Rupella, they announce to the Presbyters of the church the things which had been done with the boy, demanding the relics of S. Stanislaus to be exhibited to them. Then they began with tearful voices, for their consolation and the further cure of the sick one, to entreat the Lord and S. Stanislaus. After therefore the aforesaid relics had been joined to the mouth of the sick boy, lying as before almost lifeless, using only the office of his eyes; and receiving speech at the touch of the relics, forthwith the bond of his tongue was loosed, and he received the former use of speaking. The father therefore of the boy, filled with unspeakable joy, beseeches the Presbyters that they say Masses of S. Stanislaus. And when the offices of the Masses were still being performed, the Mass being said he fully convalesces. the boy appeared sound in all his members, and those dry and contracted members returned to their former health. And so the Masses being finished and thanksgivings exhibited with inestimable joy to God and S. Stanislaus, the boy, made sound as if in a moment, returned with his parents to their own. Whose cure seemed no less wonderful to those who had seen him a little before, than the raising up of a dead one: who was distant by only one degree from death now. For this magnificent benefit of God therefore and the glory of S. Stanislaus, by which the Lord deigned so to crown him before us, that at the invocation of his name and the touch of his relics one so near to death was wonderfully and suddenly cured, let us glorify God; that Christ may also make us partakers of the merits of his perennial glory, blessed through the ages. Amen.

[32] In the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred forty, In the year 1440 there happened a miracle no less to be wondered at than a benefit of God to be praised, and the patronage of the most blessed Martyr Stanislaus worthily to be extolled. Pope Eugene IV holding a council at Ferrara, John Pnyowsky and Clement Nawoyowsky, Canons of Cracow, while [from Ferrara on account of the pestilence, which had occupied all Italy, they wished to migrate to Venice] boarding ships at Francolino ^l on the Po, otherwise the Eridanus, come to the town Klusch of the dominion of the Venetians, and were there compelled to halt: for October, during whose time they were sailing, had stirred up several winds. Then wearied by a long stay at Klusch, they compel the master of the ship, refusing the navigation on account of the notorious and overhanging peril which, as one skilled both in sailing and in winds, he announced to them, drawn before the Judge of the place, to sail. And when, about to sail toward Venice, they had entered the higher parts of the sea, the sea suddenly, the ship imperiled in the Venetian sea, as the master had announced, began to swell: also several ships, which were crossing the Venetian sea, in their sight, by the force of the tempest broken, were swallowed. For a most monstrous tempest arising, all are involved in the perils of death; and because the raging sea compels the undevout to become devout; some implored the suffrages of these, some of those, others of yet other Saints with high-sounding voices. When therefore the sight of dire death moved before the eyes of all, the aforesaid John Pnyowsky and Clement Nawoyowsky Canons of Cracow and the rest of the Poles who crossed with them began to cry out to Blessed Stanislaus. To him therefore they raise their vows and voices on high, and lest they be suffocated by the waves, they beseech with greater weepings than voices. A wondrous thing, the others being drowned it is freed, most worthy of relation and belief! That ship in which the name of Blessed Stanislaus resounds, the waves of the sea cannot drown, the other rafts, with all those contained in them, being utterly swallowed: then at the suppliant invocation of S. Stanislaus the waves are assuaged, the troubled sea returns to a placid breeze, the deep grows quiet from its fury, thanks are rendered to God and His Saint Stanislaus by all in common. Lo, Poles, a great benefit has been bestowed upon you divinely from heaven, that your Stanislaus follows you ever across the seas and straits, and in the manner of a hen with chicks, invoked, protects you from all perils with the wings of his benefits, however undevoutly even invoked.

[33] In the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred thirty-five, In the year 1435 a woman condemned to drowning, on the twelfth day of the month of May, a certain little woman, caught in flagrant crime, in the city of Cracow is presented to the Judge, is accused, is convicted, and by municipal law is adjudged to be smitten with the last punishment, to be suffocated in the waters, with hands bound behind her back, to be precipitated by the officer from the royal bridge into the river Vistula, it is decreed. and a stone hung on her precipitated into the Vistula, Who, having seen the church of the most blessed Martyr Stanislaus in the Rupella, murmuring with silent little lips, commends herself with sincere devotion to the Martyr, and demands the protection of the Patron to be present to her. After therefore, a stone hung on her neck, she is precipitated into the river from the bridge; the protection of the most pious Father was present to her. Indeed, neither supported by the office of her hands, nor the weight of the stone hindering, in the manner of floating wood, she enjoys the surface of the stream. The wave therefore being driven applied her to the shore, nay more truly supported by the aid of the most blessed Pontiff: whom the executioner, lest it be imputed to his unskillfulness, running about the shore hither and thither, by a club strove several times to plunge into the waters. And so when he pursues her for almost four stadia lest she swim out; her hands and feet being bound understanding that not human agility was acting with her, but divine piety, and also because by the men standing by in a great crowd for this spectacle he is restrained and seized, lest beyond what is fitting one sin be punished several times in the same person, but rather he should applaud the divine miracle and that of His most blessed Martyr Stanislaus, about to be struck by the blessed Martyr himself, if he should persist by a wicked endeavor to impede the benefit conferred upon the woman; he freely suffers her to seek the bank. Who as soon as she ceased to be prohibited, without all difficulty seeks the bank: she escapes safe. and still with hands, as before, bound behind her back, and a stone hung on her neck, sets out to the church of the most blessed Martyr Stanislaus in the Rupella: accompanied by all the people, who had flowed together to the spectacle of this kind: and she discloses the order of the deed, together with the tenor of her vow, to the Presbyters of the same church, before much people standing by and weeping: and the aforesaid stone, in perpetual memory of her liberation, she hangs at the sepulcher of the same most blessed Martyr.

[34] a girl fallen from a cart and suffocated by the wheels Indeed if the most kind Father Stanislaus brings protections to those justly chastised for their excesses, how much more to those whom either the importunity of mischances, or the necessity of infirmities presses? Whence in the same year, in the month of August, no less worthy of fame a miracle happened in the town of Vyslicia ⁿ. For a certain inhabitant of the same town, while he was carrying grain into his barns, the annual rewards of his labor, set his little daughter of almost seven years on a cart loaded with crops: but he alone was giving his effort to governing the beasts. But the cart being suddenly driven, the girl slips from the wain, and by the force of the wheels lay suffocated by the throat. Whom the tearful mother finding dead in the path, like a lioness with her cubs lost, burst into mournful and tearful voices. To whose clamor when the husband dismayed ran up, and found his daughter extinguished and throttled, both are shaken with inestimable weepings; they raise their voices on high, the reapers of the crops of the neighboring fields run together, and clearly behold what is being done: they feel and handle the tender little body, and the proofs of the spirit being nowhere detected, they deplore the crisis of their unlucky chance and mourning with assiduous wailing. At length agitated by frequent straits, there glides into their minds the prompt protection of the most pious Father Stanislaus to all the oppressed; and with their minds and concordant voices they prostrate-down demand the patronage of the most blessed Martyr; and they promise the body of the deceased, although lifeless, to be carried to his threshold. And because that is more gratefully received, she is restored to health. which is obtained by multiplied prayers; after a space of no slight time, the little girl was restored to unhoped-for health. Which seen, the parents surpass their former tears with joys; and no interval of time being interrupted, all together with their healed, nay more truly raised-up, little daughter, seek Cracow. And approaching the greater church, they render thanks to the most blessed Martyr Stanislaus; they unfold the order of the deed, and in evident memory of the fact, they hang the shift, in which the little girl was throttled, at his sepulcher.

[35] an infant first from boiling water The little infant of a certain woman, casually drenched on his naked body by a boiling bath, was believed about forthwith to expire: whom when his mother had devoted to S. Stanislaus with certain vows, namely in such wise that for the whole space of a year on the sixth weekday, namely on which the threshold of S. Stanislaus in the Rupella is visited by the people, she should fast on bread and water, and with the little infant himself visit the church of S. Stanislaus in the Rupella with a light. The vow being made, the little boy promptly began to convalesce: but since women, who are prompt to vow, become slow to fulfill; on that condition, when the same woman neglected to fulfill that vow, and for some while omitted to go to S. Stanislaus, meanwhile the same little infant struck his head against burning coals, then injured by fire unto death, he is saved, and the grief is redoubled for the mother from another peril of her dying son. But because, according to the sentence of Gregory, the evils which press us here compel us to go to God; vexed by a new grief, and recollecting as a punishment that another similar molestation had befallen the same son for the former vow omitted, pricked, she promises that she will fulfill the vow. And no longer delaying, she began to do in effect the several things which she had vowed. Which done, both the little infant recovers health, and henceforth escaped the incursion of perils.

[36] likewise a girl about to be drowned, the boat overturned, The ten-year-old daughter of Catharine the widow de Zakrzewo before Casimir, a weight of turnips hung on her shoulders, went to Cracow, and the inundation of the waters mounting over the bridges, boarded a little boat. But when the boatman conveying her in the skiff through the Vistula, had met another boatman proceeding in a similar vessel; and one being unwilling to yield to the other, one had dashed the boats against the other; the boat of the one, driven by the waves, is overturned, and both he and the girl are imperiled. But the boatman by the benefit of a certain floating wood escaped the shipwreck safe. But the young girl, pressed by the weight which she had bound to her shoulders, immersed under the waters is suffocated. Another woman, while she stood on the bank looking on, and seeing the maidservant imperiled, vows and promises that she will go to the threshold of S. Stanislaus with a living oblation, and for the horror of seeing the death cast her eyes to the ground: and afterward raised she saw the maidservant in turn emerged from the waters together with the weight hanging on her shoulders: and at length the woman pouring forth prayers to S. Stanislaus, the girl by the patronages of S. Stanislaus escaped free from the imperiling and the peril of death.

[37] an eight-day-old infant, The infant of Peter called Franczek, a tanner near the gate of the shoemakers in Cracow, having eight days from his birth, is seized by a grave infirmity, and at length together with the mother imperiled from childbirth is consumed. Thus the fruit of the womb brought death to the mother, and doubled grief of heart and groaning to the surviving father and husband. Yet more anxious about the death of his son than of his wife, he began to be solicitous about life to be restored to his son. Wherefore at the persuasion of friends he more sedulously invoked the protection of S. Stanislaus: and suppliant vows the deceased little infant to S. Stanislaus in the Rupella. Which done, all discerning, the boy revived, a youth submerged for one hour, nor did any vestige of the former infirmity appear in him. A certain youth is by chance submerged: and when under the waters for the interval of almost one hour he groaned, with mind, though not with mouth, he entreats S. Stanislaus, that he bring him aid. And soon the invocation being made he swims out, and sound with a candle measured to himself comes to the church of S. Stanislaus in the Rupella, celebrating thanksgivings to S. Stanislaus for his liberation with a sonorous voice. Gregory, Notary of the city of Sandomir ^o, a man now declining into old age, an old man growing blind, although he had had eyes of clear sight: yet a certain dimness, suffusing itself over them, had left him slight power of seeing, nor did he hope that the benefit of any remedy would profit him, since in old men scarcely any natural remedies can avail: inasmuch as their nature, now fatigued, does not easily receive the help of any medicament. Whence turned to divine remedies, he vows to bestow certain services on the blessed Martyr Stanislaus, if he shall feel himself consoled in his sight. But not awaiting the effect of the vow, he sincerely fulfills what he vowed: namely he continues certain prayers, pilgrimages and fasts through the circle of the year, as he promised. The end of the votive year approaching, he receives entire sight. he began to recover the benefit of sight: and it not yet fully elapsed, he resumed full health of sight.

[38] In the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred thirty-six, likewise a woman blind for six months, the wife of Matthias Kyecher, Barbara by name, a German of [p] Teschen, deprived of the light of her eyes for the space of six months, devoted to S. Stanislaus, forthwith recovered the benefit of sight. Eyes flowing down onto the cheeks Dorothy, wife of a fisherman of Cracow, is seized by so grave a disease and infirmity of body, that the disease growing strong in the forehead struck out and plucked both her eyes from their natural places, and compelled them to hang down even over the cheeks, which was both abominable to the sight and horrendous to the hearing. Which seen, the physicians, distrusting a remedy, counseled the ocular globes, hanging in so unwonted a manner and at so long a distance from their site, to be cut away; and that it was better for them to fall once, than to hang always and abominably and with vast grief. But the anxious woman, relying on a sounder counsel, devotes herself to almighty God and S. Stanislaus: and promises that a Mass with luminaries be disposed to be read for her in the Rupella. Scarcely the vow being completed, the ocular globes return to their site and into the orbs which they had deserted; and the woman fully obtains the office of seeing. Who, as very many do, forgetful of the benefit, are restored to their seats. procrastinated to fulfill the vow. Afterward beaten by many and various molestations, she fulfilled the vow: which fulfilled she felt herself supported from all molestations. Whence she sedulously sought that these things be publicly announced to the people, and the glorious mighty deeds of the most blessed Stanislaus magnificently conferred upon and experienced by her be divulged.

ANNOTATIONS.

p Teczyn, a town, looking at Cracow from the West by an interval of 8 leagues.

CHAPTER V.

Other miracles done from the year MCCCCXL to MCCCCLX.

[39] In the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred forty-one, In the year 1441 in the month of May, Peter commonly called Hisperk, a merchant of the city of Cracow, a man great by birth and age, and abounding not moderately in copious resources; wishing to anticipate the end of his life by good works, and to make a ready account of the goods conferred on him by God; an old man growing blind liberally dispensed his resources in pious uses and the fabrics of churches. He coming to the church of S. Stanislaus in the Rupella with a guide going before (for now even, on account of grief, with darkened eyes he could not walk without a guide), conferred with the Rector of that church Master Jacob Parkoschi de Zorawicze, Doctor of Decrees, how he might also impart something of his goods to that church. Whence first for constructing a ^a chapel on the right side of the aforesaid church, whose foundations were then being laid, he promised to give ten marks. and liberal in the fabric of S. Stanislaus Then he exhorted the said Rector concerning some immovable goods, for the said church, that it might be raised up. Who when, these things being settled, he had departed from the often-said Rector of the church, and was descending step by step toward the lake of S. Stanislaus; he began to bargain with S. Stanislaus mentally, saying: "S. Stanislaus, if thou wilt that I complete in work those things which I have preconceived for thy honor, render me also somewhat consoled, and succor that I may convalesce a little in my sight." Scarcely had he finished such a conception with himself, and soon the unhoped-for light of his eyes is restored to him: and, he is illumined. as he was wont to assert, as if he had stepped from some dark place to a serene light, he is illumined. Not ungrateful therefore for this benefit, as he had promised, he forthwith gave ten marks of money to the church in the Rupella. And then for ninety marks he procured a mill in the Episcopal village called Blonye for the said church.

[40] In Lelovia, a town of the land of Cracow, the son of the Advocate of almost four years, likewise a four-year-old boy, was tortured with an excessive grief of the eyes. But on the day of S. Stanislaus the aforesaid Advocate, reclining at table with his wife and family, when there came into his memory the solemnity of B. Stanislaus, and especially the frequency of men of both sexes, which on that day in a frequent and numerous multitude runs together to the church of S. Stanislaus, sighing said: "How great a solemnity, and how great a concourse of men there is now at the tomb of the most blessed Martyr S. Stanislaus in ^b the Rupella!" And his speech turned to Blessed Stanislaus he said: "O glorious Martyr S. Stanislaus, deign to console us too, mournful in our offspring." When he had said these things, that little son, almost blind, came forth from the corner in which he lay hidden, perfectly sound in sight, saying: "Give me too to eat; why have you forgotten me?" The parents therefore seeing their son sound, whom they saw altogether growing blind, judging by the merits of B. Stanislaus this one to be illumined, forthwith set out to his threshold with the little boy. Coming therefore to the Rupella they narrated the aforesaid benefit of God, rendering praises to God and S. Stanislaus, demanding that these things be publicly preached to the people. Michael called Gothisnam, Canon of S. Mary of Sandomir, is struck with a grave infirmity of the eyes, despairing to convalesce humanly, nay rather fearing to be perpetually blinded: he turned himself to entreating S. Stanislaus, and a Canon of Sandomir, and vowed a vow of visiting his church in the Rupella: soon the vow being emitted he began to convalesce, and fulfilling the vow brought back full health: seeking that this grace done him through S. Stanislaus be publicly proclaimed.

[41] There happened moreover in the very city of Cracow a no less unusual miracle: in which appears a not moderate benefit of the most pious Father Stanislaus. A notable matron Barbara, wife of Stanstrichar, a citizen of the city of Cracow, for 14 years vomiting with gaping mouth was held very long afflicted by most grievous inconveniences of languors, namely in such wise that very often, with mouth gaping, she thought the reproach of vomiting to be imminent for her: and when with neck stretched out and mouth gaping she fell prostrate, only a certain watery liquor, to the content of one urn, flowed down from her mouth. Who when she consulted the physicians of many cities as well as of the neighboring ones, and had now expended a great part of her substance on physicians; no remedy being found, in a preposterous order she turned herself to the remedies of the Saints; and the thresholds of many Saints being many a one worn, for almost fourteen years she felt no help of her calamity. Further, returned to herself, she addressed herself: "O wretched me and so brainless a woman! I seek the holy aids of foreign Saints; is there lacking at Cracow a Saint, by whose help my ailment can be healed?" With faithful heart therefore she supplicates the aid of the most blessed Martyr Stanislaus, and having set out for the Rupella, on the day of Friday demands a Mass to be celebrated in his honor. The Relics being kissed, and water drunk she is healed. Which heard with devotion, and the Relics most devoutly kissed, she returned home, and (as is the custom for those visiting that place) on her return she approached the lake, into which the parts and members of the glorious Prelate had been cast: and as she confidently drank the water of the lake, soon she sensibly recognized health restored to her and the infirmity put to flight. For to that water then drunk the long-lasting and concrete infirmity most plainly yielded from her heart, in the manner in which one would wipe off some humor from the shin with the hand. Who not unmindful of the benefit, afforded her by S. Stanislaus after so long a vexation; bestowed a chasuble with the entire apparatus, and an altar-pall of purple cloths with consecrated palls, attesting that henceforth she was entirely freed from the said infirmity.

[42] Barbara of Cracow wife of Nicholas, while she is imperiled in childbirth, emitted a vow to S. Stanislaus, and immediately salubriously, and without peril brought forth the birth: who, both fatiguing herself to the sepulcher of the blessed Martyr Stanislaus, women giving birth are aided, and bringing the infant brought forth, declared before all how great a peril she had avoided by the benefit of the Martyr of God. Peter, Proctor of the college of the Master Artists of Igolomia, grievously and unto death sick, a man sick unto death, after he had vowed to go to S. Stanislaus in the Rupella, and to order a Mass of him to be read, was immediately restored to former health. Dorothy, wife of John Sthalmachar, of Cracow, and a woman bedridden for three years, for three years and a half lay sick immovable: and after she vowed to visit the threshold of S. Stanislaus in the Rupella, rising as she vowed, by the merits of S. Stanislaus she obtained to be healed of all languor.

[43] A notable and noble man, Andreas de Lubino, of the diocese of Wladislaw, Treasurer of the kingdom of Poland, and Captain of the land of ^c Dobrin, fell into a certain grave infirmity, which God being propitious and through the work of physicians he escaped. But when he was convalescing, the Treasurer of the kingdom, for the cause of recreation to hunt bears (since he was a man of great audacity and agility, and skilled in the hunting of such savage beasts) he sought the glades and groves with his familiars. And when he pursues a bear, twilight pressing, the horse on which he sat, carried back half-alive from the hunt and a fall, by the obstacle of a certain trunk, fell most grievously, and the rider exceedingly bruised, half-alive among the hands of his familiars was carried back home. And so suffering a relapse into his former ailment, in a short time he was so oppressed by it, that the physicians despairing of his life, his friends then assisting him, announced that he would shortly die: he thereupon recognizing himself to be destitute of strength, and seeing himself very near to death, commands himself to be carried outside the chamber to the sight of his whole family; of which he had no small abundance. And when he had been carried out he began, providing for his house, to remunerate each of his servants for their services according to the exigence of their merits. ^d On account of which the familiars suffused with tears raise their voices on high, saying: "We will pray to God and His Holy Martyr Stanislaus (for the name and patronage of S. Stanislaus was celebrated in all his house, whence also his firstborn and only heir was called by this name) that they will deign to grant thee yet a space of life." But this was the chief token of near death, that during the delay of one night to the quantity of one urn he spat up blood; and, on account of vomiting of blood, refusing food, which flux of blood by no help of physicians could be either inhibited or restrained: nor could he keep any food or drink, but soon vomited what he had taken. Seeing therefore the Soldier himself human aid to be lacking him, he turned himself to the almighty God and S. Stanislaus to seek their suffrage. His consort Pyotheuscha being summoned therefore, "It has come," he said, "into my mind, and it seems good for me to vow that I will visit the threshold of S. Stanislaus in the Rupella: and although unwilling I bind myself by some vows, about to avoid the levity of those emitting vows; yet confiding in the piety of almighty God and the suffrage of S. Stanislaus, I promise that I will go to S. Stanislaus in the Rupella, of whom you have made mention a little before, if by his suffrages life shall be reserved for me." the vow being made he convalesces As soon therefore as he had expressed the aforesaid vow with mouth with sincere and devout intention; soon he felt a convalescence so plain and notable, that on that whole day from morning until evening he spat up blood only thrice: when otherwise to spit a thousand times by day and as much by night was not enough for him. But on the following day spitting up blood only twice and a third time he felt full convalescence. Wherefore not after many days he undertook the journey to Cracow, and completing one mile of journey on foot, and coming into the Rupella to the threshold of S. Stanislaus, with praise and thanksgiving discharged his vow to S. Stanislaus, as he had vowed. But not unmindful of the benefit, nor ungrateful for the grace, he strove to recompense benefit with benefit and grace with benediction; and offered seven stones ^e of wax to S. Stanislaus with affection.

[44] Nicholas called Ogonck, a townsman of ^f Zathor, a paralytic is healed, touched by a grave infirmity in the feet, for four months and more destitute of the strength of his whole body, could not move himself from his bed, nay nor in his little bed roll from one side to the other: on account of which his back, on which he lay supine, was as if bared of skin from the long-lasting rest. Pressed by such misery, he turned himself to imploring S. Stanislaus, and promises that he will visit his sepulcher in the Rupella with a taper measurable to himself. The vow being made he forthwith began to convalesce, and in a short time made sound, faithfully fulfilled what he had vowed. John Hephtarz, of Cracow, languished grievously sick; and the languor had so pressed him, that the physicians who had him in cure, despaired of his life. Who understanding the earthly physicians to fail in curing him, turned confidently to the celestial physician, and a man despaired of from a long-lasting disease. more devoutly seeking S. Stanislaus, that he would deign to obtain for him from God time of penance: and vows that he will visit his monument in the Rupella, with the greater affection he could. The vow being expressed, immediately he felt himself consoled: and rising alert, discharged his vow; seeking that that prodigy done in him

be preached to all. A certain woman of the city of Cracow was vexed by a demon; not indeed in such wise that she was disturbed in her senses, vexed by a demon she is freed. but the unclean spirit so agitated her, that it suffered her neither to eat nor to sleep: which she bearing bitterly, and fearing in the process of time to be more vexed, for aid had recourse confidently to the most blessed Stanislaus, devoting herself with all devotion to visit his threshold in the Rupella: which done she forthwith felt herself freed from the demon, so that she felt no more any harms of it.

Mark, a citizen of Cracow, is shaken by fevers, and the suffrages of the physicians being omitted, turned himself to the patronages of the most holy Father Stanislaus: and not in vain. three persons with fevers are cured. For as soon as he faithfully emitted a vow of visiting his threshold in the Rupella, forthwith he perceived himself cooled of the fevers and entirely absolved: and forthwith satisfying his vow he went to the church of the Rupella, and honored the Saint of God with victims and oblations. The little infant of Matthias called Kyecker and Barbara his consort, of Teschen, whom they had then carried on their shoulders to the threshold of S. Stanislaus, was beaten by grave fevers for half a year: whom likewise, after they devoted him to the threshold of S. Stanislaus, all fever and grief of his forthwith put to flight vanished. Magdalene, a woman of Cracow, is seized by a most grievous fever; and it growing strong she was so worn by infirmity, that for a natural day she lay lifeless. But at length a little returned to herself, she promised that she would go to the church of S. Stanislaus in the Rupella, and would order a Mass of the B. Virgin to be said: and forthwith she rejoiced that she was freed from the fevers.

[46] In the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred fifty-seven, in the year 1457 about to pass through robbers he is made invisible to them. on the eighteenth day of the month of April, John called Czech, a citizen of Cracow, surrounded by his family, was passing on horseback along the way; and certain men accustomed to live by plunder, infected with the stain of the Bohemian or Wycliffite heresy, in a frequent troop of horse had beset the public road; (to whom he himself was now so near, that he could in no way escape their hands) he at length destitute of all human help, fled for aid to almighty God and to S. Stanislaus; promising in his own person to visit his threshold, if he could escape the peril of imminent death. The vow not yet finished, spurring his horse with the spurs, he passed through the midst of them secure. But they, struck with blindness, as once the Gomorrheans at the surrounding of Lot's house, did not see him passing through the midst of their troop: only one familiar of his, following with a horse, they seized. And the aforesaid John Czech asserted himself to have been freed by the merits of S. Stanislaus from many other perils also. another is freed from the same. A certain man, setting out to go to Czanstochora, is assailed by robbers: who imploring the aids of S. Stanislaus, although he was making pilgrimage to the honor of the glorious Virgin, yet perceived the protection of S. Stanislaus present. For wondrously safe from the hands of the robbers, he escaped safe in goods and person: and coming to S. Stanislaus in the Rupella, sought this to be publicly preached.

[47] Nicholas Wangi, Armiger of the land of Lancicia, serving in Hungary, in the castle called Cunrathowkamyen struck with a most grievous infirmity in the thighs and feet, just like a gouty man, was carried by others: for he could neither walk, A gouty man nay nor ride on horse or in a wagon. At length after he saw human helps to be lacking him, often applied, healed by a vow, he turned himself to God and to His Holy Martyr Stanislaus for aid of his defects; and promises by a pedestrian journey to visit his threshold, if he could have the office of walking. Scarcely the vow emitted with the word, he feels himself convalesce. But not even awaiting entire health, from the place of the made vow he undertakes the journey, and established on the way by the benefit of the holy Martyr brings back full health. Moreover on the journey itself he escaped, devoting himself to the glorious Martyr, many perils of robbers and beasts threatening, he escapes the perils of robbers, and beasts, for when he crossed from the village Jablonkow toward Poland from Pannonia, since he was an aged man and the breadth of the desert remained, he could not in one day surmount its amplitude: and when, the sun setting, he was compelled to rest in that vast solitude; there is present a bear of unusual magnitude, of which the fame of that neighborhood would have it that it had already devoured many men. Which seen he, when there was present a faculty neither of flight nor of defense, commends himself to God and S. Stanislaus: which done the bear made gentle, all ferocity and rabies laid aside, several times going around and inspecting the aforesaid Nicholas Wangi, as if prohibited by divine power, crying and roaring, sought the depths of the wilderness; and he finished the night with good slumber, celebrating the greater thanksgivings to God and His S. Stanislaus, the more from greater perils he had provided himself rescued by the protection of the most blessed Stanislaus.

[48] The little daughter of Francis, a townsman of Grodek, of the diocese of ^g Leopolis, Contracted persons are healed, contracted in the feet for four whole and continuous years, could not move herself at all, but like a trunk was rolled in her little bed by the hands of others. But after Francis the parent had promised to lead her to B. Stanislaus, she forthwith rose and began to walk perfectly. Laurence son of Brunar, an epileptic, a weaver of Casimir, is laid low by epilepsy: but his parents vowing for him a vow to S. Stanislaus he is immediately freed. a man with an abscess, Martin called Mol, a coiner of Cracow, lay so burdened by an abscess in the upper part of the right eye, that he feared the peril of blindness to be imminent for him. Who after he vowed to visit S. Stanislaus in the Rupella, both escaped the peril of the abscess, and faithfully fulfilling what he had promised, demanded these things to be publicly preached.

[49] John, a citizen of ^h Liblim, setting out to Cracow to the fair, Spurning the Vigil of the Saint, he sickens, when on the Vigil of S. Stanislaus, the other companions of his journey fasting; he beyond necessity used flesh, although other things abounded to him for eating; soon he is struck in his flesh, and vexed with a very great corrosion of the foot. Moreover the grief so grew strong, that the sick man boiled to die rather than to live. Then it glides into his mind, that on account of the irreverence shown to S. Stanislaus he was thus tortured. and repenting he convalesces. Forthwith he vowed a vow to S. Stanislaus that he would visit his church with a candle, and moreover would fast his Vigil. Scarcely the vow expressed with words, he feels convalescence, and a short space of time being interposed, sound continuing the begun journey with his companions, and descending into the church, a solemn oblation, as he had vowed, being made at the tomb of the Martyr, both he himself was corrected, and made an example for others to be hereafter, lest the dementia of his temerity involve anyone, or vain mobility compel anyone by useless levity to mock the Vigil of the Martyr.

[50] A certain woman of Casimir, of the parish of S. Stanislaus, of good fame and honest conversation, devoted enough to S. Stanislaus with her husband; had a servant, newly brought to her from a village, Pyethna by name: to whom on a certain occasion, wishing to wash linen garments, she enjoined that she go for water to the Vistula. Who because she was a novice, not knowing by what way one goes to the river, went to the lake of S. Stanislaus, and brought the drawn water to her mistress. But the mistress, suspecting nothing of the water of S. Stanislaus, crumbled soap into the water, and set it to the fire to be cooked. Water drawn from the lake of S. Stanislaus is filled with cicadas. But when she wished to wash the aforesaid garments, the pot being inspected she saw a multitude of cicadas in it; and terrified by the sight, she summoned a certain Nicholas called Kaym, a Cathedral scribe, who then dwelt with her, saying: "Perhaps thou hast put cicadas into the kettle?" Who said: "By no means, but see lest perhaps this water be from the lake of S. Stanislaus, and that S. Stanislaus has thus terrified thee." The mistress calls the servant, asks whence she drew the water: who answered from that pond which had willows on its shores, and the lofty house near; signifying the church of S. Stanislaus, since she was a rustic woman. Without delay the woman, the pot together with the cicadas being taken, which being carried back there they vanish. goes to the lake of S. Stanislaus with all her family: and pours the pot with the cicadas into the water of the lake. A wondrous thing! For as soon as those cicadas were mingled with the water of the lake, no more did any cicada appear. Which when the bystanders had seen, they glorified God and S. Stanislaus; seeking to be pardoned, that not from industry, but through ignorance they had offended against his sanctity.

[51] There happened also another miracle in the water of the same lake. An aged man, John by name, the same vessel being filled he cannot draw it out thence. surnamed Glathky, a citizen of Casimir, was brewing beer in his house: and when the water for completing the work had failed, he enjoined his familiar, that, the horses being joined to the cart, he should as quickly as possible bring a vessel of water from the lake of S. Stanislaus, for completing the aforesaid labor. And the servant, fulfilling his master's commands, having entered with the cart into the lake, the vessel being filled with water, the horses mounted, drove them: but by no reason could the horses go forward from the place, nor draw the cart, until the water was totally emitted from the vessel. By these and several other miracles S. Stanislaus willed to honor the water of the aforesaid lake, into which the parts of his body had once been cast; and to confer many benefits and graces of healings through its dipping upon diverse men.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER VI.

Two miracles perpetrated in the year MCCCLXIV. The conclusion of the work.

[52] The prodigies, which before and after the canonization of the glorious Stanislaus Prelate of Cracow had come forth in former time being described, and those which came into our age; those also which have recently and most lately been done I shall subjoin; that the virtue of the Most High and the merit of the most blessed Stanislaus might be discerned both in ages

later, and in each generation: who not only worked among the ancient, but also works among the present age, and is about to work also among the future (provided only that it not happen that the faith of those believing and adoring him be made to waver). Two prodigies therefore, done in the past year and congruous for closing the work, I shall set forth.

[53] Hedwig, the consort of the citizen and Councilor of Leopolis John Langno, by craft a furrier, in the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred sixty-four, to the fair, which at Cracow on the day of the passion of S. Stanislaus the eighth of the month of May is wont to be held, In the year 1464 was setting out from Leopolis. Who while, carried in a cart laden with merchandise of various kinds, having in her company a nine-year-old girl Barbara, she had come to the river Wyssloka opposite the town of ^b Pylszno, then more than usual swollen with waves; boats, which might convey her across the river, not being found, she ascended up along the banks of the river, reckoning that in the upper parts she would find vessels at the village Yaworze. [the woman with her daughter and merchandise rolled down from that bank into the river,] But to her going along the high shore beside the river, a suspicion from evident conjecture began to be before her eyes, lest the high shore, about to be violated by the heaviness of the cart and the moistening of the waves, should drive the cart headlong. She seizes therefore the driver, and bids him withdraw from the shore, and decline the crisis of the imminent peril. He neglecting to obey her command, when it had now come near the village Yaworze, the shore is broken; and the cart, the earth gaping, driven into the deep, is swallowed by the gulfs of the waters, and all that was contained is occupied by the eddies of the waves. But in the very moment of the overturning, the aforesaid matron Hedwig began to invoke the most blessed Stanislaus; by whose sudden suffrage she was succored. For driven to the shore without any defense, she avoided the peril of suffocation. But, very many men running together to succor and to behold, she escapes safe and recovers the merchandise the recollection of the submerged merchandise; but also of the moneys, of which she had brought with her no slight quantity, was done for some hours, by men procured for that for a price, Hedwig looking on.

[54] invoking the Saint also for her daughter And when the rescue of the more notable things had come about, and the aforesaid Hedwig, all things being placed in the cart, wished to resume her journey; then for the first time it came over her mind and memory, that her little daughter Barbara, immersed together with her in the waters, was lacking: of whom hitherto the vast panic, with which she had been seized from the magnitude as well of peril as of loss, had not suffered her to have had any reckoning, that she should have provided for her to be timely sought. Rushing therefore into weepings, laments and wailings, with deep sighs and weepings emitting deep clamors, she impelled the multitude standing by into commiseration of her. But to Him who had succored her imperiled, who had snatched her from the deep of the sea, who had dispelled the peril of imminent death, committing herself wholly and her daughter to His worthiness and piety, standing on the shore with a great crying-out, and looking out at the place of the suffocation, she implored his suffrages, redoubling that she had obtained a half-full benefit from the blessed man Stanislaus, if it should befall her little daughter, the half of her soul, to be suffocated and snatched from her. In this anxiety therefore and in so mournful a mourning placed, while each one of the men and women standing by persuaded that a reckoning was to be had concerning the burying and finding, rather than the vivifying, of the body of the little daughter, and that there must be a running to the lower parts of the river, for seeking the corpse, whom others believed drowned, into which they suspected it to have flowed down from so long a delay; the wretched mother alone did not remove her eyes from the place, to which the shipwreck had come about; and calling her daughter by name, she besought the merit and suffrage of the most blessed Stanislaus (for her heart was full of faith and hope); commemorating herself a most unhappy woman; if, herself being saved, her daughter had perished.

[55] Nor was there delay, she beholds on the surface of the waves, she sees her unharmed above the waves. where she had been imperiled; her daughter alive and unharmed to have burst forth from the midst of the waves, and as if immovable, the swift course of the river in no way hindering, to stand firm. And forthwith gladdened with great joy, raising her voices into the air, she blesses, glorifies and extols the Saint of God Stanislaus; and professes herself happy and blessed by the vivification of her daughter and more than a raising up from death. Whom, carried by the boatmen in skiffs to dry land, receiving with maternal embraces, and having entered into the greater church of Cracow, how great and how wondrous benefits the clemency of the Savior through the merits of the most blessed Stanislaus had afforded, and receiving her presents her to the Saint with oblations. before the hearing of all she narrates: she shows also her daughter restored to former life, that the series of her narration and of the prodigy might be more efficacious. She obtains then from the Priests and Vicars of the church, that at the sepulcher of the most blessed Stanislaus a solemn Mass of the Saint of God be performed with a sonorous voice: during which she procured several notable tapers to be lighted and to burn, and unto the comeliness of the Saint and the memory of the astonishing rescue and vivification of herself and her daughter, her hand filled with gold, performed her oblation at the altar; and glad with twofold joy, returned to her own.

[56] Catharine the consort of Matthias a country-man, near greater ^c Oppathow of the diocese of Cracow, under the time of the same year and in the month of August, sees her little son, An infant pressed by his sleeping mother whom a few months before she had borne, extinguished: for sleeping on the Sabbath into the night following the Lord's day, she had pressed him until he breathed out his soul. His death being suppressed, and concealed as well from the knowledge of her husband as of any other, devoting him to the most blessed Stanislaus, she set out to Cracow, which is distant two days' journeys from greater Oppathow, bearing the corpse of her extinguished son on her shoulders, relying on this certitude and confidence, that her son would return to life as soon as he should touch the sepulcher of B. Stanislaus. and carried in a journey of five days to Cracow There were consumed in that pilgrimage five days, and the little body of the pressed boy, in the process of so many days, had now grown stiff with cold, and she had only one old woman in her company, who supported her in carrying the funeral by alternate exchange: and the aforesaid woman was admonished by all, into whose lodgings she turned aside, that, the corpse of her son being buried, she should return home. Yet the woman, confiding in the merit and suffrage of the blessed man, could not be turned from prosecuting the journey. Moreover her husband was distended, seized by great anxiety, that he had believed his wife, departing without his command and knowledge, to have turned aside to the unlawful concubinage of another into some far region.

[57] And so when the woman, burdened with the load of her son's funeral, began to approach Cracow, on the fifth weekday and the sixth day after she had throttled her son; the city being seen he revives. as soon as the city of Cracow was beheld by her, the boy whom she had carried back from her shoulders into her arms, first yawned, and then, the woman falling on her knees with weepings, the boy also being deposited on the earth, emitted a light weeping; at the last, the mother praying with weepings, he revived. Whom carrying to Cracow to the greater church, and before the sepulcher of S. Stanislaus, she preached to all the wondrous piety afforded her in the raising up of her son dead for so long a time. The pilgrimage being completed, the woman returning with her son alive and unharmed to her own home, to all that shore indeed joy, and to her husband immense exultation, both at the return of his wife and the vivification of his son, shone. There are moreover many things which in the expulsion of demons, the restoration of the lame, the health of the feverish and languishing, the raising up of the dead, the illumination of the blind and the rest of the infirmities, in the kingdom of all the Poles, through His Saint, The author touches on the rest to the glory and honor of His name, God does not cease to work. Wherefore also the basilica of the Saint, in the singing of Psalms and hymns, which there with continual modulation, by night and day are chanted, was adorned by the most illustrious Wladislaus the second King of Poland. The sepulcher was fashioned with a most beautiful work of silver, ennobled with gold, and the sacred ^d shrine was covered over with most pure gold.

[58] These are, remarkable and venerable man, the miracles of the life and merits of our most blessed and most valiant soldier and Martyr of Christ Stanislaus Bishop of Cracow, compendiously written by me: he offers his work again to him to whom he had inscribed it: by which his glorification among earthly men has been shown, by which, invoked, he runs promptly together and willingly to bear suffrages to mortals. But how much he has obtained among the Powers above and the Celestials, not only my tongue but not even that of any most learned orator can set forth, nor be perceived by sense, who through foul and horrendous torments, endured for faith, for justice, for piety, for the liberty of the whole Polish people, for the hope of the future age, for the charity of Christ, bore a wondrous contest. Which if thou shalt digest, survey, scrutinize scrupulously as thou art wont in other things; thou wilt find assuredly in our Saint Stanislaus a life Angelic and admirable, an order of martyrdom cruel and horrible, a series of canonization impeded and difficult: and from these thou wilt understand, that the crown of his virtue has too astonishing and memorable proclamations: by which the Saint himself, astonishing and wondrous, and everywhere to be celebrated by the zeal of all, shone forth: and these being recounted, kindled with the ardor of divine fire, congratulating that a Patron is given to the Poles by God, thou wilt stir thy breast into the love of our Redeemer Jesus Christ and of our Saint Stanislaus: and thou wilt wonder at the providence as well as the loftiness of the divine counsel, afforded not so much for magnifying His Saint, as for saving the human race, by which He both willed such a germ to be born among the Poles, infused abundant grace into the one being born, afforded the one suffering strength to conquer, dissolved the knots and obstacles of the canonization. To what end these things? unless that to all cultivators of the orthodox faith, but more singularly to the Poles, a Patron from the Powers above might be granted, endowed with that glorification, signified by that gift, in that merit about to be for all eternity, having obtained a perennial memory, which could be terminated at no time, deleted by no oblivion, after a chaste life religiously and holily conducted, for propitiating the divine grace, for conquering the petulance of the flesh, the blandishment of the world, the craft of the demon, and for obtaining by his merit and suffrages everlasting beatitude: which to thee and to all, distinguished with the character of Christ Jesus and redeemed by His blood, may Christ the Lord Himself grant, blessed unto all eternity, Amen.

[59] and he asks his prayers, Farewell happy, safe, and alert, and more often intercede for me, most greatly needing the suffrages of thy prayers, and defiled with various filths of sins; about to obtain for me by thy prayer a resolution of crimes and a multitude of tears. Indeed, that I might more inflame thee to the love of our Saint, that, while others pour into the treasury of the Lord fat sacks and stuffed purses, I might send two little coins, in which the devotion of that Evangelical widow was praised; that I might take up the commands of my elders, and moreover put forth some document of my devotion, veneration, observance, faith toward thee, the gift of my little talent and of my parts, rude indeed, unadorned and slight (I confess) and little worthy of thee and thy ears, yet I have willingly and unwearyingly executed it. Again farewell. Given at Cracow, the day before the Kalends of July, in the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred sixty-five.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER VII.

The Reply of the Provost of Clodava concerning this Life offered to him.

[60] To the remarkable and venerable Dictator, the Lord John Longinus, Canon of Cracow, The Life praised, written more perfectly than until then, his most celebrated Preceptor, Brother Santhko de Ezechel, the useless servant of the monastery of B. Aegidius of Clodava of the Regular Clerics, and, what he always is, thine; that we and all the faithful may obtain the hope of our salvation, Jesus Christ our Lord, in the life of the Blessed. The most accurate mind of thy worthiness, illustrious man, I would rather say the dutiful labor in mind, conquering all things, I value, and weigh beyond the ages of the ancients and of our age: by which thou hast bent thy noble talent, that thou hast most truly compiled, by the inquiry of thy most exact labor and study, the special specimen of our most blessed Patron, Protomartyr and Bishop of Cracow Stanislaus, and the summit of his most excellent sanctity, not only with a most ordered and adorned style the life of the same most illustrious Father, written by the older ones cloudily and truncatedly, but from the descent of his parents, from the name of each, which is necessary and singular, the computation of time in the conception, nativity, attendance at schools, manly progress unto the consummation of his martyrdom of the same Patron, and the glory of his canonization, with a golden and grave dictation. Which because, out of good disposition, the best God afforded to thy mind by a singular gift, therefore I desire not to go to praise thee, to whom a little is given; and as is fitting, I will attribute no praise to man: but the whole I will expend to God, from whom is every good. Since the Royal Prophet says: "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give the glory." Psal 113. 1 Cor. 4, 7 The same blessed Apostle affirms: "What hast thou that thou hast not received? if thou hast received, why dost thou glory?" And again: "Each one has his own gift from God, who divides to each as He wills."

[61] he praises the author for virtue To thee singularly among thy coevals He gave a docile talent with studiousness of virtues; that in thy tender age, which I knew, conversant among mature men, thou shouldst grow ever in manners and merits. There met in thee rather a flower of age and maturity of mind, that thy eloquence and thy conscience might go forward by an equal step. There acceded also to the truth of the mouth chastity of soul, that from thy mouth hoary words always flowed, and the course of years unto these hoary hairs procured for thee an increase of praise and honor from the gift of God, whence is taken the manifest cognition of all virtues. Hence is rooted the wisdom of truth, and whatever of good there can be: that to all things a man is rendered fit, whom the celestial clemency imbues. This made thee resplendent equal in the merit of action and the eloquence of diction; and more specially inclined thy mind, that, cultivating it, thou shouldst love the oratorical art, which assuredly among the veteran Chaldeans, Hebrews and Latins is the ornament of all human letters. For whatever is conceived in any discipline, is brought forth from oratory under comeliness. and for eloquence Let the Philosopher discover however great things, what will it profit to know if he cannot praiseworthily extol it? It is natural to invent, but of an eloquent orator and dictator to construct it becomingly. This alone is the preeminent nobility of divine wisdom, that it needs not painted words, since it is concerning God, who is light and eternal beatitude, to whom nothing of comeliness can be added, but the other human sciences need the purple charm of orators, by reason of variable subjects. In this art I judge thee illustrious under our age, that thou both knowest to persuade sweetly, and canst by speaking soothe the minds of hearers. But I reckon that among the eminent dictators of our age thou thyself art held, who with all effort from Italy, where is the Latin spring of that science itself, hast gathered several books in the same at great price, nor hitherto dost thou cease to collect: whence from thy dictation in these shores almost all draw, and grow rich by thy vessels.

[62] Indeed thou hast deigned to dedicate to my rudeness this little book most eloquently edited by thee concerning the Life of our most blessed Father Stanislaus, then he excuses the censorship demanded of him, and hast chosen me, a wild-vine, not only a reader, but rather a rigid censor in all things, that, polished and censured by my little knife, thus thus it might come forth into the open, to be seen by others and read, and weighed by such a balance might stand firm or infirm. A most grievous mass, most gracious man, thou imposest on me: this burden exceeds my fragile forces, and lays my shoulders to the ground. From a triple head I fear to assume this weight: I more strive, did not thy heartfelt charity constrain me, to flee. First from the most lofty praises of thy preface, desiring his praises alone to be erased from his work, heaped upon me, a spark, ash, dung, and nothing, by which thou callest me a man of Pierian spirit and a Polish radiance; and many other things, dissonant to my fragility, thou redoublest. It shamed me to see and read these Muses, by whose song I desire not to be fed, but by the Cross of Jesus Christ, in which it is fitting to glory with the Apostle. Believe me rather concerning myself, that from and in me I do not find this, whereby I am thus exalted by thee, this proclamation. It wearies and shames me to believe anything good of myself, when of myself I can think nothing honest: what to say, or do? I would wish, with thy peace, the praises prescribed in the epistolary Preface to be erased, if it can be done. Yet there is what I shall do: I will not believe myself such as thou thinkest (since my reason judges not that, which of me thy laudation has sung) this only I feel, this certain I perceive, that I am cordially loved by thee, and under tender affection for about fifty-six years am loved. proceeding from the excess of mutual love through 56 years. This long-shown glue knows not how to have measure: it ascribes more to a friend than he avails by merit: it praises more than he grows by virtues. But lest I be ungrateful to thy love, and rash toward myself; nothing remains to me but to repay diligent love sincerely reciprocal, and to offer myself wholly to thy wishes, which thou shouldst weigh as no small thing. Since I offer him whom thou most ardently lovest, and if [not] such as thy laudation has set me forth, yet him for whom, that I may deserve to be such, thou shouldst entreat God.

[63] Secondly, by the reasonable manner of modern authors, who, compiling new works, then he says the censorship pertains to Bishops are wont to dedicate them to reverend Pontiffs or most clear Masters in Theology or other Doctors: since with these two estates consists the authority of confirming or infirming a new edition. Mat. 28, 18 It is of the supreme dignity of Bishops, from the highest summit with which our Lord Jesus Christ honored them, saying: "Whatsoever ye shall bind upon earth, and Masters of Theology, shall be bound in heaven; and he that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me." Luc. 10, 16 But to Masters in Theology or Professors of another faculty it pertains, by doctrinal and scholastic determination, to define truth and demonstrate falsity, as the Apostle teaches, "all scripture divinely inspired is profitable to teach, to argue and to correct." Tim. 3, 16 This is called the Magisterial summit, which I have not attained, although I once desired it; this I would have ascended being called, had not the excessive expenses repelled me from that grade, as I judge contrary to the doctrine of the Theologians, singularly to this precept of Jesus Christ, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." For from those superfluous things in that grade, several blind, lame and other miserable persons could be fed, especially marriageable orphan virgins married. At Paris I learned in the schools of the Theologians, where I read the Sentences, nor did I take any further grade in the sacred page, that no act among the Theologians is indifferent, but every one exists meritorious or demeritorious. I would willingly know, under what kind of virtue is contained to make such expenses, of sixty marks or more, in such graduations.

[64] I do not deride graduations of this kind, which I venerate with all honor, especially in sacred Scripture: since he was not made one on account of useless expenses nay I proclaim the same, which, as I believe, were introduced by the instinct of the Holy Spirit; since I have read Origen in the homilies on Genesis doubly to deduce this; that from the beginning of the law of nature there were Fathers, who in tabernacles taught the worship of one God, and especially imbued the young with morals. These were called Elders and Masters. Then in the law of Moses there were Doctors, those skilled in the Law, scribes and Pharisees: for the blessed Apostle also glories, that he learned at the feet of Gamaliel the law of Moses and the Prophets, that, armed with spiritual weapons, he might afterward teach confidently. Yet we do not read of such great expenditures in the attainment of such graduations, and expenses, which he denies he can approve which preclude promotion in the prescribed faculties to poor and learned men, but open them to rich less skilled ones. It is wonderful enough to me, that in one day in these grades it should befall such great expenses to be poured out, which would suffice for several years. I know the Clementine concerning Masters in the Chapter L. 51 I c. 2 "Cum sit nimis," which limits that no one expend beyond three thousand of Tours in the solemnity of the Mastership or Doctorate. At Tours, where this money is struck, I dwelt, whose value there and at Paris I experienced, so that a hundred of Tours equal a crown of gold of France, nor would they grow except to thirty Hungarian. These expenses would not much burden men even moderate. because they exceed measure After I returned from the Parisian study to honor our reverend mother the university of Cracow, I wished that in it, as in my primeval mother, I should take the fasces of this in Theology. Thereupon to the Fathers then conscript I opened my mind, that I would not make such great and superfluous expenses, for which I had deliberated to expend forty Hungarian, and to dispense forty others to the poor, that I might love my neighbor as myself. This seemed ludicrous to the aforesaid Fathers, and was imputed to my parsimony: which fault I willingly sustained, preferring to fall into the judgment of men rather than the divine; and for a time to endure shame, lest it should happen to come to ruin in perpetual confusion, on account of the disordered dispensation of the goods of the Church; and for proper signification to make ample and superfluous expenses, and for the sustenance of the poor scarcely to expend two or fewer florins: Luc. 11, 41 when the Lord in the Gospel commands: "That which remaineth, give to the poor, and all things are clean unto you."

[65] Thirdly, on account of the sharpness with which thou bindest me, when thou exposest me to the teeth of the envious and detractors

at the end of thy preface, where thou sayest: "And if perchance vicious discourses shall offend some, the author being neglected, let all the defects, deformities and vices fall upon thee the censor." I reckon it more consonant to charity, that the author be distressed by this rope with the censor; finally he is unwilling alone to sustain the envy: that it be lighter to carry a divided burden, because "woe to the man alone, if he fall he has no one to lift him up": "it is better that there be two than one": therefore it is easier for two than for one to bear this load, and to receive the teeth and nails of the biters: to which I will expose my cheeks to be plucked, and for thy charity, with which I cordially burn, in and for thee I will not turn my face from those upbraiding and spitting. From the cause of the truth, shining in the aforesaid little book, he adds however that none is to be feared, which I have recounted very many parts according to the capacity of my talent, and somehow weighed in the balance of reason: but I profess that there are three kinds of speaking the truth among orators: the first humble, which proceeds in the common discourse of truth: the second middle, which neither swells with greatness nor is attenuated by smallness, but placed between each is enriched by its own comeliness: the third is the highest, which is raised by lofty persuasions and supreme reasonings. By this triple cord of truth, to that little book which excels through all the modes of speaking truth, which is broken with difficulty, the very writing of the little book concerning the life of the most blessed Stanislaus is woven by thee most strongly. For humbly in the conception, nativity, conversation of manners of the most sacred Father himself, and through all his life, it proceeds most truly: thence, the virtues consisting in the middle, it is enriched by the victory of martyrdom: thereupon by perennial glory in the celestial court and in the militant Church through the miracles of his various sanctity it is exalted. And if, as I have prescribed, by the authority which I lack I cannot authenticate the little book itself; let it suffice that the same be approved, and read by all from the truth contained in it; that the truth of the present little book be the preeminent authority itself, without which truth there neither is nor can be the authority of Pontiffs or Masters. Yet against the lips of detractors, we will oppose the patronages and the shields of prayers of the most sacred Father Stanislaus: and a doubled charity will avail more, than the mordacity of the envious and deriders. Nor let us affect the praises of the envious, or dread their vituperations: but let us answer them in our patience, that they may eat their own severities.

[66] With glad heart I receive this little book as a greatest gift, Meanwhile he gratefully receives and approves the offered gift. for the glorification of the most blessed Father Stanislaus and the preaching to be declaimed to the people; for my salvation, the edification of the brethren, and the devotion of the faithful of both sexes: who by the merits of the most holy Prelate will deserve divine grace, the remission of sins and eternal life, all with thee: I hope that work will be pleasing and useful to the whole Church of the Poles, and worthy of great veneration to posterity: and if the moderns are about in part to assail it, yet they will quickly cease. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be held by thee for a long age, and render eternal rewards to thy labors, by the merits of our eminent patron Stanislaus, to whose praise and proclamations thou hast striven. My prayers with my Brethren I recommend to thy charity. Given in the monastery of Clodava, on the day of B. Aegidius the glorious Confessor, and of the same monastery the magnificent patron; otherwise on the day of Monday, the first of the month of September, in the year of grace one thousand four hundred sixty-six.

CHAPTER VIII.

Miracles newly added.

[67] A certain Barthossius, son of Vincent Volha, a townsman of ^a Przeczslaw, a layman of the diocese of Cracow, a man of green age, having less than thirty years, deprived of parents, and seeing his paternal substance to be slender, began to be conversant in the service of Lords. At length, about to obtain a more abundant gain, he went to Russia, and in the town Snyathyn ^b of the diocese of Kamieniec, a faithful servant of his Lady with the Lady Elizabeth Zakrzowska, the widow of Zawyscha, hired for a wage, began to remain in service. Who seeing him faithful to her, and wishing to make him more faithful, and to keep him longer with her, conciliated to him as a wife a certain woman, whom he believed to be unmarried, Katharine by name, who however had another husband Martin a Cleric, who wandered away from her, also established in her service, in the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred seventy ^c second under the time of Carnival. There was indignant on this account vehemently another woman, Helena, in the year 1472 a wife being taken he is given poison, consort of Vincent a townsman of Szoyathyn; who greatly desired to give her virgin daughter Dorothy to him as a wife, concerning which already between the said Barthossius and the aforesaid Helena some familiar negotiations had preceded. Wishing therefore to separate the said Barthossius from the wife taken that day, and to make her odious to him, and to enamor him of taking her daughter Dorothy; to the aforesaid Barthossius, now lying in bed with his new bride, she brought a pot with a poisoned cup, feigning and mendaciously asserting, that her Lady Elizabeth Zakrzowska had transmitted that cup to him for a good night, commanding that he should drink it entirely; and offered it to him through the window, since the doors of the chamber were already closed, and from it for many months incurably sick, At which the wretched and simple man, suspecting no guile, no poison; drinking the cup, as he had been bidden, immediately felt himself infected with poison: for horripilations and tremors ran rigidly and grievously through all his members: and from that hour, for six continuous years, every month he was grievously sick.

[68] But led to Leopolis, by a certain Italian physician he could not be cured. But neither could the noble matron Anna Hunowska, consort of the noble Derslaus Hunowsky, who out of divine contemplation for half a year cured him with various herbs and unguents, profit him in anything. At length the infirmity growing worse, while everywhere he was spurned, and was tedious to mortals; led by his own maternal uncle Stanislaus Schidlowsky, a townsman of Thyczin, into the castle of ^d Sobyen, from the noble Lord John Sobyeusky he obtained on sufferance the office of ^e Portership. Established in which, in the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred seventy-eight, on the fourth weekday, ^f on the day of S. Martin, lying in the common room among the mixed throng of familiars, he was tortured with great and unusual griefs, so that he almost breathed out his soul. and in the year 1478 seeming to die, But seeing himself established in so great a peril and torment, he began with tears and devotion to devote himself wholly to the most merciful God and His Mother and the most blessed Stanislaus Bishop of Cracow; invoking the aforesaid most blessed Stanislaus, and with great sighs promising, S. Stanislaus being invoked that if he should free him from the peril of that ailment and imminent death, he would go in person by a pedestrian journey to his threshold; and offer one taper, long according to the proportion of his stature, at the sepulcher of the most blessed Stanislaus; and order three Masses to be read, for the honor of the most blessed Stanislaus. Forthwith the divine clemency was present, and the magnificent protection of His Martyr and the most blessed Stanislaus to the wretched and languishing man: and established in the dark room at night, after the vow emitted, he began to have a great vomiting. The candelabra being lighted, and the familiars who lay with him roused, he saw that he had vomited up a great mass and quantity of poison, and twelve live worms, he vomits up the poison and 12 worms, white in body, and red in head, in the manner of the worms which are found in the fields, when the field is furrowed by the plow, and which in Polish are called Panozwye.

[69] His fellow-familiars wondered with great stupor, that, having so great a force of both worms and poison in him, that man had not been suddenly and long ago extinguished: and forthwith the mighty deeds of the clemency of the Savior and of His most blessed Martyr Stanislaus began to resound, and to burst into his praises. From that time the aforesaid Barthossius began to resume his strength, weakened for six years by the strong and concrete poison: which resumed, supporting somehow as he could his weak limbs with a governing staff, on the fifth weekday on the day of S. John at the Latin gate, he came to Cracow to the sepulcher of the most blessed Stanislaus, and on the journey to Cracow twice strengthened by the Saint appearing. and presented himself there with the taper vowed by him and the three masses, and discharged his vow; recognizing before the multitude of Clergy and people, that he had been and was healed by the benefit of the most blessed Stanislaus. But on the journey, to him going from Sobyen to Cracow, and from the weakness of his body making short steps and short miles, the most blessed Stanislaus appeared a second time through rest, comforting and confirming him, that he should continue the begun journey without fear and despair to his threshold; asking him, if he knew him. Who answering, that he knew not who he was; he said: "I am Stanislaus, Bishop of Cracow: go thy journey, and concerning entire health by my suffrage be secure"; promising that by his protection he would afford him strength of steps. For all which let the most merciful God be glorified, and His undefiled Mother, and the magnificent Intercessor and Patron of the Poles the most blessed Stanislaus, who daily in the kingdom of Poland affords wondrous helps to all faithfully invoking him, who also may obtain for us all with Christ the Lord propitiation and eternal salvation, who is God glorious blessed through the ages. Amen.

[70] In the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred seventy-five, In the year 1475 the Turks bursting into Slavonia on the fourth day of December before the nativity of Christ, when with deep snows pressing down even to the knees, no hostile suspicion was held, while all the ground was impassable from the multitude of snows; there came into Cilia ^g a great army of Turks, and depopulated a great part of Slavonia, bordering on Cilia, and led away ten thousand Christian men of both sexes, the under-age being slain, and a great substance of mortals, for no one on account of the depth of the snows suspected that they would come for that time, and therefore finding men incautious and sleeping they took them and all their substance: among whom they also took Martin Ginach, a shoemaker, and his consort Ursula, a husband with his wife is captured, sister of Master George, of Peter Doctor of Medicine in the town Raczoch, near the town of Cilia, and led both away into Turkey. But from the fetters and the excessive cold one foot of each had rotted: and the aforesaid Martin, vexed with excessive grief, could no more set his step and walk; the aforesaid Ursula somehow ministering to him.

[70] But the aforesaid Master George, troubled with great griefs on account of the captivity of his sister and her husband Martin, began to be solicitous about their liberation in mind and soul, since with work he could not. He began also not so much with prayers as with weepings and laments to invoke the most blessed Stanislaus, Pontiff and Martyr of Cracow: whose love and devotion, when still a youth he was conversant in the study of Cracow, on account of his singular martyrdom and astonishing miracles and prodigies had clung to him: whom both before from afar more particularly, and then for all time he had chosen for himself as a special

Patron and Defender; by whose help, protection and suffrage he believed himself snatched from the jaws of the Turks (since then in Slavonia, like the rest secure, concerning the ^h aforesaid Turks he dwelt in the village Czaretesz near the Carthusian monastery of Pletarioch): and he devoted as well the aforesaid sister Ursula as her husband Martin to the most blessed Stanislaus, devoting and committing their care and liberation wholly to him. Whence also in several basilicas and monasteries, unto the comeliness and honor of the most blessed Stanislaus, he both bestowed frequent alms on the needy, and disposed very many Masses to be celebrated by devout and religious men; the same persevering in prayers several men deriding his devotion, and asserting his labors utterly empty and vain, on account of the form and comeliness of his sister Ursula (for she was comely) whom the Turks, even if she should be weighed with gold, would not suffer to be redeemed and led back into her fatherland. Master George perseveres in his pious purpose, and with great faith invoked S. Stanislaus, and contemned the human derisions, saying: "I believe in my God, by the prayers of the most blessed Stanislaus, that my sister and my son-in-law are freed."

[72] But after half a year, the divine piety responded to so illustrious a faith, at the intercession of His Martyr. he appears to the captive woman And while the aforesaid Master George, dwelling in the monastery of the Brethren of the third rule of S. Francis near Ratisbon, called Kelham, in great abstinence for the liberation of his sister and her husband macerated himself, and for daily food taking pure water and coarse bread, according to the daily observance of that monastery, dwelt invoking the most blessed Stanislaus, the most blessed Stanislaus appeared through a vision to the aforesaid Ursula resting. "Rise," he said, "and thy husband Martin being roused, return into your fatherland, about to escape by my patronage from the present calamity and captivity." She obeyed the saying, and her husband being roused asked that they go according to the vision and command. But when the husband contradicted, and alleged himself lame and impotent to rise and to walk; "Rise," said the woman, "and proceed, to be supported and led by me even to the great river, ⁱ which was to be crossed." He assented, moved by the religion of the oracle, and rising with difficulty proceeded, and brings her with her husband back safe, his wife somehow supporting him. And when, although the Turks pursuing them, safe and unharmed they had come to the river, and vessels were lacking to those wishing to cross, and the river on account of the depth of the channel could not be forded; one trunk being casually met, the wife set her husband upon it, and a hazel-branch being seized surmounted the river by rowing. Whom although new and fresh Turks, the river being crossed by ships, had put to flight: yet the most blessed Stanislaus protecting them, safe and unharmed they came even to their fatherland, not without the admiration of all mortals. Mindful of which benefit Master George himself came to Cracow, and most devoutly discharged the oblation to the most blessed Stanislaus according to the vow which he had vowed; from whom I, John Dlugosch, received all these things in person from his narration.

[73] books taken by theft are recovered. The same Master, eighteen notable books, taken from him by theft, by pursuing the thief through nine provinces and a whole year, by the merits and intercession of the most blessed Stanislaus, whom he invoked, recovered unto one. ^k

ANNOTATIONS.

MORE RECENT MIRACLES

From the tablets and votive offerings made in the church of Piotravin. Printed at Cracow in the year MDCLXVI.

Stanislaus, Bishop of Cracow and Martyr, in Poland (S.)

FROM THE PRINTED TEXT.

[1] The title of the church. The church or chapel of Piotravin, situated below Sandomir on the river Vistula, as said above, offers to be read what miracle was done within it, from the title set on its front, which is thus. "Here the bones of a three-year-old corpse, at the voice of the great Priest, nature and the world wondering, vivified rise again; and the patrimony of Christ is vindicated by testimony. Ho! whoever thou art, who sacrilegiously snatchest, detainest, usurpest the resources of altars; behold, restore, beware." Subjoined to the title is the author who was Stanislaus Gawarski, Dean of Plock, Canon of Cracow, Royal Secretary, Rector of this Church. I reckon this title set in our age: when the miracles began to grow bright in that place, which from antiquity it is fitting to believe was held in veneration. But where more recently, the piety of the Poles reflowering, the little shrine was restored and adorned; there was adorned also there the sepulcher of Peter the soldier, and the following epitaph carved in his marble:

[2] and in this the epitaph of Peter the Soldier; D. O. M. To Peter de Piotravin the Knight, twice dead. Guest, venerate the citizen of heaven, whom, purging for three years among the dead the noxious things of life, retarding the rest of beatitude, the holy Prelate Stanislaus recalled from the shades; and wrapped again with flesh, opposed as a witness of lawful possession to the sacrilegious usurpers. Dost thou wonder at the miracle? Nay rather learn, wonder at the immortality of souls, the resurrection of bodies, the flames purging defilements, the sacrosanct right of the possessions of the Church, finally the sanctity of the venerable Prelate Stanislaus, the Divine power cooperating in perpetrating such things. Simon Koludzki, Provost of Gniezno, Keeper of Plock, Canon of Cracow, of Wladislaw, Rector of the Church of Piotravin, Secretary of His Royal Majesty etc. A. D. MDCXL.

[3] [with the attestation of the punishment of the perjured descendants following unto posterity,] The whole series of the deed more prolixly in the Life chapter 7, more briefly in the History at the year MLXXV Longinus wrote, in both places saying, that Peter raised up threatened his descendants, unless they should do worthy penance, with the dire torments of punishments, and that besides the eternal fire they and their race would not escape want in the present life. Yet elsewhere in things not yet edited the same Longinus seems to speak of the temporal punishment, as absolutely foretold with the effect following even unto his times. For thus upon a column of the temple there is read written: "Traveler, halt, read, wonder. John Dlugossus, Canon of Cracow, named Archbishop of Leopolis, a grave Writer of Polish affairs and of approved faith, narrates a wondrous thing, which through all the series of ages, unto his times, was perpetually observed. That of all the posterity of Peter de Piotravin (whose avarice hateful to God made their uncle restored to life after a three-year rest) there has hitherto been none, who was distinguished with any dignity and honor in the Republic, or who was beheld endowed by fortune with any moderate affluence of goods, as their uncle himself revived threatened and foretold them. Their ancestral estate Janiszewo, remains so always filled with inhabitants of the same family, that there is no place for agrarian colonists. The Nobles themselves sustain themselves by their own sweat, nor yet do they become more wealthy. This we too, in the rest of the tract of times after Dlugossus, from long-lived men of the same race, recollecting things observed by themselves and narrated by their fathers, have learned by accurate inquiry. Which assuredly, in so many modes and ways of emerging through virtue, has befallen scarcely any Noble stock in this Fatherland. Lo, of how much value is the unjust usurpation of things dedicated to God? Now go safe, and ruminate."

[4] and of the miracles by which there were healed Many in the same church or rather chapel, votive tablets, of miracles perpetrated at the invocation of S. Stanislaus, of which the following collected in the year MDCLXV are had after the life most lately printed at Cracow: whence here consequently receive them, with those years noted which we read there, although the figures (for which we have written Latin numerals) sometimes seem depraved by the error of the typesetters: yet we presume nothing to correct from conjecture: for perhaps the collector did not take care to order those miracles according to the series of years so exactly, but that he changed that order twice or thrice. But that collector is the same, who is the author of the Life to be edited, as appears from the conclusion in which he gratefully recognizes the benefit conferred on his parish of Opole in averting a pestilence, as the fruit of a supplication instituted to the neighboring chapel of Piotravin. And this we can suppose the cause, why, the miracles of S. Stanislaus being omitted which equally probably could have been added, perpetrated at Cracow in the church either Cathedral or of the Rupella, or in others sacred to the same saint through Poland; he collected those alone which he found attested at Piotravin.

[5] of a malignant fever Nicholas Skarszewski by a malignant fever is brought quite to the thresholds of death; wherefore destitute of human help, he visits the buildings of the church of Piotravin, and suppliant falling down before the renowned Martyr, vows a vow, and recovers his former health. Of this matter there exists a tablet set in that little shrine, in the year of the Lord MDCVII. Stanislaus Horski, and of pain of the feet. a noble from the district of Lubin, for eleven and more years bore intolerable pains of the feet, so that he could not walk without crutches. His sad mother led him to the little shrine of Divine Stanislaus in Piotravin, a vow being conceived. Therefore by the help of Divine Stanislaus, all the pains of his body and feet, together with his crutches, he left in that sacred little shrine, in the year of the Lord MDCX. The Illustrious and very Reverend Andreas Tarlo de Sczekarzowice, Canon of Cracow, Dean of Opatow, recovering health in a most grievous fever returns his vow, giving thanks to God, and likewise to the Martyr of Poland, in the year of the Lord MDCXV. The daughter of Nicholas Komorka, a laborer in the village Piotravin, named Marina, for three weeks continuously was held by a malignant fever, and lying almost dead, the patronage of the holy Martyr being offered through the Presbyter of the church of Piotravin, was brought back to health, in the year MDCXX.

[6] averted perils The very Reverend Erasmus Kretkowski, Canon of Cracow, of Wroclaw, of Zarnow etc., having set out into the parts of Cujavia and Prussia, confiding in the Lord and the renowned Martyr Stanislaus, the more frequent and more vehement of the autumnal winds

blasts being felt, with difficulty he put in to Piotravin. To the Divine Protector he vowed a vow, that he might obtain the rest of the journey prosperous by his help from heaven. He returned happy, and overcame all the pestilence which then raged, and suppliant gave thanks to Divine Stanislaus, A.D. MDCXX. Simon Stanislaus (which name he obtained in confirmation) Stargorski, most grateful by this name received in that Sacrament, using it as a certain shield, by which in adversities he might repel all evils, diseases, perils, vowed a vow. A.D. MDCXXV. The Magnificent Zbigneus, a wound inflicted by a bull Standard-bearer of Lublin, de Sienno Sienienski, mournful concerning his son named John, whom a bull returning from the pastures, monstrously struck with its horn, a dire wound inflicted on the rib, prostrating to the ground had left half-alive; implores the help of S. Stanislaus the Martyr, and pronounces a vow: nor with vain prayers; for the son, a boy of nine years, forthwith convalesces, is presented at the holy place of Piotravin, and returns his vow, A.D. MDCXXII. The very Reverend Stanislaus Garwaski, Canon of Cracow, Dean of Plock etc., made partaker of his vow, recognizing the grace, stands in his many and great promises, and returns the vows, by which he had bound himself, A.D. MDCXXII.

[7] Albert Ziolko, cook of the most Illustrious very Reverend Lord Stanislaus Garvaski, a fever cured Canon of Cracow, seized by a malignant fever and that continuous, almost destitute of reason, by the persuasion of his most Illustrious Lord, fled to the patronage of Divine Stanislaus in the town Bozæcin, convalesces, visits these buildings of the church of Piotravin, penance being premised receives the sacred Synaxis, and gives immense thanks to the Divine one for the health received, A. D. MDCXXII. a captive freed Joseph Strzemeski de Strzemchi, a Noble, led captive to the galleys by the most monstrous Turk, almost destitute of human help, chains placed both on his feet and on his body up to his breast, commends himself to the Divine Protector, about to visit the sacred buildings of Piotravin, and to return a vow. Suddenly the chains fell from his feet and breast. He confesses in this holy place, that from so difficult and long a journey he migrated by a wondrous reason; and no other, except that he had implored the help of Divine Stanislaus. To whom he discharged thanks established in that sacred little shrine A. D. MDCXXIII. others aided in peril of life. The Reverend Laurence Babecki, Vicar of Casimir, actually a Presbyter, hung this tablet in the church of Piotravin. "While I am imperiled of life, I seek the merits of the Prelate: lame I recover my step, I bring back the gifts of health," A. D. MDCXXIV. Paul Wielicki, a lethal wound received from enemies, returned to a house infected with pestilence, fled to his Protector holy Stanislaus, is freed from both, and returns a tablet a witness of life preserved, A. D. MDCXXIV.

[8] a paralysis healed Sophia Ligiæzianka de Bobrkow, infected with paralysis, and almost wholly weakened, could not walk even with the aid of a crutch; she had a vision, by which admonished, that she should flee to the sacred buildings of Piotravin, and commend herself to Divine Stanislaus; she fled, about to be restored to health returns a vow, A. D. MDCXXIV. Stephen Chobrcynski de Laziska, and a fever from the district of Lublin, by a grave internal pain, and a malignant fever detained on the journey, so that he could not move himself from the place; as a Parishioner he betakes himself to the Prelate Divine Stanislaus and his Pastor; suddenly convalesces, and returning home with bare feet returns a vow, and gives thanks for so great a benefit. A. D. MDCXXIV. navigators aided, John Kolucki, tossed by various winds and storms, sailing to Gdansk fled to the patronage of S. Stanislaus Patron of Poland: by whose guidance happy he seeks again his own home, then Piotravin, discharges thanks to the Divine Protector, and set a votive tablet, A. D. MDCXXV. Andreas Radolinski of the district of Chelm, thinking to sail by the Vistula to Danzig, visited the buildings of Piotravin, where he commits himself and his goods totally to the protection of S. Stanislaus the Martyr, supplicates moreover that he may seek again his home unharmed. Scarcely does he commit himself to the Vistula, lo a storm rises, the winds most vehement threaten shipwreck. Established therefore in that greatest peril while he was, especially since the skiffs, which were four in his company, had been submerged, the other skiffs following behind, sixty, suffocated by the waters, the twelve sailors could not lower the sail in that mischance, he alone, imploring the Divine one, achieved this. Therefore suppliant for so great a benefit, at Piotravin to the Divine Protector he hung a tablet, A. D. MDCXXV.

[9] two dying men Albert de Wawrzynczyce, demented, deaf, destitute of strength, without food and drink for some days detained in bed, awaited the hour of death. His relatives and neighbors, seeing the moment of death, offer him to the sacred little shrine, and lo suddenly he rises, is presented, and sound returns his vow, A. D. MDCXXV. Gregory Stalinski, Vicar and actually Presbyter of the church of Piotravin, was tortured with most bitter tortures of the bowels day by day more vehemently, nor did he hope for any other remedy, nay nor sought it, except from near death. Yet lest he should depart impenitent, languishing he collects his strength, about to make trial of performing the last sacrifice before his supreme day. While he confesses, a religious thought came over his mind, and he said: "Why do I not suppliant betake myself to the help of the Prelate Stanislaus? are there not so many prodigies in this sanctuary, so many benefits, so many graces etc.?" He approaches trembling to the tremendous Sacrifice: tears poured forth, with contrite heart, and happily continues: for in his chamber returned the ulcer breaks, in the secret hidden places of that inner part; immediately through the wonted passages of nature a vast force of virulent humor bursts forth, and frees him from all grief, languor, molestation, and peril utterly. Whoever enters the little shrine, let him read in his tablet. "O benefit! O miracle! Read, traveler: and if thou hast need of help, by my example hope, pray, groan: if thou shalt piously seek, thou shalt know." A. D. MDCXXV.

[10] Stanislaus Paczanovius, Commendatary of the church of Piotravin, bleared in the eyes, afflicted for several years with a troublesome and grave blearedness of the eyes, and gradually destitute of nearly all keenness of sight, after the ineffective cures of physicians, betook himself to the sacred little shrine, tears poured forth and with contrite heart obtains the benefit, writing these things on a tablet. "By thy benefit, renowned Prelate, now I see by divine artifice." A. D. MDCXXV. Stanislaus Bartkowski de Kobelno a Noble, a dropsical man, laboring for some years with a quartan fever and the dropsical disease, not without great cost and expenses, almost exhausted of purse, fled to the patronage of his holy Patron: in a moment sound, he visits that sacred little shrine, giving thanks for so great a benefit to Divine Stanislaus, A. D… George the son of the Noble Adam Drzewicki de Drzewica, one with dysentery, exhausted by bloody dysentery, and destitute of nearly all vital vigor, while his afflicted parents crying out he is presented to the Divine Protector in the holy place, forthwith from the very threshold of death he is drawn out, and prodigiously convalesces A. D. MDCXXXVI.

[11] Thomas Brozek of the village Biszcza, distant one stone from the town Tarnogrod, a keeper of the forests, a man possessed, of the Greek faith united to the Roman, and in all things most devout, for two years possessed, by the demon suffering continual torments, molestations, immense pains, but especially with the moon increasing and decreasing; when the unclean spirit by days and hours tried to submerge him, nor yet could (it prevailed nonetheless over his brother, Alexius by name, some years before, when it submerged him in the waters), nor only harmed the possessed one, but also the cattle and domestic birds, every month strangling something of them; but in the following year it came about, in dreams there appeared to him a grave man, clad in a long white stole, called Peter, saying that he was of Piotravin, and admonishing him, that if he wished as quickly as possible to be freed from the demon, he should visit the holy place. Awaking he most joyfully announces these things to his wife, and inquires of the neighbors concerning the village of Piotravin. Forthwith his kinsman is dispatched, to visit the holy place, and to offer the possessed one to the patronage of the Divine one: whom also the evil genius had occupied; but after confession made and worthy penance performed, in that sacred place it released him free. The matter being known, that he too was freed from the demon; glad he seizes the way, and happily visits the little shrine; and in it after confession and penance, the sacred Synaxis being received, in the presence of many Presbyters freed from the demon, suppliant he gave thanks, and by this votive tablet attested it A. D. MDCXXVI.

[12] Elizabeth Skidzinska, a noble matron, bearing inmost pains of the heart and greatest torments every hour, one with heartache could in no way be aided by the counsel and help of physicians. Therefore destitute of human aid, she fled to the renowned Martyr, visits the holy place, in the place pours forth prayers and sighs, for so great a benefit obtained. Therefore grateful to the Divine one she set a silver tablet A. D. MDCXXVI. Sebastian son of Valentine Golay, a laborer in Piotravin, a dying man, in his death-agony; by the persuasion of the Presbyter of that place, when his mother devotes him to that holy place and applies him, immediately he returns to life A. D. MDCXXVI. Hedwig Grzywaczowna, of the town Piotikow, bewitched, possessed by an evil demon, through the malice and sending-in of witches, having suffered great and incredible torments, betook herself to this asylum of the sacred Protector; and freed gave thanks, and a written tablet being affixed to the altar, attested the benefit A. D. MDCXXVII. Barbara Sitkowna, a woman of advanced age, sick unto death, when she was sickly, an assiduous pain of the bones so tortured her, that she could not move herself from the place, which pains she bore for almost three years, so that she awaited not life, but death. The Presbyter visiting the sick woman, persuades that she visit the holy place, and offer herself to the Divine Protector: she is presented, the divine office performed she returns home unharmed, vows moreover, her ancestral place being left, that she would remain in this so miraculous one unto her death A. D. MDCXXVIII.

[13] Albert Kostka, of the village Wszadlo, a paralytic, who could neither move himself, nor speak, by the persuasion of the Presbyter Albert Stasikowic, a paralytic, who then had come to dispose his soul, when he could not fortify him with the Sacraments, fleeing to the sacred building, O wondrous and true! the bed being left having obtained health, brings a tablet a witness of the benefit A. D. MDCXXVIII. A certain noble matron, whose name is kept silent, a lost ring is recovered coming for the solemnity of the Martyr to Piotravin, on the eve at the vesper hours while she is present, lost her matrimonial ring. Mournful she herself inquires, and bids her people inquire. In vain: it is not found. The Priest admonishes, that she commend the lost thing to Divine Stanislaus; she however to seek, and to utter that voice: "I would not truly believe Stanislaus to be a Saint, if I shall not find the lost ring." On the morrow she hastens to be present at matins, going to the church in a frequent crowd of men, she sees something amid the dirt and dust shine: she halts her step, turns the dust, and finds the ring miraculously; when she came to the church, she pronounced a solemn thanksgiving, and expressed this benefit by a little image A. D. MDCXXVIII. Simon Rozcberski, Doctor of Medicine, when from the most open crisis of shipwreck, by the help of S. Stanislaus (whom imperiled he had invoked), together with his consort, beyond all

expectation, had escaped unharmed; bound by his vow, a shipwreck is escaped, he discharged it to the Divine liberator A. D. MDCXXVIII.

[14] Sophia Chanska, oppressed for three years with various and incurable diseases, extreme diseases are healed, when she approached this holy place, and invoked this renowned Martyr, on the same day returned to health A. D. MDCXXVIII. Marina by name, daughter of Laurence Cichoz, of the village Kamien, remained lethally fixed to her bed; whom, as soon as living almost on the last line of fate, the parents offered to the little shrine of S. Stanislaus, with great admiration of all she returned to life. That benefit a tablet sets forth A. D. MDCXXVIII. Jacob, son of Laurence Jambecki, of the Palatinate of Podlachia, when he was next to death, when he was offered by his mournful parents to the temple of Piotravin, immediately after the vow conceived, the boy prodigiously convalesces. That protection of the holy Martyr the parents attested by an image A. D. MDCXXIX. In the village Harbow of the Noble Stanislaus Sczuczki, a vehement pestilence raged; the fear of a great evil is averted, while he pronounces vows to Divine Stanislaus, the pestilence ceases, and he discharged the vow, testifying by an image hung up A. D. MDCXXIX. The Reverend John Pisarkowic of Chodel, Canon of Lublin, Parish-priest in Ostrow, established in a grave tribulation, fearing the force of a greater crisis, when he was passing near Piotravin, suppliant takes Divine Stanislaus for himself as Patron in the case a vow being made, and goes. Scarcely had three days elapsed, and lo all those straits he wondrously escapes, and on his return discharges the vows to his renowned Liberator by sacred rites at Piotravin, and sets a tablet, a pledge for the perpetual memory of the received benefit, A. D. MDCXXIX.

[15] Marianna Myszkowska, by chance when she was barren, while in her barrenness she conceives, various infirmities are cured, coming to the holy place, to which she had devoted herself, gives thanks to the Lord Martyr, A. D. MDCXXIX. Andreas Nawski, laboring of his eyes, when he is brought back to sight, the aid of the holy Martyr being invoked, discharges thanks to him in the place, A. D. MCXXIX. Stanislaus Bytlewski, when he labored with blearedness of the eyes, and bore other pains for many times, by the persuasion of friends thinks to go to this holy place, and immediately recovers health of the eyes. Coming therefore he hangs a votive tablet, and embraced this benefit in a vernacular verse A. D. MDCXXIX. Catharine Ziclinska, when concerning her two little sons Abraham and Andrew, lying in the disease of pustules, she had despaired; offers them to the little shrine of S. Stanislaus, and forthwith they convalesce. A. D. MDCXXIX. Adam Zablocki, a citizen of Solec, a girl dying from a fall, while he returns from Piotravin after the solemnity of S. Stanislaus performed with his wife and his little daughter Anna, by chance on the return the cart is dashed against a rock, all are prostrated to the ground, but especially the girl; whom that fall now was preparing to take life from, for soon she now seemed to breathe out her soul. Moved by the celebrity of the sanctity of S. Stanislaus and of the miraculous place, the mournful parents offer the girl to the holy place: and lo the girl to open her eyes, to move herself, to give signs of life. The parents therefore coming to the holy place, giving thanks set an image in the sacred building, representing this benefit. A. D. MDCXXX.

[16] During a tempest a girl was struck by a lightning-bolt! Catharine by name, daughter of the Noble Lezynski struck by lightning, and of Isabella. The head, face, breast it had scorched her; it had made her mute, blind, and almost bloodless. The terrified mother cries out to the family, that as quickly as possible, their knees placed, they recite the Lord's Prayer together with her, and commend her to the B. Virgin and S. Stanislaus. And lo the same hour the girl revives, and as if from sleep is roused. The miracle the image hung up there shows A. D. MDCXXXI. Laurence Starczewski, Keeper of the Cathedral church of Cracow, Canon of Kalisz, S. Stanislaus the Patron, his tribunal office discharged with health, honored with a symbol of piety and worship, namely an image offered. A. D. MDCXXXI. Catharine Skrzyniecka, while inadvertently into the palm of her hand she drives a knife, the holy fire (erysipelas) is healed, burns with the holy fire; despaired of by physicians, she is compelled either to cut off the hand burning with that holy fire, or utterly gradually to die. Spirited she cries out to the holy Martyr, determines to go to Piotravin, and both in hand and in all the rest of the body wholly convalesces A. D. MDCXXXI. Christina, wife of Stanislaus Wstæpien de Wronow, a burning fever, seething with a most burning fever, doubtful of her soundness, commends herself wholly to S. Stanislaus. Lo while she sleeps, she sees through rest a grave man clad in white, who, her hand seized, narrates these things to her: "I am Peter whom S. Stanislaus raised up, I remain in the little shrine of Piotravin; thou shouldst have died, but by the merits of S. Stanislaus thou shalt be given health, provided thou visit the aforesaid little shrine." Her husband hears the aforesaid words, afterward interrogated her concerning that matter. Wherefore both delaying nothing institute the way to Piotravin, and leave this benefit expressed by an image there A. D. MDCXXXI.

[17] various diseases, Catharine, little daughter of Sophia Smarzeczka, scarcely yet born for one year and a half, was vexed with various diseases. A certain grave person supervening, who persuaded that the threshold of the little shrine of Piotravin be visited, while the parents promise, and bind themselves by a vow, and afterward also visit that building, the girl convalesces. This very thing a votive tablet attests A. D. MDCXXXII. Barbara Maciejowska, an infirmity of the foot, Prioress of the Nuns of S. Francis of the Convent of Drzewica, while she has a sick foot from her childhood, and cannot heal it by any medicaments, departing to Lublin in the affairs of her Convent, turned aside to the place dedicated to the Divine Martyr, Piotravin: she offers vows: in the same place hearing the sacred sacrifice of the Mass (which to her intention she sought) she felt as it were a certain wind proceed from her foot, and the pains cease. Suppliant she gave thanks, and dedicated a tablet to the little shrine A. D. MDCXXXII. a vehement fever, Sophia Zarembina, while by a most atrocious fever, for two weeks she is detained, in one of her feet suffering grave pains, awaited the decree of death. When she commends this disease of hers to S. Stanislaus, and thinks to go to the little shrine of Piotravin, and there to this intention wishes to be fortified with the Sacraments, soon the same day she returns to health. This deed a tablet hung up speaks A. D. MDCXXXII. Gabriel Podhorodinski, a grave disease, from the district of Chelm, a Knight, involved in a grave and malignant disease lay, and now in scant hope drew his breath. When most opportunely by his kinsman he is made more certain concerning the sacred building of Piotravin. To it therefore he makes a vow, and by the help of Divine Stanislaus is restored to former health. This a tablet hung up declares A. D. MDCXXXIII.

[18] Sophia Kosowska had brought her daughter Eve, having one year and a half, various diseases, tortured with various and long diseases, from the village Janiszow to Piotravin, with this mind, that she might either miraculously obtain life for her little daughter in this place; or if she could, that, dying first, she should commit her to the earth, as a Parishioner of that place; she placed her in the sepulcher of Divine Peter, a lighted taper given her, as to one in agony: and meanwhile a votive Mass of holy Stanislaus, mournful she offered for her little daughter. Scarcely had those sacred rites held the middle; lo the girl to lift herself up by her own force, to look glad, to raise her hands on high, and in one word so to say, to be brought back from the threshold of death. All this written on a tablet A. D. MDCXXXIV. dysentery, An old youth of the church, named Felix, poor in substance, more than seventy years old, for health divinely restored, exhausted by bloody and obstinate dysentery, a little image hung up venerated Divine Stanislaus A. D. MDCXXXVI. John, son of Remigian Kielczewski, a deadly fever. afflicted by a most atrocious fever, scarcely tasting anything of food for ten and some days, was almost in his death-agony. But after he was offered by his afflicted parents to this sacred little shrine of Piotravin, he miraculously convalesces A. D. MDCXXXIX.

[19] Dorothy Chrostowska, of the town of Casimir, while on a journey with a little boy, a boy raised up from a cart having twelve months, falls from the cart to the ground, presses the little boy, and finds him dead. Yet she returns home, and having experienced the furies of her husband, and rather wasting away with her maternal grief, destines the dead little boy to the building of Piotravin, and gives herself wholly to prayers. Scarcely does she emit those vows; the boy revives, who had been dead for almost a whole hour. For gratitude therefore coming to Piotravin, she offers a vow A. D. MDCXLII. The little son of Anna Branecka, of the Palatinate of Podlassia, while having eight years of his age, plays childishly; another fallen into a well. fallen into a too deep well, is submerged. To whom when, as one now dead and lying without soul for seven hours, a little coffin was being prepared; the mournful mother revolves in mind the little shrine of Piotravin, and thinks how it is customary for S. Stanislaus to give life even to the dead. Fervent prayers therefore she pours forth, and relying on vast confidence, implores the help of S. Martyr. O God wonderful in His Saints! Scarcely had that mother for her dead little son emitted sighs and vows, the boy returns from death, speaks, greets his father, greets his mother; whom also alive the mother led to this place, first about to give thanks to the King to whom all things live, then to Divine Stanislaus. The whole series of the matter described on a tablet A. D. MDCXLIII.

[20] Stanislaus Kolucki, vexed with a grave paroxysm of quartan fever, wounded by his enemies, lethal wounds are cured, and left for dead, on account of those lethal wounds not able to speak, was being abandoned by physicians. When his consort offers him to this little shrine, he convalesces with the admiration of many. This same thing expressed on a tablet A. D. MDCXLVI. Teresa Mankowska, laboring with a grave abscess made in the throat, an abscess while she lethally lay, and meanwhile binds herself by a vow to visit the sacred chapel of S. Stanislaus, is freed from the disease. There is of this matter an index tablet A. D. MDCXLVII. John, servant of a certain inhabitant of Piotravin, a vow not discharged which he had vowed in disease, paralysis, while he sets out to the forests to cut wood, is touched by paralysis in his whole body. The Presbyter administering the sacred Viaticum to him dying, gives counsel, that, the vow being made, he as quickly as possible free himself by it; and do penance for the committed negligence. Which while he promises, the same day he miraculously recovers health, and on the next day he himself on his knees goes around that sacred little shrine, and discharges thanks to the Divine Martyr. A witness of this the tablet which he hung up A. D. MDCXLVIII. Catharine Zorawkowa, from the town of Casimir, pain of the teeth, while she visits this chapel of the holy Martyr, is freed from various diseases and from calamities, and moreover from pains of the teeth, which physicians could not heal; she gives thanks, and leaves a written tablet there for this miracle A. D. MDCL.

[21] and of the feet. Albert Janowski, of the Palatinate of Poznan, while he is afflicted with pain of the feet, nor can be healed by the help of surgeons; betook himself to this holy place, performed a vow, visited this sacred little shrine; made partaker of his vow, in token of gratitude, numbered his tablet with the others. A.D. MDCL. John Osowski, while he is freed from a grave peril, one imperiled is aided. carried

on a raft (otherwise Traftami) by the Vistula toward Cracow, through the intercession of holy Stanislaus, to whose little shrine of Piotravin he had promised that he would come, returned his vows there. The same, while by the help of the holy Martyr, he convalesces from a grave disease, again visits the sacred little shrine, and preaches God wonderful in His Saints, and for the perpetual memory of this matter dedicates a tablet, A. D. MDCLI. weak in sight The Reverend Father Christopher Jankowski, of the Society of Jesus, recovers his lost sight, by the benefit of the holy Martyr, appearing to him on a horse of white color clad Pontifically, A. D. MDCLVIII. Hedwig Pekoslawska, oppressed by disease, Castellaness of Radom, while oppressed by a grave disease she long lies, promises to institute a way to the building of Piotravin, and suddenly convalesces. Which aid afforded her by the holy Martyr she expressed on a tablet hung up in Polish words, those grievously mourning. A. D. MDCLIX. A certain Mistress of the court of the Magnificent Lady Opalinska the Marshaless, while in a certain misfortune of hers she experiences the help of Lord Stanislaus, herself present in the little shrine of Piotravin discharges her vows, and left there also a tablet A. D. MDCLX. Joachim Szwæderski, in certain afflictions and molestations of his, while he receives consolation, the Divine Martyr aiding, to whom he had made vows, mindful of the benefit, offered a silver tablet to that church, A. D. MDCLXI.

[22] The Illustrious and Magnificent Lord George de Konary Slupecki, the peril of drowning is averted Castellan of Lublin, on the very day of S. Stanislaus was little short of suffering shipwreck. Now he was almost being swallowed by the gulf, near the village Szkuciska. In that very point of death, while he invokes the help of S. Stanislaus Patron of Poland, he is wondrously drawn by his clothes near the little boat, by the rest sitting in the boat, even to the very bank of the Vistula, and on that shore he vows, that every year for each festivity of S. Stanislaus he would come to Piotravin. Recognizing so great a benefit of this holy Prelate, delaying nothing, together with his Pastor, the very Reverend Stanislaus Dobielovic, Dean of Chodel, Parish-priest of Opole, the sacrifice of the Mass being heard, celebrated by the same in that sacred chapel, he discharged his vows A. D. MDCLXI. I Stanislaus Dobielowic, and a pestilence. Parish-priest of Opole, Dean of Chodel, recognize and leave to posterity this great miracle, and benefit afforded by the holy Prelate Stanislaus, which the inhabitants and parishioners of the church of Opole recognized from the year MDCXLIII unto the present year MDCLXV, that while everywhere pestilences more frequently raged; and what is greater, when as to an asylum, to the town of Opole there fled the nobles and citizens of Lublin, even the perfidious Jews, having their commerce round about; a vow being made to the sacred chapel of Piotravin, one and another stone distant from us, going processionally, with the Brethren of the most sacred Rosary, the image of the Mother of God carried, and the effigy of S. Stanislaus, an oblation being made of a banner, a silver tablet, and other gifts, we escaped from the threshold of death. Nay even the invader of our Kingdom the King of Sweden and the Princes of Transylvania, the Cossacks being sent ahead, harmed us in nothing, neither by flame, nor by sword, the villages and towns round about being laid waste and reduced to ash. O miracle! O benefit! O prodigy! The inhabitants of the town of Opole always preach, and owe their soundness, fortune, life to that sacred little shrine of Piotravin.

OTHERS

From the book of votive tablets at the sepulcher.

Stanislaus, Bishop of Cracow and Martyr, in Poland (S.)

[23] A silver tablet, in which is the image of S. Stanislaus with such an inscription. a vow being made the peril of death is escaped, In the year of the Lord MDXXIX on the VI of the month of September, Nicholas Jaslowichi de Sriniana set it.

By the command of the Duke having advanced into the Scythian shores, And I both took and gave many bodies to slaughter: Meanwhile by many thousands one man oppressed, Fighting bravely with a few I am taken. But free I escaped, while to this Divine one I pronounce vows: Go now, and deny that the powers of the Divine one are present.

[24] A silver heart with this inscription: grace is obtained To Divine Stanislaus I discharge vows, I render praises, I publicly recognize that I am not frustrated of my desire: in thee I confide, to thee I commend myself, earnestly praying that thou bring help in adversities. A tablet with the inscription: Sophia de Tulstein Herbustowna Czarhowska, Castellaness of Miedzyrzecz, and health to a dying man, her only son laid down with a most grievous disease, but by the intercession of S. Stanislaus, to whose tomb she had vowed a pilgrimage, healed, related the benefit: whose memory she left in the church of S. Stanislaus, in the year MDCII. A silver castle of Smolensk with such an inscription: Smolensk is recovered To Divine Stanislaus the most powerful Consoler, Nicholas the Second Radzivil, Palatine of Vilna and Chancellor of the great Duchy of Lithuania, for the recovery of the citadel of Smolensk, intercepted by the guiles of the Muscovite, set it by vow.

[25] A tablet with such a description of the benefit. In the name of the Lord Amen. The Magnificent Lady Barbara de Dubsko, a captive among the Muscovites is freed, Tartowa, Captainess of Sochaczow, induced by the prayers of friends, that she should lead her sister, the betrothed wife of Demetrius Duke of the Muscovites, into Muscovy. Where, by the fraud of the Muscovites, the Duke himself and very many Poles being slaughtered, she herself also being in the same peril and long detained captive, vowed a pilgrimage to the sepulcher of Lord Stanislaus if she should be freed. Freed, she discharged the vow glad, in the year MDCXII, on the VIII of January.

[26] In the year of the Lord MDCLXIII on the VIII of May, Thomas Piechowicz, a little half-alive child, a dying man convalesces through the intercession of S. Stanislaus, carried to his sepulcher, revived and convalesced: in praise and thanksgiving of which matter, a vow was offered by the Noble Stanislaus Piechowicz his parent. The Noble Lord Abraham Mosler, a Silesian of Ratibor, sick from a most grievous pain of the feet, pain of the feet is healed. and now deserted by physicians, a vow being made to S. Stanislaus, suddenly healed, himself discharged the vow at the sepulcher of the Saint, in the year MDCLXIX on the I of June. The most Illustrious Lord… Polanowski, Prefect of the royal cohorts, grave perils and disease are repelled. chose S. Stanislaus for himself as a special Patron, and having experienced his patronage always unharmed in most perilous expeditions, and relieved of a most grievous disease by his intercession, recognized the benefit: he himself hung at his sepulcher his lance, laden with gold, worth a hundred fifty gold pieces, MDCLXXVI, on the XXVI of March.

[27] Thomas Nybowski, Apostolic Notary and Secretary of the Acts of the Reverend Chapter of Cracow, Several lie hidden through negligence. by this subscription of his name authenticated the transcript transmitted to us in the year MDCLXXVII by the Reverend Father Balthasar Wiele Wieyski, Provost of our Professed House of Cracow: not without complaint against the Officials of that church, whom, he says, writing on the XXIX of May, I observed careless in this work. For it is established to me that there was not and is not lacking what they might note: but by their negligence, many benefits of this Saint exhibited to very many, have been buried in oblivion.

CONCERNING S. ALBERT THE FARMER

DEAD AT CREMONA AMONG THE PEOPLE OF BERGAMO.

IN THE YEAR MCXC.

Albert the farmer, dead at Cremona, among the people of Bergamo (S.)

G. H.

The memory of S. Albert the farmer is celebrated among the writers of Bergamo and Cremona. For the natal place of the life undertaken by him on earth is the territory of Bergamo, and in it the hamlet Ogna in the Seriana valley, not far from the town Clusone toward the river Serio. But the natal place of the mortal life laid down, and the immortal one attained, is the city of Cremona on the right bank of the river Po: Sacred cult in which his sacred body is preserved in the church of S. Matthias, and to his honor an altar is erected, and on this VII of May his feast is celebrated: on which day by decree, among the statutes made in the year MCCCLXXXIX, an oblation of two tapers is wont to be made by the City to his altar, and moreover the Community of those porters who employ themselves in transferring wines, because it chose this Saint as its Protector, celebrates his feast more solemnly, when the officials of these receive others at a banquet, and distribute a dowry to the poorer girls of this their Community: as Joseph the Brescian, a citizen of Cremona, sets forth in the Cremonese Diary. From the Relics his arm was given to the inhabitants of Ogna, and on account of frequent miracles a temple raised in the Seriana valley. His birthday on this day Galesinius in his Martyrology celebrates, and Ferrarius in the general Catalogue of Saints and another of the Saints of Italy, who alleges the Tablets of the church of Cremona, and the Bergamo Vineyard, which in the year MDLIII Bartholomew de Peregrinis a Presbyter of Bergamo published, in which in part 2, when in chapter 16 nay and the following he had treated of S. Albert of Bergamo and Abbot of Pontida, whose feast is venerated on the Kalends of September; in chapter 24 concerning this S. Albert he hands down these things.

[2] Not unworthy labors also in this Vineyard another Divine Albert contributed, A compendium of the life, addicted to the religion of no one of the Brethren, but a faithful Christian, sprung from the village Ogna, situated in the Seriana valley. He in this Vineyard worked not only spiritually, but also corporally. For since he was a colonus, a farmer he tilled the fields in the name of the most high God, and with the proceeds, after himself and his wife, sustained the poor, the weak, widows, orphans, the infirm and pilgrims: who after many labors and pilgrimages died at Cremona, illustrious for miracles, in the year of our salvation MCXC, but on the VII day of May, and in the building of S. Matthias was buried, Divine Homobonus being present, a most worthy citizen of Cremona. These things from his history ascribed in book 10 concerning the Antiquities and deeds of the Divine ones of Bergamo, chapter 4. S. Homobonus, a citizen of Cremona, survived even to the year MCXCVII, in which he ended his life on the XIII of November: in whose Life edited by Hieronymus Tromboni chapter 24 mention is made of S. Albert. But the History written concerning the Antiquities and deeds of the Divine ones of Bergamo is cited in part 1 chapter 1 at the Life of S. Barnabas, and is ascribed to Marcus Antonius Benalius, whose work afterward John Antonius Guarnerius Canon of Bergamo polished and augmented: but because this Saint was dead at Cremona, he omitted his Life in the Bergamo edition of the year MDLXXXIV.

[3] Marius Mutius, among the Lives of the Saints and Blessed of Bergamo struck and restruck in Italian in the year MDCXIV and MDCXXI, By Marius Mutius are described his pious conversation, in part 2 edited the Life of S. Albert the Farmer of Ogna, but the things which are succinctly handed down by Bartholomew de Peregrinis, are set forth by Mutius paraphrastically. There are described the natal place, among rugged mountains and in the poor hamlet of Ogna; the pious upbringing, amid the labors of agriculture; the diligence of hearing on Sundays and feast-days the sacrifice of the Mass, and the other divine offices, and also of receiving the sacred fruits from sermons and the reading of pious books and other spiritual exercises. almsgiving, Moreover, since in matrimony he had not begotten children, his alms are praised, and therefore the molestations brought by his wife, and these patiently borne, and his constant liberality remunerated by celestial miracles; namely that the food carried to the poor, was divinely found in his buildings. in the Roman pilgrimage a miracle, There are added his pilgrimages to the city of Rome: in which when the necessary viaticum failed, he sought his livelihood by the labor of his hands, and distributed part of it to the poor. Nor was a singular divine assistance lacking. For when with others

reapers he was mowing hay, because he surpassed the others very much, these, touched with envy, placed an anvil amid the hay, that the edge of his scythe might be blunted: so that while he should be hindered in sharpening his scythe, they might advance their own work; S. Albert, ignorant of this fraud, cut through the very anvil as if some flower, and without injury of his scythe performed his work: which seen the other reapers were snatched into stupor, and affected with the greatest shame. his piety at Rome and Compostela: There is indicated likewise his modesty in the City and piety toward the sacred Relics, and especially of the glorious Princes of the Church; and charity toward the poor in the hospital, the infirm, whom he incited to patience, the Confession of sins, and the amendment of life. Nay even that he went to Compostela, and visited the body of S. James, is scarcely doubted.

[4] the crossing of the Po, Afterward there is set forth his return toward his fatherland; when, because the river Po was swelling, and because the fare was lacking to him, he could not be conveyed by a vessel; he spread his little cloak upon the waters, and the sign of the Cross being made, relying on the highest confidence in God, without any peril came to the other bank. Which miracle some Hermits beholding, and admiring the sanctity of the man, that they might honor him as a holy man, approached; but they were prohibited, and asked not, while he lived, to narrate it to others. At Cremona his familiar conversation with S. Homobonus is praised, where often invited to his dinner and besought that he should take up some more worthy office offered; his last deeds at Cremona he preferred to remain in a humbler service, and employed his effort in carrying wine. But it befell, when at a certain time he carried wine to a certain girl, that, the cup being broken, the wine was spilled. Then the man of God Albert, the parts of the cup being taken joined them, and the wine which was as if congealed, placed in the cup, carried to the appointed buildings. At length fallen into his last disease, the disease, he expiated his soul by the confession of all his guilts. And when the Priest deferred to fortify him with the sacred Viaticum, there was seen a most white dove (which they piously believed to be the Holy Spirit) to descend from heaven with the greatest splendor, and with its beak to offer a particle of the sacred Host to S. Albert, and to place it in his mouth, his death, and thus most piously he rendered his spirit to the Creator in the year MCXC, when all the bells of that city without the work of any man rang of their own accord, and roused the citizens to procure for him an honorable burial, and having entered the church of S. Matthias they saw the pavement raised, and a grave, by the ministry of Angels, as is piously believed, his burial. prepared for this sacred body, and there with most solemn apparatus it was laid and hitherto rests: where the votive offerings hung there give most evident testimony of very many miracles.

[5] By Peregrinus Merula the Canonization is indicated, All these things Marius Mutius: which we have related that thence the Reader especially of Cremona may discern, which things they more certainly approve. Further Peregrinus Merula, in the Cremonese Sanctuary struck at Cremona in the year MDCXXVII page 121, sets forth the deeds of S. Albert in few words, Bartholomew de Peregrinis especially being cited in the Bergamo Vineyard: and adds that to this sick man the most holy Sacraments were administered by the Parish-priest of the holy sepulcher, and that he was, by John XXI the supreme Pontiff, on account of miracles perpetrated both in life and after death, brought into the number of the Saints. The said John presided over the Church only VIII months and as many days, namely from the XIII of September of the year MCCLXXVI unto the XXI of May of the following year.

CONCERNING BLESSED VILLANUS

BISHOP OF GUBBIO IN ITALY.

IN THE YEAR MCCXX.

Villanus, Bishop of Gubbio in Italy (B.)

G. H.

The celebrated memory of B. Villanus on this VII of May Ferrarius, in the general Catalogue of Saints and another of the Saints of Italy, Ferdinand Ughellus in the volume of sacred Italy among the Bishops of Gubbio, and Ludovicus Iacobillus in the Lives of the Saints and Blessed of Umbria, also on this VII of May: where he asserts an altar dedicated to his name in the Cathedral church, under which his body hitherto entire is laid in a devout sepulcher with the subjoined inscription, Sacred cult. "To Divine Villanus, Prelate of the Church of Gubbio, endowed with eminent goodness, wondrous temperance, and singular integrity. In the year from the redemption of the world MCCXXX he enjoys true life, born seventy years." And these things concerning his life write the said Iacobillus and the others named, various Manuscript monuments being cited.

[2] Born at Gubbio of a noble lineage, and brought up by his parents in Christian discipline: Birth, upbringing. from very boyhood addicted to abstinence and assiduous and fervent prayer, seeking from God the peace and concord of his fellow-citizens: from whom he obtained very much grace. Dwelling for some time in the monastery of S. Cross of Fonte Avellana in the diocese of Gubbio, by the good monks he was adorned with various holy virtues. And when among them he excelled, on account of his irreproachable life and singular manners; in the year MCCVI, Albernus Bishop of Gubbio being dead, from the fame of his Sanctity he was elected Bishop of his fatherland, and confirmed by Pope Innocent III. Acts in the Episcopate With most sincere affection he was borne toward the poor, and distributed large alms to them; soon held the father of the poor and orphans by the voice of all. He was of admirable continence and temperance, and cultivated the other more illustrious Christian virtues more than any whatsoever. In the year MCCXII among five other Bishops he was present at the translation of the body of S. Ruffinus, Bishop and Martyr, made at Assisi on the third day of August. He was also one of the seven Bishops of Umbria, to whom was committed the publication of the plenary perpetual indulgences granted by Christ to the church of S. Mary of the Angels, which they call the Portiuncula. The other Bishops were Guido II of Assisi, John Conti of Perugia, Benedict of Spoleto, Aegidius of Foligno, Bonifacius of Todi, and Pelagius of Nocera. He erected at Gubbio for the sick poor the hospital of the holy Spirit: which afterward was a monastery of nuns. But in the year MCCXXVI he constructed under the rule of S. Benedict at Gubbio the monastery of S. Mary, pious places erected: called Pelagium. In the following year then DCCXXVII he erected according to the Order of S. Clare the monastery of S. Angelus surnamed de Caliis. By his authority also was constructed the church of S. Bartholomew, in the Abbey called Campo regio. Moreover at the regard of B. Villanus, Pope Gregory IX, to Albert Prior of the church of the Episcopal See of B. Marianus and to the Brethren, confirmed all the rights and goods granted to them, a diploma being given at Perugia by the hands of M. Marinus Vice-chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, the XV of the Kalends of February in the II Indiction, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation MCCXXIX, but of the Pontificate of Pope Gregory IX in the III year. In which year also B. Villanus divided the parishes of his city and distinguished each by its limits. Among various miracles, by which God manifested his merits, a fountain drawn forth: from the aforesaid rock he drew forth a living and most copious fountain near Carbonano, hitherto called the fountain of B. Villanus. When he had fed his flock for twenty-five years the eminent Pastor, then born seventy years, he migrated to the celestial pastures, received by Christ the supreme Pastor and Lord of all, on the VII day of May in the year MCCXXX, buried in the Cathedral church, there hitherto held in great veneration of the people of Gubbio. his death.

CONCERNING SS. REGINALDUS AND FRANCUS

CALABRIAN HERMITS IN APULIA.

Reginaldus, Calabrian Hermit in Apulia (S.)

Francus, Calabrian Hermit in Apulia (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR G. H.

Hieronymus Marafiotus of Polistena, of the Order of Minors, in book 5 of the Chronicle and Antiquity of Calabria fol. 307 indicates Saints born in Calabria, Memory in Marafiotus and Romæus, among whom are mentioned S. Franco the Hermit and S. Rinaldus the Hermit, but what was their natal place is said to be unknown. David Romæus in the Index of the Divine ones, who were born or buried in the Neapolitan kingdom, confers somewhat greater light page 401 near the end, where concerning the Saints of Calabria he writes these things: "Hilarius, Nicolaus the Greek, Reginaldus, Francus, Falcus, with three other companions, whose names we know not, solitary Calabrian men, who having set out from their Calabria, Eugene IV being Supreme Pontiff, among the Frentani of the Samnites led the same solitary life in the Aventana valley, in the place which is called Plata, near Casula and Lama; and in the same province are venerated, Nicolaus at Bardagrara on the VII of the Ides of August, Reginaldus at Falascone, on the Nones of May, Francus at Francavilla on the same day, Falcus at Palena." Thus there.

[2] Let a third witness be adjoined, Gabriel Barrius the Franciscan in book 1 concerning the Antiquity and site of Calabria, Barrius, who edited in Italy illustrated with other authors, in column 1024 suggests this notice. "Lately," he says, "the fame of eight Calabrian hermits, who were at the same time, became frequent with me. Whose names are these, Hilario, Nicolaus the Greek (for not only from towns and hamlets, but also from regions are names taken, and flow to posterity) Rinaldus, Franchus, Falcus, the names of the other three are hidden from me. Of these the master and leader was Hilario, who with seven others departing from Calabria, hastened into Samnium, and in the Aventine valley among the Frentani, in the place whose name is Plata, near Casula and Lama, castles, settled: and there leading the eremitic life served God. But Hilario being dead, each one of them on account of humility refusing to be over the others, they agreed, that each should cast his wooden dish into a fountain, and he, into whose dish a fish should enter, should take up the governance of the others. The dishes therefore, God being first entreated, being cast into the fountain, immediately by the nod of God a fish entered the dish of Nicolaus: then he recognizing the power of God, undertook the office of ruling the others. He departed from life living a hundred years Eugene the fourth being Pontiff. the bodies in veneration His body lies at Bardagrara, shining with miracles: his feast is kept the seventh of the Ides of August. The body of B. Rinaldus rests at Falascone: his feast is kept on the Nones of May. The body of B. Franchus lies at Francavilla: his feast is kept on the same day. The body of B. Falcus lies at Palena. This Antiphon is sung by those Priests:

O offspring of Calabria, splendor of the seven stars, The new comeliness of Bardagrara, a noble deposit; Bear the radiance of grace, the benefit of Christ, Lest the brief time of pardon flow away in vain."

[3] the wrestling-school of virtues in the Abruzzi, The same nearly Joannes Vincentius Ciarlantus has in book 5 of the historical Memory of Samnium chapter 3, where he asserts Plata to be situated on the bank of the river Aventino, which in the hither Abruzzi having flowed into the Sangro, with this flows out into the Adriatic sea, where in the Geographic maps, on the right side of the river Aventino, is exhibited Lama, on the left Casoli, and thence the wrestling-school is recognized, in which these hermits, as Ciarlantus writes, led a very austere life with so great purity, that they appeared true imitators of the ancient holy Egyptian Fathers. For they were unanimous in true humility of heart, fervent in prayer, and ardent in charity: toward themselves severe, toward others benevolent; and what is chief, they lived plainly abstracted from secular things, as is required of true hermits. But as to what concerns the two, whose solemnity is celebrated on this day, Ciarlantus asserts that the sacred bones of S. Rinaldus or Reginaldus are still preserved

in the church of the castle, called Falasiose, and his feast both on this VII of May and moreover on the XXVIII of August to be celebrated. But the precious body of S. Francus to be possessed in the church of Francavilla, and his feast to be celebrated both on this VII of May, and on the V of December, with a great concourse of the peoples dwelling round about. Finally the feast of S. Falcus to be celebrated on the XIII of January, and the first Sunday after the Assumption of the Virgin Mother of God. Of S. Francus the hermit on this day Ferrarius makes mention in the general Catalogue and another of the Saints of Italy.