ON S. MASTIDIA THE VIRGIN
AT TROYES IN GALLIC CAMPANIA.
PrefaceMastidia Virgo, at Troyes in Gaul (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR G. H.
[1] Among the women illustrious for sanctity, who several among the Tricassini or Trecenses in Gallic Campania flourished, ought to be reckoned Maura and Mastidia: she lived about the year eight hundred and fortieth, and had as the writer of her Life Prudentius the Bishop, an author plainly coeval, who S. Maura's devotion toward S. Mastidia thus expounds: Not yet, brother Mauritius, has it slipped from my memory, what with you ministering by ocular faith I knew. The body on the altar in the 9th century. For the matins synaxis being completed, you nodded to me to behold Maura, more closely embracing and more sweetly kissing the altar, where the body of the blessed Virgin Mastidia rests: but also the sixth hour being chanted by the Brothers, at the foot of the same altar you showed the little stream of her tears. Thus there. S. Maura is venerated on September XXI, but S. Mastidia on this VII of May. From the adduced words we know that her body was exposed to public veneration in the IX century on the altar of the Cathedral church, the time of her life uncertain. but how many centuries before she lived is not established. Nicolaus Des-Guerrois, in De Sanctis Trecensibus, transfers her to the first century, and establishes that she died a Martyr: but he does not prove it.
[2] History of the finding of the body. The author of the History deplores that her deeds do not exist, of the finding of the body and of the miracles, which he asserts before his own eyes in the month of April of the year one thousand and seventh were wrought. This history published Nicolaus Camuzatus in his Promptuarium of the sacred Antiquities of the Tricassine diocese, which we taken from him give. The same Finding mentions a Monk of Auxerre, Robert by name, in his Chronology in these words: under Milo the Bishop, At the city of Troyes, Milo being Prelate, in the foundation of the church of the same See, was found the venerable body of a certain elect Virgin of God, wrapped in whole purple: they found also her name, Mastidia. The body therefore of this S. Mastidia the Virgin was placed, and in the See of Troyes is venerably kept. Thus there. The Sammarthani in the Bishops of Troyes concerning the said Milo Bishop XLVI have these things: Milo at the blessing of the church of S. Stephen of Sens, about the year 983 made by Seguinus the Archprelate in the year DCCCCLXXXVIII, is present with Roclenus of Nevers and Heribertus of Auxerre, in Odorannus in his Chronicle. At which time D. Mastidia's body was found in the church of Troyes, which fallen down with age he restored, with which similar things has the monk of Auxerre, called Robert, as afterward from his supplement appeared. To Milo succeeded Manasses, who in the year DCCCCXCIII is said to have completed his last day. But the Cathedral church being restored in these Acts a monastery is called by Camuzatus; because still at that time the Canons with their Prelate, the Canons living in common. as asserters of the monastic life, in common according to the old institution lived; and this he adds was done until the times of Philip, who undertook the Episcopal Chair to be ruled in the year MLXXXII, where many things are heaped together to that effect, which can there be read.
[3] The feast of the finding is venerated in the aforesaid church of Troyes on the VII day of the month of May, with a frequent concourse both of citizens and of those, who inhabit the neighboring places of the city, flowing together from everywhere, Feast of the finding May 7. celebrating it with exceptional fervor of devotion, who also in the same church watch the whole night: so that very many by assiduous prayers, what by the help of physicians they could not, obtain health of body, the Virgin intermediating and reconciling. These and other things the said Camuzatus. There is celebrated at the said VII of May the memory of S. Mastidia in the Martyrologies of Troyes and of the MS. of the Carmelite Order, which took its cultus in its Breviaries and Martyrologies from the custom chiefly of these dominions through B. Albert the Patriarch of Jerusalem, as we have shown elsewhere. There is mentioned also S. Mastidia in Greven and Molanus in the Auctary of Usuard, Ferrarius in his General Catalogue, Canisius in the German Martyrology, and Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology. Ferrarius again citing Renatus Benedictus on the Lives of the Saints of Gaul, refers the same to the fifth day of May.
[4] The same Camuzatus writes, that the shrine, in which the sacred body of the Virgin is enclosed and kept, was once with silver plates skillfully and with subtler workmanship elaborated, The body exposed in the year 1606 and with chasing of gold engraved, on the outside overlaid… which by the Bishop of Troyes in the year MDCVI on the day XX of May was unsealed, and the said body from it drawn out, upon the greater altar of the aforesaid church with the highest veneration was placed, and forthwith into a casket put back. But because the body itself whole, with the members in right order connected and compacted among themselves, only the head torn from the shoulders, was found; thence many seized a handle of suspecting, that the said Virgin punished by beheading, obtained the palm of martyrdom. Thus there. Saussay for the same cause writes, that the body by an indication of martyrdom, namely a purple tunic, conspicuous was found; which he repeats at the day XX of May, on account of the unsealing of the shrine done on that day. There was then Bishop Renatus Breslaeus, who was stirred up by an illustrious miracle, on occasion of a paralytic suddenly healed. which in the said year MDCVI on the feast of S. Mastidia had happened. There was a boy chorister of the church of S. Stephen, with paralysis and with obstruction of all the members for more than four months miserably vexed, and carried to the body of S. Mastidia he suddenly obtained his former health. Which miracle was lawfully examined and approved: of which and of the unsealing of the shrine, the elevation and replacing of the body, a public instrument or verbal process the said Bishop Renatus caused to be drawn up in his name, and it is, with the Life of S. Helena and of this Mastidia, printed in French at Troyes in the year MDCXXV.
[5] A girl with inflamed legs is healed in the year 1613 There are added in the same little book three other miracles lawfully approved, of which the first happened in the year MDCXIII, in an honest girl Loisa Leger, who had her left leg with the foot so inflamed, that after various remedies applied in vain, in the judgment of the physicians and surgeons the leg ought to have been cut off. Which the said girl refusing to permit, fled to the patronage of S. Mastidia, and on the night before the feast of S. Mastidia watching in her Chapel, suddenly was healed, and on that very day when the sacred body of S. Mastidia was carried through the city in solemn procession, the said girl without any supports briskly accompanied it. Two other miracles were wrought in the following year MDCXIV, when two lame women were healed, of whom one, Edmera le Cleroq a widow, for two years from a certain discharge into the legs could not without supports walk, and two lame women in the year 1614. was healed on the sixth of May on the vigil of the feast of S. Mastidia: the other a married woman, by name Francisca Patrois, who from an affliction of the kidneys, and a contusion of the nerves also for two years without supports could not move herself, recovered her health on the day VIII of May the day after the feast of S. Mastidia. Of these miracles the verbal process is kept in the Archive of the Bishop of Troyes.
[6] foundation of 2 Chaplains In the Register of benefices of the diocese of Troyes there in the year MDCXII printed are assigned two Chaplains of the altar of S. Mastidia, of whose constituting the collation pertains to the Bishop, but the foundation is referred to the year MCCXXXV in Nicolaus Des-Guerrois: who toward the end of the book adds, that in the year MDCXXX Louis XIII the most Christian King with the Queen his consort, the Queen mother and the rest of the Court, was present at Troyes, and to them then other relics of the Saints were shown, and among these the shrine being opened the sacred body of S. Mastidia, of which some part was given to the Queen.
HISTORY OF THE FINDING OF THE BODY
Drawn from MSS. by Nic. Camuzatus.
Mastidia Virgo, at Troyes in Gaul (S.)
BHL Number: 5676
FROM CAMUZATUS.
[1] To describe the admirable deeds of the Saints, we believe to be of the highest profit: for unlike minds of men, demand unlike modulations. For some, for instruction, the honeyed eloquence alone of the Fathers suffices, Prologue of the Author but for some also the relation of the wonders wrought through the Saints becomes necessary, whose manners not to be repudiated, but according to their own measure we believe each is to be treated. Whence we endeavor to commit to letters the acts of S. Mastidia the Virgin dedicated to God, which we think will profit many. For this blessed Virgin, with how great merits she avails before God, to those visiting her, by effects most wonderful she shows. of things seen by the narrator But her life, which from present things we understand to have shone full of an abundance of virtues, since it is lacking, either through the carelessness of those before not described, or in some way we believe to have perished though written; therefore passing over doubtful things, we shall report only those things, which were subjected to our own sight.
[2] Milo, a reverend man, while he ruled the Prelacy of the city of Troyes, introduced the monastery of S. Peter Prince of the Apostles to be enlarged with greater walls, and a certain altar of the older church destroying, which he knew to cover the sacrosanct Body of Mastidia the Virgin, first he found the tombs of Prelates
famous for their merits and name: hence searching more deeply the soil of the earth, he found at length the venerable sarcophagus of the aforesaid Virgin, in which one of the aforesaid had laid up the treasure of so great a body, the body found whole, and as if brooding kept it buried. Opening therefore the shrine, he found the gem of the holy body, wrapped in purple, so namely whole in its whole body, as if on the preceding day she had entered the same cave: which the numerous people lifting with the highest honor, upon a certain altar of the same church they laid down, where the Virgin incomparable, had a seat for the courses of various years. But at length the altars of the greater temple being dedicated to God, in the northern part was consecrated an altar in honor of B. John the Baptist, she is placed beside the altar of S. John the Baptist beside which, with the great honorific attendance of innumerable people, the most prudent Virgin Mastidia is placed: where with how great a splendor of virtues she shines, to none of the rhetoricians at all explicable, in so great a measure does the heap of virtues now exalt itself daily.
[3] In the year 1007, Friday of Easter week At length in the year from the Lord's Incarnation one thousand and seventh, when the nation of Christ-worshippers possessed the joy of the Lord's Resurrection, and the solemnity of the Paschal feast with a most devout heart celebrated, joys upon joys the blessed Virgin heaped on ours, which by such indications she made known. On the Friday of the Paschal week, when the sun fiery-tressed had poured forth its rosy beam on the earth, and had illumined the lands with shining rays; a certain woman, whose withered left hand was numb with a heavy torpor, came from the village of Ternodorum; and as by an oracle she had learned, a woman crippled is healed she went under the casket of the Virgin, and with the palm in which she had vigor beating her breast, began to send forth tearful voices to the stars, For the moisture had deserted her arm, and with all the fingers fixed in the middle of the palm, the withered fist clung to the breast, nor by any force could it be torn from the breast torn away. She therefore drawing long sighs from her breast, redoubles "Mastidia" with continual voice. Nor delay: the moisture mingled with heat began to warm the limbs, and with the fingers growing warm the fist began to be torn from the breast, and the joints of the fingers began to raise themselves up, and to its former health the whole arm was restored.
[4] Hence when the golden sun raised itself to higher things, and the third hour of the same day had already grown bright, in the wonted manner the Brothers of the church of S. Peter go to the suburban temples of S. Remigius, to celebrate there the solemnities of the Masses: where when for some time they wove delays, it happened that the parents of a certain infant from the city of Sens returning entered the walls of Troyes. But the boy, who now seemed three years old, a bent and crawling boy, from infirmity of body could not imitate the gait of a man, but rather seemed to crawl in the manner of a quadruped or serpent; toward the height of heaven scarcely so much could he raise his head, for the rest of the part clung to the earth, and long stretches with his body in straining he gave, and like a lame serpent wounded he folded himself into his own members. Him therefore when his parents brought before the presence of S. Mastidia, by the merits of the holy Virgin they soon felt the divine clemency present to them; for leaving his long cradles the little child, with new soles treads the ground made upright. There is bound into a solid what before had flowed in the nerves, and miracles he offers to the little eyes of all the bystanders.
[5] Meanwhile a certain father with his son, deprived of the light of his forehead, with the Clerics had gone to the suburban temple: and another blind boy. and anticipating the return of the Clerics, with revived step revisited the place of the oft-said Virgin, soon using the wonted clemency of the Lord: for the holy virgin interceding, from the blinded forehead of the boy the clouds of darkness departed, and the windows being unsealed the dawns of light entered; the fame of which traversed the places of the whole city, and stirred the mind of the Clerics to return to the thresholds of the Prince of the Apostles.
[6] These things meanwhile being done, the Lord's day came on, which was entitled the Octave of Easter; Sunday in Albis under whose cock-crow, when now the morning-star deserted the ocean, and the Brothers of the church of S. Peter had celebrated part of the Matins; a certain woman, who had passed the same night sleepless, felt so great a propitiation of the Virgin toward herself. For her shins had clung to her hips; another crippled woman, and with the ham bent, so had the nerves of both been compacted together, that, the use being reversed, with her knees, not her soles, she trod the ground: nor otherwise than propped on her hands overcoming the ground by a leap, she was carried by alien footsteps, that is, she leaned in going on certain little stools. She therefore persevering in prayers, when the first act of the nocturns was now being celebrated, felt the gift of divine piety thus present to her. First the flesh began to be separated from the flesh, and the wrinkle of the nerves to be unknotted into length, and soon growing pale in wondrous ways (and as even now she testifies) struck with an inestimable straitness of pain, she fills the whole place with tearful voices, which compelled diverse persons from diverse places to flow together thither; and with all seeing she seized the casket of the holy Body with her own hands, and as if she were raised by the hand of the holy Virgin she stood up erect with all her limbs. Thus in the hour of the Lord's Resurrection, the woman felt the gifts of her own raising. These things being thus done:
Now first the dawn was sprinkling the lands with new light, leaving the saffron couch of Tithonus;
[7] When thus the oft-said virgin the Lord renewed by His power. likewise a paralytic, A certain man, for now almost thrice ten years had been held under the walls of the city, who with all his limbs loosened, always clung at the doors of the Virgin, and of those entering the temple, begged that he, lying numb in the dunghill, might be cherished with alms: for his left hand was held exhausted of vital heat, and so withered in the manner of a bow it was bent to the bend of the elbow: also the whole left part of the body was numb with a heavy paralysis, and was deprived of all sense, and through the flowing limbs, the languid bonds hung from the loosened nerves: nay also the nerves of his legs and shins were held drawn together into a wrinkle, nor could he mark the ground with any step however light. Him therefore, as a corpse now almost to be buried, on a doubled-doubled neck certain men carrying, as he had begged, under the tomb of the holy Virgin they place. Then persevering for some while in tearful prayer, forthwith he felt the gift of God's medicine present to him. First the left hand, which both with dryness and with curvature we said to be condemned, though struck with heavy pain, he began to raise. Hence with no long interval interposed, the rest part began to revive. The corpse of long time raises to life its extinct limbs, and proceeding by a new path the old person, with frequently moved steps beat the ground, hence running joyful he praises the Lord. With such miracles therefore the Lord heaped up the joys of His resurrection. Nor, I beseech, let the foolish page deter the reader, which though it bristle with the harshness of words ill-composed, yet wholly with a wonderful fragrance of sense it shines; for we are certain that in things so great we rather detract honor, than heap great things on great; but meanwhile let the frivolous excuse cease, when the things which are to be explained the whole page cannot explain.
[8] These things being transacted, the third weekday of the same week coming on, which on the XVII of the Kalends of May in that year fixed its seats, April 15 a mute woman of which when now with the horses the sun was reaching the second hour, a certain woman, born in the fatherland of the Tricassini, returning from the parts of Sens, went to the walls of the city of Troyes: and she was so in her ears obstructed, and so the receptacles of her ears were held stopped up, that she could drink in no words of anyone however clearest. But when she came before the presence of the holy Virgin, by chance a certain Priest at her altar was chanting Mass. Nor long had she been free for tearful prayers, behold she now began to hear the blind voices of the Priest: hence the ear very long deaf, also began to drink in the silent speeches, and the inner parts being broken all the doors were opened. But on the morrow a certain woman, whose windows of the forehead the blind night had occupied, April 16 a blind woman, by the guidance of her son performed, from the fatherland of the Wauracenses, came to visit the temples of S. Mastidia; where when for some time she poured the libations of prayers, and the second hour of the day had already grown bright, the nocturnal clouds began to recede, the perspicuous light putting them to flight. The entering light made the twilights of the night depart, and long closed under the forehead the windows are unsealed.
[9] On the following day when the sun touched the center of heaven, behold the Lord added a miracle to a miracle: for a certain little boy walking bent in the manner of a quadruped, April 17 in the lower part as if dead: and yet now almost seven years old, at the side of his parents in their arms before the sepulcher was placed of the sacrosanct Virgin. For from the groin downward so in all his members he was dead, that like a half-living corpse he made tortuous bendings; nor did he imitate human gaits, but to glide or crawl, like a serpent he seemed creeping. He therefore before the presence of the excellent Virgin laid down, soon felt the medicine of his whole body divinely infused into him. First the vital heat revisited the foul groin, and hence glides down to the lower parts; and so unhurt he stands below, as before he had been above. Scarcely yet for such things had the canticles of praises been silent, and behold thus the Lord redoubles a miracle.
[10] A young man, as I think, of fifteen years one was there of the bystanders, whose right hand the dryness had exhausted; nor only had the fist withered, a young man having a withered hand but also the top of the fingers so had clung to the middle of the palm, that with the nails fixed into the flesh, with the fist always armed he seemed to be, with the fingers projecting. He, as we set before, when for the said things he heaped up the applause of songs, suddenly divinely perceived the reward of an unhoped-for recompense. For the dryness, which had so parched his torpid right hand, the vital heat putting it to flight, took swift flight; the nails are torn from the known joint, and of the long-desired raising the fingers obtain the gift; and so by the merit of the holy Virgin from immovable is rendered the hand movable, and felt the gift present to him, which he scarcely yet dared to hope. Summarily touching all things we run through, since of this journey, as is believed, no end could be had; and most ample in sense we abbreviate in words, lest the futile page generate weariness for the reader. Nor yet let anyone believe us to have feigned new things craftily, which is not so. We speak with Christ as witness. For we know that with the unwise there is a place for deceits, but with the wise it is nothing other than a game.
[11] Scarcely had the seventh weekday of the same week come on, which from the day of Easter was held the fifteenth, April 19 and certain ones cited by the fame of such great virtues, from diverse parts convening, go to the tomb of the excellent Virgin: among whom some of the Tricassini migrating, two girls, as I hope of five years, bring with them: of whom one, as the authority of the parents testifies, from the womb of an ill-pregnant parent slipped into the light, without light fell, two blind girls: and to her the first day gave the beginnings of the life of her members with ruin: the other also similarly of light, though not from birth, yet long deprived was of the gift, and as much herself as her parents had transfixed with unheard-of pain: the parents loving her uniquely, before the presence of the kindly Virgin bring her. Nor with long prayers did they burden the pious ears, when suddenly at the third hour that greatest pain, which had bound their cold limbs, was the measure of joy. For the unfailing light filling the heavenly things with light, appeased by the merits of the most beloved Virgin, completed the begun work by the right of the Creator, the windows of the foreheads long closed laid open, and the unknown beam bade be present. The eyesight gleams in their clear faces, and restored their faces shone with their own lamps. Both refuse the guidance of their parents, and cry out that the surrounding things they penetrate with clear sight. Which voices while the parents'
ears conceived, for joy they strike the golden stars with cries, the applause of joy through the throngs of the common people and of the parents is redoubled, and especially in the hearts of the parents it is increased.
[12] Hence with no long interval interposed, the heap above the Lord heaped up with such a miracle. A certain man already four times ten years old, namely from the parts of Toul sprung, was so in a certain part of his body contracted in the nerves, and frustrated of its power, that he leaned wholly on another. For the nerves had so constricted his leg and shin into a wrinkle, contracted, that the one shin being shorter could mark the ground with no footprint: hence with the column of his foot in sustaining he was carried, on the other side he leaned on a staff. He therefore first hearing miracles quite new, which through His saints the Lord worked in the city of Sens (for at that time with sublime, as was just, fame they were spread abroad) leaving his native borders, the walls of that city as he could he approached. Where when for some while he wove delays, nor did he feel the medicine of the Lord, who through others indeed had predestined this to be done; compelled by the fame of the incomparable Virtues of the Virgin, he was eager to go to her presence with most swift endeavors. Nor delay when he stretched part of the day in prayers, and from a deep breast drawing sighs he redoubled his groan, at the ninth hour he knew himself to be looked upon from heaven, and by whose merits it was done he weighed. For before the altar reclining of the aforesaid Virgin, the vital heat he felt poured back into his dead members: the mortification of the nerves began to be driven out, and to be brought back into its former power: and so continuously vigorous in all his members he appeared, as if he had never at any time felt the traces of any infirmity.
[13] These things being thus composed, the following day the solar orbit brought back: a paralytic. on which day a certain young man, from his very childhood weak, coming from the parts of Langres, the tomb of the incomparable Virgin approached. He therefore in the part left of his body so enervated, and so through the paralysis of the contraction of the nerves was held deprived, that not even any power of moving was present: and when now the black night was setting over the Ocean, wrapping both earth and pole with great shadow, and now the placid sleep the weary bodies would seize, to the deep sighs of the groaning man the Lord looked back. For when with his groin with a long groan he stretched, and "Mastidia" with frequent voices redoubled; by the prayers of the holy Virgin, as we believe, the Lord being appeased imparted to the sick man the gift of health. There returns a foreign power into his deserted members, the wrinkle of the nerves is dissolved, and with new walking he marks new footprints: and so from that hour all in his body both the nerves and the members appear made solid, so that of that loosening no signs further remained.
VISITATION OF THE CASKET AND MORE RECENT MIRACLES
From the verbal Processes printed in French.
Mastidia Virgo, at Troyes in Gaul (S.)
FROM THE FRENCH.
[1] The Bishop of Troyes Renatus in the year 1606 Renatus de Breslay, by God's permission and of the holy Apostolic See Bishop of Troyes in Champagne, Counselor and Almoner of the King, to all who shall see the present letters Greeting. We make known that in the year I of our Episcopate, on the day of Saturday on the Vigil of the Most Holy Trinity, XX of May, from the Incarnation of the Lord in the year MDCVI, moved by singular devotion, we made the opening of the casket or chest in which rests the body of S. Mastidia, by the sentence and counsel of the Chapter of our church, for placing there the present verbal Process to the memory of posterity and as an argument for praising and exalting the divine Name, on account of the miracle which happened in our church, and is such.
[2] When in the aforesaid year MDCVI, on the day VII of May, the feast of S. Mastidia herself we were present at Matins, while on May 7 he is present at Matins we heard in our said church a great commotion, as of a people vehemently exulting, who in great number had flowed together: of which novelty the cause diligently inquired, we understood the people to cry out for joy, on account of a miracle recently done in the person of a boy youth, a chorister in the church of S. Stephen, by name Natalis, son of Nicolaus Brenaudat, of about nine or ten years, he hears that a paralytic boy was healed, sprung from the town of S. Basolus, commonly Droup Saint Basle: who already already had been suddenly cured from the paralysis and obstruction of his members, with which he had for four months been detained. These things understood, desiring to be made more certain of the truth of the matter, I commanded the aforesaid boy to be led to me: who being interrogated asserted, that for four months he could not use his feet or stand upon them: and that having heard the miracles which are done in single years through the merits of S. Mastidia, he had asked his instructor in the art of music Master Claudius Herluison, to cause himself to be carried to the church of S. Peter, within the chapel of the Saviour, where rests the body of S. Mastidia; so that there under her chest placed, he might pass the night in prayers and praises with the people.
[3] testifying concerning his miraculous cure, To this his petition when the aforenamed precentor had assented, he said he had been carried into the said chapel by the handmaid of his mistress, and there had begged his mother that she should seek for him a Priest, to whom of his sins he might confess. Who when she had brought Master Ludovicus Dugard, the Vicar of the chapel itself, and he had confessed to him; he said he had felt about the middle of the night first an intense cold, then so great a heat poured through all the members of his body, that he seemed to himself to burn: after which he felt himself wholly relieved and healed. Which by him being thus understood, immediately we sent those who should ask the Provost and Subdean and various Canons of the church of S. Stephen, with the aforesaid precentor Herluison instructor of the choral boys, that they should present themselves to us: who being interrogated by us as a certainty asserted, that the aforesaid boy, chorister of their church, and others conscious of the disease, from the time of four months and more until now had been obstructed in his members.
[4] likewise the physicians ascribing the deed to a miracle By such an attestation and certitude in no way content, we heard also Master Claudius Belin Doctor of medicine, Nicolaus Vivien Master barber and surgeon, and Petrus Gentil Master apothecary of the city of Troyes; who as had been related to us, had bestowed care on the aforesaid boy. And they affirmed before us in truth, that before the health so promptly and unexpectedly restored, they had known and from the prescripts of their art had judged, the said Natalis Bernaudat to have been touched with paralysis; and to it brought, that they altogether believed it impossible that without divine operation he should be healed, so quickly and in time so small, through whatever could to him have been applied human medicaments.
[5] and he imposes its approbation upon the chest Seeing him therefore so perfectly and promptly healed from the aforesaid infirmity, we can certainly judge, and to a great miracle ascribe such a case. Wherefore we have given and commanded to be given thanks to God: and concerning all things we commanded to be written this verbal Process, to the glory of God and the honor of S. Mastidia: and we took the occasion of opening the present casket or chest, in which the body of the aforesaid Saint rests; which we found whole, wrapped in three shrouds, for 180 years not unsealed. of linen quite white one, two of silk, the first red then black, and upon it on parchment paper the writing of our predecessor of good memory Stephen de Givriaco Bishop of Troyes, with the subscriptions of others: which writing in its place we left, since we had understood that from the memory of men the aforesaid casket had not been unsealed. But that Stephen sat from the year MCCCXCV until the year MCCCCXXVI, so that for the whole CLXXX years that chest remained closed, or at least is not known to have been reopened. Another miracle, attested by a similar Process, thus to be read in Latin receive.
[6] In the year MDCXIII on the day XXVII of May, about the first hour after noon, We Renatus de Breslay, The same in the year 1613 Counselor and ordinary Almoner of the King, Bishop of Troyes, returning into this city from our house at Aix-en-Othe, dependent on our Episcopate, on account of the relation made to us by notable persons of this city, both ecclesiastical and lay, concerning a certain miracle which S. Mastidia had done on the vigil of her feast, about the person of Ludovica Leger, daughter of the late Claudius Leger and Francisca d'Aubeterre, born eleven years; and on account of the zeal which we have for promoting the glory of God and the augmentation of the cultus to be paid to the same, wishing that the miracle itself should become known to all, and that of it a verbal Process should be formed, we caused for a more certain proof to be summoned the noble men Blasius d'Aubeterre, of LIII years; Jacobus Senocq, of years LVIII, citizen merchants dwelling in this city; and Joannes Gautherot, Comptroller in the house of the Lord de Guise, of about XLVIII years; and likewise honest matrons, Bonaventura Bruyer, wife of Thomas Charpentier the Sergeant likewise dwelling at Troyes, he hears witnesses concerning the crippled girl, of LXX years; Claudia Hue, wife of the said Senocq of XLVIII years great-aunt of the said Ludovica Leger, Francisca Senocq wife of the said Gautherot of XXIX years, Joanna Bardot wife of the said d'Aubeterre, of XLV years; Francisca d'Aubeterre, widow of the late Claudius Leger, and mother of the aforesaid Ludovica and daughter of the said Blasius d'Aubeterre of XXXIV years, and Barbara Coüillaude wife of Andreas Montagne, otherwise called Parvi-Flandri of LXV years.
[7] whose leg, cured in vain, a physician had judged should be cut off, These moreover and all these, after the oath in such a case wont to be required, and severally rendered, unanimously said and declared, that about one year ago there had come to the said Ludovica a certain discharge into the leg and left foot: which taking increase made the said Ludovica so weak that erect she could not stand, and the leg itself and the foot to her clinging through the contraction of the nerves was so curved, that the said Ludovica could in no way extend it. But although the said Ludovica had been presented to several surgeons, and namely to Masters Michael Michelin, Nicolaus Vivien the younger, Jacobus Baubey, and Nicolaus Bourgeois apothecary, by whose judgment to her were applied various medicaments, yet no solace was reported from them: wherefore one of them, seeing all things to be in vain, judged it expedient that that leg be amputated: which Ludovica in no way would permit; but from God and His Saints, in whom she had confidence, the remedy of her disease she said she wished to await.
[8] Therefore two days before the feast of S. Mastidia, Ludovica herself presented herself to a venerable and discreet man Master Dionysius Latrecey, but when at the chest of S. Mastidia she keeps vigil Doctor of Theology, Canon of our church of Troyes and Curate of S. Magdalene of Troyes, who her, as she was asked, confession received. But on the sixth day of the aforesaid month the girl declared the purpose of her mind to her mother, and asked her to lead her to keep the vigil in the chapel of S. Mastidia, founded in our said church, where her body whole rests. To which end her mother joined to her as companion Siretta Leger her sister, and to them added himself the aforesaid Senocq the great-uncle, in the temple met by them. But the girl had armpit crutches, about to support herself by the same that night in the said chapel, as are wont yearly several afflicted with various ills: which same Senocq said to us, that he had commended his aforesaid great-niece to the said Barbara Coüillaude, who was in the said chapel with her
aforenamed husband, a man wholly impotent, to pass the night likewise there.
[9] But about the second hour after the middle of the night there is said to have come to the said Ludovica a great weakness, after a swoon suddenly cured. on account of which she began to cry out. Which hearing, the aforesaid Barbara and Siretta, more closely beheld her, and saw the said Ludovica wholly faint away; to whom that they might succor her and recall her from the swoon they asked wine of the bystanders: which after some time taken the girl being restored to herself, began to cry out that she was being very ill tormented: immediately but afterward freed from all sense of pain, she said, that she was now well: just as in truth they saw the said Ludovica stand upon her own feet, extended as before and brought back to their natural state. Wherefore as many as were there cried out "A Miracle, and afterward followed the procession with sound feet. A Miracle," pouring forth into the praise of God and of the Saint and the giving of thanks. But on the next day in the procession, which is led by the venerable Canons of our church, and in which is carried about the chest of S. Mastidia, there was seen Ludovica conveniently walking, the crutches cast away, just as even now. All which things affirmed and by subscribing signed the aforesaid deponents Jacobus Senocq, Blasius d'Aubeterre, Claudia Hue, Gautherot, Joanna Bardot, Francisca d'Aubeterre, Francisca Senocq, and Bonaventura Bruyer.
[10] a woman deprived of walking is cured, On the day VI of May MDCXIV, was done a miracle through S. Mastidia in the person of Adamata le Clerc, widow of the late Nicolaus Courtois, Sergeant and Notary in the Bailiwick of Isles, of XLII years: who was healed through the merits and intercessions of the said Saint from a flux which had descended into her legs, so that she could not help herself except by armpit crutches: and in that state she had remained for the space of two years, all means humanly possible attempting to recover her health, but in vain. The miracle moreover done in her attested Claudius Bourgeois Apothecary dwelling at Troyes, Joannes Corneveu surgeon dwelling at Clariac, Bonaventura Courtois Sergeant in the Marquisate of Isles, Joannes Brunet miller, Anna Courtois, Joanna David wife of Claudius Large day-laborer, Babella Tassin widow of the late Collinus Millon day-laborer, all dwelling in the said place Isles.
[11] On the day VIII of the same month another miracle happened in the person of Francisca Patrois, likewise another. wife of Tossanus Marchant, tailor, dwelling at Troyes, of years about fifty, healed from a malady of the kidneys with a contusion of the nerves, caused by excesses committed on her person: which infirmity for two whole years suffering, and finding no remedy for it, she was forced to walk upon crutches. The witnesses of the miracle were the aforesaid Marchant, Claudius Aubry shoemaker, Jacobus Benoit merchant, Dionysius Berthier cook, the honest matron Joanna le Bey, daughter of Petrus le Bey, Petrus Marchand tailor brother-in-law of the said Francisca, Maria Comefer wife of Stephen Prieur tailor, Catharina Goguet, wife of Guilielmus Bourdon tapestry-maker, and Joannes Marchand tailor, all dwelling at Troyes. Thus far the little book printed in French, adding that the verbal Processes concerning these two last miracles are found in the archives of the church of Troyes: accordingly thither we have written, prepared then both these, and any other monuments whatsoever of miracles wrought thereafter hitherto to give in the appendix of this volume, if these we shall in good time obtain from those whose interest it is to promote the honor of this Saint.