Gerald

ON SAINT GERALD,

BISHOP OF MÂCON IN GAUL.

A.D. DCCCCXLII

HISTORICAL COLLECTION.

On his burial, acts, and age.

Gerald, Bishop of Mâcon in Gaul (S.)

D. P.

Jacques Severt, a Parisian Theologian and Preacher of Lyons, in the year MDCVIII published a historical Chronology of the Hierarchical succession of the Prelates of the Archbishopric of Lyons: Cult in the Breviary, to which he appended a series of the Bishops of Mâcon, nevertheless chronologically explained; numbering as the twenty-sixth St. Gerald, by others Giraldus, Gerardus, or Girardus. He says, moreover, on page 188, from the rituals of the Breviary of Mâcon, that the ecclesiastical Office concerning him is performed throughout the diocese on the IV Kalends of June, yet without a peculiar History, which may be read. But before he had treated of the village and Chapel once of his name at Mâcon, demolished by the Calvinists, as the marginal Note has it, in the year MDLXVII. And from these two heads his ancient cult is abundantly proved. with the chapel. Of his life and burial receive these few things from the same Severt:

[2] He was the Founder of the Hermitage of Brou, Gerald himself first constructed that Hermitage which survives among the Sebusians in the territory of Bresse of Celtic Gaul, afterward enriched by the Piedmontese Prince; and indeed in a wood or place which they call Brou, by others also called Broz, where he spent the rest of his days according to his vow, and was there at length buried, according to San-Juliano: nay rather, he wished to be placed in the poor men's Hospice, according to Bugnon. In which situation indeed the Dukes of Savoy afterward set their most elaborate sepulchres, an elegant monastery of Hermits of the Order of St. Augustine being constructed or enlarged. But others judge that he was buried at Mâcon, in the chapel once of his name: and that is the common fame, retained from the tradition of the ancients; and on that account it must prudently be concluded, that his body was afterward either translated from the Hermitage or monastery into the chapel; or even on the contrary (and perhaps more truly) from an urban chapel of this kind into the same rural cloister. The authors cited by Severt are praised by the same in the Prolegomenon of the second part: Pierre de Saint-Julien, who, having used a book on the ancient titles of the Church of Mâcon, nowhere wont to be put in print (another would call it the Mâcon Cartulary, MS.), wove into his book 2, in French, on the Antiquities of Mâcon, a Catalogue of Bishops; and Philibert Bugnon in the Mâcon Chronicle.

[3] Of the church and Convent of Brou founded by Margaret of Austria, yet he does not seem to have been buried in it, the wife of Philibert the Fair who died in the year MDIV, for his being buried there, where his mother Margaret of Bourbon was being entombed, it is fully treated in the Chronicle of Savoy, book 3, chapter 96, of the third edition; where William Paradin, the first author of that Chronicle; or rather its reviser and amplifier, Jean de Tournes, describes the surpassing beauty and splendor of the most excellent fabric. On occasion of this, if, by destroying the old church and laying the foundations of the new, anything had been found pertaining to St. Gerald, the most diligent historians Paradin and Severt would not have omitted to note this. There is yet something for us to wonder at, that a place so celebrated is not even named by the Augustinian writers, and namely by Herrera in his Alphabet. Meanwhile may be read the testament of Margaret of Austria herself, produced from the Archive of the monastery by Guichenon, book 6 of the Genealogical History of the Dukes of Savoy, page 481; where she commands herself to be laid in the church of the convent of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, near Bourg in Bresse, on the left of her husband, about to have her mother on the right. But the Atlas of Blaeu must be corrected, ascribing the first foundation of the place, made by St. Gerard, to the year DCCCCXXXVII; since the Saint did not live up to that point, and the notice of his successor Berno is found in the public Records for the VIII year of Rudolph. For indeed the first king of Burgundy of this name, crowned in the year DCCCLXXXXVIII, dying left the Kingdom to his son of the same name, who is here to be understood, in the year DCCCCXX: as is plain from the history of the Kings, Dukes, and Counts of Burgundy, most accurately deduced by André du Chesne.

[4] St. Gerald, a man very religious, is said in the Nantua Commentaries, say the Sammarthani,

and they establish that he was ordained in the year DCCCLXXXVI; His acts in various Synods from the year 886, which Mabillon confirms, in the V Benedictine century, from a certain Cluny charter, in which Gerald, Bishop of Mâcon, is said to have confirmed to Ingelarius, Abbot of Charlieu, the chapel of St. Martin, with its cemetery, near his monastery, in the year of the Incarnation DCCCLXXXVII, the Lord Augustus Charles reigning, in the second year of his Ordination, Indiction V. The first year of his Ordination therefore was the preceding one to him, in which at the church of St. Marcellus in the suburb of Chalon, on the XV Kalends of June, two Archbishops with seven Bishops (of whom the fourth was Giraldus) sat together, and adjudged to Geilo, Bishop of Langres, one of themselves, the goods of the Church at Lucus, to be recovered against Adalardus, Presbyter of the Chapel of St. Marcellus. And there indeed the Episcopal titles are not expressed, but they are expressed under a certain privilege of the Charlieu monastery in Severt; where the same Gerald subscribed, Bishop of the Church of Mâcon. Likewise he sat at the synodal judgment of three Bishops, in the case of Gerfred, monk of Flavigny, who was defamed as having killed by poison Adelgarius, Bishop of the Aedui, to hear him, in the year DCCCXCIV, Indiction XI, on the Kalends of May, at the city of Chalon, in the church of the blessed Forerunner of Christ: and then at Flavigny, his purgation having been made by the Body of the Lord, to the charter written thereon Gerald, Rector and humble Bishop of Mâcon, subscribed. That the same man subscribed in the same Synod to the testament of Hervaeus, Bishop of Autun, Mabillon teaches. Afterward in the year DCCCCVI, together with Austerius, Archbishop of Lyons, Gerald, Bishop of Mâcon, sat as judge in the controversy of the Canons of St. Vincent of Mâcon and the Monks of St. Eugendus; and again in the year DCCCCXV, when there resided the Lord Austerius, up to 926, the venerable Archbishop, in the suburb of the city of Chalon, in the church of B. Marcellus the Martyr, Indiction III, he gave sentence in favor of the parish of St. Clement, with two other Archbishops and four Bishops, among these named Gerald of Mâcon. Finally in the year of the Lord's Incarnation DCCCCXXVI Dom Anchericus, Archbishop of the holy Church of Lyons; Dom Gerald also, the Venerable Pontiff of the Church of Mâcon; and also Odebardus, Bishop of Maurienne, assembled at the monastery of Charlieu.

[5] The Sammarthani, in the Bishops of Lyons and Maurienne, alleging the same Charlieu assembly for the year 926, could not have written in the Bishops of Mâcon, 906: but a defect of this kind must be imputed to a typographical error. But supposing that they knew, as they did know, the true year of the last Charlieu Assembly, after which, the Episcopate being soon abdicated, they could not have written of Gerald, that he happily migrated to the Lord, despising earthly things, 912, Indiction 15, as it is in the old calendar; but a like typographical error here too must be recognized, for the correction of which no more probable conjecture occurs, than if we read the year 942, Indiction 15. Thus Gerald would have lived fourteen or fifteen years in the aforesaid anchoritism, if truly Ledbaldus in the year 928, as the Sammarthani note, held the Bishopric of Mâcon. he would have died in the year 942. But here Claude Robert, the first Author of the Gallia Christiana, afterward enlarged by the Sammarthani, casts a scruple; when he says, that, this Gerald dying, we read in the Monuments of Nantua, that Adalrannus, from a Presbyter ordained by St. Aurelianus, Archbishop of Lyons, was elected Bishop of Mâcon; and thence, the Bishopric being renounced, passed over to the monks of Nantua, Bertherius being Abbot, who did not begin to be abbot before the year DCCCXC. imitating him, the Elect Alderannus becomes a monk of Nantua. Meanwhile neither he himself nor the Sammarthani number that Adalrannus among the Bishops of Mâcon, so that they seem to have believed that he was indeed Elect, but never was Ordained. Would that he who noted for us the beginning of Bertherius beginning to be abbot, had also taught, whether beyond the year DCCCCXXVI he held the Abbey, and so could have received Alderannus, elected successor, Gerald not dying, but departing! Then indeed all things would consist well: and Alderannus could seem moved by Gerald's example to contempt of the world. But it must be that either he was made Bishop quite young, or died exceedingly old, if he died in the year DCCCCXLII. For although Indiction XV also falls in the year DCCCCXXVII, yet it is not probable that in the same year in which Gerald departed from the Bishopric, he also departed from Life.

[6] Hugh Ménard, and after him Bucelin and Mabillon, ascribe him to the Benedictine Saints; not undeservedly presuming that monasteries of no other Order could have been founded in the X century. Not undeservedly also does Ménard presume, that this St. Gerald was a familiar of St. Odo, the chief propagator of the Reformation and Cluniac Congregation, made Abbot about the same time at which the former exchanged the Episcopal Chair for a hermit's cell; both must be ascribed to the Benedictines. and that he communicated with him and other Cluniacs on monastic matters. Rightly also the same Ménard confutes Severt, judging it probable that this Gerald is that holy Count of Aurillac, who is venerated on the XIII of October: for from his Life, written by the aforesaid Odo of Cluny, it is clear that the latter was never either Bishop or Monk.

[7] It is notable, moreover, that another of the same name and order, a little after the death of Gerald of Mâcon, Another Gerald made a Monk of Cluny in the year 945, is found to have been made a Monk of Cluny; this being proved by an Instrument, which, conceived in these words, Mabillon produces. I, Gerald, Archbishop, offer myself to God, by renunciation of the world and change of habit, and all my goods, in the monastery of Cluny, where now Lord Eymardus presides: in which, if God grant it, I desire to bind myself under the regular order. But my goods are in the County of Uzès, in the Vicarage of Cazion, that is, the church of St. Saturninus. And there subscribe, Gerald Bishop, Rostagnus Bishop: and finally is added, Done at St. Saturninus publicly, in the month of August, in the year of the Incarnation DCCCXLV. Thus Mabillon, some things assuredly worthy of examination; from an Archbishop, or of Narbonne? for it is not so easy to define of what Church this Gerald was Archbishop. Yet considering that the County of Uzès (commonly Uzès), by others Ucetica and Utica, was under the Archbishopric of Narbonne; where between Anno, known for the year DCCCXXIV, and Aimeric, known to no one before the year DCCCCLV, someone could easily have intervened, of whom no memory now survives, I suspect that this Gerald pertains to the same; for the Archbishopric of Arles was not vacant in that year. He who subscribed together with Gerald, Rostagnus Bishop, seems to have been Archbishop of Vienne, and so to be placed before Alexander, whom without any proof Claude Robert and the Sammarthani place after Rostagnus. But it ought not to seem wonderful, that Archbishops in subscribing use the simple title of Bishop.

ON BL. JOACHIM, ABBOT, FOUNDER OF THE FLORENSIAN ORDER,

IN CALABRIA AND THE KINGDOM OF NAPLES.

A.D. MCCII, ON THE XXX OF MARCH.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Joachim, Abbot and Institutor of the Florensian Order, in Calabria (B.)

BY THE AUTHOR D. P.

§ I. The sacred cult given to the Sepulchre and Relics of Bl. Joachim.

[1] Just as the rapacity of a more malign time has consumed most of the monasteries of the Florensian Order, They gave occasion to the ancient cult, once most celebrated in Calabria, and from the variegated ornament of the Church has removed a gem of no slight splendor; so certain prejudiced opinions concerning Joachim, the author of the most holy institute, removed his name not only from the number of the Saints, but almost even from the number of Catholics. For both evils some remedy was brought by the Apostolic See: when it ordered the surviving Florensian monasteries to flourish again under the common Rule and observance of the Cistercian Order, for neglected use had now abolished their own; and by most ample decrees, established for preserving the integrity of the fame of the dead Joachim, it consulted his honor, nor ever wished anything changed concerning that reverence which was given to him, chiefly in his monastery of Fiore, from all past memory; and which, persevering up to this very day, is contained by such arguments as we are wont to require, that someone be deemed and said to be Blessed, and on that account to claim a place for himself in this work. But as I am about to set these things forth, with the kind leave of the sacred Congregation, presiding over the approving or disapproving of books, let it be permitted to use, lightly proscribed and, until it be corrected, with the work suspended, the book of Dom Gregorio de Laude, otherwise de Lauro, Abbot of Sagittario of the Cistercian Order; whose title, published at Naples about the year MDCLX, is, The apologetic Alethia of the great and divine Prophet Bl. John Joachim, Abbot of Hergasiae, or, The truth of his Marvels defended. I hope that the use of the book, insofar as it is purely historical, may be held wholly innocent and free from fault; with this protestation premised, that I wish to hold nothing of those things on whose account it merited censure.

[2] his virtues and miracles. Having thus prefaced, I say, that occasion and foundation for religiously venerating Joachim were given, both by his outstanding virtues, which engendered in his best sons a great opinion of their Father's holiness; and by the spirit of prophecy, by which while living he is celebrated to the whole world; and finally by the immense miracles, by which God made his merits and sanctity attested. to be given from a MS.: The narration of these, from a certain little book, MS., of the Florensian monastery, almost faded by use and age, Fr. Jacobus Graecus transcribed, and a little after the year MDCXII placed in the archive: whence the transcript received by us, like many others in the year MDCLXI, the most Reverend Ferdinando Ughelli, Abbot of SS. Vincent and Anastasius at the Aquae Salviae outside the walls of the City, most kindly gave us: which, accurately examined, we found to contain evident indications of that religious cult of which we have spoken. For in the Grange of St. Martin, where Joachim died and was first buried, in these it appears that lamps burned at the sepulchre, lamps are said to have glittered at the sepulchre, even after the body was removed thence, in Miracle 19: and that his new sepulchre was venerated with like honor in the monastery of Fiore, appears from a twofold miracle, which is narrated to have happened about the same lamps, Miracles 26 and 28.

[3] that Mass was said, That to the same sepulchre, for the sake of aid, both the possessed and those laboring with any other disease whatever, were wont to come and be helped, is manifested by several examples; and in Miracle 27 it is expressly said, His Translation was solemnly celebrated, and in that place piously and devoutly commemorated. Nay even in Miracle 28 we have the sacrifice of the Mass, wont to be done before the said sepulchre; and in Miracle 39 is narrated a certain man, having taken with him scrapings of that sepulchre, escaped a present peril of life; and afterward, wont to administer the same in a draught, to cure the infirmities of many; whereby it came about, that, others imitating this, up to the present day the whole sepulchre is seen scraped away. that the scraping of the Sarcophagus is held in esteem, The same scraping, in this very century, the Florensian Prior, being about to cure a certain Religious of the Dominican Order, received it only with the Stole placed upon him; assuredly according to a custom long since adopted, and (as is said in Miracle 40) when he offered it to be drunk, he recited the Collect of Bl. Joachim: which is exhibited in full by Gregorio Lauro, to be cited below, such as the churches are wont to chant daily of their several Patrons toward the end of the non-solemn Office. Antiphon at Vespers: Bl. Joachim, endowed with the prophetic spirit, adorned with understanding far from heretical error, said future things as present. At Lauds: Bl. Joachim, that commemoration is made in the divine offices. first Abbot of Fiore, humble and

lovable, was renowned for wonders, through which he was wonderful. ℣. The Lord filled him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding. ℞. He clothed him with the stole of glory. Prayer. O God, who didst manifest Thy glory to three Apostles on Mount Tabor, and in the same place didst reveal to Blessed Joachim the truth of the Scriptures, grant, we beseech, that by his merits and intercession we may ascend to Him who is the way, the truth, and the life.

[4] We have therefore the veneration of the sepulchre up to this very century, Joachim's image with rays and indeed celebrated by the concourse of visitors and famous for miracles: add too, adorned with votive offerings, not only by the devout common folk of the faithful, but also by men constituted in ecclesiastical dignity, as is clear of the two Canons of Cosenza, Miracles 29 and 30. Now let us see his images, of what kind and with what insignia of the Blessed they are found adorned. First, besides that which is seen in the elegant but most ancient cenotaph of his, says Gregorio Lauro, chapter 68, erected beside the most ancient and sumptuous altar of the Most Blessed Mother of God of the Florensian church, holding a pastoral staff in the right hand, a little book in the left; there exists another like it, with rays and with this expression of the name: Blessed Joachim Abbot of Fiore, displaying great antiquity, and with the title of Blessed in the monastery of Fiore, and painted on the wall of the same church, on the right of one entering the church, beneath the holy water … where successively are seen, likewise painted in most ancient work, the figures of the holy Abbots Benedict and Bernard, St. John the Evangelist, the Virgin Mother of God with her Son, and the most holy Crucified One.

[5] But at Celico (which is a town of the diocese of Cosenza, not far from the city, and which was of the homeland of Bl. Joachim) a house of thirty-eight palms in length, twenty-five in width, and thirty-eight in height, in which his mother bore him, likewise at Celico in the natal house, now turned into a temple, is found converted into a church, from a time of which no memory exists to the contrary, under the title of St. Mary of the Ditch; with a benefice, whose fruits now rise only to the sum of forty Neapolitan gold pieces, whereas before they yielded a much larger reckoning … In the paneled roof of this church, the image of the Blessed Virgin is depicted, having on the right Bl. Joachim, Abbot of Fiore, on the left St. Francis of Paola. Likewise in the choir and at the door of the organ of the mother church, dedicated to the Lord Michael the Archangel, in the parish edifice, the likeness of the same man of God, Abbot Joachim, is venerated with exceeding veneration and devotion, and special prayers are daily directed to him by the people of Celico. Thus Lauro, chapter 99: who, in chapter 15, about to bring forward some probabilities, by which it might be persuaded that his monastery of Sagittario in Calabria was visited by Bl. Joachim before Casamari or Fossanuova; takes one from the most ancient effigy of the same blessed man, in the monastery of Sagittario. composed of various colors, above the door of the archive, with rays around the head, and ancient characters above, expressing this distich.

This Seer, disclosing to us many future things, full of the divine spirit, sings true things.

[6] As to the Relics: there is in the diocese of Squillace a monastery of St. Stephen del Bosco, Among the Relics of the Saints, his tooth, founded by Roger Guiscard, nephew on the brother's side of the younger Robert, for St. Bruno and his disciples: which place, when in the year MCLVII it had passed over into the institute of the Cistercians, masters of the new discipline being received from Fossanuova; afterward, after some time, when the more austere observance of the Florensian discipline had been introduced there, at the same time also was taken away one tooth of Bl. Joachim; which, together with the other sacred pledges of the same place, came into the power of the Carthusians, when these obtained from Leo X to be brought back to possess by postliminy this most ancient monastery of their Order, as the same Lauro affirms in the aforecited chapter 15. In this manner other cloisters of the Florensian institute shared something of the sacred body, the chin, which now in those, whether desolated or transferred elsewhere, has suffered a like fortune with their cultivators. The greater part, however, must be believed to have always remained at the Florensian monastery; whence an outstanding preacher of the Order of Minims, and likewise a native of Celico, extorted by great and effective prayers the whole chin of the most holy man, which, as Lauro writes in chapter 99, he handed to his nephew on the brother's side, Antonio Ripoli, then also lately, among his other Benefices, numbering that church at Celico of which we treated above; which he therefore judged most worthy, vestments, for inflaming the devotion of the people of Celico toward their blessed fellow-citizen, to be the keeper of so sacred a pledge. Straightway also from the death of Bl. Joachim, that particles of the garments which he had used while living were held in veneration, both among his religious and among seculars devoted to him, several miracles below will declare.

[7] These things being thus deduced, it is not to be feared, lest we seem to assert the title of Blessed for him against any ecclesiastical sanction: which are reverently shown, which we have seen attributed to him in the daily Collect and in the most ancient paintings. Moreover it is added that (as Lauro concludes in his preface, forestalling the objection) it is established that the same images of his with rays or splendors are placed in temples and oratories and other places of the Regulars; that his sacred Relics too are kept with the other remains of the Saints; and that, when with Archbishops, Bishops, and Primates they are shown, this is wont to be done by a Priest holding the Stole around his neck, all the Religious assisting, conventually singing the Antiphon and Versicle and Collect, the lights being kindled and incensation preceding. With such a foundation laid, we can more safely name Arnold Wion, William Bucelin, Chrysostom Henriquez: of whom the first, in the Tree of Life, Branch IX, embracing those who, illumined by the Spirit of God, foretold future things, Memory in the Benedictine Hagiologies, places Bl. Joachim, Abbot and Prophet, before all.

[8] Bucelin transferred the prolix elogium taken from Wion into the Benedictine Menology on the day XXIX of May, although he confesses that others attribute Joachim to the XIX of the same month, meaning the author of the Cistercian Menology, Henriquez; who, weaving a briefer and neater elogium, says, In Calabria, in the Cistercian Menology. Bl. Joachim the Prophet, to whose mother an Angel appeared in great brightness, and promised that she would bring forth a son illustrious in the opinion of sanctity: who afterward, having assumed the Cistercian habit, adorned our institute with outstanding virtues, lived most rigidly, was renowned for the prophetic spirit, and, many miracles being wrought, passed over to Christ. Chalemot, following Henriquez, on the same day XIX of May, placed Bl. Joachim, in the Series of Saints and Blessed of the Cistercian Order, and again wove for him a very long elogium, which can be read in him. I, for whom there were just causes for passing over Joachim, not only on the XXX of March, on which I shall demonstrate him to have died, but also on the XIX on which the aforesaid Cistercian writers refer him, will follow Bucelin, although ignorant by what Authors or reasons moved he preferred the day XXIX; until I be more distinctly taught from the Florensian monastery itself, whence I have never received any reply to the letters several times given there, which day is held festive there; unless perhaps the body, several times translated, has caused both days to be in veneration. Matthew Guerra, after his service notably approved in the Council of Trent, on account of the outstanding skill in Theology and Canons in which he excelled made Bishop of Fondi, and thence in the year MDLXXVI translated to the Bishopric of San Marco in Calabria, his homeland, in his Notes upon the Psalter of Bl. Joachim, which exist written by hand among the PP. Capuchins in the convent of Cosenza, wrote these things of him, related by Lauro, page 303: and the MS. of Matthew Guerra, Bishop of San Marco. I, Matthew Guerra, wrote. Abbot Joachim, my fellow-countryman, born at Celico (the place is four miles distant from the city of Cosenza), a Cistercian Monk, Institutor of the Florensian Order, in life, in death, and after death was renowned for miracles. He died in the monastery of St. Martin del Canale above Petrafitta of the diocese of Cosenza. Afterward by the Abbots of his Order his body was translated into the principal abbey of St. John of Fiore, which is situated in the forest of Cosenza.

§ II On the writers of the Life and Miracles of Bl. Joachim, and on the day and year of his death and birth.

The most ancient of those Authors whom we now have concerning Bl. Joachim is Luke, from Abbot of Sambucina, Archbishop of Cosenza, Luke, Archbishop of Cosenza, wrote about Bl. Joachim, reported word for word by the Anonymous Author of Joachim's miracles, that very one, as far as we gather from other indications, from whose autograph Jacobus Graecus restored those very things. But, considering the tenor of the Commission, to be produced at the end of the Life composed by the same Jacobus, drawn up about the year MCCCXLVI, we probably suspect that those Miracles were thus collected from the indult of Clement VI, then Pontiff, when Peter, Abbot of Fiore, was sent by the other Abbots of his Order to the Curia, reported in the collection of miracles, that he might both obtain other things useful to the Order, and Commissaries from among the Bishops or Prelates of Calabria, who could inquire and report about the miracles, done and seen in life and after death, by the former Abbot Joachim, who was the beginning and foundation of the whole Florensian Order. But if that collection of Miracles is more ancient than the aforesaid Florensian Decree, made about the year 1346 or earlier: much more worthy was it that we should wish to have it described from its own autograph: but after, much labor being given, we understood that this was wished in vain; because the little book which Graecus had used was not preserved in the archive; we rejoiced that the very context of Graecus was had by us, attested under oath, that he had added, diminished, or changed nothing of their substance, only had reported it in other words.

[10] We give therefore in the following paragraph the Synopsis of virtues, written by the aforesaid Archbishop of Cosenza, which Luke in the year 1206 was Apostolic Visitor of the Florensian Order, as we received it from volume 7 of the Italia sacra of Ferdinando Ughelli, inserted in that place where the monuments pertaining to the said Luke are treated: which Luke also, two years after he was made Bishop, namely in the year MCCVI, persevering in his affection toward the Florensian Order, at the instance of Matthew, second Abbot of Fiore, was appointed Apostolic Visitor of all the monasteries of the Florensian Order, and surveyed them all; and, together with the same Matthew and the Abbot of the Holy Spirit, sanctioned at Palermo some most salutary decrees, to be observed thereafter, and confirmed by Innocent III on the XI Kalends of March in the year MCCXV. But Luke, dying in the year MCCXXIV, is believed to have flown to heaven, and, borne into the temple at Sambucina, to rest there; a Prelate assuredly most worthy, and renowned for the outstanding holiness of his life, a most resplendent star of his Cistercian Order and of the Church of Cosenza, wherefore by Marafioti in his description of Calabria he is reckoned among the Blessed.

[11] The next to him in age, in authority, and in familiarity with Bl. Joachim, was John de Bonatio. Likewise John de Bonatio, of Fiore, familiar with the Blessed,

He, in the little work which he wrote on the Prophets of his time, on occasion of a certain oracle delivered at the instance of the Emperor Henry, speaks of Joachim no otherwise than with the title of Blessed our Father; then, about to relate his oracle, on the question proposed by Henry, he prefixes a brief elogium of the same, of which elogium this is the conclusion: I send you to our volume, in which the life of this Blessed one is narrated far and wide. Where, whether you refer the "our" to John de Bonatio himself, as if he were the author of that volume; or to the Florensian monastery, of which he was a Monk; it is given to understand that such a volume was written before the year MCCXL, about which it is credible that the aforecited little work was written by Bonatio: inasmuch as he writes in it concerning the preceding year, who cites a large volume on the life: that he was then left at the extremity of decrepit age. But why should not this be that one, which he wrote concerning the twofold spirit of Abbot Joachim, from whose book 2, number 6, the words to be produced below at number 65 are cited in Gregorio Lauro, page 70, by George Fotinus, in the Chronicles of the Kingdom of Naples, from the rhapsodies of the same Kingdom (by which manner of speaking he seems to mean the ancient MSS.), page 214: whose books of Bonatio, if anywhere they could have been found, would not have escaped George's diligence, and would have brought great material to his work, and undoubtedly light to ours.

[12] but posterity did not see it, But both that volume and these books, whether they all be one and the same or not, and by whomsoever composed, are now sought in vain; nor do we think that either Leander Alberti, a writer of the previous century, had them, when he wrote the life of Bl. Joachim (for that he wrote it Arnold Wion is witness to us), or Pasqualino Regiselmo, when he prefixed to the Prophecies under the name of Bl. Joachim, to be published at Venice in Latin and Italian in the year 1589, a Life of the same Blessed composed by himself in few words. For if they had had them, they would have supplied more new material either to Arnold himself, weaving his Elogium from them, or to Jacobus Graecus, who undertook to write the Life so diffusely, that for us, nor the last author of the life, Jacobus Graecus, about to give it here from the impression of Cosenza in the year 1612, it was necessary to cut away many irrelevant additions, by which the mass of the work was uselessly increased. But to this work we thought we should not leave even the title of Chronology, made by the Author: for as diligent and faithful a writer as he was, so for the most part was he an unhappy chronologer, especially in arranging the years of the Sicilian Kings with the birth and death of Bl. Joachim.

[13] In the death certainly he goes far astray from the truth: and although he had cause not wholly to approve what Alvise Contarini, in his Garden of illustrious men, says, that Joachim died in the year of the Lord MCC: yet if he had shaken out all the monuments of the Florensian archives as well as Gregorio Lauro afterward did; he would also have known that there was no cause rightly indeed establishing that the Blessed did not die in the year 1200, why he should defer the death of the blessed man up to the year MCCXIV. For he would have found a most solid foundation for refuting Contarini in the archive of the monastery of Fonte Laurato, namely an authentic instrument, by which in the year MCCI in the month of September of the fifth Indiction, Simeon de Mamistra, Lord of Montefreddo, and Caytegrima his wife, proposing to build a house of religion within the bounds of their land, speak thus: But because we have seen many places, begun with the same intention, come to desolation, for the reason that they had no Rectors and Ordainers, since there exists a donation made to him in September 1201: desiring to confirm with perpetual stability this work dedicated to God, with the counsel and will of Lord Richard, Bishop of Tropea, we have called you, Lord Joachim, Venerable Abbot of Fiore; asking you with all devotion, that you receive both the ordering of that monastery, and the monastery itself, into your hands or those of your successors. Joachim therefore had not died either in the year MCC or CCI, on the XIX or XXIX of May, as Henriquez and Bucelin and others whom they followed will have it.

[14] But neither could he have been able to reach the year XIV of that century, as could be clear to Graecus from all the Privileges, of which several were extant from the year MCCII up to XIV, but wrongly deferring the death to the year 1214, either bearing the name of no Florensian Abbot, or having the name of Matthew, that one who, substituted for Joachim, after a laudable rule of many years, in the year at length MCCXXXXIV was assumed to the Bishopric of Gerace, and thus discharged this office too, so that he is numbered among the Blessed of the Province of Calabria. But the first mention of this Matthew is found in the aforesaid Archive of Fonte Laurato, in that Instrument by which the aforenamed Bishop of Tropea, Richard, in the year MCCII in the month of June of the fifth Indiction, hands over to the aforesaid Matthew and his successors the church of St. Dominica, near which the said monastery of Fonte Laurato was being built, since in June 1202 Matthew was Abbot: together with two other churches of St. Peter and St. Barbara, with their just possessions and holdings: willing moreover that the holding which Lord Simeon de Mamistra … granted to the Venerable late Abbot Joachim … they should hold freely and in perpetuity.

[15] Both Instruments can be read entire in Gregorio, chapter 71, within which limits, on the 30th of March, Joachim died, where also will be found various Authors alleged, as if they judged Joachim to have died in the year MCLVI, LVII, LVIII, LXX, or LXXXV: who however in truth only write that he then was renowned or flourished. Meanwhile there it is rightly concluded, that between September of year I and June of year II of that XIII century, Joachim migrated from this life. For the rest, says Gregorio, We fix the XXX day of the month of March for the death of God's servant Joachim, moved not only by this, that Graecus had written it: but because in certain very old manuscripts, no mention of the year being made, we found registered; that the hammer of heretics, the enemy of vices, the restorer of the monastic spirit, and the first Abbot of the monastery of Fiore, passed over from this vale of tears to eternal felicity on the day XXX of March. Which, thus written in general by a man elsewhere wont so solicitously to produce the very words of ancient documents, and to indicate the place where they are to be found, would not altogether satisfy us; did we not find it written by Luke, Archbishop of Cosenza, that on account of the singular devotion of Bl. Joachim, with which he was affected toward the fortnight of the Lord's Passion, it is proved from the Sabbath "Sitientes." perhaps it was given to him, that on the Sabbath on which "Sitientes" is sung, he should burn with the sorrow of mortal life; and, having attained the true Sabbath, like a hart should hasten to the fountains of waters. For the year MCCII brought Easter to the day XIV of April, and so the Sabbath preceding Passion Sunday, when the Introit of the Mass thus begins: "Ye that thirst, come to the waters, saith the Lord," was on the XXX day of March.

[16] As to the year of his nativity, which Graecus established to have been MCXLV, no faith would be to be given to it, That he was born in the year 1145, if it were established to us that Joachim died very far advanced in age, and (as Graecus himself says) worn out with old age. But if this so great old age be not proved, there is not much reason why we should refute him, although Gregorio thinks that manifold contradictions can be adduced from Graecus himself, who therefore strives to prove that he was born in the first years of the XII century. For indeed we find no evident contradiction. Certainly not in the recommendatory letter, it is not refuted by the letter of William the King in the year 1178, given by William, King of Sicily, in favor of Joachim, Venerable Abbot of St. Mary of Curatio; in the year MCLXXVIII, the XIII year of his reign, the XII day of the month of December, Indiction XII. For although Graecus himself, the memory of the year noted by him being lost, indicates that the author of this privilege was William, surnamed the Bad; who, as he says, reigned from the year MCXLIX up to LX (within which time, if you seek Indiction XII, you must necessarily fall to the first year of that one's reign, and not even the first, because December of Indiction XII would pertain to the preceding year, when Joachim would have been but four years old) although, I say, he himself, forgetful of himself, says this; yet nothing else follows than that Graecus did not attend, so as to arrange the years of the Sicilian Kings, though it is otherwise more probable that he was born about the year 1130, which he did not rightly understand (for William the Bad reigned up to the year MCLXVI), with the years of Joachim himself, and to consider that the Blessed could not, so young in age, have great familiarity or authority with that William; much less rule an Abbey under him.

[17] nor does the prophecy about the Empress Constance stand in the way, But this being dissembled, if we take him who truly gave that Recommendatory letter, William the Good, all things will agree sufficiently; and the King himself will have given it in the XIII year of his reign, and Joachim will have received it in the XXXIII year of his life, which would be an age not so incongruous either for holding authority, or for ruling an Abbey; that one especially, in which, founded only in the year MCLXXIII, all, if not in age, certainly in religion, had to be young. But because it is uncertain what foundation Graecus had for the year MCLIV, and it could have come about that somewhere he found that Joachim departed from the living about the LXVIII year of his age, or was nearly seventy; because, I say, it could have come about by some such cause, that, after he took the year of death by error as MCCXIV, he was driven to determine this year of nativity: therefore we leave the whole matter undefined, and incline more to this, to conjecture that the Blessed came into this light about the year MCXXX. But not so much in this as in the year of the nativity of the Empress Constance does Gregorio think he finds all evidence of a cause to be proved against Graecus. For Graecus cites those Authors who relate that Joachim, at her birth, foretold that the torch of Sicily was born with her, inasmuch as it is not asserted by Jacobus Graecus, and who will have it that the same, now old and more than fifty years of age, was led out of the monastery, and, the Pontiff dispensing, was joined to Henry, afterward Emperor: which fable Gregorio takes as a thing certain by the consent of all Sicilian historians. I confess that they are cited by Graecus: but they are all cited by him in such a way, that he only intends to demonstrate that Joachim was either held a prophet by illustrious Writers, or was familiar with Kings: for elsewhere, at number 10, where he first mentions Joachim, as prophesying before William about Constance from the testimony of Boccaccio, he thus says: Whatever be the case of Boccaccio's assertion, it is not to be called into doubt that Joachim was likewise joined by no small familiarity with William, fifth of such a name, and third in the order of Kings, who on account of his exceeding observance toward religion deserved to be called the Good William by the peoples who loved and were loved by him.

[18] But what Graecus said of Boccaccio's assertion, the same must be deemed to have meant said of the other Authors whom he afterward alleges in section 17, insofar as they too relate that Joachim prophesied of Constance at her birth. For if she,

when she bore Frederick II in the year MCXCIII, was not (I do not say of fifty years, and like many other things, was fabricated by the Sicilians, which is a most utter fable) but was (as in truth she was) of forty-one years, inasmuch as she was the posthumous offspring of her father Roger, whom the epitaph of his sepulchre attests to have died in the year MCLIV, as the contemporary Authors write; the Emperor Henry could indeed, on account of the great age of his wife, and the barrenness of the marriage experienced through some years, fear lest a son be supposititiously imposed upon him, and therefore have consulted Joachim about it; but the latter could not have prophesied of Constance at her birth, unless he had been born at the beginning of the century. But this, as well as very many other things about Constance, the Sicilians lied: for they feigned that, snatched by the ministers of Pope Innocent from the monastery, which she governed as a fifty-year-old Abbess, she was given as wife to Henry to eject Tancred from the kingdom: whom however, from a stone, set up for perpetual memory at Rieti (where the marriage was celebrated by Proxies), it is established that in the year MCLXXXV, on the XVIII day of August, in the times of Lucius III, she was betrothed, when namely William the Good, King of Sicily, was still among the living, wrongly by others believed to be the father or brother of Constance: it is established likewise, that Constance was not in the power of Tancred, except when the Salernitans handed her over together with their city to the King: who, having led her away into Sicily, placed her in a monastery, whence Innocent III gave his effort that she might be rescued. As therefore these and very many other things, in hatred of the cruelty exercised by Henry and of the desolation brought upon the kingdom, her nuptials with Henry being to them unhappy, and execrated, the Sicilians feigned of Constance; so that prophecy of Joachim about her could have been fabricated by them, not only as to the time, but even as to the substance of the matter, so that we can in no way trust it. For this too is rightly doubted, whether that whole opinion of the Monastic life of Constance before her nuptials has any other foundation than that in the time of her captivity she lived among Nuns in monastic observance, but as a married woman, and therefore unfit for religious profession, unless her husband had consented.

§ III A synopsis of the virtues of Bl. Joachim, by Luke, Archbishop of Cosenza, once the familiar scribe of the Blessed himself.

[19] The man in all things reverend, Luke, Archbishop of Cosenza, the things which now follow at first sense composed, Whence this synopsis was received dictated by mouth, set down on little pages: as the Anonymous Author of Joachim's miracles speaks in Ferdinando Ughelli, volume 9 of the Italia sacra, where, of the Archbishops of Cosenza, column 279. And would that we had had the context of this Anonymous rather than the paraphrase of Jacobus Graecus, however much in it, to be taken from the original text, he professes himself to hand down the substance of the things to be narrated wholly unchanged! But it is not altogether wanting to us, from whose pen so outstanding a monument of antiquity has come to us: which it pleases here to render word for word; not only for knowing the virtue of Joachim, but also of Luke himself; whence the things which have been and remain to be said of the sanctity of the Master will become more corroborated. Thus therefore he says.

[20] I, Luke, Archbishop of Cosenza, in the second year of the Pontificate of the Lord Pope Lucius, already a Monk, first at Casamari, Luke in the year 1183 knows Joachim at Casamari; saw a man by name Joachim, then Abbot of Curatio, son of Sambucina, daughter of Casamari: on that account, as a grandson, he was held with all honor and love at Casamari, but more on the score of the wisdom and intelligence given to him by the Lord. Then, before the same Lord Pope and his Consistory, he began to reveal the understanding of the Scriptures, and the concord of both Testaments: from whom he both obtained license to write, and began to write. But I wondered that a man of such great name, so effective in speech, had garments old and most abject, and on the fringes partly burnt: but I learned afterward, that through his whole life he cared nothing for the meanness of his habit. to whom, there by permission of the Pope interpreting the scriptures, He remained at Casamari diligently almost one year and a half, dictating and emending at the same time the book of the Apocalypse and of the Concord. Where in that very time he began the book of the Psaltery of ten chords.

[21] But as soon as he knew me to understand something, and to be the notary of my Abbot, an amanuensis is given; he asked him to grant me to him as scribe: which also was done: because Abbot Gerald could deny him nothing, so most fervently did he love him. Sitting therefore at his feet, both within the enclosure of the monastery and in the grange of St. Angelo of Corneto, near the monastery, obediently and humbly, day and night I wrote in a quire, in which he himself dictated and emended on slips, together with his two Monk-scribes, Fr. John and Fr. Nicholas, of whom the one afterward became Abbot and the other Prior of Curatio. I also ministered to him celebrating Mass, admiring all his manners: and admires the piety of the one sacrificing, for while he celebrated, his hand lifted higher than other Priests, he blessed the Host, and exhibited all the signs or offices more earnestly: and having a face colored like dry leaves, he had it truly Angelic in the hour of the Mass-sacrifice only, as I then noted and well remember. But I also sometimes beheld him weeping in the celebration of the Mass, and when in the Mass the Lord's Passion was read.

[22] and his affection toward the Passion of Christ, I also heard him saying, that he was never lighter through the whole year, than in the fifteen days of the Passion: so that he always grieved that they were ended. And perhaps therefore it was given to him, that on the Sabbath on which "Sitientes" is sung, he should burn with the sorrow of mortal life, and, having attained the true Sabbath, like a hart should hasten to the fountains of waters. At the commission also of my Abbot, he alone, since he had no equal in this part, frequently made a sermon both on feasts and on ferial days in the Chapter: and then also we gazed on his face, as of an Angel presiding over us. as also the fervor of him preaching; For he began the sermon with a humbler voice: but proceeding a little, no longer as a man, but truly as an Angel, with a stronger voice and a certain living affection, he impressed the word of God on the minds of the hearers. I never at any time heard anyone complaining that he prolonged the Lord's sermon, since none of us could be sated with the delights of his discourse.

[23] He passed the night assiduously in writing and in prayers, and yet hastened humbly to the conventual vigils, singing and watching: likewise his Vigils, so that I never beheld him sleeping in the choir of Casamari. About the quality or scantiness of food or drink he never cared: so that on some days he did not taste cooked food at table: and when through the error of the server it happened that wine was not set in his little vessel, his sobriety, because he thought this was being brought through the refectory; he was content with water only, which he took from the server's hand. He related to me once, that when in Syria, a young man, the habit of Religion now assumed, he had been lodged alone with a certain widow; she, gazing on him with shameless eyes, attempted by lascivious acts to invite him to crime: but the servant of God resisted wisely and bravely. And because it was night, and he could not fitly go out; the wretched woman going to sleep, his chastity proved on occasion, he passed the whole night sleepless in prayer, the little bed prepared for him by his hostess being spurned, lying upon bundles of wood, and overcoming the temptation of the flesh; until in the morning, the door of the house being opened, without the leave of the tempting woman he went out.

[24] Truly I confess, I never saw a man so always bravely zealous for chastity, so encouraging all whom he could to modesty, and correcting unchastity in all whom he could. which others too have testified to be outstanding. I heard from Lord Raynerius, his intimate, that he had never known a man so free from this vice; and he asserted that he had heard this very thing from Bishops and many Brothers. I saw him sometimes standing on bent knees, and with hands and eyes raised to heaven, and conversing with Christ, as if he saw Him face to face, with a cheerful countenance. I made with him at Petralata a whole Lent, he praises him for his instancy in prayer, in which, except on Sundays and feast days, he seemed daily rather to taste than to eat bread and water: since by days and nights unceasingly he either wrote, or read, or prayed, and daily celebrated Mass: for he had received from the Lord that he could abstain from foods and drinks as much as he wished, and the more he abstained the more cheerful and stronger he appeared. Outside the monastery, eating with the others, and for the rigor of his fasting. he took the appropriate foods with thanksgiving.

[25] When it happened that I was demanded for Abbot by the Brothers of Sambucina, by his counsel and that of Lord Raynerius; both wrote to me, that I should come and in no way doubt, and that I should not take in excuse that I was of a more impeded and slower tongue: he testifies that by his merits his tongue was loosed, whose letters with the reverence which I owed I kept. And being elected Abbot on the feast of St. Clement, on the following Sunday of the Advent of the Lord, having those letters upon me in my bosom, that I might presume more on the faith of those who had sent them than on my own, I made a sermon to the Brothers in the Chapter, and being loosed from the bond of the tongue I gave thanks to God, and applied the miracle to the merits of those who had comforted me.

[26] a fever driven away, When at Sambucina, suffering a most acute fever, I had come to extremity, I was visited by him and charitably led to Fiore: who when he saw me weak from failure of appetite, because I would not nor could eat meats; to me desiring the conventual cabbages: Eat secure in the name of the Lord, he said, eat cabbages daily and drink of their juice: and within a few days I departed, full health recovered. an untimely appetite for drink repressed: In the following month of November I went with him to Palermo: and when, fasting and lodging late, I supped with him, I thirsted and drank in the night. But a certain morning he said to me, that it was not regular for me thus by night to drink, but I ought, trusting in the mercy of the Lord, to abstain. [And] believing it God's admonition, straightway from then I felt these things no more.

[27] On the sixth feria, on Good Friday, I sat with him in the cloister of the Holy Spirit at Palermo: and behold he was called to the Palace to the Empress Constance, that he commanded the Empress, for the sake of confession, to dismiss him: who wished to confess to him. He went, and found her sitting within the church on her accustomed chair; [but] being bidden to sit, he sat on a little chair placed for him; but when the Empress disclosed to him her purpose of confessing, he reined her in with the authority which he ought, and answered, saying, Since I now hold the place of Christ, and you indeed the place of the penitent Magdalene, descend, sit on the ground, and so faithfully confess: for otherwise

I ought not to hear you. The Empress descended and sat on the ground, and humbly confessed her sins; all wondering with her, who related that the Apostolic authority had been in the Abbot.

[28] that he himself, most humble, was wont to clean the infirmary, He had learned from Christ to be meek and humble of heart: and so as Abbot at Curatio he went frequently and cleaned with his own hands the whole infirmary; first namely the roof, and then the walls down to the pavement; then he went over every least and scarcely manifest thing: the house being cleaned, he considered and arranged the beddings: and forthwith, as far as he opportunely could, he provided for the necessity of the sick in the kitchen, so that he never neglected even the lesser weak ones. And not only to the sick, but also to his lads weary on the way was he compassionate: so that, dismounting, he would compel his servant to ride for some while, whom he followed on foot, until he knew that the servant had recovered his strength, and to his one servant, in journeying, to yield his horse: and so again would ride. That winter in which he died, there was a very great famine in all Sicily and Calabria: so that many poor died of starvation: but he with pious zeal helped whomsoever he could, and admonished others to help; distributing his garments to the poor with such compassion, that he was seen at Cosenza covered with only the scapular in the night.

[29] how solicitous about the divine offices, Through the Octaves of Easter and Pentecost he was wont to celebrate daily: and so if then he was compelled to go out of the monastery, he carried with him the vestment and chalice, that in whatever church he could celebrate. He said that the true and new Jews ought not to be inferior to those Hebrews, who for seven days ate unleavened bread. He was of such great authority among the seculars in counsels of temporal things, that we have heard the nobles of Cosenza, when the city all around was being wearied by enemies, say that they were more secure with him present in the city, than if a hundred thousand armed soldiers were present for their defense. About the divine cult in the sacred Offices he was everywhere and always most studious, how great present confidence you would have, so that in Sila I beheld him even fixing the Cross, and before it lighting wax candles upon wooden candlesticks, if it were a festival: and the hours being thus ordered, with his companions he sang vigils and vespers with devotion. His care also, wherever he dwelt, was very great about the cleanliness of the altar.

[30] how obedient he was, Obedience, in which he himself had been an outstanding subject, he wonderfully exacted from his subjects; not ceasing to correct the disobedient by so many and so long-continued admonitions, until he invited them to humility of heart and spontaneous obedience. To guests in every place and time he was most liberal, whom he honored with words and services, chiefly at table. Only to his kinsmen was he hard and inhuman, hospitable, regarding them as it were strangers, so that he never granted them anything, often, asked by the servitors and Brothers of the monastery, would he acquiesce. In the labor of his hands he was incredibly strong, and with the convent of Brothers he was very much delighted in it. Robust in body, he cared little for cold or heat, hunger or thirst. laborious. These things, as we have already said, the man of good memory Lord Luke, Archbishop of Cosenza, related, and the Anonymous himself transcribed word for word.

THE LIFE

By the author Jacobus Graecus of Sila, Monk of Fiore:

Joachim, Abbot and Institutor of the Florensian Order, in Calabria (B.)

BY THE AUTHOR JACOBUS GRAECUS.

DEDICATORY EPISTLE

To Francesco Monaco of the city of Cosenza, of a patrician family, a Monk, a most illustrious Counsel of Pontifical and Imperial Law, and Bishop of the holy Church of Marturano.

Since at the beginning of my monastic life Dom Giusto of Florence, conspicuous in religion, [By the mandate of his Superiors the deeds of the Venerable Joachim were written down,] the memorable Prefect of the Cistercian Order of both Sicilies everywhere, had imposed upon me, that, if I could find out anything concerning the venerable Abbot Joachim, and of his Florensian Order, I should in no way cease to recall it chronicle-fashion to memory: which, the antiquity and obscurity of the matter rendering exceedingly most difficult, almost called away my still tender mind from these things. Yet not wishing to be deprived, through insufficiency and sloth, of the good of obedience, by whose grace even a dry tree is found to have fructified, I undertook the command of him who exhorted and counseled me: he offers it to the Bishop of Marturano, in which, the things which I could rather memorialize and prove by irrefragable documents, the rest omitted, I have brought into the open. But these, since they could not be reckoned even among the middling, I judged should thus be dedicated to no one: for they retain things so most humble, that as they cannot be elevated by anyone's protection, so they cannot be trodden down to lower things by contempt. Therefore, as collected from my novitiate they now fell into my hands; so to your Greatness, which is wont not only to hear monastic things, but also by innate piety to cultivate them, I most devoutly offer them to be read. For I do not presume to present them as dedicated: for to so great a man, only monuments of most exalted inspection should be dedicated. Yet nowhere shall it befall these to be deprived of the impregnable shield of protection: for, the most celebrated name of him being inspected at the beginning, everyone, even if he presume not to praise them, to the outstanding Counsel of Law, at least will presume only to revere them. For who, overcome by the name of so great a man and the radiance of his virtues, would not be compelled, regarding the things which will come forth at least under his inspection, not only not to detract, but even sufficiently to praise? For your Greatness stands by the splendor of Cosentine nobility; since you are sprung from a noble race on both parents' side: and it stands also by the honesty of your morals, and the eminent knowledge of Pontifical and Imperial Law, with which the Most High adorned it; and therefore, like the sun, among the stars and clouds, it shone wonderfully to the gaze of all, and showed itself admirable and venerable in no slight loveliness. But this the impregnable truth itself, testifying, lays bare: and to the Cosentine citizen. for divine providence, by whose sweet disposition all things are attained, and infallibly directed to their due end, the investigator of all hearts and merits, called you, then a layman, and not yet marked even with the first Clerical tonsure, from secular and forensic affairs, while in the city of Cosenza, your homeland, you discharged the office of Advocate with the highest praise, then bearing a great burden of responding on law, to the Bishopric not without greater expectation signally: whose offices you so fulfill, fortified by God's protection, that all seem in you alike to glorify God. There shine also with you Horace and Flaminius, both also themselves Counsels of Law, your full brothers. Read therefore, I pray, the things which are offered to you with such great devotion: in which, although you will not so much wonder at delightful things, perhaps you will find them not enough to be cast aside. For although they are not covered with glosses, and intermixed with the narration of wars and matters which succeeded in time of this kind; they will yet be able, only the lucubration of them being inspected, to be in the wishes of your Highness. For it was not our purpose to intermix with them histories, written far and wide by so many men; lest perhaps that which was in these of itself, should become an object by accident. Accordingly, from the inspection of them, if anyone in the Lord bless me, let him be blessed; but he who curse, let him too be filled with innumerable blessings; with this expectation of consolation only I shall rejoice together, that if I be seen to profit no one, neither to harm anyone: and if no occasion of being blessed, Why he does not mix in secular history. so no occasion of being cursed will befall, set against anyone: which will suffice to stop the mouths of the foolish. May your most worshipful Greatness fare well, to whom may God grant perpetual perseverance in your wondrous vigilance of governing. Given from our monastery of Fiore, in the year from Jesus Christ born one thousand six hundred and twelve, in the seventh year of the Supreme Pontificate of our most Holy Lord Pope Paul the fifth; and the twentieth year of your Bishopric.

ANNOTATIONS.

Graecus divided this book into 56 Sections, to each of which he prefixed one Distich, in the manner of a title or argument, The ancient division of the book. which Verses we would gladly have given here, if they merited any praise either from antiquity, or from elegance, or at least from clearness: now, since none of these is in them, but they seem wholly obscure and insipid, we judge that we make no great loss by neglecting them. Let it therefore be enough to have noted, that to the individual Numbers correspond as many Sections in the original, and therefore that they have been kept by us, even where we omit a whole Section, for reasons to be given below: but those which remained after Section 38, pertained nothing to the history of Bl. Joachim: but insofar as they concern the Florensian monastery, they will be found fully enough in the Appendix, §1 and 2, so that, that manifold farrago being rejected, the reader will lose nothing which he would wish required here.

CHAPTER I.

Joachim's adolescence, pilgrimage into the Holy Land,

Joachim is born Joachim, or Joachinus, first Abbot of the venerable monastery of Fiore, under the invocation of the Holy Spirit, of the ever blessed virgin Mary, Mother of God, and of St. John the Evangelist, in the parts of Hither Calabria, where the name is of Fiore; in the diocese of Cosenza, of honest indeed and pious parents, namely a father a Notary, whose name was ^a Maurus; and a mother, whose name was Gemma, about the year from the nativity of the Lord one thousand one hundred forty-five, ^b Eugene the third ruling the Holy Catholic Church, Conrad the third of this name reigning, was born in the town of the city of Cosenza, the metropolis of the Bruttii and of all Calabria, whose name is ^c Celico: yet by the opinion of the Wise, He who is of the village, is of the city. near Cosenza at Celico; And hence, by their judgment, towns or villages enjoy the same privileges with which the city does; and which, even sold and alienated from the city, do not cease to be of their prior nature (although Celico and the other villages have not been alienated from the city of Cosenza) because they are true citizens, enjoy all favors and privileges as the other citizens, and the more truly can the city of Cosenza say Joachim is hers. For when in the year of the Lord nine hundred and seventy, according to Blondus, book thirteen, in the time of Pope John of this name the Thirteenth and the Emperor Otto of this name the First, to be reckoned among the Cosentines, Cosenza had been depopulated and burned by the African ^d Saracens; those who had escaped from Cosenza built round about castles or Cosentine villages, not very distant from the city itself. Therefore they are nothing other than a part of the same city, from those things which the ancient author Ptolemy ^e of Lucca writes, who wrote histories of Calabria, and the same Bernardino Martirano of the same Cosenza attests, of the patrician family of the Martirani, because these inhabited the villages near the city. who was Secretary of the kingdom of Naples under the Emperor Charles the Fifth; and the same thing reports Giovanni Paolo d'Aquino, a Cosentine patrician, in his funeral oration at the death of Bernardino Telesio, a most skilled philosopher, of the patrician family of the Telesii of the same City of Cosenza: which Bernardino indeed entered the way of all flesh in the year of the Lord one thousand five hundred eighty-eight, in his homeland, in the seventy-ninth year of his age. Joachim, indeed, came forth into the light only with great prodigies of his parents ^f; who up to fourteen years applied himself to grammar, and it

he attained easily, with the greatest admiration of his contemporaries. imbued with grammar, For he was both conspicuous for keenness of mind, and most tenacious of memory: in bodily appearance moreover sufficiently elegant, and most agreeable in integrity of morals: all which things bore the specimen of future excellence. But his father, thinking he had begotten the boy more for himself than for the Lord ^g, placed him honorably in the King's court: he is sent to the court; where, complying with his father, he served laudably for a time. Discerning at length in adolescence, that cups were being prepared to be offered to him by the world; longing exceedingly to avoid the serpent, he prayed the Lord continually, that He would protect him from its bites ^h. And these things being revolved in his mind, which loathing, distinguished for piety, in mind and hands he poured himself out, according to his strength, toward the needy of Christ. Therefore he began to burn with the heat of divine love, to depart from the royal court, and to gird himself for the long journey of a holy pilgrimage.

[1] he goes a pilgrim into the Holy Land: The greatest clemency of God, in recalling the elect to Himself, seemed continually to operate in a wondrous manner: for while Joachim revolves in his heart the pilgrimage conceived in mind, yet more remissly; he is straightway moved by the spirit of God, driven to visit the sacred places of the Lord's Passion: and making the journey, he relieved with his own expense the want of certain who were on pilgrimage with him. But the feast of Easter coming, new garments being prepared for him, At the New Pasch, he said, I prepare new garments for myself. Which scarcely uttered, he perceived the spirit of his own love to flourish; and impelled by it he began to think of temporal things, and to be solicited by their pleasures; so that he seemed to himself to have returned to the vanities of the world, which he had cast away. But He who is not wanting to those that fear Him, was at hand to his aid: having put on a new garment he is tempted, for, finding himself to suffer violence, by elevation of mind to God, he deserved to vanquish the Amorrhites and Jebusites of his heart. For the rest, having entered Byzantium at the Bosphorus of Thrace, there, the hand of the Lord touching that city, he beheld a very great multitude of men perish: by which, seeing himself absolved from peril, he wholly fortified himself to renounce the world. The headbands therefore and the other garments of the world being laid aside, covered with a white and rough cloth and unshod, he continued for the rest his pilgrimage; and thus rejoicing he went from the sight of men, and conqueror of vanity so that he esteemed it no slight dignity, if it were granted, for the sake of visiting the places of Jesus, to suffer contumely. Moreover his hair, naturally black, but by a brother's artifice growing yellow, since he could not restore it to its pristine nature, abhorring it as it were the relics of vanity, he chose rather to cut it off, than to be noted for its levity in the sight of men. he also shears off his hair. Whence with no little devotion and edification, like a religious, surveying the remaining places of the pilgrimage, he showed himself beloved to God and men: for the things which the Lord had impressed on his heart, he faithfully proved by works.

ANNOTATIONS

CHAPTER II.

Labors endured by Joachim abroad: his return to his homeland.

[2] Although the very many things, worthy of utterance, which the servant of God Joachim saw and bore in his own body in so great a journey, On the journey vexed with his companion by dire thirst, those suffice well to measure who have committed themselves to actions of this kind: yet a very few I shall adduce, by which his desire burning toward God may be plain, while he dreads to undergo none of the perils of pilgrims. For going on the journey he proceeded with one companion only, which used to be prepared with the throng of many. Meanwhile to both of them, the tongue clinging to the palate from strong thirst, they dreaded to fall. But Joachim, supposing for certain that he would render up his spirit to the Lord, buried himself in the sand, commending in continual prayer to God the necessity of both, his companion withdrawing: and so the servant of God Joachim, although he was pressed by no small distress, yet meditating on heavenly things, is divinely refreshed, roused from some kind of sleep, most gladly for the rest cared not for the burning appetite for cold and moist things; for God had relieved the necessity of both. For the companion, by the finding of what was sought, met the peril: but Joachim, before he was lulled to sleep, mindful of the Lord's promise, when He says, Let him who thirsts come to Me, and drink, was filled in consolation with the rumination of the holy Scriptures, and remained; in which how much the grace of the Lord prevented him in the blessings of sweetness, is plain to one reading his writings. Apoc. 22:17 Meeting again according to God's good pleasure, consolation received, exhorting one another in the Lord, they proceeded: but Joachim, more clothed with the bowels of charity, and he bears the discomforts of the way patiently: so that he sought rather his neighbor's than his own; although he gladly suffered like things, continually compassionating the necessity of his fellow-traveler, nowhere did he disagree about applying a remedy: for he who had gladly relieved the want of many, was not wearied by any necessity of one. But things not succeeding to his wish, he ever strove to apply the remedy of the shield of patience: especially remembering the Lord, wearied from the journey and sitting on the well, he persuaded that one should ever and everywhere proceed with a cheerful mind.

[3] Perceiving meanwhile with no deaf ears, that in a more secluded region of the ^a Thebaid Anchorites toiled fittingly in the praises of the eternal King, turning aside to the desert a certain Religious Andrew being his companion, he burned to salute them face to face. But for getting waters, even desired through the sun's heat alone, the travelers had to turn aside, and they had to be separated from one another. Joachim diligently found waters flowing down amid the midst of mountains; and wild asses catching at the same in their thirst, the servant of God arriving, again he is endangered by thirst, forthwith withdrawing, seemed to have yielded the faculty of drawing, for slaking the thirst of the fellow-traveler: but although he had brought the element, ^b him for the rest he found not. Besides, longing exceedingly to avoid the burning noonday hour and the incursions of the Saracens, he betook himself for a little into a cave, where he perceived ^c dissimilar gapings. Whence so great a diversity of the matter being forthwith weighed, he soon withdrew, and at length ^d was present at the Pentapolis intersected by Arabia and Palestine: whose deeds the merely ashen soil itself, not without vehement admiration of the servant of God, of its own accord offered to his eyes. Furthermore the sun's heats burning him, he washed himself in sulphurous waves: which, like filth, upon his body, taken up by them, dried over the whole: and by this kind of glue, as it were, he would have been greatly tormented,

had not the Lord soothed him with the spirit of a thin breeze. and by another twofold affliction of the body: Nor was there wanting cause of further exacerbation: for in the same region he struck against a copious sharpness of thistles, with which the limbs of him wandering about were wet with no slight gore, and so endured, that in this kind of martyrdom, as it were, he hesitated to render his soul to God. But in these and other like things he overcame, for the sake of Him who loved him; continually bringing forth from his breast, that for him to live was Christ and to die gain.

[4] After the devoted servant of Christ Joachim had come even to Anchorites ^f and not a few Cenobites, recalling them with high devotion, returning from the desert as he had been received with no slight charity, so he departed formed with no slight instruction: yet to him as he withdrew certain perils enumerated by the Apostle, to be undergone by travelers, were not wanting. 2 Cor. 11. For he fell among three most wicked Saracens, dwelling with an obscene woman; who, muttering mutually about the slaughter of the man they had spied, yet being bent by the natural, nay heaven-infused, feminine prayers then, spared him; and dismissed near the village, they gave him guidance: he comes into peril of death, where, gathered into hospitality, he was likewise with cheerful brow detained. But he who had shown mercy with him, was pressed by a flock of eight little ones: to whom needy Joachim, not ignorant of the Lord's precept, bestowed one tunic of two; the remaining one at length, certain things being prepared for covering himself, to the glory of God with exceeding piety he gave back. But when it happened that Joachim fell sick beside them, by whom, freed, he distributes his garments to the poor, he proved especially the little boys merciful by God's gift: for they diligently cheered him by the exhibition of fruits and of their countenance. Recovering at last, by his human and crafty host, lest he should be affected with any contumely, led out of the village onto the broad way, and put into the right road, he went on; until, a very great band traveling, and in turn the sick man is fostered by these: after so great crises and the perils of things tasted, he ascended the so long desired and venerated Jerusalem.

[5] Jerusalem being surveyed As one of those who, branches cut from trees and white flowers plucked, and their garments spread, once strewed the way for the Lord, Joachim entered the holy city; nay rather, Christ sitting upon his breast, as upon the colt of an ass, he was going to renowned Jerusalem: whose sacred places everywhere venerated with pious steps, he was so kindled with the Lord's devotion, that thence he flew to the mount of the Transfiguration. There glowing with divine ardor, he cast himself into the depths of a most ancient cave: where, beyond the manner of recent men, especially of his own time, on Mount Tabor he keeps a quadragesima, in hymns and psalms and the other spiritual documents, through the whole course of Lent he manfully gave himself to contemplation: and while with the eyes of the mind he beholds the specimen of the Lord, he thought he was dwelling in the tabernacle sought by Peter. Therefore neither by starvation, nor by maceration overcome, he sighed for the expected solaces of that blessed night, which deserved to know the time and hour, when Christ ascended victor from the lower regions. But how much he was then there affected with the Lord's illumination ^g, appeared after his withdrawal thence: for he undertook three works, namely the Concord and on the day of Easter is heavenly illumined, of the two Testaments, the elucidation of the Apocalypse, and the Psaltery of ten chords, all which he completed with happy consummation: in which how great streams of doctrine flowed from his breast, those duly and rightly scrutinizing the works themselves will bear testimony to the truth.

[6] The sweetness of the spirit being thoroughly tasted, on the mount of election and purity; he returned into the region of the land, once flowing with milk and honey, but then turned into a salt marsh: and in those parts not only the places where Christ the Lord deigned to be born, to converse, to die, to rise again, and to fulfill the other works of human salvation; but the men themselves, who were deemed to excel in the height of sanctity, He returns from the Holy Land, he recalled with the highest devotion. But the things which everywhere in faith and morals he found to be cauterized, and which he strove to recall to the norm of truth and purity (as far as in him lay), are wholly to be passed over in silence. At length he resolved to withdraw thence: nor unmindful of the Lord's commiseration, seeing the cities and their regions, he wept over them; foreknowing how the Lord was about to give their beauty into the hand of the enemy ^h, because they had declined from His commandments. Likewise to him a strong occasion of declining was not wanting, pitying their ruin, when the temptation of falling was at hand: for, withdrawing, pious among so many impieties, in that part of Asia ⁱ which is enclosed by the Euphrates and the Mediterranean sea; it happened that he was lodged beside a widow woman, distinguished in form and piety. and the enticements of an impure hostess Moreover Joachim, still a young man, although he grew lean by such great continuation of the journey and compunction; yet by natural elegance he was very conspicuous: whence the woman, by the most wretched instigation of the demon, took fire, and by night with gestures and shameless nods assailed the continent man's soul. he avoids it by flight; He, as he had been strengthened by the Lord's virtue, his loins girt with love of chastity, strenuously rejected the petulance of her who allured him. Nor did the impious woman desist: but, thinking to obtain the pleasure of her conceived iniquity, having entered the bedchamber prepared for both, she admonished Joachim with her old provocation, that he should approach, if perchance Christ's soldier had somehow been softened. He, unable without the perpetration of scandal to flee, brought to a pile of wood and sleepless attending the whole night to prayer, and inclining his soul to no iniquity, by God's cooperation came out victor. Among the appearing twilights at length in the morning, without leave asked of his hostess, he withdrew from that Acherontine dwelling. Hence it came about, that he sweetly preached the grace of continence, received from the Lord, and after some stay in Sicily, to be embraced for the rest by all: and as he bore sharply those receding from it, so according to his strength he provoked them to amendment. For the pure servant of Christ strove to prepare for the Lord men like himself, who, whitened with chastity, having burning lamps in his hands, passed the filths of the devil by an immaculate path. Not therefore deservedly do flowers sometimes and lilies fail him ^k. Those regions at length being left, and rightly, he crossed over into Sicily, the chief of islands: which seeing most celebrated by abundance of all things and by the fertility of its soil, that he might bewail its errors, at the roots of Mount Etna, most famous for its perpetual fire, near a Greek ^l monastery he withdrew into a cave; in which, intent on two-days' and three-days' prayers and contemplations, he persisted refreshed by no bodily food at all. Nor wonder: for he was so both absorbed in meditations and occupied in reading, that in him the renewed footsteps of the ancient Fathers shone forth. At last he resolved to imitate Bl. Martin, traveling across the Alps for the revisiting of his own: for the Lord who had preordained him, that he should there greatly profit in the multiplication of the talent, inspired him to return to his homeland and cross over.

[7] returned to Calabria; That the land, to which the Lord had given to be weighed down with every kind of fruits and to produce good things of its own nature, might be watered by the word of God, and be made fruitful by the example of His servant Joachim, and produce increases of justice; He restored him to Calabria itself. Who having entered the valley of the Crati ^m, beside Busento ⁿ, memorable for the golden sepulchre of Alaric, going; the city of Cosenza, flourishing with the continual frequency of peoples, lest perchance he be recognized ^o, he shrank from. But his companion, about to gather figs in a certain orchard, Joachim refusing, and there recognized by his fellow-citizen, shamelessly entered; whence for him caught, in a matter so slight, he was compelled to supplicate. Meanwhile he is discovered and recognized by a Celicensian passing by: and being asked whether he were such a son, he neither wished to lie, nor could he be concealed. But he being asked, that he should make no word to anyone about the one recognized; Inhumanely, he said, would I act, if I should conceal your father and yours, groaning over you as over one dead. If it cannot be done otherwise, I pray, turn aside with me, that you may lead the father alone to me, he said. he placates his father, complaining that his hopes were frustrated, But the father meeting and gazing on his offspring, rejoicing indeed at the sight, but not at the manner; related such things with his voice: O thrice and four times wretched me! to this, my son, has our expectation of you come? Why have you become like a wandering man? We all thought that through you our house would be exalted and our race ennobled: why therefore have you confounded us from so great an expectation? But he at length with humble discourses mitigated the affection of his grieving father, and a few things being spoken with wondrous devotion, ceased not to gladden him; saying, Father, instead of an earthly one, I now serve the everlasting King. Or do you not know how those despising the royal court deserved to have perpetual crowns? And with these and like things he left the softened parent; for with astonished ears he had conceived the Lord's saying, when He says: He who wishes to come after Me, and does not hate his father, and he stays in the monastery of Sambucina. and his mother, and moreover even his own soul, cannot be My disciple [p]. Luke 14. He betook himself therefore to the monastery [q] of Sambucina, then of wondrous celebrity, now as it were wholly destitute: where directing the keenness of his mind to the supernal Jerusalem, he longed for man in the flesh to live beyond the flesh; and aspiring to the signs of future peace and to the heights of heavenly joys, he profited from the fellowship of the Monks [r]. For although in that monastery he had not yet subjected his neck to the yoke of the Rule; yet from such a deliberation of religion it seemed to some, to call Joachim son of Sambucina.

ANNOTATIONS.

A. Gregorio adds, chapter 4, that to him resting a little there appeared a river of flowing oil, and a man standing by and saying; Joachim, drink of the river: and that it seemed to him he drank even to satiety. And the vision being completed, that to him awaking the sacred Scripture lay open.

preserved for the sake of Lot. But this region is evidently in the middle between Arabia and Palestine, as is here said: and not that African one in Libya.

p. Here Gregorio proposes the virtue of the man of God to be admired: who, having his father among the living beyond the year 1169, is never read to have returned to Celico, except at the death of a certain sister of his: namely Gregorio thinks Joachim was born at the beginning of the century, which is not proved to us: as neither is it sufficiently established, that the Notary Maurus, of whom he speaks, was the father of Joachim.

q. At the town of the Lucii of the diocese of Bisignano, and so distant about 13 thousand paces from Cosenza toward the North. Angel Manrique says it was founded in the year 1160 by Count Goffredo and his mother Bertha: which Gregorio attempts to refute, lest he be compelled to make Joachim younger than he makes him. The ancient MS. Chronology of foundations places this at the year 1157, which we prefer to believe, and to opine that a fuller endowment afterward accrued.

r. Under Abbot Simeon, says Gregorio, acting for one year as porter of the monastery: where, to him gone out into the garden and contemplating divine things, there appeared a man most beautiful in form, and holding an amphora in his hand said: Joachim, take: drink this wine, for it is the best. Hearing which he drank to satiety, and returned the amphora, saying that he had drunk enough: to whom the man answered; O Joachim, if you had drained the whole wine, no knowledge would have escaped you.

CHAPTER III.

Joachim being made a Monk of Curatio, is there elected Abbot, and takes care that the monastery be fortified with a Royal privilege.

[8] Joachim, the servant of God, glowing with the conceived fervor of the spirit, Joachim begins to preach near Renda, withdrawing from the aforementioned Cistercian monastery of Sambucina, against the raised land of the valley of the Crati, where the name is Bucchita, near the ^a town of Renda, he flew across, and there did not desert the works of salvation. But a lamp set upon a candlestick, shining to all things that are in the house, could not be hidden. On that account, by the unction with which he had been prevented, he disseminated the word of God to the people of Renda hearing it with very great devotion, and the strifes sprouting up in it by his fervent preaching he allayed. But finding in the Lord's field more abundant fruits day by day producing themselves, he was disturbed by a certain scrupulosity: for he feared to exercise the office of preaching without prior ordination of a Bishop; to which, to be duly ordained when he departs, dreading lest the Apostolic threat fall upon him, when he says; How shall they preach unless they be sent? Rom. 10. Therefore he resolved to go, not unprepared with very great devotion, to the lofty ^b city of Catanzaro on the Adriatic sea, for having such office. But it happened that he turned aside at the river ^c Crothalus into the monastery of Curatio of the Cistercian order, he turns aside to Curatio, where, lodged out of charity, he beheld the humanity of the Religious. But, because a city set on a mountain cannot be hidden, recognized from his own mouth by a learned Religious, compelled by strong reasons to embrace a certain keenness of religion, he remained. At Curatio therefore, as the Cistercian Order commands to be done, according to the Rule of our most Holy Father Benedict, he resolved to vow stability and conversion of morals, under Abbot Columbanus, who admitted him to the habit of the dove-like religion; and according to his purpose took care to be ordained. and there made a Monk, But how through the first beginnings of the assumed habit Christ's athlete ran, is most evidently proved by the chief effect: for after a little, he was ordained Prior of the monastery by the due election of all. The memorable and aforementioned Abbot at length dying, all alike, none at all dissenting, agreed upon their Prior; who, as he was sublime in humility, taught by the example of the Lord, who refused to be chosen as King, the Brothers unknowing, withdrew from the monastery, and to the monastery of the Holy Trinity at the town of ^d Acri of the aforesaid Order, in case perchance he might lie hidden, fled, and thence returned to Sambucina: he is elected Abbot. whose Monks, zealous over his withdrawal from Curatio, as it were did not receive him; yet, his humility being perceived, sustaining him for a little, deservedly wondered how alien he was from ambition.

[9] The Monks of Curatio persevering meanwhile in the proposed election, and being driven by obedience he undertakes the office. it was exceedingly most difficult for Joachim to return. But the entreaty of ^e Rufus, Archbishop of Cosenza, of Simon, Abbot of Sambucina, and of the same Hilary the Prior, of Mellis the Justiciar, ^f and the exhortation of very many Nobles being interposed and urging; knowing at length, that not to wish to acquiesce was as it were the sin of soothsaying, in common exultation he returned Abbot to Curatio. Not therefore undeservedly by the Clementine sanction, issued at Perugia concerning the firmness of the Cistercian Order, on the fifth Ides of June ^g in the first year of his Pontificate, for the instruction of like refusers it was provided in these words: Also the elected person, if he be sufficient and fit for the vacant monastery, let him not refuse: he who does the contrary, let him be gravely punished. Being made therefore Father of the monastery, he was as a faithful and prudent servant, whom the Lord had set over His household, that he should dispense to his fellow-servants the measure of wheat. Therefore with vigilant care of the undertaken burden he was solicitous in temporal things, yet more and more he toiled in spiritual things: and especially upon those things, in which he had been taught with understanding, he commented. But because it was sanctioned in the book of Definitions of the Order, and awaits the faculty for commenting. distinction one, chapter eleven, under this tenor: Books of civil or canon law let them by no means reside in the common cupboard, nor let anyone presume to make new expositions of books except by consent of the general Chapter; keeping his scholia only in secret, he preferred to ask license from the Chapter or from the supreme Pontiff himself, under some fear; meanwhile intent on the zeal of private and pious exercise, he was comforted by the best breeze of future progress, attending to that which is written, They who elucidate me shall have eternal life. Eccles. 24

[10] Although the monastery of Curatio, in the territory of the castle ^h of Sila, which is my homeland, before Joachim's Abbacy, was of no slight consideration; yet with so great a man Prelate, The monastery of Curatio flourishes under him, it is known to have been increased in a wondrous manner in the excellence of both states: and as the faces of Princes admired the servant of God Joachim, so for his sake they heaped both the monastery and the Brothers with the height of privileges: which up to now the same enjoy let no one at all doubt. Among the innumerable ones, even though least, I thought it perhaps not undeservedly that one should be interposed, which in the same monastery is read taken word for word; and thus it shows itself. and is fortified with a privilege In the year of our Redeemer, our Lord Jesus Christ, one thousand one hundred seventy-eight, ⁱ and the thirteenth of the reign of the Lord William the most glorious King of Sicily, of the Duchy of Apulia and the Principality of Capua, on the thirteenth of the month of February, of the twelfth Indiction. We, Walter de Moac, Admiral of the Royal fortunate ^k Stolium, ^l and of the Royal ^m Duana of secrets, and Master of the Duana of Barons; while we were at ⁿ Barletta for royal business, Joachim, venerable Abbot of St. Mary of Curatio, brought to us sacred letters from the sacred Majesty of the King, whose content is such.

William, by the grace of God King of Sicily, of the duchy of Apulia and the principality of Capua, of King William. to Walter de Moac, Admiral of the fortunate Stolium, and ^o of the Royal Duana of secrets, and Master of the Duana of Barons, his beloved faithful one, greeting and affection. The venerable Abbot of St. Mary of Curatio, lately coming to Palermo, showed in our Curia two writings concerning the [p] divisions of the lands, which we mercifully once granted to that monastery; asserting that those very divisions had been constricted, broken, and bounded by the chamberlains of the same. The same venerable Abbot supplicated, that we should order a privilege to be made concerning those very divisions for the aforesaid monastery. But since our Curia knew not for certain, in what manner those very divisions had been made; we command your fidelity and enjoin, concerning those very divisions, which you have caused to be made, according to our concession, by our command and authority cause a privilege to be made on your part for the same monastery, that it may have it for the memory and security of our concession. Given at Palermo, on the twelfth day of the month of December, of the twelfth Indiction. But the further series of this privilege, to abolish prolixity, is passed over in silence [q].

[12] …

[13] …

ANNOTATIONS.

the Bishopric of Greater Greece. Here in fact, after the habit of Curatio was assumed, Joachim was ordained, Gregorio believes: but since Curatio was of the diocese of Marturano, we do not think this is clear without a witness.

p. A word still in use among the Italians today, "divisa," for division and selection: from the propriety of which latter sense also "divisae," to the Franks "devises," are called the brief sentences, which noble families chose to be subscribed to escutcheon-tokens.

q. It is wonderful that Graecus, who had accurately transcribed the year of the given diploma, was so heedless in recalling it, that he could attribute this diploma to William the Bad, whom he writes to have reigned from the year 1149 to 1166: in all which time Indiction 12 does not fall, except in the first year of his reign, when by the reckoning of Graecus himself Joachim would have been but 14 years old. Wherefore both this and other absurd things about the Empress Constance we have here expunged.

r. There followed the Bull of exemption of Curatio, by Michael, Bishop of Marturano, which we have shown to be given in the year 1177: likewise the confirmation of the same exemption, by Francesco Monaco, likewise Bishop of Marturano, in the year 1603: then an index of the Relics of Curatio: and finally a supposititious bull of Honorius III, which Gregorio deservedly rejects, and at the same time the opinion of Graecus resting on it, concerning the antiquity of Curatio greater than that of the Cistercian Order itself. We omit all these, as pertaining nothing or little to Joachim; especially since in Ughelli, volume 7 of the Italia sacra, in the Bishops of Marturano, they can be read.

CHAPTER IV.

Joachim, renowned for the spirit of understanding and prophecy, obtains from the Roman Pontiffs the faculty of commenting upon Scripture.

[14] To the venerable Joachim, moreover, Abbot of Curatio, when any arduous things came up, He unravels the mystery of the appearing Cross. when all alike flowed together; the men of Sila, bent with diligent devotion as toward their own father, in a matter of no slight import likewise assembled. For the sign of the Cross, appearing visibly to almost all in the cemetery of the parochial church of ^a Diano; made the terrified inquire about its signification: to whom, very few apart, he unraveled the mystery of the apparition, so that for the rest a like one did not appear ^b. But what he said is not clearly enough learned. For the rest, if it shall be permitted to prove the appearing sign by the events of things, all doubt being utterly removed, that he said one of two things is to be held (for the Apostle saying, The word of the cross to those perishing is folly, but to those who are saved it is the power of God; and as it is to the evil for the gibbet, so to the good for the oracle of salvation) the civil seditions, which the men of Sila at length endured, he first proved; and he seems to have foretold that a temple at Diano would be built. but the temple, erected in the same place of Scigliano-Diano, he indicated. 1 Cor. 1:18. So therefore the true event of things proved both: and by God's gift at length, civil strifes being everywhere lulled, a conspicuous church in the aforesaid and sign-bearing cemetery of Scigliano-Diano remains constructed. For in the year one thousand five hundred seventy-nine, on the twenty-eighth day of the month of August, the old temple being demolished, under the invocation of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of God, under the same invocation, Mariano of Camerino, of the Perbenedetti family, then the most ample Bishop of Marturano, I also standing by in a very great assembly of clergy and people, cast the first stone, signed with the Cross, into the first foundations of the aforesaid church, and took care that it be raised to no slight heights. For, kindled with zeal of ecclesiastical discipline, before he was raised to the apex of the Cardinalate, as in correcting the relaxations of morals of the flock committed to him, so in completing the renovation of churches he toiled in a wondrous manner: nor up to now, set in the supreme things, does he cease to toil. This man, armed with zeal of the divine cult, as is aforesaid, extirpated very many corruptions in his Marturanese diocese; reduced the Cathedral to a better form; at length at Rome having most uprightly discharged the office of Governor, promoted to the most illustrious order of the Cardinalate by Sixtus the fifth, supreme Pontiff, showed himself lovable to all with greater expectation. But the consecration of the mother temple of Diano was done by the most ample Bishop Francesco Monaco, on the seventeenth day of the month of September, in the year from Jesus Christ born one thousand six hundred seven, Indiction five, Pope Paul of this name the fifth sitting in the third year of his Supreme Pontificate, and the fifteenth year of the Bishopric of the same Francesco Monaco.

[15] But the venerable Abbot Joachim was so distinguished by the spirit of understanding, That, the gift of understanding being divinely granted to him, that, the rest being postponed, he converted himself to fulfilling its offices; preferring to obtain its consolation, than to be exalted by the rest of his occupations. And although the assertion concerning his spirit of understanding has evidence from the works composed and inspected by him, yet by the testimony of approved men it is proved. William ^c of Paris in the book on the virtues asserts these things: You ought to know, that the gift of understanding is of such great clarity and keenness in certain men, that it is greatly likened to the spirit of prophecy, which some believe to have been in Abbot Joachim. And indeed it is clear, that very many testify that he had the spirit or gift of understanding; but whether he had also the spirit of prophecy, will be indicated in what follows. For the rest it is most open, that Joachim, in view of humility, said that he had the gift of understanding, and not of prophecy. released from the care of governing, Nevertheless he who had received two talents, that he might gain two others, the monastery of Curatio (the Brothers concurring) strove to commend to Sambucina. But that the men of Sambucina refused ^d: therefore he attempted to commend it to the monastery of ^e Casamari (so called because there the villa of Marius, illustrious by the toga of a sevenfold Consulship, had been). Its Monks likewise refusing, he commended Curatio to the monastery ^f of Fossanova, the most illustrious among the Cistercian ones and conspicuous in every purity of holy conversation; so that not undeservedly the Lord provided in the same a wondrous burial for the most holy and Angelic Doctor Thomas Aquinas, while, by the command of Gregory of this name the tenth, he might apply himself to interpreting the Scriptures, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand two hundred seventy-four, he hastened to the Council of Lyons. Furthermore Joachim, that he might more securely profit upon the grace received for expounding, about to seek with humble steps Lucius the third, who was created Pontiff in the year from Christ born one thousand one hundred eighty-one, on the twenty-ninth of August, in the second year of the Pontificate of the same, went to the city of ^g Veroli … ^h and from him, having obtained the faculty of elucidating sacred Scripture, foretold to him many true and future things. The same authority indeed of interpreting, in the preface of the Apocalypse, he introduced with these words: Therefore not from my own, which I have not, but trusting in the benignity of Christ; he obtains the faculty from the Pope: the Apocalypse, which Blessed John, relegated to the island of Patmos, described, not by the audacity of my presumption, but by the authority of the Roman Pontiff, I have undertaken to expound. But how much both in these and in elucidating the other secrets of sacred Scripture he profited, let him come who desires, and see: for his discourse makes the same manifest: as below from his profession of faith it grows clear, brighter than the sun.

[16] and as before he had offered the Concord of both Testaments to Lucius 3 The completed work on the concord of both Testaments, to whose completion he had greatly watched in the monastery of Casamari, he most devoutly presented to the aforesaid Lucius the third: which was greatly commended by the Pope and the Consistory. For the rest, the Pontiff finding with how great an illumination of spirit Joachim shone, added to the further granted faculty of writing, for the multiplication of the talent, that for the rest, the burden of the temporal things of the monastery being laid down, he should give himself to unraveling the secrets of the sacred page; reminding him of that, that in the treasure and wisdom hidden there is no profit; as is proved by these letters of the Pontiff.

Clement Bishop, servant of the servants of God, To his beloved son Joachim, Abbot of Curatio, greeting and Apostolic benediction. thus by Clement bidden to put the final hand to the Apocalypse, The order of reason persuades and the debt of charity demands, that in all our acts we should chiefly intend to this, in what manner, according to the testimony of the Evangelical truth, our works may shine before men, that from them they may take matter and example of profiting. Since therefore, by the bidding and exhortation of Pope Lucius of blessed memory our predecessor, you are said to have begun the exposition of the Apocalypse and the work of the Concord, and afterward to have composed it by the authority of Pope Urban his successor; we admonish and exhort your Charity in the Lord, commanding by Apostolic writings, that, to your labors in this part the desired and due end

putting, the grace of God following, to the utility of your neighbors strive to complete that work and diligently to emend it: and coming to us as soon as possible, if opportunity give it, present yourself to the discussion and judgment of the Apostolic See. For if you wish to keep it in concealment, with diligent care provide, by what means you may by satisfaction appease the offense of the supreme Father of the household, concerning the talent of knowledge committed to you. Given at the Lateran on the sixth Ides of June, in the first year of our Pontificate.

Furthermore the venerable Abbot, holding to his wish the command of him who counseled and enjoined, rendered thanks to God; foreknowing from the concession that he could with a freer course pursue the rest. Returned therefore to Curatio, he renounced the administration of temporal things, and hastily withdrew thence. But the Monks of Curatio, bearing very ill this withdrawal, and the dwelling of him who contained himself in a place whose name is Petralata; when they despaired of his return (either because they could not be without the presence of so great a Father, or because they were ignorant of the gifts of the Lord's dispensation) if in any way they could compel him to return, by the counsel of the elders ran to the authority of the Pontiff. But the authority of the Roman Pontiff, weighing the matter sought by a sounder counsel, both absolved Joachim from the burden of Curatio, and added the power of settling elsewhere. Whence having obtained not only outer but inner liberty, he wholly proceeded toward God, that he might be made one spirit with Him. And because his thought was with the Most High, from his belly rivers began continually to flow: Hence it came about, that the rock of his prior dwelling, he named the Rock of oil: and this not undeservedly; for he knew that the unction of the Lord had not a little profited in him.

[18] …

[19] Joachim is recognized by St. Cyril, as a Prophet But that the Lord conferred upon His servant Joachim no slight grace of knowing future things, is an irrefragable testimony taken from the Life of St. Cyril ^k the Carmelite; as is to be seen in the lives of the Saints, which everywhere and in the vulgar idiom are now had by the Church. The cause assuredly of so great a testimony was the apparition of an Angel, offering to Cyril, celebrating with a celebrated prerogative on Carmel, two silver tablets, divinely inscribed and directed to him: who, the Sacrifice being completed, commanded that the same first be read and at length, in obeisance to the Lord, be melted down in the thurible: but it is likewise affirmed, that that writing, distinguished into eleven Chapters, contained what was to be in the Church; the beginning of which reading was; In the time of the years of Christ one thousand two hundred fifty-four etc. But although the holy man of God Cyril held the sense of the tablets most excellently and unraveled it to the Brothers; yet in view of humility, he took care to direct it to Joachim in Calabria and the monastery of Fiore, writing to him in these words. Since God has conferred upon you, as upon a second Evangelist John, a wondrous grace of knowing future things, humbly, I pray, Reverend Father, that you would deign more briefly to unfold this prophecy: and he is asked for the interpretation of the heaven-sent oracle. that we may the more clearly penetrate the abyss of this divine gift; break the cloud, reveal the dense things, that the brightness of the most bright sun may shine to all. To whom Joachim: To Cyril the Carmelite, mirror of poverty and norm of sanctity, who from Carmel adorns the world with virtues, in the true Saviour greeting. Your letters being read through, my spirit greatly exulted: for who, perceiving such great things, received by the largess of the divine gift, would not rejoice together with you? The things sought from me, were to be sought from you, to whom they were exhibited by the Lord. But, as the Lord shall give, I will obey your requests ^l. Thus there.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER V.

Joachim, withdrawing, devotes himself to writing books, which committing to the judgment of the Apostolic See, in turn he is defended by it against detractors.

[20] The venerable Father, the honeyed savor of divine things, like an industrious bee gathered with exceeding sweetness, Raynerius being taken as a companion, storing in the beehive of his heart, and bringing it forth from his breast, exhibited to all who had heard him round about as desirable. From the very many therefore who had come, even from afar, that they might hear him and be cured of their folly, a certain Raynerius ^a, a chief man, from the bounds of the kingdom of Naples, namely from the island of Ponza, flew to catch the wisdom of so great and such a man; who although he was learned in liberal arts and brilliant in discourse; yet coming to Joachim's feet, confessed that from a master he had become a pupil. For the rest, the two men of virtues profiting together, as the moon by the sun, he withdraws into the desert, so Raynerius shone by the splendors of Joachim's wisdom. Furthermore in the conference of the Scriptures they were so engaged, that they showed to all the doctrine of taciturnity, not I say of Pythagoras, but of the assembly of Nitria and Carmel, and the gravity of the ancient Fathers flourishing again. At length lest by the innumerable multitude of those assembling they should be troubled, they resolved that more secluded parts of the desert should be sought: and this was exceedingly at heart to the venerable Father, lest perchance he who had withdrawn from the monastery be entangled in the world. For that voice had not ceased to cry in his breast, I will lead her to solitude, and speak to her heart. For he reckoned without hesitation, that, awaiting Him who would save him from pusillanimity of spirit, lest he fall from the height of so great contemplation, he might likewise be freed from the excessive frequency of those flowing together. and devotes himself to writing books: For those indeed coming to them, wondered at the things they had heard; and kindled by the humble and eloquent conversation of such great men, returned in no slight magnification of God and the pouring out of the oil of devotion on their minds. Joachim meanwhile, the servant of Christ, insisting on the works to be elaborated, was so most pleasing to those asking that he had leisure for them, that from his lucubrations he did not fail.

[21] But what works he forged under so great a heat of meditation, I judged should be enumerated: that he who up to now rejoices in the hearing of them, may condole over their not being retained: from which the supposititious ones may be separated, for they are of best utility, of outstanding profundity, and of no slight delight. For he took care of the lucubration of them, in view of Pontiffs, Kings, and Saints, with their wondrous consolation. Nevertheless one thing very notable I desire by no means to be hidden from upright men. So has the temerity of certain of even our own time grown, that, as they are smatterers, they offer the world certain curious things: who, hearing that Abbot Joachim was renowned for the prophetic spirit, and prophesied very many things about great matters, about to render even the genuine ones suspect, either by their own effort forge some things and procure them to be put into print under Joachim's name, or mixed in with some one of Joachim's works, printed under the involucre of signs and characters, send them forth abroad; and thus they oppose their madness under another's name to the gaze of the rest. Hence it comes about, that some, ignorant of this true assertion, shamelessly call Joachim crafty and divine in the art of vaticination; and what is even greater, that some of his works examined by the Lateran Council, now worthy of expurgation (which formerly through the general Council was not done) are deemed so by upright men, through the temerity of the impious, adding vain things of this kind. But those who do such things shall feel, from the Lord, to whom every heart lies open and from whom no secret is hidden, Woe to you, who say

good evil and evil good, putting darkness light and light darkness, bitter into sweet and sweet into bitter. For as the general Council cast away one work (as will be said below), so it would have commanded the rest also to be expurgated. It is plain therefore, a Catalogue of these is woven. from the addition of the wicked, that certain works of innocent Joachim are befouled: but he wrote these.

On the concord of both testaments, five books ^b, in which he treats of the five seals, by command of Pope Lucius the third.

The Psaltery of ten chords, distinguished into three volumes.

An exposition of the Apocalypse, Clement and Urban, supreme Pontiffs, exhorting.

On the revelation of Cyril the Carmelite, the same requiring ^c.

Upon the Erythraean Sibyl and Merlin, at the prayers of the Emperor Henry the sixth.

He wrote upon the Gospel of John.

Upon the Prophets Isaiah ^d, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, Zachariah, Nahum, and Malachi.

He composed a book on the Flower, that is, on the supreme Pontiffs ^e.

An outstanding volume of sentences.

A book on consolation.

A book of Epistles to divers persons.

In the Vatican Library, at the entrance of the first hall, VZ. 125, to the same Joachim these are likewise ascribed.

Joachim on the solitary life.

Likewise of the same on the solitary life.

On the virtues.

Upon the rule of Saint Benedict.

On the last tribulations.

On the articles of faith ^f.

But if he wrote any other things, which I could not find again, he who finds them will not disdain to add them to these ^g.

[22] Since (as far as in us lies) no defect ought to be present in those things concerning the venerable Father Joachim which are to be known, we wish to recall to the minds of the pious; the scrupulosity, especially of those who could not scrutinize the depths of the Pontifical sanctions and the sacred Canons, is wholly to be removed from the midst: for the knowledge of any matter, to be instilled into the minds of men, the prescriptions of the elders decreed should be proposed only with clear encomium. Because therefore the ecumenical Lateran Council had condemned a treatise of Joachim, published against Peter Lombard, Lest on account of a little book condemned in the Lateran Council, it was easily found that very many had drawn back their foot from the retention and devotion of his other works: nay rather, the Florensian Religious were detracted from, not only by the gross common folk, but even by wicked Clerics. But for the evidence of these things the holy Apostolic See, even when it treated of the condemnation of that work, he or the Florensian Order be detracted from commanded the mouth to be stopped of such barking ones. Yet for the fuller declaration of these things, the Bull of Honorius which exists in the Vatican Library, transcribed verbatim, is subjoined, as it is seen directed to the Bishop of Acerenza ^h: Pope Honorius forbids, writing to the Bishop of Acerenza, Know that it has come to our hearing, that you defame both the Abbot and the Monks of the Florensian Order with the crime of heretical pravity, and permit them to be defamed by your subjects; taking occasion from this, that Pope Innocent of happy memory, our predecessor, condemned the little book or treatise, which Abbot Joachim, Institutor of the same Order, published against Master Peter Lombard on the unity or essence of the Trinity, the general Council approving. Since therefore our predecessor in the sentence of the aforesaid condemnation expressed, that by this he wished in no way that the Florensian monastery be derogated from (since both in it there is regular institution, and singular observance) and the same Joachim commanded all his writings to be assigned to that predecessor of ours, to be approved by the judgment of the Apostolic See or even corrected, dictating an epistle to which he subscribed with his own hand, in which he firmly confesses that he holds that faith which the Roman Church holds, which by God's disposing is the mother and mistress of all the faithful: We command and enjoin your Fraternity by Apostolic writings, that you neither yourself presume to defame the Brothers of the aforesaid Order with the crime of heresy, nor permit them to be defamed by your subjects or in any way dissemble it. Given at Rome at St. Peter's, on the fourth Nones of December, in the first year of our Pontificate. Nor are there wanting also letters of the same Honorius, which are kept up to now in a leaden seal in the monastery of Fiore, upon the same matter, under this tenor.

Honorius Bishop, servant of the servants of God, To the Venerable Brothers the Archbishop of Cosenza ⁱ, and the Bishop of Bisignano, to the Bishops of Cosenza and Bisignano: greeting and Apostolic benediction. On the part of the beloved sons the Abbots of the Convents of the Order of Fiore, both of the head and of the members, it was set forth before us, that he who envies the salvation and quiet of men, occasion being taken from this, that the little book, which the Abbot Joachim of good record published against Master Peter Lombard of good memory, was condemned in the general Council, stirred up against them, some both clerics and laymen, prelates and subjects; who, that they may turn them from the leisure of contemplation, and stretching cords to set a snare for their feet, cast a scandal beside their way; reproaching that the same Abbot, who was Father and Institutor of their Order, is held a heretic by the Church of God. On account of which they not only turn the simple partakers of milk from the fellowship of the same Order; but even the strong, who have learned to use solid food, and have their senses exercised for the discernment of good and evil by custom, begin to waver concerning the institutions of the same Order. Although therefore that little book or treatise was condemned in the aforesaid Council, yet because the said Abbot commanded all his writings to be assigned to the Roman Pontiff, to be approved by the judgment of the Apostolic See or even corrected, dictating an epistle, to which he subscribed with his own hand, in which he firmly confessed that he holds that faith which the Roman Church holds, which by the Lord's disposing is the mother and mistress of all the faithful; We command your Fraternity by Apostolic writings, that throughout all Calabria you cause it to be publicly announced, that we reckon him to have been a Catholic man, a follower of the holy orthodox faith, and the regular observance which he instituted salutary; and those who from this wish to detract from the aforesaid Order and presume to insult it, admonition being premised, the obstacle of appeal removed, with worthy animadversion, the truth being known, to chastise. Given at the Lateran, on the sixth Kalends of January, in the fifth year of our Pontificate.

But whether anything had been added in that work, before it was presented to the Council, let it be left to the judgment of God to be examined. For this very thing the same Joachim seems most openly to have foretold in chapter XI, upon Jeremiah on those words, To the men of Anathoth ^k, who seek your soul. Yet the profession of faith of Joachim, written by his own hand, because Joachim all his writings is disclosed by the words written below and following. To all to whom these letters shall have been shown, Brother Joachim, called Abbot of Fiore, eternal salvation in the Lord. As from the letters of the Lord Pope formerly Clement, which are with us, can be perceived, by the command of the Lord Pope Lucius and the Lord Pope Urban, I seem to have written some things, and up to now I cease not to write what occurs to the glory of God: in fine the book of the Concord, comprised in five volumes; the exposition of the Apocalypse, likewise distinguished by eight webs; the Psaltery of ten chords, cut into three volumes, as God better inspired and the faculty of talent was present, I have brought to consummation: besides other things which I comprised in little books, either against the Jews, or against the adversaries of the Catholic faith; and while I am preserved in this body, for the edification of the faithful of Christ and especially of Monks I do not postpone to give my effort. bade to be presented to the Pontiff to be reviewed, But because, through the straitness of the times, I could not up to now present those little works themselves, besides the book of the Concord, to the Apostolic summit, that by it they might be corrected, if any things there (which I do not deny, although I be not conscious to myself) shall have occurred to be corrected; and the number of his days is uncertain to man; if it befall me to go forth from this light before I can, according to what I received in command (for under that condition I undertook the things to be dictated) present all the books to him to whom is given complete mastery; I ask on the part of God almighty my Co-abbots, and Priors, and the other Brothers fearing God, and by that authority by which we seem able I enjoin as it were by testament, that, having the present writing or a copy with them; the little works, which up to now we seem to have composed, and if anything of new up to the day of my death it befall me to write, as soon as they can, all being collected, copies being left in safe custody, they present to the Apostolic examination; receiving from the same See in my stead correction, and setting forth to it my devotion and faith concerning the same; and thus he signed that he wished his writings in the year 1200. and that I am ever ready to observe those things which it has established or shall establish, and to defend no opinion of mine against its holy faith; believing entire what it believes, and both in morals and in doctrine receiving correction; casting away what it casts away, receiving what it receives; believing firmly, that the gates of hell cannot prevail against it; and, if for an hour it befall it to be troubled and agitated by storms, its faith not to fail unto the consummation of the world. This writing I made, I Joachim Abbot, and corroborated with my own hand, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand two hundred: and thus I confess that I hold, as is contained in it.

ANNOTATIONS.

To be added therefore chiefly are those things which he himself professes below to be comprised by him in little books, either against the Jews or against the adversaries of the Catholic faith. The said de Visch says also, that in the monastery of St. Faith at Saragossa of the Cistercian Order, the following books exist MS. under the name of Joachim.

But the things which he wrote against the Jews, on the seven seals; in de Visch are entitled with this beginning, The first time of the Synagogue: and the little book on Nahum etc. is elsewhere inscribed on the burdens of the future time, and likewise in the said monastery of St. Faith exists MS.

CHAPTER VI.

The beginnings of the Florensian monastery and its happy progress even in turbulent times.

[27] Joachim and Raynerius desiring (as has been said), among such sweet embraces of Rachel, to hold the more remote parts of the valleys; withdrawing from the Rock of oil, The Hermitage at the Neto being found, the ridges of Sila being surmounted, among the most frigid alps, they came by inquiry to the parts of the river ^b Lese: where, the unequal asperity of that place being left, the venerable Father ascended to the inner parts of the desert, leading the company of two, namely a Lay-brother and a layman. It pleased therefore (God disposing) to press his footsteps in Albanetum, where the name is properly of Fiore: for the place of Fiore is washed by a double river, namely on the South by the Albula, on the North by the Neto, which, like Jor and Dan flowing from the roots of Lebanon and making the Jordan, so ^c make Albanetum. Furthermore, two remaining at Fiore (if in some way, after the manner of shepherds, it were granted to prepare huts and a little cottage or hovel) Father Joachim returned to Raynerius, still remaining at the Rock, not without horror of coming calamity; and at length, rejoicing in the exhibition of mutual sight, when first they perceived a dwelling constructed at Fiore, they took care to betake themselves thither. For the rest, the aforesaid Good William still reigning, those who had resolved to follow the footsteps of so great a man, coming with him to Fiore, the monastery of Fiore is founded. not without jubilation approved the chosen place. And because then all things rejoiced in exceeding peace, the found hermitage, the hovel being at length removed, they began to construct into an Abbey: and so the little sheep of the Lord among the alps of Fiore, fed with divine flowers, were seen to flourish. Therefore the odor of their sweetness being diffused everywhere, not undeservedly did not a few flow together to catch the sweetness of milk and wild honey: who, held by the continual fructification of so great and such a flower, filled the beehives of divine obeisance in a wondrous manner. To whom, since there was one heart and in the Lord one soul, in unfeigned charity, by perpetual imitation among all the worthy they were spread abroad.

[24] The sons of men, heavy of heart, when it is given them to live in their most bitter peace, judging that it is lawful for them to seek whatever pleases, Joachim with the prophetic spirit, by the assiduity of their crimes continually provoke the darts of divine vengeance long delayed: but God, of whose mercy there is no number, about to bring the harshnesses of His fury upon them, has so been wont to soften the arms of justice with the oil of piety, that He has nowhere seemed to pour out their fierceness without the gentleness of clemency. Of these things therefore, which He is about to do upon the earth, if not to all everywhere, to some at least He benignly granted that knowledge be made. For in the time of the Good William, when all things flourished pacified, the admirable Joachim, by that grace of knowing future things with which he had been prevented, foreknowing the impending calamity, laid bare hidden things; when, the Brothers of good testimony and holy conversation being called apart ^d, namely Bonatio and Pellegrino and James his brother, that in the mouth of two or three the truth itself might lie open, he foretold in these words: In the near future is tribulation; nor longer is deferred what, according to the oracles of the prophets, he announces the coming wars of Sicily. upon the sons of men in the wrath of His fury the Lord is about to bring: who although He has conferred upon me the grace of knowing such things, yet of fleeing from the face of the bow and from the tasting of them, He has not foreshown the remedy. Ask therefore the things which are for peace, if perchance the Lord be converted, and rescue us from the evils, which are already being prepared upon us. Nor did such things proceed into vain events. For William the fifth dying ^e, and Tancred being elected King by the peoples of Sicily as the natural ^f one, Clement the third, created Pontiff in the year of the Mother of God's childbirth one thousand one hundred eighty-eight, crowned on the sixth day of January, dissenting from the invalid coronation of Tancred, about to claim the dominion of the now-devolved Kingdom, forces being prepared invaded the regions of both Sicilies ^g: whence by unspeakable slaughter and hostile devastation all things were mingled and confounded; so that even to those who had dwelt in solitude, the cup of the Lord, to be offered, came.

[25] Meanwhile not only by the strong coursing of the combatants, By the Royal ministers but also from elsewhere by the instigation of Satan, very many troubles were not wanting; so that, those who strove to live piously, suffered no slight persecution. Because William, distinguished for piety toward religion, being now dead, his successor, like Pharaoh, ignorant of the contrition of Joseph, beheld the Florensian servants of God not benignly enough. For his Prefects, when they kept with no deaf ears that Joachim had settled in the royal mountains of Sila, attended by a throng of Christ the Lord, ordered him to be inquired into as it were occupiers of fiscal things. Whence the ministers, raging almost to blood, filled all things with trouble; so that men crowded together in solitude, shut in by woods, drawn by the heavenly summit, unmindful of secular things, were unwilling compelled to feel secular things again unexpected. The retainers besides, although in much gentleness obeisances of piety and humanity were not wanting (because such a kind of men is neither bent by prayers, nor softened by another's contrition) had compelled the servants of God as it were to the thresholds of despaired quiet: but they, having God as protector, did not dread such things as if to endure forever. The venerable Joachim meanwhile, knowing that through many tribulations one must enter into the kingdom of God, The Florensian Monks are troubled: soothing his sons pricked with some pusillanimity on the other hand, and likewise allaying the fierceness of the retainers, and having ready counsel in perturbation, succored all with provident accuracy, while he resolved to have recourse to the King's majesty. By such deliberation therefore the ministers stopping, by no means presumed with insolent temerity to attempt anything: but these things arose, that, the right hand of the Most High changing, from evil good, from labor quiet, from trouble peace, from fear security, and at length from obscurity serenity should arise.

[26] For because vexation no slight gives much understanding, these acting obediently, so great a crisis of things impending, it was decreed, that one should not stand by such assiduous perversities of the ministers; but rather the Royal majesty should be approached, from which they hoped rivulets of quiet and peace, as from a most clear fountain, would flow. They knew assuredly the Apostolic edict; Be subject to every creature for God's sake, whether to Kings as preeminent, or to Dukes as sent by Him: lest also, resisting the power, they should seem to resist God's ordinance, they entered counsel, that the things of Caesar should be rendered to Caesar; and the things of God, wholly to God: inasmuch as those things they could not even retain though willing. 1 Pet. 2. But the venerable Abbot Joachim, lest he be noted with the stain of a foolish mind, in pure gentleness and humble exinanition of body stood before the King; relying wholly on divine clemency, that he would hastily return to be remunerated with the earnest of retribution. And as he was provident in circumspection, lovable in affability, venerable in face, Joachim pleads the case before the King wont not only to speak but to converse with the like, drawn by no confidence of his own reputation, nor in any way overcome by the King's authority, he saluted the King in these words: Does the King's clemency and so great majesty command, that I and my lads, whom the Lord gave me into one, sworn to the warfare of the Lord, in that part of Sila which I chose, should be wearied like harts? It becomes the King's magnificence, not only to war down the visible enemies of Christ with crowded soldiery, but also the princes and rulers of these darknesses in heavenly places, by a band of religious fortified with the graces of the invisible warfare and everywhere well provided. With words of this kind he bound the King's mind: who although he was befouled with the note of cupidity and levity, yet could not but couple to himself a man so upright and well-sounding. For the rest those lying in wait for the state of the Monks, by the diligent loveliness of holy conversation, he bound fast. It was done therefore, that those lately wearied by the trouble of the wicked, were fostered by the protection of the same, by the change of the right hand of the Most High. To the King indeed offering the monastery of Matina ^h in the diocese of San Marco, he said; Far be it from me, O King, and he prevails that I should enter into the labor of others: but, as the Lord commanded me, I will lead my little sheep to the inner parts of the desert. For one must withdraw from the wicked world, lest the sons of God seeing the daughters of men, softened by their less pious sight, become abominable under some corruption; and so the victors, prostrated by the vanquished, themselves also succumb. The King at length, drawn by the address of so great a Father and overcome by his authority, lest for the rest by any occasion of trouble they be disturbed, commanded by the authority of his Crown. And behold, the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth, which the boar from the wood and the singular wild beast had striven to devastate, all alike beheld to flower and extend its branches even to the sea ⁱ.

[27] and returned to his own He who had promised that nothing would be wanting to good emulators, with the highest piety converting the mourning of His servants into joy, magnifying His servant in the sight of Kings, provided him to find immense grace in their eyes. By divine goodness therefore, he who with no slight anxiety of his sons had approached the King's face, with their very great jubilation withdrew to the place of Fiore. Where

the land already before received in the cord of distribution, they divided into other places of the cloister; so that, where formerly the lairs of wild beasts were, the dormitories of religious were laid. he builds a cloister. Hence were seen roofs of arriving guests to be prepared, hence hospitals of the infirm to be erected, hence houses of smith-works to be constructed, hence a famous temple to the Queen of the heavens among the rest to be led to lofty things: whence not incongruously of the Florensian cloister it could be said:

Joachim wonders at the mass, once huts. Virg. Aen. 1.425.

Gladdening therefore his household, that they might serve the Lord in fear and exult to Him with trembling, that they might lay hold of discipline, lest perchance the Lord being angry they should perish from the just way, without intermission he instructed them; and founded the institutes of the Florensian Order; as is proved by the authority of the holy Canons and the Pontifical diploma, when it is reported; Since there both is regular institution, and salutary observance. And so the Lord benignly shone upon the house of Fiore, that He even inclined into it, like a river of peace; and corroborated, not without admiration, that the prophetic encomium was fulfilled upon it, Rejoice all with joy, you who mourned over her; that you may be made drunk from the milk, and be satisfied from the breasts of her consolation. thither many flow together, For this whole thing was done, when her sons came to her from afar, and rose up with equanimity from her side; when the protection of Kings and the Imperial majesty, receiving her under the shield of protection, guarded her from the invasion of want and of the other evils, as will appear below. The house of the Lord therefore at Fiore, constructed by Joachim's authorship, laid deep foundations, and flourished under the safeguard of Kings, while it lay open as a refuge to those serving Christ.

[28] and among these a certain John: A certain youth, whose name was John, among the innumerable ones flowing together to the Florensian Order, is found to have come with great piety from the city of Aquae Augustae ^k; who, although he was suffused with abundance of temporal things, was yet conspicuous for integrity of morals: knocking therefore at the Most High with untiring prayers, that He would direct his feet into the way of peace, in compunction of heart he persisted devout, assisting. Hence, not without God's nod, kindled by the fame of the things which the venerable Joachim had done and of the Florensian observance, he came first to Rome, the head of the World and the Church, to the Cardinal of Bayonne ^l, joined to him by a close tie both of homeland and of blood, that he might be more clearly made certain about Joachim: where perceiving that he was a man, a prophet, wonderful in work and speech, in the parts of Calabria; all delay being removed, papers received fortified with the Cardinal's subscription, he entered the so long desired cloister of Fiore: who, admitted by Joachim where the venerable Abbot not being found, being about to be a Monk, in the devotion now conceived he waited. Being at length asked by the one coming about his arrival, he obtained the grace sought, that he be received into a Monk. He indeed, associated with the Novices, was so strengthened by simplicity and discreet in conversation, that he exhibited himself to all as one to be imitated. The time of probation at length elapsed, being asked whether he wished to submit his neck to the sweet yoke of the Rule, and for the rest to become a soldier of Christ, he answered such things: Ready to take a wife, and to make pilgrimage to the places of the Lord's conversation, when you command, I came hither from Aquitaine. All were silent and held their mouths intent, ruminating the meaning of this kind of answer. He being dismissed therefore until the morrow, lest perchance beyond what was due he should think doubting things about the faith, they asked whether he had wholly resolved to follow the paths of the Religion to be undertaken. But he cheerfully said again to the Abbot, that not unless to profess as a Monk, he lived there holily for 39 years, had he withdrawn from his own. The zeal of establishing firmness being therefore found, by a solemn betrothal they dedicated him to render his vows to the Lord God. Whence for thirty-nine years, according to the Rule of St. Benedict and the custom of the Florensian Order, in God's good pleasure and so clear an edification of the Brothers he ran, that in the Florensian cloister he deserved to render his spirit to the Lord, whom he had untiringly served. But the Brothers reckoned this John as a Saint: for he came devout, lived pure, fought bravely, and rested in holy peace ^m.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER VII.

Joachim's supreme authority with Princely men and his outstanding virtues.

[29] While the warfare of Christ in compunction of heart and continual maceration of body joyfully, Joachim to the Emperor Henry vexations within being pacified, flourished at Fiore in holiness, through increases of virtues, all things without had not ceased to be perturbed: for what did the hunger of obtaining the kingdom of both Sicilies not force mortal breasts to? For Clement the third dying, Celestine of this name the third, his successor, who was Pontiff in the year from the nativity of Christ one thousand one hundred ninety-one ^a … crowned Henry of this name the sixth, son of Frederick the first, Emperor in the City on the fifteenth day of April, of the year of the Lord one thousand one hundred ninety-one. Which Emperor indeed with crowded soldiery obtained Naples, ^b renowned among the other cities of Europe: but the rest sought not succeeding to his wish, all things were confounded with slaughter and extermination: and because he had set his arm in the flesh, not a little the hand of the Lord was seen to be heavy upon him, so that of his forces more fell by sicknesses than by wounds. the first attempt for Sicily frustrated, But Joachim, understanding what things were to come upon him, if in any way he could succor such great calamities, trusting in God's help, approached the Emperor, and reproved him for so dire an iniquity perpetrated upon the peoples of God; adding that not undeservedly, on account of the slaughter inflicted on others, he had received it upon his own; and unless desisting they ceased, all alike would die in the near future. Yet very many hardening their hearts, the servant of God adjoined to a certain petty King, whom among the rest he had thought more docile; then, if he withdraw, he foretells his peaceful possession; It is to be, that the King of Babylon cast down the Tyre of God's kingdom. Ezek. 28 At length gazing on the Emperor he said: After you have ceased from so great a depopulation, which Ezekiel foretold, confounded in this your affliction withdrawing; the kingdom of Sicily (for it is sufficiently proved to be had by you) returning you shall obtain without peril: which by the aggregated testimony of the Scriptures made the Emperor exceedingly persuadable. Henry at length commanded the Abbot, departing among soldiers sparing no age or order at all, to be led in security as far as Salerno. Nor were there wanting some of the barbarians, who muttering said; How great evils lie hidden under that cowl! For those who had resolved to devastate all things, scarcely had endured the lightnings of so great a reproof of his. The Emperor meanwhile, the matter silently weighed, giving faith to Joachim as one sent by God, his forces collected betook himself to his own without palm

he led back ^c. Joachim at last, as not defrauded of the object of his weariness, revisited the Confraternity, as his own bowels, in gladness: for he had succored the salvation of all by the arm of God. Hence all wondered, seeing how, made a helper to both in tribulations, he returned to his own.

[30] which he, obtaining after three years After the courses of three years, the word, which the venerable Abbot had foretold to the Emperor, happened to be fulfilled. For that Henry, who in so great a tribulation of his own and of the kingdom had withdrawn, with an innumerable crowded soldiery, all being silent in his sight, rode to the kingdom promised him. Entering therefore in grave magnitude into Calabria as a triumphant conqueror, he beheld the venerable Father coming to meet him with opposing steps; whom his men going before, recognized from afar and indicated to one another, had saluted with very great veneration. But the Emperor himself, venerating and smiling on the one saluting him, said: This is Abbot Joachim, he receives Joachim honorably, who prophesied that past things, lately so adverse, would be as prosperous as we discern? For the rest Henry so cultivated Joachim out of very great veneration, that he even held venerable the day of his birth ^d, in German called Stanzara, and with him was bound by perpetual familiarity and held by devotion. From which the faces of Princes venerated him; and as Joachim was magnified in the sight of Kings, who in the time of wrath had been made a reconciliation; so the place of Fiore had become to all a house of refuge, and in the day of evils a protection to those fleeing to it. For Henry, by that tie by which he was borne toward the man of God, granted innumerable faculties of favors to the Florensian Order in his favor; of which one, in testimony of the rest, as now the Florensian cloister rejoices in its enjoyment and is fortified by its inspection, it has been thought just to set down, as it is seen under this form.

Henry the sixth, by the favoring divine grace Emperor of the Romans ever Augustus and King of Sicily. and he constituted an annual income for his monastery. The munificence of the Imperial dignity has been wont especially to those to extend ever the largess of its hands, who, insisting on divine obeisances under the habit of holy Religion, have proposed to fight for the Lord. On that account let it be made known to all our faithful, both present and future, beholding the present writing, that we, attending to the honesty and religion of Brother Joachim, the venerable Abbot of St. John of Fiore, our beloved; have constituted in perpetuity, for the redemption of our soul, to his monastery fifty Byzantine gold pieces from the revenues of the Salt-pan ^e of the Neto: which is in the territory of Santa Severina near the monastery of Calabro-Maria, to be paid each year on the festival of St. John the Baptist. Establishing that no person at all, ecclesiastical or secular, high or humble, dare to infringe this page of our concession, or with rash daring to go against it. If anyone however shall presume to attempt this, let him incur the wrath and indignation of our Highness, and as a penalty of transgression pay fifty marks of gold, half to our fisc, and the rest to the one who suffered the injury; our concession and donation nonetheless remaining firm and entire. But for the memory and stable confirmation of this our donation, we have commanded the present writing to be written, and to be corroborated by the protection of our seal. Given at St. ^f Maurus, in the year of the Lord's incarnation one thousand one hundred ninety-five, on the day before the Nones of March of the thirteenth Indiction ^g.

[31] Then the Empress, eager to see him, At length, since it happened that the man of God Joachim came to Palermo, the most celebrated city of Trinacria: while he contained himself in the cloister of the Holy Spirit of the Cistercian Order, not unknown to the Empress Constance, when his fame had traversed the whole world, by her command on the sixth feria, on Good Friday, he is called with due veneration to the Imperial palace. For the Empress, desiring to be held by the presence of so great a man, and to rejoice in the mutual address of his holy conversation and doctrine, entered the oratory; about to confess her sins to him, and to him demanding the cause of so great a prevailing summons, indicated that she had resolved to confess her sins to him. Hearing which, and beholding her residing on a sublime throne and a seat brought for himself in a humbler place, that he might provide for the authority of the Church and the sentence of a judicial act of this kind, by that authority of binding and loosing with which he was endowed, he said: Since you are about to bear the part of the Magdalene and I of Christ the Lord, descending as you ought make your Confession: otherwise, as I ought, I will deservedly not understand you. She, as she was devout from her earliest age, she is admonished to descend from the throne. the majesty of so great a man and of truth being beheld, according to Joachim's word in all things gladly obeyed. Meanwhile all wondered, seeing how Joachim, like Ambrose, humbled the summit of so great a majesty. For the rest Constance cultivated the servant of God with such observance, that having heard him she did many things: but those who had been present, blessing praised God, who gave such power to men, that His servants, speaking of His testimonies in the sight of Kings, were not confounded.

[32] The venerable Father, beloved to God and men, as he deserved to be adorned with the fillets of two Churches, Joachim venerable in exterior form, so by a twofold encomium of narration, namely humble and illustrious, he ought to be adorned; by which more clearly the things worthy of utterance which the Lord had given concerning him might be disclosed: yet with mediocre eloquence, the things found out about him with truth preceding are set down for readers. The venerable Joachim was conspicuous of moderate bodily stature, and devout of face; for his effigy is still seen in the Florensian church, in the famous chapel of the glorious Virgin, sculptured in the cenotaph behind her most ancient altar, which is seen holding a staff in the right hand, a little book in the left. such as is seen in his images, There is still seen also another, expressed in various colors, instilling great antiquity into the minds of the beholders; which proclaims Joachim to have been a man of great abstraction, under a white cowl. So the Priest of God most high, in the discipline of morals, only for very great edification, bore the exterior of his body composedly, that he might easily proclaim the moderation of his mind. In the preparation of the Mass he was very often suffused with a shower of tears, and in the cheerful celebration sounding an Angel, beyond the other Priests more eminently blessed the Host. In the time of the Lord's Passion, he was so compassionate to the prison-house of Christ the Lord Jesus, sacrificing and preaching, he instills devotion, that as if alien from the world, transformed into the same bitterness, and drawn by the sacrosanct agony, he lamented over the brevity of such days. In the Chapter he so evangelized to the Brothers, that beginning with a humbler and at length terminating his oration with a loftier discourse, he struck into all alike fear and love of devotion and compunction. He never appeared to fall asleep in performing the vigils. By no means attending to the quality or quantity of food, he was so intent on prayer; that with eyes and hands raised to heaven, he insinuated an ecstasy almost continually in prayer. Outside the enclosure of the monastery, the observance of the Rule being saved, following the footsteps of the Apostle, with cheerful edification of those reclining he took what was set before him. And because he was to be constituted father of many sons, the Lord conferred upon him the grace of living well and piously; so that, preaching the word of salvation in many parts, he fell into the devotion of all, and they did not cease to call him a wonderful and venerable man.

[33] The venerable Father, truly instructed in the school of divine service, knowing that the spirit of the Lord does not rest except upon the humble and quiet and trembling at His words, sublime in humility, abhorred pride in the mind of his heart; and not only in the inner man, He excels in wondrous humility, but also in those actions which are without, ever showed himself most humble, in those especially which put on the nature of piety. For both at Curatio as Provost and Abbot he was several times seen to cleanse the whole infirmary with his own hands; the agonies too of the languishing, as fixed in his breast, sweetly consoling as he could, with diligent piety he soothed. Very often the companion and servant traveling, to restore weariness, commanding to mount his own horse, he himself constantly followed on foot. In bearing some relief to those needing it, gazing not at merit or dignity alone, but at necessity and the bond of nature, he showed himself officious to all, and relieved them with refreshment according to his strength. One chief thing about so great a man is not to be passed over in silence, which most highly savors of his piety. When at a certain time a strong famine had invaded the parts of both Sicilies, so that it happened that very many perished of starvation; Joachim by God's grace was poured out with such great mercy upon the poor, his mercy toward the poor, that after the rest expended by him traveling on the needy, the cloak and cowl being received by them, he himself, clad in tunic and scapular, was seen to pass through Cosenza. Nor only by works, but also by solemn preaching, did he inflame the rest to the like works of charity to be dispensed to the poor of Christ. Among the other things proceeding from his mouth, that most opened the ears of the hearts of the hearers: Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of iniquity; that when you fail, they may receive you into eternal tabernacles; which are especially opened to those who, dispersing, gave to the poor, establishing their justice unto the age of the age. Luke 16:9 But those poor who flowed together to him in the monastery, at his table more than the rich themselves, who by their authority make themselves venerable, he was seen to venerate as Christ the Lord: namely having continually before his eyes the Lord's saying, What you did to one of the least of mine, you did to me. Matt. 25:40 Therefore from such and so great an exhibition of charity being made known, he was most pleasing to God and all men. So great moreover had the estimation of him grown among men, that even in public actions, he being present, no one dared anything. For since he was both provident in counseling, and mature in deliberation with piety, beyond the rest he was strong in consultation and authority.

[34] The admirable and to-be-imitated Father Joachim, although from the holy admonition of the Master of the nations he held, with a discreet love of kinsmen, He who has not care of his own and especially of his household, has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel; such persons, although pressed by the last necessity, intending rather to the height of their piety and the profit of virtue, ever and everywhere regarded his own, as not had, for the sake of enriching and exalting them. 1 Tim. 5:8 And although he sometimes perceived from the brothers, that he should not bear so rigid a will concerning them; he said, Not only does the Lord threaten those building in blood; but those doing the will of the Father He called kinsmen; as if he had openly said, that the Provosts of religion ought never in any way to dispense dignities to kinsmen by merit, and sustenance, given to those serving Christ, to those wholly not needing it. Yet he so loved them, that through him not one iota or one tittle should pass from the law; lest he who had been set as an example of salvation to the rest, overcome by carnal affection, fall into ruin. To wash away therefore the depravity of those who, the servants of Christ, the churches and the poor being defrauded of due assistance, shamelessly expend the goods of Religion for enriching kinsmen, he was wont to preach these things: He who puts his hand to the plow and looks back, is not fit for the kingdom of God: and that those now following the Apostolic footsteps, the wallet and nets, which designate carnal occupations, ought by no means to have brought with them. Luke 9:62 But he so well provided for his household and fellow-countrymen, that never

did he stray from the path of salvation. But to those supplicating him, only for necessary and just things, he interposed with the Nobles, but sufficiently opportune, and what was of Religion he fostered with lively protection. Therefore running in the track of justice, both by favors and by grace he was admirable in the eyes of all.

[35] Not unmindful of the Apostle, ministering things necessary to himself and those who were with him, likewise providing for the ordinance of the Rule, with diligent labor, that he might become an example to the rest, he labored for the most part with his own hands. Nor in this was he destitute of the divine goodness; for although those preeminent in keenness of mind are often seen not to be strengthened with bodily powers; he himself, having good health of body, abusing no delights in idleness, mingled himself with the conventual exercise. But more and more he applied himself to unfolding the secrets of scripture: but the things published by himself which he could not emend by himself, he left to holy Mother Church to be corrected. At length he was never less idle than in idleness. But of his devotion who shall narrate? For the King of Kings, moved with mighty wrath, he himself mitigated with assiduous prayers; especially offering the most holy Host of the altar for the salvation of the living and the dead. Through the Octave of the Lord's Resurrection and of Pentecost, about to go out of the cloister, he commanded all things necessary for the celebration of the Mass to be brought to him; led indeed by this reason and kindled by this devotion, that as truth from figure, so Christians from Jews, eating unleavened bread for seven days, his devotion in handling sacred things, ought in no way to be surpassed. The office likewise of performing the divine Office he so always had before his eyes, that found outside the monastery, the Cross being raised and the lights kindled, he performed it most devoutly, according to the quality of time and place: for not in vain had he heard the saying of the most holy Father Benedict, when he says, We believe the divine presence to be everywhere present, and the eyes of the Lord to watch the good and the evil. Rule, ch. 19 What at last shall I say, how much at heart was to him the cleanness of the altar and of the things pertaining to the deific cult? He indeed deemed it to be of a damnable opinion and by no means to be endured, those who in unclean vessels and the other appointed things boast that they offer clean sacrifices to the Lord with a clean heart: and the cleanness of the altar to be cared for, adding that the ministers of Christ ought to be present cleaner even in external things, and more officious in the Sacrifice, than once those serving the table of Solomon, whom the Queen of Sheba, blessing, praised. He commended, in fine, those ministering devoutly and cleanly, and fearing God, and provident of their own conscience. In his cloisters therefore he took care that both the Priestly and Levitical office be discharged elegantly and with the fear of God, thundering into the ears of the Brothers that saying of the one threatening, Those doing the work of God negligently, accursed; and if to the negligent the malediction is imminent, where shall they appear who are unclean with a twofold impurity? Jer. 48:10 In this kind of obeisance to God and neighbor, the venerable Father carrying through the course of his life, now worn out with old age, made father of many sons, whom in the Lord and Religion he had begotten, had approached the reward.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER VIII.

The death of Abbot Joachim, the Translation, the Examination of his miracles.

[36] The venerable Joachim, servant of God, growing old meanwhile, in a good consummation awaiting the rewards of heavenly grace from the Lord Jesus, Weighed down with old age he falls sick; whom as a faithful servant he had served with his whole heart, in the place which is called St. Martin de Jove, otherwise de Canale, near the ^a town of Petrafitta (which place Joachim himself had received from Andrew, Bishop of Cosenza, in the year of the Lord one thousand two hundred one), began to be sick. Where not unprepared, longing to taste beforehand the courses of heavenly delights, he was wholly borne toward God, for whom he had prepared his soul from his earliest age, as the inheritance of salvation to be caught. Although he was seized with sickness, gazing into heaven he awaited Christ, and having exhorted his own a last time, whom he had loved with his whole heart; that thus in cheerfulness he might prove his outstanding devotion. The Abbots of Curatio, Sambucina, and ^b of the Holy Spirit running thither; likewise not a few Monks standing by, and languishing at the withdrawal of so great a Father, in vehemence of spirit he preached the way of salvation, and foretold to them the extermination of the Order, repeating this very thing several times: This I leave you to be remembered, that you love one another, as the Lord Jesus loved us. The men of Curatio therefore being first blessed, as the elder sons, and at length the Florensians; fortified by the sacred reception of the Sacraments, as if invited to the courses, he dies, among the hands of his sons and confraternity, in a gentle and sweet agony, the Florensian Abbot rendered his spirit to God, on the thirtieth day of the month of March ^c.

[37] It pleased at length his sons, whom he had left successors of his mastership, and is translated to the Florensian monastery, to translate the prison-house of so great a Father to Fiore; where, until the trumpet sound, it should rest in a monument and a prepared cenotaph. Whether now it resides in the same place, is not found out by me: the sarcophagus indeed the ancients beheld with no slight veneration ^d.

[38] Because concerning the venerable Father Joachim, and his Florensian Order, the things which are adduced to be read by readers, only by approved authors and testimonies (so far as it was given to be done) corroborated, where he was renowned for miracles it was resolved to set forth; lest they be believed to have been polished by our invention or another's fiction: therefore, although actions which surpass the order of nature, done by so great a man even after death, are found not without the assertion of truth, and I myself have read not a few in old papers; yet because it was not established to me that they had been corroborated by the authority of the Holy Apostolic See, I did not care to intermix them. This indeed is now proved by an authentic procuration under this tenor. In the name of the Lord. Amen. In the year of the Lord one thousand three hundred ^e forty-six, on the twenty-fifth day of the month of September of the fifteenth Indiction, it is plain from the instrument of procuration, at the Florensian monastery. In the reign of the Lady Queen Joanna, by the grace of God renowned Queen of Jerusalem and Sicily, Countess of the Duchy of Apulia, the Principality of Capua, the Province of ^f Forcalquier and Piedmont, in the fourth year of her reigns happily, amen. We Peter Spinus de Petrafitta, Royal Judge of that village; Petromarius, son of Judge Guiscard de Petrafitta, public Notary throughout the whole province of the Val di Crati and Terra di Giordano by royal authority; from the Florensian Order and the subscribed witnesses, specially called and asked for this; by the present public writing make known and testify, that, constituted in our presence and that of the subscribed witnesses, the religious men, namely Fr. Nicholas de Caccuri, Prior, Fr. Peter de Fontaneis, Subprior, Fr. Philip de Seminara, Cellarer, Fr. Nicholas de Sanctoro, Fr. Mark de Anagni, Fr. Angel de Gerentya, Fr. James de Terrasoni, Fr. John de Cerisano, Fr. Aloisius de Taberna, and Fr. Nicholas de Flumefreddo, conventual Monks of the Florensian monastery, and also Fr. John de Taberna, Abbot of the monastery of Calabro-Maria of the diocese of Santa Severina, and Brother Joseph de Piniano, Abbot of St. Mary-new, ^g of the diocese of Gerace, immediately subject to the said Florensian monastery; the said Abbots and Convents asserted, that they had many useful things to obtain from the Lord supreme Pontiff, which obtained will yield and turn to the honor, advantage, and good and tranquil state of the monasteries and all the Monks themselves, and of the whole Florensian Order. Therefore the said Abbots and the aforesaid Convent, trusting in the faithful prudence and legality of the venerable in Christ Father Fr. Peter, Abbot of Fiore, who is the first Head of the whole Florensian Order, constituted, made, and ordained that very Abbot of Fiore their Procurator, given to Abbot Peter, actor, agent, steward, syndic, and special messenger, present and willingly taking upon himself the burden of the present procuration, to transfer himself to the Roman Curia, to obtain the things written below and all other things, which will fall and could turn to the honor and advantage of the aforesaid monasteries and all the other Monks of that Florensian Order. Namely, first to elect there some Cardinal as Protector of the aforesaid monastery and of the whole Florensian Order. Likewise to supplicate the Lord supreme Pontiff, that he deign to grant and ordain by his Apostolic letters some Visitors, that as Procurator he may transact both other things with the Pope, who may inquire and report to the Apostolic See concerning the injuries and bounds of the said monastery of Fiore, as it shall better seem expedient to the said Abbot of Fiore. Likewise to supplicate the same Apostolic See, that it be granted to the same Abbot of Fiore, that they may reform the monasteries vacant and not vacant, both by the general reformation of the said supreme Pontiff and vacant in whatever manner, subject to the same Abbot of Fiore, as head of the whole Florensian Order. Also let the Lord supreme Pontiff deign to commit to some Bishops or Prelates of the province of Calabria, who may inquire and report concerning the miracles, done and seen, in life and after death, by the former Abbot Joachim, who was the beginning and foundation of the whole Florensian Order: whose Abbot Joachim's many

miracles were visibly made manifest, and seen and manifest in the province of Calabria aforesaid, both in the time of his life, and after the departure of his life. And to obtain perpetual Conservators of the privileges of the monastery of Fiore and of the whole Florensian Order; then that he may obtain Commissaries for examining the miracles of Joachim, and generally to obtain all and singular other things, which are for the good state and reformation of the said Florensian monastery and of the whole aforesaid Order: and nonetheless, that he may substitute, constitute, and institute one or more Procurators in his place, as it shall better seem expedient to him. And to do all and singular other things, which a legitimate Procurator, actor, steward, and syndic, and special messenger can and ought to do, as if the said constituted one were personally present: giving and granting to the same their Procurator, as above, full and general and free power of appearing and presenting himself before the supreme Pontiff, to obtain all the aforesaid things, and those which shall better seem expedient to him; promising, giving, constituting, to have, hold, and inviolably observe as ratified, pleasing, and firm all and singular the aforesaid things, by himself or another delegated by him. concerning the premises and any of the premises, which by the said Abbot of Fiore, their general Procurator, or by one substituted by him, shall have been done and transacted, even procured under mortgage, all solemnly and legitimately stipulating in their minds. Which has been done and written, by the hand of me the aforesaid Notary, marked with my accustomed sign and subscription. Yet by the sign of us who are above, the unlettered Judge and the subscribed witnesses, and also by the signs and subscriptions of the subscribed Monks and Abbots corroborated, written, and done, in the year, day, place, month, and Indiction aforesaid.

† Sign of the Cross of the own hand of Peter Spinus de Petrafitta, who is above, royal Judge, not knowing how to write.

† I, Syr-Goffridus Ritrandus, Canon of Gerace, was present at the aforesaid and subscribed myself.

† I, the Presbyter Thomas de Petrafitta, Canon of Gerace, was present at the aforesaid and subscribed myself.

† I, Neapolus Nicola de Caccuri, was present at the aforesaid and subscribed myself.

† I, Fr. John de Taberna, who am above Abbot, confess, will, and testify.

† I, Fr. Joseph, Abbot of the monastery of St. Mary-new.

† I, Fr. Nicholas de Caccuri, Prior of the Monastery of Fiore.

† I, Fr. Peter de Fontaneis, Subprior of the Monastery of Fiore.

† I, Fr. James de Terrasoni, Monk of the monastery of Fiore.

† I, Fr. Aloisius de Taberna, Monk of the monastery of Fiore.

† I, Fr. Philip de Seminara, who am above.

† I, Fr. Nicholas de Fiume-freddo, who am above.

† I, the aforesaid public Notary, who am above, subscribed the present public writing with my own hand, and subscribed myself, being asked etc.

But whether this kind of information and report sought, as above, or the procuration itself obtained any effect, since I should add nothing but what itself has become known, I judged it must by no means be labored.

ANNOTATIONS.

MIRACLES

Which, God cooperating, the Venerable Abbot Joachim, Institutor of the Florensian Order, performed; collected by Brother Jacobus Graecus of Sila, Professor of Sacred Theology, and shut up in the cupboard of the Florensian Monastery.

From the MS. of Ferdinando Ughelli, collated with the edition of Gregorio de Lauro.

Joachim, Abbot and Institutor of the Florensian Order, in Calabria (B.)

BY JACOBUS GRAECUS FROM THE MS.

PREFACE.

After the little book on the Life of Joachim was published, Since, the years now nearly past, the little book, collected by us from the most ancient sources, published under the inscription of the Chronology of Joachim Abbot and of the Florensian Order, was put into print; where the deeds, though not all, yet some of the same and of his Order, presented themselves to the eyes of many, how they were done: but certain actions, which surpass the order and faculty of nature, and are called miracles, because they had not been established to me as approved by the holy Apostolic See, I could not intermix into that same little work: lest miracles of this kind be deleted by the rapacity and injury of the times, the miracles are written, those which I sufficed to find out, I resolved to note down and shut up in the cupboard of the Florensian Monastery: for I judged they should not be published in the sight of men without the approbation of the Apostolic See. For the rest, that the miracles of so great a man were published and manifest to the world, and that they were described by the Most Blessed Luke, Archbishop of Cosenza, the authentic procuration, which up to now is read in the Florensian cupboard, with the tradition of the ancients, most amply proves and without doubt confirms: which also in our aforesaid little work was more diffusely shown ^a. But the miracles of so great a Father I resolved to note down with this intention, for the assurance of his sanctity, that the sanctity of such and so great a man, and the goodness and majesty of God almighty, may be glorified by all. And although miracles wrought by a man are not of the essence of his sanctity; as the Lord will well say on the last day, to those who will profess to have cast out demons in His name and done many miracles: yet in His Church through holy men to work marvels, for the utility of His people, the sanctity of the one doing them, and the glorifying of His own majesty, He has not ceased. Moreover, although sometimes, for disclosing some truth, even through the wicked, God has permitted miracles to be done; as He granted to the sons of the Jews, in the name of Jesus to cast out demons, although they walked not with Jesus; yet for the brightness of the faith He has granted miracles ever to be had in the Church. For miracles themselves are in faith, as a condition without which there is none: for what God instilled into the human intellect to be believed concerning Himself and invisible things, to be believed through faith and its habit, through miracles He willed to be brought near and glued to the believer. In miracles therefore wrought by men, first God Himself, who alone does great marvels, is to be acknowledged and glorified: for it is He, who as He bestows faith on man, in some way to be confirmed, so for its confirmation has granted miracles to be done, and to flash for the laying hold of it. Nor does man, with whatever sanctity he shines, have of himself the power to do miracles. For what says the Scripture of Moses and Aaron? He set in them the words of His signs. Nay even to Moses bringing forth water from the rock, and not glorifying the name of the Lord, in penalty of his temerity, it was threatened that he should not bring the people into the land of Promise. At length, if the things which will be brought forward seem to some very few, and therefore to be made little of; it will not be so. For as the Lord God is great in great and innumerable things, so He is great in small and few things. Let it therefore be enough to acknowledge, how the Lord God of all, His servant Joachim Abbot, founder of the Florensian Monastery and Institutor of its Order, in life, in death, and after death adorned with very many miracles. But what they were, to the praise of the said Abbot Joachim, the praise of our Lord God Jesus Christ, and the praise and glory of the Deific Trinity, under the perpetual correction of the Catholic Church and of the Apostolic and Roman faith, they are begun in the name of the Lord.

CHAPTER I.

Miracles wrought by the living Joachim.

[1] There was an illustrious man, bright in life, and in name, Luke; who, a Monk of the Monastery of Casamari, The bonds of an impeded tongue are unloosed. by its Abbot Gerard had been given as scribe to the Venerable Father Joachim, while he contained himself there; but when both returned to Calabria, it happened at that time that the Abbot of Sambucina underwent the way of all flesh. In which monastery, although men most celebrated in life and doctrine fought most holily for the Lord God of all; from whose number their Abbot was to be elected; The bonds of an impeded tongue are unloosed: all however in view of humility finding themselves less worthy and fit to undergo a burden of this kind, by the counsel of Dom Raynerius, the chief among them, that Luke is demanded by all for Abbot. But since Luke himself was held by the bond of a slower and more impeded tongue, he wholly refused such a burden to be received. For he was not unmindful of that prophetic humility, asserting: A a a, Lord, I know not how to speak, for I am a child; and also of the other Mosaic assertion, of one to be sent to Pharaoh, and refusing for the impediment of his tongue. Jer. 1:6, Ex. 4:10 But because he had been elected to that burden by the Lord, it came about, that the Venerable Father and Abbot Joachim sent an epistle to the same Luke, by which he exhorted him to undertake the charge, to which he had been elected; affirming, that he should not dread such an impediment; for the most benign Lord would provide a remedy. But since Luke elsewhere had several times in the truth of sanctity experienced the promises of so great a Father, Joachim's epistle being stored in his breast, trusting not in his own, but in the goodness of so great a Father and of God, he came to the monastery of Sambucina. Where when, stammering, to the Brothers

he was about to make a sermon (wonderful to say!) straightway his mouth and the bonds of his tongue were unloosed: whence speaking rightly he blessed the Lord God of Israel, who through the merits of the Venerable Father Joachim visited and made the health of his tongue. Ordained therefore Abbot, he remained at Sambucina; but the Religious, seized with exceeding terror, from the depth of their breast praised God, who had deigned such marvels to be done and received in such men; nay even all who heard round about were struck both with fear and with joy, blessing and praising the Lord in His servants.

[2] Health is again restored to the same Luke. Just as human bodies are composed, not of one element, but of contrary ones; so very often it happens that they fall sick and are altered. Yet it sometimes comes about, that they undergo sickness and alteration, that the works of God may be manifested in them. For among other gifts it has been granted by the Lord to believers, that they shall lay hands upon the sick, and they shall be well: as if it were said, that very many sick by God's permission and suffering alteration of bodies, experiencing the cure of the Apostles, will bless God and be converted to the Lord, magnifying Him who gave such power to men. Luke therefore (whether by the urging of the contrariety, or the Lord ordaining it thus, as He Himself knows) was held by great fevers, so that he seemed almost to approach death; and was so vexed by the debility of prevailing, that he could not eat meats, however prepared and set before him. But Joachim, the servant of God, clothed with the bowels of charity, compassionating such distresses and sicknesses, ordered cabbages to be prepared and set before the sick Luke; and their blessing being performed, he said; Eat, in the name of the Lord, and be secure. And what shall I say? So from the eating he recovered, as if he had tasted a divine medicine or cup sent down from heaven.

For the rest that is not to be omitted, which befell the same venerable Joachim and Luke, going together into the island of Trinacria. For it happened that in the month of November, both by the weariness of the journey and the lateness of the lodging, in a wondrous manner Luke himself, thirsting, by rising in the night would drink; and this Joachim several times compassionately bore, at length kindled by zeal of observance, that he was acting against the Rule and demolishing its observance, in a spirit of gentleness benignly admonished him; adding, that he ought not to be overcome by his passion; but, trusting in the goodness of God, should take care wholly to abstain. Obeying therefore his precepts, and aided by his prayers, for the rest he did not thirst. This Luke at length, by the granting of God's providence, on account of the merit of his illustrious life, made Archbishop of Cosenza, was so most celebrated for goodness, that, if faith is given to certain more recent writers, he is believed Blessed: for in this Luke's favor the church and basilica of Cosenza, the Emperor standing by, is found consecrated by a Legate of the holy Apostolic See, as is acknowledged more amply proved in our aforesaid little book ^b.

[3] As, by the testimony of blessed Job, announcing the power of the demon, there is no power on earth which may be compared to him; so it must be considered, that the demon, A possessed man is freed through the merits of the holy Father. since he is a spirit, is of a higher order and power than the creatures of these lower things, where the things which are, are either corporeal or mixed: he is therefore of greater power than corporeal things alone or mixed ones, since he is a spirit, even though a corporeal creature serve the spiritual one for local motion. But although his power is very great, yet he cannot use and exercise it, except by the Lord God permitting. For we know that Satan, the prince of the other wicked spirits and of these darknesses of this world, not only could not touch the soul of that blessed Job, but not even his little sheep, except by the Lord God granting it: and that the legion of demons, cast out of the body of the possessed man, could not enter even into the swine, except by our Lord Jesus Christ conceding it. By God's granting therefore he exercises his power in these lower things, chiefly for inflicting harm on man: as we know he raged in the affairs of the Egyptians for their damnification. Sometimes also against men themselves, for inflicting injury on God, the demons work power and fierceness: for since they exist of wicked will and rebels by obstinacy, not being able to inflict any evil on God, they procure to harm men made to the image of God. But God gives to the demon to be able to lie in wait for and obstruct men for various causes, either on account of sin perpetrated by men, and the demon rages against the sinner as against his slave (for he who commits sin is the slave of sin), or for increasing the merit of the sufferer, as the angel of Satan was given, who buffeted Paul; or for disclosing the patience of some servant of God, as the Scripture testifies of the same Job: or for the edification of the Church itself, that not only by faith, but by external senses also the simple may chiefly perceive, that men are vexed by demons, when with their eyes they discern and with their ears perceive demons to possess men: at length for making known the sanctity of some man; for when anyone casts a demon from the body of some possessed person, it is disclosed that he is of great virtue and outstanding power. And although it is not in man's power, for the reason which we have said, to be able to cast out a demon, as is plain in the Apostles unable to cast out the demon; not to be put to flight except by prayer and fasting; yet He gives the power to cast it out, for disclosing His glory and the goodness of the one casting it out. That the Lord therefore might manifest, of how great merit and sanctity His servant Joachim was, it happened in the land of ^c Mida or Mayda, in the diocese of Nicastro, that the son of a certain Robert ^d de Benetta was badly vexed and tortured by a demon: which Robert indeed, hearing the fame of the man, sent to him, asking that he would deign to come to him. But the man of God Joachim, since he was of profound humility and immense charity, did not refuse to hasten. But hearing and at length seeing the cause of the call, lest this kind of casting out of the demon be ascribed to his powers or sanctity, returned to the monastery of Curatio, where then he was Father and Abbot, disclosing the matter to the Brothers and Religious, commanded all that for three days prayer be made to God for such necessity. At length returning again to Mayda, straightway the boy was humbly presented to him: and behold forthwith before all he was sharply seized by the demon. But the venerable Abbot Joachim, giving himself a little to prayer, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ commanded the unclean spirit: which soon being cast out and withdrawing, he rendered the youth freed from it to his father. At length with the admiration of all who were present and had seen, and with thanksgiving to the Lord, returned to his monastery, he was admirable to all.

[4] Although it happens that temptations befall men from various causes; yet those especially, which are sent by the demon, for taking away beatitude from man, A Religious is freed from temptation through the merits of Bl. Joachim. are greatly to be dreaded. For as once it happened to the fathers in the desert, by their own cupidity alluring and drawing them away, to be tempted; so that, the manna being nauseated, they bewailed the loss of onions and garlic and the flesh-pots (whence access to the land of promise was deservedly denied) so likewise, if ever entrance to Religion is granted to any by the Lord, one must watch exceedingly, lest by the temptation of the demon receding from it, they make themselves unworthy of glorification. For it is not granted to adults to come to glorification, except (by the Apostle's testimony) through certain steps: as it is written, whom He predestined, these He also called. Rom. 8:30 The calling therefore to faith, and the entrance to Religion, is a step to glorification, as to the end and effect of predestination. But when by any there is made an egress from Faith or Religion on account of the temptation of the demon, it is a great sign of reprobation. Therefore, against temptations of this kind, one must greatly watch and struggle: as it happened to a certain Monk in the cloister of Sambucina. He was called Maximus; and while still a novice he made the journey of the religious warfare and put on the arms, suffering a great temptation to recede, the hand of the Lord was at hand. For it happened that the Venerable Abbot Joachim came to the said monastery: while he was reclining there Brother Maximus, thinking of the sanctity of so great a Father, said within himself: If of the pottage of the dish, in which the hand of Bl. Joachim is dipped, I had and ate, I would be freed from the temptation long endured. But Joachim, straightway prevented by divine grace, the Brother's desire being recognized, both held out the little vessel and offered the dish: which being tasted it came about, the Lord cooperating, that Maximus was wholly freed from the greatest temptation. Who at length persevering in sanctity of life, was wont to say: Tasting the food of the holy Abbot, I deserved to be freed from the food of the demon; and such things everywhere to all in the admiration of all to the glory of God he set forth.

[5] In Aquitaine and the city of Aquae Augustae, commonly Bayonne, A youth is called to the warfare of Christ. a certain youth, whose name was John, was allotted a good spirit, through which he was docile and very lovable: and because he abounded in temporal things above all his fellow-citizens, in his goodness and charity he was wont to lodge Religious, from whom he burned in a wondrous manner to hear the word of God. For the rest, He who promises beatitude to those hearing the word of God and doing it, conferred upon the same John, as also of hospitality, so likewise the gift of devotion. Therefore daily, for exhausting the divine Offices, he entered the Cathedral church. But a certain day it came about, while the Choir, chanting, sought that his feet be directed into the way of peace, that the same, listening with knees bent behind the altar, lingered in sweetness of spirit, and there with eyes and hands raised upward in some way endured an ecstasy. For behold (wonderful to say) it seemed to him that the vault of the church was opened, and that with his eyes he beheld the Lord appearing in majesty. and under the discipline of the blessed man he is crowned, For the rest, because his soul had found the sought Beloved, turned into a wondrous sweetness, he cared for nothing else thence further. Affecting meanwhile the invocation of the most holy Trinity, he heard a voice from heaven saying to him: If you wish to enter into life, go to Joachim the Abbot, and whatever he commands, do. To whom the youth, imitating Habakkuk, answered; Lord, Joachim I have neither seen nor known. But these things being said the foretasted vision disappeared: nevertheless He who had given the voice, furnished understanding. All his own things therefore being left, he went hastily to Rome; and thence, taught by the instruction of the Cardinal of Bayonne his kinsman, he came to the man of God Joachim at Fiore. But how under the discipline of so great a Father he received the habit of Religion, and ran the way of his commandments, and rested with a holy end, has been shown in our little book already mentioned ^e.

[6] Among the other things created for human servitude and obeisance, animals stand forth, as nearer to men in sense: whence it comes about, that the inhabitants of this world glory not a little in the possession of beasts, and greatly grieve over their loss. We know on that account that often, for the use of men and their help, aid and help has likewise been given to animals by the Saints. For St. Bernard freed animals from the plague, because human

bodies, sickening, were restored by them. It is not therefore to be despised, Animals too are cured by the sanctity of the man of God. what the servant of God Joachim did in an animal as a thing to be marveled at. For it happened on a certain occasion, that the servant of Christ Jesus Joachim passed through the Sila of Cosenza, where, night coming on, he had to turn aside and lodge in the villa of a certain Jordan de ^f Madara, by whom he was received with exceeding lovableness and charity. But the horses of the host and of the guest being tied near together, while they did not endure one another, and Jordan's horse strove to turn elsewhere; it fell upon a sharpened stake, so that the inner parts came out of its body. Of which matter the Venerable Abbot being made exceedingly sad, anxiously sought whether by some remedy he could succor the horse. Which being recognized, the host, with cheerful countenance, lest he be saddened over a chance of this kind, entreated the Abbot with sweet words. The anxiety of so great a man being at length seen, he said confidently: If you compassionate the horse, sign it, and it shall be healed. And what wonder? The faith and devotion of the man being attended, trusting in the Lord Joachim signed the horse with the sign of the Cross, and straightway it recovered from the wound. Therefore fear seized all who saw and heard; and they gave glory to God, who not only to men, but even for their consolation and devotion, through His servant so unusually and stupendously restored health to beasts.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER II.

Other benefits imputed to the merits of the living Joachim.

[7] At the time when the man of God Joachim was of great sanctity among men, and of very great goodness with the Lord, Health is restored to a lame man through the man of God, it happened that his sister fell sick, and the Abbot was called to her. Hastening therefore to her, the safety of the soul more than of the body being attended, among others who out of regard for honor and veneration took care to forestall his coming, that very Jordan aforementioned he met hastily coming to meet him. For the rest, before they could salute one another by word of mouth, God permitting, Jordan, falling from his horse, broke his foot by wrenching it; so that not even by the aid of the others could he turn himself anywhere. Meanwhile the servant of God coming up, whose sanctity he had already experienced, he instantly and humbly begged from him to be signed. But the servant of Christ, compassionating his vehement pain and trusting in God's piety, fortified the supplicant with the sacrosanct seal of the Cross, and soon restored him to his pristine health. Made whole therefore, leaping up from the ground, he accompanied his healer, not containing himself for joy and devotion: and rejoicing together with the rest he poured himself out in thanksgiving and praise of God, who not only in brutes, but also in his body, deigned to work marvels through His servant. But the rest, with astonished ears and changed countenances, in the company of both gave thanks to God, saying, Because we have seen marvels today.

[8] In the territory and village of the city of Taberna, now Treberna, there was a certain man, whose name was Leo, by nation and by morals a Greek. He had set in his heart and uttered with his mouth, his wife granting it, that he wished to bid farewell to the world: for he was a Priest, and after the manner of the Greeks had a wife of the same generation: but that woman was atrociously laboring with the falling sickness. A woman recovered at the entreaty of the blessed man, But in the meantime it came about, that Leo met the man of God Joachim passing by there, whom out of regard for charity he led into his house to lodge. For the rest the sick woman, prevented I know not by what grace and taught by the spirit, having fallen down at the feet of the Abbot entering and embracing them, broke into such words: Lord, if you will, you can heal me. To whom the man of God, growing warm with piety, said; Do you believe that by God's gift I can heal you? And she: Yes, Lord, I believe. The servant of Jesus Christ wondering therefore, his hands raised upward to God, and at length placed upon the head of the sick and supplicating woman, the same seal of the most holy Cross being performed, said: Go, woman, your faith and your devotion has made you whole: and the woman was healed from that hour. But those who saw and heard, gave glory to God, finding afterward that that woman was never and nowhere vexed with the accustomed disease, but, perfect health obtained, in devotion and thanksgiving continued her days.

[9] When it happened that the servant of God Joachim, the Monks Peter and ^b Boniface accompanying him, came to ^c Longobucco for the sake of making chalices ^d (for in that land then a silver ^e mine was being dug) on the day on which it was reached there, the cataracts of heaven were so opened, an immense inundation of waters following, that to no one was it at all granted to go out of that land. Nor was it stayed at this. For through seven days the inundation of waters so prevailed, that in that very land three houses were demolished, in one of which, like the sons of Job, seven men were drowned: but in the river, eighteen persons were slain. Hence all, expecting near and evident death, alike fled to the man of God; and confessing their sins from the depth of their breast, grieving they asked mercy. But the servant of God Joachim, that their contrition might be more fruitfully and greatly increased, in some way dissembled to receive them. On the seventh day at length, trusting in the inextinguishable piety of God, all the people following him, he came to the church; in which the Venerable Abbot, making a sermon to the same people, sharply and harshly accusing their unmentionable crimes, struck fear and grief into their bones. But they promising amendment for the rest, A very great inundation of waters is allayed by the man of God's preaching. to be confirmed even by oath, not only of crimes not to be perpetrated, but that neither would they approach criminal places, nay would extirpate as far as they could the vices sprouting among them; it came about, the sermon still continuing, that someone going out of the church beheld the day growing clear, and the darkness of the rains ceasing, serenity coming on: whence for joy he was heard to exclaim; Behold the day grows clear, behold the day grows clear: and so crying out as he entered, he made the church resound. The Abbot at length, the servant of God, the preaching being completed, intoned the hymn, Come Creator Spirit: which the Clerics following being performed, he chanted seven Collects to the Lord God in thanksgiving. Going out therefore, they deserved a serene day, the sun shining forth. For the rest the inundations of waters still running down, on that day the Abbot and his companions could not depart thence. The little ones meanwhile, fearing the inundation of rains would perhaps return, humbly supplicated, that he would deign to stay there for some days. But the Abbot, trusting in God's piety, by promising to remain foretold that they were secure: and so on the eighth day, very many accompanying him, in thanksgiving they came to Fiore.

[10] Not only did the Lord God, from whom all good things proceed, deign to work marvels through His servant Joachim in the elements and in the bodies of men; but also in the powers of souls, Illumination of the intellect is given to a religious by the merits of Joachim. as was done in a Religious, advanced in age, venerable in morals and life, accompanying the blessed man who had gone out from it for the affairs of the monastery. He on the journey, both in mind and countenance, was held sad and gloomy: to whom blessed Joachim said; Brother, why do you go sad? But he: Having forgotten my little Psalter, since I do not hold the Psalms by memory, I shall not be able to help you in performing the Office and in the Matin vigils. But the holy Father, Be of cheerful mind, and secure of heart: for the Lord will provide. But what shall I say? Through the merits and intercession of Bl. Joachim, that Brother so recited the Psalms and Office by memory with him, that he never recollected having performed it otherwise from that codex itself. Therefore devout and rejoicing he thought, how the hand of the Lord was with the blessed Father Joachim: and at length standing by trembling, he gave thanks to so great a man and to God: because the Lord, since He is unfailing light, illuminating every man coming into this world, furnished him the light of intellect, and strengthened his memory, for His praise and glory: whence for the rest illumined in intellect, strengthened in memory, inflamed in will, more earnestly fulfilling the work of God, he persevered in the divine praises.

[11] Not only once, in one place, and in the action of one matter, did the Lord deign to magnify His servant; A possessed man likewise is freed at the prayer of the man of God. but by the repeated working of like things rendered him admirable. For it came about, that the Venerable Father Joachim came to the already mentioned land of Mida: whose citizens, having before experienced the virtue and grace with which the Most High had adorned the blessed Man, offer another vexed by a demon; asking, that, laying his hand on him, he would free him from the unclean spirit. For the rest, when on account of a like work the same Joachim returned to the monastery, for putting to flight boasting and vain glory, lest he attempt that return, they subjoin: We know and believe, that the Lord, through your intercession and prayers, can free our son from the hands of the demon. The Venerable Abbot therefore, their necessity being recognized and the faith of such great men perceived, and also pierced by their prayers, gave himself a little to prayer. And behold, in the name of the Lord his hand being laid on the demoniac, he rendered him made whole and freed forthwith to his mother: whence through those regions all these deeds were spread abroad, and all held, that Joachim ^f the Abbot was great before the Lord. For He had set His signs in him, and His prodigies in their land: and seeing how he had power over the unclean spirits, they praised God in their heart, discerning through him, how the one who happened to be vexed by them, was cured.

[12] How great a grace of knowing future things the Lord prevented His servant Joachim with, we have more diffusely shown in our little book: The man of God announcing future things, very many are freed from death. but now let us intermix a memorable thing worthy. For it came about, since Joachim was according to the Prophetic word, A man of good desires, that the things which were to come were shown to him. For while on a certain occasion the Venerable Father with Raynerius his Monk, venerable also for probity, walked in a certain place; they came to a most ancient church, near whose wall they sat down with very many others. When behold the word of the Lord was made to Joachim His servant, that they should straightway withdraw thence: for a wall of the temple was about to fall. He rose therefore, and said; Let us hastily depart hence, for now that wall will be demolished. And behold (wonderful to see) scarcely had they withdrawn, the wall fell, all remaining unhurt. From which now seeing themselves absolved from peril, not containing themselves for joy and full of wonder, with bent knee they gave thanks to God and His servant; and for the rest, as a Prophet, they not only held him in heart, but everywhere proclaimed him with their mouth.

[13] Great is the Lord and exceedingly to be praised, who not only gave men to admire His servant's sanctity, The brute animals obey the servant of God. and to recall it in admiration, but even commanded the brute animals themselves to obey; as is known to have happened at a certain time. For while the servant of God Joachim was conversing in the cloister of the Holy Spirit at Palermo, with Alexander its Venerable Abbot, about matters greatly pertaining to the purpose; a certain magpie, near and impudently, did not cease to infest them with its voices. But the man of God Joachim, with humble impatience threatening the magpie, said: Hark, be silent: are you going to sell your dung so dear? Get away from here. And behold straightway, as if it had had human understanding, its voice laid down with its head, it obeyed only the voice of the one commanding, and not even the command of one making a noise. Meanwhile Abbot Alexander, full of admiration, praised God in his heart; considering how things lacking understanding, sometimes more docile than men, are shown obeying the servants of God; as it is written of them: The ox knew his owner, and the ass his master's crib, but Israel has not known me. Nevertheless to the man of God not only the little animals in the aforesaid city of Palermo, but even its Kings with the admiration of all obeyed: for how he humbled the Empress Constance there, we leave to be seen more diffusely in our little work. Isa. 1:3 For now, to the glory of God and the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ, let it be known, as of His gift, that both little animals and great Kings obeyed the humble Servant of God Joachim.

[14] In the castle or land of Sila, now spread abroad as Scigliano, in that part which is called Diano, there was a certain woman, the moon being in the horoscope, greatly laboring with the falling sickness: who hearing the sanctity and fame of Bl. Joachim, then Abbot in the monastery of Curatio, constituted in the territory of the aforesaid castle; for recovering health, A woman recovers from a grave disease by the help of the man of God. with immense devotion and the greatest humility, supplicated him. To whom the blessed Father answered, that she should take care to come to the aforesaid monastery of Curatio. But all this was done, to avoid vain glory; lest men ascribe the grace of that cure to the blessed man. The woman therefore went in devotion, and keeping herself before the door of the monastery, awaited the grace of the promised blessing. But the man of God, endowed with that humility which was his, for taking away an infirmity of this kind applied such a remedy: he took up the Relics of the Saints, kept in number in the said monastery, with the veneration which was becoming and due; and the said lunatic woman, awaiting before the doors, with the devotion of both gave to drink from the washing; whence, by the gift of God and the Saints and the servant of the Lord, it came about, that, health being at once perceived, she who had come sick, returned safe to her own. But how to the same men of Sila the Venerable Abbot Joachim unraveled the mystery of the appearing, not however existing, Cross, that for the rest it should not appear, has been touched in our little work several times already mentioned, in the name of the Lord.

[15] One despising the admonitions of the man of God is gravely punished. The Lord, God of vengeances, God of vengeances, who for His servant Joachim justly and condignly avenged in John, Abbot of Curatio. This John, still a Monk, had been under the mastership of the holy Father according to the form of the Rule of the most blessed Father Benedict the Abbot; and, as a Father loves an only son, so he loved him. But at a certain time it came about, that the master now withdrew from the teacher's instruction; whence for condign matters it was necessary for Joachim to send letters to John: which he, admonished, bearing ill the one admonishing, threw the letters into the common privy of the convent. But the Lord of vengeances reproved the rash daring of the impatient one with a worthy vengeance. For He struck the same John in the hinder parts: with which disease of opprobrium (as he himself confessed) he labored unto death; and professed that he worthily endured it; preferring with shame to make known his sin, than to hide the merits of so great a Father: and because he refused to attend to him as a pious Father, therefore he was compelled to venerate the chastising master.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER III.

Miracles done before and after the Translation of the Body.

[16] How sweetly and happily the Venerable Abbot Joachim on the thirtieth day of the month of March, in the Grange of St. Martin de Jove, Despising the last commands of the blessed man, one is atrociously seized. now de Canale, near the town of Petrafitta, rendered his spirit to God, we have more amply commemorated in our aforesaid little work. For he, as he had been a most fervent servant of Christ the Lord Jesus, so in his passage as one invited to the banquets, received by Him in a sweet agony, deserved to be crowned for his labors. Very many therefore running together at his passage with both Abbots and Monks, he instructed them with a vehement address to perform the offices of charity and peace, and they being likewise blessed in the Lord, to one alone he refused to give the blessing: nor did he refuse this on account of any defect of love or charity; but that the man might be humbly pricked with compunction over his impiety and crime. For it is written, The blessing of the Lord upon the head of the just: and again, And those who passed by did not say, The blessing of the Lord upon you, we have blessed you in the name of the Lord. Prov. 10:6, Ps. 128:8, Isa. 48:22 And again: There is no peace for the impious. And although the Lord did not deny a kiss to Judas betraying Him, yet to him inhabited by Satan He did not give the blessing: but ascending into heaven, to the hundred and twenty disciples, burning with His love, He gave the blessing. Joachim at length, struck by the entreaty and shower of tears of the Reverend Lord Abbots of Curatio, Sambucina, and the Holy Spirit, blessed the unblessed one under a condition; and left his case to be examined by those entreating, that perhaps he might provide for the salvation of his soul remaining in fear. This Brother, softened by no contrition, after the passage of the holy Man returned to the monastery of Curatio: and it came about, that at night-time to him keeping himself in his cell, thence with a terrible aspect rebuking, and provoking to amendment, by reproaching his crime, Abbot Joachim appeared. Nor did he do anything, except that rising in the morning, what had befallen him in the night, he related to the elders. But the following night, that Brother crying out in the dormitory, made all alike rise: who being found at length mad and frenzied, was led into the infirmary; where he uttered nothing else with his mouth, except that he kept repeating: Woe is me! for I have sinned against the servant and son of the Virgin. And this the Brothers understood, that the same man by his crimes had offended, after the Lord, His servant Joachim, the most devout servant of the glorious Virgin; chiefly because he refused to correct himself at his admonition. Nor wonder: for by the testimony of Bl. Gregory, the Lord, whom He long bears that they may be converted, the unconverted He more harshly condemns. And so that wretched one, who had spurned the placid reproof, remained in the reproof under a harsher vengeance.

[17] There was a certain woman, niece of Jordan de Madara, of whom we made mention above: she while she was direly tortured by a grave pain of the eyes, by some called ophthalmia, now despaired of recovery: for she had applied to herself innumerable remedies both of physicians and of old women (as is their custom); from which no help being had, she lay in toils and pains about to die. Her uncle at length, A woman is freed from ophthalmia through the merits of the holy man. who had experienced in himself and others the merits and sanctity of Bl. Joachim while living, took care thus to admonish the sick woman: Procure, daughter, in the glory of the Saviour and the praise of Bl. Joachim, a Sacrifice to be devoutly offered: and trusting, you shall be helped. What more? The Sacrifice being completed by her according to the admonitions in wondrous devotion, she received the light of her eyes and entire health: which benefit, received by God's gift, she could neither keep silent, nor avail to hide: for as she had obtained external illumination, so kindled with internal devotion, she everywhere proclaimed, that through the merits of Bl. Joachim she had both received the light of her eyes, and recovered from a grave infirmity.

[18] As, as has been touched, in the Grange of St. Martin the Venerable Father Joachim poured back his due spirit to heaven; so the burden of his body for some years remained there in very great veneration. It pleased at length the Florensian Fathers, from the place already mentioned, to translate the prison-house of so great a Man into the monastery of Fiore, In the translation of the body of Bl. Joachim a sick man is healed. that is, to St. John. To a Translation of this kind therefore, both for honor and for devotion and dignity, with very many Religious three Abbots of holy opinion ran: and the lights being kindled and the religious vestments put on, they came to uncover and touch the body. But the Lord God, that He might prove, that his soul was and had been pleasing to Him, and how also that body had been a temple of the Holy Spirit, deigned to honor that Translation with a wondrous spectacle. For one of the said Abbots, whose name was William, laboring with the quartan disease, although he was destitute of bodily strength in a wondrous manner, yet diligently for devotion of so great a Father took care to be led there. Touching therefore with no slight devotion the body of Blessed Joachim, Abbot William not only from the quartan disease, but even from the sickness of the stomach forthwith recovered. At which event of the matter who could suffice to explain the admiration and joy, not only of the one restored to health, but also of all both monks and seculars, who had assembled there? For they knew that the Lord had adorned His servant Joachim, in life, in death, and after death, with signs and virtues. The Translation of the body at length being performed with divine praises and exultation, it they laid in the cenotaph

of the Florensian church, already before prepared at the door of the sacristy in the chapel of the blessed Virgin. But whether up to now it rests there, is not found out by me: but I have seen some part of his bones, kept in a casket of holy relics, in great devotion. Nor are such things said out of place: since, the body of the holy Father existing in that sepulchre, the Lord deigned to show very many marvels through it: of which, although not of all, briefly however, as the Lord Himself shall grant, we shall set forth to all the devout who desire to listen.

[19] Before we come to the other few things, it must be premised, how the Lord succored His servants, freeing them from the peril of robbers: which indeed thus came about. Into the aforesaid Grange of St. Martin came robbers for the sake of stealing, that wasting all things they might plunder them. Entering therefore, Robbers are restrained by the safeguard of the man of God. and there all things being rolled about at their pleasure, they came to the place where the body of the holy Man had rested, and where on account of reverence for him lamps still glittered. The Brothers therefore, keeping themselves in that place, with humble compunction of heart, began to commend themselves to the blessed man: whence by the grace of the Lord and His servant Joachim it came about, that although the access and door lay open there, those striving to enter could by no means avail. Nor softened to the good of such an impediment, they became imitators of those, who approaching to bind the Lord, although by a word alone they were prostrated to the ground, were never converted. Nor wonder: because such a kind of men is neither bent by miracles, nor softened by threats. Remaining therefore in their malign perversity, withdrawing thence empty they departed. Which being seen the Brothers magnified God, freeing them from the incursion and invasion of the wicked, and both they, and the rest who heard, said: Terrible is this place; which impassable to the wicked, and passable to the good, had stood at the invocation of the holy Father. And deservedly for the rest they dared not approach it except with great devotion: from which more and more the divine honor and the devotion to His servant was increased.

[20] We have made up to now a very brief narration of some marvels, which the Lord deigned to announce through His servant Joachim: but now we shall add a very few, done after his death. For after the body of the blessed man was laid in the monastery of Fiore, God provided from good to better upon that house day and night. Among other things indeed it came about, that a Religious, whose name was Thomas, most excellently skilled in the carpenter's art, was so most badly vexed with pain of the loins, A Monk is restored to health at the sepulchre of the man of God. that not only could he not stand upon his feet, but was wholly constrained to lie down: nor was he content with this kind of lying down, but with lamentations and shrieks infested all who compassionated him. But God, who does not forget the cry of the poor, since their patience does not perish unto the end, ministered an opportune remedy to the sufferer. For He inspired his mind, that he should take care to be carried forthwith to the sepulchre of Blessed Joachim: which being done and prayers poured forth, soon obtaining unhoped and longed-for health, with the greatest devotion and praise of God, he was wont to proclaim, that Joachim had at no time abandoned those committed to him; nay, as in health, so in infirmity, had ministered opportune and true helps from the Lord.

[21] It is good for us to be here: let us therefore make a transition to the rest of the miracles which God deigned to effect at the sepulchre, nay the burden, of His servant. It is to be known therefore, how on a certain day (after the manner of the Order from the statutes of the Rule) the Monks laboring, there was a Novice among them. He, as at length he himself said with his own mouth, was constrained with shame to go out for the necessities of nature. But, since he was simple and bashful, for a necessity of this kind from the Master standing by he dared neither to ask leave, A certain Novice likewise recovers at the sepulchre of the blessed man. nor to be separated from the others. Constrained therefore in a wondrous manner by that necessity, at length it was necessary for him to burst within: tortured therefore with an intestinal and lethal pain he is carried into the cloister, where he awaited imminent and near death. But God inspiring and the rest persuading, it came about, that he was led to the sepulchre of Bl. Joachim: where prayers and tears being poured forth, his body prostrated, by him and others was supplication made. But God, neither his pain nor his shame being despised, straightway, all peril and pain being removed, gave the novice Brother to recover. Nor is that man to be carped at for slothfulness, who deserved to be made worthy of so great a grace: for in the ancient Fathers so great patience, fear, and humility abounded, that not only in superfluous things, but not even in necessary ones, without the faculty obtained from the elder, did they presume to dare anything: and therefore the Lord received them as a holocaust victim. Whence deservedly they could say; We passed through the fire of tribulation, and the water of temptation, and Thou hast led us out into the refreshment of consolation: as is plain now in the Marvel aforenarrated, both setting forth the patience of the Brother, the merit of the Father, and the help of God.

[22] A certain man of the Castle of ^a Caccuri, whose name was Basianus, while he rejoiced in the best and accustomed health, suddenly is seized with infirmity, so that, pains and peril constraining him, he in some way despaired of having health further. Meanwhile (God giving it) he recollects the memory of blessed Joachim, and how he was at hand to all invoking him, by inflicting benefits and helps. Hoping therefore that through the merits of so great a man he could recover, Likewise at the same sepulchre health is received. led by the help of many into the monastery of Fiore, in it he came to the sepulchre of the holy Father. When behold (wonderful to say!) a humble supplication being performed, he recovered from so iniquitous an infirmity: and he who had come by the carrying and crowding of so many associated in labors and toils, returned by himself and rejoicing in health. But fear seized all, and they magnified God, who had shown His mercy with him, and congratulated him and the rest saying, how the man of God had become a helper to all in the time of tribulation: whence also the house of Fiore received those flowing together from everywhere for like things. For they saw such sweet and most salutary fruits sprout from that fruitful and salvific root, that not undeservedly they hastened to it, seeing the signs which were done upon those who were sick.

[23] That He, who is God blessed forever, might disclose to the world and His faithful, how the soul and body of His servant Joachim had been most pleasing to Him; A madman through the merits of the blessed man comes to his senses. through the merits of the same He deigned to restore health both to souls and to bodies. But among others who deserved to be made worthy of favors of this kind, was a certain man Roger by name, who maddened and furious, and turning all to flight, struck no slight fear into all. But while a certain Religious, also called by the name of the madman, and a foster-son of the holy Man, was gathering olives in the Cosentine field; behold the madman coming up he is cried to by all, that Roger guarding himself should beware of Roger. Yet the Religious, because he was pious and religious, is neither seized with fear, nor turned to flight; nay rather benignly went to meet the madman, and leading him gently to his lodging, having kept him two days ministered to him what was necessary. The Brother, attending to the mercy of God, of Christ Jesus our Lord, and well knowing the merits of Blessed Joachim, sewed a particle of the most ancient tunic of so great a Father to the cap of the maddened Roger, and confidently placed it on his head. But what shall I relate? At the touch of the garment of Blessed Joachim the mad Roger came to his senses, and came out whole. Knowing therefore the gifts of so great a benefit, lest he seem unmindful of the obtained grace Roger formerly raving took care to remain with Roger the Monk, ministering to him a long time; and by days and nights he ceased not to bless God, who through the merits of Blessed Joachim, restored to him his reasoning, and freed him from all madness and from the reproach of the madman.

[24] In the monastery of St. John of Fiore, a certain man by name Amatus, with very great devotion and the greatest compunction of heart, according to the statutes of the Florensian Order putting on the habit of Religion, had shown himself about to fight for the Lord. A Monk by the merits of Bl. Joachim recedes from apostasy. But some days being past, by the fraud of him who envies the salvation and quiet of men; he put off and dismissed the assumed habit of Religion. Which seeing Dom Roger de Apriliano, a Monk of wondrous devotion and great perfection, who also very often had experienced the sanctity of Blessed Joachim; and not enduring the little sheep of the Lord, to be afflicted by the wolf, and now wandering, to perish; sent to the same Amatus wine to be drained and tasted, attending to the justice and sanctity of Blessed Joachim: which being drunk, from the Lord, the author of truth and sanctity, he received the grace of penitence. Grieving therefore and led by penitence, the regular garments, which he had laid aside, he resumed in perpetual stability. And so at length, his whole life-time persevering in monastic stability and observance, he gave thanks to God; professing, that not only through the merits of Blessed Joachim coming to his senses he had returned to Religion, but in his help had faithfully run; nay hoping that in it he would receive both the prize and the palm, forgetful of past things, stretching his hand to those which were before, both with a good end he rested, and fell asleep in the Lord.

[25] In the same monastery of St. John of Fiore, the head of the whole Florensian Order, another religious, Rutilius by name, but not ruddy in mind, was tortured with a most evil frenzy; so that not only the present, but even the absent, to whom his cry and roaring could reach, he disturbed in a wondrous manner. But the Infirmarian, on whom beyond the rest his burden lay, not sufficing to endure so great a trouble further, began to meditate in himself, by what remedy or help he could succor the languishing one, and his own and all's quiet. God at length inspiring, both restored him whole, A frenzied man recovers through the merits of the holy Father. and consulted the tranquillity of all in this manner. For that Roger the Monk, of whom above, persuaded the Infirmarian, that to the frenzied man, in the little vessel in which the Servant of God Joachim had been wont to drink, he should exhibit drink in devotion, and also place a little portion of the garment of Blessed Joachim on the head of the sick man: which indeed when it was done, the frenzied man falling asleep in the evening, in the morning rose whole and unharmed. Great joy therefore was made in the convent of the Brothers, while, he who to the perturbation and trouble of all raved, to the tranquillity and joy of all, through the merits of the holy Father, was restored to health ^b.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER IV.

Miracles done at the sepulchre of the blessed man or at his invocation.

[26] God, wonderful in His Saints, terrible in His majesty, granted not only that His servant Joachim be venerated by men, by demons

to be feared, by beasts to be known, by the sick to be invoked: but even by the senseless to be pointed out, as, Dom Roger relating, of whom above, was truly heard. This Roger, while in the Florensian monastery he had the chapel, in which the body of the blessed Father rested, in particular custody, and took care of the lamp perpetually glittering therein; the Brothers rising on a certain night for vigils, Brother Roger, before he joined himself with the same in them, found the lamp, wont to shine before the sepulchre of the man of God, now extinguished. Which indeed bearing ill, to kindle it by a nod he summoned Brother Amatus: but he, by the defect of oil wholly extinguished in it, could not fulfill it. He hastened therefore to fetch oil: but the oil being congealed, by the rigidity of the air and the season, and not to be dissolved except by fire, he could not kindle the lamp. But lest the divine Office, to be performed in the Choir, for a matter so slight he should wholly omit; the lamp being left in its extinction, he entered the Choir, and performed the Office: which being completed, he ran anxious to kindle the lamp. But coming to the door of the chapel, he recognized the lights shining in it; and entering, he found the lamp which he could not kindle, flaming: nor knowing whence it was, seized with admiration, he who had been very sad, suffused with joy and as if enduring an ecstasy at what had happened, The lamp before the sepulchre of the holy Father is divinely kindled. brought forth a laud-bearing hymn to God in his heart; and the more so, that in the same chapel beyond the usual he perceived as it were the sweetness of a heavenly odor with a wondrous fragrance, and tasted continual consolation. At length that lamp, thus divinely kindled, he permitted to shine thus until after None; and at length on purpose with his own hands Dom Roger extinguished it: which indeed he did with the best consideration: for in those necessities only are marvels to be sought, where human operation can neither work nor provide. From these marvels therefore, which were shown by the Lord from day to day, both the growing sanctity of His Servant shone forth in the minds of men, and the devotion of all toward him ever abounded in the praise of Christ the Lord.

[27] The merciful and compassionate Lord, since He is unfailing light, the creator of all lights, illuminating every man coming into this world, hating nothing of those things which He made; through the merits and invocation of His servant Joachim deigned to illumine one growing blind, namely in such an order. In the aforesaid monastery of Fiore there was a certain Monk of holy and good opinion, and he had the name John: he while he rejoiced in the best health, on one evening with great pain suddenly lost the light of his eyes. Remaining therefore in his bed, weeping and wailing day by day, as by pain so by blindness he was tortured, so that on the fourth day the pain intolerably increased. He is visited therefore by the Brothers and by the Prior: A blind man at the sepulchre of the man of God receives sight. who about to go out of the cloister for the necessary affairs of the monastery, exhorted the sick Brother to bear patiently by the example of Tobias and Job. They at length withdrawing, the sick man broke into such a voice: Our holy and Venerable Father Joachim, as in his Translation solemnly celebrated by us he was seen, in the place where he is piously and devoutly commemorated has now been presented to my mind. Which scarcely uttered, because he was not yet destitute of bodily strength, well conscious of the places, step by step with very great devotion he betook himself to the chapel and sepulchre of the most holy Father: to which after he came as if conducted from heaven, there prostrated to the ground, he groped with his hands to touch the sepulchre: into which indeed, if he had been able, found, he would have entered. Clinging at length to it, prevented with great contrition and devotion, and melting in compunction and lamentation of heart, he is seized with a great shower of tears, not otherwise than as if ice were brought near the sun and wax near fire. Meanwhile within the most fortified sarcophagus he perceived a movement, as if someone were moving from side to side. Such things therefore being attended, straightway he was seized with sleep: and a thin voice, as if a friend were addressing a friend, he seemed to hear. Awaking at length from exceeding pain he bowed his head upon the sepulchre: nor delay, and behold from both his eyes he perceived warm water in great quantity to flow down (which he himself weeping was wont to relate): but when the humor flowing from his eyes ceased, both the blindness and the pain wholly ceased. Restored therefore to his pristine health, unto death he did not cease to proclaim such things. But to the curious and those who took care to have these things repeated, he was wont to answer in this manner: I know not, God knows: one thing only I know, that whereas I was grieving and blind, in the effusion of tears and water at the sepulchre of Joachim the servant of God I now see.

[28] Since in the smallest things some occurrences, on account of the smallness of the subject, are either by some not attended to, or attended to perhaps are scorned; therefore they are thought to be of no or small attention. Which indeed is not consonant with reason: for the thing itself does not come into consideration; but whatever the Lord works about it, and through it. For we know the drawing up of the axe from the waters to be of small consideration: but to make the axe come up from the waters against its nature, and the wood receive at the nod and command of the one drawing it, was of great and wondrous consideration. So likewise whatever about the lamp at the sepulchre of the blessed Man at another time occurred, the smallness of the subject being attended, appears nothing; but its quality being considered, is of great attention. For a Priest celebrating before the sepulchre of Blessed Joachim in the chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary the divine mysteries, one of the two ministering came to adjust the lamp; but soon at his touch the lamp falling onto the pavement, was not broken; nay rather, as if it had been set down by hands, it inclined neither to the right nor to the left. Having suffered no injury therefore, with the admiration of all standing by, restored to its place, into the minds of those discerning and hearing it instilled greater devotion. This word therefore went out among the Brothers, that the lamp falling is not broken; and therefore more and more they were inflamed to magnify God, and to venerate His servant Joachim.

[29] Since the merits of the blessed Man were great and innumerable with God, He deigned to make partakers of these, not only the foster-sons of his mastership, but also those living in the world; not only the simple, but even Priests preeminent among the peoples: as is perceived to have happened to a certain Canon of the church of Cosenza. He, in fact and in name Placidus, noted down with his own hands a benefit received through the merits of Bl. Joachim, and left it to posterity to be reread in this manner: I Placidus, Canon of Cosenza, while in my right shoulder, To a Canon of Cosenza through the merits of Bl. Joachim health is twice given. for six continuous years at least, I was wearied with continual labor and pain, so that I could not move or raise my arm, as if maimed, without grave and immense pain; I often sought the remedies of many physicians; which sometimes carefully administered, brought no help: because that was not to be attributed to a temporal physician, and was reserved for a heavenly one. And when no help came any longer through so many remedies, nay rather detriment; despairing of recovery I was persuaded to have my arm cauterized, if perchance I could endure the fire. And because mind and body abhorred fire, I delayed, and by no means acquiesced in such counsel; both because it was not the time for cauterizing, and because I could not have endured the fire. And when I was destitute of the help of drugs, I turned to invoking the suffrages of the Saints; that by their merits and helps the Lord would deign to free me from the sting of so great a suffering, by His power and piety: and since I was unworthy, I could not be heard; because I had not yet firmed my prayers to him, for whom my cure was reserved, as the outcome disclosed to me. For a certain evening about to lie down (as it pleased the Lord) I began to invoke in devotion and confidence the name of the most Holy Father Joachim the Abbot, saying with weeping: Free me, Lord, through the merits of the most holy Father Joachim; free me, Lord, from this so great suffering of the arm: and I will be bound as a sign to bring a waxen arm to his sacrosanct sepulchre. These things being said in hope I lay down, fixed in mind to the merits of the holy Father. And behold from then blessed God did not desert the one hoping in Him: [but] I felt the pain no more: and coming out whole, as I had never been, I procured the discharge of my vow in thanksgiving: and a waxen arm being made, I placed it in the chest of the hall of Luke my Archbishop, awaiting a convenient time to bear it to the sepulchre. But a certain evening, the candles failing in the chamber of the Archprelate, and not so quickly to be procured from elsewhere on account of the depth of the night, and necessarily to be had; I thought to take the arm though trembling, and thence to make candles; thinking its repair opportune. Opening therefore in fear the chest, and attempting to take the arm, straightway I was seized with the accustomed pain, and what I had feared, unwilling I felt. The arm therefore being dismissed, as truly to be sent to Fiore, I withdrew; and again in prayers and tears I supplicated St. Joachim for recovering health: which was again given me through the grace of so great a Father. And these things I have written, having experienced God's grace in the invocation of St. Joachim, that everyone with me may without intermission give thanks to the Lord and His servant, because from so great a sickness twice by his merits I recovered. Thus he: for nothing more clear can be said, for knowing the merits and sanctity of so great and such a Father.

[30] The Lord Jesus deigned to employ a double witness for making known the sanctity of His servant Joachim in the Church of Cosenza, in which and in whose diocese the Order and Religion of so great a Father had had its origin. For there was another Canon of the Church of Cosenza, whose name was Peter. He was a master in the arts, endowed with morals and knowledge; and therefore once in the same Church he was elected Pastor: but another elected one opposing him, the effect of both elections fell to the ground. This Peter therefore, while he obtained health to his wish, feeling a dryness of his limbs, was suddenly seized with pain; and first, the Lord inspiring, into his mind came Joachim to be invoked. Humbly therefore and devoutly beginning to invoke him, he said: Help me, blessed Man and holy Father Joachim, by your merits and prayers with the Lord, [Likewise to another Canon of Cosenza through the merits of the blessed man health is restored.] that He deign to render to me the health taken away: and I promise to send a muscle and a hand with a waxen arm, for those which I grieve to have lost, into the monastery of Fiore, to your holy mausoleum, enclosing the most precious pearl of your body. These things being uttered, there happened a wonderful and memorable thing: for the vow being made and the word uttered, he obtained the effect of the vow and word. Health therefore being had, he did not cease to render his vow. When these things therefore not only through the city of Cosenza, but also through the other regions

were spread abroad; all who heard, sang glory to God, who made His Saint wonderful, granting him power, that those who believing invoked his help, might be cured of their infirmities.

[31] When in the Grange of Terrata near ^a Rocca-di-Neto two Lay-Brothers, for transacting matters pertaining to the monastery, were staying; and setting before themselves for recovering health bread made from the roots of herbs, were eating it; from the eating of it they not only did not recover, but weighed down with a new and malign sickness, fell into the pit which they had dug; so that one of them, departing from this life, was given to burial; but the other, turned into madness, was led back to the cloister of St. John of Fiore: where he so direly raved, that rushing on all he could be held by no one. Deservedly therefore it was expected by all, that he would be killed by such a sickness as quickly as possible, like his companion: nevertheless God, who made not death nor delights in the perdition of the dying, freed the patient Brother from its bites by a remedy of this kind. There was received by the Monks a little of the garments of Bl. Joachim the servant of God, which in faith and hope of recovering health they placed on the head of the sufferer. And behold a marvel! straightway the madness is put to flight, and the Lay-Brother turned into health recovers. Knowing at length how he had raved, falling down at the feet of all the Confraternity he humbly supplicated, that if in words or acts after the manner of the mad he had offended against them, they would deign to forgive. And so for the rest more cautiously and devoutly serving the Lord never from his mouth, nowhere from his heart did the benefit, received from the Lord by the merits and intercession of the holy Father Joachim, recede; but ever he gave thanks to God, who not only had driven madness from him, but had bestowed on him a sounder and more devout mind, for praising Him and blessing His servant. In all these things therefore and the like, He is ever to be acknowledged and glorified, who would never permit evil, unless He were so powerful, that out of evil He could elicit good.

[32] In the monastery of Aquaviva of the Florensian Filiation near the land of ^b Cropani, at that time of great observance, now wholly destitute by the absence of Religious, there was a certain boy, under the tutelage of a Monk his uncle, for putting on religious morals. He was so direly seized by a demon, that not only was he judged by all delirious, but he vociferated, crying out that he beheld innumerable demons, and for avoiding their images covered his face with his hands; nor sparing anyone, he revealed the crimes of those standing by, saying, This one did this: that one this: pronouncing certain excesses. All therefore compassionating, and entreating for the same, the mercy of God was not wanting. For his uncle, sad beyond the rest, taught by the inspiration of the Spirit of the Lord, taking a little of the garment of Bl. Joachim, had before by a Florensian religious, most reverently washed it, A demoniac boy is freed through the merits of the blessed man. and gave the washing to be given to the little boy to drink. The washing being tasted therefore and the demon fleeing, the possessed one was given his pristine liberty. Whence joyfully all blessed the Lord, who had shown His mercy with him, receiving His boy freed from the hand of his enemies: so with the same uncle of his in thanksgiving he came to Fiore. But what wonder, if the garments of Joachim the demons abhorred, with which formerly clothing himself he had been a temple of the Holy Spirit, from whom all good things proceed? To Him therefore alone, the one God, honor and glory, with the Father and Son living unto the ages of ages. Amen.

[33] At that time so great a devotion of the ancients toward the man of God Joachim abounded, that not only from the world, but even the Princes of the Church flowed together to devotion to him. Among others the most Illustrious Archbishop of Cosenza ^c hastened thither for the sake of devotion: who when he had entered the monastery, prayer being there completed, since in a wondrous manner he compassionated the sick, asked to go to the infirmary. But the Infirmarian, while for the sustenance of the sick he was warming butter, and perceived the coming of so great and such a man, poured the boiling butter into a flask. Scarcely therefore the pouring being completed the vessel was seen to burst in a circle and open: for it could not endure the heat of the liquid. The Infirmarian therefore seeing, without hope of remedy so great a loss to be made, and the inconvenience of the sick to come about, in some way murmuring broke into such a voice: Holy Father Joachim, succor me, and do not permit, I pray, so great a loss to come about to the inconvenience of so many languishing ones. Nor delay: [A marvel which happened to the Florensian infirmarian at the invocation of the man of God.] Behold the butter, as if unmindful of its nature, stood still. That man therefore was astonished, that the liquid flowing of this kind at the simple invocation of the man of God had stopped: strengthened therefore in a more perfect devotion, he very often related the matter so wonderful, to the honor and glory of God, and to the memorable proclamation of His servant Joachim, in truth. But those who perceived, said in truth: Truly a servant of God was that man: for at his invocation by God's gift the qualities of things are changed, nor is he wanting to those invoking him.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER V.

The remaining marvels wrought at the invocation of Bl. Joachim and through the scraping of his sepulchre.

In the monastery of Sambucina there was a certain man, not in fact, but in name, Good (Bonus). A blasphemer is seized for his own and others' instruction. He being a secular, in a wondrous manner sharp in word, because he was skilled in the art of writing, for transcribing the glossation of the Apocalypse contained himself in the said monastery, in the time of Dom Bernard the Abbot, afterward Bishop of Gerace. When therefore by the same scribe it had come to that place, He who has ears to hear let him hear, what the Spirit says to the Churches; I know not by what inconsideration distracted, even three times he wrote out the same sentence: by which aberration indignant and moved with indignation, against the Author and the Author's glossator he uttered a blasphemy deservedly to be passed over in silence. But God thus disposing, vengeance not greatly delayed hastened: for the following night to the offender appeared a man venerable in hoary hair, and admirable in aspect, who first asked him, why he had offended: and not seeing the offender moved by penitence or any humiliation, delivered him to torturers: by whom he was not a little seized. The reward of his iniquity therefore being received in the night, found languishing in the morning, he exhibited no other condign amendment, except that in the same cell he would not remain.

[35] In the city of Cosenza there was a certain man by name Peter, who since he was a devout man and very conspicuous, from his wife by God's gift had a son. The little boy therefore, still tender and an infant, also by God's dispensation it happened to fall sick, so that for two days from the maternal breast he could not even sip milk: whence the parents, secure of his death, with pains and sobs, were continually pressed. But nevertheless God, the author of all the living, the bestower of peace and of all consolation, deigned to change their mourning and grief into joy, in such a manner. While Peter on a certain night lay in his bed, he suffered such a vision. For it seemed to him that he beheld St. John the Evangelist, St. Nicholas the Confessor, and Bl. Joachim in the midst between both: to whom Peter said: Well may you come, Lord Abbot, and whence? To whom Joachim: Do you then know me? But Peter: I know, because you are my Lord holy Abbot Joachim. But Joachim added: Do you also know these men, standing with me? But Peter said: No, Lord. Joachim said: This is the holy Evangelist John, and this St. Nicholas the Confessor: ask therefore them, and they will obtain for your only-begotten health. An infant nearly dead through the merits of the holy Father is recalled to life. Peter reverently answered: Both them, Lord, and you humbly I beseech, that you deign to obtain health for my only one. To whom Joachim: Your petition is done, he now recovers. For the rest the man believed, and immediately they disappearing, rising from his bed, he went to his wife, addressing her thus: Take the infant, and apply the breasts, that he may suck: for he is whole. To whom his wife: Truly I know that he will not suck my breasts forever. At length she obeyed the command of her husband: and behold it came about that the infant sucked the maternal breasts with such avidity, that he was never discerned to have had any sign of sickness. His parents therefore being astonished at so great a miracle, prayers being poured forth they praised the Lord. The father at length rising in the morning, about to narrate all things ran to the Archbishop of Cosenza. To him narrating all things in order, the Archbishop answered: What was the image of St. John, my son? And he: Elegant in face, and venerable in hoary hair. And the Archprelate again: And of St. Nicholas what do you say? But Peter: He was handsome, and a man of great stature. But those things which had been done in darkness and in secret, were proclaimed upon the housetops: from which all glorifying God, proclaimed Joachim truly His servant: who, mingled in the fellowship of the Saints, regarding the miseries of the devout, does not cease to render help.

[36] A certain Religious, Nicholas by name, in the monastery of St. John of Fiore, on account of his simplicity and the merit of poverty, was held of great merit in the minds of the rest. He therefore, gone out for transacting the affairs of the monastery, had approached a certain villa. But looking he [saw] in it fire, the reins broken, raving in such a way, that nothing else than the consumption of the villa itself could have been hoped for: for its inhabitants, destitute of all strength, wholly deprived of counsel and help, mingled in confusion, ran hither and thither. To the same Brother Nicholas therefore running up unexpectedly with great devotion they commended themselves, that he would pray for them, and the Lord would spare their sins, and also from His holy place would deign mercifully to free His people. Which indeed God almighty deigned to grant: for that Religious, clothed with the bowels of mercy and piety, and kindled with charity, collected in spirit, The fire of the villa is extinguished at the invocation of the man of God. silently in some way broke into such a voice: Holy Father Joachim, pray God for these. When behold scarcely the prayer being completed, the fire being extinguished, the flame is turned into smoke, and with the same smoke vanishes. The Monk therefore the miracle being seen is seized with stupor, and was afraid, and at that wonderful thing perpetrated trembled; and bearing ill their praises and thanksgivings, he took to a modest flight. For the rest since a marvel of this kind and the received benefit was most evident, it could not be hidden:

for the villagers everywhere and in every place proclaimed such things, although they wholly did not know to whose grace and intercession they had now been freed from the fire: but the Brother, who had made the invocation, knowing all things, by no means to himself, but to the holy and venerable Father Joachim ascribed the admirable grace.

[37] Since the exposition upon the Apocalypse, which Bl. Joachim the servant of God had published, truly and to the life unraveled the mysteries and sacraments shut up in it, all as many as could hastened from the cities for the sake of having it to be copied. For such a cause therefore, a certain man whose name was John, a scribe from the city of ^b Nicastro, betook himself to the monastery of Fiore. Ascending therefore the alps which they properly call Sila, ignorant of the right way, wandering by the asperity of the places, he began to be at a loss. And when now, on account of the inclemency of the season and the asperity of the mountains and woods, he began to be in peril (for in so great a crisis, the night following, no way of escaping lay open) recollecting better, turning himself to the Lord, A certain man wandering in peril of his life is led securely to his journey. he said: Succor and direct me, Lord God, by Your piety and the merits of the most blessed Father Joachim, to copy whose divine and most illustrious work I hasten. Prayers therefore being diffused and voices uttered, he began to depart: and as he knew not how, so likewise it is not known, like another Habakkuk, the mountains of Sila being surmounted, and put into the right way, secure, rejoicing, and quickly he came to Fiore; where in greater devotion and greater exultation he completed the work to which he had come: nor at any time unmindful of such great graces, did he cease to praise the name of the Lord, who through the merits of Bl. Joachim His servant sparing his life, had directed his feet into the way of prosperity and peace.

[38] God, the bestower of all good things, not only by expelling demons, by curing infirmities, by the obeisance of brutes and inanimate things on earth; but even in the waters deigned to show the sanctity of His servant: that, as the aery powers dreaded him, infirmities fled, animals obeyed; so the mute elements proclaimed him: as we have learned that even rivers, nay men in rivers, blessed God by perceiving His help through His servant Joachim. This indeed in the monastery of Calabro-Maria ^c, now of Altilia, showed a most evident marvel happening. In such a cloister therefore a certain Religious Cellarer, who had care of all things under the command of his Abbot, going out from the convent for transacting necessary things, came to cross the river Neto. For the rest when that river, descending from the alps in a sudden course, enclosed a multitude of waters, it showed itself impassable. Yet that Religious, taken by I know not what confidence, induced by madness, and deceived by audacity, although in some way he discerned the peril, A Monk at the invocation of the holy Father is rescued from the river. yet did not take care to avoid it. Having entered the river therefore, very few steps being made in it, straightway he came into the rapine of the waves and the swift current. As if therefore suffocated, and beginning to cry rather in mind than with voice, he said: Holy Father Joachim, succor me: have mercy on me: help me. To him confidently invoking the hand of the Lord did not delay to succor, and was not wanting to free him from so great a crisis. For forthwith from the whirlpool of waters and the rapine of the river he found himself restored unhurt to the shore; where on account of a matter so sudden and the fear conceived of sudden death, he doubted whether he was standing on the bank. Recognizing at length so great and so admirable a benefit of God, and bending his knees, from the depth of his breast he gave thanks to the almighty Lord, who freed him at the invocation of His servant, from the peril of so dire and near a death. In thanksgiving therefore returned to the monastery, in effusion of tears and compunction of heart he related to the Brothers benefits of this kind: all therefore alike praised together the Lord, who freed Peter sinking, Paul shipwrecked, and Brother Nicholas mercifully from the river.

[39] A certain man, of the Cosentine towns, in the time of summer about to cross the Sila, came to Fiore: and because he was entangled in the enmity of outlaws, about to ascend the ridges and those places, he stopped there, thinking if in some way he could meet the peril: for on account of imminent necessity he could not turn aside elsewhere: nay rather, as in the time of winter, on account of the abundance of snows; so in summer, on account of the multitude of outlaws formerly more than now, the Cosentine Sila is in a wondrous manner perilous to cross. It came therefore into that man's mind, that, for having security from his enemies, he should scrape off a stone of the sepulchre of Bl. Joachim, and carry it with him. The stone being taken, in great security of devotion he departed; and coming at length to the inner parts of the woods, he fell among the hostile robbers, whom he greatly dreaded: from whom, God helping, having suffered no damage or injury, [Security from robbers through the merits of the man of God is given to a traveler.] he escaped out of their hands. The devotion and confidence in the man of God Joachim therefore was increased in him: so that he himself with that same scraping, exhibited in a draught, cured the infirmities of many. The fame of the deed therefore being spread abroad, very many ran together that they might obtain the same utility from that scraping: so that up to the present day the whole sepulchre is seen scraped away. Where the abundance of the divine condescension is not to be sluggishly attended, which not only from the Relics of the servant of God, but from the scraping of the stone of his burial, granted the sick to be cured and the endangered to be succored.

[40] When in years not long past, I Brother Jacobus Graecus of Sila, although with unequal sufficiency and merits, administered the Office of the Priorate in the monastery of St. John of Fiore; there was a certain Religious Priest of the Order of the Dominicans still living, called Brother Andrew Mancusius, an inhabitant of the land of the said monastery of St. John, sprung from the town of Petrafitta, of about sixty years of age, and so approved by the merits of his life among his own, that he now discharged in the city of ^d Montalto the care of Novices in his Religion. This Priest, not only once but several times, confessed to me and others in truth, that in himself and in his own person he had received such a miracle. When he was still a youth, and a Tertiary ^e in the Convent of the city of ^f Belcastro, to the village then of Fiore, for the sake of seeing his own, he came. For the rest when Brother Andrew himself labored with a grave disease in his arm for many years, so that he had almost wholly lost its use, so that as a maimed man he wholly despaired of being promoted to Orders, and ascending further in his Religion to a higher grade; [A Dominican Religious is healed in modern times through the scraping of the sepulchre.] from the village entering the monastery of St. John, he came to salute the Religious. But the Monks lovingly received him; by whom being asked about his health, he answered them: My reverend Fathers, I am ill, on account of my arm now almost lost, nor for its help could I find any remedy. But the Prior of the same monastery of St. John, advanced in age and venerable in hoary hair, said: Why do you not commend yourself to Bl. Joachim? But he answering said: I commend myself to him: but what ought I to do? To whom the Prior, Come after me. Brother Andrew therefore following the Prior, the rest accompanying, came to the sepulchre of Bl. Joachim. Where the Prior, the Stole being taken and placed on himself, to Brother Andrew kneeling and sitting there offered some of the scraping of the said sepulchre, to be given in a draught with devotion, with the [g] Collect of Bl. Joachim. That scraping therefore being taken and tasted, God helping, he recovered from his infirmity; and thence promoted to the sacred Orders, and possessed of perpetual health of his arm, gave therefore innumerable thanks to God, as even now he does not cease to give. Which indeed great and admirable benefit, perpetrated in our time, I through the Notary Peter John de Oliverio, an inhabitant of the said land of St. John, on a probative ^h charter, to the glory of God and our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the memorable proclamation of Blessed Joachim, caused to be publicly noted down; the same Brother Andrew with his own mouth relating such things of himself, I also and all the Monks of the monastery of St. John standing by, and with the same Fr. Andrew subscribing such a marvel: and a notation of this kind, for the future memory of the matter, in the cupboard of the monastery, where the other writings of the Convent are kept, I procured with my own hands to be enclosed; that the sons, who shall be born and rise up, may narrate to their sons. For who will be so impious and obstinate, that, convicted by such and so great assertions, will not say? Blessed be God in His gifts, and holy in all His works: We will confess to Him doing His mercy with us, who looking down from the high dwelling of the heavens, made His servant and His holy one wonderful. To the King of the ages therefore immortal, invisible, the only God, honor and glory, unto the ages of ages. Amen.

[41] By no means is it to be thought, that God almighty did not grant more benefits to His faithful, and at his invocation did not effect other miracles than the commemorated ones, the patronage of His servant Joachim intervening. But the commemorated ones we have so collected, that from the relation of a few the multitude of the rest may be attended by pious and devout hearers. Why more marvels are not adduced. The recited ones too we have related not by our invention or fiction: for I call God to witness, the true one, one and three, the author of truth and worker of marvels; all the things which we have written (except the last, which we received from the mouth of Brother Andrew) from a manuscript little book, existing in the monastery of St. John of Fiore from the time of my monastic life in the same monastery, which was in the year of the Lord one thousand five hundred eighty-six, we have transcribed and noted down: nor of their substance to have added, diminished, or changed anything; only to have related it in other words, under the same oath to God we confess. Which little book both by antiquity and also by use was read with as it were a certain difficulty, nor was it marked by whose composition it had been written: but lest the marvels collected by the industry of the ancients should perish, in some way by a recent recitation they have been described. For the rest the visions and apparitions, which there and elsewhere were seen, to these by no means did I ⁱ take care to add: for those things only I strove to renew, which Prelates, Priests; religious, seculars; men, women; great and small experienced in themselves: but the rest both for the sake of brevity and clearness I strove to omit. And lest I seem to assert this gratuitously, A hymn composed by heavenly admonition concerning Bl. Joachim. adding an apparition befalling a certain Judge in the city of ^k Matera I will put an end. When a certain judge, by name Peter, was very eloquent, on a certain night he saw such a vision. There appeared to him two very wonderful men: of whom one said to him, Do you know me, and him who is with me? To whom Peter: Lord, none of you do I know. But the one appearing subjoined: I am the Apostle and Evangelist John, excellently depicted: and this is Joachim, the first Abbot of Fiore: gaze diligently on him, and as you better know with all effort depict him. But the Judge, I, Lord, am not a painter, nor have I been skilled in such an art. The Apostle at length: Go, and as you know

depict. These things being said they disappeared: the Judge therefore trembling at so great a vision, and not daring to despise the commands of so great and such a man, took counsel about this matter with prudent and holy men: from whom with one mouth he perceived, that he should not cease to compose a Hymn to be chanted in the church, in praise of the most blessed Abbot Joachim. With devotion therefore and no slight reverence he composed a Hymn, which opportunely and brilliantly began thus.

This Abbot of Fiore, by the heavenly grace of dew. etc. ^l

ANNOTATIONS.

APPENDIX

From Gregorio de Lauro, chapter 107 and last.

Joachim, Abbot and Institutor of the Florensian Order, in Calabria (B.)

[41] Although concerning the holy man Joachim some other things, it is established from the sworn attestation of the men of Celico, and indeed outstanding and admirable, the common folk proclaim in Calabria, asserting, that by the tradition of their elders such things have come down even to their own knowledge: yet because it is a condition of human frailty, in the tradition of things sometimes to alter the substance of truth; therefore deservedly we have thought such things should be passed over in silence … But that is not to be granted to silence, which from the attestation of the Reverend Rectors, Priests, and seculars of Celico, confirmed by an oath of authentic faith, we have lately received. For they relate and bear testimony in the word of truth, that when Joachim, then under age (having perhaps experienced the diversions of this world, which are wont to draw man away from spiritual exercises) had hidden in a certain place, hedged about on every side with trees, of a certain vineyard of Maurus his father, situated in the Celicensian field, of the capacity in seed of three mounds and a half, looking East and South, bordering the river Iovino otherwise Cannavino; from that stone on which the boy Joachim had bent his knees praying, and lying upon a great and hard stone, there placed by nature in a sloping place, he had been wont to pour forth no slight prayers to God from his heart; that that stone, from the same place, on which the under-age Joachim had lain, continually produced a Flower, of such great virtue, that, applied with devotion and faith, to any infirmities and wounds, it forthwith rendered to all the desired health. But when a certain Celicensian woman, called Pacifica Ferrara, about the year of the Lord's Nativity one thousand five hundred, had an ass laboring with an evil ulcer, for whose recovery she had tried all natural remedies in vain (seeking perhaps the safety of its soul rather than her own, as in like cases the experiment of human condition proves) she applied the wondrous flower to the ulcerous beast. that the salutiferous flower being born ceased, when it was applied to the ass, The ass indeed recovered from the ulcer; but because a holy thing was applied to a brute animal, not only did the flower lose its virtue (as something similar concerning the water of St. Barnabas, otherwise St. Eustorgius, Morigia relates) but even wholly perished. But from the same place, whence the flower arose, a certain humor, like gum or incense, is born; which place, up to the present day, is visited by a frequent assembly of the faithful, and is held in great veneration.

[42] The place of Paolo Morigia, indicated by Gregorio, is found in his little work whose title is, as the fountain of St. Eustorgius at Milan, History of the origin of all the Religious Orders, where chapter 51, book 1, treats of the Apostolic Brothers, or of the Apostles; who were from their first institution laymen up to the year MCCCCLXXXIV, when Innocent VIII permitted them, endowed with a certain habit and bound to the Augustinian Rule, even to ascend to the sacred Orders, and they seem to have received that name, because they professed to live in common, according to the Apostolic Rule of the primitive Christians; of whom no one (as it is said, Acts IV) said that anything of those things which he possessed was his own, but all things were common to them. But it pleased Morigia to carry up their unknown origin even to St. Barnabas, who is believed first to have preached the Gospel at Milan; and concerning the cure of a leprous dog he said all in the same words, but Italian, from a like cause it is said to have lost its virtue. which Gregorio in Latin concerning the healing of the sick ass; in this alone differing, that the Celicensian flower ceased to be reborn; but the Eustorgian fountain (for so it is commonly called, not of St. Barnabas) flows even today, and is religiously drunk by the faithful. Meanwhile as the Celicensian Flower was without doubt a presage, divinely given, of the founding by Joachim of the Florensian Order; so its destruction at that very time, at which the Archmonastery of the same Order began to be given in Commenda, foresignified its total abolition, thence to follow. I omit other considerations, which from this everyone will be able to form, that the grace flowing from that flower, to be transferred from men to curing an ass, God was seen to disapprove.

HISTORICAL DISQUISITION

On the Florensian Order, the Prophecies, the Doctrine of Bl. Joachim.

Joachim, Abbot and Institutor of the Florensian Order, in Calabria (B.)

BY THE AUTHOR D. P.

§. I. The institution, increases, desolation of the Order.

[1] As many institutes of religious Orders, for the ornament and support of the Church militant, as divine Providence has introduced, to these, as future gymnasiums of outstanding holiness, it is always known to have given a beginning through men of most attested and most approved virtue; As to the other Orders holy Founders, and illustrated by such great prodigies in life and death, that deservedly the universal Church holds them placed in the number of the Saints and venerates them. And so the sanctity of Abbot Joachim, if we could prove it by no other argument, than that he was the Institutor of the Florensian Order, most flourishing in all Calabria for fully three hundred years and approved by the authority of the Apostolic See; even this alone would suffice to persuade, that not so far from that universal order of His providence did God most good and great deflect in this one work of His; that, what some persuaded themselves, He chose not a man wholly holy, but a sower of heretical pravity and an impostor celebrated for fabricating prophecies, to found it. And we indeed will dissolve both calumnies, so also to the Florensian one God gave Joachim: God granting, below: but here we say, that the premised thesis would also have place, although Joachim had been the author of a discipline not very severe. But now, since rather by his own example than by precept, he instituted his own to so great an austerity of religious life, that the Cistercian Order, recently entered the second century from its rise, and still persisting in the lively observance of the Rule, seemed laxer compared with the Florensian; it is wicked to doubt, but that a plantation of this kind, as it was necessarily from God, so also had a cultivator, most dear to God for the merit of rare virtue.

[2] who in solitude chose a cell for himself, Namely Joachim wholly absolved from the administration of the monastery of Curatio by Pontifical indulgence, while he seeks a secret and fit place for sacred contemplations and learned commentations with his companion Rainerius, found it near Cosenza, among the mountains called of Sila: and there having undertaken to build a little cell and oratory for himself, he established his seat, in the year (as Gregorio de Lauro writes, and from ancient documents it becomes probable) MCLXXXIX, on the XVIII day of the month of July, Indiction VI. But here not for a long time could the Saint stay thus in the company of a very few Brothers, but that the lamp, not knowing how to be hidden under a bushel, even from the horror of that solitude diffused its rays little by little; and by their splendor allured, again and again others and others, to hold with him the same institute of eremitic life, he provoked. So little by little a new cloister rose in that place, which was called of Fiore, near the oratory first established there by Joachim, and dedicated to St. John the Evangelist. Opportune supports of life to be led there, which failing, perpetuity could not be hoped for the place, to which, others being aggregated, the Order was born: both very many others conferred, whose names Jacobus Graecus arranged before the prelude of his work, and chiefly the Emperor Henry, King of his name the VI, a chief favorer and esteemer of Joachim. To him however it was not so much a care that he should procure temporal possessions for his own, as that he should form all most holily with institutes, whom the Lord aggregated there as followers of the new discipline. That therefore they might be solidified on the rock of Apostolic firmness, he sought the grace of Celestine III, and obtained it expressed by the tenor of the following Brief.

[3] Celestine Bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved sons, to whom Celestine 3 approved his written constitutions, Joachim the Abbot and the Convent of

Fiore, greeting and Apostolic benediction. When you were constituted in our presence, son Abbot, you set forth to us by your relations, that you had made certain Constitutions, concerning the life of your monks and of the monasteries subject to your cloister, and concerning the things to be possessed by the Brothers themselves, and their number; which, that in the same monasteries and by the Brothers themselves they be observed, you with instance requested to be confirmed by us. We therefore, inclined by your prayers, confirm the aforesaid Constitutions, as they were providently made by you, by Apostolic authority, and fortify them with the patronage of the present writing; firmly inhibiting, lest the form of those Constitutions in the aforesaid monasteries be enervated by the temerity of anyone. To no one therefore etc. Given at Rome, on the VIII Kalends of September in the sixth year of our Pontificate, which was of Christ MCXCVI. But three monasteries had thus far been founded by Joachim (besides his own chief Florensian one and the head of the rest) which are named below in the diploma of the Empress Constance: but what form of Constitutions was prescribed to these, the calamity of the last centuries, That these are now lost we vainly lament. also to be mentioned below, made to be unknown: so that Jacobus Graecus, Section 46, professes, that he greatly labored in seeking them; and at length scarcely could find some specimen of them, concerning the order of the divine Office differing from the common one of the Cistercians, which Gregorio too, page 337, inserted in his book.

[4] He relates here indeed that it was told him by Constantino Gaetano, that they are found in the Vatican library: but if anything else were found there, than what Graecus indicates Section 20, or if those could be taken for Constitutions, Lucas Holstenius, while he lived the chief Custodian of that Library, and likewise most studious of unearthing monuments of this kind, would not have omitted to insert them in part 2 of the Codex of Rules, collected by him and put in print, and at length after the death of the Collector published. And so this one thing we can say, concerning the form of life instituted by Bl. Joachim, that Gregory IX in the year MCCXXVII, prohibiting those departing from the Florensians to be received by the Cistercians, says their religion is sufficiently strict. The same Gregory, describing in the Bull of the Canonization of St. Dominic the armies enlisted of the divine warfare, Gregory 9 praises the Florensian Order. introduces the first chariot-team of Martyrs and Confessors, the second of Monks under the Institute of St. Benedict, after whom, he says, as if about to repair the fallen army, God, and to render jubilation after lamentation, white horses being applied to the third chariot-team, the Brothers of the Cistercian and Florensian Order, like twin flocks of shorn sheep, fruitful with the offspring of charity, made to ascend from the laver of penitence; St. Bernard, the ram of the sheep, in the virtue of the spirit, with which he was clothed from on high, and in the abundance of the corn of the valleys, going before: that those passing through, freed by him, in fortitude may cry to the Lord, say a hymn, and set the camps of the God of armies upon the sea.

[5] From these two the Florensian Order, younger than the Cistercian, nay a certain offshoot of it, took such great increases through Italy and chiefly Calabria; that Gregorio de Lauro, after he had reckoned thirty-five of its monasteries, believes that he attained by investigation the least part of them. But all venerated as Generals of the Order the Abbots of the monastery of Fiore, of whom this, from the same Gregorio, page 349, following Graecus, is the series. After Bl. Joachim presided Matthew, up to the year of the Lord MCCXXXIV, in which he was assumed to the see of Gerace, thence Sannes, then Orlandus, in the year MCCLIX mentioned, to Orlandus Bernard, The succession of the Abbots of the monastery of Fiore, to him Gerard, and then William succeeded; of uncertain time except the last, of whom there is memory at the year MCCXC. After William there exist monuments concerning Nicholas the Abbot, at the year MCCCXV; and concerning another William, removed from office, and Marinus, at the year MCCCXXXI. But in the year MCCCXXXVIII, John; in the year LVI of the same century, Peter; in the year LXXI, another John; in XCII, Nicholas likewise the second of this name, are found to have held the Prelacy. To Nicholas II taken from the living, in the year MCCCCVI, immediately to have succeeded Jerome (who at the year MCCCCLI is named in the summary book of the Royal chamber of executorials 8, page 7) I would not dare to assert: much less, if he had so long-lasting a magistracy, that he himself survived up to the Pontificate of Calixtus IV: by whom, presiding from the year LV to LVIII of the same century, the Florensian church, to the honor of the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mother of God, and St. John the Evangelist, was consecrated, Gregorio is author, page 339.

[6] Yet there flourished, as even hence is established, then still notably the Florensian Order, and chiefly the monastery, to which the Pontiff himself had such great honor, great Indulgences being added, for the sake of those visiting the church consecrated by him: which church too its first founder Joachim had enriched, with a great treasure of Relics, obtained from the Empress Constance, as is established from her epistle to the same, in these words. I send the Reverend Dom Cherubinus, my companion, that your Majesty may deliver to him those Relics, The Relics obtained for it from the Empress Constance through Joachim. which she promised me: for she will furnish present help to me and my family, that by our prayers though unworthy we may commend the safety of your Majesty, which I most humbly revere. From the Florensian monastery, on the Kalends of June. A part of these Relics is now said to be possessed by the most Illustrious Don Giovanni Bescara of Diano, Duke of Saracena, in his own domestic sanctuary of outstanding structure: for the remaining part another great and ample reliquary was built by Don Emmanuel Pelusius; six years ago, when Gregorio wrote, Claustral Abbot, to whom the chief praise of the Florensian church restored and adorned is owed.

[7] For, after the aforenamed Jerome, only four are read to have sat as Abbots elected from the Monks themselves, Commendatory Abbots introduced in the year 1470: Charles, Hippolytus, John III, and Evangelista; on whom about the year MCCCCLXX being taken from this light there pressed upon the Florensians, as well as the other monasteries through Italy, the year of their visitation, foretold by Joachim: and they being given in Commenda to Louis de S. Angelo, became consequently a prey to those, by whom the place so long sacred was reduced almost to nothing. Of these Salvator Rota was one, under whose violence the Monks groaning, when they could no longer bear the iron yoke; deserted for the greater part their station, led by Don Francesco de Notarioanne; the dispersed monks erect the monastery of Succursus: and a fit place being found near the village of the Discalced, they constructed a monastery, which is now called St. Mary of Succursus: whose history, and the holy Life of Francesco himself, written in heroic verse by a Monk of that age, Gregorio exhibits, page 340, and we from the MS. of Abbot Ughelli could give a more correct one, if the title of Blessed given there to Francesco were confirmed by public cult.

[8] Yet to Salvator Rota, afterward perhaps returned to a sounder mind, Salvator Rota restores the church: and striving in some way to repair the damages brought by himself and his predecessors, a title of this kind is read placed: Salvator Rota, a Neapolitan Patrician, Abbot of Fiore, restored the collapsed basilica, adorned it with images and sacred furniture, and increased the revenues twofold, added a village and dominion, in the year of the Lord MDXXXVI. Meanwhile the Florensian Monks, that in some way they might protect themselves, to the rock whence they were hewn, the Cistercian Order, I say, seem to have come; whose care of being chiefly reformed and restored in Italy undertaking, Cardinal Jerome de Clairvaux, under Pope Pius V, issued a Sanction in the year MDLXX, which exists in Graecus, section 49. The Florensians united to the Cistercians in the year 1570 Whether from this any remedy accrued to the evils of the Florensians, we know not: for to the piety of the Prelates of the church distinguished, Cardinal Giulio Santorio, called of Santa Severina, and his successor in the Archbishopric of Santa Severina, and at the same time his nephew on the sister's side, Alfonso Pisani, who after Rota bore the title of Abbot, rather we judge it must be attributed, that the place did not wholly perish; but at length returned to claustral Abbots, after the decree of the monasteries of Calabria and Lucania to be united. This decree was made in the year MDCV in the General Chapter of Cîteaux, under the form expressed in Graecus, section 50; and began to be committed to execution the following year, through the Reverend Dom Roger de Gesus, Prior of Ferraria; but it was perfectly completed in the year MDCXXXIII, by virtue of Apostolic letters, in the Chapter which, Gregorio says, page 161, was celebrated in the aforesaid monastery of St. Mary of Succursus. From that time, on the day of St. John the Baptist, in the year 1633 they receive Regular Abbots. the Claustral Abbot, after the solemnities of the Masses, cites the Prelates of the Abbeys subject to him, and receives their obedience by the title of filiation: which only twelve monasteries now seem to survive that can acknowledge it, as far as we gather from the MSS. of Giusto Buffolato, Vicar General, which Gregorio saw and cites, page 161.

§. II. The state of the temporal matter in the monastery of Fiore under Abbot Joachim.

[9] This was the fortune of the Florensian cloister and of the Order depending on it: The Empress Constance in the year 1198 whose first amplitude it will be permitted to measure from the diploma of the Empress Constance, which exists thus in Gregorio de Lauro, chapter 45. In the name of the holy and undivided Trinity. Amen. Constance, by the favoring divine clemency, Empress of the Romans ever Augusta and Queen of Sicily. Since all works of humanity, which are borne in view of piety, have a stable confirmation with God; that especially merits eternal riches, which we impart to religious places and the poor of Christ. Hence it is, that at your petition, Venerable Abbot Joachim, having benign respect; for the remedy of the souls of the Lord our father, confirms the possessions given to the monastery by Henry 6, the most famous King Roger of divine record, and the Lady Beatrice the most Illustrious Queen our mother, and also for our safety, and that of our most beloved son Frederick, the glorious King of Sicily; we confirm in perpetuity, to you and your successors and to the monastery also the liberties, which were made to you and to the same monastery of yours, by the Lord Henry, the most glorious Emperor of the Romans ever Augustus and King of Sicily, our most dear late husband. We grant and give to you and your successors, in the aforesaid monastery of yours of Fiore, the laborable lands, waters and woods, adjacent to the same monastery, from the ford of the river Neto, which is below the castle of Sclavi, as that road goes toward the south, by the Stone of Charlemagne, and by Serraricum, up to the ford of Sabutus; defining its bounds, and from that ford toward the rising of that river up to the channel of Ampulinus; and the same river descends up to that place, where it is mingled with the river Neto; and the boundary ascends through the channel of the same river Neto, and goes beyond the river through the bounds of the monastery of the three Boys, and the monastery of Abbot Marcus, up to the road which comes from the city of Cerenzia, and goes through Portium: which road namely remains on the confine on the side of the North, up to the place which is called Frassinetum: and thence the boundary returns to the channel of the river Neto, and the same channel ascends up to the ford which is below

the castle of Sclavi, and closes with the prior bound.

[10] We grant moreover and confirm, to you and to the aforesaid monastery of yours of Fiore, and immunities; the holding of Fluca, situated in the maritime part of Calabria, and free pastures for the sheep of the folds of the aforenamed monastery of Fiore, and of any other animals whatever, which it pleases to send there: prohibiting, that no one in the same holding inflict on you any trouble, or there bring in his own or other men's animals, or in any way to the shepherds or the animals, which under their care shall be there, presume to do damage or injury. Moreover we grant to you and to the often-mentioned monastery of Fiore, throughout all Calabria, free pastures, for the animals of your church, without grass-toll and acorn-toll: permitting that it be lawful for the Brothers of your monastery freely to take salt through the salt-pans of Calabria, also to buy and sell without any exaction, and to pass freely by land and sea; the street-toll and passage-toll being remitted to you everywhere through the land of our Domain. To this we grant and confirm to you and your monastery fifty Byzantine gold pieces, to be received each year without any diminution from the salt-pan of the Neto, either before the feast of St. John the Baptist or on that festival itself. And that often-mentioned monastery of Fiore, and the monasteries which you have newly founded in the place which was formerly called Calosuber, and to these he adds a census of 50 Byzantines: but now Bonumlignum, and in the place which is called Tassitanum, and the monastery of Abbot Marcus (which themselves too are known to pertain to your care, Prelates being constituted there by you) and if it happen that you or your Brothers build any other in future, the Lord bestowing it, with all their possessions and goods, your Brothers, men, and places, we receive under our special protection and defense: confirming to you the things hitherto acquired, and hereafter to be acquired by just title; and prohibiting rash assault upon you, and upon your men, and possessions, and things … Given in the city of Messina, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation MCXCVIII, in the month of January, of the first Indiction …

[11] Thus Constance: moved by which Frederick II, in the year MCCVI, her son Frederick acknowledges and fosters the paternal foundation, confirmed and renewed all the aforesaid things, by a diploma signed at Palermo. But what he did almost a boy, he repeated when older by another diploma, signed at Brindisi about the year of Christ MCCXXII, but the first of his Empire. And again he granted by a special decree exemption from the power of the secular court, in the camp at the siege of Genoa, on the XVIII of August, of the X Indiction, namely of the year MCCXXXVII, when chiefly with victorious arms he was pressing Lombardy and Liguria. But as in this he attests, that his parents, of pious record the Augusti, founded the monastery of Fiore by a pious and liberal donation, and therefore he wishes to pursue the paternal work with a singular prerogative of grace: so also in the first diploma he says, that the venerable monastery of Fiore is so much the more ardently bound to love, and to enlarge with condign benefits, the more benignly and devoutly the Lord most Serene Emperor his father, and the Lady most glorious Empress his mother, and Frederick's wife Constance adds a new estate. of the most happy late Augusti, with a most pure heart studied to construct that monastery in view of God, and to endow it with the goods which it possesses. But the wife of the same Frederick also, Constance, sister of the King of Castile, in no part inferior to her husband in this, by an instrument drawn up at Messina in the year MCCXV, both confirmed all the other things to the Florensian monastery, and granted to the same a grange, which she had in a holding near the village of Verdo, in the place which is called Albe; with a mill on the river of the Hare, lands, vineyards, and trees, which she held in the holding of the aforesaid city, as in Graecus, Section 40, is to be seen.

[12] A suit moved by the Abbot of the three Boys But such great increases of the temporal matter, straightway from their rise excited envy, especially of the neighbors, through whose bounds the Imperial liberality had described the dowry assigned to the monastery. Therefore Isaias, Abbot of the monastery of the holy Three Boys, which, distant one mile from Caccuri, and five miles from the monastery of Fiore, the Greek monks of the Basilian Order then held, moved a controversy against Joachim concerning the bounds before the Empress, residing at Rocca Nicephori, in the year MCXCV. This suit being decided in favor of Joachim (for he alone produced documents of legitimate possession, the adversaries adducing nothing on the contrary) and the same then seeming wholly lulled, because to Abbot Isaias and his Brothers, (as Luke of Cosenza afterward inserted into the instrument of composition) the Saint had granted, for the good of peace, which befits religious men, at the prayers and counsels of upright men, that they should have their sheepfolds in Misocampus and Vulturnus; and likewise cows, beasts of burden, and swine in Fraxinitra, under an annual census of four gold solidi; only that they should let the monastery of Fiore hold in peace Calosuber and Faroclovium, and all the lands which Joachim had opened up near those holdings, and decided by the Empress, with all the right of plantation and building, which they believed they had in them: for which Joachim had exchanged with them the obedience, which is called of St. Martin of the Neto, with its bounds and possessions, under a census of two gold solidi. These things, I say, when they were thus transacted and composed, a monastery of the Florensian order was founded at Calosuber, and the first colony led there. To this there was peace from the neighbors so long as Constance was in this life: but she being taken from the midst on the V Kalends of December of the year MCXCVIII, the Greek Monks, demanded for the census of three years not rendered, not only did not pay it, but bearing with them many arms, made an assault, and invaded the Brothers who guarded the sheep of the Florensian church; and some indeed they struck, others they despoiled. Then for some days gathered in greater number with a multitude of armed men, they invaded the suffragan monastery of it which is called of Bonumlignum, dragging the Monks thence violently, it is revived by the violence of the adversaries: destroying the workshops and the oratory of that monastery, and plundering the goods which were found there. And when Abbot Joachim and his Brothers laid down a complaint, the Justiciars of Cosenza wrote to the Greeks, that they should come to do justice; and prohibited them, under penalty of a hundred ounces of gold, lest for the rest they presume to invade the holdings of the church of the monastery of Fiore. But they neither came to do justice, nor ceased from the invasion.

[13] Besides, like letters were sent to them by Count Raynerius Marchi Forte, at the said time Captain of Calabria, and at last by the Lord Legate: and nonetheless they despised them: nay rather, leading with them many armed men through the holdings of the monastery, they inflicted many violences and troubles on the Brothers, relying on the counsel and help of certain men of Caccuri, who themselves too had presumed to invade the holdings of the church and the lands, against the prohibition and the King's command. these not ceasing from the invasion But Joachim persevering in seeking justice from Bartholomew, Archbishop of Palermo, and the same a familiar of King Frederick or chief Minister of State, concerning the invasions and damages, which his church suffered; letters were consigned, on the part of the King commanding, lest the Archbishop himself leave so many excesses unpunished, but do justice to those who suffered injury, nor appearing to plead the cause, according as the law dictated and reason demanded. But the Abbot of the monastery of the three Boys being summoned, and bidden to come or send to the aforesaid Archbishop at St. Maurus, that in his presence the cause might be defined, neither would send, nor came himself.

[14] The Archbishop therefore, letters being given at Coriolano on the XXV of May, of the year MCXCIX, commanded the Lord Bon-homo, the Archbishop of Palermo orders Archbishop of Cosenza, the Lord Richard, Abbot of St. Euphemia; the Lord Simeon de Mamistra, Captain and Master Constable and Justiciar of the Val di Crati, the Val di Signo, and the Val di Lainо; the Lord William de Bisignano, the Lord Roger son of Joel, the Lord Alexander son of William, Royal Justiciars; that the letters of the Archbishop of Capua being read, sent to the Archbishop of Palermo in favor of Joachim (which Archbishop of Capua had more fully known the root of the controversy between the monastery of Fiore and the monastery of the three Boys, which decided in the Curia of the Lady Empress the Monks of the holy three Boys had presumed to resume after her death) and the truth being inquired about all things, the cause to be known from the letters of the Bishop of Capua, both concerning the contempt of the Royal and Archiepiscopal command, and concerning the violence and damages inflicted, they should take care to exhibit fullness of justice to the venerable Abbot Joachim; possession being first given of the things and possessions, of which either the Monks themselves or the men of Caccuri presumed to dispossess the monastery of Fiore: nonetheless causing justice to be done, both concerning those who making an assault wasted the monastery of Bonumlignum, and concerning the rest who invaded the lands and holdings of the church, and concerning those who going armed through the holdings of the church inflicted damages and contumelies on the Brothers. But if they were still contumacious, they should take so much of their goods, and justice to be done to Bl. Joachim, as would worthily suffice for the restoration of the damage and expenses, which the Abbot Joachim himself, by seeking and awaiting justice, they delaying, should be proved to have made: for the rest they should make the monastery of Fiore itself and its Brothers, from the invasion of the aforesaid Monks of the holy three Boys and the men of Caccuri, remain in peace.

[15] These letters being read, and the commendatory epistle of the supreme Pontiff being attended, as was done by a provisional sentence in the year 1199. for the monastery of Fiore directed to the Archbishop of Cosenza; and also the letters of Matthew, Archbishop of Capua, setting forth what had been done and judged under the Empress; the aforesaid Judges granted possession to Joachim and his own, and peremptorily cited the Greek Abbot; meanwhile a provisional sentence being passed as upon one so many times before contumacious, in the year above mentioned, in the month of June of the second Indiction: all which can be read entire in Gregorio de Lauro, chapter 46. But what was further decreed against the Greeks, Gregorio confesses to be unknown to him: but Ughelli, volume 7 of the Italia sacra, treating of Luke, Archbishop of Cosenza, produces an instrument of friendly composition made by his authority, between Matthew of Fiore and Hilary, elected Abbot of the monastery of the three Boys, which signed in the XII year of the aforesaid Luke, but of Christ MCCXV, Honorius III in the year MCCXVIII inserted into his confirmatory Bull. A concord is entered upon; But Gregorio adds, that the aforesaid Abbey of the Greeks at length too was subjected to the Florensian cloister: for it was numbered among its Daughters under the title of St. Mary de Nova the seventh, when Giusto Buffolato, sent by the Cardinal de Clairvaux, Visitor of the Cistercian monasteries through Lucania, Calabria, and Sicily, came there; as he himself in his MSS., cited by the aforesaid Gregorio, page 161, left consigned.

[16] Furthermore the insolence of the Greek Monks being restrained in that manner, Joachim brought forth the fruit of his patience, a fourth monastery of his Order being founded; to which what estate was attributed, and how the Florensian monastery itself was immediately subject to the Apostolic See, is plain from

the following instrument of Cardinal Cencio the Legate; perhaps of him, of whom in the controversy noted above mention is also made, which in Graecus, Section 39, is read under this tenor:

Cencio, by the grace of God Cardinal Priest of St. Lawrence in Lucina, Legate of the Apostolic See, to his beloved in Christ Brother Joachim, Abbot of Fiore, and his successors in perpetuity. The vows of pious consideration, which are known to proceed from hearts divinely inspired, are so much the more gladly to be admitted by the Holy Roman Church, a place in Albanetum is given to the new monastery the more all, who for the salvation of their souls propose anything good, lest in completing it they suffer any obstacle, have learned to have refuge to it, as to a singular safeguard. Hence it is, beloved in Christ Brother, that, when in the kingdom of Sicily by the command of the supreme Pontiff we were discharging a Legation, and going into Sicily had a passage through Calabria, the beloved son Unfredus Culinus, coming to our presence, offered into our hands of the holy Roman Church a certain estate, in the place which is called Albanetum; but from the neighboring fountain of the river by the general name Caput-gratis; asking that in the same place there should be built by our license a monastery, by you or by your successors, according to the statutes of your Order, which should be subject to no one, but to the Roman Pontiff; and, as far as pertains to the statutes of your Order, only to you and your successors.

[17] [and, like the rest of the Order, it is declared to be immediately subject to the Pope,] But we attending to the devotion of the offerer and the prayers of the illustrious man Simeon de Mamistra, Royal Master Justiciar of Calabria, who desiring to be made partaker of the same pious work, promised himself to be helper and cooperator; that estate to be ordered into a monastery according to the statutes of your Order, into its and the Holy Roman Church's property gladly received, according as into its property the monastery of Fiore is established to have been received; giving you in the stead of the supreme Pontiff, whose Legation we discharge, free power of building in the aforesaid place an Abbey to the honor of God, according to the statutes of the Order, and that form or liberty, which to you and your successors and to your house of Fiore by the Roman Pontiff is established to have been granted. Yet so, that if it shall seem more fitting to you in your neighboring place, which is called Caput-album, to take the place of that monastery, on account of the abundance of waters which is there; let it be lawful for you and your successors in one of the two aforesaid places under the same liberty to found, as has been said, that monastery; another cloister in the Grange of St. Martin and to constitute there Brothers and an Abbot according to the statutes of your Order, the contradiction and contrariety of all men removed. But the Abbot instituted there, let him receive the office of benediction from some Catholic Bishop, whom he shall prefer, who may impart the office by Apostolic authority, which is sought. But that this our concession may remain firm in perpetuity to you and your successors unimpaired, we have commanded a fuller Privilege thereof to be made for you, corroborated by our seal and authority. In the year of the Lord's incarnation one thousand two hundred, in the month of March, of the third indiction, but of the Pontificate of the Lord Innocent the third Pope the third year.

[18] At length in the place, called the Grange of St. Martin de Jove otherwise de Canali, which distant by four thousand paces from the city of Cosenza, and near the town of the cold river: but by a single mile from the castle of Petrafitta, Joachim had obtained from Andrew the Archbishop in the year MCCI, with his own expenses he constructed a monastery: in which, while perchance he attended to its completion, he also met the last day of his life, and for some time buried rested: and in the same year and the ninth month before his death, he received from the hand of the aforesaid Simeon de Mamistra a notable dowry, a monastery being founded near the land of Fiumefreddo, which is of the diocese of Tropea, which afterward bore the name of Fonte Laurato, as is plain from the Instrument, which in the Preliminary Commentary, number 13, we have alleged; monasteries of nuns; in which, placed verbatim in Gregorio, one may read severally the bounds of the possessions attributed to the same foundation, and the other rights and privileges, which here for the sake of brevity we pass over: content to have noted also that various cloisters of Nuns lived and flourished under the Florensian Rule: of which, those which he could know Gregorio named, chapter 38, and among these he numbers the monastery of St. Helena, in the extremity of the territory of the city of Scala near the city of Amalfi: which from the time of the Abbot Joachim himself to have existed attests, in Gregorio's judgment, a man most skilled in the antiquities of his country, The Florensians grow in Calabria to the envy of the Cistercians. the Lord Abbot Giovanni Battista de Afflitto, a Patrician of Scala. To these it is altogether worthy of observation, that the Cistercian Order, after it had penetrated into the interior of Italy, in the space of seventy years was increased there to almost sixty monasteries (as from the ancient chronological table of Foundations, drawn up to the year MCLXXXVIIII, and its Supplement, it is easy to compute) but from the time the Florensian Order began to flourish, it scarcely acquired one or another in the whole kingdom of Naples and both Calabrias; while elsewhere very many were erected each year.

§. III. What books, when, and with what spirit Abbot Joachim wrote.

[19] That Joachim was Abbot of Curatio, before he laid the foundations of the Florensian Order, Joachim, the monastery of Curatio being founded in the year 1173 Luke of Cosenza and Jacobus Graecus relating, we have already learned. But although it is unknown, at what time he began to bear that Prelacy: yet it is credible, that its beginnings did not much precede the end of the year MCLXXVIII, in which at his supplication William, King of Sicily, wrote an epistle in the month of December, produced in the Life, number 10: since the monastery of Curatio itself (in which it is not credible that, before three years of religious conversation were completed, Joachim was Abbot) only in the fourth year before this, the LXXIII of the century, was either first built, or informed with the Cistercian Rule, as is established from the most ancient chronology of Cistercian Foundations, which we have alleged several times in the Life, as that Chronology, ceasing to be written in the year MCLXXXVIII, from a very old MS. of the monastery of Dunes, at the end of the Cistercian Library, Charles de Visch, there Prior, published. Nor indeed does the Bull of Michael, Bishop of Marturano, stand in the way, by which, according to the privileges of the Cistercian Order, granted by the Roman Pontiffs, he emancipates the Abbey of Curatio from his and his successors' jurisdiction, which Bull Graecus, number 11, published, as given in the year one thousand one hundred seventy: for there must be added, seventh (which by the heedlessness of the copyist fell out) that with the tenth Indiction the year may agree. And this rather ought Ughelli to have done, volume 9 of the Italia sacra, column 361, transcribing the Bull from Graecus, as he prefaces; than by his own authority to substitute for the tenth Indiction the third. But because no name of an Abbot is expressed in that Bull, we dare not affirm with Graecus, that it was issued in favor of Joachim then already Abbot: and this we would still much less prove, if it were more established to us, what Graecus says, that Joachim was born in the year MCXLV, and so in the year MCLXXVII was only in the XXXII year of his age. But because in that monastery where so recent was the profession of the Cistercian discipline, it was difficult to have men either there or elsewhere long exercised in the same Rule (for who, where the mother is a young girl, should require old sons? as to the Emperor Charles V admiring the youth of most of the Companions of Jesus answered Bl. Francis Borgia, and in 1177 emancipated from the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Marturano, rendering him the reason of his entrance into the Society, and refuting the objections) on this, I say, account we should not at all wonder, if, the Abbot Columbanus, who had led the colony to Fossanova, dying after the first three years of his rule, Joachim, however young in age or profession, was elected Abbot by those, to whom amid these beginnings there could be no great choice of men fit for governing, much less of seniors in the Order.

[20] [whether under Alexander 3 he wrote anything against the Master of the Sentences is doubted.] Whatever of it be, Joachim elected by common votes to the rule of the monastery, not only prudently and diligently provided for its temporal and spiritual necessities: but moreover either made or found time, which he might not unfruitfully expend in diligently meditating the sacred Scriptures; as his commentations thence following, so many, so profound, brilliantly proved. That at the same time in the days of Pope Alexander, he wrote something against Master Peter Lombard, namely a little book on the unity or essence of the Trinity, affirms Matthew Paris, only half a century younger than Joachim; Gregorio de Lauro denies. This is established, that that Little book, as it bore the name of the author Joachim, so was condemned in the Lateran Council. But when and whether it was really published by him (although this be a question of pure fact, and perhaps by no means agitated in the Council) I forbear to discuss: one thing I say, and as I hope I will clearly prove, that Joachim, if carried away younger by the heat of disputation, felt or was deservedly seen to have felt such things as the Council condemns; wholly retracted all in the Psaltery, if he did it he retracted it in the Psaltery, no longer a little book, but a regular work of three (as he himself calls them) volumes or books. Concerning this and other works of the holy Abbot still extant today before I speak; it seems to us must be explained, how about the year (as I said above) MCLXXXIX, freed by the authority of the Pope from the rule of the aforesaid monastery, out of obedience he transferred himself wholly to those sacred lucubrations; and with what spirit in them he was directed.

[21] First it is plain from the Protestation inserted in the Life, number 221, where he said that by the command of the Lord Pope Lucius and the Lord Pope Urban he had written some things, of which he then enumerates the chief. To the same makes also the Epistle, which he directed to John Kala, on account of the virtue of humility shining in it, worthy that it be entirely transcribed here: but it is such. Devoutly and holily, O man, whom the Lord called and segregated, by a special and gratuitous grace handed down from above, from the assembly of the malignant. I have received from your letters; that you greatly long to leave the Castle, which you first chose on the day of your conversion; that, separated from the assiduous fellowship of men, after he was absolved from the rule you might taste alone the honeyed colloquies of the sweetest spouse of your soul, Jesus. In this I clearly answer you, dearest Father, that the same Lord and Redeemer answered me praying for you: Let John dwell, unto the consummation of his mortal course, in the mount, which he first chose for himself; and which we predestined, for the salvation and refreshment of the human race. These things to me, the worst of all sinners, the Almighty said, that His will may be manifested to you. Nor does it matter, what you have often objected to me: You, you say, O Joachim, when you received God's gift, left the holy house of Curatio, and rejoiced to go to solitude. I could indeed answer, that the ways of the Lord are manifold; he began to write upon Scripture by the command of the Pontiff, and what is expedient for one, is not expedient for another. But this I did by the command of the Roman Pontiff; who choosing me, the most unworthy of all sinners, for the burden of interpreting the sacred Scripture, judged it indeed expedient, to free me from the governance of so many Monks, and from

the trouble of the administration of so many faculties. You on the contrary, dwelling in solitude, why do you affect a greater solitude, O John? God did not deliver to you the spirit of wisdom, understanding, and prophecy, that you should convert woods and brutes, but men. Remain therefore in the place in which God called you, to the praise and glory of His name. Farewell, holy man, and commend me a sinner to the Lord.

[22] To this virtue of obedience, which the holy Abbot brought to writing, was added great familiarity with God in prayer: of which an expressed indication he left us in the Preface to the Psaltery, from which both the argument of the prior books may be learned, and also with how special a favor of God prevented, he began to write that treatise: thus therefore he says: I was once myself anxious at the words of God, and sought through the exercise of reading to come to the knowledge of truth. And when I burned to hasten to it through the zeal of reading, taking to itself wings as of an eagle, it withdrew further than it was from me. But when, placed in the last fervor, first excellently exercised in meditating on it. I began for God's sake to love psalmody; many things in the divine Scripture, as I psalmed in silence, began to be unlocked to me, which before by reading I could not trace. Not only before, but even then I began to feel, what that is which in another Psalm is written: Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house, O Lord, unto the ages of ages they shall praise Thee. Ps. 83:5 But when to me, (who, as now it seemed, by thought and avidity made an inhabitant of that supernal city, enjoyed according to the inner man no slight vision of peace) there befell that, which many, though in vain, complain to have befallen them, that again the familiar care of the Church compelled me to be entangled in the affairs of the monastery, although the cares of the monastery interrupting: which according to a certain appearance of their color, are either truly secular, or to be judged almost secular; I was compelled again with a groan of heart, not without dread, to exclaim: Woe is me, that my sojourn is prolonged, I have dwelt with the inhabitants of Cedar, much was my soul a sojourner. And that, My life is cut off as by a weaver: while I was still beginning to weave, He cut me off.

[23] What that time was, and whether to be sought after the foundation of the Florensian cloister, whence he deserved to be singularly illumined by God, we shall presently see: it is enough now hence to learn, with what spirit Joachim was led to pray and praise God; that you may by no means wonder, if he who delivered his heart with so great affection, that he watched at dawn to the Lord, and in the sight of the Most High made supplication, opening his mouth in prayer; in turn deserved from Him, that he be filled with the spirit of understanding, and so as it were emit like showers the eloquences of his wisdom: since the Lord, to whom in prayer he confessed, directed all his counsel, and in His secrets counseled him, as Ecclesiasticus speaks of the Wise man; and as Joachim attests it really befell him, thus pursuing the begun preface; When a groan of this kind was being turned over in my heart, it happened after some years, namely of that internal vicissitude (for of this alone here we treat, and this one with the Prelacy of Curatio ought to be reckoned to have had its beginning) when I was at the cloister of Casamari, the venerable man Geraldus Abbot of that house and his Brothers detaining me there, and binding me to themselves with an indissoluble bond of charity: It happened, I say, that a solemn day was at hand, on which the gifts of the Holy Spirit were poured forth upon the Apostles, and their hearts infused with that spiritual oil, when he was at Casamari at Pentecost, with which was anointed the Only-begotten of God before His fellows. But because I was not wholly devoid of the understanding of the oil, but knew that to this very thing pertained the sacrifice of praise; grieving that for so long a time, on account of the affairs of the monastery absent from the Choir, I was devoid of the grace of so great a benefit; I resolved with myself on that day to say to myself some Psalms to the honor of so great a Spirit, for reverence and honor of the day; hoping that something would be granted on that very day by Him, who gives to all abundantly and reproaches no one.

[24] after a troublesome hesitation in faith, Meanwhile when I entered the oratory, and was adoring almighty God before the holy altar; there befell in me as it were a certain hesitation about the faith of the Trinity, as if it were difficult of understanding or of faith, that all the Persons are one God, and all the Persons one God. Which when it befell, I prayed greatly; and being vehemently terrified, I was compelled to invoke the Holy Spirit, whose sacred solemnity was present, that He would deign to show me the sacred mystery of the Trinity, in which to us is promised by the Lord all knowledge of truth. the mystery of the Trinity is divinely taught him; Saying these things I began to psalm, that I might come to the proposed number. Nor delay, there occurred to my mind the form of the decachord Psaltery, and in it so lucid and open a mystery of the holy Trinity, that forthwith I was compelled to cry, Who is the great God, like our God? Thou art God, who dost marvels. And that: Great is the Lord our God, and great is His virtue, and of His wisdom there is no number. and concerning it he begins to write the Psaltery, Therefore, He granting it, soon, placed in that monastery, I began the first book of the work subscribed, and in part completed it: but the second and third not there then, nor at the same time, but as it were after two years. For this work of mine is distinguished into three books, according as there are three Persons of the Deity, in which the beauty of our faith consists. And although after the work of the Concord, which we began first; and the exposition of the Apocalypse, which, I wholly ignorant of the outcome of the matter, by I know not what providence of God, from the same first work by being born proceeded; I had resolved to dedicate this third little work to the Holy Spirit, who both grants what we offer; yet because there is nothing in created things, which is so attributed to one Person, that it be alien from the kingdom and operation of two; and successively extends it into three books. not inconveniently in this very thing the mystery of the Trinity shines: while the first book, in which is treated of the musical Instrument, by the property of the high mystery is attributed to the Father, from whom all things; the second, in which is treated of the number of the Psalms, to the divine Wisdom, through whom all things; the third, in which is treated of the manner of Psalmody and the institution of those psalming, to the same holy Unction, in whom all things: which since it is the joy of the supreme God, makes those whom He fills with sacred gifts glad and joyful.

[25] These things there, which that they may be reduced to chronological reckonings, and it be defined at what time those works were completed and begun; it must be recalled to memory, what Luke, Archbishop of Cosenza, writes, Lucius 3 had given the faculty of writing about the year 1183, that he in the 11th year of the Lord Pope Lucius being now a Monk, first at Casamari saw Joachim, then Abbot of Curatio; who before the same Lord Pope and his Consistory, then also began to reveal the understanding of the Scriptures, and the Concord of both Testaments, from whom he both obtained license to write and began to write. Graecus adds, that to the same Pontiff was offered the book on the aforesaid Concord; and so approved, that to the further granted faculty of writing for the multiplication of the talent he adjoined, that Joachim for the rest, the burden of the temporal things of the monastery being laid down, should give himself to unfolding the secrets of the sacred page, reminding him of that, that in the treasure and wisdom hidden there is no profit. But these things expunging at the beginning of the Life, number 16, I removed, since from the very letters of Clement III, given in the I year of his Pontificate, that is of Christ MCLXXXVIII, to Joachim (which as confirmatory of his assertion Graecus there adduces, and we retain) it is clearly had, that the holy man, under whom nothing was completed. by the bidding and exhortation of Pope Lucius of blessed memory, began the exposition of the Apocalypse and the work of the Concord, and afterward by the authority of Pope Urban his successor composed it. And so the quiet, which he congratulates himself to have attained, and from which he complains himself again rolled back into those affairs, which are to be judged almost secular, and on account of which for a long time he was devoid of that benefit and grace wont to be perceived from monastic psalmody; that quiet, I say, I would not with Gregorio Lauro interpret as the absolution from the burden of governance, but the tranquil contemplation of divine things, which again and again the cares of rule interpolated; and not once or twice, but the work, Urban III urging it in the year 1185, but even more often into the Curia and to forensic affairs they rolled him back. Which vicissitude of troubles and consolations since he experienced it from the very beginning of the undertaken Prelacy, and experiencing it groaned; it happened after some years, namely (as Bellovacensis, book 29, chapter 40) at the end of the year MCLXXXV, or the beginning of the next, that Abbot Joachim came from the parts of Calabria to Pope Urban, staying at Verona, namely for the cause of the affairs of the monastery; and on that occasion conferred with him many things about the mysteries of the Apocalypse begun to be explained by him, such as there fully Bellovacensis from a report not certain enough sets forth. But Urban urging the completion of the begun work, when Joachim alleged that leisure was wanting to him, he could easily have obtained, that the care of the monastery being for a while committed to another, Joachim has leisure at Casamari to complete it. he might choose whatever retirement he wished. And so to Casamari we judge he returned, where detained by Abbot Geraldus he stayed, as Luke of Cosenza writes, as it were one year and a half, dictating and emending at the same time the book of the Apocalypse and of the Concord. Where also in that very time, after the illumination of mind obtained at Pentecost, he began the Psaltery of ten chords.

[26] using the inner mastership of the Spirit But with how great a fervor not so much of study as of prayer Joachim wrote these things, inasmuch as not by the external mastership of men but the internal one of the Holy Spirit, the faculty of understanding the Scriptures which he had obtained leading into act and work; we can in some way gather from those things, which upon the 1st Chapter of the Apocalypse, text 13, he writes, at these words, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day; where he himself narrates of himself in this manner: When the preceding Chapters of the book being run through, I came to that place; so great, I confess, a difficulty and as it were beyond the usual I endured straits of understanding; that, feeling a stone set against me, at the door of the monument dulled I subsisted; and giving honor to God who at His will closes and opens, that place itself being left untouched, I passed over to the following things, reserving the same difficulty to the universal Master … And when oblivion led far away me occupied in many things, about this very thing; it came about, the circle of the year being turned, that the Paschal day was at hand; and to me, about the morning hour roused from sleep, something in that book meditating occurred; for which, trusting in the gift of God, I was made more bold to write;

nay rather in keeping silent and not writing more timid, lest at any time to me keeping silent it should be said by the Judge: Wicked and slothful servant etc.… For when I now grasped some things, and still knew not the greater sacraments, as it were a certain battle was being waged in my mind; these things indeed, which lay open, who on the Paschal night unfolded for him the whole Concord and Apocalypse. persuading daring; but the rest, threatening difficulty. When therefore on the above-written night something similar had happened; about the middle, as I think, of the silence of the night, and the hour at which our lion of the tribe of Judah is estimated to have risen from the dead, suddenly to me meditating something, a certain clearness of understanding being perceived by the eyes of the mind, of the fullness of this book, and the whole concord of the old and new Testament a revelation was made. Almost the same last words from the Preface to the book of the Concord Gregorio produces, but wrongly referring them to the time, when the Blessed passed the night on Mount Tabor before entering Religion: which is plain wholly to regard the times, a few years earlier than the Pontificate of Urban, and to pertain to the beginnings of the writing undertaken under Lucius.

[27] But not even at this time, after the aforesaid stay at Casamari, did Joachim complete the begun works of the Concord and Apocalypse; but returned to Curatio, about the end of the year MCLXXXVII, we wholly judge. For Urban being taken from the living on the XX of October, there was no reason why he should wish further to adhere to the work begun to be completed, with so great inconvenience of his monastery, in the year 1187, returned to Curatio as the longer absence of the Prelate was apt to create. To Urban succeeded Gregory VIII, with whom, a Pontiff of scarcely two months, we know Joachim had no business. But to him being substituted in the first days of the year LXXXVIII Clement, whom we have mentioned, when he had somehow disentangled himself from the chief cares of the new Pontificate and had entered its sixth month; wrote at once to Joachim, commanding by Apostolic writings, that to his labors in this part, namely the now-named Concord and Apocalypse which he was known to have had in hand, putting the desired and due end … he should strive to complete and diligently to emend that work; and coming as soon as opportunity gave it, he receives the hortatory letters of Clement 3: should present himself to the discussion and judgment of the Apostolic See. Therefore delaying nothing, soon he betook himself to the Pontiff, nor thought he must wait until he had polished both works to his wish; but in the zeal of prompt obedience, what he had completed, the work of the Concord, devout he offered. Hence using the Pontiff benevolent toward him, he seems to have obtained, that he might wholly abdicate the Prelacy, and with one or another companion lead a solitary life. and exhibits to him the work of the Concord. This being obtained, first at Petralata he began to live, having Raynerius as companion: but thence into the Florensian solitude he transferred himself the following year, and fixed his seat on the XVIII day of the month of July. From what has been said it is consequent, and no wonder, if the work of the Concord be finished under Urban, although it was presented not to him but to Clement; nor can it be said that the work of the Psaltery, was not completed there where it had been begun, but elsewhere as it were after two years, soon after Joachim's withdrawal from Casamari, was carried through to the end, before the Florensian stay was plainly established.

[28] Joachim wrote after all these things singular little books, on the Prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel, Then he founds the Florensian monastery, and on the Gospel of St. John, likewise on the seven Seals against the Jews, and some others; which since we have not yet been able to see, we cannot consequently establish when they were written; namely whether before or after the Florensian Abbey founded by the beneficence of the Emperor Henry. The Commentaries on the Prophet Jeremiah we have in the library of our College of Brussels, from the Cologne edition of the year 1577, and in chapter 24 of them we read, that when they were written, the year of Christ MCXCVII was in course. and among other things But because in chapter XI of the same Commentaries, he seems not obscurely to designate himself, under the name of the Doctor, to whom the sentence of Daniel will be revealed; we make conjecture, that in some one of the three subsequent years was first begun the book, which upon that Prophet is read composed by Joachim. Some other things also, at the request of the aforesaid Emperor Henry elucidated by him, we believe must be referred hither; chiefly the book upon some chapters of the Prophets Nahum, Habakkuk, in the year 1197 he writes upon Jeremiah Zachariah and Malachi, to the same Emperor. All which with the three chief prior works collected into one volume, we deservedly wish to see printed, partly from the obsolete Venetian editions, partly from the ancient MSS., nor do we know whence this could more justly be hoped, than from the monastery of Dunes at Bruges in Flanders, where there are both learned and curious men of matters of this kind, then on Daniel. and several of the aforenoted books manuscript, from which could receive a purer light, those things which now beset with many errors of the Venetian press lie squalid: especially if, the labor of others of the same Order living at Rome being collated, those same books were reviewed against the manuscripts of the Vatican library and others of the kindly City. Various works of his MS. at Bruges, The same could be done in Aragon, where in the monastery of St. Faith, at the second milestone from Saragossa, that various MSS. of Abbot Joachim likewise exist, Charles de Visch of Dunes is author, in the aforecited Library of the Cistercian Order.

§. IV. How solidly and catholically concerning the mystery of the Trinity Joachim wrote in the Psaltery.

[29] There is indeed in all the works of Joachim a great and sublime spirit, whether when he investigates the profound things of the Scriptures, and elicits the most hidden senses; Joachim in the book of the Psaltery or when he undauntedly reproves the vices, with which the field of the Church was beset, and on that account announces the evils to come; or when, in reproving the emperor himself, he describes, or foretells by prophesying, the past, present, and future damages, by him and his successors violently inflicted and to be inflicted on the rights and liberty of the Church. But in the decachord Psaltery how immensely he surpasses himself, and with how great clearness of words and examples he elucidates the most hidden of all mysteries; with how great a taste also of divine senses he pours himself out into the places of the Scriptures making for the same, and as a certain divine Psalmist accommodates all the modes of created cognition to his cithara by striking it: meanwhile strong and effective against the heresies of Sabellius and Arius, which he pierces with strong darts of the divine books; disputing against the heresies of Arius, Sabellius, and Gilbert alone, touching also sometimes that, which in Gilbert de la Porrée St. Bernard confuted, demonstrating that a quaternity was introduced by him for the Trinity, while he strives to discern the divine Essence from the three Persons, relying on this paralogism (as Lucius Turrianus writes in his single volume of various little works, little work 7, disputation 1, doubt 1.) If the Essence and the Persons are the same thing, therefore as the person of the Son is incarnate and dead, so the Divinity: and as the person of the Son is begotten, and that of the Father begetting; the same thing, namely the Essence, will be said begetting and begotten: which because it appeared could not be said, he wished it consequent, that the Divinity be one thing, God or the three Persons another.

[30] most clearly teaches But it helps here to set forth a little more fully the very words of Joachim, and from the beginning of the said Psaltery to gather certain things, most solidly and most clearly containing and defending the Catholic truth. Therefore as soon as he has entered upon the matter, as if incited by a certain more divine afflatus, he speaks thus: Who is there, he says, of all Catholics, unless he vainly ascribe to himself the name of the orthodox, who does not day and night cry this (namely the chant of the holy living creatures, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God almighty)? who does not confess God almighty one and three? All confess this with one voice, one confession. For there is one God, without confusion of Persons; three in Persons, without division of Substance … This Substance, which is God, is one, and supremely one; and, beyond what can be said, is a simple and one Nature. Nor do we deny the Trinity in the confession of one Substance; but the cuttings of parts, which the carnal intellect feigned to itself, we abhor. For most truly the three Persons we piously and faithfully confess to be this one, and this one the three Persons: the Father from no one, the Son from the Father, the one substance of the three Persons, the Paraclete from both: only the Son to be born from the Father alone, but the Holy Spirit to proceed from both. Three therefore are one, and one three; not divided in nature, like earth, water, and fire; not by distinction of persons, like three men of the same nature; not by situation of places, like a pool and a river derived from it; but nor at all like all things which are created; because the work cannot be made equal to the workman, or the thing made to its maker, nor can the thing fashioned be lifted up by operation against him who fashioned it.

[31] and that it can be explained by no similitude, Yet because His invisible things, which exceed all sense, the infirmity of our captivity cannot contemplate except through visible things; let man strive at least to extend himself, when he desires to speak of that Majesty, to contemplating the nobler creatures; as is, among visible things, light; and among invisible things, the soul itself which thinks these things. And if man can comprehend himself, he will find in himself a similitude of God: if also he cannot comprehend himself, let him strive without hesitation to believe spiritual men, to whom is given the spirit searching all things, even the deep things of God, and let him restrain his imprudence from this temerity. For it is iniquitous to make the uncircumscribed light equal to corruptible bodies, to which it is foolish to compare even the soul or an Angel: and he is sufficiently unfaithful and wicked, who, not knowing how to examine himself, trusts by reason that he can comprehend God who is above him, as He truly is. Do not therefore think the Divine substance, or the one God, whom you hear to be three, so divided into three Persons, that you should judge three divided things, and the wholly indivisible Trinity: like an olive, a myrtle, and a palm, which are diverse in nature and kind: but nor like three olives, which are of one nature, but yet disjoined by the property of bodies: nor like three branches, fixed to one root, that you should judge the Substance the root and the three branches Hypostases, according to the perfidy of some, which is to introduce a quaternity: but if compelled by some necessity a visible figure must be taken, at least, what is nobler among things lacking reason, let us take the very light, which is established to have a kind of image of that true light.

[32] Hence proceeding and reproving those, who strove to divide the Essence from the Persons; when he had reproved them with certain similitudes, some of which will be set forth below more conveniently, against the prostrated error he rises up with these words: O human temerity, how always blind! O presumption always hostile to human piety! If you have so esteemed the simple divine Substance, that you have thought of it apart from the Persons, you have cloaked Sabellius under Arius: if apart from the Substance the three Persons, you excuse Arius

under the cloaking of Sabellius. in which the essence is not distinct from the Persons But again when in the form of the Psaltery he had required some similitude of the Trinity; lest perchance he be thought to believe it in every way perfect: We said, he says, above, and it must often be said, that to that simple Nature, which is God … a certain similitude cannot by human words be fitted; because it is necessary that quantity yield to that magnitude, which has not quantity; and the visible form to the invisible Nature, and the comprehensible body to the incomprehensible Deity … What therefore? do we deem these things must wholly be abstained from, lest the discourse be otherwise understood? … By no means … but, God helping, walking through the paths of the holy orthodox Fathers, in whose explanation many sustained labors, let us confess one God, and supremely one; let us confess Him three, and truly three: the Father from no one; the Son from the Father, not made, not created, but begotten; the Holy Spirit from both, not made, not created, not begotten, but proceeding. Let us confess Him so to proceed from the Son, that yet this very thing the Son has from the Father, from whom He is, not by a donation of grace, but one Deity common to the three, and the same with them, but by the unity of a simple nature. After these things, digressing to the triangular form of the Psaltery, and the three corners of it being one to be considered; when he had shown that unity differs from singularity, because the latter can consist only in several persons, the former in one alone, of the sum of our faith again he thus concludes. We believe therefore this Substance, which is one, to be three Persons, not one only; lest singularity, as befell Sabellius, occur instead of unity; and the three Persons one Substance, lest division be thought to be in those very three Persons.

[33] At length after many things, descending to the significations of the very words, and therefore the truth of the 3 Persons which in this mystery we use, with Bernard, book 5 on Consideration; that he may show that those words are not empty, nor vain names; he thus concludes: Although the Persons are said according to Substance, and although the Essence is said according to Substance: yet this is the difference, that the name of Person admits the plural number, so that they are said to be three; the Essence, that one of the three execrates division in all ways. Not because that name has this in its propriety: but because it was so placed by the Fathers, that there might be wherewith we should answer the heretics, asking of us, What three, or what one? (although it were better asked; How is one three, and three one?) because there is not one thing there one, and another thing three; but with respect to another: because the three Persons themselves indeed are one, and this one the three Persons: and yet with respect to one thing they are said three Persons, with respect to another one Substance or Essence. Because that is said, that even three may be understood; this, that it may be understood, that those three are not divided from themselves by any cutting of parts. For neither is the Father any part there, like the root of a tree, which in some way is from no one; another the Son, like a shoot, which is from the root, in which also it remains; another the Holy Spirit, like the bark, which pertains to both: but not the singularity of one Person. because no corporeal image can express that supreme unity, in which there is not anything less in the individuals than in the three. Although if those three, which are expressed by proper names, are not three trees, but one tree; what wonder, if the three Persons be said to be the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and yet one God, one Essence, one Nature?

[34] These things being fully deduced through the whole first Distinction, and declared with the great light of authorities, similitudes, reasons; it remains, he says in the second, to seek and investigate, how the whole Father is understood to be in the Son, and the whole Son in the Father, and the whole Holy Spirit in the Father and the Son. In the third he proposes, by a subtle scrutiny it must be weighed, how in the Deity of the Trinity, whatever is powerful, whatever eminent, whatever glorious or happy, is said, believed, The argument of the remaining distinctions of the Psaltery makes for the same, and understood to be wholly of any Person; so that the fullness itself of the divine sublimity be not less in the individuals than in the three; nay also that what is said to be of the three, is not divided through the individual Persons into parts, but is wholly entirely of the individuals; except what is proper to the Father, to be the Father; proper to the Son, to be the Son; proper to the Holy Spirit, to be the Holy Spirit. Thence passing to that article, on which depends the knowledge of the Persons; he explains the mysteries of the three corners in the one Psaltery, in the fourth and fifth Distinction: in the sixth he proposes the order of the common prayer, by which almost all the prayers of the Church are circumscribed, when we make the first invocation to the Father; then add, Through our Lord Jesus Christ; and conclude, In the unity of the Holy Spirit. And at length, in the seventh and last Distinction, he contemplates the number and order of the ten chords, whence the Psaltery is called decachord. And so the first book ends, which properly is, on the contemplation of the Trinity. This is the sum of the doctrine, which Joachim, irradiated by divine light, left us concerning the most subtle secret of the Trinity: after which it would be in vain to scrutinize his other works, in which only on occasion he touches, not professedly treats that matter. But he so treats it here, that he disputes nothing, except against the ancient heresies of Arius or Sabellius; but some innovators (who from either could hardly separate themselves, since they introduced the Deity or common Nature, distinct from the Persons, as a kind of fourth thing) he reproves only with names suppressed, in exactly the same manner, in which such men before him St. Bernard had reproved.

[35] Yet because these things notwithstanding fear could come to someone, [nor anywhere in the Psaltery does Joachim teach things contrary to what has been said] lest to the places produced above perhaps fits, what the Council says of the little book condemned by it; and the words indeed of the sentence be Catholic, the sense heretical, other manifestly heretical adjuncts indicating it; it pleases to exhibit first the words of the Council reproving it in the little book; then to show, that those Scriptures and similitudes, which in the Little book as wrongly usurped the Council condemns, in the Psaltery are by no means so usurped, that they can be reproved. The words of the Council are. Although the Author of the Little book concedes, that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one Essence, one Substance, and one Nature; he confesses a unity of this kind, not true and proper, but as it were collective and by-way-of-similitude; just as are said, many men one People, and many faithful one Church, according to that, The multitude of believers had one heart and one soul; and He who adheres to God, is one Spirit with Him; likewise, He who plants, and he who waters, are one; and We all are one body in Christ: again in the book of Kings, although using the same Scriptures and similitudes as the condemned Little book; My people and your people are one. But for establishing this opinion, he introduces chiefly that word, which Christ says of the faithful in the Gospel, I will, Father, that they be one in us, as we also are one: that they be consummated in one. For not, as he says, are the faithful of Christ one, that is one thing which is common to all: but in this manner they are one, that is, one Church, on account of the truth of the Catholic faith; and at length one Kingdom, on account of the union of indissoluble charity: as in the Canonical Epistle of John is read, Because three there are who give testimony in heaven, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one: and straightway is subjoined, And there are three who give testimony on earth, the spirit, water, and blood, and these three are one, as in certain codices is read.

[36] Having scrutinized the Psaltery I find chiefly three places, which, if you attend only to the sound of the words, rely on the same both scriptures and similitudes; but with a sense and end most diverse. For as to that, I will, Father, because he uses them with a sense plainly diverse: it is had a little after the beginning of Distinction 2, where it is not asked, how the three Persons are one God, and those three subsisting in one common Essence, which had been treated in the first distinction; but how the whole Father is understood to be in the Son, and the whole Son in the Father, whose essential beatitude consisting in the indivision of will, is in some measure communicated to men, by a similitude; most imperfect indeed, but yet such, as even Christ wished for and commended to His faithful. The place itself thus has: If of a creature something is said, which is good and happy; it is necessary, that it be said more truly of Him, who without quantity is good and happy, having essentially in Himself, what He may communicate externally to His Elect, either by image and similitude, or by grace. Wherefore, because He Himself in unity is three, He sought ever and will seek, how many men and diverse peoples may come together in one, knowing, that there can be no felicity, where there is cutting and division, for every kingdom divided against itself shall be desolated. Hence it is that the Son prays for His Elect, that they be one, to the unity of His and His Father's similitude, saying thus; Holy Father, keep them in Thy name, whom Thou hast given me, that they be one, as we also. And this indeed of the Apostles; then, after a few things which he related, he added and said: Not for these alone I pray, but for those who shall believe through their word in me, that all be one, as Thou Father in me, and I in Thee, that they also in us be one. And a little after: I have given them the brightness, which Thou gavest me; that they be one, as is plain from the places where Christ asks unity for His own, as we also are one. Certainly we have heard from the word of truth, how the Son wills us to be one, to the image and similitude of that unity, by which He and the Father are one. But that truth (according to which we can be made like them) is in the spirit, according to that which is written in the Acts of the Apostles, But of the multitude of believers there was one heart, and one soul: and according to this mode of unity is to be taken that which the Apostle says: He who adheres to the Lord, is one spirit, etc.

[37] Likewise in the first Distinction, wishing to demonstrate that One is said in one way, Unity in another; because "One" imports singularity; "Unity," that is Union, plurality,

thus Joachim discourses. And this, which is wonderful, diligently attend. One thing sounds "One," another "Unity." For "One" cannot absolutely be said, except of one person; but "Unity" properly cannot be said, and Joachim teaches that unity is only among several; except of two at least. For neither when we are bidden to consist in the unity of the spirit, is it to be believed that it can be referred to a singular person; but to a people, to an assembly, to a populace. For when it is said absolutely, One is here or there; There is no one in that place but one; I understand without hesitation a person. But if it is said, One is in a place, so that there be straightway added, As it were; "One" can be taken of a collection of many, like One people, One populace. So therefore when we say, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; we dare not say, They are One; unless consequently there be added, God. If therefore we say, The three Persons are one, it is a Catholic confession: but he who says, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one, becomes an asserter of the Sabellian heresy. It is established therefore, that neither Trinity, nor Unity can simply be said of one Person: but Trinity is said, of three Persons; Unity, of one Substance, not of one Person, but of three Persons. You see, that these things, entirely considered, are orthodox as much as could possibly be, nor have any affinity to the doctrine condemned in the Council, although they proceed from the same Scriptures.

[38] [or how another is the signification of this word than that by which the Trinity is said.] The same without doubt you will judge of the third place, which could be taken from the same first Distinction, when it is said: There is much difference between the assignation of the Trinity, and the assignation of the Unity, and not by the same weight of reason is each demonstrated. For I do not find any fourth thing, which I can show to one inquiring, when we show those three: and therefore we have necessity to lead back the eyes of the mind to those three Persons, in whom we assigned the Trinity, and to say; those three themselves, to be One, to be one Substance, one God. As, (that I may say not a like, ☞ but an unlike thing) the Tribe of Judah, and the Tribe of Benjamin, and the Tribe of Levi, which remained to the sons of David in the temple of the Lord, were called together one People. For neither when I say, One people, do I assign any fourth thing; but I say, that there is unity in those three, because they are not cut off from the House of David, as the rest of the Tribes. In which place indeed there is not established among the divine Persons a unity only by-way-of-similitude and collective, which some words perhaps, taken apart, and without the dissimilitude noted by the Author by an appended parenthesis, would make seem; but, as from the context of the whole reasoning appears, this only is shown; That a Unity, either true, among three relatives, such as are the three divine Persons; or by-way-of-similitude, among three absolutes, such as are the three above-named Tribes; can and ought to be understood, without a fourth thing being understood; so namely common to the three in the manner of conceiving and speaking, that yet it be really distinguished from them: for of the distinction of Reason there is here no question, as is plain in the examples adduced; since one is the formal concept of the three Tribes or Persons, another of the one God or People.

[39] And here observe, that that Distinction, which is from the intellect alone, That the Ancients were unwont to name the distinction of reason, representing the same thing in one way and another, as it is not a Distinction of true name, but only under a certain alienation of a word, drawn away from its primary signification; under that alienation however most apt for unraveling many difficulties in Logic and Metaphysics and Theology itself; so it was scarcely or not even scarcely named by the ancient Fathers. Hence it came about that Gilbert, and those who after him, by using the word Distinction, were seen to introduce some real diversity between the Essence and the Persons, God and the Divinity, suffered from St. Bernard and others such great contradictions, and were exploded for heretics. Hear Bernard, book 5 on Consideration to Eugene: What? they say; Do you deny, that God has Divinity? No: but what He has, this He is. Do you deny, that the Divinity is God? No: but not another than that which He Himself is. If you have found another, may the Trinity, God, help me, against that with all contumacy I rise. A Quaternity divides the world, does not signify the Trinity. God is the Trinity: God, is each of the three Persons: if it please to add a fourth Divinity, meanwhile I, this one, which is not God, have persuaded myself is not to be adored. It ought not moreover to seem wonderful, if the word Distinction, now among the Scholastics, even when they speak of Divine things, they abhorred that word in Divine things, understanding it as real: most usual, I would say scarcely or not even scarcely seemed tolerable to the ancients, wont to signify by it only a real diversity. Many things, once harsh and hard to hear, the use and necessity of more conveniently explaining our concepts has smoothed, even in the mystery of which we treat. For what today is more usual than to call the three Persons three Hypostases? and the Hypostatic union, which joins the Human nature to the Word? Yet these things if they had then been said, when by the Latins the word Hypostasis was thought to signify Substance or Nature, would have insinuated the errors of the Tritheists, establishing a Triad in the Deity; or of the Eutychians, dreaming one nature in Christ from the Divine and the Human. But afterward when the Greeks taught, that a Hypostasis was nothing else to them, as once the Latins three Hypostases, than what in Latin would be called Subsistence; and that they were undeservedly reproved by the Latins, if ever they named three Hypostases; and urged the same that they should speak with them, who professed to feel the same with them: St. Jerome nevertheless by all means besought St. Pope Damasus, Epistle 57, that the three Hypostases be passed over in silence, and one be held: because the whole, he says, school of secular letters knows Hypostasis as nothing else, and in Greek three Persons. but Usia, that is Essence. On the contrary the Greeks long abhorred to multiply the name of Person in God: however much St. Athanasius, much attempting to reconcile them to the Latins, laboriously showed, that one and the same notion underlies both words, Hypostasis and Person, as the Latins multiplied the latter, the Greeks the former.

[40] From what has been said it is sufficiently clearly established, how pure and orthodox was the doctrine of Abbot Joachim, concerning the mystery of the most holy and undivided Trinity, [The questions hence arising concerning the Little book condemned in the Lateran, why they are cut off.] at least in the last fifteen or sixteen years of his life, within which the Psaltery was elaborated, whatever at length was the opinion of the younger man. And this being supposed, a manifold question subnascends concerning the Little book, beyond controversy most heretical and deservedly condemned in the Lateran; whether it was really his, or of another Author, having abused the name and authority of Joachim: then also whether the Florensians satisfied the last will of their Father, by offering all his works and namely that Psaltery, whence his opinion could have been more certainly known, to the Holy See; or only the Epistle of subjection, of which alone the Decree makes mention: and finally how in that cause the Florensians bore themselves, without doubt present at the Council even themselves, and among them probably the Scribe of Joachim himself Luke, straightway after the Saint's death made Archbishop of Cosenza. But no reason hitherto occurring, which may satisfy absolutely all difficulties, I judge I must for a while forbear a disquisition, not absolutely necessary. Let it be enough to have said, that the Novators of our time vainly seek hence a safeguard for themselves, as if the cause of the Author for whom they fight and of Joachim be alike. For those do not wish it to be doubted, but that the book of their Author is that which the Pontiffs condemned: but these definitively pronounced, that five sentences taken from it, were fabricated by themselves according to the mind of the Author himself, weighed and examined by themselves. Wherefore, those being passed over, as seeking a knot in a bulrush, and undermining all the infallibility of the Pontifical definitions even concerning the question of right; I pass to other things.

§. V. The prophetic spirit of Bl. Joachim, proved by the true events of things, in Henry VI and his posterity.

[41] To those by whom the doctrine of Bl. Joachim was either condemned of heresy or suspected, Many things are reported of him either uncertain, it is no wonder that they spoke otherwise of his prophetic spirit than the sanctity of the man merited: whom before we refute, it is worth the trouble in a few examples of by no means ambiguous but most clear truth, and these taken from his own writings, not indeed from another's report, to make manifest, how true an illumination of the supernal light, before the uncertain flash of human presaging, he followed in vaticinating: that from these things which have been done, judgment may be borne hereafter of those also which have not yet come to pass. We will not therefore adduce into the open the inauspicious nuptials of Frederick and Constance for the kingdom of both Sicilies, as noted by the prophecies of Joachim; not the unhappy success of the Transmarine expedition, foretold to Philip and Richard, Kings of France and England, at Messina about the year MCXC, or vaticinations given to private persons: or to the Emperor Frederick at Verona five years before; not finally the first expedition of Henry himself born of that Constance to obtain the maternal kingdom against Tancred frustrated, and the prosperous event of the renewed attempt, and other like things; because these we know only by the report of others, and by not sufficiently agreeing testimonies of writers. Nor will I touch the foreseen chances of private men, or the secrets of hearts manifested; because of these scarcely the least part is noted, and they rely on the faith of the relater alone. But matters publicly known, and consigned to writing by Joachim himself before they happened, I will adduce in proof of the prophetic spirit, by which he was admirable to all; and appeared joined to God, alone foreknowing of future things, by the prerogative of great familiarity.

[42] public matters and certain from his own writings, The first witness therefore of his veridical prediction will be to us Tancred, the bastard son of Duke Roger, Constance, the posthumous offspring of the same Duke and afterward King, being passed over, elected King by the Sicilians, and confirmed by the Apostolic See; to whose right the Kingdom seemed devolved, the legitimate heirs of the male sex failing, by the death of William the Bad, who was Constance's brother, and his son likewise William, but surnamed the Good. When to this Tancred Joachim had begun to be suspect, as favoring the parts of Henry against him, his mind impotent of wrath flared up against the man of God, and was heard to cast those threats, of which a certain friend of Messina admonishing Joachim, received this answer, written on the Nones of October in the year MCXCI: I have received your letters, from which I have understood the threats of King Tancred against me and against my family: that he foretold that the posterity of Tancred would be exterminated, but the safeguard of the Most High not only will preserve my cloister and my homeland, but will turn all things into good. He will raise up a power from the North, and again shall be broken the horn of the proud one: which namely, in the first occupation of the Neapolitan kingdom by

Henry, somehow broken; was utterly shattered, in the same Henry's more happy return, by whose favor for Joachim and the Florensian Order almost all things flowed to their wish.

[43] But this much more clearly and distinctly he announced to Tancred himself; by letters given to the King himself: when, threatening that he would shortly demolish the cloisters of his Order constructed in both Sicilies, in the year MCXCIII on the Nones of July, he wrote back in this manner: I have read through the menacing epistle of your Majesty, whom I never wished to obstruct, but I fulfilled the will of the King of Kings, God. Thus says the Lord: My indignation shall go forth again like fire, and the impious King shall be kindled. He shall fall who sits on the axle, and from desperation shall waste away. His sons shall be made barren by the sword, and their eyes shall be destroyed by fire, that the memory of his generation may perish. Yet I pray incessantly, that God turn away His wrath from your Majesty, whom most humbly, as is fitting, I revere. Both epistles exist, and also the threatening one of Tancred to Joachim, in the MS. book of the Florensian Abbey, and thence are produced by Gregorio de Lauro, chapter 32. But how veracious the prediction was, the soon following year declared, when, his firstborn and partner already in the kingdom Roger having died before him, Tancred himself wasted away in the month of February: and Henry, thinking this his opportunity, returned into Italy, as was done the very next year. reduced into his power whatever in it was of Sicilian dominion, passed to Palermo in the month of December, took by fraud and guile William the boy King, with his mother and sisters, and the chief heads of the Norman nobility, and in the year MCXCV carried them off into Germany; where William, Baronius says, was blinded: castrated we have not yet read elsewhere, yet that not unusual mode of cruelty of this Henry makes it credible, exercised, Roger testifying, against Margaritus, Admiral of Sicily. Nay also John, monk of Cassino, in the Chronicle of Fossanova in Ughelli, seems to have included in general terms the emasculation and blinding of William, when concerning him and his mother and sisters, led away into captivity, he thus sings: --- The boys with the mother are bound … and after a few things:

The boy's sight being troubled, and after many things he being slain, the Mother and two unwarlike girls lived.

[44] But these things concerning Tancred we have from an epistle privately written: but the things which concerning the Emperor Henry, and his two successors in the Empire, and also concerning Henry's son Frederick II he vaticinated, writing upon Jeremiah, [Likewise that, Henry IV being dead, the Empire would be divided between two successors,] he exposed to the public judgment of the whole world, and we see proved by a most certain event. Thus therefore commenting upon Chapter 4 he says: The Empire shall be taken away after Henry, whose this book is, and to whom the discourse is directed by his command, wishing to know the mysteries of Daniel… But whether between this Henry and the heir another shall rise, those will see, who shall survive: because it is necessary that between Belshazzar and Nebuchadnezzar the Empire be given to the poor of the earth, Kings about to reign for a little. But upon Chapter 20, he thus writes: But see thou (he addresses Henry) who art called the Viper, lest, thee perishing and prevented by death, the sides of the Empire be rent asunder; and some, as two Vipers, ascend to the apex of power: and as another Evilmerodach one of them obtain, who in a short time from the bite of the petty King shall fall back.

[45] The year was being passed, when Joachim wrote these things, MCXCVII; and soon he saw the event of his vaticination. For Henry died in the following year, on the XXX day of September; and the Electors being split into parties they were equally raised to the Empire, Otto Duke of Saxony, and the deceased's brother Philip Duke of Swabia, the latter crowned at Mainz, the former at Aachen. Hence suits and wars for nine years continuous arose, until peace coalesced, which likewise was done the very year next after the prediction. Beatrice, daughter of the deceased Philip, being given in marriage to Otto, with the title of King of the Romans. Ten years then surviving Otto, had the Empire neither pacified nor happy. For Frederick, son of Henry, whom the father a little before his death had taken care to have invested with the Kingdom of Sicily by the Apostolic See, raised himself against Otto, nay even did not fear to come into Germany in the year MCCXI; and obtained the following year, that in the public diet of the Empire he be designated King of the Romans; and so little by little his power grew strong, Otto being despised, so that the latter at length, abandoned by all, expired, in the year MCCXVIII on the XV day of March. And this is what the Seer had foretold, that Otto would fall back from the bite of the petty King, of which petty King, namely Frederick, he had thus in the same place a little before vaticinated: Hear thou, Lord Emperor, and attend to what is said, From the root of the Snake shall go forth a petty King, Afterward, Philip being slain, against Otto reigning without a partner and his seed absorbing the Bird. For thou art the Snake in the way, namely on account of the evils inflicted on Sicily and Italy, and on account of the guiles by which thou hast circumvented the Norman nobility and the Pontiff himself: but thy Successor, namely the son Frederick, who shall be much more powerful for the subversion of the Roman church, shall be as a Horned-Serpent in the way: under whom, hiding with his mother in his boyish years after thy death in Sicily, his Empire shall be split, two being elected at the same time to the Crown; and some Rider attaining to him shall fall, namely Philip. For thou, Henry, as a tortuous Snake, Frederick II rose up, and he being supplanted, crawling to and fro from Germany into Italy, at length dying in Sicily, shalt be led out of the kingdom: but thy Successor Frederick, after he shall have grown up, from Sicily, as from his cavern, shall leap forth; who coming into Germany against Otto, not so much by arms as by his presence, as a petty King or Basilisk, by his gaze will scatter all things. He is called a Horned-Serpent, that is Horned: because perhaps he shall ascend to several kingdoms. Or it is to be feared, lest he bite the hoof of the horse, namely by lacerating the Church, about his last times; and make the Rider fall, the supreme Pontiff or the Prelates, attempting also to subvert the Pontiff, as it were making to cease the Prince of his opprobrium, because perhaps they will reproach him with his malice: or perhaps he will diminish the worship of God, the horns of unclean nations being applied to himself.

[46] No one is so incurious of ecclesiastical history, but that, if only he has tasted it with the first lips, he knows that not only the Empire of Otto was undermined by the machinations of Frederick, which is the first sense of the oracle: but also the Frederician schism was stirred up in the Church, and the pious efforts of the Crusaders frustrated, first by long delay, then by a base treaty entered with the Saracens, the invaders of the Holy Land, whom he even brought from Africa into Italy: which two things by the disjunctive "Or" are subjoined, but they can also be taken copulatively. But without disjunction a little after he speaks, and those words of Isaiah, by which is said a Lioness, and a Lion, and from them a Viper, and a flying petty King, in the second place interpreting concerning the afflictions of the Roman Church; It seems, he says, namely of the Church, to sustain a fourfold loss from the Empire. And first indeed from Henry the first King of the Germans, as from a Lioness; second from Frederick thy Father, as from a Lion; third as from a Viper, from thyself, Henry; fourth as from a petty King thy successor; who therefore is called winged, because he shall be of greater dignity than the rest of the Kings of the daughter of Babylon. But if it is so, nay because it shall thus be (note, the confidence not of one conjecturing, but prophetically asseverating, although for the sake of modesty elsewhere he often uses dubitative particles) it seems that in him the Imperial summit fails, and by the example of his ancestors vexing the Church, namely of the family of the Swabians; and his life is protracted, not as of a supreme Emperor, but as of one private King, within or in sixty years, in which it is necessary that the Church endure sorrow and labor, both from strangers and from her own: which years from the election of Frederick, made in the year MCCXII, to Rudolph of Habsburg, elected in the year MCCLXXIII, will number whoever shall consider the continual troubles of the Church and Empire, protracted up to that year amid the schisms of the Electors.

[47] But after these things concerning Frederick, turning himself back to the immediate successors of Henry, Joachim, from which he had been exalted, subjoins concerning the splitting of the Empire a prophecy, by the words above alleged; and the fall of Otto, to be subverted by the petty King, being set forth, thus concerning him he pursues. Indeed that petty King shall fly higher and wider, that through the whole breadth of the Empire he may afflict the Church; and as if about to absorb the Bird, that is the Church, which is wont to be designated by the Dove, in himself or in his seed, sit in the temple, as God. Yet he meanwhile will flatter with his face, in the beginning of his rise (inasmuch as in chapter 51 he says; To be suckled at the breasts of the Spouse of the Lamb, namely by the helps of the Church, which raised him first to the kingdom of Sicily while still an infant, then a man to the Roman Empire) but as time proceeds, as another Belshazzar, he will abuse in the concupiscences of women the vessels of the Temple, namely of the Church. For his flight, although it insinuates fault, yet deceitfully and enviously indicates that he is to come: at length he was deprived of the Empire, The words, he says, of his mouth iniquity and guile, until it come to the hatred of Mordecai, namely a manifest rebellion against the Roman Pontiff; and his heart be against the holy testament, namely the treaty of the Crusaders for the recovery of the Holy Land: as Haman against the people of the Jews. For if you ask, as also you ask, what is his end: Isaiah teaches, who describes: He shall fall by the sword not of a man, and the sword not of a man shall devour him … the sword namely not human, but the sword of the spirit of the word; that you may know, that without hands he shall be crushed and led out of the cavern of the Church. By a dire anathema indeed, several times for various causes renewed, Frederick being bound; the sentence of the Council of Lyons, at length in the universal Council at Lyons, in the year MCCXXIV, he was stripped of the Imperial dignity, as sacrilegious, heretical, blasphemous, and a rebel against the Church; and thence to him striving with all his strength to subvert the Roman Pontiff, and openly assailing the Church, fortune went backward; until at length suffocated by Manfred his bastard he perished in the year MCCL, leaving the Empire full of troubles, which lasted up to the election of Rudolph of Habsburg made in the year MCCLXXIII.

[48] The same deposition of Frederick the Prophet expressed even more clearly, upon Chapter 4, where he describes the sacrilegious daring of the Swabian Emperors against the Church, partly past, as in not one place most clearly

partly future, he describes in these words: It is wholly to be, that from Philistia, that is, Italy, scandals arise, which not only disturb themselves, but also the Roman Church: because from the root of the Snake shall go forth a petty King (namely Frederick Barbarossa, sprung from the daughter of Henry the elder, who introduced into the Church a schism by the raising up of an Antipope) and his seed Henry the Younger, and the rest who shall proceed from his progeny or propagation, namely Frederick, Manfred, Conradin: whose heart shall be to afflict the Church and to destroy the Christian people, and chiefly of the Clergy: because according to what is read, A heart of iron shall be given him; and with the infidels his dwelling, that is his conversation, until his nails grow, his sons and kinsmen, in the likeness of eagles flying higher, that is exalting themselves above all that is called God, and beyond what can be believed devastating all things. Nor does it stand in the way that the kingdom and empire of Babylon was transferred from Nebuchadnezzar, and given to Evilmerodach: because in truth the Empire shall be taken away after Henry etc. as above, number 44: and after he declared, how nonetheless the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar, that is of Henry, was to be restored to Frederick his son, he adds that it would be, Joachim foretold all and singular things: that he abuse the vessels of the church, the liberties, the legates, and other faithful, whom going to the Council he fraudulently and violently intercepted and held captive; and on account of this and other most grave crimes, he see the hand writing on the wall, that is, the sentence against him of the Empire to be ruined; and as another Belshazzar abuse the kingdom against the command of Samuel, nay against the will of the Lord, using the title of Emperor for XXV years after his abdication, and tyrannically reigning.

[49] who also seems to have vaticinated concerning Manfred, And these things hitherto all manifest: of Manfred, the bastard of Frederick II and tyrant of Sicily, about to rise after his father against the Church, not so manifestly. Yet he seems to have prophesied also of him. For besides the things said above universally of the whole progeny of Henry, to him he seems to have looked by name, when upon chapter 20 of Jeremiah, he adapts to the Sicilian kingdom, to be troubled and straitened, what is said in Isaiah 30, verse 6: In a land of tribulation and straitness a Lioness and a Lion, from them a Viper and a flying petty King; and so he addresses Henry himself: But if thou art a Lion, the Lioness the Queen of Sicily, Constance the wife of Henry, from you a Viper a son shall arise, namely Frederick, from which Viper a petty King is to go forth, who under the appearance of piety, of preserving for the legitimate heirs of Frederick, Conrad and then Conradin, will change the Ecclesiastical worship; drawing the kingdoms of both Sicilies into rebellion against the Church, and sending against her the Saracens themselves. about to occupy a tyranny in Sicily. Which and other like things, hitherto from the aforecited Commentary upon Chapter 20 of Jeremiah produced above concerning Frederick, when Joachim had written, nothing revering Henry, however beneficent toward him, and in whose favor he had undertaken to write, he thus concludes: Whether I announce to thee prosperous things or adverse, I do not greatly fear nor strive to please: because the counsel of the divine word is not bound to men.

§ VI. The fictions are destroyed, on whose occasion the Prophetic spirit of Abbot Joachim was suspect to some.

[50] For indeed such certain and determinate foreknowings of future events, On account of the prejudice concerning the sound doctrine of Joachim, as we have explained above, whoever attentively considers them; him we think, will not easily assent to writers, however of great authority, who, on account of preconceived judgments against the sound doctrine of Joachim, believed, that he foresaw such things, not by a prophetic spirit, but by the conjecture of the human mind, which sometimes comes to the truth, sometimes is deceived, as St. Thomas says in 4, distinction 43, question 1, article 3, ad 3, adding, that it likewise seems to be of the sayings of Abbot Joachim, who by such conjectures predicted some true things of the future, and in some was deceived. For, saving the reverence of the holy Doctor, we persuade ourselves, that the books of Joachim were read by him only with a light eye and a preoccupied mind, or not even read, but things brought to him by uncertain report in predicting which he was deceived; or only in general he followed the sense of his age, in which many things under the name of Joachim were circulated, wholly fictitious and vain; whose triviality caused, that all the wisest hesitated in suspense, and false oracles fastened upon him, in what place to hold Joachim, or what to establish concerning his spirit. For however much his Florensians esteemed him, very many yet on account of the definition of the Council continued to hold him suspect of heresy; the Cistercians, the rivals of the Florensians, not sluggishly promoting that fame, to the denigration of those, with whose rigor their own discipline compared, so greatly before commended, seemed to be of a laxer observance.

[51] his spirit becomes suspect, That this would be, and at the same time evils on that account about to befall the Cistercian Order, that Joachim himself foreknew, writing upon chapter II of Jeremiah, is asserted with no slight likelihood of truth by his defenders, and the whole place which we have deferred hither, we now exhibit. The words of the Prophet are these: To the men of Anathoth, who seek thy soul and say, Thou shalt not prophesy in the name of the Lord, and thou shalt die in our hands: therefore thus says the Lord of armies: Behold I will visit upon them: the young men shall die by the sword, their sons and daughters in famine, and there shall be no remnant of them: for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, the year of their visitation. The Cistercian rivals depressing him But this place Joachim thus expounds: From certain of the Cistercians shall go forth this iniquity, that that Doctor (whom he had before foretold would be enviously traduced and condemned in the judgment of the Church) shall not prophesy in the name of the Lord; and in their hands, that is works and counsels, shall die, namely, be reprobated: while indeed they deride his prophecies as impostures, and traduce his doctrine as heretical. But what follows thence? The young men of them etc. The young men are the Priors, the sons the Monks, the daughters the Monasteries (which to the Cistercians by Filiations proceeding from five Mothers are distinguished) or their Obediences. The first, shall die by the sword of the commonwealth, namely Commendatory Abbots being brought upon them: the second, whom he foretells will be punished by Commendams, shall fail in the famine of catholic doctrine; while namely those hirelings, fattening themselves and their own from the goods of the monasteries, shall leave to the Monks scarcely things necessary for sustenance, much less labor to stir up and promote the studies of sacred letters: the remnant of the Order, in the defect of regular observance. For I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, namely upon the greater Prelates of the Cistercians, the year of their visitation, namely of tribulation sent.

[52] to be introduced in the time of schism. How grave that calamity was in all Italy indeed, but chiefly in the kingdom of Naples and Calabria; how many monasteries it desolated, and chiefly that of Curatio, whence Joachim had gone forth; they know, who know the state of the monasteries there, before the Commendams devised and introduced in the time of schism, from books, and compare it with the present time; so that there is no need with more words to exaggerate that, which Gregorio de Lauro did more than was expedient for him in the whole Chapter 54. But here I add, that those false judgments, which detracted almost all authority from Joachim, were born not so much from the books written by him, and read with an eye not equal enough; as from the very many fictions, which under his name were circulated, as the vaticinations of a most celebrated Prophet. For when human curiosity widely spread such things, and variously deformed even the true things themselves, which were mixed with many false ones; it happened, Among other things there was fastened upon Joachim, that the falsity of them detected in process of time, led even the most sensible men, having no cause why they should think those things fastened upon Joachim, into error; about to take greater increases day by day, the more by degrees the sanctity of Joachim was to be obscured, and his right mind in matters of faith. Nor only after his death were such things fabricated, but even while he was still living and flourishing. Thus in Roger Hoveden, a writer of the same age in England, we read, that in the year MCXC, Richard King of England, staying with Philip King of France at Messina, until they should cross over into the Holy Land, heard by fame and the relation of many, that a certain religious man was in Calabria, called Joachim Abbot of Curatio of the Cistercian Order, having a prophetic spirit, and predicted things to come to the people; and sent for him, that to the King of England, and gladly heard the words of his prophecy: for he was a man learned in the divine Scriptures, and interpreted the visions of Bl. John the Evangelist, which John himself narrates in the Apocalypse, in hearing which the King of England and his men were much delighted. But how did he explain? Let him be mad, who thinks he explained otherwise, than he did in that work which he had written upon the Apocalypse. Yet meanwhile a certain courtly fly, namely of those who wish to seem to know and understand all things, gladly hearing the exposition of the Apocalypse, wrote out into England as it were a Synopsis of the whole doctrine, such as after the cited words Hoveden transcribed; adding (what nowhere even by a shadow you will read in the works of Joachim, but rather the contrary) that Saladin, who then as tyrant occupied Jerusalem, would shortly lose it.

[53] But then because fame was spread, which also Bellovacensis and others relate, that to the Kings consulting about the success of the expedition Joachim answered, that the time of recovering Jerusalem was not yet at hand, that he said Jerusalem would shortly be recovered, and so the Christians would not much profit by that expedition: lest this brought into England should dishearten the people, the courtly flatterers feigned, who then most believe themselves politic, when with rumors, which it profits the affairs to be done either to be true or to be held true, they fill the ears of the credulous common folk; they feigned, I say, that Joachim being asked by the King, when those things concerning Saladin would be, answered; when seven years shall have elapsed from the day of the captivity of Jerusalem, and so about the end of the year MCXCIIII: for it had been captured in the year MCLXXXVII on the IV Kalends of October. To this the King had subjoined: Therefore, why have we come hither so soon? To whom Joachim answered: Thy coming is very necessary: and that to him that expedition would be most happy: because the Lord will give thee victory over thy enemies, and will exalt thy name above all the Princes of the earth. That this is pure pure fabrication, fastened upon Joachim, for instilling good hope into the English, no one will doubt; who will wish to compare the most unhappy Fortune of Richard, in that expedition conquered and captured, with the undoubted sanctity of Joachim, by which he would not wish to deceive the King in a matter of so great moment by the pretext of a false revelation. With us certainly more faith obtains John Bonacius, a Florensian Monk, and very familiar with the blessed Abbot; who when he had said, that Tancred, with the two Kings companions of the sacred expedition, the answer of Joachim being heard, was troubled, added, that besides them there was present at that colloquy the Lord Peter Kala, since he said plainly the contrary. Theologian and kinsman of King Richard: which Lord Peter, too swollen and elated, on account of his immense knowledge and Royal blood, and flaring up with anger, said: Is there anything good from a cowl? Then the holy Abbot falling on his face, kissed the feet of the angry Prelate: but Peter straightway seemed to himself to see an Angel, lifting Abbot Joachim from the earth: and heard a voice saying, God reveals to him the truth. Thus in Bonacius's words Gregorio, chapter 29.

[54] Of no greater faith is what in the same narration of Hoveden follows: Concerning Antichrist the same Joachim says, that he is already born in the city of Rome, and shall be exalted in the Apostolic See: and of this Antichrist

says the Apostle, he is exalted above all that is called God. And the King turned to him said: I thought that Antichrist would be born at Antioch, likewise that Antichrist was already then born at Rome; or in Babylonia, of the progeny of Dan, and would reign in the temple of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem etc. The inept relater forgot at least to feign a response congruent with Joachim: but what he neglected we seeking in his writings, first we find no mention of an Antichrist born or to be born at Rome: but of Antichrist nothing else than this very thing, which the Epistle I of John the Evangelist asserts: Little children, it is the last hour: and as you have heard, that Antichrist comes: and now many Antichrists are made. Which therefore he says, says Joachim upon the Apocalypse, part 1, chapter 1, text 3, that the more the last day approaches, whereas of Rome he nowhere makes mention, the more we may know pseudo-christs and pseudo-prophets to multiply in the world: and part 3, chapter 9, text 13: Not one Antichrist or one pseudo-prophet did Christ foretell, but many: and part 4, chapter 13, text 9: Some of the Doctors name the eleventh King Antichrist … which to me therefore seems true, nor except in the sense of the Apostle because there is one dragon, but many heads: and the malice which he completes not in one Antichrist, he will complete in another; and he who shall be the worse of them, he is to be called the greatest Antichrist. He who thus felt, and felt rightly, but foreknew how great evils were imminent to the Church under the successors of the Emperor Henry, as above has been demonstrated; he was speaking of Frederick 2 or of an Antichrist to come: no wonder indeed, if of a near Antichrist (such as in truth Frederick was to be, within three years from the aforementioned assembly of Kings about to be born) he spoke many things; and of the last time, as if already present, in imitation of the Apostle, according to the sense which in part 3, chapter 6, text 11 he had expressed.

[55] Indeed, he says there, in that word which I said concerning the day of the last judgment, I beg a pious hearer; namely both in this place, but of the last day in the sense of Augustine, and in others, wherever it happens that I have spoken of it. For I wish him to know, that in two ways the last day, and the day of judgment, is taken. For it is taken in a broad way, for a certain uncertain time, as Augustine openly asserts in the book on the City of God: and it is taken in a strict way, of the conclusion of time itself; when all the mysteries being consummated, the impious shall go into eternal punishment, but the just into eternal life. If therefore it is taken in a broad way, whatever is said in this manner can without hesitation be referred to the last day, that is, to the extreme last and latest time. And in the same place, chapter 10, text 3: Who knows, he says, how long that time ought to last, which is called the last day in Scripture?… as it sounds for a time of determinate space: But when we so take the last day, we ought to esteem that last day, the last, that is the seventh, age. For as the seventh day, is the end of the week; so the last age, of whatever space it be, is the end of the world. These things there, so far is it from the truth, that in the little book upon the Apocalypse (which the aforecited Bellovacensis says, and holds beyond the rest notable and suspect) he define the term of the world; which he by no means restricted to 60 years. and judge it to be fulfilled within two generations, which according to him (Joachim) make sixty years. Yet from this, that Bellovacensis imputes these things to Joachim in that place, where he exhibits a kind of sum of the said work; it easily appears, how badly informed about the writings of Joachim the Doctors of that time were, and among them even St. Thomas, contemporary with Bellovacensis, and feeling alike of his books, either known by another's report alone, or read with a prejudice of the kind which we have above dissolved.

[56] But then more known could be the doctrine contained in that work, copied by the hands of various men, yet in that very work he also had contradictors than when still recent they heard it only from his own mouth, the English and French Prelates, having accompanied their Kings to the sacred war. And therefore we easily believe it true, with which Hoveden concludes his relation: Although the Abbot of Curatio uttered this opinion concerning the coming of Antichrist, (namely such as we have here exhibited, not such as he himself believed of the lying relater) yet Walter Archbishop of Rouen, and the Archbishop of Apamea, and Gerard Archbishop of Exeter, and John of York, and John of Bayonne the Bishops, and other Ecclesiastical men, well learned in the divine Scriptures, strove to prove the contrary. And although they brought forward many probable things on this side and that, yet still the suit is before the judge. Thus Roger: of which Baronius touching the chief points: The Author, he says himself, who then wrote those things, asserting that the truth would justly be known from the event, from that plainly far different from the very prediction convicted, by the whole heaven, that Joachim was a pseudo-prophet. But when he received the sentence of condemnation both himself and his writings, under Innocent III, in its place it will be said. To which injuries done to Bl. Joachim, nor sufficiently weighed when they were written, and that Baronius was credulous of Hoveden's ineptitudes, we answer no otherwise, than by wishing that for pursuing further the ecclesiastical Annals life and leisure had sufficed Baronius: for we scarcely doubt, but that according to his ingenuousness he would have softened the rigor of the precipitate sentence: for as, both from the very Decree of the Council, and from the Bulls of the consequent Pontiffs he would have known, that only one little book which was borne under the name of Joachim was condemned, and that without the note of the pretitled Author; so perhaps he would also have applied his mind sometime to reading the very exposition of the Apocalypse, and would have recognized, on how false prejudices most of his accusers rely.

§. VII. What concerning Joachim's doctrine about Antichrist Adam, Abbot of Perseigne, thought, what to Telesphorus the Hermit was revealed from heaven.

[57] From what has been said moreover it can be established, what faith is to be given to the Anonymous writer, [Joachim did not say, that the sixth Vision of the Apocalypse was to begin in the year 1199,] whose work MS. existing at Paris in the Library of St. Victor, is alleged by Ippolito Marracci before the Mariale of Adam, Abbot of Perseigne, and from whom these words there are cited by the same: At this time there existed a certain Abbot not far from the City of Rome (if this can be said of an interval of more than a hundred miles) of the Cistercian Order, but by no means subject to the Cistercians: who published a certain Exposition upon the seven Visions of the Apocalypse, having received divinely, as they say, wisdom, since he was almost illiterate etc. (he not obscurely designates Abbot Joachim, although he wrote not only upon seven Visions, but upon the whole Apocalypse, nor was so illiterate, as was said) But he says that in the year MCXCIX shall begin the sixth Vision, and the opening of the sixth Seal: under which Vision he proves by the authority of the Apocalypse, that all the persecution of Antichrist shall be completed, and his death and perdition: but before his persecution he says the Gospel must everywhere be preached, and the Church of the faithful dilated through all nations. He says indeed this last, and all Catholics say it with Joachim: but the year, which he is said to name, he nowhere names, in that which we cited above, Text II, from which up to the end of part 2 it is treated of the opening of the sixth Seal: but the Sixth age, even by Bellovacensis himself a witness, he begins not from that year, but from Christ's birth. The aforesaid Author moreover proceeds, with the same levity indeed with which he wrote the former things. He being asked at Rome by a venerable man, and most eloquent in the word of God and equally religious, the Abbot of Perseigne, by what daring he predicted such things? whether from prophecy, or from conjecture or revelation? answered, that he had neither prophecy nor revelation of these things: But God, he said, who once gave to the Prophets the spirit of prophecy, nor to Adam Abbot of Perseigne that Antichrist was already a youth: gave me the spirit of understanding, that in the spirit of God I most clearly understand all the mysteries of sacred Scripture; as the holy Prophets once understood, who once published it in the spirit of God. But being asked by the same Abbot, what he thought of Antichrist; he answered that he was already a youth: which answer Adam confuted.

[58] Adam may have confuted the doctrine of Joachim in the manner, in which the aforenamed Bishops confuted it, while everyone abounds in his own sense: yet we shall not believe that he confuted the answer, such as is here said to have flowed from Joachim's mouth. For let it be that after Frederick was born the meeting of these two Abbots at Rome was, which we should prefer to refer to the beginnings of the Florensian Order a little after the year MCXC: Frederick indeed Joachim could say would be Antichrist; but he could not say he was a Youth; who, since he himself died in the year MCCII, had completed only the eighth year of his age. Yet we do not refute Adam; because that manner of speaking, of judgment as next to come, although used by many of the holy Fathers; and likewise of any Antichrist whatever, although founded in the Scriptures; he did not approve: for that manner of speaking to little minds and the common folk, who know not how to distinguish the diverse senses of the Scriptures, but are wont to take words of this kind for the more famous signification, could generate scandal. Thus St. Bernard signifies that he could not in like matter altogether assent to Bl. Norbert, writing thus, in epistle 56: A few days ago I deserved to see his face, and from the heavenly pipe, namely his mouth, to draw very many things… and when I inquired about Antichrist what he thought; as Bernard did not approve the saying of St. Norbert, he protested that he most certainly knew that he was to be revealed while the present generation still lasts. But when to me asking whence he had the same certitude he wished to set it forth; having heard what he answered, I thought I ought not to believe that for certain. To the sum however he asserted this, that he would not see death, unless he first see a general persecution in the Church. And he saw it: for, as Gregorio de Lauro rightly says, page 165, the studies among the Cardinals being split, in the year of the Lord MCXXX, the See being vacant by the death of Honorius II, one part chose Gregory Paparesco under the name of Innocent II, the other Peter Leonis under the name of Anacletus II as Pontiff. For by the cause of this schism, the Church of God sustained an immense persecution; yet verified in Anacletus the antipope, begun indeed four years, before Norbert migrated from the living, dead in the year MCXXXIV, and continued for almost a decade; and would have sustained far more bitter things, had not the same most holy Bernard interposed himself in the middle for the true Pontiff.

[59] As therefore, saving the reverence of St. Norbert, Bernard innocently dissented from him; as the saying of Joachim in Frederick, but afterward, led by a spirit by no means fallacious, from those things which followed without doubt knew it: so also Adam, Abbot of Perseigne, could depart from Abbot Joachim; until the matter itself proved, by what

and how truly in the prophetic sense his prophecy was fulfilled; especially since he dissembled the gift of Prophecy, and hides it under the less specious name of the Spirit of understanding. For that the things he foretold were fulfilled in Frederick of this name II no one will deny, unless someone little equitable to the Pontifical name: so that we deservedly wonder, how to John Trithemius, Abbot of Spanheim, in his work on the Ecclesiastical Writers, this censure of Joachim slipped out: As he was held a prophet in his time, he attempted also to foretell future things: but it seems to me (that I may speak saving his opinion or that of his own) that he spoke more from conjectures of the Scriptures, than prophesied. For, that I may meanwhile be silent of the rest, he dreamed that the Emperor Frederick would be an enemy of the Church: whom we all know to have persevered up to death peaceful and subject and faithful to the Roman Pontiff. Perhaps Trithemius, ignorant of the age of Joachim, struck hither, and numbered neither Henry the Fowler, by others too wont to be passed over in numbering the Emperors, but the 2nd not the 3rd as Trithemius wrongly understood. nor Henry, Landgrave of Thuringia and Hesse, subrogated to Frederick while living and bearing himself up to death as Emperor; and so it would have come about; but making Henry of Luxemburg the sixth of this name, he believed him to be the one, for whom Joachim wrote a book with this beginning, Piously thou askest something: and so he thought those vaticinations, which he read interspersed in the works of Joachim concerning Henry's successor, regarded Frederick of Austria, the Third of his name; and that the more easily, because even after the death of Henry of Luxemburg, the votes of the Electors being divided, Louis Duke of Bavaria was elected and crowned at Aachen, and at Bonn by the other party the aforesaid Frederick.

[60] The spirit of Joachim St. Cyril the Carmelite approved: However it be; the judgment of Trithemius about him, relying on so evident an error, ought not to be received against Joachim, nor is the authority of the Abbot of Perseigne, feeling differently from him, so great, that the spirit of Joachim was not approved by men of equally great or greater sanctity. And that I may be silent of St. Cyril the Carmelite, whose Life we gave on March VI, and again treated of him in the very Life of Joachim; an outstanding testimony concerning Joachim from heaven received a certain Theolosphorus, by others Telesphorus; a Hermit of rare virtue, and honored by the Cosentine writers with the title of Blessed, and he expressed it in his work on the great tribulations and the state of the Church, which composed by Angelic command, Vincentius Bernalius is said to have published in print, but abbreviated by Fr. Rusticianus. But of him in Gregorio de Lauro, page 255, this is the attestation, and Theolesphorus the hermit, concerning the revelation made to him. To all and singular faithful persons, ecclesiastical and secular. The humble Brother Theolosphorus of Cosenza, a poor Presbyter and Hermit near Thebae (namely the Lucanian, by Pliny so called from Lucius the founder: of which once most celebrated city the persuasion was then among the learned that vestiges existed in the fortress, whose name is Castelluccio, in Upper Calabria at the river Coracium) humbled himself under the power of the divine majesty, and its grace and glory. When sad and grieving over the evils of the impending schism, befalling the Church and likely to befall, solicitous about the outcome of the schism, I had often humbly besought the most gentle Lord with a great abundance of fastings and tears, that the cause of the impending schism, and which during that schism (it lasted moreover from the year MCCCLXXVIII to MCCCCXV) of those asserting themselves Supreme Pontiffs, was the true Pontiff, and which existed as Pseudo-pontiff; and what end that schism itself would have, and how, the schism being ended, the Church of God would be governed, the Lord Himself would deign to show me His servant.

[61] An Angel referred to the books of Joachim: In the year from the nativity of the Lord MCCCLXXXVI, about the dawn of the Resurrection of our aforesaid Lord, to me sleeping very lightly and as if from this astonished, it befell to see an Angel of the Lord, of virginal countenance and of the height of two cubits, adorned with two greatly shining wings, clad in a white, broad, and ankle-length garment, and sweetly speaking to me these words: The Lord has heard your prayers, saying, that to His beloved servants Cyril the Presbyter and Hermit on Mount Carmel, Joachim the Abbot, and many others of His servants the impending schism to come, and its causes, and which was their true Pontiff, and its end, and after that schism the future government of the Church, through the Holy Spirit and an Angel long ago He indicated and disclosed. Seek therefore the books and writings of the aforesaid men, and then your will shall be satisfied: and what in those books you shall find written, also to others for your and their salvation indicate and reveal. Which things being said and heard straightway the Angel disappeared. But I timid rising from sleep, called my most dear companion Eusebius of Vercelli, who from those things studiously sought and found to whom I made known all the aforesaid: by whose counsel he and I, with the greatest diligence, in the city of Thebae and Cosenza, where was born the aforesaid holy Prophet Joachim, and in other places near those cities, sought the books of the aforesaid men, and at length found the book of Cyril, which begins, Of the Lord of all etc. whose words the Angel of the Lord on two silver tablets, containing great future affairs, beginning from the year of the nativity of the Lord MCCLXIV, announced and gave to Cyril himself. Likewise we found all the books of the aforesaid great Prophet Joachim, and chiefly his singular books, sent to Henry of Swabia, Emperor the sixth, and another singular book of his entitled the Book of the Flower on the Supreme Pontiffs, from Innocent the fourth up to Antichrist, which begins: In the time of the snake the son of the Lioness, and after a few things, All which and singular things by me Fr. Telesphorus with most vigilant zeal being read through, he learned those things which he desired. and prayers and tears often poured forth to the Lord, that He would deign to show me the truth of the aforesaid things, I greatly rejoiced, as it were clarified about those things which I had long desired to know. Through which books I clearly knew that the impending schism and its causes had been shown and revealed to the aforesaid holy men.

[62] Thus he: but the singular books written to Henry VI, of which here chiefly mention is made, are chiefly, one On the Prophet Daniel, Among these were the little books to the Emperor Henry which manuscript exists at Bruges in the monastery of Dunes, and another On some chapters of the Prophets Nahum, Habakkuk, Zachariah, and Malachi: which also On the Burdens of the sixth time, is inscribed; and printed at Venice by Lazarus de Soardis, at Louvain exists in the Library of our College; from which from page 11 to 28 Gregorio Lauro transcribed and inserted into his work, the things which concerning the individual Episcopal cities, according to the catalogues of the Churches (which then were in hand, the proper names quite corrupted by the carelessness of the scribes) Joachim by vaticinating foretold: full of prophecies, but in a style, such as is wont to be of prophets, exceedingly obscure: yet so, that, after so great a space of years, a reader skilled in the histories of the intermediate time easily detects, that many things are now already fulfilled, of those which seem to be predicted; whence concerning the rest, not yet proved by their event, judgment can be borne. To which and other like things, which everywhere are interspersed in other books of the same holy Abbot, upon Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel etc.; in almost all of which as if foreknowing of future things, (as Trithemius speaks) he was wont to mix prognostics, I think can be subscribed the Epilogue, by which he concluded his five books on the concord of the old and new Testament, in these words. But this little work being consummated, the grace of Christ accompanying us, by Joachim not from presumption. to those who judge me a presumer and not rather necessary, I am compelled briefly to answer; namely in view of supernal charity, not from appetite of human favor; knowing it written in the volume of the Psalms, The Lord scatters the bones of those who please men, because God has spurned them. Ps. 52:6 Let them know therefore, and this I pray that they know, not from supernal presumption, but nor with the security of any piety did I wish to attempt these things; or by my own talent, that I should speak these things to the world, did I find them: but because the prefixed time is at hand. He who through the diverse times of the ages works and completes many things, but written by divine compulsion. as He wills and when He wills, wished the mysteries of His secrets in this work necessarily rather than curiously, by discourses long signified, to disclose to His faithful: not that we are worthier, because we know these things: but that we may know how great scourges are prepared for us according to our merits: that if anyone is of the house of Lot, he may hasten to be far removed from the bounds of the Sodomites; if anyone of the family of Noah, he may be received among those who are saved in the ark.

* otherwise LIV

§. VIII. The oracles left to the Florensian monastery by the Blessed Founder, concerning the religious Orders newly to be born.

He foretells the increases of the Cistercian monasteries, That the desolation of his Monastery and Order was foreknown by Joachim, and foretold by the dying Father to his sons, Graecus asserts, and from him Lauro. And indeed it is altogether probable, that he dismissed his Florensians not wholly ignorant of the evils to come, who concerning the whole Cistercian Order, and chiefly concerning the Mothers of the Order, as they call them, five, Cîteaux, La Ferté, Pontigny, Clairvaux, and Morimond, had thus vaticinated, book 4 of the Concord, chapter 39. But concerning the Abbeys, which were created first, this is to be inserted, that as the five greater Tribes, as prior to the rest and the mothers of many families, first received the inheritance; so the five first Houses of the Cistercian Order, in all the others hold the primacy, and as it were a patriarchate. But also as the Patriarchs of that people rejoiced in the propagation of families, so also these, and no less in the possession of sheep and herds. Which however all things, the decreases, because they pertain not so much to the sublimity of the freewoman, as to the abjection of the handmaid, in the same state long, as they are, cannot remain. But what and how that change would succeed, chiefly in the monasteries of Italy and Gaul (to which the fault of the defamed Joachim and of the envy against the Florensian Order regarded more nearly) he explained writing upon chapter XI of Jeremiah, as we have before touched, number 51; as also above the desolation of the Florensian Order, where we treated of its happy increases, that the sad things might be tempered by the glad.

[64] Now therefore let the pen be turned to those things, which foretold by the same Joachim, and the reformation: can soften the bitterness of the future change: thus therefore he pursues the prior place, indicating an outstanding reformation of the Order, which all good men praise and rejoice to have been begun to be made in this last century, and that it may take continual increases, more and more day by day approaching the first vigor of the institute, they pray God, the bestower of all good things. It is necessary, he says, that there succeed a true similitude of the Apostolic life, in which there was not acquired a possession of earthly inheritance, but rather it was sold, as it is written. Acts 4:14 For as many as were possessors of houses and fields, selling them brought

the prices of the things which they sold before the feet of the Apostles: but it was divided to each as everyone had need: and no one rejoiced in sons, but in brothers. Like things, or even far more manifest, the book entitled On the Flower could have had, like things perhaps the book entitled On the Flower also had, which the aforementioned Bl. Telesphorus rejoices to have found: and since that one treated of the Roman Pontiffs from Innocent IV, created forty years after Joachim's death, up to Antichrist, that is Clement the Antipope opposed to Urban VI in the year MCCCLXXVIII; or even to that famous one, about to appear in the last time; we can opine, that there too were many things, which would console the calamities of the Universal Church there foretold. But such a book wholly perished, either abolished by the Commendatory Abbots, or obscured by the Florensian Monks themselves, for fear of the inconveniences and troubles arising to them from those, who grieved to be noted there, or could importunely twist things read there against others, toward whom they were less well affected. Meanwhile from the beginning and end of the book indicated by Telesphorus, it is plain that Gregorio de Lauro lost his labor and oil, and others who as Joachim's Prophecies concerning the Pontiffs most anxiously and laboriously defend, certain fictions, devised in the time of the Schism itself by those, [most different from the fictitious oracles concerning the succession of Pontiffs.] who wished Urban VI to be believed Antichrist, and further protracted to fifteen other following Pontificates, with a lot wholly so unlike the former ones, as the past and the future differ among themselves: of which Graecus seems to have spoken in the Life of Joachim, number 21, where he grieves that there are those, who either by their own effort forge some things, and procure them to be put into print under the name of Joachim; or mixed in with some one of Joachim's works, printed under the involucre of signs and characters, send them forth abroad; and thus oppose their madness, under another's name, to the gaze of the rest. But this madness, as well as that of those who under the name of St. Malachy the Bishop embrace fictitious vaticinations, because we have confuted it by a particular little Dissertation, in our Chronico-historical Attempt concerning the Pontiffs; it will be enough here to have noted, that those things which are had supposed to Joachim begin with Nicholas III, the eight prior ones being passed over, of whom also Joachim had treated; and reach up to Innocent VIII, who died in the year MCCCCXCII, without any mention of an Antichrist then to come, which is enough to distinguish the genuine offspring of Joachim from the supposititious one.

[65] But if the book called On the Flower perished, others did not perish, from which great solace the Church could take for past times, and confirmation for those to follow concerning the veracious spirit of Joachim; The same Joachim foretells that two new Orders would arise, especially those, in which is contained a sure promise of the most present help to be brought to the laboring one, by two religious Orders, very soon to be born in the Church, under the leadership of SS. Dominic and Francis. For (that I may pass over other places, less determinate, and having more of prophetic obscurity) what is clearer, than what in chapter 13 upon Isaiah is testified by Gregorio, page 170, to be said by Joachim? In that duchy, namely the Spoletan, to which Umbria and Assisi were then subject, and in the Spanish territory, two Orders, as if bright stars, shall arise to preach the Gospel of the kingdom. Likewise upon that of Zachariah II, I took to myself two rods, one I called beauty, the other a cord, St. Antoninus, title 23, chapter 1, §1, asserts that Joachim wrote, that the two Rods are the two Orders of Mendicants, namely of Preachers and Minors, rods upright in sanctity, slender and graceful in authority, striking by the authority of doctrine: where think the word "of Mendicants" added by St. Antoninus for the sake of explanation, as also what follows; The beauty is the Order of Preachers, by the becoming habit as it were of Prelates; the cord is the Order of Minors, because by a cord they are manifestly girded. But under another figure at chapter 7 of Isaiah Joachim thus speaks: Indeed according to the course of this sixth time, the Cow of oxen indicates the Roman Church, marked with Doctors; the two Sheep, two Religious Orders to come, in which there shall be such great abundance of speech and milk, that for catching the butter of spiritual understanding the vessels of hearts shall fail. But also upon Jeremiah chapter 4: These are the two Orders designated in the two Prophesying in the camps of Israel, that as by doubled food on the sixth feria, whose beginnings we now have … they may pass to mount Oreb, to convert the proud and black minds of the perfidious nation.

[65] From which it becomes credible, what the Writers of both Orders say, each in a various manner and more adapted to their own; [and he orders them, about to turn aside to the monastery of Fiore, to be religiously received:] that even their very habit, both expressed in words and shadowed forth in painting, was in the Florensian monastery, before the Professors of both were manifested to the world. Likewise it may be credible, what Gerard de Frachet has in the Lives of the Brothers, about a hundred years later than Joachim, that he admonished his Brothers, that when such Orders should arise (but what this Author says singularly of his own, others too say of their own) they should receive them devoutly: which they also did, receiving the Brothers with the Cross and Procession, when they first came to them. For the rest I would not admit, as a true prophecy of Joachim, that which St. Antoninus and like Authors say, that before the holy Institutors themselves were born in the world, he himself took care that their images, in their own habit, which they were each going to give to their own Brothers, be painted at Venice in the temple of St. Mark: and Dominic indeed (as Antoninus says) with a lily in his hand, and this epigraph, Saint Dominic, but Francis, yet not the images of the Founders at Veniceas Robert de Licio, Bishop of Aquino, writes, with the stigmata. For first, as to the time, it stands on no reason: because it is established that St. Dominic was born MCLXX, but Francis MCLXXXII: and the temple of St. Mark, as is gathered from the Venetian History of Pietro Giustiniani, book 2, was for the greater part fitted and restored by the wealth of Sebastiano Ziani, who did not enter the Dukedom before the year MCLXXI; and in the VII year of his rule, of Christ MCLXXVIII, departed from life, when he had first distributed all his fortunes and wealth, which were most ample, into pious causes. But who would doubt but that for several years there was labored on that mass, before it came to caring for the interior ornament, which is wont to be the last; so that it is consequent, that the temple which when St. Dominic was born was scarcely begun, when St. Francis was born had not yet been brought thereto, that his image could there be placed by Joachim.

[66] And this indeed concerning the time: as to the matter itself, we wholly doubt, whether in truth in that Venetian Basilica Joachim had any part. in the temple of St. Mark or other figures described in it Arnold Wion affirms it indeed, and says that in the pavement of that church, and on the walls and arches, he caused very many other likenesses to be formed and figured, by a figured emblem and mosaic work, foreshowing future things, which the outcome day by day proves: but the silence of the said Pietro Giustiniani can deservedly be opposed, in that place, where he fully and minutely describes the singular majesty of that temple. He of these very things thus speaks: Many vaticinations also of the Prophets within, without, above and below, through the whole temple are seen; the figuration also of all the old and new testament, with a most beautiful aspect shining with gold, appears. For (and hence learn the cause and argument of the aforenoted ornament), whatever in the sacred volumes of the Bible of Genesis, Exodus, Judges, Kings, Deuteronomy, Esdras, Joshua is contained, that all in the diverse places of the temple is represented with wondrous work. In these too the divine things of the new Testaments are expressed, excerpted from the Gospels, from the Acts, from the Apocalypse, with great admiration of the beholders and as ornament of the most august temple: whose mass by the wealth of Prince Ziani was raised to this magnitude. Could Giustiniani be silent concerning Joachim, if even then it had been everywhere believed, we believe it contains his prophecy: or he himself had given faith to those believing, that from the designation of Joachim those things were thus fabricated? Indeed when we consider, that of most of Joachim's works the same is the argument as of these emblems; we are compelled to suspect, that on account of the similitude of argument it seemed to someone, that the same was the composer of the books and the marbles; and that this received by some without further indication, gave a foundation to the opinion of certain of this kind among the common folk. Perhaps also some admirer of Joachim's books, took from them such arguments of pictures, those whose prediction was now discerned fulfilled by the very event; and so they may be said to be Joachim's Prophecies depicted there.

[67] That which Gregorio de Lauro takes from Bellovacensis, that Joachim came to Verona to Pope Urban, or designated by him present at Venice elected there in the year MCLXXXV, and on that occasion could have made an excursion to Venice; suffices indeed not for confirming so great a matter. But let it be, the most holy Patriarchs being long since born, Joachim went to Venice, and the fabric of the temple had now been brought thereto, that to those thinking of its ornament he himself could prescribe arguments, even prophetic, namely taken from the sacred books; will it straightway be consequent, that from that time nothing was added to those images, or in them variously on occasion changed, after the aforesaid Saints were taken from this life, Dominic indeed in the year MCCXXI, but Francis MCCXXVI, and a few years after numbered among the Saints? And yet that diversity of time would not have been so great, that after two hundred years from the death of the Saints, in which St. Antoninus flourished, but rather some painted after the death of the Saints. all those things could not seem to be of the same age, and so in some the common folk be deceived. The more ancient writers certainly concerning the life of the same Saints do not seem about to pass over so evident and clear a prophecy, and one which could be most known to the common folk, if they had then known anything of it; especially Gerard in the Lives of the Brothers, studiously collecting such things, and the Author of the Chronicle of the Preachers.

[68] Various oracles are found in the books of Joachim However it be, there is no need, that the prophetic spirit of Bl. Joachim be confirmed by such uncertain arguments, since we have other far most certain ones. Wherefore we gladly pass over whatever from his works various Religious Orders variously draw to themselves, and to our Society of Jesus also some. As, what upon the Apocalypse, part 4, disputation 7, text 11, chapter 14 he says: We judge that in him who was seen, sitting upon a white cloud, and being like the son of man, is signified a certain Order of the just, to whom it is given perfectly to imitate the life of the son of man, and of St. John the Evangelist: having nonetheless a learned tongue to Evangelize the Gospel of the Kingdom, and to gather into the threshing-floor of the Lord the last harvest. And in the same place a good while after: There shall arise an Order, which seems new, and is not, clad in black garments, and girt above with a girdle. These shall grow, and their fame shall be spread abroad, and they shall preach the faith, which also they shall defend

unto the consummation of the world in the spirit of Elias. Which shall be an order of Hermits, imitating the life of the Angels. Such too are those things, also concerning other Orders, about to make great fruit, which upon chapter 1 of Jeremiah he writes, There are to be revealed in the near future in the church faithful Doctors and preachers, who shall strike the earthly and carnal hearts with every blow, and shall impose silence on the erected and swollen masterships by their studies. And well is Jeremiah described the son of Helcias: because that Order to come, shall be directed to the obedience of the supreme Pontiff. And again upon chapter 4 of the same Prophet: The daughter of Sion, is the Roman Church: which it is necessary in the time of her childbirth, which too greatly hastens, in pain and straitness to bring forth a son, spiritual likewise and vocal: spiritual, as to life; vocal, as to doctrine: that as another Christ, firstborn from the womb of mother Church he may come forth, and bring the pasture of eternal life and the draught of salvation.

[69] These and other things of this kind are such, that besides those Orders of Monks, which then flourished and bloomed in the Church, and chiefly concerning some latest one devoted almost to contemplation alone by their institute, Joachim foresaw others about to be born, who in the Clerical degree would join the laborious action of Martha with the quiet of Mary; and mixed of both kinds, would devote themselves not only to their own but also to the salvation and perfection of their neighbors to be promoted: of whose fruitful missions to the barbarians and infidels, and outstanding conflicts against vices, heresies, and Antichrist himself when he says many things, it would be laborious to gather all: but much more laborious and far most invidious would it be, to wish to apply each thing to each, born after Joachim, to the exclusion of others, who would esteem the same things could have been understood of themselves by equal or greater right. But what of that which is had upon chapter 3 of the Apocalypse text 9 in the first part? There is designated also in the sixth month, to come in the third State of the world; (in which namely Elizabeth, the future mother of the Baptist, was pregnant, when Mary conceived, the Angel announcing it, Jesus) the sixth time of the Church, in which the Church shall need to conceive … an offspring before the rest spiritual, that is the very Order which Jesus designates: which Order namely before many others, which preceded it, lovable and illustrious, within the limit indeed of the second State to be begun, that is in the sixth time (if however up to now it is not begun in some, which yet to me is not yet established, because beginnings are always obscure and contemptible) but to be multiplied and dilated in that third State of the age, which is to be in the latest time.

[70] and concerning the effective knowledge of the sacred Letters To the times of that Order thus foretold we judge there pertains, the resuscitation of the sacred studies; whose treatment for a long time sterile and within the mere subtleties of the Dialecticians, and the abstractions of the Metaphysicians, and the manifold farrago of most entangled terms, was to be enclosed as in a sepulchre; and at length, after the threefold tribulation of the Church, foreseen by Joachim, was in some way to be recalled to life by those, who would so follow the knowledge of Divine things and of the Scriptures themselves, and deliver it to others; that, brought out beyond the shadow of Scholastic exercise, into the sun and the dust, they would know how to use and teach the same, for refuting the adversaries of the Catholic faith, confuting and bringing back heretics, converting idolaters, instructing the rude and barbarous, and informing the Christian people with pious morals: concerning whom Joachim seems to have vaticinated in this manner upon chapter XI of Jeremiah. Because for three days Christ lay dead in the heart of the earth, and now the spirit of life is to be hidden under the letter, soldiers being applied, that is, Doctors and Masters, into the custody of the killing letter, as of a sepulchre: until the tribulation of the commonwealth pass, namely of the new Babylon, the tribulation of the infidel nation, and the tribulation of the heretical synagogue. Of which the first, to be restored after the three tribulations of the Church. namely which the Church suffered from the Empire, and was to suffer still for several years under the Swabian Emperors, unceasingly carping at and infesting the ecclesiastical rights and liberty, is designated in the seizing of Christ: the second, which the Mohammedans, Saracens, and Turks brought, at length having obtained the whole Eastern Empire and the city of Constantinople itself, is figured in the smiting of the same Christ: the third finally, imminent from the heretics under Luther and other heresiarchs, and in a great part of the Western Empire, either about to depress the profession of the Catholic and Roman faith, or even wholly to extinguish it, chiefly in the Northern regions, is represented in the death of Christ. After which, will the world or not, the seventh Angel, that is, the sevenfold spirit of God, shall resuscitate the spiritual understanding, by which the blind may see and understand the mysteries of the Trinity, and of the whole Christian faith.

[71] But those things so distinguished and illustrious, whether concerning the aforesaid Order which Jesus designates, or concerning the Spiritual understanding, that is the laborious and effective doctrine of the Scriptures, which was to be restored to the Church, the world by no means striving against it; whether in this age in which we live they have begun to be fulfilled, we leave to others to judge; and the judgment of those being left to the Readers, we hasten to other things, and chiefly to dissolving the calumny, fastened upon Joachim through a certain Guido of Perpignan, a Carmelite, and too lightly believed by Prateolus, Trithemius, Alphonsus a Castro, book 2 on heresies, Gualterius in the chronological Table, century 12, chapter 20. That this may be done, it is necessary here to explain that threefold State, which in the place above cited and in various others he often touches, and so describes, chapter 5 of the introductory book to the Apocalypse: The first of the three States, How Joachim distinguished the three States of the world? of which our discourse is, was under the time of the Law, when the people of the Lord still for the time very few, was serving under the elements of this world… The second State was under the Gospel, and remains up to now, in liberty indeed with respect to the past, but not in liberty with respect to the future: for the Apostle says, Now we know in part, in part we prophesy … The third State therefore shall be about the end of the age, no longer under the veil of the letter, but in full liberty of the spirit … And the first State indeed, which shone under the Law and Circumcision, was begun from Adam. 1 Cor. 13 The second, which shone under the Gospel, was begun from Uzziah. The third, as far as from the number of the generations it is given to understand, from the time of St. Benedict, whose preeminent brightness is to be awaited about the end. Where by servitude he understands nothing else, than to be in that State, which was a figure of future things: and liberty he calls, the very fruition and presence of the things figured.

[72] which understood nothing similar to that which is fastened upon him by Guido; Thus in book 4 of the Concord, chapter 3, We know, he says, that in the first State the signifying things preceded, in the second the signifying things and the things signified, in the third, the signifying things being removed, the things signified alone follow: And because the condition of figures is fleshly, but the understanding of the things figured spiritual; hence it comes about, that insisting on the same division, in book 2 of the Concord, tract 1, chapter 5, he says, There was another time, in which men lived according to the flesh; that is up to Christ, whose beginning was in Adam: another in which they lived between both this, that is between the flesh and the spirit, up to the present time; whose beginning was made in the Prophet Elisha or from Uzziah King of Judah: another in which one lives according to the spirit, namely up to the end of the world, whose beginning from the days of Bl. Benedict. To each State indeed, as a certain dawn of its own, so also as it were the brightness of noon Joachim assigns: which thus understood, is indeed something else, than what Guido dreamed Joachim affirmed: that in the first State indeed a carnal Law was given; but in the second a spiritual one, namely the Gospel, which yet by the Apostles was not preached according to the spiritual sense, but only according to the literal; but in the third it is to be preached according to the spiritual sense, and that by the Monks of St. Benedict: which would be a base and horrible blasphemy.

[73] how he attributed the same to the Orders of the married, of clerics, of monks? But that in Chapter 6 of the same book and tract, Joachim calls the first State the Order of the Married, and says it began to fructify in Abraham: the second of Clerics, says it was begun from Uzziah, who although he was of the Tribe of Judah offered incense to the Lord, although not unpunished; but that this fructified in Christ, who is the true King and Priest: but the third the Order of Monks, according to a certain proper form… began from Bl. Benedict… whose fructification is to be in the times of the end. In book 2 of the same Concord, tract 2, chapter 4 he illustrates more, with a certain analogy to the three divine Persons, saying: We know that the first Order, which was instituted first, was called to the labor of the Legal precepts; the second, which was instituted second, was called to the labor of the Passion: the third, which proceeds from both, was chosen to the liberty of Contemplation. Where again there is nothing which Guido may allege, as if he feigned the second State of the Church less perfect, than the third now is: because he wishes to signify nothing else, than that the faithful now freed from the labor of confessing the faith in persecutions, and of announcing the same among the Gentiles, in greater number than then flow together to the cloisters, about to devote themselves to contemplation: as was done in the West, chiefly after the times of St. Benedict, although before him there were Monks and Monks famous enough. But nowhere even by a shadow is it said, what Guido feigns, that this state of Monks began to be fruitful in the time of Joachim himself. Thus indeed are Authors badly treated, of whom a prejudice once formed from any source, others judge, according to what they either perfunctorily read, The little Brothers of the poor life confirming their errors by like things or what others in them according to their own affection dream they have read.

[74] But if it happen that those, who usurp such things thus received and twisted into a sense less good and Catholic, are men suspected in the faith or openly convicted of heretical pravity; then indeed this too by necessary consequence follows, that to those zealous for the purity of the faith the authors themselves also become suspect, with whose testimonies those arm themselves, if otherwise they be unknown. And so since the little Brothers, called of the poor life, a lying spirit had so maddened, that under one head Christ they feigned as it were two Churches; one of the carnal, over which the supreme Pontiff would preside … the other of the spiritual, of which they asserted themselves to be … and for founding this madness feigned a third new State, and without Christ the Testator a Testament of a new spirit, under which the State of the Church should be renewed in that new time: and since the same heretics took the fomentation of their pestiferous error from the sayings of Abbot Joachim, St. Thomas Aquinas, who as William de Thoco writes in his Life, number 21, volume 1 of our March, folio 667, St. Thomas reviews the work of the Concord; in his various books had crushed the said errors in a certain monastery

asked for the book of the aforesaid Abbot, and when it was offered read through the whole: and where he found anything erroneous or suspect, with a line drawn under it he condemned it: because he prohibited the whole to be read and believed, which he with his learned hand canceled. Thus William, with a mind already preoccupied as it seems: since that review of the holy Doctor and the drawing of lines could have been taken more mildly, as if he wished only to admonish that places of this kind must be read more cautiously, because, they being wrongly taken, the aforesaid heretics could abuse them.

[75] Since moreover all the things produced in this whole § are such, and more which could be produced, both now and ever, by those rightly thinking to be understood of the innovation of piety, not without some sinister prejudice, to be introduced into the Church through Religious Orders, but then applicable by the little Brothers to their errors; no one can wonder that the holy Doctor, having the sanctity of Joachim less known, and his spirit suspect, on account of the very many fictions, of which the Life, number 21, and we here §6 have treated; the work of the Concord read by him (for that William speaks of this we plainly persuade ourselves, on account of those things which St. Thomas writes, in 4, distinction 43, question 1, article 3, against those who wished to compose adequately the States of the old and new Testament with each other, and finally as it were objecting to himself the predictions of Abbot Joachim, who by such conjectures predicted some true things of the future, and in some was deceived) wonder, I say, no one will be able that the said work so read the Angelic Doctor did not greatly approve, proceeding with a spirit not indeed less good than Joachim, yet greatly diverse. But what he himself less approved at that time, in which on account of the pravity of the heretics such things were more dangerously read; that before, when no such cause existed, the supreme Pontiff of the Church approved; and so approved, that both he himself and his successors urged, that with a like spirit the same Joachim should also complete the Apocalyptic exposition, as above has been shown. But as in the age of St. Thomas, some abused some books of Joachim; so also, fifty years after, there was found a certain pestiferous sect of those, who are commonly called Beguini, that the Postil of John Peter upon the Apocalypse but themselves commonly named themselves Brothers poor of the third Order of St. Francis, by the judgment of the Prelates and Inquisitors of heretical pravity condemned as heretics, as is said in the Life of Pope John XXII, given by us from the MS. of Bernard Gui: but this sect took its origin and fomentation from a certain pestiferous Postil, which Fr. Peter John, formerly of the Order of Friars Minor, of Serignan of the diocese of Béziers, had made upon the book of the Apocalypse of John; and which in the year of the Lord MCCCXX the Lord Pope reprobated, and finally condemned in public Consistory, could have augmented. as containing a heretical and pestiferous dogma, against the unity of the Catholic Church, and the power of the supreme Roman Pontiff and the Apostolic See. But I scarcely doubt, but that the same Postil sucked something of poison, instead of honey, from Joachim's Exposition upon John; perhaps also (if the age of the Author agree) it was one of the little books, which St. Thomas confuted.