ON BL. HELENA OF HUNGARY, NUN OF THE ORDER OF ST. DOMINIC,
c. THE YEAR 1240
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY
Helena of Hungary, nun of the Order of St. Dominic. (Bl.)
[1] Codices of the older legend. The Life of Blessed Helena has been handed down to us in three forms. Of these, the one which seems to stand nearest to the archetype has been preserved in three codices, of which two are kept in the communal library of Siena, the third in the convent of the Friars Preachers at Bologna. In Hungary, which was Blessed Helena's homeland, no exemplar of her Life has so far been found. Now about those codices these few things are to be noted.
S 1 = Codex T. I. 1 of the library of Siena, of parchment, of 122 leaves, 0m,305 × 0,215, in two columns, written in a neat script of the fifteenth century. Some initial letters are painted rather ornately, and in the letter N, with which our legend begins, there was drawn a picture of Blessed Helena, whose hands and breast bear stigmata from which white lilies seem to blossom. The codex comprises, on fol. 1 – 118, the greater legend of St. Catherine of Siena by Raymond of Capua, and on fol. 118 – 122, the legend of Blessed Helena of Hungary. The codex belonged to the convent of the Friars Preachers of Siena. In the eighteenth century it was sumptuously bound by the matrons of the city. In memory of this a slip was inserted on which these words are read: Questo volume contiene la leggenda di S. Caterina da Siena, composta in latino dal B. Raimondo da Capua suo confessore e generale XXIII de' Predicatori, e dal medesimo Raimondo fu mandato al convento di San Domenico di Siena insieme coll' altre opere della santa. Come ascrisse il B. Tommaso Caffarini nel processo pro la canonizazione della santa, a car. 17, che si conserva legalizato dentro la custodia della sagra testa, dove dice che fin dell' anno 1396 i detti volumi si trovavano in questo convento. Da questa leggenda anno tolte tutte le notizie di S. Caterina gli altri scrittori della sua vita come il B. Tommaso Caffarini, il B. Massimino da Salerno, S. Antonino, Pietro Esquilino, il Surio, il Manerbio, il Ribadeneira, il Borghesi, il Caterino, i Bollandi et altri etc. Fu trasportato questo manoscritto dall' antico archivio nella sagrestia fra le reliquie della santa l'anno 1705. [This volume contains the legend of St. Catherine of Siena, composed in Latin by Bl. Raymond of Capua, her confessor and twenty-third general of the Preachers, and it was sent by the same Raymond to the convent of San Domenico of Siena together with the other works of the saint. As Bl. Tommaso Caffarini wrote in the process for the canonization of the saint, at leaf 17, which is preserved, legally authenticated, inside the reliquary of the sacred head, where he says that from the year 1396 the said volumes were in this convent. From this legend the other writers of her life have taken all their information about St. Catherine, such as Bl. Tommaso Caffarini, Bl. Massimino da Salerno, St. Antoninus, Pietro Esquilino, Surius, Manerbio, Ribadeneira, Borghesi, Caterino, the Bollandists and others etc. This manuscript was moved from the old archive into the sacristy among the relics of the saint in the year 1705.] This the eighteenth-century copyist wrote, not very learnedly. For this volume cannot have been kept in the convent of Siena from the year 1396, nor sent by Blessed Raymond of Capua, who died in the year 1399, since the legend of Blessed Helena was not brought into Italy before the year 1409, as will be said below. More probably that learned man Robert Fawtier [R. Fawtier, La Vie de la bienheureuse Helene de Hongrie (Rome, 1913), p. 10. Extract from the Mélanges d'Archéologie et d'Histoire published by the École Française de Rome, vol. XXXIII.] conjectured that it is one of the fourteen codices which, about the year 1414, at the instance of Tommaso Caffarini, Niccolò and Aldobrandino de' Guidiccioni had deposited in the library of the Friars Preachers of Siena among other documents which pertained to the cause of the canonization of St. Catherine of Siena.
S 2 = Codex T. III. 1 of the same library of Siena, of paper, of 172 leaves, 0m,280 × 0,200, written in two columns by two copyists in the middle of the fifteenth century. It comprises the greater legend of St. Catherine, various ascetic little works, and, on fol. 143v – 145v, the legend of Blessed Helena. It too belonged to the convent of the Friars Preachers of Siena, where it was bound in the eighteenth century. It seems to have been copied from codex S 1, from which, apart from some minute grammatical variations, it differs in a few mistakes. The codex was collated for us most obligingly by the Rev. Fr. Taurisano O.P.
S 3 = A codex kept in the convent of the Friars Preachers of Bologna, of paper, 0m,230 × 0,180, written in the fifteenth century by various hands. It comprises Lives of saints and blesseds of the Order of Preachers, among which, on fol. 68v – 70v, the legend of Blessed Helena was copied, in a hand, as it seems, German and certainly not Italian. This codex too Fr. Taurisano collated for us. The text comes so close to the codices S 1 and S 2 that you would believe it copied from one or the other of them. In it indeed a short line in §2 has fallen out because of homoeoteleuton. Moreover in §14 there is noted the same lacuna which is found in the codices S 1 and S 2, perhaps because in the Hungarian archetype some words could not be read.
[2] The recensions Besides these three exemplars, two recensions have been preserved. The first of these (= D) is read among the works of Girolamo de' Borselli of Bologna (1432 – 1497), of Girolamo de' Borselli who in his Chronicle of the Masters General of the Order of Friars Preachers and of all things done under them and of the famous men of the same order in learning, dignity and holiness inserted an appendix comprising some Lives of Dominican saints [A. Sorbelli, Una raccolta poco nota d'antiche vite di santi e religiosi Domenicani (Bologna, 1922). Extract from the Rendiconto delle Sessioni della R. Accademia delle Scienze dell' Istituto di Bologna, Cl. di Scienze Morali, Ser. 2, vol. VI.]. That Girolamo indeed, or an unknown writer if he followed one, emended the style of the earlier Life rather freely, abridged some passages, expunged proper names; where Helena in S was called lady, he distinguished her with the title of blessed; two miracles which in the first Life had been added after the closing formula he inserted into the narrative itself. And whence Girolamo's recension flowed is openly indicated in the prologue which was prefixed in these words: Of Blessed Helena of Hungary. In the year of the Lord … Blank space in the codex. Blessed Helena, a nun of the Order of Preachers in the monastery of St. Catherine of Veszprém, shining with holiness of life and miracles, passed to the Lord. Of her life, moreover, and of the miracles worked by her prayers both in life and in death, I saw and read some things at Venice, which were written by the sisters of the same monastery, who had lived with her. Whence they write thus: We sisters, etc. Two exemplars of this recension have become known to us. They are these:
D 1 = Codex 1999 of the library of the University of Bologna, of paper, consisting of 282 leaves, 0m,300 × 0,203, written in the fifteenth century, and indeed by Girolamo de' Borselli himself. This codex belonged to the convent of St. Dominic of Bologna. The Life of Blessed Helena is read in the appendix, fol. 35 – 37.
D 2 = Book QQ of the general archive of the Order of Preachers, which is not properly a codex but a bundle of eighteenth-century transcripts, for the most part sent from Bologna by Fr. Paolo Serafino Tacconi to the Rev. Fr. Antonin Bremond, Master General of the Order of Preachers. These seem to have been submitted together, as is attested by the note which is prefixed at the beginning of the codex. The Life of Blessed Helena was copied from Girolamo de' Borselli.
[3] and of Ambrogio Taegio. Further from S stands T, which Ambrogio Taegio inserted into his general Chronicle of the Order, part III: On the distinguished members of the Order of Friars Preachers, Dist. 8: On the nuns of the said order who shone by the example of a holy life, chap. II: Life of the blessed sister Helena of Hungary, sister of the Order of Preachers, a most holy virgin, which the sisters of her monastery wrote. Ambrogio Taegio's autograph has perished; but in the Roman archive of the Order of Preachers, XIV, 55, there is an authentic copy of it, which Fr. Vincenzo Montio, Master of Sacred Theology, copied at Milan in the year 1758 from the archetype. In this the Life of Blessed Helena is read in volume II, fol. 145v – 148. A proem was prefixed which Taegio seems to have borrowed from D. And indeed it is quite certain that he used the recension of Girolamo de' Borselli. For he follows it everywhere, and nowhere corrects it from S; nay, he departs from S even in those places where D agrees with it. Moreover the order of the narrative was disturbed, and the miracles were distributed into 27 chapters, like following like. Neither D nor T contributes anything to the emendation of the text. For both flowed from an exemplar no better than those which were mentioned above. Wherever S 1, S 2, S 3 are understood with difficulty, D and T either omit the obscure sentence or glide past it with a circumlocution which is certainly foreign to the first writer.
[4] Epitome in Tommaso Caffarini, The older Life seems to have lain hidden in the libraries. The fame of Blessed Helena spread above all through epitomes.
Of these two have come down to us. The first to abridge the history of the blessed woman, about the year 1412, was Tommaso Caffarini, in the Supplement to the Lengthy Legend of the Virgin Catherine of Siena. Four exemplars of this little book survive, which there is no leisure to describe [To the three exemplars reviewed by Robert Fawtier, Sainte Catherine de Sienne. Essai de critique des sources (Paris, 1921), p. 44, note, a fourth can be added, which is kept at Rome among the Friars Preachers, in the codex marked Book H, fol. 485 and following (17th century). We have used the codex of the city library of Siena T. I. 2, fol. 76v – 78.]. For no help can be gathered from them for the history of Blessed Helena. Caffarini either reports the Life S in its very words or reworks it, freely changing the style. Yet to him thanks are due that the Life of Blessed Helena has been preserved for us. For he says: Thirdly I have resolved to narrate what I found written about the stigmata of the said kind belonging to a certain Blessed Helena of Hungary, a nun of the Order of Preachers, concerning which stigmata at any rate there is an account in her legend, faithfully transmitted to me by a certain Reverend Father, Brother Gregory, then Prior Provincial of the province of Hungary, and containing, namely, how the said saint had scars in her two hands and feet and breast. And consequently it is set forth both about the wonderful life of the said virgin and also about her scars, or wonderful stigmata, whence, as regards the said stigmata, it is noted there how the first scar … Supplement, fol. 76v – 77.. Likewise, in confirmation of the foregoing, I have thought fit to insert in the present writing a copy of the above-mentioned letter which the above-mentioned Provincial of Hungary sent me, whose tenor is as follows, namely: "Greeting in Jesus, the Saviour of all! Reverend father, I have already received several letters of yours about the legend of St. Margaret and of her mistress, who was called Sister Helena. You also asked which of them had had stigmata? On this I send you the legend and life of the same holy Sister Helena, in which it is related how and in what manner she really and with certainty had stigmata. I send you also some part of the legend of St. Margaret, and also in the middle and at the end of that part the whole legend will be completed in the same way with the miracles up to the end. But if you wish to have it whole, it certainly runs in all to half a Bible bibiliam cod.. The other legends of our province I have not been able to have written, but I will labour to send them in writing shortly. Farewell happily in the Lord. Given at Buda, on the third Sunday of Advent, one thousand four hundred and nine. Brother Gregory, Provincial of Hungary of the Order of Preachers, yours in all things Same place, fol. 78.."
So far Brother Gregory, Provincial of Hungary. From the 7th treatise of part II of the Supplement, in which these things are contained, it is established what moved Caffarini to seek out the history of Blessed Helena. For he does not seem himself to have been concerned about her; but since, in conducting the cause of Blessed Catherine of Siena, he had to rebut the arguments of the Friars Minor, who denied that St. Catherine had been marked with stigmata, because it was the proper charism of St. Francis, Caffarini made a deliberate effort to show that this privilege had been granted not to St. Catherine alone but also to other nurslings of the Order of Preachers, to Blessed Walter of Strasbourg and to Blessed Helena of Hungary. And so at Caffarini's request the Life of Blessed Helena was sent to Venice, where the same Caffarini had it copied, as has been said above. Thus, then, by his effort the Life of Blessed Helena was saved from destruction.
[5] in Serafino Razzi. Yet Caffarini's own little book, which has not yet been published to this day, does not seem to have spread widely [This part of the Supplement was passed over in the Italian version which Ambr. Tantucci published, Supplimento alla vulgata leggenda di S. Caterina da Siena che forma il tomo secondo della sua vita scritto già in lingua latina dal B. Tommaso Nacci Caffarini, Lucca, 1754.]. More widely known was another, Italian, epitome which Serafino Razzi published in the work Vite dei Santi e Beati del sacro ordine de' Frati Predicatori. He testifies that he used two codices which were kept in the libraries of the Friars Preachers, one in the convent of Chioggia, the other in that of Bologna [Serafino Razzi, Vite dei santi e beati del sacro ordine de' Frati Predicatori cosi huomini come donne (Palermo, 1605), p. 444.]. From indications which it is superfluous to review one by one, it is established that of these codices one presented the older Life, the other the recension D. Razzi used no other source. This epitome was copied out here and there by all the hagiographers of a later age, even though some of them profess that they used Taegio.
[6] Age and origin of the legend. So far we have found that whatever has been handed down to us about Blessed Helena is to be referred to the Life S. Now we must explore what its sources and origin were. That two miracles (§§21, 22) were added to the little book after the closing formula we have already said above. That the body of the work itself consists of two parts, which were composed at different times and by different writers, Robert Fawtier thinks, relying on these arguments. 1° The style of the Life is by no means even, and in the later part indeed is much more correct than in the first. 2° The first part (§1 – 13) was written a little after the death of the blessed woman by the nuns of the convent of Veszprém, who call Helena Lady; on the contrary in the other part (§14 – 20) she is always distinguished with the title of blessed, as though meanwhile her cult had been approved by the Church. 3° In the first part (§6) there is mention of the saint's prophecy about the incursions of the Tatars, which seems to have been proved by the event not long before; therefore this was written shortly after the year 1241. On the contrary, in the other part (§16) King Stephen is named not as though he were then reigning but as though he had already died. But after the beginning of the thirteenth century, when the monastery of Veszprém was founded, there was one Stephen, king of Hungary, who reigned in the years 1270 – 1272 La vie de la Bse Hélène de Hongrie, p. 11 – 12.. So far Robert Fawtier, by whose arguments we confess we are little moved. Certainly the style of the Life, as it is now published, does not flow in one tenor, as it were; but what of that? In the very beginning of the little book we are taught that it was written not by one sister but by several. What wonder, then, if each of them used her own particular speech and her own formulas? Hence it comes about, for example, that the narrators sometimes use the singular number and sometimes the plural. A weightier indication would be if in the very sequence of the things narrated discrepancies were noted which betrayed a different age. But nothing of the kind is seen in the examples which have been brought forward by Robert Fawtier. The prophecy of the incursion of the Tatars is narrated in these words: While fear of the Tartars was seizing everyone, a certain sister said to her: "What shall we do, Lady Helena, about the Tartars?" She answered: "I shall not see their coming, but you will see it." And she survives to this day (§6). Fawtier thinks that by these words is designated the incursion of the Tatars which happened in the year 1241 and was the most savage of all. In this indeed we can agree with him. But whence did he persuade himself that the narrative itself was written a little after the year 1241? Is it because the sister to whom the blessed woman uttered this oracle is said to have been still alive? Nay rather, from this formula we would more readily understand that the Life was written a long time afterwards, when few, and perhaps a single witness, of this prophecy survived [More than one age had destroyed the rest. Farlati relates, Illyricum sacrum, vol. IV (Venice, 1749), p. 77 – 78, that, as the incursion of the Tatars came on, five nuns fled from the monastery of Veszprém, whose names he knew. Of these, four betook themselves to Nona. The name of the fifth was Helena. But beware of believing that she is our Helena, from whom she must be wholly distinguished. She went on to Zara on the coast of Dalmatia, where she founded a monastery under the title of St. Mary of Alta Ripa.]. The same is the sense of some mentions which are thrown in by the way: flowers plucked from the blessed woman's stigmata were long kept among us (§1); there comes prodigiously to the blessed woman a certain wooden cross, which is still among us (§2); a miracle worked by the blessed woman in a little garden (§11) is narrated from the report of a certain old and devout sister. Whoever reads these things without a prejudiced judgement will think that they were written a rather long time after the death of the blessed woman. More ambiguous is what is related of the wife of Roland the palatine in these words: Likewise, when a certain noble young girl who had lost her senses in a grave illness was brought to her, through her merits she was restored to health, so that up to her death she remained in good and excellent sense. And this was the wife of Roland the palatine (§8). Who that Roland the palatine was — that count of Pressburg who is called by the title of palatine here and there in documents of the years 1248 – 1258 [Gustáv Wenzel, Codex diplomaticus Arpadianus continuatus, vol. II (Pest, 1861), pp. 209, 216, 228, 242, 256 – 61; vol. VII (1869), pp. 260, 320, 369, 398, 503 (= Monumenta Hungariae historica, Diplomataria, vol. VII and XIII).], or rather the Judge of the Cumans and Ban of Macsó who discharged the same office in the years 1273, 1274 and 1275 [Wenzel, work cited, vol. IV, pp. 21, 23, 30, 38, 52; St. Katona, Historia critica regum Hungariae stirpis Arpadianae, vol. VII (Buda, 1782), p. 1012.] — is not clear. Either could have been designated. However the matter stands, that girl whom the blessed woman had restored to health had married the said Roland, "had remained up to her death in good and excellent sense", and had perhaps lived to a rather long age. Certainly the words of the narrative signify not the year 1241 but a much later time.
[7] Since these things are so, it is by no means established that the first part was written a short time after the death of the blessed woman. The other part was certainly written after the elevation of the relics, which happened after 17 years, about the year 1257. Yet the argument by which Fawtier persuaded himself that the Life was written after the year 1272, in which King Stephen, who is mentioned in §16, died, does not seem firm to us. Stephen IV, indeed, who is manifestly designated here, reigned from the year 1270 to the year 1272; we grant also that he is not designated with those formulas which the writer would certainly have used at the very time when Stephen held power. But he had already in the year 1245 been raised to the kingship by his father Béla IV
[Eug. Csuday, Die Geschichte der Ungarn, 2nd ed. translated by Dr. M. Darvai, vol. I (no place, 1900), p. 282.] and from the year 1258 at least he is called here and there by the title of king in diplomas Wenzel, work cited, vol. II, p. 317 and throughout; vol. VII, p. 486.. Our hagiographer could have used the same title before Stephen actually exercised power. The same age seems to be signified by the miracles of which one is related in the last part of the Life (§19), while the other was added in the appendix (§21). Both happened to the children of Nicholas of Wigman, son of Andrew. He is named in a diploma of the year 1257, by which King Béla corrected a donation made to him Wenzel, Cod. diplomaticus Arpadianus, vol. VII, p. 456.. And to him by a diploma of the year 1273 King Ladislas confirmed the rescript of Stephen IV by which Nicholas had been restored to certain goods of his, his father having died, as it seems [Codex diplomaticus domus senioris comitum Zichy de Zich et Vasonkeö, vol. I (Pest, 1871), p. 32; compare p. 23.]. The first prodigy happened to his little son, the other to a grown daughter not yet married, as it seems. Although a sure mark of time cannot be gathered from this, it is nevertheless very likely that the first miracle was written at the time when Count Nicholas, his father still surviving, had not long before taken a wife; and the second some years afterwards. Between the two the Life of the blessed woman had been committed to writing. All these indications probably signify a time not very far removed from the year 1257, in which the body of the blessed woman was raised. For this is usually the occasion on which hagiographers gird themselves for their work.
[8] The year of Blessed Helena's death And so the Life of Blessed Helena seems to have been written about twenty years after the death of the blessed woman, which, omitting the proof for a little while, we said above happened in the year 1240. Now we must see how this time can be defined more certainly. Helena was certainly still alive a little before the year 1239, when Stephen IV was born. For she is said (§5) to have foretold that King Béla would at last be blessed with a son, whom he had awaited in vain for about twenty years Katona, work cited, vol. V, pp. 862, 867.. It is likely that the saint's prophecy took place not long before the event. On the contrary, in the year 1241 the saint had already departed from the living. For she said that she would not see the Tatars bursting into Hungary (§6). From this it is gathered almost certainly that she died between the years 1239 and 1241. Nor do we think the more recent hagiographers should be listened to, Pio [Gio. Michele Pio, Delle vite degli huomini illustri di S. Domenico (Bologna, 1607), p. 496.] and Bzovius Annales ecclesiastici, vol. XIII (1621), p. 765., who wrongly gathered that Blessed Helena died in the year 1270 from the General History of St. Dominic and his Order by Hernando de Castillo, where, after the death of Blessed Margaret has been related under the year 1270, there is at once subjoined an elogium of Blessed Helena, her mistress [Hernando de Castillo, Primera parte de la historia general de Santo Domingo y de su orden de Predicadores (Valencia, 1587), p. 389.]. For besides the fact that Hernando de Castillo does not assert that Helena herself met her last day in this year, this testimony would have to be held worthless because it rests on a manifest error, as we shall presently see.
[9] and the day Nor has the day of her death been handed down to us. And the hagiographers of a later age who commemorate her on a certain day rely not on a sure document but either on their own conjectures or on reasons foreign to history. Marchese [Domenico Maria Marchese O.P., Sagro Diario domenicano, vol. II (Naples, 1670), p. 73.] and, as it seems on his authority, Ponzi [Ponzi, Sagro Diario domenicano (Rome, 1758), p. 69.] announce Blessed Helena on the 16th day of March, because Marchese drowsily read Raisse, who on this day, in the elogium of St. Pierona, mentions Blessed Helena among the saints who were distinguished by stigmata [A. de Raisse, Ad Natales sanctorum Belgii Ioannis Molani Auctarium (Douai, 1626), p. 41.]. Silvano Razzi joined our Helena at his own pleasure with St. Helena the empress, whose feast is celebrated on the 18th day of August [Silvano Razzi, Delle vite delle donne illustri per santita, vol. IV (Florence, 1599), p. 170 and following.]. The 4th day of October was chosen by Arthur, because on this day, on the feast of St. Francis, the sacred stigmata were impressed on Helena Sacrum gynecaeum (Paris, 1657), p. 390.. Our predecessors, mentioning Helena among the Passed-over on the 18th day of August, testified that they had found her commemoration somewhere on the 8th day of November Act. SS., Aug. vol. III, p. 519.. Finally the Annus Dominicanus [B. D. L'Année dominiquaine ou sentences pour tous les jours de l'année, par un Prestre du Tiers Ordre de S. Dominique, vol. II (Paris, 1670), p. 317.] and the Ephemerides Dominicano-sacrae [Friedrich Steill, O.P., Ephemerides Dominicano-sacrae, vol. II (Dillingen, 1691), Geistlichen Lustgartens des H. Prediger-Ordens, Elffter Monath, November, p. 86.], citing no authority, indicate the 9th day of November; which alone has been left to us for treating of St. Helena of Hungary. How long the blessed woman lived in the convent of St. Catherine cannot be dug out of the documents. The sisters indeed who committed her history to writing profess that they spent many years in her company. Yet two things are to be noted here: 1° the monastery of Veszprém was erected after the year 1221 [About the origin of the monastery of Veszprém these things are partly certain, partly probable. Ferrari, work cited, p. 542, and pp. 38, 43, following as his authority Michele Pio, De Progenie S. Dominici, book II, c. 63, relates that the monastery of Veszprém was founded in the year 1221 or 1222 by Blessed Paul of Hungary, who actually came to Veszprém in that year, as Peter of Bodrog testifies, in the appendix to the Lives of the Brethren, in Monumenta Ord. Fratrum Praed. hist., vol. I (Louvain, 1896), p. 305. In this opinion, in our own age, those learned men persisted: Mortier, Hist. des Maîtres généraux de l'ordre des Frères Prêcheurs, vol. I (Paris, 1903), p. 295; Faucher, La Bse Hélène de Hongrie du monastère de Veszprim (Extract from the Annales Dominicaines, 1904), p. 2; Fawtier, La Vie de la Bse Hélène de Hongrie, p. 12. Recently, however, that learned man Nikolaus Pfeiffer, Die ungarische Dominikanerordensprovinz (Zürich, 1913), p. 45, contended that the monastery was founded only in the year 1240 by Bartholomew, bishop of Veszprém, whose donation, made in the year 1240, is confirmed in a bull of Alexander IV (same place, p. 161). Yet from this instrument it is by no means established that the monastery with its church was first built in the year 1240, a few months before the work would certainly have been interrupted by the Tatars invading Hungary. It is well known that not a few monasteries of the Order of Preachers existed for a fairly long time before they were canonically erected. And so Bartholomew seems, at the end of his episcopate (1226 – 1244), to have confirmed a donation which he had made some years before. When the sixteenth century was already declining, and the Turks took possession of Veszprém, the monastery of St. Catherine was deserted by the nuns. Ferrari indeed relates, work cited, p. 543, that a very few of the fugitives, peace having been restored at the beginning of the seventeenth century, sought again their deserted seats. Yet the monastery did not flourish again. After the death of the nuns who had returned from exile, their house passed into other hands. Its ruined walls are still seen today in the neighbourhood of the city of Veszprém near the hill of St. Benedict, between north and west. Pfeiffer, work cited, p. 46.]; 2° Blessed Helena does not seem to have been one of the sisters who founded the monastery. For it is hardly understood how this would have been passed over in her Life, where all the most minute things are noted.
[10] Blessed Helena was not the mistress of Blessed Margaret. From what we have just set out it is already splendidly established that Blessed Helena was not the mistress of Blessed Margaret. For the latter had not yet been born when she was consecrated to God by her parents' vow, on the condition that the Tatars should not invade Hungary Garinus, Life of St. Margaret, c. 1, Act. SS., Jan. vol. II, p. 900.. And so she was born at almost the same time at which Blessed Helena departed from the living. In the Inquisition on the life, conduct and miracles of Blessed Margaret, made by papal authority in the year 1276, she is read here and there to have been born in the year 1242 [Monumenta romana episcopatus Vesprimiensis, vol. I (Budapest, 1896), p. 165 – 383.], that is, one year after the invasion of the Tatars, which Blessed Helena did not survive to see. For the rest, neither in the Acts of her cause, in which her two mistresses, Sister Catherine and Sister Olympias, were questioned Work cited, . 166 – 70, 217 – 24., nor in the old Hungarian Life of Blessed Margaret, which was written before the end of the thirteenth century [Ed. G. Pray, Vita S. Elisabeth … necnon B. Margaritae virginis … ex mss. codicibus eruta, Tyrnau, 1770.], nor in her Latin Life which Garinus of Giano composed in the following century, does any mention of Blessed Helena occur. Nay more, the later hagiographers who assert that Blessed Margaret was Helena's disciple call Helena the mistress of Blessed Margaret in the heading of her elogium, but in the narrative itself they seem to have forgotten this title. Hence it is plain how doubtful is the authority of the tradition which Gregory, provincial of Hungary, calls to witness in the letter written to Caffarini, where he calls Blessed Helena the mistress of Blessed Margaret Above, p. 268, no. 4.. Yet about the middle of the fifteenth century these little rumours had not yet died out, for Pietro Ransano, who was the king of Sicily's ambassador to the king of Hungary, writes thus of Blessed Margaret in his Epitome of Hungarian Affairs: Having then taken the habit of the virgins at so tender an age, there was assigned to her one from their company who above all others showed herself an example of good works. By her the superior of the monastery, whom they call the prioress, wished the girl to be brought up; so that from her she might learn the spiritual canticles and the other things with which she might sing psalms to God at the appointed hours and times, so that she might be formed in manners worthy of a virgin dedicated to God. That woman's name was Helena. She led her whole life so holily that while she lived she not only became famous for many miracles, but also when dying and after death; so that even to this day she has by no means ceased to show signs of holiness. Whence even today she is called Blessed Helena by the people of Veszprém. Having, then, such a holy woman as mistress, the girl
strove to imitate the integrity of her life, as far as her childish years could bear. She called her mother. And whatever was laid down for her to do by her, whether to keep vigil through the night and pray to God, or to give her labour to some lowly service, as happens in monasteries of virgins, she was eager to carry out without any delay, humbly, briskly and obediently [Ed. M. Florianus, Historiae Hungaricae fontes domestici, vol. IV (Budapest, 1885), p. 212.]. So Ransano, who seems to have drawn these things not from books but from a living tradition. That is to say, since in the same convent and at about the same age two holy virgins had lived, both of whom had shone with heavenly gifts, the untaught piety of the faithful, as usually happens, persuaded itself that the younger had been taught in the spiritual way by the older. That the history of Blessed Margaret was in some way mixed up with the history of Blessed Helena is plain also from the fact that Blessed Margaret is believed to have been distinguished by stigmata, which are proper to Blessed Helena alone [Compare Ferrari, De rebus Ungaricae provinciae, p. 217 – 19; Razzi, Vite dei santi, p. 443.]. For this prodigy is neither mentioned in the acts of beatification nor in those more certain monuments which we have just indicated, nor is it confirmed by any testimony worthy of credit, as Tommaso Caffarini himself acknowledged, who had deliberately asked the aforesaid Hungarian provincial about the stigmata of Blessed Margaret Above, p. 268, n. 4.. Nonetheless, in this age the fame of this miracle had already spread among the people, so much so that even in pictures which Caffarini saw Blessed Margaret was painted marked with stigmata Supplement, fol. 77v.. No wonder, then, that by a doubled error Blessed Margaret was also called the spiritual daughter of another blessed woman whose charisms had been falsely transferred to her.
[11] Posthumous glory. Of the cult and posthumous glory of Blessed Helena very few things have become known to us. In the monastery of Veszprém itself, indeed, the honours of the saints seem to have been shown her. For her relics, after a rather long time, were raised on account of the fame of her holiness. Her Life was written in hagiographical style, in which she is here and there called blessed; and that title became her proper one in the histories. Pictures of her were painted, inscribed with the name of blessed, in which her head was surrounded with a nimbus and her sacred stigmata were shown with lilies springing from them. And so there is no room for doubting that in the monastery of Veszprém she was held as a saint. From there her veneration passed to other monasteries of the Order of Preachers. In the National Gallery of pictures in London there is kept a panel painted by Blessed Fra Angelico of Fiesole, in which Christ is seen surrounded by 266 angels and heavenly ones, among whom, on the left, in the outermost row, are seen Blessed Margaret and Blessed Helena [An Abridged Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery. Foreign Schools (London, 1906), p. 29, n° 663; F. X. Faucher, La Bienheureuse Hélène de Hongrie du monastère de Veszprim, p. 4, note 1.]. At Pavia, as Ferrari witnesses, from about the middle of the fifteenth century, "in the church of St. Thomas, on the highest arch of the vault … is seen our Blessed Helena with the stigmata which she receives from Christ crucified, and with these words: Blessed Helena of Hungary, virgin" De rebus Ungaricae provinciae, p. 218.. In the basilica of St. Eustorgius at Milan, from the year 1505, in the choir of the church, among 34 figures surrounded by as many medallions which adorned the wall of the choir, Blessed Helena too was seen with the inscription: "Beata Helena de Ungaria" [Giuseeppe Allegranza, Descrizione storica della basilica di S. Eustorgio in Milano, 1760, unnumbered codex of the Ambrosian Library, fol. 14v – 15.]. Likewise at Buda, in the church of St. Stephen, about twenty years ago, there existed a picture of Blessed Helena crowned with a nimbus with the inscription: "B. Helena Ord. Praed." Faucher, work cited, p. 18.. Finally in the church of the convent of the Friars Preachers of Ghent there was formerly kept a wooden panel which experts in the arts, in the cause of Blessed Reginald, judged to have been painted after the middle of the sixteenth century [Parisien. seu Ordinis Praedicatorum Confirmationis cultus ab immemorabili praestiti servo Dei Reginaldo. Summarium (Rome, 1875), p. 87.]. In this is shown the heavenly court, where among 42 saints of the Order of Friars Preachers Blessed Helena too has a place. That besides these figures others existed in various places is gathered from the testimony of Hernando de Castillo Work cited, p. 389.. Yet outside the monastery of Veszprém, whose history perished with the monastery itself, which was abolished in the sixteenth century, the feast of Blessed Helena seems nowhere to have been celebrated. The old Hungarian calendars do not announce it. Nay, learned men of the Order of Friars Preachers whom we questioned denied that any traces of this feast had been detected in the calendars of their order.
[12] Plan of the edition. The Life of Blessed Helena was published from codex S 1 by the learned Robert Fawtier La Vie de la bienheureuse Hélène de Hongrie, volume cited, p. 15 – 23., who in the prolegomena collated some passages from D 2 and T. With that codex, however, which is certainly superior to all the others, we thought S 2 and S 3 should be joined. In the notes we shall bring forward the principal variety of readings from the recension D, so that it may be plain to readers how much credit it deserves.
LIFE OF BLESSED HELENA
Helena of Hungary, nun of the Order of St. Dominic. (Bl.)
From the Siena codices of the city library T. I. 1 (= S 1), T. III. 1 (= S 2), and the Bologna codex of the convent of the Friars Preachers (= S 3), with the principal variety of readings of the Bologna codex of the University library 1999 (= D) relegated to the foot of the page. Compare Preliminary Commentary, nos. 1 – 2.
Here begins the legend of Blessed Helena of Hungary, nun of the Order of Preachers [Legenda beate Helene de Hungaria sanctimonialis ordinis predicatorum que ut in hac narratur legenda stigmata habuit mirabili modo S 3; De beata Helena Hungarica D.].
[1] Blessed Helena distinguished by stigmata. We [D prefixes a prologue, which we gave above, Preliminary Commentary, no. 2, p. 268.] sisters of St. Catherine of Veszprém Catherine de Vesprimo D. [In Hungarian Veszprém, Wesprim, in German Weissbrunn, in western Hungary, along the river Sár, the chief town of the county of the same name and an episcopal see.] relate the things which we have seen with our own eyes concerning the Lady Helena our sister, because we lived with her for many years. She had omits D. scars in both duabus D. hands and feet and breast habuit adds D.. The first scar was made on the night of St. Francis in the right hand (m. d.) d. m. D., she resisting and saying to the Lord: "Lord, let this not be done, Lord, let this not be done." We heard her voice, but we did not see to whom she was speaking loqueretur D.. The second scar was made on the day of the Apostles Peter and Paul, at midday. In the scar of the right hand there grew a golden thread (c. f. a.) aureum lilium crevit D. and hairs, and the golden thread, twisting, stretched out in length. Likewise we saw a lily grow with most beautiful pulcherimis S 1; (f. p.) p. f. D. flowers and with golden thread frequently, which, lest they should be seen by others, she dug out effodiabat S 3. of her hand (e. d. m.) d. m. e. D.; which flowers diu adds S 1 – 3; (q. f.) flores autem illi D., having been gathered, were long kept among us after her death.
[2] The sacred host comes to her Likewise she was very frequently rapt and was in ecstasy for a long hour. In the same ecstasy we saw the body of the Lord in her hand and in her mouth. And [(Item - ore et) rapiebatur frequentissime B. Helena quandoque per horam in extasi et in excessum mentis venerandum corpus Domini vidimus in ore eius dum in extasim raperetur et in manibus D.] when one day a certain one omits S 3. of us (d. n.) ex nostris D. who had fallen sick had long asked that the said body of the Lord be given her, and she refused once negaretur D., the second time she gave it to her, and at once she recovered health; and she has remained in health to this day (que - sanitate) omits D.. Whence autem adds D. the body of the Lord came to her God knows; this only we know, that we saw it in her hand and in her mouth at the elevation of the Lord's body Domini S 3. at Mass. She told a certain sister, however, that that body of the Lord came from heaven [(Dicebat - celo) cuidam sorori interroganti unde corpus dominicum ad eam veniret respondit e celo venit quod Dominus vobis ostendit D.]. On the night of the Assumption of the glorious Virgin, as she was praying, in the depth of the night (gloriose - nocte) v. g. o. i. i. n. p. D., one sister too being awake and the others asleep, suddenly a certain sound and ringing was heard and she went into ecstasy, and the cross of the altar. and (et ipsa - et) tunc ipsa in extasi facta D. behold, a certain bronze aurea D. cross was suddenly seen in her right dextera D. hand, which had stood before on the altar; and when the wakeful sister had roused the other sisters, they came to her and saw (et dum - viderunt) evigilantes autem sorores invenerunt D. the cross in her hand, which que S 3. when they wished to take aufferre S 3. from her hand they could by no means do it. The following morning (s. m.) omits D. the friars quoque adds D. preachers who were there at the time could not take it from her hand (erant - eius) erat similiter conati sunt auferre nec potuerunt D., until after midday, as she prayed, the cross withdrew from her hand (donec - eius) omits S 3. and was placed on the altar. While these things were being done she laboured laborabat S 2 . with great effort to remove it from her hand so that it should not be seen, so much so that she even wished to cut off her hand with an axe, because she always laboured to hide the signs even from her own sisters [(ipsa orante - sororibus) illa orante crux ad altare ubi primo fuerat avolavit. Huius miraculi tanta fuit evidentia quod cum B. Helena vellet occultare ne quis videret fratrum aut sororum quod cum crucem vellet excutere et non posset manus sibi precidere vellet D.]. While on a certain
day after vespers she was praying in quadam adds D. the chapel, another sister praying with her, a certain que D. wooden cross which is still among us came down from the altar and came to her and stood before her on the step; afterwards, after a long hour, it was put back on the altar (postea - altari) post horam autem ad locum suum reversa est D..
[3] While she prays, lights are prodigiously kindled. Likewise, when one night the sisters were singing in darkness (item - canerent) de nocte obscura dum sorores cantarent D. the Salve Regina after compline, for want of candles, and she had not been able to come to compline because of the occupation occupationes S 2, 3. of the work in which she frequently busied herself, both in services and in other works, namely in the preparation of the kitchen et adds S 2, D., in the cutting of wood and other like things, coming to the Salve Regina in the dark, she fell down praying before the altar in the chapel. And behold, suddenly two lamps on the altar were kindled by divine fire, all seeing and marvelling and giving thanks to God (g. D.) D. gratiam D.. These miracles were frequently seen de luminibus adds D..
[4] On the holy day of Pentecost, at midday, while the sisters were asleep, when she wished to come to the chapel (v. v. a. c.) venire a. c. vellet D., two others followed her, wishing to know what she was doing. And when she had entered the chapel and given herself to prayer before the altar, five lights were kindled, of which they put out three; two duo D. burned through the whole day of Pentecost and the following night and the following day (et d. s.) omits D. until Mass, in which this miracle happened (in - accidit) et in hoc aaruit et grande miraculum D., that the burning candles were not consumed. These things were seen by all the faithful who ran together there (i. f.) f. i. D., where there was then great magnam S 1. devotion devotionem S 2. (?). of the people (ubi - habebatur) omits D. on account of etiam adds D. the miracle and the novelty of the sign (m. e. s.) miraculi. D., so that many came even with processions to this [(ita - hoc) populi crevit devotio ita ut processionaliter ad ecclesiam monialium concurrerent ad tam grande D.] spectacle. This miracle was to have taken place at Mass on the day of Pentecost propter adds D., which she knowing and (s. e.) omits D. foreknowing would not come to Mass (v. a. m.) a. m. v. D., for on the preceding night dominum adds D. she was praying dicens adds D.: "Lord, let this not be done domine adds D., let this not be done." The same happened at midday (similiter - meridie) omits D. on the feast of St. Mark evangeliste in meridie similiter divinitus lumen accensum est adds D.. On the night quoque adds D. of St. Catherine Catherine martiris D., on the first night, first of all omnis S 3 . this miracle was seen, so that so great a light shone out in the chapel that many in the city saw a wonderful light [(in prima - mirabile) lumen tam magnum aaruit in ecclesia sororum quod per totam civitatem collucebat D.], and then the lamp of all omni S 2, 3. in civitate adds D. was kindled accensa D..
[5] When a certain simple sister at first doubted these miracles, the Lady Helena said to her: "Come with me this night into the chapel and be with me through the night." And (dixit - et) quadam nocte posuit se ad observandum B. Helenam D. while autem adds D. she was praying in the depth of the night, as the day of St. John the Evangelist was dawning, which is the third tertia D. day of the Nativity of the Lord, suddenly a light shone out in the chapel and she saw in her hand two lamps kindled with divine light (a. l. d.) d. l. a. D., and two men standing before her in wonderful garments, one in white and the other in a red cope. Seeing these things, she who had before hesitated about her miracles was terrified with excessive fear. Again another candle was kindled by divine fire on the day of St. Stephen the king [(iterum - regis) in festo S. Stephani regis divino lumine alia candela incensa est D.]; and when she was asked what this was and what the kindling of the lamp (i. l.) l. i. D. on such a day signified significaret D., she said: "Pray more ardently that the Lord may give a son to the lord king Compare Preliminary Commentary, no. 8, above, p. 270.." This miracle was frequently seen, namely the kindling of candles (hoc - candelarum) omits D..
[6] The gift of prophecy While fear of the Tartars was seizing everyone Preliminary Commentary, same place., a certain sister said to her: "What shall we do, Lady Helena, about the Tartars?" She answered: "I shall not see their coming, but you will see it." And she survives to this day (que - perseverat) et ita evenit ut dixerat D.. She is also omits D. believed to have had the spirit of prophecy, because she foretold many things which were afterwards fulfilled. When a certain sister was being anointed and they had already despaired of her life (iam d. v. e.) d. v. e. iam D., and she was praying for the dying woman, she said to the other sisters: "Do not fear; she will not die this time but will do her penance, because if she died moreretur D. now, she would be punished more grievously, or rather damned." And she, afterwards restored to health sanata D., survived for many years.
[7] While on the feast of St. Catherine Catherine D always. the solemnities sollemnia S 2. of Mass were being celebrated, An image of Blessed Mary comes to her. at the elevation of the Lord's body the image imago S 2, 3. of the Blessed Virgin with her son, which was accustomed to stand on the altar, came to the window [“Ciborium seu armariolum ubi reponitur pyxis in qua sacra Eucharistia asservatur.” Ducange, under the word fenestra.] which was in the middle of the chapel, and suddenly the same image was seen beside her; which image was afterwards seen in her hand. On another occasion also the said image was seen in the window (alia-fenestra) omits D..
[8] She helps the sick. When a certain cleric named Heyerm was gravely ill, and the mother of the same cleric had come to her to ask for prayer, after the prayer had been made at night, on the following day she said [(dum-dixit) mater cuiusdam clerici venit ad B. Helenam ut oraret pro dicto clerico graviter egrotante. Dum autem orasset visa est ymago beate Virginis supradicte in fenestra. Die autem sequenti dixit illi matri D.]: "I could not obtain health for the cleric, because he had done commisit D. a great crime in the violation construpratione S 2. of a certain virgin; but I have obtained for him the pain of purgatory (pen. pur.) pur. pen. D. until the end of the world." That omits D. cleric autem adds D. died soon (s. p. c.) omits D. in the same illness, as she had foretold. Likewise, when (i. d.) interdum S 3. a certain scholar named Brictius was long languishing with a grave illness, and could not speak for pro S 2, 3. hoarseness of voice, they took blood from her scar, put it into water and gave it to the sick man to drink, and he shortly received the desired health through the merits of Helena the handmaid of God [(item-Dei) Britius quidam nomine dum gravi infirmitate langueret ita ut loqui non posset acceptum sanguinem de cicatrice lateris B. Helene in aqua positum et ab eo potatum in brevi plenam recepit sanitatem D.]. Likewise, when a certain noble young girl who had lost her senses in a grave illness was brought to her, through her merits she was restored to health, so that up to her death she remained in good and excellent sense. And this was the wife of Roland the palatine [(item-palatini) iuvencula nobilis gravi infirmitate detenta, uxor Rolandi palatini, amisso sensu et intellectu ita ut fatua putaretur et esset, ducta ad B. Helenam (prius script. Margaritam) sanitatem recepit et usque ad mortem semper in bono sensu fuit D.] Preliminary Commentary, no. 6, above, p. 269..
[9] A prodigy in the body of the Lord. In a certain pyx she showed the body of the Lord (c. d. o.) ostendit c. d. S 2. to four sisters in a wonderful form. One of them [(in quadam-eis) quibusdam sororibus sibi familiaribus ostendit venerandum Christi corpus in quadam pixide sub diversis formis una D.] saw it changed into red and glorious flesh; another saw the same as if it were a little boy; the other ladies due S 2, 3. likewise saw it somewhat red; and she said to one of them [(illud-eis) alia vidit in specie pueri parvuli alie vero insuper viderunt sub quadam specie rubea. Tunc dixit eis dilecte sorores gratias agatis Deo quia dignatus est nobis ostendere mirabilia sua D.]: "This is the body of the Lord which is consecrated by the hand manus D. of the priest, and it was carried by the angels into the heavens (i. c.) ad celum D., and now has been brought back omits S 3. to me by the same." All the relics from the altar came to her, the viaticum-vessel [“Sacrae Eucharistiae quae aegris ac morituris datur receptaculum.” Ducange, under the word viaticum.] being split open, even with the viaticum itself (scisso-viatico) absque quod portarentur ab aliquo qui videretur D..
[10] She hears angels singing together; While she was praying, too omits D., an angelic song was heard in the air et adds S 3. (ipsa-angelicus) ang. c. i. o. in ae. au. e. D., and of great sweetness; very frequently, too, they heard the saints speaking to her and conversing with her [(et magne-ea) frequentissime ita ut omnem suavitatem melodie humane superaret. Sancti quampluries missi sunt ad eam de celo cum quibus colloquebatur ut viderunt et audierunt alique ex sororibus loquebantur enim D.] about her life et penitentia et quomodo omnia facta virtuosa scribuntur in libro Dei adds D.. And nam D. a sheet about her life was brought (portata-ipsius) d. v. i. p. f. ei c. D., she receives letters from heaven through them. which no
way would she present (v. p.) p. v. D., and she besought the saints (r. s.) ostendere, unde ad Dominum ita preces emittebat D.: "Lord, let it not be done, and do not cause anything of my life to be made public, especially of my hidden penance." They saw in her hand letters sibi adds D. sent omits D. from heaven delatas adds D., which they could in no way take from her hand. And though she did not know the knowledge of letters except, after a fashion, the hours of the Blessed Virgin, she very frequently read the psalter, and she had no omits S 3. other knowledge of letters [(in manu-habuit) sorores monasterii et cum in extasi posita vellent eas ab ea eripere numquam potuerunt. Cum nullam haberet antea peritiam litterarum B. Helena a Deo edocta fuit ut officium B. Virginis et psalterium peroptime legeret D.]. Likewise, when on a certain occasion in the depth of a winter night she lay praying with some sisters, saints appeared beside her illum S 3., whom the others did not see, but they heard their voice. Then she spoke to them illa S 2. of the pain which she had through the scars, and a sheet was then brought to her, which they said was to be given to a certain sister, which she in no way allowed; and when two sisters wished to receive it from her hand, they could in no way do so, and then [(item dum-tunc) quadam nocte orante B. Helena apparuerunt ei quidam sancti quos quidem audierunt sorores loquentes cum ea sed non viderunt. Curiosius scrutantes de qua materia loquebantur audiverunt quod de dolore stigmatum loquebatur quas receperat in diversis temporibus, ut supra dictum est. In illa extasi posita et in illo colloquio cum sanctis data est sibi carta ab eisdem sanctis continente multa de vita eius ut illam cuidam sorori daret. Ipsa vero renitens dixit: hoc nullo modo fiat quia dum vivo ipsa mea secreta ab aliis sciri non cupio. Sorores autem accedentes ad eam in extasi positam litteras quas tenebat in manu conate sunt auferre sed non potuerunt. Hiis peractis D.] a great light shone out in the house, and a wonderful odour remained et adds D. after the departure omits D. of the angels et adds D. and saints recessum adds D. who antea adds D. had been speaking with her.
[11] A kid is restored to life. Likewise, when one of the sisters, who at that time had the care of the sheep of the monastery, was affected with sadness at the death of a certain kid hedi S 2, 3., as if it had died through her negligence, the said Helena, having gently consoled her consolatam S 1 – 3., by her touch at once restored to life and soundness that kid hedum S 2, 3., which had lain dead through the space of a night [(item-incolumem) cum B. Helena quamdam ex sororibus vidisset dolore affectam eo quod quidam edus mortuus fuerat quasi ex incuria sua nam ad eam pertinebat ovium cura tactu manus ad vitam restituit et incolumem, ipsam sororem multipliciter consolando D.]. Likewise, from the report Dry rods grow green again. of a certain old and devout sister it was learned that when on one occasion the said Helena had fixed fixisse S 2. dry rods in the ground to mark seedlings or seeds — as it was her custom to busy herself about laborious works — suddenly the said dry rods put forth green leaves, to the admiration of the sister who was present at this pleasant miracle; and after the said Helena noticed it, to preserve humility she ran up and pulled them out by the roots [(item-extrahebat) cuiusdam monialis a. r. c. e. q. subiungo. Nam cum in orto quasdam herbas signasset ad semen colligendum tempore suo cum virgis aridis ipse virge viride effecte folia protulerunt. Quod cum dicta sanctimonialis vidisset et aliis retulisset B. Helena hoc perpendens, ne humana laude amitteret suarum operationem (sic) meritum eas radicitus evellit D.].
[12] An apparition of angels. Likewise, when on one occasion, on the night of the Epiphany of the Lord, after compline, she was applying herself to prayer at length in her usual way, the material light in the chapel failing, as we learned from the report of the sister who had then remained remansit D. alone with her in the church, suddenly the roof of the chapel, as it seemed to the same sister, was opened, and, putting the darkness to flight, the chapel itself shone with heavenly light, and four most splendid men, coming down to her as she prayed, dazzled the eyes of the aforesaid sister with the immensity of the light lucis S 2, 3., nor could she see what was being done there around her, except that, when the light withdrew and the darkness returned, being called by name by the Lady Helena, she understood that a cross had been brought into her hands, with which, labouring almost until matins, she at last barely obtained optinuit S 1. that it could possit S 2, 3. be removed.
[13] A lily springs from the scar of her breast. Likewise omits D., on the night of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, the said Helena, coming about the second watch of the night, roused two of the sisters to whom she was accustomed to entrust her secrets more intimately; with them accompanying her she entered the church, where, as she persisted rather long in prayer, suddenly going into ecstasy, she collapsed with her whole body as if lifeless; and the said sisters, running to her accurentes S 3. [(veniens-sorores) cum oraret in ecclesia prolixius visa fuit a duobus sororibus sibi familiaribus, et que (sic) sua secreta magis comittebat in extasim rapta et quasi exanimis facta in ipso excessu D.], heard her as it were loquentem adds D. complaining to the Blessed Virgin et adds D. and omits S 3. asking postulante S 1 – 3. of her ea D. that the sign which was to be on her the following day might not be done in the presence of the community, which she barely obtained by her prayers; but that it should not be done at all she could not obtain optinere S 1, D.. Whence on the next day in her breast, near the opening orifitium S 2, 3. of the stomach stomaci S 2, 3, D., a lily of wonderful whiteness sprang up, but it was pulled out avulsum S 3, D. by her by the roots as deeply as she could. For she did not wish to make public any omits D. signs done about her. But this lily, kept for a long time afterwards, not only all the sisters but also seculars, and the king himself, were deemed worthy to see in proof of the truth. This omits D. too I think must not be omitted (e. o.) o. e. D., that, by the ordering of divine providence, which by hidden counsel disposes all things in number, weight and measure, all the scars of her body, of which enough has been said above, were closed and healed before her death. Compare Wis. 11, 21. And as the passing of her happy soul drew near, Jesus is present to the dying Blessed Helena. on the preceding precedente S 2. night, the sisters having gathered around her, suddenly, her spiritual omits D. eyes being opened, she saw that Jesus her consoler had come to her (a. e. v.) adesse D., so that she might recognize as present him to whom she had continually clung; and when he afterwards withdrew she followed him with tearful complaints (l. q.) lacrimis querulis D., the sisters hearing.
[14] Miracles after death. After her death too divine miracles were not lacking. For a certain man named Blasius, a citizen cives S 2. of Veszprém, bereft of the use motu adds S 1 – 3. of all his limbs, being forewarned by the said Blessed Helena to pray at her tomb, recovered the use of his limbs. Likewise motu ad. S 1 – 3. Thomas the priest, a religious man, procurator and chaplain of the same monastery of St. Catherine, struck with paralysis paralysi S 2, 3, D. in his feet and omits D. hands and tongue, was cured praying at the tomb of the same virgin (e. v.) B. Helene D.. Likewise omits D. a certain young girl having ma … [(h. m.) omits D. A space of about 5 letters is blank in codd. S 1 – 3, but not in D.], seized arepta S 1, 3. by a demon (arrepta a d.) a d. arrepta D., when she had been brought to her tomb, was freed.
[15] Elevation of the body. And omits D. as the miracles grew more frequent, the aforesaid sisters, kindled with devotion, together with their chaplains, having wished to examine the state of her body B. Helene D., resolved to open her tomb, a certain sister of holy life especially urging it and saying that the earth, venerating her holiness, did not touch her body. When, therefore ergo D., the coffin had been opened, so great a fragrance and variety of odour suddenly suffused all who were there that, from the very sweetness of the wonderful odour, as of lilies, roses, incense and other spices, the signs proclaimed her most sincere integrity, the ardour of her charity, the unwearied persistence of her prayer, even if witnesses were lacking; which odour indeed most sweetly filled not only the cloister itself but also the whole neighbourhood vicinam S 1 – 3. of the monastery, to the admiration of all omni S 2.. It was proved also by experiment what the said sister had foretold, because quod S 3. the earth was found to have raised itself on every side above the holy body of the virgin to the measure of a man's forearm omits D.. And when the priest who was present at this business, out of the fervour of his devotion, had put his hand into the tomb through the small opening which was first made, so that by touching that most holy body he might satisfy his devotion, by chance he plunged two fingers rather deeply into the scar of the side, and drawing them out he showed to all presentibus et adds D. who stood around a drop scintillam D. of oil of most sweet odour flowing abundantly (h. p.) abundantius perfluente S 2, 3; hab. profluentem D. on them. In her huius D. body this miracle too appeared (h. a.) a. h. S 2., that, when some sisters out of devotion were trying to snatch some little portions there ex eius corpore D. by plucking them off, and the particle itself had barely (p. vix) vix p. D. been separated from the body, the place where it was torn away was seen to grow red with fresh blood (s. r. rub.) sanguinem recentem emittere D., though about XVII decem et septem S 2; XXII D. years had elapsed since the death of the same virgin omits S 2, 3..
[16] A cleric is restored to the king's favour by Helena. Likewise omits D. a certain noble cleric (q. c.) c. q. D., having lost the favour of his lord, namely King Stephen Stefani S 2, 3. Preliminary Commentary, no. 7, above, p. 270.,
condemned damnatus S 2. by him to exile, when he saw himself destitute of human help, took refuge in the patronage of Blessed Helena, and, praying at her tomb with faithful devotion, committed himself and his business to her in the hope of obtaining. On the night ergo D. that followed, then, when the said cleric had given himself to sleep, Blessed Helena seemed visum D. to him to stand by him, and she promised that she would shortly restore to him his lord's favour. And when, waking upon these words and consoled by the vision (d. v.) omits S 2., he marvelled, and at daybreak related the vision to his companions, as soon as he had finished speaking he received with joy a messenger of the king inviting him to himself with familiarity, giving thanks to God and to Blessed Helena, who had been pleased to forward his business so quickly and effectually.
[17] At the tomb of Blessed Helena a bent woman is healed, Likewise a certain woman of the village of Gnelemer, the wife of a certain man named Paul Giute, violently bent over, who, from the separation of the joints both of her back and of her hip, showed a monster horrid to behold, being brought to her tomb, obtained from the prioress a respite of three days to stay in the cloister and implore the help of Blessed Helena; and within a few days she received an unexpected and complete health, with thanksgiving [(Item-sanitatem) mulier quedam curvata monstruose ad sepulcrum B. Helene curata est D.].
[18] another, crippled, Likewise a certain woman, the widow left by Wendeg, so crippled contractata S 1. that she could not (p. s. n. p.) n. p. per s. S 2. be moved from her place by herself, taking confidence and kindled with devotion, though at other times, as has been said, she was moved by others' hands, dragged herself creeping to the tomb of the holy virgin, where, having received full health, she returned with joy to her house [(item-remeavit) alia mulier contracta que nonnisi rapendo incederet sanitatem recepit quamprimum tetigit sepulcrum sancte ita ut domum recte reverteretur D.].
[19] a boy near death, Likewise omits D. a certain boy, a grandson of Andrew of Wigman, son of Count Nicholas Preliminary Commentary, same place., sent by his parents, because of various and grave infirmities, to the church of St. Catherine rather to be buried than to recover health, within ten days, through the merits of Blessed Helena, received the hoped-for insperatam S 3. and complete health [(Andree-sanitatem) cuiusdam comitis ex magna egritudine magis mortem quam vitam sperans ad sepulcrum virginis ductus infra VIII dies liberatus est D.].
[20] These few signal marks of her virtues, many others having been consigned to oblivion through negligence, we have transmitted in a faithful report, in testimony of the same holy virgin, to the knowledge and equally to the edification of all the faithful (Hec-transmisimus) omits D..
[21] a girl vexed by demons, Likewise omits D. a grown adulta adds D. daughter of the same Count Nicholas (N. a.) omits D., vexed by demons for many days (v. p. d.) arrepta sepius D., was brought omits D. to the tomb of the Blessed virgin Helena; where, when she had been without sense and understanding for some days, so that she even spat in her brother's face and shouted and tore discerpet S 1, 2. herself and others, and her parents across the face … some things are missing., through the merits of Blessed Helena she received the most complete health; and, as we learned from the report of the same girl and of her parents in our presence, the demons went out of her in the manner of flies flitting about. In the likeness of the same flies they had entered into her on the night of the Epiphany [(virginis-intraverant) liberata est. Hec arrepta fuit in die Epiphanie a dyabolo in forma muscarum et in eadem forma demones ab ea recesserunt D.].
[22] a crippled youth. Likewise, last year, before the Ascension of the Lord, when (item-dum) omits D. a certain youth (q. a.) a. q. D., crippled et adds D. and deprived of the use of his limbs, unable to walk, but like a serpent dragging himself pitiably with his hands, had come to the tomb of Blessed Helena and had prayed as he could, his feet and all his limbs being stretched out, suddenly rising up, receiving the desired cure through the merits of Blessed Helena, he was restored entirely sound and running in our presence. Of his infirmity and crippling and of the health which he received the whole city of Veszprém bears witness; and he is still a furrier in Veszprém [(non valens-pelliparius) ita ut in modum serpentis se per terram traheret ad sepulcrum virginis curatus est et in civitate Vesprimiensi piliparii artem sanus exercet. Hec autem pauca scripta sunt ut cognoscatur quanti meriti apud Dominum sit B. Helena. Multa alia miracula fecit tam in vita quam in morte et multa gessit quantum ad penitentias occultas et quantum ad revelationes et collocutiones factas cum angelis et sanctis que non scribuntur quia non pervenerunt ad nos D.]. Thanks be to God. Amen (D. g. a.) omits S 3, D..
Here ends the legend of Blessed Helena [(expl.-Hel.) omits D; de Ungaria monialis ordinis predicatorum adds S 2; explicit supradicta beate Helene legenda in another hand S 3.].