Winifred

ON ST. WINIFRED, VIRGIN, IN WALES,

ABOUT THE YEAR 660.

PRIOR COMMENTARY.

Winifred, virgin, in England. (S.)

BY C. D. S.

§ I. On the Acts of St. Winifred.

St. Winifred, virgin, is to be called also a martyr on the authority of the Roman Martyrology See below, no. 37.: not indeed a martyr of the faith, The original Life of St. Winifred is twofold. The shorter, or because she passed from this world to the blessed homeland by the shedding of her blood, but because she bravely underwent death for the preservation of her virginal chastity, although immediately afterwards, recalled to life by a marvel, she then passed a long age in the pursuit of religious perfection and at last rested in peace among the nuns who had been given her to lead and to teach. In undertaking to comment on her admirable Life, the same misfortune has befallen us that we lamented in treating the history of St. Rumwold. For we have found no copies of her Acts or other documents concerning her that are older than the twelfth century. We have Acts of two kinds: the one shorter and, as it seems, older; the other, which Robert, prior of the monastery of Shrewsbury or Salespoberiensis *, composed a little before the middle of the twelfth century. The complete text of the shorter See below, no. 7. has been preserved for us by a single codex of the British Museum, Cotton. Claud. A. 5, written in the twelfth century, and from it the learned W. J. Rees published it thirty years ago among the Lives of the saints of Wales Lives of the Cambro British Saints, p. 198 ff., but so sprinkled with blemishes, whether from the drowsiness of the man who transcribed the codex or from his inexperience in the paleographic art, that now and then it can hardly, or not even hardly, be seen what the individual sentences mean. We shall therefore prepare here a more accurate edition from the codex itself.

[2] whose later part, not before the 12th century, That writing contains two parts. The earlier part Below, Life I, nos. 1 – 9. embraces the history of St. Winifred, the later Nos. 10 – 30. the miracles which took place in the spot where she met death for the preservation of her chastity. That this later part was not composed before the end of the eleventh century is clear from the mention of the days of the Franks See below, Life I, no. 12. and of the time at which, the law of peace having been violated everywhere throughout the country, the Franks and the Welsh were attacking one another Ibid., no. 13., and also after the expulsion of the Franks from all Venedocia Ibid., no. 26.: in which places, if by the name of Franks are to be understood (which seems altogether beyond doubt) the Normans, who crossed over from France and, under the leadership of William the Conqueror, obtained England, it is established that there is pointed out here one of those incursions by which the same men tried with varying success to break the hostile spirits of the Welsh and to subject them to themselves, which they finally accomplished under King Edward I, about the year 1280. A certain expulsion of the Normans from all Venedocia, that is, northern Wales, is singled out by the writers of the history of Wales as having taken place in the year 1135 W. Wynne, History of Wales (London 1697, in 8°), p. 158..

[3] but also not later, was written, and the earlier part is perhaps more ancient, On the other hand, that the whole writing is not more recent than the twelfth century is shown by the age of the Cottonian codex itself; and moreover from the closing words of the earlier part it may to some extent be concluded that it was completed before the year 1138, in which year the body of St. Winifred was translated from Gwytherin to Shrewsbury See below, no. 26.. For it is read there: The place, indeed, in which she lived with the virgins is called Gurtherin. There too, after the sleep of life … she rests buried in Christ… However, this conclusion is perhaps not so invincible. For it is easily established that the later part is by no means so connected with the earlier that the two ought to be judged composed in the same tenor. For it relates nothing else than the miracles which took place at Holywell, indicated in these few words in the earlier part: But the ground stained with her blood cracked, and a rushing spring of water gushed out there. Its stones to this very day, as on the first day, are seen to be blood-red; the moss too smells like incense, and it heals various ailments Life I, end of no. 6.. Whence the conjecture spontaneously arises that that later part, or book of miracles, is owed to some monk of the monastery of Basingwerk, established in this same twelfth century close to this place Holywell, which was also subject to it Thomas, History of the diocese of St. Asaph, p. 466., and that a compendium of the Life of St. Winifred, composed long before at the time when the body of the holy virgin still rested at Gwytherin, was prefixed to that book by the same monk; and consequently it may also be conjectured that that earlier part, at least as regards the substance of its matter, is perhaps far older than the later.

[4] some have wrongly attributed it to St. Elerius. And indeed, according to Bale De Scriptoribus Britanniæ (Basel 1559), vol. I, p. 28. and other more recent writers, the Life of St. Winifred is said to have been written by that St. Elerius whom she had as friend and master at Gwytherin See below, Life II, no. 24 ff., and in the Cottonian codex, after the rubric Incipit, etc., there was added in a seventeenth-century hand this note: By Elerius, a British Monk, to which yet another hand added: In the year 660, or Robert of Shrewsbury in the year 1140, as a certain learned man better teaches See Rees, Lives of the Cambro British Saints, p. 198b.. That the writer of the first note was Thomas (or Richard) James, the Oxford librarian, and of the other Thomas Smith, who gave such useful labor to the review of the Cottonian codices, we are taught by William Fleetwood, Anglican bishop of St. Asaph Life of St. Wenefrede (see below, end of no. 9), p. 25.. That the Cottonian Life was wrongly attributed by Thomas Smith to Robert of Shrewsbury is manifest: for we have Robert's writing, altogether different from it. On what argument James relied, however, beyond the authority of Bale (for not even John Leland, from whom See below, no. 49 of this comm. Bale drew everything else that he hands down about Elerius, has that indication) and of his followers, is unknown to us. But for us to judge that either that Life or any Life at all of Winifred was written by Elerius, there would certainly be need of a more ancient testimony than Bale's. Moreover, there is a very strong negative argument against it from the silence of Robert of Shrewsbury, who, although he diligently collected at Gwytherin and other places in northern Wales whatever traditions had been preserved about Winifred, knew no Life written by Elerius: which, had he known it, he would surely have brought forward in the first place among the testimonies by which to defend the authority of his narrative. Finally, what seems the strongest reason of all, it is by no means understood how it could have come about that Elerius would have related so copiously (if you consider the brevity of the Life) those things which happened to Winifred at Holywell, and yet so sparingly and meagrely her sojourn and death at Gwytherin: whereas these things are excellently explained if the writer of that Life lived at Holywell; which indeed must by all means be held if it be admitted that the same man is the writer of the Life and of the book of miracles that follows the Life.

[5] Of the later, composed by Robert, prior of Shrewsbury, The second Life of St. Winifred is shown by the letter prefixed to it to have had as its author Robert, prior of Shrewsbury, and to have been dedicated to Warin, prior of Worcester. He appears distinguished by this title in a charter of Henry I given in the year 1130, and to him was also dedicated by William of Malmesbury the Life of St. Wulstan about the year 1140, in which year it is shown from another document that he still presided over the monastery Monasticon Anglicanum, vol. I, p. 580.; but he did not long survive: for Ralph, his successor, is read to have died in the year 1143 Ibid.. Robert, on the other hand, is reported to have been abbot of the monastery of Shrewsbury from the year 1140 and to have met his last day in the year 1167 Ibid., vol. III, p. 514.. And since from the history of the translation of the body of St. Winifred, which is subjoined to the Life and is manifestly owed to the same writer, it is established that that translation did not take place before the second year of King Stephen Translat., no. 3., that is, the year of the Lord 1137 See below, no. 27., it follows of itself that this second Life was composed by Robert about the year 1140, as the common opinion holds.

[6] three copies. We have come upon one old codex in which this Life is read complete with the history of the translation, namely the Oxford codex of the Bodleian library, Laud. Misc. 114, transcribed in the twelfth century and thus in the very age of Robert, or a little after, from which we have carefully excerpted its text. Besides this we have before our eyes, in a codex formerly of the Bollandist museum, now of the Royal Library at Brussels, 8072, a copy of the same document transmitted to our predecessors in the seventeenth century, beneath which this attestation is read: A collation having been carefully made with the very old manuscript codex from which the present copy was transcribed, it agrees with the same word for word. Thus I testify. William Ferrar, priest, Apostolic Notary. In what place that very old codex, from which our copy was transcribed, was kept is not indicated; but from the paucity of its variants with the Oxford exemplar it may be gathered that it is either the same as this exemplar or certainly joined to it by close kinship. Finally we saw at Cambridge in the library of the College of the Holy Trinity a codex marked with the sigla O. 4.42, written in the thirteenth century, containing another exemplar of the same Life, but not complete: for it both lacks the prologue and, after it has carried the course of the narrative according to Robert down to the time at which Winifred was received among the holy virgins over whom Theonia presided Life II, middle of no. 28., it concludes all the rest in these few words: (For after a little time blessed Theonia), mother of St. Elerius and superior of the virgins, overtaken by a grave infirmity, departed to the Lord. St. Winifred succeeded her, and, as mother of the nuns, ended her life and happily reached the palaces of heaven. Here ends the life of St. Winifred, virgin and martyr. 10th of the Kalends of July. We have certainly noted in that exemplar not a few variant readings (and especially very many words or even sentences passed over here and there), but of such a kind that, wholly to the carelessness or discretion of him who transcribed the codex

they seem attributable, and of no weight for determining the original text. It has therefore seemed sufficient to us to add to our edition from that codex, by way of specimen, the variant readings which occur in the first part of the Life Up to no. 9., omitting the rest, which we judged would have brought too much tedium and distaste to readers without any benefit.

[7] A third Life compiled from both of the former. Fleetwood indicates that he saw a third Life of St. Winifred Op. cit. below (end of no. 9), p. 17., rather short, written by an anonymous author, consisting of five chapters, the greatest part of which was taken from the Cottonian Life, a few things from Robert, and the rest added by the author himself. The codex in which it is read formerly belonged to the monastery of Ramsey, but was afterwards transferred to the library of James Ware, and a copy of it was transcribed by Henry Dodwell for the use of Dr. Humphreys, (Anglican) bishop of Hereford. From the first sentence of this description and from what Fleetwood cited from that Life Ibid., p. 60 and p. 28., we have clearly seen that this is the same as the Life which the British Museum codex Lansdowne 436, of the fourteenth century, has shown us; indeed that this very codex is the same that Fleetwood saw, since this inscription is prefixed to it: A book of the library of St. Mary and of St. Ethelfleda, virgin, of Romsey. It has not seemed good to bring this forward separately, but only to add to the Cottonian Life the variants of those parts which it has in common with it, counting also among the variants those chapters which it has of its own. Further, it is clear from its beginning and close that it was composed after the translation of the body of St. Winifred to the monastery of Shrewsbury, and hence after the writing of Robert, by some monk of that same monastery. — Besides those ancient Lives written in Latin, Butler points to two others composed in the Welsh language Note to the Life of St. Winifred (3 Nov.)., which it has not been our fortune to inspect.

[8] Other more recent ones, in Latin Clearly drawn entirely from Robert's little work is the Life which John of Tynemouth inserted in his Sanctilogium and which Capgrave thence published in the Nova Legenda Angliæ. We therefore subjoin it to the former, printed in smaller type, as we did for St. Rumwold, transcribed and collated from the same codices, the London one of the British Museum, Cotton. Tiber. E. 1, of the fourteenth century, and the Oxford one of the Bodleian library, Tanner 15, of the fifteenth century, and from the Capgrave edition of the year 1516. The same little work has been presented in a very brief compendium by Laurentius Surius in his collection De probatis sanctorum Vitis at the 3rd of November, and by Thomas Hearne in the Appendix to the fourth volume of the Itinerary of John Leland 2nd ed. (Oxford 1744), pp. 127 – 129.. From it also have drawn what they have related of St. Winifred Serenus Cressy in his Ecclesiastical History written in English Bk. XVI, ch. 8. and Michael Alford or Griffith in his Annals At the year 660..

[9] and composed in English. The pure and complete text of Robert we are now, if I am not mistaken, publishing for the first time, from the codices indicated above Nos. 6, 7.. But an English version, or rather paraphrase, of it was brought out publicly at Saint-Omer in the year 1635 by John Falconer of the Society of Jesus Southwell, p. 445; Oliver, p. 72; De Backer, vol. I, p. 1786.. Since this little work had become rather rare, a new edition of it, somewhat enlarged, was prepared in the year 1712 by Fr. Philip Layton, alias Leigh, then living in the Residence of St. Winifred in the village of Holywell, who is better known by the name Metcalf, by which he used to be designated in the English mission [Butler, note to the Life of St. Winifred (3 Nov.); Oliver, p. 118; see H. Foley, Records of the english province S. J., vol. V, pp. 661 – 662.]. He, however, in his preface, by an unhappy conjecture, supposed that the first editor, whose name was indicated in the title of the little book of 1635 only by the siglum J. F., was Michael Griffith, alias Alford, the celebrated writer of the Ecclesiastical Annals of England, whose true name he says was John Flood, and he indicates that he learned this from Serenus Cressy's preface to his Ecclesiastical History. In this matter Layton was strangely deluded. For neither did Cressy write anything of the kind, nor does it become known by any other indication either that Alford or Griffith was ever distinguished by the name of John Flood, or that a Life of St. Winifred was published by him. Nevertheless this assertion of Layton's led into error the distinguished men Paquot Mémoires, etc., vol. I, p. 579., Butler Note to the Life of St. Winifred., Dodd Church History, vol. III, p. 410., Oliver Page 18. and De Backer Vol. I, p. 70.. Further, Layton's or Metcalf's edition was in the following year, 1713, given again to the press by the already several times cited William Fleetwood, Anglican bishop of St. Asaph, with annotations subjoined, by which he strove to demonstrate that everything narrated about St. Winifred was fabulous [The life and miracles of St. Wenefrede … with some historical observations made thereon. The second edition. London 1713, in 8°.]. The same edition of Metcalf was published anew (with an appendix on the cure obtained by Winifred White in the year 1805 and a description of the sacred well which is still to be seen at Holywell) at Dublin in the year 1845. Among more recent writers, Alban Butler At the 3rd of November. and Rev. Thomas Meyrick Life of St-Wenefred, London 1878, in 8°. are especially to be consulted.

* Shrewsbury

§ II. On the authority of the Acts of St. Winifred.

The traditions recorded in the twofold Life of St. Winifred It now comes to be asked what authority the sources enjoy from which the history of St. Winifred may be drawn. And indeed, as we have noted above, it must be frankly admitted that no written documents are at hand for us which are certainly older than the twelfth century See above, nos. 1 – 4 and no. 5.. The anonymous writer of the shorter Life nowhere mentions what witnesses he himself used. Robert, however, rendering an account of his labor in the prologue or dedicatory letter to Warin of Worcester: Hence, he says, I have sent to you the life of the blessed virgin Winifred, very recently set in order: which I gathered partly from slips of writing in the churches of the country in which she is known to have lived, partly learned from the accounts of certain priests, whom both venerable age commended and to whose words the very habit of religion compelled one to give credence Life II, prologue, after the middle.. Further, he testifies that popular traditions were not admitted by him without severe scrutiny, proceeding thus a little lower down: For the rest, that I have been altogether silent about her journey to Rome, I have done more prudently: just as I have also wholly omitted a number of things worn in the mouths of very many, because I neither found them in books, nor were those who proclaimed them by their allegation worthy, in the estimation of men, that I should give credence to their words. From which words it may also be gathered that Robert did not have the shorter Life at hand, since it Life I, no. 9. mentions most expressly Winifred's Roman journey and the convocation of a synod of all Britain and the statutes passed in that synod on the monastic life, which were also passed over by Robert. We have therefore in the twofold Life a twofold authority by which it may be demonstrated that the traditions recorded in writing in both truly existed in the twelfth century. To which is added also the authority of the Welsh Life of St. Beuno [Ed. with English version in W. Rees, Lives of the Cambro British Saints, pp. 13 – 21 and pp. 299 – 308.], which, as is manifest to the reader, depends on neither of the Latin Lives of St. Winifred, nor these on it.

[11] a certain recent Protestant writer has tried to interpret them mythically; Protestant writers, who are displeased by the cult shown to St. Winifred, and to whom no miracles seem probable beyond those asserted by the testimony of Sacred Scripture, reject without hesitation as fictitious the marvels recorded in the Lives of the holy virgin. Among them a certain recent one has gone so far as to think that what is handed down about the beheading of St. Winifred by the son of King Alan in the place called Sechnant, and about the copious spring flowing out in the same place, is spoken mythically D. R. Thomas, History of the diocese of St. Asaph, p. 2, note 2.. He admits, to be sure, that there existed a certain virgin, Gwenfrewi or Winifred by name, daughter of a certain powerful man dwelling in the northern part of Wales, who, at the instigation or with the help of St. Beuno, built churches, first in the village of Holywell, then at Gwytherin; but he supposes that there was mingled with the history of this virgin a fabulous history in which there is represented mythically Gwenfrwd, that is, the foaming torrent, who had as mother Gwenlo See below, no. 20. or Wlaw, that is, falling rain, and who owed her rise to the pursuing son of Alan, that is, of the river Alyn, which namely, in the place that is called Hesp Alyn, near the village of Mold, is withdrawn from the eyes as if swallowed by the earth, and, emerging again a little farther on, converts a dry valley (Sechnant) into a fertile one with its waters: by which myth there would be set forth the opinion of the inhabitants of that region who believe that the abundance of waters which flows forth from the well of St. Winifred is derived from the river Alyn. These things, to speak more mildly, seem to be brought forward too gratuitously and rashly.

[12] [which, although a manifold negative argument has been brought against them by Fleetwood,] Fleetwood Op. cit., pp. 45, 46., however, argues against the credibility of the traditions about St. Winifred from silence, not only that of the writers who lived among the Anglo-Saxons and Anglo-Normans, Bede, Stephen Eddius, William of Malmesbury, Henry of Huntingdon, Ingulf, Florence of Worcester, Roger of Hoveden, Robert de Monte, Walter of Hemingford, Matthew Paris, Matthew of Westminster, that is, of all who flourished from the beginning of the seventh century up to the middle of the fourteenth, at which time Ranulph Higden first made mention of the saint in his poem De laudabilibus Walliæ, but also that of the British or Welsh writers themselves, Nennius, Asser of Menevia, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Caradoc of Llancarfan and Giraldus Cambrensis. There is added also the silence of the celebrated Book of the Census, commonly Domesday book, made in the time of William I, and also of a certain ancient Welsh calendar preserved in a Cottonian codex of the British Museum, marked Vespas. A. 14, which is entitled De Sanctis Wallicis Calendarium, and which, since it has the name of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, cannot be supposed older than the year 1153, in which year he died, or even the year 1163, in which he was enrolled among the saints: now in that calendar you would seek in vain the names of SS. Winifred, Beuno and Elerius Ibid., p. 41..

[13] whether from the English and Norman writers, To these points, as regards the former, Bede

and the rest of the writers on English and Norman affairs, I say, the answer is easy: that those writers either wholly neglected Welsh affairs or touched on them only so far as they were in some part connected with the history of the English and the Normans; and moreover that from their silence it would at most follow that the name and cult of St. Winifred were not so well known outside the region in which she spent her life, which we freely concede. As for the argument drawn from the silence of the Book of the Census of William I, it is rightly solved by Alban Butler In his note to the Life of St. Winifred., who observes that not every oratory or chapel existing in England at that time is listed in that book, especially where these belonged to some larger lordship noted by the assessors. But perhaps also, as some think Thomas, Diocese of St. Asaph, p. 466., by the name Weltune (Welltown) in that same place the town of Holywell is signified, which we read called by this very term (the church of Haliwel) at the same period, namely in the year 1093, in the donation of Adeliza, wife of Hugh Lupus, earl of Chester Ibid. See Dugdale, Monast. Anglic., vol. V, p. 263..

[14] or from the Welsh The silence of the Welsh writers may at first sight seem more surprising, yet not, if the matter is examined more closely, that of the author who hides under the name of Nennius, by whom the Historia Britonum Edited in Monum. Hist. Brit., p. 47 ff. is carried down only to about the middle of the seventh century, and who embraces the last years of this period very briefly; nor that of Asser of Menevia, who wrote only the History of King Alfred Edited ibid., p. 467 ff., concluded within the ninth century; nor that of Caradoc of Llancarfan, or whoever again hides under this name, whose Chronicle of the Princes of Wales (Brut y Tywysogion) Edited ibid., p. 841 ff. takes its beginning from the year 681, whereas Winifred is believed to have met her last day at Gwytherin about the year 660, and which moreover is wholly occupied in describing warlike and political affairs. Of the calendar cited by Fleetwood, however, we have before our eyes a copy transcribed in London by Fr. Henri Matagne, once our colleague (in which, however, I do not read the title De Sanctis Walliæ Calendarium: whence I suspect that this title was added by a more recent hand). It is similar to those which have long been customarily prefixed to breviaries and missals, and it records, besides the usual feasts of the Lord, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of St. Michael, St. John the Baptist and the Holy Apostles, certain Gallic, English, Irish and chiefly Welsh saints, but these, as is to be carefully noted, are such as by birth or residence are to be called proper to the dioceses of Menevia and Llandaff in southern Wales, and none that is proper to northern Wales: for St. Chebius cannot be reckoned of this kind, who indeed founded a monastery on the island of Mona and spent the last years of his life there, but he is reported to have crossed there from southern Wales and to have been a kinsman of St. David of Menevia.

[15] and especially Geoffrey of Monmouth's There remain Geoffrey, archdeacon of Monmouth, and Giraldus Cambrensis. The former of these, who wrote the history of the Britons reaching down to King Cadwaladar, that is, to the year 680, was in the middle of the twelfth century bishop of St. Asaph, in which diocese the little towns of Holywell and Gwytherin were situated; but it is to be observed that he spent his life in the celebrated monastery of Llandaff, in the south of South Wales, and completed his history there in the year 1139, and, having been designated bishop of St. Asaph in the year 1152, passed from life in the same monastery before he had reached his see Thomas, Diocese of St. Asaph, p. 220.. No wonder, then, that this writer also did not mention St. Winifred, perhaps famous only in northern Wales.

[16] [and Giraldus Cambrensis's silence, it may by no means be effectively demonstrated,] But the matter may seem more surprising in Giraldus Cambrensis, seeing that he, journeying through that region in the year 1188 with Baldwin, archbishop of Canterbury Girald., Itinerarium Cambriæ, bk. I, ch. 1., and carefully collecting and copiously describing the several notable things (a word he has inscribed on nearly every chapter of his Itinerary) and marvels that he had come upon in it, and even fabulous traditions, made not the least mention of St. Winifred, though he records that he was received in hospitality at the monastery of Basingwerk Ibid., bk. II, ch. 10., to which the church of Holywell was subject, scarcely a mile distant from there, and in the same chapter he has brought forward among the notable things of that province a spring, which it is certain, not twice only in the natural day after the manner of the sea, but alternately and frequently, by days and nights, now fails in its waters, now overflows. There was therefore as yet no fame of the well of St. Winifred at that time. This would perhaps be a legitimate conclusion to some extent, if we did not have the express testimony of Robert of Shrewsbury, who died in the year 1167, and in his little work on St. Winifred so extolled the concourse of people to her sacred well Life II, no. 34.: whence it is shown by a new example how cautiously the negative argument is to be used. For the rest, it may be observed that Giraldus with his archbishop only spent the night in the monastery of Basingwerk, and perhaps, brought there late in the evening and departing very early the next day, he had no leisure for conversing with the monks. Fleetwood, indeed, has tried to lessen somewhat the authority of Robert of Shrewsbury himself, by an argument again negative, from the silence of Orderic Vitalis on the translation of St. Winifred related by Robert; but that argument too is easily refuted See below, no. 31..

[17] [yet we do not dare to assert them to be undoubtedly true, certain authority being wanting.] Does it seem, then, that the history of St. Winifred is to be admitted as altogether certain and proved, such as it is presented to us in her twofold Life? This I would certainly not dare to contend. For we know this history only from traditions of uncertain origin, perhaps first recorded in writing in the twelfth century, that is, nearly five hundred years after St. Winifred's age, drawn from these same traditions See below, no. 19.. This authority is certainly not of such strength that we should give firm credence to those stupendous miracles which are reported to have occurred in the holy virgin. We therefore abstain from asserting these with greater certainty: not because they are miracles, or because they are stupendous: for he who believes in me, says the Lord John XIV, 12., the works that I do he also will do, and greater than these will he do; but because full authority for asserting them is not available: especially since they are of the kind that are wont to occur more frequently among the anonymous hagiographers of Celtic stock, namely of the Britons and the Irish See below among the annotations to Life I, no. 6., and hence may be judged more easily attributed from time to time by popular fancy to some particular saint. Let it be enough for us to have shown that the genuineness of the Acts of St. Winifred has not been able to be impugned by any effective argument. Though I certainly would not deny that the prolixity and ornament of the narrative, and especially the longer speeches with which Life II is sprinkled, are to be ascribed to the genius and pen of Robert of Shrewsbury.

§ III. On the history of St. Winifred and its chronology.

St. Winifred, in northern Wales at the mouth of the river Dee Let us now strive to set out from those Acts the history of Winifred summarily and more distinctly. Her homeland is clearly indicated to have been a place in Tekynglia or Tegenglia, a province of the kingdom of Venedocia Life I, no. 1., situated near a great river Life II, middle of no. 16. and about fifty miles distant from the place where St. Beuno spent the last years of his life Ibid., end of no. 20., namely Clynnog in Carnavonshire [W. J. Rees, Lives of the Cambro British Saints, pp. 18, 305; Lewis, Togographical Dictionary of Wales, under Clynnog.]: which description fits very well the present village of Holywell, in Flintshire, where is to be seen the celebrated Well of St. Winifred, from which the village has received its name. For that northern Wales is designated by the name of Venedocia (in Welsh Gwynedd) is established by very many testimonies of the ancients. It may suffice to have cited one, Giraldus Cambrensis: Wales as a whole was anciently divided, he says, into three parts…: namely Venedotia, which is now called Nortwallia, that is, Northern Wales; Sudwallia, that is, Southern Wales, which in Welsh is called Deheubarth, that is, the Right-hand part…; and Powisia, as it were the middle and eastern part Descriptio Cambriæ, bk. I, ch. 2.; and: Tegengel is the name of a province in Venedotia, over which David son of Owen ruled Ibid., bk. II, ch. 14., and in which was situated Ruthelan or Rhuddlan, namely the noble castle of Owen, firstborn son of David Itinerarium Cambriæ, bk. II, ch. 10.. The stream flowing down from the well of St. Winifred at Holywell falls into the great river Deva (commonly the Dee), which is also named in the Welsh Life of St. Beuno Cambro Brit. SS., pp. 16, 303., and from the well along the stream and the river Dee and the shore of the sea up to Clynnog there are in fact reckoned about fifty miles.

[19] in about the year, as it seems, 610 At what time St. Winifred lived may, according to her Acts, be determined to some extent from the age of Catuanus or Cadvan, king of Venedocia, in whose reign Beuno came to her father, when she herself had not yet passed her youthful years Life I, no. 1.. Several of this name, indeed, reigned in Wales at various times; but from the Life of St. Beuno it is established that there is pointed out here that Cadvan who had as successors in order Cadwallan his son and St. Cadwaladr his grandson Cambro Brit. SS., pp. 18, 305., and as father Iago or James, son of Beli [See the genealogical stemma of St. Cadwaladr in Bonedd y Saint (Myvyr. Arch., vol. II, p. 41) and in Achau y Saint (Cambro Brit. SS., pp. 266, 293).]. That this same Cadvan and both his successors ruled not only Venedocia but also the whole nation of the Britons in Wales in the seventh century is beyond doubt to all. But the historical records which have reported Welsh affairs of those times are extremely rare and meagre and obscure, and none (if you except the Historia Britonum published under the name of Nennius, which itself gives no help toward determining the chronology of those three kings) is older than the eleventh century. Thus there has arisen a surprising disagreement about the years of Cadvan's reign even among the learned men who have written more recently on Welsh affairs and have diligently scrutinized all those records. Rice Rees encloses that reign between the years 603 and 616 Welsh Saints, p. 283.; W. J. Rees, between the years 616 and 630 Cambro Brit. SS., p. 300, note 2.; A. Herbert determines that Cadvan reigned

from the year 607 to the year 634 Britannia after the Romans, vol. I (London, 1836), pp. 149, 150.; Beale Post Britannic researches (London, 1853), pp. 241, 243., from one source, fixes the beginning of that reign at the year 600 and the end at the year 638, and from another source again, that he was king of Venedocia from the year 607, but of the Britons, that is, of all Wales, from the year 613 to 630: which latter computation is also followed by Rob. Williams Biographicul Dictionary of eminent Welshmen (Llandovery, 1852), p. 56.. In so great a variety of opinions of distinguished men, each resting on its own testimonies, equally uncertain, I would not wish to propose any of my own, which I could confirm by no new indication. For the rest, the prudent reader will have observed that all those we have cited, except Rice Rees, in whom indeed, as regards the year of Cadvan's death, W. Wynne preceded him History of Wales (London, 1697), p. 12., agree in this, that they think that Cadvan departed this life about the year 630. And since we read in the Acts of St. Winifred that Beuno departed from her soon after her resuscitation Life II, nos. 16, 17., and in the Welsh Life of Beuno himself that that departure took place after the death of Cadvan Cambro Brit. SS., pp. 17, 304., the opinion of those seems very probable who judged that the martyrdom and resuscitation of St. Winifred also occurred about the year 630; and thence, since it is again gathered from her Acts and the Life of St. Beuno that she had not then passed her flourishing youth, they judged that she saw the light about the year 610.

[20] born of noble stock, Her father, according to the same Acts of her and of St. Beuno, was called Teuith or Temic, son of Eliud, a great and very powerful man, whose father was a most excellent senator and second to the king Life II, end of no. 1., of whom, however, nothing is found handed down to memory in other documents. I read in certain more recent writers that the mother of the holy virgin was Wenlo or Gwenlo, sister of St. Beuno [Metcalf, Life of St. Wenefrede, p. 7; Pennant, Tours in Wales, vol. I, p. 46; Lewis, Top. Dict. of Wales, under Clynnog.] or at least his kinswoman Meyrick, Life of St. Wenefred, p. 24.; but from what ancient record they drew this they have not indicated and it is unknown to me. Certainly nothing of the kind is handed down by the twofold Acts of St. Winifred or the Life of St. Beuno, and it would surely seem very surprising for it to have been passed over in them. Neither is anything read about the lineage of St. Winifred in Bonedd y Saint, or the collection of pedigrees of the Saints of Wales, in which, however, the genealogy of St. Beuno is carefully noted from various records Myvyr. Arch., vol. II, p. 28., or in a similar document (Achau y Saint) published by the distinguished W. J. Rees Cambro Brit. SS., pp. 265, 592., in which the forebears of St. Beuno are again listed Under no. 33..

[21] [recalled to life by St. Beuno after the death inflicted on her by a lustful youth,] The two Lives of St. Winifred agree in narrating the arrival of St. Beuno, the donation made to the holy man by the girl's father, the virgin's instruction under his discipline, the crime of Caradoc and the punishment divinely inflicted on the wicked slayer, and the virgin's resuscitation, and finally Beuno's departure: except that Life I reports all this more briefly and in a ruder style, while Robert of Shrewsbury does so with long windings of words. But concerning the things that followed, the one differs not a little from the other. For according to Life I, Winifred lived for some time as a solitary near the church which Beuno had built, then went to Rome to visit the thresholds of the apostles, and finally, returning from there, by decree of a certain British synod On which synod see the note below at this place (Life I, no. 9). was put in charge of a monastery of virgins at Gwytherin, where she fell asleep in the Lord by a holy death. Robert, however, rejects in express words the tradition about the Roman journey Life II, prologue.; and certainly no place at all can be found for that journey in the sequence of those things which, from the traditions collected by him, he narrates to have happened to St. Winifred after Beuno's departure. The same Robert also records nothing about that synod in which it would have been decreed that the cenobitic life was to be substituted for the eremitic (nor do other ancient records mention anything about such a decree), but he also indicates that it was entrusted by Beuno to the virgin, who was to remain in the place he was leaving, to gather and rule a community of nuns there Life II, end of no. 15..

[22] [then seven years afterwards sent on through SS. Deifer and Saturnus to St. Elerius, and soon put in charge of the convent of Gwytherin,] In what year Beuno departed from St. Winifred may again be determined to some extent from the often cited Welsh Life of Beuno, in which the holy man is reported to have moved from the place shortly after the death of King Cadvan, and soon to have founded the monastery of Clynnog, in which he spent the rest of his life Cambro Brit. SS., pp. 17 – 18, 304 – 305.. If therefore it be admitted that Cadvan departed from among the living about the year 630 See above, no. 19., to about the same time also must Beuno's departure be fixed. Further, according to Life II of St. Winifred Nos. 15 end, 21., the holy virgin remained seven years at Holywell after the departure of her master: when these were completed, and Beuno in the meantime having passed to those above Ibid., nos. 20, 21., and accordingly about the year 637, she was directed by divine revelation to blessed Deifer, thence to St. Saturnus and finally to St. Elerius, by whose efforts she was joined to the monastery of virgins established at Gwytherin, over which St. Theonia, the mother of Elerius, presided: and put in charge of it after Theonia's death, she ruled it until her death. All this, except the rule of the monastery of Gwytherin, Life I has passed over.

[23] she died there on the 2nd of November The day of St. Winifred's death (or perhaps of her burial) is handed down by Life I End of no. 9. as the eighth of the Kalends of July, that is, the 24th of June, but by Life II No. 22. as the fourth of the Nones, that is, the 2nd of November. Now the 23rd of June, which is the vigil of the feast of St. John the Baptist, was, according to Life I, the anniversary of the day on which the blessed virgin was killed by Caradoc and then recalled to life by St. Beuno. For it is reported in the Life No. 7. that Beuno said to St. Winifred: But for me do this about this day in each year: send me a chasuble of your own work; and a little lower down the writer of the Life continues No. 8.: In the individual years also, on the vigil of John the Baptist, she used to send a chasuble in this way to Bennonus. Hence certain more recent writers have supposed that the 23rd (or 24th) of June was distinguished both by the martyrdom of Winifred and by her death in the convent of Gwytherin, and the 2nd or 3rd of November by the translation of her body from Gwytherin to Shrewsbury So Meyrick, Life of St. Wenefred., p. 48.. But this opinion is refuted by the express testimony of Robert of Shrewsbury, who says in the plainest words Life II, no. 32. that the holy virgin on the day of the Kalends of November began to be wearied more sharply by the dissolution of her body, and a little lower down, that on the fourth of the Nones of November she commended her spirit into the hands of the Creator: which tradition he must certainly be judged to have collected at Gwytherin, where he himself was sent to bring away the body of St. Winifred Translation of St. Winifred, no. 3.. But the writer of the first Life, who seems to have lived at Holywell and scarcely to have known anything of the history of St. Winifred after her departure from this place See above, nos. 4 end and 21., when he saw the memory of the holy patroness observed there on the 22nd or 23rd of June See below, no. 23., could easily be led to suppose that that day was her very birthday to the blessed life in the heavenly homeland. We therefore judge far more probable the opinion of those who, on Robert's authority, hold that St. Winifred met her last day at Gwytherin on the 2nd of November.

[24] about the year 660. Finally, neither Life nor any other ancient record has indicated the year of death of the illustrious virgin. But since she certainly stayed for some time in the monastery of Gwytherin before she succeeded St. Theonia in its government, and then survived her through the course of some years Life II, no. 28., I willingly acquiesce in the common opinion of more recent writers, who have judged that she spent nearly twenty years there and departed to eternal rest between the years 650 and 660, in about the fiftieth year of her age.

§ IV. On the translation of the body of St. Winifred to the monastery of Shrewsbury, on her relics and cult.

[The body of St. Winifred, honored at Gwytherin with manifold marvels from heaven and with popular cult,] The body of St. Winifred, according to both Acts, was buried in the village of Guitheriacum, in Welsh Gwytherin, whose church is said to have been founded by a saint of this name who flourished in the sixth century [Myv. Arch., vol. II, pp. 616, 44; Rice Rees, Welsh Saints, p. 275; Thomas, St. Asaph, p. 543.]; and it remained there until the year 1137 or 1138, in which year it was translated to Shrewsbury. Very little has been handed down to memory about the cult shown to the holy virgin there through these nearly five centuries. Robert of Shrewsbury affirms in general words that a great concourse of people took place to her tomb and that many sick persons recovered their health there Life II, end of no. 33; Transl., no. 8.. Moreover: No brute animal, he says, no beast of any kind is permitted to touch it (the cemetery in which the holy body rested) within and live: for as soon as, while grazing, it has touched the grass that grows over the bodies of the saints, it falls and dies. No rash person entering it touches it unpunished either; and thence he narrates the punishment divinely inflicted on a man who had tried to cut off for his own use some of the bark of a certain oak growing there. But he records no other particular miracles or indications of popular devotion, except that in the middle of the cemetery, that is, at the head of St. Winifred, there stands a little wooden church, honored by great attendance of the people, to which easy access lies open to all who wish to pray there Transl., no. 8.. That chapel, or another substituted for the former, once stood on the south side of the principal church, consecrated first in the name of St. James the Apostle, then (or, according to some, before) of St. Elerius; but no traces of that chapel now remain Pennant, Tours in Wales, vol. II, p. 181; Thomas, St. Asaph, p. 544.. Recently, however, in the year 1869, the principal church itself by those of the Anglican worship

was restored and dedicated under the title of St. Winifred Thomas, p. 545.. Up to these last times there were shown in the cemetery four upright stones, by which the place of the ancient tomb was marked, and in the church itself a wooden casket in which they said the holy body had been enclosed Lewis, Topogr. Dict. of Wales, under Gwytherin. See below, no. 36..

[26] [translated to the monastery of Shrewsbury in the year 1137 or 1138, through the efforts of Robert the prior] The translation of the sacred remains was copiously described by Robert, prior of Shrewsbury, who not only was present at it but was also its chief leader. This account we now for the first time publish complete according to the Latin text from the twelfth-century Oxford codex which has shown us the Life of St. Winifred written by the same Robert See above, no. 5.. The London codex Lansdowne 436., however, which took some things from this Life, contracted the translation into a very few words See var. lect. to Life I, no. 9., which John of Tynemouth also did Life of St. Winifred, no. 20.. Robert testifies that this translation was undertaken in the second year of the reign of King Stephen Transl., no. 3., that is, the year of Christ 1137, since Stephen, Henry I having died at the beginning of the month of December of the year 1135 J. Lingard, Hist. of England, vol. I, ch. 10 (Paris ed. 1840, p. 337)., was crowned king on the 22nd of the same month and year Ibid., ch. XI, (p. 347).. Yet, since Robert by the words cited above indicates the beginning of what was done in this business, we willingly fix it itself, with John of Tynemouth Loc. cit. and other more recent writers, at the year 1138.

[27] (whose credibility in that translation, with arguments from Life I, William Fleetwood tried to diminish Robert's credibility in this narrative Life of St. Wenefrede, pp. 26 – 28., and this by a twofold or threefold argument. The first is taken from Life I, which with Fleetwood, for brevity's sake, we call the Cottonian, because it is read in the Cottonian codex See above, no. 1.. He contends, namely, that it was written after the times of the Norman princes, of whom, he says, the last was King Stephen. But in its conclusion it is clearly indicated that at the very time at which the writer was completing it the body of St. Winifred was still resting at Gwytherin Life I, no. 9.. From which at last it follows that it was not translated in the reign of Stephen, which is asserted in the account of Robert.

[28] from the silence of Orderic Vitalis Fleetwood's second principal argument is deduced from the silence of Orderic Vitalis about that translation in his Ecclesiastical History, which he extended up to the year of Christ 1141, the sixty-seventh of his age Orderic, Hist. Eccl., bk. XIII, ch. 41 (Le Prevost ed., vol. V, p. 133)., since he was born in the year 1075 Ibid., bk. II, ch. 1 (vol. II, p. 301).. That silence, however, can by no means be ascribed either to ignorance or to carelessness. For Orderic had as father Odelerius Ibid., bk. XIII, ch. 44., who was bound by special intimacy to Roger, earl of Montgomery *, the founder of the monastery of Shrewsbury: indeed at the instigation and with the help of Odelerius, Roger established and endowed that monastery in the year 1083, summoning monks from the Norman monastery of Sées, and Odelerius himself embraced the monastic life there, as did his son also, Orderic's brother Ibid., bk. II, ch. 14 (vol. II, pp. 415 – 423).. Hence it came about (so Fleetwood continues) that Orderic described the beginnings of the monastery so plainly, more distinctly indeed than any other writer who has come down to us. For from boyhood he lived at Shrewsbury; he learned letters in the very church that was later converted into a Benedictine monastery; his father and brother professed the monastic rule in that monastery, nor can it be doubted that many of his kinsmen lived in that region. The same writer, at the year 1138, which was the very year in which the relics of Winifred are said to have been translated, narrates that William, son of Alan, burgess and sheriff of Scrobesburia or Shrewsbury, rebelled against King Stephen and held the aforesaid city against him for nearly a whole month, and that it was finally taken by the king in the month of August Ibid., bk. XIII, ch. 37 (p. 112).. That Orderic, then, who certainly did not yield to Robert in zeal for religion, utters not even a word about the translation of Winifred, although he diligently records what took place in the same year in which it would have occurred and in the same city; indeed he continues his History up to the third year after, and indicates nothing at all about that translation.

[29] and from a certain variant of a more recent codex Finally, what seems to be brought forward by Fleetwood in place of a third argument: the Life which the codex formerly of James Ware, now of the British Museum, presents See above, no. 7. indicates that the translation took place in the time of King Henry See below, var. lect. to Life I, no. 9., namely, as Fleetwood judges, the second of this name, who succeeded Stephen and reigned from the year 1154 to the year 1189: by which testimony again the authority of Robert seems to be shaken.

[30] to render suspect To refute these cavils is certainly not difficult. For, as regards the first, we have sufficiently shown above No. 2. in what sense the writer of Life I, or of the book of miracles joined to it, at the end of the eleventh or the beginning of the twelfth century could have indicated the times of the war flaring up between the Franks or Normans and the Welsh, or after the expulsion of the Normans; but in what sense Fleetwood says that Stephen was the last of the Norman princes of Wales I for my part do not perceive: for certainly the Norman kings of England after Stephen did not renounce the dominion which they claimed for themselves over Wales, but both Henry II and his successors fought vigorously to subject this region to themselves, until at last in the year 1282 the Welsh gave in, defeated.

[31] by a vain attempt As for Orderic Vitalis, whose authority Fleetwood so exaggerates in those matters that pertain to the history of the monastery of Shrewsbury, the same Fleetwood conceals that at ten years of age, that is, in the year 1085, he was sent by his father from England to Normandy Hist. Eccl., bk. XIII, ch. 44 (vol. V, p. 135)., and never afterwards returned to Shrewsbury. He touched upon the history of the monastery of Shrewsbury only once, in book V Ch. 14 (vol. II, pp. 415 – 423)., where he describes its foundation and mentions its first two abbots, and this by way of a certain digression, as he himself professes, as if asking pardon of his readers for having lingered so long on these things: See, he says Ibid. (p. 423)., I have made some small digression about the building of the monastery in which, on my father's land, the family of Christ now dwells, and where my father himself, as I remember, already sixty years old, willingly bore the yoke of the Lord to the end. Spare me, I pray, good reader, and let it not be troublesome to you, I beg, if I have committed something about my father to the memory of letters; whom I have not seen since he drove me into exile, as a hated stepson, and for love of the Creator. It is now 42 years, in which many changes of affairs have taken place far and wide through the world. Now I shall return to the matter I began. This, then, Orderic was writing forty-two years after the foundation of the monastery, that is, in the year 1127 or 1128 See ibid., end of ch. 9 (p. 375).. But thereafter in the remaining eight books of his Ecclesiastical History he nowhere mentions the monastery of Shrewsbury, nor does he indicate that he had any dealings with it. It seems no wonder, then, that he did not hear of any translation of relics made to that monastery, or, if perhaps he did hear, that he neglected to describe it in his book.

[32] Fleetwood has striven), Finally, that some anonymous monk of Shrewsbury, who in the thirteenth or perhaps fourteenth century composed a compendium out of the twofold Life already published, substituted the name of Henry for Stephen's, may easily be supposed to have been done by him from the fact that at the beginning of Robert's narrative Transl., no. 3. the name of Henry, certainly the first and not the second, does in fact occur, in whose reign the matter began to be treated. But even if no reason for that substitution could be given, there would certainly be no reason why we should prefer the authority of that uncertain writer of a later age to the authority of Robert, an eyewitness, whose testimony so express has been preserved for us by a codex transcribed in the very century in which Robert lived.

[33] [there too she shines by miracles and the concourse of the people, and a confraternity was established under the patronage of the saint;] Of the cult of St. Winifred in the city of Shrewsbury we have few records. The concourse of the faithful to her relics and the miracles obtained through the intercession of the holy virgin are again mentioned by Robert only in these general words: Where, to show the prerogative of the blessed virgin, health is bestowed on the sick and innumerable mighty works take place Transl., end of the last no.. On the testimony of Thomas Pennant Tours of Wales, vol. I, p. 49; vol. III, p. 247., a confraternity was instituted at Shrewsbury under the protection of St. Winifred about the year 1396. The signet of this confraternity or, as they say, its bronze seal, Pennant had in his possession. Its middle part presented a depiction of the martyrdom which the virgin suffered for the preservation of her chastity; above this there appeared a cross in the form of the letter T, between the two letters T. M., by which is shown the time when the signet was made, namely under Abbot Thomas Meynde, who held the government of the monastery from the year 1459 to the year 1499; in the lower part were engraved a key and a sword, namely the insignia of the monastery of SS. Peter and Paul; and around the circuit of the whole signet was read this inscription: SIGILLŪ CŌE FFRATERNITAT BEATE WENEFRIDE VIRGINIS Ī ECCĪA SC̄E CRUC I: FRA MONASTER. SC̄I PETRI SALOPIE. [The common seal of the fraternity of Blessed Winifred, virgin, in the church of Holy Cross within the monastery of St. Peter of Shrewsbury.] In the same church there was hung a bell distinguished with the name of St. Winifred, on which these verses were inscribed:

St. Winifred, remember to commend this to God, That in his mercy he may keep us from the bloody foe.

and a little lower down

Protect by your devoted prayer those whom I call together, Virgin Mary Ibid., vol. I, pp. 49, 50..

The same Thomas Pennant mentions Vol. III, p. 246. the will of William Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, written in the year 1437, by which he orders four golden images, showing his likeness, to be made and offered to as many churches: and one of these churches was designated by the title of St. Winifred in the city of Shrewsbury.

[34] a few relics of her The remains of St. Winifred stayed in the monastery of Shrewsbury up to the sixteenth century. At that time, in that lamentable disaster in which so many sacred institutions perished in England, they were scattered. But he who with impious hand had laid the axe to the chest in which they were contained

presumed to lay it, soon, as it is reported, experienced divine vengeance, and with his leg broken he wretchedly perished Meyrick, p. 53.; and the sinews of the man who dug it up were undone by paralysis Dugdale, Monasticon, vol. III, p. 515.. But that some of them were preserved by the diligence of devout Catholics is gathered from the fact that at the beginning of the eighteenth century Fr. Louis de Sabran, then provincial of the English province of the Society of Jesus, sent to Rome a finger of St. Winifred, which he had obtained from the noble lady the Marchioness of Powis: there it was enclosed in a pyx of elegant workmanship and placed in the English College Foley, Records of the english province of the Society of Jesus, vol. IV, p. 552.. This sacred treasure is perhaps the same as that of which we are now about to speak.

[35] have been preserved up to our times For a certain tiny particle of the relics of the blessed virgin was preserved at Rome up to our own times, and half of this was restored to England thirty-five years ago through the efforts of Rev. Fr. Albany Christie, now a priest of the Society of Jesus. I took the matter from the lips of Fr. Christie himself. While still a layman, namely, he was devoting himself at Rome to the theological disciplines in the year 1852, he was asked from England to request some relics of St. Philomena; but none were found in the City. While he was going through the catalogue of relics in the reliquary archive, however, he found that some of St. Winifred were kept there; and he soon obtained from Cardinal Asquini, then Prefect of the Congregation of Sacred Relics, that half of these be handed over to him. This, enclosed in a reliquary which was furnished by the companion of his studies, now himself also a priest of the Society of Jesus, Rev. Fr. John Wynne, was given to the priest to whom was entrusted the care of the Catholics in the town of Holywell. When he had asked the bishop of Shrewsbury, according to the prescription of the sacred canons, for permission to expose it publicly to the veneration of the faithful, the bishop himself requested a part of it for his cathedral church. There remain, therefore, at the present time, three tiny particles of the relics of St. Winifred, of which one is kept at Rome, the second in the church of Shrewsbury, the third in the Catholic oratory at Holywell.

[36] have been preserved. I also saw at Holywell a fragment of a plank of very hard oak, about ten English inches or twenty-five centimeters in size in one direction, extending four inches in the other, which, with another smaller piece attached to it, they used to say had once at Gwytherin belonged to the chest of St. Winifred. That fragment, received from a man who had discharged the office of sacristan among the Anglicans in the old church of Gwytherin, was given to the oratory of St. Winifred by the aforesaid Fr. John Wynne. Since, however, certain testimonies by which it might be proved authentic are lacking, it is not exposed to the veneration of the faithful, but is kept in the sacristy of the oratory.

[37] [For observing the memory of St. Winifred the 3rd of November was assigned at Gwytherin, and from the 15th century on throughout all England and in the more recent martyrologies;] The solemnity of St. Winifred has by ancient tradition been customarily celebrated at Gwytherin, even among the adherents of the Anglican church, on the 3rd of November Thomas, St. Asaph, p. 545.; whence, to note this in passing, it seems to be effectively confirmed that this was the day of her death and not of the translation See above, no. 23.; for it could have entered no one's mind among the people of Gwytherin that there should be celebrated by a public festival the day on which the body of their holy patroness was taken from them, rather than that which was marked by her blessed death there. That same 3rd of November was established in the year 1420 by Henry, archbishop of Canterbury, in a provincial synod for observing her memory throughout all England with an office of nine lessons and a Mass Alford, Annal. Eccl. Angl., at the year 1138 (vol. IV, part II, p. 12).: which office and Mass are read in the ancient breviary and missal of the church of Salisbury. From there the announcement of her feast was also inserted on the same day into calendars and martyrologies (not in those older than the fifteenth century), namely into the calendar of Arbuthnott and the calendar of the Hereford missal Rouen ed. of the year 1502., the Hagenoye auctarium of Usuard and the Lübeck-Cologne edition and that of Molanus, the martyrologies of Galesinius and of Canisius or Walasser, the English martyrology of Richard Challoner, the Sacred Gynaeceum of Arthur du Monstier, the Benedictine martyrologies or menologies of Arnold Wion, Menard, Bucelin, Heredia, Cherle and Lechner (in Ranbeck, however, at the 2nd of November), and finally the Roman Martyrology in these words: In England, of St. Winifred, virgin and martyr. In the English martyrology according to the use of Salisbury the beheading of St. Winifred is moreover announced at the 22nd of June.

[38] [she is also now venerated on the same day, especially in the diocese of Shrewsbury; churches dedicated in her name.] In our days St. Winifred is venerated in the Catholic churches of England on the 3rd of November with an office of the double minor rite, but of a double of the first class in the diocese of Shrewsbury, for the whole of which a plenary indulgence has been granted by the Holy See to all the faithful who on that day, having confessed and been refreshed with Holy Communion, visit some church or public oratory and pray there for obtaining the increase of the true faith in the diocese. There has also been granted a plenary indulgence, to be gained on each day of the year by those who make that visit in the oratory of St. Winifred at Holywell, and an indulgence of a hundred days to all who devoutly pray for the aforesaid intention before the image of the saint placed in that oratory. For the rest, we shall treat more fully of the cult, and especially of the sacred well of St. Winifred at Holywell, below in an Appendix to be subjoined to the Acts. Other churches or chapels dedicated in the name of St. Winifred in Wales, besides those at Gwytherin and Holywell, are not indicated. Two churches are indeed cited, namely at Talgarth and at Vainor Lewis, Topogr. Dict. of Wales, at these words., both of which villages are situated in the county of Brecknock, consecrated under the title of St. Gwendoline or Gwenvrewi; but whether that Gwenvrewi is to be judged the same as our St. Winifred I would not dare to determine. Outside Wales, however, I find four churches, now Anglican, distinguished by the name of St. Winifred, namely: Branscombe and Manaton in the county of Devon Lewis, Topogr. Dict. of England, vol. I, pp. 216, 233.; Screveton, in the county of Nottingham Ibid., vol. IV, p. 28.; and Stainton, in the county of York Ibid., p. 155..

* Montgomery.

§ V. On the holy men with whom St. Winifred is reported to have associated.

The family of St. Beuno, The chief of these was the virgin's first guide and master in the spiritual life, St. Beuno. How celebrated his cult was in Wales is attested, besides the multitude of churches or chapels dedicated to him See below, no. 42., by the manifold genealogical stemma described in Bonedd y Saint Myv. Arch., vol. II, p. 28. and in Achau y Saint Cambro British SS., pp. 267, n. 33. and subjoined to his Life Ibid., pp. 21, 308., in which last his stock is traced through eighteen generations up to Anna, cousin of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and by his Life written in Welsh, published by W. J. Rees Ibid., pp. 13 – 21 (in English, pp. 299 – 300).. The genealogy in Achau y Saint is framed in these words: Beino was the son of Bugi, son of Gwynllyw, son of Glywys, son of Tegid, son of Cadell; and Pheren, daughter of Llevddyn Llwyddawg, of the city of Edino in the north, was his mother. Beuno had as paternal uncle St. Cadoc (in Welsh Kadwc), namely the son of Gwynllyw Bonedd y Saint in Myv. Arch., vol. II, p. 30., and as maternal cousins St. Kentigern (in Welsh Kyndeyrn) Ibid., p. 34. and St. Elerius See below, no. 47.. Different from our Beuno, however, seems to have been the one mentioned in Achau y Saint, last no. Cambro Brit. SS., pp, 271, 601. See Bonedd y Saint, vol. cited, p. 38.: The names of the seven blessed cousins were Beino son of Insi, Cawrdav son of Caradoc, Deinoel son of Dunawd Vawr, Seiriol son of Owen Danwyn, Dewi son of Sanddei, and Cybi son of Selif.

[40] his migrations, his sojourn at Holywell, According to the Welsh Life, St. Beuno came from a certain town, Banhenic by name, in Powys, situated on the river Severn. He had as father Bugi or Hwygi, who himself also is venerated as a saint, and as mother Beren or Perferen. When these were advanced in age, and in the uprightness of their life recalled the holiness of Zachary and Elizabeth, the parents of St. John the Baptist, the hope of children having now been given up, it was indicated to them by an angelic vision that a son would be born to them lovable to God and men, who was St. Beuno. The blessed boy, first devoutly brought up by his parents, was then handed over to St. Tangusius to be steeped in letters. Having been taught the sacred writings and the ecclesiastical canons under him, he was ordained priest, and from Ynyr Gwent (of Hereford), a king to whom he was exceedingly dear because of his outstanding virtues, he received besides other gifts three estates in the western part of the present county of Hereford, where he established a monastery, in a place, as it seems, which is still called after his name Llanveynoe, that is, the church of Beuno. Then, recalled to his homeland by his father's illness, and he having died, he stayed there for a little while, and obtained from Maunus, son of Brochwael, the place which is called Aberrhiw (in Montgomeryshire). But from there too he soon withdrew, to avoid the company of the English who were approaching there, and he migrated farther with his disciples toward the north, and in the place Gwyddelwern, given to him by Cynan or Conan, himself also a son of Brochwael, he built a church. Yet forced again to leave this place by the troublesomeness of Cynan's kinsmen, the sons of Selyff, he came to the extreme border of northern Wales near the river Dewa: where, most kindly received by Temic, St. Winifred's father, he built a church and stayed for some years. There is related here by the writer the history of the slaying and resuscitation of St. Winifred altogether as in the Life of Winifred herself, though far more briefly, and it is added that King Cadvan, having seen this miracle, was converted to the faith of Christ, and that Beuno remained in the same place until the king's death: whence it is sufficiently demonstrated that this account was not drawn from the Acts of St. Winifred or from the same source.

[41] the monastic life at Clynnog and his devout death there after remarkable The Life goes on to narrate that Beuno after the death of Cadvan went to Cadwallan his successor and received from him a certain place in the territory of Avon, called Gwaredauc, handing over in exchange a golden sceptre which Conan had given him. miracles performed; And while he was building a church there, a woman came up, carrying in her arms an infant to whom she asserted that the place was due by paternal right; and at once Beuno met with the king, then residing in the city

which was afterwards called Carnarvon, and reproached him for having given land that was not his, and demanded that another place be assigned him or the golden sceptre be restored. The king refused both: wherefore Beuno cursed him and so withdrew from him. As he was going away, however, a cousin of the king, Guideuit by name, followed him, and to make up for the injury inflicted handed over to him a place called Kelynauc or Clynnog: where Beuno built a monastery and after some years died on the seventh day after Easter. Meanwhile he again restored to life a woman, the daughter of King Ynyr Gwent, beheaded by her husband: at whose slaying, as at the slaying of St. Winifred, a spring is reported to have flowed out of the earth, which was called after the woman's name Digwc's Well. And the saint also recalled to life the woman's slayer, whose head had been cut off by her brother.

[42] churches consecrated in his name; So much for the life of St. Beuno. There are to be seen in Wales no fewer than fifteen churches or chapels dedicated under his name, namely Llanveynoe or Llanfeuno in the county of Hereford, Gwyddelwern and Llanycil in the county of Merioneth, Berriew or Aberrhiw and Bettws in the county of Montgomery, Llanasaph or Gwespyr (which chapel is now ruined) in the county of Flint, Clynnog-Fawr, Carngiwch, Bottwnog, Dolbenmaen, Penmorva, Pistyll and Pwhllheli Rice Rees, Welsh Saints, p. 117, note. in the county of Carnarvon, Aberffraw and Trefdaeth in the county of Anglesey [Rice Rees, op. cit., p. 268; Lewis, Topogr. Dict. of Wales, at the individual place-names except Pistyl and Pwllheli.]: those of these churches which survive or have been restored, that is, nearly all, the Anglicans now hold. At Holywell, indeed, no sacred buildings are dedicated under the name of St. Beuno, but to the present day certain fields on the hill overlooking the well of St. Winifred from the western side are called Gerddi St. Beuno, that is, the Gardens of St. Beuno.

[43] the popular cult toward him at Clynnog St. Beuno is chiefly celebrated, however, at Clynnog-Fawr, in which place he is said to have spent the last period of his life and to have met his last day. John Leland saw there the old church in which the saint lay buried, next to which another had then recently been built. But by the time Thomas Pennant betook himself there, that is, at the end of the last century, that old church had been destroyed and in its place there was to be seen a chapel, to which there was access from the more recent church by a narrow passage covered with large flat stones, which alone seems to remain of the old building. In the middle of the chapel stood the tomb of St. Beuno, formed in the manner of an altar. To that place the sick used formerly to flock, and to pass the night lying on the tomb to recover their health. Especially were infants and children brought, whom they first dipped in the sacred well near the church, and then, placed on the stone of the tomb strewn with rushes, kept there for a whole night. There still flourished at that same time the custom of offering in the church of St. Beuno, on the Sunday of the Holy Trinity, on which day the memory of the saint was observed, calves and lambs which happened to be born marked with a certain sign on the ear which used to be called Nod (that is, sign) Beuno. The money obtained from the sale of these animals the guardians of the church put into a certain chest hollowed out in an oak beam, which was closed with a triple key: this chest was called Cyff (that is, chest) St. Beuno; whence it also passed into a proverb among the Welsh, to signify a very difficult thing: It would be no greater labor to break open the chest of St. Beuno [Pennant, Tours in Wales, vol. II, pp. 397 – 399. See Dugdale, Monast. Anglic., vol. V, p. 631.]. Soon after Pennant wrote this, however, at the beginning of this century, in the hope (or on the pretext) of finding the body of St. Beuno, the monument of the tomb was removed, and the offerings are said to have ceased Ibid., p. 399, editor's note..

[44] and mention of him among the martyrologists. The memory of St. Beuno is marked in the Martyrology of Richard Challoner, and thence in the Catalogue of Saints of Filippo Ferrari, at the 14th of January; but among the Benedictines Menard, Bucelin, Heredia, Cherle and Lechner, at the 2nd of November. His feast, however, used formerly to be celebrated at Clynnog on the Sunday of the Holy Trinity See preceding no.; the distinguished Rice Rees Welsh Saints, p. 268. assigns it to the 24th of April.

[45] On SS. Deifer St. Deifer, in Welsh Dieyuyr, Diheufyr, Deifr, Diar, Deir, to whom St. Winifred was directed by divine revelation after the death of St. Beuno Life II, nos. 22, 23., was the son of Arwystli Gloff (otherwise Aristobulus the paralytic) and of Lywanneda, daughter of Amelavd Wledyg Bonedd y Saint in Myv. Arch., vol. II, p. 39.. He had as brothers SS. Tyfydrog, Teyrnog and Tudyr, as sister St. Marchell or Marcella Ibid., pp. 55, 54, 47. See Rice Rees, Welsh Saints, p. 276., as paternal uncles SS. Gwynodl, Merin, Seucfyr, Tudglyd, Tudno and Tyneio or Deneio Ibid., pp. 30, 44, 48, 52, 54, 55. See Rice Rees, p. 236.. He was formerly venerated especially in the town of Bodvari See below, Annot. to Life II, no. 22.. No oratory there, however, is distinguished by his name, but there is to be seen only, about three hundred paces distant from the church, a well (Ffynnon Diar) which he is said to have drawn forth from the earth by a marvel See Life II, no. 22.. To this the inhabitants of the place used to go in solemn procession on the day sacred to the memory of the Ascension of the Lord, and to recite beside it the litanies, the ten commandments of the decalogue, the epistle and the gospel. There had also prevailed the custom that even by the very poor there should be offered for their children, after these had gone round the well nine times, a cockerel or a pullet, according namely to the sex of the child, and also that infants should be lowered into the water up to the neck at the three corners of the well, so that they should not cry at night Thomas, St. Asaph, p. 281.. The feast of St. Deifer is marked in Challoner at the 16th of March, but in Ferrari at the 7th of the same month.

[46] and Saturnus. The name of St. Saturnus See Life II, nos. 23 – 25., in Welsh Sadurn, is also found in Bonedd y Saint Myv. Arch., vol. II, p. 52., but with no genealogy attached, and there are mentioned in the same place churches dedicated under his name in Mon and in Emlyn, that is, Llandsadwrn in the county of Anglesey and Hennlan in the county of Denbigh See Lewis, Topogr. Dict. of Wales, at these words.. The latter was restored by the Anglicans in the year 1806, the other in the year 1829, yet with certain parts of the old buildings preserved. Among these there is to be seen, set into the wall which divides the choir from the lower nave, an ancient representation of a head, which seems to depict a priest and beneath which there has now been placed an old inscription found among the scattered stones of the ruined building, where the name Saturninus is read expressed in Roman character Ibid.. Of the history of Saturnus, however, nothing is known beyond what is read in Robert of Shrewsbury in the Acts of St. Winifred. His memory is announced in Challoner at the 3rd of November, but in the supplement, that is, among the additions and corrections, at the 30th of the same month.

[47] On the genealogical stemma of St. Elerius, St. Elerius occupies no small place in the Life of St. Winifred Life II, nos. 25 – 33.. He seems to be recognized in the genealogical notice on Leuddad or Llowdog which is read in Bonedd y Saint Myv. Arch., vol. II, p. 46. See ibid., beginning of p. 42. and in Achau y Saint Cambro Brit. SS., pp. 266, 594 (under no. 22)., in nearly these words (omitting, that is, the variant readings, which are of no weight for our matter): Lleuddad in Bardsey, and Baglan in Coel and Eleri at Pennant Gwytherin in Rhyvoniawg and Terygon Iscoed, were sons of Dingad, son of Nudd Hael, son of Seuill, son of Cedig, son of Maxen Wledig; and Thenoi, daughter of Llewddyn Luiddawg, of the city of Edino in the north, was his mother. From which it is also gathered that St. Elerius was a maternal cousin of St. Beuno: for Pheren too, his mother, was the daughter of Llewddyn Luiddawg of the city of Edino in the north See above, no. 39.. Among the sons of Dingad, and accordingly among the brothers of Elerius, is to be counted also, according to Bonedd y Saint Vol. cited, p. 44., St. Gwytherin, from whom the village, where he himself and Elerius stayed and St. Winifred was buried, is said to have received its name.

[48] wrongly attributed by the distinguished Rice Rees to another; It must not, however, be passed over in silence that the distinguished Rice Rees does not apply the name Eleri in the genealogical notice just cited to our Elerius, but in his judgment there is signified there a certain Eleria, daughter of Dingad Welsh Saints, p. 275.: of which interpretation, I believe, no other proof can be brought forward except that in Bonedd y Saint, to the notices proper to Eleri of Gwytherin Myv. Arch., vol. II, beginning of p. 42. (where the genealogy of Lleuddad is indicated as to be consulted), there is prefixed a mention of another Eleri, who was the daughter of Brychan and wife of Ceredig son of Cunedda Wledig, and mother of Sanddei, father of David bishop of Menevia [Ibid., end of p. 41; Achau Saint Ceymrig, n. 59 (in Rees, Cambro Brit. SS., pp. 271, 600.]. But we are prevented from following this opinion by the fact that on the one hand no notice is had from elsewhere of any St. Eleria who lived at Gwytherin, and on the other hand it would have to be admitted that no mention is made in Bonedd y Saint of our Elerius, who is established from elsewhere to have been venerated at Gwytherin; indeed the authority of Bonedd y Saint would also have to be refuted, since in that document among the notices proper to Eleri of Gwytherin Loc. cit., beginning of p. 42. this too is read: Eleri ymhenant Gwytherin yn Rhyfoniawg, a Theon ei fam. Buchedd Gwenfrewi; that is: Eleri in Pennant Gwytherin in Rhyfoniawg, and Theonia his mother. Life of Winifred: where from the mention of the Life of St. Winifred our Elerius is manifestly signified.

[49] on the same man's history, the mention among martyrologists Of St. Elerius John Leland De Scriptoribus Britannicis, p. 75. and after him John Bale Script. Brit., vol. II, p. 28. say: Elerius was formerly a Welshman, and indeed is now held in esteem among the Britons. I would believe that he studied first on the banks of the river Elwy, where there is a shrine sacred to St. Asaph; and that afterwards, in order to avoid noise and crowds, he went away as if to the desert. This shines most plainly clear, that he erected a monastery near the Clwyd valley, in which there was a number both of men and

of women that was remarkable: among whom was Guenvreda or Winifred, a most noble virgin, a pupil of Beuno, who with her neck severed suffered the sword of the unbridled youth Caradoc. But Leland seems to have had no other foundation for these things than the very Acts of St. Winifred. Bale adds: Elerius is believed to have composed the Life of Winifred in one book See above, no. 4. and certain other things. He is also said to have flourished in the year 660 from the beginning of our salvation through Christ, under Cadwallon, king of the Britons. — The feast-day of St. Elerius is said to be celebrated on the 13th of June Metcalf, Life of St. Wenefride, Preface., under which day he is mentioned in the British Martyrology of Richard Challoner and in Ferrari. Metcalf reports that the church of Gwytherin was formerly dedicated under his name Ibid., p. 98.; but this church, which had long ago been substituted for an older one that was destroyed, is said to have been dedicated under the name of St. James Lewis, Top. Dict. of Wales, under Gwytherin; Thomas, St. Asaph, p. 544.; and in our days, in the year 1869, a new church building was consecrated by the Anglicans under the title of St. Winifred Thomas, p. 545..

[50] and cult. Other churches distinguished by the name of St. Elerius I have not been able to discover with certainty. For although the names Elerius and Hilary are judged synonymous Ibid., pp. 544, 384., and it does not seem probable that all the churches which are called after St. Hilary, such as Trefilan in Cardiganshire, Eglwys Rhos in Carnarvonshire, Denbigh and Erbistock in Denbighshire, and St. Hilary in Glamorganshire Rice Rees, Welsh Saints, pp. 328, 331, 333, 339., were consecrated under the title of that doctor of Poitiers, since he is not read to have had any special dealings with the island Britons (for this is not sufficiently shown by the inscription of the Book on Synods, which Hilary addressed in common to the bishops of the several Gallic provinces and also of the British) Works of Hilary, Benedictine ed., vol. II, p. 457 (Migne, vol. X, p. 479).; although, I say, these things are true, yet it is no less certain that St. Hilary's Welsh name was Elian, which those learned in Welsh matters have long commonly held [Pennant, vol. II, p. 56; Rice Rees, p. 267; W. J. Rees, p. 496, note 1; Lewis, under Llanellian.] and which, besides other arguments, is shown by the twelfth-century Welsh calendar cited above Nos. 12, 14., where at the 14th of January St. Hilary of Poitiers is called Elian Esgob; and since there is found among the Welsh saints a certain Elian, more celebrated than our Elerius, namely Elian Keimiad, son of Callgu Redegoc, son of Carcludwys, son of Cyngan, son of Ypswys, son of Cadrawd Calchfynyd; and Thegvan (otherwise Chenaf, Gyna, Chena, Canna), daughter of Tewdwr Mawr, was his mother Bonedd y Saint (Myv. Arch., vol. II, p. 41)., I would readily admit, after the distinguished Rice Rees Welsh Saints, p. 267., that Hilary of Poitiers was confused with this man rather than with Elerius.

[51] On St. Theona, the mother of Elerius. St. Theonia, the mother of Elerius, is known not only from the Acts of St. Winifred Life II, nos. 26 – 29., but also from the genealogy of St. Elerius himself in Bonedd y Saint, from which it is also gathered that she was the sister of St. Beuno's mother See above, no. 47.. From the Acts of St. Winifred alone, however, is excerpted what Richard Challoner reports about St. Theonia in his British Martyrology at the 3rd of November. Where it comes to be observed in general that of the saints who are named in the Acts of St. Winifred, none except Winifred herself is mentioned in the classic martyrologies or in the English Martyrology according to the use of Salisbury.

FIRST LIFE OF ST. WINIFRED, WRONGLY ASCRIBED TO ST. ELERIUS.

Winifred, virgin, in England. (S.)

BHL Number: 8848

FROM THE MSS.

We publish this from 1. the British Museum Cottonian Codex Claud. A. 5, of the 12th century, with variant readings added from 2. the codex of the same library Lansdowne 436, 14th cent. — See Prior Commentary, nos. 1, 7.

THE EARLIER PART.

Of the History of St. Winifred.

[St. Winifred, sprung from a renowned family and from childhood professing virginity,] Here begins the life of St. Winifred, virgin and martyr (Inc.-mart.) Incipit de sancta Wenefreda virgine et martyre 2.. — As much see next note as it is wholesome to hide the secret of a king, so much is it tormenting not to reveal the mighty works of God. Wherefore whatever, by God's favor, has been made manifest to us by the tradition of the ancients concerning blessed Winifred, we must, as is fitting, begin to the praise of God himself and for the declaring of the merits of his virgin [(Quanto-inchoandum) Quia virgo sancta Wenefreda sua corporali præsentia abbatiam monachorum nigrorum apud Salopiam, id est Provesbury, divina dispositione a Wallia illuc translata gloriose venustat et suo patrocinio protegit et adjuvat, aliqua de ejus gestis inter sanctos Angliæ interserere decrevimus 2.]. In the days, then, illis 2. when Katuanus Cathua 2. reigned over the provinces partes 2. of Venedocia, a certain vigorous knight, possessor of just three estates, Teuyth by name, son of Eylud (T. E. f.) Teuiht (and so thereafter) filius Cylut 2., was living in Tekeynglia Tekeyngleya 2. ^a. Of these the first was called Abeluyc, the second Maynguen, the third Guenphennaun (Quarum-appellabantur) omits 2.. To this Teuyth no offspring was given, except for one daughter only, called Winifred (f. s. e. W. n.) e. s. W. 2. ^b. She began immediately from her earliest age to love the heavenly bridegroom (cœp.-cœl.) æt. cœp. sp. cœl. amare 2., and, rejecting transitory men, dedicated (s. d.) d. s. 2. her virginity to him alone (s. s.) soli Christo 2.. Her father, learning this see next note, was on the one hand troubled and sad, and on the other exulted with thanksgiving. For there was sadness in him because he had no offspring except her alone; and what he bore more heavily, she refused to marry a man to preserve the patrimony for the future. On the other hand, there was thanksgiving in him that his offspring was subjecting herself to God's dominion. For the sake of this grace the hero purposed to hand over his child to the liberal arts [(Quod-satam) Cujus sancto proposito congaudens pater, liberalibus artibus imbuendam tradere proposuit 2.].

[2] [St. Beuno, most kindly received by her father and having obtained an estate for building a church,] And while [for this number and the following 2 has this: Quod dum cogitaret, beatus Bennonus, multorum monachorum diversis locis habitantium abbas et pater, in domum descendit ipsius. Teuiht vero considerans eum virum egregie literatum, religione atque sanctitate præcipuum, dedit ei in patrimonio suo habitationis locum, filiam suam tradens ei erudiendam. Bennonus igitur fixit suum tugurium in convalle qui Britonum lingua Sechnant appellatur; ecclesiamque parvulam ibi construxit: in qua missas celebrans, divina quotidie pagina virginem Wenefredam diligenter instruxit. Siquidem Teuith domusque illius quotidie missarum officia adibant: quibus et Benonnus post celebrationem verbum Dei frequenter prædicabat.] he was of this purpose, blessed Bennonus ^c the prelate in the text præ, the syllable sul supplied in the margin in another hand., deprived of his dwelling by the insolence of the sons of Selym ^d, came down to his house. The hero, perceiving him to be well lettered the letters at corrected, formerly literarum? and religious, consulted him about his daughter, disclosing to him her vow. Having then thoroughly weighed the knight's statements, Bennonus said: If you commend your estate to God in my hand, I will dwell here with you, instructing your daughter in the divine law. To this Teuyth said: Lord, if this were in my power, no one would do such a thing more eagerly than I. But now, servant of God, unless it seem to you too long, I desire you to stay here until I receive the king's answer about such matters. And he said: Dearest son, go forth; and may God go before you, wherever you may find your business. Teuyth therefore, going out from his house, sought the palace at the house of the king, his [the word deleted by the corrector with dots placed beneath, and in its place the word sui substituted in the margin.] lord, earnestly entreating him to favor what he was deliberating concerning his patrimony. He replied: O venerable man, it by no means falls to me or to you to separate your codex tamen. land from the common holding of the province, lest it be useless to itself or to my need. But whichever of these three estates you choose for the divine office I freely grant you, if you be satisfied; and leave me the rest word supplied in another hand..

[3] she is entrusted to him to be educated. So, having heard the king's excellent answer, he went back home, reporting to Bennonus whatever he had heard from the king: Therefore if you desire to remain with me, he said, for the ministry of God, choose wherever seems more suitable to you in my patrimony. Blessed Bennonus said: I resolve on a dwelling for myself in the solitude of Beluy. And so it was done. Bennonus therefore, with Teuyth's patronage, set up his hut in a valley which in the language of the Britons was called Sechnant ^e; and he built a little church there, in which he celebrated Mass, instructing the virgin Winifred daily in the divine page. For Teuyth and his household went daily to the offices of the Mass, where Bennonus gave instruction at the celebration.

[4] [She is solicited to fornication by Caradoc, a youth of royal stock, and by him, having been deluded by the virgin's prudent dissimulation,] At that time [for this first phrase (Ea-sale) 2 has this: Hiis itaque aliquo tempore durantibus, accidit quadam die dominica Teuiht cum uxore ad missam exisse more solito audiendam, sola Wenefreda domo relicta.] it happened one Sunday that Teuyth with his wife went out to hear Mass, and that Winifred had delayed in the house of her father, in order to bring with her the things necessary for the Mass, namely fire and water with salt. Meanwhile Karadauc Carodocus (and so thereafter) 2., son of Alauc (A. f.) omits 2., sprung progenitus 2. from royal stock ^f, wearied by the hunting venationem 1. of wild beasts, drew near to the house domum Teuiht 2., seeking drink, to be sure omits 2., for he was thirsty valde sitiens 2.. And when he reached it, he asked where the owner of the estate was: for he had some secret which he was eager to disclose to him (ad quam-gliscebat) omits 2.. The girl, then enim 2., being alone (s. e.) e. s. 2. in the house, quickly came to meet the one asking for her father (p. e.) preiñ 1; patremfamilias 2.; and, greeting him gracefully, said respondit 2. that her parents had gone to hear Bennonus's preaching at Mass (i. m. p.) missam 2.. As Caradoc therefore gazed on the face of the nymph juvenculæ 2., composed of whiteness and strength, and on her whole person fit in form formosam 2. and countenance præfulgidam 2.

and admiring them, his heart (i.c.) c. i. 2., spreading omits 2. in desire for her ejus 2., began to burn. And finding que omits 2. her alone in the house with no one else as witness, forgetting his thirst because of the greatness of his love illiciti adds 2., he said to her (i.e.) puellæ intulit 2.: O dearest virgin, assent to my counsels, and enter into the intimacy of lovers with me; for I vehemently desire you. To this the virgin said (A. h. v.) Et virgo ad hæc 2.: My lord, what sort of utterance is this, of a man so freeborn as you to a maidservant so lowly as I ingrediaris adds 2.. Again, Lord, by no means omits 2. can I nequeo 2. do this. For I am betrothed (s. e.) namque sum 2. to another man, whom I must presently marry (cui-debeo) et idcirco alibi nubere non valeo 2.. Hearing this, Caradoc, filled with fury, said: Stop speaking (n. l.) l. n. 2. these silly, frivolous trifles, and consent to lie with me. Marry me, and I will take you as wife. The girl therefore, seeing the man's spirit stirred up to rivalry (in æm.) word in supplied by the corrector 1; æmulatione 2., turning to a stratagem lest she be overpowered by the man's violence, said: Allow me, Lord, to enter my wardrobe, that, becomingly adorned with garments (o. v. d.) decentius o. v. 2., I may more fittingly lie commisceri 2. with you. For I shall leave, as is necessary, the ministry enjoined upon me, and shall be at your pleasure (Linquam-arbitrium) omits 2.. Caradoc answered the girl: If sed 2. there be insit 2. no delay on your part, it will not omits 2. seem too long to me namque adds 2. to wait omits 2. for you vel 2. a little while.

[5] fleeing, she is beheaded; Having received permission, then, the girl went through the chamber to the valley with swift steps, wishing to be as quickly as possible (q. c.) quamtocius 2. away omits 2. from the man's sight (a. c.) c. a. 2.. Karadoc therefore, seeing himself deluded by the virgin's stratagem, filled with fury, drove pungit 2. his spurs hard (c. f.) f. c. 2. omits 2. into his horse, seeking to catch the girl. But the girl had gone ahead of the man currendo eum 2. until she reached the door of the monastery, desiring to obtain the protection of peace from God and Bennonus. And when she wished to set (v. f.) f. vellet 2. her foot within the threshold, the man ille Belial adds 2. forestalled her omits 2. with his sword, cutting off her head (a. e. a. c.) cap. absc. ant. ipsam 2.

[6] [but soon, her slayer being divinely punished and a marvellous spring arising in the place of the killing, she is recalled to life by St. Beuno.] Her parents, seeing this contuentes. and adds ex subito eventu rerum 2., were held (d. s.) s. d. 2. in a trance for some time. And sed 2. having returned revertentes, and adds et præ doloris vehementia pæne deficientes 2. to themselves post modicum adds 2., they were drenched se madebant 2. with pitiable tears. Bennonus too, beholding this omits 2. destruction, was entangled in very great sorrow; and que omits 2. leaving the altar he went quickly to the door (o. o.) ost. oc. 2., wishing to know who had carried out such a killing. Raising que adds 2. his eyes, he beheld (c. e.) contemplans 2. Karadoc, blood-stained cruentatum 2., still omits 2. standing with the bloody sword in his hand; and perceiving that this had been done by Caradoc, he cursed him (stantem-eum) facti non pœnitentem, immo bene se fecisse jactitantem 2. in that same place. And immediately in his sight the man melted as wax before fire (u. a. i. c.) sicut cera a facie ignis 2. ^g. Then Bennonus, returning reversus 2. to the corpse, fitted the head, which had been thrown inside by the stroke of the sword, to the body lying outside, earnestly devotius 2. entreating God ut adds 2. to give life vivificaret 2. to that body, lest the enemy should rejoice over it. And soon with the prayer (c. p.) illo deprecante 2. the body together with its strength took back the soul, no omits 2. mark being visible except nonnisi 2. a slender scar on the neck ^h. But the ground stained with her blood (e. i.) virginis madefacta 2. cracked, and a rushing moxque 2. spring of water gushed out there (f. i.) i. f. 2. ⁱ. Its stones to this very day, as on omits 2. the first day, are seen to be blood-red; the moss too illius adds 2. smells like incense, and it heals various ailments (l. m.) m. l. 2. ^j.

[7] Then, her master having gone away, thereafter, as he had asked, And so Bennonus, seeing that God had performed such a miracle because of her, said to her in the hearing of her parents [(Bennonus-inquit) in place of this first phrase there is read in 2 a great part of chapter VI (nos. 14, 15) of the longer Life, published below, with a number of variant readings which it has not seemed worthwhile to note distinctly.]: My sister so 1; inquit, dilectissima 2., God has destined (t. d.) d. t. 2. this place ut cerno adds 2. for you; and I must go elsewhere, where At ubi 2. God shall provide for me to abide perhendinari 2; Rees's ed. per Bendmare!. But for me [(in place of mihi autem) hanc solam, si placeat, mecum age misericordiam, ut recentior altrinsecus mutuæ caritatis vigeat memoria 2.] do this (h. f.) omits 2. about this day in each year: send omits 2. me a chasuble of your tuo 2. own work (o. p.) p. o. and adds affer. At illa 2.. — My lord omits 2., she said, to bestow this on you is no trouble to my heart (meo-cordi) cordi meo jocundum existeret 2., but there seems to me a very great difficulty as to how it may reach you: for I do not know (i. e.) maxime cum ignorem 2. where you will be living iturus sis 2.. The saint said to her: Have no anxiety about this. There is a rock namque adds 2. in the middle of the stream of the spring, upon super 2. which I have been accustomed to ruminate my prayers (r. p.) p. r. 2.. Place the chasuble on this at the appointed time (c. t.) t. c. 2.: and if it comes to me, let it come [veniat 2, and there are subjoined the last part of chapter VI (no. 15) of the longer Life and certain things from about the middle of chapter VII (no. 16).]. Thus after mutual blessing they separated (d. s.) discesserunt 2. from one another (S. a. i.) His dictis 2..

[8] [each year she sent him a chasuble, set on a rock and so carried across the sea: clothed in which Beuno was kept untouched by the injuries of rain and wind.] Blessed Winifred, for her part, spent her life for many days in the aforesaid solitude, as Bennonus had advised her [(Beata-consulerat) in place of this phrase there are read in 2 a number of things taken from the middle of chapter VIII of the longer Life (no. 18).]. In Recordata etiam verborum Benomi (In omits) 2. the individual singulis 2. years also omits 2., on the vigil of beati adds 2. John the Baptist, she used to send a chasuble in this way (h.m.) modo prælibato 2. to Bennonus. She would fit it upon the rock; and the rock, gliding on with the waves of the spring, carried it (super-ipsam) quam super saxum in torrentis medio coaptatam, saxum illam 2., dry within and omits 2. without, down to the sea, and so (et sic) ac deinceps 2. across the sea siccam adds 2. to the port of Sachlen Sachelem 2. ^k, as far as Bennonus transvehebat adds 2. [l]. Thus see next note Bennonus received the virgin's gift every year. There was in this chasuble, because of the virgin's merit, such power that wherever Bennonus was, clothed in it, he could neither be wetted by rain nor could a hair of his be moved by the wind (Itamoveri) omits 2.. As a result of this thing (T. r. e.) Tali e. r. 2., Bennonus was surnamed cognominatus 2. Dry-Chasuble (C. S.) Casula Sicca 2. [There are subjoined in 2 the greater part of chapter XI (nos. 20, 21) of the longer Life (which excerpt is completed with these words: Prædictus autem locus simul et fons beatæ Wenefredæ monachorum nunc sunt de Bazingwerk, Ordinis Cisterciensis) and the first words of chapter XIII (no. 23) with the end of chapter XIV (no. 24).].

[9] [Afterwards she visited the thresholds of the apostles; and, having returned to Britain, by synodal decree she was put in charge of a monastery of virgins at Gwytherin: where she died devoutly on the 24th of June.] At that time see next note, as they recall, she went to Rome, for the sake of visiting the places of the holy apostles, that there in the presence of the relics of the saints she might devoutly offer herself wholly to God. This done, she returned to her former desert. In those days the saints of all Britain were assembling at the synod of Wenefredus ^m. To it, with other saints, blessed Winifred also went up. And there all things having been religiously established by synodal rite, namely, that the saints who before lived scattered and singly, having no rule but their will, should thereafter come together in groups in places suitable for this, and should amend their way of life under seniors of advanced years set over them. Whence it came about that blessed Winifred was chosen in preference over eleven virgins, that they might receive from her an example of life and holy conduct [(Eo tempore-exciperent) in place of these things 2 reads: Quibus processu temporis ab eodem Elerio virgo Wenefreda in exemplum sanctitatis prælata est. Quæ nihil intactum dimittebat quod ad propriam salutem vel aliorum exemplum et utilitatem pertinere cognoscebat. Unde ab universis simplici diligebatur affectu et tam extranei quam domestici propter vitæ sanctitatem et miraculorum operationem honorem ei exhibebant et eam reverenter venerabantur.]. With what great autem adds 2. eloquence of knowledge this sancta adds 2. virgin shone forth, it is not within our capacity to declare. For namque 2. the discourses of her speech were reckoned, in the minds of those who heard them, sweeter than honey and whiter que omits 2. than milk. Whence she was publicly surnamed nominata 2. by all Candida Wenefreda; for she spoke with the whiteness of wisdom, and lived in steadfast accord with it conformiter 2.. The place, indeed, in which she lived with the virgins ut prædicitur adds 2 is called Gurtherin Wytern 2.. There too (q. e.) ubi 2., after the sleep of life, with her companion virgins (c. c. v.) omits 2., buried on the VIII quæ erat octavo 2. of the Kalends of July, she rests in Christ, to whom be honor and glory for ages of ages.

Amen [(requiescit-Amen) per tempora multa quievit. Sed postea tempore regis Henrici illinc ad Salopiam translata debito honore veneratur. Florent autem in locis quibus habitaverat et ubi nunc honorifice est translata innumera ob ejus merita divinorum operum indigentibus miracula, ut in iis quæ de ejus vita et translatione scribuntur plenius et prolixius continetur 2.]. Here ends the life of St. Winifred, virgin and martyr (vita-martyris) de sancta Wenefreda virgine et martyre 2. Here 2 ends..

ANNOTATA.

l. Nor

is that kind of marvel unusual in the Lives of the British and Irish saints, by which certain things placed on a stone or with no conveyance, or the saints themselves sitting on a rock, were carried unharmed across the waters of rivers or the sea. It will suffice to have cited one from the Life of St. Senan, where he is read to have received a chasuble in such a way from St. Dermicius, and to have sent back to him by the same route, but upstream, three stones of salt Colgan, Act. SS. Hib., p. 527; Act. SS. Hib. ex Cod. Salm., p. 753.. — In the pool next to the source of the well of St. Winifred there lies a stone about five English feet broad, which popular tradition holds to be that same one by which St. Winifred used to send the chasuble each year to St. Beuno. That stone was already in the time of Robert of Shrewsbury (see Life II, no. 16) called the stone of St. Beuno, and is still so called.

THE LATER PART.

Of the Miracles Which Took Place at the Well of St. Winifred.

[10] [Violators of the well or church of St. Winifred divinely fined with various punishments, even death: a certain rash woman,] Here begin the miracles of the same. We have decided on certain things known or seen by the inhabitants as worthy of being related. From the day on which the spring began to flow, where the martyr's blood had run down, there was a miracle unheard of in the ages, wonderful to tell and astounding to hear, in the middle of the bubbling of the spring. Namely three most limpid little stones, rising and falling with the source of the spring in the manner of artani ^a thrown by a juggler, met one another going up and coming down. And so it lasted for many years. But in the time of the Danes subjugated in Tekeynglia under the Britons, a certain ill-starred woman went down to the spring, and seeing the little stones playing before her, inflamed with desire for them, she snatched one: and at once each of the rest vanished; then, having returned home, she was seized by a pressing disease, and within a few days she died. Having confessed before her death, however, she gave back the little stone: but what had been done before remained entirely hidden. No wonder , brothers, though they were stones, that they approved the martyr's power by their testimony, since we read that the holy fathers took up stones for them * as a testimony.

[11] a perjurer, It also happened once that a man, charged with theft, committed perjury over the well and the sanctuary of the martyr's church; but how the blessed virgin agrees with those who presume on what is unlawful was promptly made known. For the goat, already eaten, uttered a horrid bleat in the thief's belly: and thus it became evident that he was guilty. O thing quite horrible: what was denied by a rational animal with an oath, was disclosed by a brute and, what is more unusual, one already eaten. Nor is it to be doubted that the Lord does wonders on account of the saints, since he himself is altogether wonderful in his saints.

[12] a matron savagely beating her maidservant at the church, In the days of the Franks, moreover, in the same land a fitting vengeance was taken by God through the same martyr. For a certain matron, led by the zeal of jealousy against a maidservant, was tearing her with bitter blows, and as she fled to the virgin's church for the sake of protection, she pressed furiously upon her with beating. The poor little woman, coming to the temple and trying to enter, found the door firmly barred, and having before hoped for protection within the basilica, she then did not know what to do; she clung to the door, however, but the matron by no means spared to tear her. The Lord's martyr, seeing the violence offered to her, grieving for her own honor and pitying the wretched woman, at once obtained vengeance from the Lord. The captive, then, long mangled, prostrate underfoot, at last, as God willed, rose up and drove her head against the jaw of her mistress, who was bending over her; by which blow the cheek was separated from its joint, and the throat twisted round to the other ear, and thus she remained deformed until her death. It was indeed fitting that she who would not cease from the lashes before the stifling of the breath should not be desisted from in correction until the separation of body and soul. Thus, thus, the faces of those who do not reverence the tabernacles of God and the saints are filled with shame.

[13] robbers, Likewise, after a measured * interval of time, the law of peace having been violated everywhere throughout the country, the Franks and the Welsh attacking one another, countless plunderers from Venedocia, laying waste all Tekeyngia, sent eight sacrilegious men to plunder also the dwelling of the virgin Winifred together with the estate. They, hastening, carried off with them even the beasts of burden tied to the wall of the temple. But they did not long rejoice in it: for within a short space they were tainted by a horrible death. And the princes of iniquity too, who had prompted it, before the year had come round, met a wicked end. What shall I say to you? Scarcely one of so great a multitude escaped, even of those who merely kept their company; and since the zeal of the house of the Lord consumed him, they were cast down while they were being lifted up.

[14] likewise other robbers, In those days again a certain deacon of the same church, with sacred tokens hung on his neck by way of protection, carrying home on horses the tithe from a certain man of his parish, and coming as far as within the bounds of the martyr's estate, fell by chance among robbers: who, showing no reverence to the martyr or to her sacred things, despoiled him, and compelled him, with his garments, as he implored them to be merciful to him for God's sake or for the sake of their martyr, to go with them. Nevertheless, when he had been led farther away, by the will of God and the martyr it came into his mind to take flight. And having taken it, he was tracked step by step by the leader of the robbers himself; but finally that same * man, seeking to catch him, was impeded by a fall; and pierced in the leg by his own lance, he lost the sinews of his thigh, while he did not know how to strike. And thus one being chastised in body, all the rest were reproved in mind. And the deacon, rendering thanks to God and the martyr for the deliverance granted him, returned home safe with his goods. For indeed the Lord sends his angel round about those who fear him, and delivers them; but those who have not the fear of the Lord and of the saints before their eyes, their iniquity is found to their hatred, and it descends upon their own heads.

[15] a Frankish knight and his wife. At that same time, nonetheless, a certain Frankish knight, the possessor of that estate, laying out a mill over the stream of the spring, began to dam the water. The knight, seeing the water breaking out at the rock of Bennonus, which happened to be under the pond in the middle of the stream ^b, ordered that it be placed in the pond. But although a hundred yoke of oxen were applied, it would by no means rise from its place: for it remained so immovable as if, with roots fixed, it could not be torn out. At last the knight, thinking that his workmen were doing this deceitfully, urged them on again and again; and supposing that he alone could roll the stone away with his foot, stirred by wrath of spirit, he struck the rock with his foot. But immediately, the sinews being bent back at the knee and hardened, he was made lame as long as he lived. Moreover, in the same * course of time the wife of the same knight, with rash daring, entered the very rim of the spring, which belongs properly to the sick, and bathed herself there unlawfully. But this did not go unpunished for her: for she remained barren to the end of her life, for which she grieved above all things. It was indeed just that those who, coming into the martyr's inheritance, unlawfully polluted her sanctuary, should afterwards be to all around them an illusion and a derision, a scorn and a reproach. With such miracles and with these more wonderful without number the virgin of the Lord shone forth against the wicked: all of which, if they were committed to the memory of letters, time would fail sooner than the abundance of speech. But now, for the chastising of the wicked, lest they delight to do some wrong against the virgin's right, let these suffice; because our plough must be brought forward elsewhere to make furrows, namely to reveal the virgin's benefits toward the sick.

[16] A paralytic recovers the use of his limbs at the sacred well; In the time of the Franks also, in the same region a certain rich sick man, having much money, but not himself, hearing the fame of the virgin, carried by a conveyance, made his way there as quickly as possible. He, coming to the memorial of the blessed virgin, having spent his whole fortune on the church and the needy, made himself poor, delighting no longer in the pleasures of the world, but trusting in the Lord. Then, having washed himself three times in the water of the spring, and the third night's vigil having been finished in the church with prayers, you would have heard there at that time, in wondrous manner, in his feet and legs and arms a huge crackling ^c. Those which before from birth were shamefully bent and drawn up to the buttocks now stretched out their bones into the straight placing of the joints. Do you suppose you would have seen there then a joyful band of bystanders, and giving thanks to God and the virgin? You would indeed have seen it. O how just a recompense. He who had deprived himself of his private substance received back the substance of his own body whole in senses and in strength; what he had loved he distributed, what he had always desired he found. And thus he who, lacking the use of his feet, had come by a conveyance, using his feet, fully and perfectly sound, went away.

[17] iron fetters loosed; A certain man, led to repentance for his offenses, girt with iron bonds for many years, his arms wretchedly eaten by the rust of the iron, came to the same sanctuary; and having spent the night there with vigils and prayers, he proceeded at dawn to the spring. And as he was washing his hands, and stretching his arms farther into the spring, two delicate hands appeared to him loosing the bonds from his forearms. Who, brothers, then doubts that the virgin was present there? The man, indeed, going out from the church to the spring bound, but returning from the spring to the church freed, giving thanks to God and his martyr, hung up those same bonds there as a sign: which were seen hanging there for many lustra of years. Weigh it well, men, weigh it well, women, how venerably and how reverently this virgin of the Lord and martyr is to be honored by all, who so openly comes to the help of those who cry out to her.

[18] a dropsical man healed, Nor is it to be omitted what she did for a dropsical man who came to her, scarcely drawn along by men's hands; since, indeed, after vigils and ablutions in the waves of the spring had been gone through, she so relieved him of the excess fluid that nothing remained but what befits the temperament of human nature.

[19] epileptics, An epileptic likewise felt the martyr's hand. For, brought according to custom to the basilica, he spent the night there in watching and praying. The attack came upon him in a wonderful manner, for it invaded him twice; but on both occasions it prevailed nothing. For at twilight he felt the epilepsy to be at hand, and ran hastily into the temple: and the name of the Lord and the martyr having been invoked over him by the priests, immediately the evil which had begun

left him. On another day at dawn, as the disease raged upon him, he was thrown into the spring, and for the rest it never attacked him. Likewise two boys, brothers, when the same infirmity invaded them, thrown into the spring, were altogether healed. And so too many others of this kind beyond number. For they assert * that this virgin most of all wipes out this sickness by the power of her merits, though she cleanses away others as well. For none is more calamitous than this, which destroys sense, gnaws the heart, almost vomits out the soul, shakes the brain, devours the tongue, foams, gnashes, hooks the limbs, tears itself all to pieces: and because it is so, she is especially intent on curing it.

[20] a mute, A certain woman also brought with her to the memorial of the blessed martyr a certain boy, her son, mute from birth. Having duly celebrated the solemnities of the vigils, she forcibly drenched him with the spring and put water into his mouth: and she heard her son uttering correct words and asking for his clothes. Seeing this, the bystanders marvelled, glorifying God and the martyr, and congratulated the mother.

[21] a cripple, On another occasion also there came certain crippled youths in company, who went down together into the spring; but to one only, because he trusted more firmly, was health given. When he had gone down, his limbs stretching themselves out, so horrible a noise was given forth from him that the ears of those placed near or far off who heard it rang. For the power of the Lord, when it has gone forth from him at the prayers of the saints, knows no way to lie hidden.

[22] those weak in their limbs, A certain boy, moreover, reckoning his limbs as useless to him because they were deadened, immediately obtained the virgin's accustomed bounty. For by her prayers she restored in him the natural condition of all his limbs.

[23] a blind man, A certain man born blind, moreover, the rite having been celebrated in the martyr's tabernacle, went off to the spring, and washed, and saw, and gave thanks.

[24] a man suffering from the stone, Two boys also, suffering from the stone, seeking the virgin, obtained natural digestion. One of them, relieved of the sickness there, was at once made drunk with the charism of the muse of prophecy.

[25] many others afflicted with various diseases. After the manner of these, very many who were gnawed by worms up to the marrow knew the virgin's help: for, the little worms being extinguished, they returned home healthy. Some bereft of mind, vexed by unclean spirits, tearing with their teeth, uttering all manner of vain things, scarcely brought in chains, went back home from there governing themselves with full reason. Frequently too she delivered those with fever, keeping watch at her freely given mercy, by the fomentation of the sacred spring from fevers of every kind. And many times this most kind virgin tempers the dropsical, re-forms the paralytic, restores the gouty, cures the melancholy. Nor less does she remove sciatica, uproot cancer, enfeeble dysnoia ^d, extirpate hemorrhoids; indeed she also shuts out the obstinate cough, drives back the twistings and fluxes of the belly, dissolves the obstructed menses of barrenness, and stops excessive and immoderate blood. Why, by enumerating a few things, do I try to set them all forth? So many and so great are the virgin's benefits that their infinity refuses to be set forth by number. But to touch upon all things briefly, to all the feeble, the diseased, the sick, held by any infirmity whatever, who ask with pure faith this martyr's suffrage with God, she devoutly and most kindly, all delay being put far away, at once comes to their help, and clothes them fully with the senses and strength of the two parts of man.

[26] The water of the spring changed into milk. Nor is there to be hidden away in the silence of Lethean forgetfulness what is established to have happened concerning the spring of the same virgin after the expulsion of the Franks from all Venedocia. For the spring of the martyr was seen, for the space of three days, to flow with a milky liquid. In the first dawn of those days it kept the color of milk, and the flavor too. For the priest, coming out very early in the morning, after Matins had been duly celebrated in the church of the same martyr, which stands close by above the spring, and finding such a thing, ran swiftly, bringing with him a flask, and having filled it he kept it carefully and diligently. Hastening again with a sponge that he might fill this also, the liquid had already somewhat diminished in its brightness. Thus, little by little over three days, suffering a loss of milky color together with flavor, it took on its former state. And lest anyone should suppose that this happened by a whirlwind of the winds or a storm of rains, let him know that it was for no short time before and after, and even then, without any commotion of the elements. And no hesitation or doubt ought to arise from this, because this too has been heard from the natives to have occurred rather often. The liquid received by the priest, being sent everywhere to the sick and drunk, bestowed on them the help which the virgin is accustomed to give, healing these also. And well did her spring appear milky and of a sweet flavor, who, surnamed Candida Wenefrida, shows herself gentle, mild, meek, honeyed, devout, kind, propitious, sweet and merciful to those who call upon her.

[27] A dead girl recalled to life. It is by no means to be disregarded what was further done through this virgin concerning a little girl. As evening was falling one day, a man carried with him the lifeless corpse of a girl to the martyr's shelter, that she might be buried. The priest, however, seeing night coming on, put off her burial until morning; leaving the body, rigid with the cold of death, wrapped in a shroud and covered with bands, within the church, and firmly barring the doors. And the priest, entering the church at earliest dawn to celebrate the vigils according to custom, found the girl now alive, wholly loosed from the bands and shroud, creeping still from weakness on her haunches and palms over the floor, without any sign of death, and asking him for lodging and food; and he gratefully gave thanks to God and the martyr. What wonder if she recalls the lifeless to life by her prayer, who, when dead, had lived again?

[28] Sacrilegious thieves punished. We must recall to memory what we omitted above for the correction of the wicked. Two clerics, indeed, at different times committed sacrilege within the virgin's huts. One of them, carrying off a manual, was immediately caught with the stolen thing; and since the laborer is worthy of his wage, he was fined with lashes. But the other, stealing a missal, and offering it to all everywhere for a price, found no one who would trade with him. At last, by the will of God, coming back, and not being able to hide the sacrilege any longer, he was hanged, as he had deserved.

[29] He who alone does wonders, on account of his virgin and martyr Winifred, whether for the relief of the needy *, or for the chastisement of the wicked, God does not cease to work these miracles, who in perfect Trinity lives and reigns one through all ages of ages Amen. Here ends the passion of St. Winifred, virgin and martyr, VIII of the Kalends of July.

ANNOTATA.

* codex utrique?

* corrected wrongly to Non est mirum.

* read olim?

* codex dimerso?

* codex eō.

* codex qnni

* codex Asserant

* codex indulgentium

SECOND LIFE OF ST. WINIFRED AND HER TRANSLATION, BY ROBERT, PRIOR OF SHREWSBURY.

Winifred, virgin, in England. (S.)

BHL Number: 8851, 8853

BY ROBERT OF SHREWSBURY.

Edited from 1. Oxford, Bodl. Lib. Cod. Laud. Misc. 114, 12th cent.; — 2. Brussels Cod. 8072, 17th cent.; — and 3. Cambridge, Holy Trinity Coll. Cod. O. 4. 42, 13th cent. — See Prior Commentary, no. 6.

A. LIFE.

PROLOGUE.

[The writer's plan in writing this Life; what sources he used; a number of things handed down about the holy virgin passed over here, the authority of witnesses being wanting.] Here begins the prologue whole prologue is missing in 3. to the life vitam 2. of St. Winifred, virgin and martyr. To his lord and father Warin Gwarino 2., reverend prior of Worcester, Robert Vigorniæ Robertus 2., his son, a sinner in life, prior of the monastery of Shrewsbury ^a, wishes that he walk with unoffending foot the way of the Lord's commandments. He who is known to have recognized any portion of the divine benefits must, with the affection of religion, charitably impart to others what has been bestowed on him freely by God. For the devotion of those who are one in Christ has claimed this as its own: namely, in the one knowledge of the faith to share equally what anyone has received as divinely descending upon him. For to reveal the counsels of God to those who desire them is a mark of virtue; but to force them everywhere upon the unwilling and resisting is said to be a mark of constancy and fortitude. Otherwise, if anyone should wish to draw into his own right what has been bestowed on some from the common store of all, preferring to hide it under a bushel rather than to serve the benefit of others, he will justly be convicted of laboring under the blemish of envy. For a benefit brought down from heaven is reckoned as owed to all who desire it, if only they have deserved it, and looks to the salvation of all. Wherefore, O reverend father, I have not begrudged you the knowledge of the good things which among us have recently shone forth from on high, since friends asked (r. a.) a. r. 2. that I should make known to you in preference the grace infused into us: both because you, supremely zealous in offices of this kind, have acquired for yourself perpetual fame, and because you have asked with much prayer that it be given you from there, and have received what was sent, as is reported, with excessive exultation. And since, as a wise man says, every affection is impatient of just and lawful delay, I am not unaware that you are sighing with panting spirit until you have learned something effected of those things with which your devotion waits to be supplied. Hence I have sent to you the life of the blessed virgin Winifred Winefredæ, and so thereafter, 2., very recently set in order; which I gathered partly from slips of writing in the churches of the country in which she is known to have lived, partly learned from the accounts of certain priests, whom both venerable age commended and to whose words the very habit of religion compelled one to give credence. The cause of publishing edendi 2. it was given, first, by the fear of God Domini, and so everywhere wherever the word Deus occurs, 2., lest I be found guilty of having buried in the ground terra 2. the talent entrusted to me and not having put it out at interest; secondly, by love of the virgin, that by the declaring of her merits the honor due to her might be paid by the faithful; thirdly, by the goodwill of the brothers, for the more closely binding of whose devotion to me I have patiently borne so great a labor. For the rest, that I have been altogether silent about her journey to Rome, I have done prudently, just as I have also wholly omitted a number of things worn in the mouths of very many, because I neither found them in books, nor were those who proclaimed them by their allegation worthy, in the estimation of men, that I should give credence to their words. It has sufficed me, however, as I am not unaware it will suffice you too, that, every ambiguity being removed, the course of her life should be woven in simple speech. Yet I have of my own accord left out certain things attested by the assertion of truthful men, lest I be found excessive in words and be refuted for some superfluity, knowing that these things can suffice for recognizing the life of this most sacred virgin, and at the same time believing that by her help and by the support of your prayer I shall obtain from God the reward of my labor End of the prologue adds 2..

ANNOTATUM.

CHAPTER I.

St. Winifred, burning with the love of Christ under her master St. Beuno, consecrates her virginity to God.

St. Beuno, from Theuith, a noble and religious man, Life of St. Winifred, virgin and martyr [the whole title is missing in 1; Incipit Vita, etc., and at the end x°. kal. julii adds 3.].

— (Ch. I.) this division of chapters is read indicated in 2 alone. In the western region of Greater Britain there is a certain province, called Wales Walia, and so thereafter, 1., bordered on one side by the boundaries of the kingdom of England, on the other by the Ocean sea. This was formerly inhabited by saints of many and various merits, and to this day it is adorned in manifold ways by their countless prerogatives. From their number there shone forth a certain very distinguished saint (a. i. e.) omits 3., Beuno by name, a supreme man and pre-eminent in all that multitude of saints. When he had first despised his father's soil and, trampling the glory of the world, had renounced its pernicious allurements (p. i. i. a.) omits 3., fleeing as a poor man he became a monk, in a short time attaining to the perfect man in Christ. At length, when he had built churches in various places and had established brothers in them to serve God, he himself, admonished by a divine oracle, departed elsewhere, to seek a dwelling foreseen for him by God (s. a. D.) a. D. s. 3.. With the Holy Spirit leading him and directing his step for the benefit of many, he came to the estate of a certain great and very powerful man, Theuith by name, who, the son of one supreme and et 2. most excellent senator, second to the king, Eliuth by name (E. n.) fuit 3., deigned dignitabatur 2. to admit nothing unsuited to his lineage or what might disgrace (aut-ded.) omits 3. so great a family, but, carrying out the nobility of his race with honorable conduct, appeared conspicuous in all refinement.

[2] an estate for building a church When therefore the venerable man Beuno had come to him, he was received by him kindly enough and reverently (b. s. a. r.) honorifice 3.. He, not long delaying to unfold what he was turning over in his mind and to make known the cause of his coming, having called the man aside privately, said: Lord, I have been sent to you, sustained by a heavenly prompting. For though I have lived until now in various places, and have sufficiently found dwellings suited to my purpose and in accord with my meæ adds 3. will, yet my spirit could nowhere rest, the Spirit of the Lord secretly omits 3. admonishing me (m. a.) a. m. 3. to visit another place. Accordingly, leaving those dwellings which pleased me very much, I have now come to you, not knowing for what the divine disposition, foreseeing the future, has directed direxit 2. me here. For I would not reckon that it has happened accedisse 2. by chance fortuita 2. or without the cause of some certain mystery, since I have believed without hesitation that all things are done by the will of God alone, and that man's purpose is ever carried on by the disposition of God. If therefore you assent to my desires, it will concern your solicitude to make my coming the worker of your own salvation, and patiently to attend to my petitions and to apply the understanding of your mind effectively to them (Si igitur-impendere) omits 3.. I ask quæro 3., therefore, that from the possession derived dirivata 1. to you by hereditary right from your ancestors you grant a part to God and to me, that I may build a church there, to serve God in it and to entreat him thereafter every day tempore Deum 3. for your salvation.

[3] [he obtains, is cherished by him with the greatest affection, and takes his daughter Winifred to be steeped in piety.] He, who had already resolved susceperat 3. with his whole mind to comply with his will, since he judged him a man worthy of praise (d. l.) l. d. 3. and to be held in omits 3; (et in) inque 2. reverence, answered him in words of this kind: It is indeed just to render to God a part of omits 2. the things bestowed on us by him, and to return to him thanks (e. b. g.) b. g. e. 3. acceptable omits 3. according to our small measure for his benefits. Whence you make yourself pleasing to me (t. m. g.) g. t. m. 3., who ask of me that which I greatly rejoice to give (d. p. g.) habeo ut darem 3., and which I am not unaware will turn to my good. Come then, and igitur 3. receive what you ask, namely this estate, free and quit, and released from all things that belong word supplied in the margin 1. to me or my successors, from this day forward delivered to the services servitio 3. of God alone. And since I have an only daughter, in whom consist almost the sum of all my joy and the hope of posterity, committing her also to you, I beseech you to intercede rogans adds 3. with the Lord for her, that he may so order her manner of life according to his own will and my honor, and advance my joy in her (g. m. p. d. i.) p. d. i. g. m. 3.. Saying this, he handed over that estate to the blessed man (b. v. t.) t. b. v. 3., in which to build a church and to construct dwellings for the servants of God who would remain there. And he himself, moving all his goods to that other omits 3. place (t. l.) l. t. 2., set up his tent opposite, from which he could (i. p.) p. i. 3. look upon the dwellings of the holy man at every hour of the day omits 3.. So (Ita… up to the end of the number) omits 3. had the holy man in a short time won his spirit, that if he was at any time of necessity torn away from conversation with him, it seemed delightful and pleasant to him to direct the gaze of his eyes there, whither he was tending with the affection of his mind, and to frequent also by the presence of bodily sight the place which he inhabited with all spiritual devotion.

[4] [She, under his discipline, inflamed with the desire of consecrating her virginity to Christ,] (Ch. II) And when the saint applied himself to building the basilica, he himself sometimes put his hand to it, always indeed furnishing the costs sufficiently and hastening the work as much by his labor as by his diligence. Sometimes also, when the blessed sanctus 2. man was celebrating the divine mysteries, he was himself present with his wife and daughter, Winifred Wenefredæ 1. by name (W. n.) omits 3.. And if at any time (S. a. q.) Q. a. (Si omits) 3. the holy man (s. v.) v. s. 3. was revealing the precepts mandata 3. of God to the people, he would place the aforesaid virgin at the feet of the man of God, admonishing her to attend skilfully to everything and to receive with open heart (s. c.) c. s. 3. what was said by him. God, foreknowing the future, did not allow this to be done in vain. For the virgin, who was to be a temple of God, took in with ardent desire what she drank in with her ears, and stored it in tenacious memory, to show forth presently in her works what she was then gathering in her mind. Many times also, having asked and obtained (e. h.) omits 3. permission from her parents, she came to the man of God, drinking in with thirsting breast what was uttered by his honey-flowing mouth. And though she was most tenderly loved by her parents, and the hope of increasing their offspring and the succession of their posterity hung on her alone, yet they were pleased that she rejoiced to frequent the holy man, desiring that she be taught by his words to renounce all unchaste union and to keep herself intact for lawful legitimis adds 2. marriage (et-cons.) omits 3.. But she omits 3., the mercy gratia 3. of God inspiring her within, daily grew for the better and advanced in wisdom, her mind ardently inebriated ebriata 2. by omits 3. the Holy Spirit. Already (Jam… up to the end of the number) omits 3. she was disposed wholly to renounce every man, and was thinking of longing for the embraces of God alone; but she dreaded to make this known to her parents. She believed it would not be fitting for her to offend them, but she knew that to be wholly joined to God was saving. She was not unaware that the will of her parents was united and agreed in this hac 2., that, given lawfully legitimo 2. to a husband, she should sustain the propagation of their offspring; but she believed that it would without doubt be much better to present herself a chaste virgin to Christ.

[5] to carry this out, with St. Beuno interceding, In this spiritual contest, then, the virgin's mind was distracted by no small windings, on the one side the fear of her parents calling her back from her purpose, on the other the love of God hastily driving her to accomplish what she had conceived in her mind (In-imp.) omits 3.. She had been taught (e. f.) f. e. 3. by her master to give credence to the words of the Lord, who commands præceptis 3. renouncing father and mother and following Christ; but her weak and immature age was a hindrance. Yet she determined and (t. e.) omits 3. firmly set it in her mind to do that in the last resort (p. a. u. i.) id quod docuerat 3., if she could not otherwise be master of her purpose; nevertheless she thought it fitting first to approach her parents through the blessed man, and, with the cooperation of God's grace, to make them consent so corrected, formerly efficientes 1. to her (si aliter-efficere) omits 3.. Coming therefore to him, she found him devoting himself as usual formerly, as it seems, in solito 1; solitæ 2. to prayer; and boldly bursting forth before him [(ergo-prorumpens) igitur ad virum Dei, rogans ut patrem et matrem conveniret ut Dominum sequeretur, et audacter 3.], she made him aware of her secret. I wish, she said, that it be made manifest manifesta 3. to you to how great a yield in me the seeds of the divine word poured out to me from your mouth have grown excreverunt 2; (ad-excr.) omits 3.. I have chosen to renounce henceforth omits 3. all the luxury of the world, and I have resolved to keep my virginity whole and undefiled for the honor of the heavenly bridegroom, and this, O omits 3. most holy father, I earnestly ask to obtain for me from both parents by your intercession.

[6] she is permitted by the consent of her parents: Hearing this, the saint, moved by piety and rejoicing that the divine seed was now sprouting in her, said that he would carefully approach her parents and do what she asked as far as he was able (quod-suo) pro posse suo quod petebat 3.. This was very easy to do and light to obtain, both because the virgin's parents had wholly subjected themselves to the patronage of him (v. i.) ejus 3. who was being brought in to intercede, and because the fullness of the divine nectar had also steeped their minds, with which they greatly desired that all men and especially the mind of their daughter be inebriated ebriari 2.. Accordingly, when parentes adds 3. they had learned from the man of God the desire of their suæ adds 3. daughter, suffused suffusis 3. with tears they blessed God and what was asked of them postulabatur 2; (q. p.) omits 3.

they kindly granted, invoking adprecantes 2. divine help upon her. The burden, then, by which they had been no little weighed down being laid aside, they divided the wealth of their goods in many ways among the poor, furnishing aid to widows and orphans and attending more actively to the servant of God; and since they saw that their daughter wished to be given in marriage (n. d.) nuptam dare 2. only to the Son of God, all that they had gathered and were keeping, to be given to her if she should marry an earthly man, they spent on divine offices. They (Ipsi … up to the end of the number) omits 3. also, freed from the cares that had until then pressed heavily upon them, delivered themselves wholly to the precepts of God, walking inflexibly the way of justice.

[7] [whence with greater zeal she applies herself to the contemplation of divine things and the exercise of all virtues.] The girl, having obtained her heart's desire, was affected with exceeding joy; and exulting in the Holy Spirit, she would sit at times at the feet of the blessed man in fulfilment of her vow (ped.-assid.) omits 3., drinking in with thirsting breast what flowed from his mouth concerning the glory of her bridegroom. And having been granted permission to use her own power, with enlarged heart she ran the way of the commandments of God, ever stretching herself toward what lay ahead and wholly leaving off what lay behind (concessaque-interm.) Virgo itaque 3.. For love of him to whom she had vowed herself she admitted nothing earthly into herself, longing with the prophet for one thing alone inhærere, uni soli adds 3., namely videlicet 3. to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of her life. No longer did she wait for her parents' coming to the church; but going there herself, sometimes in hastening course, she was present at the divine mysteries; and itaque 2. she frequently kept watch at night in the church (Jam-excub.) Sæpe ad ecclesiam pergebat; frequenter in ea pernoctabat 3.. Sometimes also, importunely (e. i.) omits 3. thrusting herself upon the saint, she would urge him to preach and omits 3. to treat of the character and life (e. v. t.) omits 3. of her bridegroom. For, wholly burning with desire for him, she had some little joy when she heard someone speak of the moribus et vita tractare, cum de ejus adds 3. excellence, beauty and power of her friend; and her refreshment of this kind surpassed all so corrected, with the word omnium erased 1; omnium 2. the pleasantness of earthly things, and retained in her heart the unfailing delight of spiritual pleasantness. And though she was of tender age, yet she was perfect in character and white-haired in heart, having a spirit that despised all greed. Indeed, whatever a man of consummate virtue ought to have was found abundantly enough in her, and the fullness of divine grace had sufficiently poured everything into her (Immo-infud.) omits 3.. In outward things also she had received no small grace from God: for she was (n. e. e.) erat autem 3. most beautiful in countenance, and affable in word, and becomingly formed in her whole body. Whence she could not altogether escape the wiles of the crafty plotter formerly insidiatores 1.: for from this there arose the occasion (e. m.) materiam assumpsit (omits the rest up to the end of the number) 3. on which she was compelled to enter into combat with the enemy of the human race. For while she was most zealously watchful in the exercises that pertain to salvation, the devil, seeing that many losses to his dominion were coming about through her, and that his power could be weakened in that country, began to rise up wholly against her and to exert his forces; nor did he stop until he supposed that he had conquered her and that she would no longer harm him. This had such a beginning as follows.

ANNOTATUM.

CHAPTER II.

Solicited to fornication by the lustful youth Caradoc, she flees and is beheaded, but is soon recalled to life by the prayer of St. Beuno; a marvellous spring arises in the place where her head had fallen.

[8] [Caradoc, a youth of royal stock, coming upon St. Winifred alone at home, solicits her to commit a base outrage with him; but] (Ch. III) After blessed Beuno, God cooperating, had completed the building of his church and had consecrated it to God, the neighbors frequently omits 3. came to it; but et adds 3. nearly every day the parents of the aforesaid omits 3. virgin (pr. v. par.) par. pr. v. 2. gathered there to hear the things of God. It happened, then, one Sunday (die dom.) dom. die 3., as all were going to the church, that the aforesaid parents of the virgin together (p. s.) et 3. went there, that [the virgin deludes him with prudent dissimulation and takes flight to the church;] they might be present at the preaching of the holy man and the celebration of the Mass (illuc-int.) omits 3.; but the virgin omits 3., their daughter, having perhaps suffered some indisposition (p. i.) i. p. 3., was of necessity omits 3. forced to remain at home alone (e. s. r. c.) s. r. c. e. 3.. And behold, a certain youth, Chadrocus so corrected, formerly Chrodocus 1. by name, son of King Alan Alavi 2 (and so also, as it seems, corrected 1)., entering intravit 3. the house, came upon the virgin alone, sitting beside the hearth (o. j. f. s.) j. f. s. invenit 3.. She, recognizing the king's son, quickly confestim 3. rose, humbly inquiring requisivit 3. what might please placuerit 3. him. When he asked where her father had gone, and said that he greatly needed to speak with him, the girl answered: My father, she said, has gone to the church, wishing to be present at the divine mysteries, and therefore (v. a. i.) omits 3., if you need him, you should wait illum adds 3. a little for him who will presently be here (i. p. a.) omits 3, and adds volensque ab illo alicubi divertere 3.. Saying this with a simple spirit, she suspected nothing of guile or cunning or any contrivance (s. a. m.) omits 3.; but in truth the inducements of lust had brought him and were tickling his mind (e. m. i. t.) omits 3., to satisfy which he was flying about wholly unbridled and headlong. For when the girl had said that he should wait for her father, the youth answered: I shall wait patiently, he said, for his suum 2; ejus 3. coming, if you meanwhile, coming into my friendship, give assent to my will. You are not unaware that I am the son of a king, filled with riches and many honors, and that I shall enrich you abundantly also, if you are willing to assent to my petition. But she (I. a.) Virgo vero 3., perceiving that he had brought in talk of lying together, with her face a little lowered and suffused with a blush, at first pretended to take it hard that he had found her unkempt and unadorned. Then she said to him: Since you, sprung from a royal race, shall after a little while, God granting, be king, I do not doubt that I shall be richly filled with worldly happiness, joined to you in marriage. But wait a little while until my father comes; and I in the meantime will enter my chamber, soon to return to you. In saying this she was in fact only seeking to be torn away from him for the moment. For she saw omits 3. that the most wretched man, inflamed by unhappy lust, was deadly tormented with love for her and was becoming as one out of his mind; she knew also vero 3. that by the absence of her parents the dangerous enemy was being rendered madder: and therefore she was thinking how to be withdrawn from his hands for the present by whatever occasion. He granted at length that she should enter her chamber, hoping that she would return to him without delay (atque-dil.) omits 3. with more becoming adornment and more acceptably arranged. Then she, rising, entered the chamber; and without que omits 3. delay she went out on the other side through the door of the chamber, and made her way toward the church with winged speed. For there, even if not by the fear of God, yet she thought that she would be protected and defended by the multitude of men.

[9] [Caradoc, having pursued her, beheads her as she dauntlessly resists: a copious spring bursts from the earth in the place where her head fell.] This flight soon became known to the ill-starred youth, who, immediately made furious and filled with vehement anger that she was taking flight so as not to lie with him (quod-commisc.) omits 3., seized his sword and began swiftly to pursue her. And since a certain little distance separated her father's house from the church, he overtook her with easy effort. First looking at her with a grim countenance, he addressed her in these words: Long have I loved you, and desired to join you in my embraces. Now you flee from me as I come to you, and you despise me as I seek you. Know now for certain that either you will on this very spot lie with me willingly, or without delay, your head cut off by this sword, you will end your life. The virgin therefore turning her eyes to the church, and looking anxiously whether anyone were coming out from there who might bring her help, no one at all came out. Then, turning to the youth, she said: Joined in marriage to the son of the eternal King (i. æ.) æ. i. sum filia 3. and judge of all men, I can receive recipere 3. no other word supplied by the corrector 1.; and not to draw you on any longer, I shall admit none besides him as long as I live: for this could not be done without insult to him (etenimposset) omits 3.. Therefore draw your sword, put forth your strength, use whatever ferocity you will, as you please (qualibet-utere) omits 3.; and be sure that neither your terrors nor your blandishments, neither promises nor threats (nec-minæ) omits 3., will be able to tear me (d. p.) p. d. 3. from the sweetness of his love, to whose embraces I am already bound and to whose devotion I am joined (cujus-cop.) omits 3.. But the unchaste youth (I. a. j.) Ille vero 3., hearing himself despised, and impatient in his lust (s. l. i.) omits 3., and at the same time believing that she could not be lessened muniri 3., nor that he would have rest while the virgin lived (nec-viveret) omits 3., drew his sword and cut off her head Wenefredæ virginis 3.. And immediately (que) vero 3., as the virgin's head fell to the ground, in that same place a most clear spring, bursting forth abundantly, flowed out, which to this day (q. u. h.) omits 2. does not cease to flow, bestowing health on many sick persons through the merits of the blessed virgin. And since he had seized the virgin near the door of the church and cut off her head, the head immediately fell into the church, the body remaining behind outside the church. For the church was situated at the foot of a certain slope sub quo adds 3., and on the descent of that hill the severed head of the virgin, easily rolling, slipped into the church; while the truncated body kept the place where it had first extra 3. fallen.

[10] Caradoc, St. Beuno cursing him, is swallowed by the gaping earth; And the head, falling among the feet of those who stood in the church attending intentium 2. the divine mysteries, moved all with the greatest amazement. And all being struck with exceeding terror, and the dire

crime saying that it had been committed and must be gravely avenged, and cursing its author, the girl's parents, stirred by the tumult of the others, came up to learn the matter more surely. And seeing their daughter lifeless, looking on the severed head here and the truncated body there, they fell corruere 2. tearful to the ground, and undone by sadness and anguish, uttering a mournful cry, they showed forth their grief in loud lamentations. (Ch. IV) When therefore a great tumult arose in the church, all lamenting the virgin's death, and many deeply word supplied by the corrector 1. pitying the bitterness of the grief which qui 2. had seized her parents, the holy man, hearing the noise and suspecting a disturbance, came to the assembly of those standing by; and seeing the virgin, whom he was about to consecrate to God, so cruelly slain, he grieved pitiably with them. But her slayer (v. i.) i. v. 2., still standing swollen with pride outside beside the lifeless body, was wiping his sword, wet with the virgin's blood, on the grass as all looked on. For since he was a king's son, he thought that he had committed so great an outrage with impunity; and indeed by the commission of so great a crime he testified that he had no fear of God. The saint, taking hard his pride and the obstinacy of his heart, and that he was boastfully glorying in the commission of his crime, went up to him, holding the virgin's head in his hands. And looking into the youth's face, he began to address him in these words (i. v.) v. i. 2.: O wicked man, he said, who have stained the nature of youthful beauty and the lineage of royal dignity with the crime of homicide, why do you not repent of having committed so great a wrong? You have disturbed the peace and defiled the church by your sacrilege, and wickedly provoked God (Deumque) Dominum 2 (see above, Prolog., note 8)., and you do not grieve. Now, then, since you have not spared the church nor shown reverence to the Lord's day, I beseech my God that what you have unworthily committed you may in the present receive with worthy recompense. When this had been said, the youth immediately fell to the ground and expired. And wonderful to tell, in the sight of all those standing by the body of the dead man melted and disappeared, many declaring that the earth gaped and swallowed it, and that it was plunged with his spirit into the abyss. All, seeing this, were struck with unspeakable dread at the novelty of the unwonted marvel.

[11] but the virgin, prayer having been made to God by the holy man, Then the saint, kissing again and again the virgin's head, which he had taken into his hands, was troubled in spirit and compelled to weep. But afterwards, arranging it in its order, he brought it to the rest of the body, and spreading his cloak over it, he breathed into her nostrils. Then, to the parents, who admitted no consolation but were bewailing their daughter's death with continual laments, he commanded to leave off their mourning and at last to cease from grief; and he himself went up to the altar to celebrate Mass. When this was finished, as all attended upon him and raised their hope to God, he came to the lifeless body. Then he addressed a splendid discourse to the people, saying among other things that the blessed virgin had made a vow to God, but, cut off by death, had not had a suitable time to fulfil it; and that therefore they ought, prostrating themselves more devoutly on the ground, to entreat God for her resurrection, knowing that they would afterwards receive many benefits through her. This they did with sufficient care, pitying miserantes 2. both the untimely death of the girl and the wretched calamity of her parents. (Ch. V) After, then, prayer had long Dominum 2. been made, the blessed man, rising from the ground and stretching his hands to heaven, said: Lord Jesus Christ, for love of whom this virgin rejected earthly things and desired heavenly, in your mercy hear us who invoke you with devoted spirits, and pour forth upon us the bowels of your pity, granting that you be in the present so corrected, formerly præcepti 1. the accomplisher of our prayers; and although we are not unaware that this virgin, who suffered for love of you, laid up in the bosom of heavenly joy, has no further need of our company, yet do you, most merciful Father, showing yourself kind and ready to hear your children humbly beseeching you, give assent to their supplications. Command so corrected, formerly Præcipue 1. therefore that the soul of this girl, brought back into her body, may show that you have the government and dominion of souls as well as of bodies: that, restored to life by the grace of your mercy, she may magnify your name, and after long spaces of life, the interest favore 2. of her good conduct being multiplied, may return to you her bridegroom, namely the only Son of God the Father, with whom and the Holy Spirit you live and glory, God, through infinite ages of ages.

[12] [she revives, a white line remaining around her neck in memory of her martyrdom, from which she received the name Winifred.] And when all had answered Amen, the girl rose as if from sleep, and wiping her face and cleansing it of dust and sweat, she filled the bystanders with amazement and joy. Moreover, where her head had first been cut off up to the neck and afterwards had been joined and made solid again by divine power, a certain very fine whiteness in the manner of a thread went round the neck and covered the place of the cutting; which thereafter, to show the severing of her head and the demonstration of the miracle, remained always in one state as long as the virgin lived in the body. Hence the men of that province say that she was called Wenefreda, whereas before, as they themselves declare, she was named Brewa. For what they word supplied by the corrector 1. in their language call Wen, in Latin they call candidum: and thus, on account of the whiteness surrounding her neck, she is said to have her name from the fact, the element Wen being added, and two letters of the former name being changed for the sake of euphony, obtaining the compound name which is said Wenefreda. It is also reported that after she passed from this world she appeared plainly to no one at all who did not see vidit 2. her neck surrounded by that white sign. By this proof also she indicates that the title of her passion greatly pleased her, which she displays openly every time that she shows herself to be seen by anyone.

[13] The place of the martyrdom famous for marvels. The place, moreover, where her blood was shed was originally called the Dry Valley; but after the virgin's severed head touched the ground and, as we have said before, a spring of leaping water flowed out there, which also remains to the present day, healing all ailments in men as well as in cattle, the same place obtained its designation from the name of the girl. For in their language it is named Fennan Wenefredæ Wenefreda 2., and in ours the Well of Winifred. For Fennan in the Latin tongue means well. And since much blood had been shed from the body lying on the descent of the sloping hill, stones stained with its sprinkling lay here and there, both in the source of the spring and in its stream or on the edge of both; and, what is wonderful to tell or hear, those stones sprinkled with blood (i. c. s.) so also formerly 2, corrected to illius fontis quasi sanguineæ. still retain their former sprinkling, as is evident to this day to those who wish to know. For they are as if suffused with congealed gore, wiped away neither by the wear of time nor by the constant washing of the water flowing past. The little moss Muscida 2., moreover, which clings to those same stones, smells like incense. It is famous enough and very well known to the inhabitants of that country that the spring still lasts in its former manner, and that the stones, as we have said diximus 2., are found blood-stained the corrector placed quasi before this word 2. in it, showing openly the merits of the virgin and bearing portentibus 1. hope to all that the same virgin can help those who invoke her. And the men of that province, who had not yet known God nor understood his justice, seeing the virgin's resuscitation, and that so open and evident a miracle had been done in the flowing forth of the spring and the sprinkling of the rocks, fell at the feet of the blessed man Beuno and asked to be steeped in the mysteries of God. He, receiving them with kind devotion, purified them with the wave of holy baptism, and, instructing them with discourses on the divine precepts, confirmed them in the service of God.

CHAPTER III.

The departure of St. Beuno. St. Winifred, a monastery of virgins having been established at his church, lives there most holily and trains her companions in every virtue; each year she sends St. Beuno a chasuble, which is carried to him unharmed by the waters.

[14] St. Beuno, to the blessed virgin, consecrated to God with the sacred veil, How the blessed virgin Winifred lived after her resuscitation, or what manner of life she had, or, the course of the present hujus 2. age being finished, to what end she came, we shall now word supplied by the corrector 1. take care to tell succinctly. (Ch. VI) When therefore, as we have said before, she had risen from the dead, clinging all day to the holy man's feet, she attended to his discourses with assiduous devotion, wishing to be more fully instructed in all things that pertain to God. This done, and having obtained the teaching of ecclesiastical discipline, she, prostrate at the feet of her master, earnestly asked to be veiled. For since, she said, this has been granted me by my parents, and you know my spirit, trampling all the luxury of the world, to long for the love and knowledge of God alone, there ought to be no delay, but ad 2. the sacraments of my desire ought to be obtained. By no means shall I be able to be drawn away from you or torn from your omits 2. feet, until, initiated by your blessing into the mysteries of regular discipline, I shall have shown also by outward habit that I am of the portion of God. Do not then, holy father, long defer my desire; but, assenting to my persuasions, make me forthwith master of my vow. Then the blessed man, having called her parents, made known the virgin's spirit and vow, and said that divine grace had been bestowed on her in advance, and intimated that he wished to satisfy her will. And they kindly consenting, and embracing their daughter's devotion with joyful affection, the holy man consecrated her before many, clothed with the sacred veil, and sufficiently confirmed her in the disciplines of the regular purpose. She, immediately after the fulfilment of the vow of her desire, undertaking the art of all virtue, and cleaving most devoutly to the pursuits of regular discipline, in a short time attained to skill in the whole order and perfection of observance. Thereafter, advancing more and more daily, she greatly gladdened lætificat 2. the blessed man by her exceeding charity.

[15] [commands her to gather a community of virgins at the church which he had built, she being to migrate from there to another place seven years afterwards;] He, having called her so corrected, formerly suis 1. parents, used a speech of this kind: You, he said, first received me here, and showed yourselves ready and prompt to my requests; and at length you granted this place to be established for the service of God, and you were eager to fulfil that so corrected, formerly, as it seems, illum 1. same purpose effectively. But now, since divine benefits have overflowed among you, attend carefully to the heavenly light infused into you and your daughter; and carefully considering the grace with which you have been sprinkled, take care to walk watchfully along the way of salvation shown to you word supplied by the corrector 1.. And since you are about to lose my presence for the present, because I elsewhere

God calls, attend skilfully to the examples and admonitions of your daughter, knowing most certainly that she will be an example of salvation not only to you but to all the people. And turning to the virgin he said: You God commands præcepit 2. to succeed to my labors and exercises and to inhabit these dwellings, and to walk without ceasing the way of life first tasted for you by me and to show others that they should walk it. For he has chosen deligit 2. you to bear before him the palm of singular merit, and by the example of your martyrdom and the conduct of your good life he has appointed many in this world to be formed to his love. It will be yours, then, from now on to inhabit the place, and to gather virgins who will live in the service of God and remain here with you. And know one thing for certain, that you will not have the end of your life in this place so corrected, formerly seculo 1; seculo 2.. For when, serving God in perpetual abstinence of body and affliction of spirit, you have spent seven years here, you will have to visit another place, divinely admonished, God directing you and through you illuminating the darkness of many hearts. Hold this also, that your memory will be famous in this world, and of how great merit you are with God, many who have obtained through you remedies for their troubles will testify.

[16] [and having consoled her with prophecies about the marvels which God was to work at the sacred well,] (Ch. VII) And when the blessed virgin, greatly saddened at the departure and absence of her teacher, wept, blessed Beuno, taking her right hand, led her to the spring which we have indicated above flowed from the place where her severed head had fallen; and setting her upon a stone that happened to be found there then, and that remains to this day in the stream of the spring and is called by the inhabitants St. Beuno's stone, he addressed her again in these words: You see, he said, here still the traces of your passion (t. p.) p. t. 2.. Behold these stones, sprinkled with your blood, show that you have suffered martyrdom for God, and to your own honor perpetually and as a monument for many others they keep, as if fresh, the sprinkling with which they were wetted from your gore. Now therefore store up my words in diligent and tenacious memory, which will come to the knowledge of many by reverent report, and through the coming the corrector adds vel per futuras 1; futuras 2. successions of the times will greatly profit a number of people. Know that three gifts have been bestowed on you by God, which will solemnly celebrate the title of your praise and will heap up in the minds of posterity love of devotion to you with worthy veneration. The first indeed is that these stones wetted with the sprinkling of your gore can through the ages be cleansed by no washing nor be washed away by the constant force of this water, but for the showing of your passion they will always appear blood-stained, God doing such a miracle for the glory of his word supplied by the corrector 1. majesty and for the triumph of your chastity. The second is that whoever, having suffered any misfortune, seeks you out and asks through you to be freed from his infirmity or oppression, at the first or second or certainly the third time, made master of his wish, will rejoice to have obtained what he had requested. But if it should happen that one who asks you, by a threefold petition, does not obtain what he had desired, let him know most certainly that he is soon to lose the light of the present life, and that therefore by the hidden judgment of God he has been disappointed for the present of the fruit of his prayer: yet let him constantly understand that it profits him for the healing of his soul to have invoked you, and that through you there is granted him by God something greater than if he outwardly obtained what he asked. The third gift is of this kind. When I have now gone away from you, God will deign to grant me on the shore of the sea a suitable place to remain; and though I shall be separated from you by a great distance, yet the Most High has commanded that I be visited word supplied by the corrector 1. every year by your gifts. When therefore you have in your hands ready what you wish to send me, you will hasten to this spring with your gift, and whatever it may be, having first committed it to God, you will confidently set it down in the spring. You will see your deposit immediately carried down from the spring through the stream by divine power, and by the force of the running water borne across unharmed into the great river that runs down below; and soon, the element of the sea obeying the will of God and furnishing its ministry, that which you have set down in the spring will be carried to the door of my little lodging, through the winding coils of the waves, through the swelling and wave-sounding so corrected, formerly undinosas 1. storms of the sea, brought inviolate up to my dwelling. And this will have to take place every year, as long as life is my companion, at God's command. And these three gifts granted you by God will be indicative designativæ 2. of the prerogative bestowed on you from on high, and as long as this world shall last they will be magnified by the narration of many for the fame of your memory and the glory of your praise. When this had been said, he led her back to the church, addressing her again in words of this kind: Behold, this temple and the surrounding dwellings, built partly by my labor, partly at the expense of your parents, I leave to you, so that, when I have gone away from here, you, having gathered very many virgins to remain with you in the service of God, may serve God here in your purpose, by no means leaving off the good conduct and the examples of living instilled into you by me. And know that in this place, for the benefit of many, there will be a great showing of divine power, and through the examples of those who remain here very many will ascend to the knowledge of God, setting forth deposituri 2. all the gains of the world that they may gain Christ. Healings too of many forms, both of souls and of bodies, will be distributed here everywhere to those languishing in various infirmity; every age and sex also will rejoice to have received some remedy in this place word substituted by the corrector for another that was erased 1.. And I declare that not even brute animals will be without a share in the benefits of this place, God protecting this dwelling by his merciful power and doing such marvels in it for the fame of your honor. But do you so show yourself pleasing to God, and make yourself such in all things, that his holy name may be glorious in you and that you may be made a pattern of salvation to those who look on you. I, for my part, now go away from here, to serve God elsewhere according to my small measure, and to hold your devotion, as long as I live, within the inner chambers of my heart with sweet memory.

[17] he departs from her. (Ch. VIII) Saying this, he took only his staff and began to go away, leaving to the blessed virgin and her companions all the furnishings of his house, and whatever God had given to him while he remained there through the hands of the faithful. And so, having commended all to God and said farewell to everyone, he departed, content with a single cleric word supplied by the corrector 1. as companion; and he kept turning his eyes back to blessed Winifred, having his cheeks wet with many tears because of her bodily absence. She, bearing herself impatiently over his words and departure, wore a face wretched with tears and sadness, saying that she was forsaken and without counsel and exposed to all the attacks of the malevolent, desolate of the presence and diligence of a shepherd. And when very many tried to soothe her with consoling words, she, leading ducens 2. her sweet father for a little way from the church as he went off, admitted no consolation at all as long as she was with him; and none of the companions went with her on the way who could abstain from tears, seeing her tormented by so bitter a grief. The saint, however, no longer bearing her tears, although he himself also was moved by no moderate pity, yet wishing to put an end to such lamentations, tore himself away from her with quickened step, having first held out his hand and given his blessing. With anxious looks, however, the virgin following him, when he no longer appeared, she returned home with her companions. Yet she could by no means hide the bitterness of the sadness which had seized her on account of the departure of her teacher, as long as his memory was fresh.

[18] [St. Winifred, according to the command of her master, forms the virgins subject to her in every virtue, and by miracles and holiness, in] But after some time had passed, the blessed virgin, returning to herself and bringing back to memory the manner of her conversion and the title of her passion and the discourses or prophecies of her blessed teacher Beuno, taking up a manly constancy, wholly laid aside all sorrow word substituted by the corrector for another that was erased 1., and at once, embracing with the whole affection of her mind her bridegroom Christ, to whom she had vowed herself by living chastely, began to long for him, to savor him, to sigh for him with ardent desire. Then, gathering the daughters of nobles with her, held in great veneration among all the inhabitants of the region, she taught them to love chastity and, spurning all the allurements of the flattering blandimentis 1. world, to submit their necks to the light yoke of Christ, and by the norm of the regular purpose to deliver themselves to the service of God divino 2. ^a. Some, seeing the severity of her conduct and the modest gravity of her life, were pricked by divine grace, and, taking up the rule of the monastic order, asked to be veiled with the sacred garment velamento 2.. Blessed Winifred, exercising for them the part and offices of a good shepherd, now taught that they were fortified monitas 2. against omits 2. the snares of the deceitful robber by the words of the Gospel and the sentences of the holy fathers, now by the splendid address of her speech poured divine love into their breasts; and with constant admonitions she did not cease to instruct them to attend skilfully to the institutes of the rule, to remember their purpose, and to be dutiful in these things. She herself without ceasing did the same things that she taught her subjects were to be done. For every day she applied herself zealously to fasts and prayers and vigils, and how the virgins subject to her ought to live she showed in advance by doing it herself, made a pattern of the flock entrusted to her for the example of living well. In a short time, arriving at the citadel of all virtues, she openly showed that Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, held the breadth of her heart. This countless mighty works and frequent miracles manifested openly on the one hand, and on the other the teachings of salvation flowing abundantly from her mouth clearly showed it. From then on the community of virgins grew greatly, the fragrance of that good order drawing them to the knowledge of God and pouring love of the Divinity into their hearts. And that holy congregation rejoiced exceedingly to have over it esse 2. such a matron, in whom they visibly saw all the exercises of virtue abound and recognized heavenly grace radiating more richly. (Ch. IX) While therefore she persisted assiduously in all the pursuits of the heavenly life, the neighbors began to be devoted in love for her; and those situated far off greatly rejoiced at her good fame, saying that those who cleaved closer to her, either by way of life or by familiar acquaintance, were steeped in exceeding mercy of God. And many exhibitions of power took place through her in miracles. This plainly both subjected the hearts of fierce men more to devotion to her, and the minds of the faithful

it compelled to show her reverence, and at the same time, winning the favor of all, it drew them to her. Now it was pleasant to almost everyone to remain in her neighborhood, some greatly aiming through her at the delight of all good and the way of salvation, others, on account of the benefits outwardly brought to them in miracles, weighing the power of heavenly grace that was in her. While all, then, with much veneration and reverence received the divine brightness which shone back widely through her in the province, the virgins subject to her, on whom it shone more clearly, advanced the more from it. For seeing her sighing toward God with daily groanings, and divine oracles frequently coming to her, they took on greater devotion toward God and became ever better.

[19] [and on the recurring day of his departure she sends a chasuble, which is carried to him unharmed by the waters,] Blessed virgo adds 2. Winifred, while she persevered in good works of this kind and heavenly light shone everywhere round about through her, very often bringing back to mind the memory of the words and precepts of her master, perceived that the day of his departure was close at hand, namely that on which he had departed from her and had commanded that a gift be sent him. Keeping this in memory with anxious assiduity, she composed, by her own labor as well as that of her virgins, a chasuble of suitable weave, to be sent to the man of God. (Ch. X) When therefore the day dawned on which that gift was to be sent, which is on the Kalends of May, the blessed virgin came with several others to the spring in which, at the command of the man of God, she was to set down her gift; and taking the chasuble she first wrapped it in a white cloth, and so set it down in the middle of the spring, saying that by the ministry of the spring she was sending it to the blessed man Beuno. And behold, wonderful to tell and scarcely credible except to a believer, that piece of cloth in which the chasuble was wrapped suffered no harm from the water, nor felt the least soaking of water; but remaining altogether dry with the chasuble, it was carried down through the stream by the force of the running water, and borne across in the great river; and all that day, with the following (c. s.) consequenti 1. night, that gift of the virgin, carried along through the sea's waves, was driven in the morning to that shore above which the holy man had set up his dwellings. And when blessed Beuno, coming out from the church in the morning, was standing on the edge of the sea, and with wonder was gazing at how the waters, having first overflowed, returned upon themselves, and by a certain hidden force drew their waves back to themselves, he happened to catch sight from afar of a wrapped cloth on the shore; and coming nearer, he tried to learn more certainly what it was, and putting out his hand and lifting it from the sand of the sea, and unrolling the wrapped cloth, he found the chasuble with no harm at all: the cloth also which had wrapped it round on the outside appeared as dry as if it had not touched the water. And as he reflected more skilfully and tried to discern the cause of this finding, and at the same time marvelled that within the watery spaces of the thirsty sand anything could be found that was not wet, there came secretly into his mind the memory of Winifred, the virgin beloved of God; and having deliberated with himself how he had commanded her every year to prepare a gift for him word supplied by the corrector in place of another (ei?) erased 1., and when prepared to set it down in her spring which flows into the stream, he knew at length, the Holy Spirit revealing it to him, that it had been sent by the blessed virgin, had been brought to him unharmed through the bays of the sea æquoreas 1. from the blessed virgin. And giving thanks suppliantly simpliciter 2. to God for this, he kindly received that gift and laid it up in the church, to be made available thereafter for the use of himself as well as of other servants of God. And he rejoiced as greatly as possible that the blessed virgin had been so corrected, formerly extiterat 1. mindful of his words, and that her fame was so illustrious that almost the whole province had been illuminated by her. And he prayed the Lord that growth in virtues be increased in her, and that whatever was pleasing in his eyes be found in manifold ways in her, and that the consciences of others be kindled through her with heavenly devotion.

[20] each year, up to the saint's death. It was sufficiently evident from the result that God had received his prayers and had shown him the ears of his mercy (c. s.) s. c. 2. ready to hear. For the pursuit of the heavenly exercise had advanced in the virgin so far that in her was found the sum of all perfection, and she appeared, as a singular radiance, the pattern of living for the whole province and an example of doing well to those present as well as those absent. She had also a wonderful and divine efficacy for persuading what she wished. For as often as she took up the talent of the divine word entrusted to her (c. s.) s. c. 2. to be dispensed to others, there came to her such ability in speech and modest gravity in her sentences that she soothed almost everyone by her speech and bound them in devotion to God. Accordingly almost all who inhabited that country, restrained by frequent admonitions, abstained from everything that could hinder expedire 2. their salvation, and with burning fervor applied themselves to those things which they knew to be the works of faith and which they saw the blessed virgin and her companions aim at. She herself showed herself careful in everything that the blessed man Beuno had said to her or commanded her, omitting nothing at all of all the things enjoined upon her. (Ch. XI) And each year on the day of the Kalends of May she sent the gift to her master, while he lived, in the manner we have indicated above; and although a great space separated them from one another (for fifty miles or more made up the distance between them), yet, carried in the space of one night through the winding coils of the sea, it was found in the morning on the sand of the shore at the door of his monastery. From this a surname was added to the blessed man, which among the men of Wales is held in memory today: for he is called Beunous Casul Sech, that is, Beuno Dry-Chasuble, because through the waters, unharmed by the waters, the chasuble was brought to him dry. It happened, however, while the virgin kept this manner of sending each year, that blessed Beuno, worn out by long old age, full of virtues and illustrious in works, leaving the world, perishable and beset with troubles, passed to heavenly joy. Of his life or death, and what he did as a youth, or what wonders he worked after death, records are still held in reverent memory, indicating the manner of his life and his character ^b. This too is proclaimed of him as chief and memorable, that he works many more miracles dead than living.

ANNOTATA.

CHAPTER IV.

St. Beuno having died, St. Winifred is sent by divine revelation to St. Deifer; from there to St. Saturnus, and finally to Gwytherin to St. Elerius, by whom she is joined to the monastery of virgins which St. Theonia ruled there.

[21] Seven years having passed, the holy virgin, When his departure became known to the holy virgin, she followed him with many tears and prayers, and ceased to send the aforesaid gift any further. Then for the first time, saying that she was destitute of all human consolation, she began to be weary of the place in which she was staying; and after a little time had passed, when the greatest part of her companion virgins had departed from this world, she began to hold in hatred that place in which she had lived until then; and mindful of the words of her teacher, by which he had indicated that after seven years she ought to visit and inhabit another place, at the completion of the last year she began to loathe the place and to leave off all kinds of building whatsoever. And since her face was that of one tending elsewhere, her spirit had no rest while she lived there. Yet until the aforesaid seven years were completed, she could not leave that dwelling or have the ability to go anywhere. But when all had rolled by, then she, made master of herself, raising her mind with all her effort to God, entreated that he would direct her to word supplied by the corrector 1. such a place as she might both please him and profit others, and that he would deign to steep word substituted by the corrector for another that was erased 1. with his blessing that place in which she had first had consolation, so that whoever should come there for the sake of prayer or to obtain some remedy (aut-causa) words supplied by the corrector 1., her name having been invoked and with the patronage of those who there corrected their acts and conduct for love of her, might obtain what he asked. That this petition reached the ears of God is attested by countless peoples freed in that same place from the infirmities of various diseases: which will afterwards be shown by plain examples, when we have first woven the narrative of the history.

[22] [admonished by divine revelation, she goes to St. Deifer, a man illustrious for holiness of life and miracles:] (Ch. XII) When therefore the blessed virgin Winifred persisted anxiously in prayer, begging that the mercy of God be with her and be the guide of her journey, one night as she attended to vigils and supplications, a divine oracle of this kind sounded to her: Taking with you only one virgin as companion, go to blessed Deifer, who lives in the place called Botavarrus ^a; and having consulted him, you will know what you are thereafter to do or where to go. For that man was great before the Lord, walking blamelessly in all his commandments and justifications. Of him it is reported that, as he abounded more copiously in the grace of virtues, he made a spring burst forth from the earth, and, it being blessed with his hand stretched out, entreated God that whatever omits 2. sick person should immerse himself in it might return home having gained health: and that this was so done very many who have obtained health there have testified. And though very many miracles performed through him are reported in famous speech, yet it has pleased us to insert more especially one wrought after his death, so that, by inspecting it more diligently, it may be easily recognized of what merit he was. Certain thieves, going out to rob, found two horses in the cemetery of blessed Deifer: and leading them away with them, they hoped that they omits 2. would go off freely. But their owners, coming to the cemetery in which they had left them and not finding them there, knew that they had been carried off by theft. And returning to their lodgings they made candles, and having entered the church of the most holy confessor they placed them on the altar. Since these were not lit, nor did they have at hand any fire with which to light them, they humbly besought the saint of God that either he would light them with light sent from on high

or would receive them unlit with equal devotion as if they were given to him lighted. The saint, showing himself present at their prayers, before their very eyes lit their candles with sudden light: whence a greater devotion toward St. Deifer grew in them, and the hope arose of recovering what they had unjustly lost. Nor did their opinion deceive them. For the aforesaid thieves, wandering through all the surrounding province, when about midnight they supposed that they had fled very far, wishing to know more skilfully the place at which they had arrived, at length found comperiunt 2. that they had come to the hedge by which the aforesaid cemetery was surrounded; and, affected with exceeding grief, and knowing that they had not committed that robbery with impunity if they could be caught, they turned their reins again and tried to seek flight. But not even then was the divine power too weak to show the hand of its might in them. For when they supposed they had gotten somewhat far away, as the twilight of day broke forth, they were compelled to come back to the aforesaid place, and within the circuit of that same cemetery to jump down so both codices, for desilire. from their horses omits 2. and hold their reins in their hands. But those who had lost the horses had not yet gone far from that same place; but staying meanwhile in the church they trusted that some comfort would soon come to them through the saint of the Lord. When morning dawned, therefore, going out of the church, they saw their horses standing in the forecourt, and those who had led them away holding them in their hands. Hence blessing God Domino 2. and giving thanks to St. Deifer, they took back their omits 2. horses, allowing the thieves to go away unpunished. From these things set forth, then, it can be easily conjectured of what merit was the holy man to whom blessed Winifred was ordered by divine oracle to go.

[23] by whom she is sent to St. Saturnus; (Ch. XIII) The most holy virgin, therefore, committing to God her place and all with whom she had lived, content with one virgin alone as companion omits 2., as she had heard in the oracle, set out on her pilgrimage. And coming to St. Deifer, who was known to be about eight miles from the place from which she had gone out, she was received by him with kind favor. And when particle que supplied by the corrector 1. they had applied themselves for a long time to prayer, they sat down together, the virgin fully explaining to him the cause of her coming. The holy man answered her in this way: I, he said, am as yet wholly ignorant of this divine counsel. But wait a little while, staying here with us this night. Perhaps the Lord will deign (d. D.) D. dedignabitur 2. to reveal something to us that may be pleasing to him and a help to your purpose. To this she willingly assented, knowing without doubt from the heavenly answer given to her that it had been made known to her that with this same saint she would be taught what they were to do. While the saint, then, all that night, as he was accustomed, was making faciente 2. prayer, a voice sounded from heaven saying: Tell my dearest daughter the virgin Winifred to go to the village that is called Henthlantus ^b, where she will obtain in some part the wishes of her desire. For there she will find a venerable man, Saturnus by name, through whom she will hear more fully what she is thereafter to do, or in what place she is to live for all the time of her life. In the morning, therefore, St. Deifer, calling the virgin to him, kept back nothing at all of all that he had been divinely taught; and showing her the way by which she should go to the aforesaid saint, he admonished her to proceed joyfully, saying that it had been made known to him from the heavenly places that with that same saint she would plainly hear what was fitting for her and the whole course of her need.

[24] [who, himself also instructed by a divine oracle, teaches her that she will obtain what she desired at Gwytherin with St. Elerius.] (Ch. XIV) Blessed virgo adds 2. Winifred, greatly rejoicing that, all doubt having been removed, she had been brought to some certainty through blessed Deifer, and because she knew that God had care of her, bidding farewell to the most holy man, and taking her companion, set out for blessed Saturnus. When she reached him, she was most kindly received by him. For he, having previously been made aware of her whole purpose and journey by an answer given to him from above superius 2. on this matter, received the blessed virgin with every affection of devotion. Then, as he admonished her to remain with him that night, to be more fully instructed on the next day in all that she needed, she consented, and omits 2., led first to prayer, she sat down with him, saying that by God's command she had come to him, that by his teaching she might be made master of her vow. And so remaining there all night, when morning came she heard from blessed Saturnus words of this kind: There is a certain place called Witheriacus ^c, filled with the pledges of many saints, and for their reverend way of life chosen by God and held in exceeding reverence by all the people. God commands you to visit this place, and, as long as you live codices adduxeris., to inhabit it with your presence and to form the spirits of others by your examples. There is there a certain abbot of many virtues, Elerius by name, whom constant groaning and persevering prayer have rendered so free and purged from all worldly cares that he now savors nothing earthly, aims at nothing at all of worldly delight, wholly intent on heavenly things. To him I have been admonished by divine precept to direct you, and moreover to make known to you that you will find there whatever ought to suffice in the present life for a soul desiring heavenly things. For there are omits 2. there virgins dedicated to God, keeping celibacy from the very beginnings of infancy in the profession of the nun's life, and attending to their purpose with diligent devotion ^d, who are by your admonitions and examples, God willing, to be made somewhat better. For though they guard themselves in the service of Christ with watchful observance, yet at your coming they will be rendered both more devout, and a greater splendor of the Divinity will illumine them.

[25] Most kindly received by St. Elerius, (Ch. XV) She, having heard of the way of life of the virgins, joining greatly in their praise, professed that she had long been bound by the same desire, and that she most willingly wished to embrace with them the title of virginity; and she asked that a guide for the way be provided her as quickly as possible quanto citius 2.. St. Saturnus, committing his deacon to the blessed virgin and through him sending her to blessed Elerius, himself also began to accompany ducere 2. her a little way. And when in the course of talking he had told her many things about the pleasantness of the place to which she was going, finally wishing to depart from her, being asked postulans 2. for a blessing, he imparted it. Then, praying that many good things be granted her by God, the saint returned to his own place, and she drew near to where she was going. The holy man, foreknowing her coming through the Holy Spirit, went quickly out to meet her, and received her as befitted a most faithful worshipper of God, the deacon who had come with her reporting all that had been divinely made known to his teacher, and how by God's admonition she had been directed to that place. The saint, having first duly greeted her and honored her with due veneration, led her into the church for the sake of praying; and the prayer being completed, the saint leaned into the embrace of the virgin, and exhorted her to be of constant spirit. Afterwards, calling her to a private conference, he asked what she had conceived in her mind and what she had resolved to do: For although, he said, the whole manner of your life, or how you were initiated into the divine mysteries, or how by the cutting off of your own head you obtained the title of your passion, or what are the insignia of your martyrdom and of the blood you shed, has been made known from on high to my littleness, yet what cause has compelled you to undertake the labor of so great a journey I desire to be taught by your own mouth. The virgin answered him thus: He who has deigned to reveal to you those things which you have just made known has not, I believe, left you wholly ignorant of those things which I turn over in my mind, or why I have come to this very place. For as he could reveal to you the things past concerning me, he could also plainly make manifest to you in like manner the things that are to happen to me. Therefore receive me, directed to you by God, and from now on so order my way of life as has been shown to you beforehand by heavenly oracle. Then the holy man decided to defer the settling definitionem 2. of this counsel during that night which was at hand, and very humbly begged her to bear this patiently.

[26] she is admitted among the nuns, virgins, And so as St. Elerius applied himself to prayers through the whole night, and blessed Winifred likewise attended to prayers in watchful continuance, the certainty of this business was made manifest to the holy confessor as he rested for a little while about the twilight of day; over whom St. Theonia presided; and made exceedingly thankful he came in the morning to the virgin, and rushing again into her embrace, admonished her to rejoice and to have assurance from then on. Afterwards, taking her hand, he led her into the community of virgins, which, as we have said before, was famous in that same place, addressing them in these words: Be more attentive certiores 2. in spirit, dearest daughters; for it is worthwhile to make known to you with what great splendor the divine mercy has mercifully deigned to illumine you. Behold, this virgin devoted to him he has directed to dwell and live with you, so that, her life having been observed, you may by her examples be made more devout in the service of God, and that to her a reward may be given in heaven for your improvement. This is that virgin Winifred, whose illustrious fame long ago flew evolavit 2. to your ears; who, lest she suffer loss of her chastity, despised the attacks of persecutors and at the same time the seductions word substituted by the corrector for another that was erased 1. of flatterers, and finally for the guarding of her virginity willingly chose to die by the cutting off of her head. This, I say, is she whose insignia of triumph shine forth widely through the Church, and in whose titles all this province glories as being gifted with a great good. She alone is not unaware that she will obtain from God the palm of both martyrdom and outstanding confession. To you, then, she has come, to remain with you and to await the day of her death, who has already by her merits sought the heavens, and whose place of reward among the blessed martyrs is reserved. Be, therefore, greatly codices amodum. rejoicing at her coming, and embrace more devoutly the heavenly treasure dwelling among you, attending carefully to her works and imitating her with all your effort. For to this end the Most High has directed her here, that you, looking on her, may lay up your merits with her merits in heaven, and that this place, as long as this world shall last, may be sprinkled with celebrated fame on her account. (Ch. XVI) After these words, turning to one lady, who was both his own mother and superior over the other nuns: To you, he said, O dearest mother, I commit more especially the care of this virgin beloved of God. Do you therefore cleave to her footsteps, do you imitate her works, do you carry out with pressing diligence the care of all that pertains to her or whatever you know to please her.

And let it be known to you and to the others sitting in our presence that this blessed virgin has been sent to this place by divine oracle; from which you ought to have greater devotion toward her, and not be unaware of how great the care for this place is before God. When this had been said, the holy confessor departed; and blessed Winifred remained, thereafter to live with the handmaids of God.

[27] [and there again, for her holiness and the fame of her martyrdom, she is celebrated in the mouth of all.] And then she hastened to take hold of the citadel of all religion, and stood constant on the summit of all virtues, as if she had until then been wholly a stranger to holiness of this kind. And since, by the blessed man's report, the first auspices of her conversion conversationis 2. had been revealed to the holy virgins, she undertook every way of salvation with such ardent devotion as if she had then for the first time begun to be converted to God. And there was in her constant abstinence, and persevering prayer, the guardian of her goodness and holiness, and humble conversation. In her the other virgins received an example of patience and obedience, and they made her their forerunner in all things that pertained to salvation; all things that were of uprightness and of virtue they found abundantly in her; and therefore they showed her no small reverence. She who was set over them, namely the mother of the holy confessor Elerius, Theonia by name, loved her with solemn affection, and managed by her counsels the care of herself as well as of the other virgins committed to her. She also reverenced in her her watchful insistence, and wondered at her continual abstinence, and embraced with sweet joy her perseverance in all virtues. Very often too, when she treated of the desires of the heavenly kingdom and made tears lacrimis 2. flow abundantly from her eyes, she herself also wept equally. For that same matron was of great authority and outstanding religion, and anxiously intent on all works of charity and mercy. And though she loved all the virgins with inestimable devotion, yet she received St. Winifred with joyful affection and fostered her with her attendance, and spent no small effort on her veneration. (Ch. XVII) St. Elerius, who separately with his brothers and fellow-disciples served the Lord in simplicity of heart and exceeding affliction of spirit, sometimes came to her, and proposed her to others for imitation. And dealing with her rather frequently about heavenly secrets, and sometimes also about ecclesiastical mysteries, he found that she abounded more richly in the things that pertain to God and was strong with skilful acumen in outward necessities. So he would return to his own, marvelling in her both at the abundance of outward knowledge and at the fullness of divine grace within. Nor could this long lie hidden from the neighbors; whence that place in omits 2. a short time obtained great fame and was held in immense reverence. For from everywhere faithful people came running in crowds, desiring to see the virgin first beheaded for love of Christ, but through the benefit of a certain saint made alive again, proclaiming magnificently that the place she inhabited was worthy of the highest reverence. To some, indeed, the mere sight and speech of her sufficed; but others, thrusting themselves forward more importunately, humbly asked that the place of the cutting on the virgin's neck be shown to them. She feared to resist their petitions, lest both their devotion should be lessened by it, and it be imputed to her as pride. And they, seeing on her neck the skin covering the place of the cutting whitening with a wonderful color, could not refrain from tears, and blessing God in his mighty works and filled with exceeding wonder they returned to their own homes.

ANNOTATA.

CHAPTER V.

After the death of St. Theonia, St. Winifred is put in charge of the monastery of Gwytherin; her devout death and burial there.

[28] After the death of St. Theonia, which she had foretold to St. Elerius, (Ch. XVIII) One day blessed Elerius entered the enclosure of the nuns, to visit the holy virgin Winifred and to treat with her of the things of the Lord. As they spoke to one another for a long time, the talk by chance fell upon the remembrance of death. Then the saint, finding an occasion to bring forth what he had frequently been turning over in his mind, said: I rejoice that God has directed you to this place, to give my body over to burial and to hold my memory after my death. For I have very often prayed God that this be granted me, namely that he should direct here one of his servants or handmaids who would both bury me and, inhabiting this place after me, make it famous. The blessed virgin answered him thus: It will not indeed be so, nor has it been so foreordained by God. For you must, I surviving and standing by, first give over to the ground my lady your mother; and then at length, after the course of some years, bury my body. After that you, full of days, will end your life in peace, and, gathered to your fathers, you will find in the heavenly kingdom what you have laid up to be kept there. Hearing this the holy confessor departed. It soon became evident, however, that she had uttered a true prophecy. For after a little time blessed Theonia, overtaken by a grave infirmity, began to be pressed by the stings of death, which was soon to come upon her. And when her daughters, namely the virgins who were under her discipline, learned of her swift departure, they began to waste away with exceeding weeping and grief. For namque 2. they lamented vehemently, because they were losing the mother who had nourished them and brought them up in the service of God and taught them the divine mysteries. She, comforting them with consoling words, said that such mournful cries ought to be uttered where a worse succeeds a better, and where divine laws decline through evil successors; but where a better succeeds a good one, and the things of God are ever advanced for the better, there lamentations and desolations are not to be admitted, but rather it is the part of one possessing a good habit of mind to receive with cheerful heart and spiritual joy the improvement sent from above. And you, she said, ought therefore to bear my departure patiently, since you will have with you this most blessed virgin Winifred, in whom you can sufficiently find everything that pertains to teaching or to the example of salvation. Look upon her with the interior eyes and imitate her with the affection of your mind; direct your steps to her as to a singular star, and devote to her the cares of all your doings, knowing without doubt that God will be your helper in everything, if you consent to and acquiesce in the counsels of this virgin. After these words, she received from her son, namely the holy confessor Elerius, the life-giving communion of the Lord's Body and Blood, and immediately, departing from this world, she gave back her spirit into the hands of the holy angels.

[29] [placed over the monastery, she shines before all by the exercise of the virtues, leads many to the worship of God and the amendment of life, and heals diseases of the body as well as of the soul, not without manifold marvels.] She having been fittingly laid out and, as befitted such and so great a matron, buried with exceeding lamentation and weeping of all, the holy man committed to blessed Winifred the guardianship and care of the other virgins. Though she labored greatly to resist his order, yet fearing to undergo the judgment of God if she tried to refuse any further, she at last consented and added to her own burden the care of others. Now indeed it cannot be told with how great obstinacy she took up the austerities of all abstinence, what crosses or how great torments she imposed on her body, of how great sparingness or severity she was toward herself. Indeed, to define everything absolutely, she left nothing at all untouched which she knew to pertain to her own salvation or to the example and benefit of others. Placed, then, in these ways, she was loved by all with simple affection, and strangers as well as those of the household showed her honor and reverently venerated her. (Ch. XIX) Blessed Elerius, however, and the other supreme men who were living in Wales, seeing such perfection in the virgin, paid much deference to her and reverenced her. All the chief men quoque 2. and nobles of the country embraced her with sweet devotion, and seeing her kind conduct they were greatly edified ædificantur 2.. Many men of lesser dignity also, coming to her and attending to the modesty of her bearing, and receiving great edification from her discourses, were thereafter rendered readier for the service of God. And even petty robbers and invaders of others' property, having beheld the bearing of her countenance and heard her discourses, were pricked in heart; and some of them were thereafter made gentler, and others, wholly giving up robbery, were converted to the Lord, doing public penance for what they had committed. And to embrace everything definitely, no age, no sex, nor a man of any business was seen to be left within that country who did not have some profit from the benefits of this virgin. The friend of God, St. Elerius, unspeakably rejoiced at this, and sometimes preached about her to the people, saying among other things that God had directed her to that same country for the illumination of the faithful people, and that the power of the Divinity inhabited her. This many knew well enough: for countless mighty works and healings bestowed on the sick through her testified greatly that she held that power of the Divinity. For whatever omits 2. sick person came to her went away sound, having received health; he who came sad returned rejoicing; he who hurried there oppressed by some trouble of heart or weighed down by another cause occurring outwardly, immediately freed from the cares pressing him and made master of his wish, returned to his own home cheerful. She harmed no one, but profited all in common and individuals in particular in something. For whatever omits 2. persons dwelling (p. h.) words substituted by the corrector for others erased 1. throughout the circuit of that estate were pressed by misfortunes of their bodies or their souls obtained through her more quickly the remedies they desired. Herself from all

worldly mundabilibus 2. entanglements she kept so estranged that she would have thought herself unclean if she had admitted even the very smallest thing of all that pertained to the luxury of this world into her own uses or the necessities of her own people. She practised frugality also to the admiration of all. She persisted assiduously in guarding the virgins subject to her; and she made them cautious and sufficiently taught to beware of the wiles of the crafty enemy. She herself, by her discourses and continual prayers, defended them from the enemy of the human race and the invader of the Lord's right, tirelessly admonishing them to be circumspect in all their actions and to have continual care of their own salvation.

[30] [Foreknowing her approaching departure from life, having consoled her companions, instructed with the wisest admonitions,] (Ch. XX) It happened, then, among these things, after the virgin Winifred, beloved of God, had led a life acceptable to the heavenly King in devoted service, behold, the Lord Jesus, wishing to take up his handmaid from the toilsome servitude of this life to the rest of perpetual blessedness, one night made known to her, as she was devoting herself to prayers in the oratory, that the day of her death was close at hand. As soon as she perceived that she had been called, she knew that she had been visited by the grace of God, and with rejoicing spirit she began to prepare herself for the joys of the everlasting kingdom. Then for continual nights she spent the night praying in the church, and by day she persisted with all her effort in every virtue, leaving undone nothing that she was able, of all that she had learned was to be done. And she announced to the virgins remaining with her that her departure was soon certain. Hearing this, the handmaids of God began to be affected with sorrow and tormented with inconsolable grief. The blessed virgin, trying to cherish them with her consolations, said that they ought not to be saddened by her bodily departure, since she was passing from corruption to incorruption, from miseries to joys; that they ought rather greatly to rejoice and be glad with her, because quod 2. she was going to such a Lord, with whom she could intercede for them eis 2. and be their patron as much as possible. She exhorted them also to beware of the craftiness of the deceitfully creeping enemy, teaching that the wiles of his cunning were of many forms, to rest especially on her examples, and to show themselves such as to deserve to be helped by her suffrages. When this report was brought to the knowledge of blessed Elerius, he above all was tormented with exceeding groans over the departure of the virgin beloved of him. For knowing that she had been endowed from on high with the dowry of a special grace, he desired with exceeding devotion that she remain with him while he himself was a pilgrim in the body; but now, although she was passing from calamity and troubles to joy that would last without end, he took it hard that he, left behind in worldly disturbances, was losing the comfort of his pilgrimage. Yet frequently bringing himself into her sight and conversation, as if thrusting himself on her, he performed the part and conduct of a good shepherd, having care of her in all things and more actively supplying what he knew would profit her.

[31] and fortified by the sacred viaticum, (Ch. XXI) Meanwhile the blessed virgin (b. v.) v. b. 2. began to be pressed by a grave pain of the bowels. And as the sickness was vehement, and daily growing so corrected, formerly ingrescens 1; ingravescens 2., she knew that she was being pressed by the incitements of her death. Then, tending to God with all her strength, she entreated him to have mercy on her and to be the devoted omits 2. protector and guardian of her soul, lest it become the prey of the most evil robber. Then, having called the holy confessor Elerius to her, she fortified herself with the viaticum of the Lord's Body and Blood. And seeing her companion virgins wasting away with exceeding groans for her sickness, she exhorted them with consoling words, saying: Do not, daughters, do not be affected with exceeding sadness for my departure: since, having left the present misery, I shall by God's mercy reach the supreme and unchangeable good. Now I rejoice that I rejected an earthly bridegroom, that, burning with the love of God alone, I trampled on all the delights word substituted by the corrector for another that was erased 1. of the world, and that I resolved to have nothing of my own in this world. Know therefore that I shall now reach him whom I have preferred to all things, and in comparison with whom I have reckoned all worldly things as dung. Know, I say, that I shall enjoy through the ages the sight of him for love of whom I have made myself a loss and despised all the delights of the flesh. Do you therefore embrace such and so great a Lord with diligent devotion, rest with all your intention on the examples of salvation set before you and shown to you, and strive to keep your pact with the heavenly bridegroom, to whom you have pledged to keep faith and chastity. For by his help alone you can await this day with secure hope, and avoid the snares of your enemies, and have perpetual peace. Reckon as light and momentary whatever presents itself to your carnal eyes. For you ought not to attend to things which are today and tomorrow vanish, nor to bend your spirit away from those unchangeable goods which will never fail, in which are peace and security and everlasting joy. After these words, turning to prayer, she begged that her spirit be received by the hands of the Lord.

[32] she dies devoutly on the IV of the Nones of November (Ch. XXII) On the day of the Kalends of November, then, she began to be wearied more sharply by the dissolution of her body. But not even then, amid her pains, did she rest from saving preaching: for she commanded all who came to her, admonishing them, to observe carefully the end of their life, showing how great a joy those would have who passed from this world with souls purged and cleansed of the filth of the world. And as her body was wasted by the exceeding trouble of the sickness, and she saw that her death was now close at hand, she called blessed Elerius to her and asked that her body be given over to burial beside the body of blessed Theonia, his mother. When the holy man most kindly granted this, applying herself again to prayer, on that same day, that is, the fourth of the Nones of November, she commended her spirit into the hands of the Creator, to be joined to the heavenly choirs. Seeing this, those who were present were undone with the gravest lamentations for her departure. What groans there were then, what tears were poured out! No one was free from lamentation; every sex and age turned more profusely to mourning, and each believed that he took better counsel for himself and profited the more, the greater the grief he assumed for her absence. And while the mourning was unbearable to all in common, immense sorrow affected especially the virgins who had lived with her; for they lamented that they had lost their lady and teacher of salvation.

[33] and she is buried in the cemetery where many other saints also rest. As all, then, lamented her departure in their different ways, blessed Elerius, running up, imposed silence on them with consoling words; then, commending her soul to God, he began carefully to provide everything that seemed to pertain to the funeral rites of the blessed virgin. Then he ordered the body, laid out in the manner of those to be buried, to be carried into the church ecclesia 1.. All things that pertained to the funeral or burial having been completed, in the place which she had requested the body was given over to the ground with the greatest lamentation and groaning of all. In the same cemetery many men, and of great merits, rest; but more illustrious and of greater codices majores. fame are said to be the most holy confessors Chebius and Senanus ^a, of whom the former was entombed at her head, and the other rests in the same row in which she lies. These are recorded among the natives to have been men word supplied by the corrector 1. of great virtues, and to have come to the same place on account of the throng of saints who, they had heard, had gathered there for the example so the codices: surely explendum? of the contest of the present life. There still exist in the same province a number of basilicas in their memory, in which it is shown by frequent miracles to mortals of how great merits they are before God. At her left blessed Theonia, of whom we spoke above, rests buried; but the names or the number of the other saints resting there the knowledge of God alone retains. For the same place is held venerable for so great a heap of saints that no mortal could at all know the names of all of them, or even grasp the number of those gathered there. With all of whom blessed virgin Winifred adorns the same place, renowned for virtues and shining with countless miracles. After her death many who came there and asked of God through her suffrages the healing of their infirmities obtained the remedies they wished. That place was thereafter held in great fame and sought by many with great reverence and veneration for the sake of prayer. After the course of some years, blessed Elerius, a man of the highest holiness and exceeding perfection, departing from life, full of all holiness and religion, passed to the Lord. He, buried in the basilica of his own name ^b, has not ceased desistit 2. to this day to shine with many miracles: who also, conferring very much reverence and dignity on that same eodem 2. place, shines forth with very many miracles.

ANNOTATA.

CHAPTER VI.

Miracles obtained by the patronage of the holy virgin after her death in both places where she lived.

[34] The place she had previously inhabited, famous for miracles. (Ch. XXIII) The place in which the first auspices of the blessed virgin's way of life shone forth is held venerable by the exceeding attendance of the faithful. For many times there, under the gaze of the blessed virgin, illustrious miracles take place, through which ad 2. those who come understand that blessed Winifred can help them in their troubles, and the more devoutly a crowd of faithful people hurries there in throngs from everywhere, hoping by her prayers to obtain remedies for their bodies and souls. The devotion of those who come increases daily, as they see the most rapid spring which burst forth from the place in which the virgin's head first fell to the ground, and observe the stones which lie on the bottom of the stream, on which, the blood still being preserved, it is plain that the virgin's martyrdom has reddened. When many flock around with eager spirits to see this, beholding that the gore clinging to the stones cannot be wiped off by the constant washing of the water running over it, they marvel at the novelty of the thing, and magnifying the virgin's prerogative, they return to their own homes. Many feeble persons also come there and, made sound, return home.

[35] A woman born blind receives the light of her eyes; (Ch. XXIV) A certain man, a smith, living in that country, had a daughter blind from her birth. He, hearing that many had been granted health through the merits of blessed Winifred, brought with exceeding devotion his daughter, who was asking daily to be brought to the well of the holy virgin (f. s. v.) s. v. f. 2.. She, brought there late, first washed her head from the spring, and so at length was brought to the church, to pray there sleepless all night. While this was being done, when morning came (f. m.) m. f. 2. she asked that she be allowed to rest a little. This being granted her, and a place being prepared for her to rest, she slept for a long time; then, awaking,

she testified that she could see well. Her father, looking at her, and finding it to be as she asserted, made known what God had wrought in his daughter through the merits of St. Winifred, and urging all who were present by his words to proclaim the praises of the virgin, he returned home with his daughter. Through this miracle many, inflamed in devotion to the blessed virgin, proclaimed everywhere, to all who would hear, the mighty works of her power. And some, cleaving to her by reason of such wonderful works done through her with urgent so the codex, read flagranti? love, came to her as to a singular refuge, and after a little while, having obtained their wishes, returned to their own homes. This will be plainly shown by the example given below.

[36] a sacrilegious thief divinely punished; (Ch. XXV) It chanced at a certain time that there was no small disturbance in those parts. And when the nobler and more powerful men of that province had sent a messenger to their neighboring friends, that they should keep careful watch over their property and take the greatest precaution for themselves, their messenger, surrounded by robbers, swiftly took refuge at the church of the blessed virgin Winifred. As his enemies followed super 2. him close upon his track, he entered the forecourt of the church with the horse he was riding, jumped down from his horse at the door of the church, and fastened the bridle by tying it to the bolt of the door. Then at last, wishing to escape the enemies who were pressing too close upon him, he ran swiftly to the altar. One of the robbers, more impudent than the rest, who reverenced neither God nor his saints, entering the enclosure with bold presumption, came by swift running to the horse: seizing it with outstretched hand and loosing the bridle from the bolt of the door, he led it away with no fear of the virgin's merits. The man whose horse it had been, coming out of the church, did not find the horse he had left there. And knowing that his horse had been taken adeptus 2. from him by those who had pursued him as he fled, he again betook himself omits 2. to the church: where, laying down his complaint before God and the blessed virgin, he complained with many lamentations of the violence done him, and because he could not have peace within the enclosure of the church; and earnestly begging St. Winifred with much entreaty to be mindful of that presumptuous and excessively bold contumacy and to bring swift vengeance for the crime committed, he went out from the basilica and was compelled to finish on foot the journey he had begun on horseback. After a little while the blessed virgin showed that the violation of her forecourt and basilica was a concern to her, and made manifest that she by no means negligently passed over the complaint laid down before her with groaning. For the man who had loosed the horse tied at the door of the church and led it off with him began to languish with a very grave infirmity. After a little while also omits 2. that sickness, drawn down from the whole body, betook itself completely to his right arm, and seized the wretched man, afflicting him with such misery and affliction that he preferred to die rather than be afflicted by such calamities. The torture grew with daily increases, nor could it be eased by the care of any physician; nor did it cease until, from the harmful humor gathered there, that whole arm with its hand, rotted, after excessive and intolerable sufferings fell away from the rest of the body. But not even then could the most wretched man rest or wholly escape his former troubles, until, coming to the aforesaid church, he humbly confessed the merits of the blessed virgin and begged pardon for the crime committed. After that, relieved somewhat from his vehement pain by the mercy of the holy virgin, he was kept there as a warning to others. For at the sight of him all who plotted against others' property were terrified, and they were fearfully warned that none should thereafter presume to break into the forecourts of the church. All who looked on him, too, as one punished with so lamentable a recompense for such daring and so wretched a presumption, wondered at the virgin's merits and were made more devout in her service. And he who had lost his arm, making satisfaction by public penance to the blessed virgin for having with rash daring broken into the enclosure of her basilica and raised his hand against her, restrained many from such presumption. People came running in crowds from everywhere, desiring to see that unusual miracle, and having seen it they returned filled with wonder, magnificently proclaiming the praises of the virgin.

[37] others revealed by a wonderful marvel; (Ch. XXVI) Another miracle also no less wonderful was wrought through blessed Winifred. At a certain time thieves, finding a cow in the territory of the aforesaid church, showing no reverence to the blessed virgin, took it away with them by theft. But fearing that the neighboring people might pursue them and be led straight to them by the tracks of the cow they were driving, they turned aside onto a hard and stony road, on which they thought that neither their own tracks nor the animal's could be recognized. But there is no counsel, there is no prudence nor strength against the Lord. For as soon as they entered the stony road, on which they thought rather to hide themselves, there first their wickedness word supplied by the corrector 1. began to be exposed. For immediately the cow began to sink her feet into the ground up to the knee, and on the rocks as well as on the hard and dry road the animal's tracks plainly appeared; and the more secretly they thought they were going, the greater was the knowledge of their flight, God declaring the virgin's merits through their course. For the farther they went, the safer they believed they would be, and they trusted that they would more securely possess what they had taken; but the contrary happened to them. For as soon as those from whom the cow had been stolen found that their animal had been taken from them by theft, they immediately began to pursue the thieves with an exceeding crowd of men: and seeing the tracks of the animal impressed on the stones and the dry earth, being made more certain, they carefully read the impressions of the feet; and invoking the help of the blessed virgin, through whose merits they saw so evident a miracle on the rocks and on the hard ground, they ran along the way shown to them in advance by the cow's tracks. The robbers, hearing the outcry of those pursuing them, and fearing to be caught by them with the animal they were driving, went off the road; but not even so could they be hidden: for wherever the pursuers went they always plainly found the impressions of the animal's feet on the flints and on the dry soil; and strengthened in spirit and comforted by the miracle shown demonstrato 2. to them beforehand, they pursued confidently. And always the farther they went, the more manifestly recognizing the animal's tracks, the others, seeing that they could by no means escape unless they let the cow go and sought flight, left her in a wood, and fleeing very swiftly, they hid themselves. Those who were pursuing them, finding the cow alone, those who had been driving her having been put to flight, took back what was theirs and began to go back. And inquiring carefully whether their animal made such ejusque 2. tracks on the stones and on the earth in going back, as it had made when it was led off, they did not find them at all. Then indeed they knew that the blessed virgin had worked that miracle for their sake, namely that by the signs of the animal they might recognize where they ought to go, and might more quickly recover what had been taken from them by unjust robbery. Returning, they restored the cow to her owner, and publicly proclaimed the miracle that had been done. Many also went off to see what was said about the tracks, and finding that what was proclaimed was true, they themselves also did not cease likewise to proclaim the same things. By this all who longed after the property of others and contrived guile in their hearts were greatly terrified, and were especially, and fearfully, admonished not to plunder anything or commit any robbery at all within the territory that pertained to the church of the blessed virgin. The robbers, fearing the wrath of the virgin, and lest God, gravely indignant at the contempt of her, should avenge their presumptuous boldness, and that they should thus pay the penalty darentur 1., came to the basilica of the holy virgin with humbled spirits, asking pardon. Where, confessing by public declaration that they had transgressed, they magnificently proclaimed the virgin's merits, and, dissuading all who heard them from such unlawful presumption, they returned to their own homes.

[38] countless sick persons healed by washing in the water of the spring; (Ch. XXVII) Likewise concerning the spring, which we have mentioned as having burst forth where the virgin's severed head (v. a.) a. v. 2. fell to the ground, wonderful things are recounted by the assertions of truthful persons. When tender children are sick ægrotabant 2., suffering from some trouble of their body, cast into the source of that spring and carried along by the swiftness of the stream, their mothers suddenly receive them back cheerful and restored to health. It is commonly and most widely known among almost all word supplied by the corrector 1. the inhabitants of Wales that if anyone with fever or suffering in some limb has drenched himself with that water, or has applied to the suffering limb the stones which we have told beforehand are found along the stream, suffused with her gore, the water having first been drunk from the washing of the stones, he will at once be given back to health. Some also are divinely admonished to go there to wash. And more frequently, the same virgin herself exhorting them by night through a vision, many come there and, returning from there, obtain their wishes.

[39] another sacrilegious theft repressed by divine vengeance. (Ch. XXVIII) On the descent of the same stream there is held a very excellent mill, pertaining to the right of the blessed virgin Winifred, which never ceases to grind, neither through any overflowing prefix per supplied by the corrector 1. abundance of rains or snow, nor through the binding trouble of burning frost or word substituted by the corrector for another that was erased 1. summer drought. Robbers having once entered it quo 2., carried off with them those iron tools or instruments which that kind of thing uses, transferring them to another mill. But as long as they were fuerant 2. there, neither could the wheel go round, nor could any profit come to those workers. The keepers of the works, seeing their gain lessened every quaqua 1. day on account of the things that had been brought in, no longer bearing their diminution, threw out of doors what they had received from the thieves: and immediately the wheel of the mill obtained freedom to turn and the other working instruments their former manner. Those things which were thrown out the robbers again transferred to other places, to which the same things happened in every respect. And que omits 2. at length finding that this was brought about by divine dispensation, namely that they could not serve the advantage or use of any place, led by penitence they carried them back to their proper place, asking pardon through the suffrages of the blessed virgin. In which event the merits of St. Winifred, among all who inhabit habitantes 2. that country, both raise her praises on high and beat back the beastly madness of the wicked, while each is not unaware that it turns to his harm, if ever, enticed by deadly greed, they rage in the possessions of the saints.

[40] The place also where the body of the saint rests, From occasions of this kind that place in which blessed virgin Winifred first lived (p. b. v. W.) b. v. W. p. 2. obtained the greatest fame; and so far prevailed in it the prophecy of blessed Beuno, honored with miracles. that through the blessed virgin, whose first way of life in it

took place, the mighty works of God be publicly proclaimed, and many obtain there the remedies they desire for their infirmities. And just as she asked that that place be blessed by God and illuminated with heavenly visitation, so it was afterwards declared by plain signs that she had been heard by God in these things. For in omits 2. the display of miracles and the approval of wonderful works that take place there, it is clearly evident that the aforesaid saint foretold true things: by whose presage it was that that place was to be illuminated by heavenly grace, and that God Dominum 2. would work there the salvation of many through the merits of the same virgin. This too the throngs of the faithful attest today, flocking there in crowds, and, having obtained what they came for, returning home with joy. And the divine mercies take place there much more richly upon the sick infirmitates 2. than in the place in which the clay of her most holy body was entombed: which I suppose has come about because she always held as more especially her own that place in which the beginnings of her conversion gleamed forth and she was initiated into the divine mysteries, and in which the signs of her martyrdom persist fresh through all time. Nevertheless in both places divine power works wonderfully, and through her suffrages countless mighty works take place, and desired remedies are bestowed on the sick. For through her sight is restored to the blind, and hearing is given to the deaf, and almost all who come glory that they have obtained their wishes through her, to the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, God, through all ages of ages. Amen.

EPITOME OF THE SAME LIFE

BY JOHN OF TYNEMOUTH.

Edited from 1. Brit. Mus. Cod. Cotton. Tib. E. I; — 2. Oxford, Bodl. Cod. Tanner 15; — 3. Capgrave's ed., London 1516. — See Prior Commentary, no. 8.

On St. Winifred, Virgin and Martyr.

[1] (1 – 3). A certain very distinguished saint (s. q.) Beunous nomine q. s. 3., Beuno by name (n. B.) omits 3., renowned for virtues, shone forth in the western region of Greater Britain. A supreme man indeed and pre-eminent in all holiness, despising his father's throne and fleeing as a poor man and having become a monk, in a short time he attained to the perfect man. At length, when he had built churches in various places and had established brothers in them to serve God, he himself, admonished by a divine oracle, departed elsewhere, to seek a dwelling provided for him by God. He came at length to the estate of a certain great and very powerful man, Theuith by name; to whom he said: I ask that from the possession derived to you by hereditary right from your ancestors you grant a part to God and to me, that, a church having been built there, I may serve God in it and be able thereafter to entreat him every day for your salvation. He willingly assented, and committed to him his only daughter, Winifred by name, to be instructed in good conduct.

[2] (4 – 6). And if at any time the holy man showed the people by preaching the precepts and admonitions of salvation, placing the aforesaid virgin at his omits 3. feet, he admonished her to attend skilfully to everything and to receive with open heart what was said by him. The virgin, the mercy of God inspiring her, growing daily for the better and advancing in wisdom, was disposed wholly to renounce every man. But she dreaded to make this known to her parents. And coming to the man of God, boldly bursting forth before him, she made him aware of her secret. I wish, she said, that it be made manifest to you to how great a yield in me the seeds of the divine word, Dei divina 2. poured out to me from omits 2. your mouth, have grown excreverint 2.. I have chosen deelegi 2. to renounce henceforth all the luxury of the world, and I have resolved to keep servare 2. my virginity whole and undefiled for the honor of God. And this, O most holy father, I earnestly ask to be obtained for me from both parents by your intercession suffractione 2.. Hearing this, the saint, moved by piety, said that he would carefully approach her parents and do what she asked as far as he was able. Accordingly, when the father and mother had learned from the man of God the desire of their daughter, suffused with tears they blessed God and kindly granted it.

[3] (7). The girl sat at times at the feet of the blessed man in fulfilment of her vow, drinking in with thirsting breast what flowed from his mouth concerning the glory of her bridegroom. She admitted nothing earthly into herself; she frequently kept watch at night in the church. Sometimes also, importunely thrusting herself so corrected in the margin, in the text mergens 2. upon the saint, she would urge him to preach and to treat of the character and in 2. life of her bridegroom. Burning with her whole desire, she had some little joy when she heard someone speak of the excellence, beauty and power of her friend; and her refreshment of this kind surpassed excellebatur 3. the pleasantness of all omnem 2. earthly things, and retained in her heart the unfailing delight of spiritual pleasantness. And though she was of tender age, yet she was perfect in character and white-haired in heart, having a spirit that despised contemptatorem 3. all greed.

[4] (8). It happened, then, one Sunday, as her parents were going to the church, that she of necessity remained at home alone. And behold, a certain youth, Kadocus Cradocus 2, 3. by name, son of King Alan, entering the house, found the virgin alone, sitting beside the hearth. She, recognizing the king's son, quickly rose, humbly inquiring what might please him. And he said: You are not unaware that I am the son of a king, filled with riches and many honors, and that I shall enrich you abundantly also, if you are willing to assent to my petition, giving assent to my will. But she, perceiving that he had brought in talk of lying together, with her face vultu 2, 3. a little lowered and suffused with a blush, at first pretended to take it hard that he had found her unkempt and unadorned, saying: Since you are sprung from a royal race and, God granting, are to be king, I do not doubt that I shall be richly filled with worldly happiness, joined to you in marriage. But wait a little while, awaiting the coming of my father; and I in the meantime will enter my chamber, soon to return to you. In saying this she was in fact only seeking to be torn away from him for the moment. For she saw that the most wretched man, inflamed by unhappy lust, was deadly tormented with love for her and was becoming as one out of his mind. The youth granted at length that she should enter the chamber, hoping that she would return to him without delay with more becoming adornment and more acceptably amplectabilius 2. arranged. Then she, rising omits 2, 3., omits 2, 3. entered the chamber, and que omits 2, 3. without delay she went out on the other side through the door of the chamber, and (e. e.) exiens 2, 3. made her way toward the church with winged speed.

[5] (9). The youth learning of this, immediately made furious and filled with vehement wrath, drew his sword and swiftly pursued her; and looking at her with a grim countenance, he said: Long have I loved you and desired to join you in my embraces. Now you flee from me as I come to you, and you despise me as I seek you. Know now for certain that either you will in the present lie with me willingly, or without delay I will cut off your head with my sword. Then she, turning to the youth, undaunted answered: Joined in marriage to the son of the eternal King and judge of all men, I can receive no other; and not to draw you on any longer, I shall admit none besides him as long as I live. Therefore draw your sword, put forth exercere 2. your strength, use whatever ferocity you will, as you please; and be sure that omits 2. neither your terrors nor your blandishments, neither promises nor gifts, will be able to tear me from the sweetness of his love, to whose embraces I am bound and to whose devotion I am joined. But the unchaste youth, seeing himself despised, and impatient in his lust, and considering that the virgin could not be bent, nor that he would have rest while she lived, cut off her head with his sword. Immediately, as the virgin's head fell to the ground, in that same place a most clear spring of wonderful size, bursting forth, began to flow, which to this day does not cease to flow, bestowing health on many sick persons through the merits of the holy virgin. For on the descent of the hill the severed head of the virgin, easily rolling, slipped back into the church; while the truncated body kept the place where it had first fallen.

[6] (10). For the head, falling among the feet of those attending the divine mysteries, moved all with the greatest amazement. All, then, being struck percussis 2. with exceeding terror, and asserting that the dire crime must be gravely avenged by God, and cursing the author of the wickedness, the girl's parents, undone by sadness and anguish, uttering a mournful cry, showed forth their grief clamorem 2. in loud lamentations. For the virgin's slayer, still standing swollen with pride timidus 3. outside beside the lifeless body, was wiping his sword, wet with the virgin's blood, on the grass. For since he was a king's son, thinking that he had committed the outrage with impunity, he testified by the commission of so great a crime that he had no fear of God. The man of God Beuno, taking hard his pride and obstinacy obstinaciam 2., went up to him, carrying the virgin's head in his hands; and looking into the youth's face, he said: O wicked man, he said, who have stained the nature of youthful beauty and the lineage of royal dignity with the crime of homicide, why do you not repent of having committed so great a wrong? You have disturbed the peace and defiled the church by your sacrilege, and provoked God, and you do not grieve. Now, then, since you have not spared the church nor shown reverence to the Lord's day, I beseech my God that what you have unworthily committed you may in the present receive with worthy recompense. When this had been said, the youth immediately fell to the ground and expired. And wonderful to tell, in the sight of all those standing by the body of the dead man melted and disappeared, many declaring asserentibus 2. that it had been swallowed by the earth and plunged with his spirit into the abyss.

[7] (11). The man of God, kissing again and again the virgin's head, which he had taken into his hands, troubled in spirit, was compelled to weep. After this, arranging it to the body, and spreading his cloak over it, he breathed into her nostrils; and going up to the altar he celebrated Mass. When this was finished, returning to the virgin's body, he made a splendid discourse to the people, saying among other things that the blessed virgin had made a vow to God, but, cut off by death, had not had a suitable time to fulfil it; and that therefore they ought, prostrating themselves more devoutly on the ground, to entreat God Domini 1, 3. for her resurrection. And so it was done. After, then, prayer had long been made, the blessed man, rising from the ground, stretched out his hands to heaven, saying: Lord Jesus Christ, for love of whom this virgin rejected earthly things and desired heavenly, in your mercy hear us who invoke you with devoted spirits, and pour forth upon us the bowels of your pity, granting that you be in the present the accomplisher of our prayers; and although we are not unaware that this virgin, who suffered for your name, laid up in the borders of heavenly joy, has no further need of our company, yet do you, most merciful Father, showing yourself kind and ready to hear your children humbly beseeching you, give assent to their supplications

Command therefore that the soul of this girl, brought back into her body, may show that you have the government and dominion of souls as well as of bodies: that, restored to life by the grace of your mercy, she may magnify your name, and after long spaces of life, the fervor of her good conduct being multiplied, may return to you her bridegroom, namely the only Son of God the Father, with whom and with the Holy Spirit (Sp. s.) s. Sp. 3. you live and glory, God, through infinite ages of ages (s. s.) seculorum secula 3..

[8] (12). And when all had answered Amen, the girl rose as if from sleep, and wiping her face and cleansing it of dust and sweat, she filled the bystanders with amazement and joy. Moreover, where the head had been joined and made solid again, a certain very fine whiteness in the manner of a thread went round the neck and covered the place of the cutting; and as long as she lived, it always so remained. Hence the men of that province say that she was called Wenefreda, whereas before, as they themselves assert so both codices and the edition, she was named Brewa Breuna 2, 3.. For what the Britons themselves in their language call Wen means in Latin candidum: and thus, on account of the whiteness surrounding her neck, she is said to have her name from the fact, the element Wen being added, and two letters of the former name being changed for the sake of euphony, obtaining the compound name which is said Wenefreda. For it is reported that after she passed from this world she appeared plainly to no one at all who did not see that white sign.

[9] (13). The place, moreover, where her blood (s. i.) i. s. 2. was shed, not far from the monastery named Basingwerk in North Wales Norvallia 3., was originally called the Dry Valley; but after her death it is called up to the present day the Well of Winifred. The stones too, both in the source of the spring and in its stream or on the edge of both, sprinkled so corrected in the margin, in the text compressi 2. with her blood, retain to this day their former sprinkling: for they are as if suffused profusi 2. with congealed gore, wiped away neither by the wear nec diuturnitate adds 2. of time nor by the constant wash of the water flowing past. And the moss which clings to those same stones smells like incense. The men of that province, who had not yet known God, seeing the virgin's resuscitation, the flowing forth of the spring and the sprinkling of the rocks, fell at the feet of blessed Beuno and received baptism.

[10] (14). The virgin devoted to God, clinging to the holy man's feet, attended to his discourses with assiduous devotion, and at length as a humble handmaid of Christ she received the sacred veil from him.

[11] (16 – 17). The man of God Beuno, taking the virgin's right hand, led her to the spring, and setting her upon a stone, which is called St. Beuno's stone, he said: You see, he said, here still the traces of your passion. Behold these stones sprinkled with your blood, showing that you suffered for God, and that the sprinkling of your blood on the stones has been preserved by God. Now therefore, my sweetest daughter, know these things bestowed by God, which will celebrate the title of your praise and will heap up in the minds of posterity love of devotion to you. The first indeed is that these stones sprinkled with your gore can through the ages be cleansed by no washing nor be washed away by the constant force of this water, but for the showing of your passion they will always remain blood-stained. The second is that whoever, having suffered any misfortune, seeks you out and asks to be freed from his oppression and infirmity, at the first, second or certainly the third time, will rejoice to have obtained what he has requested; but if not, let him know most certainly that he is soon to lose the light of the present life, and that he will obtain something greater through you. The third is: when I have gone away from you, God will deign to grant me on the shore of the sea a place to remain; yet the Most High has commanded that I be visited every year by your gifts. You will hasten to this spring with your gift, and whatever it may be, having first committed it to God, you will confidently set it down in the spring. You will see your deposit immediately carried down from the spring through the stream and by the force of the running water borne across as far as the sea; and, the element of the sea obeying the will of God and furnishing its ministry, that which you have set down in the spring will be conveyed to the door of my little lodging. When this had been said, leading her back to the church, he said: I now go away from here, to serve God elsewhere according to my small measure, and to hold your devotion, as long as I live, with sweet memory. And saying this, he took only his staff and began to go away, leaving to the blessed virgin and her companions all the furnishings of his house and whatever God had given him through the hands of the faithful.

[12] (18 – 20). Blessed Winifred, gathering the daughters of nobles with her, taught them to love chastity and, spurning all the allurements of the flattering world, to submit their necks to the light yoke of Christ, and by the norm of the regular purpose to deliver themselves to the divine service. And so each year, on the Kalends of May, she sent some gift to her master, and the piece of cloth in which the chasuble or some such thing was wrapped felt no harm from the water nor the least soaking of water, but remaining altogether dry was carried down through the stream by the force of the running water and borne across the sea; and although fifty miles separated them, yet in the space of one night it was found at the door of the man of God through the sea's waves. From this a surname was added to the blessed man, memorable to the present day. For he is called Beunous Casul Sech, that is, Beuno Dry-Chasuble: because through the waters, unharmed by the waters, the chasuble was brought to him dry.

[13] (22 – 23). Blessed Beuno having at length died, St. Winifred, by divine admonition, went to a holy man, Deifer by name. For that man was great before the Lord, of whom it is reported that he made a spring burst forth from the earth, conferring health on many sick persons. When St. Winifred came to St. Deifer, as the saint persisted that night in prayer a voice sounded from heaven, saying: Tell my dearest daughter Winifred to go to a man named Saturnus, and hear what she is to do, and learn in what place she is to remain for all the time of her life.

[14] (24 – 29). When the holy virgin had come to him, he said: There is a certain place, called Witheriacus, held in the greatest reverence by all the people. God has commanded you to visit this place and to inhabit it as long as you live, and to form the spirits of others by your examples. For there is there an abbot of many virtues, Elerius by name, whom constant groaning and persevering prayer have rendered so free from all worldly cares that he now savors nothing earthly, aims at nothing of worldly delight dilectionis 3., wholly intent on heavenly things. When the holy virgin was going there, Abbot Elerius, foreknowing her coming through the Holy Spirit, went out to meet her; and receiving her honorably, he led her into the community of virgins, and committed to her the care and guardianship of the virgins. Whatever sick person came to her returned sound, having received health, and every sad person bore back gladness of mind and consolation.

[15] (30 – 33). At length one night, as she was devoting herself to prayers, Jesus Christ appeared and made known to her that the day of her death was close at hand. Hence on the fourth of the Nones of November, full of virtues and good works, she gave back her spirit to God, and she was buried beside St. Chebius and Senanus.

[16] (34-35). For through her almighty God deigned to work many miracles. Among which she gave light to the daughter of a certain smith, blind from birth.

[17] (37). Certain robbers, seizing a cow in the territory of St. Winifred, turned aside along a hard and stony road, on which they thought that neither their own tracks nor the animal's could be recognized. Yet at once the cow sank her feet into the ground up to the knee, and on the rocks as well as on the hard and dry road the tracks plainly appeared. For wherever the robbers went as they proceeded, the impressions of the animal's feet could always be clearly clari 2, 3. seen. And thus at last, leaving the cow in a wood, the robbers, fleeing swiftly, hid themselves.

[18] (38). When tender children have begun to be sick, suffering from some trouble of their body, cast into the source of that spring (s. f.) f. s. 3. and thrown back by the swiftness of the stream, their mothers have been accustomed suddenly to receive them back cheerful and restored to health.

[19] (39). On the descent of the same stream there is built a most excellent mill, which never ceases to grind, neither through any flowing abundance of rains or snow, nor through the binding trouble of burning frost or summer drought. Robbers having once entered it carried off with them all the iron tools or instruments. And when they had brought them to their own mill, neither could the wheel go round, nor could any profit come to those workers, until they had been carried back.

[20] TRANSLATION. After the course of many years, namely in the year of grace one thousand one hundred and thirty-eight, the bones of St. Winifred, virgin, were translated with great honor to the monastery of the monks at Shrewsbury Solopiam 2..

B. TRANSLATION.

CHAPTER I.

A certain monk of Shrewsbury having been healed by the invocation of St. Winifred, Prior Robert is sent to Gwytherin to translate the virgin's body from there to Shrewsbury, the bishop of Bangor and the prince of Wales consenting to this.

[1] The monks of Shrewsbury, desiring to have the relics of some saint with them, (Ch. I) This division of chapters is again indicated in 2 alone. After, then, blessed virgin Winifred, shining with countless virtues, had passed to the heavenly kingdom, and many years had slipped by, in the reign of King William Willielmo 2., who was the first of the Normans to reign in England, Earl Roger, an illustrious man and conspicuous in all uprightness of conduct and religion, began to build a monastery in the city of Shrewsbury ^a. Applying himself to accomplish this with diligent care, he enlarged it at his own expense; then he placed an abbot in it, and established brothers there to serve God. In the course of time that place, growing by God's mercy, profited many on the way of salvation, and offered to all who inhabited that country the fragrance of a divine odor. And as those brothers abounded in virtues, they began to investigate with skilful insistence what pertained to virtue; and complaining often to one another that they were greatly in need of relics of saints, they applied first syllable (ap) substituted by the corrector for another erased 1. their minds with the utmost effort to seeking this out. And since they had heard that in Wales, which was near them, the bodies of many saints were kept, because that same province had in former times been inhabited by many omits 1, the corrector wrongly supplied nullis in the margin. saints whose merits were proclaimed in various places, they were eager to search out by every means how they could have one of them. For knowing that they could be greatly fortified with God by the patronage of him whose honor they should cultivate excellerent 2. on earth with daily devotion, they tried diligently to obtain one who would so be their patron. But since very many most illustrious and excellent confessors were held there, to which one they should chiefly tend

omits 2. or whom they should especially last syllable (ter) supplied by the corrector 1. desire, they began to be in doubt.

[2] [one of them having been healed of a grave infirmity by the invocation of St. Winifred,] (Ch. II) It happened meanwhile that one of the brothers, oppressed by a grave infirmity, disturbed with exceeding grief the other brothers, who vehemently sympathized with him. They, greatly concerned for him, entreated God with suppliant spirits for his recovery, humbly requesting the monks of the neighboring churches to do the same. When the great trouble of that brother became known to the monks of the church of Chester, they too, equally dismayed in spirit, went in procession into the church to ask God for his health. As they (Deum-quibus) omits 2. lay prostrate before the holy secundum 2. altar and sang word supplied by the corrector 1. the seven psalms with humble devotion, one of them, Ralph by name, who held the office of subprior, a man of quite simple spirit, fell asleep. And it seemed to him that a most beautiful virgin stood before him, and with a gentle countenance broke forth in these words: What is it, she said, for which you pray prostrate? The monk answered: A certain brother of our friends is tormented by a very grave infirmity, and to pray for his recovery we suppliantly prostrate ourselves and our prayers before God. To this she said again: I too know that that brother is suffering from alienation of mind. But if you truly desire his health, let one of you go to the well of St. Winifred and ita et 2. in the church that is there celebrate Mass in her memory honorem 2., and the sick brother will immediately be freed. Saying this she disappeared. The monk, returning to himself, and pondering in his mind what he had seen and heard, would not then make that vision known to the others, fearing to be held a laughing-stock by his companions and that what quod 2. he had seen would be reckoned to fantasy: and so, nearly forty quadraginta 2. days having passed, the sick man, always suffering more gravely, lay on his bed. Again a report was brought formerly (for rumor est) romorem 1. to the monks words supplied by the corrector 1. of Chester concerning the most troublesome affliction by which the aforesaid brother was pressed, and it gave occasion to the other brothers to speak of him. And when they were lamenting the sick man with many words in sympathy with him, he who had seen the vision, taking courage, related it in order, all his friends most kindly giving credence to his words: because, having long since heard that the merits of that word supplied by the corrector 1. virgin were illustrious, and knowing that many miracles were done through her, they easily brought their minds to believe what was said, and gave credence to the vision. For they knew for certain that she to whose well they were admonished to go and in whose honor they were to sing Mass there was called St. Winifred, and they said that it was she who had appeared to the aforesaid brother. And so, by their counsel, two monks were sent to the well of blessed Winifred, to celebrate Mass in her church, which is there beside the well, and to pray for the sick man. It came to pass that at the same hour at which Mass was sung there, the sick brother at Shrewsbury recovered from his infirmity, and greatly word supplied by the corrector 1. gladdened his companions by his health. After a little time the same brother who had been sick was brought to that same place, to render thanks to God and the holy virgin for the health granted him. And when he had first prayed in the church, and afterwards had drunk from the well and been washed in it, made sound in every way, he returned to the monastery. From then on the memory of the blessed virgin grew more devoutly in the hearts of the brothers, so that they would think themselves happy if they could obtain even a tiny particle of her most holy body: and though they thought this arduous and difficult and exceeding their strength, yet they determined that it must by all means be tried. And knowing that nothing can resist the will of God, they entreated God to become propitious to them and to be present as their helper, at whose nod they did not doubt that any things impossible or difficult could lightly come proveniri 2. to their hand.

[3] [they appoint Prior Robert to seek out the virgin's body. He, the bishop of Bangor and the prince of Wales favoring him,] Ch. III At that same time King Henry ^b, a supreme man and friend of peace, was governing the citadel of the kingdom; by whose authority peace and security held the whole island, and eo 2. all the more was it permitted to all to go in peace wherever they wished. Whence the aforesaid brothers, frequently sending messengers into Wales, inquired carefully where the more excellent saints rested, or rather where the tomb of the aforesaid virgin was: and having found the place where the bones of the holy virgin Winifred rested, they were gladdened with exceeding joy. Then, the bishop of Bangor, whose diocese that province was ^c, consenting to them and promising his help, they made the princes and nobles of the country agreeing with them and favorable. The matter, advancing by degrees daily, seemed to portend swift accomplishment and lifted the spirits of the brothers in the hope of their desire. But the death of the aforesaid King Henry, suddenly intervening, oppressed all Britain with exceeding calamity, and forced that business to be broken off for a time. In the second year, however, of the reign of King Stephen ^d, the disturbances having been calmed and the former tranquillity restored, the abbot of the aforesaid monastery, Herebert by name ^e, by the counsel of the brothers sent his prior, Robert by name ^f, into Wales, with a certain companion joined to him, a monk called Richard. That same prior, being more concerned than the others in the procuring of this matter, having frequently sent his envoys and letters through the country, received in reply that, if he himself came, he would return with joy, made master of his wish. Coming therefore, he went first to the bishop of the church of Bangor; and sent on by him to the prince of that land ^g, he was received by him kindly enough. When he had set forth to him the course of his journey and the cause of his coming, he answered him in words of this kind: I would not indeed judge that you omits 1. and your companions have undertaken so great a labor without the will of God and the wish of the blessed virgin. For perhaps, seeing that the reverence due to her is not being paid by her own, she desires to be carried elsewhere, that she may receive from strangers the honor which her own either despise or neglect to pay her. Accordingly I willingly yield, and I profess that I (a. m.) m. a. 2. assent to her good pleasure; lest by resisting I be compelled formerly compellor 1. to suffer her indignation in vengeance. And although defiled by all uncleannesses, the lowest or worst of all men, yet I would boldly rush forth to her tomb, and touching her sacred bones hand them over to you, if I did not have to attend elsewhere to the common benefit of the country. That she wishes this is manifested both by your labors and by the visions shown to you. Go then, confirmed by the permission of my authority, and hasten to the place in which the blessed virgin rests, where you will find, I suppose, some who will be rebellious against your arrangement. But take heart: because the favor of her whose affection has urged you to undertake so great a labor will make them peaceable toward you. Nevertheless I will send a messenger to those men in whose patrimony the body of the aforesaid virgin rests, who will make my will known to them, and will make them somewhat more peaceable toward you. When this had been said, he sent them away in peace.

ANNOTATA.

CHAPTER II.

Robert and his companions, confirmed by manifold visions, reach Gwytherin and obtain the desired treasure.

[4] and on the journey by a vision And so, setting out from him, they made their way by a straight route to the place in which the most holy body of the venerable Winifred was laid up. And they were seven together; namely the aforesaid prior, and with him the venerable men, the prior of Chester Censtrensis 1., and a certain priest, a man of many virtues, born of that same people, and the brother whom the prior had brought with him from the monastery, and three other men. And as they went along simply on the journey, talking of that same business, they met a man of that country, not of low birth, who asked who was the prior of Shrewsbury. When he was pointed out to him, he addressed these words to him: I have come to tell you the message of the men who inhabit that estate in which the bones of the holy virgin Winifred are held, which is called Witheriacus. Know that they are stirred with grave indignation against you, because you are trying to carry off the bodies of the saints laid up among them, to whom they and all their goods have been committed; and know for certain that neither fear of the prince nor the threats of their lords nor the desire of any money will make them consent to you in this matter. Having said this he departed. The prior and his companions, greatly saddened by these words, were wholly ignorant what to do, where to turn. Yet turning to God, they asked of him with humbled spirits that the spirit of counsel be sent formerly committi 1. to them, and with humble mind they besought him who by the mere word of his command had calmed the storms of the winds and the sea, that he would make peace in these word supplied by the corrector 1. enmities and ally the minds of those men to them; then, animated by the confidence of the Holy Spirit, they held to the journey they had begun. And when they had almost reached the place in which the bones of the blessed virgin were kept, the prior, having deliberated in counsel with the brothers, sent ahead two of his companions, namely the prior of Chester and the aforesaid priest, well known throughout that country, to provide carefully all that was necessary for them.

[5] comforted by manifold visions, He himself, keeping his companion, remaining that night in a certain country place, was afflicted with exceeding cares on account of the message he had heard. And behold, the morning lauds having been sung, a certain grave and honorable person, bearing the form of a woman, to a certain

servant of his appeared, saying these words: Rise as quickly as possible, and tell your master that, laying aside the sorrow and cares by which he is too much oppressed, he should raise his hope to God, knowing that he will depart from here with great joy. For she for love and honor of whom he has been sent to this province will both carry out his wish and make him master of his desire. For he is soon to obtain it. Whence, rejoicing, he will return redidit 2. home and gladden his companions by his coming. (Ch. IV) Another vision also, of this kind, came to that same prior on the same night. A certain abbot of great religion, who had been father of that same monastery of Shrewsbury Salopesberiensis 2., but, worn out by old age and full of many virtues, had departed from this life, Godfrey by name, appearing to him, restrained him word supplied by the corrector 1. from the cares by which he was tormented, saying: Do not be faint-hearted, but take heart, because we shall well conquer our enemies, and with God's help we shall overcome sperabibus 2. those who resist us; and know that we shall soon obtain what we desire with the utmost devotion. After these words he vanished from his eyes. From these visions, then, there arose some little assurance in their minds, and the hope of obtaining what they sought was restored. These things Isto 2., then, they had begun the corrector inceperant 1. to tell among themselves very early in the morning, and they had afforded some little pleasantness to the minds of those who heard, when suddenly one of the messengers of the day before arrived and increased their assurance, admonishing them to follow him quickly, as, God granting, they would find and take away so both codices what they desired by their vows. They immediately mounted their horses and came there, and having first finished their prayers they called aside privately the priest of that place, alone, earnestly beseeching him to be of help to them.

[6] [at Gwytherin, the priest of the place again favoring them, he himself also forewarned by a remarkable vision,] (Ch. V) The priest, attending patiently to their words, gave an answer of this kind: I indeed, he said, can be brought with light effort to your wishes, on the one hand because I wish to be more closely allied to you, on the other because I have long known the will of God and the virgin on this business, as I shall show you here and now formerly præsenti 1. and piously. On the Saturday of the vigil of Easter I was spending the night in the church which you see before you, to sing the morning hymns when the time should come. And when, the psalter having been run through in order, I settled myself on the step before the altar to rest for a little while, I saw a vision which greatly terrified me, and which admonished me with threats not to be rebellious against you. And, as it seemed, heavy sleep had not yet overcome me, when a certain most resplendent youth, bearing an angelic countenance, stood before me, and began to strike me, saying: Rise. I, supposing that he was rousing me to begin the night office, answered him: It is not yet time to begin the office; I will not rise. He, as it seemed formerly fuerit 1; fuerit 2. to me, departed, and a heavier sleep overcame me. And behold, the same youth, coming again and striking me harder, said: Rise, rise. I, unwilling to comply with him, gave the same answer as before; and covering my head with the cloak in which I was clad, I was wholly dissolved in sleep. A little space had passed, when the youth again was present, and he put his hand to the cloak in which I was clad, drawing it from my head with very great force and pulling it down beneath my shoulders; and for the third time he said: Rise, rise, rise, and follow me. Then it seemed to me that I rose hastily and followed in his track. So we came as far as the tomb of the blessed virgin Winifred. Pointing to it with his finger, he said: Note this place diligently, and store up the words I shall say to you in tenacious memory. If anyone should come here in this year, or in the following, who wishes to move this stone from here, showing the plate Φaminam? 2. which had been placed over the sacred body ^a, take care by no means to gainsay him. And if he wishes to cast out this dust from here, likewise allow it, resisting on no account. And if he wishes to carry off the virgin's bones from here, do not oppose him, but put your hand to it, giving him help in all things in which you can. Whence if you are negligent and, found to be a despiser of my words, put off doing what has been divinely made known to you, tormented by a wretched and long sickness you will lose your life immediately after this. When this had been said, the vision, angelic as I suppose, disappeared. Therefore know that I will cooperate with you with a kindly heart, and vigilantly furnish, as far as I am able, what can further your purpose. Having assurance concerning me, then, meet with the others and bring them over to your desire in what ways you can poteritis 2.: for I by my zeal and diligence will carry out what you wish, and I will do my best to subject to your will the minds of those to whose right this estate pertains. And since fortune has brought them before your eyes, say what you wish, for they are ready to hear.

[7] [they are allowed by the inhabitants, after some dispute, to take away the holy body:] (Ch. VI) Then the prior, with the same priest as go-between or interpreter, addressed the crowd of men that stood by, set forth to them the cause of his journey, and with flattering words admonished them to give him assent; and keeping back from them nothing of the visions or of the other things that had happened codices accederant., and publicly testifying that it was by the admonition and impulse of that same virgin that he had undertaken so great a labor, he nearly bent them to satisfy him. But a certain man, a man of Belial, suddenly emerging, disturbed the whole assembly, saying that it was not just that saints should be torn from their native soil and be carried off to a country in no way pertaining to them; he said also, shouting as if driven by furies, that he could by no means bear this. Certain men, however, suppressing his tumult, asked the others to go and consult, and by the decree of all to answer suitably the words put forward. When they consented to this and went off to counsel, the prior, seeing the mind of the aforesaid man obstinate in malice, and that he alone was an obstacle to them, by the counsel of the brothers sent a go-between to him; and money having been given, he allied him more closely to himself and sent him back to his companions. The others, who were granting this simply for the love of God alone, seeing him suddenly wholly softened, greatly marvelled, judged that this was being brought about formerly artari? 1. by divine power, and were the more inflamed to accomplish what was requested. After the windings of many words, then, after countless contests of intervening causes, all agreeing as one kindly granted what they had been asked. The prior and his companions, giving thanks to God and to them, asked that the place be shown them.

[8] [which, from a cemetery famous for punishments divinely sent upon its rash violators (one of which is narrated more distinctly),] Now the place in which so great a treasure was kept is a cemetery separated from another cemetery where the bodies of the dying are now laid so both codices, filled with the bodies of very many other saints ^b: which has until now been held in such reverence by the inhabitants that no one dares to be of such rashness as to presume to enter it except for the sake of prayer. In the middle of it, that is, at the head of St. Winifred, there stands a little wooden church, honored by great attendance of the people; to which easy access lies open to all who wish to pray there. Many feeble persons, many oppressed by the troubles of various diseases, enter it to ask remedies for themselves. Nor do they grieve that what they ask is long delayed: for immediately, health being granted them by the merits of the saints, they return home sound. No brute animal, no beast of any kind is permitted to touch it within and live venire 2.: for as soon as, while grazing, it has touched the grass that grows over the bodies of the saints, it falls and dies. No rash person entering it escapes unpunished either. (Ch. VII) Finally it is reported that two years before the aforesaid brothers arrived there, one of those who lived there, making himself shoes from raw hides of animals according to the custom of the country, needed bindings with which to fasten them to his feet. Now there is in that same enclosure, among the tombs of the saints, an oak of wonderful height, untouched from ancient times out of veneration for the saints. The aforesaid man, deliberating to make bindings for himself from the tender bark of that tree, which is called bast, seized an axe and hastened to the oak with no fear. And raising his hand with the axe and striking the tree, he found something much other than he hoped. For the oak, being struck, in its striking so gripped the axe that it could by no means be moved; and the axe so rendered his hand dry and his arm inflexible or untamable that the man could by no means bend them to his uses. Nor could he draw his hand from the axe or move it at all; but by a certain divine force the handle of the axe held the man's hand, and rendered the whole arm as it were dead: and so wretchedly hanging there and crying out with groaning voices, he paid the tearful penalty of his rashness. At his cry an immense multitude of both sexes ran up; and seeing him hanging from the axe, several indeed were dissolved in tears, and all grieved with him, asking what had happened to him and what was the cause of such a calamity. He, relating in order the whole course of the matter, bent all to compassion for him by his unusual misery. When they had admonished him to repent of his guilt, and, because he had not shown reverence to the saints, to confess his fault and beg pardon, he began to do this more devoutly. His kinsfolk also, prostrate on the ground at the tomb of St. Winifred, tearfully begged that she have mercy on him; and because the name of that virgin was more celebrated than the names of the other saints resting there and her merits surpassed theirs, turning to her in heart and body they begged forgiveness for that offense. And when all, both he who suffered and those who suffered with him, said with one accord: St. Winifred, have mercy on him; suddenly, by the mercy of God, the sick man, his arm being healed, drew his hand to himself and the axe fell from the tree. Seeing this, those who stood by glorified God and became more devout in the veneration of the blessed virgin. The oak still stands there as if it had been recently struck, teaching that what has been recounted was true. From the event of this miracle que adds 1., and of very many others that are known to have shone forth clarissime 2. there, that place is held illustrious and is celebrated with immense devotion among the inhabitants.

[9] dug up, they carry it to Shrewsbury and, (Ch. VIII) When therefore the aforesaid brothers were being brought to this place, to have that for which they had come and to obtain their desire, the aforesaid prior, going ahead perveniens 1. of his companions, by the prompting, as I suppose, of the Holy Spirit, alone, with no one leading or showing the way, came by a straight path to the tomb of St. Winifred. And he who had never until then been there, nor had previously known the place of the tomb through anyone's indicating it, entering that enclosure alone with God as guide, came to the holy virgin's tomb without deviating at all; and standing at the head of the blessed virgin and waiting for his companions, as if by a certain divine oracle

he was inwardly admonished that that was the tomb of the blessed virgin, and that there he and omits 1. his companions had words ibique habere supplied by the corrector 1. what they desired so formerly, corrected to desiderabat 1.. And those who came to in (qui omits) 2. designate the place showed him the very one that he had chosen beforehand and at which he was standing. Then, the laity having been removed, and the monks as well as the clerics who were present singing psalms, two of the brothers, namely the prior of Chester and the brother whom we indicated above as having come from the monastery with the prior, began to dig the earth with spades and mattocks. A little space had passed, when, after exceeding sweat had been spent, nearly worn out with their labors, they reached the desired treasure. Having found it, they gave back thanks to God with devoted spirits; and taking the bones from the dust, as was then convenient for them, they arranged them, fittingly tied in cloths; and so, bidding farewell to those living on that estate, they began to return with immense joy.

ANNOTATA.

See above (p. 723) Life II, no. 33, where the chief of these saints are said to have been SS. Chebius and Sannanus. A Latin Life of St. Chebius, in Welsh Cybi, was published by W. J. Rees among the Lives of the Welsh Saints Cambro Britisch SS., pp. 183 – 187.. See also Rice Rees Welsh SS., 266 – 267.. His feast is said to be celebrated on the 6th of November, at which day there will perhaps be an occasion for treating of him. — St. Sannan is believed to be the same as St. Senan, an Irish bishop, whose memory is assigned to the 1st of March Churches dedicated in his name are indicated at Llansannan (Denhigshire) and Bedwellty (Monmouthshire) Ibid., p. 240.

CHAPTER III.

The holy body is carried to Shrewsbury amid remarkable miracles and is placed there with solemn pomp in the church of the monastery.

[10] a twofold miracle of healing on the journey They went on then, proceeding on their journey with eager spirits, and lightened the way with varied talk. One thing they frequently brought in among their mutual words, that they would prefer to many and great riches to recognize of what merit was that which they were carrying. Nor did God long delay to satisfy their eorum 2. wish in this hoc omits 2. also. For as the day drew toward evening, they were received into lodging by a certain faithful man. And as they reclined, a sick man in a more secluded part of the house began to utter terrible lamentations and pitiable miserandes 1. cries. When the prior asked omits 2. what was the cause of that pain, the answer was given him that a sick man was being kept there with exceeding infirmity of body, and that he would have great reward from God if he should bestow something on him by which he could be brought to health. Then the prior blessed water that had been brought, and then, putting a little into it from the dust found at the head of the blessed virgin, he ordered it to be given to the sick man. He, without delay asking that a place be prepared for him to rest, immediately fell asleep. After a little while, rising, he found himself healthy and sound, rendering thanks to God and the holy virgin. And by this miracle, faith being confirmed, the envoys were made more joyful and more devout in the veneration of the virgin. By many other signs also it became known to them on the way that what they were carrying was a divine gift.

[11] [and in a church close to the city, where it was first laid up, obtained through the virgin's intercession,] (Ch. IX) And so on the seventh day, coming to the city of Shrewsbury, from which they had been sent, they sent envoys to the monastery to announce that they had what they had gone for. The whole congregation, hearing this, greatly rejoiced; and it counselled that the most holy relics be set down in the church of St. Giles, which is situated at the exit of the city ^a, saying that it would be unfitting for so great a treasure to be received into the monastery monasterium 2., except with the authority and blessing of the bishop and with a great coming-forth of the people of the whole province. This speech pleased everyone, and they sent the prior again to the bishop, that what they were to do concerning the pledge granted them from heaven might be confirmed by his authority. Meanwhile Iterum 2. brothers were appointed formerly, as it seems, deputaverunt 1. from the community to celebrate the offices of night and day before the body of the blessed virgin with devoted so both codices spirits. While they applied themselves carefully to the things of God, and daily kept the watches with diligent devotion, faithful people came from round about, committing themselves to the prayers and merits of the holy virgin. And there was in that same town a certain youth, worn down by an exceeding affliction of the body, and without health in any of his limbs: for with his head bent almost to the ground, he could by no means raise his head; but having lost the working instruments of his whole substance, he had wholly lost the hope of health. He, hearing the report of the coming of the blessed virgin, ordered a horse to be prepared for him as quickly as possible. Having mounted it, held by the hands of his friends on either side, he was brought to the aforesaid church in which the relics of the saint omits 2. were kept retinebantur 2.; and spending the night there in prayer, about the end of the night he was tormented by a very bitter pain of his joints. And resting for a little while in the morning, shortly after, when day was already bright, as the priest began the office of the Mass, he began to grow well, and to the despair que omits 2. of all who were present he was restored to his former health; and leaving, after the Gospel, the bed in which he had lain laboring all night, he went hastily to the altar, to hold out his offering so corrected, formerly ablutionem 1. to God and the priest. Then, rendering thanks most devoutly to God and the blessed virgin for the health received, he returned on his own feet to his parents' house, who had been brought from there by the hands of others.

[12] [with solemn pomp, which a marvel of rain held suspended in the air also made illustrious, in the monastery's] This miracle greatly gladdened the spirits of the congregation, and, spread abroad in a short time through the province, greatly stirred the minds of those who heard to fear and reverence; and her name and memory grew greater with daily successes, almost all raising the question when her translation ought to take place. they place it in the church. The prior, then, returning from the bishop, supported by his authority, brought the blessing of God and his own to all who were devoted in the veneration of the virgin. A day was therefore named and announced through the gatherings of the neighboring parishes; on which all who wished to be present at the venerable translation were admonished to assemble. And on the appointed so both codices day, then, the brothers going forth to meet it with crosses and candles and a numerous multitude of people, the most sacred body of the blessed virgin Winifred was brought in, all bending their knees and very many not containing themselves from weeping for exceeding joy. The brothers who had gone out to receive suscipienda 1. the holy pledge found that divine benefits were plainly shining over them through the patronage of the blessed virgin Winifred. For a shower, abundantly poured out, was drenching the surrounding fields; and it forced the brothers, who had gone out to meet it word supplied by the corrector 1. with the more precious formerly precioribus 1. ornaments of the church, to fear not a little, lest by reason of the impending rain something be taken away from the honor of the most blessed virgin, and lest they be forced to break off, not altogether accomplished, what they had begun to celebrate solemnly with the utmost devotion. Their prayerful desires, carried to God, deserved to obtain their wish by the favor of St. Winifred, God in his mercy working a very clear miracle there. For in that whole procession progressione 2. of those going out from the monastery and in the reception of the holy relics, you would have seen the waters of the clouds held suspended near the earth by divine force, and at times letting a single drop fall to the ground, showing that they were in a certain way ready to fall, but were held back by heavenly power. All who were present beheld this, very many greatly fearing lest a heavy flood should rush down and compel them in confusion to flee; but very many finding that the waters were restrained by divine power from falling, and hence venerating the virgin's merits the more. After the reception of the holy relics, then, when the brothers had begun to go back to the monastery, it pleased everyone that the aforesaid prior, who had brought them, should address the multitude and instruct all of how great virtues or what merits was the virgin whose translation was taking place there. And when he had done this for some time, the clouds flying through the neighboring air and threatening their fall, and bedewing the surrounding country with their pouring, the body of the most holy virgin was received by the brothers, with fitting reverence, the praises of God resounding on high; and it was carried to the monastery and venerably placed upon the altar that was built in honor of the holy apostles Peter and Paul. Where, to show the prerogative of the blessed virgin, health is bestowed on the sick and innumerable mighty works take place, to the glory and praise of God: to whom be honor, glory, dominion, through eternal ages of ages. Amen [there follows in 2 the attestation of William Farrar, which we cited in the Prior Commentary, no. 6 (above, p. 692).].

ANNOTATUM.

LESSONS ON ST. WINIFRED

FROM THE BREVIARY ACCORDING TO THE USE OF SALISBURY PRINTED AT PARIS IN THE YEAR 1557.

Winifred, virgin, in England. (S.)

Lesson I. — The venerable servant of God Bennous, sprung from noble persons, namely Bengus his father and Perhen his mother, beside the Severn in the province that is called Powis, from the beginnings of his infancy fasting two or three days with their nights, watchful in prayers, could scarcely be torn away from the church for his meal. He, leaving his parents and becoming a monk, built churches in various places, and delivered brothers worthy of God to the divine services, to seek a dwelling provided for him by God. With the Holy Spirit leading him, he came to the estate of a certain most noble man, Teuith by name, who, the son of one most powerful senator, of the king of the age, Eiliuth by name [b], appeared conspicuous in all uprightness. When the man of God had come to him, having called the noble man aside more privately, he made known what he was turning over secretly in his breast: Lord, I have been sent to you by a heavenly prompting, not without a certain cause of your salvation and that of your people, if you assent to my petitions. I ask therefore that from the possession derived to you from your ancestors you grant a part to God and to me, that I may build a church for you, to serve God for you and for all worshippers of Christ.

Lesson II. — The noble man, as if admonished from heaven, kindly assenting to his petitions, granted the estate in which he had come to him, free for the services of God and released from every exaction on the part of himself and of all his successors. And so by God's will the holy man had in a short time so won his spirit that he at once transferred his furnishings from that place to another, and committed to him his daughter, Winifred by name, whom he held as the only hope of his posterity, to be formed to the honor of Christ and to all uprightness. While the saint of God, then, was most diligently hastening the work of establishing the basilica, and daily most devoutly celebrating the mysteries of Christ,

that noble man Teuith, setting up his tent opposite, not far from there, clung with sincere mind to the service of Christ with his devoted wife.

Lesson III. — Winifred, soon inebriated by heavenly teaching, drank in with ardent desire and open ears all the commandments of Christ which were preached by her teacher, and stored them in tenacious memory, to show forth presently in her works what she was then gathering in her mind. She was disposed to renounce every man; but she dreaded to make this known to her parents. She believed it would not be fitting for her to offend them; she knew that to be wholly joined to God was saving. In this spiritual contest, then, the virgin's mind was distracted by no small windings. Yet the virgin, not unmindful of her teacher, who preached renouncing father and mother and following Christ, boldly made him aware of her secret.

Lesson IV. — O most holy father, she said, obtain for me from both parents that it be permitted me henceforth to renounce all the luxury of the world and to keep my virginity whole for the heavenly bridegroom. Hearing this, the holy man very easily obtained what she asked from both parents: both because they wholly longed for his counsel, and also because the fullness of the divine nectar had steeped them. Her parents, therefore, the burden of marrying her to the world being laid aside, began to spend the wealth of their goods on the poor of Christ. The girl, having obtained her desire, ever stretching herself toward the inner things, longing for God alone and admitting nothing earthly, sat at the feet of the blessed man in fulfilment of her vow, drinking in with thirsting heart what he said concerning the character of her bridegroom. And when she was most zealously watchful in the exercises that pertain to the salvation of the soul, the devil, seeing his power being weakened in that province, began to rise up wholly against her.

Lesson V. — One Sunday, the virgin's parents going to the church to be present at the mysteries of God and the preaching of the holy man, the virgin Winifred was forced to remain at home by a certain indisposition of the body; behold, a certain youth, Caradoc by name, son of King Alan, entering her father's palace, found her alone; and at once he brought in talk of lying together, saying that he was a king's son, filled with riches and honors, and that he would enrich her abundantly, if she would give assent to his will. She, with her face lowered, suffused with a blush, hiding the purpose of her spirit, at first pretended to take it hard that he had found her unkempt, and asked that he at least wait a little until she had returned from the chamber more becomingly. Saying this, she was seeking only to be torn away from him for the moment. This the rash suitor at length granted.

Lesson VI. — She, soon entering the chamber, took her way from the other side of the room toward the church: and this flight soon became known to the youth. He, seizing his sword, swiftly pursued and caught her on the descent of a certain hill before the door of the church, and addressed her in these words: Long have I loved you and desired to join you to me in lawful embraces. Why do you despise me as I seek you? Either you will consent to me at once, or you will end your life by this sword. She, first turning her eyes to the church, and seeing no one, answered the raging man confidently: Joined in marriage to the son of the eternal King, I shall admit no other as long as I live. Draw your sword and use it as you please: neither threats nor blandishments will separate me from his love. He, drawing his sword, cut off her head. And soon, where the virgin's head fell to the ground, a spring most wholesome for men and cattle flowed out abundantly.

Lesson VII. — The virgin's body remaining in the place where it had fallen, her head rolled down the slope into the church among the feet of those standing there. Whence, stupefied and astounded, the parents as well as others ran up as quickly as possible to learn the matter more surely; and finding that the devout virgin had been beheaded, they uttered a lamentable cry. The holy man, hearing it, came to the assembly of those standing by; and seeing the virgin whom he was about to consecrate to God slain, and beholding her slayer wiping on the grass his sword still wet with gore, he assailed the impious man in these words: O wicked slayer, he said, of offspring of royal dignity ^c, why do you not repent of having committed so great a wrong? You have disturbed the peace and defiled the church by your sacrilege, nor have you shown reverence to the Lord's day. Now I beseech my God himself that what you have unworthily committed you may receive with worthy recompense. When this had been said, the youth fell to the ground and immediately expired. And wonderful to tell, the body of the dead man melted and disappeared in the sight of those standing by, many asserting that the earth gaped and swallowed it, and that it was plunged with his spirit into the abyss.

Lesson VIII. — Then the saint, kissing the virgin's head and arranging it in its order, brought it to the rest of the body; and spreading his cloak over it, he went up to the altar to celebrate Mass. When this was finished, returning to the body, he used this discourse to the people: Know, dearly beloved, that this virgin of God made the vow of a nun and, cut off by death, did not have time to fulfil it. Whence it is fitting for us, prostrating ourselves on the ground, to entreat God more devoutly for her, as we shall have many benefits through her afterwards. He himself, spreading out his hands to heaven, said: Lord Jesus Christ, for love of whom this virgin, rejecting earthly things, desired heavenly, although we are not unaware that she, who suffered for your name, laid up in the borders of heavenly joy, has no further need of our company, yet, most merciful accomplisher of good prayers, command that the soul of this girl, restored to life by the grace of your mercy, may magnify your name yet among your people, and after long spaces of life, the interest of her good conduct being multiplied, may return to you her bridegroom, the only Son of God the Father, with whom and with the Holy Spirit you live and glory, God, through infinite ages of ages. And when all had answered Amen, the girl, brought forth as if from sleep, sat up, wiping and cleansing her face of dust and sweat; and rising she entered the church and offered thanks to God for this. Moreover, where her head had been cut off up to the neck and afterwards had been joined by divine power, a certain whiteness in the manner of a thread always covered the place of the cutting.

Lesson IX. — The men of that province, who had not yet known God, seeing the confounding of the ill-starred youth and the resuscitation of the glorious virgin, fell at the feet of the blessed man Bennous and asked to be steeped in the mysteries of God. He, devoutly receiving them, purified them with the wave of holy baptism and, instructing them with divine discourses, confirmed them in the service of God. But Winifred, the virgin of God, clinging all day to the holy man's feet, attended assiduously to his discourses, and earnestly begged to be veiled by her parents. The holy man consecrated her before her parents and many others, clothed with the sacred veil, and most fully formed her in the disciplines of the regular purpose. She, immediately undertaking the citadel of all virtue, in a short time attained to skill in the whole order. Whence the man of God, greatly gladdened, addressed her parents, called together, and other servants of God thus: You, he said, have until now shown yourselves prompt to my petitions and counsels. But now, as God's benefits overflow in you, walk vigilantly the way of salvation shown to you beforehand. And since God calls me elsewhere and you are for the present to lose me, attend skilfully to the admonitions and examples of your daughter. Turning to the virgin, he said: God has commanded you to succeed to my exercises and to gather virgins to remain here with you in the service of God. And when seven years have been spent here, you will have to visit another place, divinely admonished.

ANNOTATA.

* otherwise cum.

* otherwise succendere.

APPENDIX.

Of the Well of St. Winifred at Holywell and Its Cult, and of the Miracles Which Are Narrated to Have Occurred at It.

Winifred, virgin, in England. (S.)

BY C. D. S.

§ I. On sacred wells in general. Description of the well of St. Winifred.

Of the sacred wells in northern Wales, Very many sacred wells are celebrated among the Welsh, called, namely, by the name of some saint, to which there was formerly a concourse of the Christian people, and to some of which there still is, whether to honor the saint or especially for the sake of obtaining healings and other benefits. Here is a list of wells of this kind in northern Wales from the topographical dictionary of Samuel Lewis Topogr. Dict. of Wales, at the individual words cited, unless otherwise noted., by the names of the towns or villages, with the names of the tutelary saints added; namely: in the county of Flint, Caerwys (St. Michael) and Hollywell (St. Winifred). In the county of Denbigh: Wigvair (St. Mary), Llanrudd (St. Peter), Llandegla (St. Thecla), Llanraidhr in Kinmerch (St. Dyvnog), Prion (St. Dyvnog); to which are to be added from Thomas Pennant Disert or Llansantfraid (St. Asaph) Pennant, Tours in Wales, vol. II, p. 117. and Kegidock or St. George (St. George) Ibid., vol. III, p. 157.. In the county of Anglesey: Llanallgo (St. Galgov), Llandyvrydog (St. Cybi or Chebius and St. Seiriol), Llaneilian (St. Eilian). In the county of Carnarvon: Llandebrog (God) *, Bryn-Croes

(St. Mary), Clynnog (St. Beuno) See Prior Commentary, no. 43., Llanberis (St. Peris), Llandeiniolen (St. Deiniolen), Llanelhaiarn (St. Aelhaiarn), Llangybi (St. Cybi), Llanllyvni (St. Rhedyw). In the county of Merioneth: Bettws-Gwervil (St. Mary), Dollgelley (St. Mary), Llandrillo (St. Trillo), Llanenddwyn (St. Enddwyn), Llangower (St. Gwyr). In the county of Montgomery: Garth-Beibio (St. Tydecho), Llanervul (St. Ervul), Llangadvan (St. Cadvan).

[2] some of which were perhaps formerly consecrated by the worship of false deities, The origin of that veneration is traced by most learned men to the custom of the ancient Celts, who they assert, on many testimonies and records, were wont to honor with idolatrous worship rivers and springs, or the goddesses who were thought to preside over them [See J.-G. Bulliot, Le culte des eaux sur les plateaux Eduens (in Mémoires lus à la Sorbonne en 1867, Archéologie, pp. 11 – 32) and L'ex-voto de la Dea Bibracta in the periodical Revue celtique, vol. I (1870 – 1872), pp. 308 – 319; Thomas, History of the diocese of St. Asaph, p. 22.]: which is established in particular for the river Dee Pennant, op. cit., vol. II, pp. 215 – 217.; and the same men judge that it was ordained by a prudent counsel of the apostolic men who brought the Catholic faith to those peoples that, since they despaired of being able to abolish the superstitious usages by other means, the names of saints should be substituted for the names of empty deities, and that to these, what was repugnant to the Church's doctrine and discipline concerning the cult of the saints being of course cut away, should be given the honor with which false deities had before been worshipped. And indeed that this could lawfully be done both reason itself teaches and it has been approved by, among others, those two illustrious lights of the Latin Church, Augustine and Gregory the Great. The former, answering the questions of Publicola, says Epist. 47, otherwise 154, n. 3 (Migne, P. L., vol. XXIII, p. 185).: When temples, idols, groves, and anything of this kind … are converted to the honor of the true God, the same is done with them as with men themselves, when from sacrilegious and impious they are changed to the true religion. And Gregory, writing to the same effect to Abbot Mellitus, afterwards bishop of London: When almighty God has brought you to the most reverend man our brother Bishop Augustine, tell him what I, pondering long with myself about the cause of the English, have decided, namely that the shrines of the idols among that people ought by no means to be destroyed; but let the idols themselves which are in them be destroyed, let water be blessed, let it be sprinkled in the same shrines, let altars be constructed, let relics be placed. For if those same shrines are well built, it is necessary that they be changed from the worship of demons to the service of the true God: so that, while the people themselves do not see those same shrines destroyed, they may put away error from their heart and, knowing and adoring the true God, may flock in more familiar fashion to the places to which they are accustomed. And because they are wont to kill many oxen in sacrifice to demons, some solemnity ought also to be changed for them in this matter, so that on the day of the dedication or on the feasts of the holy martyrs whose relics are placed there, they may make themselves tents of the branches of trees around those same churches which have been changed from shrines, and celebrate the solemnity with religious feasts; and let them no longer sacrifice animals to the devil, but kill animals for their own eating to the praise of God, and render thanks to the giver of all things for their fill: so that, while some outward joys are reserved to them, they may more easily be able to consent to inner joys. For it is beyond doubt that it is impossible to cut off everything at once from hard minds; because he who strives to ascend to the highest place must be raised by steps or paces, and not by leaps Epist. 76, otherwise 71 (Migne, P. L., vol. LXXVII, p. 1215).. Yet, to omit other arguments, we are prevented from extending at once to all sacred wells what has happened from time to time and perhaps frequently, by the recent marvel of the spring that arose at Lapurda * in the south of France, already very well known to the whole Catholic world through so many and such great miracles of healing. It is fitting, therefore, to inquire what is to be pronounced of each one according to the norm of right criticism, and just as nothing is to be affirmed inconsiderately, so also nothing is to be rashly denied or concealed on account of the prejudices of rationalists and non-Catholics, or from fear of their derision.

[3] the most celebrated well of St. Winifred: Now among wells of that kind none in England is more celebrated than the well of St. Winifred, from which the town of Holywell, that is, Sacred Spring, to the Welsh Trefynon, that is, the town of the spring, and with the same meaning to the Anglo-Saxons Welston or Wellstown, has received its name. This town is by no means undistinguished, populous with about nine thousand inhabitants, situated not far from the mouth of the river Dee in the northern part of Wales, today called Flintshire, in an elevated place, below which lies a very pleasant valley watered by a stream, which, rising from the well of St. Winifred, flows after a brief course of a little more than a mile into the estuary of the Dee. Along this stream, for nearly a hundred years now, a number of factories have been built, whose wheels are moved by the force of its running waters Lewis, Topogr. Dict. of Wales, under Holywell.. On the border of the parish of Holywell, toward the north, there are to be seen the remarkable ruins of the monastery formerly called Basingwerk, which some judge to have been founded in the year 1131, others a little later, and others even earlier On which see Pennant, Tours in Wales, vol. I, pp. 31 – 41..

[4] its properties The well itself (in Welsh Ffynnon Gwenfrewi), the most copious of all in England, pours out each hour no fewer than one thousand two hundred English casks * of waters, or nearly fourteen thousand hectoliters, with such force that at the source the surface of the water seems to boil in perpetual heat. The water is quite transparent and cold, since it never exceeds, as they say, the fiftieth degree of heat according to the thermometer that is called Fahrenheit; but apart from purity and cold, chemical analysis has been able to detect no medicinal power in it. The basin in which the waters of the spring are first received and the adjacent pool See following no. are paved with stones which seem stained with a reddish rust, as it were, and in the pool are clothed with sweet-smelling moss. That this rust was put into the stones and the sweet smell into the moss by God, in memory of the martyrdom of St. Winifred, both writers of the Acts of the holy virgin report Life I, end of no. 6; Life II, no. 13.. More recent writers Pennant, Tours in Wales, vol. I, pp. 53 – 54; Lewis, under Holywell. say that that odoriferous moss is of three kinds. The first of these is called by those skilled in botany Jungermannia asplenioides, and is found also in other sacred wells of Wales, namely at Llandysilio and at Llandeiniolen; to the second the name Muscus subrubeus was given by Schwenckfeld, and by Linnaeus Byssus Iolithus, because it confers on the stones to which it clings the look of byssus or shaggy velvet and the fragrance of the violet; and he says that it is easily recognized by the color of those same stones, since they appear as if suffused with blood-red spots, and that it occurs quite frequently in northern regions, especially in Lapland. A third species of odoriferous moss, they say, creeps forth in the well of St. Winifred, which is called Conferva gelatinosa, and that this, together with Jungermannia asplenioides, is found in great abundance in a certain well near the village of Bryn-Egwlys Lewis, at this word. in the county of Denbigh, whose waters, as they assert, enjoy altogether the same properties as the waters of the well of St. Winifred. It is also reported of these, as very worthy of note, that they have never been bound by frost in the whole course of the stream flowing into the river Dee.

[5] and its present appearance. To the glory of the well of St. Winifred there contributes moreover the very beautiful building which was erected at the end of the fifteenth century See below, no. 9. for covering and adorning it. So that we might the more easily show its appearance, we have taken care to have its aspect expressed by a double image, both the exterior from a recent photographic, as they call it, drawing, and the interior of the lower part from an engraving cut in copper at the end of the eighteenth century. The front (which corresponds to the extreme right-hand part, under the small chapel, of the same plate) of the lower portico, to which there is a descent by stone steps from the public road through a gate of costly work (which is seen on the left of the first plate), is occupied by an octagonal basin, in which the waters from the source itself are first received. From each of the outer angles of this basin there rise clusters of small columns, which, closed above by a vault, form a very lovely vaulted roof, from whose center a rounded stone hangs down, inserted in a somewhat larger torus, showing the spectacle of the holy virgin's martyrdom carved with the chisel on its circuit. That portico is surrounded on either side and behind by others of the same height and of nearly the same structure, except that they are quadrangular and their vaultings are not so ornate. The prudent reader will notice, however, in these vaultings, where the curves of the arches meet, besides figures of fantastic animals and other ornaments, the presence of small shields on which are displayed, carved, the arms of certain noble and even royal families See ibid., and above the gate by which there is access from the steps to the well (on the left of the first plate), two images likewise carved in stone, of which the one represents the head of a man, the other of a matron [Namely of Margaret, countess of Richmond, and her husband, the earl of Derby, as is commonly supposed. See ibid.]. Finally, over the dome of the whole structure there is set an elegant small chapel See plate I., which was once an oratory sacred to St. Winifred, but is now assigned to the Sunday school of the Anglicans; the lower part of the building, however, in which the well is contained, is held on an annual lease by the Catholic parish priest from the governors of the town, in whose keeping its possession lies.

* God's well

* Lourdes

* tuns

§ II. On the cult of the sacred well and the church of St. Winifred at Holywell up to the sixteenth century.

[That this well was celebrated as sacred is attested by certain documents from the end of the 11th and the beginning of the 12th century,] The oldest record, which seems sufficiently certain, of the veneration of the sacred well we come upon in the donation of the church of Haliwell made by Countess Adeliza to the monastery of St. Werburga at Chester in the year 1093 See Prior Commentary, end of no. 13.: from which name, namely, it may be gathered that that well was already celebrated in those times. A more distinct testimony of this is then given by the devout pilgrimage which Richard, earl of Chester, son of Adeliza, is said to have made there in the year 1115 Bradshaw, Life of St. Werburg, cited in Pennant, Tours in Wales, vol. I, p. 32.. The same is also drawn from the multitude of miracles reported in the later part of the first Life, written in the twelfth century, as has been sufficiently shown Prior Commentary, no. 3., and also in the last chapters of the Life composed in that same century by Robert of Shrewsbury.

[7] then in the 13th and 14th centuries; The church of Haliwelle at least from the year 1240 was given to the monks of the neighboring monastery of Basingwerk: for it is listed in a charter given in that year, by which David son of Llewelyn, Prince of North Wales, granted or confirmed many possessions to that monastery Monast. Anglic., vol. V, p. 263.. The monks of Basingwerk held it up to the year 1537, in which year their monastery was suppressed by King Henry VIII Thomas, Diocese of St. Asaph, p. 467.. For the rest, that the concourse to the sacred well and the fame of miracles persevered in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries is attested by Ranulph Higden in these little verses, in which, as we noted above P. 705, end of annot. g., a peculiar tradition is reported of the punishment divinely inflicted on the slayer Caradoc and his posterity:

At Basingwerk a spring arises That is commonly enough spoken of, And it gushes with such great bubbling That it soon throws back what is thrown in; It brings forth so great a stream That it suffices for Wales. The sick who offer their entreaties Bear back remedies. Stones spotted with red You will find in its sources, In token of the sacred blood Which the severed throat Of the virgin Winifred poured forth. He who committed this crime, And his sons and little grandsons, Bark like the whelps of dogs, Until they ask the saint's suffrage At this little spring, Or at the city of Shrewsbury, Where she rests today Polychronicon, vol. I (1865 ed.), p. 428..

[8] [and the same for the 15th century is proved by the indulgences granted by Pope Martin V, by the solemn feast of St. Winifred instituted by the archbishop of Canterbury, by the liberalities of princes] At the beginning of the fifteenth century Martin V, Roman Pontiff, at the entreaty of Henry V, king of England, and of the monks of Basingwerk, granted indulgences to those visiting the sacred well Pennant, Tours in Wales, vol. I, p. 51. At the same time Henry Chichele, archbishop of Canterbury, ordered the feast of St. Winifred to be celebrated in his whole province by a constitution given in the year 1415; in which the following is read: Henry, etc., to our venerable brother… bishop of London, greeting… To these things by the authority of the said provincial council we decree, and also by these presents establish, that the feasts of Saints David and Chad, bishops, and of Winifred, virgin, be henceforth celebrated throughout our aforesaid province in their times, namely of St. David on the first, of St. Chad on the second days of March, and of Winifred on the third day of November, with ruling of the choir and nine lessons, in all perpetual times to come. Commanding you, our venerable fellow-brother, by the tenor of these presents, and firmly enjoining you, that you henceforth solemnly celebrate the aforesaid feasts each year, as is set forth, and cause them to be solemnly celebrated throughout your city and diocese by clergy as well as laity in the manner set forth above. We also will and command that you, by your letters, on our authority and that of the said council, enjoin and command our fellow-brothers and fellow-bishops, the suffragans of the church of Canterbury, all and each, whom we also in like manner enjoin and command, that each of them solemnly celebrate the same feasts, as is set forth above, each year, and cause them to be solemnly celebrated throughout their cities and dioceses in the manner set forth above, in perpetual times to come, by the clergy and people… [Labbe, Concil., vol. XII, p. 295. From this supply what was said above, Prior Commentary, middle of no. 37.]. An indication of devotion toward St. Winifred at that time is also the fact that in the year 1439 Isabella, countess of Warwick, widow of Richard Beauchamp, is read to have given a precious garment to St. Winifred, with which, as may be conjectured, the saint's image might be clothed on the chief solemnities Pennant, vol. cited, p. 44.. There was added also royal liberality. In the time, namely, of King Richard III (in 1483 – 1485), as is established from the account books still preserved, ten marks were paid each year from the royal treasury for the support and stipend of a priest at the oratory of St. Winifred Harleian Mss., nos. 433, 438 (cited ibid.).

[9] and especially the illustrious building over its Finally, as that same century was drawing toward its end, the well was adorned with that splendid building which we described above No. 5.. Yet what you may wonder at not a little, no record of the illustrious work and its authors is found in the written documents of that time: source, erected; whence when and by whom it was built may be determined to some extent only from the coats of arms with which the vaulting of the portico is decorated. Since most of these show the emblem of the noble house of Stanley (a wolf's head), Pennant Vol. cited, p. 42. and Lewis Dict. of Wales, under Holywell. thought that the building is owed to the piety of this family; and since on two larger shields See p. 735, plate II, on the left. there are represented, on the one a wolf's head encircled with a garter, on the other a barrel from which rises a green shoot, which are manifestly to be referred to William Stanley, earl of Chester and knight of the order named of the Garter, and his wife Elizabeth Hopton, they gathered from this that the structure was erected before the year 1495, in which year namely William Stanley underwent the sentence of death. Others, however, have affirmed that Margaret, countess of Richmond, mother of Henry VII, erected the building about the year 1490 Thomas, St. Asaph., p. 469; Foley, Records, vol. IV, p. 531.: and indeed, in the inner entrance, on a stone set into the wall, there are to be seen carved images of the heads of Margaret and her husband See above, no. 5, about the end., and on one of the small shields hanging from the vault a dragon and a greyhound, by which the insignia of the royal house of that time are indicated Pennant, vol. cited, p. 43., and moreover the whole lower portico displays in its architectural style, as they say, a wonderful resemblance to that celebrated chapel, which is usually called of Henry VII, in Westminster church. But on another shield too See p. 735, plate II, on the right., over which a royal crown is set, there are to be seen carved three pomegranates, which are the insignia of Catherine, that unhappy wife of Henry VIII Pennant, p. 42.. Whence finally we are led to suppose that the building was completed through the efforts not of one but of several noble benefactors, all of whom lived at the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century.

[10] [finally for the 16th century the testimony of Thomas Goldwell, bishop of St. Asaph.] That in the sixteenth century the concourse of the people and the fame of miracles at the sacred well did not diminish is shown by a splendid witness brought forward by Baronius, Thomas Goldwell, the last Catholic bishop of St. Asaph, who in the year 1558, when Elizabeth took the kingdom, was driven into exile, sat in the Council of Trent in the year 1562, and thereafter lived for the most part at Rome and died there in the year 1581 Thomas, Diocese of St. Asaph, p. 225.. Of him, then, Baronius says in the Notes to the Roman Martyrology at the 3rd of November: The things described in those same Acts (of St. Winifred) about the perennial spring and the miracles wont to take place there, I have received as greater than these from a most faithful eyewitness, the Most Rev. Lord Thomas, bishop of St. Asaph, suffragan of the Roman Pontiff in the performance of episcopal functions, conspicuous for holiness of life, confession of the faith and learning, recently taken from among men at Rome to the grief of all the best people. The same bishop obtained from the Supreme Pontiff that the indulgences granted by Martin V be confirmed Pennant, vol. cited, p. 51. and, as may be believed, also increased.

§ III. On the mission of the Society of Jesus at Holywell and the Residence of St. Winifred up to the present day.

A devout pilgrimage by Fr. Henry Garnet Of the history of devotion toward the well of St. Winifred and of the church dedicated under her name at Holywell from the beginning of the eighteenth century we now have more documents, [made in the year 1605 to the well of St. Winifred, not a few noblemen and matrons accompanying him.] especially in the Annual Letters and other records of the history of the English province of the Society of Jesus. For the Fathers of the Society in that century and thereafter up to our own times held the principal spiritual care of the Catholics in the town of Holywell and the surrounding places. The first record of this kind we find in a letter of the illustrious herald of the Catholic faith and martyr Fr. Henry Garnet, written on the 28th day of the month of August in the year 1605: in which he reports that, having been most keenly hunted by the royal officers, when he could now find no place of refuge where he could stay in safety, he spent the greatest part of the summer in making a journey to visit the sacred well of St. Winifred, and both in going and returning from time to time stayed some days hidden in the houses of certain friends, where, as far as the bitterness of the persecution allowed, he strengthened the faithful by preaching the divine word and administering the sacraments H. Foley, Records of the english province S. J., vol. IV, p. 62.. On this journey he had as companions both another father of the Society and certain other men and matrons, as is gathered from the confession of James Garvey, once a servant in the house of the nobleman * Everard Digby: who, namely, judicially examined, indicated that his mistress in the month of August of the year 1605 undertook a pilgrimage to the well of St. Winifred with Lady Vaux and the priests Darcy and Fisher (under which names Frs. Garnet and Percy were hiding: for the men of the Society were wont to assume false names of this kind, that they might more easily escape the hands of the persecutors) and some others Ibid., vol. I, p. 528.. The same was confessed of himself by Everard Digby, concerning whom a document of the year 1623, now kept in the archive at London, says: The nobleman Everard Digby confesses that he went on pilgrimage to the well of St. Winifred with Darcy and Fisher, in a company of thirty horsemen in all Meyrick, p. 57.. About the same time, or a little before, there took place the miraculous healing of Fr. Edward Oldcorne, who ended his life by an illustrious martyrdom in the same year as Fr. Henry Garnet, 1606, a few days before him: of which healing mention will recur below, among the miracles.

[12] Apostolic labors there of Fr. John Bennett up to the year 1625. Shortly after, Fr. John Bennett, alias Price, now had a more stable seat at Holywell, who may be called the first founder of this mission. Of him the records of the Society report the following. He was born in the parish of Combe, near Holywell, about the year 1550. As a young man he was taught profane and sacred letters at Douai and was ordained priest there. Then, returning to his homeland, he carried out the sacred ministries as a secular priest with the greatest zeal, confirming Catholics in the faith and bringing back many heretics to the true Church, until in the year 1582 or 1583 he was captured, and after the troubles of a most dire prison and the twice-repeated torments of the rack bravely borne, he was driven into exile with thirty other priests on the 24th of September in the year 1584. Then he betook himself to Rheims: where, having obtained with the greatest longing admission to the Society of Jesus, he began his novitiate at Verdun on the day

6th of September of the following year, and after four years, although the royal judges had uttered sharp threats in the sentence by which they proclaimed his exile, that he would suffer the punishments of traitors if ever he returned to England, nevertheless, spurning all dangers, he obtained his return from his superiors. Thereafter he spent thirty-five whole years in increasing the number and fervor of Catholics, taking care especially of the poorer and humbler at Holywell. Finally in the year 1625, the seventy-fifth of his age, hearing that a most atrocious plague was raging at London, he begged his superiors with most urgent entreaty that he be sent there to help those infected by the contagion, and in the exercise of heroic charity, himself seized by the pestilent disease, he passed to a better life in that same year, on the day of Christ's birth [Math. Tanner, Societas Jesu apostolorum imitatrix, pp. 564 – 567; Foley, Records, vol. IV, pp. 498 – 516.].

[13] A royal judge, the concourse to the sacred well, Fr. John Bennett was succeeded about the year 1625 at Holywell by Fr. Humphrey Evans, alias Brown, who presided over the mission for six years Foley, vol. V, pp. 936, 937.. How great at that time was the throng of Catholics flocking to the sacred well, and how keenly their adversaries tried to repress it, is shown by three letters of John Bridgeman, the chief judge for the king in those parts, written in English to the king's privy council, which are themselves now kept at London in the public archive Published ibid., vol. IV, pp. 534, 535.. We set these, rendered into Latin, before the eyes of readers. The first is framed in these words: To the Right Honorable Lords of His Royal Majesty's Privy Council. Right Honorable Lords, according to the command of your lordships which was notified to me by your honorable lordships in the month of April last past, I have done what I could to hinder the concourse of those of wrong opinion in religion to the well of St. Winifred in the county of Flint, both by ordering those at whose houses strangers lodge to disclose their names to the justices of the peace * residing in the neighborhood, and by setting guards at the well. These things were so effective that, as I found when I inquired into the matter at the last solemn assembly of the county, whereas before great crowds of men and women used to flock there in summertime for pilgrimage, among whom were not a few of the nobler condition, and even, as is reported, Mass was celebrated there, nothing of the kind has been noted this summer…

J. Brydgeman.

Pole, in the county of Montgomery, on the 28th of October 1626.

[14] which nevertheless was very remarkable in the year 1629, But that the chief judge was deluded when he supposed that the concourse of the devout to the sacred well would now cease is attested by the following paper, which lacks a signature but seems to have been sent by that same man, inscribed thus: List of the papists and priests who assembled at the well of St. Winifred on the feast of St. Winifred in the year 1629. The Most Noble Lord William Howard; the Most Noble Lord of Shrewsbury ; the nobleman * Thom. Jarrett Gerard, the nobleman William Norris, the nobleman Cuthbert Clifton; D. Preston of Manneriis, D. Anderton of Lostocke, D. Westbie of Westbie, D. Anderton of Clerton Clayton, D. Anderton of Foarste, D. Jarrett Gerard of Ince, D. Bradshaw of Haye Haigh Hall, D. Harrington of Heigletonhye, D. Blundell of Crosbie, D. Scarisbricke of Scarisbricke, the nobleman John Talbot of Bashshaw, D. Latham of Mosborow and his five brothers, who are all priests; the most noble lady * Foakeland Falkland, and with her D. Everard, priest; D. Price and D. Cleiton, priests … with very many other men and matrons of noble condition from various regions, to the number of one thousand four or five hundred, among whom nearly one hundred and fifty priests, most of whom are well known.

[15] striving in every way to hinder, And so the English magistrates judged that they must now act with greater force. Of the new counsels which he had conceived in his mind the same chief judge John Bridgeman thus writes: To the Right Honorable Lords of the Royal Privy Council. Right Honorable Lords, according to the command of your lordships enjoined on me on the 9th of the month of December last past, by which I was ordered in every way to hinder the pilgrimages to Holywell, and in due time to render an account of what I had done in this matter, and also to indicate to your lordships if any of nobler condition or dignity were indulging this superstition, I have written back to the justices of the peace who reside in the neighborhood of the well, and have commanded them: 10 to remove any inns that do not seem necessary, because in houses of this kind pilgrims are more easily received; 2° to compel all innkeepers, victuallers and the rest of that class of men at whose houses strangers are accustomed to lodge to write down the names and domiciles of those who lodge with them and faithfully to report on these at the greater assemblies of the county; 3° to take care that guard be diligently kept at the well in those seasons of the year in which pilgrims have been accustomed to flock to it, that is, in spring and summer. These are the things that I have judged can be provided for the present, until I myself am able to betake myself there. I shall go, God willing, in the week after next Easter. Then I shall inspect the place and carry out whatever counsel seems best, either by closing off the source of the spring with walls, where I hear that superstition is carried out, or by any other means that seems more effective for fulfilling the commands which His Royal Majesty has deigned to notify to me.

Jo. Brydgeman.

Ludlow, on the 3rd of February 1636.

[16] he himself and the executors of his commands experience divine vengeance. What he had purposed in his mind the judge soon carried out in deed; but not even then was a showing of divine omnipotence lacking, to confound the efforts of the wicked. Both are taught us by a page written, as it seems, at that very time and transmitted to our predecessors, and inserted with other documents on St. Winifred in a codex now of the Royal Library at Brussels marked no. 8072. That page is framed in Latin in these words:

Declaration of the things that took place concerning the well of St. Winifred, confirmed by the authority of Sir John Bridgman, knight, chief Justice of Chester. In the year of the Lord 1637.

In the first place the said Sir John Bridgeman at the great assizes of Flint in April 1637 drew up and published a mandate to the churchwardens of the parish of St. Winifred, that they should remove the ironwork that was around the well and deface the image of St. Winifred, and at the same time prohibit the lodgings and inns except two, and also examine all guests flocking there and bring their names to him at the next great assizes; and he ordered this to be entered on the roll by the officers of the county. William Jones and William ap Hugh, the churchwardens appointed in that year, in virtue of the same mandate and at the instigation of various malicious Protestants, and especially of a certain Rice Jones, brother of the aforesaid William Jones, as is affirmed by various keen Protestants, the aforesaid William Jones being also himself vehemently inclined to this, ordered the ironwork to be torn from the well, though certain noblemen endowed with authority and the whole aforesaid parish begged against it: to whom William ap Hugh would have assented, had not William Jones said that even if the whole parish should indemnify him, yet he would not assent to the ironwork's remaining. The aforesaid Rice Jones vehemently urged his brother to it, and was close by when the ironwork was torn away, and uttered insulting words about the saints and in derogation of St. Winifred.

At the assizes on the feast of St. Michael 1637, the Judge demanded an account of the said mandate, and it was reported to him that the ironwork had been removed and the image covered over with lime, although it took no impression; and because the innkeepers were not ready to report the names of those who had come to the well, he imposed a money fine on them: which was carried out, as I have understood.

The aforesaid Judge, for certain, died the following January of the disease that is called Miserere, voiding his excrement through his mouth for three days.

The aforesaid Rice Jones lost the use of one side of his body at the time the ironwork was removed, and so went on languishing until the following February, and so he died, although he was a robust man of forty years.

The aforesaid William Jones on the Wednesday of Holy Week lost his house, which was reduced to ashes, though he had no idea at all from where the fire had come there: which was so fierce that it consumed the whole house, which was fifty or sixty feet long, within * the space of half an hour. At the same instant, while his servants were ploughing two miles from there, the beasts stopped, so that they could not be moved from the spot even by a finger's breadth, neither by him who held the plough-handle nor by him who drove the oxen: so that they were forced to unyoke them and to go home, which they found recently burned.

Various learned and grave Protestants report all this:

who, although they were formerly keen against the saints, now say that they are unwilling in future to touch the saints or anything that pertains to them.

[17] A Residence of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus, after some opposition From this the Catholics seem to have taken greater courage. For about the year 1642 there was discussion among them about furnishing a spacious house for receiving those who resorted to the sacred well. The author of that plan was a certain nobleman, rich and devout, who also undertook to furnish the expense for carrying it out: he likewise indicated to the fathers of the Society that that house would always be open to them. But those among the Catholics who were of less favorable opinion toward the Society intervened by every means, affirming that the Protestants would conceive great offense from it; and they even worked with the public magistrates that the matter should not be brought to effect, and went so far as to declare to them that a lodging was being prepared intended as a college of Jesuits. The works already begun were therefore interrupted; yet a quite ample room was built, which, when the more solemn judicial sessions (they call them assizes) were held in the town in the course of that same year, was granted at the request of the chief judge for transacting them, and it was noted, not without wonder and fear, that certain of those who had so keenly opposed the building of the house were brought there to be judged, guilty of capital crimes. These things are taken from the Annual Letters of the English province of the S. J. for 1642 – 1643 In Foley, Records, vol. IV, pp. 535 – 536..

[18] established at Holywell, That nobleman, whose name those letters do not indicate, seems to have been George Petre: who nevertheless did not cease to carry out through himself and his kinsmen what he had conceived in his mind about establishing a residence of the Society at Holywell. For among the papers formerly kept in the Catholic presbytery of the town of Holywell, but now in the presbytery at Hornby See ibid., p. 530 and p. 333, note., a paper was found in which, under the heading On the Star inn * at Holywell, it is reported

that by a twofold agreement entered into in the year 1639 certain fields with a house and adjacent garden were purchased by George Petre of Greenfield in the county of Flint; and afterwards, in the year 1669, that Anne, wife of George, and Thomas James of Greenfield bought from Thomas Davenport, innkeeper, a house with a garden next to the inn that had the Star as its sign; and finally that this possession was granted by the same Anne Petre to William Vavasour and George Walker Ibid., p. 530.. Now among the English members at that time there are found a priest named William Vavasour Ibid., vol. VII, p. 796. and a temporal coadjutor named George Walker Ibid., p. 804.. Whence, and because a Residence of the Society was soon established in that same house See below, nos. 23, 24., it is rightly gathered that those properties were purchased by the illustrious spouses George and Anne for the purpose of placing Fathers of the Society there.

[19] at least from the year 1670, And this appears the more probable in that in that very year 1670 the mission of North Wales, which until then had been subject with the rest of Wales to the College of St. Francis Xavier, was ordered now to be of its own right and to have its own superior under the name of the Residence of St. Winifred, and the town of Holywell was assigned to it as its chief seat, and as the region to be cultivated North Wales with the county of Shropshire; it used to be designated in the letters of the fathers by the assumed name of Mrs. North Wales or Mrs. Flint . We have from the catalogues of the old English province the series of superiors of the Residence, carried from the year 1670 down to the year 1773 [Foley, vol. VII, pp. XCII – CXXXVIII, passim. On the same men, whose names are indicated in the cited catalogues, see Collectanea (biographical) of the S. J. arranged in alphabetical order, ibid., pp. 1 – 878, passim.]. The number of members, according to the same catalogues, never exceeded eight, and from time to time fell to two or even one.

[20] [and in the year 1688 made more stable by the royal liberality of James II and Mary his wife,] Of that Residence the Annual Letters of the year 1672 say: The Residence of St. Winifred was inhabited by six fathers, through whose efforts thirty-five heretics were brought back to the Catholic Church… In the year 1673: The five fathers of this Residence gathered a copious harvest of souls. Conversions to the Catholic faith are counted as fifty-two… Foley, vol. IV, p. 527.. The Letters of the year 1688, written in the year 1690, after they have treated of the town of Welshpool, which pertained to the Residence of St. Winifred, proceed thus: There is another town, called Holywell, which has received its name from the celebrated well of St. Winifred. This place in summertime is frequented in great numbers by devout pilgrims, who flock there even from remote parts of England because of the continual healings of infirmities which God deigns to work marvellously at the well. There exists there an old and very beautiful chapel, concerning the right of administering which a dispute arose, the Fathers of the Residence of St. Winifred claiming it for themselves by concession of the queen, in whose power it was said to be; while on the other side the fame of the place was such that certain men of the secular clergy vehemently protested that it was due to them. They, understanding that the queen was more inclined to the former missionaries of the Residence, requested the intercession of a nobleman living in this region, who favored their petition as to the right of patronage over the aforesaid chapel. The matter was therefore referred by the king (James II) and the queen to the lawful judges; and these deciding in favor of the queen, it pleased their royal majesties to hand over the chapel into the hands of the Fathers. And since the place had until then been assigned to holding assemblies and other profane uses, the king, when he went for devotion's sake to that well, over which the chapel stands, gave to the Father who lived there about one hundred and forty crowns (nearly thirty English pounds) for adorning it and fitting it for sacred uses: which was done with great increase of piety. But now (in the year 1690) it has again been restored to its former uses [Ibid., vol. V, pp. 934 – 935. Where there is also reported a letter of Queen Mary to the nobleman Roger Mostyn, by which she orders the possession of the place to be handed over to Fr. Thomas (or Roderick) Roberts, at that time superior of the Residence of St. Winifred (ibid., vol. VIII, pp. C, CIII).]. That devout pilgrimage of King James to the sacred well is said to have been made on the 29th of August in the year 1688, and on that occasion there was given to him there the shift which covered his grandmother Mary Stuart on the very day on which she was beheaded Pennant. Tours in Wales, vol. I, p. 52..

[21] yet soon for some time by storms of persecution But this prosperous face of affairs was soon turned into mourning. For King James II, in that very year 1688, being compelled by a conspiracy of Protestants to give up the kingdom, popular fury flamed up anew against the Catholics, nor was the Residence of St. Winifred free from it. For, as the same Annual Letters of the year 1688 report, treating of Fr. Roderick Roberts, in that year, after the departure of the king, a crowd of common people, roused by false rumors, burst into his house, plundered it and the chapel, dragged an image of the crucified insultingly through the streets with a rope tied to its feet, and burned it in the public market-place together with the books that had been found in the house. Meanwhile the Father, nowhere safe enough, ran here and there, forced to spend his life now in half-ruined huts, on the highest ridges of mountains, now in ditches and woods under the open sky for the sake of hiding. For two whole years he kept watch for a great part of the summer at night in the open fields, and yet, such is the providence of God, his health took no harm from it. Often too he was on the point of falling into the hands of his pursuers, but always, God with the holy virgin protecting him, he escaped [Foley, vol. V, pp. 943 – 944; F. Lythgoe, Mission of Holywell in Letters and notices, vol. V (Roehampton 1868), p. 256.].

[22] harried, The wretched condition of the Residence in those times is shown by what is read of it in the account books of the temporal affairs of the English missions of the S. J.; namely: In the year 1690… Residence of St. Winifred. Two Fathers, one temporal coadjutor. Two of these have been cast into chains and are still held in prison Foley, vol. VII, p. CLIII.. — In the year 1693… Residence of St. Winifred. Two Fathers, one coadjutor: whom long custody in prison and most savage dangers have ennobled. It has been able to receive nothing from its revenues. A sum of 4502 crowns (or about 960 English pounds) is owed to it by Catholics, who because of the bitterness of the times are unable to pay Ibid., p. CLVI.. — In the year 1696… Residence of St. Winifred. Two Fathers. The same things are repeated about the prisons and troubles by which they have been tried. One of the fathers escaped from the hands of the persecutors, but from what he suffered in that escape he contracted a grave infirmity. Temporal affairs were still very straitened Ibid., p. CLVII..

[23] even after Nor did persecution altogether cease at the beginning of the eighteenth century. the suppression of the Society For, as is read in a letter written by Fr. Edmund Plowden, alias Gage, on the 1st of August in the year 1718, The commissioners then holding their sessions at Preston sent a troop of horsemen, under the leadership of the apostate priest Hitchinore, to the town of Holywell, who there plundered both oratories of the Catholics. It fell to the Star See following no. to place most of its goods in safety in time. A certain old man, Mr. Wilmot, was seized at the Cross Keys See ibid., but soon, bail being paid, was released Foley, vol. IV, p. 529.. Thereafter it was possible to enjoy quieter times; nor, apart from a number of miracles Of which we shall speak in the following §., have I found anything very remarkable among the Collectanea of the English province concerning the Residence of St. Winifred up to the year 1773. After the suppression of the Society of Jesus in that year, its colleges and residences in England were not dissolved, but by permission of the vicars apostolic they remained under the care of the Fathers who were then inhabiting them: the same men for a space of many years thereafter had as superior Fr. Thomas More, who at the time of the suppression of the Society held the office of Provincial of England Foley, vol. VII, p. CLXIX.. And so the Fathers of the Residence of St. Winifred also, who according to the catalogue of the year 1773 were only two in number, Fr. Michael Moseley, superior of the Residence, and Fr. Ignatius Tyrer, stayed on in the town of Holywell, devoting themselves to the priestly ministry until their deaths. Fr. Moseley departed this life there in the year 1777, in the fifty-eighth year of his age; and Fr. Tyrer in the year 1798, in the sixty-fifth year of his age Ibid., p. 932.. But meanwhile there was appointed in place of Fr. Michael, Edward Wright, who, received into the Society in the year 1768, in the seventeenth year of his age, in that very year 1777 or shortly after settled at Holywell, and died there, after he had again taken vows in the restored Society, in the year 1826, in the seventy-fourth year of his age Lythgoe, l. c., p. 257..

[24] it lasted These two fathers, Ignatius Tyrer and Edward Wright, are surely indicated by Thomas Pennant, where he says: In the town of Holywell there are to be seen … two oratories of the Catholics. By the revenues of the one a secular priest or parish priest is supported, by the other some priest formerly of the Order of Jesuits. Each benefice is endowed with fields which trustees administer. Their houses were formerly as it were inns assigned, as it seems, to receiving pilgrims of the nobler sort. The one had as its sign the Cross Keys, the other the Star History of Whitford and Holywell (1795), cited in Foley, vol. IV, p. 529..

[25] up to our own times; its present condition. These houses adjoined one another. In place of the one that was called the Star there have been built the present presbytery and the oratory of the Catholics dedicated in the year 1832 under the title of St. Winifred, in which there is an elegant altar adorned with a stone statue and a particle of the relics of the illustrious virgin See above, Prior Commentary, no. 35.. The one that was known by the name of the Cross Keys was sold in the year 1802 and the chapel destroyed; but afterwards, purchased again by Catholics, nearly twenty-five years ago, through the efforts of Fr. Maurice Mann, S. J., at that time parish priest of the Catholics at Holywell, it was adapted as a hospice for the poor who come to the well of St. Winifred for the sake of devout pilgrimage, and a dwelling for nuns of the Congregation of St. Paul of Charity (now nine in number), who also have the care of the hospice and teach children religion and the elements of letters. In that hospice the poor are received from the month of May to November, on these conditions, that they be furnished with a letter of commendation from their parish priest and pay a daily contribution of six English pence, which the liberality of the richer generally supplies. The devout work is sustained by voluntary contributions, which

His Holiness Pope Pius IX deigned to foster with his apostolic blessing, which he conferred on the benefactors by adding his signature to a petition presented by Fr. Maurice Mann, in these words: Most Blessed Father. — There is in Wales, a Principality of England, a sanctuary of St. Winifred in which, through the intercession of this saint, copious graces are obtained from the Lord; and therefore there is a most frequent concourse of the faithful to that place from various parts of England. So that devotion toward this saint and the salvation of the faithful flocking there may be provided for and fostered in a better way, the missionary who has the spiritual care of the aforesaid sanctuary, with the assent and at the urging of the Most Reverend Ordinary of the place, intends to build and found a hospice for the poor flocking there, and for that end has already collected several alms. So that this foundation may turn the better to the glory of God and the exaltation of our religion, the same missionary begs at the feet of Your Holiness that you deign to impart the apostolic blessing to this devout work and to all who bring help to accomplish it. Which grace, etc. On the 23rd day of Dec. 1861.

May God bless you and direct your hearts and your understandings in all things.

PIUS PP. IX Foley, vol. IV, p. 529 and vol. VII, p. 936..

* Sir

* Justices of peace

* Lord

* Shrewsburie

Sir

* Mr.

* Lady

* minori quam?

* The Star Inn

* Mrs. Northwales

* Mrs. Flint

§ IV. Miracles wrought by the intercession of St. Winifred in the 17th and 18th centuries.

I. The healing of Fr. Edward Oldcorne, S. J., about the year 1600. We come now to the miracles which are reported to have been obtained from God through the intercession of St. Winifred and at her well. The older ones, namely those that took place before the writing of each of the Lives of the holy virgin, we have presented above together with these Lives Pp. 706 – 708 and pp. 724 – 726.: which indeed are not asserted on such indications as of themselves demand full credence, yet may be the more easily believed because similar things, especially as regards the curing of the sick [As to the punishments of the sacrilegious, however, see above, no. 16, and below, no. 30.], have been granted in more recent times, confirmed by suitable testimonies. The series of these begins from the first years of the seventeenth century: for we have found no particulars handed down to memory from the end of the twelfth century up to the end of the sixteenth, although indeed through that whole space of time the well of St. Winifred did not cease to be held famous for miracles See above, nos. 7 – 10.. First in order of time, then, there occurs the healing of Fr. Edward Oldcorne of the Society of Jesus, who was afterwards killed out of hatred of the Catholic faith in the year 1806, which the distinguished historian of the Society Fr. Mathias Tanner reports in these words Societas Jesu usque ad sanguinis profusionem militans, p. 63.: Among these things (labors endured for the salvation of souls), raging against himself almost savagely and beyond what was right with fasts, hair-shirt, scourges and vigils, he ruptured a vein of the chest by excessive strain, and, the trouble never afterwards being sufficiently cured, he constantly brought up copious blood. There was added to the extreme weakness of body, by which he was at times scarcely able to stand on his feet, a trouble clinging persistently to his palate, very like gangrene. Since no medical power could break this off, he had recourse to the virgin St. Winifred. There is held there in the region of Wales a celebrated little spring sacred to the holy martyr, bursting forth in that very place where the virgin's severed head had fallen. While the Father, a pilgrimage having been undertaken, made his way to it, and, the sacrifice of the Mass having been offered, implored help with great confidence, suddenly all the trouble was taken away and he fully recovered, having used no other remedy than the application, to the incurable sore, of a little stone marked with blood-red spots, of which alone that little spring carries down.

[27] [Other healings, made certain by the solemn declaration of witnesses, which heretics undeservedly attribute to the natural power of cold water; namely] The following miracles Nos. 28 – 37. have been preserved for our memory, at the end of the often-cited little book on the Life of St. Winifred P. 139 ff., by Fr. Philip Leigh, alias Layton, alias Metcalf or Medcalfe: who, since he devoted himself to the apostolic ministry in the Residence of St. Winifred from about the year 1700 and was superior of that Residence at least from the year 1714 to the year 1716, in which year or the next he passed to those above at Holywell, in the sixty-seventh year of his age Foley, vol. V, pp. 661 – 664 and vol. VII, p. CXV and p. 449., carefully collected what could contribute to increasing devotion toward St. Winifred. And he prefixed this declaration to his narrative Life of St. Wenefride, p. 138.: The marvellous cures of infirmities obtained at the well of St. Winifred seem to unbelievers and Protestants to have no other cause than the efficacy of the cold bath, long known from experience. To the greater honor of God, who has deigned to honor that saint in a wonderful way, I shall report a number of more recent miracles, and leave it to the truly Christian reader to judge whether these are to be ascribed to the natural power of cold water. Nor shall I go farther back than the last century, lest anyone contradict by saying that many things are asserted distant by a long age which a sound mind rightly refuses to admit, though it cannot show them false. I have before my eyes, as I write this, authentic testimonies and, except that it has seemed good here and there to contract certain things for brevity's sake, since they are recorded with excessive prolixity of speech as regards their circumstances, I shall report them in the very words of the witnesses. And those witnesses, notable for reverence for truth and probity of conduct, were present at the events, and some of them also handed in their attestation signed by their own hand.

[28] II. Of Roger Bodenham, in the year 1606; In the year of the Lord one thousand six hundred and six, the nobleman Roger Bodenham, knight of the most illustrious order called of the Bath, after he had been most troublesomely attacked by a quartan fever, suffered in a leg excessively filled with morbid humors; which humors afterwards were so raised that from then on a disease quite similar to leprosy arose. He called in many skilled physicians; but he trusted most in Doctor John David Rhes, a Welshman, who, having completed his studies with the doctor's laurel at Siena, after he had both taught the art of medicine at Padua and practised it in several places in Italy, had at length returned to England to practise medicine. He was in his sixtieth year when the nobleman Roger first desired his counsels for himself. The learned man, having applied in turn whatever medicines either the case could suggest or art could devise, since he had nevertheless neither healed the sick man nor in any way relieved him, advised him to set forth the infirmity of his health before the College of Physicians of London, for the sake of counsel. On this matter Mr. Rhes himself wrote a commentary as faithful as it was learned, which Mr. Thomas Beale, steward of the nobleman Roger's household, carried to London. The London College having therefore been convened and the commentary read aloud, the matter was debated, and Mr. Rhes's considered ways and precepts of healing; all of which, recorded in writing, Mr. Beale had handed to them. Then, in letters written back to the nobleman Roger, the London physicians testified that his physician, in their opinion, had both excellently recognized his disease and applied suitable medicines; that he was indeed a man endowed with outstanding learning, to whom they all readily declared themselves unequal; for he had been the master of nearly all of them. If the way of healing that he had entered upon had profited nothing, there was then no remedy left for him in the nature of things. — The knight was not much pleased by such a letter, which was wholly taken up with commending his physician. But Mr. Rhes, who was attached to the Roman Catholic Church, persuaded the sick man to go to the well of St. Winifred, if perhaps, with the saint as intercessor, he might obtain healing, which could no longer be hoped for from the art of medicine. At the same time he taught him the holiness of the place, and disclosed how many miraculous benefits were wont to be conferred there. Roger, greatly desirous of recovering health, obeyed the counsels of the physician and undertook the harsh journey. And so, having traversed the seventy-eight English miles that lie between Rotherwas and Holywell, when he had immersed himself in the miraculous well, he was so healed and cleansed of every spot and scab as if he were a newborn boy; and he remained continually in this prosperous health… Whence it came about that the same Roger, who at this time was not a Catholic, impelled by that miraculous healing and by other arguments that moved him to embrace the true faith, surrendered to the Catholic truth, giving thanks and pouring out prayers before Almighty God, who had granted him so great a benefit both of soul and of body. Roger himself told the whole course of the matter to his wife and his daughter-in-law, Mary Bodenham, the wife of his elder son. Not a few witnesses were moreover present at the healing, namely the above-named Thomas Beale, William Green and his wife, Richard Bray, John Herley and several other servants of the nobleman Roger Bodenham.

[29] III. Of Joanna Wakeman, in the year 1638, In the year of the Lord one thousand six hundred and thirty-seven, in the month of December, Mrs. Joanna Wakeman, wife of Mr. John Wakeman, of the village of Rougley in the parish of Horsham in the county of Sussex, was afflicted by an ulcer arising in her breasts. All the arts of medicine having been tried, when she experienced no relief or benefit from them, the best surgeons pronounced that, unless the breasts were amputated, there was no way of restoring her health; yet the same men said that they could not give hope that even by this means the sick woman would be healed: for they judged that the ulcerated breast was no longer capable of cure, and that therefore, if anyone should try to amputate it, he might perhaps hasten the death of the noble lady. When they reported these things to the kin of the aforesaid matron, they nevertheless gave her herself good hope; but she, privately advised and no longer attending to their opinion, determined to take refuge in God and to undertake a devout pilgrimage to the well of St. Winifred in the county of Flint. And so in the month of June of the year one thousand six hundred and thirty-eight she set out from London, accompanied by her husband and his brother Mr. Richard Wakeman, and a certain Mr. Francis Nash. At that very time, under the nipple of her left breast, there lay open two great fissures, which Protestants as well as Catholics saw. And when she reached a place in the county of Worcester which is called Beeley, the sick woman left behind there all plasters and poultices, since, placing firm faith and hope in the mercy of Almighty God and the prayers of the blessed virgin Winifred, she thought that she would never again have use of these things. She took with her only linen cloths, with which to wipe and restore her breast; for so great an abundance of pus burst out from it that, finding any way, it even ran down as far as the sick woman's shoes. But as soon as the sick woman first

was immersed in the well of the town of Holywell, the fluid that was flowing from her breasts immediately stopped. Then, though she spent no more than one night there, she yet went down into the well three times; and from that very time up to the day of her death, which took place five years afterwards, she suffered neither pain nor wound in her breast, nor did any trace of the wound remain, except for a certain slight scar, which marked the place where the fissures of the wounded breast had once closed by a miracle. The same woman afterwards bore three children, and yet in the course of nursing she experienced not the least trouble from that breast which had before been ulcerated. All this Mr. Wakeman reported in writing: who, in perpetual memory of this benefit, committed to letters not this only, but also the following event together with it.

[30] meanwhile an impious reviler of the blessed virgin divinely fined, In the year of the Lord one thousand six hundred and thirty, while the aforesaid Mr. Wakeman was staying at Holywell, he saw a man lying dead beside the well; which good-for-nothing, on the day before, in the presence of him and others who had come there for the sake of sacred pilgrimage, had greatly mocked and insulted Blessed Winifred, who bore a glorious martyrdom for the preservation of her chastity. The justice therefore having been called and arbitrators taken from selected citizens (most of whom, if not all, it cannot be doubted were Protestants), after the corpse had been inspected, and a serious consultation held on this matter, at length a verdict was given in these words: By the just judgment of God this man died, because he behaved dishonorably toward this place.

[31] likewise other violators of the sacred well; It is permitted here to mention in passing also those who in the year one thousand six hundred and thirty-seven commanded that the image of St. Winifred be defaced and that the iron bars be removed on which the devout faithful leaned, lest they be swept away by the headlong force of the water. For both those who, though many Protestants of moderate spirit disapproved, had ordered this to be done, and all who had carried out the orders, were a little later punished with unusual misfortunes and calamities, to the terror of the rest See above, no. 16..

[32] IV. of a sick woman situated far from the well, in the year 1647; The chief miracles of this kind were wrought at the very well of St. Winifred. But there does not seem to be a passing over in silence of a certain sick woman, who, although she was far away from the well, was yet relieved of her disease, to the praise of St. Winifred. In the month, namely, of June of the year one thousand six hundred and forty-seven, the wife of Mr. John Clec, a gardener in the suburb of the city of Worcester, undertook a journey on foot to Holywell, to find hoped-for relief for the troublesome ill health by which she was then seized. She, making for the county of Flint by way of Kidderminster, when she had turned aside at that place to her cousin, Mr. Anthony Cooke, and was refreshing herself there with food, told him why she was undertaking that journey, and prolonged the talk about Holywell with him in many words. Now another woman heard everything, who, weakened by twisted limbs and already for six or seven continuous years held to her bed, was lying in the next room. For the aforesaid Cooke, who practised weaving, had received that poor little woman into his house, to be supported at the public expense of his parish. When therefore the devout traveller was now bidding farewell to her cousin and preparing to go on with the journey she had begun, the bedridden woman suppliantly begged that an opportunity be given her of speaking to her. This being granted, she implored her by the sorrows of Christ to carry for her to Holywell one penny, which she handed her, and to give it to the first poor person she met, with this humble prayer attached, that the poor person would deign to immerse himself in the well for her and pray that she recover the use of her limbs. This was promised and done. The penny, sent to her well with such faith and devotion, was acceptable to St. Winifred, especially since the poor little woman possessed nothing more to give to the saint. Mrs. Clec, having stayed six or seven days at Holywell, when now returning home and coming to Kidderminster she again turned aside to her cousin, saw with the greatest wonder the formerly twisted woman wholly restored from her infirmity; and when she inquired at what time she had received her health, it was found that on the very day, indeed the very hour, at which that one penny had been given to a poor person at Holywell, the sick woman had risen from her bed and walked in the house and outside the house, to the great wonder of all the inhabitants of the parish. This miraculous change, brought about so far away, can certainly by no means be ascribed to the power of a cold bath. The whole course of the matter, diligently examined, having heard especially those who were present before him and testified to the truth of the fact, Anthony Cooke and Mrs. Clec, was committed to writing with his own hand by Mr. James Bridges, a noble and honorable man, the same who afterwards, when he held the office of chief judge at Worcester, in the year one thousand six hundred and fifty-one, was not afraid to proclaim the name of the king; for which cause he suffered very many things at the hands of the rebels, so that he could scarcely escape the gallows.

[33] V. of Mary Numan, in the year 1666; Mrs. Mary Numan, wife of Mr. John Numan, who was accountant to the nobleman Jeremiah Smith, then captain of one of the warships of the king of England, had from the fifth year of her age been reduced by the vehement attack of fevers to such a weakness of all her limbs that, even in her eighteenth year, she could neither stand nor put her foot to the ground. The bones of her arms too were so moved from their places that the one extended and protruded beyond the other in part; and the bones of her legs, wholly dislocated, stretched several inches above the bones of her thighs. Since she had very distinguished men at the royal court as kinsfolk, she sought their aid, that relief might be brought to her in her wretchedness. With their help she received the opinion of the royal physicians concerning her infirmity; who reported that no natural remedy could be applied to the trouble; and when some time later she had been touched by the king's hand, it did not please God that she be restored to suitable health by this way. Then she spent two summers and one winter using baths rather frequently in the county of Somerset and in other places of England that were more celebrated on account of very many healings, and even at three wells of Scotland; but by these she obtained only one thing, namely that with the greatest difficulty and pain she could crawl a little, resting on her knees. Afterwards she was brought into France, and was immersed there three times in pressed must, and touched by the hand of the Most Christian King at Paris; carried in Flanders to Sichem and other holy places; she stayed eighteen weeks at Aachen; in Holland she used the counsels of a certain Italian prince, who was held to be of most illustrious skill in medicine; in short, brought as far as Portugal to certain baths, — almost all of which pilgrimages she carried out at the royal expense, — yet she experienced no benefit, no change in her weakened and twisted limbs. It must indeed be confessed that she had twice before come to the well of St. Winifred, without being any better; nevertheless she greatly desired to undertake a devout pilgrimage there a third time, by the thought of which she was refreshed in sleep as well as awake. Therefore, about the end of the month of May of the year one thousand six hundred and sixty-six, leaving London, she arrived at Holywell on the Friday after Pentecost, which was the sixth day of June of that same year. And when she went down into the sacred well, at once she felt her bones moving and restored to their place by a certain force; further, with others helping, especially Mrs. Degg of Wolverhampton, who with her relative Mr. Paling and other devout travellers from the county of Stafford was at that time near the well, she began to stand on her feet, which she had not been able to do, her weakness preventing it, for eighteen continuous years; indeed she walked a little in the water. And when on the Sunday sacred to the Most Holy Trinity she had immersed herself in the well for the fifth time, she could thereafter walk with no one's help, and on the following Friday she undertook a journey to Ireland. That miracle was testified to both by the matron herself and by all those named above, before John Hughes of Combes and Robert Price of Ælwyducha, who were present as arbitrators when they signed their testimonies. Now if there were in a cold bath a hidden power which was equal to healing limbs, it would have been altogether useless, after the woman had twice come to it in vain, to try the matter a third time. But she had heard of St. Beuno's prophecy on the fulfilling in that place of the offices of devotion a third time See above, Life II, no. 16, before the middle (p. 716).: and when she had carried them out, she was rewarded with a wonderful healing.

[34] [to which there was added in the same year VI. the marvellous preservation of a certain boy who fell under the wheel of a water-mill;] On the fourth day of April of the year one thousand six hundred and sixty-six, at about the fifth hour of the afternoon, a certain Hugh, son of Thomas Williams, a farmer in the parish of Whitford in the county of Flint, eight years and nine months old, four feet tall in body and with the rest of his limbs in keeping with that stature, while playing like a boy with one of his schoolfellows near a certain workshop, which is near the sacred well, trying to get over the spring with a leap, failed to reach the other side, and about three paces from the great wheel of a water-mill he fell into the water, which in this place is carried with vehement force; and soon he was carried out of sight by the headlong stream. Those who stood by judged that he was perishing, and this not without cause, since besides the fact that he had come into manifest danger of being drowned in the water, it was also altogether to be feared that he would die crushed and dashed to pieces: for between the wheel and the bottom of the channel, which was paved with stones, there was scarcely a space of two inches or English thumbs; and the boy was being carried headlong into the ditch beneath that wheel. His companion, seeing what had happened, who could do nothing to snatch the boy from danger, raised a lamentable cry; vehemently stirred by which, the schoolmaster with fifty of his pupils, all ran down from the school to inquire what was the matter. While the miller and the others who were present were gripped by the same dread, a certain man, William Bowen by name, who was catching fish with a rod four paces on this side of the wheel, saw the boy trying to emerge from the stream and to free himself, and complaining that he had lost his shoes. He was then brought into a certain neighboring house, and a physician was immediately called in, who, when he had attentively examined him, recognized that he was not in the least bruised or discolored, except that around one ankle the skin was somewhat contused; by which thing it was indicated what the worst would have been, had the boy not been preserved by a miracle.

[35] VII. of Cornelius Nicholas, in the year 1674; Cornelius, son of John Nicholas, a man from the parish of Tremaine, which in the county of Cardigan is two English miles distant from the town of Cardigan, seventeen years old, being already bereft of father and mother, together with his aunt placed himself in the service of others. But on the twenty-first day of the month

of December of the year one thousand six hundred and seventy-three, as darkness was already near, he was suddenly seized by a great weakness, and afflicted with such torments from the knees down to the feet that he could neither walk nor stand on his feet. After physicians had applied many remedies, such as plasters and poultices, and had even pierced or cut the flesh down to the bones with knife and probe, and had prolonged these things up to Easter day with no benefit to the sick man, but rather with great harm to him, it was finally decided that he be taken to the well of St. Winifred. But since his kinsfolk were laboring under great poverty, and no other plan could be found, the youth was placed on a bed and bier, and commended from house to house to the charity of good people. Then indeed, such is the outstanding readiness of the Welsh above other nations in helping those pressed by the greatest necessities, when it was learned where and for what end the sick man was to be carried, with many helping, he completed a journey ninety English miles long as far as Holywell. He arrived there on the eleventh day of June, and on the following day very early in the morning he was carried to the well; which was the Friday after Pentecost. And as soon as he was immersed in the water, he immediately felt himself altogether healed, and began to walk both in the well and outside the well; and from then on, to the wonder of all who had before seen his lamentable infirmity, he always enjoyed the best of health.

[36] VIII. Of Roger Whetstone, a man of the sect of the Tremblers, in the year 1667; By no means certainly are true miracles shown more effectively than when those who obstinately denied that they could happen are themselves forced to confess them; further, it is scarcely possible to find a sect that clings more obstinately and fiercely to its errors than that which is commonly called of the Tremblers *. Though these deny that there is any divine efficacy at all in the water of baptism, yet so great was the power of the well of St. Winifred upon Roger Wethstone that, having laid aside his error, he became through holy baptism a devout Catholic. That man, practising the tailor's art at Sidmore, a town in the parish of Bromesgrave in the county of Worcester, and from boyhood attached to the Tremblers by the training of his parents, when he was in his sixtieth year, oppressed by a savage infirmity, was made so weak that he was no longer equal even to bringing food to his mouth. After he had lain in bed for seventeen weeks, the dire torments that had before traversed, so to speak, his whole body, being somewhat relaxed, though he could now rise, yet he was so reduced in strength that he could not set his hand to any work, but, propping his shoulders on staves, he was forced to hold out his hand for alms from door to door. When he had persevered in this wretched state for three years, he was informed by a certain neighbor of his, who came from the county of Flint, that in a certain place of this county, the name of which was St. Winifred's Well, very many weak and sick persons had frequently been restored to health. Learning this, it came into his mind, a better spirit at last persuading him, that the Lord wished to help him in this well; and this thought he embraced with so trusting a spirit that he raised not the least doubt of the outcome. In the year, then, one thousand six hundred and sixty-seven, leaning on his staves, he undertook the journey, accompanied by a girl, his daughter; and after a journey of several days, at the noon hour he arrived at Holywell, on the twenty-eighth day of the month of August of that same year. Yet he could by no means be induced to immerse himself in the well, because he reckoned that it smelled of popery and superstition; but sitting at the edge of the well, he took water from it in a cup and drank it, and soon he was as it were rapt in ecstasy; then returning to himself, he asked for a second cup full of the same water; when he had drunk it, he immediately threw both his staves far from him, and perceived that he had been wonderfully, suddenly and perfectly healed. Then, shedding many tears for joy, he walked around the well. Shortly after, divine grace illuminating his mind and the arguments of the faith having been duly weighed, he gave his name to the Roman Catholic Church, and together with his son, eleven years old, he received the holy sacrament of baptism; for whom most distinguished men of this county wished to serve as godparents.

[37] [to which another follower of the same sect testified, IX. whose daughter too was relieved of disease through the water of the sacred well;] Here, if I did not fear to affect the reader's mind with tedium by a superfluous repetition of the matter related, I would be pleased to add the whole testimony which I have before me of Robert Hill, a most strict follower of the Tremblers, concerning the truth of this miracle. Let it be permitted at least to report some things in his own words: "I, Robert Hill, of the county of Worcester, who was formerly in a parish of the same county, the name of which is Bromesgrave, collector of the moneys contributed for the benefit of the poor, and am now an inhabitant of the same town, testify that I very well know and have known Roger Wiston, also called Whetstone, a tailor, nearly sixty years old and living in this town; I testify that I knew that for these last three years he was lame and infirm, so that he could neither practise his art nor walk without staves, and so weak that he was not able to bring food to his mouth." In this place Robert Hill reports Roger's ten days' journey and his sudden healing at the well, altogether in the manner in which Roger himself told these things; he goes on from there: "As for me, I can certainly testify that I knew him to be infirm and weak, seeing that in these last three years I frequently saw him coming to my door to beg, propping his shoulders on staves. But since he returned from Holywell, he enjoys firm health, and is able to practise his art, to the great wonder of the inhabitants of Bromesgrave; several of whom afterwards, when tried by sickness or weakness, went to Holywell, hoping that they would be healed; who have reported to me that they now enjoy better health than before, etc. — In testimony of which things I sign these, on the second day of October of the year one thousand six hundred and sixty-seven. Robert Hill." In the same testimony Robert Hill declares that his own daughter, fourteen years old, was relieved of disease, after she had used nothing but water carried from Holywell.

[38] X. Of Catherine Harket, in the year 1721. No documents survive of miracles of the eighteenth century except a certain fragment of a letter, which is kept today in the archive of His Eminence the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster. This letter was sent from the town of Holywell on the 23rd of June 1733 to a certain Mr. Heigham, whose domicile was in the street called Drury Lane; but by whom is uncertain, since the fragment lacks a signature. These things, then, are read in that letter: I have heard many marvellous healings celebrated, granted to Protestants in this place. I myself saw a certain Catherine Harket of the parish of Rockliffe in the county of Cumberland in the month of June of the year 1721 coming here placed on an ass, her sister Mary accompanying her, to help her in getting on the beast and getting down from it. They sold the animal after the sick woman was healed and happily returned home. Two years afterwards a certain man coming from Carlisle reported to me that she was well and in service there. — In the following year a certain man came from Edinburgh supporting his steps with staves: having hung these on one of the small columns of the well he returned free; but someone a month later secretly carried them off from there. Each of these sick persons was a Protestant Foley, Records, vol. IV, p. 537..

* Quakers

§ V. The healing of Winifred White, in the year 1805.

That healing, Among the cures of infirmities obtained at the sacred well of St. Winifred, especially remarkable is that which took place at the beginning of the present century in a woman named Winifred White: not because it surpasses the others in the singularity of the marvel, but because, by a diligent inquiry instituted immediately after the event, it is clearly established that it is altogether certain. The author and director of this inquiry was the most learned and prudent John Milner, bishop of Castabala i. p. i., who also published a faithful account of it at that very time [Authentic documents relative to the miraculous cure of Winefrid White, of Wolverhampton, at St. Winefrid's Well, alias Holywell, in Flintshire, on the 28 of Juni 1805: with observations thereon. By the RR. J.-M. Third edition, London 1806.]. Whence, when the fame of the miracle was celebrated by the mouth of many, to the highest exultation of Catholics and the sorrow of Protestants, it was the concern of the latter to overthrow to some extent the presumption that arose from it in favor of the Catholic doctrine on the invocation of the saints and of the holiness of the Catholic Church itself. This task was taken on by Peter Roberts, a man of great name among his own people for the reputation of his knowledge and gravity, and he accomplished it by publishing against the bishop's little book a labored work of nearly equal bulk [Animadversions on a pamphlet entitled "Authentic documents…". By the Rev. Peter Roberts, A. M., Rector of Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog and Vicar of Madeley. London 1814.]. In which, what is certainly to be reckoned to his great praise, he by no means strove with deceitful cavils to call the truth of the facts into doubt, but was wholly taken up with propping the opinion of his sect on not invoking the patronage of the saints and on the cessation of miracles in the Church after the times of Christ and the apostles, and with proclaiming the natural power of cold water for curing diseases, to whose efficacy alone he judged that the healing of Winifred White was to be ascribed. How probable this last point is the prudent reader will easily judge when he has read through the documents which we now subjoin, published in English by Milner, and rendered into Latin word for word, as far as was possible. Let us now hear the bishop himself narrating the matter Op. cit., p. 5 ff..

[40] the Rt. Rev. John Milner inquiring into it by his episcopal office, At the time when I was discharging the office of my charge in the county of Suffolk, when I had been informed by men of prudent and truthful character, who live in the town of Wolverhampton, that a miracle had recently, beyond doubt, been wrought in favor of a certain inhabitant of that same town; and afterwards had found that by the narrative of this fact, already scattered here and there, endless inquiries and controversies were being stirred up, I thought it my part, as the statutes of Holy Church in the last general council require, to inquire most carefully and duly into the several points of the aforesaid fact, and myself to bring out to the public what, the cause having been examined, I found to be true. When therefore I had returned to the county of Strafford, I judged it above all to the purpose to see and question her herself who was said to have been healed by the miracle. I learned that she was a girl, Winifred White by name, twenty-six years old, of sound mind and modest spirit, to whose chaste conduct and simple piety moreover an excellent testimony was given by all her acquaintances. For more than ten years Winifred had lived with a most honorable shopkeeper, Mrs. Withenbery, in the street called Shrewsbury Street, at Wolverhampton, at first indeed, as long as she was able to perform such labor, as a maidservant,

and afterwards as a guest, whose needs were met both by the earnings from a certain little school, in which she taught small boys the elements of letters, and also by the beneficence of Mrs. Withenbery and other acquaintances. Here now is the girl's attestation, such as I took it down from her own mouth.

[41] by a solemn and lengthy testimony Winifred White, questioned by me about her past ill health, testifies by solemn declaration, ready also, if need be, to confirm her words by oath, that for many years now she has had very troublesome and weak health; which, arising from an interior disease, so afflicted her that during these last three years and more before she made for Holywell she was altogether incapable of carrying out her work as a servant. The first notable effect of her disease, she said, had been a bitter pain in the left side, which afterwards reached both to the left armpit and up to the spine; and it seemed to her as if the left armpit and the left leg were on the point of being dislocated by the excessive tension of the nerves; whereby it came about that if at any time she tried to walk, she was forced to drag the leg after her, so to speak. The spine moreover frequently swelled, especially in its upper and lower parts; and after caustics and poultices had been placed on these parts for the sake of relieving the pain, a great quantity of pus being pressed out from them, two fissures were made in the back, on either side of the spine, which remained gaping for several months. From this there arose a very sharp pain of the spine and hence also of the head, which during the last eighteen months of her illness so tormented her without intermission that she came into the greatest dread of losing her mind, and very often urgently begged God not to allow such a misfortune to happen. And although several times, namely when she was a little better, she could walk leaning on a staff or even, but not for long, without a staff, she was never relieved of pain or infirmity. Sometimes indeed she could not move herself at all, and like a newborn infant had to be carried from the bed and back to the bed by the hands of others. In this extreme infirmity she remained at times for six continuous weeks, the pain nonetheless still prevailing in the spine and left side. And being somewhat relieved from the aforesaid graver attack of the disease, she began to use a staff, with which, propping the left shoulder, she tried to lift up the left leg; but the already weak arm soon became so feeble that it could not bear, I do not say a staff, but sometimes not even a small handkerchief, nor be raised to the head. Placing the staff therefore under the right shoulder, as necessity forced her, she limped along on one foot, dragging with her her whole left side, as if it were already dead.

[42] she asserted Reduced therefore to these extreme straits and wholly given up, seeing that she had several times heard Dr. Underhill and Mr. Stubbs declare that she should by no means, suffering as she was from an incurable disease, hope for help from the art of medicine, she decided to take refuge in the help of almighty God; and when she had learned by reading and hearing that, by his infinite liberality and power and the prayers of the Most Blessed Virgin and St. Winifred, many had been healed by a miracle at Holywell, a town of the county of Flint, moved by a great desire she was thinking in her mind of being taken to that place. But fearing on the other hand lest she should thus be freed from that pain which had perhaps been appointed by divine Providence for her eternal salvation and sanctification, she professed that it was settled and firm with her to do nothing in that matter, indeed not even to desire anything, except what those should advise who had undertaken the care of directing her soul on the way of salvation. By the counsel, then, of the Rev. Mr. Walsh, to whom she had first gone, the whole matter having been communicated to the Rev. Mr. Blount, after he had received from her what reasons induced her to desire the healing of the disease, he declared that he approved them and permitted the aforesaid journey. As soon, therefore, as she was prepared for the journey, she hastened to set out for Holywell, believing with humble confidence that God lacked neither power nor goodness, so that he would deign to show also in her the miracle of healing that he had shown in so many others; which confidence, before she committed herself to the journey, she disclosed to a certain friend. Winifred, setting out on the 25th of June, carried first by the public Shrewsbury coach, then by another, reached the city of Chester toward the evening of the following day; where, finding an excellent opportunity of proceeding farther without delay, she finished the rest of the journey in the carriage of Mr. Price, who lives at the White Horse at Holywell, and on the following day she reached Holywell very early. On the journey and at her very arrival she was tormented by such grave pains that she somewhat feared lest what her mistress had said she dreaded should come true, namely that she would never return home.

[43] the woman herself On the following day, the 28th of June, at the seventh hour of the morning, having finished the daily devout practices which she had constantly been accustomed to perform from the time she had thought in her mind of going to Holywell, she went out of the house of Mrs. Humphreys, situated in Well Street, at which she had lodged, dragging her wearied limbs with the greatest difficulty, and came to the place named St. Winifred's Well, accompanied by Mrs. Midghall and the Misses Bromley, who had come from Liverpool to Holywell on the same day as Winifred. One of these gave her kind assistance as she went down into the well. And when she was immersed in the water, she was so overcome with wonder and as it were with a certain force that she could neither collect her senses nor think of her health, until she began to take off the garment which she had put on to go down into the bath. When she was doing this in the small house of Mrs. Needham, who attends the sick at the well, she noticed that she was now able to stand, and indeed to lean on her left leg no less than on her right, and that all the bitter pains of her back and her other infirmities had wholly departed; in a word, she recognized that she was in the best of health in every respect. Then, staying fifteen days at Holywell, she washed herself twice or three times more in the well, rather to satisfy custom and the importunate entreaties of friends than to receive any further increase of good health: since she had been wholly healed by the first bath; moreover she was able to walk, run and work as well as at her very best. From Holywell she went to Puddington, a town of the county of Chester, where a certain friend of hers lived; returning from there to Chester, and detained there for several days with her acquaintances, a whole month from her healing having at length gone by, she betook herself home. To these things Winifred added that from the 28th day of June of this year, on which day she was relieved of the disease, she had never fallen back into her former infirmity or her past pains. When this testimony, as written below, had been read aloud in her presence, she wished to establish the truth of what had been said by putting her name to it.

Winifred White.

[44] healed, To this account Mr. Milner subjoined this twofold annotation, of which the former pertains to the time at which he first published it, the other to its second edition.

I. Five months have now gone by since Winifred returned to health; during all which time she has been well, robust and given to work. She has several times walked six English miles at one stretch, yet without feeling at all the labor of the way; indeed she has carried a load of a hundred pounds on her left side. Her left arm too, which, by her own testimony, while her disease lasted was an inch and a half less in circumference than the right, now has wholly the same breadth as the right.

II. As we are about to send forth this second edition of this work, a whole year has gone by from the working of the healing, through the whole of which Winifred has remained free from all her former infirmity. Sometimes she has even walked nearly thirteen miles without a break.

[45] [and there was confirmed by one of the physicians who took care of her for many years,] Besides this declaration brought out before me, it was reasonable that I should before all else seek the opinion of those honorable physicians of whom Winifred had made mention in her narrative. But since one of these, Mr. Underhill, had changed his seat since last Christmas Day and had moved from the neighborhood of the town of Wolverhampton to Manchester, lest a long delay should necessarily intervene, we were forced to abstain from seeking his testimony from there. But going at once to Mr. Stubbs, an outstanding surgeon, who had not ceased to live at Wolverhampton at that time, I asked him to furnish me an account of the aforesaid fact. He most courteously communicated the following to me:

I the undersigned, who for many years have been accustomed to manage the health of the family of Mrs. Withenbery, residing in this town, since I am now called on for testimony, namely to set forth what I have seen and known of the past and present health of Winifred White, maidservant of this family, now in her twenty-seventh year, therefore testify as follows:

First, as is established from my records, I went to visit Winifred on the 1st of September of the year 1802; at which time, and afterwards also, I found her very weak and sick, namely held by an interior disease, manifest by very grave indications. From which disease there also followed a dilatation of the vertebrae with a relaxation of their ligaments, and, the nerves stiffening, a notable weakness, especially in the left side. By this paralysis it gradually came about that she could no longer stand upright, nor move from place to place except a little and with a staff placed under the right shoulder. In order to try to relieve her somewhat from pain, I from time to time applied certain medicines to her, whether Mr. Underhill, who then lived at Tottenhall and visited her at times, had ordered them, or they seemed to me myself to be of use for this purpose; and in the first place, to meet the dilatation of the vertebrae, with the approval of the physician already named, I opened the back with an incision on either side of the spine; which fissures we took pains to keep open for several months. All these things accomplishing nothing, I now judged her disease, to speak the truth, incurable, and death not very remote. And though on the 14th of August of the year 1804 I visited and examined her for the last time as physician, yet from this time on I happened very often to see her and to talk with her, without however noticing that she was any better. On the 22nd or 23rd of the month of June last past also I talked with her, namely a few days before, as they report, she set out for Holywell. And in the following month, namely when July had nearly gone by, when she had returned from the journey and had come to meet me in the street, affected with the greatest wonder and astonishment I saw her walking with the same firmness of body and speed as any other girl of the same age.

She testified to me moreover, — and there was reason why I should readily believe it, — that all the deadly indications which I have mentioned above had vanished; that she herself, on the day

before, had noticed that the ligaments of her spine were now firm and taut, though a certain dilatation of them remained, which indicated past infirmity rather than brought present trouble. She now stood altogether upright, and moved with that firmness and briskness which is the sign of sound health. This so wonderful, so complete and so very swift a change I confess that I can explain by no medical reason that I have known, or by any experiment that I have made.

Samuel Stubbs, surgeon.

Wolverhampton, 11 Sept. 1805.

[46] her mistress, Further, since among the very many who had dealt familiarly with Winifred White, none certainly, after Mr. Stubbs, could report to us more fittingly and more thoughtfully about her health, both before she undertook the journey and after she had finished it, than those who had lived with her for very many years in the same house and with whom she still goes on living, it seemed good above all to question Mrs. Withenbery and her daughter about these things. They, having first given testimony by word of mouth, afterwards delivered the same in writing in this manner:

Most Illustrious Lord,

I take upon myself to inform you that Winifred White has now been living with me for ten years; who for these three years past, affected by an internal trouble, could not only not perform labor, but could not even help herself; indeed she several times incurred the present danger of life: for sometimes she appeared so weak and infirm that Mr. Stubbs forbade her to be carried from one room to another, because he feared namely that even from so slight a movement she might fall into the utmost danger. Several times also during these three years she was fortified with the last sacraments of the Church. And though every care that could be expended was expended on her by Mr. Underhill, physician, and Mr. Stubbs, surgeon, yet she experienced no serious relief. Whence the aforesaid physicians who were wont to come to the sick woman's aid, when they saw her, as the disease grew heavier, becoming weaker day by day, informed me, the former about last Christmas, the latter about Easter, that it ought to be abundantly enough for the girl, afflicted by an incurable disease, if she could drag out her sick life for some time. And in this last year, seized in nearly the whole of her left side, she was scarcely able to walk a little, leaning on a staff.

The work of the physicians, therefore, accomplishing nothing, when at the beginning of the past month of June she explained to me that she desired to go to the well of St. Winifred, that she might obtain relief of her infirmity, I gave my assent to trying this; but because I very greatly feared whether she who was so weak could bear the labors of the journey, or whether she would ever return home alive, I put in her purse a slip of paper, which told who she was and where she came from, so that, if anything should happen, I might at once be notified of it. After, then, she set out from Wolverhampton for Chester on the 25th day of the month of June of this year, on the 4th or 5th of July I received a letter from I know not whom, by which at Winifred's request I was informed that she had altogether recovered the use of her limbs and had come to perfect health. She herself, having stayed some days at Chester and in other places, to which business to be transacted or the visiting of acquaintances called her, returned to Wolverhampton at the end of the month of July, and showed herself wholly relieved of her former and horrible pains, upright, robust and diligently applying herself to work, walking also and running; and she who before could not bear even a staff in her left hand now lifted a heavy weight with it. And to this day she has remained enjoying the same excellent health; which I testify by my hand.

W. Withenbery.

W. Hampton, on the 13th of September of the year 1805.

I, daughter of the aforesaid W. Withenbery, can testify and do testify that whatever has been narrated here above is true.

W. Withenbery jun.

To the Rt. Rev. Dr. M.

[47] the physician A few days after I received these testimonies, while I was attending to some business in the county of Lancaster, I met Mr. Underhill at Manchester, with the intention of hearing his testimony on the health of Winifred White at the time when he was caring for her. He most obligingly committed the following to writing and sent it to me at my lodging:

Dearest Sir,

I undertake to set forth to you briefly what I know of Winifred White, intending to do this, as far as I can, clearly and openly. During those two or three years, namely, in which I happened frequently to see her, she often seemed to stand at the last extremity, sometimes even altogether unable to move herself in any direction; now lacking the use of her lower limbs, now with arms immobile and inert ; moreover the working of her stomach and other viscera that pertain to the digestion of food was uneven; for I remember that sometimes she had a fine appetite for food, sometimes it failed altogether; her voice sometimes could scarcely be heard; and the pulse of her veins, though very weak, seldom in my opinion seemed to report that her death was close at hand . I could never indeed ascribe her pains to any single disease; though I supposed that the matter pertained to the nerves. Since the constitution of her body, however, seemed paralytic, the fear having at times occurred to me that the disease might arise from a weak spine, there was made, as far as I remember, an incision on either side of what seemed a dilatation of the vertebrae; but this in vain. The multitude of medicines applied is greater than that I can remember all of them; for the rest, they were all equally in vain, so that at last, wearied by useless expectation, I pronounced the disease altogether irremediable. Which happened about last Christmas.

Your devoted servant,

John Underhill.

Manchester, on the 18th of September 1805.

To the Rt. Rev. Dr. M.

[48] The second, To this document Mr. Milner again subjoined this twofold annotation (at the places indicated in the preceding no.):

I. From the testimonies of the sick woman herself, and of both the Withenberys, it is established that she never was altogether seized in her right arm, except when the whole body, as a universal paralysis fell upon it, was rendered nearly immobile; for her usual infirmity was rather a certain hemiplegia, by which she was deprived of the free use of her left side.

II. This physician by no means denies that Winifred sometimes seemed to be on the point of dying; and in fact Mrs. Withenbery and her daughter assert that he at least once ordered that various tastes be applied to the sick woman's lips with a feather, as is done with the dying, and that the same man, when he briefly visited Mrs. Withenbery on the following morning, asked about the lady's own health, adding that he thought it was not a time to inquire any such thing about poor Winifred White.

[49] likewise three matrons, Returning from the county of Lancaster, I resolved to direct my journey through the city of Liverpool, since I greatly desired to find and question those three matrons, living in that city, whom the girl had testified she had met at Holywell and who had been present with her at the very time at which she was cured. By the diligence and courtesy of my friends, then, it happily came about that I could find those three and, in that brief time for which I stopped there, could talk with them. Each one therefore separately, witnesses having been called, reported these things by word of mouth, which they afterwards signed when written out:

Liverpool, on the 27th of September of the year 1805.

I the undersigned testify that I made a journey to Holywell with a little boy, my stepson; where on the 27th day of the month of June last past I came upon a certain girl from Wolverhampton, Winifred White by name, who had come there because she hoped that she would obtain the healing of the infirmity by which she was afflicted in one whole part of her body. And when I had lodged in the same house as she, I noticed that she could scarcely walk a few paces in the room without propping one shoulder with a staff. The following morning, the 28th of June, when with the aforesaid boy and the Misses Bromley I accompanied her as she made her way to the well, I was a witness that she experienced great difficulty in reaching the place, even with the help of her staff. But scarcely had she gone down into the bath for one moment, when, as I asked her how she was, she asserted that she felt a glow of warmth and was comfortable. Now, having resumed her clothing, she returned to the lodging with me and the other companions, walking with the greatest firmness and briskness, even leaving behind near the well, in testimony of her healing, the staff on which she had been leaning. Then, having taken food, she went on with us on foot to Greenfield abbey, which is nearly two miles distant from Holywell, and likewise returned from there. And to show me that she was wholly restored to health, she ran quickly down a certain hill, saying some words in this manner: "This morning you walked more firmly than I was able to; but now I can beat you in speed."

Isabella Midghall,

of Gerard-street, Liverpool.

[50] who, as she went down into the well, When together with Mrs. Migdhall and my sister-in-law Elizabeth Bromley I arrived at Holywell, on the 27th of June, I met in the house of Mrs. Humphreys, at which we had lodged, Winifred White, who had arrived there that same morning, of infirm health and languishing: for she was seized in one side of her body, and her whole body was so bent that her armpit stood out as much as the breadth of my hand extends; which I recognized to be true, placing my hand on that part of her body at Winifred's request. On the following day, when in the morning I had joined her as a companion as she went to the well, and had been at hand as she entered the bath, I immersed her in the water; when this was done, she suddenly slipped out of my hands, and this in such a way that I judge that it could by no means have happened, unless she had in a wonderful manner recovered her whole strength. Having stayed somewhat longer in the well with my sister-in-law, after we had again put on our clothes and gone to the Well House *, I found Winifred White, who was putting certain marks on her staff; who afterwards, in my presence, walking and running briskly, gave me proof that she had been healed.

Mary Bromley,

Tithebarn-street, Liverpool.

On the 27th of September 1805.

[51] stood by her, I saw Winifred White in the house of Mrs. Humphreys on the evening of the 27th of June, weak, affected, as it appeared, by a grave infirmity, and limping along leaning on a staff; I saw her again on the following day in the morning, when she was making her way with difficulty to the well; I noticed that my sister-in-law gave her assistance as she went down into the bath; and a short time afterwards I both returned with her to the house of Mrs. Humphreys and made my way that same morning to Greenfield abbey: she walked upright and strong; she said that she was altogether relieved of all her infirmities; which I certainly believe.

On the 27th of September 1805.

Eliz. Bromley,

High-street, Liverpool.

There were present at the above-written testimonies

Rev. Thomas Fisher, Edmund-street.

J. Slater, Steel-street.

[52] and besides others, From Liverpool I returned to Holywell by way of Puddington and Chester, in which towns, at my request, honorable men testified, at Puddington namely Mr. Thomas Weld and the Rev. Mr. Ralph Platt, and at Chester the Rev. Mr. Penswick, that Winifred White had been present in those same places at the time at which she herself testified,

and that, staying about fifteen days in both towns together, she was seen through that whole time to enjoy the best of health.

[53] some who, at Holywell, her Now, having returned to Holywell, when I found that Mr. Price, the innkeeper at the White Horse, had met his last day there, I was eager to go to his widow, who was now keeping the inn, so as to be better informed about certain circumstances which Winifred White had brought forward in her narrative. How great a confirmation her narrative brought to Winifred's words appears from this testimony, which I immediately committed to writing as she spoke, a certain friend being present and hearing; and which, when it had been read aloud before her, she wished to confirm by adding her name:

I the undersigned remember that two months ago a certain girl from Wolverhampton, bearing a letter to me from a man very well known to me who lives in that place, came from Chester to Holywell carried by a certain carriage of mine. She, very weak and infirm, even with the use of a staff could not go up the stairs, unless my maidservant helped her. When therefore on Thursday morning she had arrived at my house, and had soon turned aside to the house of Mrs. Humphreys, likewise on Friday morning she came to me again, walking finely with upright body, and asked how I was. And when I answered that I did not know her, she said: "I am that girl who arrived yesterday from Wolverhampton. — That one, I said, who came leaning on a staff? — The staff, she said, I certainly left at the well. For I have been healed of my infirmity, so that this very morning I went on foot to the Abbey and came back from there." I was indeed struck with great wonder that so great a change had been wrought in her. After this, that same morning Winifred walked around the market-place, and on Saturday evening she drank tea with me; and she seemed to enjoy the best of health.

Joanna Price.

[54] and greatly afflicted by disease This done, I set my mind on finding the house to which Winifred White had turned aside at Holywell, and from there I betook myself to the Well House; and in each house, besides those who managed them, I found also other witnesses who showed themselves ready to confirm the words of the former. And just as I had done at Liverpool, so here too I held it firm and settled, in writing down what was reported, to use, as far as could be done, the same words that the witnesses used; and, what I had noted as said by them having been read aloud distinctly before them, only then to seek that their signature be added. And where I found such as had the ability to record in writing what they themselves knew, I begged them to do so.

I, Mary Humphreys, of Holywell, remember that a certain girl turned aside to my house on the 27th of June, which was the Thursday of the week; she seemed very languid and weak: she could scarcely move her foot without the support of a staff, and being greatly tired she asked me to allow her to rest for some time. And in fact she lay on the bed for two hours. On the following day, when, with Mrs. Midghall and both the Misses Bromley as companions, she had set out for the well at about the seventh hour of the morning, she returned about the ninth without a staff, walking upright: and she said that she was finely well and had left the staff in the Well House.

Mary Humphreys,

Well-street.

Holywell, on the 30th of September in the year 1805.

I remember that three months ago on a certain Thursday I saw Winifred White in the house of Mrs. Humphreys, very infirm, as far as could be discerned from her appearance, limping greatly and unable to walk without a staff; and that on the following day, namely Friday, in the morning she met me in the same house, but herself, to my great wonder, walking with firm step and finely well. And she asserted that she had received her strength at the well which is in this town.

Robert Clubb.

Holywell, on the 30th of September in the year 1805.

[55] and a few hours later in the best of health I, Joanna Needham, keeper of the Well House at Holywell, remember that a certain girl, about a week before the feast-day of the summer solstice (which this year falls on the 5th of July), came to this well from Chester carried in Mr. Price's carriage, in very languid health, and quite disturbed in spirit; and in my opinion she was held by a desperate disease in one whole side of her body. After she had gone down into the bath, however, I saw her walk, run up the stairs of my house and run down them, as if moved by immense joy at having recovered her health. She left her staff here, with her name inscribed; and she seemed plainly to have been restored from disease.

Joanna Needham.

Holywell, on the 30th of September in the year 1805.

I hold in memory the several circumstances written above.

Mary Needham.

Holywell, on the 30th of September in the year 1805.

I remember the same things.

John Hughes.

Holywell, on the 30th of September in the year 1805.

[56] beheld; To these documents I wished in the very last place to subjoin the following testimonial letters, which the Rev. Mr. Wright brought to me at my lodging:

I the undersigned testify that a certain girl, who said that she had the name Winifred White, of Wolverhampton, came to me on the 27th of June 1805 leaning on a staff; and that the same girl, on the following day, at about the tenth hour of the morning, again presented herself to my sight, standing with altogether upright body, and cured of her infirmity, after she had gone down into St. Winifred's Well.

Edward Wright.

Holywell, on the 30th of September in the year 1805.

I here attest that three months ago I saw a certain girl, who said that she was called Winifred White, walking with great difficulty, even with the help of a staff; who on the following day, when she had come running to me, and did not seem to limp in any way, told me that, once immersed in the well of St. Winifred, she had been immediately cured of the disease.

Elis. Jones.

Holywell, on the 30th of September, in the year 1805.

[57] whence, the number and quality of the witnesses From all that I heard at Holywell I learned also that there remained there very many, as many as had seen Winifred on the 27th and 28th days of June, who were ready, bringing forward the testimony of their senses, to testify to the wonderful healing which the sick girl had experienced from the morning of the 27th of June to the noon of the following day. But I heard or found no testimony at all that would persuade one either to deny the fact narrated or to bring it into doubt. Moreover, concerning those who live at Wolverhampton, I had already before been advised that absolutely all who had any acquaintance with the house of Mrs. Withenbery would readily testify both to the languid and most infirm condition of Winifred before she undertook the journey to Wales, and to the firm and prosperous health which she enjoyed when she had returned from there one month later. I thought it superfluous, however, to hear and examine more testimonies, since I saw that those which already indicated the truth of the fact were far more abundant than those which are usually required in any forensic judgment for a thing even of the greatest moment to be judged to have truly occurred.

[58] duly weighed, It is useful to notice that these testimonies are provided with all those circumstances which learned writers, and indeed the strictest critics, demand in these matters in order to assent to their truth. For not only do the witnesses agree most finely as often as they speak of the same things, but also when different persons add different circumstances in narrating, all things agree excellently both among themselves and with the words of Winifred White. Nor could it have come about that, having shared their plans, they devised a long continuance and series of false things, seeing that they were by no means of one condition, religion, country and domicile; for there are found among them Protestants, Catholics, English, Welsh; some live at Wolverhampton, others at Liverpool, others at Holywell; in a word, they are so situated that for the greatest part, to this very day, they are unknown to one another. And they testify of these things, which took place openly and publicly, and these not in some Catholic chapel or temple, or in some age remote from us, but in the baths of a certain Protestant town, and not more than four months ago; further, it was plainly evident to all and each that, if perhaps they should record anything false with their name, they would thereby incur the perpetual danger of coming, the fraud being uncovered, into the reproach of men: for I had warned each one that I would publish their testimonies. Finally these witnesses report facts which, though they are contrary to the laws established in the nature of things, are nevertheless of such a kind that they must be said to belong to the judgment and knowledge of the witnesses themselves, since they fall immediately under the senses. They saw, namely, a girl twisted with a bent spine, seized in the right side on account of paralysis and, so to speak, already dead before her death, creeping along with the help of a staff, marked with all the signs of a most bitter and desperate disease; who a short time after presented herself before them standing with upright body, walking and running with firm and brisk step, manifest in every way as in the best of health; a short time after, I say: for these after a month, those after one day, some after three or two hours, indeed after only a few moments had passed. In which matter the experience of the multitude is confirmed by the opinion of learned men: for two doctors, physicians, who came to the aid of the sick girl for many years, set her health before our eyes in pitiable words, and declare that all their art was in vain in curing the girl's disease; which therefore they now reckoned irremediable.

[59] the truth of the miracle is plainly established. From these things, therefore, Mr. Milner concludes, justly and deservedly, and we too must altogether conclude: With so great an evidence, then, shining before my eyes, what must I judge, what must I pronounce? I know indeed that he too insolently mocks God, the lover of truth, who reckons to do him fine service by any deceit or fraud; I know that neither the cause of all Christendom nor especially the holy Catholic Church needs any aid of that sort. But I have also learned this, that it is the mark of a cowardly and faithless spirit, lest profane and unbelieving men should carp or mock, to deny or hide the manifestations and wonderful works of the Most High. I shall not hesitate, then, to declare, using the words of Sacred Scripture, that in this wonderful and supernatural healing there is the finger of God (Exod. VIII, 19); further, that in this wretched age, in which vices and unbelief everywhere hold dominion, God has not left himself without witness (Acts XIV, 16), or, to speak plainly and openly, that an evident miracle has been wrought in our midst.

† John Milner.

Wolverhampton, on the 29th of October of the year 1805.

* See following no., I.

* See ibid., II.

* the Well-house

§ VI. The healing of Christopher Clark, a blind man, in the year 1859.

[Christopher Clark, having suddenly obtained at the well of St. Winifred the sight of which he had been deprived for more than thirty years,] No less remarkable than the healing of Winifred White must be judged to seem the marvel which the divine goodness through the intercession of St. Winifred

deigned to work in Christopher Clark: who, when he had already been deprived of the light of his eyes for more than thirty years, in the year 1859 at the sacred well suddenly received his sight. The event was carefully inquired into, immediately after it took place, by the most noble Viscount Fielding (afterwards, on the death of his father in the year 1865, Earl of Denbigh), then chief royal magistrate in the county of Flint *, who omitted no diligence in collecting, by himself and through others, whatever testimonies could help to place the matter in full light. Those testimonies, whose autographs are kept today in the Catholic presbytery at Holywell, rendered from the English tongue into Latin as faithfully as possible and arranged according to chronological order, we now bring forward. Among them there are indeed some which not only call into doubt the truth of the miracle and the sincerity of Clark, but expressly deny them, yet not of such a kind as to be able to break the force of the others See below, nos. 68 – 74..

[61] a public I. Solemn testimony given by Christopher Clark before the Earl of Denbigh *, magistrates and others, at Downing, Holywell, on the 10th of November of the year 1859.

Christopher is in his sixty-sixth year; he has his domicile at Woolley Bridge, which place is about two miles distant from Glossop, near Manchester. He, when in the sixteenth year of his age he had given his name for military service in the eighth regiment of foot, some years after, namely in the year 1816, was given his discharge on account of his dimming eyes, without however an annuity being ordered to be publicly furnished to him; but when, seven years having intervened, he was altogether deprived of the use of his eyes, as soon as the regiment in which he had once served returned from Candia, he asked that an annual stipend be granted him; which he had put off doing until then, because he had lost the letters that attested his discharge. At his own request, then, summoned before the board at Chelsea, when he had been examined by Mr. Clerk, the officer over the health of the soldiers, he was reported blind and therefore entered among the number of the pensioners, on the 5th of September of the year 1827. From then on he received each day, not, as is usually done, one English mark * with three pence, but one English mark with nine pence, because namely he needed a little boy to use as a guide.

But when, thirteen years ago, letters were sent everywhere by the chief directors of the army, ordering that those who received an annuity for blindness be examined again by some army physician, Chr. Clark was according to the prescription examined by a certain physician of the forty-seventh regiment at Clones, a town of the county of Monaghan in Ireland, and was again judged blind. Each year from then on in the month of July there was sent by the supreme board of the army a printed form, by which, entries being made in the marked places, Christopher himself had to testify before the magistrates of the County assembled in the bailiwick of the city of Manchester that his blindness continued.

[62] declaration before magistrates, The same man, then, when on the 1st day of November, which fell on the sixth day of the week, he had come to the well of St. Winifred, and on bended knees had suppliantly prayed to almighty God and the blessed virgin, washed his eyes with the water of the well, and immediately saw light. Then, abundant tears being poured out for joy, when he had wiped his eyes, he now distinctly recognized and indicated what color his daughter's sash, or his son's neckerchief and other things, were dyed. From then on the sharpness of his eyes was so strengthened from day to day that today it is even firmer than it was before he was made blind; in our presence also he recited some things from a book printed in larger type, and exactly recognized what was the time of day on a little wheeled clock.

(Signed)

Christopher † Clark (whose sign this is)

Witnesses

Mary Fielding

Denbigh

Jos. L. Patterson.

[63] [confirmed by the attestation of the daughter of the innkeeper at whose house he had lodged;] II. Solemn testimony given by Anne Timlin before the Earl of Denbigh, magistrates and others, at Downing, Holywell, on the 10th of November of the year 1859.

The witness is the daughter of Mr. Timlin, who keeps a stable at Holywell. To their house on the 24th of October of this year Chr. Clark turned aside for the sake of lodging, whose guide on the way was a little boy. The witness noticed that Christopher was altogether blind, so that the little boy was forced to prepare and pour his drink for him, and to bring food to his hands. A whitish film covered the blind man's eyes.

But when on the 1st of November Christopher returned from the well, he indicated the color of the witness's hair and many other things, and narrated how his sight had been restored to him.

(Signed)

Anne Timlin

Witnesses

Mary Fielding

Denbigh

Jos. L. Paterson.

[64] there are added, to make the man's long blindness certain, III. Testimony of William Ready, military tribune.

Div. 1st, Manchester, on the 11th of November of the year 1859.

Tribune * Ready sends many greetings to the most noble Fielding. As regards Christopher Clarke, who formerly served in the eighth regiment of foot, the aforesaid Ready asserts that it is established from the public military records that Clarke, because he was altogether blind, was discharged on the 5th of September of the year 1827, and obtained the public allowance, one English mark with nine pence each day; six pence, namely, being added to the usual pay, with which to obtain for himself a little boy as guide on the way. I did not indeed notice whether he came to me, every three months, to receive the money with a boy as companion on each occasion. I hold Clarke himself to be a man of good character.

On the third page of the same sheet, on the two earlier sides of which the foregoing was written, the same hand added:

I testify, as far as I have best found out, that Christopher Clarke, who formerly served in the eighth regiment of foot, was blind when on the 3rd day of October of the year 1859 he received from me the annual money publicly given.

G. Ready, tribune, one of the chief officers of the soldiers *, officer in charge of paying annuities in the 1st division at Manchester.

[65] testimonies IV. From the house of the officer of public security in the county of Derby. Administration of the prefecture at Glossop.

On the 11th of November 1859.

Prefect Williams informs Mr. Viscount Fielding that, having himself ordered an inquiry to be made into that man Christopher Clarke, of whom the same nobleman made mention in his note of yesterday, it was found that for these last six years Clarke has lived at Wooley Bridge, has a wife and children; his wife devoted to making little caps, and three of his children to working cotton or to printing. Clarke receives from public funds each week twelve or fourteen English marks. He is not altogether, but only in part, blind.

From the town hall.

[66] very many V. From the records relating to the dispensing of annuities * at Salford.

On the 24th of November of the year 1859.

Dearest Doctor Noble,

I send to you the clerk of the accounts of my office, Seys by name, who will give you a letter from which you will be very fully informed on the matters pertaining to the most noble Fielding and the pensioner Christopher Clarke. I had written back to the most noble man himself as soon as I had received his letter from Holywell, Downing, in the county of Northampton ; but my letter was sent back to me by those who publicly manage this matter. You will yourself easily notice that it has not altogether been so established, namely that six pence besides the usual allowance be given to the man to obtain a guide on the way for himself, but rather that he receive one English mark with nine pence because he is altogether blind and therefore discharged. This indeed I was explaining in my letter to the most noble man; of which I now beg that you be willing most courteously to inform him. By doing which you will do a most welcome thing for your most faithful

G. Ready, tribune and one of the chief officers of the soldiers.

To Doctor Noble.

etc. etc.

[67] of public officials VI. F. 40364. From the royal hospital at Chelsea in southern Wales.

On the 6th of December 1859.

Dearest and most noble Lord,

The task has been entrusted to me of informing you that the letter you gave on the 3rd of this month has arrived here, and of advising you that that man of whom you speak in this letter, and whose name is placed here in the margin (Chr. Clarke, formerly a soldier of the eighth regiment), was not, in the year 1816, at which time namely he was discharged, recommended by anyone to be examined before the commissioners of this hospital; from which fact it may be conjectured that he was not judged by his officer to be such as should be numbered among the pensioners.

Yet his case was brought before the commissioners on the 5th of September of the year 1827; at which time, since he seemed to be altogether blind, an allowance was publicly decreed to him of one English mark with nine pence for each day; more ample than which it is not permitted to grant to the blind.

But no document is to be found in this hospital by which it may be shown that he was afterwards examined by any of the officers over the health of the soldiers; nor was it for the rest necessary that this be done, since he received a much more ample allowance than those which are now permitted by law to be granted to men altogether blind.

In the letters that attest his discharge, only this is asserted, that his blindness seems to proceed from a certain ophthalmia. He served six years, three hundred and ten days.

I am yours, most noble man, a most obedient servant.

A. J. Monhead, secretary in the hospital and keeper of the records *.

[68] .VII. We the undersigned have known Christopher Clarke for many years, and of certain of his fellow citizens, and we often saw him led by another in walking. We believe that he was blind up to the month of November of the year 1859; at which time, when he returned from Holywell, he affirmed to us that, his eyes having been washed in the well of St. Winifred, he had received his sight; which we have no reason to call into doubt.

Wualley Bridge.

Thomas Dupply.

John Platt.

Aaron Sykes.

William Todd.

James Brown.

John Harrison.

Thomas Roberts.

[69] though others contradict, VIII. From the town hall * of Glossop.

On the 15th of December 1859.

Sir,

From an inquiry made by me in the neighborhood of the town of Wooley Bridge this is established, that the common opinion in these places is that that man, whose name is Clarke, from the time when he came here to live, was never blind, and is in no way better now than before. I myself have known Clarke for six years, and I never regarded him as blind.

G. Wyld,

sergeant over public security *.

To F. Summer.

[70] indeed, IX. Letter of F. Summer on the report of Sergeant G. Wyld.

Glossop, on the 22nd of December 1859.

Most noble man,

I have seen Prefect Williams and spoken with him about Clarke. What he set forth to the most noble Fielding on that matter all takes its origin from the report of Sergeant Wyld, who has lived for six years in the neighborhood of the town of Wooley Bridge. A certain note of his to you, with this letter,

I send. When I afterwards met with Wyld himself and questioned him about these things, he declared to me that during those six years he had seen Clarke at Hadfield walking without a guide and without a staff; that afterwards too he had met him on the road, and Clarke had looked back so as to recognize him; finally that he had at some time noticed Clarke, without a guide and without a staff, going down from one edge of the road, crossing the road and going on walking now on the other edge.

I have seen also Mr. Robert Lees, who lives at Wooley Bridge, and has known Clarke from the time when he came here to live; who has informed me that neither he nor his neighbors ever thought, from the time when Clarke came here, that he suffered from blindness; moreover that it by no means seems to him or his neighbors that anything in him has changed in many years up to this time.

I am, most noble man, your most devoted

F. Summer.

[71] whose affirmations nevertheless X. Letter of the most noble Edward Howard to the most noble Fielding.

My dearest and most noble Lord Fielding,

I send back to you your papers together with the reports of the magistrates and the letter given by a certain sergeant. You will notice that these last do not favor the opinion that pronounces Clarke to have been blind. I wish, however, to note this about them, that I by no means rate testimonies of this kind as of great moment. For it is quite consonant with nature that a man, even blind, can walk without a staff and without a guide in those places which are near his dwelling. There used indeed to be among us in the town a certain old man, helped only by a staff, who went a long way from his house round about toward the city (I mean what is now called the city); indeed I have heard that the same man was accustomed to betake himself from here as far as Manchester sitting on a horse, which is a journey of thirteen English miles.

But to return to Clarke, it is placed beyond all doubt that most of his neighbors reckoned him to be blind.

I believe you have a document signed by six merchants and innkeepers, of whom only one is a Catholic, and the others, as far as I know, Methodists; who further all, unless perhaps you except the Catholic, could be moved by no advantage, no gain, to sign this testimony. The Catholic is a certain man with whom Clarke lived when he came to Wooley Bridge. All of whom I understand testify that Clarke was in fact blind.

it is not difficult A publican also, a certain man, Harrison by name, speaks of him as blind, saying that Clarke, when he walked through his inn, nearly always appeared to bump into baskets and other things of this kind.

A certain Shepherd, who sold coal near the place to which these goods are brought by railway, marvelled at Clarke now having the use of the light of his eyes, whereas before, he said, he came here to get coal not alone but with a guide.

Before he returned from Holywell, and therefore before it was commonly known that he had been healed, the already mentioned Harrison showed in very weighty words how much credence he gave to his blindness: "If he is not blind, he said, he must surely be called an outstanding scoundrel."

A certain man also, of quite free judgment, whose name is Robinson, and who has known Clarke for nine years and at this time used often to lead him to the place of worship, testified that he had seen him always using a guide on the way, and affirmed that it could be doubtful to no one that he was blind.

And certainly his whole manner of acting recalled a blind man; hence from what is reported by those who knew the man well it is established that he was blind.

[72] are refuted: What credence, then, shall we now give to the sergeant's testimony? To me it is certain that he erred. For Clarke, as a man of good character See above, no. 63., was by no means to be watched by the guardians of public security. Moreover, some blind man can certainly walk without trouble in a place or on a road that he knows very well, without being helped by a staff or a guide; but if at any time he goes farther, then he needs a guide. Nor do I think it more worthy of note that Clarke at some time looked back toward the sergeant who was coming behind him; I believe on the contrary that other blind men also would do the same, and much more so if the sergeant, as one who had formerly served in the camps, was perhaps marching in soldier's fashion; for then Clarke could have been stirred even by the sound.

It has also been reported to me that there is at Mottram a certain young man, Nestor by name, who every week is accustomed to make his way from Mottram to Staley Bridge without a guide, namely a journey of three English miles.

It has not fallen to me myself to treat of these things with Sergeant Wyld. But if the most noble Denbigh or anyone else should come to these parts of ours, and should then wish to inquire into these things, it will be most welcome to me to see the most noble man.

I would not wish indeed to go so far as to judge that Sergeant Wyld so erred as to refer to our man what he had observed in some younger Clarke who lives there; but whatever it is, the merchants named above are certainly more suitable witnesses on that matter than Mr. Lees or some guardian of public security.

I am certainly not the man to affirm a fact of this kind merely because some testify to it; I would not wish, namely, to extol a miracle with loss to the truth. But we know that such graces not rarely occur, and that among Catholics they rouse no wonder that smacks of unbelief…

These things (said against the unbelief of Protestants in this matter), though they pertain no more to what is peculiar to Clarke than to any like cases, can nevertheless never be sufficiently examined. I have it in mind, with your approval, to go on inquiring.

I am truly yours.

Ed. Howard.

Glossop, on the 26th of December of the year 1859.

P. S. I doubt indeed that Mr. Lees knew much about Clarke; since I do not find that he could ever have met him.

2 P. S. If you wish to come here, either yourself, or with the most noble Lady Fielding, and to examine the matter here, I beg you to do so.

3 P. S. Let me also note that Clarke could have incurred nothing but loss of money if he recovered his sight. When I saw him here, when I offered him something to eat, he refused: from which thing he seemed to me by no means to wish to find any gain from those things that happened in him. In certain blind men the organs of the other senses are very acute. I have heard, to bring this forward by way of example, that a certain man, a lieutenant *, if I am not mistaken, Holman, could even say how many men were gathered in some room (I have not found out anything of their number).

If, however, you come into a dark room and walk round about in it, you will experience no sensation when you approach the wall, and, I suppose, you will strike your head on the wall.

You will do the very best thing, if you come here. For since you have the names of several entered on a list, you can go to them and question them, without their knowing you. The more you examine the matter, the more welcome you will make it to me.

[73] whence that miracle too So far the most noble Edward Howard. To whose arguments this too may be added, namely that what Sergeant Wyld and others cited by him reported seems altogether incredible. For who could imagine that Clarke was of such rashness or madness that, while he was publicly supported by so ample a stipend by reason of his blindness, he openly showed his neighbors and even the public assessors that he was by no means blind, and that not one was found among these in a whole six years to uncover that most impudent lie to the magistrates, and especially to those before whom a public testimony of that continuing blindness was to be brought forward each year by virtue of their office See above, no. 61, after the middle.? These things certainly seem abundantly sufficient for us to judge that the testimonies of Wyld and others not only by no means prevail over the others that are contrary, but have no force at all in themselves.

[74] can be pronounced altogether certain. XI. Letter of William Ready to the most noble Fielding.

Lytham, on the 20th of August [1860].

Most noble man,

To answer what you asked of me by letter concerning the pensioner Clarke, know that when he last sought his annuity, he had already recovered his sight. I profess indeed that no reason appears to me for doubting that he was truly healed, or that his blindness was certain before, on account of which he was granted both discharge and annual allowance. I have talked about this matter at some length with Dr. Noble, when he was at Manchester, and I reckon that nothing is lacking to this healing for it to be a perfect miracle.

I have now given up the army and the care of pensioners, having received the usual letters from Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen; by whom moreover I have been given a higher rank, namely of legate *. Therefore, since Centurion Heliston has succeeded as deputy to my charge at Manchester, your letters, most noble man, have been brought from there to me here; and it was most welcome to me to satisfy your desire.

I am, most noble man, most attached to you.

G. Ready, legate.

To the most noble Fielding.

* High Sheriff

* Father of Viscount Fielding

* shilling

* Major

* Staff officer

* Constabulary

* Superintendent's Office

* Pension Office

* Quartermaster

* rather Flint

* Secretary and Registrar

* Town Hall

* Sergeant

* lieutenant

* Lieutenant Colonel

§ VII. Certain other more recent miracles.

In the same year 1859 there are reported healed Finally we subjoin accounts of a number of miracles which have taken place more recently, from the year 1859 to the present year 1886. These accounts were written or collected by the Fathers of the Society of Jesus who at that time discharged the office of parish priest at Hollywell, namely Maurice Mann (in 1858 – 1870), John Baptist di Pietro (1870 – 1876), John Baron (1876 – 1878), George Kammerlocher (in 1878 – 1883) and Thomas Swift (1883 – 1886); and these, like the preceding, we found there in the archive of the Catholic presbytery. We have not, however, thought it right to describe all the miracles that are mentioned in those documents, but only certain more remarkable ones confirmed by greater weight of testimonies. As to the others it is useful to recall what Fr. Maurice Mann wisely observes in a letter given on the 20th of October of the year 1863, where he says: Although very many healings are obtained here, of which I can affirm some from my own knowledge, and others I have learned from elsewhere, the experience of some years now makes it plain to me that it is very difficult to bring forward any single miracle that by severe inquiry, such as is usually employed in a judicial suit, can be pronounced altogether certain. So many conditions are required for this: there would be need of the testimony of a physician who had carefully examined the sick person before he came here; there would then have to be undertaken an accurate examination of the witnesses and attestations,

etc., etc. Some go away from here healed whose cure becomes known to me only after some months: for at that season of the year at which pilgrims are wont to betake themselves to the well, it is not possible for me to examine all. Which, though it can in part be truly said also of those things that we are now about to bring forward, yet it by no means follows from this that these cannot and ought not to be prudently admitted by a Catholic man, to whom the very word miracle is not displeasing, and indeed for whom it is certain that they will never be lacking in the true Church of Christ.

[76] a man injured in the leg by the blow of an iron mass, I. John Fitzgerald, a workman of Liverpool, while turning a great bale of cotton in the dock warehouse Hustripon, was laid low by an iron mass falling on his leg, his heel being moreover dislocated. Though Evan Thomas restored this to its place five days afterwards, yet the leg began to swell so that the man could no longer walk without staves. Coming to Holywell, after he had gone down into the well three times, at the third time, on bended knees on St. Beuno's stone, which is commonly called the stone of the vow, he prayed God and St. Winifred that they deign to heal him. Then, rising, he went away from the well, leaving behind him his staves, to be hung up over the well. This took place on the 6th of July of the year 1859.

[77] a girl deprived of the use of one of her eyes, II. Margaret Browlan had remained blind in the right eye for sixteen years. But after she had again gone down into the well of St. Winifred on the 3rd of August of the year 1859, led by a certain man, she came to St. Beuno's stone; standing upon which with her hands joined and pressing her forehead to the curb of the well, she was beseeching God, the Blessed Virgin and St. Winifred with anxious prayers, when, looking back, she noticed that she had received the use of her right eye.

This testimony, like the other above, was spoken and signed before Rev. Fr. M. Mann.

[78] a man likewise blind in the eyes, III. John Ryan, from the town of Thurles in the county of Tipperary, sixty-six years old and earning his living by building walls, after he had labored for the last three years at Hartlepool, six months ago, while cutting a stone, was wounded by a spark striking his left eye; and an inflammation arose from it, which attacked the right eye also. About a month having passed, then, he came as an outpatient to the hospital of the city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where attention is given to curing the eyes. The nobleman John Fife, who attended him as physician, declares that during these last twenty years he has found no case graver than his. Eight caustics and five leeches having been applied, and the eyes often washed, nothing was accomplished. Ryan therefore went to Doctor Down at Rotterham; but after he had experienced his care and work for three weeks, since he was no better, he went away from there and hastened to Hull, where he spent eleven weeks, Doctor Brown, one of the physicians of the hospital established there for healing the eyes, applying medicine to him; but this too in vain. At length he reached Holywell on the 4th of February 1864, his wife leading him. First there on a certain Friday morning, at which time he felt his eyes grow hot and as it were burn, again on Saturday, and finally for the third time on the following Monday, his eyes being washed, he could now count how many panes of glass there were in the window of St. Winifred, which is to be seen in the small chapel over the well. And on Ash Wednesday he now saw more clearly and farther.

These things, reported before M. Mann, S. J., were written down by him.

[79] another infirm in the hand; IV. Lawrence Maher, when on the 10th of January of the year 1859 he had been seized by a very sharp pain in his right hand, had for some time used in vain the care both of Dr. Bickersteth, physician of the northern hospital at Liverpool, and also of another physician, Evan Thomas by name. During all which time, namely during these last four months, his torments were very grave.

On the 1st of August he arrived at Holywell, and on the 2nd he went to the well: and after he had prayed for a little while in the small chapel, when, going to the well, he had immersed his hand in it, at once a bone fell out of his hand. Then, going away from Holywell for some time, he returned there on the 15th of August, and again, when he was holding his hand placed on St. Beuno's stone, another bone six English inches long fell off, and in a short time the hand was altogether healed.

I testify that the things written above are true and sincere.

L. Maher.

[80] then in the year 1863 and following, V. Letter sent by Fr. Maurice Mann.

At the sacred well of St. Winifred, on the 12th of October 1863.

Dearest Father Kingdon,

I am sorry that I have not yet been able to write to you at greater length about the hospice for pilgrims that we have it in mind to build. This at least I will now tell you, which I think you will gladly read.

One month ago a remarkable healing was wrought of a certain girl, a pupil of the convent of St. Margaret at Edinburgh. For when a certain other pupil of the same house had come here in summertime by reason of devout pilgrimage, and had brought with her some water from the well of St. Winifred, having returned to the convent she began to tell the wonderful things that she had seen or heard here concerning the efficacy of this water. A certain schoolmate of hers, who suffered so gravely in the knee that the force of the trouble kept even sleep away, one night, when she was already going to bed, with simple and very firm faith applied the aforesaid water to the suffering knee, and soon, embraced by very deep sleep, on the following morning she perceived that she had been altogether healed. She then went down to the chapel to be present at the sacred mysteries celebrated in thanksgiving and at the hymn Te Deum; and the same girl has until now remained in prosperous health.

Letters of this kind, which report such cures to me, I often receive; but in these matters it is no easy business so to confirm the fact with testimonies and proofs that it may be permitted to send it out to the public.

[81] a dropsical woman, VI. Anne Murray (who lives at 6, Kaye street, Middlesbury, in the town of Stockton on the river Tees) two years ago began to suffer from dropsy. Four physicians having been called in, and thirty-two English pounds spent to carry out their precepts, after she had been emptied eleven times, and by this means a hundred English quarts of fluid had been pressed from her body, she conceived an immense dread at the mere thought of a new cure of this kind, and wholly cast away all hope of healing. Coming, however, to Holywell, since, her strength being used up, she was too weak to immerse herself in the well, she did only this, that, standing on one of the steps of the well, she washed her body three times, and, when she was now about to set out, she took with her some water and moss. And from this she made herself a band, with which she wished her body to be always bound afterwards. She herself returned to Holywell on the 4th of August of the year 1864, to give due thanks for the complete healing obtained.

[82] another brought to the last moment of life by a very grave disease, VII. Excerpt from a certain letter of Miss E. Fletcher.

106 Walgate Wigan, on the feast of St. Nicholas of the year 1871.

On the 13th of December 1865 I was affected by the first attack of the disease *, on the 25th of January 1866 by a second. Then, when on the 30th of June, having suffered twenty-five such onsets, I had received extreme unction that same night, from the 8th of July those attacks began to trouble me daily, at least three on each day, often more, namely even fifteen, indeed eighteen. And on the 1st of September 1867 being taken to Birkenhead, since I was never at all better, but on account of very bad health had to be brought back home already on the 26th of September 1867, I then lay in bed, and on the 2nd of November I was again fortified with extreme unction. At that same time also, since I was pressed by very sharp pain, eight leeches were applied to my temples, and from then they began to place a caustic on my back, to bring up pus and to bring it about that it should always flow; two weeks, then, having passed from the time when the caustic was first applied, they substituted another in the same place, to keep the wound open. At last, on the 4th of July 1868, dressed for the first time since the month of September, I was taken out of the house, from which I was absent for fully sixteen weeks and four days, yet troubled without intermission by constant onsets of the disease. But on the 2nd of July 1869, the possibility of making for Holywell being given, when, setting out on that same day from Harrington, I was making my way to Chester, I was affected by two very vehement attacks, and by another also on the 3rd, when I had already lain down. And on the 6th of July I first immersed myself in the well of St. Winifred. Thanks now be to God the Most Good, St. Winifred and Our Lady called of the Sacred Heart: for from then on I have experienced no attack of the disease. I remained free from these onsets for only one week, every time that I received the sacred last anointings.

I was attended by four most excellent physicians and three surgeons; nor were any expenses or cares omitted that I might return to health. The longest attack of this kind lasted an hour and a half.

Emma Fletcher.

[83] a matron afflicted with an infirmity of the stomach, VIII. Healing of Mrs. Julia Hammond.

Mrs. Julia Hammond of Greenwich (St Mary's Lodge, Croom's Hill, Greenwich S. E.) arrived at Holywell in the month of October of the year 1872; who now for ten years, namely from the time at which she had given birth, had suffered very sharply in the stomach, so that after a short time she was no longer able to walk or stand. Hearing of the wonderful works that were wrought at the well of St. Winifred, she asked her husband to bring her to Holywell; for she was most fully persuaded that God, with Blessed Winifred interceding, would restore her to health. She, when on the 5th of October 1872, which was the fourth day of the week, she had arrived at Holywell and had lodged at the inn of the King's Head, the following morning hastened to the well; but seeing the water, seized by fear she drew back a little from it; soon at last, her spirit being recovered, she went down into the well and after a short time came out from it wholly healed. Sending away the carriage in which she had been brought there, Mrs. Hammond returned on foot as far as the lodging, which is situated at the far end of High Street *, moved, as she herself affirmed to us, with great wonder at so great a marvel accomplished in her. On that same day she walked with Mr. Hammond as far as Mostyre, which place is about four English miles distant from Holywell, and on the following day she visited the towns of Rhyl and Conway, traversing there all the places that were worth seeing. And during the time that Mr. and Mrs. Hammond remained at Holywell, in thanksgiving they undertook a novena devotion, and each day refreshed themselves with the holy sacraments.

Finally Mrs. Hammond herself, in a letter given to me on the 15th of December of the year 1879, testifies that she

has so remained in the health restored to her that she has never experienced even the least trouble of the disease returning.

George Kammerlocher, S. J.

[84] a boy subject to St. Vitus's dance, IX. Cure of Edward Lloyd.

Edward Lloyd, born in the year 1860 and son of a leading merchant in the town of Holywell, and a Protestant, who lives at Albert House in High Street, was altogether relieved of what they call St. Vitus's dance in the month of September of the year 1874, after he had been immersed for a short time in the well. The boy's disease had already been pronounced most grave and very bad; he could neither walk nor speak, nor indeed bring food to his mouth.

There are at Holywell a number of witnesses who are ready to declare the truth of this fact. Which I myself here declare and attest.

George Kammerlocher, S. J.

[85] another made deaf and mute by an injury to the head, X. Healing of a certain boy.

Seven weeks ago a certain boy, son of Mr. Lucas (29, Wellington street, Wigan), eleven years old, fell wretchedly from a certain machine, which they call a crane, nearly seven paces high; by which, as he was gravely bruised, especially on the head, it finally came about that he became deaf and mute. When several physicians had been called in and had pronounced that the boy would never recover the use of speaking and hearing, a week ago, being brought by his father to Holywell, when he had been immersed in the well for the second time, to the wonder and joy of all, his hearing and speech were restored. Of this fact there are very many witnesses, especially since many went in crowds to the inn at which the sick boy had lodged with his father, greatly desiring to see the boy in whom such a healing had been wrought.

On the 17th of September 1875.

The statement of the mother of the healed boy.

"I went to the boy's mother in Wellington street; who testified to me that everything written above is true; that the boy is very well and is being taught a trade." These things are taken from a letter of Rev. Fr. Gradwell, which he wrote back to me on the 19th of September 1878, after I had asked him to inquire in that place about the matter narrated.

Henry G. Walmesley

at the sacred well of St. Winifred.

On the 20th of September 1878.

[86] a young girl exhausted for five years by weakness of the stomach, XI. Narrative of the disease and healing of Susan Iles, of Kemsford, near Fairford, in the county of Gloucester.

In the month of November of the year 1872 Susan was seized by a very vehement disease, by which, her strength being prostrated and worn down, she was moreover wholly deprived of appetite for food, which before she had by no means lacked. She never recovered from this infirmity, except in the year 1877 in the month of July, at which time namely she was carrying out a novena prayer in honor of St. Winifred, on each day of which she had drunk water brought from the well of St. Winifred.

During this space of nearly five intervening years she was affected by the disease now more gravely, now more lightly. For in the year 1874, involved first in a pain of the side, soon in a dilatation of the same, she was compelled by the force of the disease to lie in bed for three months, given up even by the physicians. She recovered somewhat, however, yet in very weak health, unequal to carrying out domestic duties and forced frequently to lie on her bed. Another attack of the trouble she experienced in the month of March 1876 for one week; in which, when she had again been placed on the threshold of death, she was fortified with the sacrament of extreme unction. Then, a little restored, she was at certain times again tried by ill health, so that she could scarcely retain in her body any food, either liquid or solid, and indeed for the following six months her stomach loathed absolutely all solid food except farinaceous.

Four physicians gave their opinion on her health, namely three others besides the family physician, who generally attended the sick woman; which learned men, having shared their counsels and opinions, applied whatever medicines they could find, but in vain. For from beginning to end her disease seemed something mysterious and wonderful; since up to the time at which she first fell into it she had always enjoyed the best of health, and no cause appeared either to friends or to physicians from which the several attacks of the disease took their origin or occasion. Medicines of all kinds, at the physicians' orders, having been applied for a very long time with almost no success, finally at the beginning of the month of March of the year 1877 she began to abstain from every remedy, except that once, namely in the month of May, she drank a certain small flask, and that altogether in vain. For three continuous months, then, before the novena devotion was begun, she omitted every medicine whatsoever. It had also been tried whether perhaps something could be gained by a change of place, nor had any benefit come to the sick woman from this. Remedies therefore failing, and the sick woman persevering in the same weakness, and in so great a loathing also of food that it no longer seemed to be hoped, even if nothing human should happen to her, that she would recover any tolerable health, in the month of May 1877 a certain friend offered her water and moss from the well of St. Winifred. A novena prayer was therefore instituted on the 31st of May, on the feast of Corpus Christi, the end of which fell on the day sacred to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus; on which day the sick woman began to experience an unusual appetite for food, which afterwards grew day by day, until at last she could willingly use food of all kinds and so resume her strength.

In the month of August she was able to undertake a devout journey from her house as far as Holywell, to give thanks to St. Winifred; and on this day, which is the 28th of August 1877, restored from disease, she can now attend to all domestic duties, to the fulfilling of which she had been unequal for nearly five years.

[87] whose healing both her father Letter of the father of Miss Susan Iles to Rev. Fr. Baron, S. J.

Reevey Kempsford, near Fairford, in the county of Gloucester.

On the 2nd of September 1877.

Reverend and dearest Sir,

Writing back to your letter, which I received this morning, first I myself, and my wife with me, give you immense thanks from the heart for having received with such kindness my daughter and Miss Powell, when they came to Holywell. As for Susan, I testify to you, and this with a grateful spirit, that she is continually growing stronger and indeed seems to be finely well. Miss Powell has sent you what she had to narrate about Susan, with the addition of what I have further told her. All and each of which I can affirm to be most true. As soon as I can, I will send you the physician's testimony. I have not done this sooner for this reason, that since she neither saw a physician nor used any medicine for some time before she began to be better, and since she had before applied in vain various remedies ordered by four physicians, I reckoned in my mind that scarcely anything else could be asserted by a physician except that she was well and that such prosperous health was evident to anyone who looked at her.

She fell into the disease four years ago, after she had always until then been of the best and unshaken health; and from that time up to the undertaking of the novena, not even once did she take a whole dinner or supper. On the last day of that novena, at the evening hour, looking from the bed to her mother, she said: "Mother, my stomach seems restored and as it were changed; and so I would like to take some food." From that day the appetite for food grew in her, and now it is altogether great enough, certainly greater than it had ever been from the time she was entangled in the disease. And she who for nearly a year had not gone beyond the garden door now can walk in the village and carry out domestic work. I do not indeed see how such a healing could be ascribed to any medication. So far I have not yet been able to bring it about that the physician should see and examine her for a day or two; when this has been done, I will immediately send you his testimony.

I wish to be most grateful and most faithful to you.

W. Iles.

To the Rev. J. Baron.

[88] and the physician attested; Testimony of Mr. Hodges, physician.

I testify that, when in the month of May 1877 I visited Miss Susan Iles in her father's house at Kempsford, I noticed that she was wasted by extreme leanness and that, the disease having been brought to a habit, she was laboring continually with an inflamed or even ulcerated stomach; whereby it came about that she no longer experienced any appetite for food and could take at one time only a very little of even the most easily digested foods.

From that day I never saw Miss Susan Iles again, until on the 10th of September she came to my house at Cirencester. She seemed then to enjoy excellent health and to be becoming somewhat stout; she was of an excellent color and suffused with immense joy. In answer to my question she replied that she was very well, took ordinary foods with no trouble, indeed desired them, and could complete a rather long journey without feeling fatigue.

Circencester, on the 29th of September 1877.

G. Hodges, physician.

[89] a certain woman affected by epilepsy, XII. Healing of Louisa Walker.

I, Louisa Joanna Walker, commit these things to writing to testify that I have been relieved of epilepsy, by which I had been pressed for two years, so that during these last six months I experienced its attacks three or four times each week. From it I was also impeded in the use of my voice, and moreover I was affected by erysipelas in the knees. From all of which I was at once restored, as soon as I first went down into the well of St. Winifred. For this I give back immense thanks to God and St. Winifred, and I desire that this healing of mine be made public for the benefit of others. As physicians I had previously had Mr. Steward (Netherfield road, North) and Mr. Bicksteth (Rodney street), of Liverpool. — I myself am attached to the religion of the Protestants and discharge a certain office in a Wesleyan chapel. Jetlow street, Walton Road, Liverpool.

On the 8th of October 1877.

[90] a paralyzed youth, XIII. Healing of George Doran, of Liverpool.

George Sydney Doran, of Liverpool (40, West Derby street), when he was thirteen years old and a pupil of the College of St. Francis Xavier at Liverpool, on Saturday the 1st of February 1879 fell into a disease, there coming on both a collection in the brain and an inflammation of the membranes that enclose the brain; from which moreover there arose a paralysis of all his limbs. In that health full of danger he continued without intermission, until we reached Holywell; which journey we undertook on the 11th of August.

Then George, who, as one altogether weakened, was accustomed like a child to be clothed and unclothed with the help of others, as soon as he arrived at Holywell was let down into warm water; which, not without some benefit, did not cease to be done up to the 25th day of August, yet without his being able in any way to stand with his foot on the ground. But when he had now been carried to the miraculous well and placed on the steps of the well, so that his legs were immersed in the water,

he seemed to become a little stronger, but even then he was not able to walk even the least.

On the 1st of September, when Rev. Fr. Kammerlocher had come to us in the house of Mrs. Freice, with whom we had lodged, and had given the boy Holy Communion, he advised him, having put on his clothes, now to make his way to the well and to plunge in his whole self; which he did and seemed to do without labor or trouble, although in the evening of the day on which he had first gone down to some extent into the water, he had complained that he was affected by many pains in his whole body.

On the following day, the 2nd of September, after he had risen, he clothed himself, walked in the house, went up the stairs and came down them, made his way to the church, and went on walking on foot the whole day, helped indeed by the support of staves, because namely, after he had lain in bed for so many months, he was still infirm in his sinews. From then on he went down into the water on nearly each day, until we left Holywell; which took place on the 10th of October. And at that time he now leaned in walking on only two smaller canes. And now he is finely well and can make his way wherever he wishes.

Physician of this family

Doctor Nevins, Abercromby Square, Liverpool.

Physicians called in consultation

Doctors Long and Cameron.

Doctor Bell (New-Brighton).

Doctor Hesly.

On the 22nd of December of the year 1879.

N. B. The narrative written above was sent to us by Mrs. Helen Doran, George's mother.

G. Kammerlocher, S. J.

[91] a woman now close to death from a contraction of the nerves, XIV. Wonderful and sudden healing of a certain woman suffering from a contraction of the nerves.

Bogne street, Dublin.

Reverend Father,

A grateful spirit toward God and St. Winifred orders me to make known this cure, which was effected in my presence by the water of the sacred well of St. Winifred; for I myself, as I shall now declare to you in a few words, held out this water to the sick woman, who also lives in Dublin (12 Boyne street, West Landrow).

About eight years ago, on a certain Thursday of the month of July, at the second or third hour of the afternoon, I was hastening home as usual for the sake of dining. The meal was ready; but my sister with other neighbors, chiefly women, was in a house a little distant from mine bringing help to a certain woman, whose proper name was Catherine Nicholl, her married name Cummingham, and who had been gravely ill since the day before. A priest and a physician had been called, but the latter had been able to give her no help, and all were determining that she was already close to death, when suddenly she was seized by so vehement and so horrible an attack of the disease that by night and day several persons together could scarcely hold her in the bed, and she uttered cries which were heard even over a long distance; she was so thrown about too, and she tried to dash her head against the posts of the bed or anything that came in her way, and finally she seemed so agitated in her head, her eyes and her whole body that she strangely recalled the appearance of those whom I have seen depicted as possessed by a demon.

When I was now sitting down for the sake of taking food, I heard the poor little woman uttering hideous cries; hearing which, ceasing to eat and moved by pity, I began to turn over in my mind whether I had anything holy or sacred, which, human help failing, I could bring to her for the sake of relief. When at last it came into my mind that I had some water from the well of St. Winifred, exulting with joy, I at once carried this water in a certain cup to the room in which, as I wrote above, the young woman lay prostrate; at which time five women were forcing her to remain in the bed, one, namely, holding her legs, others her arms and body; there were present also the sick woman's father and her young husband; who, since they could in no way relieve her, were affected with great anguish. When I asked her father to tell her that I was there with a little water from the well of St. Winifred, and to ask whether she wished to drink it, since the poor little woman could not speak, she showed by a nod that she wished it. Taking therefore a spoon, such as is commonly used for taking tea, I held out to her three times to drink as much water as a small spoon of this kind can contain, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Then, when she had shown by signs that she wished to have the cup itself, and I had held it out to her, she greedily drained it all, and scarcely two moments later she called out to the women to stop holding her; and as they were unwilling to do this, she again ordered the same more firmly, as one who was now strong and quiet. At last, as they hesitated and feared to dare this, I reassured them and ordered them to fulfil the sick woman's request. She was finely well, and now quiet she talked with all those standing around her, I rejoicing greatly, and her friends and neighbors rejoicing too: for she was altogether healed.

From that time she has remained in this prosperous health. Thanks be to God and St. Winifred!

Your humble son in Christ,

Christian Rourke.

P. S. I gave the same water to others also, who suffered in their eyes; and they too, as far as I could know or see, were healed.

[92] another suffering in the leg, XV. Cure of Mary Keighrey.

76, Hagley Road – Birmingham.

On the 27th of October of the year 1882.

Reverend Father,

I now carry out what I promised you, namely to set forth to you more broadly in writing how by water drawn from the well of St. Winifred a remedy was wonderfully brought to my leg.

For when I had suffered in my leg for twelve months, the physician was already pronouncing that I must in future lie in bed, and that no hope of health remained. Water from the well of St. Winifred having been sent to me by Miss Morris, servant of Miss Lemkey, as soon as I applied it the pain in my leg immediately vanished, and after a week, during which I did not cease to use the same water, the three wounds by which I was also affected in my leg were healed.

I am indeed unequal to explaining in words how great a pain I experienced before; but now my leg is excellent, it has been excellent for two months now, and I have never enjoyed so prosperous health as I now enjoy.

If you desire more to be indicated by me on this matter, it will be most welcome to me to comply with your wish. My perfect cure is greatly wondered at by those I have as friends among the Protestants.

Your most respectful,

Mary Keighrey.

[93] an infant suffering from hernia, XVI. William Radekin of Oldam in the county of Lancaster, two years old, when he was affected by a hernia and was therefore bound with a truss, given up by the physicians, was brought in the month of August of the year 1883 to the well of St. Winifred. After he had once been immersed in the well by his mother, he was so healed of the infirmity that from then on the truss could be removed, which it was never necessary to apply again. In the month of June of the year 1886 his mother came here to give thanks to St. Winifred: and the boy was still very well, and the physician who had attended him for six months, Howard by name, confessed that this healing had not been wrought without a miracle.

Catherine Radekin,

mother of the boy.

T. Swift.

[94] a man unable to walk, XVII. John Tye, a certain needy man, who, crippled in his limbs, was scarcely able to walk with the help of a staff, asked on the 8th of June (1886) to be carried to the well of St. Winifred. When he had arrived here at the ninth hour of the morning, at which time women alone have access there, being prevented from going down into the water, he obtained that he should immerse his foot alone in the well. Scarcely had he done this, when suddenly he leapt up and declared himself wholly healed. Then he walked with firm foot, and even ran, and left his staff near the well. He came from Liverpool, but lived in the town of Wegford in Ireland. He went off exulting with joy, giving thanks for his healing to God and St. Winifred.

T. Swift.

[95] another afflicted with ulcers in the leg for thirty years, By way of conclusion I shall bring forward three miracles which I myself, while I was staying at Holywell at the beginning of the month of July of this year 1886, heard narrated by those to whom they were granted. The first of these was reported to me by William Ashead, an inhabitant of the village of Altrincham near Manchester, sixty-two years old. For nearly thirty years he had labored greatly with a leg infected by very bad ulcers. He spent three weeks in the hospital of the city of Manchester; then he used up every kind of remedy that he heard recommended for curing that trouble, but with no result. At last he came to Holywell, first indeed in the month of July of the year 1883, then again a second and a third time in the years 1884 and 1885, and on each occasion he was washed three times in the water of the well, all other remedies being meanwhile left off. Already in the year 1883 he experienced no moderate relief, more in the year 1884, and finally in the year 1885 he was wholly healed of his long infirmity. He undertook the pilgrimage of the present year 1886, then, only in thanksgiving.

[96] an infant brought to extremity by convulsions, The same man narrated to me that in the last year 1885 he took home with him a flask of water drawn from the well. Returning there he came upon, at the house of his kinsfolk, a certain little girl two years old, Alice Bagnell by name, brought by the force of convulsions to the point of now breathing her last. As soon as she took some little drops of that water into her mouth, she immediately recovered, and has since experienced no spasms.

[97] a woman exhausted in strength by hemoptysis. Besides this William Ashead I saw at Holywell on the 8th of the month of July last past a woman, Catherine Coudrick by name, who had come there a few days before, namely on the 29th of June, reduced by an almost daily spitting up of copious blood over the space of two months to such a weakness of strength that, as she reported to me and showed by gesture, she could no longer move her arms backward to fasten the clasp of her garment behind. But as soon as she immersed herself in the cold water of the well, which certainly seemed by no means a fit remedy for healing hemoptysis, she immediately began to be so much better that in that whole space of nine days she spat up no blood, and in those few days she had so resumed her strength that she could now attend to any woman's work in the hospice.

* of a contraction of the nerves?

* High Street