Thomas Hélye

ON BL. THOMAS HÉLYE, PRESBYTER, AT BIVILLE IN LOWER NORMANDY,

IN THE YEAR MCCLVII.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Thomas Hélye, presbyter, in Lower Normandy. (Bl.)

A. T.

§ I. The memory of Bl. Thomas in the sacred calendars. The old and more recent biographers. Some of their assertions are examined.

Thomas Hélye In that part of Lower Normandy which is in great part girded by the British Ocean, which the French, as Valois notes Notit. Galliar., art. Gallicus Oceanus, p. 218., call the Manche (Sleeve) from its shape, whence according to the present division of France it is called the prefecture of the Manche (commonly département de la Manche), and which, whereas it formerly constituted two dioceses, of Coutances and of Avranches, is now wholly subject in ecclesiastical matters to the bishopric of Coutances, there is situated a village near the sea, Biville, a little more than three leagues to the west of the port of Caesarisburgum (called in French Cherbourg). This place is made illustrious by the birth and tomb of Thomas Hélye, presbyter, who died on the XIX of October 1257, whom the Normans

everywhere call blessed and wonder-worker, and pursue with public cult already from his happy death from all memory of the ages. Which cult, although it has not hitherto been acknowledged by the apostolic See, and indeed, as formerly at various times, so also in our age supplication has been made at the same See that it may be solemnly sanctioned and approved: nevertheless there is no doubt that the public honours conferred on Thomas as a Blessed long before Urban VIII set a measure to the cult of the Servants of God fall altogether under the excepted case which is sought from a very long course of time, the toleration of the Ordinary being added; and accordingly that the continuation of the same honours is lawful, although it is no longer permitted to amplify them further without the permission of the Roman Pontiff Compare Benedict XIV, de Beatif. et Canoniz., book 2, chapter XVII and following. Wherefore, according to the custom and practice of our predecessors, who gave a place in our work to the Saints and Blessed Ollegarius, Nicholas Albergati, John Nepomucene, John of Montmirail, Nicholas of Forca Palena, Evangelist and Peregrine of Verona, Salvator of Horta, James of Bitetto, Nicholas of Flüe or de Rupe, the queens Tarasia or Teresa and Sancha, Joan daughter of Alfonso V king of Portugal, Margaret of Louvain, Humiliana de' Cerchi, Maria de la Cabeza wife of St. Isidore, and many others enjoying the privilege of the excepted case, without waiting for the judgment of the Supreme Pontiffs on their cult, we likewise must treat at present of Bl. Thomas Hélye.

[2] He is praised by Saussay Saussay wove a double elogium of him. First in the body of his Gallican Martyrology, after reviewing the Saints of France who are honoured on the XIX of October, he writes thus in smaller type: "Hélye the priest, parish priest of the church of Saint-Maurice in the prelacy of Coutances, went by a most happy path to Christ, a man of admirable abstinence, patience, chastity, mercy, piety and innocence, whom the divine working glorified living and dead." Then in the Corollary at the same day he again speaks of him in this manner: "Thomas Hélyas of blessed memory, rector of the parish church of Saint-Maurice in the diocese of Coutances, and common advocate of Lower Normandy with God, called on account of the innumerable miracles wrought in life and after death, and propagated even to these days, the glorious wonder-worker of Normandy, expires most holily in his native parish of Biville in the same diocese on the sixth weekday after the feast of St. Luke the Evangelist, which was the XIX of October, in the year from our Redemption 1257; as has already been noted in passing in this Martyrology on the same day, and will be recorded more fully in the commentaries of the work (where the fuller lights of his glorification will appear)." But these commentaries Saussay never brought to light.

[3] by Chastelain and other martyrologists; Three years after Saussay's Martyrology had come out, namely in the year 1640, as we learn from the recent biographer of Bl. Thomas Colin, Vie du B. Thomas Hélye, p. 159., the clergy of the church of Saint-Lô at Rouen, which church was formerly subject to the jurisdiction of the bishops of Coutances [Compare Farin, Hist. de la ville de Rouen, vol. II, p. 39 and following, edition of 1731, otherwise 1738; Gall. Christ. nov., vol. XI, col. 868.], inserted in the Calendar of their Manual at the XIX day of October the following: "The Venerable Thomas Hélye, priest, almoner of King St. Louis, notable for holiness, dies in the diocese of Coutances in the year of Christ one thousand two hundred and fifty-seven." Chastelain in his universal Martyrology makes mention of him in these words, which we have turned from French into Latin: "At Vauville in the diocese of Coutances, the Venerable Thomas Hélye, priest, who is buried at Biville in the same diocese." And M. de Saint-Allais, who generally keeps to Chastelain's footsteps, has thus: "The Venerable Thomas Hélye, priest, who died in the year 1257, and is honoured at Vauville in the diocese of Coutances." So also in the Martyrology, or rather Catalogue of the Saints of France, which in the year 1828 was added to the new edition of the History of the Gallican Church, there is inscribed Ven. Thomas Hélye Martyrol. Gallican ou Catalogue général etc., p. 92. Paris 1828.. Nor ought it to move anyone that Thomas is called only Venerable in these calendars. For in this place there plainly applies the observation of our Suyskens, commenting on a similar matter on the Life of Bl. John of Montmirail Vol. VIII of Sept., p. 218.: "Chastelain … called him only by the title of Venerable, namely because he is celebrated with no Office and Mass… But the things which I have thus far produced about the ancient and continued cult of Bl. John of Montmirail prove that a place is due to him in our work; because, namely, the Mass and Office, however excellent parts of ecclesiastical cult, are nevertheless not such as are necessarily required to constitute it."

[4] and in Normandy everywhere he is called Blessed. Nay, even if he of whom we are treating had never been called Blessed by anyone, not even so, provided the cult is established from elsewhere, would he have to be excluded by us; as the examples formerly alleged by Papebroch on this matter clearly demonstrate. "Thus," he says Vol. VII of May, p. 719., "we inserted in our March, at the XXII and XXVIII day, the Acts of Nicholas de Rupe and of Mary of Maillé under the bare title of Venerable, namely lest we should be the first in giving the title of Blessed to those to whom nevertheless we were proving that the cult of the Blessed had been publicly granted. And using such moderation, we did not think that we could be accused either of non-observance towards the pontifical decrees or of respect of persons or nations, etc." And that our predecessors judged rightly about the cult of Nicholas de Rupe the outcome itself proved, since by the S. Congregation of Rites on the XXI of November 1648, Innocent X assenting, the sentence was confirmed which the bishop of Constance in Switzerland had long before passed as delegate of the apostolic See, that the excepted case through a very long course of time was established, as Benedict XIV relates Loc. cit., chapter XXIV, § IV.: which sentence indeed was not yet known to our predecessors in the year 1668, when they published the third volume of March. But we have no need at all here of these examples, which I have adduced superabundantly, since Thomas Hélye for almost six centuries has been called Blessed by the common suffrage of his countrymen; of which there are witnesses not only his biographers to be reviewed by us presently, but also nearly all the others who have committed anything about him to writing, of whom I think it enough to cite one only, from a surviving slip of Bolland, Fr. Jacques Marchant, priest of our Society, who wrote thus about Bl. Thomas to Bolland from Caen in the year 1653: "He is everywhere in Normandy called le Béat Thomas, and still flourishes with miracles." Whence neither is that announcement to be blamed which is read at the present day among the additions to the Roman Martyrology in the hagiographical work of Fr. François Giry Vies des Saints, vol. II, col. 1466, Paris edition 1719.: "In the diocese of Coutances in Normandy, Bl. Thomas Hélye, priest, of admirable holiness"; as also he is called Blessed towards the end of the summary of his Life which is read in the same work In the appendix, vol. II, col. LVIII, LIX and LX., although the title of this summary calls him only Venerable.

[5] His Life by Clement, a contemporary The Life of Bl. Thomas was first written by a contemporary author, whose name is believed to have been Clement, which is prefixed to his writing, unless the copies which we have in hand deceive us. He, besides that he had seen many things of the Blessed man's affairs by himself and handled them, as he says, with his hands, professes moreover that he was present at the examination of witnesses begun to be instituted in the fourth year after his death, and that the very volume into which the acts of this inquiry had been entered was kept in his possession: from which circumstances we shall not rashly, as I think, conclude that he was enrolled in the clergy. And indeed that he was distinguished with the order of the priesthood can be argued from this, that he calls Alan, for whom he destined his work, a most dear brother; and this man seems not to have been other than Alan, parish priest of the church of St. Peter of Biville, who in the year 1317, with other pious men, as we shall relate afterwards, gave a beginning to the confraternity instituted in honour of Bl. Thomas: for Clement says that this labour of writing was undertaken by him at Alan's request with this design, that he might have some accurate narrative of the deeds and miracles of Bl. Thomas which he could show to the pilgrims arriving at Biville from every side, by whom he was frequently questioned about the Blessed man's affairs, showing from it what they ought to imitate or to wonder at; all of which things certainly fitted aptly a man discharging the parochial office. That also which is sufficiently gathered already from what has been alleged, namely that Alan, at whose exhortation Clement undertook the writing, had little insight into the affairs of Bl. Thomas, can be an argument that he was set over the governing of the parish of Biville only after some space had elapsed after the Blessed man's age, which could easily have been of twenty or more years, and accordingly that he was the same whom we were just saying was still living in the year 1317. If this be so, I should judge that the time in which Clement wrote his work is to be brought back to about the beginning of the XIV century. That he wrote after the year 1274 is certain; since he speaks of the death of Jean d'Essey, bishop of Coutances, which happened in that year.

[6] and two other old ones, His lucubration was preserved in a parchment codex of the church of Biville, from which three copies are available to us among the Bollandian collections, which are now kept in the Library of Burgundy at Brussels. The first was sent to our Bolland from Paris in the year 1642 by Fr. Jacques Dinet, confessor of King Louis XIII. The second Henschen and Papebroch, while returning from Rome in the year 1661 they were making their journey through France, received as a gift from the most celebrated Pierre-Daniel Huet, who was afterwards bishop of Avranches. The third was imparted to the same by Fr. Pierre Champion, S.J., in the year 1672. The Huet copy presents only the Life of Bl. Thomas; in the other two there are added to the Life all those miracles which Clement subjoined to it, both from the first juridical information, at which he himself had been present, and from the second, which took place about the year 1272. From these three copies, therefore, collated with one another, we shall publish the Life with the miracles after this commentary, and to these we shall add the more recent miracles from various writers. The same codex of which we have spoken, as the recent biographer relates from a certain note of the English bibliographer Dibdin Colin, op. cit., p. 155 and 156., contained two other Lives of the Blessed: of which one consisted of French verses, composed, as is believed, at the end of the XIII century by Jean Hélie or Hélye, a kinsman of Bl. Thomas; the other was written in Latin prose by an author known from nowhere else than from this distich attached:

Nomen Baptistæ: cognomen nominis iste Gessit qui dudum vestivit frigore nudum.

[The name of the Baptist: the surname, of the name that he bore who once clothed the naked man in the cold.]

By which seems to be indicated Jean-Baptiste Martin: for what he sings in the latter verse regards St. Martin while still a catechumen and soldier, who, when nothing

he had, to use the words of the Roman Breviary At the XI of Nov., besides his arms and the garment with which he was covered, gave part of his cloak at Amiens to a poor and naked man who asked him to give him an alms in the name of Christ. But that neither of the two writers just praised related anything about Bl. Thomas which Clement too did not relate sufficiently appears from his more recent biographers, who narrate scarcely any other facts than those which are to be found in Clement: nay, if they add anything to his narrative, they take it from tradition, not from those old writings. Further, that that codex of Biville was lost about the end of the XVIII century is testified by Étienne-Joseph Leverrier, at that time parish priest of Biville, speaking thus in a summary of the Life of Bl. Thomas composed by himself Colin, op. cit., p. 155.: "His Life was written by pious contemporary men, in verse and prose, on parchments which were kept in the church of Biville, and which perished in the abominable revolution."

[7] then several more recent writers Something must now be said of the principal biographers whom the Blessed man obtained after the invention of the art of printing. The first of these, as far as is known, was Fr. François Lemyere or (as they write today) Lemière, of the Order of Friars Minor of the Observance, theologian in the convent of Bayeux. To the Acts and miracles narrated by Clement, which he expressed in French style, he added twenty-one miracles wrought by the intercession of the Blessed from the year 1624 to the year 1632, in which he brought his little book to light with a dedicatory letter to Guillaume Hélye, lord of Liserne, overseer of the corn supply at Bayeux in the king's name. From that little book were afterwards made various summaries of the Life of Bl. Thomas, as will presently be clear. After this a man of the same surname as he, Jean Hélye, canon regular of the hospital of Coutances and parish priest of the church of St. Peter in that city, gave diligent labour to illustrating the affairs of Bl. Thomas. He omitted nothing that he might obtain accurate knowledge of all things regarding the Blessed man. Whatever manuscripts about him existed in the church of St. Peter at Biville he caused to be communicated to him, the authority being interposed of Pierre de Blanger, vicar general of the bishop of Coutances, whose written testimony on this matter still survives; and he consulted moreover whatever printed books treated of the virtues and miracles of the Blessed, of which kind were, as he himself reviews them, the book of Fr. François Lemière, of which we have already spoken, the hagiographical works both of Fr. Antoine Girard, S.J., and of FF. Simon Martin and François Giry of the Order of Minims, the sacred elogia of René de Cérisiers, and also the Gallican Martyrology of André du Saussay: besides these he testifies that he used the reports of upright men worthy of credit. Helped by these aids, the diligent man unfolded the Acts of Bl. Thomas in many chapters, related some things about his cult, and not only recorded again the older and already published miracles, but also published many others which he had collected from the archives of the church of Biville, omitting many which, although they were reported there, he perceived were not proved by sufficiently firm arguments: which caution certainly betrays a prudent writer, and is apt to win credit for his statements. His work, written on parchment, he dedicated in the year 1691 to the prelate of Coutances, Charles-François de Loménie de Brienne, and gave the original volume itself as a gift to the parish church of Biville, in which it is still preserved; and according to it, in the year 1822, by special licence granted on the XXVIII of April 1821 by Pierre Dupont-Poursat, who then presided over the diocese of Coutances, this very Life of Bl. Thomas was printed, enriched with some more recent miracles Ibid., p. 161 and following.

[8] have diligently written. There are commended also the things which Charles Trigan, parish priest of Digosville, in the century just past, inserted about Bl. Thomas and his posthumous glory in his book on the life and virtues of Antoine Paté, parish priest of Cherbourg Ibid., p. 166 and following, and a certain new Life of the Blessed which a certain anonymous writer published in our age with a preliminary commentary on the cult of the Saints and the veneration of relics Ibid., p. 169.. Of the books reviewed thus far, however, none is available to us except that of Fr. François Lemière and the Lives of the Saints collected by FF. Simon Martin and François Giry. But the Rev. M. Jean-Louis-Auguste Colin, parish priest of Jobourg, brought it about that we should not greatly miss the rest, who in the year 1840 made public a new biography of Bl. Thomas, dedicated to the Most Illustrious M. Louis-Jean Robiou, prelate of Coutances, from which he allowed nothing of the things which the preceding Lives comprise to be absent; nay rather he added very many things to these, collected with notable care and industry from various documents published and unpublished [Ibid., preface, p. III. Compare Ami de la Religion, no. 3478, vol. CX, p. 351 and 352.]: so that this book alone can stand for us in place of all the books published about Bl. Thomas, and will be the principal fountain from which we may derive into this commentary of ours the things which, according to the plan of our work, must necessarily be put before the Life written by Clement, the primary biographer. Which indeed I should wish to be understood especially of the things which the Rev. M. Colin has written learnedly and piously about the cult of the Blessed continued to our times. For, to confess candidly, as regards the Acts of the Blessed themselves, no writer is preferable to me to Clement: whence if anything is read among the more recent which either altogether disagrees with the Clementine narrative or at least does not sufficiently well accord with it, I shall think myself permitted to hold it as fictitious, or at the least as suspect, either wholly or in part; which indulgence the pious devotees of Bl. Thomas will, as I trust, grant me not unwillingly for their love of truth.

[9] It is asked about how many years he lived, The space of life which the Blessed man spent among mortals is defined by the Rev. M. Colin as seventy years, and consequently he is established to have been born in the year 1187, Philip Augustus reigning in France, and Henry II, king of England, holding the duchy of Normandy Page 2.: although the writer himself confesses that the age to which the Blessed man came is not indicated sufficiently expressly by any of the earlier biographers Pages 97 and 98.. He sets up his reckoning thus, that from the thirty-fifth year of his age, in which he supposes the sacred Order of the diaconate was conferred on him Page 26., he says there must be numbered first two years spent in pilgrimage to Rome and Compostela, then four given to the study of theology at Paris, then twenty-six which the Blessed man, distinguished with the priesthood, spent wholly on evangelical labours through Lower Normandy, afterwards a year or a little more spent partly in the court of King St. Louis, partly in the office of parish priest at Saint-Maurice, and finally almost two years in which he was afflicted with diseases and infirmities at Biville or in its neighbourhood Pages 84, 91 and 98.. But let us now hear Clement, who determines in these words the time which flowed from the reception of the priesthood by Bl. Thomas to his death: "Pressing on ardently for the gains of souls, he went visiting all the churches of the said dioceses" (namely of Coutances and Avranches) "for about twenty-two years, in all, as is said before, preaching at least once, in the greater ones twice or three times, on foot, and before his death for about four years barefoot. He mounted a horse, however, sometimes, when he had promised to set out to some church, not for his own sake, but for the sake of the expectation of the people, lest it should be burdened with weariness. Before his death, for two years or about, he endured various bodily infirmities in various places." Which words, as far as I understand, by no means require that to the twenty-two years we should add another four years, in which the Blessed man went round the churches barefoot, and two others still, which were the last of his life; but rather I think it must be said that these two are contained within those four, and the four again within the twenty-two. For that in the last two years of his life also the Blessed man did not abstain from running about through various places, although he was sometimes held back by diseases, the last phrase of Clement which we have alleged sufficiently intimates; and the four years of which the same Clement speaks above seem to regard solely the bareness of the feet, in that for the eighteen preceding years, in our opinion, the Blessed man made his apostolic journeys indeed for the most part on foot, but nevertheless shod. Therefore we believe that he was ordained priest in the year 1234 or 1235, almost seven years later than the Rev. M. Colin establishes. And another assertion of Clement favours this conclusion of ours, namely that Bl. Thomas, during the four years in which he lived at Paris before he became a priest, was a scholar of Hugh of Saint-Cher, who at that time was teaching theological science there. For from the series of the things done by Hugh it is clear that the year 1230 had already run when he first began to lecture publicly on the books of the Sentences: and he had entered the Order of Preachers on the XXII of February 1225, nor before that had he given theological but juridical lectures Compare Quétif and Échard, Script. Ord. Praed., vol. I, p. 125 and 195.. However, that Bl. Thomas was a man of mature age when he was promoted to the priesthood we entirely agree with the Rev. M. Colin: for, on the testimony of Clement, he first ruled schools in grammar in many places, then for some time lived most religiously in his native place, afterwards undertook the Roman and Compostelan pilgrimage, and lived four years at Paris; amid all of which he must have come to an age already very well established. Wherefore it is also likely to us that, when he went away to heaven, he was not much less than a septuagenarian, or perhaps even more; especially as Clement also asserts that he died full of days.

[10] and whether the offices of almoner and parish priest, I come now to those facts which are added to Clement's narrative by the more recent writers. Fr. François Lemière sets out these things thus Récit de la vie et des miracles du B. Thomas Hélye, p. 35 and 36.: "St. Louis, king of France, whose whole house and household were holy, wished to use Bl. Thomas as minister of sacred things. Since he could not honourably resist the wishes of so great a prince, he accepted the office of royal almoner; and discharged it so holily that only with the greatest reluctance did the king at length grant him leave to depart from it… The Blessed man, returned into Lower Normandy, undertook to exercise the office of parish priest at Saint-Maurice in the diocese of Coutances; where then by obligation he performed all those things which before he had performed elsewhere out of charity. He formed that people to uprightness within a short time: which done, leaving it to the divine keeping and the guidance of another parish priest, he withdrew to Biville." The Rev. M. Colin develops the same things more fully from Jean Hélye, and augments them with some things Page 83 and following: namely, that by the intercession of Bl. Thomas, among other things, there seems to have been obtained the diploma by which

St. Louis granted part of the forest of Brix to the hospital of Coutances; likewise that to the Blessed man, returning from the court to his country, there was given by the Saint king a silk chasuble interwoven with gold and silver, with a precious stole, and also a chalice and paten of gilded silver, which royal gifts are still seen today at Biville; then that Jean d'Essey, bishop of Coutances, came to Biville and committed to the Blessed man the parish of Saint-Maurice to be administered, in these words: "Many poor to be nourished, many sick to be consoled and relieved, many sweats and labours to be endured, behold what tithes and what revenues I offer you"; and that thereupon the Blessed man presided over the said parish for seven months, as certain writers will have it, or a whole year or even a year and a half, as it pleases others, and that in memory of this thing there are still preserved the chasuble, alb and girdle which he used there in sacrificing. That this chasuble also came from the munificence of St. Louis, about which the biographers of Bl. Thomas are silent, is intimated by the author of a Summary composed at the end of the XVII century, which is entitled "Idea of the immemorial cult shown to Blessed Thomas," and has been made public by the Rev. M. Colin Page 195 and following. For after he has assigned from the old History, that is, from the Life written by Clement, four heads which show in how great an opinion of holiness Thomas, while still living, was held among men, he puts forward the fifth from Tradition thus: "On account of the fame of his holiness St. Louis, king of France, created him his almoner… He gave him a silver and gilded chalice with a paten and two precious chasubles." But that writer passes over the Blessed man's parish priesthood at Saint-Maurice, although a little lower he notes these things about that parish Page 199.: "The erection or beginning of the triennial procession of the clergy and inhabitants of Saint-Maurice to the tomb of the said Bl. Thomas, which has continued to this day, about the year 1260."

[11] this one at Saint-Maurice, Truly this piety of the parish of Saint-Maurice towards Bl. Thomas, which has shown itself by many other indications also from many centuries, and the preservation of his priestly vestments there, besides which a bone from his arm is also had there Colin, op. cit., p. 120., seem to afford some demonstration that the merits of the Blessed priest towards the people already named were notable; whether, however, he truly and properly presided over it as parish priest does not seem to be placed so beyond all hazard of doubt that it is not permitted to desire firmer arguments for this thing. Nor would I admit without some tempering the things which are commonly received about the intercourse of King St. Louis with Bl. Thomas. For the beginning of this intercourse, as the Rev. M. Colin does not deny Page 84., cannot be put earlier than the year 1254, and that indeed when it had already elapsed in great part: since St. Louis, having set sail from the port of Acre or Ptolemais on the XXV day of April of that year, landed in the month of July before the port of Olbia in Provence; whence by a land journey he came to Paris on the VII day of September, without having turned aside meanwhile to Normandy, as is manifest from the series of places through which he passed Compare vol. V of August, p. 438 and 439.. Now if with the more recent biographers you admit that the Blessed man, returning from the royal court, was set over the parish of Saint-Maurice, and if with the same you number from his withdrawal from this parish about two years which before his death he spent sick at Biville Colin, p. 91. or Vauville Id., p. 98., you will consequently have to establish that the parochial office was undertaken by him not later than in the course of the year 1255; nay, that whatever things are related by the biographers we have mentioned about the Blessed man's stay with St. Louis and his parish priesthood, if all were true, must necessarily be concluded within the space of time which flowed from the last months of the year 1254 to about the end of the next following year. But, not to repeat now what we showed before from Clement, that this very space of time belongs to those four years in which the Blessed man was accustomed to go round the churches of his country barefoot, as he had done before shod: not to say this again, I say, certainly to those who think that the Blessed man lived in the royal court in the year 1255 and thereafter in the parish of Saint-Maurice, no small difficulty ought to be caused by what Clement relates among the narrations of his miracles, and the Rev. M. Colin himself did not omit to record Page 44., that within holy week of the same year he preached in the cemetery of St. George near Saint-Lô; from which it sufficiently appears that he had not then yet bidden farewell to frequenting sacred missions according to his custom: so that hence also I am the more confirmed in that opinion which I put forward above, that an end was put to the apostolic journeys of the most holy man through various places only by his last sickness.

[12] that one with King St. Louis, he exercised. Meanwhile I should by no means wish to oppose the tradition about the mutual intimacy between St. Louis and Bl. Thomas, of which a set of sacrificial vestments of plainly royal splendour still survives as a monument; but I embrace it willingly and gladly, provided only it be reduced to such a formula as does not conflict with the express testimonies of Clement: for whatever is found to be contrary to these I think is adventitious to that tradition, and was added to it little by little in the course of time, as happens, for the sake of ornament. Now our Stilting has shown Vol. V of August, p. 452 and 453. that the Saint king in the year 1256 went to Normandy, and went through almost the whole of it, so that he conferred many benefits there especially on religious and the poor. Under this progress through Normandy, therefore, which had begun already in the month of March and did not end before the month of August, I should believe it happened that St. Louis met Bl. Thomas somewhere, or, having heard the talk of many about his eminent holiness and apostolic zeal, according to the mind which he had towards all pious and sincere worshippers of God, summoned the man to himself, and perhaps kept him with him for some time. Moreover, if we attend to what, as Stilting observes, is read written in the Chronicle of the abbey of Savigny: "And in those days he visited very many monasteries in Normandy, and offered them very many silk cloths, and also made many alms in the same province"; there is certainly no reason why it should seem a wonder both that the munificent king on that occasion presented the most holy priest and apostle of Normandy with most precious vestments and sacrificial vessels, and also that he at some time made him the arbiter of distributing alms to the poor: in which sense indeed he could rightly be called royal almoner; without its being necessary for us to admit, what can be admitted only with the greatest reluctance, that he exercised that office at some time in the very court of the Saint king. And these things indeed about the Acts of Bl. Thomas we hold it enough to have noticed. The rest, if there is any, will be able to find a place in the Annotations to his Life written by Clement.

§ II. The proceedings for the canonization of Bl. Thomas, and the cult shown him up to the troubles which arose in France about the end of the XVIII century.

The cause of canonization begun soon after his death. Scarcely had Bl. Thomas breathed out his soul when at once Jean d'Essey, bishop of Coutances, began to think of requesting his canonization from the Roman Pontiff, moved both by his own esteem of the Blessed man and by the prodigies which he had heard had happened at his tomb. And so, fifteen months not yet having elapsed from his happy death, namely at the beginning of the year 1259, he sent away a certain one of his priests for that purpose to Pope Alexander IV, as the Rev. M. Delamare, vicar general, lately found recorded in an old Ordo written about those times, in these words Colin, p. 104 and 105.: "In the same year of the Lord, on the fourth day of January, Honoratus, vicar of the altar of Blessed Mary of Coutances, took the road to the Roman curia for the canonization of Blessed Thomas of Buevilla, by command of Jean d'Essey, bishop of Coutances." Alexander received the petition with favourable ears, and not long after gave command to the prelate Jean himself and to Radulphus de Gardinis, prior of the Friars Preachers of Coutances, that they should duly inquire into the life, merits and miracles of the Blessed man, and report on them to the apostolic See. And that the bishop might take care that the matter be dispatched more quickly, the Cardinals Hugh of Saint-Cher and Odo of Châteauroux added spurs to him by letters written to him, who had formerly, while Bl. Thomas was applying himself to theology in the university of Paris, begun to love him and to look up to him as a Saint. Those two, therefore, delegated by the authority of the apostolic See, Clement the biographer of Bl. Thomas assisting in all things, gave a beginning to the prescribed inquiry in the year 1261; which they continued to make under the pontificate of Urban IV, who occupied the chair of Peter from the year just said until the II day of October of the year 1264. The matter being completed, Bishop Jean committed to two rural priests a report on the life of the Blessed man and on about fourteen miracles selected from a far greater number, which seemed sufficient for obtaining canonization, to be carried to Clement IV, the successor of Urban. Which, although it was then indeed approved by the Supreme Pontiff, nevertheless, "on account of the lack of solemnity of the messengers," as Clement the biographer says, lacked its effect, and the bishop was enjoined again to institute a repeated examination on certain miracles about which inquiry had been made less diligently, and also on new miracles. These commands were indeed obeyed without delay; but, this second examination being already completed, and things being brought almost to an end, the death of Jean d'Essey in the year 1274 interrupted the business; nor was any thought given thereafter to resuming it until the XVII century.

[14] Chapels erected to him at Biville While these things were being done, there had been erected in the year 1260, in honour of Bl. Thomas and for burying his body more honourably, a most beautiful chapel, to the building of which King St. Louis is said to have contributed the expenses. Certainly Martin, provost of the priory of Héauville of the Order of St. Benedict, as we learn from Clement's narrative of the miracles, for the sake of fulfilling a vow sent one workman to Biville to labour at the new structure. That chapel, says the Rev. M. Colin Page 115., built behind the old parish church, is very elegant and solid: but today it constitutes the choir and moreover part of the nave of the same church, the former nave having long since been pulled down, whose foundations are still seen in the cemetery near the porch. Of this ancient monument, which the faithful, impelled by piety and confidence, raised to the glory of Thomas Hélye, mention is made in folio LVII of the white book of the bishopric of Coutances in these words: "In the said parish is the chapel of blessed Thomas of Boevilla." Now that book, which they call white, is a list of the benefices of the diocese of Coutances, drawn up about the year 1332 or 1340, which, having been lost at the end of the XVIII century, was at length found in the year 1840, and is now in the possession of the Rev. M. Delamare praised a little before. Further,

in the same year 1260 that we have named, while it was still running its course, the body of Bl. Thomas was translated from the place where it had first been laid, at the south side of the church, into the middle of the new chapel, and over it was built a stone tomb one and a half feet high from the pavement; this was surrounded by an iron railing fitted to receive thirty candles, since men who had experienced the help of the Blessed in their illnesses and other calamities often brought votive candles there, as may be read in Clement; and this devotion has indeed persisted down to these times Pp. 131 and 132..

[15] and at Teurthéville; and his feast both at St.-Maurice To about the same epoch, says R. D. Colin again P. 116., must be referred the chapel erected in the village of Teurthéville-Hague in honour of our Blessed. But it was not preserved in the same way as that of Biville, so that in the seventeenth century nothing but ruins remained of it. Nevertheless, even then and in the following century the clergy of that parish were accustomed every year to lead a procession of suppliants there, and many of the faithful went on pilgrimage to the same place out of devotion on the first Saturday of the month of May. Now those very ruins have been entirely removed; but we know survivors who knew and visited them in the time of their youth. In the middle of the chapel there was a stone on which sick children used to be placed, that they might obtain health. This stone, moreover, remains in the same place to this day, and many fearful mothers, as of old, carrying their dearest pledges in their arms, come there to pray and to implore the powerful intercession of Thomas Hélye with God. Finally, likewise about the year 1260, as we have already seen above, the author of the Idée du culte immémorial places the beginning of the triennial procession of the parish of St.-Maurice to the tomb of Bl. Thomas, concerning which R. D. Colin writes as follows P. 121.: There are many who remember having seen from their earliest youth the parish of St.-Maurice proceeding in order to the tomb of the Servant of God with wonderful devotion and piety, a huge throng of people joining it from the places through which it passed. That solemn custom ceased some years before the upheaval of affairs in France, when the bishop of Coutances, Talaru de Chalmazel, forbade processions to be made before sunrise; by which diocesan statute it came about that the procession could no longer take place, on account of the distance that lies between the village of St.-Maurice and Biville (more than six leagues, unless I am mistaken): for, that it might be accomplished within one day, it used to be begun at midnight. In the place of this procession there succeeded the feast of the holy Relics, which is kept on the Monday of Pentecost. To this feast, moreover, as also to the anniversary solemnity of the death of Bl. Thomas, at which a sermon is preached in his praise, a great crowd of the faithful is accustomed to flock to St.-Maurice from every side, as the same praiseworthy writer likewise testifies; and it is the custom on those days to use the priestly vestments of the Blessed himself for celebrating Mass. The part of his arm which we said (num. 11) is preserved there has been enclosed, together with several relics of other saints, in a reliquary on which these words are inscribed: All Saints, intercede for us Pp. 120, 121 and 122..

[16] and as it was instituted at Biville. But to return to Biville: it can scarcely be doubted that his annual feast began to be celebrated there shortly after the death of the Blessed. From the acts of the erection of the confraternity, which had its beginning in the year 1317, it is most certainly established that it had already then for some time been accustomed to be kept solemnly. Nor did it thereafter suffer any interruption, except at that season when, sixty years ago, the fury of impious men raged against the temples of God throughout France and other regions. It is, moreover, highly probable that the manner of celebrating the feast that was formerly in use differed not much from that which the clergy of Biville observe at the present time, a numerous clergy from neighbouring places hastening together to enhance the celebration, by licence granted and often renewed by the Ordinaries of Coutances. Namely [Pp. 122 and 123. Cf. Ami de la Religion, nos. 785 and 3199, vol. XXXI, p. 25, vol. CIII, p. 263.], since it is not yet lawful to recite an Office with Mass specifically of Bl. Thomas, inasmuch as he has hitherto lacked the honour of formal (as it is called) canonization, both the Office and the Mass of All Saints are sung with annual rite, that is, with that rite which is proper to the greater feasts of the year; and a panegyrical oration is delivered about him to the people. For the sacrifice of the Mass are used the priestly vestments and the sacred vessels which the Blessed had received from St. Louis the king, and which R. D. Colin has had represented by the lithographic art, and describes in this manner Pp. 119 and 120.: The chasuble is very ample, and hangs down from the shoulders to the hands. It is made of silk cloth interwoven with gold and silver threads and marked with several shields, each of which is adorned with either an eagle or a lion or a lily or a tower; but now it is all but worn out with age. The stole, which is very short, consists of squares worked with gold, silver and silk thread. The burse, which was still extant in the century just elapsed, was likewise of silk and marked with shields like the chasuble. The chalice is of silver gilt, having a broad cup but a very short stem; but the foot spreads out very widely, and on its circumference those words are engraved six times in Gothic letters: Suis donné par amour (that is, I was given out of love). Finally, in the middle of the paten, which is of the same material, there is seen engraved a hand arranged as if for blessing. Both sacred vessels are in a perfectly intact state.

[17] A confraternity begun in his honour in the year 1317, In the year 1317, which we mentioned a little before, on the 19th day of October, there had gathered in the church of Biville to celebrate the feast of Bl. Thomas, as was customary every year, among others, as is written in the original acts Colin, pp. 170 and 171., the venerable and discreet persons Master Alan, priest, curate of the parish of St. Peter of Biville; Brother William de Vallivilla, of the Friars Minor of Bayeux; Brother John de Rouville, prior of Héauville; Master William le Repas, parish priest of the church of the Holy Cross for the second portion; and also William de Canoville, cleric; who, moved by piety and devotion toward the Saint, entered into a compact among themselves concerning the establishment of a confraternity or society in honour of God, of All Saints, and of the death of Blessed Thomas. Accordingly by common counsel they laid down the following laws, which I render into Latin from the French text of R. D. Colin Pp. 171 and 172.: 1° Every year, when the same feast day came round, at least three Masses would be celebrated in the chapel of Bl. Thomas, the first of the Holy Spirit, the second of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the third for the dead, and an alms would be given to all the poor who were present there; 2° care should be taken that lights burned perpetually within the chapel; 3° a priest would be attached to the same chapel, to be paid a fixed stipend from the goods of the sodality, who every week should celebrate there at least three Masses, of the Holy Spirit, of Blessed Mary and for the dead; 4° whoever was received into the society would pay to it for his entrance a modius of wheat of annual rent, or twenty shillings in extinction of the debt; 5° the parish priest of Biville and Brother William de Vallivilla would have the charge of receiving and expending the funds, and they would every year render an account of their administration to four members deputed for this, and the acts of the business, entered in an account-book with the signatures of the provisor and of those four members, would be shown to the head of the society; 6° if it should happen that the provisor died or otherwise became unfit to fulfil his office, the four examiners would designate a successor for him; and if any one of these likewise failed, one who should hold his place would be elected by the remaining three and the provisor. Within a short time the pious society received great increases, abbots, priors, parish priests and others of the clergy, likewise abbesses, nuns, magnates and innumerable other men of every condition eagerly giving it their names, as could be ascertained from the registers that were formerly carefully preserved in the church of Biville, in which also the name of some bishop of Coutances, I know not which, is said to have been inscribed Pp. 173 and 174..

[18] and in the course of time These registers, which were contained in two codices, the one of parchment, the other of paper, are now lost; but the author of the Idée du culte immémorial, who was able to consult them, culled a great many things from them and transferred them into his little work. Since these things are of the first service in illustrating the posthumous glory of Bl. Thomas, it will be worth while to copy the same here. Accordingly, after he has gone through in fifteen chapters, in summary fashion, various arguments for the sanctity of Bl. Thomas and the cult shown to him, from the sixteenth chapter he proceeds to write thus In Colin, pp. 200 ff.: 16° Erection of the confraternity or society in honour of God, of All Saints and of Bl. Thomas, made in the year 1317. 17° Catalogue of all the donations made to the said fraternity, namely of 93 modii of wheat of annual rent, of four closes (that is, enclosed fields), six loaves, twenty-two deniers, fourteen tournois, four capons and eight hens of annual rent, made in the year 1325. 18° Catalogue of those who gave the aforesaid, drawn up in the aforesaid year 1325. 19° Catalogue of all the brothers and sisters of the said fraternity, made in the year 1325. 20° Constitution or election of a procurator of the said fraternity, with power of substitution, made in the year 1366, namely on the 28th day of October, the feast of SS. Simon and Jude, which day was thenceforth appointed for the rendering of accounts, as R. D. Colin notes P. 173.. 21° On the bell of the church these words are written: Saint Thomas of Biville, 1434. Original instrument of the alienation of an estate belonging to blessed Thomas, under the date 1469. 22° Instrument of the division of a certain inheritance, by which a certain person is bound to pay seven asses of annual rent to blessed Thomas, in the year 1497. 23° Instrument of sale, in which mention is made of seven shillings of annual rent owed to blessed Thomas in the church of Biville, in the year 1528.

[19] much promoted. At the instance of the governor of the light of blessed Thomas a new mausoleum was erected, and his image set up, 1530 and 1533. 24° A petition presented to the viscount of Cherbourg by the factor of the fraternity of blessed Thomas founded in the church of Biville, under the date 1534. 25° Act of order or summons made at the instance of the administrator of the light of blessed Thomas for the payment of seven shillings of annual rent, 1541. 26° Act by which, for the payment of two shillings and six deniers of annual rent owed to the confraternity of Bl. Thomas, the cow of the debtor is seized by the royal bailiff, 1543. 27° Public contract by which an annual rent of 20 shillings is constituted for the factor of Blessed Thomas, 1570. 28° Act of enumeration of the letters produced before the viscount of Valognes

in the seat of Tollevast by the administrator of the light of blessed Thomas, in a pending lawsuit over 20 shillings of annual rent, 1581. 29° Sentence of the said viscount of Valognes delivered between the factor of the light of Lord Saint Thomas of Biville, for the payment of 20 shillings of annual rent, 1581. 30° Another sentence of the said viscount pronounced between the said factor of the light of blessed Thomas of Biville and a widow, for the payment of 20 shillings, 1581. 31° Sentence of the viscount of Valognes at Cherbourg between the administrator of the light of Saint Thomas of Biville (some words are wanting), 1581. 32° Presentation made in the acts of the said seat at Cherbourg by the procurator of the light of blessed Saint Thomas, 1582. 33° Another judgment of the viscount of Valognes at Cherbourg between the administrator of the light of blessed Saint Thomas of Biville and the said widow, 1582. 34° Testament of a priest by which a sheep is given to the light of Blessed Mary, and a like sheep to the light of blessed Thomas, 1690. 35° Contract for the foundation of an obit in the church of Biville, by which three asses of annual rent are given to the light of blessed Thomas, 1592. 36° Contract of donation by which nine asses are given by Master William Frimot, priest, to the light of blessed Thomas in the said church, 1601. 37° Testament of the said Frimot, priest, by the codicil of which he gives two coins, one to the light of Blessed Mary and the other to the light of blessed Thomas, 1605. 38° Inquiry made into the miracles wrought by God through the merits of Blessed Thomas, by the official of Coutances, 1628. 39° Register of the brothers and sisters of the confraternity of Blessed Thomas, in the years 1629 and following up to the year 1692, all of whom the author lists one by one. 40° Contract of the acquisition made by the lord of Biville of a portion of land which is commonly called the field of Blessed Thomas, the field of the Cross of Blessed Thomas, 1658. Thus far that author, who, as we said elsewhere (num. 10), wrote at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and some of whose statements must be developed somewhat more fully.

[20] His tomb renewed once and again, The field which he mentioned just now in his last chapter is still called the field of Blessed Thomas, just as the cross of Blessed Thomas has kept its name, as R. D. Colin testifies Pp. 118 and 138.; from whom we also learn that at the extreme western end of the village of Biville there exists a spring at which, as tradition holds, the Blessed used to sit down and relieve his thirst by drinking, when he was going back from Cherbourg to his native soil to visit his parents: which in memory of this is called the spring of Blessed Thomas P. 12.. Concerning the bell of the church which, as the 21st chapter of the Idée du culte immémorial reports, received in the year 1434 the name Saint Thomas of Biville, the same R. D. Colin observes P. 118. that it lasted for more than three centuries; but that now among the bells of the church of Biville there is likewise one, though far more recent, which is distinguished by the name of Thomas, but with the title of Saint suppressed, as I conjecture, and probably that of Blessed substituted. Concerning the mausoleum, of which mention is made in the 23rd chapter of the oft-mentioned Idée, the diligent man again writes these things Pp. 132 and 133.: In the year MDXXXIII Michael Leverrier, parish priest of Biville and dean of Orglandes, had the old tomb raised, the iron railing by which it was surrounded being removed. Here is the description of the second tomb then built, as it is read in the work of Charles Trigan…: "This tomb is three feet high, three feet and an inch wide, and six and a half long. On it is placed a stone on which the Blessed is represented lying on his back, his face turned toward the altar, and clothed in priestly vesture. The surround of the tomb was decorated with paintings showing various deeds and miracles of the Servant of God, some small portions of which are still to be seen; but they have been greatly worn away by the ill-advised devotion of the people, who are accustomed to scrape the crust onto which the colours were laid, that they may carry the dust away with them." But John Hélye, who wrote half a century before the parish priest of Digulleville (Charles Trigan), informs us that among those ornaments there were represented the three adorable Persons of the Holy Trinity, Bl. Thomas preaching before two bishops, a certain blind man given sight, and six dead men recalled to life. This second tomb lasted until the year 1778, when the nobleman Dugardin, lord of Biville, substituted a new one for it, covered with a white marble stone, on which the effigy of the Blessed was carved just as on the older stone, but with the face turned toward the people: which face, as also the hands and feet, impious ravagers mutilated at the end of the last century; but otherwise they spared that stone P. 133..

[21] and various effigies erected. Besides this effigy there is also seen a painted image of the Blessed in the left part of the church of Biville. Another very ancient image of the same is possessed by the church of St.-Maurice P. 118.. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, as the often-cited D. Colin records P. 117., Julian Lesauvage, esquire, lord and patron of the parish of Vallivilla, having thrown down the walls of the room in which Bl. Thomas had died, which was situated over the main gate of the house by which there is entry into the outer court, set up two niches, in one of which he placed an image of the Servant of God. "And it is credible," adds John Hélye, "that, had not death snatched away that most pious man, he would have rebuilt that whole place and asked the bishop to consecrate it, so that a chapel might be made in honour of God under the invocation of the Blessed." Praise is also given to Peter Doyard, parish priest of the village which has the name Saint-Pierre-Église, because in the same seventeenth century, as R. D. Colin again says Ibid., he closed off with a grille one of the chapels of his church and hung up in it an image of the Servant of God. This most pious priest by his gifts contributed very much to building the sacristy of the church of Biville, which still stands today, and to bringing the church itself into a better state. For more than forty years he came every year to Biville to visit the tomb of Bl. Thomas, and there, in sacred retreat, to give himself to meditation on divine things: he was accustomed to say that this was one of the chief practices of his piety; and he wished, so far as he could, to persuade all of it. Several times he recounted the praises of the Servant of God in a sermon on his feast day.

[22] Frequent pilgrimages to his tomb: And that in the said century pilgrimages to the tomb of the Blessed were very much frequented, a rich witness is Fr. Francis Lemière, who in the year 1632 published a Life of the Blessed, with an apology added for those who venerate him. How great a concourse, he says Lemière, op. cit., pp. 109 ff., we see with our own eyes at his tomb! Bishops and other prelates, ecclesiastical men both secular and regular, governors of provinces, chief commanders of camps, royal administrators and other noblemen, noble matrons, the communities of towns, municipalities and villages ten or twelve leagues distant, bring their vows and offerings there. In these our days it was possible to see the wife of the supreme commander of the French armies and her daughter the countess (whom may God load with His blessings), who, after they had erected many monuments of their piety in the churches of Lower Normandy and elsewhere, wished also that there should exist a token of the special devotion which with the best counsel they bear in their hearts toward Bl. Thomas, who with the fullest right is to be named holy patron of his country: namely by giving to his church, which they had most devoutly visited, ornaments fully answering to their pious affections. But greater consolation is produced in me by this, that a man of illustrious stock, just now designated for the bishopric of Coutances (Leonor de Matignon, who received episcopal consecration on the 9th of October 1633), grandson of the supreme commander of the camps in France, most celebrated for his illustrious achievements, and son of the most distinguished administrator of Lower Normandy for the king, descending through his mother, a princess of eminent virtue (Eleonora of Orléans), from the renowned lineage of the dukes of Longueville, conspicuous moreover for gifts of intellect and mind and for uprightness of morals, has publicly testified his feelings toward our Saint, visiting his tomb with such affection as to give us hope that he will use his own and his family's authority and the king's favour with the Supreme Pontiff, so that at last at some time the cause of the canonization of our Saint may receive the desired end. This hope was greatly increased by the vicars of the venerable chapter of Coutances, the see being vacant, both by journeys undertaken to Biville and by mandates issued that the miracles of the Saint should be carefully noted down: whence also it is clear how great is the esteem of that honourable college of canons for the merits of our Saint.

[23] Pilgrimages: Now when Leonor, the future bishop, came to Biville, his mother seems to have given herself there to a novena of prayers to Bl. Thomas, so far as can be gathered from the narrations of Charles Trigan In Colin, op. cit., p. 167., who moreover, among those who went to the tomb of the Blessed out of devotion, lists John Peter Camus, bishop of Belley, once the familiar of St. Francis de Sales; James Goyon de Matignon, who in the year 1671 was given as successor to the great Bossuet in the bishopric of Condom; Francis de Carbonel de Canisy, who afterwards presided over the diocese of Limoges, etc. And to the testimonies cited thus far we can add what Francis de Coret, S.J., wrote from Caen to Henschenius in the year 1661, when he sent him the Life received from Huet: I send the Life of Bl. Thomas, who is very celebrated here. There is no one who does not undertake pilgrimages to his tomb: he is invoked most of all by barren women.

[24] whence the old confraternity was enlarged, Meanwhile there arose the pious society of the pilgrims of Bl. Thomas, by which the splendour and vigour of the former confraternity, existing since the fourteenth century, was as it were renewed. There was at Helleville the widow of Peter Fortin, a most pious woman, mother of fifteen children, whom she was accustomed every year within the octave of Bl. Thomas to lead to Biville out of devotion. The excellent example gradually moved many others to join themselves every year to the pious band. Whence it occurred to Peter Fortin, the widow's eldest son, that it would be an excellent thing to do if certain rules and pious practices and forms of prayer were set before these companions of the pilgrimage in common; as he actually did by a little book composed by himself and approved by some ecclesiastics, who also themselves associated themselves with those pilgrims. A summary of the little book, with a list of the principal members who were enrolled in the year 1688 and the following years, may be seen in R. D. Colin Pp. 174 ff., from whom we borrow most of what has already been said and is still to be said. At the beginning the members had only private Masses, for which they supplied bread, wine and light at their own expense; these being finished, they betook themselves into the cemetery to hear an exhortation and a reading from their handbook; finally they closed their exercises with prayer. But after some years, increased in number, they asked the parish priest that they might be permitted to hold the customary reading and the roll-call of the pilgrims within the sacred building. He indeed willingly assented; but at the same time he advised them that there was there an old fraternity under the invocation of the Saints and the protection of Bl. Thomas, established three centuries ago and more. Having heard this, all gave their names to it, protesting that they wished absolutely that the new society should aim only at extending and increasing the old. Finally

through the care and at the expense of the members, sung Masses also began to be held, not only every year on the day on which they assembled, but also every month; besides which private Sacrifices were also offered for the dead.

[25] and in the year 1692 obtained canonical institution. The fraternity, increased by this accession, obtained the canonical institution that had long been desired, by apostolic letters given by Innocent XII on the 23rd day of December 1692. A like favour was granted on the 21st day of December of the following year to another fraternity erected in honour of Bl. Thomas in the parish of St.-Maurice under the title of All Saints. Concerning this one, moreover, R. D. Colin notes the following from a printed handbook, which I should believe are for the greater part to be applied to the Biville fraternity as well Pp. 190 and 191.: The Supreme Pontiff had permitted the Ordinary of the place the choice of four days for gaining indulgences, namely of seven years and seven quarantines for the relief of the dead, and of sixty days for the members themselves. Wherefore D. Blouet, vicar general of the bishop of Coutances C. F. de Loménie de Brienne, by a mandate issued on the 3rd of Feb. 1694, permitting the publication of the indulgences granted, designated among the days on which they could be obtained the feast of the holy Relics (of which we spoke at num. 15) and the 19th day of October, sacred to Bl. Thomas Hélye, priest and curate of St.-Maurice. The bishop himself further enriched the confraternity with an indulgence of forty days to be gained on several feast days, and especially "on the 19th day of October, on the feast of Bl. Thomas Hélye, priest and most worthy parish priest of St.-Maurice," as the very words of the indult run, to which the prelate with his own hand set his name: "Charles Francis, bishop of Coutances." The authentic instruments of all these acts still survive in the archives of the church of St.-Maurice.

[26] New attempts to bring to an end The same Charles Francis was zealous to resume the business of canonization, which, although it had never ceased to be desired, had nevertheless since the year 1274, that is, for four centuries, lain almost neglected. For within so great a space of time nothing else seems to have been done in that matter except a certain examination of witnesses instituted in the year 1628 by the official of Coutances concerning some miracles, the episcopal see being meanwhile vacant through the death of Nicholas Bourgoing, to whom, having died in the year 1625, Leonor de Matignon succeeded only in the year 1633. The instrument of the examination bears this title P. 256.: Information made at Valognes on the 13th day of December MDCXXVIII by the nobleman Master John de Grimouville, priest, licentiate in both laws, parish priest of Querqueville, canon and official of Coutances, at the request of Master Germain de Varangue, priest, curate of the parish of Biville in the diocese of Coutances in the deanery of La Hague, and of the inhabitants of the said parish designated by name with their signatures in the petition, by which they asked that there should be duly proved the testimonies given by the parish priests of the places in which there lived the sick persons who, by prayers poured out to God and by novena exercises of piety in the church of Biville, had recovered health through the intercession of Bl. Thomas: which testimonies, exhibited by the above-mentioned parish priest, were read in the presence of Master Nicholas Lefèvre, priest, master of arts, dean of La Sayre and parish priest at Colomby, apostolic notary, chosen as registrar, so that thereafter the aforesaid information might be presented to Our Most Holy Lord for the lawful instruction of the matter. But within these limits the business at that time stood still, nor was any further thought given to promoting it until the episcopate of Charles Francis, which lasted from the year 1668 to the year 1720.

[27] the business of canonization, but without result. He, in accordance with his zeal toward Bl. Thomas, first of all willed that an information be instituted in legal form, through the promoter of Coutances, Leguedois, concerning a certain new miracle, testimony on oath being given by Peter Dugardin, esquire, lord and patron of the parish of Biville, seventy-seven years old P. 266.. Then he had written the Idée du culte immémorial exhibé au Bienheureux Thomas, of which we have several times made mention. This little work reaches down to the year 1692. Afterwards he again set his hand to the work, as we learn from an instrument in which it is read Pp. 107 and 108. that on the 5th day of May 1705 Giles Douet, doctor of theology in the faculty of Paris, canon of the cathedral church of Coutances, archdeacon of the Val de Sère and vicar general of the Illustrious Lord de Loménie de Brienne, specially delegated by the same to establish duly all those things which pertain to proving the cult paid from time immemorial to Blessed Thomas, with the assistance of the noble and venerable men D. Lallier, priest, doctor of theology, archdeacon of the district of Le Bauptois in the cathedral church of Coutances, official of the aforesaid Lord bishop for the seat of the town of Valognes and president of the seminary there, and also D. Gourment, priest, licentiate in both laws, canon penitentiary of the aforesaid cathedral church, summoned to himself several persons designated by the said Lord bishop, before whom they had taken the oath of fidelity according to the form required by the Holy Roman See: who, all assembled in the episcopal palace within the said city of Coutances, began the information on the facts set out in the petition presented to them. What impediment intervened after this to prevent the business, advanced so far, from making further progress and, carried to the apostolic See, from being concluded at last with the much-desired result, we have been quite unable to discover. Meanwhile the cult of Bl. Thomas, and the veneration and trust of the peoples toward him, stirred up by frequent miracles, persevered constantly until those calamitous years which closed the eighteenth century.

§ III. Continuation of the same subject from the end of the eighteenth century down to the present time.

The body of Bl. Thomas In the second year of the French republic, which corresponds partly to the year 1793 and partly to the year 1794 of the common era, the parish church of Biville underwent the common devastation of sacred buildings throughout France; and it began to be held by the impious tyrants as a profane place. Yet these did not at first dare to lay rash hands on the relics of Bl. Thomas, being content to have thrown down the marble stone which bore his effigy: in place of which stone they set up a writing-desk over the tomb of the Blessed. But not long afterwards, in a meeting of wicked men held at Cherbourg, the proposal was brought forward that the body of Thomas should be dragged out of the choir of the church of Biville; and that the head should be carried about through the streets of the town for mockery, while the rest of the bones should be boiled down Colin, p. 140.. It is likely that those sacrilegious designs were indeed then hidden from the Catholics; but this at least they felt, that in that most turbulent season they could by no means be secure against the violation of the sacred treasure deposited at Biville. Turning this over in his mind, Adrian Lemarié, then vicar general of Angelus Francis de Talaru de Chalmazel, the Catholic and lawful bishop of Coutances, undertook a bold deed, with the help of some vigorous and great-hearted men. The narrative of the affair, as he himself composed it in the French language In the same, pp. 135 ff., I shall render here in Latin.

[29] in the year 1794 secretly from Biville On Sunday, the 13th of July MDCCXCIV, N. M., etc., etc., all confessors of the Catholic faith, and M., a priest not bound by the schismatic oath, a native of Yvetot (namely Lemarié himself), being about to carry into execution the pious plan which they had formed of withdrawing the body of Bl. Thomas Hélye of Biville from the fury of the impious, came together on the day and year above said; and after prayers had been poured out to God that He would deign to prosper their venture, which He Himself had inspired, at seven o'clock in the evening they set out from Virandeville, accompanied by the Most Holy Sacrament of the altar, which the aforesaid priest carried with him by licence granted to him by the Illustrious Lord de Talaru, bishop. When they reached the church of Biville, prostrate before the main door they receive the blessing of Jesus Christ: then they enter by the door which is at the right side, the bolt being very quickly knocked off, although it was very strong, such as the bolts of prisons are wont to be. The hour of ten had been heard, and a quarter of an hour besides had elapsed. Using a little light, we saw with our own eyes the ancient and venerable temple devastated no differently from the other temples of France, the altars overturned, the tabernacle of the living God broken open and trampled underfoot; nor could we refrain from tears. Amid those sacred ruins there still rose the tomb of the Blessed, from which the impious had only taken away the white marble slab by which it was covered above, and had substituted in its place a desk for writing their decrees. The great stone of which the tomb consisted seemed to us to have a length of at least six feet, a width of three and likewise a height of three. That huge mass, moreover, was solidly fixed and cemented with plaster to another stone of the same width by which the grave was closed: so that one of us, as if in despair, exclaimed, like those holy women of old: "Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?" But faith soon overcoming fear, that same man alone first moved aside the stone with an iron bar: the other, which was as it were the key of the tomb, stuck more firmly, but in a short time it was likewise removed. This done, there came into our sight the august remains of the Blessed almoner of St. Louis, which we contemplated with ineffable joy mingled with religious trembling.

[30] is carried to Virandeville; First the venerable head of the eminent man drew our eyes to itself. All the small teeth of the lower jaw remained, which was disjoined from the upper, and in its middle part was lacking some teeth. All those teeth held firm, arranged in straight order, keeping their lustre, that is, a whiteness yellowing a little like ivory: three or four were hollow. The bones of the head, as also those of the rest of the body, are very solid and thick. All lay in their order and natural place, except the bones of the feet and legs, which had been moved nearer to the bones of the thighs. The face looked toward the high altar, contrary to what the present usage of burying priests has. All the bones lay upon soil half an inch in depth, black rather than dark, in which we found fragments of wood and linen two or three inches square in size; which, however, as soon as the aforesaid priest touched them, went into dust. We found there also nails covered with much rust, of the size usual for those with which coffins are fastened together. The said priest therefore, with the greatest veneration, ecclesiastical prayers being used, raised from the earth the wonder-working bones of the man of God, and wrapped them with great care in white linens. Likewise he gathered with the greatest diligence the precious ashes of that body from the whole grave, which is almost six feet long and dug to two and a half feet below the ground, and has a width of almost one foot and four inches. But besides those things which we have mentioned, there was nothing else within that tomb. At half past eleven we left the church, laden with a most rich treasure and reciting the hymn Te Deum with other prayers. Having advanced into the sandy ground near the sea, we knelt at the remains, scattered here and there, of the cross before which the holy priest used to pray to God in the time of his life. From here at two o'clock after midnight, as if

celebrating a triumph, we returned to the house of the above-mentioned N., where the already-mentioned priest offered the holy Sacrifice of the Mass in thanksgiving: then he placed the holy body, enclosed in an oaken coffin on which he himself impressed his seal, in the presence and under the eyes of the witnesses and of several other Catholics undersigned, into a large chest which is wont to carry the altar of the wretchedly harassed Catholics, so that no one might take away from it even the smallest particle; while with our highest vows and prayers we implore from divine Providence happier times, that it may be permitted to us to carry back these great relics with solemn pomp to their most dear church, except a notable portion which will be left to the church of Virandeville in memory and blessing of the piety and illustrious virtue which the faithful sons of this church have shown. Done at Virandeville on the 14th day of July MDCCXCIV. It is easy to understand with what fury the impious tyrants were driven when they were informed of this pious theft. They brought to trial some who were suspected of it; but in vain, because proofs by which they might be convicted were wholly lacking. The schismatic parish priest Lecerf himself, who then presided over the parish of Biville according to the civil constitution of the clergy, as they called it, was consigned to prison as an accomplice in the theft, and was not released from there until after the death of the most cruel Robespierre. Meanwhile freedom had been offered him on condition that he denounce the author of the crime charged; but he refused this with a constant mind, thinking it well for him that by such a captivity he could in some way expiate the offence of schism committed by him; as he himself publicly attested in the year 1822, when he had long since returned to Catholic unity and was acting as parish priest of Appeville. The same man, while he lived at Biville, although wickedly thrust upon the parish, prevented several profanations of the church there, if not all; and he placed in a safe spot the sacred vessels and other ornaments which the wicked had intended to seize Ami de la Religion, no. 794, vol. XXXI, p. 168..

[31] where it is piously kept by the faithful. For five years the sacred remains had rested under the altar of the Catholics of Virandeville, when these, by no means content with the promise made to them that a part of them would be left in their keeping, began to claim the whole treasure for themselves, by a letter written on the 13th day of July 1799 to the vicar general Lemarié in these words In Colin, pp. 141 and 142.: There is no one to whom it is better known than to you with how great and how religious a daring the Catholics of Virandeville withdrew the body of Bl. Thomas Hélye of Biville from the impious fury of the Vandals who began to harass the fatherland in the year MDCCXCIII. And we indeed exposed our liberty and our life to danger for this; but by the divine protection and favour, with you as our companion, we were kept safe. Ever since that most auspicious night which fell between the 13th and 14th days of July of the year MDCCXCIV, the relics of Bl. Thomas rest in this parish of Virandeville, which is singularly commended both by its unshaken constancy in the faith of the universal Church and its zeal for peace, and by its remarkable trust in the merits and intercession of Bl. Thomas, especially in these most mournful times. For the inhabitants of this parish are persuaded that the happiness and security which they have enjoyed since the 14th day of July MDCCXCIV, amid the disturbances and horrors born of anarchy, must be credited to the wonderful protection of the man of God, whose relics rest under their altar. Wherefore we beseech you that, by the ecclesiastical authority with which you are endowed, you will will and command that those relics remain wholly and perpetually with us. For countless examples are supplied in ecclesiastical histories of translations of this kind which were made in evil times; and by ecclesiastical law the relics of the Saints in such times belong to those Christians who do not hesitate to expose themselves to all dangers and to death itself in order to snatch them from the hands of the impious. Nevertheless the vicar general did not yield to their prayers, but on the following day, which was the 14th day of July 1799, he decreed in writing that the head of Bl. Thomas Hélye should be laid up in perpetuity under the altar of the Most Holy Sacrament, to be erected in quieter times in the church of Virandeville; but the rest of the body should be carried back to Biville and placed in its former tomb.

[32] Nine years afterwards, This sentence, in the year 1803, when divine worship had begun to be publicly restored in France, was duly approved and put into execution, as the instruments now to be cited will show, which I render from French into Latin. The first runs thus Ibid., pp. 139, 140, 143 and 144.: We, John Joseph Amable Bonté, licentiate in laws, formerly canon penitentiary in the cathedral church of Coutances, vicar general of the Most Illustrious Lord Claude Louis Rousseau, by the divine mercy and the grace of the Holy apostolic See bishop of Coutances. Having had most careful information concerning the exhumation and removal of the bones of the body of Blessed Thomas Hélye, priest, a native of Biville, a parish of the diocese of Coutances, who was formerly almoner to St. Louis, and who, buried in the parish church of the said place, was always held there in great veneration, there was shown to us the instrument of the affair, drawn up on that occasion on the 18th * day of July MDCCXCIV, in which are explained the causes of that exhumation and removal, and the manner in which it was effected: which instrument we have declared, and by the present letters declare, to be authentic, and we attest that faith is deservedly to be given to all things contained in it. Likewise we have attentively read through the answer given by D. Lemarié, who was then vicar general of the diocese, the see being vacant, to the petition presented to him by the inhabitants of Virandeville; in which answer he declares that, in view of the piety of the inhabitants of the said parish, he had decided that the head of Bl. Thomas Hélye should remain perpetually under the altar of the Most Holy Sacrament of that church. Hence we, vicar general of the Ill. Lord Rousseau, bishop of Coutances, having regard to the things said above, and after mature deliberation, wishing equally to satisfy the wishes of the inhabitants of Virandeville and yet not to deprive the people of Biville of a deposit which has always been most precious to them, embracing the sentence delivered by D. Lemarié, command that it be put into execution as quickly as possible. That this may be carried into effect with the form and decency that is fitting, we ask D. Closet, vicar general of this diocese, our colleague, to be pleased to betake himself to the already-mentioned parish of Virandeville. We confer on him the right and authority of examining the seal affixed to the great chest in which the precious bones of Bl. Thomas Hélye are contained, and, if it has not been broken, of removing it, the state in which he has found it being entered in the acts; then of separating the bones of the head of Bl. Thomas from the others, which are to be placed with fitting solemnity under the altar of the Most Holy Sacrament of the said church of Virandeville, and that, if it can be done, in a funerary urn, under which or in which an inscription may be placed to recall men's minds to the memory of this separation. The remaining bones shall be restored within the aforementioned church of Biville, with the lawful ceremonies, to the place from which they were taken. Nevertheless some parts of these bones may be set apart from the rest, to be granted to churches that shall ask for them, or to be entrusted to persons of known piety for their veneration. Finally, the aforesaid Lord vicar general commissioner shall draw up a lawful instrument of the whole matter. Given at Coutances under our sign and the seal of the episcopal see of this place, on the 20th day of July MDCCCIII. It was signed: Bonté, vic. gen.

[33] the head being left at Virandeville, The second instrument is as follows Ibid., pp. 145, 146 and 147.: We, John Baptist Julian Closet, priest, licentiate of civil and canon law, canon and vicar general of the diocese of Coutances, both by this title and having received, for abundance of right, the commission and authority of D. Bonté, likewise vicar general for contentious jurisdiction, duly appointed and empowered to discharge the office of commissioner for examining on the spot the seals affixed to the coffin in which, in the parish of Virandeville, were enclosed the relics of Bl. Thomas Hélye of Biville, formerly, while he lived, curate of the parish of St.-Maurice in this diocese and almoner of St. Louis; which relics are all the bones of the body, reverently exhumed and carried away from the parish of Biville lest they should be profaned by wicked and perverse men, as these had purposed: we testify that we have seen the said coffin well closed and bound with a ribbon of black and white thread; which ribbon, passed around both ends of the said coffin and crossed above and below it, was secured with the impression of a seal at the two places where the crossing lines meet one another. The seal, moreover, showed a triangle, having inscribed in the middle the sacred name of Jehovah; which were indeed the arms of the royal hospital of the Most Holy Trinity at Paris. This seal had been affixed by R. D. Lemarié, who presided over the said hospital before the change in the public order, and who, having afterwards been made vicar general of the diocese of Coutances, by his own authority caused the relics to be exhumed and transferred from Biville to Virandeville, where they have now rested nine years and more. The same D. Lemarié at that time drew up an instrument of the affair, to which he himself and trustworthy witnesses from among the inhabitants of the aforesaid place duly subscribed their names: which instrument we declare has appeared to us to be wholly exact as to the truth of the matter. Further, recalling how signally the inhabitants of Virandeville deserved well in that translation, and considering their piety and fortitude, we have judged that the head should be left separately at Virandeville, and therefore separated from the other relics, which shall be carried back reverently and piously to the parish of Biville, but secretly nevertheless and by night. The head shall be enclosed in a funerary urn, on which shall be inscribed a brief record of the translation and deposition of this sacred pledge in the church of the said parish of Virandeville. And we command that the remaining parts of the precious bones be laid with fitting solemnity within the church of Biville in the same tomb from which they were taken out. Nevertheless we have separated some other bones from these, to be granted to the parish churches of St.-Maurice, of Vallivilla and of Yvetot. So have we judged for the glory of God and the honour of the Blessed; and for full faith in the present acts and declarations, which were consigned to writing before, etc., the present instrument has been drawn up by us, the vicar general above-mentioned and undersigned, and sealed with the seal of the episcopal see, the signature being added of D. Lemarié, parish priest of Virandeville, whom we willed to be our secretary. At Virandeville, in the year of the Lord MDCCCIII, on the 16th day of September. It was signed: Closet, vicar general. Lemarié, parish priest of Virandeville, secretary.

[34] At the same time was drawn up what follows Ibid., pp. 148 and 149.: We, John Baptist Julian Closet… most of the remaining bones are carried back to Biville; In sequel and supplement to our instrument drawn up at Virandeville, where, before witnesses who had continually had under their eyes the precious deposit, which they professed had always been the same, we recognized the certain presence of the precious bones of Blessed Thomas Hélye, born at Biville, formerly parish priest of St.-Maurice and almoner of St. Louis, king of France; which had been exhumed and transported from the said parish of Biville to Virandeville, that they might be withdrawn from the profanation intended by perverse and impious men:

we make it certain that we have restored the same and delivered them into the hands of D. Stephen Leverrier, priest, curate of the parish of Biville, in testimony of our singular esteem for him; except the head and some other parts, which we ordered to be set apart and separated from the rest, and which we have assigned and granted to certain parishes for promoting the honour of the Blessed in them. Let the said precious bones, thus given back and restored, be carried back and laid up again with due veneration and ceremonies, that they may once more rest in that tomb in which they were originally laid. Done and written at Virandeville, on the 16th day of September MDCCCIII, and signed by us and by our secretary, with the episcopal seal affixed together with the signature of D. Lemarié, parish priest of Virandeville, whom we willed to be our secretary. It was signed: Closet, vicar general. Lemarié, parish priest of Virandeville, secretary.

And to these three acts, which are extant in the archives of the bishopric of Coutances, must be joined the following document, which is preserved in the cabinets of the church of Biville Ibid., pp. 150 and 151.: On the 16th day of September MDCCCIII Stephen Joseph Leverrier, parish priest of Biville, was present at the opening of the chest in which were enclosed the relics of Bl. Thomas Hélye, priest, while he lived almoner of St. Louis the king and afterwards parish priest of St.-Maurice, who died on the 19th day of October MCCLVII and was buried in the church of St. Peter of Biville in the diocese of Coutances. The aforesaid chest was opened in the church of Virandeville, to which the said relics had previously been carried, in the presence of R. D. Closet, vicar general deputed for this by the Ill. Lord bishop of Coutances, the seals being removed which had been affixed to the same chest by D. Lemarié, formerly vicar general of the Ill. Lord de Talaru and afterwards of the chapter of the cathedral church, the see being vacant, and the instrument being read which the said vicar general had drawn up in the year MDCCXCIV at the request of the pious men who had undergone peril of life in order to withdraw those relics from the fury of the impious. After this the said chest was again secured with the seal of the Ill. Lord Claude Louis Rousseau, bishop of Coutances, and was forthwith carried to the church of Biville, where the precious relics were restored to their ancient tomb on the day and year as above, in the presence of DD. Fleury and Déquilbec, priests, Peter Moulin, mayor, and others. Thus written for a record of the matter. It was signed: Leverrier, parish priest of Biville. P. Moulin. J. C. Fleury, priest. J. Déquilbec, priest.

[35] and to these the head too is joined in the year 1811. On the 6th day of March of the immediately following year 1804, the vicar general Closet rendered an account of all the things thus far related, in a letter written to the bishop of Coutances, where among other things he noted Ibid., pp. 149 and 150. that the grant of the head of Bl. Thomas made to the parish of Virandeville was by no means at variance with the laws and practice of the Church: for thus the churches of Rouen and Angers possess the greater part of the relics of St. Laud and St. Rompharius, bishops of Coutances, because in a time of persecution they had kept them and rescued them from destruction. This very matter, however, was the occasion of sharp controversies agitated for some years, the people of Virandeville on the one side striving to remain in possession of the head, and the people of Biville on the other claiming a right of postliminium, by which the same head, no differently from the other remains of Bl. Thomas, ought by all means to be sent back to them; nor was fear at times absent that it would come to arms on both sides: but the prudence of the ecclesiastical superiors restrained their anger In Col., pp. 153 and 154.. What the outcome of those contentions was may be gathered from the document which we subjoin Ibid., pp. 151, 152 and 153.: In the year MDCCCXI, on Friday, the 5th day of April, there were present in the church of Biville Stephen Joseph Leverrier, and John Charles Fleury, succursal priest of Biville; Peter Francis Henry de la Roque, born and sprung from this parish, living at Cherbourg, member of the general council of the prefecture; Thomas Henry, mayor of Biville, and Peter Postel, deputy to the mayor; Thomas Moulin, municipal councillor; John Charles Allain, schoolmaster, and Amand Henry, all inhabitants of this parish: who had been witnesses of the restitution of the head of Bl. Thomas Hélye made to the church of Biville, by mandate of the Ill. Lord Peter Dupont-Poursat, bishop of Coutances, issued on the 31st day of March just past, the words of which are these: "I attest that the head which is enclosed in a box of thin wood, tied with a ribbon fastened at its ends to the same with our seal, which box we have committed to D. Déquilbec, succursal priest of Vallivilla, to be laid up again in the church of Biville, is the same head which, after the removal of the bones of Thomas Hélye from the church of Biville to withdraw them from profanation, was separated from the rest of the bones; and that faith is to be given to the present declaration. Given at Coutances on the 31st day of March MDCCCXI. † P., bishop of Coutances." The original copy of this mandate, which has been accurately copied here, exists in our archives. We have thought it well, moreover, to add that the remaining bones of Bl. Thomas had long since been restored to the tomb in a wooden box secured with the episcopal seal, on the 16th day of September MDCCCIII, testimony of which matter was inscribed in the registers of baptisms and marriages of the said year, and a copy of it is had transcribed in the archives; likewise that the box in which the head of Bl. Thomas Hélye is contained, and a copy of the instrument drawn up concerning this, have been enclosed in a leaden case, separately from the box which holds the other precious bones, which on this same day were likewise enclosed in a leaden case. Thus done on the day and year as above. It was signed: Leverrier, priest. J. C. Fleury, succ. of Biville. Th. Henry. P. Postel. Henry de la Roque. J. Charles Allain. Amand Henry. And the aforesaid cases, of which the one contains the precious head, the other the precious bones of Bl. Thomas, were both laid up in his ancient tomb in the middle of the choir of this church, on Thursday, the 18th day of April MDCCCXI, in the presence of the ecclesiastics mentioned above, with the mayor and a great number of other parishioners, of whom several subscribed their names. Namely: C. Déquilbec. Leverrier, priest. J. C. Fleury, succ. of Biville. J. B. Lecomte. Henry de la Roque. Th. Henry. Julian Déquilbec. John Louis Déquilbec. F. Frigoult. C. Lemarchand.

[36] The feast of the Blessed is restored; But before the bones of Bl. Thomas had been carried back to Biville, the above-mentioned vicar general Bonte had already granted licence to restore his feast there, and had extended it also to the parish of Virandeville, by a letter given under the episcopal seal on the 20th day of July 1803, of this tenor Ibid., p. 124.: Renewing the faculty formerly given by the bishops of Coutances of celebrating every year on the 19th day of October an Office of solemn rite, as on the feast day of All Saints, in honour of Bl. Thomas Hélye, we permit that the same solemnity be continued in the aforesaid parish church of Biville, either on that very day or on the Sunday nearest to it; and we further permit that the same Office be performed on the same day or on the nearest Sunday, likewise with solemn rite, in the church of Virandeville. At about the same time the anniversary feast of Bl. Thomas seems also to have begun again to be kept at St.-Maurice; since to the fraternity restored there in the year 1806 the vicar general Lesplu-Duprey assigned for gaining indulgences exactly the same days as formerly, namely Trinity Sunday, the feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, the feast of the Holy Relics, and the 19th day of October, on which, as the very words of the rescript run, is recalled the memory of the precious death of Bl. Thomas Helye Ibid., p. 192.. Concerning the manner in which this day has been accustomed to be celebrated at Biville we noted some things above (num. 16). In our times there are accustomed to gather there every year from the neighbouring towns and villages easily thirty ecclesiastics, or even more; and so great is the concourse of the people that the church is far too small to be able to hold it. Very many of the faithful, moreover, receive the eucharistic bread on that occasion with the greatest feeling of piety.

[37] and the piety of the peoples toward him But not only on the 19th day of October, says R. D. Colin Pp. 124, 125 and 126., do people hasten to Biville to venerate the memory of Bl. Thomas and devoutly to honour his remains. There is scarcely any day in the whole course of the year on which one may not see crowds of the faithful prostrate at his tomb. And they are accustomed everywhere to creep around it on their knees, out of the reverence with which they are moved toward the precious ashes and the image of the man of God, which brings back into their minds the remembrance of so many and such great virtues. Often in thanksgiving for benefits received through his intercession they bring candles there and light them. The tomb is surrounded with staffs formerly used to support infirm limbs, but left there in testimony of strength wondrously restored. And what brings even greater solace, many in the church of Biville lay down the burden of their sins, and by the salutary use of penance obtain health and peace for their souls. Most pilgrims, before they return home, have images of Bl. Thomas, or rosaries, or crosses, blessed at the tomb, and they procure for themselves the life of the Blessed, the litanies and canticles composed in his honour, and also his effigy, which scarcely any of us does not have in his house. There are also those who lay linens on the marble by which his bones are covered, and, having returned to their dwellings, bring them to be touched by their sick and infirm, for whom, since these could not themselves undertake the pilgrimage in person, they had come to Biville to offer vows and prayers. Finally, so great is the number of those faithful who ask the parish priest of Biville that the holy Sacrifice of the Mass be offered for their intention, that most of them cannot be satisfied at all in this respect… And these pious sentiments are fostered in the souls of the faithful by their parish priests, who not seldom themselves lead them to the tomb of the Blessed, sometimes without solemnity, sometimes with crosses and banners going before.

[30] Peter Dupont, bishop of Coutances, fosters it by word and example. What remains to be said concerning the cult of Bl. Thomas happily restored and the honours further shown to him we shall pursue in the order of time. In the year 1810, on the 28th day of June, Peter Dupont-Poursat, bishop of Coutances, came to Biville while visiting that part of his diocese Colin, pp. 126, 127 and 128., and spoke excellently of the praises of the Blessed to the people gathered round: that he, although he was then prevented by the narrowness of time from going round all the parishes of his diocese one by one on pastoral visitation, as he had long had in mind, nevertheless had been unwilling to pass by that church which was adorned with the remains of Bl. Thomas Hélye; and that he, though according to the rules now received in the Church he had not yet been entered in the roll of the Saints, and perhaps not even in that of the Blessed, nevertheless enjoyed a cult, and one continued for more than five centuries, which showed sufficiently that he was in the number of the Saints and availed much by his intercession with God for obtaining signal benefits for those who venerate him: wherefore he himself was moved not only with the greatest veneration toward this most holy priest and his ashes,

but also congratulated the inhabitants of Biville in the highest degree that they enjoyed the possession of so great a treasure, and so far exhorted them that they should not be content with mere admiration of his virtues, but that each should give diligent effort to imitating them according to his state and rank. These words of the prelate John Charles Fleury, parish priest of Biville, at once took down in writing for the memory of posterity.

[39] The neighbouring clergy seek his canonization In the year 1814, under the leadership of John Charles Richard Dancel, who was then parish priest at Valognes and vicar general of the bishop of Coutances, and who in the year 1827 was adorned with the mitre of Bayeux Ami de la Religion, no. 1386, vol. LIV, p. 40., some priests of the diocese of Coutances presented a petition to the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation of Sacred Rites, by which they requested the judgment of the apostolic See concerning the cult of Bl. Thomas. Here are their words, turned from French into Latin In Colin, pp. 109 ff.: Most Eminent Lord. We have taken it upon ourselves to transmit to Your Eminence our wishes for the cult of Bl. Thomas Hélye of Biville, in the district of Beaumont in the diocese of Coutances, who died on the 19th day of October MCCLVII: concerning which cult we beseech that the sacred tribunal of rites take cognizance and decree those things which may implant in men's minds a fixed estimation of the state of sanctity of that man of God. Truly it is incredible with what devotion the peoples are moved toward Thomas Hélye, and how great a trust they place in his powerful patronage: so that the number of those visiting his tomb on account of the fame of the wonders which formerly happened there and happen also at this time cannot possibly be reckoned; although the place of his burial is situated in a poor region and access to it is not easy because of the surrounding wastes. So great an opinion of the man's sanctity has settled in men's minds that it is by no means in the power of the priests to prevent his being treated with the same honours as canonized Saints; and there are almost innumerable people who are eager to gather even the very dust scattered around his tomb. From all which there is already brought about a certain cult, as it were public, which several Roman Pontiffs seem to have permitted, who ordered informations to be instituted concerning his virtues and the miracles wrought at his tomb.

[40] from the Congregation of Sacred Rites. This admirable man, while he lived, was employed in carrying out sacred missions both by his own bishop and also by the bishops of Avranches, Bayeux and Lisieux, who gave him the faculty of granting indulgences to those who had come to hear his sermons. Indeed, the fame of his virtues was carried even to the royal court, and St. Louis the king summoned him to be his almoner. But after his death the opinion of his sanctity increased very greatly, so that for five and a half centuries now men of all orders have pronounced him a Saint and have come to his tomb in order to implore his help. Night and day the church of Biville is frequented by pilgrims continually succeeding one another. A great number of priests would be needed to celebrate the Masses which the faithful desire to be offered for themselves in honour of Bl. Thomas, both in the place where his remains rest and in many other churches. Accordingly it would be desirable that no fear could arise in the faithful lest they be led by some error to honour the Servant of God in this way, and so that, a sentence of canonization being pronounced, his cult might be declared lawful. The very frequent miracles wrought at his tomb for more than five hundred years long ago won for him the title of wonder-worker and common advocate of the Normans, as the bishop of Toul (André du Saussay) testifies of them in his Martyrology: "Called, on account of the innumerable miracles performed in his life and after his death and spread down to these days, the glorious wonder-worker of Normandy." Regarding these miracles as a manifestation of the divine will, we humbly ask that the cult hitherto paid to him be brought to approval. There follows the closing of the letter with the signatures of thirty-four priests, one deacon and one subdeacon; to all of which the praised John Dancel added this testimony: I, the undersigned vicar general of Coutances and parish priest of Valognes, attest that all these signatures are those of venerable ecclesiastics, commendable alike for the purity of their faith and of their morals, and that there are known to me in this part of the diocese, which the Ill. Lord bishop has specially entrusted to my care, more than two hundred others who would be most ready to set their names to this letter, if space were given for it. I attest besides that devotion toward Bl. Thomas flourishes universally throughout this whole peninsula of Normandy, and that most happy fruits overflow from it. At Valognes on the 4th day of October MDCCCXIV. It was signed: Dancel, canon and vic. gen. of Coutances, parish priest of Valognes.

[41] Sacred missions are commended to his patronage. The same vicar general Dancel, as often at other times, so especially on the 10th day of October 1820 gave a sign of his piety and trust toward Bl. Thomas, when he betook himself to Biville for the purpose of commending to the apostolic man, who had once for so many years spread the word of God through his native country, the success of the sacred missions which were to be begun at Valognes in the month of November, at Cherbourg in the month of January, and then also in the city of Coutances Ib., p. 128.. This example was followed not long afterwards by another eminent venerator of the Blessed, who left these things attested of himself Ib., p. 129.: I, the undersigned C. Demons, formerly parish priest of Cherbourg, honorary canon of the cathedral church of Coutances, both in my own name and by special commission of the venerable Lord Lainé, parish priest of Cherbourg and likewise honorary canon of the church of Coutances, on account of the reverence and veneration which we bear in our hearts toward Bl. Thomas Hélye of Biville, and the trust which we place in his patronage and in the favour which he enjoys with God, on this tenth day of December, during the Most Holy Sacrifice which it was granted me to offer in the church of Biville at the tomb of Bl. Thomas Hélye, commended to the prayers of that holy man the success of the sacred mission to be held at Cherbourg; and I asked of God through his intercession the progress of the just in holiness and the conversion of the wicked and impious, and finally that that mission might tend to the glory of God and the temporal and eternal happiness of the citizens of Cherbourg. It was signed: C. Demons. Nor did the event disappoint the hope of divine help to be afforded through the intercession of Bl. Thomas; since the fruits of those three missions were most splendid, which, however, lest we digress too far from the proposed subject, we omit to set out one by one [Cf. Ami de la Religion, nos. 667, 677, 685, 702 and 794, vol. XXVI, pp. 218 and 378, vol. XXVII, pp. 86, 87, 360 and 361, vol. XXXI, pp. 168 and 169.]. Further, within the space of time that lay between the mission of Cherbourg and that of Coutances, in the month of February 1821, two heralds of the gospel, Marius Aubert and Bach, made an excursion to Biville, both to venerate in person the remains of Bl. Thomas and to commend their labours to him, and also to erect the way of the cross in that parish and to refresh the people with the food of the word of God Ibid., no. 785, vol. XXXI, p. 25. Colin, p. 130. In the following year, as we have already said elsewhere (n. 7), the Life of Bl. Thomas written by John Hélye came out into the light, Bishop Peter approving the edition; besides which Life and another, shorter one printed somewhat later, there were also published canticles, litanies, prayers and other little works suited to fostering the piety of the faithful toward the Blessed Colin, p. 169..

[42] [The Biville fraternity is restored; and hope arises that the cult will shortly be approved by the Holy See.] One thing, however, remained to be accomplished at Biville for the full restoration of the former devotion toward Bl. Thomas, namely that the old confraternity, which since the end of the last century had lain prostrate and neglected, should be erected anew: in which matter the parish of St.-Maurice had long gone before the parish of Biville with a praiseworthy example, having renewed its confraternity from the sixth year of the present century, as we indicated earlier. At length, therefore, the Biville confraternity too was reborn on the 27th day of September 1833, and within six or seven years increased so prosperously that, when R. D. Colin was composing a new Life of the Blessed, there were counted enrolled in it four hundred and eighty-six faithful of both sexes from various parts of the diocese of Coutances, and the account of receipts every year exceeded the account of expenditure by about three hundred French livres. At the expense of the members, moreover, on the first Monday of each month a solemn Sacrifice is held, and night and day lights burn at the tomb of Bl. Thomas according to the old custom Pp. 192 and 193.. Meanwhile Bishop Peter Dupont-Poursat, whom we have often praised, had in the last years of his life himself begun to labour for the cause of canonization, or rather of the approval of the immemorial cult P. 113.; but, hindered by death, he left the execution of his purpose to the Ill. Lord Louis John Robiou, who succeeded in his place at the beginning of the year 1836. He, when on the 11th day of July 1838 he was administering the holy Sacrament of Confirmation in the church of Biville, on that occasion delivered a panegyrical oration on Bl. Thomas, in the course of which, not without immense joy on the part of his hearers, he publicly professed that he had already turned his mind to the cause of the Blessed, and would bestow every care on obtaining from the Roman Pontiff at least an indirect or equipollent (as they call it) beatification, with the faculty of reciting a proper Office and Mass of Bl. Thomas Pp. 130 and 131.. These promises he indeed soon actually carried out: so that the matter is now being treated in the Sacred Congregation of Rites, and, as was recently written back from Coutances to one of our colleagues, there is the greatest hope that that supreme crowning will at length be added to the honours of Bl. Thomas, so greatly and for so long a time desired by the wishes of all Lower Normandy, to which wishes we heartily join our own.

* Perhaps XIV?

LIFE OF BL. THOMAS HÉLYE,

by Clement, a contemporary.

From the manuscript codex of the church of Biville.

Thomas Hélye, priest, in Lower Normandy. (B.)

BHL Number: 8252

BY CLEMENT, A CONTEMPORARY.

Bl. Thomas You compel me, dearest brother Alan, nay the charity of Christ constrains me, to write something about the life, virtues and miracles of Bl. Thomas Hélye, which you may be able to show to the pilgrims flowing together to his tomb from the various regions of the world, who, as you say, frequently ask you about the things aforesaid, as something they ought to imitate or to marvel at. Since, therefore, examples no less than sermons kindle some to the love of God, for the honour of the supreme Trinity, for the exaltation of our faith and also for the edification of our neighbours, I think it necessary that his virtues and miracles—so far as the dryness of my wretched tongue suffices and the slenderness of my poor wit allows, nay as the grace of our Saviour grants—the things which I have seen and my hands have handled, and that which through witnesses beyond all exception, in whose examination, together with John of good memory, bishop of Coutances ^a, and Brother Ralph de Gardinis, prior of the Friars Preachers of Coutances,

at that time inquired, by mandate of the apostolic See, into the life, merits and miracles of the same Blessed, and which I have otherwise learned through good and trustworthy persons—these I may set forth, and write down in a faithful, though rude, style, to be of profit, the Lord granting, to our posterity. For I have the original volume, namely of the first inquiry made by the aforesaid examiners in my presence, to which I have thought it fitting to join the present compilation, lest anyone should think that I had (which God forbid) falsified the aforesaid inquiry.

[2] His birth, and his life Blessed Thomas Hélye, then, was a native of the parish of St. Peter of Boëvilla ^b, so called ^c by the good people of the same St. Peter, as the same Bl. Thomas used to say, of simple parents, namely Hélye ^d and Matilis ^e, lawful spouses of the diocese of Coutances, and he was given over to the study of letters to be instructed. How diligent he was in learning and in the state of a master (for he directed schools in grammar in many places), ardently instructing his scholars and companions not so much in knowledge as in good morals, exhorting them by words and examples, it would be far too long to commend to writing in each particular; and the outcome of the matter proved this sufficiently: for, being sweet in speech, kind in heart, teaching ardently and sweetly, he drew to himself the affections of his scholars and companions; frequenting the churches at earliest dawn, he then gave his time to scholastic disciplines, and, if anything of the day remained at the time after scholastic study, to the vesper and divine praises. At that time, indeed, he was held by outsiders to be fairly ordinary in his food, clothes and pleasant conversations, though holy ones. But after his direction of the schools of Cherbourg ^f, seized by a violent fever and recovering by the grace of God, he cast off coloured clothes and began to use altogether garments of cheap burel ^g. Taming his flesh now with a hair shirt under the garment with which he had tamed it before—a hair shirt which he never afterwards went without, until he was made weak and powerless—unkempt and unsightly in his hair, despicable in his clothing, he preached contempt of the world by his dress and bearing.

[3] holily led before the priesthood. He restrained the desires of the flesh in many ways by vigils, disciplines and fasts. For at that time, when, his parents being dead, he was living with his brother William in the already-mentioned parish, as regards the divine daily service, at which he was accustomed to be present with the priest of the place, keeping a similar key of the church of the said place after Compline, when the darkness of night had come on, he would go to the church alone, to speak alone with God alone. O how many, how great persons, how often, passing at the dead of night through the cemetery of the aforesaid church, heard him in those times, as antiquity relates, in the church often bewailing his lot, sighing and afflicting himself with the harshest disciplines! Then, having returned home rather late, after a little rest about the night he would hasten again to the church, to give himself to the morning lauds, to disciplines and prayers. In those times he fasted at least three days a week on bread and water, on the other days content with barley bread with a little pottage, very rarely eating meat or fish, declining a full meal; after such a meal as it was he would withdraw alone to his room or the church, to give himself to prayer, reading or study, reckoning himself never less alone than when he was alone. From then on, embracing the purpose of poverty, leaving his patrimony to his already-mentioned brother William, he was content without any murmur with those things which the said brother supplied to him for daily use; who frequently rebuked him for the excess of his abstinence, and also because he did not use wheaten bread and all the other foods set before him.

[4] In the priesthood Now John of good memory, bishop of Coutances ^h, hearing the fame of the man of God, had him called to himself. And he, among other things, since, as neither exquisite delicacies nor affected squalor beget praise, persuaded him to lay aside the shagginess of his hair and the squalor of his clothes, saying that uncleanness does not become a servant of God; and afterwards, the Lord favouring, he promoted him to all the sacred Orders. Nevertheless, before he became a priest, he visited the thresholds of the Blessed Apostles Peter, Paul and James, and for about four years heard theology at Paris. Concerning his abstinence, diligence, fasts, disciplines and holy occupations his fellow scholars told the aforesaid examiners many things as wonderful as they are praiseworthy; which, lest they beget weariness, I omit for the present. Having been promoted, then, to the priesthood, he began fervently to sow the word of life through the churches of the diocese of Coutances, in his preachings to grant indulgences, to hear confessions, to enjoin penances, to absolve those confessing, by special licence of the aforesaid diocesan; after whose model William of good memory, bishop of Avranches ⁱ, commissioned him to exercise the aforesaid things through the churches of his diocese ^k. O how this priest differs from himself as a boy! If we compare the life of the priest with his preceding life, the preceding life seemed to have been, so to speak, as it were useless; for, applying himself assiduously to fasts, vigils, disciplines, labours, prayers, divine praises, psalms, hymns and spiritual canticles, exhortations, preachings, the hearing of confessions, the visiting and consoling of the sick, he spent the night on God, the day on his neighbours.

[5] fasts, abstinences, Knowing therefore that war is entered upon with preparation, taming the flesh by fasts, he resolved in that fervour, besides the abstinence already mentioned, to fast two Lents every year on bread and water; and thus at that time he kept three in succession, fasting on bread and water. But because one must use moderation, so that the service of God once begun may be prolonged by degrees rather than diminished through immoderation, lest he should fail in the office of preaching he had undertaken, having become useless through excessive thinness, at the command of the aforesaid bishop of Coutances he tempered that same austerity of the Lents. Three days in each week of Lent he was content with bread and water; on the other days he was frequently content with the coarsest bread he could find, with vegetables or peas boiled in water without the seasoning of salt. For rarely and also most sparingly did he eat fish in Lent. Outside Lent, if perhaps on account of a solemnity or the insistence of good people he ate meat or fish, which happened very rarely, he ate most sparingly. Likewise if he drank wine, he drank most sparingly and so watered that it seemed almost to have changed the nature of wine. On Friday in every week he fasted on bread and water, and also on the day on which the feast of the Lord's Annunciation had fallen, provided he was in health; on other days he was content with cider or small beer for drink. By some, I think, who loved thrift he was therefore received with joy, because, burdensome to none, useful to all, he wished nothing to be prepared on his own account, nay rather he forbade it and expressly caused it to be forbidden; but the things prepared he ate without murmur as medicine, like an excellent physician, so that it should be food that warded off death, not one that ministered delights. And because amid lingering banquets the spirit glows less, he did not sit long at table; but, leaving those reclining, rising with thanksgiving, he betook himself elsewhere to prayer or reading or confessions or other holy occupations.

[6] vigils, journeys, Of his vigils what shall I relate? He spent the nights in the churches to which he turned aside, so that, being more inclined to watching, and more fervent in praying or meditating on divine things from the bodily presence of the Saviour and the suffrages of the Saints, he might keep his vigils more becomingly. For in the first watch of the night, the Office for the dead, the seven penitential psalms, the fifteen gradual psalms with the litanies and seven other psalms which he called the little psalms, with certain prayers, having been chanted quite slowly and most devoutly, accompanied by his cleric, the aforesaid cleric who for the time accompanied him being dismissed to the lower part of the church, where he had had a bed prepared for him, he himself, remaining in the chancel, gave himself, not without very frequent groans and sighs, to meditation on divine things and to contemplations. And when he believed his cleric had fallen asleep, he disciplined himself most harshly with rods or his own strap. At last he gave his body to the sleep that not desire but necessity demanded, for a little refreshment, content with a little straw, with sometimes a cloak, and rising about the middle part of the night for the morning lauds, he would call very gently to his cleric, saying: "Companion, up; companion, up." None of his clerics, as they relate, saw him, while he was in health, lying down or rising from bed. Then, the morning lauds having been chanted, and, when the star of light had risen, the hour of Prime most devoutly, almost every day, when no impediment prevented, he was accustomed to celebrate Mass at earliest dawn. Thence, an assiduous wayfarer, an excellent pilgrim, being in this pilgrimage by the body alone, hastening to another church, he was unceasingly intent on the canonical hours, or prayers or psalms, or confessions which he frequently heard on the way from many who followed him, or other holy works for the praise of God and the edification of his neighbours.

[7] assiduous preachings, A foremost zealot for souls, ardently pressing on for their gain, on every Sunday and feast day, when no impediment prevented, he preached in the churches at least once, sometimes twice or thrice: on the day of the Lord's Nativity four times, namely at the first Mass at Boëvilla, at the second at Vauville, at the third at Sainte-Croix ^l, at Vespers at another of the neighbouring churches. On every day of Lent at least once, sometimes twice, and also on feast days whenever he had a gathering of the people, he was accustomed to preach—to scholars in the schools, to religious in their monasteries. Inserting into his sermons the articles of the faith—with zeal for impressing which on the hearts of the faithful he was all on fire—which the Church solemnizes, among other admonitions of salvation, breaking bread for the little ones not subtly but easily according to the capacity of his hearers, he exhorted the peoples to pay tithes and offerings. After preaching he gave himself to hearing confessions, frequently, especially in Lent, fasting until dark. For many faithful men and women followed him from parish to parish, some for two days, some for three, some for one week, some for two and sometimes more, both on account of his salutary teaching, and on account of the indulgences which he granted in his sermons ^m, and on account of his sanctity and the reverence he inspired. Very many, receiving him with joy when he came to their parishes, cried out, some: "Behold the good man," others: "Behold the man of God." He was indeed held most celebrated among the people by the fame of his sanctity.

[8] afflictions of the body, zeal for prayer, Of his disciplines what shall I relate? From his youth he was accustomed to discipline himself most harshly with rods or his strap; which he did not omit to do both as a scholar at Paris and afterwards, when made a priest, in the churches in which he spent the night. He sometimes used to say to his intimates that a discipline with broom and holly ⁿ was good for deceiving the flesh; because its harshness in disciplining was fairly bearable, but it lasted long for one who has not experienced what it is like. It is likely that so great a man would not say these things without experience. For the priests who were his clerics relate that, when they passed through thick woods where the aforesaid trees were, he would withdraw to one side, and then they heard blows and sometimes groans, but they did not dare to approach near. A certain iron-studded strap, the iron next to the flesh ^o, he wore so long that it gave way with age. With the tongue [p] of his strap, which he had purposely made

longer, he pricked himself. His companions frequently saw the blood flowing down even to his feet. The scars of the wounds which he made on himself in the breast, in the arms, in the legs and shins, appearing at the end, prove those same prickings. For I believe, as I heard from his known companions while he was still living, that he made prickings of this kind on himself when he felt the stings of the flesh. He made genuflections very frequently. He always said the divine Office standing or on bended knees or prostrate. At the words: Who suffered for our salvation, and at the words: And was made man, and at the words: Hail Mary, he bent his knees according to custom. Persisting in the divine Office devout wonderfully and beyond the estimation of our misery, he had tears very frequently, especially during the solemnities of the Mass. When about to celebrate, he had as a rule instructed his clerics to make the people stand at a distance. After the words of the Saviour: This is my body, and the rest, said in silence as is the custom, he dwelt longer in contemplation, very frequently shedding many tears. After the receiving of the Body of Christ he appeared wonderfully glad and joyful: his face, flushing, which before had been pale, displayed the holy ardour of his heart. Not at Masses only, but at other times too he was accustomed to have tears, especially when he looked upon the image of the Crucified, at the long-continued sight of which he could not contain his tears. Whence it once happened that, while he was gazing more intently on the Crucifix, amid many tears he shed a drop of blood. Abounding thus in bowels of mercy, he had compassion on sinners, the poor and the sick. He exhorted the rich to succour the poor; and when he ate with his known old friends, taking dishes away from their mouths he had them given out to the poor, and he frequently said to them: "You eat too much: give to the poor." Visiting the sick he consoled them, inviting them to bear with patience and joy the infirmity and temporal tribulations sent by God, the most loving Father, who knows better than we what is expedient for us.

[9] his last illnesses piously borne, Ardently pressing on for the gain of souls, for about twenty-two years he went about on foot visiting all the churches of the said dioceses, preaching in all of them, as is stated above, at least once, in the greater ones twice or thrice, and for about four years before his death barefoot. He did, however, sometimes mount a horse, when he had promised to go to some church, not on his own account but on account of the expectation of the people, lest they be burdened with weariness. For two years or thereabouts before his death he suffered various bodily infirmities in various places, in which he was made stronger. For when he could not go to the church, while the priest was celebrating in the church, he had the bell rung twice, namely at the elevation and at the receiving of the Body of Christ, so that his spirit might be directed more fervently to its action. And when about to communicate after Mass, he had the Body of Christ brought to him solemnly by the priest who had celebrated, vested in diaconal vestments, clerics going before with lighted candles, singing the Invitatory of Advent, Behold the King cometh, let us go to meet Him, etc. [q], or Blessed is the Son of Mary, etc. [r]. Meanwhile, placed before his bed, beside a certain small stand [s] covered with an altar cloth, he awaited the coming of the Saviour: receiving Him with joy in his hands when He was brought to him, he spoke with Him at length, as if he saw Him in bodily form; and at last he communicated himself with his own hands. Having received Him, he gave thanks to them because they had brought him the precious food. This solemnity he observed in many illnesses almost every day on which he could not go to the church; but more solemnly in the last, because he had many visitors, priests and clerics, who attended the priest bearing the Body of Christ, singing solemnly. In this illness, foreseeing his death, he sent letters to the priests of the diocese of Coutances, asking them, since the soul departing from the body needs an escort, as was contained in the same letters, to pray the Lord for him who was about to depart. He sent also another letter to the noble matron Alice [t], wife of Robert Bertrand, a distinguished knight, containing among other things: "I will let you know that I am going to the court of paradise, where I shall be your procurator." O great confidence! Alice, moreover, was his disciple, a very devout matron, to whom he revealed many of his secrets; and when he had once revealed to her about the drop of blood which he had amid his tears, as is stated above, he enjoined her to give thanks to God, because he was not tempted concerning any secret that he told her.

[10] and his most happy death. For several days before his death he had the Gospels concerning the Incarnation and Passion of the Saviour read before him, which he heard most devoutly, sighing, rejoicing and raising his eyes to heaven. On the very day of his departure, not long before his death, he asked William, priest, chaplain of the chapel of Bricquebec, who had been his cleric, and who was attending him, to say before him that versicle of the Psalmist: "Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O God of truth"; which he did, and at once his spirit departed to its Author. In his mouth or body nothing unseemly appeared: his hands remained supple as if he were alive; and the rest of his flesh, which had been in continual exercise, and which the scars of the wounds or prickings he had made on himself, as is stated above, adorned in token of a noble warfare, displayed the appearance of a boy's age. This, as I firmly believe, his virginal chastity merited: for Peter, priest, parish priest of Boëvilla, and other priests whom, by licence or consent of the said parish priest, he chose at various times as various confessors, to whom he made his confessions most humbly, assert that they could never perceive a mortal sin in his confessions. He died full of days in the year of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand two hundred and fifty-seven, on Friday, the morrow of Blessed Luke the Evangelist, about the ninth hour.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. Broca, a word of the lowest Latinity, to which corresponds the French broche, signifying a spit, a small spit, a sharp stake and other pointed things, is used here by Clement for a buckle.

q. The Invitatory Behold the King cometh, let us go to meet our Saviour, is proper to the first Sunday of Advent in the ancient Breviaries of various regions, such as those of Paris, Salisbury, Liège, Regensburg, Passau, etc., and even now among the Cistercians, Premonstratensians, Friars Preachers, Calced Carmelites and others.

r. Blessed is the Son of Mary, who cometh in the name of the Lord: hosanna in the highest, was the conclusion of the Trisagion at the end of the Preface in Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as may be seen in some Missals; just as certain things in praise of the same Blessed Virgin were formerly inserted into the Angelic Hymn in this manner: Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, firstborn of Mary the Virgin Mother … Receive our prayer to the glory of Mary … For thou alone art holy, sanctifying Mary: thou alone art the Lord, governing Mary: thou alone art most high, crowning Mary. Whence you may explain why in the present Roman Missal that rubric is placed under the Angelic Hymn: Thus is the Gloria in excelsis said also in Masses of Blessed Mary, namely so that those additions are ordered to be wholly banished from that Hymn. Bl. Michael, Camaldolese hermit, whose Life we recently published Auctar. ad Act. Sanct. tomi V Octob., pp. 14 ff., often had on his lips Jesus the blessed son of Mary, perhaps because that conclusion of the Trisagion of which we have just spoken was present to his mind.

s. Formæ was the name, to use the definition of Papebroch Vol. I of April, p. 641., for choir stalls, before which a kneeling-desk is also commonly fitted for the convenience of those who pray kneeling Cf. Du Cange, op. cit., under the word Forma.. Formula, moreover, is a diminutive of forma taken in that sense, and signifies a prie-dieu, as Du Cange shows by several examples, among which it may suffice to have selected here that of St. Gregory of Tours De Glor. Confess., chap. XCII, Biblioth. Pat. vol. XI, p. 891, Lyons ed. 1677.: It happened that once St. Germanus, bishop of the city of Paris, was keeping vigil at this tomb (of Bl. Lusor), having not far off a prie-dieu, on which he bent his knees when need compelled.

t. This was Alice de Tancarville, daughter of Ralph, who had married Robert Bertrand V, baron of Bricquebec, viscount of Roncheville, etc., and had received many lands as dowry from her paternal uncle William IV, viscount of Tancarville Anselme, Hist. généal., vol. VI, p. 690.. She was the grandmother of William Bertrand, bishop first of Noyon, afterwards of Bayeux and finally of Beauvais. For that le Vasseur and the Sainte-Marthe brothers Gall. Christ. vet., vol. III, p. 28. erred, who made William I, bishop of Noyon, the brother of Peter Bertrand, Cardinal and bishop of Autun, Baluze has shown from the continuator of Nangis Vit. Pap. Avenion., vol. I, cols. 870 and 871..

ANCIENT MIRACLES,

by the same Clement.

From the Biville manuscript.

Thomas Hélye, priest, in Lower Normandy. (B.)

BHL Number: 8253

BY CLEMENT, A CONTEMPORARY.

The Blessed, while he lives, foretells the future, Although, according to what Blessed Isidore says, it is greater to do good works than miracles or signs; yet because, as the Truth says, many do not believe unless they see signs, it is worth while, for proving the sanctity of Bl. Thomas himself not only to the faithful through the works written above but also to unbelievers through miracles or signs, briefly to commit to writing some of the signs wrought by God in his life or after his death through his merits. Now William de Sainte-Croix, rector of the church of St. Germanus of Traileium in the diocese of Coutances, a sworn priest, who was long the companion of his labour, relates that when one night they were spending the night in the church of Landelie in the same diocese, and were chanting the Matins of Blessed Mary the glorious Virgin, suddenly, though the weather was most serene, a strong wind, or a malignant spirit in the wind, rushed into the church with so great a din that the same priest lost his speech for fear: but he himself, constant and intrepid, continued the psalmody, nor did he leave out even a single syllable; and after a little he bade him respond, and at once at his command he recovered his speech. And on the morrow, when they had left, the said priest asked him on the way whether he had heard the aforesaid din. He answered: "Was it not better that we should be in the divine service than asleep?" Nor did he report anything further about it. O great constancy, by which it is plain that he was proved in temptation! Likewise when the Blessed man, in the year of the Lord 1255, on a certain day in the penitential week ^a, was preaching in the cemetery of St. George near Saint-Lô ^b—for the church could not hold the people—a certain layman named Firmin de Mesnil-Oury ^c was harrowing ^d the land in which he had cast seed, near the aforesaid cemetery. The Blessed man, seeing him, said, pointing him out: "That man does not want to come to the sermon: now he goes, now he comes back: he cares more for his corn ^e than for his soul; and yet he will not taste of the corn for which he labours." And when the said Firmin had come at the end of the sermon, hoping to have the indulgence which he granted to others, the Blessed man, turning to him, said: "O man, do you think you will have the indulgence? You shall not have it, because you have not merited it; but know that you shall not eat of the corn for which you have laboured." And this came true as he foretold: for the aforesaid Firmin, on the morrow of the following Easter, set out on the journey to St. James for the sake of pilgrimage, and died on the way. On account of which it is plain that he had the spirit of prophecy, and this was public report.

[2] restrains rain, increases metal by his prayers, Again, when the same Blessed man was preaching in the open air in the cemetery of Moon ^f, and the weather was serene, a watery cloud rose up; and when the adorned women, fearing that a great rain was coming (for drops of rain were already falling, but few), rose up hastening to the church, he said to them: "Sit down, do not fear." And turning to the cloud, with outstretched hand, he commanded it, saying: "Go to God, do not hinder us." And so that cloud withdrew, and he, God favouring, completed the sermon he had begun; and thus so great an irrational cloud obeyed one who obeyed the divine precepts, not without the wonder of many, who marvelled at so great a trust in God in the Blessed man, that he commanded even the clouds. Peter, rector of the church of St. Peter of Boëvilla, intending to make two bells of equal weight in the same church, had two moulds of equal size made by a certain good and faithful bell-founder. When the first bell had been made, they considered the quantity of metal that remained over; and having found that twenty-five pounds of metal were lacking for making a second bell of equal weight, the said rector had metal for sale sought out in several places. When it was not found, and they had left off for eight days, it happened that Bl. Thomas came to the aforesaid church; and he asked why they were not making the second bell. The same rector answered him that metal was lacking, the aforesaid bell-founder being present. But the Blessed man, speaking kindly to them,

said: "If God preserves me, I believe that you have enough: go ahead boldly." And the same rector, being impatient as he was, answering harshly said: "You take us for fools ^g. Did we not weigh three times the metal that remained?" And so he went away angry. But the Blessed man himself, remaining in the church as was his custom, spent the night there as usual, and departed at earliest dawn. And on the morrow the said bell-founder said to the said rector: "Lord, did you not hear what the master said about the metal? Let us go and see whether the Lord has done us a favour." The rector answered: "Agreed." And forthwith coming to the church they weighed the said metal, and found fifty pounds more than they had found before: whence they made the second bell. And this miracle was famous, because the lack of metal was notorious throughout the whole parish, and also because the bell-founder had remained idle for eight days on account of the aforesaid lack.

[3] Acelina, daughter of Peter Fabri, about three years old, of the parish of Morsalines in the diocese of Coutances, for three days had her face swollen and puffed up, so that she neither saw nor heard anything. He heals a swollen face, a diseased eye, a crippled hand. Her parents despaired of the said girl's life. But a certain devout woman named Denise, who was accustomed to follow Bl. Thomas through the places or churches in which he preached, was lodged with the parents of the aforesaid little girl. Having compassion on the little girl's parents, she carried her to the church of the said place. There, after the Mass celebrated by Bl. Thomas at dawn, she devoutly asked him to lay on her those hands, this being expressly stated, with which he had held the Body of Christ. The Blessed, regarding the woman's faith and compassion, touched the girl's face, asking God that He would deign to grant her health. And so, having been carried home, after a short space of time she was entirely cured. Joan, daughter of Richard le Vignon of the parish of Boëvilla, had a spot in her left eye for a long time, and for a month or thereabouts did not see at all with that eye. The said Richard, the aforesaid girl's father, brought her to the said Blessed, while he lived, on the day of the Lord's Nativity after the second Mass celebrated in the church of Boëvilla, asking that he lay his hand on the aforesaid girl's eye. The Blessed man put his hand to the aforesaid eye, making the sign of the cross over the eye. And when the said father asked him what he said about the eye, whether she could recover health, since all the neighbours said that she would never be healed thereafter, he answered very kindly: "Richard, do not fear: she will be well healed, God granting." And so the girl, after the high Mass celebrated in the same church, saw and was fully cured. Mabilia, wife of Peter Guerard of Boëvilla, had her right hand crippled and infirm for a year and more, so that she could do no work with it. She herself and her husband and also the physician despaired of her recovery. At length, at the suggestion of the said husband, who had confidence in the sanctity of Bl. Thomas, she went to Bl. Thomas about a year before his death, and showed him the aforesaid hand, asking him to feel it. She had great hope of recovering health through him; but he answered kindly: "What do you think I can do?" At length, overcome by her insistence (she was his kinswoman), he felt it, and on that same day she recovered and did her accustomed work.

[4] Wonders happen in his last illness, death and burial. The nobleman Taluanus, knight, lord of Vauville, sworn, in whose house the same Blessed man died ^h, relates that, when he had persuaded the same man, lying sick in his house in that illness of which he died, to eat of a certain partridge, lest he should kill himself by excessive abstinence, but rather preserve himself to be of profit to others, and when he, overcome by his prayers, had consented, the same knight sent his servants with nets, dogs and birds, as is the custom, to the fields to catch partridges. Another servant went to the seashore for fish, if any had turned into a certain kind of nets which they call guidelli ⁱ; and there he found a live partridge caught in the guidelli (which until then had been unheard of, that partridges should be caught with nets on the shore), which he at once brought to his lord, the aforesaid knight. He, marvelling beyond measure, praising God and reckoning it to have been done miraculously by Him for the merits of the said Blessed man, had the same partridge prepared, and brought it to the said Blessed man, that he might eat of it. In the evening the other servants returned empty-handed: which is still recounted by many in those parts as a miracle. The same knight relates also that his mother, about sixty years old, was entirely cured of a certain quartan fever through the invocation of the said Blessed man. Likewise he relates that the room in which the same Blessed man died was fragrant with a wonderful odour for a month after his death. Likewise he relates that the water with which the beard of the said Blessed man was washed, when it was to be shaved after death, as is the custom—water which the same knight has and keeps as a relic—is still most pure, most clear and fresh, as if it had very lately been brought from the spring, although three years and as many months have been completed since the time at which he died ^k. The people standing by took the hairs of his beard after the shaving, to have them as relics. Others put themselves under the bier. Others kissed his hands. Others, both men and women, laid gloves, belts, necklaces or rings upon him, to keep them as relics. His body was carried from the house of Taluanus, knight, lord of Vauville, many priests, clerics, nobles and common people accompanying it, to the church of St. Peter of Boëvilla, and after the solemnities of Masses it was buried beside the church on the south side, where he had chosen his burial. And there the Lord, for the honour of His name, works many miracles through the merits of the aforesaid Blessed man. Likewise he relates that Ennia, wife of Alexander de Vauville, had and had long had a withered hand. She was present while the body of the said Blessed man was being carried to burial; and the same knight, taking the woman's hand, placed it confidently in the hand of the Blessed man, which was supple as if he were alive: and without delay she was fully cured, and, rejoicing and giving thanks to God, she returned to her home that same day after the holy body had been buried. This same the said woman deposed on oath.

[5] By his intercession a mute tongue, an injured arm, sick eyes are healed, Lucy, daughter of Roger de Heneville, on a certain Sunday quite early, in the month of September, in the year of grace 1259, lost her speech at Bricquebec; and being mute, she was tormented so grievously that she could neither sleep nor rest. The noble woman Alice, lady of Bricquebec, of whom I made mention above, seeing her and having compassion, advised her to invoke Bl. Thomas and go to his tomb. She consented, and on the following Thursday she set out on the journey and came to his tomb, and there, weeping and praying in her heart, she stood beside the body of the holy man. At length, about the third hour of the day, while she was devoutly entreating the said Saint in her heart, she bowed her head to the tomb, and at once recovered her speech; the first words, as she was carrying them in her heart, were: "My lord Saint Thomas, give me back my speech." And so she went away, not only with her speech recovered, but also fully cured of another bodily trouble which she was suffering, rejoicing and giving thanks to God and to Bl. Thomas. John Trenchefer, a layman of the parish of the Holy Trinity of Cherbourg, while he was unloading sheaves ^l from a certain wagon on the vigil of St. Lawrence in the year of the Lord 1260, fell upon one of the rods which reapers after their fashion have on their wagons to hold the sheaves lest they fall; and it pierced his right arm between the bone and the muscle, and so for a while he hung by the pierced arm. Placed, then, in this distress, he invoked Bl. Thomas, saying: "My lord Saint Thomas, look upon me, and I will bring you a candle of the length of my arm, and another to St. Honorina ^m." And so, a single drop of blood flowing, he had the wound bound up. And when many told him to have the wound itself opened, in order to avoid the danger of a canker arising within, and to seek a physician, he answered that he would seek no other physician than St. Thomas for this work; and so he remained entirely cured: which was and is reckoned a miracle by many who were present. Joan, daughter of Odo Potin of Équeurdreville, about ten years old, had a redness and a certain thin film over her eyes for three years. With the right eye she saw a little, with the left less: sometimes for three days or more she saw nothing at all with the left. Her mother sought counsel from many, and had rings with precious stones; but she could be cured neither by medicines nor by stones. But her mother, hearing that at the invocation of Bl. Thomas the Lord was working miracles at his tomb, vowed her to Bl. Thomas and brought her to his tomb; where she spent one night, and departed seeing, fully cured in both eyes.

[6] [a crippled hand, eyes infected with spots: a feeble old man, a paralytic youth are cured,] Cecilia, wife of Odo Potin, relates on oath that she had her left hand crippled for fifteen weeks, and so firmly closed that she could in no way open it. She sought counsel from physicians, but medicines profited her nothing at all. But she invoked Bl. Thomas to succour her, and vowed that she would go to his tomb in woollens, fasting for three Saturdays on bread and water. When the vow had been made, at once she was better; and when the vow was fulfilled, she was entirely cured. Theophania, daughter of Durand de Toto of the parish of Cherbourg, about nine years old, had a spot in each eye for two months and more. Petronilla her mother sought counsel, rings with precious stones and many herbs: they profited nothing at all. And when the parents despaired of the girl's sight, the said mother vowed her to Bl. Thomas of Boëvilla and brought her to his tomb; where she had the shoes ⁿ of Bl. Thomas, shod in which he was accustomed to celebrate, applied to her eyes, and so she was entirely cured. Ralph, called Flamant, of the parish of the Holy Trinity of Cherbourg, a very old man, having become so feeble that he could not walk without a staff nor see without the light of the sun, vowed himself to Bl. Thomas for the favour of recovering strength and sight. He had himself led to the tomb of Bl. Thomas, and returned thence seeing, making his way, seeking neither a guide for the road nor a staff for support. Nicholas, son of John Tesson of Équeurdreville, was a paralytic, so feeble that he could neither stand on his feet nor sit. He could not raise his head except when

his mother raised his head for him: he could not hold it upright, but it at once fell to one side. His mouth was twisted almost up to his right ear, which infirmity physicians call torture; nor did he see with his right eye. With neither hand could he help himself or even feed himself, nor draw his right foot toward himself. Besides these things he had a violent hunger. His parents, namely John Tesson and Petronilla his wife, vowed him to Bl. Thomas; and the said father had him carried on a certain Saturday in a wagon to the tomb of the Blessed man, and there they kept vigil for one night: and the said Nicholas, fully cured, departed on the morrow on foot, giving thanks to God and to St. Thomas.

[7] a deaf woman, another epileptic, Sabina, wife of William Hugo of the parish of Blessed Mary of Flamanville in the diocese of Coutances, lying one night in her bed, became deaf and lost her hearing. She vowed herself to Bl. Thomas for the favour of recovering her hearing: she went to the tomb of Bl. Thomas on a certain Saturday: she kept vigil there that night. On the morrow, her hearing fully recovered, she departed rejoicing and giving thanks to God and to St. Thomas. Margaret, relict ^o of Roger Aprilis of the parish of Tonneville in the diocese of Coutances, was swollen at the mouth of the stomach for four years or thereabouts: every day she vomited to the point of blood, sometimes three times, sometimes twice, at least once. And so, despairing of a remedy through physicians, she vowed herself to Bl. Thomas. She went to his tomb: she kept vigil there for one night: on the morrow she returned home fully cured; for afterwards she had no vomiting nor was she swollen. Alberta la Hecquette of the parish of Querqueville [p] in the diocese of Coutances suffered from the epileptic disease for twelve years or thereabouts: every day three times, sometimes four, and on feast days she was accustomed to fall more often in the church. She vowed herself to Bl. Thomas: she went to his tomb: she kept vigil there on the Saturday before Isti sunt dies [q]: on the morrow she returned healthy, and for a month or thereabouts she did not fall, nor did she feel anything of that disease. And when someone one day said to her that it had turned out well for her that she was thus cured, she answered: "No: rather I would prefer to suffer as before"; because she did not now find anyone who would succour her and be willing to give her alms, as before: for she was poor and a beggar. Having said this, at once she fell down, and for many days she was afflicted by that disease more than usual, and fell more frequently. But Ralph de Bohon, rector of the aforesaid church, an old man of great name (for he had been penitentiary of Rouen), hearing of it, rebuking her for her ingratitude, persuaded her to vow herself again to Bl. Thomas and to go once more to his tomb. And she, grieving no less over the reproach frequently cast at her, that she had suffered a relapse through her ingratitude, than over the punishment, and fearing that Bl. Thomas would not be willing to hear an ungrateful woman, asked God and Bl. Thomas with great affection, as she told me privately, that the present punishment might be changed into the punishment of purgatory according to the will of God, provided only that He heard her; and so, compunct from her inmost heart, she vowed herself again to Bl. Thomas: she went to his tomb, kept vigil there, and departed healthy, nor did she afterwards suffer a relapse.

[8] others suffering from disease of the eye, deafness, arthritis; Emina, called la Galarde, of the parish of Querqueville [r], had a spot in her left eye for eighteen years and more. The whole pupil of the eye was covered with a certain very thick film. She vowed herself to Bl. Thomas and invoked his help: she went to his tomb; and so she was cured through the merits of the said Saint. Emina, wife of Ralph Parvus of the parish of Querqueville, lost her hearing, remaining deaf for two years or thereabouts. She vowed herself to Bl. Thomas: she went to his tomb; and there for three Saturdays she fasted keeping vigil, and she had some of the water with which the beard of the Blessed man was washed when it was to be shaved after death, as is the custom, dropped into her ears, and so, fully cured, she returned rejoicing to her own home. Matilis, wife of Robert called Cervus, about sixty years old, of the parish of Éculleville, which is distant from Boëvilla two leagues or thereabouts, suffered for nine years from gout in the left thigh, during six of which, in pain and limping, and during the three other, last ones, scarcely supporting herself with a staff, she walked with difficulty. She vowed herself to Bl. Thomas. On a certain Saturday of the month of June, about the feast of Blessed John the Baptist, she set out at earliest dawn on the journey to his tomb, and could scarcely come there about sunset. She kept vigil there with many others. On Sunday very early in the morning she felt a great heat in her thigh and a great odour; and so, fully cured, she threw away her staff, and stood in the church until about sunrise, giving thanks and narrating the course of the event, how she had been sick and cured. Departing thence, she came to her own church while the parish priest, at whose admonition she had vowed herself to Bl. Thomas, was chanting Te Deum laudamus after Matins; and showing herself cured, she narrated the course or manner of that cure to her neighbours, who congratulated her and marvelled.

[9] stiffness of an arm, swelling of the belly and paralysis are taken away; Joan, daughter of John called Faber, seven years old, of Digulleville, had her left arm useless, stiff and bound to her side, nor could she move it, and she felt so much pain in it that she could not allow anything to be applied to it, nor could she rest or lie on her side for pain, nor did her parents hope for her recovery. Petronilla her mother vowed her to Bl. Thomas and brought her to his tomb, and there she was fully cured. Alice, wife of John David, of Vauville, about seventy years old, was long weak in her legs, so that she could not walk without a staff: she was bent, nor could she straighten herself. She vowed herself to Bl. Thomas: setting out for his tomb, she could scarcely support herself even with a staff. She spent the night there, and returned healthy, making her way, not requiring at all the staff of support. William, son of Ranulph called Bachelier, of Teurthéville [s], seven years old, had a hardness, swelling or bigness in the belly, so that he could neither eat nor see his feet because of the excessive bigness of the belly, and he was bent backward; and thus he suffered for six continuous days. And when his parents despaired of him, he vowed himself to Bl. Thomas, and said to his mother: "Vow me to St. Thomas, for I am dying." And this the mother did, girding him with thread for making a candle to be brought to the tomb of the Blessed man; and at once the boy was cured, and said: "Give me something to eat, for I have fasted enough." And this was done, and at once he ate with joy. Thomas de Hamello of the parish of Tréauville was made paralytic in the year of the Lord 1270 on the feast of Blessed Magdalene, struck in the right side of his body so grievously that he was almost dead. He almost lost his speech, nor could he speak except very low and slowly. His right hand became continually trembling and firmly closed, so that he could not open it, and he could not cut his nails. They grew so much that they hurt him in the hand; and so, powerless and trembling, he remained for a year: of his recovery there was despair altogether. At length, hearing of the miracles that were being done through the merits of Bl. Thomas at Boëvilla, he vowed himself to Bl. Thomas. Led by his people, he came to the tomb of the Blessed man; and when he asked for a candle for sale to be offered, his hand and arm gave a crack: the hand was opened; and so, fully cured, after thanksgivings and the publication of the miracle, rejoicing and exulting he returned to his own home.

[10] a boy and a girl drowned in water are recalled to life; Ralph, son of Ralph Hebert, about four years old, fell into the channel of the mill of Burnechon while it was grinding, in the parish of Saint-Germain-le-Gaillard in the diocese of Coutances; and he was there so long that there was no doubt to anyone that he was dead. And when the body, drawn out with much labour, had been placed beside the mill, many of the neighbours gathered at the spectacle; among whom came the mother, and weeping she cried out: "O neighbours and friends, pray with me on bended knees to St. Thomas, that he may give me back my son." And when some on bended knees, with tears, having compassion on her, were crying together with her to St. Thomas that he would give back her son to the said mother, after a little time, when they were ready to bury the body itself, after much crying of the mother and of those standing by, the boy breathed, opened his eyes, and lived again. Agnes, daughter of Robert Mi, of the parish of St. Mary of Les Moutiers near Pont-l'Abbé [t] in the diocese of Coutances, about two years old, fell in the month of July into a certain ditch, in which water lay as deep as a man's loins; and there she lay so long that there was no doubt that she was dead, both because it was about the hour of evening, and because many leeches held her in the mouth, on the tongue, in the ears, on the legs and in the lower natural parts and many other members. William Michael, her paternal uncle, seeing her, drew her out; and grieving over the girl's death he vowed her to Bl. Thomas, and the mother, coming up, not without tears, together with the said William, likewise vowed her to Bl. Thomas. After a little time, after the crying and tears of the aforesaid, many standing by, the girl breathed and lived again.

[11] [there are helped a man destitute of strength, another suffering in his arm, another affected with numbness of the nerves, a scrofulous girl, an arthritic woman;] William called Hasle of the parish of St. Martin of Vindefontaine in the diocese of Coutances was long sick, weak and powerless, so that he could not work, and at last could neither stand nor sit. He vowed himself to Bl. Thomas: upon the vow at once he was better. He set out on the journey to Bl. Thomas, and, supporting himself with two staffs under his armpits, he scarcely arrived there on the eleventh day. He kept vigil there: being made healthy he left the staffs in the same place, and on the third day returned to his home with joy, giving thanks. Thomas Anquetilli of the parish of Vindefontaine fell from a certain horse upon his arm; and thereupon the injured nerves contracted a hardness, and the arm became bent. He placed it on the tomb, both praying from the inmost heart and asking his help; and when he had prayed a little, he stretched out his arm upon the tomb, and without any pain was suddenly cured, and returned with joy to his own home. Nicholas called de Mara of the parish of Boëvilla in the diocese of Coutances was struck in the left side of his body so grievously that he could not touch the ground with his left foot, having his arm hard and bent, with the left hand; nor it

could he stretch out, nor gird or clothe himself, and so for seven years or thereabouts he was powerless and sick. At length he vowed himself to Bl. Thomas, went to his tomb, and there was fully cured. Matilis, daughter of John, of the parish of St. John of La Haye-du-Puits [u], about seven years old, had two lumps on either side of her throat, as big as two goose eggs, for three years. Many physicians saw her, and said that they did not dare to lay hands on her, because it was the disease which is called escrares [x], from which the sick are wont to be cured by the touch of the hands of the king of France. But the mother, fearing for the girl's death, because she had had another child, a boy, who had died of a like disease, vowed the said girl to Bl. Thomas, the aforesaid father being present; and at once the said lumps were diminished. The mother, seeing this, brought her to the tomb of the Blessed man, and so she was entirely cured. Emina, wife of Geoffrey called Delie, of the parish of St. John of La Haye-du-Puits, had gout in the head, descending to all her members. She became grievously sick and powerless, so that she could not raise her hands to her head, nor walk, nor stand, nor feed herself, nor suckle her child whom she had, a little one. She vowed herself to Bl. Thomas, the aforesaid husband being present, and at once she was better. Afterwards, within a short time, she went to the tomb of the aforesaid man, where she was fully cured.

[12] life returns to a drowned girl, hearing and soundness of mind to a youth; Juliana, daughter of William called Faber, of the parish of St. Symphorian in the diocese of Coutances, of the age of two years and two months, fell into a certain spring which they commonly call Buot, and was there for some time. Then she was found thus drowned, and drawn out cold and stiff, without breath, without movement, with eyes closed. The father, coming there, cried out with a loud voice, invoking Bl. Thomas to give him back his daughter; and that he might obtain it, he added that he would neither eat nor drink until he came to his tomb barefoot, and forthwith, unshod, he set out on the journey. Nor was there delay: after the journey was begun, in the presence of the priest of the place, who together with many others was invoking Bl. Thomas, and they were awaiting the grace of God with great confidence, the girl opened her eyes and lived again. Her father, returning on the morrow glad and giving thanks, found her living. Robert, son of the one called Consanguineus, of the parish of St. Thomas the Apostle of Lithaire, a cleric and scholar, having been dragged off and thrown down by evil spirits at twilight of a certain day in the wood [y] of the same place, was broken in the loins, and became bent and deaf; and although before he had been of good disposition and a good scholar, he now held schools and scholars in hatred, nor did he enter them, and he was reputed to be possessed. At length, in the church of Blessed Michael of the Wood, where nuns dwelt, he recovered health in his loins: yet for a long time afterwards he was deaf, abhorring schools and scholars. His mother vowed him to Bl. Thomas and brought him to his tomb. And when one day he had come to the tomb of the Blessed man, he prayed on bended knees and bowed himself over it; and thus bowed over the tomb, he was for a long time in ecstasy as if dead, from the ninth hour until Vespers. The priests, seeing him and reckoning him dead, began the commendation, and were arranging to bury him as dead; and when the priest was completing the prayer, saying: "For ever and ever," the cleric was heard answering "Amen," and then he rose. And to the wonder of many standing by, he related how he had been greatly harassed, and it had seemed that his ears were being torn out; and so he was made fully healthy. Not only did he recover health of body, but also of mind, so that he loved the scholars whom he had abhorred, longing for the schools with affection.

[13] [a certain man from the falling sickness, another from arthritis, a woman from a fistula, a man from numbness of the nerves, sheep from the pox,] William called Magnus of the parish of Picauville [z] in the diocese of Coutances suffered from the falling sickness. He vowed himself to Bl. Thomas: he went to his tomb, and there was fully cured, nor did he afterwards suffer from the falling sickness. William de Duovilla, a married cleric of the diocese of Coutances, had gout in the loins so grievous that he could not bend down to the ground, nor do his customary work. Besides this it happened at the same time that his two sons fell so grievously ill that he despaired of their recovery. He vowed himself to Bl. Thomas, or himself on behalf of the same sons: he went to the tomb of the Saint, and not only was he fully cured of the gout, but on returning he also found his said sons healthy. Lucy, daughter of Richard de Hamo, of the parish of Montebourg [aa], had a great tumour in her left leg, quite high up under the female member, suffering so grievously for three weeks that she could neither raise herself nor get out of bed. At length she sent for a physician, who, having seen the disease, said that it was a fistula [bb], which could not be cured without cutting. When she heard that she could not be cured without cutting, she vowed herself to Bl. Thomas; and so it came about, after the vow was made, that her leg was cured without cutting and without pus, and that which before was swollen and puffed up was found flat, without any tumour, but wrinkled. The neighbour women, seeing her with her leg thus healed without tumour, cured without pus, marvelled, and many devoutly wept for joy. Germain Glace of the parish of Gréville [cc] in the diocese of Coutances, struck in the right side, namely in the foot, hand and tongue, so grievously that he lost his power of walking and his speech, nor could he move or work, invoked Bl. Thomas in his mind, since he could not speak. When his attack was due according to the usual course of the fever, it ceased altogether, nor did he afterwards feel anything of the aforesaid quartan. Robert called Rufus of the parish of Héauville in the diocese of Coutances had twelve sheep suffering from the disease which is commonly called la verolle. He despaired of their recovery, and likewise all his neighbours. He vowed them to Bl. Thomas, and so they were all at once cured. In the church of the said parish it is established to me, a scholastic [dd], that there was no one among them who had not experienced the benefits of the aforesaid Blessed man either in his own person or in his household or in his cattle.

[14] [a monk is freed from arthritis, a smith from pain in the eye, another man from fever, his daughter from a singing in the ears, a boy from an acute disease;] Martin, prior of the priory of Héauville [ee], a monk of the Order of Blessed Benedict, suffered from gout in the right arm. He invoked Bl. Thomas, promising one workman for the church which was being newly built at Boëvilla for the translation of his body [ff]. He sent a workman according to his promise: the gout ceased for a long time. Afterwards, when it happened several times that the gout afflicted him, he would invoke Bl. Thomas, saying: "St. Thomas, do you not know how it is?" and at once the affliction ceased. Ralph de Tréauville, a smith, while he was striking upon a certain mass of glowing, fiery iron to make two portions of it, suddenly the other part of the glowing iron leapt into his eye and afflicted him vehemently; and for a long time he could not rest for excessive pain. He consulted physicians, who told him that he had lost the eye, nor did they know any remedy to apply, as they said. He vowed himself to Bl. Thomas: he went to the tomb, and recovered his sight. This the same man deposed on oath before us. He added also that his horse, grievously sick, so that he despaired of its recovery, he twice vowed to Bl. Thomas, and so twice he recovered the same horse healthy through the merits of Bl. Thomas. Ralph called de Toto of the parish of Vauville was suffering from a tertian fever in the year of the Lord 1270 in the month of December. He vowed himself to Bl. Thomas: he went to the tomb of the Saint: he spent the night there keeping vigil: he returned healthy, nor did he afterwards feel anything of the aforesaid fever. Likewise the same Ralph relates on oath that his daughter, about seven years old, had a continual singing in her ear. She vowed herself to Bl. Thomas: her mother brought her to the tomb of the Saint; and there out of the girl's ear fell a certain dead worm like the worm which is commonly called oreilliere [gg], and so, made healthy, she returned to her home. Nicholas, son of Richard de Gardino, of the parish of St. Peter of Boëvilla, about four years old, struck by a sudden disease, from the very morning until almost the ninth hour of the day, in the month of October, was in extremity, as it seemed to those standing by, his tongue held between his teeth so firmly that they could not be opened. Many seeing it thought that the aforesaid tongue had been cut off. His mother vowed him to Bl. Thomas; and at once, about the ninth hour of the aforesaid day, the boy leapt up healthy, fully cured.

[15] [a beast of burden recovers; a light is kindled at the death of a little boy; a breast that had begun to waste away is restored; a youth is relieved of disease;] William Martini had a beast of burden which for four days and more was so sick that there was no hope of recovery. It was announced to the relict of Ralph called Præpositus that it was dead. Hearing this, she vowed it to Bl. Thomas, and at once the beast itself recovered. William Heberti of the parish of St. Germain called le Gaillard had a son about two years old, languishing for almost a year, who began to waste away. And when the father and mother saw him thus sick and furnishing much matter for sorrow, they asked Bl. Thomas to draw him to one end or the other, namely death or health. They carried him to the tomb of the Blessed man on a certain Monday, the morrow of Easter, in the year of the Lord 1270. And when they had arrived there after Mass, and were seeking fire to light the candles to be offered, the keeper told them that there was no fire in the church. But the aforesaid father looked diligently at the lamps and candles, to see if he saw fire; and having found that there was no fire there, the said keeper went to the neighbouring houses to seek fire, and failed. Meanwhile the boy was in extremity; and the father, seeing the imminent death of his son, although he saw the lamps and candles without light or fire, yet out of excessive desire for light and fire looked at the candles, and saw fire on one candle about the hour at which the boy gave up his spirit. And lighting his candle, he offered it before the keeper returned: who, seeing it, marvelled. Margaret, wife of Peter Rogeri, of the aforesaid parish of St. Germain called le Gaillard, had in her left breast for three months a most violent disease, which afflicted her grievously, so that she could not rest. The same disease was consuming the breast, nor could she find any remedy. And when the neighbours despaired of her life, at length she vowed herself to Bl. Thomas, and so she was cured without any medicine. William, son of William de Valleto, sixteen years old or

thereabouts, of the parish of Saint-Germain-le-Gaillard, was suddenly seized by a vehement disease, and for the space of a half-league's journey was as if dead in ecstasy. And when his parents and neighbours despaired of his life, they vowed him to Bl. Thomas, and at once he recovered, and rose and played with his companions of the same age that same day.

[16] [a woman and a man in fever, a man with the falling sickness, two boys and a youth weak in their limbs come to health.] Helen, relict of Robert called Præpositus, of the aforesaid parish of St. Germain, had a wandering fever for three months, then a quotidian one for a fortnight. She vowed herself to Bl. Thomas: she went to his tomb, and at once the fever ceased altogether. Richard called Præpositus, of the aforesaid parish of St. Germain, suffered from a tertian fever for four months. He vowed himself to Bl. Thomas: he went to his tomb, and there at once the fever was healed altogether. Thomas, son of William de Vergerio, of the parish of Alnum [hh] in the diocese of Coutances, when he was two years old, suffered from the falling sickness. Stephania his grandmother vowed him to Bl. Thomas: the same grandmother, the boy's father accompanying, brought him to his tomb, and so he was fully cured there. Geoffrey called Tolissac, of the parish of St. Symphorian in the diocese of Coutances, had a son of two years and more, and also a son of the age of one year and five months: both lacked the use of their feet, nor could they stand on their feet. Their parents were grieving: by the counsel of their grandmother their mother vowed them to Bl. Thomas, and at once they recovered their walking according to their measure. Nicholas, son of Simon de Bosco, of the parish of Tourqueville, was sick and weak, so that he could not walk without a staff, for two years and more: at last he became so weak that even with a staff he could not walk the distance of a bowshot without having to rest; and this was notorious. He vowed himself to Bl. Thomas: he came to his tomb with great difficulty: he kept vigil there for one night, and it seemed to him in the morning that that leg suddenly began to grow warm; and so, fully cured, he departed without a staff, making his way, not requiring the staff of support. These things concerning the life, merits and miracles of the aforesaid Bl. Thomas, of which I was assured, as is stated above, I have written in a rude but faithful style. Many other signs indeed, which are not written in this book, the Lord has wrought through the merits of the said Blessed man and still does not cease to work: which, if anyone wished to write them all, many volumes would contain.

[17] Moreover, as is clear from the second examination of the miracles, This, however, I do not wish to be hidden from the knowledge of posterity, that John of good memory, bishop of Coutances, who, together with Brother Ralph de Gardinis, at that time prior of the Friars Preachers of Coutances, by mandate of the apostolic See, diligently and faithfully inquired into the life, merits and miracles of the oft-mentioned Bl. Thomas, I assisting them, sent to the same See for the business of his canonization two rural priests with the aforesaid inquiry. And although the inquiry concerning the life and also concerning fourteen or thereabouts of the miracles—which could have sufficed for obtaining canonization—was approved, nevertheless, on account of the lack of solemnity in the messengers, the Lord Pope remitted to the aforesaid bishop an inquiry to be made concerning certain miracles, about which there had been less diligent inquiry, and also concerning new miracles. This he made in accordance with the apostolic mandate; but the bishop, overtaken by death, did not send it back to the curia: although two Cardinals from this side of the mountains, namely Brother Hugh de Saint-Cher of the Order of Preachers, who had been the confessor of Bl. Thomas and whose scholar he had been when the same Cardinal was lecturing on theology at Paris [ii], and Master Odo of Châteauroux, who had been chancellor at Paris at the time when the said Blessed man was a scholar at Paris [kk], were desiring the aforesaid canonization with the utmost longing, as is stated above. And this they also directed to the same bishop, and that he should hasten to send solemn messengers on account of the same business; which he did not do, as has been said, being overtaken by death. The inquiry, as is stated above, having been remitted to the same bishop, to be made by mandate of the apostolic See concerning both old and new miracles, the miracles that follow were proved before him.

[18] a contracted girl, two boys Peter, son of Sylvester de Gardino, of the parish of Boëvilla, of the age of one year and three months, fell into a certain ditch in which there was much water. He was drawn out dead, cold, stiff, without movement, without breath, showing no sign of life. For him the father, mother and very many others standing by invoked Bl. Thomas: he was carried to the tomb of Bl. Thomas, and there he lived again after a little interval of time. Joan, daughter of William called Brocquet, of the parish of St. Nicholas of Barfleur [ll], after a continuous fever suffered great pain at the crisis [mm], and became contracted between the legs and the head, having her knees joined to her breast: she could not raise herself nor walk without a staff half a foot in length, and so she remained for a year or thereabouts without hope of recovery. At length her mother, called Joan of Barfleur, vowed her to Bl. Thomas: she brought her to his tomb; where, when she had prayed for a long while, she raised herself up, not without the wonder of all who were present, and was fully cured. Thomas, son of Ausbert, of the parish of Saint-Germain-le-Gaillard in the diocese of Coutances, fell into the channel of the mill of Gibart in the said parish while it was grinding. The water carried him under the wheel of the grinding mill, and the wheel passed over him from beneath, and so he was drawn dead out of the water. For him his mother invoked Bl. Thomas, crying with a loud voice: "St. Thomas, give back my son." And many standing by on bended knees cried out with the said mother, invoking Bl. Thomas for her aforesaid boy; and so after a short time the boy lived again.

[19] [and a drowned girl, likewise a contracted man, experienced the help of the Blessed.] Alice, daughter of Nicholas de Barcade, of the parish of Taillepied in the diocese of Coutances, fell into a spring ringed with a wooden vessel, which is commonly called a buhot [nn], and was drowned there. Her mother, named Matilis, finding her already dead, crying out and invoking Bl. Thomas: after a little interval she was restored to life. Ralph called Hericie, of the parish of Ver in the diocese of Bayeux, suddenly, while he was walking alone, incurred an infirmity or weakness: whence, being made contracted and bent, he could not stand upright, nor walk except leaning on a staff with both hands. He carried his head very low, his knees almost joined to his breast, having on his back below the shoulder blades a great hump like a man's head. Thus for a year or thereabouts he was contracted and powerless, so that he could do no work; and he who had been accustomed to eat the labours of his hands became a beggar from door to door, and poor. He vowed himself to Bl. Thomas with his whole heart, and forthwith he recovered, and after a little interval of time he was entirely cured. To the praise and glory of almighty God, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. Quierquevilla is in the copy of Fr. James Dinet, which is doubtless the same parish that is commonly called Querqueville, near Cherbourg. Our other copy has Guiervilla, by which name we have found no place in the diocese of Coutances. Francis Lemière and R. D. Colin write Gréville here, a village three leagues distant from Cherbourg.

q. These are the days which you ought to observe in their seasons, etc.

is the first responsory at Matins of Passion Sunday, which was also accustomed to be sung during the procession of that day. Therefore there is designated here the Saturday of the fourth week of Lent, otherwise called Sitientes from the first word of the Introit.

r. In this and the following miracle the Dinet copy again designates Quierquevilla, as does also Francis Lemière. But Gruervilla is in the copy of Fr. Champion, and Pierreville in R. D. Colin. Further, you would seek Gruervilla in vain; Pierreville, however, lies not far from the sea, four leagues from Biville toward the south.

s. For Turquetevilla, which in R. D. Colin is Turqueville, in the copy of Fr. Dinet there is Tocquetevilla, which would rather be Tocqueville. Both places exist in the district of Coutances: but it is uncertain which reading is the better.

t. By its French name Les Moitiers près le Pont-l'Abbé, three leagues from the town of Carentan, between Picauville and Étienville.

u. In French La Haye-du-Puits, formerly a marquisate, a little more than six leagues from Coutances, five from Carentan.

x. What Clement here calls escrares the French called at other times escrouelles, now écrouelles, that is, scrofula.

y. Boscus, boscum, buscum, to the French today bois, to the Italians bosco, to the Spaniards bosque, to the Belgians bosch, to the Germans Busch, is in Latin silva. The church of Blessed Michael of the Wood, of which presently, is called by the vernacular name St-Michel-du-Boscq. There was there a priory of nuns of the Order of St. Benedict, dependent on the abbey of St. Mary of Moutons, situated in the former diocese of Avranches Gall. Christ. nov., vol. XI, cols. 534 and 883..

z. Picquauvilla is now written Picauville. See annot. t.

aa. Montisburgus by its vernacular name is Montebourg, by the Ocean, a league and a half from Valognes.

bb. Clement calls fistura what physicians call a fistula, a kind of ulcer.

cc. Guirvilla is in the copy of Fr. Champion, Guiouvilla in that of Fr. Dinet. By neither name does a parish exist in the diocese of Coutances, but there are several with names coming fairly close to those two, such as Gerville, Gréville, Gouville, Grouville, Genouville, etc.; among which it would not be easy to say which should be chosen: so that accordingly we prefer to leave the matter in doubt with R. D. Colin Op. cit., p. 227..

dd. That Clement asserts that he was a scholastic in the church of Héauville seems to indicate that he had been placed in charge of directing the schools there; unless, however, he is speaking of benefits conferred, when he was a boy, on the people of that parish by Bl. Thomas while he was still living. For the word scholasticus was used in both senses, so as to designate now a master, now a pupil.

ee. The priory of Héauville of the Order of St. Benedict depended on the abbey of Marmoutier [Pouillé général de l'archevêché de Rouen, etc.: bénéfices du diocèse de Coutances, p. 22.]: and the prior himself had the patronage of the parish of the same name Ibid., p. 16., mentioned a little above by Clement, who was a scholastic there.

ff. See the Preliminary Commentary, num. 14.

gg. Oreillère or perce-oreille in the French language is the name of the insect which in Latin they call forficula auricularia (the earwig), and which by a popular error is believed to be able to pierce the ears and penetrate to the brain Dict. de Trévoux, under the word Perce-oreille..

hh. The parish of Alnum is called in French Laulne or Laune, namely with the article prefixed to the noun aulne or aune, which signifies the alder tree.

ii. Hugh de Sancher is named by Clement, who in the modern French idiom is written de Saint-Cher; whence he is also often called in Latin de S. Charo or Caro: although he is more correctly called de S. Theoderio or Theuderio, from his birthplace, a suburb of Vienne of the Allobroges. Namely, St. Theuderius, abbot, whom the Roman Martyrology on the 29th day of October calls Theodore, was named in French Chers, Cherf or Cherfs, by the same interchange of letters by which the name of St. Theofrid, abbot, of whom we have treated on this very day, passed into Chafre. Having given his name to the Order of Preachers in the year 1225, Hugh began five years afterwards to give public lectures on theology, as we have already said in the Preliminary Commentary (num. 9). Having thereafter discharged many offices in his Order with distinction, which it is not to the purpose to relate here, in the year 1244 he was created Cardinal priest of the title of St. Sabina by Innocent IV, and was employed by the same and by his successor Urban IV in the gravest affairs. He received the end of his life at Orvieto on the 19th of March 1263 [Cf. Quétif and Échard, Script. Ord. Præd., vol. I, pp. 194 ff.; Ciacconi, Vit. Pont. Rom., vol. II, cols. 120 ff., Rome ed. 1677; Hist. littér. de la France, vol. XIX, pp. 38 ff.]. Further, from this date of his death it is plain that the letter which Clement records as given by him to John, bishop of Coutances, must be referred to the first inquiry into the life and miracles of Bl. Thomas, which in the year 1263 was not yet finished; but not to the second, which was begun much later. It appears, therefore, that Clement in this place did not distinguish the times accurately enough: which let be said also of the other biographers of Bl. Thomas who have followed Clement in this matter.

kk. Odo de Castro Radulphi (in the vernacular Eudes de Châteauroux), at the time when Bl. Thomas was engaged in theological studies at Paris, was indeed a canon of the church of Paris, and could accordingly have known the Blessed; but he was not yet discharging the office of chancellor at that time. For that office was held from the year 1223 to the year 1237 by Philip [Chronic. Alberici at the years 1223 and 1237, in Leibniz, Access. hist., vol. II, pp. 511 and 561.], surnamed de Grève Crévier, Hist. de l'Univ. de Paris, vol. I, pp. 287, 291, 292, 379 and 380.; then by Guinard of Laon: and when he was promoted to episcopal dignity, Odo de Châteauroux succeeded him in the year 1238, when Bl. Thomas had certainly already returned to his native country three or four years before (Cf. Prelim. Comment., num. 9). Further, they report that Odo a short time afterwards, having resigned the office of chancellor, withdrew into the monastery of Grandselve of the Cistercian Order, over which he also presided for a little while as abbot: until in the year 1244 he was created Cardinal bishop of Tusculum by Pope Innocent IV. In the cardinalate he carried out most illustrious legations: first in France with St. Louis the king, to whom he delivered the sacred banner, and at whose request he most solemnly consecrated the Sainte-Chapelle at Paris; then in the East, whither he accompanied the same Saint, and when he sailed back to France in the year 1254 he remained there with the army of the crusaders, for how long a time is uncertain. Nevertheless it is established that he had returned to Europe in the year 1261, in which he was present at Viterbo at the election of Urban IV; and accordingly about that time, together with Hugh of St. Theuderius (Cf. annot. ii), he could have written to John, bishop of Coutances, for hastening the cause of canonization of Bl. Thomas. This man, most celebrated in the Annals of that age, departed this life at Orvieto in the year 1273 [Ciacconi, loc. cit., col. 117; Hist. littér. de la France, vol. cited, pp. 228 ff.].

ll. The parish of St. Nicholas of Barofluctus is a maritime place, formerly a fairly notable town, now only a village, by its vernacular name Barfleur, at the extreme eastern part of the district of Coutances (commonly called the Cotentin), toward the north [Cf. D'Expilly, op. cit., and Dictionn. univers. de la France, under the word Barfleur.].

mm. Creticare, to fall into the crisis, as physicians call it, says Du Cange. It is also written criticare; and cretici dies or rather critici dies, as the same Du Cange says, is what physicians call those days on which the disease is more fully revealed and the sick are in greater danger of dying, in French jours critiques.

nn. That the word buhot was sometimes taken for the vent of a chimney and for any tube or channel, Carpentier teaches Glossar. nov. seu Supplem. ad Glossar. Cang., under the word Buheterius.. Now add from our Clement that by this word there is also denoted a wooden vessel set around a well, in a meaning fairly close to those others.

MORE RECENT MIRACLES,

collected from various sources by J. L. A. Colin, parish priest of Jobourg, and translated from French into Latin.

Thomas Hélye, priest, in Lower Normandy. (B.)

FROM VARIOUS SOURCES.

[The intercession of the Blessed heals diseased eyes, distorted and contracted limbs.] In the year 1624, in the month of July, Michaela, six-year-old daughter of Louis Lecordier, a citizen of Carentan, had eyes so diseased that she saw scarcely anything, or not even scarcely. When her father had vowed her to Bl. Thomas and promised that he would go to his tomb, immediately the little girl's eyes became clear and her faculty of seeing was fully restored. In the same year, in the month of September, Paschasia, daughter of the late James Hamel, of the village of Audouville, while she was sewing linen, carelessly pricked her eye with the needle: whence she lost her sight. After some days she had recourse to Bl. Thomas, vowed that she would visit his tomb; and soon she received her sight. In the year 1625, on the 10th day of September, Stephen Duval and his wife Giles Letiebot, of the parish of Saint-Germain-de-Vaux ^a, with many others testified that their daughter Frances Duval for more than seventeen months from her birth had had her knees fastened to her breast, and had not been able to stand on her feet: but that as soon as they had vowed her to Bl. Thomas, her body being well set, she began to stand on her feet and to be quite well. In the same year, in the month of October, Simon, six-year-old son of Simon Basire, of the village of Saint-Martin called le Hébert, was seized by an unknown disease. When the physicians had despaired of him, his mother Joan Lebourgeois vowed him to Bl. Thomas, and at once obtained health for him. In the year 1626 Mary, daughter of Nicholas Beuselin, of Beuzeville-sur-le-Vey, four years old, after for eighteen months she had almost lacked sight and had carried her head bent almost down to her knees, abandoned by the physicians, was commended by her mother Margaret and her grandmother Guillelma Noël to the intercession of Bl. Thomas with God; and so she shortly recovered. In the same year Michaela, daughter of John Leneveu, of Vesly, twenty-four years old, for nine months was affected by an unusual malady, so that she had her hands contracted like little balls, and lacked also the use of her legs and feet, nor did she barely live except by sipping a little broth: besides this her mind had forsaken her. Susanna la Merielle, her mother, implored the help of Bl. Thomas, and the sick woman's health returned.

[2] [to pains from poison swallowed, to most grievous bruises, to blindness, to stones, to running of the eyes,] In the year 1627, on the 19th day of March, Thomas Moulin and Coleta his wife, of Biville, testified that their daughter Catherine, when she had eaten for sugar some arsenic found at home in a certain paper, was suddenly affected with pains of the bowels so vehement

that she seemed about to die at any moment; but that she recovered immediately, when her mother on bended knees and with mind lifted up sought the help of Bl. Thomas. In the same year, on the 3rd day of November, Simon Benard, parish priest in Bricquebosq, and other respectable inhabitants of that parish testified that Christopher Lamesle, eleven years old, on the 22nd day of July had been buried in a clay pit under easily twenty-five cartloads of earth; that, drawn out from there after half an hour, his body bruised and one eye crushed, he had been held for dead by all who were present: but the next morning, when his cousins William and Michael Lamesle, who had gone to the tomb of Bl. Thomas in fulfilment of a vow and had had a Mass celebrated there, had returned from the pilgrimage, the same boy had entirely returned to life and perfect health. In the year 1628, on the 9th day of May, the parish priest and other inhabitants of the village of Bricquebec testified that Vincent, son of Nicholas Carrel and Catherine Lacotte, had been freed from blindness by the prayers and intercession of Bl. Thomas. Martin Leguay, son of Peter, of Gonneville, a little child, had already for three years been suffering from the stone, when his parents, having made a vow, carried him to the tomb of the Blessed: where, when they had spent nine days in prayer, they brought the boy home healed. Joan Benoît, widow of Peter Leprêtre, of Prétot, already for two years suffering from a running of the eyes so that she could scarcely see, vowed herself to Bl. Thomas, and was soon freed from the malady, in the year 1628.

[3] [to disturbance of mind, to an ulcer, to the falling sickness, to inertness of the limbs, to wounds, to a mute tongue, to paralysis,] In the same year, on the kalends of September, the parish priest of Martinvast testified that Nicola Léger, his parishioner, had been for eight years so disturbed in mind that she continually thought of throwing herself down headlong, nor did she enjoy any rest; but that, having been brought by her parents to Biville to the tomb of the Saint, after novena prayers performed there she recovered health. In the same year James Letourneur, of Prétot, was wonderfully freed at the tomb of Bl. Thomas from a malignant ulcer which they call Noli me tangere. Louise Lemettelier, wife of William Saint-Denis, of Tribehou, harassed for two and a half years by the falling sickness, by which she fell two or three times a day, on the 25th day of May 1629 vowed herself to Bl. Thomas, and on the last day of June visited his tomb, having suffered no ill from the time her vow was made, as she herself testified. In the year 1630 Oliva Gemet, of Tourlaville, already for three years confined to her bed and not able to move herself at all, was brought to Biville, and having paid her vows to God and Bl. Thomas, returned home leaning on two staffs. Then, having undertaken a second journey there, she spent nine days in prayer: and these having elapsed, she returned home without staffs, entirely cured. In the same year Nicholas, son of Julian Lebreton, a citizen of Coutances, three years old, fell into the bottom of a cellar and was so wounded that the physicians despaired of his life. His mother vowed him to Bl. Thomas, and he recovered. In the year 1631, on the 19th day of July, Mary Lecourtois, wife of Francis Groult, of the parish of St. Albinus of Podoue, declared on oath before witnesses that her son Francis, four and a half years old, destitute of speech and held to be mute by all the neighbours, began to speak as soon as his mother had commended him to the prayers and intercession of Bl. Thomas. In the same year Mary, daughter of Philip Lesaulnier, of Magneville, paralytic and lacking all movement of hands and feet, was carried by her parents to Biville: where, when she had prayed God to have mercy on her through the merits of Bl. Thomas, shortly afterwards she was well.

[4] to a cut tongue, to the stopping of breath by water, to distorted limbs, In the year 1632, on the 11th day of May, Nicholas, son of William Vast, of Picauville, living in Feugères, testified that his tongue had been cut near the throat on the day before Pentecost of the year 1622 by William de Bouloche of Rhéville, and that from that time until the 15th day of December in the year 1632 next he had not uttered even a single little word: but that, when he had paid his vows to Bl. Thomas at Biville, where his body rests, the faculty of speaking had been restored to him and he had used it readily. In the same year, on the 27th day of June, John Bihel and his wife Anne Leterrier testified that their son James, three years old, on the 10th day of that month had fallen into a great ditch full of water: where he lay for much more than a whole hour. When his father had sought him, at length looking down into the ditch he saw him lying at the bottom, and drew him out dead. Then he invoked Bl. Thomas with those standing by, and after three hours the little boy lived again. Fr. Francis Lemière himself, of the convent of Bayeux of the Friars Minor of the Observance, doctor of theology, who published this wonder, was present at Biville when the parents brought their little son to the tomb of Bl. Thomas in thanksgiving for the benefit received from God. Julian, son of Giles Desplanches, of Isigny, a village of the diocese of Bayeux, had his feet and legs so wretchedly distorted that his heels seemed to cling to his loins: sitting in a bowl he dragged himself along with difficulty, arousing horror and pity in the minds of those who saw him; besides this, in place of speech he uttered inarticulate sounds which scarcely a few could understand. Vowed to Bl. Thomas on the 10th day of June 1632, he visited his tomb: whence, all the neighbours marvelling, he returned home in perfect health ^b.

[5] [to a grave unknown disease, to limbs diseased, swollen and inert, to most acute pains, to paralysis,] Joan Duval, wife of Nicholas Jullin, a citizen of Valognes, had for eight years been suffering from an unknown disease: she could not speak, could scarcely walk, took very little food, and was tortured with most vehement pains. Her husband made a vow that he would go to the tomb of Bl. Thomas and there would have a Mass celebrated to obtain her healing; and in fact she was healed. Frances de la Londe, wife of John Austin, of Vély, with diseased feet and legs, had already for a whole year been unable to walk. She had recourse to God, taking Bl. Thomas as mediator, and shortly she walked as before and was entirely cured. Margaret Lemière, wife of Oliver Corbet, of Loiret, her arms, legs and whole body swollen for three months, remained fixed to her bed; and their son Giles Corbet had lost the use of his feet so that he was not able to walk. Mother and son promised by vow that they would visit the tomb of Bl. Thomas, and soon they were relieved of their maladies, in the year 1628. Jacoba, widow of William Lecœur, of Saint-Patrice-de-Claids, after she had been deprived of the use of her feet for almost a year, and had supported herself on knees and hands, having made a vow to God and Bl. Thomas, was cured, and went to the tomb of the Blessed to give thanks on the 5th day of March of the year 1628. Nicholas, six-year-old son of Peter Duboscq, of Bricquebec, was brought so near the end by a grave disease that for an hour and more all who were present reckoned him dead. His parents made a vow to God, to the Most Blessed Virgin and to Bl. Thomas, whom they asked to deign to be intercessor with God, promising that they would have a Mass celebrated at Biville. Health having been restored to the boy, they fulfilled the vow on the 28th day of June 1628. The wife of Stephen de Hostingue, esquire, lord of Lille, of Bolleville, two hours after childbirth was brought so near the end by most vehement pains that she was believed dead. Her husband, seeing this, made a vow to God, to the Most Blessed Virgin and to Bl. Thomas, entreating his intercession, and promising that he would go to his tomb and have Mass celebrated there. The vow being made, he sprinkled his wife with holy water, thinking that she had already expired; but she began to sigh and to speak, and forthwith fully recovered: whence the vow was satisfied on the 16th day of June 1629. Nicholas Merlin, of Bricqueville-la-Blouette, paralytic for six weeks in the left arm and the right thigh and leg, having made a vow to visit the tomb of Bl. Thomas and to spend nine days there piously, was healed, and came to Biville to give thanks on the 24th day of July 1629.

[6] [to an impeded tongue, to an ulcerated leg, to a body twisted with pains, to difficulty of childbirth,] Robert Leflambe, of Octeville above Cherbourg, having received the blow of a heel on the back of his head, had lost the use of speech: his tongue was growing black, hindered besides by two large tumours. He made a vow that he would visit the tomb of Bl. Thomas; and when the rector of his parish, Andrew Robin, celebrating Mass in the month of July of the year 1629, had come to the consecration of the precious Body of the Lord, Robert himself, beginning to speak, said with a loud voice: "Hail, salvation of the world, Word," etc. John Dupont, son of James, of Saint-Sauveur-Lendelin, had for almost seven years had his right leg ulcerated. When the inner part of the leg had been cured by a physician, the outer part began to ulcerate, and was in a worse state than before. By the very medicine it came about that a fragment of bone almost two fingers wide and long fell from his leg, and so the malady, growing more and more, extended itself from the knee down to the foot: whence the sick man was abandoned by the physicians. In this strait he made a vow to God, to the Most Blessed Virgin and to Bl. Thomas, and sent his son Michael to Biville to procure that a Mass be celebrated there. This being carried out, at once he was well, and he himself gave thanks to God in the church of Biville on the 26th day of July 1629. Lia Delamare, wife of Louis Martin, of Bohon, in the months of May and June of the year 1629 was racked with so violent a pain through her whole body that she could scarcely walk propped on a staff; as soon as she made a vow to God and Bl. Thomas, she ceased to be ill, and received back the same agility which she had had before her illness. Mary Ferey, wife of John Lebœuf, esquire, lord of la Rivière, of Cretteville-en-Bautois, was labouring in the pain of childbirth from Sunday until Friday. Her husband, seeing her together with the offspring placed in peril of life, vowed that he would go to the tomb of Bl. Thomas and procure that a Mass be celebrated there. Soon she was happily delivered without pain: wherefore her husband betook himself to Biville to give thanks and to discharge the vow on the 11th day of June 1630.

[7] to fever, to a wound, to inert limbs, to paralysis, to diseases Charitina Lochet, widow of Michael Écourlemet, of Saint-Germain-le-Galbois, had been parched with fever for two years, so that she could neither rest nor take food. Having spent her means in vain on medicines, she fled to the divine help, and having made a vow that she would go to the church of Bl. Thomas, have a Mass offered there and give her name to the confraternity of the same Blessed, she forthwith recovered her health on the 12th day of June 1633. Francis Lepelletier, son of Luke, of Être, about four and a half years old, had been grievously wounded from his birth; and his parents wished the wound to be treated with the knife. But by the counsel of friends they vowed him to Bl. Thomas, promising that a Mass would be celebrated for him at Biville; and at once he recovered. Whence on the 24th day of June Nicholas and Luke Lepelletier, father and son, paid the vow. John Belial, of Portbail, ten

and a half years old, who had so lost the use of his legs and feet that he had already for a year had to support himself on his hands and knees, his mother brought to Biville in fulfilment of a vow: where, Mass having been celebrated, he was cured. Francis, son of René Dutourp and Joan Martin, of Breuville, five and a half years old, at the end of the month of August of the year 1631, sick in his whole body, in the arms of his father, deprived of all sense and breath, foaming at the mouth and with his legs twisted backward, for the space of half an hour and more seemed like one dead. Wherefore his father, and the brothers and sisters of his parents, prostrate on the ground, made a vow to God, to the Most Holy Virgin and to Bl. Thomas, whom they employed as intercessor with God, that He would deign to restore life to the boy, and they promised a Mass to be offered in honour of Bl. Thomas. Nor was there delay: the boy, restored to health, began to speak. Francis Lerouville, of Vrétot, so paralytic in the right side of his body that he could not move from his place unless propped on a staff, after he had endured this malady from the feast day of St. John the Baptist, at length on the 15th day of September of the year 1631 set out on the road to Biville to visit the chapel and tomb of Bl. Thomas: and when he had arrived there, he was soon cured. Jacoba Lanière, of Breuville, was tortured by a vehement disease for which the physicians knew how to bring no remedy. Wherefore her mother Floriana Dequilbec, having invoked God and the Mother of God, and employing Bl. Thomas as intercessor, promised that she would go to his tomb as soon as she could, and have a Mass sung there, and pay the tribute of praise with as much fervour as she could, so that, if it so pleased the Lord, health might be restored to her daughter; and from that moment the daughter began at once to be better, in the year 1632.

[8] to various diseases, to legs and feet harassed by paralysis and distortion, Mary Troude, daughter of Julian, brought to extremity by the force of a dangerous disease, which the rest avoided as a plague, and already abandoned for dead, had recourse to God and the Most Holy Virgin; and having made a vow that she would visit the tomb of Bl. Thomas and have a Mass celebrated there, she recovered her health in the year 1632. Guilbert Tiphanne, son of the late James and of Guillelma Boisset, of Tamerville, about eighteen years old, had been entirely deprived for eighteen months of the use of his left thigh and leg, nor could he move himself. His mother with great affection besought his healing from Bl. Thomas, promising that she would spend nine days in prayer at Biville and have a Mass celebrated there in honour of the Servant of God. As soon as the mother began the novena prayers, the son began to be better; and, fully cured, on the 25th day of October 1632 he came to Biville with his mother to render thanks to God and Bl. Thomas. Petronilla, daughter of Louis Toulorge and Giles Lefèvre, confined to her bed by a slow fever for seven or eight years, having invoked Bl. Thomas, was healed by his intercession in the year 1633. Peter Herault, of Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, on the 25th day of November of the year 1632, being affected by paralysis and crippled in the legs, was tortured day and night by the most lively pains, by which his whole body was deformed, his legs being so twisted back up to the thighs that he could neither stand nor raise himself. In that state he remained until the feasts of Pentecost of the year 1633, when he made a vow to God and the Mother of God, Bl. Thomas being patron, that he would visit the church of Biville to pray for health through the merits of the Blessed. He had spent three days at the tomb of the Servant of God, when behold, he felt a huge pain in his limbs for about half an hour, with a sound as if his bones were breaking. Then, the pain vanishing, he who before had been carried in a winnowing-basket began to walk with hooked staffs. At length he returned home holding two small staffs in his hands and standing upright on his feet; and on the Tuesday of Pentecost of the year 1633 he enjoyed perfect health. Toussaint Noël, son of Ralph, of Canville, since from his birth he had his legs and feet twisted outward, so that it seemed he would walk only with the greatest difficulty, his parents promised by vow that they would carry him to Biville and procure that Mass be offered there for him. Forthwith the feet of the boy, who was then three years old, were brought back straight, and his father, to give thanks, brought him in good health to the chapel of Bl. Thomas on the 25th day of July 1633.

[9] to pain of the eyes, to vehement torments of the body, Guidona Lebourg, daughter of Michael, a citizen of Valognes, having had her eyes diseased for a year and a half and her sight almost taken away, after the vain help of physicians invoked Bl. Thomas, and, having made a vow to visit his tomb and to have a Mass celebrated there, recovered complete health in the year 1633. Ralph Toulorge, of Siouville, twenty years old, twisted by a violent malady for almost four hours so that he was thought to be dead, was relieved of the malady as soon as his parents vowed him to Bl. Thomas, promising that, if God restored him to life, they would go to Biville and have a Mass celebrated there, on the 5th day of January 1633. Martha, daughter of Ursin de Lille, esquire, lord of la Montinière, and of Guillelma de Surtainville, on the last day of June 1632, near the house of her parents, fell from the bridge called de la Commie, under which water stood to the height of five feet: whence after almost three quarters of an hour she was drawn out lifeless. Her mother, seeing her thus, with the others, on bended knees besought Bl. Thomas that by his prayers he would ask back from God the life of the little girl, and promised that by her care a Mass would be celebrated at Biville. The vow made, the infant, then two years and three months of age, lived again. Juliana, daughter of Peter Drouet, of St. Nicholas at Coutances, very infirm, afflicted in her whole body, bent and wholly unfit for work, having made a vow to visit Bl. Thomas in the church of Biville, obtained through his intercession the health which she sought, in the year 1628. Carola, daughter of John Duclos and Frances Hurel, of Videcôville, after an illness of three days, on the 19th day of January 1628 was for a whole hour already in the grip of death: but a vow having been made by her parents for the preservation of her life, to visit the chapel of Bl. Thomas and to have Mass celebrated there, at once she began to be well. Wherefore her parents went to the church of Biville, and there gave thanks to God and discharged the vow on the 20th day of June next following ^c.

[10] to black bile, to an impeded tongue and other limbs, Master Nicholas Grosin, of Danneville by the sea, so excited by black bile and foul thoughts that he believed himself possessed by a demon, when he had vowed himself to Bl. Thomas and discharged novena prayers and vows, was cured by his help, as is established from an attestation made on the 7th day of February 1628. Catherine Holegate, of Tourlaville, when she had gone out to milk the cows, was seized by the throat by a certain woman who wished to strangle her: whence, her tongue being contracted within her mouth, she lost her speech. When she had returned home, her family vowed her to Bl. Thomas, and began novena prayers at Tourlaville, during which on the second day they went to Biville, where the Sacrifice of the Mass was offered for her. So she was fully cured and received back the use of her tongue; of which matter an attestation was given on the 12th day of August 1628. Likewise a girl of Tourlaville, not able to walk, vowed herself to Bl. Thomas; and after novena prayers she was so much better that, having taken up staffs in the church of Biville, she already began to move herself. But after another nine days spent in prayer she obtained a complete cure. Margaret Corbet, of Loret, confined to her bed with her arms and legs swelling for three months, and her son Giles, deprived of the use of his legs from the knees down, having made a vow to Bl. Thomas, entirely recovered.

[11] to the failure of walking, to swelling of the body, to blindness, Jacoba Lecœur, of Saint-Patrice-de-Claids, having made a vow to Bl. Thomas, recovered her walking, lost for about a year, and went to give thanks to the Blessed on the 5th day of March 1628. Peter Frapier, son of John, of Biville, suddenly afflicted by a malady, his body and especially his head swelling, was without sight for four days. Michael Frimot, called by his parents to bring him some relief, declared that no remedy was available except that they should commend the sick boy to God and Bl. Thomas. When they had done this, before the rosary of the Blessed Virgin had been entirely recited, the mother saw her son enjoying sight and complete health. Peter Gamas, son of Benedict, of Hémevez, his sight gradually failing for about six or seven years, at last became blind: his father, having learned of the things that were happening daily at Biville, commended him to Bl. Thomas, vowing that he would go to his tomb with his son. Having undertaken the journey, with neighbours accompanying, he asked that a Mass be celebrated there: during which, when the Body of the Lord was elevated, the boy said: "I have seen the sacred Host, I have seen the holy Sacrament." And in fact at that moment of time he had received his sight, his father and mother being prostrate at the tomb of the Blessed and holding candles in their hands. Joan Loir, of Varreville, living in Hémevez, about thirty years old, after efforts employed for ten years and more to heal her diseased eyes, having lost all other hope of healing, had recourse to Bl. Thomas, vowing that she would go to Biville and have a Mass celebrated there. When she came to the tomb to pray, she felt herself healed, and fulfilled the vow in the year 1623 ^d.

[12] to the manifold ills of a certain man About the year 1687 Floridus Perrine, of Helleville, a simple man and of good morals, poor and living by the labour of his hands, was very often affected by most grievous colic, various fevers succeeding. Two years later he felt the sharpest pains in one knee and thigh, with spasmodic movements so vehement that they could in no way be calmed. When he had been in this state for about six months, the thigh became paralytic, lacking movement and sensation. So he spent three years, meanwhile feeding his body on a little common bread, which alone he could use, but feeding his mind with the reading of pious books, with which he refreshed himself and was consoled according to God; until to the first pains there were added also most bitter pains of the shoulders, which were followed by so great an affliction of the tongue that it seemed as if it were being violently torn out of his mouth. At length, these pains being mitigated, he remained mute and paralytic in one arm and thigh, his tongue livid, and it and the thigh so destitute of movement and sensation that they could not be recalled to natural warmth even by the most biting and hottest remedies. And since he could swallow nothing, whether solid or liquid, he sipped drink drop by drop and received food as through a funnel, and that only with the greatest difficulty and very great torment. This last mischance befell him at the end of December of the year 1692. In the following year, about Eastertide, someone, having entered his house, said to him: "Pray to God, friend, and you will be healed." And in truth from that time he was better as to the paralysis of the thigh and arm, so that he was able to undertake the pilgrimage to the tomb of Bl. Thomas, which had been urged on him on the 9th day of July. He was therefore carried there on the following day: the parish priest out of charity received him as a guest, and with food

provided for him, and Francis de la Luthumière, priest ^e, who was then giving himself to spiritual exercises there, helped him with consolation and prayers. This man celebrated Mass for the sick man on Saturday, which was the 11th of July. On the following day the priest of the parish of Biville offered another Mass for him: during which Mass the healing of the pilgrim took place. Namely, when it had begun, he felt his shoulders pressed down by a weight gradually increasing: which weight at the elevation of the sacred Host was increased so much that at the elevation of the chalice he fell to the ground. Meanwhile, as if dreaming that his tongue was being torn out of him, and that he was being thrust down under the pavement, and that the tomb of the Blessed was being overturned, he cried out with a loud voice: "I am dying: God, God, mercy." And those who had run up to him as he lay saw his paralytic leg shaken by violent movements. When these had calmed, rising up he cried out that he was healed; although he appeared greatly weakened, with burning eyes and neck, and all covered with sweat. Wherefore he went out of the church for the sake of cooling himself: but, having been refreshed a little, he returned to it to be present at the parish Mass and to give thanks to God for the health received. So the whole matter was narrated by the doctor of medicine Fortin de Quettreville, a pious and learned man, who had himself treated the sick man and had been a witness of the healing: a copy of which narrative, written and signed by his hand, is preserved in the church of Biville. There was added the testimony of Francis de la Luthumière, already mentioned, who likewise thought it his part to make known what he had seen done at Biville with his own eyes. For before, he had received answers from the sick man only by signs and gestures; but afterwards he had heard him answering with a ready tongue to the questions which he put to him: and all the circumstances of the illness he had learned from the physician himself, with whom he had contracted a close friendship.

[13] and to the sickness of a woman brought to extremity. Mary Langevin, wife of Nicholas Mauger, a citizen of Carentan, for a whole year and more had her limbs, as a result of a miscarriage, so distorted and dislocated that she was like some inert mass of flesh and bones, nor did the malady seem curable. And no longer expecting any help from the physicians, who had in vain applied all the resources of their art to relieve her, she thought that Bl. Thomas must be entreated by her; and she vowed herself to him with the assent of her husband, who also promised that he would convey her to his tomb. He did what he had promised, although the matter was troublesome enough; but since he scarcely hoped that his wife would either return home living or even reach Biville, he took with him everything necessary for burial, so that in whatever place death might perhaps snatch her away, he might have her buried there. He therefore placed on a large mare panniers furnished with cushions, to which he bound his wife with linens; and he himself, sitting behind, together with a companion on foot, supported the sick woman. On the second day they arrived at Biville: where, the mare having been led up to the porch of the church, the woman was received by the parish priest of the place, named Coupey, and some priests with several laymen, who carried her up to the tomb. Then at her request two Masses were celebrated. Toward the end of the second Mass she felt all the members of her body shaken so violently that she seemed to herself to be dying; but the pains suddenly calming, she said to her husband: "I believe my prayers have been heard by God through the merits of Bl. Thomas." Then she rose, stood upright on her feet, and walked around the tomb with no one helping. The matter was at once reported to the parish priest and to the lord of Biville: who, when they beheld entirely cured her whom not long before they had seen most grievously ill, had peals of the bells rung as a sign of joy and the Ambrosian hymn chanted to give thanks to God. The husband led his wife home in good health, sitting on the mare together with him, exciting along the whole journey, and especially at Valognes, where the citizens had observed her miserable state when she had passed through that way, the immense wonder of all who saw. And hence it can now be understood what the wonder of the people of Carentan was, who knew her sickness best of all and were awaiting news of her death rather than of her return. The miracle was proclaimed throughout the whole town: from every side there was a concourse to that woman as to some prodigy; nor was any other talk now spread through the town and the neighbouring countryside except about this matter. By which piety toward Bl. Thomas was so greatly increased that almost all the townspeople of Carentan made pilgrimage to his tomb. And that married couple for many years were accustomed to come to Biville to continue their thanksgivings. All these things Charles Trigan took down from the testimony which Peter Dugardin, esquire, lord and patron of Biville, in the seventieth year of his age, gave on the faith of an oath to Lord Leguédois, promoter of Coutances, deputed for this by the Ill. Lord de Loménie de Brienne, who wished to renew the processes begun by his predecessors for the canonization of Bl. Thomas ^f.

ANNOTATIONS.