Joan

ON BL. JOAN, VIRGIN, AT SIGNA IN TUSCANY,

IN THE YEAR 1307

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY

Joan, virgin, at Signa in Tuscany. (Bl.)

BY H. D.

[1] The Life of Blessed Joan was written by Signa, formerly a fortified place, is now a small town in Tuscany, situated on the right bank of the river Arno, 12 km. west of Florence (prov. Firenze, mand. Campi Bisenzio). Here Blessed Joan practised the eremitical life, and her body, laid in the parish church, is held in the greatest honour by the citizens and their neighbours. Her very ancient Life, which all who have written about the blessed woman have followed, is preserved in manuscript in a parchment codex of the church of Signa, of 9 leaves (0m,315 × 0,222), written in two columns in the fifteenth century [S. Razzi, Vite de santi e beati Toscani (Florence, 1627), p. 501, asserts that the book was copied in the year 1441 from an older one "da un messer Antonio di Puccio, canonico di Cortona e capellano della pieve à Signa" [by a messer Antonio di Puccio, canon of Cortona and chaplain of the parish church at Signa]. From whom he learned this he does not reveal.]. It is moderately adorned with painted letters, and in a more recent hand the heading has been prefixed: Life and miracles of Blessed Joan. Our predecessors received a transcript at the end of the seventeenth century, and we have it copied in the hand of Fr. Giovanni Francesco Vanni, in the codex of the Royal Library of Brussels 8936 – 38, fol. 123 – 130, with a commentary (fol. 118 – 119) which Daniel Papebroch sketched. The Life was at last edited by Fr. Saturnino Mencherini Archivum Franciscanum historicum, vol. X (1917), p. 367 – 86.. Fr. R. Lechat collated the codex again, and we bring forward its reading, keeping the spelling which the copyist used, except where he has manifestly erred.

[2] an anonymous writer, The Life was written by an anonymous author some time, though not a long time, after the day of St. Lawrence (August 10) of the year 1383, which is the last noted by him Life, c. 24, 26., and, as it seems, before the year 1396, in which the fortified place was freed from siege by the help of Blessed Joan. For the writer of the Life would not have kept silent about the miracle which was afterwards related by the hagiographers. He is careful in noting the times and the names of persons, and gladly brings in witnesses of the things narrated. The miracle of the healed daughter of Duccio Aringhi he concludes thus: all these things the father of the aforesaid girl related to me, who am writing and publishing this legend, face to face (c. 23). Of the lady Lippa: This the lady Lippa herself testified to the letter in the aforesaid church before many of the people of that land of Signa on the day of Blessed Lawrence 1383 (c. 24). Another the parish priest of the said parish related (c. 25). Guido Lenzi was healed, and the boy himself, when he was a youth, used to relate it as he had had it from his mother and sister and as he himself remembered the aforesaid things (c. 22). So accurately does he relate the miracles of the blessed woman after her death. Of her life he had very few things ascertained: that she was born of parents of humble means, that while she was guarding the herds she was covered by divine protection; that, having entered the "romitorium", she cured various diseases, and even raised a dead man. When she began to live and when she closed her last day he seems not to have known.

[3] Baldovino de' Baldovini, Next to our anonymous writer is Antonio Baldovino de' Baldovini, who was secretary to St. Antoninus, archbishop of Florence († 1459). Written in his hand there is kept at Florence, in the Riccardiana library, codex 1333, which is wholly filled by the work Del Sacramento dell' Altare, into which shorter Lives of saints have been inserted, and among them, on fol. 133 – 138v, the Life of Blessed Joan of Signa [S. Morpurgo, I manoscritti della R. Biblioteca Riccardiana di Firenze, p. 392; A. Lôpez, in Archivum Franciscanum historicum, vol. IV (1911), p. 749.]. After our R. Lechat had read it, he reported that nothing was contained in it except some miracles from among those which the anonymous writer relates, and that it was therefore not worthy to be printed. Other sources besides the anonymous writer seem to have been had by Brother Andrea Stefani and Giuliano Dati, who also wrote in the vulgar Italian idiom, of whom we must now speak briefly. Brother Andrea did not indeed write a Life of the blessed woman, but a canticle or laud which begins Ave virgo gloriosa, Andrea Stefani, which is also the refrain line with which each of the ten stanzas is concluded. The poem has been handed down under this heading: Lauda della beata Giovanna dà Signa composta per il Reverendo Frate Andrea Stefani successore di detta beata Giovanna [Laud of Blessed Joan of Signa composed by the Reverend Brother Andrea Stefani, successor of the said Blessed Joan] [So in our codex 432, of which presently. The poem was last edited by G. M. Brocchi, Vite de' santi e beati Fiorentini, vol. II (Florence, 1752), p. 382.]. He used the anonymous Life, and added Miracles:

1° Of the fortified place freed from the siege of the duke of Milan, in the year 1396 [Brocchi, volume cited, p. 373: "Quest' assedio si trova descritto negli Statuti di Signa che sono nelle Riformagioni." [This siege is found described in the Statutes of Signa which are in the Riformagioni.]]:

Tu salvasti dalla guerra Di quel duca di Milano Che coperto avea il tuo piano Di soldati e la tua terra.

2° Of St. Francesco de' Fagiuoli, rector of the church of Signa.

Tu di Signa il buon rettore Ser Francesco de' Fagiuoli Da mortali ed aspri duoli Liberasti con amore.

Since Francesco Fagiuoli began to govern the church of St. Mary of Signa on the 9th day of June 1507 [So from the series of rectors compiled by Manni, in Brocchi, volume cited, p. 376.], Brother Andrea is to be believed to have written at about this time. It is no obstacle that he is called the "successor" of the blessed woman, if he lived in the same cell.

3° The miracle of the blessed woman carried across the swelling river on her spread-out cloak:

Tu passasti essendo grosso Il fiume d'Arno in su'l mantello Per virtù del puro Agnello.

That similar things are read of other saints, confirmed by no better testimonies, there is hardly any need for us to point out; nor does it much matter to learn that a bridge thrown across the river provided a crossing about the year 1266, in which year its likeness was seen impressed on a bell [Manni, Osservazioni sopra i sigili antichi, vol. II (Florence, 1739), p. 118 – 19; vol. XX, pp. 127, 141 – 42.], but was broken before the year 1278, perhaps in the year 1269, when, as Villani witnesses (VII, 34), the waters happened to rise to an unusual height [Memorie appartenenti alla vita ed al culto della Beata Giovanna romita da Signa, Florence, 1761, p. 16 – 17.].

[4] Giuliano Dati. Both the anonymous Life and Brother Andrea's poem, and other writings too, were used by Giuliano Dati O.P., who was dean of the penitentiaries at Rome, and in the year 1518 was created bishop of San Leo in Calabria, in the book which is entitled Leggenda, Vita e miracoli della gloriosa vergine beata Giovanna eremita dà Signa di Toscana raccolta e composta in versi Toscani. There are three codices of this Life: 1° The codex of the National Library of Florence, Magliabecchianus cl. XXXVIII. 82; 2° The codex of the church of Signa Mencherini, volume cited, p. 375.; 3° The codex of the Bollandist library 432, fol. 1 – 56, copied by the most learned Antonio Magliabecchi from the printed edition and collated with the codex [On the 23rd day of June 1688 Raffaele Badi, O.P., wrote to Papebroch: "La vita della B. Giovanna da Signa copiata dalla stampata in Firenze e collazzionata con Vita ms. dal Sign. Magliabecchi sarà à V. P. Rma trasmessa…" [The life of Bl. Joan of Signa, copied from the one printed in Florence and collated with a manuscript Life by Signor Magliabecchi, will be sent to Your Most Reverend Paternity…] Codex of the Royal Library of Brussels 8936 – 38, fol. 135. There are in the same codex other letters on that matter, of Fr. Badi, of Carlo Dati and of Magliabecchi himself.]. In the book printed at Florence, as he himself testifies (fol. 56v), "non vi è ne il nome dello stampatore ne l'anno dell' impressione. Nel frontispizzio vi si leggono le sequenti parole: La beata Giovanna da Signia advocata contro alla peste." [there is neither the name of the printer nor the year of the printing. On the title-page the following words are read: Blessed Joan of Signa, advocate against the plague.] In the appendix was read the canticle of Brother Andrea Stefani. Of this little work we have obtained no exemplar besides the codices. It was written in the year 1522, as is deduced from these words:

E lo spirito santo e benedetto Di Giovanna beata in ciel montò Son dugent' anni con quindici appresso Fol. 54 of our codex..

But in another place he asserts that Joan died in the year 1307:

E l'anima nel cielo esser volata Nell' anno mille e poi trecento sette Same place, fol. 48v.

He narrates the life and miracles of the blessed woman in a poem prolix beyond measure, "in ottava rima", from which, lest we seem to breed tedium in our readers, we bring forward no excerpts. The miracles which he had found neither in the anonymous Life nor in Brother Andrea, if anyone wishes to read them, let him seek them clearly set out in I. M. Brocchi [Same volume and column, p. 373 – 80. He adds one miracle (p. 380 – 81) worked in the year 1728.]. That Giuliano Dati had in hand writings which are now lost is certain, of which he cites only one, put together by Antonio, rector of San Gervasio:

Messer Antonio quel prete rettore Di San Gervagio, martire divino. … Questo lo scrisse quel messer Antonio A laude del Signore e della Santa Come prete discreto, a questo idonio, Ed io l'hò messa in versi tutta quanta Perche resti confuso il gran demonio Fol. 33v, 34 of our codex..

Messer Antonio, that priest, rector of San Gervasio, divine martyr. [… This that messer Antonio wrote, to the praise of the Lord and of the Saint, as a discreet priest, fit for this, and I have put it all into verse, so that the great demon may remain confounded.]

[5] Other monuments. Certain other monuments of a later age,

which are now missing, F. Soldani testifies that he saw in the house of the Rector of Signa, I. B. Luchini [Ragguaglio istorico della beata Giovanna da Signa romita Vallombrosana (Florence, 1741), pp. VIII, 50.]. From these he brings forward a little fable about a quarrel that arose between the parish of St. John of Signa and the parish of St. Martin of Gangalandi, each claiming the body of the blessed woman for itself. The matter having first been referred to the bishop, the people of Gangalandi are said to have won. But when the sacred body was being carried in solemn procession to the church of St. Martin on the other bank of the river, it stood still in the middle of the bridge, and could not be moved by any force. It was therefore brought back to its former place. They add this too, that since the people of Gangalandi did not wish to return to their own with empty hands, they tried to carry off at least the arms of Blessed Joan: but they, struck with blindness, could not cross the bridge, and returned to Signa with the relics [Ragguaglio, p. 49 – 51. Soldani notes not ineptly: "Io per altro sono di sentimento, che queste voci popolari siano nate dal vedersi quelle beate braccia staccate dal corpo; il quale staccamento forse fu fatto per avere i popoli qualche reliquia da portare agl' infermi, e per darla a baciare a i divoti; lo che trovo esser piu volte anticamente succeduto." [For my part I am of the opinion that these popular tales arose from those blessed arms being seen detached from the body; which detachment was perhaps made so that the people might have some relic to carry to the sick and to give to the devout to kiss; which I find to have happened several times in former days.]]. Let it suffice to have reported these things. Of the more recent writers who have written about Blessed Joan and had at hand the various documents which we have reviewed, those who examined them most diligently were the already praised S. Razzi, I. M. Brocchi, F. Soldani, M. Lastri Memorie, above, note 2., S. Mencherini [Compare his Bibliografia della B. Giovanna da Signa, in Archivum Franciscanum, volume cited, p. 374 – 78.], who also collected many things useful for illustrating the cult shown to the blessed woman.

[6] On the year of her death. There has been dispute about the year of Blessed Joan's death. We need not dwell on the opinions of those who assert by an empty conjecture that she died either about the middle of the thirteenth century or at the time of the great mortality and pestilence (in the year 1348). For in that year her relics were already publicly venerated Life, c. 16, 27., and at the beginning of the fourteenth century she was alive. For in the year 1306 she received an alms from the confraternity of the Orto of St. Michael, as is established from the account book (Entrata et Uscita) of the same oratory: Alla Giovanna romita da Signa porto Chele Lapi Laudese da S. Friano etc. [To Joan the hermit of Signa, Chele Lapi, a lauda-singer of San Frediano, carried etc.] In Brocchi, volume cited, p. 360.. Certainly nothing prevents credit being given to the inscription which was painted on the sepulchral chest in the year 1438 In Brocchi, volume cited, p. 360. The inscription is still preserved., from an older one, as is an easy conjecture:

HIC IACET CORPVS BEATE IOHANNE HEREMITA DE SIGNA MCCCVII°.

PETRVS DE GAMBASSIO PINXIT MCCCCXXXVIII.

Those who think that she reached the fortieth year of her age are led by the argument that her portrait seems to represent a woman of forty.

[7] Whether she was enrolled in some religious family. The question has also arisen whether Blessed Joan was enrolled in some religious order. For the Augustinians, the Carmelites, the Franciscans, the Vallombrosans each tried to co-opt her into their own family Brocchi, volume cited, p. 351., in the centuries, above all the sixteenth and seventeenth, when those pious robberies were rife by which they competed with one another to snatch into the calendars of their own Order as many men as possible who had died with a reputation for holiness. About Blessed Joan the controversy blazed up above all among the Friars Minor and the Vallombrosans, nor was any valid argument brought forward by either side for its cause, both the Life of Blessed Joan and the ancient monuments of each Order keeping deep silence on the matter. Certainly weak is the reasoning drawn from the colour or form of the garments in which they affirm the body of Blessed Joan was clothed. For what these were in the beginning is very uncertain, nor was the dress of anchorites and penitents much unlike that worn by regulars or tertiaries. In the year 1720, the tunic which the Gualbertines contended was Vallombrosan having been removed, the mantle of their Third Order was put on the sacred body by the Franciscans on their own initiative [Many things on these matters in Soldani, p. 65 – 72, who contends for the Vallombrosans against the Franciscans.]. And clothed in these garments it lay for a century and a half. But in the year 1870, on the 19th day of August, a recognition of the relics was made, and again there was a change of the garments, as we have from the authentic instrument: Il corpo della Beata stava tuttora nell' antica cassa, e quindi alla mia presenza [The instrument was signed by: P. Cesare Giannini, P. M. Montelatici, Pievano of Signa, P. Giuseppe Fiammetti, Prior of Castello.] levato e tolti gli abiti e i veli che prima l'adornavano, fu riverentemente rivestita di una nuova veste di seta color celeste, con rapporti a fiori e ricamata in oro, con in capo il velo da Vallombrosana e sul petto il crocifisso che teneva anche prima In Mencherini, volume cited, p. 372. [The body of the Blessed was still in the old chest, and then, in my presence, it was lifted out and, the habits and veils that formerly adorned it having been removed, it was reverently clothed again in a new garment of sky-blue silk, with flowers applied and embroidered in gold, with the Vallombrosan veil on the head and on the breast the crucifix which it also held before]. By what right it is asserted that the sacred remains were reverently handled by those dressers, whoever they were, let others judge. But who would seriously contend that a posthumous garment is enough to make anyone a monk instead of a layman?

[8] A chapel dedicated to Blessed Joan; Blessed Joan was buried in the church of St. John the Baptist in Signa, where a chapel was afterwards built for her. Ricco di Lapo Buccelli, in the will which he made in the month of June of the year 1348, bequeathed ten florins to the chapel of Blessed Joan which was to be erected in the church of Signa Registro d'Or San Michele, Quartiere S. Spirito, c. 53, in Soldani, p. 58.. On the 17th day of March 1361, Michael, son of the late Guiduccio … willed and commanded … that for the remedy of his soul there be painted in the chapel of Blessed Joan of Signa the story of St. Onuphrius, in the same manner, form and likeness as the said story is painted in the church of All Saints of Florence, and also that there be painted in the said chapel of Blessed Joan the story of our Lady the Virgin Mary when she was assumed into heaven In Brocchi, volume cited, p. 365.. The chapel of the blessed woman was renewed in the year 1385 Compare Soldani, p. 59., and enlarged in the year 1425, and on its walls, about the year 1444, the miracles of Blessed Joan were painted [Lastri, volume cited, p. 45 – 46. Lorenzo di Bicci and his son Neri di Bicci are the names of the painters, concerning whom U. Thieme - F. Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler, vol. III, p. 605 – 606.]. At the beginning of the sixteenth century the church itself had to be enlarged.

[9] the relics; Already in the year 1348 the relics of Blessed Joan were usually exposed to public veneration. The chest was so pierced that the sacred body could be touched by the faithful Life, no. 22.; and the arms, separated from the body, were offered to the people to be kissed Life, no. 27.. There were various recognitions of the relics. In the year 1385 the body was laid in a new chest, which Giovanni di Bono adorned with paintings Compare Lastri, Memorie, p. 49 – 50.; in 1438 the chest was renewed again, and Pietro da Gambassi painted the new one; in 1570 a recognition of the relics seems to have been made, the chest not being changed On these things Soldani, volume cited, p. 65 – 66.; in 1620, on the 21st day of April, the sarcophagus was restored a third time The instrument of recognition in Soldani, p. 66 – 67.; in 1720 it was opened again, and a foot of the blessed woman was given to the Grand Duke Cosimo Cinganelli, in Mencherini, volume cited, p. 371 – 72.; in 1870, on the 19th day of August, the body was laid in a new urn The instrument in Mencherini, volume cited, p. 372..

[10] the feasts; Of the feasts of Blessed Joan which are still celebrated every year today, both on the Monday after Easter and on the 9th day of November, which is the day of her death, there is mention in the books of Signa from the year 1385, but it must be thought that a celebration of this kind was introduced some years earlier Lastri, volume cited, p. 46 – 47.. According to the book of Statutes of the municipality of Signa, the 8th, 9th and 10th days of November were held among the holidays Lastri, volume cited, p. 47, n. 2.. On the 10th day of August the body of the blessed woman was formerly carried in solemn procession to the church of St. Lawrence. This usage, however, became obsolete in the course of the sixteenth century Lastri, volume cited, p. 47 – 48. Compare Life, nos. 24, 26.. There was also, from the year 1398, on the 25th day of March, a supplication in thanksgiving for the freeing of the fortified place of Signa from siege in the year 1396 Lastri, volume cited, p. 48. Above, p. 280.. Of the more solemn feasts celebrated in the years 1761 and 1870 it is not our business to discourse Compare Mencherini, volume cited, p. 372..

[11] the cult from time immemorial By a letter given at Rome on the 2nd day of January 1517, twenty-one cardinals, desiring that the chapel of Blessed Joan situated in the parish church of St. John the Baptist of the land of Signa, of the diocese of Florence, in which … the body of the same Blessed Joan is honourably laid up and a certain praiseworthy confraternity has been instituted there, may be frequented with fitting honours, grant the customary indulgences to the faithful of Christ who stretch out helping hands for the preservation, maintenance and fortification of the same chapel In Soldani, p. 70 – 72.. Which is certainly a testimony of cult from time immemorial, but not a confirmation. This was only obtained in the year 1798 from the supreme pontiff Pius, VI, by a decree which we have received from the archive of the Sacred Congregation of Rites Decreta S. Rituum Congregationis, 1837 – 1840, fol. 105, n. 2..

Decree.

confirmed; When the Cavaliere Marco del Rosso, in the name also of all the inhabitants of the municipality of Signa of the diocese of Florence, had presented most humble prayers to our Most Holy Lord Pope Pius VI for an indult to celebrate the office and proper Mass of Blessed Joan, who at the beginning of the thirteenth century had her birthday in the same municipality, having heard the report and vote of the Most Reverend Archbishop of Florence Antonio Martini, elected 25 June 1781, died 31 December 1809., it was found that the memory of Blessed Joan had been perpetually in benediction not only among the townsmen of Signa, her fellow-citizens, but in the whole diocese of Florence, that her body is still preserved incorrupt, that altars were dedicated to her name, and finally that, famous for miracles, she had been venerated with solemn rite for five centuries now as the principal patroness of the municipality. A report of all these things having therefore been made to His Holiness by me the undersigned, our Most Holy Lord, so that the immemorial cult hitherto shown to Blessed Joan of Signa might be approved by the interposition of apostolic authority, has kindly granted that on the feast-day of Blessed Joan, which day is to be fixed by the Most Reverend Archbishop of Florence, in the whole

diocese of Florence the Mass and office be of the common of virgins only, under the semidouble rite, with a proper prayer and lessons of the second nocturn. And he ordered the present decree to be signed by me the undersigned, Apostolic Nuncio to His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Tuscany. Given at Florence on the 20th day of September MDCCXCVIII.

A. M., archbishop of Iconium, Apostolic Nuncio.

[12] The feast transferred more than once. Since the birthday of Blessed Joan fell on the feast of St. Saviour, her feast-day was fixed by the archbishop of Florence on the 14th of November. When on the 23rd of July 1803 a similar faculty of transferring the festival was given to the Friars Minor Observant for the province of Tuscany, they fixed the 6th day of April. To the whole Order the feast of Blessed Joan was extended on the 13th of February 1839, yet not celebrated at once, as is manifest from comparing the calendars. Finally, by Pius IX, in the year 1875, it was granted to the friars of the Order of Minors that on the day designated in the martyrology the feast of Blessed Joan of Signa, virgin of the Third Order, should be celebrated under the rite of a lesser double, with the proper prayer and lessons of the 2nd nocturn approved by Pope Pius VI of holy memory for the province of Tuscany Addenda breviario Romano-Seraphico (Rome, 1875), p. 82 – 83.. In the Seraphic Order the feast of Blessed Joan is now kept on the 9th day of December.

LIFE OF BLESSED JOAN OF SIGNA

Joan, virgin, at Signa in Tuscany. (Bl.)

From the codex of the church of Signa (= S). Compare Preliminary Commentary, no. 1.

The life and miracles of Blessed Joan of Signa.

[1] Joan, who was not wont to be wetted by rains, The blessed virgin et first adds S. and bountiful Joan came from a certain fortified place situated near Florence [The fortified place in which Blessed Joan was born some think was Signa, others the adjoining Lastra a Signa, others Gangalandi, which is part of Lastra a Signa.], and when she was still in the years of puberty tis above the line S. and was guarding her father's flock of sheep and cattle, and it happened that rains and hail came down, where she was staying with her flock no rain or hail grando /// S. at all came down. Whence, when the young keepers of pigs and other animals flocked to her and afterwards went back home, and were not in the least wetted or hurt by the hail, when their parents asked how they had escaped evasisent S., they answered [resspondebant here and usually S. Thus it not rarely doubles the letter s: ussque, disscursus, etc.]: "Because we were with Joan [The oak under which the miracle was reputed to have happened was held in singular veneration for a long time. What was piously handed down about this tree Soldani noted (p. 15 – 16): "Ammirasi anche oggigiorno nei beni dei Signori Altoviti di Firenze alla Luna una querce di smisurata grandezza, che essere la stessa, quale e Giovanna ed i pastori ricoperse nel narrato successo, la costante e non mai intermessa tradizione di quei popoli ci assicura, veggendosene fede autentica fatta dai vecchi di quel paese molt' anni sono, nella decrepita età loro. Molte cose raccontansi della medesima querce, che a me sembrano degne di essere riferite. Il terreno intorno alla medesima vedesi inculto, non essendo chi abbia ardire di lavorarlo, stante che sono stati dalla esperienza ammaestrati, che a chiunque è andato sotto la medesima a lavorare con bovi, o abbia vangato per tirarne frutto, gli sono periti gli animali, ed hanno avuto nelle case loro altre disgrazie. È fama poscia vulgatissima, che trovandosi un pastore sotto la querce per voler far legna della medesima, fu avvertito a non toccarla per esser querce della beata, ma il villano non credendo alle parole, e volendone vedere gli effetti, prese la scure assai tagliente, e salendovi sopra, disse: "O beata, o non beata, voglio tagliare." Ma non sì tosto alzò le braccia, e si accinse all' opra, che cadde precipitosamente a terra con suo grave danno, e fu osservato, che alla scure erasi ingrossato il taglio, che per l'avanti era acutissimo, in modo da non potere tagliare. Il qual fatto vedesi dipinto da Pietro da Gambassi nella cassa, ove riposa il corpo della santa." [Even today there is admired, on the estate of the Signori Altoviti of Florence at La Luna, an oak of immense size, which the constant and never interrupted tradition of those peoples assures us is the same one that covered Joan and the shepherds in the event narrated, authentic attestation of it having been made many years ago by the old men of that district in their decrepit age. Many things are told of the same oak which seem to me worthy of being reported. The ground around it is seen uncultivated, there being no one who dares to work it, since they have been taught by experience that whoever went under it to work with oxen, or dug to draw fruit from it, his animals perished, and they had other misfortunes in their houses. It is moreover a very widespread report that a shepherd, being under the oak and wishing to make firewood of it, was warned not to touch it because it was the oak of the blessed woman; but the peasant, not believing the words, and wishing to see the effects, took a very sharp axe and, climbing up on it, said: "Blessed or not blessed, I mean to cut." But no sooner had he raised his arms and set about the work than he fell headlong to the ground to his grave hurt, and it was observed that the edge of the axe, which before had been very sharp, had become thick, so that it could not cut. Which deed is seen painted by Pietro da Gambassi on the chest where the body of the saint rests.] Brocchi has the same (p. 355) and adds: "Onde pare, che non possa dubitarsi della verita del medesimo, mentre fu reso pubblico colla pittura in tempo, che probabilmente potevano esser vive persone state forse testimoni oculari del prodigio, o pure che almeno l'avevano sentito raccontare da' loro padri come cosa succeduta a' suoi tempi." [Whence it seems that the truth of the same cannot be doubted, since it was made public by the painting at a time when there could probably be living persons who had perhaps been eyewitnesses of the prodigy, or at least who had heard it told by their fathers as a thing that happened in their times.] The very ancient oak which, on the same witness (p. 353), stood "dirimpetto al poggio di S. Romolo a Signa, circa due miglia lontano da Malmantile" opposite the hill of San Romolo at Signa, about two miles from Malmantile, perished in the year 1761, struck by lightning. In the same place in the nineteenth century a little chapel was raised (Mencherini, volume cited, p. 368).]." she chooses the solitary life; As her merits, then, grew before God, and she herself was daily more inflamed inflamata S. with divine fervour, she longed for the eremitical life. Whence, while she was in the years of puberty, she entered a hermitage situated at the foot of the valley of Signa, where, while she lived, God worked many miracles through her merits, and many more after her death [In the very place of the hermitage, or rather above the cell itself, there was afterwards built a little chapel commonly called "il Beatino", which still exists, and under whose pavement there was found in the year 1914 a small room with pictures of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Stephen and Blessed Joan, painted in the fifteenth century. In that place Blessed Joan was said to have died. Lastri, work cited, p. 24.].

[2] she raises a dead boy; While, then, she was leading as it were an angelic life educeret before correction S. in this hermitage, it happened that a certain nurse who had a son to nurse, who was often vexed by the falling sickness, finally died. The aforesaid nurse, pouring out tears, was taking the dead boy to his own mother, and as she was passing by the hermitage of Blessed Joan, she was called by Blessed Joan and asked what this was; she answered with many tears: "Because this son is dead, and I am carrying him back dead to his own mother pro first adds S.." The virgin of God, Blessed Joan, took him in her arms and, looking up to heaven, groaned in spirit, and after a very little while restored him to the nurse raised from death mortem before correction S..

[3] she restores a loaf whole; God worked another miracle besides above the line S. through her. For there was a certain lady Ciava, wife of Doncio of Signa, who lived near the hermitage of the bountiful virgin Joan; and when her uxore corrected S. husband was expecting his dinner and the bread was not yet e adds but deleted S. baked, the aforesaid lady took the baking-covers [“Cioè coperchi di terra cotta rotondi, entro i quali si cocevano i pani.” That is, round covers of terracotta, under which the loaves were baked. Mencherini, work cited, p. 13. The same certainly as testus or testa.] and put them to the fire, and under them leavened bread not yet baked; and when it was baked, she took a piece of it and carried it to Blessed Joan, and covered again, or put the lid on, the baking-covers; and when her husband arrived she wished to give him deleted S. the rest for his dinner, and found the bread whole which had been broken before. Marvelling greatly at this, she ran to Blessed Joan asking whether she had brought her anything; she answered s adds but deleted S. yes, namely un pezo di fochacia A piece of flat cake. a piece of focaccia, and when the miracle was disclosed to her, the humble virgin of God commanded her never to tell anyone as long as she herself survived.

[4] a one-eyed sparrow, Not only in the elements, but also in animals God showed his power through his bride, Blessed Joan, showing another miracle while she lived. For there was a certain youth called Anselmo Fei, of the parish of St. Mary of Castello ["Nel libro del 1353 della camera fiscale de prestanz. Quart. S. Maria Novella, trovasi nominato Anselmus Fei de Populo S. Mariae in Castello." [In the book of 1353 of the fiscal chamber of loans, quarter of S. Maria Novella, there is found named Anselmus Fei of the parish of St. Mary in Castello.] Soldani, work cited, p. 34 – 35, note. St. Mary was the title of the church of the fortified place of Signa.], 〈who〉 had a certain young sparrow, very tame demesticum S. to him, which however had only one eye; and when he carried it and handed it to Blessed Joan, she restored it to him having two eyes; at which the boy complained, saying: "Give me back my young sparrow", preferring to have his one-eyed young sparrow, because it was tame demesticum S., rather than one having two eyes and wild in his estimation, not perceiving the miracle done by God through the merits of Blessed Joan.

[5] She heals a woman of the plague. It happened that a certain lady called the lady Nuta of Signa, who had often visited Blessed Joan herself and had served her in her illness, fell gravely ill with a pestilential illness, and when she was not helped by human aid, in the silence of the night Blessed Joan appeared to her and roused her, saying: "Do you know me?" She answered: "No." She said to her: "I am Joan, whom you served so diligently in my bodily illness. Now I have come to you to return the favour and serve you." And she adds: "Show me the swelling [What ingudo (or inguido, no. 10) is is declared below, no. 18: "a tumefaction or swelling". In the vulgar tongue the Italians call it inguinaia or anguinaia. The word is drawn from inguen, because the pestilential buboes are wont to appear chiefly in that part of the body.]." She raising her arm first sublevans b S., Blessed Joan touched the swelling, and, at once awakened from sleep, she found herself perfectly freed, giving immense thanks to God and to Blessed Joan.

[6] A blind boy About the year of the Lord 1356 there was a certain father of a family called Bartolo Taviani, having one son of his named Biagio, six years of age; and coming from the field, the aforesaid father found his wife, the mother of the aforesaid Biagio, weeping. And when he asked her why she was weeping, the wife said: "Because our son has been blinded." The father called the son to come to him; and he, wishing to come to his father, put his arms out before him, so as not to stumble in his approach, and when he wished thus to his father

go, he strayed off course; from which the father clearly understood that his son was blind. Wishing to remedy his infirmity, he took him to Florence to two physicians, who agreed, saying that he was blind and that there was no natural remedy by which he might recover his sight. Grieved exceedingly, the father commended him to Blessed Joan, healed after his father's vow. vowing that, if his son were freed, he would carry a wax head to her tomb. And it came about that, when he was returning home the same day, the boy cried out, saying: "Now I see." The father asked: "Who has given you light?" The boy answered: "That man to whom you took me, father." The father understood that his son believed that the physician had freed him; but the father did not believe it, because he knew that the physician had not touched him, but believed that his son had been freed by the merits of Blessed Joan; and he fulfilled his vow, giving immense thanks to God and to Blessed Joan.

[7] She heals the foot, otherwise to be cut off, of one boy A certain man whose name was Nae Amanati, and the name of his wife was Saxecta, had a certain son called John, who was so ill in his foot pedem before correction S. that, according to the counsel of the physicians, there was no remedy for his escape except that the foot be cut off from the leg. Which twice but deleted S. the mother hearing, at midday she took him to the hermitage of Blessed Joan, suppliantly and devoutly asking her for the health of her son, that et S. she would intercede by her prayer at the feet of the Lord and touch her son's foot with her hand. She, having poured forth prayer, heard exsaudivit S. her request and blessed the mother above the line S, first patri. and the son, saying that they should go away in the name of the Lord. And it came about that, when the physicians had come the next day to cut off assciderent S. the foot, they found it perfectly healed; and he, together with his father and mother, gave thanks to God, who through his handmaid Blessed Joan had worked so wonderful a miracle.

[8] and of another boy. The like happened concerning a certain other father, whose name was Bruno, and a mother whose name was Richa, having a son called Lapo, six years of age; which son was so ill in his foot that no human remedy was found for his healing. The mother was exceedingly sorrowful and sad at this, and, persevering thus in her tearful sadness, she had a vision at night that she should take her son to Blessed Joan. When she had awakened from sleep, she revealed her vision to her husband or man, begging that he would fulfil the aforesaid vision in deed; her husband, incredulous in this, would not consent. At last at in first adds S. the instance and goading of his wife, both, namely the father and the mother, carried their son, thus sick, to Blessed Joan, humbly begging that she would receive their sick son and pray to the Lord for his health salutem before correction S.. Blessed Joan, hearing their prayers, received the son into her hermitage, shut herself in with him, and prayed to the Lord for the health of the son, and afterwards restored the son to his parents and said to them: "Go in peace, and the Lord be with you." And when the parents had received him and were returning to their own house with their son, and were already in the middle of the mountain or slope That is, the incline of a hill. of the fortified place of Signa itself, the boy began to cry out and say: "Let me go, that I may walk on my own feet." Marvelling greatly at this, the parents let him go, commending recomendantes so usually S. him to God and to Blessed Joan. He walked on his own feet for a long stretch of the road, creeping along, and within a few days obtained perfect health from God through the merits of Blessed Joan.

[9] A withered shoulder is restored. In the year 1374, in the month of May, a certain Guido Lenzi Compare below, c. 22. On him read what Lastri has, work cited, p. 61, note 2., when he was thirty-four years old and felt his left shoulder wholly withered, being unable to move it in any quoque S. way, remembering the merits of Blessed Joan and how on another occasion she had freed him from a like infirmity, commended himself most devoutly to Blessed Joan, vowing that if he were freed from ad S. the aforesaid infirmity he would offer at her tomb a shoulder with the whole arm in wax. He, without any delay whatever, the vow having been made, found himself perfectly freed, fulfilling his vow, as was fitting.

[10] From the plague are freed a boy Moreover a certain lady Lippa, wife of Quarto Berti of Lucca, coming from Bologna, whither she had fled on account of the plague, to Florence, came with her company chomitivam first S. to Scarperia [Scarperia, a small town 26 km. north of Florence, built in the year 1306, as Giovanni Villani relates, Cronica, book VIII, chap. 86, in Muratori, vol. XIII, p. 424.], where, while she was there, her son of fourteen years falls gravely ill with the pestilential illness, namely fever with a swelling Compare above, c. 5, note 5, p. 284.. And her companion, called Antonia, who had on another occasion been freed from her grave infirmity by the merits of Blessed Joan, advised consulit first S. the aforesaid lady Phylippa to vow her son to Blessed Joan, "because as she healed me, so I hope she will free your son". She made a vow that, when her son was better, she would visit the tomb of Blessed Joan together with her son, offering some oblation. And so, as soon as the vow was made, the son was much better, and within three days she brought him perfectly healed to Blessed Joan, fulfilling her vow.

[11] and a woman. In the year 1363 a certain lady Antonia Perhaps the same as in the miracle immediately preceding., daughter of Niccolò Bandella, was ill with the pestilential illness under her left breast; and when she had been visited and advised by her sister, namely the lady Bartolomea, wife of Francesco Rerozzi, to commend herself to Blessed Joan and vow that, if she were freed, she would visit her tomb and offer what oblation she could: she, having made the vow, was always better, and within a few days found herself freed, and offered a wax torch, fulfilling her vow.

[12] Withered feet are healed. A certain man called Michele di Lilio Banbi [Perhaps the same as below, no. 21. In the book of the Opera of Blessed Joan of Signa, under the year 1385, fol. 4, is read, as Lastri relates, work cited, p. 56: “Michele Gigli Camarlingo del comune in detto anno.” Michele Gigli, chamberlain of the commune in the said year.], of the parish of St. Lawrence of Signa The church of St. Lawrence in Signa was formerly parochial., was gravely ill, so that his feet and also his legs had withered, so that he could not move himself. Feeling himself thus in a bad way, then, in the evening he made a vow to God and to Blessed Joan that, if he were freed, he would stand on bended knees before beatam Iohannam first adds S. the image or tomb of Blessed Joan until donet S. a torch of five soldi had been wholly burned. On the following night, then, it seemed to him that his legs were being rubbed with hands, and, awakened or roused exitatus before correction and usually S. from sleep, it seemed to him that he was being cleansed of all evil humours, and so at the same hour he found himself freed, fulfilling his vow devoutly.

[13] A captive from his bonds, God worked another aliut before correction S. wonder through the merits of Blessed Joan. For a certain man called Fonso of Artimino Artimio before correction S. Artimino, comune of Carmignano, prov. Florence., at the time when the English came in the pay of the Pisans against the Florentines See Filippo Villani, Cronica, book XI, chap. 62 – 63., which was in 1363, in the month of August aguisti S., was taken cactus S. by those English, who demanded from him a ransom which it was not possible for him to pay. And when he told them that he would not pay, or could not pay, they bound him and put his hands behind his back eius adds but deleted S., promising him that in the morning they would hang him. He, placed in no small fear and sadness, vowed himself to Blessed Joan that, if he were freed from the aforesaid peril, he would carry a torch to her church and hold it lighted in his hand until it was wholly consumed, and would also always keep a rope about his neck. A marvellous thing! At once, the vow having been made, he found himself loosed from his bonds; and when he had fled as far as the plains of Pistoia and had been seen by the enemy, who pursued him, he hid himself in a certain ditch, and when he was searched for by the enemy and their dogs, he was not found at all. Whence he fulfilled his vow, living long afterwards devoted to Blessed Joan.

[14] a woman from a choking bone, A certain quuedam S. lady Data, wife of Accorsino, was eating a pig's head with her husband, and when a certain bone of this head was held crosswise in her throat, and she already seemed to herself to be at the point of death, she was taken about the second hour of the night to the tomb of Blessed Joan, and her throat was rubbed with the arms of the aforesaid blessed woman. A wonderful thing and to be wondered at! At once she spat the bone out through her mouth, and was freed.

[15] a certain man from the vermicane, A certain man qvuidam S. of Tignano Stignano, comune of Buggiano, prov. of Lucca. in the territory of Pistoia Pistoriensis first S., having the infirmity of the vermicane or lurmochane [“Venetus item alius nobilissimus vir, cum uxore gravissime infirmitate illa quae vulgo vermis-canis dicitur, circum guttura corrodebatur.” So Agostino Fiorentino, in the Historiae Camaldulenses, among the Miracles of St. Parisius. Act. SS., June vol. II, p. 485, no. 10.], vowed to Blessed Joan that, if he were freed, he would offer to Blessed Joan all the clothes which he had on. He, at once finding himself freed, fulfilled his vow.

[16] another is freed from the plague. Moreover a certain qvuidam S. man of Signa called Francesco Nerozzi, at the time of the plague, namely in 1348, while he was gravely ill with the pestilential illness, for he had a bad blister on his breast Papebroch understood a pestilent carbuncle., asked his wife Valenza to ask Blessed Joan to intercede for him at the feet of the Lord, that he might be freed from that illness: whence it came about that the aforesaid Francesco Nerozzi had a vision at night that the aforesaid wife in the margin; in the text soror deleted S. of his suas before correction S. appeared to him, saying: "I have asked Blessed Joan for you, and I can do no more; I have done what I could." And at once he, awakened from sleep, found himself freed.

[17] To a woman who suffered calumny A certain venerable lady of Signa, whose name is kept silent for the sake of greater decency, bore her son, and called his name Lawrence. And when he was three months old and was being held in his mother's arms, there passed by there, namely where the mother and son were, a certain lady Simona, wife of Baccario, who said to the child's mother: "I do not think I shall see the day when you have another alius first S. son." The mother, marvelling at this, inquired of her why she said this. She answered and said: "Because many say many things, concluding that this one is not your son nor your husband's." She, saddened and exceedingly sorrowful, in the evening that immediately followed placed herself with many tears before the image of the mother of the Lord, the Blessed Virgin, asking Blessed Joan to entreat the blessed Virgin that she might have a son by her husband, and if it were a male, she would call him John, but if a female, she would call her Joan. another offspring is granted. It came about that, notwithstanding that her husband had been stetisse first S. for a year anno first S. without marital intercourse, such a vow of the wife having been made, immediately afterwards the husband knew his wife; and she conceived and bore a daughter, and called her name Joan according to the vow which quo S. she had vowed. These things were done in 1372 at the end of the month of April, the parents believing that this conception was miraculous and worked through the merits of Blessed Joan.

[18] A certain man is freed from the plague; In the year 1366, the pestilential time reigning, a certain man called Macingo di Giovanni, of the people of the parish of Signa, suffered pestilential fevers with a swelling, or tumefaction, or inflation Compare above, c. 5, 10.. And when he had already suffered such things for three days, remembering the merits of Blessed Joan, he vowed to her that, if he were freed, he would offer her an image of a man in wax. And it came about that he was always better, and within a few days he was freed from all languor, and devoutly fulfilled his vow.

[19] the same man recovers his sight; The same man, namely Maçingo di Giovanni, his head had become so swollen that he had lost his sight; and his father, whose name was Giovanni Fighi, led him beside the tomb of Blessed Joan, saying: "Do you see it?" He answered: "No." Whence the father seized his son's hand and through it offered some money on the tomb; and in the same hour, before the aforesaid man was above the line S. outside the church, he received light and sight perfectly, giving immense thanks to God and to Blessed Joan.

[20] a pig Moreover a certain John the smith had a pig so sick that he was advised by all his neighbours, since there was no hope of life, to kill the pig. He went out exit S. of the place where the pig was, as if despairing, and saying: "Certainly it seems bad to me that it should be killed." And in the same hour it seemed to him that it was said to him by God: "Vow it to Blessed Joan, and if it escapes, you shall carry a pig of wax to her tomb." He with faith, having made the vow, went up acessit S. to the pig, holding out bread to it to eat, and it ate commedit S., and after that it took other food, and within two days it was freed; he recognizing the grace from God through the merits of Blessed Joan.

[21] and a sick ox, A certain man called Michele Gilii Certainly the same as above, c. 12. had a certain ox also so sick that it was failing in its stall and drawing near appropinquat S. to death; and when it was led through the fields to take something adliquid first S. of the grass, it took nothing at all: at last, having passed through a certain vineyard, they came to a certain fig tree, where the ox had the green leaves of the fig tree set before it and surrounding circustantia S. it on every side; yet the ox showed no sign that it wished to take anything. Not a little saddened by this, its master in the same hour made a vow that, when the ox should graze and eat, he would carry an ox of wax to the tomb of Blessed Joan; and the vow having been made, in the same hour the ox took food and continually grew better, until it was perfectly freed.

[22] a paralysed boy, In the year 1348 it happened that, when a certain Guido Lenzi He seems to be the same as above, c. 9. of Signa was still a little boy of eight years and paralysed in his hands, his mother, called the lady Giovanna, and his sister the lady Ciava, took him to the tomb of Blessed Joan, devoutly beseeching Blessed Joan for the health of the boy, and through a certain opening putting the boy's arms into the tomb of Blessed Joan, so that his hands touched the precious body and holy corpse chadever first S., at whose touch he was at once freed, and he was free all the days of his life. This the boy himself, when he was a youth, used to relate, as he had had it from his mother and sister, and he himself remembered the aforesaid things.

[23] a deformed girl, are healed. A certain man who was called Duccio Aringhi [“La famiglia d'Aringo è di Gangalandi, e nella chiesa di S. Martino a Gangalandi aveva sepoltura, siccome altra ne ha nel carmine di Firenze.” [The family of Aringo is of Gangalandi, and had a tomb in the church of San Martino at Gangalandi, as it has another in the Carmine of Florence.] Lastri, work cited, p. 55, note 2. In the census book of Santa Maria Novella under the year 1364 the name of Duccio Aringhi is read (Lastri, p. 56, note 2).], of the people of the parish of Signa, had a certain daughter, who was called Lorenza, who, when she was a little one and was taken by her mother out of the cradle and unbound from the linen swaddling-clothes, the little girl always drew her hands behind her back and to her loins, showing in her body no small natural defect. Seeing this, the father, greatly saddened, commended recomendavit S and hereafter. her to Blessed Joan, making a vow that, if it should happen that she were freed, he would bring the girl to the tomb of Blessed Joan with a torch of five soldi. A wonderful thing and to be wondered at! It came about that, at the first unbinding of the daughter by the mother, the girl brought her arms forward after the manner of other healthy girls; and the father fulfilled his vow, giving immense thanks to God and to Blessed Joan. All these things the father of the aforesaid girl related to me, who am writing and publishing this legend, face to face.

[24] Another is restored to a sound mind. It happened that a certain lady of Signa, called the lady Lippa Nardi, was gravely gaviter first S. ill, so that in her illness she had lost her intellectual powers, so that she recognized no one of her household, nor remembered anyone: and when she had been taken by her family to the parish or church where the venerable body of Blessed Joan was buried, and had been signed and touched by the parish priest of the aforesaid parish with the relics reliquis S., namely the arms of Blessed Joan herself, at once perfect perfacfecta first S. health was restored to the lady Lippa herself, and so, on her own feet, recognizing all her kinsfolk, she returned to her own house. This the lady Lippa herself testified to the letter in the aforesaid church before many of the people of that land of Signa on the day of Blessed Lawrence, 1383.

[25] The parish priest is healed of a dangerous disease; The parish priest of the said parish related, pledging his faith in the sincerity of his conscience conscientientie S., that when he himself was most gravely ill, and his illness had increased so much that both physicians who had been hired at great price for his healing had judged that he would die within a few days, since they saw no human remedy, he devoutly commended himself to Blessed Joan, promising that, when he should be freed from the aforesaid illness, every year on the day of St. Saviour 9 Nov., that is, of her death, he would keep and solemnize the feast to her praise and magnificence. He soon fell asleep, and it seemed to him in a dream that a certain hand was touching him and searching his whole body; and after he was roused from sleep, he found himself sound and free, giving immense thanks to God and to Blessed Joan. And as long as he lived afterwards, he fulfilled his vow.

[26] another from a pestilential fever. On the day of Blessed Lawrence in the year 1383, a great people being in the parish of Signa, where the venerable body is buried and entombed, there came a certain man on bended knees, or using his knees for feet, having nothing on his nakedness except his privy garments or loincloths, carrying in his hands a lighted torch of wax. When he had reached the tomb of Blessed Joan and had been asked what had happened to him, he answered: "Today it is five weeks since in this very hour pestilential fevers attacked me, with the swelling which is wont to appear as a sign of the plague; whence, since I reckoned that I would die within a few days unless I were helped by divine aid through the intercession of some saint, I commended myself to Blessed Joan, vowing that I would do what you now see me fulfilling; a wonderful thing," he said, "for, the aforesaid vow having been made, I perceived myself me/// S. perfectly freed." That man was called Michele, but in derision Regholetto, of the parish of San Mauro San Mauro, comune of Signa.. Thanks, then, to God and to Blessed Joan.

[27] Among companions In the year of the Lord 1348, namely at the time tempori S. of the great mortality and pestilence, when many were failing for want of food, medicines and servants, and not only from lack of the aforesaid were they failing in bodily things, but also in spiritual, not being able to have the sacraments of the Church, there rose up certain men of Signa, to the number of twenty-four, to a work of piety and to supply the aforesaid wants, whose head and promoter was called Hugo [“Tale fu il principio e la fondazione della Compagnia detta dello Spirito Santo, la quale presentemente sussiste accanto alla chiesa di S. Lorenzo a Signa.” [Such was the beginning and foundation of the Company called of the Holy Spirit, which at present subsists beside the church of San Lorenzo at Signa.] Lastri, work cited, p. 40, note 2.]. All together they went to the convent of the Selve of the Order of the friars of Blessed Mary of Mount Carmel, gathered to help those infected with the plague, which is opposite the fortified place of Signa itself, to a certain friar of the said order, very famous in holiness and called Brother Petruccio [About that Brother Petruccio Soldani has this, work cited, p. 58: “Fra Pietruccio (così chiamato per soprannome) che fu il primo loro direttore, aveva nome Pietro di Lapo, e morì nel medesimo anno, come apparisce nel Libro dei morti Carmelitani della Provincia di Toscana alla p. 21, num. 26: [Fra Pietruccio (so called by nickname), who was their first director, was named Pietro di Lapo, and died in the same year, as appears in the Book of the Carmelite dead of the Province of Tuscany at p. 21, no. 26:] Brother Peter son of Lapo, Priest and famous Confessor, died in the Convent of the Selve in the year 1348; he was Provincial for two years, and at the third chapter resigned the office

of the Provincialate. Ho detto, come per soprannome si chiamava F. Petruccio, perchè nell' indice del medesimo libro in vece di vedervisi espresso F. Petrus, si legge F. Petruccius. E dal predetto Libro apertamente si deduce, come il detto F. Petruccio era stato Provinciale del suo Ordine avanti, e non dopo il 1348, come si legge nel testo latino.” [I have said that Fra Petruccio was so called by nickname, because in the index of the same book, instead of F. Petrus being seen written, F. Petruccius is read. And from the aforesaid Book it is openly deduced that the said Fra Petruccio had been Provincial of his Order before, and not after, 1348, as is read in the Latin text.] For it came about by error that the word "afterwards" was inserted. That Brother Peter son of Lapo was designated Provincial in the year 1336 is established from the Acts of the General Chapter of that year: "Ordination of provincials: … of Tuscany, Brother Peter son of Lapo." (Acta Capitulorum generalium Ordinis Fratrum B. V. Mariae de Monte Carmelo, ed. G. Wessels, vol. I, Rome, 1914, p. 33; compare same place in the note, the passage of the Florentine Necrology reported a little differently).], who was afterwards prior provincial in his province of Tuscany: and having taken his counsel, first of all they all confessed and received the sacrament of the body of Christ from the hand of Brother Petruccio himself, except one of them, one not confessed, who was called Morozzo di Tendi Mori of Signa, who falsely said that he had confessed. And afterwards they were all clothed in white cloth, and, faith having been pledged among them that one would not fail another in the work of piety, nor any other auteri S. person in need, according to his ability, they went round through the fortified place of Signa, ran about discurebant S. through the commune and territory of Gangalandi, and walked as far as the fortified places of Empoli Empoli, prov. of Florence. and Montelupo Montelupo, prov. of Florence. and through all those regions, succouring and helping all those whom they found in a bad way, both in spiritual and in bodily works, many of whom grew better. While, then, they were leading their life in these holy santis S. works, it happened that a general procession, namely of many villages and fortified places, was made and, after much going about, was brought back to Signa into the parish church, where the venerable body of Blessed Joan is buried, and there the solemnities of Mass were celebrated, the people crying to God that the plague might cease and that God might be propitious to them. And the priest who was celebrating Mass gave the people of both sexes the relics, approaching to kiss the relics namely the arms of Blessed Joan, to kiss; and when the aforesaid Morozzo, who not only had 〈not〉 confessed in those days, as he had falsely said, but not for twenty years before, wished to approach the holy relic of Blessed Joan and kiss it with the others, he went back several paces, as a man repulsed and driven back ad first S., and when he was rebuked by his companions and urged to approach for the kiss, he approached again a second time, and when he was near the holy relic he had in like manner gone back several more paces than before, and when he approached a third time, he is repulsed a third time his going back was more vehement, and so he fell heavily to the ground, and with so great a crash and terrible sound that it seemed as if a great ball were falling: as a man most violently pushed and thrown to the ground by a demon; and he, raised up by his own people, confessed before the people his many very enormous sins, and having confessed he dies. and how for twenty years he had not confessed. And afterwards, within three days, he died. God showed, then, how grievously he is to be punished who approaches his holy things badly disposed toward him, and how precious and holy and worthy of veneration is the precious body of Blessed Joan.