Gonsalvo of Lagos

ON BL. GONSALVO OF LAGOS, CONFESSOR, OF THE ORDER OF HERMITS OF ST. AUGUSTINE, AT TORRES VEDRAS IN LUSITANIA,

IN THE YEAR 1422

HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.

Gonsalvo of Lagos, confessor, of the order of hermits of St. Augustine, in Lusitania. (Bl.)

§ I. Of Blessed Gonsalvo's biographers and the approval of his cult. Proper lessons.

BY V. D. B.

Very many writers, some more briefly, some more fully, have comprised the deeds of Blessed Gonsalvo of Lagos; Of the many writers who have praised Blessed Gonsalvo, whose names it will be helpful to have recited at the threshold of this commentary. There are first two whose age is hidden from me, namely the anonymous compiler of the Augustinian Tree, which I find indicated by Philipp Elssius Encomiasticum Augustinianum, page 268., and Strambelius, also mentioned by the same Ibid. loc. cit. and called the author of a book on the saints of the Order Ibid. page 23.. I suppose that both wrote at the beginning of the seventeenth century. But others had inquired into the deeds of the blessed man long before that time. The first, unless I am mistaken, is Jerónimo Román, a Spaniard by nation, an indefatigable investigator of Augustinian affairs, and for that reason numbered in the year 1569 among the Chroniclers of the Order and four years after ordered to be Chronicler; which office he discharged until the year 1597, in which he died Ossinger, Bibliotheca Augustiniana, page 772 and 773.. Among the other things, which he left unpublished in very great number, comes a Life of the blessed servant of God, which Tomás de Herrera Alphabetum Augustinianum, page 285. and Luigi Torelli Secoli Agostiniani, vol. VI, page 530. used. Behind comes Giuseppe Panfilo, a Veronese by homeland and cited by Elssius Encomiasticum, page 268., who in the year 1581 at Ferrara published the Chronicles of the order of the friars Hermits of St. Augustine, in it praising above all the men distinguished either for holiness or for learning Ossinger, page 653.. Not long after, namely in the year 1596, Juan de Marieta, a Spaniard of the Order of St. Dominic, brought out the fourth part of the Ecclesiastical History of Spain [Quarta parte de la Historia ecclesiastica de España, book XVIII, chap. 30, fol. 5.], in which he spoke briefly of the most holy man. That António da Purificação wrote very fully of Blessed Gonsalvo I have learned from Torelli Secoli Agostiniani, vol. VI, page 530 and 531.. He treated of him both in the Triumphal Theatre, or index of the notable things of his province of Lusitania, divided into sixteen choirs and published at Lisbon in the year 1634, and in Part II of the history of the most ancient province of Portugal of the order of Hermits of St. Augustine [Chronica de antiquissima provincia de Portugal da Ordem dos Eremitas de S. Agostino, etc.], which saw the light at Lisbon in the year 1656 Ossinger, page 723.. Meanwhile Tomás de Herrera, no less than the foregoing an Augustinian by profession, in the year 1644 published from the presses of Madrid the Alphabetum Augustinianum, in which Alphabetum, page 285. he related a few things about Blessed Gonsalvo. Ten years after, Philipp Elssius brought out at Brussels the Encomiasticum Augustinianum, in which he professes to follow Panfilo, Herrera, Strambelius and the Augustinian Tree Encomiasticon Augustinianum, page 267 and 268., yet having nothing which is not found in Herrera. Last of all comes Luigi Torelli, who in the year 1680 had the sixth volume of the Augustinian Centuries printed at Bologna, comprising in it Secoli Agostiniani, at the year 1422, num. 10 and following, vol. VI, page 531. the deeds of Blessed Gonsalvo; the narrative of the translations being reserved for the following volumes.

[2] only Marieta, Herrera, Elssius and Torelli are at hand. But all these writings are not in my possession: I have namely only Marieta's History, Herrera's Alphabetum, Elssius's Encomiasticum and Torelli's Augustinian Centuries. That I lack the Augustinian Tree, Strambelius and Panfilo I do not greatly grieve; since those who used them collected nothing that is not better known from elsewhere. But that I am deprived of the Life which Jerónimo Román committed to writing, and much more of the writings of Fr. António da Purificação, and especially the History of the province of Portugal, I bear most grievously. In actual truth Torelli reported in his Centuries whatever concerned the deeds of Blessed Gonsalvo and the translations of his body; but, although he had promised that he would report the miracles each at its own year Ibid. num. 23, page 538., he entirely omitted them. Yet they deserved an altogether different lot, since they had been collected in authentic form. Namely, when on March 27 of the year 1491 João da Madalena, a native of Lisbon, was ordered for the second time to rule the province of the Augustinians of Portugal [Ossinger, page 529; cf. Torelli, Secoli Agostiniani, at the year 1492, num. 4, vol. VII, page 406.], he seems to have thought of increasing the honours of Blessed Gonsalvo. At the same time Fr. Leonel, prior of the convent of Torres Vedras *, spent his labour in putting into writing the things that had happened up to that day at the tomb of the blessed man, which was in that convent, and in having them approved by public instruments [Torelli, loc. cit.; cf. Herrera, Alphabetum, page 285; Elssius, Encomiasticon, page 268; Marieta, Quarta parte de la historia ecclesiastica de España, fol. v° 69.]; and indeed Leonel collected a great quantity Torelli, loc. cit.. But whether this writing was reported in the Information without doubt

whether there is evidence of cult shown from immemorial time to Blessed Gonsalvo of Lagos, or of the case excepted from the decrees of Urban VIII, which had to be made when by decree of July 15 of the year 1777 this cause was introduced [Novaes, Elementi della Storia dei sommi pontifici, vol. XVI, page 34, Rome, 1822.], I am not able to say, since up to now I lack this Information too.

[3] Pope Pius VI approves the cult and grants an eulogy in the Martyrology, a Mass And since I have touched in this place on this approval of cult, I will add that this cause could not long have been doubtful or suspended, since it was most manifest that the blessed man was venerated not long after his death and far more than a hundred years before the decrees of Urban VIII, as will be sufficiently established from what is to be said. In fact a favourable decree came out shortly after; and by another decree, which was given on September 16 of the year 1778, Pope Pius VI granted the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine the faculty of celebrating his festival every year with an eulogy in the Martyrology, a Mass and an Office under semidouble rite Novaes, loc. cit.; cf. Pétin, Dictionnaire hagiographique, vol. I, page 1216.. Hence in the Martyrology of the Saints of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, which is an appendix to the Roman Martyrology, at October 21 his memory is celebrated in these words: In Lusitania, of blessed Gonsalvo of Lagos, confessor of our Order, who shone most greatly by purity of morals, the preaching of the word of God, and zeal for instructing children and ignorant men in the precepts of the Christian religion. The Mass is Os justi with this proper prayer: O God of virtues, who didst make blessed Gonsalvo Thy confessor wonderful for lowliness of mind, candour of morals and singular charity, grant, we beseech Thee, that, imitating his examples on earth, we may merit to be crowned with him in heaven. Through our Lord.

[4] and an office with proper lessons for the 2nd Nocturn; which are recited here. And since in the Lessons of the second Nocturn a brief synopsis of the blessed man's life is contained, after the custom, it pleases me to add them here also. Take them, then: LESSON IV: Gonsalvo, born at Lacobriga in Lusitania of pious and upright parents, shone wonderfully from his earliest age both by innocence of morals and by zeal for learning letters: he so cherished virginity that, as a youth, hearing his companions mingling indecent talk, he at once took to flight and avoided their company for ever. Hence, turning away from all the allurements of the world, he began seriously to deliberate about embracing a regular institute, which he at length did at Lisbon, having taken the habit of the Order of Hermits of saint Augustine. LESSON V. In this course of a stricter life he used not only the briefest sleep but also the most sparing food to afflict his body, which he also subdued with haircloths. Presently, having swiftly mastered the philosophical and theological disciplines, he undertook the public office of preaching with the greatest profit to his hearers. And since the fame of his virtue spread far and wide, he was elected, although unwilling, prior in the more celebrated monasteries of his order throughout Lusitania. In which offices, to the very last time of his life, never sparing any labours, he conducted himself also with the highest praise. LESSON VI. He thought so lowly of himself that, though reputed worthy of the doctoral laurel, he most constantly refused that grade of honour. He took no greater consolation than when he instructed children and ignorant men in the precepts and institutes of the Christian religion. In the monasteries over which he was set he most willingly performed all the meaner offices, even though his strength was now almost broken. Near to death, having exhorted his pupils to peace and regular discipline, he died most holily at more than sixty years of age. After death he became famous for miracles and cult; which being known, Pope Pius the sixth granted that his feast be celebrated by the whole order of the Augustinians.

* Torresvedras

§ II. Gonsalvo's name, birth, pious upbringing and admission among the Augustinian Hermits of Lisbon.

The various forms of the name Gonsalvo and its Gothic origin; To explain now somewhat more broadly the things we have found out about St. Gonsalvo, we begin from the name. This has long been frequent in the Hispanic peninsula, especially in Lusitania. At the council of Lugo, which was celebrated in the year 569, one reads of Gundisalvus, bishop of Dumium, and another Gundisalvus, a prince Labbe, Concilia, vol. V, col. 885.. Various peoples render it variously. In the Lusitanian Martyrology Martyrologio Lusitano dos Santos do Reyno e seus Dominios, at January 28. he is called Gonçalo, and in the Lusitanian Hagiology Cardoso, Agiologio Lusitano, vol. I, page 96 and elsewhere.; and similarly in Marieta Historia ecclesiastica de España, passim., writing in Spanish or Castilian; Torelli renders that name in Italian as Gonzalo; the French change it to Gonzalve and Gonsalve; which change is good, since the Lusitanians themselves formerly, when they wrote in Latin, said Gonsalvus and Gonzalvus in place of Gundisalvus: Flórez will give an example from the beginning of the twelfth century among the bishops of Mondoñedo España sagrada, vol. XVIII, page 119 and 123.. But when the French [Chastelain, Martyrologe universel, 1 Nov.; Pétin, Dictionnaire hagiographique, vol. I, col. 1219, etc.] call Gundisalvus in French Gonzalès, they substitute the patronymic for the name itself; for Gonzalez is the same as son of Gundisalvus, or at least of the family of Gundisalvus. That this name was brought into Spain and Lusitania by the Visigoths does not seem to be doubted. After the usual manner it consists of two roots: of which the former in masculine names for the most part signifies boldness and strength and sometimes race and nation Wiarda, Ueber deutsche Vornamen und Geslechtsnamen, page 43.; the latter is very obscure to me, unless it is the Gothic sauls, in Latin a column Cf. Glossarium Gothicae linguae, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. XVIII, col. 1436..

[6] many blessed and saints have had it, of whom the chief are recounted. Very many saints have had this name; who, lest they be confused with Blessed Gonsalvo of Lagos, seem fitly to be recounted in this place. In our work at January 26 St. Gonsalvo Osorio, bishop of Coimbra, was treated Acta SS. vol. II of January, page 751., about whom Flórez also is to be seen España sagrada, vol. XIV, page 87.. Then comes in the Lusitanian Martyrology at January 28 (since Clement XI laid down that his feast should be celebrated on this day in the whole kingdom and dominions of the king of Portugal) the name of St. Gonsalvo of Amarante, of the order of Friars Preachers, whom our predecessors placed among those passed over at the 10th of the same month, on which he died Acta SS. vol. I of January, page 640. and is venerated by the Friars Preachers. The same at February 5 Ibid. vol. I of February, page 723. celebrated Blessed Gonsalvo of the order of Friars Minor and martyr in Japan, and at June 3 praised among those passed over Gonsalvo Vaz, a Moor by nation and most cruelly slain for Christ by the Moors in the year 1516, whose cause of canonization, at the petition of John III, king of Portugal, was introduced by Leo X, but never completed Ibid. vol. I of June, page 269.. Similarly at July 19 they made mention among those passed over of two Cistercian abbots of this name, of whom the one discharged his office in Galicia, the other in the monastery of Junias in Spain Ibid. vol. IV of July, page 580.. Then it will remain for us to treat at November 1 of St. Gonsalvo, bishop of Mondoñedo, whose deeds Flórez has already comprised briefly España sagrada. vol. XVIII, page 117 and 293.. Besides these, in the menologies of very many orders others come called Gonsalvo; but unless the cult of these is wholly uncertain, it has at least not been approved by the judgment of the apostolic see: wherefore they do not seem to be recounted in this place. I will name, however, those who are of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, namely Gonsalvo Ruiz of Toledo, who died at Toledo in the year 1323 and whose canonization was treated Herrera, Alphabetum, vol. I, page 279 and 280.; Ven. Gonsalvo of Barahona in the province of Castile, who shone with holiness about the year 1518 Ibid. page 288.; Ven. Gonsalvo Velez of Seville, who suffered martyrdom at the hands of the Moors in the year 1568 Ibid. page 289.; Ven. Gonsalvo de Almeida, a Lusitanian, who in the year 1572 gave back his blessed spirit to God Ibid. page 290., etc. And these things seem to suffice so that Blessed Gonsalvo of Lagos, of whom we have to speak, may be confused with no other.

[7] Blessed Gonsalvo's birth, homeland, parents, education and boyish virtue. It is very probable, as Torelli lays down Secoli Agostiniani, at the year 1422, num. 10, vol. VI, page 531., that the blessed man was born about the year 1360, since in the year 1394, after he had for some time discharged the office of preacher, he was created prior. He first saw the light at Lagium, commonly Lagos; which place some will have to be the old Lacobriga. That town lies in the Algarve, on a bay of the sea, thirty-eight Spanish leagues from Lisbon, six from the promontory of St. Vincent and twenty-two from the mouths of the Guadiana, or the river Anas; it has a port, nearly seven thousand inhabitants, and is the head of the district of the same name [De Miñano, Diccionario de España y Portugal, vol. V, page 129; Guibert, Dictionnaire géographique, under Lagos.]. Blessed Gonsalvo had parents as humble as they were pious; who nevertheless took care that he should be duly instructed. As a boy he learned to read and write; in which art he made very great progress, as the books copied by him afterward testified. He went also to the Latin school; in which, no less than St. John of Lodi, bishop of Gubbio Cf. his Life in Sarti, de Episcopis Eugubinis, page 65., he found fellow pupils who, the more they detected the love of chastity in his soul, the more vehemently strove to draw him into sin. But his virtue, by the grace of God and the solicitude and examples of his parents, had struck such deep roots, and he himself helped himself so greatly by prayer and the exercise of humility, that the innocence of his mind and body never suffered anything.

[8] [Having once been brought to Lisbon, the pious youth visits the church of Blessed Mary of Grace, whose origin] And when he had grown up in piety and good morals, it happened once that his father was going to Lisbon. The good youth offered himself as companion; who, when he was admitted, exulted with spiritual joy. For he had resolved within himself to spend his life in the cloister; for which matter he not undeservedly hoped he would have a fitting opportunity in a great city. While, then, he was staying at Lisbon and visiting the churches of the regulars, he came also into the most august church of Blessed Mary of Grace; which, since the blessed man long dwelt in it and also ruled it, it pleases me to illustrate somewhat. At the end of the twelfth century hermits had occupied the church of St. Genesius on the mountain outside the walls; who whether already then

followed the rule of St. Augustine is hidden from me. On the brow of the same mountain Susanna, formerly wife of John Quivenus, built a church, afterward known by the title of Our Lady of the Mountain; which the foundress handed over to the same hermits in the year 1243. Here they remained until the year 1271 or the following, in which they transferred their seat within the city and built a church with a monastery under the patronage of St. Augustine.

[9] and its chief praises are narrated here. The title of Augustine, so Herrera continues Alphabetum, vol. II, page 510., whom we follow in this place, passed into the more glorious one of Our Lady of Grace about the year 1362. For when in that year, or long before (as others will have it), certain fishermen, as Márquez relates [Origen de los Frayles Ermitanos de la orden de san Augustin, chap. 19, §3, page 336.], had cast a net into the sea, by a most happy chance they fished up a most holy image of the Virgin Mary, which by the frequency of miracles and the devotion of the people obtained the most pious name of Our Lady of Grace, and in the lapse of time communicated it not only to that house but also to all or almost all the houses of the Augustinians in the kingdom of Portugal. The chapel and confraternity of Our Lady of Grace were celebrated; and so, when in the year 1385 John I, king of Portugal, had wonderfully conquered the king of Castile of the same name, a yearly supplication was instituted from the cathedral church to that chapel; which pious custom was interrupted only from the year 1580 to 1640, while Portugal obeyed the Spaniard Torelli, Secoli Agostiniani, at the year 1385, num. 24, vol. VI, page 227.. And in the year 1401 Boniface IX, by a bull given on the 2nd of the ides of July, granted to the confreres of both sexes visiting their chapel of Blessed Mary of Grace on each Saturday and on the Sundays of Lent some indulgences and the faculty of choosing a confessor Herrera, Alphabetum, page 510.. This house nourished, Herrera goes on, men distinguished by nobility of birth, greatness of learning, the honour of prelacies and holiness of life; and besides the ancient ones, whose memory has fallen away, of the more recent there were numbered in the year 1618, in which Márquez published his work, as he himself affirms [Origen de los Frayles Ermitanos, chap. 19, §4, page 336 and following.], thirteen archbishops and bishops of the principal churches, besides almost innumerable confessors and preachers of the kings of Portugal, and public professors of sacred theology; and, what is more glorious, many and great saints. Herrera then indicates singly Blessed Thaddeus (to others Matthew or Bartholomew) of the Canary islands, venerated (as it seems) by the African Moors themselves, and Luis de Montoya, royal confessor; to whom, as is plain, Blessed Gonsalvo of Lagos is to be added.

[10] [Blessed Gonsalvo, admitted there among the Hermits of St. Augustine, advances wonderfully in virtue and learning.] When, then, this blessed youth had entered the church of St. Mary of Grace and was pouring forth pious prayers there, he suddenly felt himself stirred to put on the habit of the Hermits of St. Augustine: and since divine love knows no delays, he at once disclosed his plan to his father; who, assenting out of his religion to his son's wishes, led him to the superior of the monastery. The good youth was easily admitted and a few days after clothed with the angelic habit. Which Torelli judges was done about the year 1380; nor can he stray far from the truth: so that a great part of the things which we have just related about the convent of Lisbon must have happened while Blessed Gonsalvo was staying in it. Further, when he felt himself freed from worldly cares, his ardour for serving the divine majesty greatly increased from this; to satisfy which more securely he considered the virtues of the individual Hermits and strove to imitate them: so that in a short time he himself became a mirror of religious perfection. And when he had completed his novitiate and bound himself by solemn vows to follow the evangelical counsels, he was ordered to study human and divine letters; in which palaestra he conducted himself with such success that he was held by all worthy not only of the common grade of lector or bachelor, but of the laurel of the mastership or doctorate itself: but out of his humility he would not accept these titles, content with the apostolic office of preacher. And indeed, when he was invested with this office, he discharged it with such profit that, wherever he preached the divine word, a notable change of morals took place, sinners here and there returned to God, and a good many took refuge from the shipwreck of the world in the harbour of the religious life, shining thereafter with holiness of morals.

[11] [His zeal for penance and piety, and his labour of copying books: two prodigies pertaining here.] Meanwhile he did not neglect his own perfection, afflicting his body with fasts, blows and other modes of mortification, professing from his heart that he was an unprofitable servant, and excellently cultivating piety: which shone most of all in the celebration of the divine mysteries; and so he stood at the holy altar with such reverence and devotion that you would have said he was not an earthly man but a heavenly angel. And when he had leisure, he copied liturgical books with singular care and elegance: in which matter the calligraphic art which he had learned as a boy was of the greatest help to him. When Torelli has related these things Secoli Agostiniani year 1422, num. 13 and 14., he adds, following António da Purificação, two prodigies pertaining here. The holy copyist had written books at Lisbon and likewise at Santarém. Now it happened after his death that the Lisbon book was stolen from the choir and carried to Salamanca, where somewhat later it was recognized by a Portuguese. But no way lay open to the Hermits of recovering it; wherefore they besought the blessed man that he himself would attend to this matter. And indeed, after prayers had been poured forth, they found with rejoicing the desired book at the entrance of the choir. Exactly the same happened in the convent of the town of Santarém, except that the book, taken by theft, had been carried to Lisbon. Although the saint spent the daytime in these and other exercises, he passed the night almost entirely in praying, meditating and beating his body; so that he scarcely rested two or three hours, winter and summer covered only with his habit and reclining on a bed of vine-twigs, renewed every year, without a pillow or other comfort for the head.

§ III. He is set over the convents of Lourinhã, Lisbon, Santarém and Torres Vedras; how holily he discharged his office. His care of temporal affairs.

He is set over the convents of Lourinhã and Lisbon; Certainly, since he excelled in such holiness, it is no wonder that the superiors at some time thought of setting him over the Brethren. The Hermits of St. Augustine had in that age in the diocese of Lisbon, in the district of Torres Vedras, at the place called Louriñan (this place had begun to be inhabited only in the year 1160 De Miñano, Diccionario de España y Portugal, vol. V, page 262., a small convent, with St. Lawrence as patron. Blessed Gonsalvo was put in charge of this house in the year 1394, and ruled it some years, perhaps ten. Afterward, namely in the year 1555, Fr. Luis de Montoya, vicar general and reformer of the province of Portugal, suppressed that monastery, most probably because it was too small for regular discipline to be able to flourish in it. And when the blessed man had proved his pious diligence to the superiors in governing the convent of Lourinhã, about the year 1404 (as Fr. António da Purificação gathered from old documents Cf. Torelli, Secoli Agostiniani, at the year 1422, num. 16.) he was promoted to the priorship of the convent of Blessed Mary of Grace of Lisbon, which he had already before made illustrious by his holiness. Further, says Torelli Ibid. loc. cit., it is laid down as a certain thing that he was created prior by the master general of the order, namely Nicholas of Cascia, afterward bishop of Macerata and Recanati; since in that age the convent of Lisbon was immediately subject to the master general; and so it must be judged that Blessed Gonsalvo was vicar general of the province of Portugal, since in those times, as is established from old writings, this office was annexed to the priorship of Lisbon.

[13] then at Santarém and finally at Torres Vedras. From here the blessed man was removed four years after, to discharge the office of prior also in the convent of Santa Irene (commonly Santarém). This convent had been founded partly in the year 1376, partly in the year 1380, and furnished with so copious an endowment by Afonso Teles de Meneses, count of Ourém, that forty Brethren could live from it Ibid. at the year 1380, num. 22.. Herrera, after he has related the same things: Jerónimo Román agrees, he says Alphabetum Augustinianum, page 417., in manuscript codices, where he asserts that on May 12 of the year 1376 this house was begun, and sacred rites were celebrated in it by the provincial Fr. John de Turribus with the consent of the bishop of Lisbon, Agapito Colonna, whom Urban VI created cardinal of the Holy Roman Church about the year 1378; and that the first stone was laid on April 10 of the year 1380, and that Blessed Fr. Gonzallo of Lagos laboured very much in the erection of the building: which last, if it is true, the building must have proceeded very slowly. Of the town of Santa Irene I have nothing to say: in volume VIII of October, where the Life of this saint was published, very many things were also said about the city itself. As at Lisbon, so at Santarém Blessed Gonsalvo presided over his brethren for four years, being called in the year 1412 to discharge the office of prior in the convent of Torres Vedras Torelli, at the year 1432, num. 16.. That place, commonly Torres Vedras, is an ancient town of the province of Estremadura and of the diocese of Lisbon, situated three leagues to the north of that city and populous with about three thousand five hundred inhabitants De Miñano, Diccionario de España y Portugal. vol. IX, page 50., and in the thirteenth century (the Augustinians themselves dispute the year Herrera, Alphabetum, page 466.) it had received a convent of Hermits of St. Augustine. Over this Blessed Gonsalvo presided until death, that is ten years, since, as will be seen below, he died in the year 1422. These things again from Torelli.

[14] With what humility and what excellent example he went before his subjects; You could not easily say with what lowliness of mind or with what charity Blessed Gonsalvo discharged his office. He was accustomed to command nothing which he had not himself done first. He loved to perform mean and humble offices; and you might see him, although prior, now washing dishes and cooking food in the kitchen, now playing the part of porter, and almost always of infirmarian. For he himself made the beds of the sick, cleaned their rooms, ministered food and medicines, and filled them with strength and spiritual consolation. Often also, having a companion with him, he begged bread through the streets, especially while he presided over the poor convents of Lourinhã and Torres Vedras. Washing the feet of guests also and sweeping the courts of the monastery and other servile tasks of that kind, as though he had been a lay brother, he did with wonderful joy of mind.

[15] With what modesty and success he begged. When the blessed man was prior at Torres Vedras, it happened that the provincial chapter in that convent

was proclaimed to be held. But the holy superior lacked victuals with which to feed this crowd; he lacked money with which to buy them; he lacked also time within which to procure the necessaries. Counsel, however, was not lacking to the good and faithful servant; for he went on to Lisbon to meet the archbishop, whom he had formerly had as a pupil Torelli, Secoli Agostiniani, at the year 1422, num. 17.: whence we may learn in passing that Blessed Gonsalvo formerly taught in the schools. Now this prelate was Diogo Álvares, who had succeeded Cardinal João Afonso de Azambuja, who died at Bruges in Flanders on January 25 of the year 1415 [Macedo, Lusitania Purpurata, page 143 and following. Cf., however, Soares da Sylva, Memorias para a Historia de Portugal, que comprehendem o governo del rey D. Joaō o I, vol. II, page 584 and following.], and occupied the see of Lisbon until the year 1424 Moroni, Dizionario di erudizione ecclesiastica, vol. XXXVIII, page 311.. When he understood the need of the blessed prior, he ordered that whatever he asked should be given him. But he asked nothing else than that the sacks which he carried on his shoulders should be filled with loaves, a small vessel with oil and a flask with wine: having received these, glad of this burden, he returned home on foot a journey of 21 miles. But when the archbishop learned from his servants the modesty of the holy man in asking help and his humility in carrying this weight, moved with pity, he ordered that there be carried to him a huge quantity of bread, wine, meat and fish and other fowls, on which the members of the chapter might feed. For the rest, this was his custom, that when he went out begging he carried home on his own shoulders the alms he had received.

[16] He procures endowment for the convents over which he presides. The father of the family took care also to procure fixed revenues for the convents over which he presided. While he was acting as prior at Lourinhã, he had obtained some fields; but afterward he brought it about that they came into the possession of the convent of Torres Vedras. But at the time when he was living in the town of Santarém, he obtained a large estate, named Ocharia, from whose revenues almost entirely the Hermits of this place lived thereafter. To this pertains a thing wonderful enough, which Torelli relates in this place, although it happened fourteen years after the blessed prior's death, that is in the year 1436. A certain minister of the royal fisc had reported to Duarte, son and successor of King John I, that Ocharia was by right the king's. Duarte therefore ordered the Augustinians to show him the diploma of donation. When these found it nowhere, they did not know which way to turn. At length they took refuge with Blessed Gonsalvo, that he might preserve for them what he had formerly acquired. Nor was their confidence vain. For when on a certain occasion the procurator had gone out of the house seeking witnesses who would make the donation certain, as he was going out of the city gate he saw upon an earthen mound a little child holding out with its hand a great parchment charter. The procurator asked to read it, and at once saw that it was the diploma sought. Meanwhile the child had vanished, a certain indication that a heavenly angel had been sent by the patronage of Blessed Gonsalvo to free his former brethren from danger. The royal ministers approved the charter; and the Hermits, rejoicing, gave earnest thanks to God and to the blessed man.

§ IV. Blessed Gonsalvo's care in teaching farmers, children and others; he incurs a danger to his chastity; he works miracles; he dies piously.

[Blessed Gonsalvo often preaches and instructs farmers and children with singular care.] Since the holy man burned with the love of God and neighbour, he took diligent care that men should not bring ruin on themselves and injury on God by sin. To which end he often spoke publicly from the pulpit to the assembly. But these things were not enough for him: wherefore, as evening drew on, he betook himself to the gate of the convent (which he did especially while he resided at Torres Vedras), and stopped the men returning from the fields, and admonished them of their duty to love in return God, their most loving father, to revere Him as the most just judge, and to beware of sins, by which divine grace is lost: by which exhortations he was most useful to the people and seemed a heavenly man. No less did he care for children; whom on feast days he enticed into the church to hear Christian doctrine, and on weekdays he waited for them returning from school before they went to play; seizing this opportunity to persuade them to obedience, the recitation of daily prayers, chaste speech, an upright manner of acting and similar things suited to the age of his hearers. And lest he should at some time become tiresome to them, he was accustomed to carry with him in his sleeve many pieces of bread and apples, which he bestowed on them with a cheerful face; and also various little images of the saints, which he gave to the wiser ones: which last deserves especially to be noted, since in that age little images first began to be printed; unless perhaps the blessed man himself, as being an excellent calligrapher, painted them with his pen. When Torelli has narrated these things Secoli Agostiniani, at the year 1422, num. 19., he adds that it cannot be said how much he profited those childish souls by this spiritual diligence.

[18] A certain harlot vainly lays snares for his chastity. Now that the demon might avenge the losses which Blessed Gonsalvo inflicted on him by his public and private admonitions, and most of all by the example of his holiness, he resolved to attack his virtue and, if he could, to overthrow it. To accomplish which plan he made use of a young harlot in this manner. Since very many girls of this dregs held the blessed man in the greatest hatred, because he had snatched so many lovers from them, they incited one of their number to entice the holy prior to sin. The wicked little woman assented; and one night, when dense rain was falling and a violent storm was raging, she ran to the gate of the convent, on which she knocked long and much amid most sorrowful weeping and frequent sobs. Discharging, after his custom, the turn of porter, the blessed man was staying in a neighbouring room and passing the time in prayer. And when he heard the sad cries of the one knocking, moved with pity, he opened the door; and, seeing the girl wet with rain and tears, he asked what she wanted at this hour. She said that she was a stranger; that she had been dismissed from the house by her mistress for a slight cause; that she did not know what roof to seek; that she greatly feared lest she should come into dishonourable company; that she urgently asked that she might spend the night there, and other things of that kind; to which the blessed man, out of his simplicity, gave credit. He admitted the young girl, then, into the kitchen, refreshed her with food and then led her into a cell where she might take sleep. But when she had entered here, she made some disorderly movements and displayed her beauty; which the man, by no means suspicious of evil, believed to have been done out of childish ingenuousness and easily excused; he himself, however, departed from there and prayed until morning in another room. And when it was growing light, he went to the cell, where he found the girl ready for departure and oppressed by I know not what vexation of mind. Blessed Gonsalvo, then, led her to the gate and told her not to fear; namely, that he would take her to her mistress and obtain pardon. But she, smiling, answered that there was no cause, nor did she need any patronage. Hearing which, the good man seemed to understand what snares had been laid for him, and answered nothing else than these few words: God spare you, Christian soul, if you came to me with an evil intention. This whole business could not lie hidden from the instigators of this most wicked plan; who so admired the virtue of Blessed Gonsalvo that, led by penitence, they fell at his feet begging pardon: but he gave thanks to God that He had freed him from so great a danger: nor do I doubt that he resolved afterward to be more prudent.

[19] He restores sight to a blind woman. God did not deny the gift of miracles to His servant; and indeed, when Fr. António da Purificação pursued his deeds, there still survived the memory of very many prodigies which had never been written down; and of others also which had been taken down in authentic instruments, but afterward lost. Wherefore Torelli related only one singular one from him Ibid. num. 21.. Namely, at Torres Vedras, while the blessed man was prior there, there lived a poor and blind old woman, who had formerly performed much service in the church of the convent. She once addressed the servant of God in these words: Father Gonsalvo, you are accustomed continually to exercise charity toward so many men scarcely known to you, and to work miracles in their favour; why, then, are you not moved with mercy toward me, who for so long have rendered services according to my strength in your church? Obtain for me from the blessed God the use of my eyes (for you can, if you will); that I may be able to live better the time of life that remains to me. At which the holy prior, somewhat disturbed: Why, good woman, do you speak of miracles and prodigies? For my part I am a sinner worse than all others, who cannot work miracles: God alone works miracles: implore, then, His help in your house with confidence; wash your eyes with water in which you have soaked sardines (it is a kind of small fish); and you will see. The woman did as she was bidden and, the whole city being astounded, recovered the use of her eyes.

[20] He dies piously on November 13 of the year 1422. Meanwhile the time came at which God would call His servant to the eternal reward. And when he felt that his end was at hand, with great exultation of mind he received the sacraments of the dying and with much alacrity exhorted his brethren to the exact observance of the Rule and Constitutions. And when he had then recited with them the psalms and the order of the commendation of the soul, amid the tears of his own at the loss of a most loving father and their joys at gaining a new patron, he gave back his spirit to God with exceptional peace and tranquillity of mind. Concerning the day and year of his death the authors disagree among themselves as much as possible. Juan Marieta Quarta parte de la historia eclesiastica de España; fol. v° 69. wrote that he died in the year one thousand five hundred and nineteen; António da Purificação in the third choir of his Triumphal Theatre In Torelli, at the year 1422, num. 9. laid down that he died on October 15 of the year 1445; Herrera Alphabetum Augustinianum, page 285. October 15 of the year 1445 or November 13 of the year 1422; Elssius Encomiasticum Augustinianum, page 268. October 25 or November 13 of the year 1422. What then in the midst of this discord? First of all no attention is to be paid to Marieta's statements, since it is established that the bones of Blessed Gonsalvo were translated long before the year 1519, and the blessed man would have to be said to have lived more than a hundred and fifty years; nor is October 25, which Elssius assigns, to be regarded, since it seems to be a mere typographical slip, the number 25 being put in place of 15. I should think also that one must depart from the assertions of António da Purificação in his Triumphal Theatre; for although he followed here and there the documents which he found in the archives of the Portuguese province, yet he himself in a later work, namely in the History of the Augustinian province of Portugal, corrected these assertions of his and put the year 1422 In Torelli, at the year 1422, num. 9.: which

year Jerónimo Román had given before. And indeed, since he wrote the Life of Blessed Gonsalvo after searching the archives of his order, there seems no doubt that the year 1422 is to be retained. For why would António da Purificação have come over to it, unless he had understood that he had erred before and that Jerónimo had taught rightly from the beginning? And although Torelli does not teach what António da Purificação related in the History of the province about the day of his funeral, I judge that one must adhere also to Jerónimo Román, who affirms that Blessed Gonsalvo departed to heaven on November 13: for as he must be judged to have assigned the year rightly, so also to have assigned the day well.

§ V. The burial, translations and miracles of Blessed Gonsalvo.

[Blessed Gonsalvo is buried in a special place, but in the year 1492 on account of miracles his bones are raised.] It is scarcely credible what great movements Blessed Gonsalvo's death excited in the city. For since all loved him for his beneficence and venerated him for his holiness, they ran in great numbers to the church in which his sacred body was exposed; imploring his protection and striving to procure for themselves something which they might hold in place of relics. Then the remains of the most blessed man were laid in a special tomb in the main chapel on the Gospel side, where he lay until the year 1492, crowds running together from all sides venerating him and asking his help. By no means in vain; so that there was almost no number of the graces and miracles. The prodigies that happened up to the said year 1492 we have said above were collected by Fr. Leonel, prior of the convent of Torres Vedras, and caused by him to be confirmed by public instruments. When this had been done, Fr. João da Madalena, provincial for the second time, ordered the sacred bones to be raised and enclosed in a gilded chest. This chest was locked with two keys (of which one was to be with the prior, the other with the sacristan) and was placed in a niche protected by an iron grating, on the same Gospel side and in the same chapel Torelli, at the year 1492, num. 4; Herrera, page 285; Elssius, page 268.. Torelli relates that this translation was carried out with much solemnity and at much expense Ibid. num. 5.; and he adds that the inhabitants of Lagos, Blessed Gonsalvo's fellow townsmen, gave letters to the community of Torres Vedras by which this business was urged: which I should easily believe.

[22] [In the year 1518 a confraternity is erected in his honour, and a mausoleum with his image is placed above the place of burial] But where he relates that the money was contributed by a confraternity which had long since been erected for promoting the honour of the servant of God, he is not sufficiently consistent with himself, since afterward he teaches Ibid. at the year 1518, num. 4, vol. VIII, page 49., according to the assertions of António da Purificação in volume II of the History of the Augustinian province of Portugal, that this confraternity was raised only in the year 1518; Herrera too testifying Alphabetum Augustinianum, page 285. that in the year 1518 a confraternity was instituted in honour of Blessed Gonsalvo, which in the course of time, he says, came to an end. But since after this translation the former tomb had been left open, the custom prevailed of taking away the dust of the earth from it, to be applied as a heavenly medicine for curing diseases. It seemed good, therefore, in the year 1518 to place there a stone mausoleum with an image of Blessed Gonsalvo set above it, an opening being left through which the faithful might thereafter also dig out earth [Torelli, at the year 1492. num. 5, and 1518, num. 4; Herrera, page 285; Elssius, page 268.].

[23] Other translations in the years 1559 and 1591 Afterward, says Herrera Alphabetum, page 285., the monastery having been transferred to a more convenient site near the hospital of St. Andrew, the body of Blessed Gonsalvo, on August 5 of the year 1555 or 1559, as Jerónimo Román related (Torelli also has the year 1559 At the year 1559, num. 12., citing Herrera and António da Purificação), was brought in solemn procession to the church of the hospital and placed in the main chapel. Afterward in the year 1581, on December 18, the neighbouring peoples flocking together, those pious remains were carried to the church of the new house. The devotion of the peoples still lasts, and frequent miracles are not lacking.

[24] What we have related so far from Herrera flows smoothly and does not seem difficult. On the other hand the water sticks in what follows: The author, he says, of the Triumphal Theatre, choir III, calls Gonsalvo … the advocate of seafarers in the Algarve, [Whether Blessed Gonsalvo is patron of sailors; whether his feast was formerly kept on October 15.] and adds that in the convent at Torres Vedras, full of days, he flew to heaven in the year 1445, on October 15, which until the disaster of King Sebastian was for the natives a feast day and a market day. In which (to say nothing of the year of his death, which I have laid down above was 1422) the following are difficult to me: the first is that Blessed Gonsalvo is called the advocate of seafarers in the Algarve; for Torelli thought this should be entirely omitted, nor do I know that it is recorded by anyone else besides António da Purificação and his followers Herrera and Elssius; next, it is a very well known thing that in Portugal as well as in Spain the patron of seafarers is St. Peter Gonzalez, of the order of Friars Preachers, to whom the common crowd of sailors has given the name Sant Elmo, thinking him the same as the Italians' Sant Elmo, that is, St. Erasmus the martyr, customarily invoked amid the perils of the Mediterranean sea Cf. Acta SS. vol. II of April, page 390 and 391.: it is ready, therefore, to suspect that by António da Purificação el santo Fray Pedro Gonçalez the holy Friar Pedro Gonçalez, or the vulgar Sant Elmo, was held to be the same as el santo Fray Gonçalo the holy Friar Gonçalo. The second is that it is asserted that Blessed Gonsalvo died on October 15 and that that day was thereafter at Torres Vedras a feast day and a market day until the disaster of King Sebastian. I have already noted that it was related by Jerónimo Román, much better informed about the time of the blessed man's death, that he departed from this life on November 13. Next, it is by no means understood why the feasts and markets should have ceased to be held on October 15 on account of the disaster of King Sebastian; for this most sorrowful event happened not in the middle of the month of October, but on August 4 of the year 1578. I would wish, therefore, that those who live in those parts would examine whether those yearly feasts were not celebrated on August 5 in memory of the translation, which was made on this day in the year 1555 or rather 1559, as we narrated above from Herrera and others: for August 5 is next to the disaster of King Sebastian.

[25] His cell treated less reverently by one man. To some extent there makes also for the cult of Blessed Gonsalvo the singular reverence with which the cell inhabited by him for many years at Torres Vedras seemed to most of the Brethren fit to be held. That plan, however, displeased one individual, who said that this was superstition, and that some day there would no longer remain any cell in the convent if all those which men equal to Blessed Gonsalvo in holiness had inhabited were converted into oratories; and that he would fix his abode in it, unless someone else should do so first. Nor did he act otherwise than he said; but he shortly paid the penalty of his rashness. For on the first night which he spent in it he was afflicted with such violent pains that at once, led by penitence, he took refuge in another cell. But in vain; for he shortly died of the disease, teaching the Brethren by his example with what great reverence Blessed Gonsalvo was to be held Torelli, at the year 1422, num. 23.. This was held in place of a prodigy; and many other miracles happened afterward, which we shall relate in the appendix of this volume, if perhaps we obtain them at an opportune time.