ON BL. JAMES THE GERMAN, CONFESSOR, OF THE ORDER OF ST. DOMINIC, AT BOLOGNA IN THE PAPAL STATES,
IN THE YEAR MCDXCI.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
The memory of the Blessed in the Martyrologies: cult: the Life to be published: the time of his death.
James the German, confessor, of the Order of St. Dominic, at Bologna in the Papal States. (B.)
BY THE AUTHOR J. B. F.
At Bologna, which is a large and beautiful archiepiscopal city and the head of the province of the same name in the Papal States, at Bologna the Blessed, of whom the memory in the convent of the Friars Preachers, in the 91st year of the 15th century, there died holily, and is still honourably preserved and venerated on this day, Bl. James, a lay brother, as they call it, of the same Order of Preachers, called the German from his fatherland, as one who was born at Ulm, which is a large, well cultivated and fortified city of Germany, in the circle of Swabia, situated on the Danube. Of the martyrologists, if you except the Dominicans, I have found only three celebrating his memory, among whom Molanus holds the first place, whose words receive here: On this day, that is, the 11th of October, died Bl. James the German, of the Order of Preachers. Him follows Philip Ferrari in the general Catalogue of the Saints who are not in the Roman Martyrology, celebrating the memory of the Blessed on the same day in a few words thus: At Bologna, of Bl. James the German, of the Order of Preachers. In the third place must be cited Castellan, who in his Universal Martyrology of the saints commemorates him on the same day, a few things being added, thus: Of Blessed James the German, who was a painter of glass panes and a lay brother of the Order of Preachers.
[2] In the Martyrology of the Order of Preachers, approved by Apostolic authority and printed at Venice in the year 1582, in a few Martyrologies, the memory of the Blessed is not celebrated; but in the little Index of the Blessed of the cited Order at the end of the said Martyrology, page 99, the following is read of him: Br. James the German, a lay brother of Ulm, buried at Bologna, is greatly celebrated to the present day for the name of holiness and of signs. At the same day of October the feast of the Blessed to be celebrated is announced by Domenico Maria Marchese in the Sacred Dominican Diary, and by Jacques Lafon in the Dominican Year, both of the Order of Preachers, and they exhibit his deeds, drawn from the writers to be cited below. It is pleasing to transcribe here the words of Carlo Sigonio on the death and burial of Bl. James, because they contribute not a little to proving his cult: in book IV on the bishops of Bologna he speaks thus: In the year one thousand four hundred and ninety-one Br. James the German, a lay brother among the friars Preachers, when he had given in his life many arguments of eminent holiness, confirmed them when dead by some signs wrought. His corpse was for a day a not unwelcome spectacle to all the people flocking together. But afterwards, when a huge concourse of men and women took place daily to the place where he had been buried within the monastery, the Friars, moved by the unseemliness of the matter, after the eighth day, the bishop permitting (for this church had not yet been raised to the height of metropolitan dignity, which first happened in the year of the Incarnate Word 1582), brought it back into the church and laid it up in the shrine of St. Thomas, where the Blessed rests even now.
[3] Although I do not find that Bl. James was ever honoured with an Ecclesiastical Office, with cult from the public veneration of the tomb, and few martyrologists, as we have already said, if you except the Dominicans, celebrate his memory, yet for the following reasons, which sufficiently prove some kind of cult of the Blessed, I judged that a place should be given him in our Work. For first, besides the martyrologists already listed, all the writers who have treated of the Blessed ascribe to him the title of Blessed; secondly, there took place a great concourse of the people approaching suppliantly to his tomb, to which the fathers of the Order of St. Dominic, the bishop of Bologna assenting, as may be seen in the preceding number, opened even a readier way; thirdly, several votive offerings were presented to the Blessed, as the Life to be published here relates, in thanksgiving for benefits granted through his patronage. All of which, and chiefly the last, are an argument that Bl. James was certainly honoured with some public cult. Nor is there reason why that public hanging of votive tablets at the tomb of the Blessed should be called into doubt, since the very biographer who relates it declares in express words that he himself received votive offerings for adorning his tomb in thanks for a benefit obtained through the patronage of the Blessed: for so he has at num. 37, at the end of the Life presently to be published: At Milan, when a certain noble citizen, held by a grievous infirmity, heard that Bl. James was working such wonderful things at Bologna, a certain vow having been made, he plainly recovered at the invocation of the same, and he offered two gold pieces, to be sent to me at Bologna through the Rev. Father Br. Vincent of Castronovo, then Prior of the convent of St. Mary of the Graces, for adorning the tomb of Bl. James. There are besides several testimonies which confirm that hanging of votive tablets; but I have not thought it necessary to set them before the reader here, since he will easily find them in the Life to be published.
[4] which is sufficiently ancient, he enjoys an approved one. But these indications of some kind of public cult would not suffice for our giving him a place in our Work, if they were not more than a hundred years older than the Decree issued by Urban VIII in the year 1634, by which this Pontiff restricted to a time exceeding the limit of a hundred years the immemorial course of time by which those who had enjoyed the honours of the heavenly ones could still be honoured with them as Saints or Blessed, as he had declared in his Decree of the year 1625 on the veneration of Saints not to be accorded to men who, although they died with the fame of holiness, had not yet been inscribed in the Roll of Saints or Blessed by the Apostolic See. Furthermore, that Bl. James was more than a hundred years before the above-mentioned Decree, which Urban VIII issued in the year 1634, and indeed also the other, which he issued in the year 1625,
enjoyed the cult proper to Saints, is clear even from this, that it becomes manifest from what the biographer, a contemporary of the Blessed, relates at numbers 29, 36 and 39 of the Life to be published here, that the miracles by which mortals were moved to begin to honour our Blessed with the honours of the heavenly ones were wrought while the 15th century was still running, indeed in the very year 1491 in which he exchanged mortal life for immortal. And since these things are so, and nothing suggests that the cult of James, after it had been begun in the 15th century, was interrupted or intermitted for some time before the decrees of Urban just mentioned, there was surely no reason why I should think that he could not be counted among the Blessed and as such inserted in our Work among the other Heavenly ones of the present day.
[5] [His Life, which was composed by Br. Ambrosino of Soncino, a contemporary of the Blessed,] Let these things now suffice to have been said of his cult; I turn my discourse to the writers who took down with the pen the things concerning the Blessed. Leandro Alberti, who, by the testimony of Échard in the Library of the Writers of the Order of Preachers, put on the habit of the same Order at Bologna in the year 1495, at which time our Blessed had already died four years before, in book 6, page 268, On the illustrious Men of his Order, cites the biographers of Bl. James in the following words: Ambrosino of Soncino, a most diligent man, flourishes, heavy with age, in this time of ours, that is, in the year 1517. For he is an excellent maker of glass windows, as can be seen in many convents of Italy, so that he has no one superior in that art; nor is he without learning. He published in the vernacular speech the Life of blessed James the German, divided into several chapters. From which Sylvester Prierias, a most skilled man, as we have shown in the fourth book, Isidore of Milan, a man surely elegant in writing, and lastly Giovanni Antonio Flaminio, a most famous orator, drew their Latin ones. To these words of Leandro Alberti Échard, in the book cited, at the year 1517, page 35, adds certain things which show that Brother Ambrosino was a contemporary of the Blessed and grateful toward him: Under blessed James the German, he says, a distinguished craftsman in painting glass panes, he had served his apprenticeship in the art, and therefore, his master having died in the year MCCCCXCI, on the fifth day before the Ides of October, at the age of LXXXIV, lest his Christian and religious virtues, of which he was above all aware, should slip from memory, he wrote out of gratitude the Life of Bl. James. Leandro Alberti in the Description of Italy, Kyriander's version, page 627, speaks thus of the same Ambrosino: All these have adorned Soncino and flourished in our memory, together with Ambrosino, a lay brother of the Order of Preachers, as good and holy a Man as he was a supreme craftsman of glass windows, who, although he was a lay brother, yet composed the Life of Bl. James of Germany, whose disciple he himself had been. These things now sufficiently prove that the biographer cited by Leandro could have had the things concerning Bl. James, to whom he, a disciple, was joined by the closest bonds of friendship, as will be clear from the Life to be published, very well ascertained, and therefore that there is no reason why credence should not be given to him, whom nothing even suggests wished to narrate on purpose things alien from the truth.
[6] The cited Italian work of Brother Ambrosino, and was given Latin form by Isidore of Milan of which Alberti speaks here, I have not found so far; but it, given Latin form by Isidore of Milan, is preserved in our literary stock, as it was written out by the very hand of our Papebroch from (as is prefixed) Br. Ambrose Taegio, On the Distinctions of the Order of Preachers, book 3, Distinction 7, in the Tome marked N, folio 160. It bears two different Prologues, in the first of which, which is the work of Taegio, the author of the cited work, Br. Ambrosino of Soncino, and the Latin translator, Isidore of Milan, are designated in these words: His (Bl. James's) Life, full of virtues, Br. Ambrosino of Soncino, a lay brother of the Order of Preachers, composed in the vernacular tongue, which at last the venerable Fr. Br. Isidore of Milan translated into the Latin tongue. And in the other the author himself, as is usually done, forewarns the reader of the things to be said. Sylvester Prierias, among the writers who used the work of Br. Ambrosino in composing the Acts of the Blessed, cited in the first place by Leandro Alberti above, wrote the Life of the Blessed at almost the same time at which Isidore and Flaminio, by the testimony of the same Leandro, handed down their Work to posterity; and although this work is not at hand for me, I suspect however that in it either nothing or little is read concerning the same besides the things which have been committed to writing both by Isidore, of whom discourse will presently recur, and by Giovanni Antonio Flaminio, whose work Surius inserted today in his most ample collection of Saints, and Leandro in book 6, On the illustrious Men of the Order of Preachers.
[7] Isidore of Milan, as Ambrose Taegio expressly declares in the place cited above, given Latin form, is given here. did not compose the Life of the Blessed, but transmitted to posterity the work of Br. Ambrosino on him, only rendered into Latin by himself, and, as is to be seen from what is to be published here, sets before the reader to read the original text of the author in an unpolished style, he who otherwise, as Leandro Alberti relates in the place already cited, was wont to polish his works with most solicitous care. Hence it comes about that the credibility and authority which the Work of Br. Ambrosino of Soncino, if it should still be found, deserves are in no way weakened by the Latin translation of Isidore of Milan. The Life of the Blessed which G. Antonio Flaminio handed down to posterity lacks a Preface, and is written in a more elegant and polished style; in it you would seek in vain testimonies alleged by the author concerning certain deeds, which however are to be found more than once in Isidore of Milan; whence I conjecture that another exemplar lit the way for the cited Flaminio in adorning the Deeds of the Blessed, drawn indeed, as I think, from the same source, but unlike that which Isidore of Milan gave Latin form. For the rest, although Isidore by no means agrees with Flaminio on the day on which, as we shall presently see, he says the Blessed died, yet in the deeds which he narrates of him the matter is otherwise, and we shall publish here his Work, hitherto, so far as I know, unpublished and inserted in Taegio's Chronicle, and, a comparison of it having been made with the other which Flaminio composed, we shall advise the reader in the Annotations, where it will be worth the trouble, of the discrepancy of the biographers among themselves.
[8] He died in the year 1491, on the 12th of October. Concerning the year in which Bl. James received in heaven the eternal reward of his virtues, all the writers who have laboured to propagate his deeds to everlasting memory sufficiently agree, and they constantly report that this happened in the year of restored Salvation 1491. But in assigning the day of death the author of the Life presently to be published by no means agrees with them, who writes that he migrated from this life on the 12th day of the month of October, while they write the 11th of the same month. And his passing, says he, was on Wednesday about the fifth hour of the night (Italian reckoning), on the 12th of the month of October in the year MCCCCXCI. In which year, since the Dominical letter was B, the twelfth day of the month of October fell on the fourth weekday, or Wednesday. Since now the diligence of our Papebroch, who wrote out this Life from Taegio's Chronicle, removes all suspicion of carelessness, and Ambrose Taegio does not seem to have been ignorant of the day of the Blessed's death, since, as Échard has it, he had put on the habit of the Order of Preachers about six years, namely in the year 1485, before he was snatched from among the living, this twelfth day seems able to be safely retained. Nor is there reason for the reader to wonder that all the writers, Isidore of Milan alone, or rather Br. Ambrosino, contradicting, have marked the eleventh day; for since all had the work of Flaminio lighting their way, as will be evident to one who compares it with the works of the others, it is not to be wondered at that they fell into the same error into which he fell in marking the Saint's death on the 11th day of October. Although, however, Bl. James departed from among the living on the 12th day of October, yet, because he is reported by the martyrologists to be venerated at Bologna today, we have determined to treat of his deeds also on this day.
LIFE,
By the Author Br. Ambrosino of Soncino, of the Order of Preachers.
TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN SPEECH INTO LATIN BY FR. ISIDORE OF MILAN OF THE SAME ORDER.
From Br. Ambrose Taegio, On the Distinctions of the Order of Preachers, book 3, Distinction 7, tome marked N, fol. 160.
James the German, confessor, of the Order of St. Dominic, at Bologna in the Papal States. (B.)
By Br. Ambrosino of Soncino.
PREFACE OF AMBROSE TAEGIO.
This Order was adorned not only by clerical brothers, but also by unlettered lay brothers, so that that word of Augustine is deservedly said: The unlearned rise up and seize heaven. And there were many lay brothers of this kind in the Order who, ready in obedience, devout in prayer, diligent in labour, fervent in charity, were renowned for miracles in life and in death; no doubt receiving in heaven the everlasting reward of their faithful labours. And we shall narrate the illustrious deeds of some, as God shall grant, for the spiritual advancement of those present and to come and for an example of living well; first of all it is pleasing to set forth the Life of Bl. James of Germany, a most holy man, who, shining with miracles, lies buried at Bologna in the church of Bl. Dominic: his Life, full of virtues, Ambrosino of Soncino, a lay brother of the Order of Preachers, composed in the vernacular tongue, which at last the venerable Fr. Br. Isidore of Milan translated into the Latin tongue: to which Life, however, Br. Ambrosino prefixed such a Proem.
PROEM OF BR. AMBROSINO
The biographer indicates the reason for which he writes. Whatever things were written were written for our instruction; although these words of the Apostle are verified principally of the divine Scripture, yet they can be extended to any works published by holy doctors which exist for the edification of the faithful as the most illustrious deeds of the Saints. The words said before can likewise be extended to the sayings and doings of this most devout man Bl. James; for he was an exemplar of continence, humility, patience, obedience and all morals. What man is there of such eloquence as to discourse with sufficient speech on the virtues of this blessed Man? He had taken upon himself so much severity for taming the flesh and preserving purity of mind that he applied himself in a wonderful manner to vigils, prayers and fasts. He spent the day in active works; at night he was exercised in the love of his Creator. Very often the ancient enemy pursued this Servant of God, striving to frighten him with various images of brute beasts; more often a certain divine light surrounded him while he prayed, which is believed to have been an indication of his purity. Never, after taking the habit of holy religion, did he feel the contagion of mortal sin, as he who heard his general confession protested with truthful assertion. For our Saviour wrought wonderful things by the merits of this Saint, whom St. Jerome, had he lived in his times, I do not doubt would have extolled with praises, as he followed up many of the holy fathers with worthy speech. Nor less would Master Humbert have noted his deeds in the Lives of the Brethren, so that we, instructed by such lessons, might be able the more easily to be admitted to see for ever the face of the eternal Redeemer.
CHAPTER I.
The Blessed's fatherland and parents: his Roman journey: to King Alfonso
he serves as a soldier: he bids farewell to soldiering and serves a certain nobleman: at length he embraces the institute of St. Dominic.
The Blessed, excellently brought up by his parents, Beloved of God and men, whose memory is in benediction a. These words, which are written of Moses, can deservedly be applied to this Bl. James; for he was beloved by God, by whose grace he wrought such wonderful things; he was also so beloved by men that those who knew him always desired to live and converse with him [*]. This Blessed, then, as he himself humbly answered me when I once asked him, was born at Ulm b, a town of Germany, his father being Theoderic, a noble merchant of that town and nonetheless devoted to works of mercy, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation MCCCCVII, Gregory XII holding the pontificate: his mother, the chaste bearer of many children, brought him forth second in the order of the children. Theoderic therefore, like an eagle hovering over its young and provoking them to fly, imbued them with holy morals, and so it came about that Bl. James, according to his way which he had learned from his earliest age, ascended even to perfection. The Man of God also related that his father, on account of his frugality of diet and continence, passed his hundredth year c, and lacked none of his teeth. It would have been wonderful to have seen so great an old man. Bl. James, then, having become twenty-five years old, as I learned from his own relating, went to his father Theoderic, asking leave of him to go to Rome, so that he might visit the relics of the holy Apostles and receive from the supreme Pontiff a blessing and at the same time the remission of all his sins. The venerable old man assented to the pious wishes of his Son, and, blessing him, said: Go, beloved Son, and be mindful of your Creator on all your journey; choose rather death than commit sin in his sight; while you are in the holy places, remember me, your old father who begot you; return as quickly as possible, since you are my joy and my crown and the staff of my old age; may the clemency of the Creator bless you, most beloved Son, and make you a sharer of the eternal inheritance. Having therefore received the blessing, he went to the companions with whom he was to go, chanting in his heart that little verse: Show me your ways, O Lord, and teach me your paths d.
[2] The journey therefore having been begun, Bl. James addressed his companions thus: he sets out for Rome, and, of money Let each of us see, most beloved comrades, lest perhaps, weighed down by some burden of sin, we be frustrated in this holy journey; let us search our consciences, so that, purged of sins, we may obtain plenary indulgence; and on the whole journey he did nothing idle, but always praying, always meditating, he said now the psalms, now the Lord's Prayer. At length, arriving safe at Rome, he first went most devoutly to the holy house of St. Peter, prince of the Apostles, and when he had given thanks there to the Most High, he turned aside to his lodging: by this work he imitated the Saviour, by this he gave an example to pilgrims, that they should go to the church before the lodging. It was the beginning of Lent when he arrived at the city, and he spent the whole of Lent in visiting the churches; and when the Thursday of the Lord's supper was nearer, he made a most diligent confession of all his sins, so that he might deserve to receive their remission through the holy blessing of the Pontiff. And when Easter was completed, seeing that his money was failing him, he said within himself: What shall I do? whither shall I turn? To dig I am not able, to beg I am ashamed e. Turning these things over long in his mind, he at length resolved to go toward Naples f. At that time, as I heard from a certain venerable father most intimate with him, a certain noble matron in the city wished to have him with her among her household slaves and courtiers to serve her, because, as I think, he was held a handsome youth, of elegant form and comely face. But he, knowing that it is dangerous to dwell with scorpions, and reasonably fearing feminine frailty and for his own chastity, not ignorant that straw, if it sees fire too often, grows warm and is disposed to burning, and from frequent intercourse easily blazes up, wisely wise, like another Joseph, before he entered, fled the danger, preferring by labouring abroad prudently to consult his own chastity rather than, amid carnal riches and great reward and serving a woman, to lie open to peril g.
[3] In the times of Alfonso, the most renowned king of Naples, wars were very often stirred up in his kingdom h; compelled by want, he serves as a soldier for King Alfonso. hearing of which, the aforesaid Youth, being unable to live honestly otherwise, had himself enrolled for soldiering in his army; he was free indeed from those vices in which that kind of men is wont to be entangled. He was pious, modest, chaste, and content with his own pay alone. I remember that, while I lived with him, I once said such things: My father, since your charity exercised the military art, and it seems proper to soldiers to plunder others' goods, were your mind and hands free from these vices? And he, smiling, answered: Indeed, son, I never remember that I took anything against the owner's will; and he added: When, in a certain city of the kingdom, I had been allotted lodging by the leaders of the army in the synagogue of the Jews, one morning I visited many churches, on account of which, returning home, I found my companions had almost already dined; when I sat down, therefore, with the rest, a pottage of cabbages was brought to me; whereupon the comrades said: This pottage has been made with stolen cabbages and the oil of the lamp of the Jews (for a lamp, as is the custom of the Jews, always burned in that house out of veneration for the bible); I so shuddered, therefore, at having eaten a pottage made of things taken by force, that, execrating that art, the next morning, leave having been obtained from the commander, I resigned from soldiering, hastening at once to Capua i.
[4] Then, after he had served a certain nobleman, As he came, therefore, to Capua, a certain noble and just k doctor met him, who, having considered the modesty of the Youth and the elegance which he showed in his appearance, judged him wise, chaste and well-mannered, whence he so loved him that he wished to have him as a servant, whom he held not as a servant but as a son. This business pleased the Man of God, and for five years he served him with such fidelity and grace that the master set the faithful servant over his household; nor did he therefore stay there as a servant, but had become more pleasing to the master than his sons. Five years having passed, God, who had foreordained him a religious from eternity, put it into his mind to seek his fatherland again and to console his old father with his presence; vehemently agitated by these thoughts, once and again he sought leave of this kind from his master, and did not obtain it. For he loved him so very tenderly that he would in no way allow him to go away. At length, deliberating within himself, one day very early in the morning, without bidding his master farewell, he departed, nor was he ever troubled in conscience over this matter, since the master was bound in fidelity to the servant more than the servant to the master. When the Man of God at times related these things, he added: My master would have wished that I had gone away mounted on a horse and having taken money, rather than in the poverty in which I departed; so great was the affection of love with which he followed me. Thus, heading for his fatherland, he came, God leading him, to Bologna.
[5] he goes to Bologna, The Servant of God, then, having entered Bologna, as was his custom, went devoutly to St. Petronius l, the chief church of that city, offering his vows and thanks to the Most High. And going out, when he touched the threshold of the greater door, behold before his eyes the figures of certain companions who had gone with him to Rome, at the sight of whom he greatly rejoiced, and the Servant of God and his companions breaking out into mutual embraces, they exulted with such joy that the comrades thought they had seen an angel of God. The cause of his journey having at length been set forth, his companions compelled him to stay with them for a little while for the pay of the citadel of Bologna, so that he might seek his fatherland again more honourably with money gathered; besides, the companions promised him that they too would go to Germany. And so, by divine counsel, he lingered there, bound to the pay of Thomas Tartari of Bologna, then commander of the citadel. Meanwhile, while he stayed at Bologna, he frequented the thresholds of the churches, and above all that of St. Dominic, where the relics of our aforesaid most holy father are kept with great veneration. He was so touched with compunction by the modesty and holiness of the friars and by the divine offices that, forgetting his father and fatherland, he resolved to take the habit of the religious order of our holy father Dominic. Led therefore by this purpose, he decided to open the secret of his breast to the first friar who should meet him the next morning, being most firmly resolved to follow his counsel.
[6] When morning came, the Servant of God hastens to the monastery of Bl. Dominic, where St. Dominic's and as he came there met him, by divine counsel, the Venerable Father Br. Nicholas Carbonell, of the province of Catalonia m, a man devoted to God and a very fervent preacher, and also at that time prior of that monastery; approaching him humbly, the servant of God James said: I, venerable father, desiring to serve my Saviour Jesus Christ with the whole affection of my mind, resolved within myself to follow entirely the counsel of that friar whom I should have meet me first this morning; so therefore I beg your reverence, with what humility and devotion I can, to counsel me, to love me. The prior, wondering at the Youth's fervour, devoutly exhorted him to preserve himself in the fear of God, to overcome the temptations of the demons, the flesh and the world, recalling that saying of the Wise man: Son, when you come to the service of God, stand in justice and fear, and prepare your soul for temptations n; by which words the Youth was kindled with such fervour that he cried out, saying: I, father, wish to serve God in the holy habit, begging that your reverence have mercy on me: do not, I beseech, venerable father, cast this son of yours away from your presence. The prior assented to the devout petition of the Youth, and exhorted him to go back to his lodging and order and dispose all his affairs, so that he might deserve to receive the habit of holy religion more purely. On the following day, therefore, all his affairs having been disposed, he returns to the monastery, where, having been diligently examined according to the series of our constitutions, he was joyfully received to the habit of the lay brothers of our Order, although he knew very few letters.
[7] And he was, as the Man of God himself related, about 30 or 31 years old o, he embraces the institute. namely when he entered the Order: and the Vicar of the Congregation was then the venerable father Br. Anthony of Vercelli, a man of God. These things become known to Thomas, commander of the citadel, and to his companions, who very quickly visited him, not to draw him back from his religious purpose, which they knew to be stable, but rather to congratulate him, since they were about to depart. The aforesaid Thomas said these things to the friars standing by: Fathers, you have received this Youth, than whom I confess I have never seen anyone more modest and more honourable: none of us ever knew him to say or do anything worthy of reproof; nay rather, we did not even dare to speak an idle word in his presence; I grieve indeed, not that he has entered this sacred religious order, but that I have been deprived of so modest and so pious a Youth. These things Br. Ambrose, the venerable Fr. Br. James of Bologna, and Br. John of Parma, a lay brother, who were present at what we have said, related to me.
ANNOTATA.
d. Psalm 24, verse 4.
* read cupierint
CHAPTER II.
His solemn profession of vows and his illustrious virtues.
He questions his preceptor about the holiest manner of living. After the Youth, therefore, had most devoutly received the habit, he was borne by so great a desire to serve his Creator worthily that he could not be satisfied in seeking the way by which he might put his holy purpose into execution. For which reason, going to the master of novices, as Br. Ambrose once related to me, he addressed him in these words: Most loving father, I, having left the world, have received this habit in order that I may be able to serve my God most fervently; therefore I beg your paternity, with what power I can, to show me this way, to instruct me, and to lead me by your counsels to the heavenly kingdoms. The master of novices, hearing these things, exhorted him most beautifully in these words, saying: My son, there are two everlasting cities, to one of which all men must needs come; the first is called Babylon, which is interpreted confusion: this is the furnace of burning gehenna and the chaos of hell; in it all who departed in mortal sin are tormented, buried; to it the proud, the unchaste, the obstinate, the seditious, the schismatics, altogether disobedient to the divine Majesty, will be damned for ever. The way which leads us to this city is pride, the mother and begetter of all vices; for there dwells Satan, who is king over all the sons of pride. The second city, most beloved Son, is the Jerusalem which is above, interpreted vision of peace; this all the most blessed Spirits and Saints inhabit, praising most joyfully for ever the power of God the Father, the humanity and Wisdom of the Son, and the goodness of the Holy Spirit: the Lord of this city is our Saviour Jesus Christ, who is King of kings and lord of lords. To this city holy humility leads us, which is the guardian and preserver of all virtues: as St. Gregory says, he who gathers the other virtues without humility carries as it were dust into the wind. That you may embrace this, our Saviour Jesus Christ invites you by his example, saying: Learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart a. This the most blessed Mother of God, our Advocate, supremely commends, saying: Because he has regarded the humility of his Handmaid b. These, then, are the two ways, one which leads to the heavenly fatherland, namely humility; the other leads those who enter it to perpetual fire, namely pride. Stretch out your hand, therefore, my Son, and choose that which pleases you more. Yet I exhort you to enter the way of humility, by which you may afterwards be exalted. Kindled in a wonderful manner by these words, the Youth said: Blessed be God in his gifts; I, most loving father, choose the path of holy humility, I wish to embrace it with all the wishes of my soul. The Saint of God, therefore, was so most firmly founded in humility that he reckoned himself lower and viler than all, despising no one, but most willingly serving all.
[9] A year, therefore, having been completed from his entrance into religion, the friars awaited with wonderful desire and he makes his solemn vows. that the devout Man should bind himself by the bond of profession; for they feared, where there was no fear, lest so devout a Youth, so simple and so pious a Brother, should return to the world through some temptation of the world or of the demon. But the Servant of God had resolved within himself rather to undergo death than to leave the habit of holy religion even for a moment. When therefore the time came at which he was to profess obedience to his superiors, the master of novices solicitously instructed him, first that he should make a most diligent and general confession of all his sins, secondly that he should cast himself at the feet of the elders, according to the most holy customs of the religious order, so that he might obtain so great a gift from them; which things having been most solicitously carried out, on the appointed day, the friars being gathered in chapter, the Servant of God professed obedience to the Prior, Br. Nicholas of Catalonia c, in place of Master Bartholomew Texier, then Master general of the Order of Preachers, in which, as he himself once related, he obtained new gifts. For afterwards he had in his prayers tastes from on high, always desiring to think and do the things which he knew to be pleasing to the will of God.
[10] When I wish to express the great words and wonderful manner of living of this Servant of God, my strength fails; In the Blessed for although he did many things which the customs of our religious order do not require, such as to tame the flesh with haircloth, to afflict the body with disciplines, to persist in prayers almost the whole night, and many other things which were discovered by his familiars, yet he always concealed all these things with a certain holy cheerfulness. He was affable, homely and familiar with all; he desired to show a pleasing thing to all without any respect of persons; he never incurred the mark of singularity, always loving and following the common fare of the refectory, the common prayers, the common places. Yet no one was more solicitous than he: he entered the church before the others, and in a dark chapel first said Matins, then his accustomed prayers, then visited all the altars, always beginning from the altar of the Bl. Virgin, since he honoured the Queen of the world with the highest veneration, that she might direct him in the way of salvation, most devoutly commending to her holy mother Church and its prelates, and those for whom he was bound to pray: he did these same things while he went round each altar, beseeching the Saints in whose honour they had been built.
[11] devotion, When he was to receive holy Communion, he was given to the deepest silence the whole preceding day; and at night he applied himself to holy meditations; he also confessed most willingly at that hour when the Nocturns had been completed: Communion having been received, wholly rapt in the love of God, he carried out these same things. It was always his custom to say Prime, Terce, Sext and None at dawn; then he served the priest celebrating Mass once and again and many times, as he was called by the sacristan. And these things being dispatched, he gave himself the whole day to the works of his hands; almighty God had infused so great a grace into his mind that he was an excellent master of any mechanical arts whatever; above all he excelled in composing glass windows: while he was intent on these, he very often repeated to the friars standing by that word of the Apostle: He who will not work, let him not eat d. I, though an unworthy disciple of so great a man, can attest these things by truthful assertion, that I never saw him idle, but always occupied either in the works of his hands or in divine things; he was very often mindful of that saying: Idleness has taught much evil e. He was a man who very rarely spoke unless asked, but his words were edifying, useful and profitable for his own or others' salvation; he knew very well that saying: He who does not offend in word, he is a perfect man f. He exhorted the friars to bridle the tongue, especially because they were bound to keep silence.
[12] piety, unconquered patience, And clemency and piety remained with him from his mother's breasts to the end of his life. Why should I delay longer? Every movement, every gesture and all his way of life had spread a holy odour far and wide; very many religious and seculars desired to speak with him and to be edified by his holy examples. At the time when wars arose between the Venetians and the duke of Ferrara, Alfonso g, duke of Calabria h, hastening to Ferrara, came to Bologna, where, having visited the relics of our blessed father Dominic, entering the convent, he said to the fathers who accompanied him: I, reverend fathers, would most gladly visit Br. James of Germany, the lay brother, since his holy fame has reached our ears even in our kingdom; and when he had been summoned, he recognized the man by his venerable aspect, and, embracing and kissing him, humbly commended himself to the prayers of the Man of God. To whom the Man of God promised that he would pray the Lord every day for his excellency. Then the duke, giving thanks, bowed his head to him. So the venerable old man returned to his own affairs. And the duke said to the friars standing by: Truly, reverend fathers, this venerable Old man seems to me a true and holy Servant of God; I trust that by his prayers I shall return safe to my fatherland. And the most illustrious examples of patience, in which he excelled in a wonderful manner in bearing adversities, who could comprehend in any speech? He was never disturbed in adversities; but cheerful and festive he often said: Patience is necessary for you. He suffered in his body the troubles of three infirmities, which he endured with such joy that he gave thanks to God, who had granted him such things for the salvation of his soul. While he was tormented by pains he never omitted his prayers, very rarely the works of his hands, saying: Virtue is perfected in infirmity i. And let these things suffice to have been said of his virtues in general.
[13] Christ became obedient for us unto death, remarkable obedience, of which here illustrious even the death of the Cross k. In these words the sacred virtue of obedience is most gloriously commended, for the keeping of which the Saviour of the world Jesus Christ suffered death. Turning over these and similar things in his mind, the Servant of God kept obedience to his superiors with such fervour that it can scarcely be told. I have very often seen, when a prelate enjoined some obedience on the Servant of God, that he carried out the command of the superior with such speed that, before the prelate had completed his words, he himself, ready, was hastening to fulfil them. If ever the office of infirmarian l or of anyone else was imposed upon him, he was so solicitously intent on that office as if he were to carry out the same office for ever. When the friars asked why he carried out with such zeal an office imposed for an hour, he answered: We who have promised obedience are bound to keep it diligently until death: although obedience has bound me to this ministry for an hour, who knows whether perhaps my superiors may wish me to exercise it for ever; therefore I am intent on it as though on an office enjoined on me for ever. Once the venerable
Fr. Br. Michael of Holland, a man devoted to God, while he was prior in the same convent of Bologna, it happened that he was accompanying a certain bishop who had come for the sake of visiting the convent: and it chanced that, as the bishop passed, the Man of God passed by there; and the prior said to the bishop: Reverend father, he who is now passing is a most devout brother, a religious and a Servant of God. His venerable aspect, said the bishop, testifies to this. Then the prior said: Among his other virtues he is the most obedient among all the brothers; and if it pleases your lordship, I will prove this very thing by experiment. It will be most welcome and pleasant to me, said the bishop, to see such things. The bishop and the prior therefore went together to the place where the Man of God was intent on his work; and the prior said to him: Br. James, it is necessary that you carry certain letters toward France to the most reverend Master General of the Order, who is at Paris; and the Man of God, hastening to his cell, said: I will go, unless it displeases your paternity, to get my hat; this done, the Man of God, kneeling before the prior, asked a blessing, being about to depart at once. The bishop wondered vehemently at so prompt an obedience, especially because he had asked neither money nor anything for accomplishing so long a journey. But the prior ordered the Man of God to return to his former office, as though he were going to impose the obedience of the journey on another.
[14] A certain citizen of Bologna, having invited many friars to be with him in a certain garden of his, examples are handed down, not far from the city of Bologna, that they might recreate themselves a little; the Man of God also was present; and after they had all dined together, he who was first among the friars present said: Let Br. James quickly go with the brothers to fish, taking the nets, so that a supper may be prepared for us. The Man of God went at once to the river Rhenus m, near the same place; the nets therefore having been cast, at the first cast he drew out so many fish as two brothers could scarcely carry, and, though they were so many, the net was not torn. Amazement surrounded all the friars standing round, who attributed this deed to the merits of prompt and simple obedience. The Man of God was, as we said above, an excellent craftsman in composing glass windows and painting them; when therefore once he had painted a certain figure, he had placed the glasses [] in the furnace, so that, fire being applied, as is the custom of that art, the colours might adhere more strongly to the glass; and fire of this kind must be applied to such things most cautiously, lest the colours be consumed by too much heat. The fire having therefore been kindled, a certain brother coming said to the Man of God: Father prior orders that we go together on the quest for bread; and the Man of God, answering, Blessed be God in his gifts, leaving the glasses there, at once departed. And returning, he found the glasses [], by the merit of obedience, not only preserved but also perfectly fired, as he had never at any time seen. Nor is it wonderful: for God, whose works are perfect, willed to approve the merit of obedience by this miracle. Finally, this Man of God so loved the merit of obedience that on a day on which nothing was imposed on him he believed that he could have acquired no merit.
[15] and the chastity of an angel shine. Never did the Servant of God stain his body with the foulness of incontinence, but kept himself chaste in mind and body. For he had taken upon himself two things for preserving purity; first, in standing and walking, the lowering of the eyes, knowing that death enters through the windows; the other was to compel his body to serve the spirit assiduously, both in spiritual things and in the works of his hands. By these things, then, the Servant of God shone on earth with angelic purity; for to live in the flesh beyond the flesh is angelic, not human. He very often exhorted the friars to guard this virtue, asserting that no temptation of the flesh is so grievous that it is not extinguished by meditation on the most sweet Jesus or on one act of his passion. And the Servant of God so loved poverty that he always kept it to a nicety; he was content with things supremely necessary; finally he very often said that he had not only no particular things, but not even himself, because he was wholly subject to the will of his superiors; and so, most poor in spirit, he obtained the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven n. When the hour of refection had come, he sometimes said to his companions: Let us go, brothers, to the refectory, to see whether these fathers deign to give us some alms.
ANNOTATA.
* read vitra
* read vitra
CHAPTER III.
His cardinal and theological virtues: his prayers and meditations: a wonderful vision shown to the Blessed.
The Blessed, by prudence, temperance, A faithful and prudent servant. One of the cardinal virtues is prudence, which shone so much in the actions of this Man that he could deservedly be seen as a faithful and prudent servant: in overcoming the most bitter temptations of the ancient enemy, with which he pursued him day and night, he above all used the virtue of prudence. If ever he was tempted by vainglory, he at once said: What is earth and ashes? At times, through the persecution of the demon, he fell into such faint-heartedness that he thought he could never do worthy penance for his offences, which vice he most prudently overcame, throwing himself before the cross and saying: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, by your death and cross save me in the blood and water which you shed. In carrying out outward business, however arduous, he conducted himself so prudently that he seemed to remember that saying: Whatever you do, do it prudently and look to the end. The second of the cardinal virtues is temperance. By this all the actions of this Man of God were so softened that I have seen no one more temperate. If ever he was offended by some word or deed, he never showed a sign contrary to this virtue; always cheerful, always pleasant, he displayed in the outward man the brightness of a most pure mind. He was indeed vehemently disturbed and seemed to exceed the temperate measure in this, when he noticed anything said or done against the divine honour or the salvation of a soul; but yet he can be excused by the example of the Saviour, of whom it is said: The zeal of your house has eaten me up a.
[17] The Man of God was also excellently endowed with fortitude, by fortitude, justice, by which he boldly undertook arduous things both temporal and spiritual, and persevered in them most constantly to the very last. Finally justice, which renders to each what is his own, shone in him most gloriously; for he always rendered glory and honour to the divine Majesty, veneration to holy mother Church; he always followed his superiors with obedience and the rest with most affectionate charity; he always observed every day that saying of David: I have done judgment and justice b. When the hour of sleep came, he diligently examined his words and deeds, always mounting the tribunal of his mind, and punished himself for things ill done; then, his body having been worn by the strokes of the discipline, as if he had committed grievous sins, he prayed in this manner: Turn away your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities c; and again: Save me waking, guard me sleeping, that I may watch with Christ your most beloved Son and rest in peace. Afterwards, commending himself to his holy Angel, he said: Angel, who are my guardian, save, defend and govern me, committed to you by the heavenly goodness. After this he gave his limbs to sleep. For which reason the Lord so led him through right ways, and showed him the kingdom of God, and blessed him in glory.
[18] by undefiled faith, In faith and gentleness the Lord our God made him a Saint d. So necessary is this virtue to everyone that without it it is impossible to please God; to which faith the Man of God so adhered that he always desired most gladly to expose body and soul for it. I have very often heard him repeating these words; when heresies, or schisms, or wars arisen against the holy Roman Church had reached his ears, he was tormented with wonderful grief; he prayed with long-continued tears to the Lord that he would look upon his Spouse with the eye of pity; he very often prayed for the state of the same holy mother Church, saying: O Lord Jesus Christ, help us your servants, whom you have redeemed with your precious blood. Many other things he did on account of the huge fervour of his faith, which it would be long to narrate. But because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, the holy Man listened most attentively to the words of God, considering also that he who is of God hears the words of God e.
[19] by most constant hope This Man of God was indeed long-suffering in hope, placing his hope not in the men of the world but in his Creator; from him alone he expected the reward of his labours, vigils, prayers and other virtues. The Man of God therefore often extolled it with praises, saying: We read that the holy Martyrs suffered unheard-of torments, the Confessors and Virgins endured great things. This is the virtue which granted them constancy, long-suffering and at length the best end. For he said at times, speaking of this most illustrious virtue: There are some who believe that they hope in God, saying: I trust in the Lord that, when the day of death comes, I shall obtain pardon of all my sins; and, deceived by this hope, they commit sins and follow the delights of the world: these things are not to be called hope, but presumption. Do we think that God, who is supreme justice, wishes to bestow eternal beatitude without any works, most of all for those able to work? For Bl. Augustine says: He who made you without you will not save you without you: the divine Scripture says the same: Hope in the Lord and do good f. Made long-suffering by this hope, the Servant of God at length received the reward of his labours.
[20] and shines with charity toward his neighbour Now there remain faith, hope, charity; these three, but the greater of these is charity. In two commandments the whole force of charity is comprised; namely in the love of God and of neighbour g. Since therefore this Servant of God always burned with a most fervent love of God, who doubts that he excelled in the virtue of charity? And of the love with which he followed his neighbour, what shall I say? He said that he loved all his friends in God, but his enemies for God's sake. There is no one who, if him
he had seen serving the sick, would not have affirmed that he burned with piety and clemency. But, because perfect charity casts out fear, fearful with no dread of death, he most readily served the brothers suffering from the disease of the pestilence; for when he heard that a brother was suffering from this disease, having received a blessing from the prior, he promised that he would serve him most diligently. And going to the sick joyfully and gladly, he wonderfully comforted them by words and deeds, preparing the necessary foods and doing all the things which he knew the sick needed. Many whom he served were freed, as they themselves affirmed, rather by the merits of the Man of God than by the aids of medicines: the bodies of the brothers dying of this infirmity he washed out of charity, most diligently committing them to burial. On account of this we believe that the divine clemency will bestow great aids on Christians who run to the protection of this blessed Man in time of plague. Founded, therefore, in charity, he always wrought such wonderful things, avoiding idleness above all; for, as Bl. Gregory says: The love of God is never idle. When he sometimes exhorted the lay brothers to acquire this charity, he said: Dearest brothers, attend diligently to charity, because this is the wedding garment, without which no one is brought into the eternal banquet of God; but those stripped of it are sent into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth h. These and similar things the holy Man very often said for the commendation of charity and the exhortation of the brothers.
[21] The Man of God, understanding that the divine Scriptures counsel all the faithful to frequency of prayers, To fervent prayer strove to adhere to them with all the wishes of his soul; for when the Saviour said to his disciples: Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation i, he was commanding the same to all Christians, and the Blessed Apostle says: Persist in prayer. This purpose of mind, then, having been firmly settled, he spent the greater part of the night persisting in prayer: and he was drawn by such sweetness of prayer that even when intent on the works of his hands he could not leave off from it. One day, while I, Br. Ambrosino, together with the Servant of God, were intent on our work, after I had been asked by him about the manner of praying, I likewise asked him, beseeching him to deign to disclose, for my advancement, what manner he observed in praying. The Servant of God answered at once: Believe me, dearest brother, I have never found, of the many which I have learned, a worthier, sweeter and more profitable prayer than that which the Son of God taught with his own mouth, namely OUR FATHER: In this prayer we ask from almighty God all things necessary either for soul or for body: this prayer generally affords me so much sweetness that, saying it, I believe I have my mouth full of the sweetest honey or sugar: I think that this sweetness comes to me from the words which the Son of God uttered with his own mouth. In this Servant of God that saying of David was most excellently exemplified: How sweet are your words to my palate, more than honey to my mouth k. He prayed daily for the supreme Pontiff, the pastor of the Church, and for all its prelates, and above all for the presidents of our Order, that the Lord would so preserve the Order; finally he besought the clemency of the Saviour for all in the manner and order which we said above.
[22] After the Servant of God had each day roused his spirit to actual devotion by the aforesaid prayers and he assiduously gives himself to contemplation. and genuflections, at length, returned into himself, with what fervour he could, he gave immortal thanks to almighty God for the benefits conferred, namely of Creation, of preservation and of redemption, and above all of religion, which benefit he always valued as the greatest. And recalling that the human race had been redeemed by the blood of the most sweet Saviour Jesus Christ, he daily contemplated the mysteries of the passion with great sighs and great groans. The Servant of God first imagined that he saw Jesus the Saviour, his holy head bent down, washing the feet of the disciples, wherefore he exhorted himself in a wonderful manner to follow humility; then, as if going across the brook Cedron, he thought that he saw the Son of God in agony and praying: Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; and when he thought of Jesus shedding sweats of blood at the representation of the future passion, he was affected with wonderful compunction and incredible agitation of heart; thence likewise he most bitterly recalled Jesus bound by the Jews through most impious betrayal, presented to Annas and Caiaphas, struck on the cheek by a servant; and when he remembered the divine wisdom clothed in a white garment as a fool, he was wholly suffused with sadness; nor indeed did he consign to oblivion the following mysteries of the scourging, the crowning, the crucifixion, etc.; he grieved, he was greatly distressed when he considered such things in thought. Finally, when he piously meditated on the joyful mysteries of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the ascension, he was filled with huge joy. These things therefore having been done, the Servant of God bowed deeply to Christ, set at the right hand of the Father, saying: Glory to you, O Lord, who were born of a Virgin; succour me today, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for everlasting ages. Then turning to the most serene Mother of God, how reverently he saluted her, saying: Hail, Queen of heaven, Mother of the king of the Apostles, O Mary, flower of Virgins like the rose, like the lily, pour forth prayers to the Son for the salvation of the faithful. Finally he visited all the Saints, saying: All you Saints of God, deign to intercede for our salvation and that of all. In this manner, then, the Servant of God ended his daily contemplations, and afterwards, hastening to carry out his works, he was never wearied by any labour; for he vehemently desired to carry out meritorious works, by which he might at length deserve to attain the eternal felicity which he had tasted in contemplating.
[23] He is rapt out of himself, This Servant of God once narrated to me, while we were intent on our work: I, he said, when I had once found myself in a certain room of the convent of Bologna, then perchance the wish to pray came upon me; but how, I know not, God knows, I was alienated from the senses of the body: and my spirit was led into a certain garden filled with all the delights of the world, where there were sweet-smelling roses, violets and most sweet harmonies, and my mind was filled with such sweetness that I wished to stay there for ever; but a certain brother passing by, and suspecting me dead, hastily called the prior; the brothers run up, and by the vehemence of their rubbings that ecstasy departed; and when I saw myself in the presence of so many brothers, I said: I promise you (for so the Man of God was wont very often to repeat in speaking) that nothing more unhappy could have happened to me, since they disturbed my soul rejoicing in so great a consolation l. I learned another thing also from many brothers relating it, namely that the body of this Man of God was surrounded by a light of great splendour. The Man of God disclosed this same thing to me most secretly when I asked him, and said that there was so much light that at midnight even the smallest things could be seen.
ANNOTATA.
a. Psalm 68, verse 10.
c. Psalm 50, verse 10.
f. Psalm 36, verse 3.
CHAPTER IV.
Certain benefits conferred by the Saint's intercession: death, burial and translation.
He puts demons to flight and averts a sedition of the citizens. The enemy of the human race, envying the virtues of him whom he could not overcome inwardly by temptations of vices, tried to frighten him with various images. Once, when he was praying in the chapel of St. Vincent, who lies in our church, a demon of this form appeared to him: he seemed a very black Ethiopian, having only one eye in the middle of his forehead, clothed in a garment so short that his private parts were exposed; but the sign of the Cross having been made, he vanished like smoke. When the same Servant of God at another time was praying in the chapel of St. Anthony of the aforesaid church, he heard a great noise in the church; then, turning his face, he noticed demons leading dances in the middle of the church; the Servant of God, approaching them, asks in the power of God what is the cause of so great joy; at once it was answered by them: We have so stirred up the factions of this city, which are commonly called parties, that human blood is to be shed with great fury on the morrow. These things said, the crowd of demons fled; and the Servant of God, prostrating himself in prayer, averted this scourge from the people: the prayer finished, he returns to his own cell, and, entering it, he found it full of a multitude of demons in the form of crows flying here and there; but having made the sign of the Cross, he repeated that saying of David: O God, come to my assistance, O Lord, make haste to help me; let them be confounded and ashamed who seek my soul [a]. And the multitude of demons at once disappeared. And many times struck by the demons, after the blows he was wonderfully surrounded by the aforesaid light b, and an inner spirit comforted him with prophetic words: Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life c; and again: Wait for the Lord, and act manfully, and let your heart be strengthened, and wait for the Lord [d]. A certain priest, who chanced to be passing by there, saw him surrounded by this light. These, then, are the few things which the Lord showed as an indication of holiness, which it may suffice to have narrated here out of many.
[25] A priest suffering from a grievous disease, Almighty God in his clemency willed to show by heavenly signs also that the actions of his Servant were acceptable to him. At Bologna there was a certain venerable priest, called Don Girolamo de Aviolo; he was most intimate with the holy Man; when he had fallen into a grievous infirmity, the Man of God, at his summons, visited him, and when he had touched the threshold of the room in which he lay, it seemed to the sick man that he was half healed. While they conversed more sweetly, the Man of God, stretching out his hand over the face of the sick man, drew it down to the sole of his feet: a wonderful thing! at once the sick man recovered. And the venerable priest attested this, that he felt himself freed little by little in that part of the body over which the Man of God drew his hand. Rising therefore at once from his bed, he gave thanks to the Most High. And in testimony of this matter the aforesaid priest, who was an excellent painter, painted the figure of the Man of God most lifelike while he was living, and after his death was the first to offer it at the tomb.
[26] and he heals his sister, ill with fever, and another sick man A certain sister of the aforesaid priest, when she was suffering from a most acute fever, mindful of the health which her brother had obtained by the merits of the Man of God, caused him to be summoned to visit her; he, coming, praying impressed on her forehead the sign of the salutary cross, and so, as he was returning to the monastery, the woman at once rose from her bed sound. Of which thing the public voice of the city of Bologna rendered testimony. I pass over in silence how many suffering from the disease of the pestilence this Man of God conferred health on. A certain student at Bologna, who had come from the parts of Germany, was suffering from an incredible pain of the head for four months; his mind wavered whether he should return home or continue his study; while therefore one day at the door of his dwelling, thoughtful,
he was sitting, behold, a certain man asks what is the cause of such sadness; he answered on each point: to whom the man said: Go to St. Dominic's and seek out Br. James; he will make you sound by his prayers. He went, and, finding the Man of God, implores him to have pity on him; the most humble Servant of Christ, asserting that he was a sinner, shrank from these things: at length he led the student, weeping, as far as the door of the convent, and as he begged that he would lay his hand upon his head, the Man of God laid his hand upon his head, and, imploring, said: May God, who created you, himself heal you. This done, the Man of God closed the door, and the Youth perceived that he was healed.
[27] He foretells future things A venerable man, Br. Jerome of Genoa, a worthy preacher, when, in a certain city whose name it is pleasing to keep silent, he had preached rather vehemently against the governor, the angry magistrates summoned him; and he, terrified, sent for the Man of God and asked him to pray the Lord for him; and he exhorted him with these prophetic words: Let your paternity go more cheerfully, about to have not confusion but honour: for you will find all the lords sitting, who, as soon as they behold your presence, will at once all rise up and attend you with great honour, granting you the first place for sitting; so your paternity, by answering on each point, will acquire honour for God and for religion. The preacher went, and all things happened as the Man of God had foretold with prophetic spirit.
[28] Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints e. Fortified with the Sacraments of the Church he dies piously. After long and lasting exercises of the virtues the time came at which the Lord would call the Man of God to heavenly things. Seized therefore by a most acute fever, he said to the infirmarian that word of the Apostle: For I am already being poured out, and the time of my dissolution is at hand f. He made a general confession with the reverend Fr. Br. Vincent of Castronovo, Master of sacred Theology, who was afterwards Master General of our whole Order, then prior of the convent of Bologna, and, the Sacraments of the Church having been devoutly received, arranging his feet and hands a little in the form of a Cross, and praying, he gave back his spirit to God. Nor is there any doubt that he was led by a host of Angels to the heavenly fatherland. And his happy passing was on Wednesday about the fifth hour of the night, the 12th g of the month of October in the year of the Lord MCCCCXCI. Brother Dionysius of Bellano, then a student at Bologna, since he was suffering a grievous infirmity h, by which he was prevented from singing in choir and from exercising the office of preaching, earnestly begged the Man of God, as he laboured in his last moments, that, if the Lord should raise him to heavenly glory, he would obtain health for him. When he therefore was dying, the brother himself, embracing the body of the Deceased, did not cease to cry out: Fulfil, Father, what you promised, heal me by your prayers; nor could he ever be torn from the body until he had obtained full health. The brothers who were present report that the face of the Man of God, which had been pale with the horror of death, after death grew somewhat red, and the lifeless body indicated the felicity of the mind.
[29] It was of ancient custom to bury the brothers in a certain cemetery, [His sacred body, on account of the huge concourse, from the former place of burial] in which Bl. Dominic also was first buried; in this cemetery, therefore, very many men of great holiness were buried, whose bodies are unknown. Noticing these things, the Rev. Father prior and the older fathers decreed that they should honour with a particular tomb the Man who had shone with a singular life. But while the body lay in the church, there was made so great a concourse of the people that all wondered. All tried to kiss it, touching it with rings and rosaries. And among the rest a certain boy of three years tried, as much as he could, to touch the body, and, returning home, urges his mother to hasten as quickly as possible to see it; the mother, wondering at the words of the little child, who scarcely knew how to utter half of them, came to the church of Bl. Dominic, and, finding the body unburied, narrated the little child's words to the brothers; for it was fitting that the most pure Servant of God should be extolled by the words of a most pure infant. He was at length committed to burial in a certain chapel which was in the greater chapter-house of the convent of Bologna, in a deposit above ground.
[30] The prior and fathers of the convent, considering in mind and soul the multitude of men and of women, he is translated to the church of the monastery. whom it is not permitted to enter the cloister of the Order, flocking to the tomb of the Man of God and disturbing the quiet of the brothers, decreed by sound counsel to transfer his body elsewhere []; but first they sought the counsel and consent of the lord bishop of Bologna, and, he assenting, on the eighth day from his death the body was translated into the church, into the chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas, where it lies venerably even until now, with candles and tablets and images hung round about. And when it was being translated, his body was found sound and giving forth [] no stench at all. How great things the Lord has wrought through him the candles, tablets and silver limbs hung about his tomb testify, some of which are declared in what follows. And we believe that he will afford greater things to those who shall have invoked him with their whole heart. And since this Servant of God always served those suffering from the disease of the pestilence, it has been found by experience that he has a peculiar gift for obtaining for the peoples deliverance from that disease.
ANNOTATA.
a. Psalm 69, verse 1.
d. Psalm 26, verse 14.
e. Psalm 115, verse 15.
* read alio
* read emittens
CHAPTER V.
Miracles wrought after death.
An infant, a vow having been made by the parents, Although the Lord has wrought many admirable things by the merits of this Servant of his, yet out of many I shall relate a few which have come to me, his disciple. A certain citizen and merchant of Bologna had a son who, seized by a grievous disease, already showed signs of lost life, and very many judged him dead. This citizen, therefore, hearing of the great deeds of this Man, vowed a vow to the Lord, saying: Lord God, if you restore my son to his former life by the merits of Bl. James, I vow that I will clothe him with the habit of the Friars Preachers. A wonderful thing: the boy, reviving, opened his eyes, and, as if waking from sleep, was found entirely safe. Wherefore the father, vehemently wondering at the deed, hung a tablet at his tomb, where the mother is seen carrying her son, on which these words are written: This little boy was dead and rose again by the merits of Bl. James.
[32] a woman A certain woman of Bologna, having received the Sacraments of the Church, was so labouring in her last moments that very many surrounded her with lighted candles as though dead; but a vow having been made by one of those who were present, that, if God should free her by the merits of Bl. James, he would hang at his tomb an image of equal length, the woman, at once raising her head, said: Thanks be to God, because I have been restored to life by the merits of Bl. James, who died and is buried at St. Dominic's. Her kinsfolk, vehemently wondering at this matter, went to the Preacher of our Order, asking him to deign to disclose so great a miracle to the people. The preacher did not consent unless the healed woman came together with the others who had been present. When these, therefore, came to the preacher, the miracle was divulged to the people.
[33] likewise a youth is freed from death. While the venerable Fr. Br. Jerome of Bologna was preaching at Bologna the miracles of this blessed Man, a certain citizen of Bologna chanced to be present at the sermon; he had left at home his only son labouring in his last moments; hearing, therefore, that the lord was doing such great and so admirable things by the merits of his Servant, he went to his tomb, praying that, in testimony of his holiness, he would obtain from the lord health for his son. The prayer finished, he returned home and found his son safe; and making trial of an indication of perfect health, he took food together with his son at almost the same hour, and so with great joy he made the miracle known to the sacristan of the convent of St. Dominic and to very many others.
[34] The venerable Fr. Br. Bartholomew of Genoa [a], A certain Prior of the Order of St. Dominic of the Order of Preachers, then prior in the Genoese convent of St. Mary of Castello, when he had come to Bologna, began to burn vehemently with fevers; the disease therefore increasing day by day, his companion said to him: Venerable father, I believe your paternity has heard how great wonders the lord shows by the merits of Bl. James; I would not therefore doubt, if you run to him with your whole heart, that your paternity would obtain health. He answering: I commend myself to God, praying that by the merits of Bl. James he would grant me health for the salvation of my soul. At once the companion went to the tomb of the Man of God, praying for these same things; when he therefore returned to the infirmary b, he found that his prior had wonderfully recovered, and within a few days he returned safe to Genoa.
[35] A certain citizen of Bologna prayed to Bl. James for his sister, who was suffering from fevers and pain of the head, and a girl from fevers, a woman from a grievous disease, and commended her to him, and, returning home, found that she had fully recovered. Another citizen of Bologna, called Andrea Lardarolo, when he had a daughter set at the point of death, vowed together with his wife that he would make a wax statue, if the daughter should be able to obtain health by the merits of Bl. James. On the same day, therefore, the daughter recovering, he presently hung the statue at his tomb in sign of the miracle. A certain woman, Adriana by name, very old, beyond a hundred years, suffering from a long and troublesome infirmity, at the touch of the tomb of the Man of God was at once freed from the infirmity.
[36] A certain noble woman of Bologna, tormented by an intolerable pain of the head for four months, likewise another from pain of the head, three others from fevers, not finding physicians who could profit her, running to the suffrages of Bl. James, at once rose from her bed safe. Br. Paul of Bohemia, when in the convent of Bologna in the year of the Lord 1499 he was suffering from a most acute fever, and fearing exceedingly, especially on account of the continual pain of the head from which he had already suffered for ten years, fleeing to the suffrages of Bl. James, was immediately freed from the fever and the pain of the head. Br. Vincent of Soncino, of the Order of Preachers, who was very familiar with Bl. James while he was still alive and held him in his arms when he migrated from this light, when he was suffering from a very great fever, fleeing to the merits of Bl. James, received health in the same hour. Of this thing I am a witness, and many brothers present with me.
[37] A certain man, called Masacario of San Giorgio, of the county of Bologna, [are freed. A contracted woman and another suffering from a grievous disease are healed.] suffering from a most acute fever, as soon as he commended himself to Bl. James, recovered. All the limbs of a certain woman of Bologna, a certain terror having come upon her, were contracted, but when she fled to the protection of Bl. James, at once a great light appeared to her, which both drove out the terror and restored her health [c]. At Milan, when a certain noble citizen, held by a grievous infirmity, heard that Bl. James
was working such wonderful things at Bologna, a certain vow having been made, he fully recovered at his invocation, and he offered two gold pieces, to be sent to me at Bologna for adorning the tomb of Bl. James through the reverend Fr. Br. Vincent of Castronovo, of whom mention has been made above, then prior of the convent of St. Mary of the Graces.
[38] A woman the use of her feet, and others A certain noble woman of Bologna, the wife of the captain of justice [d] at Milan, who had had her legs contracted for three years already, when she heard the venerable Fr. Br. Jerome of Bologna preaching about the miracles of Bl. James, fleeing to Bl. James himself, prayed that through his prayers the Lord would restore to her the health of her legs, and, the prayer finished, she immediately recovered. The aforesaid venerable preacher Br. Jerome of Bologna related this same thing. A certain citizen of Bologna, having a son suffering from a certain disease which is commonly called the malady of the stone [e], when he prayed at the tomb of Bl. James for his health, he was fully freed. At the town of Murano, not far from the city of Venice [f], in the convent, or the church of the convent, after the death of the Man of God, the brothers of our Order set up his image before the choir; and when a certain Venetian cleric, looking at it, had learned from the brothers whose it was, he conceived such faith toward the Man of God that, running to his suffrages, he was fully freed from a pain of the head from which he continually suffered, on account of which he also feared frenzy; and he placed a candle in the aforesaid place in sign of the miracle.
[39] [affected by various diseases, recover health; likewise four recover the use of their eyes.] A certain citizen of Bologna had a son most grievously sick, for whom, praying more devoutly at the tomb of Bl. James, he was freed, about whom the physicians were fearful, in the year of the Lord 1493. At Bologna a certain nun of our Order, a vow having been made, fully recovered by the merits of Bl. James from a pain of the head from which she had suffered for three years. A certain woman of Bologna, agitated for days by the pains of childbirth, at the exhortation of the midwife fled to Bl. James, and she brought forth a most beautiful son; and when she rose from her bed, on her first journey she went to the church of Bl. Dominic, rendering to Bl. James the vow which she had vowed. This same thing happened to another, as both she and very many other matrons who were present related. Another, called Calcaresio, when he was blind, a vow having been made, at once had the faculty of seeing restored to him by the merits of Bl. James, and so that he saw, as he himself related, even the smallest things. Another also, thinking that he had lost his sight on account of a humour descending to his eyes, was fully freed by the merits of Bl. James, to whom he had devoutly vowed himself. At Modena g, when a certain citizen who was wholly blind heard the admirable things of this blessed Man, a vow having been made, within a few days he received his sight, and, hastening to Bologna, he offered at the tomb of the Man two silver eyes, which he had vowed that he would offer if he were made sound. A certain lime-worker, who had so filled his eye with lime that for many days he saw nothing at all with it, sets out for the tomb of Bl. James; before he enters the temple, the darkness having been driven away, he receives his sight.
[40] [A maidservant deprived of the use of her arm and a man of his tongue, one from dropsy,] The maidservant of a certain matron of Bologna had long had an arm weak and useless; coming to the tomb of the man of God Bl. James, and laying her arm upon it, she was immediately made sound. A certain citizen of Bologna was so sick in his tongue that he could scarcely take food; physicians or medicines profiting nothing, he vowed to Bl. James that, if he obtained health by his merits, he would offer him a silver tongue in proof of the miracle; the next morning, therefore, finding himself sound in every way, he had a silver tongue made, and devoutly offered it, as he had vowed, at the tomb of Bl. James. A certain dropsical man, vowing to Bl. James that, if he were made healthy by his prayers, he would have a Mass celebrated to the honour of God and of him, and would offer at his tomb a candle of one pound, within four days received health, and fulfilled his vow as quickly as possible.
[41] Another offered at the tomb of Bl. James an image another from the French disease, on which there is read written something of this kind: I, John, suffered for four years from the French disease, and, vowing in this place, I fully recovered by the merits and intercession of Bl. James.
[42] The virtue of this Man of God shone forth not only in rational creatures but also in irrational ones: likewise a mule is healed by the Blessed's intercession. for Br. Stephen, a lay brother of the Order of Preachers, when he had come to Bologna riding a mule, in order to lead a certain preacher with him to Piacenza h, the aforesaid mule began to be so ill that, throwing itself to the ground, it seemed about to die; a certain man is called who was accustomed to cure things of this kind, who, looking at the mule, declared it dead; the brother is vehemently saddened, and, going to the tomb of the Man of God, more devoutly begs him to confer health on the beast; the prayer finished, visiting the mule, he saw it already almost dead. But the same night a certain voice awoke the sleeping brother, saying: Rise, brother Stephen, and bring fodder to the mule; and he, rising at once, found the beast sound. And so, giving thanks to Bl. James, he went back joyfully to Piacenza. Very many wonderful things likewise the Lord showed forth by the merits of his Servant, which, if I wished to narrate them, the volume would grow too great; therefore, putting an end to this Life, I exhort all to try to follow the footsteps of so great a Man, and so, his merits supporting them, to ascend to the heavenly fatherland.