Helena

ON BL. HELENA, NUN OF THE ORDER OF ST. CLARE OF ASSISI, AT PADUA IN ITALY,

IN THE YEAR 1230.

COMMENTARIUS PRAEVIUS

Helena Enselmina, nun at Padua. (B.)

BY F. V. O.

[1] Not a few have written about Blessed Helena, That Blessed Helena, a virgin of Padua, sprung from the illustrious stock of the Enselmini, lived through the earlier part of the thirteenth century, all agree who have written of their native affairs and of the seraphic religion of St. Francis [Their names are listed by Arthur du Monstier, Martyrologium Franciscanum, at 4 November, note.]; but it is not so agreed among them in what year she was born and died. For, to bring forward the more ancient testimonies — those of the same or a nearly contemporary age are lacking — Bartholomew of Pisa, O.M., in the book De conformitate vitae beati Francisci ad vitam Domini nostri, to which he put the last hand in the year 1385 [Analecta Bollandiana, vol. XI (1892), Catalogus codicum hagiographicorum latinorum bibliothecae Ambrosianae, p. 330, and Marcellino da Civezza, Saggio di bibliografia Sanfranciscana, p. 471.], and which came out in print at Milan in the year 1510 [Ibid., p. 463. A copy of the very rare first edition exists at Vienna, in the Rossiana library of the S.J.], handed down the first record of Blessed Helena Conformitas VIII, fol. 74v col. 2, Milan edition 1513., but is entirely silent about the year of her birth and death. Rodolfo Tossignano assigns the year 1230 as that of her death Historiarum seraphicae religionis book I, p. 140. Venice, 1586.; while B. Scardeonius retains the year 1231 [De urbis Patavii antiquitate, book II, class VI (Graevius, Thesaurus antiquitatum, vol. VI, part III, col. 136–7). That book was first printed at Basel in 1560.], and Angelo Portenari, who followed in his footsteps Della felicità di Padova, p. 479. Padua, 1623.. For the rest, there is such affinity between Tossignano himself and Scardeonius that one seems to have copied the other, or rather both seem to have drawn their store from the same common source. All these authors enclose the course of Blessed Helena's life within the space of 24 years. From them plainly departs Mariano of Florence, O.M., a man not incurious about the affairs of his order, who flourished at the beginning of the sixteenth century Negri, Degli scrittori Fiorentini, p. 397.. For in the work Fasciculus Chronicarum Ordinis Minorum, which remained in manuscript, and which Wadding drew upon in composing his Annals, he puts off, on the testimony of the same Wadding Annales Minorum, at the year 1242., the death of Blessed Helena as far as the year 1242. In which Wadding himself supports him, led above all by this reason, that, if credit is to be given to Mariano, there is read among the revelations of the same blessed woman one about the glory in heaven after his death of Gregory IX, who died in the preceding year, namely in the year 1241.

[2] among whom Sicco Polenton Sicco Polenton, a man of Padua, skilled in letters and civil law, who, having been made chancellor of the city in the middle of the fifteenth century, devoted zeal and time to restoring the public archive Gius. Vedova, Biografia degli scrittori Padovani, vol. II, p. 119–22., at length committed the Vita of Blessed Helena to the memory of his fellow citizens. A copy of his little work still survives at Padua in the Antonian library, shelf XXII, codex marked 559. The codex, of parchment, of 39 pages, of the measure 0.29 m × 0.21, was most beautifully written and not inelegantly decorated in the year 1437, as is made known at the end. At the beginning is set out the Vita of St. Anthony of Padua by the same author; then, after a prologue addressed to his son Lazarus, there follows first the Vita of Blessed Anthony the Pilgrim, then of Blessed Helena Enselmina. At the end it is read that this book was given as a gift by Polenton himself to the sacristy of the basilica of St. Anthony: "In the year of the nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ M°.CCCC°.XXXVIII, this book, in which are written the lives and miracles of the most devout St. Anthony the confessor of Padua and of the most blessed Anthony the Pilgrim and Helena the nun, was given to this sacristy of the church of the aforesaid St. Anthony, confessor of Padua, of the order of Friars Minor of the convent of Padua, by Sicco Polenton, and written by me, brother Jacobus of Padua, and bound here with an iron chain, so that each may freely read it for his own advantage, but no one may carry it away Cf. A. M. Josa, I codici manoscritti della biblioteca Antoniana, p. 175–6.." A text of the Vita of the same virgin transcribed from another copy was received by our predecessors (today in the Royal Library of Brussels, cod. 8932), but so corrupted by faults that we should have been altogether unequal to printing it, had not the Rev. Fr. Josa, O.M., prefect of the Antonian library, brought the kindly aid of a careful collation.

[3] holds not the last place; That Polenton himself has the standing of a diligent compiler is drawn out both from the fame of learning which he enjoyed among his fellow countrymen Cf. Scardeonius, in the work and edition cited, book II, class X, col. 267., and from the words with which he concluded the Vita of Blessed Helena: These are, my Lazarus, most delightful son, the things worth recording which, investigating on every side, I have found about those who are blessed, Anthony the Pilgrim and Helena the nun. Among those things, that certain earlier writings existed, today lost, Bartholomew of Pisa professes in the notice which he composed about the virgin of Padua: To her God revealed many things, which she herself narrated to the sisters, and these are held written at Padua; which, while I was in the same place, I saw In the place cited.. It is easy to conclude, moreover, that those writings were drawn by Polenton into the rather long chapter which he composed on the visions of Blessed Helena. Whether he also knew the commentaries of Bartholomew of Pisa is doubtful. For although each narrates many things in common, which is sufficiently explained by the traditions or writings flourishing at Padua, yet the things

the Franciscan author brings forward which, if they had been known to the other, would by no means have been passed over by him. Besides, while according to the testimony of Bartholomew Blessed Helena lay deprived of all power of body and tongue for a good sixteen years, Polenton speaks much more moderately. For he says: For fifteen months she suffered continual fevers, nor was she freed from the fevers before she met her day Cf. the Vita, no. 5.. And below, after she had been revived a little from imminent death, she thereafter took nothing either of food or drink. Wonderful indeed to say and to be recorded among the miracles: for she lived three months without food and drink, and she lost her speech also on that very day Ibid., no. 6.. For the last three months of her earthly life, then, she remained entirely fasting and dumb. Which author is to be trusted in this matter is not clear; I for my part incline to Polenton as an accurate and domestic investigator. It is wonderful too that by him, who applied himself so much to collecting and recording the visions of Blessed Helena, not even a hint is given of her revelation which concerns Gregory IX, of which above only Mariano speaks. Finally, Polenton expressly declares that Blessed Helena died in the year of the nativity of Christ MCCXXX, on the second day before the nones of November, in the twenty-fourth year of her age. Which the Paduan authors cited at the beginning received, and it seems to me more probable than the conjecture of Wadding.

[4] whose composition Further, the entire tenor of Polenton's text, hitherto unpublished, was reduced to an abridgment by B. Scardeonius and R. Tossignano In the places cited., as is plain to one comparing them even lightly, and is sufficiently indicated by their own words. For the former discloses his mind thus: She related very many and most difficult things about the heavenly secrets, which still survive, and which I myself have seen, and read through not without the greatest admiration. And the other still more clearly: There are many other splendid things which are narrated of Blessed Helena of Padua, which are held in her legend at Padua. From where Scardeonius drew the time at which the blessed virgin entered the monastery of the old Arcella, five hundred paces outside the walls of the city toward the north, namely in the twelfth year of her age, escapes me. This too seems worthy of note from Polenton's prologue on Bl. Anthony the Pilgrim and Helena Enselmina, that although neither has been approved by the judgment of the supreme pontiff, each nevertheless shines with miracles and both are placed in the order of the blessed by the opinion of the people. Such a document, brought forward in the year 1437, could have done something toward establishing the immemorial cult of Blessed Helena. seems to have contributed to establishing the cult of Blessed Helena. Which cult was confirmed by a decree of Innocent XII given on 29 October of the year 1695 [Cf. Benedict XIV, De servorum Dei beatificatione, book II, chap. XXIV, §24.], after the process, according to the norm of Urban VIII, had been instituted by the ordinary, the bishop of Padua, Cardinal Gregorio Barbarigo, and his delegates, and completed from 29 March of the year 1689 to 14 September of the year 1690; and another inquiry having been made in the month of April of the year 1697, at length in the year 1701 a Mass and office of Blessed Helena were granted, as is read in the letter sent to our predecessor C. Janning by Fr. I. B. Romagnoli, S.J., from Padua on 17 April of the same year Royal Library of Brussels, cod. 8932..

[5] The indications of this cult from the processes, These processes, preserved at Padua in the episcopal archive, the present prelate of this city, the Most Illustrious Lord Giuseppe Callegari, most generously communicated to us; to whom, as is fitting, we return sincere thanks. The chief heads of the cult shown toward Blessed Helena from time immemorial, which have been made clear by several testimonies, were thus drawn together in the petition, ibid., fol. 1v, by Andrea Viecelli, priest of Padua, doctor of both laws, rector of the parish church of San Massimo: As gold in the furnace God proved her, and refreshed her with heavenly visions and graces, and made her illustrious with supernatural gifts and miracles both in life and after death, so much so that to her tomb the faithful of Christ of both sexes flocked (sic) in continued times and flock even at present, common people as well as nobles, seculars as well as ecclesiastics, earnestly commending themselves to the same venerable servant of God Blessed Helena, and carrying away from the divine bounty innumerable graces and benefits through the intercession of the same Blessed Helena, so much so that for thanksgiving votive images, even of silver, and tablets and gifts are continually offered at her tomb, lamps are and have always been kept lit, and her body, which for four hundred and fifty years and more, incorrupt and breathing a sweet odor, in the church always called by her name of Blessed Helena, is kept above ground in a cypress-wood chest, is devoutly visited by the faithful, citizens as well as foreigners, and every year on each fourth day of November, and also on the second and third festal days of the Lord's resurrection, on which the body of Blessed Helena was translated from the place called Arcella into this church, where it is now found, which before was called the church of St. Mary of the Armenians, and now, as was premised above, is called the church of Blessed Helena, is venerated with a great concourse of peoples, and has always been called and is called by the name and title of blessed, with the knowledge and toleration of the ordinaries of this city of all past centuries down to the present day.

[6] from the customs of the monastery of Arcella, Among the particular indications of cult, as several nuns advanced in age testified: nel Confiteor che si suol recitare tanto nell' officio quanto in altra occorrenza di recitarlo, solevano quelle buone monache of the monasteries of Sts. Clare and Helena, at Padua per uso come dicevano antichissimo di cui non v'era memoria, dire doppo quelle parole Petro et Paulo, beato Basilio, beato Francesco, beato Antonio, beatae Clarae, beatae Helenae et omnibus sanctis etc.; e cosi replicavano nel Ideo precor. Ma il P. Inquisitore di quel tempo, che mi pare si nominasse Antonio Vercelli, disse et aviso che non si poteva aggiongere all' orationi instituite dalla Chiesa altri santi che quelli che essa vi haveva, senza la debita licenza. Onde fu ommessa questa usanza. Interrogata per qual causa si ponesse nel numero delli santi prenominati anche il nome di S. Basilio, responde perche si diceva che S. Basilio anticamente era titolare di questa chiesa; ma di poi crescendo la veneratione verso la nostra beata fu la detta chiesa denominata dalla medesima, come e al presente. [in the Confiteor, which is customarily recited both in the office and on any other occasion of reciting it, those good nuns, by a custom which they said was most ancient and beyond memory, used to say after the words Petro et Paulo: blessed Basil, blessed Francis, blessed Anthony, blessed Clare, blessed Helena and all the saints, etc.; and so they repeated it in the Ideo precor. But the Father Inquisitor of that time, who I think was named Antonio Vercelli, said and advised that no other saints could be added to the prayers instituted by the Church than those which she had placed there, without the due licence. Whence this usage was omitted. Asked for what cause the name of St. Basil too was placed among the number of the saints named, she answers: because it was said that St. Basil was anciently the titular of this church; but afterwards, as veneration toward our blessed one grew, the said church was named after her, as it is at present.]

Aggiongo che tanto in refettorio a cena, quanto in choro in giorno di digiuno anticamente per uso derivato dai secoli passati, per quanto si diceva delle nostre vecchie prenominate, l'abbadessa solea benedire le sue monache in questa forma : Iddio vi benedica la gloriosa vergine Maria, Messier S. Francesco, Messier S. Antonio, Madonna S. Chiara et Madonna S. Helena ; ma sono settanta anni che non si benedice From the manuscript process indicated above.. [I add that both in the refectory at supper and in choir on a fast day, anciently, by a custom derived from past centuries, as was said by our old nuns named above, the abbess used to bless her nuns in this form: God bless you, the glorious Virgin Mary, Messer St. Francis, Messer St. Anthony, Madonna St. Clare and Madonna St. Helena; but it is seventy years since the blessing has been given.]

[7] and from the liturgy are evident. Today in the Proper of the diocese of Padua the office of Blessed Helena is fixed to the 5th day of November, under the double rite. It is narrated indeed in the fourth lesson that the blessed virgin was instructed in the devotion to the Lord's passion by St. Anthony, whom she is said to have had as guide and master in the way of the spirit. Which would not be improbable, since St. Anthony stayed in the region of Padua from the autumn of 1229 until the spring of the year 1230 [Lempp, Antonius von Padua, in Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte, vol. XII (1891), p. 428 and vol. XIII (1892), p. 8.]. The fortunes of the body of Blessed Helena and of the monastery erected under her name, however, learn from the Stato personale del clero della cita e diocesi di Padova, for the year 1853, page 30: Questo monastero fu abitato dalle religiose Francescane dal 1510 fino al 1806, le quali 278 anni dopo la morte della B. Elena Enselmini vergine Padovana partirono dall' Arcella e vennero a domiciliarvi portando seco il corpo della beata, che ora trovasi nella chiesa prepositurale di S. Sofia. Il detto monastero, che soggiacque alle vicende della generale soppressione e demaniazione del 1810, fu acquistato a merito del fu M. R. P. Francesco Peruzzo Minore conventuale, e della religiosa Maria Angela Gesuati allo scopo di fondarvi un Istituto di Salesiane, che di fatto venne aperto nel 1839. [This monastery was inhabited by the Franciscan religious from 1510 until 1806, who, 278 years after the death of Bl. Elena Enselmini, virgin of Padua, departed from the Arcella and came to dwell there, bringing with them the body of the blessed one, which is now found in the provostal church of S. Sofia. The said monastery, which underwent the vicissitudes of the general suppression and confiscation of 1810, was acquired through the merit of the late Very Rev. Fr. Francesco Peruzzo, Conventual Minor, and of the religious Maria Angela Gesuati, for the purpose of founding there an Institute of Salesian sisters, which was in fact opened in 1839.]

[8] [Judgment on the sayings and deeds of Blessed Helena is left to the prudent reader.] It would be superfluous to examine more copiously the sayings and deeds of the humble virgin. My purpose will be satisfied if I subjoin what Bartholomew of Pisa and Sicco Polenton have handed down. The fabulous things which occur in Polenton's prologue collapse by their own weight; the wondrous and portentous things in which his composition abounds we leave open to the prudent judgment of readers, all the more because the cult of Blessed Helena was confirmed by Innocent XII with no previous examination of her virtues, but only on proof of the excepted case Benedict XIV, op. cit., book IV, part 2, chap. IV, no. 3.

ABRIDGMENT OF THE LIFE OF BLESSED HELENA

from Bartholomew of Pisa, De conformitate vitae B. Francisci ad vitam Domini nostri. Conformitas VIII, fol. 74v, col. 2 (Milan, 1513).

Helena Enselmina, nun at Padua. (B.)

BHL Number: 3791

There was also in this order the holy sister Helena of Padua, who was a nun in the outer monastery of Arcella, which monastery Blessed Francis built, and in the said monastery our St. Anthony rendered his spirit to God ^a. In the said monastery was the aforesaid sister and nun, who, flourishing with the greatest virtues, was proved by the Lord like gold through patience. For she lay deprived of all power of body and tongue for a good sixteen years ^b. She, by bodily gesture and signs, displayed the greatest cheerfulness in such things. To her God revealed many things, which she herself narrated to the sisters, and these are held written at Padua; which, while I was in the same place, I saw. But when I had asked the sisters how she could reveal them without a tongue, the sisters answered that hitherto, on account of the silence to be observed, they had spoken not with the tongue but with nods, and by such nods and signs expressed everything they wished to say ^c. And so the aforesaid blessed sister did. Her body the sisters show entire to those who come there, although it is a long time since she died. And what is greater, her hair and nails so grow as if she were living. Whence the sisters cut the aforesaid, and out of devotion bestow them on those who ask. She shone and shines with many miracles. For she a certain

noble marquis of the Lupi of Parma, the lord Boniface, placed at the point of death, a vow having been made for him by his wife, she brought back to perfect health. And many other miracles take place.

ANNOTATA.

LIFE AND VISIONS OF BLESSED HELENA BY SICCO POLENTON

edited from the Paduan codex of the Antonian library, shelf XXII, marked no. 559, collated with the Brussels transcript of the Royal Library marked no. 8932. Cf. Commentarius praevius, no. 2.

Helena Enselmina, nun at Padua. (B.)

BHL Number: 3792

The preface of Sicco Polenton to his son Lazarus on the lives of the blessed Anthony the Pilgrim and Helena the nun. Here it happily begins.

[1] Blessed Helena, the glory of the city of Padua, You are accustomed to solicit me with prayers, Lazarus my son, that I should record the lives together with the miracles of blessed Anthony the Pilgrim and of blessed Helena, who was a holy nun of the Order of Minors. Which petition of yours has always seemed to me both just and honorable; since, although neither has been approved by the judgment of the supreme pontiff, each nevertheless shines with miracles and both are placed in the order of the blessed by the opinion of the people. They are besides Paduans by origin: Anthony of the Manzi, while Helena was born of the blood of the Henselmini, from which your mother comes. Indeed it is established that this city of Padua, in which you were nurtured and born, is adorned with many things, and those most beautiful and magnificent. Some praise its antiquity, who, being writers of histories and illustrious writers, relate that it was founded more than CCCC years before Rome. Some extol its walls, seeing them double everywhere and proud, and in some places even triple. Others admire the convenience and moderate abundance of its waters, most the fertility of its fields, many its public and private buildings, some its churches, all the amplitude of the city and the singular excellence of the town hall. To me, however, it usually seems that the greatest thing of all to be made of is that in it there are kept many and venerable bodies of saints.

[2] which is also made illustrious by the memory of other saints. Nor indeed is it a wonder, since this city has always kindly received holy men and pilgrims coming to it, and has carefully nurtured and honored those born in it. In this place, indeed, I knowingly pass over the small relics, although they are venerable and infinite; I speak only of the bodies of saints. In this one thing Padua so excels and shines that whoever should wish to review these things will find no kind of saints of which this city does not have the body of some saint or other. In the one church of St. Justina, to pass over the rest, there are bodies of saints of every kind ^c. Namely, of the order of the apostles, not to begin with the common and lowest, it has Matthias, that very one who was substituted in the place of Judas Iscariot the traitor to fill up the number of the apostles. Of the evangelists it has Luke; there are many bones of the Innocents; the bodies of the martyrs Maximus, Julian, Felicity placed in one tomb. Likewise that in one well there are a great many bodies of martyrs, and those of unknown names, both ancient report relates and the venerable men who are monks in that monastery say. Of the confessors there is Prosdocimus, who, sent as bishop by the apostle Peter, first converted all this region of Italy, which those times called Venetia, from the vain worship of idols to the true faith of Christ and the knowledge and worship of the true God, and baptized it. There is a certain blessed hermit ^d. He, lest the bodies of the apostle Matthias and of Luke the evangelist be scattered while Julian the apostate was raging, sailing by God's nod from the very city of Constantinople, brought them to Padua, which was a city illustrious in the innermost gulf of the Adriatic Sea and a cultivator of the Christian faith. There is blessed Arnald, abbot of this monastery. Of the number of the virgins there is Felicity, whom I named; there is the daughter of Vitalian, Justina, holy martyr and virgin; of the Mother of God also (since her Son placed her body in heaven) there is present her own image and figure, which Luke the evangelist painted. Indeed that that church is full of the bodies of saints both ancient report relates and sacred histories say. Nor is the church far from there which holds both the name and the body of St. Leoninus, bishop of Padua ^e. In the renowned church, moreover, which they call the Saint, are the bodies of St. Anthony the confessor and of blessed Luke ^f. Further, the church of St. Luke has St. Crescentius ^g. That which is the cathedral church has the martyr Daniel ^h; he was a Levite and, when the idolaters were raging against the Christian name, constant here for the name of Christ, he died fixed with iron nails between two boards. These are the bodies of the saints in this very city; but outside, before the very walls, are the bodies of the blessed Anthony the Pilgrim and Helena the nun ⁱ. In the Paduan countryside too Fontaniva has the saint Bertram ^k; Monselice has George, that soldier and glorious martyr; Zemula has Beatrice ^l; Saletto has Fidentius ^m.

[3] Among whom is Blessed Helena, whose Vita the author is about to write. But now, to comply with your wish, let us look at the lives you ask for, first of Anthony the Pilgrim, then of Helena the nun. For we owe this by right to holy men, that their memory be held celebrated, and we can do it easily, especially at this time, when the harvest grants us vacation from every care of the courts and free leisure for writing ⁿ.

ANNOTATA.

The life of Blessed Helena the nun.

[4] Blessed Helena, having embraced the religion of St. Francis, Helena, a blessed virgin sprung from Padua, was a citizen, born according to the world of the noble family of the Henselmini. They say she had a knight for a father. She herself was dedicated to God as a nun and made a servant of God in that monastery, situated outside the city before the walls, which they name the Old Cell ^a. There nuns and brothers of the order of St. Francis, men of holy life, dwelt in separate dwellings ^b. In this monastery, namely, our Helena kept chastity, obedience, poverty and the other things of this kind which religion itself commands, and fulfilled them in deed and fact no less than she vowed them with her mouth and professed them in word. For she took not only the habit and the name, but, as He who cannot be deceived knows, the mind and the life of a good and true nun. Nor did she enter the monastery to escape the labors of the world, which are great and many, and poverty, and to grow languid in idleness and give herself to pleasure, but that, freed from worldly things, she might serve the best God more freely and with her whole mind. Indeed of the sisters there was none more diligent at the divine offices, none more obedient to the abbess, none more observant of the rule, none readier for performing domestic tasks in the monastery. Finally, her whole life was full of fasts, full of disciplines, full of all holiness and austerity. Add that she used such austerity of life that, worn out, she often languished, and labored with fevers and lay sick.

[5] through many ailments She was indeed by nature weak and infirm, but in mind, will and desire patient and strong. Whatever evils, sicknesses, adversities befell her, she said they befell her worthily and deservedly as for her sins, and she bore them as sent to her by God patiently and endured them with good heart. Further, for fifteen months she suffered continual fevers, nor was she freed from the fevers before she met her day. In the year, moreover, in which she was to depart to the Lord, she fasted through the greater Lent no otherwise than if she had been healthy and free of all fever. Wearied by continual fevers and many ailments, she spent very many nights sleepless; nor indeed, while she was awake, did she give herself to sloth and laments, but, languishing, gave herself to prayer as she could. For she was reading, as she was almost always accustomed, the hymns of the blessed Mother of God and Virgin Mary; and while reading she bowed her head a little over the book from excessive weakness, sleep namely overcame her, yet did not so overcome her that it could truly be said that she had slept rather than been awake. Then there appeared to her the blessed Mother of God and Virgin, whom she very often invoked in prayer. She foretold that it would happen that year that she would suffer fevers and adversities the very greatest and beyond the usual. She announced this also would happen, that if she bore patiently and for the love of God whatever adversities befell her, a blessed life and eternal glory would be given her by her Son and true God, Jesus Christ.

[6] and a long fast, Nor indeed did it turn out otherwise. For a certain burning and double tertian fever attacked her, and held her for ten continuous days. On the night which was the end of the eleventh day, she, as though terrified by a certain horror, began to sweat with fear and to be anxious and trembling. At length, however, as if freed from danger and confident, she opened her eyes and, crying out with as loud a voice as she could to the nuns who were standing by and were nearest *, she said: Alas! how great he is. Then, asked what it was that she saw and that was great, she answered: I have seen a monster having many heads. All who were present, both the nuns and the abbess, thought this a sign of nature failing and about to die soon. Helena believed the same; accordingly with concordant counsel and will, she herself asked, and the abbess ordered, that the sacraments which by command of holy Church are to be given to dying Christians be brought at once. Good God, with what reverence and devotion she confessed her sins to the priest, with what sighs and tears this our blessed Helena received the body of Christ; and afterwards, lest anything should be lacking which most holy Church commands, she was anointed with holy oil. When the following day dawned, she who a little before seemed suddenly about to die, against the hope of all, breathed again a little and gave hope of longer life. The food offered too, lest it should displease the abbess and nuns who urged it, she tried to take; but the food placed in her mouth she suddenly rejected, because her stomach was estranged and weak, and with a certain violence she cast it out through her nostrils. And thereafter she took nothing either of food or of drink. Wonderful indeed to say and to be recorded among the miracles: for she lived three months without food and drink, and she lost her speech also on that very day.

[7] she lived also deprived of speech. On the following day she asked that the Gospels which tell of the Lord's passion be read to her. The reading of these moved her with such compassion and pity that her eyes overflowed with tears, and she seemed not to hear the Lord's passion being read, but to be present at the deeds and to see the Lord seized, bound, led, spat upon, beaten, crucified, suffer death, his breast wounded with the lance. For on this day God, to try the patience of this servant of his and to bestow more grace and blessedness in the other life, deliberately, as if he were angry, multiplied all infirmities and evils upon her. Namely, to gather all in a few words, she lost the light of her eyes, her teeth were clenched, the fingers both of her feet and of her hands contracted with the greatest pain; finally no member, no part of the body was free from pain and torment. In such great evils, however, her mind, understanding and hearing remained entire and unhurt. Whatever the nuns said, she heard and understood perfectly. What she herself wished to say, she intimated, as the dumb are accustomed, by a sign of the hands. But since it sometimes happened that the nuns who were present did not grasp her mind by the sign of the hands, she found a remedy so as to be understood. She induced the nuns to name the letters of the alphabet singly in order; and those which served her purpose she marked, and the nuns gathered these, and composed syllables from the letters, then words from the syllables, finally sentences from the words, to a perfect sense and understanding. And she did not bear it without annoyance if any of the nuns changed anything in what had been gathered from the letters. She asked God assiduously to restore to her the power of speaking. For she lost the use of the tongue entirely; nor while she lived was she heard to speak. And wherever I shall say that anything was said by her, I would wish you who read to understand it as said by me in this sense, that thereafter she said nothing with her mouth, but indicated everything by nod and sign of the hands, or, as I have said, by letters gathered. For the rest, our Helena had many visions at this time, and these she disclosed, not of her own accord but compelled by the command of her superiors, as she saw them, word by word.

ANNOTATA.

* So the Brussels codex, but it is missing in the Paduan codex.

The visions of Blessed Helena the nun.

[8] She is refreshed by visions of the saints, For saints appeared to her first. That they were saints, however, she by no means believed suddenly or rashly; but, using Christian arms, when they appeared to her, she fortified herself very frequently with the sign of the cross. This thing drew the nuns to wonder, and induced them to question her and, when she refused, to compel her by virtue of obedience to make known why she had fortified herself with the sign of the cross so many times more than usual. Then, answering, she disclosed that she had seen certain men in the form of saints and, since she had been in doubt whether they appeared from God or from the devil, that she had therefore fortified * herself so much with the sign of the cross, because she had been led by the hope that, if they were truly saints of God and good spirits, it would come about that they would stand firm and not be terrified by the sign of the cross; but if they were evil spirits, they would flee suddenly and, seeing the sign of the cross, would utterly vanish; and that she perceived that those whom she had seen were truly saints of God, because they had not fled the cross repeated so many times, but had remained firm and constant as they had come. And she said that they often appeared to her thereafter and were accustomed to address her and to rebuke her severely because she had asked for licence to speak in this world.

of Christ the Lord and of the Blessed Virgin; She added also that not only the saints of God, but the very Son of God and true God Jesus Christ, and Mary, who was his mother and virgin, immaculate and holy, were accustomed to appear to her at times and to console her and exhort her to bear with good and patient mind the sicknesses and pains which she suffered.

[9] seem to hint to her that death is near, After an interval of time, she begged with much entreaty one sister, who by chance was then attending her, not to leave her that day. Asked why she begged so much not to be left, she answered that she thought she would die that day. For she had been brought into this opinion because she seemed to have at her head the book of life, which was silver outside and closed.

[10] certain other signs. She intimated also that it was a sign of her approaching death that three trumpets appeared to her, which were silver and great, and so arranged in order that one seemed to be at each ear, and the third at her mouth. She affirmed likewise that it would happen on the next day that they would all sound, but that the smallest would sound next at midnight, the middling one at noon, and the greatest of all at sunset and at the very hour of Compline most sweetly. Afterwards she said that she had heard them sounding, and yet she did not depart this life on the day she had thought.

[11] Of the majesty of God, At the same time and very often she said that she saw a beautiful temple of wondrous size, and in it the divine majesty; that there were present also the blessed Virgin Mary and the choirs of angels and the orders of saints, who praised God with sweet song and with one voice. She indicated then that she saw by night the Lord sitting in his majesty, and before him the prophet David present, who exulted with the psaltery, and on bended knees besought that he would build up the walls of Jerusalem, which are levelled to the ground.

[12] of heaven, Then also it seemed to this blessed Helena that she looked out upon the firmament of heaven and saw a great number of brothers, who both sang praises to God and with axes hewed precious stones, and set them in the foundation of the wall with such art that those which were many seemed to be only one, with no line anywhere between. She herself thought that she was one stone * and feared lest the hewers who were smoothing the stones should cast her away like chaff to be trodden down. When she intimated these things, she sweated with fear and anxiety. It was indeed her custom, when she disclosed anything, to show it with a joyful countenance if it was joyful, but with a sad one if it was sad.

[13] of the saints, She intimated that on the same night she had seen a certain man, who seemed to be a brother of the Order of Minors. Him she did not know; she thought indeed that it was St. Francis, but he lacked the stigmata; and he was of great height, and the garments which he had were of white color. There seemed to be present to her then also Noah, Enoch, Elijah, Moses, who were troubled in countenance and had bows stretched in their hands and fiery arrows. Moses besides carried the tables of the laws in his hand. Noah breathed out a little, whence soon a cloud arose and grew so much that it covered the very greatest part of the earth. At the same time she said she had been led by an angel in spirit along a way full of pits, and had heard the same angel bidding another angel fill those pits; and when he had filled them, a demon had come and renewed the pits, and then she had heard the voice of one saying repeatedly: The soul which does not love the Lord is worthy of great stripes. In those days too St. Bernard appeared to her crowned with five stars. Led by an angel to the places of punishments, which were horrid and dark, she saw souls afflicted everywhere, but in some places eternally and severely, in others more mildly and with good hope of going to the rest of the saints. A demon, moreover, who in the form of a boy exhorted her with many reasons to rise and go to the church for the hours to be said, she at length put to flight, having signed her forehead with the sign of the cross.

[14] of the loving Trinity, certain things are revealed to her. She intimated afterwards that she had seen the divine Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and at the right hand of the Father Jesus Christ sitting in true deity and humanity, and at the right hand of the Son sat his mother Mary, the blessed Virgin, then round about the choirs of angels and the companies of holy men and women both of the New and of the Old Testament, who were so placed in order that each seemed to hold his own place and to sing praises to God.

[15] She sees a dead nun, Our Helena indicated that Lucia, who was a professed nun in the same monastery and lay sick apart, had departed this life. Then one of the nuns who were standing by, that she might see with her own eyes and be made more certain whether, as this one affirmed, that one had so met her death, hastened at once to the place of the infirmary in which Lucia was, and, as this one had said, so she found her dead. Helena, asked from where she had perceived that she was dead, whom she had not seen, answered that she had heard the angels, who were both singing praises to God and carrying her soul to heaven. During the night, while the body of the dead Lucia was being kept to be buried on the following day, a certain thought came upon our blessed Helena.

She thought indeed that she would not live long after Lucia, and supposed that she would not be buried in the common tomb, because she reckoned that the nuns would not allow that tomb to be opened on account of the excessive stench of Lucia, buried a little before. For she desired to be buried in the common tomb, that, as she had lived with those sisters in one monastery, so dead she might lie buried in the same tomb. As she was anxiously thinking these and such things, there appeared a maiden who was both elegant in form and surrounded with heavenly brightness. Her she thought to be the Virgin Mary. She admonished her that care should be taken not about the place where the dead body would be buried, but about where the soul would go.

[16] and is refreshed with bread by another dead nun. On the day when the feast of Sts. Cosmas and Damian was being celebrated, a certain unusual wonder arose in her that God had preserved her for so long a time without any food. Then there appeared a certain nun who had met her day a very long time before. She was clothed in white and shining garments, and there were also shining stars woven into the garments in the manner of a cross; and, offering bread, she exhorted Helena to eat. Then Helena said to her: How can I eat, since I have now eaten nothing for forty-seven days? She then embraced her, and spread out a cloth of wondrous beauty which she had carried hidden, wrapped up under her garment, and, the bread having been placed on it, again besought Helena to eat. Helena, looking back, saw a most beautiful cross; and kissing it she was filled with a wondrous sweetness of odor; and the nun broke the bread and offered it. Helena took three morsels, as it seemed to her, and was refreshed.

[17] There appear to her the Blessed Virgin, Christ the Lord, During the solemnities of the Mass there appeared she who is the highest queen of all and the Mother of God and Virgin Mary. She placed a most beautiful girdle in her right hand; this girdle was so covered with studs that it contained a likeness at once of roses and of a cross. Twice afterwards she saw the Son of God in human flesh, once when she was meditating how great had been the humility of God, that he had deigned to suffer death and * to save us; for then Jesus so appeared to her that he seemed to be a young man of XXV years. And again she saw both Jesus the Son and Mary the Virgin and Mother embracing each other; for then, with mind uplifted, our Helena was considering the kindness of God, who had willed to take human flesh and to dwell in the womb of a virgin for nine months. From each vision she received immense gladness and consolation.

[18] the angels, She saw also four seraphim having four great trumpets of diverse color, and heard them saying: The sins of the nations are grown heavy. Afterwards, on the vigil of St. Michael, while the nuns who stood by were saying the evening office, Helena, lying there, saw a beautiful road and five men hastening along it. These were angels, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and two other seraphim; they were all hastening to sing Vespers in the church of St. Michael, which was on a high mountain. On the following night our Helena saw a great pit full of horrible smoke; from it was heard the clamor of men striking their palms and saying woe, woe with a loud voice. Then Helena, led into heaven, heard the archangel Michael inviting the angels to his feast. On the day of the feast, while the solemnities of the Mass were being performed, she heard two choirs who, while the Son of God sat in majesty with his mother the Virgin Mary, gave thanks singing with lofty voice. And when she wondered that the heavenly court should celebrate so beautiful a feast for Michael, it was answered her that he was the greatest prince of the court.

[20] and the apostles. Helena, burdened with so great and so long an infirmity, besought the Lord that he would send her some consolation by which she might be refreshed a little; nor had she indeed finished her prayer, when lo, an angel of the Lord, and with him John the Baptist, Peter the apostle, John the evangelist, sent from heaven, came to her. By their visitation and presence she was not a little relieved. Peter signed her with the sign of the cross, and they all went away.

[21] Rapt into ecstasy Afterwards, considering that the goodness of God is supreme, Helena came into a certain sudden ecstasy of mind. Then she saw the heavenly court and in it a great river and a column of immense size. Upon the column was a closed book; this four angels opened, its seals having been loosed. From it there soon came forth such splendor that even the faces of the saints shone.

[22] she sees the fruits of paradise, At the same time Helena, as she was accustomed often and almost always, contemplating divine things, was led into wonder that she had seen in paradise neither any tree nor fruits, as she had heard. Then, lifted up in spirit, she entered the heavenly Jerusalem. Looking out to see whether she might see anything of things of this kind anywhere, she saw on one side an angel who was bringing ten fruits; their color was white and red, their form that of a pear. On the other side she saw another angel, who was a seraph and was bringing a most beautiful vessel. Further, all the holy men and women adored the vessel, and, falling on their faces, praised God. At length the angel who was carrying it placed the vessel at the feet of the Lord.

[23] heavenly glory, During the night, as Helena was thinking what God would give to those who had loved him in this world, there appeared three angels conversing. The first said: Weight; the second: And weight; the third: And above weight. Again the first said: Measure; the second: And measure; the third: And above measure. Then the first repeated, saying: End; the second: And end; the third: And without end. The first also: Glory; the second: And glory; the third: And above glory. Lastly he who was first said: Principality; the second: And principality; the third: And above principality. Afterwards, thinking with herself of what kind and how great was the place in which rested the souls of those who had lived less perfectly in this flesh, Helena was lifted up in mind and led by an angel above the paradise of delights into a most verdant meadow. There she saw infinite souls of the dead and of the living, which were to go to heavenly glory; but part seemed to be going not before the day of judgment, part after a short time. As our Helena was meditating how great both grace and glory blessed Francis, whose festal day was then being kept, had obtained from the kindly God, she heard a voice saying: Francis was powerful on earth, he is most powerful in heaven. Having come into ecstasy of mind, Sts. Francis and Anthony. she saw father Francis and with him blessed Anthony of Padua and very many holy fathers of his Order singing praises to God. On the night which followed the feast day, she saw blessed Francis, arrayed in priestly vestments, standing before the majesty of God and reverently praying for his Order. There was present also the Mother of God and blessed Virgin Mary and with her an infinite number of holy men and women. These, praying for the whole Christian people, were heard, because the malice of men seemed to be exceedingly great.

[24] Blessed Helena is strengthened by angels, Besides, as a certain day was dawning, she saw that there was before God a great vessel, firmly closed, in heaven, and a seraph angel having two wings stretched out in the manner of a cross; then she heard a voice which said: Pray for the Church of God, which is tossed by the greatest waves. While the nuns stood around and exhorted her to patience, because she was burdened with pains beyond the usual, she attentively gathered all that they said. When they were silent, she considered in her silent mind all the things that had been said. Then she heard two voices repeating the same thing forty times with a certain sweet modulation. One said Love; the second, to whom the first sang again, said To Christ. As she was meditating what had been * the holiness of life of a certain nun who had met her day a little before, and by holy virgins. four virgins appeared. Their heads were covered with white veils. When the veils had been thrown back, she who was the eldest of the virgins said that she was Justina, and that the rest were called by name Constantia, Effigenia, Domicella. By this vision Helena was much refreshed.

[25] Visions of heaven She saw also a palace of wondrous beauty. It was adorned both with gems and with gold; in it were two persons having two wings each. She saw likewise then a soul beautiful and adorned with gems. Whose the palace and the soul were, though she inquired carefully and often, she did not hear. Afterwards she saw that in a green meadow there were couches, tables, seats prepared and magnificently adorned; there were sitting there many people of both sexes. These were satisfied by odor alone, and rising they adorned the couches with flowers and praised God with honey-sweet song. Then she saw a surpassing and distinguished prince. He, with a most beautiful rod which he carried in his hand, encircled the orders of angels, archangels, martyrs; they kissed one another and praised God with sweet voice. She saw also seven angels, who had in their hands seven charters written in golden letters, and soon heard a voice saying: These are testaments, read them quickly.

[26] and of what is celebrated in it on Friday During the night of the sixth weekday Helena saw a renowned temple and in it the Mother of God and Virgin Mary, and an infinite multitude of holy men and women of every kind going; they all seemed to proceed two by two in the manner of a procession, and Christ to give to each the sacrament of his body. When Helena asked for what reason so celebrated a procession was made, it was answered that it was done for an eternal memorial that our Lord Jesus Christ suffered on the sixth weekday.

[27] and on Saturday, On the following Saturday our Helena saw the Mother of God again, but now adorned with imperial garments. She seemed to stand before her Son and to hold in her hand a vessel full of much fragrance. When Helena inquired what that thing meant, she heard the voice of one saying that this was done in honor of the Mother of God on each Saturday. Having come into ecstasy and thinking with herself what were those towers of which the prophet speaks in that little verse: And abundance in your towers, she heard a voice saying that those towers were the orders of angels.

[28] and of the thanks rendered to God there. At Vespers, hearing the nuns sing the little verse

Praise be to God the Father, To Christ most high be glory, And to the Holy Spirit, To the Three one honor,

she began to think what praise, what glory, what honor this was. Her mind having been lifted up on that account, she saw holy men and women bend the knee and give thanks to God and to the Mother. Inquiring what that was, she had the answer that the holy men and women render thanks to God as often as the Church recites that little verse.

[29] Of the merits of the saints in heaven, Again a meadow full of clove-pink flowers,

and in it she saw angels who were gathering flowers. On the summit of a lofty mountain too she saw both a beautiful meadow and a multitude of religious descending, laden with bundles. Those bundles she knew in spirit to be prayers, disciplines, good works, which the religious offered to God for all. Thinking with herself whether it was better to pray for those existing in paradise or for those existing in purgatory, she was admonished that it is good to pray for those existing in purgatory, but superfluous for those existing in paradise.

[30] and of their feasts kept there She saw St. Martin also admonishing religious to flee cupidity. Helena saw during the night of the vigil the apostles Simon and Jude, adorned with festive and magnificent garments, standing and praising God. The adornment of each was equal; only Simon alone carried a cross, as one who had suffered martyrdom on it. On the day on which the Church celebrated their feast, at the hour of Terce, Helena saw them again. They seemed to be in a great temple; and they were clothed in priestly vestments, as if about to celebrate Mass: and the great company of saints that was present, standing, praised God with one voice. Finally in heaven she saw a wheel, which four Angels were watching so as to turn it on the day of judgment.

[31] she sees many things. On the feast day of All Saints she saw the blessed Virgin Mary; she was clothed in white garments and went before all; and the multitude of saints followed her; these went two by two; and coming to the presence of the majesty, they went forward one by one and rendered thanks to God with the highest praise. On the following day, when the Church was saying solemn Masses and the divine offices for the dead, she seemed to see the souls in purgatory exulting and with joined palms giving thanks to God.

[32] Of the death and burial of Blessed Helena. Blessed Helena met her day in the year of the nativity of Christ MCCXXX, on the second day before the nones of November, in the twenty-fourth year of her age. After she departed this life, until this very day, her body has been preserved with such entireness that you would not see it without wonder. For by God's authorship, as I reckon, for a testimony of holiness, you will find nothing diminished in it except the tip of the nose. Indeed the flesh has dried, the skin covers everything everywhere; the body lies straight; the arms are composed in the manner of a cross according to Christian rite; the eyes closed in the manner of one sleeping, so that they seem to have nothing of whiteness and light; the aspect devout; the face youthful and lean; the teeth snow-white and firm; the hair and nails, when cut, grow again; the stature a little less than middling, the limbs entire, the joints of the limbs so mobile and firm, as if she had lately met her day, that they may be moved without injury if occasion requires. This also often happens, and then most of all when any disaster threatens the city, that she moves herself with much noise, as if foretelling things to come. For by this very prodigy Padua is not seldom divinely forewarned to be on its guard, I reckon, because an immense disaster either of war or of plague or of revolution threatens it and a great calamity is at hand.

[33] Epilogue. These are, my Lazarus, most delightful son, the things worth recording which, investigating on every side, I have found about those who are blessed, Anthony the Pilgrim and Helena the nun. You will read devoutly the things written by me, and will reverently honor the blessed souls, as is fitting, to the praise of God. 1437 ^a.

ANNOTATION.

* The Paduan codex has commonuisse, the Brussels communisse.

* Written above by another hand in the Paduan codex: vivum.

* The Brussels codex has putasset

* Thus

* The Paduan codex has ut.

* Omits the Paduan codex.