John of Capistrano

ON ST. JOHN OF CAPISTRANO, CONFESSOR OF THE ORDER OF FRIARS MINOR, AT VILLACK IN PANNONIA,

IN THE YEAR 1456.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

John of Capistrano, confessor of the Order of Friars Minor, at Villack in Pannonia. (S.)

BHL Number: 4365, 4366, 4367

BY J. V. H.

§ I. Elogia of the saint in the Roman and Franciscan Martyrologies; a compendium of his Life; his biographers.

Among very many saints of the Regular Observance he is distinguished The reform of the Order of Friars Minor of St. Francis, commonly called of the Observants, begun and consolidated in the 14th century, chiefly by the author Paolo of Foligno, as Wadding narrates at the year 1368, § X Annal. Min. tom. VIII, pag. 209. Edit. Rom. 1733., with the efforts above all of St. Bernardine of Siena, and of St. John of Capistrano, whose Acts we edit today, flowered wonderfully, especially in the 15th century, in the glory not only of eminent sanctity, but also of knowledge and of the apostolic ministry. For in that century, besides the praised holy men Bernardine and John of Capistrano, of whom the one is inscribed in the Roman Martyrology today, the other on 20 May, this reform, or Regular Observance, numbers among the saints to be reverently venerated by the universal Church of God SS. Peter Regalatus on 13 May, Didacus on 13 November and James of the March on the 28th of the same month. And there are various persons to whom it is permitted to render ecclesiastical cult with the consent of the Church, as is established from the Franciscan Martyrology: Bl. Matthew of Agrigento, 28 January; Antony of Stroncone 6 February; Mark of Montegallo 28 March; Angelo of Chivasso, 12 April; James the Illyrian or of Bitetto, 27 of the same month; Archangel of Calatafimi 5 July; Simon of Lipnica, 18 July; John of Dukla, 19 July; Peter of Mogliano, 13 August; Bernardine of Feltre, 28 September; Bernardine of Fossa 7 November; Gabriel Ferretti of Ancona 14 November.

[2] St. John of Capistrano, praised in the Martyrologies; Of all these, if you except St. Bernardine of Siena, of whom he was a disciple, the standard-bearer was St. John of Capistrano, whom we shall call without distinction, as opportunity serves, both John and Capistrano. The Roman Martyrology makes his elogium in these words: At Villack in Pannonia, of St. John of Capistrano, Confessor of the Order of Minors, illustrious for sanctity of life and for zeal in propagating the Catholic faith, who, a most powerful army of the Turks being routed, freed the fortress of Taurinum from siege by his prayers and miracles. The Franciscan Martyrology, omitting the liberation of Taurinum, explains his virtues and labours more minutely: At Villack in Pannonia, of St. John of Capistrano, Confessor, of the Order of Minors, who, most renowned for learning and sanctity of life, brought back innumerable pagans, Jews, heretics and schismatics to the Catholic faith, and having discharged the greatest labours for the Church, rested in the Lord, most celebrated for miracles in life and after death, whom Alexander the Eighth, Supreme Pontiff, enrolled in the calendars of the Saints.

[3] and a compendium of his Life Since many and various things are to be said of St. John of Capistrano, we believe it will be useful to present to the reader a synopsis of his Life, which Luke Wadding sketched in his book on the Writers of the Minors. John Capistranus, or of Capistrano, a town of the Bruttii, not far from Aquila, a city of the Marsi, born of a noble family in the year one thousand three hundred and eighty-five, disciple of St. Bernardine of Siena, his companion and successor in the governing of the rising Regular Observance, twice vicar general, intrepidly and manfully defended his master, and aided him in promoting the worship of latria of the name of Jesus. Then he obtained that he should be recorded among the number of the saints in the sixth year after his death. The little and humble family of the Observants, growing up from small and despicable beginnings, assailed by many weapons of adversaries, he powerfully defended by word and deed, and spread far and wide into many provinces, above all by giving a norm of government and of doctrine. To Eugene the Fourth, Nicholas the Fifth and Callistus the Third he was of great aid in reforming the morals of men, and in putting heretics to flight from many provinces, the power of inquisitor general of the faith having been committed to him. Eighty-six places of the Fraticelli, coalescing to the ruin of Italy in incredible number, he burned in Picenum and Campania. In the assembly of the Florentine Fathers he shone like a sun. The emperor Frederick the Third, sending Æneas Silvius, obtained from Nicholas the Fifth that he be sent into Germany, to teach the peoples, and to rouse the princes to union and to war against the Turks. From all the cities and towns the clergy and magistrates, and even kings and courtiers themselves, came forth to meet him, with relics and the banner of the Cross, as if to receive an Angel reverently, singing and everywhere repeating: "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." In Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia the Hussites, their patron and standard-bearer John Rokycana, pseudo-archbishop of Prague,

he repressed. The Adamites, a most foul and obscene kind of heretics, disporting themselves on islands, he utterly extinguished. In Hungary, Poland, Bohemia, Germany, and especially Austria, he perpetually pursued various sects of heretics with pen, with word, and with the authority of inquisitor which he exercised, and converted very many to the faith of Christ. He would in no way allow the Jews to stand, and restrained their usuries: more than forty thousand infidels and schismatics he gathered into the Catholic Church.

[4] is presented from the Bibliotheca of Wadding. The emperor of the Turks, with a great fleet and an army of almost two hundred thousand, promising himself the empire of Europe, and besieging the most powerful fortress of Alba Regalis in Hungary, the best-fortified bulwark of the Christians, he, having collected a force of crusaders and peasants, routed in shameful flight, his engines of war and baggage being captured. In memory of which event Callistus the Third, on the eighth before the ides of August, on which he received the news of so great a victory, ordered the feast of the Transfiguration to be celebrated. Advanced to the age of sixty, he preached daily and almost without intermission, hundreds of thousands of men flocking from all sides to hear him. And all were moved to such a degree that throughout nearly all the cities women brought together their excess in adornment, men the instruments of their games, and burned them on a huge pyre built in the open air. So great was the fame and sanctity of the man that all the writers of that time celebrate him with the greatest encomia, Æneas Silvius, Flavius Blondus, Cardinal Cusanus, Hartmann Schedel, abbot Trithemius: and Gregory XV enrolled him, most celebrated for miracles and for merits toward the Apostolic See, in the catalogue of the Blessed. We have distributed his birth, life, deeds and death through the fourth, fifth and sixth volumes of the Annals. To his distinguished deeds and sanctity of life there was added also eminence of doctrine, skilled in theology and in both laws, he wrote many things; in which prudence in deciding matters and wisdom in elucidating them shine out on both sides. What Wadding says of the deeds of St. John of Capistrano as distributed in volumes IV, V and VI of the Annals, these in the second edition of the Annals, which we use, are divided through volumes IX, X, XI, XII and XIII.

[5] More copiously did four of his companions write about him: Nicholas of Fara, Besides the authors praised by Wadding, various others have written about John of Capistrano. For to omit either the hagiographers of the Order of Minors, who have embraced all the saints and blessed of their fellowship; or the historiographers, who have pursued the origin and growth of the Order: the Life of St. John of Capistrano was written first of all by three of his companions, eyewitnesses of the deeds; to whom accordingly credit cannot be denied, especially since they are men supremely commendable for gravity and integrity of character, and most of their statements are confirmed, as we shall afterwards show, by the testimony of outside persons. The three biographers of St. John, then, not only contemporary but his inseparable companions, are Nicholas Tellus of Fara, Christopher of Varese and Jerome of Udine. And indeed Nicholas of Fara, besides the Life composed by him, also wrote two letters, in one of which, directed to his brothers of the province of Tuscany, he recounts the works and miracles performed at Vienna by St. Capistrano: the same we shall give in the course of this Commentary. As regards the other, reporting the battle and the victory won over the Turks, I have found it nowhere; but these same things are brilliantly repeated by Nicholas in the Life of St. Capistrano, so that they can fill the lacuna of the missing letter. Rude indeed, says Hermann Capistran. triumphans. pag. 629., yet sincere is the style in which he writes … all his writings ought to be free of all suspicion; for it is not credible that a man so religious should, with a grave burden on his conscience, have wished to busy himself with vain praises of Capistrano beyond what was due. He afterwards, having returned to Italy, was made provincial vicar in the year 1477 in the province of St. Bernardine, among the Vestini Compare Wadding. Annal. tom. XIV, pag. 178..

[6] Christopher of Varese, Christopher of Varese, the second biographer of our saint, in my judgment wrote a more orderly Life of St. Capistrano. Christopher was, as Hermann witnesses Capistran. triumph. pag. 627., among the more distinguished companions of Capistrano, who accompanied him as he went from Italy into Germany. This man, on account of the excellence of his virtues and the sweetness of his dealing, was elected at Breslau in Silesia, under St. Capistrano, in the year 1453, as provincial vicar of the province of Bohemia and of the others then still joined to it, since at that time the superiors of the Observants were not yet called ministers, as the Order was not divided from the Conventuals, nor was it fitting that the provinces should seem to have two-headed presidents. This man was so attached to these nations that he resolved to persevere with them until death. But when in the general chapter celebrated at Mantua in the year 1468 it was laid down that the province of Austria, Bohemia and Poland should be divided into three, if it should so seem good to the supreme Pontiff, and since they abounded in learned men and men experienced in government, they themselves elected vicars from among their own nationals, the Italians being sent back. As Christopher was resigning the government of these nations, he closed his rule with a most beautiful letter, in which he most humbly asks pardon of all and each on bended knees, declaring moreover that he intends to visit the Holy Land, in which our Saviour died for our sins, and there to end his life in peace, unless God, he says Capistran. triumph. pag. 627., in whose hand the ways of man are placed, should have decreed otherwise concerning me. Whether Christopher fulfilled what he intended is not established for us. He died at Milan in the year 1491 Wadd. Ann. tom. XIV, pag. 498.. For the rest, although I have called the Life worked out by Christopher more orderly, there is no reason, however, to reject the composition of Nicholas of Fara, especially since the latter has various things that are not found in Christopher.

[7] Jerome of Udine and Peter of Sopron: Although Jerome of Udine is not recorded among the companions of St. Capistrano by Wadding Annal. tom. XII, pag. 8., there is no doubt however that he too accompanied the saint on the Hungarian journey, as John of Tagliacozzo witnesses in the letter which he wrote after the death of the holy man, and which we shall edit below, in these words: This happy death that venerable brother, Jerome of Udine, would know how to describe much more ornately and much more polishedly, a man indeed distinguished in the art of speaking, who just as he adorned the blessed father while in health with his tongue and his most polished style of writing, so with all the services of charity he unweariedly cherished and nourished him in his sickness in his bosom and in his arms. The same praises of writing elegantly are bestowed on Jerome by others also; although the style of the other biographers seems preferable, whose manner of writing appears to me simpler and easier. Nevertheless, lest anything be lacking of those things which have hitherto lain hidden unedited, we shall give to the press, as a corrected exemplar comes to us, the composition of Jerome, especially since, closely following the footsteps of Nicholas of Fara, he can sometimes elucidate him. There is also a fourth companion of St. Capistrano who worked out something in honour of his master, Peter of Sopron, whom Wadding, with the other companions of the holy man, calls a religious and learned man Ibid. pag. 80.: he entitled his little work a Proclamation; and truly it is an outpouring of praises, which could raise some suspicion, were it not abundantly established from elsewhere concerning the merits of St. John of Capistrano. Finally Wadding has preserved for us a letter, mutilated at the end, written to St. James of the March by John of Tagliacozzo about the last illness of St. John of Capistrano, which we shall give in the course of this Commentary, § XXXIII. Summoned by the holy man from Italy, he accompanied him, as he went against the Turks, in a small boat, through whose approach an innumerable army appeared to the Mahometans, by which being terrified and cast down by the cries of St. Capistrano, they provided for themselves by flight Hermann. Capistr. pag. 630.. He was then sent by Calixtus III into Hungary to search out the saint's miracles: which mission Pius II enjoined on him a second time in the year 1459.

[8] [besides these, Ludovico of Montecorvino, Lorenzo Massonio, Giovanni Battista Barberi,] But besides these contemporaries, there were also in later centuries those who illustrated the deeds of St. John of Capistrano, especially because the labour of promoting his canonization was never interrupted, particularly under Leo X, Gregory XV and Alexander VIII, as will be explained more broadly below. Certainly in the year 1523, or a little after the death of Leo X, there came forth from the press of Vienna a Life of St. John of Capistrano, in the format, as is commonly said, in Quarto: but this book, long and everywhere sought, has not hitherto been able to be found. Another Life was published at Naples in the year 1589 by Br. Ludovico Celestino of Montecorvino or Leone, who in the continuation of Wadding's Annals under the year 1590 Annal, tom. XXII, pag. 317. is called a learned man. Of this Life, which we lack, mention is made by another biographer of the saint, Salvatore Massonio of Aquila, who set out the deeds of the saint in the Italian language in the year 1677: although here and there, perhaps by a fault of the typesetter, he is less accurate, he nevertheless has various things which you would seek in vain among others, and which will be of the highest use to us in this Commentary. The book has this singular feature, that it was dedicated to Urban VIII by Lorenzo Bernardo Massoni, a boy of seven, who offered his grandfather's composition to the Pontiff. Giovanni Battista Barberi, a Roman, published two Lives, in Latin in the year 1662, and in Italian in the year in which the saint was canonized by solemn rite by Alexander VIII, 1690: spurred to this, if I am not mistaken, by the manifold miracles and benefits conferred by the saint both on himself and on his family. Barberi's narrative is in all respects complete; and if anything shall occur about him in what is to be said below, it will pertain more to the complementing of the deeds than to the correcting of them.

[9] Eusebio Gonzalez, Amandus Hermann, Eusebio Gonzalez, of the Order of Minors of the Observance, in his Seraphic Chronicle, written in Spanish, composed a very long Life of St. John of Capistrano: for in reporting his deeds he spent 211 pages of the format commonly called in folio. Using the labours of others, inasmuch as he wrote in the year 1774, he embraced the whole history of the saint neatly, diligently and abundantly Gonzalez. Chron. Serafica. Part. V, pag. I and following.. But the most copious of all on St. John was Amandus Hermann, of the Order of Minors of the Observance, ex-provincial of Bohemia, since he filled a large-format volume of 840 pages under the title: Capistranus triumphans, or the Foundational History of St. John of Capistrano. In this book there are to be found the principal documents which can explain and illustrate the deeds of the saint. To be sure there occur at the beginning of nearly every chapter prefaces drawn for the most part from commonplaces, and frequent poems, by which the narrative itself languishes. But these blemishes are of such a kind that in no way is anything diminished of the usefulness of the whole work. What can in my judgment be more gravely objected to a work certainly erudite is that it does not present a continuous narrative of the whole Life; but divides its composition according to the species of the various virtues: whence it is necessary that repetitions of the same things, inasmuch as they give occasion for displaying the various virtues,

often recur; and so the reader too does not see clearly enough the historical series and connection of the deeds. The writer himself, however, judged the same: wherefore at the end of his work he subjoined a Chronotaxis of the Life of St. John of Capistrano, which he unfolds through the individual years Hermann. Capistran. triumph. pag. 830 and following.. More severe, however, is the verdict of Giusto Fontanini, who in his Codex of Canonizations Pag. 564. says that Hermann's book, if he remembers well, has nothing singular which does not exist copiously in the Annals of Luke Wadding. For Hermann has various things of which there is no trace in Wadding, as is manifest to the reader, and he often completes the latter's narrative. Memory, therefore, deceived Fontanini, a most learned man, in this matter; memory which in the historical disciplines is indeed scarcely ever to be trusted alone.

[10] Crechia, Peter Hermann, Michael Sintzel Besides the praised Amandus Hermann, others of the same German nation have contributed their labour that the glory of St. Capistrano might be spread more widely among their people: and that with every right: for although he went through various regions of Europe in managing the affairs of the Church, yet no people owes so much to John of Capistrano as the German; since it owes it especially to the saint that the army of crusaders was assembled, and the Turk, impending over Germany, was put to flight. And that Germany did not fail in its part is shown by the zeal with which it constantly promoted the cause of his canonization, which was aired for almost 250 years, and is shown also by the books written on his virtues. We have already said above that a Life of our saint was published at Vienna in the year 1523: and thereafter there were not lacking those who proclaimed his praises. So in the year 1691 there came forth at Graz in Styria, in German, a Description of the life, virtues and miracles of the Holy Father John of Capistrano [Memoranda Paraphrasis, that is: Denckwurdige Beschreibung von dem Leben, Tugende und Wunderwerken des H. Vatters Joannis Capistrani. in 4°.]. At Vienna in Austria the author Crechia gave out in the year 1754 a book of larger format under the title: The Distinguished Wonderworker St. John Capistrano. Nor in these latest times has the memory of the saint among the Germans been effaced. For at Munich in Bavaria Peter Hermann in the year 1844 published a Life of our saint in German; and in the same tongue the same was performed at Augsburg in the year 1847 by Michael Sintzel. So that Germany remains grateful to the tutelary saint who once kept it safe from an atrocious tyranny.

[11] an anonymous Minorite [illeg.ga.] Nor has Belgium forgotten the glory of St. Capistrano; for I have before me a Synopsis of his Life, written in Flemish and given to the press in the year 1758 by a certain anonymous Minor, who also reports, as we shall teach below, a confraternity of the Standard-bearers of the city of Antwerp erected under the invocation of the saint. As regards France, I do not know whether it has performed anything special either before or after the canonization to promote the glory of St. Capistrano. Wadding indeed teaches that Arthur du Moutier wrote a compendious Life of the saint in the French tongue Wadd. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 418.; but the praised Wadding does not make mention of this composition in particular in his Bibliotheca under Arthurus, wherefore I believe that this Life, such as it is, is found among those which he added to the Flores Sanctorum of Ribadeneyra Compare Bibl. Minor. V°. Arthurus.. Which is the less to be wondered at, since a few years after the saint's death there began the rivalry between the French and Austrian kingdoms, burning through the centuries. Certainly already from the year 1542 Francis I, king of France, had struck a treaty with the Turks, which pact persisted under Louis XIV, under whom Alexander VIII in the year 1690 pronounced that heavenly honours were to be decreed to St. John by all the faithful. This could certainly contribute something to the Friars Minor bearing themselves more modestly in promulgating the glory of the saint. To this end too it bears that in the year 1690 the graver controversies, stirred up under Innocent XI, who died in the year 1689, had scarcely yet been settled. Among so many monuments, however, of the deeds done by St. John we have selected for editing entire only those biographers who were contemporaries of the saint and companions of his labours, and have hitherto lain hidden unedited; other writers we shall employ only for the sake of elucidation; for we are mindful of the plan constantly preserved from the beginning of this work, by which we give the Acts of the Saints, as is written on the face of each volume, from Latin and Greek and other peoples' monuments, the original phrasing of the old writers being preserved. All this, however, is to be so performed that the Acts of any saint may present a complete and in every respect finished image of him. Let this be said to those who think that things otherwise known and at times worn by the hands of all should have been omitted by us Compare Journ. de Brux. 1860.. Moreover when the Turk was threatening Vienna in Austria, Innocent XI in the year 1683 ordered that, to avert so great an evil, besides other supplications, there be set out for public veneration in the church of Aracœli at Rome, on the high altar, an image of St. John of Capistrano, with lights burning day and night Hermann. Capistr. triumph. pag. 732.; and the victory having been won, he instituted the feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary, to be celebrated annually on the Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity of the same Virgin, as may be read in the Roman Breviary. What we have thus far commented about the biographers of St. Capistrano we owe for the greatest part to the benevolence and friendship of the distinguished man, Dr. Pietro Cernazay of Udine, who, as long as he lived, spared neither labours nor expense in bringing most useful aid to the Bollandian work. May God himself, through the intercession of the Saints, be his exceedingly great reward!

§ II. The saint's birthplace; his parents; the year and day of his birth; his deeds in youth.

Born at Capistrano Capistrano, a town in Further Abruzzo of the kingdom of Naples, of the diocese, if I consult the ecclesiastical map in the historical Atlas of Spruner, num. LXX, of Aquila, furnished the native soil and surname to St. John. Giovanni Battista Barberi in the Life written in Italian says Pag. I. that Capistrano belonged to the diocese of Sulmona. It is true indeed that Capistrano belongs to Further Abruzzo, as the cited Barberi witnesses, and Sulmona, according to Orlendi Orbis sac. et prof. tom. IV, pag. 1824., to Hither Abruzzo. Nevertheless the constant opinion of the writers, confirmed by the bull of canonization, is that the town of Capistrano is contained within the diocese of Sulmona, although on account of the abbey of St. Peter its territory is, as is commonly said, nullius [Giustiniani. Dizionar. del regno di Napoli. V°. Capistrano. And Lubin. Notit. Abbat. Ital. pag. 79.]. The Bull of Canonization indeed says openly Just. Fontanin. Codex canoniz. pag. 558.: At Capistrano, a town of the Marsi, in the country of Aquila, and in the bishopric of Sulmona, John was born. Thus in some way is explained the error which crept into the map of Spruner. For the rest it is a not ignoble place, surrounded, says Hermann Capistr. triumph. pag. 3., by a wall and a citadel, which, as Enrico Bacco witnesses [Brevis descript. regni Neap. Apud. Grævium. Ther. antiquit. Ital. tom. IX, vol. I, pag. 113.], formerly held 142 families, but at the time when the author was writing, in the year 1629, 193 families. In the year 1447 St. John himself by his preachings stirred up his fellow citizens of Capistrano to build a convent for his brothers, which by the sign of doves, resting after their flight, was set in a place granted by the wife of the count of Celano Wadding. Ann. tom. XI, pag. 312., as we shall explain more fully below.

[13] of parents noble indeed, By the consent of all, St. John had noble parents. Christopher of Varese in the Life to be edited, num. I: From which, he says (the town of Capistrano) the parents of our Blessed Father, Brother John, distinguished in morals and life and parentage, drew their origin. But all the more recent writers report that Capistrano's father was a foreigner, who had come in arms with Louis of Anjou, son of John II, king of France, into the kingdom of Naples. The cause of the war, set out at large by Ludovico Muratori in his Annals of Italy under the year 1382 Annali. d'Ital. tom. VIII, pag. 390. Edit. Monœc. 1763., we indicate in few words. Joanna, queen of Naples, had turned aside to the party of Clement VII, elected by the cardinals rebellious to Urban VI. Wherefore Urban VI, as supreme lord of the kingdom, had substituted for the deposed queen Charles of Durazzo: but queen Joanna, having made a testament and issued public letters, had instituted Louis of Anjou as heir of her kingdom. Each rival therefore, gathering forces, strove to defend his rights. Gradually, however, the ardour of the war cooled, and each occupied part of the kingdom and left it to his heirs. The father of St. John is represented by all as if he had followed the party of Louis of Anjou, although he was himself German by race. Yet Thomas Cataneo Vita di S. Giov. di Capistrano, pag. 2. wishes, against, as he himself admits, most others, to believe the father of St. John a Frenchman, because he thinks that the army of the French was made up of French. And certainly it is beyond doubt that the Angevin levied forces from his countrymen: without however its following that a man of German nation could not have been enlisted: especially since at that very time a certain Lando, a German count, had with him many soldiers of his own country, who adhered now to this, now to that side, according to the hope of greater money Muratori. Annal. d'Ital. tom. VIII, pag. 286.. Indeed at this very time a certain John the German is numbered among the commanders of Louis of Anjou Murat. Scriptt. rerum. Ital. tom. XXI, col. 44..

[14] [but it is uncertain whether his father was German, or adhered to the Angevin party;] The reason alleged by Cataneo, therefore, does not seem suitable enough for us to deny that the father of St. Capistrano was German by race, and we readily assign Germany as the homeland to the parent of our saint. But another scruple pricks us: namely whether the said father followed Louis of Anjou. For although a German soldier could have followed the French standards; yet many more Germans were in the army of Charles of Durazzo. For with great forces of Hungarians Durazzo came from Verona to Naples, and beyond doubt, making from Hungary through the German provinces into Italy, he enlisted German soldiers Murat. Annal. tom. VIII, pag. 383.. And thus far each opinion weighs in an equal balance. But if we attend to the fact that our St. John, a few years after, found the highest favour with king Ladislaus, son of Charles of Durazzo, I incline well enough to the opinion by which Capistrano's father would be said to be numbered in the party of Durazzo. Ladislaus, namely, mindful of the service rendered by the parent, may have wished to reward the son in place of the father. If on the contrary Capistrano's father had adhered to the Angevin faction, we do not easily enough persuade ourselves that Ladislaus, contrary to the custom of kings, unmindful of an injury once inflicted, heaped such great honours, which we shall set out below, on John, the son of his enemy, while still young. Whence the opinion seems to me more likely that the father of St. John of Capistrano was both German by nation and followed the party of Charles of Durazzo. And indeed to which faction of those dividing the kingdom of Naples the father of St. Capistrano adhered, no contemporary makes manifest: but the later biographers, reading that this soldiering took place at the time of the Angevin war, easily

ascribed it to the duke of Anjou.

[15] the name of his father indicates a German origin, The same biographers disclose another thing; namely that the father of our saint had the family name Her or Hera Masson. Vita, pag. 4, Barber, Vit. Ital. pag. 2.. Her in German, as also in Flemish, signifies Lord: it may be that one or another fellow soldier, summoned from Germany, addressed his master by such a title, which title, perhaps unaccustomed to Italian ears, was taken as if a family name. For the rest, we do not deny that this name, given to certain families, is still retained: wherefore if anyone wishes to defend that Her was the family name of the father of St. John, we shall not oppose it. Moreover no one has disclosed the name of the mother of our saint: all relate that she was a native of Capistrano and noble by race, they praise with one mouth the integrity of her morals; an indication of which is that, her husband having died, and our John urging continence on her with childish eloquence, she remained in holy widowhood until death. Cataneo says that John was orphaned of his father at six years old Vita pag. 2. Barber. Vit. ital. pag. 3.; Christopher of Varese at num. I has: Who while he was still a little boy, orphaned of his father, who had entered the way of all flesh, as if already indicating that he would be a preacher of the Gospel, began to preach widowed continence to his surviving mother. There are biographers who write that the saint was sent away to Perugia for the sake of study before his father's death Masson. pag. 4.: but this does not agree with the statements of Christopher at num. 1: He is handed over thereafter (that is, after he had persuaded his mother to the state of widowhood) to be imbued with the liberal arts, in which he advanced in so short a time above all his contemporaries that all wondered at his subtle talent. Afterwards he is sent to the city of Perugia, to study there both pontifical and civil law. Certainly it is not to be believed that either this eminence above his contemporaries or the admiration of all befell a six-year-old boy, and the testimony of a contemporary abundantly teaches that John of Capistrano learned letters, and both laws at Perugia.

[16] Cataneo says that a little after the father the mother of St. Capistrano also died Vita pag. 3. Barber. Vit. ital. pag. 3.: not accurately enough. and his posterity continues at Capistrano. For the saint himself, narrating, as we shall show below, the change of his life, says that he returned to his mother the dowry prepared for his marriage. And he was then thirty years old. The same writer, treating of his father, reports that he begot various sons besides John. Which is moreover indicated by the words of Celestino Ludovico di Monte Corvino, cited by Massonio Masson. Vit. pag. 4.: Among other sons the father had this blessed John: I render the Italian words in Latin. And a little below the praised Massonio reports Ibid. pag. 5. that, St. Capistrano having died, his family remained, and it was so multiplied that it fills today (that is, in the year 1627) the land of Capistrano, having taken the surname Del Tedesco in memory of its German or Teutonic author, which the Italian name Tedesco indicates. Massonio adds moreover Ibid. l. c.: Although not all inhabit the same house in which St. John was born, and which still exists, there is nevertheless preserved to this day some furniture of those times, which, as once set aside for the use of the saint, is held by the inhabitants in the manner of relics. But if Massonio's assertions are true (and they could not have escaped a citizen of Aquila, a neighbour of Capistrano) it is altogether likely that St. John had brothers, who propagated the family: nor can the tradition of Capistrano concerning the family del Tedesco, as if sprung from the father of St. John and so akin to the saint, be explained in any other way. Nevertheless Giacinto Sbaralea in the Supplement to Wadding's Bibliotheca says that the saint sprang from the noble family of the Chioli Pag. 401., without however showing his assertion to be true.

[17] In the year 1386, Concerning the year and day on which St. John of Capistrano was born writers vary: whose opinions accordingly we shall set out. Henry Sedulius, of the Order of Minors, in his Seraphic History Pag. 393 and 416., thinks that the saint saw the light in the year of Christ 1393. And this he strives to show from the fact that the saint died a septuagenarian in the year 1456: but once the age of seventy is admitted, which Sedulius himself confirms by alleged testimonies, the natal year of St. John must belong no longer to the last decade of the fourteenth century, but to the second to last: nor can it be pretended that the error of Sedulius's hallucination is the typesetter's; both because he himself manifestly tries to refute the opinion of those saying that the saint was born in the year 1383 or 1385, and because he concludes his discourse in these words Masson. Vit. l. c.: and so he was born around the year 1393, not 1383. It is established well enough, therefore, that the very considerations adduced by Sedulius utterly destroy Sedulius's opinion. Salvatore Massonio assigns the saint's natal year to the year 1365, saying Vita pag. 4.: The blessed Father came to the light of this world in the year of our redemption 1365 on 25 June, a Saturday, at the 21st hour of the day, that is, by the common clock, at about the fifth hour of the evening. Of the natal day we shall treat below; but as regards the year he falls altogether into error: for St. Capistrano would have been a nonagenarian when he took up the arduous task of preaching and directing the crusade: which certainly no one of the biographers would have passed over in silence, and it would have to be held as a kind of miracle that the blessed man in decrepit age both took up and completed a most laborious mission. For the rest I readily admit a typographical error: for the year 1365, marked with the dominical letter E, had the 25th of June falling on the fourth day of the week.

[18] on 24 June, Capistrano himself Nearer the truth have they who say that the saint was born in the year 1385 [Catan. Vit. pag. 2. Barber. Vit. lat. pag. 2. Vit. ital. pag. 1. Hermann. pag. 7.]. Wadding had thought the same under this year Annal. tom. IX, pag. 68.: but then, having changed his opinion, he set the following natal year, namely 1386, when he treated of the saint's death Ibid. tom. XII, pag. 405.. Both opinions have a firm enough foundation. Namely, since it is certain and undoubted among all that St. Capistrano died his last day on 23 October of the year 1456, the sepulchral inscription favours those who hold for the natal year 1385, which reads as follows Hermann. pag. 6. Wadding. tom. XII, pag. 413.: Vixit annos XXXCI, menses III, dies XXII He lived XXXCI years, III months, XXII days. From which it follows that he was born on 2 July 1385. But all, as many as I have seen, place his natal day on the feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, even those who, more probably by a slip of the pen, assign 25 June. I think therefore that the sepulchral inscription, placed late on the tomb, is not to be so highly valued; and that one must stand by the testimony of St. Capistrano himself, who in a letter written to Mark of Bologna, vicar general, from Judenburg on the kalends of May 1455, says: On the feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist I shall enter my seventieth year; on the feast of our Blessed Father Francis I shall enter my fortieth in Religion. These words are cited by Amandus Hermann Pag. 7. and Luke Wadding Annal. tom. XII, pag. 405.: but to our loss, content with these words, they omit the rest of the letter: nor has it been my lot to find it in other writers.

[19] witnessing to it. But the display of that whole letter would serve curiosity more than credit; since no one would readily make light of the credit of Wadding and Hermann, or suspect that they were false in reading the letter. And so from the fragment above cited we have that St. Capistrano in the year 1455, on the feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, or 24 June, completed the sixty-ninth year of his age, and began the seventieth: and accordingly that in the following year too, which was the saint's year of death, he completed the seventieth, to which if we add three months and 30 uncompleted days, we arrive at 23 October of the year 1456. From which it is concluded that the saint saw the first light on 24 June of the year 1386. There should therefore have been inscribed on the sepulchre: Vixit annos LXX, menses III, dies XXX He lived 70 years, 3 months, 30 days. That it is not set down that he lived four months beyond seventy years, the reason is that the thirtieth day, on which he died, was not a completed day, wherefore, some hours being lacking, he did not complete the fourth month. Wadding, moreover, who had assigned the birth of St. John to the year of Christ 1385 Ibid. tom. IX, pag. 67., moved by the testimony cited above, corrected his error when he reported the death of the holy man under the year 1456 Ibid. tom. XII, pag. 405.. For the rest, since, as we showed above, the sepulchral inscription is not free of fault in enumerating the days, no suitable reason occurs for us to defend that the years of his age were carved without error, especially since the numbers were carved in a rather unusual manner; namely XXXCI for LXXI: although from papers lately transmitted to us from Hungary by Fr. Colman Rosti, it is said to be inscribed: VIXIT ANNOS LXX, MENSES III, DIES XXII He lived 70 years, 3 months, 22 days. So that an error would exist only in the numbering of the days. But the testimony of the saint himself is greater than every exception, nor ought it to yield to any other.

[20] he studies law at Perugia At the time when St. John of Capistrano was passing his youthful years, he was sent, his humane studies being finished, to Perugia, which flourished in the study of laws. For in that academy, founded, as Raynaldus notes at § XVII, in the year 1308 by Clement V, and enlarged, as the same writer witnesses at § XLV, in the year 1321 by John XXII, medical and philosophical disciplines being added, our Capistrano obtained distinguished doctors of both laws. Certainly Capistrano himself, as Salvatore Massonio reports Vita pag. 7., attests that he heard Pietro degli Ubaldi, a most celebrated interpreter of the laws. Thus in the third part of the Mirror of Clerics he has these words, which I cite from Massonio Ibid. l. c.: My most illustrious doctor, the lord Pietro degli Ubaldi of Perugia, brother of the most illustrious and most famous doctor, the lord Baldo, and also of the lord Angelo of Perugia. In the same way too in the Defence of the Third Order of St. Francis he cites his master Pietro degli Ubaldi in these words Ibid. l. c.: Following the footsteps of my eminent and illustrious doctor, Pietro degli Ubaldi of Perugia, brother of the illustrious and most renowned doctors, Lord Baldo and Lord Angelo of Perugia. And finally Ibid. l. c.: The illustrious, he says, and most famous lord, my doctor, Lord Pietro degli Ubaldi of Perugia in his treatise on the episcopal canonry. To Pietro degli Ubaldi Barberi adds his brother, Angelo, as a doctor of St. Capistrano Barber. Vit. ital. pag. 4.. And that this man was of the highest name is witnessed by his opinion in the lawsuit aired between Theodore, Marquis of Montferrat, and Amadeus, count of Savoy, as may be seen in the History of Montferrat of Benvenuto di San Giorgio,

in Muratori Scriptt. tom. XXIII, col. 657.. Moreover Giacinto Vincioli of Perugia, in Domenico Manni Osservaz. sopra i sigilli antich. tom. VII, pag. 69., treating of the more celebrated jurisconsults in his work: Observations on the IV books of the Imperial Constitutions, reports the following about these: Baldus of Perugia, of the Ubaldi family, had Angelo and Pietro as brothers, likewise celebrated in jurisprudence: and each of them left several writings. On the seal displayed in the same place may be seen the family arms of the Ubaldi.

[21] under the best masters From these things we see that a most celebrated doctor of law fell to St. Capistrano, and although the fame of Baldus seems more celebrated, yet the praise of the other brothers has not been effaced among posterity. Indeed that Baldus himself at one time interpreted the laws at Perugia we have from the praised Manni, who teaches that Baldus was summoned from Perugia to Pavia by Gian Galeazzo Visconti in the year 1391 Ibid. pag. 76.. Whence it follows that our saint, at that time seven years old, was not a disciple of Baldus. For St. Capistrano spent ten years in learning both laws, as his biographer Christopher of Varese has it at num. 1: To the city, he says, of Perugia, to study there both pontifical and civil law, he is sent. He remained there nearly ten years, and gave himself to that faculty to such an extent that all in need of counsel, dismissing doctors of no mediocre fame, had recourse to him for counsel. And we judge that these things took place when the ten-year course of laws was finished; by which opinion we do not think we detract anything of praise from the saint. For, as is to be elicited from num. 16, he took up the habit of the Minors at thirty years of age, and so this eminence above the very masters of knowledge, granted by the favour of the citizens to a young man not yet thirty, is of such glory that to wish to aspire to more would have to be held as a kind of miracle. Wherefore we believe that the concourse of the citizens to seek Capistrano's counsels fell at the time when he had already been brought to the administration of the commonwealth by king Ladislaus.

[22] with the highest praise; We have already remarked above at num. 14 that the benevolence shown to Capistrano by king Ladislaus furnishes some foundation for the opinion by which the saint's father should be said to have adhered rather to Charles of Durazzo than to Louis of Anjou, and that thus the biographers are to be explained in this way, that when they say that the father of St. John came with Louis of Anjou to Naples, this is to be understood in the sense that the Angevin invasion gave occasion for soldiers, even German, to be levied by king Charles against Louis: in which sense it is very true that the father of St. John of Capistrano, a Teutonic man, came down with Louis of Anjou to Naples, yet with the intention of keeping Louis from the kingdom and preserving safe and sound the right of Charles. In this way we more easily understand how Capistrano acquired the benevolence of the king, when the king intended to reward the father in the son, an otherwise distinguished man. It remains moreover to explain at what time and in what way king Ladislaus could have employed our John to administer the commonwealth at Perugia, which is a city of pontifical right. Ladislaus often occupied Rome, on various pretexts: but his rule at Perugia must fall at such a time as can be reconciled with the chronotaxis of the life of St. Capistrano. And we find no more apt time than the common year 1412, the 27th of the age of our John. For, as Raynaldus writes under this year, § III Annal. Baron. continuat. tom. VIII, pag. 344. Edit. Luc. 1752., on 15 June a treaty was concluded between John XXIII and Ladislaus of Naples, by which among other pacts there were pledged to Ladislaus the cities of Ascoli, Viterbo, Perugia and Benevento, until John XXIII should pay him two hundred and twenty thousand gold pieces: which money according to present coinage would make 48,000,000 francs Acad. des Inscript. et Belles-Lettres, mém. de savants etr. tom. I, pag. 278..

[23] whence by king Ladislaus a judge And to about this time we think the beginnings of his taking up public affairs, which our Capistrano undertook, should be referred. For that time cannot be set much earlier, both on account of his ten-year study of the grave disciplines, and on account of his being under age; nor indeed much later, because, as we shall show below, for one who embraced the Franciscan institute in the 16th year of the current century some time must be allowed, both for him to win the familiarity of king Ladislaus, and to ascend through various grades to the highest offices of the kingdom. With the year 1412 set as the beginning of the favour won with the king, we have a solid four years, and at the same time such an age of John that no one would wonder that he was set over the government of cities and the giving of law. Nor is it to be turned into a fault in our Capistrano that at the command of his king he ruled the city of Perugia, which was of the pontifical dominion. From what has been said it is manifest that this city passed to king Ladislaus by a pledge temporarily, yet legitimately: and thus that a man of the Abruzzo, bound by his birth to the Neapolitan crown, could innocently take up the office of judge. And although he was serving a king by the judgment of all most perfidious and most profligate, John himself nevertheless, as the biographer Christopher attests at num. 2, performed all things with such wisdom and prudence, disposed all things with such maturity, punished the wicked with such severity of justice, and cherished the good, finally, with such clemency, that his fame was spread abroad on every side, and he was made daily dearer and more familiar to the king.

[24] he is appointed. Capistrano showed an incorrupt zeal for justice when he discharged the office of judge at Perugia. I report the fact from Wadding Annal. tom. IX, pag. 68. Compare Barber. Vita ital. pag. 6.: A certain powerful man offered him a great weight of gold, if he would bring in a capital sentence against a certain enemy of his, held in bonds under John's jurisdiction, and to be judged on his benches: and if he should do otherwise, he added threats of death. But he, intrepid, having only justice and truth before his eyes, not only did not bring in a sentence of death against the man, but, the truth being discovered, declared him innocent. There is reported too by Salvatore Massonio, who attests that this was narrated to him in his youth by old men Vita pag. 7., that, namely, it not rarely fell to the judge Capistrano to condemn to torture the accused who did not confess: but the confession of the accused extorted by such means seemed to him doubtful and uncertain. To dispel this doubt at length, he entered upon such a plan. Capistrano himself secretly went down to the stable, and unknown to all takes away a saddle and most secretly hides it. Afterwards he calls his groom, and enjoins him to saddle the horse. The servant, returning shortly, laments that the saddle has been taken away: the master accuses him of theft, after many threats, the suit being prepared, he orders him to be applied to the torture. The innocent man for some time endures the torments, but as the pain increases, the servant confesses that he is the thief, and points out the saddle as hidden in a certain place: but when it was by no means found there, he is again harried with torments, and at last he confesses that he sold the saddle to a certain named person for so much money. Capistrano, instructed by this experience, having made good the damage inflicted, repenting of the atrocious deed, resolved thenceforth to abstain from such aids to detecting crime.

§ III. The wonderful vocation of the saint to the Order of Friars Minor.

Of human affairs Capistrano was continually struggling up to higher grades of honour, and already having contracted betrothal with a rich and noble Perugian girl, he was thinking of giving himself wholly to worldly things, when suddenly he put on another mind, and gave his name to the humble institute of St. Francis. Salvatore Massonio teaches that various persons have adduced various causes of so great a conversion; which indeed by no means conflict among themselves; but rightly agree among themselves; indeed they ought to agree, since all causes of such a change are both true and by their own nature such as to indicate the vanity of earthly things to a man of sense. And so the cause of his assuming the habit of the Minors is indicated by Paris de Puteo or Del Pozzo, the celebrated jurisconsult, who lived from the year 1413 to 1493 Compare Biogr. Univ. supplement V° Pozzo., in his treatise on syndication, at the word, sequitur modo notabilis quæstio, num. 3, in these words, which I report from the praised Massonio Vita pag. 9 and following.: And I wish, reader, that you should have one memorable thing worthy in a like case. King Ladislaus causes an inquiry for treason to be made into a count of the kingdom and his son: and the process being carried out by the judges of the great court of the Vicaria, among whom was one of the judges, then * Brother John of Capistrano, who reported to the king that the count was liable to the penalty of beheading, yet the son was innocent and to be freed. The king therefore ordered the count to be beheaded; and the son not to be beheaded, but to be condemned to death by a feigned sentence, then to be led to execution with his father, and, the father being beheaded, to be freed. And this being done, the father being beheaded, the son from fear almost at once died. For which reason Brother John of Capistrano, then a secular and being a judge of the great court, moved by conscience that he had condemned an innocent man, since he had died because of the condemnation, went to the king and renounced his office, unwilling to serve temporal lords any further, but God: and he entered the mendicant Religious institute of St. Francis, and was a man of great religion and wonderful sanctity, as in our days we have understood and seen. Thus far Paris de Puteo.

[26] both from the injustice of men, The same things Giovanni Vincenzo Ciarlanti narrates from the cited Paris in his Monuments of Samnium, and adds that the name of the Count was Ladislaus Artus, Count of Sant'Agata Mém. histor. del Sannio. pag. 410.. Thomas Cataneo, in the Life of St. John Vit. ital. pag. 7., adorns the tragedy, already atrocious enough, with new circumstances, not to be found, as far as I know, elsewhere. Namely that king Ladislaus wished the death of the only son, so that the fief left behind, namely the county of Sant'Agata, might devolve back to the royal right. But in order not to brand infamy on his name by an unjust condemnation, he employed Capistrano, a just and upright man, whose sentence, although severe, would be accepted by all. But when Capistrano refused to assist so great a crime, the king, hoping that by a feigned condemnation and the simulation of death, death would follow for the count's son even without the sword, ordered the simulation to be employed, which, as we have seen, met with a fatal outcome. St. Capistrano, moved by penitence, went out from Naples with no one knowing: but the king, either professing or feigning repentance of the deed, again enticed the judge of the Court by conferring on him a new and supreme dignity, namely the prefecture of all the judgments of the kingdom. Thus Cataneo, who does not indicate the source from which he drew these things. I for my part believe that like events, as also the experiment of torture narrated at num. 24, disposed the mind of our John to take up better and safer counsels: but, unless the rest of the series of his life deceives us, the sudden crime in no way led him without further circumstances, as we shall soon see, to put on the habit of St. Francis.

[27] both from his own calamity, For in this all the contemporary biographers agree, that the proximate occasion of changing his life must be derived from the Perugian captivity and the wonderful visions had in it. Inquiry must moreover be made into the time of that captivity, into the cause

and finally into the manner in which he slipped out of it, so as to take refuge in the Order of St. Francis. Wadding, erroneously setting the entry of St. Capistrano into the Order at the year 1414, sets out the cause of the captivity in these words Annal. tom. IX, pag. 358.: Having followed the party of Ladislaus, king of Sicily, he held the Perugians, among whom we have said he studied and gave law, as hated. They wished to shake off the unjust yoke of the king and to return to the obedience of the Roman Pontiff; and hence were born tumults of wars, which as John was strenuously labouring to quell, he is captured outside the city by the Perugians, and being brought to Brufa (a town at the fourth milestone from the city), he is consigned to a harsh prison. There long lay inglorious he who was accustomed to glory imperiously. He hoped that he would be either ransomed for a price or freed by prayer by king Ladislaus, but in vain: for for many months he had to pay the penalty in the squalor of prison. It must first of all be remarked that king Ladislaus died his last day at the beginning of August (others marking another day) of the year 1414 Muratori. Annal. d'Ital. tom. IX, pag. 71., and that there succeeded him, with the highest applause of the people, his sister Joanna, second of this name Ibid. pag. 72.. Then, Ladislaus in dying left all the parts of the kingdom pacified; for in the month of March of the same year he had struck a treaty with the Florentines, and at the beginning of July he was at Perugia, then pitched camp near Narni; when a few days after, labouring under an infamous disease, he returned to Naples and died Ibid. l. c.. From which it is manifest enough that when Ladislaus died in peace, such as these most agitated times bore, the whole kingdom was composed.

[28] which in a most harsh prison From these things it follows, in my opinion, that the captivity of St. Capistrano did not take place in the lifetime of king Ladislaus, who certainly would not have allowed his most faithful and most friendly minister to be detained in a foul prison at the time when, being at Perugia, he could have freed him, enclosed in the stronghold of Brufa, without any trouble. Then at that period it was not a question for the Perugians of shaking off the unjust yoke of the king and returning to the obedience of the Roman Pontiff, as Wadding says; for the jurisdiction of Ladislaus over the Perugians was legitimate, inasmuch as he held it, as we said above at num. 22, by title of pledge, and, as the Chronicle of Gubbio, contemporary with these events, shows Muratori. Scriptt. tom. XXI, col. 958., on 19 July 1415 the Perugians acclaimed Braccio da Montone as their lord, and only in the month of September 1424, Braccio having died, did Perugia return to the obedience of the Pontiff, Martin V Ibid. col. 962,. Since therefore the captivity of our John does not fall in the time of king Ladislaus, when all things were proceeding tranquilly; it is rather to be placed in that time when the commonwealth of Perugia was disturbed by various factions; which, as is read in the cited Chronicle of Gubbio, took place in the first half of the year 1416, when intestine wars blazed up in the county of Perugia Ibid. col. 958.: at which time, namely, there was fighting between the Malatesta and the people of Rimini on one side, and Braccio on the other, and thus John too, who was looking after the affairs of his queen, Joanna of Naples, incurred the wrath of other factions, and, snares being laid, was captured and bound in chains, at the beginning or during the first half of the year 1416.

[29] he suffers, enclosed, weary of, And certainly with that year of captivity posited, the time is sufficient for the remaining things narrated by the biographers to follow duly; namely a captivity of some months: a flight attempted, and at last a ransom granted, so that the saint could assume the habit of the Minors. All of which things are excellently confirmed by the testimony of St. John of Capistrano himself, which Salvatore Massonio has preserved for us, as Giacomo de Franchis, a citizen of Aquila, had written it in these words Vita pag. 26.: It is worthy and just and fitting now to speak of Blessed Father John of Capistrano and to bring forward his discourse. But first I ask all of you reading or hearing, that you receive these words with that simplicity and truth with which I speak: for I do not seek the glory of men; God is witness: nor shall I speak in order that we may have human friendships, but that we may enjoy eternal joy. In the conscience of my soul this is the truth. I shall say whatever Blessed Brother John of Capistrano said to me; and when he clothed me and my wife with the Third Order of St. Francis, in 1447, on the 17th day of the month of January, on the feast of St. Antony , in the garden of St. Christopher of the city of Penne, he said and narrated all these things, and because he recited in the vernacular how and when he was made a Brother, I shall write in the vernacular language word for word all his words, namely saying. Giacomo de Franchis pursues his narration in the Italian idiom, and we render his words into Latin.

[30] and confirmed by the appearance of St. Francis, Lord Giacomo, you know how through Br. Antonio of Tagliacozzo you wrote to me at Aquila, that I might be willing to come to the town of Penne, because you and your wife wished to leave the world, you to be a Minor, and your wife a Nun; and in the same letter you reported many other things, of which you were certain that nothing had been made manifest to anyone but me and the bearer, although, my son, I had admonished you on the bridge of Sant'Antonio of Tocco that I was doubtful about this matter, because your wife would refuse consent, as afterwards happened. Now, however, I tell you that I have come in order to work some good, and I have clothed both of you with the habit of the Third Order of St. Francis, in which there have been very many saints. Strive to observe the Rule, and stand firm in your vocation; and I wish to tell you when and how by the grace of God I was made a Brother. In the year 1416 I was about to return to my homeland Capistrano, to gather the money necessary * for entering into marriage; although I was a licentiate of law; and I was about thirty years old. The Italian has: per denari per lo nostro convento, to the letter: for money for our convent: certainly the saint is not here treating of any convent of monks, inasmuch as his thoughts were at that time very far indeed from such a plan: but rather of the marriage contract, of which he treats a little below, and which the Italian word also signifies, as may be seen in the Italian-French Lexicon of Alberti.

[31] the price of ransom also paid, But it happened that the Podestà of Perugia left the city, and because he delayed his return a long time, the Perugians elected me his vicar. Everyone called me lord John, and among other things I gloried in my hair, which was as if woven of golden threads, and curled in the fashion of my homeland, so that it presented a beautiful appearance. But I (Giacomo de Franchis) replied: How, father, is the hair adorned in a different manner at Capistrano than at Aquila? And he said: It is true indeed that I was born at Capistrano; but my father was a baron from beyond the mountains, who came with the duke of Avignon (Anjou), and having taken a wife at Capistrano begot me and other sons, as it pleased God. In those times war having arisen between the Malatesta and the Perugians, I was sent to arrange peace, and arriving at a certain tower, my feet were bound with an iron of forty-two pounds, nor was any other nourishment granted to me than a little bread and water. Set in such great misfortune, I began to think of the possibility of avoiding death, and I reckoned the height of the tower. By chance I had a bed-coverlet, which, lacking a knife, I tore into strips with my teeth: which, tied together, with my hood also added (I interpret it as the doctoral badge, in French Chaperon, which hung from the left shoulder of masters) were still as far from the ground as is the height of St. Christopher. It is not here a question of a statue of St. Christopher, commonly colossal, but of the building of the convent of Penne, in whose garden the conversation took place.

[32] the Order of Minors, This rope being fastened to a pinnacle of the wall, I began to descend, as best I could, but the hood coming undone, I fell to the ground, and my foot being broken, I could go no further; indeed the guards being roused by the din of the colliding irons, I was captured again, and hurled into the lowest tower, where the water reached mid-leg, and I was so bound by an iron chain around the middle of my body that I was forced to stand erect on my feet, and moreover only a daily crust of bread and a little water was given. After three days, my strength failing, I fell asleep; when as I was drowsing it seemed to me that a great din was roused, and being awakened I saw a ray of the sun illuminating the whole tower, and lifting my head to give thanks to God, I saw a Minor stigmatized in the feet, who, when I wished to embrace him with my arms, disappeared, and on laying back my head I found myself shaven, as you see me now. I knew manifestly that this Minor was our Holy Father Francis. I perceived at last that it was the will of God that I should leave the world and serve him alone. Wherefore I at once sought my liberation, which I redeemed for the price of four hundred ducats, which money in present coinage would make a sum of about 160,000 fr. [Mém. de l'Acad. des Inscript. et Belles-Lettres, mém. de savants ctr. tom. I, pag. 298.]: the enormous ransom marks a leading man, which moreover the rest of the history of this liberation will more openly demonstrate.

[33] leaving his betrothed, At once I ordered all my books and the clothes I had to be sold; and returning to Capistrano, because I had a sworn betrothed, I disclosed to her my settled and fixed plan of leaving the world and serving God, and she, induced by my prayers, promised that she would renounce the marriage; but deceived afterwards, she married two others and at last was infected with leprosy. I returned the price of the dowry both to her and to my mother: all being paid, what remained I gave to the poor of Jesus Christ. Returning to Perugia I girded my head with a mitre, on which all the sins of my life were inscribed, and I rode backwards on an ass, in order to confound this wretched and deceitful world. Riding in such a manner through the streets of Perugia, the boys vied in throwing mud and stones at me, and all believed me mad, and laden with this opprobrium I went to the Brothers, to assume their garment. Blessed be that day! I believe that I was at that time thirty years old, and now for thirty-one years I am a Minorite. May God deign to make us ever do his will. Thus far the Italian; the praised Giacomo continues in Latin in the following way: Likewise, after he had clothed me and my wife with the Third Order of St. Francis, the Blessed Father withdrew, and went to Capistrano, and there after a time he fell ill. And I, returning to Aquila at that time, visited him, as is fitting and pertains, comforting him to holiness, and I said: We do not know the will of God, God has given us the body of St. Bernardine, he will also give your body for our salvation.

[34] he resolves to enter: The Blessed Father answered and said: I do not die in these parts. Then I replied saying: I shall speak with confidence, Father, your paternity well knows that St. Bernardine was

of Siena, and died at Aquila, perhaps you will die at Siena. Before all the brothers he said and narrated: I shall not die in Italy. And he said many other things, which for brevity I pass over in silence. Whence there truly befits him what Matthew says Marc. VII, 37.: "He has done all things well, he has made the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak?" Likewise there befits him the saying of Jesus Christ, which he said to the Apostles Marc. XVI, 15.: "Going into the whole world, preach the Gospel to every creature." The saying of the Prophet also befits him Ps. XVIII, 5.: "Into all the earth their sound has gone forth, and to the ends of the world their words." Likewise there befits him the saying of Ecclesiasticus Eccli. L, 6.: "As the morning star in the midst of a cloud." There was a man sent whose name was John. There befits him also the saying of Ecclesiasticus Eccli. XLV, 1.: "Beloved of God and men, whose memory is in benediction." Thus far Giacomo de Franchis.

[35] and truly enters: Although with every right we hold as most true the narrative preserved for us by Giacomo de Franchis, inasmuch as it comes forth from the very confession of St. Capistrano; it must however be said that various intermediate circumstances have been omitted for the sake of brevity. There is, however, one thing, reported everywhere by others, which can scarcely be reconciled with the narrative of St. Capistrano. Namely, as Amandus Hermann narrates Capistr. triumph. pag. 15., the other biographers chiming in [Wadding. Ann. tom. IX, pag. 358. Cataneo Vita, pag. 14. Barber. Vit. lat. pag. 6. Vit. ital. pag. 12.], by an ingenious invention he became his own liberator, and with no guard noticing, bound with fetters, he escaped from prison. But this liberty did not last long. For while he was wandering through fields and crossroads, and seeking a place where he might free himself of his bonds, by knocking the irons from his feet, with the blows resounding, he was noticed by a farmer living in that neighbourhood, who raising a huge cry, gave notice of the fugitive: hence the public authority being apprised, John, a guard being sent ahead, was captured again, and brought back to prison, to be bound by stronger irons, that he might aspire the more to the liberty of Christ… Afterwards John was brought back to prison, … his penalties were doubled and made heavier, and being enclosed in the tower of the citadel of Brufa, bound by fetters of forty-two pounds… On top of this he was outwardly well surrounded by guards, and inwardly tormented by hunger in his body; for for the sustenance of life a little bread and water, scarcely sufficient, was supplied to him.

[36] concerning which plan This narrative is clothed with ornaments in so far as it adds the wandering through the fields. Capistrano himself certainly asserts that all hope of flight was closed to him from the fact that in the fall he broke his foot, and could proceed no further. The saint is silent about the cry of the countryman rousing the guards: probably enough; for most persons contrive such a flight at night-time, when fugitives have to beware only of the military watches. And so it is not likely that any countryman, in that turbulent age, having gone out of his house at night-time, could have seen and recognized the fugitive. Wherefore we judge the narrative of Giacomo de Franchis more likely, even if it did not proceed from the very mouth of Capistrano. Nor do we readily admit a double flight, one through the fields, the other at the foot of the stronghold: for after the former flight, of which several biographers treat, he was so surrounded by guards in close custody, and so restricted in food, that all ways of escaping were closed to him. Nor can a second flight be admitted after the broken foot, both because, bound by an iron chain, as the saint himself narrates, he could not move himself even to sit, and most of all, because after three days, treating of ransom, he obtained it a few days after. It must therefore altogether be stood by the narrative of St. Capistrano himself, and all those accompaniments are to be eliminated which cannot stand with the saint's report.

[37] various persons various things, As to the remaining circumstances of the conversion, these can in my opinion easily be reconciled with the statements of Capistrano. Giovanni Battista Barberi, with whom the rest also agree Hermann. pag. 16. Cataneo Vita ital. pag. 16., reports the conversion in these words Vit. lat. pag. 7.: In the same tower (of Brufa), as according to his pious and daily custom he recited the Office of the Virgin Mother of God and immaculate Mary (or rather as he fell asleep after reciting it), a certain man, clothed in the habit of the Order of Minors, and surrounded by a heavenly and most lucid splendour, appearing in the air, addressed him thus: "Why do you stand, why do you delay, why do you wait, proud one? Obey the admonitions of God and acquiesce in the inner voices." To whom John, shuddering, "what does the Lord wish me to do? To whom he: Do you not see what God has resolved to do with you? Do you not perceive this habit which I bring? Take this up, leave the world, which you have proved most deceitful, and enter Religion." To which John, sorrowful, said, "This is a hard saying: to live in a cloister and to renounce liberty in perpetuity; I have never yet thought of these things: yet God must be obeyed when he commands." And so the heavenly and lucid vision disappearing, the accustomed obscurity of the prison's darkness returned; where after some agitations of mind and body, as he, filled with confusion, indulged his body in a little rest, his head was wonderfully shorn by a heavenly hand in the religious manner of the Franciscans; which when he had perceived on awaking: "It is hard, he said, to kick against the goad Act. IX, 5. The Lord himself is God, all things whatsoever he has willed, he has done Ps. CXIII, 11. His knowledge has become wonderful, it is strengthened beyond me, and I cannot attain to it, nothing further is to be hoped for here …" And he offered himself, wholly firm, to God and to St. Francis.

[38] agreeing well enough among themselves These things, as I said, agree well enough with the narrative of St. Capistrano himself: especially if we attend to the words by which he reports his conversion. For after the vision of St. Francis, after the hair shaved in a wonderful manner, he adds: I perceived at last, that is, after repeated admonitions, that it was the will of God that I should leave the world, and the rest, which may be read above at num. 32. Wherefore we assent to Christopher of Varese, reporting the same conversion point by point at num. 5: Not yet however, he says, after the apparition of St. Francis, understanding from the aforesaid visions what was being done concerning him, had he called back his mind from the blandishments of the world, or inclined his thought in any way to entering Religion: because it is truly difficult for those who have subjected themselves to riches and honours to spring back from them except by the greatest violence. And so, a third time, when he had given himself to sleep, and had thought of no Religious institute of any kind beforehand, God most clement, wishing by an evident sign to lead him to Religion, disposed that the hair should fall from the crown of his head as he slept, so that, the crown being deprived of hair, he seemed to wear a tonsure after the likeness of the Friars Minor: which afterwards through the whole time of his life, being in Religion, he ever had as the sign of the miracle: nor was a razor ever necessary for shaving the tonsure, set by the hand of God, at any time as long as he lived.

[39] have written. And when, waking from sleep, he felt himself deprived in the manner of a tonsure on the crown of the head of the most beautiful hair, in which he had before had great consolation, as a comely young man; at first sight, as if indignant, he burst out in like words: "Since I have no affection toward Religion, I wonder at you, Almighty God, that you propose to make me a religious against my will…" When therefore little by little he came to know the divine will, inflamed by the Holy Spirit, he forthwith coupled his will with the divine will with his whole heart; and he wholly inclined his mind to entering the Order of Blessed Francis of the Observance. That St. Capistrano experienced a struggle, brief indeed, but vehement, before he obeyed God who was calling him, we are taught by these words of the contemporary biographer: while the saint himself, treating of his conversion, indicates in one word rather than unfolds the various motions of his soul: without however contradicting the narrative of the contemporary Christopher. To embrace everything, then, in summary, St. Capistrano, detained in a harsh prison, and all hope of flight being closed, is enlightened from heaven, and after vain efforts to escape from God who was calling him, at last humbly submits himself to the divine will, and embraces the arduous institute of St. Francis, at that time especially flourishing in austerity.

* nunc?

* abbatis

* effectus?

* per denari pro nostro conventu

§ IV. His entry into the Seraphic Order; the saint's first ministries under his master St. Bernardine of Siena.

Because he professes to enter the Order of Minors Just as, as we showed above, St. Capistrano narrated in passing his conversion to the Religious institute of St. Francis, so too he dispatched in a few words his liberation from prison. Which however, as may be seen above at num. 32, was redeemed for much money, and at the beginning seemed to bear on its face some trickery. Wadding under the year 1414 reports the series of the events in a quite confused way, saying Annal. tom. IX, pag. 359.: After his conversion, sending to the brothers of the stricter Observance, living in the monastery of the Mount outside Perugia, he asked that as soon as possible they should send across a poor habit. Two brothers bring it, but refuse to give it to a man placed in prison. From a certain old cloak he fashioned a religious garment for himself, and at last, the money being counted out, he is presented with his liberty. Almost the same are had by Benedetto Mazzara in the Franciscan Legendary Legend. Franciscano tom. X. pag. 298. and Thomas Cataneo in the Life of St. John Cataneo. Vit. pag. 18.. But the other biographers we have before us set out the event in another way: thus Christopher at num. 7 says: Thereupon, namely his entry into the Order of Friars Minor being resolved, he began with his whole heart to think out every means of how he might fulfil so holy a purpose, which, by God's inspiration, he had firmly conceived in his mind. At last calling the guard of the prison to him, with what prayers he could he began to ask that he bring to the prison for him some of the grey cloth with which the Brothers of the Observance of St. Francis are usually clothed, scissors, thread and a needle, promising to restore to him all these and more, if God should free him from prison.

[41] he is freed by the Perugians The guard of the prison assented to his wish, who loved him exceedingly on account of his virtues, and brought the things requested to him at the prison without delay. Having received these, he prepared a habit for himself as best he knew and could, and having stripped off the secular clothes with which he was clothed, weeping with the greatest devotion, he put on the habit which, by the decree of the Holy Spirit, he had prepared… When those who were detaining him in chains heard this, smiling, they began to utter like words: We know the wickednesses and cunning of his heart etc. But not much time after, the enemies of Capistrano, suspecting that there was something true and sincere in his plan, scrutinize his manner of acting from close by, to whom John says: Have some brothers of the Observance come to me, who have experience of these matters, in whom you also may have confidence, and they will inform you more fully whether my vocation is feigned or true. And so there is called a brother of no small esteem from

the Observance, venerable in morals and life; who, understanding that that wonderful change was not feigned but most true, going to those who were detaining the prisoner: Do not, he said, doubt in anything, for in truth, with his whole heart, without any pretence he has been converted, intending altogether, despising the delights of the world and the flesh, to serve as a soldier for the Lord faithfully in our Order. And if you wish, have me as a hostage for him, until you see in what end the affair concludes [Compare Barber. Vit. ital. pag. 15 and following. Hermann Capistr. triumph. pag. 17.]. John's enemies acquiesced in these words, and, the money being counted out, released him ransomed. Thus Christopher of Varese.

[42] from his chains; This narrative is put together with more apt connections than that which is handed down by Wadding. For in Wadding's report it is not sufficiently understood how, before the treating of the liberation, two Friars Minor were admitted to a prisoner most severely guarded, how they could have brought into the tower a habit, which a cunning man, as Capistrano was in the judgment of his enemies, could have abused for attempting flight: indeed those brothers, called by Capistrano, to whom his imprisonment could not have been unknown, and who thus knew that a religious habit could not be granted to prisoners, are rather, not to say too much, unwonted, when they bring a habit which they know for certain they will refuse. I think therefore that the narrative of the contemporary Christopher is altogether to be preferred, inasmuch as it squares excellently with the circumstances: but if anyone should wish to keep this rejection, I for my part will not oppose it, provided that this rejection comes forward after the liberation, in the intermediate interval, when the saint was settling his domestic affairs, and truly suffered a rejection by the Observants.

[43] and his betrothed dismissed, From those things which we gave above at nums. 29 and following, we know that St. Capistrano was bound to a certain Perugian girl by reason of a matrimonial treaty. In this all agree, that the girl was dismissed a virgin. But it can be doubted whether before the captivity there was a true marriage, or simple betrothal. As we saw above at num. 33 in the confession made by the holy man himself, he had a sworn betrothed. The Italian has Masson. Vit. pag. 29.: E perche teneva la mia moglie giurata, which to the letter I should have translated: And because I had for myself a sworn wife, but I preferred thus far to leave the matter undefined, since sponsa can rightly be understood also of a wife. But to say what I think, the marriage was contracted by words, as the theologians say, de præsenti, but not consummated. For from the saint's confession we know that after his conversion the dowry was returned both to the betrothed and to his mother, which is not ordinarily given before a ratified marriage. Yet that the marriage was not consummated is clear from the fact that without the betrothed's consent, indeed, as is evident from Christopher at num. 13 and following, with her resisting with all her strength, he embraced the religious state: which indeed, if the marriage had been completed by consummation, could in no way have been dissolved so far as regards the bond, and the consenting wife would have remained bound by an equal vow of chastity, as the canons teach, and specifically c. 7 de Convers. conjug. (III, 32), in which we read: For the rest, because although she was betrothed to the aforesaid man; yet (as she asserts) she is still unknown by him, we mandate that if the aforesaid man has not known her carnally, and she wishes to pass over to Religion, sufficient security being received from her that she will either pass over to Religion or return to her husband within the space of two months, you are to absolve her from the sentence by which she is held; in such a way that if she passes over to Religion, each is to restore to the other what he is known to have received from him. By which words the question of the nuptials of St. Capistrano is solved: for whether he contracted only betrothal with the Perugian girl, or a true marriage; this is certain among all, that John never consummated a ratified marriage, and so that his entry into the Order of Minors, even with her opposing it, was licit and praiseworthy.

[44] in the year 1416 Likewise from the saint's report brought forward above at num 30 we have that he assumed the habit of the Minors in the year 1416: which accurately agrees with the letter written from Judenburg to Mark of Bologna, which we cited above at num. 18, and by whose aid we established the natal year of the saint. For just as we showed that he reached sixty-nine years in the year 1455 on 24 June, on the feast of St. John the Baptist, so we find that he then had thirty-nine years of Religion on 4 October, on the feast of St. Francis: and thus that on his death on 23 October 1456 he had completed seventy years of age, and forty of Religion: by which calculation we arrive at the year 1416 for the assuming of the habit of the Minors. Wrongly therefore did Wadding set under the year 1414 the entry of our saint into the Order of Minors. A most illustrious splendour, he says Annal. tom. IX, pag. 358., was added this year to our fellowship, the most distinguished John of Capistrano being admitted into our company. Since Wadding on the authority of the Judenburg letter corrected the natal year of the saint Ibid. tom. XII, pag. 405., he should in like manner have moved forward the entry into the Order of Minors as far as the year 1416. More gravely deceived is Amandus Hermann Capistr. triumph. pag. 17., when he says that Capistrano was moved to embrace the Seraphic Religion by the death of king Ladislaus, which, he says, occurred in the year 1413. There is here a double error, that Ladislaus died in the year 1413, since that must be referred to the following year 1414 Muratori. Ann. tom. IX, pag. 71.: and then that our John was impelled to Religion by his death, for, as we showed above at num. 28, the conversion took place long enough after the death of Ladislaus, and its proximate causes have no connection with such a death; although we do not deny that this too could have come before his mind as he turned over many things. From what has thus far been said we may conclude that St. Capistrano in the common year 1416 underwent the affliction of prison, and a few months intervening, on 4 October of the same year assumed the seraphic habit. Whence also Giovanni Battista Barberi must be corrected, who says that St. John entered Religion in the year 1415: which time indeed he asserts is not without mystery Compare Vit. ital. pag. 21 and 130.. This very admission to the Order of Minors was not without its difficulties.

[45] after various trials For, says Wadding Annal. tom. IX, pag. 359., returning to his homeland, having sold what he possessed, having left the noble virgin betrothed to him, and having distributed his resources to the poor, he returned to Perugia, and asked the brothers of the aforesaid monastery (namely of the Mount outside Perugia) to admit him as a companion. Mark of Bergamo, superior of the house, knowing the man well, judged that he should be tested, lest perhaps he were led by levity of mind or by passion, and ordered him to go around the city riding on a little ass, in a sordid garment, his temples bound with a paper mitre rubricated with his sins. The biographer Christopher, reporting these things at num. 11, makes no mention of St. Capistrano having assumed that kind of opprobrium at the order of the superior Mark: but since the cause of his liberation, at least of its being easier, is said to have been the firm purpose of putting on the seraphic garment; there is no doubt that John, free from prison, then settled all his affairs according to the will of the superiors. And so it is not likely that he undertook a thing so extraordinary without the knowledge of his superior; whose part moreover it was to prove a man suddenly and wonderfully converted to better things, and to make trial of whether the Spirit by which he was being led was of God. Capistrano, victor over himself, walked through the streets of Perugia, and the proof having been made, he put on the humble habit of St. Francis: nor did the testing stop here; for, as Wadding has it Ibid. l. c., twice dismissed as insane and of disturbed mind, several times flogged though innocent, frequently rebuked without offence, sprinkled in the face with boiling water, he bore all things with the highest patience from Onofrio of Seggiano, a pious and austere lay brother, he kept silent before the one striking him, and provoked by insults, he displayed no sign of impatience.

[46] he is admitted into the Order: Proved by such great trials, St. Capistrano was received to profession, which we judge that he made within the octave of St. Francis of Assisi of the year 1417. For, says Christopher at num. 18, the time of profession arriving, because according to the Rule of the Seraphic Father Francis, the time of probation being finished, novices who have lived praiseworthily in the year of novitiate are to be received to profession, the servant of the Lord began humbly to ask the Brothers, kneeling before them and pouring forth tears most abundantly, that they would deign to receive him to profession. Since therefore nothing was lacking in the saint for it to be said that he had lived praiseworthily in the year of novitiate, there is no doubt that he professed his vows according to the Rule; and since he put on the habit of the Minors on the feast of St. Francis, 4 October 1416, we tie his solemn profession to the octave of the same saint, after a whole year of novitiate, in the following year. Amandus Hermann says Capistr. triumph. pag 24. that in the time of the novitiate of John of Capistrano the council of Constance was begun and promulgated: But wrongly; for that council took its beginning on 16 November of the year 1414, and thus nearly two years before the saint's entry into Religion; and if moreover he understands the promulgation of the said council, as if it were concluded, he errs: for Martin V having been elected on 11 November 1417, the council was dismissed in peace on 22 April 1418: that is, when St. Capistrano, ordained deacon some months after his profession, had already taken up the office of Gospel preaching. I suspect that Hermann suffered such hallucinations because he intended to introduce between the two Johns, namely Capistrano and the heresiarch Huss, an antithesis, as he himself calls it, against, as is commonly said, the will of Minerva Ibid. pag. 26..

[47] under the mastership of St. Bernardine After his profession St. Capistrano had as master of the theological disciplines St. Bernardine of Siena, of whom our predecessors treated under 20 May Act. SS. tom. V Maji, pag. 257.. I should believe moreover that that mastership is to be referred to the year 1418: not earlier, because the novitiate of St. Capistrano occupied nearly the whole year 1417, namely until after 4 October: but not much later either; for in the year 1419 or 1420 we see St. Bernardine running through various regions of Italy in succession, preaching Act. SS. tom. V Maji, pag. 260, num. 12., and also Capistrano himself, scarcely ordained deacon, already applying himself to the preaching of the word of God. Nevertheless from this brief sojourn of our Capistrano with St. Bernardine there was born an intimate friendship, holy in every respect, which grew also by the sharing of labours, in that St. Bernardine conceived, fostered and, when occasion was given, manifested a great and exceptional opinion of our saint; and in return Capistrano both strenuously defended his master in life against adversaries, and in death, by his labour above all, promoted him to the highest honours of sanctity, namely to canonization. Eusebio Gonzalez says that St. Bernardine then occupied a chair of theology Cronica. seraf. tom. V, pag. 28.: and indeed since, as Barberi has it Vit. ital. pag. 27., within one year the disciplines

of theology were so learned by the saint that he was held as a master, we easily persuade ourselves that that time was spent in solitude, letters and the necessary sciences. And that St. John used so great an economy of time, besides a certain special grace imparted by the Blessed Virgin, his studies, both philosophical and especially juridical of both forums, in which the holy man excelled, were also of profit toward acquiring theological learning. And so we judge that the testimony of his master Bernardine concerning St. Capistrano was truly spoken Barber. Vit. lat. pag. 17.: That at which another labours keeping vigil day and night, John grasps while sleeping.

[48] formed in theology, the ministry Far be it from us, however, to constrict the mastership of St. Bernardine within the narrow bounds of one year: let this alone, as we have intimated above, remain fixed, that St. Capistrano had St. Bernardine as master before the latter entered upon the course of his Gospel preachings, which were not interrupted until his death. But the holy bond which joined the two intimately could scarcely have grown together in the space of one year: wherefore we altogether agree with Wadding, who says Annal. tom. X, pag. 90.: John, God directing him, having obtained St. Bernardine, a man greater than all repute, profited very much from so great a master, drawing from this sun the colours of all the virtues. He was his constant companion and hearer, from whom he drew great wisdom and sanctity Hermann. Capistr. triumph. pag. 30.. Nor did the prelates of the Order suffer so great a light to lie hidden any longer under a bushel. And set upon a lampstand, he in a short time spread such light that he dazzled even the eyes of the Pontiff; of which indeed a brilliant testimony is furnished us by the letter of Giordano Orsini, cardinal bishop of Albano, Penitentiary of the Holy Roman Church Compare Ciacon. Vitæ Pontt. et Cardd. tom. II, col. 719., of the following tenor Annal. tom. X, pag. 91.: Giordano, by the divine mercy bishop of Albano, to the religious man Brother John of Capistrano, professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor. The grateful services of your devotion and the solicitous care by which you unweariedly attend the faithful of Christ, both poor and penitent, who flow together to you from all sides, and occupy you daily, not undeservedly demand that the munificence of the Apostolic See show itself liberal toward you. Led therefore by this consideration, and wishing thereby to honour your person, of whose circumspection we have full confidence in the Lord, by the authority of the Lord Pope, whose penitentiary we have the care of, and by his special and express mandate, made to us on this by the oracle of living voice, we commit to your discretion that it may be lawful for you, and for one other only, a suitable and discreet priest, professed of the said Order, to be chosen by you, to hear the confessions of any persons of either sex coming to confess to you and to your same companion, and to absolve them from cases and sins reserved to bishops only, and to enjoin on each of them a salutary penance, according to the quality of the excess: and that if they are held liable to anyone for satisfaction on account of the foregoing, they satisfy competently. We have thought fit to grant you the present letter thereupon, sealed with our seal, in testimony. Given at Rome, at the Holy Apostles, on the fifth before the ides of July, in the eighth year of the Lord Pope Martin V.

[49] he begins to exercise the apostolic. The eighth year of Martin V, to be completed on 11 November, marks the common year 1425; and so, nine years in Religion not yet being finished, John already enjoyed such fame that the faithful of Christ flowed together to him from all sides; whence too it became necessary that he should enjoy a fuller faculty of absolving than others. Which fame we judge is to be derived from the apostolic ministry which he had already exercised before; and accordingly it is to be referred to about the year 1420, in which St. Bernardine himself began especially to flourish, when also he was his constant companion, as was said in the preceding number. This too occurs worthy of note in the letter of Cardinal Giordano, that both to St. John of Capistrano and to a companion to be chosen by him there is granted the faculty of absolving penitents from cases and sins reserved to bishops only. Which sounds something ambiguous; namely whether the faculty is limited to papal cases alone, or to episcopal cases alone: for the words, reserved to bishops only, can be understood as if, papal cases being conceded, the power of the bishops was not touched. Wherefore inquiry must be made as to what of faculty the Roman Pontiffs of that age were accustomed to impart in like circumstances. Wadding himself moreover, not to range further, presents examples by which it becomes manifest that papal cases remained reserved, while episcopal reservations were relaxed. Thus in the year 1410 Gregory XII grants to John the Pole and other brothers of the Order of Minors the faculty of absolving any Ruthenians, Lithuanians and Tartars from the guilt of lay homicides, and also from all their sins … unless they should be such that for them the Apostolic See must necessarily be approached Ibid. tom. IX, pag. 341.. Likewise in the year 1426 Martin V furnishes St. James of the March with an apostolic privilege, that he may receive heretics into the bosom of the Church, and impart absolution to them, unless they should be such that for them the Apostolic See should rightly be consulted Ibid. tom. X, pag. 103.. From which it is altogether clear that in these faculties papal cases persisted as reserved: whence we judge that to St. Capistrano too there was granted only the power of absolving from cases reserved to bishops.

§ V. The apostolic labours of St. John of Capistrano through Italy.

The remainder of the commentary being divided into its own §§. Although it is most advisable in our historical Commentaries to pursue the order of time, yet such is the condition of the deeds of St. John of Capistrano that, on account of the variety of his ministries and labours, the chronotaxis itself, too obstinately preserved, would rather pour out confusion than clarity. Wherefore I judge it better to divide the deeds of our saint through various articles according to the variety of his offices, and to distribute them in several §§ as usual: there can then be presented to the reader a chronotaxis of the whole life led, by which one may embrace the series of the deeds at one view. Accordingly we shall treat 1° of the preaching of St. John of Capistrano through the various provinces of Italy: 2° of what he performed for the defence, propagation and illustration of the Order of Minors of the Observance: 3° of the extirpation of the most pernicious sect of the Fraticelli: 4° of the legations carried out through France and Germany: 5° through Moravia: 6° through Bohemia: 7° through Poland: 8° through Austria: 9° through Hungary: 10° of his death: 11° of his writings. This division is used by Christopher of Varese, a contemporary biographer, who has pursued the deeds of the saint in the most orderly way of all. We begin therefore from the Italian preaching.

[51] The time at which he begins is set out in detail, It is not established clearly enough for us at exactly what time St. Capistrano began his preachings: nor, as is clear from what has been said thus far, did he long lie hidden in solitude. Certainly the saint himself in his Apology against Rokycana, directed to the princes of Bohemia, which Amandus Hermann presents, openly says Capistr. triumph. pag. 377. that he had already for thirty-six years continually evangelized through all Italy, Flanders, France, Burgundy and Germany: and a little below, that he was sixty-six years of age: from these things we have that the apologetic letter was written in the year 1452 by our John, born in 1386 and clothed with the Seraphic habit in the year 1416 (as we saw above). But it also follows, if we interpret his words to the letter, that he began his preachings immediately from his very entry into Religion, which in no way agrees with the rest of the narrative of his life. For certainly within the year of novitiate Capistrano did not act as a preacher, being spent on the humblest domestic duties: after the novitiate some delay must be allowed, both for him to be imbued with the theological disciplines and to be initiated into sacred orders, since it was first after taking up the diaconate that he began to be brought to the Gospel chair. The words of the saint are therefore to be softened in this sense, that for thirty-six years already he had given his labour to the preaching of the divine word, either by gathering the due equipment or by exercising the very office of preaching. And indeed this interpretation of the words fits on every side with the scope which the saint had set himself in his Apology: namely that reproaches can be cast at a man contending for the truth of the faith, for religion, for justice, for extirpating vices and planting virtues Ibid. l. c.: but that it is enough for him that these calumnies are refuted by the various provinces in which he has evangelized for XXXVI years; which is certainly effected when for some years in Italy he acted as a solitary without reproach.

[52] and the manner he holds in his preachings Although therefore we deny that St. Capistrano began the course of preaching from his very novitiate, yet the very connection of the deeds demonstrates that not long after he took up sacred Orders the office of preaching was enjoined on him. Moreover Joannes Cochlaeus in his Hussite History, from the History of Frederick III written by Æneas Silvius Annal. tom. XII, pag. 87., which I cite from Wadding Danes, Not. temp. pag. 475., describes the tenor of life which John observed in the German preaching, and to which I judge the Italian not dissimilar. Those who saw him, he says, at Nuremberg (for Cochlaeus was from the country of Nuremberg Ap. Kollar. Analect. Monum. omnis ævi. tom. II, col. 178. affirmed that he was a man small in body, dry, exhausted, put together of skin alone and sinews and bones; cheerful however, and strong and strenuous in labour, preaching without intermission every day, and expounding lofty matters and profound opinions. The rule of his life they describe to have been in this manner. To sleep clothed, to rise before light, to pray Matins, Lauds, Prime and Terce, then to celebrate the divine things. These being done, to pronounce a sermon to the people in Latin, afterwards to expound it to the people through an interpreter: the sermon finished, to return to the monastery of his Order. Sext and None completed, to visit the sick, to stay long with them, to lay hands on all: to apply to each of the sick the biretta of St. Bernardine and on a linen cloth the blood which they say flowed from his nostrils after his death, to pray in supplication for all.

[53] through Italy; Thereupon to dine, then to give audience to those who approached him; soon to say Vespers, and these being completed, to return to the sick, and to occupy himself with them until night: finally, Compline and other chosen prayers being finished, to give his body to rest, which was indeed very little, and he indulged almost nothing to sleep; to steal a little time for revisiting the books of Sacred Scripture. Truly there reigned in that small body a huge power, unwearied by divine grace, which neither labour nor age could break. And such was his utterance that it provoked even those not understanding to tears and to the amendment of life. If then we eliminate from this description what is native to German soil alone, namely the Latin sermon, to be rendered into German through an interpreter, and, during the life of St. Bernardine of Siena, the offering of his biretta and blood, I do not doubt that St. Capistrano observed the same manner of acting immediately from the beginning of his apostolic ministry: especially since

he most closely imitated his master, St. Bernardine, of whom we read in Wadding Annal. tom. X, pag. 117. that he allowed no time to slip by without fruit, nor lent the least of it to idleness. But, he continues, he was either praying, or weaving sermons, or writing books, a great abundance of which is religiously preserved at Siena, or attending to hearing the needs of his neighbours. After cockcrow with the Apostle Peter he wept for the sins of men, and at the rising of the sun with the Magdalene he sought the Saviour risen from the sepulchre. Daily for one hour he gave himself to secret devotions, during which time no access to him lay open to anyone, then he satisfied the expectation of all, kind toward all, merciful and benign toward all. These things St. Bernardine, these things also his disciple, St. John of Capistrano, practised.

[54] especially at Siena and Udine, The first training-ground of his apostolic ministry, moreover, seems to have been the city of Siena, to which he was sent by St. Bernardine. This is attested by the biographers [Barber. Vit. Ital. pag. 28. Gonzalez. Chron. tom. V, pag. 32. Catan. Vit. pag. 38.]. Amandus Hermann, saying in his chronotaxis that St. Capistrano led a private life from the year 1416 to 1424 Capistr. triump. pag. 831., necessarily transfers the Sienese preaching to the 24th year of the fifteenth century. To which chronology I can by no means assent, both because already in the following year he obtained the singular faculty of absolving from reserved cases, as I showed above at num. 48, and because it does not seem likely that the presidents of the Order, the stadium of theology having been run within a year (see above num. 47), by which reckoning we arrive at the 19th year of the passing century, should have wished for a solid five years to hide away John, excellently instructed for the Gospel work. We think it better, therefore, to fix the Sienese preaching to the year 1420; inasmuch as, being for a year or two the companion of St. Bernardine in his pilgrimages and preachings, he then at last began to fly, as is commonly said, on his own wings. It would be difficult, however, to follow the saint in the various preachings which he continually made, running through all Italy from the borders of Sicily to the jaws of the Alps. Traces of such labours exist perhaps even now in various documents of Italian cities, but neglected by the biographers, and not to be investigated by us in any way. Thus our very dear friend the distinguished doctor Pietro Cernazai, by a letter given to us on 5 July 1853, showed from the books of the municipal accounts that St. Capistrano, St. James of the March and Blessed Bernardine of Feltre at one time preached at Udine, since the money spent on this occasion is entered in the account.

[55] of Lanciano, But since such local preachings are generally alleged only incidentally, on the occasion of some prodigy, we are forced to omit them, content with the narrative of those labours which have left a fuller memory of themselves. Wadding says that in the year 1430 a convent of Minors was founded by St. John at Ansanum or Lanciano, in an archiepiscopal city of the Abruzzo Annal. tom. X, pag. 172., and indeed under the title of St. Angel of Peace, in memory of the peace established by him between the cities of Lanciano and Ortona, which were harassing one another in hostile and cruel fashion. For at that period the whole of Italy was vexed by very frequent and most atrocious factions, nor was there hardly any city which either was not deadly to another neighbouring city, or in which the citizens were not exercising a murderous vengeance among themselves. In order that bloody hatreds of this kind, often propagated into succeeding generations, might be settled, there was need not only of wonderful dexterity, but also of such authority that the agitated minds of the citizens should acquiesce in the speaker. Which endowments a religious man, for the rest humble and poor, will scarcely obtain, unless he is both distinguished in sanctity and most effective in copiousness of speech. In the same way the saint extinguished by his eloquence and especially by a stupendous miracle the bloody hatreds which had blazed up between the people of Rieti and the Catalicenses. The miracle is reported by the biographer Christopher at num. 51 Compare Barber. Vit. ital. pag. 31 and following..

[56] That the exceptional fame of St. Capistrano was spread within Italy in a short time and in the rest of the kingdom of Naples, is shown by a diploma of Joanna II, queen of Naples, by which she appointed the saint inquisitor against the Jews with fullness of power, in that they were doing many things contrary to the laws, and in particular were pressing the Christian people with usuries: and this grave duty Joanna commits to her faithful Capistrano, confiding, she says, in your devotion and charity, who, as we have perceived from the reports and writings of many worthy of credit, and have seen and touched with our own sight and ears, imitate by word and deed the footsteps of Jesus Christ, from whose mouth also we hope in the Lord that good seed will be sown and better fruit gathered Wadding. Ann. tom. X, pag. 566.. That diploma was dated in the Castle of Aversa, on the 3rd of the month of May, in the year of the Lord 1427 Ibid. pag. 568.. Since however it is cited both by Wadding Ibid. pag. 566. and by Massonio Vit. pag. 60. as if extracted from the register of Joanna II of the year 1423, I think this is to be so understood, that the codex of letters begun, commonly called the Register, in the year 1423, contains the other royal ordinances thereafter, and thus the diploma of the year 1427. But from this diploma it is also clear with what great fame of eloquence, zeal and virtues St. Capistrano was already flourishing, when in the eleventh year from his entry into Religion so grave a province was committed to him.

[57] at Verona, Amandus Hermann reports Capistr. triumph. pag. 55. that the saint preached at Verona in the year 1427, and that in the following year the Gospel chair was destined for him at Ferrara, just at the time when the ecumenical synod was to be celebrated there, both against the Basel schismatics and for the concord of the Greeks with the Roman Church: on 10 January the first session was held of this synod, which had convened on the eighth of the same month. St. Capistrano had been invited there, but, compelled by illness, he had excused himself by two letters to the bishop of Ferrara, Blessed John of Tossignano, who on 11 January replies to the saint in the following letter Ibid. l. c.: To the Reverend Father in Christ and religious man, Br. John of Capistrano, of the Order of Minors, as my most revered father, at Verona. Reverend Father in Christ and my Lord, after commendations etc. Today there were delivered to me two letters of yours, and on the same matter another letter of the most reverend Father in Christ and my lord, the lord Cardinal of Bologna, to which, both because it did not seem very necessary, and because I was so occupied in the preparation of many things for the reception of two prelates, who burst in with a sudden arrival, no space of time was given to leisure or quiet. Now therefore, that I may render our heart free and quiet from the agony it endures, I open my mind to your charity, and what I feel in suffering, sharing first in compassion and sorrow for your sickness and whatever troubles, I urge you to rest and to take diligent care of the flesh in necessity, which no one, as the Apostle witnesses, has ever held in hatred, that you may sufficiently repair your lost strength, and be powerful and strong to bear labours in the ministry of Christ and in the cultivation of religion; it will be in no way troublesome to us to await your recovery patiently.

[58] at Ferrara, Meanwhile, God granting, the need will be supplied conveniently enough by another in the ministry of the word; indeed it would be most troublesome to me that your paternity should expose himself to danger. I will render you sufficiently excused before the most illustrious lord Leonello, and in his humanity, I do not doubt, he will accept your excuse. When you are restored to health, you will come to treat usefully with the other Fathers the affair of the universal church, and to teach this people. The Council by the grace of God took its beginning here at Ferrara on the eighth of the present of its continuation, and on the tenth day by the same grace the first session was happily celebrated. Pray, I beg, that it may obtain prosperous successes and a glad outcome. The arrival of the Greeks is expected from day to day, and that of our most holy Lord quickly. I pray your charity to hold me commended to the most reverend Father in Christ and my principal lord, whom I sincerely revere and from the heart venerate and love, the most worthy lord Cardinal. In Christ the Lord may your Paternity fare happily and rejoice in glad health. From Ferrara, 11 January 1438. The writer of this letter, John of Tossignano, is counted among the Blessed, and our predecessors have given his Acts under 24 July Act. SS. tom. V Jul., pag. 783 and following.; taken up from the Order of Jesuates, he held the see of Ferrara from the year 1431 to 1446 Ughell. Ital. Sacr. tom. II, col. 551.. The Cardinal of Bologna, of whom the letter makes mention, is none other than Antonio Correr, nephew by a brother of Gregory XII, who was created by his uncle bishop of Bologna in the year 1407 and in the following year cardinal of the Holy Roman Church: on account of the see, although never entered upon, the name Cardinal of Bologna clung to him Ibid. col. 29.. He was also commendatory abbot of the abbey of St. Zeno of the diocese of Verona Ciacon. Vit. Pontt. et Cardd. tom. II, col. 765.: whence it came about that the Cardinal of Bologna was then staying at Verona Mazzara. Legend. Francesc. tom. X, pag. 300.. For the rest, there was frequent epistolary commerce of our saint with the same Cardinal, and his supreme desire to see John once, before he departed from this world, being already set in old age Wadding. Annal. tom. XI, pag. 15.. That Blessed Tossignano, then, employs St. Capistrano as intermediary with Cardinal Antonio Correr can be referred also to the letters frequently given back and forth.

[59] at Trent, The illness of St. Capistrano, which Blessed Tossignano laments, did not interrupt his apostolic labours for long. For Alexander, bishop of Trent, a Pole by race, of the dukes of Masovia, who retained the church of Trent from the year 1424 to 1444 as bishop or as administrator Ughell. Ital. Sacr. tom. V, col. 633 and following., wishing to bring a timely remedy to the city, whose evils were threatening total ruin, summoned St. Capistrano in the month of June of the same year by a most kindly letter: To the honourable, he says Hermann. Capistr. triumph. pag. 56., and religious Father Br. John of Capistrano, sincerely beloved by us in Christ. Venerable and religious Father, sincerely beloved in Christ, we have perceived from a truthful report that you are inclined to come here to our city, and to set forth and preach the word of God to the people; which we have heard the more gratefully, as we are not unaware, by the testimony of those worthy of credit who have knowledge of you, that your honour is the more suitable to do this, and we see that it is the more expedient for this people of ours. Come therefore with confidence, and take care to water the thirsting fields of this rustic soil with the chief dew of the heavenly word, in the hope of an eternal reward, in which him (who ordered his disciples to go into the whole world and to preach the Gospel to every creature; nay not only to one city the word of salvation, but running through many here and there, and the lost sheep

seeking to find and to save, took care to evangelize) you will imitate; and you will follow the footsteps to be commended of his vessel of election, the Apostle Paul (whose daily solicitude was not for one but for all the Churches). We for our part, in order that your holy intention may attain more conveniently its wished-for end, are willing, the Lord granting, to give you timely favours. Given at Trent in our castle of Buonconsiglio, on the 3rd day of June in the year of the Lord 1438.

[60] at the invitation of bishop Alexander, St. Capistrano assented without sloth to the bishop Alexander who called him: but with a mediocre fruit of souls, as it seems, he cultivated an ungrateful field. This is signified openly enough by a letter written by the prelate in the month of October of the same year, by which he strives by reasons sought on every side to excuse as far as may be the obstinacy of his people, and to console the excellent labourer: indeed the very tangled style of the letter manifests the anxiety of the bishop. Here is the letter, as it is read in Amandus Hermann Ibid. pag. 58. Compare Barber. Vit. lat. pag. 41.: To the venerable and religious, as a beloved Father, lord John of Capistrano, of the Order of Minors, professor of sacred theology. Venerable and religious, as a beloved Father, understanding by the reports of those worthy of credit that you, as a man perfect in life and knowledge, by the word of sound doctrine and the example of a good life, are assiduously, fervently and prudently leading the people of our city to peace (without which the author of peace can by no means be worshipped) and to mutual charity (without which it is impossible to please God) and to obedience (which is preferred to all holocausts and without which no one can please God) and to humility (apart from which the other virtues do not subsist) and to the other virtues and the best morals, and are trying to set them on the way of salvation, we have rejoiced in those things which have been told us, and to the God of gods and Lord of lords we copiously render in humility of spirit thanks and proclamations of praises for the gift divinely granted to us and to the people subject to us, confiding in his clemency that he will graciously deign to perfect what he has begun through you; the briars and thorns of discords and hatreds and pride, and of the rebellion and disobedience coming from them, and the other seeds of vices which an enemy has oversown in the Lord's field being plucked out, he will cause the wheat, the aforesaid vices being uprooted, of the opposite virtues and uprightness to grow and multiply immeasurably.

[61] with lesser fruit, And that this may come to pass, may it often please you to persuade the people themselves to render themselves worthy of the word of God, and not to trample pearls like swine, nor to stand without the seed of the word of God, like Sodom, and be made like Gomorrah; but rather to strive to be of God, and not of his adversary Satan, attending to the fact that the truth itself bears witness of itself that "he who is of God hears the words of God," and for that reason those who disdain to hear the words of God are not of God but of the devil. Nor let either the fewness of your hearers or their stiffness of neck draw you back from the publication of the divine word or make you waste away; for, as you know, the sacred writings hand down that a man left the ninety-nine sheep in the desert, and sought one lost sheep only: a stone, even its hardness notwithstanding, is seen by experience to be hollowed by a drop, however small, not by force but by the constancy of dripping, and so it is likely that you at least bear fruit in some, though hard. For the words of God are fiery; the utterances which are made known through you suffice to soften however iron be the hearts of men; for the grace of the Holy Spirit knows no slow efforts: and even if fruit should not follow in the subject matter of the hearers, yet merit will not be wanting in the efficient cause, and in the one dispensing the divine word. Nay rather, just as prayer turns back into the bosom of the one praying, when the one for whom it is prayed is incapable, so the merit of preaching, by the unfitness of the hearers, returns upon the preacher, as to the fruit, the repayer of all good things so granting it, who will make the preacher rejoice with overflowing rewards: in which he, in whose vineyard you labour in the house of his father, in which there are many mansions, will make you abound joyfully, and from us and from all to whose knowledge your labours which you do in the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth have come you will carry away immortal praises and thanks; and may you make the Most High to be glorified in these works of yours through the mouths of all; before whose clemency we and the people subject to us are commended through your prayers, we beseech with affectionate sighs; prepared to show you and your Order and monastery all things pleasing and acceptable. Given in our Castel Nuovo, on the 13th day of October in the year of the Lord 1438.

[62] unless perhaps among the clerics; Giovanni Battista Barberi asserts however that St. Capistrano gathered a huge harvest of souls among the people of Trent Vit. ital. pag. 60.; which indeed Thomas Cataneo also affirms, as if this were established from the letters of the prelate of Trent Vit. pag. 81. Compare Wadding. Annal. tom. XI, pag. 34.. But it is clear enough from the letter cited above that some fruit or other existed, but certainly not so much that it could be said that the city of Trent, its morals being publicly corrected, put on another face. Nevertheless the fruit of which Barberi and Cataneo treat may perhaps have been reaped later, when in the month of April of the year 1439 he was present at the diocesan synod of Trent, in which he held a treatise to the clergy, which is among his works under the title: Mirror of Clerics, or a sermon held to the clergy in the diocesan synod of Trent in the year 1439, on 22 April, before Alexander, duke of Masovia, bishop of Trent. Of this synod indeed I find no mention in the synodographers, either German or Italian. Although, moreover, St. Capistrano was present at the Council of Florence with various men of the Order of Minors, the chief of whom Wadding enumerates Annal. tom. XI, pag. 29., nothing prevents the saint from having attended on 22 April 1439 the synod of Trent also. For the first session at Florence was celebrated on 8 October 1438 Labbe, tom. XIII Conc. col. 34., and the last on 24 March 1439 Ibid. col. 382.: whence it is manifest that enough time remained to the saint, leaving Florence, to betake himself to Trent, and that he could gain great profit from his labours among the clergy of Trent; indeed nothing prevents him from having spent some time in cultivating the field of Trent, and having reaped more abundant fruits. In such a way can be reconciled both the letter of bishop Alexander and the assertion of the biographers, which at first sight are not easily reconciled.

[63] in his homeland Capistrano, As we said above, it is difficult to follow the apostolic man, everywhere sowing the Word of God: for all that, however, the traces of his preachings through the Italian regions are not to be neglected. Certainly in his homeland, Capistrano, John preached in the year 1447, with such success that the citizens wished to have a convent of the Order. The history of the foundation is set out by Wadding Wadding. Annal. pag. 312.: which we shall pursue more broadly below, where we treat of his labours on behalf of the Order. When moreover in the year 1451 he was hastening into Germany to the emperor Frederick III, the holy man, having stayed for two days in the territory of Brescia, was received by such a multitude of men, says Amandus Hermann Capistr. triumph. pag. 61. Compare Wadding. tom. XI, Annal. tom. XII, pag. 79., and so surrounded, that more than twenty thousand were counted in the fields, who would not let him depart until they had heard him preaching and seen him blessing. He spoke to the people, and coming down from the pulpit, led to a multitude of the sick, he perfectly healed more than twenty. Fame going before him, he was received with huge applause of the people and magistrates in the city of Brescia itself: but when he wished to preach, and the most ample square of the city could not hold so great a multitude, flowing together there not only from the neighbouring towns, but also from the country of Cremona, Milan and Bergamo, it was necessary to go forward to the open field outside the gate of Sant'Apollonio. There gathered more than one hundred and twenty-five thousand hearers, or rather for the greater part spectators, for whom it sufficed at least to have seen him from afar, or to have touched his garment as he passed by. These things from Amandus Hermann. It will be helpful here to remark that the number of hearers, exceeding a hundred thousand, seems to us to need to be copiously reduced: both because an age most agitated by warlike movements and pestilential diseases in no way favoured the multiplying of the people, and because, even granted so great an abundance of men, such was the condition of the roads at that period that access to a definite place was not easy from every direction. Moreover in numbering the crowds of any people, as experience teaches, error easily creeps in, generally running out into exaggeration: today, when there is such convenience of moving from place to place, with roads on every side paved with stone and iron, scarcely ever do a hundred thousand men gather at a definite time at a certain place. I have thought these things should be unfolded more explicitly, because in the Life of St. Capistrano an excess of numbers of this kind is frequently detected.

[64] at Brescia, Aptly to what has been said about the number of hearers there occurs this very narrative of the preaching at Brescia of St. John of Capistrano, made by a contemporary author, Cristoforo da Soldo, who wrote in the Italian idiom Memorabilia of the Venetian War from the year 1437 to the year 1468 Muratori. Scriptt. Ital. tom. XXI, col. 790.: Cristoforo himself shows himself to be coeval with the time of which he writes, when treating of the sermon of St. Capistrano he says (I render his Italian words in Latin) Muratori. Scriptt. Ital. tom. XXI. col. 867.: And know that I who write these things am a witness worthy of credit; for I was present at this preaching etc. What therefore he narrates of the preaching of St. Capistrano made at Brescia in the year 1451, he heard and saw in person. The series of this preaching I shall render from the Italian into Latin, as far as I can, accurately indeed, yet not word for word Ibid. col. 866.: On 9 February 1451 there came to this city a certain Brother, John of Capistrano, of the Order of St. Francis of the Observance; and on the day on which he arrived, there came to meet him easily three hundred citizens on horseback, the rectors of the city, and women on foot: and he arrived by the road of Sant'Eufemia (which leads from Verona to Brescia). When he reached San Salvatore, it looked like a great army of foot and horse. Nor is it to be wondered at that the rectors and people of the city, the great as well as the lesser, went forth to meet this Brother, for by the fame going before him of those things which he had done at Padua, Vicenza, Verona and in the very City of Rome, he was reported to be a saint and a surpassing herald of the divine word, and a worker of miracles, who healed the sick, such as the blind and withered, and raised the dead etc. On account of such fame there was a stir in the whole province; and the magistrate provided a more abundant food supply for the whole time for which the holy man was to stay at Brescia.

[65] with great fruit, Moreover he ordered that shops and taverns should remain closed, so that at public expense both he himself and a hundred others might be fed and various other things prepared. A pulpit was set up in the public square. On the fourth day of the week, 10 February, already three

hours before sunrise, more than ten thousand men had gathered; whence one may conjecture how great was the multitude flowing together in the daytime, who ran up not so much to hear as to see. Our rectors with a huge crowd of citizens brought him from the convent of Sant'Apollonio to the square, attended by fifty officers, men of the first rank, of whose number four were knights, distinguished by golden spurs, lest namely he should be crushed by the people; for each one sought to touch him, or even to tear off the fringe of his habit, as if he had been St. Peter: with great labour, therefore, on that day he was brought to the pulpit. The preaching being finished, they accompanied the saint to the greater hospice, prepared for him, in which the citizens believed he would stay. But he wished to dwell nowhere but in his convent of Sant'Apollonio. Thereafter he would not preach in the square, which seemed to him incapable of so great a multitude: and accordingly he ordered the pulpit to be transferred to the new market of the citadel, where on the fifth and sixth days of the week and on the Sabbath he held a sermon to the people. Within these three days such a multitude of the people ran together that all were rapt in stupor: the number of the sick from various diseases, flowing together within that three days, was estimated to have risen to two thousand. Daily that good Brother spent himself on their healing, marking their foreheads with the sign of the cross in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and invoking St. Bernardine, whose little cap he carried in his hand, and by this instrument, through the mediation of the grace of Jesus Christ almighty and the sanctity of John himself, distinguished prodigies were done.

[66] Moreover in that three days' preaching he announced to the people that he would display on the next Sunday the little cap of St. Bernardine to the whole people: as he writes and partly on account of the showing of the little cap, partly on account of the fame of the miracles (which were narrated as far more than they were in reality) there was such a throng of men at Brescia that from the territory of Brescia four men out of five flowed together from all sides. Many also from the regions of Bergamo, of the Adda (Geradabba), of Lodi, of Crema, of Cremona and of Mantua, and indeed from Germany, came to Brescia on that Sunday, which was 14 February 1451: and thus they filled not only the new market, but all the places from which there was a view, so that the said brother could not have arrived at the pulpit, had not the rectors of the city themselves and the leading citizens brought him there. Next to the pulpit a tribunal had been erected, on which the magistrate and the nobler persons sat. When he ascended the pulpit, he greatly wondered at the stupendous crowd of men; the number of those hearing on that day was estimated at … men. To the loss of the question which we are weighing, the number of the hearers has fallen out or been omitted by the writer. But to those who consider that all the hearers stood either in the market alone or in its outlooks, it will be difficult to persuade that the market could hold more than fifty or sixty thousand: for it is already a place of a very spacious amplitude that is capable of even thirty thousand men. For the rest, that an extraordinary throng of peoples flowed together is shown both by what has already been said and by what follows.

[67] an eyewitness, And know that I who write these things am a witness worthy of credit: for being present at this preaching, I thought I had chosen a convenient and safe place; but as the common people came up, the crowd of men was so packed that, had not many friends helped me, and passing me over the heads of the dense crowd rescued me, I would have been suffocated: nor was I alone placed in so great a danger, but many others too, who barely did not perish. That morning he displayed the little cap of St. Bernardine, and as he displayed it, the people cried out for the mercy of God: such was the clamour of the people that the sky seemed to be rent. The preaching being finished, he clothed in the garment of St. Francis fifty soldiers whom he had converted at Verona: which being done, he returned to the convent of Sant'Apollonio, and each of the others to his own home. On the following second day of the week, 15 February, on the feast of SS. Faustinus and Jovita (who are the tutelary saints of the city of Brescia) he preached: on the third day of the week before sunrise he set out for Mantua, and from Mantua to Venice; in which city he preached through the whole of Lent: and this being completed, he went away to the emperor in Germany. We have given the narrative of Cristoforo da Soldo at length, yet not so as to render word for word, because our plan was to make the history of the saint's biographers valued by the report of an outside person.

[68] at Vicenza etc. That in the same year 1451 St. Capistrano cultivated the people of Vicenza, Verona, Padua and Mantua is attested by miracles diligently written down, says Wadding Ibid. l. c., by public notaries. The Venetians too obtained from Pope Nicholas V that he should hold the Lenten sermons among them. The duke of Milan too had contended with the highest prayers before the Pontiff that St. John should come to those provinces also; on which matter he had obtained a pontifical diploma, but it was brought too late to take its effect, St. Capistrano having already set out in the month of April into Germany. We think, nevertheless, that it should be given here, inasmuch as it contributes not a little to the glory of the holy man: wherefore Wadding also, from whom we copy it, judged that it should be edited. Namely Capistr. triumph. pag. 61. Compare Wadding. Annal. tom. XII, pag. 80.: To our beloved son John of Capistrano of the Order of Minors. Beloved son, greeting and apostolic blessing. Since the noble man, our beloved son Francesco Sforza, duke of Milan, and the people of Milan and all Liguria desire to hear the word of God from your mouth, which it has greatly pleased us to hear, since we hope without doubt that those peoples, imbued with your preachings and admonitions, will choose the way of salvation; we exhort your charity in the Lord that, putting all things aside, you direct yourself to the journey as soon as possible; for since the time of Lent has passed, no occupation can detain you, as we believe, which could turn your mind from so salutary a work. Given at Rome at St. Peter's, under the ring of the Fisherman, on 10 May 1451, in the fifth year of our pontificate. But as we said a little above, the pontifical letter reached St. Capistrano when he was already in Germany. Whence Wadding suspects Annal. tom. XII, pag. 79. that the apostolic letter was granted so as to seem to acquiesce in the prayers of the Milanese, although the Pontiff had destined the man for Germany. And these are about the things we have to say of the Italian preaching.

§ VI. Legations carried out for the Apostolic See.

By Eugene IV together with St. Lawrence Justinian St. John of Capistrano not only by preaching the word of God through Italy, as we showed above, or by defending and propagating his Order, as we shall explain more broadly below, gave strenuous labour to the Church of God: but moreover he discharged various legations for the Apostolic See, which, as the contemporary biographers are for the most part silent, must here necessarily be set out, so that his merits toward holy Church and his great glory before God may shine out the more. There was being harassed at that time at Venice the Order of the Poor of Christ, who were commonly called Jesuates, formerly founded by St. John Colombini, and very grave accusations had come to the ears of Pope Eugene IV. Our John was therefore sent by the Pontiff together with St. Lawrence Justinian to examine, says Wadding Ibid. tom. XI, pag. 13., the scandals and errors which the envy of the malicious was feigning to be raging in the fellowship of the Jesuates, and a certain little book entitled by them "The Mirror of Simple Souls." The pontifical diploma, most honourable to St. Capistrano, is presented by the praised annalist Ibid. l. c.: To the venerable bishop of Castello (this bishopric was erected by Nicholas V in the year 1451 into the title of patriarchate of Venice) and to our beloved son John of Capistrano etc. To those things which regard the peace and quiet of peoples, and also the preservation of the fame and esteem of the good, we willingly give attention, and we follow them up with timely favours. Formerly indeed, since it had come to our notice, not without great displeasure of our mind, that some things had taken place at Venice and in your diocese of Castello, by which the fame and repute of some persons of either sex, both ecclesiastical and secular, is gravely blackened, for the fuller information of the truth of which you, brother bishop, as we have heard, have solicitously attended, diligent processes being held on these things; and yet, as has been reported to us, except for a certain pievano, you could find no others infected with the stain of the heresy which was being imputed; nevertheless not a small loss of the fame and esteem of such persons, although innocent and harmless, as is asserted, pursues them, which also from day to day, as it is said, grows more vehemently strong.

[70] delegated in the cause of the Jesuates, We therefore, who from the duty of the pastoral office ought both to meet scandals and to see to it, as far as we can with God, that the good and innocent be not punished by detriment to their fame, led by the consideration of these things, have thought fit to direct our beloved son John of Capistrano above-mentioned to your fraternity with the present letter, and we have committed and mandated to him that, the same assisting you, you take care together to inquire and investigate diligently concerning excesses and persons of this kind: for we think it will be very useful, and fitting for an affair of this kind, to associate with you in this matter a man outstanding in sanctity of life, in integrity of fame, in knowledge of letters and in doctrine, by whose counsel and authority, the truth being discovered, you may be able both to correct excesses of this kind, and to render and restore to their fame and esteem the good and harmless, if any have been marked on this account. For we give and grant to you, by the apostolic authority, by the tenor of the present letter, full and free faculty of inquiring concerning excesses of this kind, and on their occasion of imprisoning, punishing, correcting and amending; and of restoring the harmless and those unduly marked with infamy to fame and honours and replacing them in their former state; of absolving and freeing those excommunicated or entangled in the bond of irregularity on causes of this kind, and of doing and executing all and each other thing which shall be necessary or even timely in the foregoing and concerning the foregoing: opponents etc. invoking etc. Do you therefore so solicitously and diligently embrace an affair of this kind, that from your good and profitable works, after eternal rewards, you may not undeservedly be commended before us and the Apostolic See. Given at Bologna in the year etc. 1437, on the fifth before the ides of August, in the seventh year of the pontificate etc.

[71] whom Blessed John of Tossignano defends, Blessed John of Tossignano, of whom we have already spoken above at num. 58, when he had been taken up from the Order of the Jesuates to the see of Ferrara, did not desert his brothers, the Venetian Jesuates, in so great a danger. For in view of his old friendship with St. John of Capistrano, he urged by prayers and letters that the fame of the religious fellowship be provided for. Wadding presents a fragment of the letter Annal. tom. XI, pag. 14., which we too give, as useful for some sort of elucidation of the question. Of the book, he writes, I wonder greatly, that if there are errors in it, of which it is said that it is read by many servants of God, and they do not perceive such manifest errors. For concerning the poor Jesuates, with whom I have led my life for nearly twenty

-five years, I testify to you before God that they in my judgment are good men and walk rightly in the way of God according to the Gospel and apostolic doctrine and the traditions of the Fathers. I have never perceived anything of error among them, but they are most faithful, holding purely and simply all that Holy Mother Church holds, subject and obedient to the prelates of the Churches, and especially to the Roman Pontiff and to the constitutions of the Church, communicating very often in the sacraments, like the other faithful. They have most honourable morals, nor do they teach others anything but honesty and most unblemished chastity. Perhaps some mortifications were at other times done in that society, which seemed to have something unbecoming, and familiarity was had under the pretext of religion and spirituality with some devout women too, from which association I have heard by hearing that scandals thence arose: but, God granting, for a long time now the matter has been excellently reformed. So much so, that nothing of the kind was ever done in my time; but all things, through the grace of God, were directed under religious morals and well composed. If your Paternity has had any scruple about that society on the matter of "c. I de relig. dom. in 6 III, 17. I." and "ne nimiam III, 36. XI." etc., as in like cases or concerning anything else, I am confident, God granting, of satisfying you fully, if ever it be given me to be able to speak with the same Paternity mouth to mouth. I commit them to your charity, praying the same to rescue the life of the innocent from the jaws of those who bark and calumniate. May your Reverend Paternity fare happily in Christ the Lord, to whom I commit myself from the heart. From Ferrara, 3 September 1437. Son and servant of your Paternity, John, bishop of Ferrara.

[72] them from all fault From this letter it is clear what were the crimes imputed by the adversaries to the Jesuates: for all things were then, namely, full of suspicion on account of the errors of the Fraticelli raging through all Italy, against whom, as we shall show below, St. Capistrano was exercising a severe censure. Perhaps the suspicion grew because, as is established from the Life of the founder, they were called Poor Bulla Martini V. Act. SS. tom. VII Jul., pag. 348. and established their domicile at Venice in the place called the Society of the Poor, whence too the surname flowed Cornelius. Eccles. Venit. tom. V, pag. 220.. For the rest, St. Lawrence Justinian favoured the Jesuates, inasmuch as he permitted both a cemetery to be constructed for the brothers in the year 1434, and their chapel to be consecrated in the year 1436 Ibid. pag. 221 and following.. Blessed John of Tossignano himself moreover does not seem wholly certain about the accusations imputed to the Jesuates: for he suspects that fictitious crimes are held out, so that the way may be smoothed to the suppression of the Order; and for that reason he cites two decretals, of which the former, drawn from the Sixth Book, and the latter from the compilation of Gregory IX, prohibit the multiplication of regular Orders: under which prohibition indeed the institute of the Jesuates seemed to need to be reckoned, founded around the year 1360 [Moroni. Dizion. d'Erud. eccles. V°, Gesuati. Encyclop. Cathol. Dict. des Ord. rel. V°. Jesuates.]; and thus after the Fourth Lateran Council of the year 1215 and the Second of Lyons of the year 1274, in which the said decretals were issued. But, as the outcome proved, grave complaints had truly been brought to Pope Eugene, which, as Blessed Tossignano himself admits, were to some extent true; though already abrogated for years.

[73] free The two most holy men, Lawrence Justinian and John of Capistrano, therefore investigated the life and morals of the Jesuates, and after a severe inquiry they were assured that nothing was found in the institute of the Jesuates which did not on every side agree with the rule of the true and the good. Wherefore St. Lawrence Justinian issued the following decree, which, like the rest so far, I cite from Wadding Annal. tom. XI, pag. 15.: Lawrence Justinian, by the grace of God and of the Apostolic See bishop of Castello. We judge it very fitting to give testimony to the truth especially for those whose life and religion are perfect, and to make them commended for their continual labours in the house of God. Truly, since honourable and religious men, brothers named by the vulgar term Jesuates, have been defamed by the detractions of certain persons, namely that they used in their way of life suspicious and reprehensible morals, a rumour of this kind being brought to us and to the venerable lord Br. John of Capistrano, of the Order of Minors, inquisitor of heretical depravity, we both wished to receive a clear information of the truth, and by the information and testimony worthy of credit of excellent religious living among us and of very many others we have found that they, namely the Jesuates, are spattered with no stain of suspicion, nay rather that they keep perfect morals in their society, and are in all things consonant and in concord with the morals of the Holy Roman Church, and devoutly observe its institutes and follow them in all things.

[74] he pronounces: Wherefore, lest in future free licence be easily granted to detractions of this kind, wishing to provide for the fame and honour of the aforesaid religious, we decree that their praiseworthy morals and life be declared by the tenor of the present letter, so that they themselves may be able more quietly to serve our Lord Jesus Christ in future, and that their religious way of life may shine out more easily by our testimony. In faith of which we have ordered our present letter to be made, and have mandated it to be strengthened by the fortification of our secret seal. Done at Venice, in the episcopal palace of Castello, in the year 1437, indiction XV, on the 2nd day of the month of October, in the seventh year of the pontificate of our most holy Lord Eugene, by divine providence Pope IV. I should have wished for my part to treat of the calumnies imputed against the Order of the Poor of Christ, or, as they were commonly called, Jesuates: but the apologies written for the Jesuates are lacking to me, nor have I found anything concerning the little book entitled the Mirror of Simple Souls. Blessed Tossignano himself certainly seems not to have known the little work, since he neither approves nor disapproves it: but simply says that he wonders greatly that if there are errors in it, such as are alleged, none of its readers has perceived them: and thus he leaves the controversy about the little book as if in the middle. For the rest, a Life of St. John Colombini older than that which our predecessors edited under 31 July Act. SS. tom. VI Jul., pag. 354. is presented by Giovanni Mansi in his Appendices to the Miscellanea of Baluze, and he adds the Rule of the Jesuates, hitherto unedited Baluz. Miscell. tom. IV, pag. 566 and 571. Edit. Luc. 1764.: in which certainly nothing is found which does not on every side agree with the Catholic faith; and since moreover, as the praised Mansi shows, the same Rule was approved around the year 1426 Baluz. Miscell. tom. IV, pag. 566. Edit. Luc. 1764., it is in no way likely that those men within ten years declined so far from their institute that the atrocious calumnies had any foundation.

[75] against the Basel schism The bishops gathered at Basel had advanced to such a pitch of audacity that in their 34th assembly, celebrated on the seventh before the kalends of July 1439, they declared Pope Eugene IV deprived of the Roman pontificate by the law itself, and forbade him thereafter to bear himself as Pope or Roman Pontiff Labbe Conc. tom. XII, col. 619.: and going on further, 31 electors being ordained Ibid. col. 634., they set up Amadeus, duke of Savoy, as supreme Pontiff on 5 November of the same year, the name of Felix V being assumed Ibid. col. 636 and following.. It is not of our institute to unfold this tragedy more broadly: let it suffice to have remarked that no legate of the Roman Pontiff was then indeed present at Basel, contrary to the custom hitherto observed in ecumenical councils when the Roman see was filled. For the synod of Constance had been convoked to settle the controversy among several doubtful pontiffs. Then that headless assembly consisted of thirty-nine prelates, of whom only eight were bishops Longueval. Hist. de l'Egl. Gall. tom. XX, pag. 388. Edit. Paris. 1827.; while on the other side at Florence, together with their legitimate head, Pope Eugene IV, there stood, of the Latin and Greek Church, besides other prelates, easily seventy bishops Labbe Conc. tom. XIII, col. 518.. Nevertheless the ecclesiastical commonwealth was verging into a horrible schism, the more to be feared in that, with all Christendom, and especially Italy, disturbed by wars on every side, princes favoured one or the other party each for his own advantage and profit, and the last things of the Church were becoming worse than the first. In order that Pope Eugene might meet such great impending evils, he wished to employ our Capistrano as a conciliator of peace and concord. And so he sent him as his legate to the duke of Milan, Filippo Maria Visconti, of whom he feared that he might go over to the party of the antipope. For Filippo Maria had once been hostile to Pope Eugene, with whom he had had enmities, confined however within the limits of civil and profane affairs: and hence he was conjectured to be a future follower of the pseudopope Felix V.

[76] many princes, For Felix, the father-in-law of Filippo Maria, had reposed much hope in him, in whom, as Francesco Filelfo writes, cited by Raynaldus under the year 1439, § VII Continuat. Bar. tom. VIII, pag. 343., all admit that he accepted so great a thing (the supreme pontificate) with this plan and mind, that he had by no means doubted that this son-in-law would follow him most eagerly… But Filippo Maria could be induced by no relationship, by no prayers, by no hope of the most huge gifts and rewards, to comply to this day with a most loving and well-deserving father-in-law: for he understands that his first relationship is with God, and that he owes more to no one than to God, and that there are no gifts or rewards to be compared with virtue and God. This letter of Filelfo was written on the sixteenth before the kalends of July of the year 1440. And indeed Pope Eugene himself, by a letter given to Filippo Maria on 21 February in the eighth year of his pontificate, that is, the common year 1439, congratulates him on his constancy in retaining the unity of Catholic communion and obedience toward the legitimate Roman pontiff Ibid. pag. 302.. From these things it becomes manifest that Wadding did not speak accurately enough when under the year 1440, § II Annal. tom. XI, pag. 97., he says that by the labour of St. Capistrano the duke of Milan, Filippo Maria, otherwise hostile to Eugene, and the other Philip of Burgundy with many others were drawn away from the party of Felix and joined to that of Eugene. All these things indeed are erroneous: for neither at the time when the Baselites raised up their Felix was Filippo Maria hostile to Pope Eugene; nor did he ever follow the party of Felix; nor finally did Philip, duke of the Burgundians, commonly called the Good, ever adhere to the faction of Felix.

[77] especially Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, For as regards Philip of Burgundy, it is certain that Pope Eugene bestowed the highest praises on him in a letter written on the nones of September 1439 to Charles VII, king of the French, in which he provokes him by the example of Philip to preserve an equal obedience to the Roman Church. A thing, he says Raynald. Cant. Baron. tom. VIII, pag. 314., worthy of great praise has lately been done by our beloved son, the noble man, Philip, duke of Burgundy, your kinsman,

who by his letters patent ordered under grave penalties in his dominions that no one should obey any letters of that most wicked conventicle, or dare to bring them into his dominions. And two days before that letter was given, namely on 2 September, the same Pontiff had written another letter to Philip himself Ibid. pag. 315., in which he heaps deserved praises on him for having persisted faithful to the Church of God: Continue therefore, he says, as you have begun, taking up the shield of protection of the unity of the Church and of defence of our authority against the obstinate perfidy of those who, as you openly see, have undertaken to rend and split the Church of God. He exhorts him finally to act among kings and princes, especially with our most dear son, Charles, illustrious king of the French, that the malignity of the Baselites may make no progress. And that Philip persevered in fidelity toward the Roman Church is attested by the writer of the History of Burgundy, the Benedictine Plancher Hist. de Bourgogne. tom. IV, pag. 252., and he shows this from the fact that when in the year 1443 Philip struck a treaty with Louis of Savoy, son of Amadeus or Felix V, Louis on 10 July of the same year attests by public documents that by the said treaty there is in no way any derogation from the obedience which both Philip himself and his provinces and subjects profess, and that it stands in its strength Ibid. Preuv. pag. CLXXII.. The mission of St. Capistrano to the dukes of Milan and Burgundy, then, does not indicate in either a defection from the legitimate Pontiff, Eugene IV; but rather a wish to confirm both in a matter well begun, which perhaps could have been disturbed by the collision of conflicting interests.

[78] and probably he forewarns the Sicilians: That at the beginning of the year 1444 St. Capistrano had a certain mission from the Apostolic See to carry out in Sicily, he himself attests in the Life of St. Bernardine in these words, which I report from Wadding Annal. tom. XI, pag. 202.: When I learned of the happy death of St. Bernardine, being then in the island of Sicily, by the mandate of Pope Eugene IV of holy memory, proceeding in haste to the city of Aquila, etc. St. Bernardine, moreover, died on 20 May 1444; and so John, discharging an apostolic legation in Sicily when the death of his father and friend Bernardine became known to him, must have sailed to that island around the beginning of the same year. What moreover he had in his mandates from the Pontiff, the authors I have been able to consult are silent. But by a conjecture probable on every side one may say that the Basel schism gave cause to the legation. For Alfonso, king of Aragon, adopted by Joanna II of Naples in the place of a son, was striving to defend the right sought for himself in this way against René of Anjou, and for that reason was contending to obtain the benefit of investiture from the Roman Pontiff. For a long time Eugene resisted; and accordingly Alfonso was in readiness to settle the tangled controversy with the pseudopope Felix; when Pope Eugene sent to him the Cardinal of Aquileia, Ludovico Mezzarota, who reconciled peace between Eugene and Alfonso on equal conditions on 14 June 1443 Zurita. Annal. de Aragon, tom. III, fol. 280.. St. Capistrano may therefore have been sent into the kingdom of Naples either to aid Cardinal Mezzarota with counsel, or, the dissensions being settled, to set in order ecclesiastical affairs through Sicily. This is certain, that the holy man was in Sicily in the first months of the year 1444, without our denying that the greatest part of the preceding year was spent in completing the business. One thing however let us remark, that Barberi Vit. ital. pag. 74., whom Amandus Hermann follows Capistr. triumph. pag. 269., does not speak accurately enough when he presents Capistrano to us dealing at Palermo with king Alfonso. For as far as can be gathered from Jerónimo Zurita, king Alfonso was involved in such impediments of business that he could not even think of leaving the mainland Compare Annal. de Aragon, tom. III, fol. 287 and following.. What therefore Barberi reports of the honours shown to St. Capistrano we must interpret of the king's vicar; without wishing thereby to detract anything from the praise due to the humility of St. Capistrano.

[79] appointed also inquisitor against the Jews by Nicholas V, The Jews were accused at that period of various crimes, at which the zeal of our Capistrano blazed up. For although Jews were commonly admitted within Christian cities, as witnesses of the death and burial of our Lord, and thus of his resurrection also, yet their manner of living was circumscribed by certain laws: which the biographer of the saint Christopher of Varese sketches in broad outline at num. 32: namely the Jews were forbidden to blaspheme the name of Christ, of his Mother and of other saints, to exact usuries from Christians: in turn Christians were forbidden to receive medicines from Jews, to use common baths with them, and things like these. These things indeed had been very frequently prescribed both by Pontiffs and by princes, but always in vain. Wherefore Pope Nicholas V, the successor of Eugene IV, in the first year of his pontificate, by an apostolic constitution given on the ninth before the kalends of July 1447, renews the decrees already often promulgated, but as he says Wadding. Annal. tom. XI, pag. 282.: Because it is of little use to establish laws, unless they are given over by someone to due execution, we depute, appoint and ordain by apostolic authority our beloved son, Br. John of Capistrano, professed of the Order of Minors, as executor of all the foregoing; granting to the same full and free power, both by himself and through suitable religious of his Order or of another, to be deputed by the same when it seems good to him, of inquiring, admonishing, exhorting and urging the princes and prelates and lords both ecclesiastical and secular aforesaid, to cause all and each of the foregoing to be more diligently observed.

[80] he converts the rabbi Gamaliel. We have already seen above at num. 56 that the holy man carried out the same duty in the kingdom of Naples, by order of queen Joanna. Although that kind of ministry was instituted rather for the restraint of evil than for the promotion of good; yet St. Capistrano exercised the office imposed with such dexterity and moderation that at the same time he tried to lead back those astray and erring to the fold of Christ. In such a way in the jubilee year 1450, when he was already about to leave the City, provoked by a rabbi to a disputation about the true religion, he did not refuse the contest: but trusting in God, he made a man from an adversary into a follower of Christ. The story is reported among other biographers by Thomas Cataneo Vita ital. pag. 109.. That man, for the rest learned and acute, was made more audacious by an ample knowledge of the Hebrew text, by whose aid he trusted beforehand that he would overcome Christian doctors by disputing without any trouble. On the appointed day, St. Capistrano and the rabbi, whose name was Gamaliel, enter the arena, with forty other Jews. Gamaliel began the disputation by commenting on many texts of the Old Testament, which he most subtly twisted to the praise of his sect and the opprobrium of the Christian religion. The Jews were already foretelling victory for themselves; when our John, discussing in few words the reasons brought forward by Gamaliel, began to show that one religion alone can please the one God; which must so shine with such signs that it can be easily recognized by all; for this pertains to the justice and mercy of God. The holy man came after this to showing the weight of the reasons which deservedly persuade that the Christian religion is true: and he performed this with such force and efficacy of words that he compelled both the rabbi Gamaliel himself and his forty companions to yield their conquered hands to the truth and to place their necks under the yoke of Christ. St. Capistrano himself initiated them by sacred baptism into the Christian religion, in which they thereafter persevered faithful until death.

§ VII. The beginnings of the reform, commonly called of the Observants.

The slender beginning of the Observants: The reform of the Order of St. Francis, which is commonly called of the Observants, begun in the year 1368, had slow increases at the beginning. The number, says Wadding at the year 1415 Annal. tom. IX, pag. 382., of the brothers, dispersed through all the little convents, was small, and did not suffice for the domestic ministry. Among about two hundred there were very few priests, so that in the little houses of Rieti (three in number), one performed the sacred rites by turns, and on the night of the Lord's Nativity he celebrated the first Mass at Greccio, the second at Fonte Colombo, the third at Poggio. There were also few learned before the coming of the four heavenly heralds, Bernardine of Siena, John of Capistrano, Albert of Sarteano and James of the March. These brought in worship, a norm of government and the study of letters. The first sowers of the institute, lowly men, humble, inexperienced in the conduct of affairs and in knowledge, removed from the world in solitudes, caverns and hermitages, took care not so much of other men's souls as of their own, unceasingly devoted to the contemplation of heavenly things and to piety. A like image of the first Observants is depicted by the biographer of our saint, Nicholas of Fara, at num 17. Up to the year 1415, or for forty-seven years, the reform of the Observants seems to have stood solely on the will of the Minister general of the Order of St. Francis: wherefore their affairs proceeded somehow tranquilly, but timidly, since they experienced not a few, and those powerful, adversaries in the Order itself.

[82] at the council of Constance But in the said year 1415 the council of Constance, in its session XIX, on the ninth before the Kalends of October, the Apostolic See being vacant Labbe, tom. XII Conc. col. 169., issued a decree by which the reform of the Observants was withdrawn from the government and will of the minister general. For the guardians and brothers of certain convents of France supplicated the Fathers of Constance Ibid. col. 166 and following. that they should provide for them with a timely remedy, to remove the impediments which were opposed to the strict Observance and from which scandals were sprouting. And so the council decrees that the brothers of the aforesaid convents can, each in his own province, elect from their strict Observance one suitable brother, who, being presented in writing to the minister of that province, the said minister must within three days after such presentation appoint as his vicar, to rule them in solidum in his place and stead, and to provide for them in all things whatsoever and by those means by which the provincial minister himself could also provide; in such a way that the said provincials or custodians may in no way meddle with the government of those brothers, but the care and correction of them shall belong altogether to those vicars: except that for the acknowledging of his superiority the provincial minister may, if he wishes, visit them in his own person, and then punish, with the consent of the elders and discreet of the convent in which this visitation shall be done, whatever he shall find worthy of punishment: and if he should refuse to appoint him in the aforesaid manner, from then on the appointment of the same person presented shall devolve upon and belong absolutely to the vicar of the minister general, noted below. Which vicars indeed of these three provincials (namely of France, Burgundy and Touraine) can and ought, together with the discreet brothers subject to them, the accustomed form in the elections of the Order being observed, to elect jointly from among themselves one other brother, sufficient and suitable for this, for the correction of the same vicars and for the better government of this whole strict Observance in the aforesaid provinces; whom being by them in writing to the minister general

of the Order, who shall be at the time, humbly presented, the minister ought kindly and charitably to appoint as his vicar over them within three days after that presentation: otherwise, the said three days being past, he is to be and to be held as vicar of the said general, appointed by the authority of the sacred council itself.

[83] having then obtained their own superiors, There then follows the appointment of Nicholas Rudolphi as vicar general by the authority of the council itself, with the same clauses added by which the administration of the whole reform is declared to belong to the vicar general so elected. Moreover the council laid down that all and each of the convents of the aforesaid provinces, as often as it shall please the greater or sounder part of the brothers existing in them to reduce themselves to this strict Observance and to subject themselves to the aforesaid vicars, can freely do this. The same faculty is granted to individual brothers, the opposition of anyone notwithstanding; in such a way, however, that brothers and convents, except for the convents which the decree specially names, may remain immediately under the care of the provincial ministers. Also each provincial minister of the foregoing provinces (namely of France, Burgundy and Touraine) must faithfully assign to the often-mentioned vicar general for the present two convents in his province, fit for dwelling, furnished with books and other things for divine worship, as often as he shall be requested by the same vicar by letter or otherwise in his principal chapter. Finally it is forbidden both to provincials and to any others whatsoever to expel brothers of the Observance from the convents they inhabit, or to carry off their movables elsewhere; and if this has been done by violence within the last fifteen months, they are to be obliged to restitution: in turn it is forbidden to the brothers of the Observance to dare to hinder other brothers of the same Order, or alms or offerings to be given to them.

[84] and a singular name, Pieter Van den Haute in the Historical Breviary of the Order of Minors Pag. 101. says that the name of Observants clung to the reformed through the decree of the general Council of Constance of the ninth before the kalends of October 1415; it is namely that very decree cited thus far. But Wadding, presenting the same Annal. tom. IX, pag. 371., denies that the reformed then for the first time obtained that name, or that the name "regular Observance" had its beginning and foundation from this decree Ibid. pag. 375.. Which of the two strays from the truth I shall not inquire more laboriously. One thing I shall remark, that Pieter Van den Haute seems to have examined everything in greater detail, and that he asserts this after Wadding had already manifested his opinion: and then that the latter, contrary to what he does in the same place concerning various errors, does not allege any reason for his denial. Yet we do not think it is to be denied that already in the preceding time, when the reform of the Order was in question, the name of Observance and Observants was sometimes brought forward; since the reformers and their followers intended this alone, that the Order be brought back to the primitive Observance of its Rule: but Wadding, content with a simple denial, shows by no argument that before the times of the Council of Constance the name of Observance was employed as a singular denomination proper to any division of the Order of Minors. For the rest, I believe that the decree of Constance is the first document by which the reform of the Observants burst the closer structure of the Order; and began to use a native and proper right. Michelangelo of Naples in the Historico-legal Chronology of the Order of Friars Minor Tom. I, pag. 98. thinks he finds an older instrument, in a certain bull of Gregory XI granting a plenary indulgence to those dwelling in various places under the obedience of Paoluccio of Foligno: but of a bull of this kind there is deep silence in Wadding in his pontifical Register, although he himself by no means passes over letters of indulgences when they occur. As an example let there be the indulgences of a hundred days which Gregory XI granted to those visiting the church of Stroncone Wadding. Annal. tom. IX, pag. 397., which belonged to the reformed Ibid. tom. VIII, pag. 299.. Moreover, even granted the concession of indulgences made to Paoluccio and his companions, it is in no way indicated that the reform coalesced into one body separate from the rest of the Order, and had a government in any way its own. Wherefore, unless other monuments are shown, the decree of Constance seems to be held as the first by which the reformed or Observants are withdrawn from the direct jurisdiction of the prelates of the Order.

[85] then a separation from the rest of the Order, Although, moreover, the Observants must enter to the account of the Synod of Constance the beginning of their proper government; yet this remains to be remarked, that the liberty of Constance was circumscribed within France. But, says Wadding Ibid. tom. X, pag. 18., the religious institute of the regular Observance, confirmed by the authority of the council of Constance, and confirmed by the praiseworthy way of life of its followers, began to please everywhere, so that all the cities and towns of all regions of their own accord called them to themselves and built them dwellings. For from that time the reform of the Observants began to have greater increases, and it was propagated to various provinces. Thus Martin V, still staying at Constance, on the tenth before the kalends of April, in year I or 1418, at the request of the magistracy of Ghent, grants that a convent of Observants be established in the said city Ibid. pag. 290.: this however is to be noted, that Ghent is written as in the diocese of Trajectum or Utrecht, to which it never belonged, and the prelate of its church is called Frederick, who truly sat at Utrecht at that period Gall. Christ. ant. tom. I, pag. 849.: while on the contrary the city of Ghent, or at least that part in which the convent of the Minors lay, belonged to the diocese of Tournai, which at that time Jean V de Thoisy ruled Gall. Christ. Nov. tom. III, col. 230.. A most grave error, then, must necessarily have crept into the pontifical rescript. A little later the same Martin V, staying at Bern of the diocese of Lausanne, at the petition of Pippo of Ozora, count of Temes, enjoins on the bishop of Pécs in Hungary to see to it that a convent be constructed for the Brothers of the Observance Wadding. Ann. tom. X, pag. 291..

[86] more widely themselves At last on 22 September of the same year Pope Martin granted to the reform of the Observants that, at the request of the faithful of Christ, they could construct convents of their institute. Here is the Constitution itself Ibid. pag. 297.: To our beloved sons the minister and brothers of the Order of Minors, named of the Observance. We gladly bestow a ready and benevolent favour on those in whose desires it is held that, serving the Lord devoutly under the habit of Religion, they may merit the glory of perpetual splendour. Truly the petition lately presented to us on your part contained that some of the faithful of Christ of diverse parts, the Lord, the giver of all charisms, stirring them, bearing a singular support of affection toward you, and your state and Religion, and striving through the propagation of such Religion and through your hands to store away their treasures in heaven, propose to give and assign to you by pious largess some places lawfully belonging to them, for your use and habitation or that of some of the brothers of your Order; and that you in at least three of the same places, with the concurring contributions and proceeds of the aforesaid and other faithful, houses with churches, cemeteries, bell-towers, bells, gardens and other workshops etc. Wherefore it has been humbly supplicated to us on your part that we would deign of apostolic benignity to grant you licence to receive places from the same faithful, and to construct and build in them houses with churches etc. of this kind, or to cause them to be constructed and built. We therefore etc., inclined also to supplications of this kind, by apostolic authority, by the tenor of the present letter, bestow on you full and free licence to receive places from the same faithful of Christ wishing to give and assign them, and in them, for the aforesaid use and habitation, to construct and build houses with churches etc. and other such workshops, and to cause them to be constructed and built, as is aforesaid. And moreover to the brothers of such Order, whom it shall happen to stay or reside for the time in the same houses to be constructed, we grant and likewise indulge by the same authority that they may freely and lawfully use and enjoy all and each of the privileges, liberties, immunities etc. granted in any way to the aforesaid Order and to other houses by the aforesaid See and elsewhere. Notwithstanding both the decree of Pope Boniface VIII of happy memory etc. and any other contrary things whatsoever. The right, however, of Ordinaries and of parish churches etc. being in all things always safe. Let no one therefore etc. Given at Seturia, of the diocese of Turin, on the fifteenth before the kalends of October, in year I: that is, 17 September 1418.

[87] began to spread; These things, however, howsoever useful, were nevertheless defective, since thus far the reformed Observants were living under the government of the prelates of the Order not without manifold hindrance. Angelo Salvetti indeed, minister of the Order elected in the general chapter celebrated at Forlì in the year 1421, appointed in the same year St. Bernardine of Siena as vicar in the province of Tuscany and of St. Francis over the family of the Observants Chronol. hist. ord. Minor. pag. 97.: But the Family, says Mich. Angelo of Naples Ibid. l. c., of the Observance had so grown up in time that by the precept and ordinance of the Lord Pope Martin V, the general minister himself (Salvetti), and also Br. Antonio of Massa, his successor, appointed several vicars over that family. For in the two aforesaid (which for several years stood together under one head) the aforesaid St. Bernardine of Siena was appointed; and in the province of the March and the others, individual vicars were appointed. Although therefore appointments of vicars of this kind were most useful for fostering the fervour of the growing family, they depended however solely on the will of one man, who himself also was frequently changed through frequent elections and death, and who indeed could abrogate the presidents of the Observance he had appointed at his nod and will, no successor being substituted; and thus the affairs of the Observants were placed in uncertainty. The Order moreover grieved that a family of men, outstanding in the fame of learning and of sanctity alike, should be torn from its body.

[88] the others vainly resisting To about these times there seems to need referring the storm which threatened ruin to the family of the Observants. For Michelangelo of Naples Chronol. hist. Ord. Minor. pag. 97. places the controversy under the vicariate of Angelo of Civitella, who succeeded St. Bernardine of Siena as third, and thus from the year 1427 to 1430. Br. Nicholas of Uzzano, after the three years of St. Bernardine, was appointed vicar; after whom succeeded Br. Angelo of Civitella, of the county of Arezzo. At which time the Brothers of the family (of the Observants) are accused before Martin V by the Conventuals as suspect of heresy. Thomas Cataneo in the Life of our saint assigns the year 1429 Vita ital. pag. 93.. And this epoch seems also to need to be held, namely around the year 1430; both because in the general chapter of that year, the whole Order agreeing in one interpretation of the Rule, the magistracy of particular vicars was abrogated, and because Martin V, before whom the cause was pleaded at the beginning of the following year, died on 20 February 1431. As to the accusation of heresy imputed to the Observants, I think it was the error of the Fraticelli: for, as we shall see below, they had placed their nest in Picenum, and on account of a certain external austerity they gloried that they were the genuine sons of St. Francis. Already in the year 1374, as Wadding narrates

Annal. tom. VIII, pag. 299., with feigned religion, counterfeit poverty, and a false mask of hypocrisy, having won an excellent opinion among the people, they began in every way to insult the Franciscans living in that city (Perugia), casting up to them either more ample buildings, or softer clothing, or richer food than the strict poverty prescribed by St. Francis seemed to permit. And to such a point did their temerity and insolence go that when Brothers passed by, whose undergarments or sweat-cloths showed at the neck, they would lay hands on them in the very squares, and pulling out the linen, would ask before the people whether this was that austerity of Franciscan life? Or whether it was lawful according to the Rule of Francis to wear these things? By these and other means they so reproached the Minors, who were truly declining not a little from the first path of the Order, that they displayed themselves among the rude common people as the only followers of St. Francis, and brought the Minorites into such contempt of the people that they were sometimes afraid to go out in public.

[89] the Conventuals. But since the Observants publicly professed the will to observe the Rule of St. Francis without mitigation, and so its austerity in habit, and total poverty in the use of things; it could not fail that the way of living of the others, who had relaxed the rigour of the Rule in manifold ways, should be obliquely censured: indeed it could not be that the Observants, finding occasion of proclaiming the merits of their reform, should not have attacked the other Minorites and their laxity. From which there then easily arose dissensions, bursting out into open or hidden war: from which moreover there followed mutual accusations, in which sometimes criminations were not spared. And hence I think it came about that certain Minorites, deeming that the more severe discipline of the Observants tended to their ignominy, confused them with the Fraticelli, or pretended to confuse them. Then this too must be remarked, that men, when some error is raging, easily cast suspicion on others on account of any kind of affinity in sayings or deeds. Thus when in the 16th century the question of the Protestants was most ardently agitated, Paul IV, as Cardinal Pallavicino narrates in the History of the Council of Trent, book XIV, chapters 2 and 15, held as suspect even among the purple fathers Pole and Morone, and wished the latter imprisoned in the castle of Sant'Angelo, and he remained in it, until by Paul's successor, Pius IV, all the accusations being examined, he was found of most entire faith, and released from prison. So not so long ago, when the foul doctrines of the Socialists and Communists were agitating the peoples of all Europe, when a certain bishop was erecting from clerical titles a common treasury for the clergy, a certain man scented socialism and communism. Although nothing is more natural than that bodies of whatever kind should have a common treasury, from which their members may be sustained; and especially in the Church of God from its very cradle the clergy were nourished from a certain common fund.

§ VIII. St. John takes up the defence of the reform.

Before Martin V of the Observants But in whatever way the accusations against the Observants' manner of living arose, they nevertheless came to the ears of Pope Martin V. Wherefore the Pope mandates to the Observants of Italy that they all appear personally at Rome, and assigns to them as a prison, while the suit is pending, the convent of St. Francis across the Tiber. Promptly, says Giovanni Battista Barberi in the Italian Life of the saint Pag. 42 and following. Compare Gonzalez. Chron. de S. Franc. tom. V, pag. 42., the religious men obeyed, and being set in the assigned place, they were astonished and uncertain at the newness of the matter, especially because, secure in their purity and conscience, they could not trace the origin of so great and so sudden a calamity. Meanwhile, accommodating themselves to the divine will, they persisted in continual prayers before God, by whose aid they mitigated the motions and solicitude of mind which, as is easy to believe, tormented them. Enclosed with them was also St. John of Capistrano, as it were the captain of that well-ordered soldiery, and coming forward into the midst, with a cheerful countenance he burst out in these words: "Sons, Brothers and Fathers, there is no doubt that we are enclosed in this holy place by the manifest will of our supreme pastor: but since thus far the origin of so sudden and unexpected a precept could not be divined, there remains to us no other remedy than to persevere in commending our cause with all fervour to God; for if we act as sons, he, as a father, will deal kindly with us: and this indeed is the principal thing and looks to heaven. But as far as pertains to the secondary and human causes; my opinion is that one be chosen from among us, to whom the care of the defence of the institute be committed, in order namely to meet the confusion which of its own accord arises from a variety of opinions."

[91] the cause The most prudent counsel of John pleased all; and being of good heart, deeming that they would not find a man more suitable for treating an arduous matter, they unanimously acclaimed John as the executor of the counsel. Meanwhile the adversary (once taken up from the Order to the episcopate) did not desist from exaggerating the crimes and whispering into the ears of the Pontiff, and he brought such subtle reasons that he at last induced him, so that the cause might be dispatched the sooner, to commit it to three Cardinals. The Cardinals therefore assembling at a suitable place capable of so great a multitude, the accused religious appeared, meek as doves, and thus far ignorant of the matter on account of which they were being called. The prelate accuser, ascending an adorned chair, adduced for three solid hours reasons so grave and so subtle, though erroneous, ill-founded and fallacious, that the Cardinals remained astonished, stupefied and filled with confusion by so many and such great arguments. After the wolf, clothed in sheep's skin, had come down from the chair, John approached the feet of the sacred triumvirate, to bring forward his reasons in the name of all his fellows, so that, the arguments of both sides being weighed, they might prudently and briefly form their opinion, and be able in this very session to pronounce a decisive sentence; since the question itself is limpid, and has no need of the inspection of instruments or of long-continued labour. But the Cardinals, exceedingly weary of the controversy, replied that it was the hour of dinner, and so they wished to go away.

[92] strenuously But John did not lose heart, but rather, made most constant for justice and truth, he replied, modestly however and humbly, that he implored the clemency of the Cardinals that, since hunger had not been troublesome to them as they heard the lengthy and lying oration of the adversary, they would deign to grant time for briefly retorting the arguments and reproaches adduced by the adversary: that this namely would be not bitter, but sweet to their taste. The speech pleased the cardinals, and a free faculty of speaking being given, John first of all took up word for word all the arguments of the adversary, with all and each of his propositions, conclusions and arguments: and he refuted them all with such facility, grace, dexterity and knowledge that both the prelate accuser was convicted of falsehood and calumny, and the judges admired so great a tenacity of memory, especially since John was compelled unprepared to discourse on questions not foreseen before. At the same time also the judges freed the Brothers from all suspicion of crime and, perpetual silence being imposed on both sides, they laboured to reconcile peace, which John with his whole soul, the dissensions being settled, longed for. Thus far Barberi, who drew his narrative from Nicholas of Fara, a contemporary biographer and eyewitness, num. 18 and following. Nor did Wadding, who belonged by profession to the Observants, pass over these things in silence: for under the year 1429 he says Annal. tom. X, pag. 141.: Some of the fathers of the Order rose up this year against the family of the Observants, taking it ill that in many places they were little by little being torn away from the body of the Religion, their own vicars being appointed. They gravely accused them at Rome, and cast up those things for the washing away of which the Pontiff set a day, and appointed three Cardinals as judges. There were called to judgment many preachers and those who were more powerful in the congregation, and a certain bishop of the institute itself, once a follower of a more relaxed life, acted as plaintiff, many crimes being imputed. John of Capistrano washed everything away, taking on himself the patronage of the innocent, and he spoke with such eloquence that he delighted all. The judges, perceiving that hostile affections had suggested these accusations, tried to reconcile those at variance, and Cardinal Giordano Orsini, protector of the Order, invited the bishop and Capistrano to dinner.

[93] the saint acts, and at the general chapter Wadding moreover continues Ibid. l. c.: These things stirred up the mind of the Pontiff to meditate the concord and union of the Order, which Capistrano also supremely desired, and he was the author that, all being called to a very full assembly, there should first be treated the removal of the corruptions of the more relaxed life, and then that they should be joined by the closest bond of fraternity and of one government. The principal Fathers of the Order and the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church approving these things, the Pontiff in full consistory laid down that all should convene at Ara Cœli in the City in the following year, however much an assembly had been previously announced at Liège; then, the plan being changed, he ordered it to be celebrated at Assisi… But because the minister general, Antonio of Massa, the reins of government being relaxed, was furnishing the Observants with great cause for separating themselves from the community of the Religion, the Pontiff joined to him as companion, with vicarial power, Br. William of Casale, of the province of Genoa, master in sacred theology and procurator general in the Roman curia, without whose counsel and assent it should not be lawful to make any innovation until the future general assembly. Accordingly Martin V, by a bull dated the third before the kalends of May (29 April) in the 13th year of his pontificate, or the common year 1430, convoked a general chapter of the Order, so that, he says, according to the desire of our heart, a due reform might be made in the said Order, which may be acceptable to God and pleasing to us and fitting for the Order itself, and fruitful for the Christian people Ibid. pag. 147 and following.. Then the place and day of the chapter being changed, for the feast of Pentecost and the convent of Aracœli he substituted Assisi and the day of the Holy Trinity, falling in that year on 11 June: besides the minister general himself and other officials and electors, he decrees specially to be admitted the vicars of the convents of the Observants of the provinces of France and Touraine Ibid. pag. 148., who, namely, according to the decree of Constance (above, num. 82), had obtained their own government, separated from the common administration of the prelates of the Order.

[94] he is present: That St. John of Capistrano was present at the general assembly is certain; for it is abundantly established from what will be said below. This however is doubtful, whether by delegation of the Order, or by the summons of the Cardinal president of the chapter. The holy man had not hitherto approved the division of the Order. For, as his biographer Christopher of Varese says at num. 62, he began at that beginning, before he knew the truth by experience, to be opposed and troublesome to those Brothers who had obtained the bull of division: for in Italy too there were Brothers of the Observance, but they remained under the jurisdiction of the ministers with the greatest tribulations and hindrances. Whence seeking out all means by which he could bring in both union and reform in the whole Order, he went to Martin, the Supreme Pontiff; to whom he fully disclosed the relaxation and division of the Order and the dangers which could follow from them, humbly asking of him that His Holiness would deign to provide for these evils; so that the Rule might be observed by all in the Order and union among the Brothers

might be had. To whose petition, as holy and reasonable, the Pope condescending, committed the cause to a certain most reverend Cardinal (this was Juan Cervantes, of the title of St. Peter in Chains Wadding. Annal. tom. X. pag. 148.), mandating him to assemble the prelates of the Order and to provide for the reform and union of the Order; giving them all jurisdiction and power over the foregoing. Since, moreover, the division of the Order was odious to most of the Minors, it may indeed be that the prelates of the Order delegated our John to the assembly, thinking that by his counsel and labour the schism impending over the Franciscan institute could be dispelled. But on the other side the same Christopher affirms that while the foregoing was being treated, and thus when the assembly had already begun, Br. John of Capistrano was called by the legate, who strictly enjoined on him under obedience that he should be willing skilfully to write down the things that seemed to him necessary for the foregoing.

[95] and he himself being counsellor, St. John, then, was present at the assembly under one title or the other, and he was so present that he stood forth as the author and promoter of the principal business. For the Cardinal, president of the chapter, used above all his counsel and labour for settling controversies. Antonio of Massa being deposed on account of his more relaxed life, his slack government and supine sloth (the words are Wadding's Ibid. pag. 149.), Br. William of Casale was elected by the votes of all as minister general of the whole Order. He was a man, says Wadding Ibid. l. c., learned, eloquent and pious, religious in living, grave in bearing, prudent in government, suited to this office by industry and experience, as he proved in the almost thirteen years in which he presided. To these things it was added that he always greatly loved the family of the Observants and bound them to himself by the frequent service of benefits. Whence it came about that the Cardinal president was more easily induced to remove all the vicars of the Observants, and that they the more willingly committed themselves to the immediate government of the minister general and adhered to the community of the Order. That St. Capistrano wished this communion of the whole Order is witnessed for us by Christopher of Varese, cited in the preceding number; and so there is no doubt that he effectively laboured for it with the Cardinal president; especially since the Cardinal committed to our John the care of defining as accurately as possible the reform under which the Observants agreed to persevere in regular communion with the other Brothers of the same Order. There is no need to set out here these constitutions, written by St. Capistrano and approved by the Cardinal; whoever wishes to know them may go to Wadding Ibid. pag. 150 and following. and Michelangelo of Naples Chronol. hist. legal. Ord. S. Franc. pag. 90 and following.. They were called the Martinian Constitutions, as Wadding says Annal. tom. X, pag. 150., in so far as they were composed under Pope Martin and by the authority of Martin and fortified by his letters.

[96] These constitutions and reforms, it is said at the end of them, made and ordained by us, the Martinian constitutions are established; John, Cardinal legate and aforesaid reformer, by apostolic authority, we have caused in a loud and intelligible voice, in full chapter, at the sound of the bell, as is the custom, an abundant multitude of Brothers of the same Order being also gathered and present there for that purpose, to be read and published word for word through the organ of the venerable and religious man Br. John of Capistrano, professed of the same Order, and for the perpetual memory of the matter we have mandated, and by the present letter do mandate, that they be inviolably held and observed by the General minister, custodians, discreet persons, and all and any Brothers and religious of the said Order, present, absent and future, in all things and through all things, as they are written at large above, under the penalties contained in them. After which publication and reading of the constitutions, reforms and ordinances, all and each of the ministers, custodians, discreet persons and others present in the said chapter, both in their own names and in those of their convents and Brothers present and future, acquiesced in the said constitutions, ordinances and reforms, as legitimately, justly and holily made and ordained, not compelled nor circumvented, freely and of their own accord, without any contradiction, in full chapter, and consented in them and in each of them, in all things and through all things, unanimously crying out and saying in a loud and intelligible voice: "We consent in the same, in all things and through all things; and we wish to stand and live and die in our said Order holily, in brotherly fashion, according to the aforesaid constitutions and reforms. In faith and testimony of which, etc. In the year from the Nativity of the Lord 1430, indiction VIII, on the 21st day of the month of June, in the 13th year of the pontificate of the aforesaid our Lord Pope, there being present, etc. In the year and indiction above-mentioned, on the 22nd day of the same month, the venerable and religious man, Lord Br. William of Casale, elected as general, took the oath in form, word for word, as it was in a certain small book of the ancient Constitutions of the said Order. And moreover he swore on the holy Gospels of God, touched bodily with his hands, to hold and observe all and each of the Constitutions and reforms newly made and published in the aforesaid Chapter by the most reverend Father Lord Cardinal legate, in all things and through all things, without any contradiction, as is more fully contained in the same: and that he will never procure, by himself or by an interposed person, the revocation of the said constitutions, or of any of them; but rather will observe them, and cause them to be observed in future, as far as lies in him, under penalty of perjury. He swore moreover not to obtain revocation of the said Constitutions, nor absolution from this oath in whole or in part; nor to use such revocation or absolution, even if it be granted him motu proprio, the above-written witnesses being present, etc."

[97] and these being set aside within a short interval, We have thought these things should be set out more at length, because the firmer the promises and oaths by which they seemed strengthened, the sooner they fell apart. For, as Wadding narrates Annal. tom. X. pag. 161., the assembly was not dissolved before, the Constitutions being more maturely weighed, most of the Brothers began to repent and to call others to their side, who at length appealed to the legate to be willing to have them absolved from the oath taken. Lest he should ensnare souls less tenacious of their purpose, he relaxed the oath: for the firmer execution of the decrees, however, he joined the very maker, Capistrano, as companion to the minister general, by whose impulse and counsel the whole Order should be reformed according to these canons. The chapter being thus ended and the electors dismissed, the minister general with his assistant Capistrano began to correct many things, to reduce useless travels and wanderings, to root out ownership, to alienate precious things, to cut away superfluities, to cut off fanciful garments and hoods, and to perform other such duties of restoring the Religion. But soon the zeal and fervour cooled in the minister. And indeed so soon did the minister's fervour cool that in the month following the solemnly taken oath, which we have reported above, namely on the sixth before the kalends of August (27 July) of the same year, both the Constitutions of the chapter were mitigated by Pope Martin and the general himself was absolved from the bond of the oath taken Ibid. pag. 162 and following.. But Martin V having died on 21 February of the following year, or 1431, Gabriel Condulmer, elected on 3 March, under the name of Eugene IV, at the instance of St. Capistrano, made void and revoked the mitigations and absolution Ibid. pag. 178.. Some months before, namely, says Wadding Ibid. pag. 177., John of Capistrano had foretold this honour to Gabriel, whom he loved exceedingly. For being about to set out into a far country, having said farewell to Gabriel, he kissed his feet with the highest reverence. The Cardinal, roused by the newness of the matter, asked why he had done so beyond custom, having before been accustomed to kiss his hand only? John answered that he was venerating that sacred dignity, akin to heaven, which he saw in him, nor would he see it any more except on the supreme summit of the Church.

[98] he asks of Eugene IV, On the third day from his election, namely 6 March, as he approached to congratulate Eugene, the Pontiff brought this prophetic conversation back to his mind, and promised that the old friendship would be fostered with greater gain. Capistrano said that he desired this alone, that he embrace the family of the Regular Observance with paternal affection, and restore it to its former state, which it had before the general assembly celebrated at Assisi in the year just past. In this narrative some things occur to be observed. First of all Wadding by no word indicates in what place or in what city St. John uttered these prophetic words: but Giovanni Battista Barberi in the Italian Life of the saint says that this happened at Siena Pag. 52., but in the Latin Life, at Bologna Pag. 36.. And indeed that Barberi wrote more accurately in Latin than in Italian is suggested by the fact that Gabriel Condulmer held the see of Siena for scarcely a solid year, namely from the year 1407 to 1408, little pleasing to the citizens Ughelli. Ital. Sacr. tom. III, col. 570.: and so it does not seem likely that he afterwards prolonged a stay in the year 1430, in which the prediction was made, in a city little friendly. On the contrary, the same Gabriel under the pontificate of Martin V discharged the office of legate at Bologna, coming from which, says Ciaconius Hist. Pontt. et Cardd. tom. II, col. 868., Martin V having died not much after, he was created Pontiff by the 14 Cardinals who were then present in the conclave at the Minerva. From which words it is to be deduced that St. John foretold the pontificate to the Legate Gabriel at Bologna. The second thing is that Wadding says that the saint foretold these things when about to set out into a far country; while Barberi in the Italian Life says a moderately far region Pag. 52., and in the Latin Life vaguely indicates some regions Pag. 36.. And indeed if anyone should wish to understand by the far country of Wadding's text overseas or transalpine provinces, he will certainly err, since the time sufficient for so great a journey did not intervene between the prediction and the event; especially since he was at Rome also on the day before the death of Martin V, having addressed the Pontiff, and said, as Christopher has it at num. 89: "He will not see the light of the following dawn," it is well enough established that the saint did not visit any foreign province in the winter-time.

[99] before whom he had very great influence, Moreover, although Pope Eugene's benevolence toward John was very great, he did not however acquiesce at once in his petition: for he would not consent to the restoration of vicars to rule the Observants separately, but, abrogating the mitigation and absolution granted by Martin V Wadding. Annal. tom. X. pag. 178., he tried to bring back the whole Order to the state and concord in which they were at the general assembly of the year 1430. But this attempt lacked its effect. For in the year 1432, on the fourth before the kalends of May, he admitted the Martinian mitigations, and held as ratified the absolution given by the same Pontiff: but at the same time he not only granted that the Observants be ruled by their own vicars, but also that they should celebrate by themselves alone among themselves a general chapter at Bologna, in which the affairs of the new family should be treated and its

administration established Ibid. pag. 179.. Moreover, says Francesco Gonzaga De Orig. Relig. Seraph. pag. 12., he also willed that Blessed Father John of Capistrano should discharge by apostolic authority the office of commissary over all the aforesaid Observant fathers and brothers. Which he also did with the highest applause of them all for a whole seven years, namely from the year 1431 to the year 1438… The minister general seemed during that time to care for nothing less than the needs of the Observants: wherefore Blessed Father John of Capistrano most humbly met the aforesaid Most Holy Father and supreme Pontiff, Eugene IV, then staying at Florence in Etruria, to whom he was most acceptable on account of his sanctity of life, most grave morals and eloquence of speech, and discoursed with him on many things concerning Franciscan purity, but especially on the dangerous transgressions of the Minorite Rule, on the reform of his Order, and on the right form of governing, and strenuously supplicated him by God and by all holy things that, if he desired from his enjoined pastoral care to look to the poor little and zealous flock, longing for the true observance of its Rule, he would deign to appoint some one upright father who should by apostolic authority so preside and be set over the whole Cismontane Observant family, that in one or another case only both he and the flock entrusted to him should be subject to the minister general.

[100] that the state of the Observants And if he would trust him, he promised that he would offer to his Beatitude a man worthy of so great an office, namely the venerable Father Bernardine of Siena, whom he would judge much greater than any exception. Complying with his honourable persuasion the supreme Pontiff himself ordered the most reverend Father Br. William of Casale, minister general of the whole Order, to appoint forthwith the aforesaid Father Bernardine of Siena as his commissary or vicar general with plenary power over all the Citramontane Brothers, pupils of the regular Observance, whose precepts they should obey, and whose words they should hear. I should wish for my part to sketch at least the broad outlines of what was done in this first chapter of the Observants, inasmuch as our saint John of Capistrano was its principal author. But the historians of the saint and of the Order whom I have before me report nothing specifically or in detail. Wadding Annal. tom. X, pag. 179.: To the Observant Brothers, he says, in order that with more mature counsel and common votes they might diligently examine what would conduce more to establishing and propagating their discipline, he granted (Eugene IV) the faculty of celebrating a general assembly separately from the Conventual fathers at Bologna, around the feast of Pentecost, at San Paolo, and of appointing for themselves vicars of their institute, such as they chose before the chapter of Assisi. But Wadding does not indicate by even a word whether the Observants used the pontifical indulgence. Which however Michelangelo of Naples affirms, adding that there still exist in the place of Capistrano two briefs, transmitted by the Roman Pontiff to the fathers of that family gathered in chapter Chronol. Ord. S. Franc. pag. 98., without however indicating even briefly the tenor of those letters.

[101] may confirm; At the same time at which Pope Eugene was giving the Observants the faculty of convening in general chapter, he chose for himself and deputed to his special service from the family of the Observants six, says Wadding Annal. tom. X, pag. 179., grave men, learned in the law of God and skilled in the conduct of affairs, whose labour he could use in the arduous and great business which he was meditating, so as to protect the Church from the errors of heretics, a council being called, and the Christians of the East from the tyranny of the Turks, soldiers being enrolled. The vicars being restored and the government brought back to its former form, there were chosen for the Pontiff's service John of Capistrano, James Primadizzi of Bologna, James of the March from Monteprandone, Albert of Sarteano the Etruscan, Bartholomew of Giano the Umbrian and Louis of Bologna; men certainly learned, and who gave excellent labour to promoting the pious zeal of the Pontiff. It will seem strange that among the six leading men taken up from the family of the Observants for the service of the Pontiff, St. Bernardine, the chief pillar of the whole institute, and in particular of St. John of Capistrano, who revered him with special honour and love, is not numbered. In him certainly there shone all the endowments of soul and body necessary for so great a ministry: yet I do not find the cause of the omission. Wadding indeed Ibid. l. c. that the sevirate was designated once the vicars of the provinces had been restored; and so if it were established that St. Bernardine was set over the governing of some province, the reason would lie plain, because, namely, men free, in no way entangled in conducting the affairs of the Order, were to be deputed to the Pontiff's service. But to one reading the Life of St. Bernardine, both in our predecessors at 20 May Act. SS. tom. V Maji., pag. 257 *. and the more recent one of Amedeo of Venice Vita di S. Bernardino de Siena, dal. P. F. Amadio Maria da Venezia. Venet. 1744., no trace of a provincial vicariate occurs. Perhaps (for we are forced to indulge in conjectures somehow) being spent on sowing the word of God through all Italy, he could not have been torn away, without great detriment to souls, from so fruitful a ministry to other business, however extremely momentous.

[102] he himself then under St. Bernardine On the occasion of St. Bernardine another question is raised: namely whether St. Bernardine or St. John of Capistrano was the first Vicar general of the Observants Compare Euseb. Gonzalez. Chron. Seraph. tom. V. pag. 51.: on which indeed the Observants dispute among themselves. Domenico de Gubernatis in his Orbis Seraphicus Tom. I, pag. 300. contends that St. John of Capistrano was the first vicar general of the Observance, created in the year 1443; led by this reason, that Antonio de Rusconi, minister general, immediately after his election, compelled by a rigorous precept of the Pontiff, deputed Blessed John of Capistrano for the Cismontanes, and Jean Maubert for the Ultramontanes, as vicars general in the Observance, whom Eugene confirmed by Pontifical authority Ibid. l. c.: as if the election and appointment of St. Bernardine to the same office, made in the year 1438, had not been in all respects similar. St. John would certainly have to be held as the first vicar, if that vicariate had been an office or prelature perpetual in the family of the Observants, or at least in St. Capistrano himself. But Antonio confers the office until the next general Chapter Wadding. Annal. tom. XI, pag. 177., or for three years. As regards the rigorous precept of Eugene, by whose authority our saint was promoted to the vicariate general, there is no doubt that the same existed in the promotion of St. Bernardine too, St. Capistrano first of all urging Eugene, who most certainly obtained a pontifical precept that William of Casale should bring St. Bernardine to the helm of the Observance, just as he himself was afterwards brought to it by Antonio de Rusconi. Let the letters of both ministers general be compared, if it please, and the likeness of the two appointments will at once appear Ibid. pag. 31 and 176.. Either therefore St. Bernardine of Siena must be said to be the first vicar general, as Mich. Angelo of Naples judges Chronol. Seraph. pag. 99., or neither, since both received and administered the office under the same circumstances of things and persons; and that primacy will have to be given to James Primadizzi of Bologna, when, namely, in the year 1446, Pope Eugene separated the Observants from the Conventuals and gave power to each family of electing their own generals. Of which opinion, however, which no one has hitherto brought forward, I by no means profess myself the patron; rather, with the Mich. Angelo of Naples praised above, I judge that St. Bernardine was the first vicar general of the Observants, to whom St. John of Capistrano was given as helper and successor after five years.

[103] he carries the care of the whole family. For in the year 1441 St. Bernardine of Siena, oppressed with cares and weighed down by old age, though only sixty, supported by a pontifical diploma of 10 November 1440 Wadding. Annal. tom. XI, pag. 100., took our John as a sharer in his labours and appointed him visitor and commissary of the Brothers of the regular Observance in the provinces of Genoa, Milan and Bologna, a letter being given in the monastery of Capriola near Siena on 14 February 1441 Wadding. Annal. tom. XI, pag. 137.. St. Bernardine had wished, namely, to lay down the burden, too heavy for shoulders now failing, and had sought absolution from Pope Eugene. But the Pontiff, fearing, as he himself says Ibid. pag. 100., a shipwreck of the family of the Observants, if, the helm being left or slackened, the rigour of regular discipline should be loosened, exhorts the saint, nay rather enjoins and mandates that he continue to exercise his pious zeal toward the aforesaid family, and all and each of its members, and all and each of its places situated within Italy, according to the office entrusted to him, omitting nothing of exhortation, nothing of discipline, that should pertain to the preservation and increase of this holy Religion. But because, says the Pontiff, the care of such a family is known to be ample, for the better and more speedy provision of what is incumbent he grants the faculty of one coadjutor for himself, to be appointed and removed at his nod. St. Capistrano being appointed the coadjutor of St. Bernardine, it is well enough understood that he left William of Casale, whose companion he was: for the treaty being broken by which the Conventuals and Observants had come together into one body, which, as we saw above, lasted scarcely a year, our saint had to let go the care of the whole Order and to restrict his solicitude to the Observants alone. For the rest, it could not be that St. Capistrano, both companion of the minister general, who favoured mitigations of the Rule, and coadjutor of St. Bernardine, who professed and promoted the accurate observance of the whole Rule, could long serve two masters.

§ IX. St. John of Capistrano is appointed Vicar General of the Observants.

A minister general being elected from the Conventuals, William of Casale, minister general, having died at the beginning of the year 1442, namely on 2 February Ibid. pag. 156., Pope Eugene conferred the Vicariate general of the Order, together with the office of presiding over the chapter called for the following year at Padua, on Albert of Sarteano. For the Pontiff desired that he be taken up as minister general, inasmuch as he judged him most fit for fitting together the diverse parts of the Order into one body: having lived for many years among the Conventuals, he had then passed over to the Observants, among whom he had led a life praiseworthy on every side. But the Conventuals resisted a man being set over them brought forth from the new family and an exactor of stricter discipline: and so they elected Antonio de Rusconi of Como, illustrious no less for learning than for race. Wadding says that the election was turbulent Ibid. pag. 176., nor do the Conventuals seem altogether to disagree; since in a work presenting the portraits of the Generals of the Conventual Minors there is read at the effigy of Antonio: elected, a grave dissension however, having arisen among the same Brothers, being settled: which words agree well enough with Wadding's. Nevertheless, says Wadding Ibid. l. c., the election being brought to the Pontiff, although it displeased him, he nevertheless confirmed it, so as not to offend Filippo Maria, duke of Milan, reconciled a little before, if he were to reject a subject of his, born of a noble family, elected by his fellows, with grave injury to his fame. He ordered moreover that he should commit the family of the Observants to be governed by themselves, and, divided into two parts, should hand over the part this side of the mountains to John of Capistrano, beyond

them to Jean Maubert. Thereupon it was agreed, with the Cardinals of Thérouanne, Fermo, Taranto and Como as mediators, concerning the measure of power to be handed over to such vicars: which questions being settled, Pope Eugene gave a bull, in which the power committed by Antonio de Rusconi to each vicar, Cismontane and Ultramontane, the necessary changes being made, is contained, and it is of the following tenor.

[105] by apostolic letters For the perpetual memory of the matter. The merits of the Brothers of the Order of Minors, continually serving the Most High in the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth, deserve that we should bestow on them, as far as we can with God, principal favours and special supports in those things which look to the increase of divine worship and of religion and of regular Observance. Truly some time ago, by our disposition, our beloved son Antonio de Rusconi, professor of sacred theology and minister general of the said Order, for certain reasonable causes moving our mind and his, made, appointed and deputed our beloved sons John of Capistrano, of the houses, places and convents Citramontane, and also Jean Maubert, professed of the same Order, of all and each of the houses, places and convents of the Ultramontane parts of the said Order, established under the sacred name of Observance, as vicars general, as is more fully contained in the letter of the said minister general, the tenor of which follows word for word, and is such: "To his most dear in Christ Br. John of Capistrano, of the Order of Minors, of the province of Penne, Br. Antonio de Rusconi, master of sacred theology and minister general and servant of the whole same Order of Friars Minor, greeting and everlasting peace in the Lord. Whereas some time ago, namely on the fifth before the ides of July, our Most Holy Lord Pope Eugene IV, considering the salvation and preservation of the Brothers in due obedience and in the regular Observance which they have vowed, of his kindness urged me, though he could have commanded, there assisting him the Reverend Fathers Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, namely of Taranto, Como, Thérouanne and Fermo, and also the Reverend Father Lord John the Sicilian, abbot of St. Paul of the City, and very many reverend ministers, and venerable masters of sacred theology and other most approved Brothers of the said Order, that, considering the multitude of the Brothers and the diversity of the men, for the good government and direction and the maintenance and increase of all and each, present and future, dwelling in the convents, houses or devout places of the same Order, who are named of the Observance, especially in the Cismontane parts, I should appoint one vicar general, with plenary faculty and authority in all the Citramontane provinces to which the authority of the office of the generalate, over which I, unworthy, am set, extends, and directed the eye of his mind to you, your own name being expressed.

[106] and of the minister general Hence it is that I, as I am bound, taking a persuasion of this kind, and every other of His Holiness, for a mandate, and desiring to obey the apostolic mandates, and also having regard to the sincerity of your life, the gravity of your morals, your great sufficiency, your circumspect prudence, your chief discretion, your fervent charity toward the good reform of the Order, your fidelity in what is committed, your promptness in execution, your aptitude in governing and bringing Brothers back to better fruit, your manifold uprightness finally, with all which things the Most High has distinguished you remarkably, confiding nevertheless in the Lord, counsel being also shared with very many ministers and professors of the sacred page and other upright Brothers of our Order, who have reverently praised this holy purpose of our Most Holy Lord, and have given consent to the appointment to be made of you: I appoint you, and by the present letter declare you appointed, my vicar general in all and each of the provinces and vicariates and their convents and places of the Citramontane parts over all the Brothers named of the Observance, present and future, until the next general chapter; committing to you plenarily my place and giving you free authority and power and my every faculty over all and each of the said Brothers dwelling or who shall dwell in the aforesaid Citramontane parts, both in heads and in members, of visiting, publicly and privately calling, citing, inquiring, examining, proceeding, judging, admonishing, terminating, deciding, sentencing, approving, reproving, correcting, restricting, detaining, punishing, imprisoning, freeing from prisons, restoring to legitimate acts, placing and exchanging Brothers of such provinces and vicariates, expelling and recalling them: of receiving Brothers coming from the Ultramontane parts with good licence; of bringing back and accepting all apostates wishing to return to the Order, with such penance as shall seem to you should be enjoined: of receiving Conventual Brothers, provided they are not rebellious to their ministers and have asked licence from them, and do not flee the penance of their offences, truly desiring to transfer themselves to better fruit and to live regularly.

[107] St. John is appointed Of depriving, absolving, deposing and restoring any officials and prelates subject to you, when there shall be need or a case shall require it, or of appointing others in their place, if it shall seem good to you, with the consent however of the Brothers of the same places in which such officials or prelates exist, or at least of the greater part of them: of forming and reforming the Brothers, convents, houses and aforesaid places, present and future alike, subject to you: of punishing those coming from the Ultramontane parts without a companion or without licence; and of causing those whom you know to be capable and suitable to be promoted to sacred Orders also, up to the priesthood inclusive; of depriving and suspending, if it shall seem good to you, those to be promoted and those promoted to the offices of confession and preaching: of freely absolving, freeing and dispensing all or each of such Brothers from all their sins, spiritual or temporal penalties, excommunications, suspensions, transgressions of the Rule and statutes, cases, irregularities and censures granted or reserved to me, as often as there shall be need: of causing yourself also to be absolved, freed and dispensed from the same etc. as often as it shall seem to you opportune: of going and sending to all the provinces and vicars of the Order likewise, as often and when it shall seem good to you, and to my presence and to the Roman curia: of receiving those fleeing from the world and any wishing to serve God in our Order, both as laymen and as clerics, to the habit and profession of our Religion: favours granted by me to the same Brothers, or to be granted in future, if such, which God forbid, have been granted or it should happen that they be granted in future, by which such Brothers should be drawn away from the regular Observance, or which should breed scandal in the government committed to you, I wish to be held as not done: of restraining any opponents and rebels by ecclesiastical censure and other remedies of the law and of the said Order etc., by invoking the ecclesiastical or secular arm, if there shall be need: of holding, or causing to be held, congregations in all the provinces and vicariates subject to you, whether for the election of vicars, or for other useful business and timely occurrences, licence however being asked of the minister of that province in which it shall happen that such a congregation be held, of celebrating and holding it, as often as it shall happen that it be held by the vicar of the said minister.

[108] with the most ample power Provided that the vicars to be elected for the time by the Brothers of the provinces be presented to the ministers of the same, which ministers shall be bound to confirm them within three days; and also that guardians, as often as it shall happen that they be elected by the Brothers themselves, be presented in the accustomed manner by the ministers of the provinces, and be written down in the table of definition of the chapters: moreover of assembling and holding a general congregation of all the provinces and vicariates subject to you, as is premised, with the licence however of myself, who from now on show myself favourable and propitious to you for this, or of another minister general, if it shall happen that there be one during that time: and generally and specially of doing, conducting, exercising, ordaining, disposing, administering and establishing all and each other thing in spiritual and temporal matters concerning such convents, Brothers and places, which I myself could do if I were personally present: all which things I wish to be held by the present letter as sufficiently expressed and declared. Moreover of committing or granting the same authorities and favours, powers and faculties granted by me to you, or a part of them, to other Brothers, whom you judge suitable for this, on which matter I burden your conscience; and also of causing them to be sent and granted through your said commissaries, when it shall seem to you opportune.

[109] Mandating therefore all and each Vicar general; of the Brothers dwelling or who shall dwell in the aforesaid Citramontane parts, prelates and subjects, under the mandate of salutary obedience, in the power of the Holy Spirit, that, every appeal being put aside, which in no way may be made, through the whole time of your said office of the vicariate, they most firmly and humbly obey and give heed to you, as to my person, in all things and through all things: and that the said Brothers may not, on any colour or cause sought, take refuge in convents and places not committed to your care in order to flee the penalty of excommunication and of prison and of deprivation of offices and of all legitimate acts by sentence already pronounced, or to evade correction, examination, reform, and obedience to you or to the vicars subject to you; nor, if they have already taken refuge, or should happen to take refuge in future, may ministers, custodians, guardians or any other Brothers not subject to you, of whatever condition, grade and dignity they may be, under pain of deprivation of their office and of excommunication by sentence already pronounced and of deprivation of all legitimate acts, dare to receive them, or to retain those perhaps received, or to be received in future, which God forbid, against your wish, or that of the vicars subject to you, as is premised. Not wishing therefore that anyone inferior to me etc., with whatever dignity and authority he may shine, should presume in any way to hinder you in anything concerning the care and rule and governing of all the Brothers subject to you, as is premised, in the Citramontane parts, during the time of your aforesaid vicariate, or to disquiet or in any manner to trouble you or those to whom you commit it, under the aforesaid penalties and censures. Reserving however to myself the power of personally only visiting, correcting, punishing you and other vicars and subjects, as often as a case shall require and it shall seem opportune, and of doing other things which shall seem opportune concerning such matters; saving that against you I do not intend to proceed to any penalty, at least a grave one, except with the consent of the vicars, not however similarly against others of the same parts. I do not intend however by a grant of this kind that you or the aforesaid Brothers, named of the Observance, can receive places of the Conventuals. Do you indeed study to exercise the aforesaid office of the vicariate so diligently, so providently and solicitously and vigilantly, that, besides the rewards of eternal life, you may deservedly be commended before the Holy Apostolic See, myself and the whole Order. Farewell in the Lord Jesus and pray for me. Given at Siena, on 13 July in the year of the Lord 1443."

[110] also for the nuns of St. Clare: We therefore, attending to the salutary and necessary and very fruitful disposition for the said Order and Regular Observance made by the aforesaid minister general concerning the said John of Capistrano, and desiring to establish it by apostolic favours and supports, of the vicariate of this kind

the establishment and deputation, made concerning the aforesaid John of Capistrano, as is premised, motu proprio, not at the instance of a petition offered to us on this by John himself or by another on his behalf, but of our mere liberality and from certain knowledge, supplying all and each defect, if any have intervened in the same, we confirm and approve by apostolic authority, and fortify by the patronage of the present writing. Let it be lawful therefore for no one of men to infringe this page of our confirmation, approval and fortification etc. Given at Siena, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1443, on the kalends of August, in the thirteenth year of our pontificate. Since however the minister general in the letter cited above made no mention of the monasteries and nuns of St. Clare adhering to the Regular Observance, by another letter, dated 8 August of the same year, he supplies this defect, and grants to St. Capistrano the same power over nuns of this kind and their monasteries as he had conferred on him over the Brothers and their places; so that he was also vicar general of the nuns with fullness of power Wadding. Annal. tom. XI, pag. 179.. But before such a delegation, our John was already commissary general for the nuns of St. Clare. Of which we have a most brilliant testimony in a letter to St. Colette, reformer of the Clarisse nuns, dated at Besançon on 8 November 1442, in which he grants both to St. Colette herself and to her confessor Br. Pierre de Vaux that they can elect one or several brothers of the Observance as visitors of the convents already erected or to be erected in future. An imitation of this letter we give below the more gladly in that it has both the subscription in our saint's own hand and is directed to St. Colette, who, as all know, died her day at Ghent. It is said however that St. Capistrano wished the primitive Rule of St. Clare somewhat mitigated Melloni. Atti et mem. di S. Caterina da Bologna. pag. 229. not, II.. Here is the letter cut in wood, whose autograph exists in the treasury of relics of the convent of Ghent, among the Friars Minor of the Observance, to whose benevolence we owe the transcript. We shall give the letter itself first in ordinary type. To the devoted to Christ God Sister Colette of the Order of St. Clare, our most dear daughter in the Spouse of Virgins, Brother John of Capistrano of the Order of Minors, commissary from the Apostolic See and from the most reverend father vicar general in the Cismontane provinces, greeting and everlasting peace in the Lord. Desiring with paternal affection to console you in the Lord, I ratify and confirm by the present letter all the favours granted and approved by the most reverend fathers ministers general to you and your confessor Brother Pierre de Vaux, and also to the confessors of the convents of sisters built by you and also to be built, and by the tenor of the present letter I decree them ratified and confirmed: moreover I grant to you and your said confessor by the same tenor that you can name one brother of our Order of proven life and good testimony, or several, for the office of exercising visitation both over the sisters of the said convents and over the brothers living in the said convents; to whom, thus named, one or several, by the tenor of the present letter I grant, and by the present letter announce as granted, the same faculty and power which the aforesaid ministers general have at other times granted to the visitors of the aforesaid convents, mandating by salutary obedience the brother or brothers thus named that they reverently take up the office of visitation and, having taken it up, diligently and devoutly exercise it. Farewell in Christ Jesus and pray for me. Given at Besançon on the 8th day of the month of November in the year of the Lord 1442. Br. John.

[111] and he receives the convent of Ara Cœli. Having received the letter of the vicariate, St. Capistrano began to exercise the office committed to him the more diligently as it was more difficult, visiting all the provinces, rooting out vices, rousing all to virtues, affecting the good with reward, the wicked with penalty, and what is most effective, compelling his subjects by the example of his most entire life to the accurate observance of the institute they had taken up. In the very year, moreover, in which our saint began the office of vicar general of the Observants, Pope Eugene brought the Observants into the place of Aracœli, the principal convent of the Friars Minor in the City, the conventuals being removed, by diplomas given which may be read in Wadding in the Pontifical Register Wadding. Annal. tom. XI, pag. 478 and 380; and he committed the protection of the said convent to the senator and conservators of the City Ibid. l. c.. Having received possession, continues Wadding Ibid. pag. 244., Blessed John of Capistrano repaired the buildings, polished the church, celebrated it by his sermons, restored fallen discipline; and calling learned and religious men from other provinces, on the summit of Roman majesty (that is, on the Capitol, upon which Aracœli was built) he set up a lofty watchtower against the adversaries of the Order and upon a high lampstand he lit the most brilliant lantern of his institute. From the principal nations he appointed some discreet fathers, who should both take care of the business of their own people and satisfy their countrymen on arrival. He deputed two commissaries, to treat the affairs of the two families beyond and this side of the mountains, the matters and limits of his commission being prescribed to each. From that time this most prudent disposition of things has endured, with the highest consent of both families; and hence the origin must be taken of the twofold authority among the Observants, which before the procurator general alone exercised entire. All these things Pope Eugene held as ratified and commended. Pieter Van den Haute in his Historical Breviary of the Order of Minors says Pag. 238. that before the year 1517 there was neither the name nor the thing of commissary: but that this dignity then arose when, a minister general of the body of the whole Religion being appointed alternately from the Cis- and Ultramontane family, for that family which on that occasion did not have the minister general, a commissary general was elected, to rule it as ordinary prelate, but subject to the minister general and acting in his place. But these things conflict among themselves more in name than in reality. For Pieter Van den Haute, in saying these things, is treating of a certain new office, created in the year 1517, and a little below, treating of this very ordinance of St. Capistrano, he affirms that for each family there was a general official of the curia with the title of commissary: from then on, therefore, he says, the Observants had their procurators and agents, although they were otherwise named Brev. hist. pag. 246..

§ X. St. Capistrano repels the efforts of the Conventuals to subject the Observants to themselves.

He celebrates a chapter of the Observants; Nearly three years of his vicariate having elapsed, St. Capistrano convoked to Rome, to the convent of Aracœli, a general chapter of the Observants, on the day, says Wadding, of Pentecost, which falls this year 1446 on 5 June. In that chapter, which Pope Eugene had permitted to be celebrated separately from the conventuals Wadding. Annal. tom. XI, pag. 251., St. John laid down his vicariate, and before the Pontiff, who wished to be present at all the capitular acts, James Primadizzi of Bologna was elected vicar general, a man illustrious in learning, piety and miracles Ibid. pag. 254.. The Pontiff had moreover taken care that Antonio de Rusconi and the conventuals, who themselves too about the same time were celebrating a general chapter at Montpellier in France, should in no way meddle in the government of the Brothers of the Observance, except in the manner which had been ordained in concord at Siena, as we said above at nums. 104 and following Wadding. Annal. tom. XI, pag. 254.. Nevertheless Antonio, minister general, would not confirm Primadizzi, elected by the family of the Observants, because, as he asserted, the chapter ought to have been convoked by his authority, and celebrated in his presence. The Pontiff took such quibblings ill, inasmuch as he had confirmed the election of Primadizzi by apostolic authority by a letter dated the day before the nones (the 6th) of May, displayed by Wadding Ibid. pag. 255.. But this very letter is not without its difficulty, which I do not find solved by the historiographers of the Order of Minors. Namely, since Eugene confirms the election of Primadizzi on 6 May, the chapter was therefore already being celebrated on that day: but on the other side, as Wadding and others witness M. Ang. a Neap. chronol. Ord. Min. pag. 114., the same chapter is said to have convened around the feast of Pentecost, falling in that year on 5 June, and so Eugene would have held as ratified a whole month before an election not so much made as to be made. I think therefore that the feast of Pentecost is to be struck out, and the beginning of May substituted as the commencement of the chapter to be celebrated in the convent of Aracœli: and I think the error was derived from the custom by which the Minors were and are accustomed to hold the Pentecost feast as days specially deputed for celebrating their assemblies: and hence I think it came about that writers, when they saw a general chapter gathered in the month of May, according to custom, yet erroneously, transferred it to the feast of Pentecost. Wadding refutes a like error in the celebration of the following chapter or that of the year 1449, as we shall show below at num. 115.

[113] he foretells the election of Nicholas V; In the time of the three-year government of James Primadizzi Eugene died, namely on 23 February 1447; at which time St. John of Capistrano was staying at Aquila among the Vestini. As he was discharging the priestly task with Brother Nicholas the German, when from pious custom and the highest reverence toward the Apostolic See he added to the divine Office the ordinary collect for the Pope, at those words, however: your servant Eugene, he substituted the name of Nicholas or Thomas of Sarzana: in that namely the holy man foresaw and foretold by a prophetic spirit that the future Pontiff was to be called Nicholas. For in the interval of twelve days, or from 23 February, on which Eugene died, to 6 March, on which Nicholas was elected, it could not be that at Aquila, a city distant LX miles Compare La Martinière. Dict. geogr. V° Aquila. from Rome, both events were at once unknown; certainly in that interval of 12 days the death of Eugene became known before the election of Nicholas; and accordingly this change in the prayer cited above took place a short time after the death of Eugene, more probably on the very day 23 February. But St. John had foretold the supreme pontificate to Thomas himself: for when he approached to congratulate Thomas, brought to the see of Bologna on the fifth before the kalends of December 1445 Ughelli. Ital. Sac. tom. II, col. 34., the holy man said to him, thinking nothing of the kind: "You are running to the cardinalate, and hastening to the pontificate." The bishop, suffused with a blush, admonished him to omit such vain presages. To whom Capistrano: "According to your name, so also is your faith: you now show yourself a Thomas, but soon with the name you will put off your incredulity." And he afterwards recalled these very words to memory in a letter given to Pope Nicholas. And indeed the prophecy seemed over-confident, as of one who within at most fourteen months would ascend from a canon of Bologna to the summit of the supreme pontificate: yet the outcome proved the prophecy true: created bishop on 27 November 1445, Thomas of Sarzana was elected supreme Pontiff on 6 March 1447 under the name of Nicholas V.

[114] he promotes literary studies; Immediately moreover from the beginning of the office of his vicariate the saint wished that the studies of letters among

the Observants should flourish: and for that reason in the Constitutions issued in the year 1443 he prescribed M. Ang. a Neap. chronol. Ord. Minor. pag. 106. to all the vicars committed to his care, in any Cismontane parts, that, notice being had (of the will of the Pontiff and the Cardinals), as soon as they can, each vicar in his province should determine one or several places according to the possibility and aptitude of the Brothers of the province, in which should be placed Brothers suitable for teaching and learning alike, who may be able to advance not only in the primary sciences (humane letters and philosophy), but also in the sacred page, God leading. And this ought to be done with affection and without dissimulation by each of the aforesaid, for the merit of salutary obedience: so that both preachers and confessors, without defect and error, may be able to exercise their office to the glory of God and the salvation of souls: otherwise it will be to the prejudice of your consciences, if you promote anyone to the aforesaid offices unless suitable and sufficient. Vicars also and guardians are not to occupy, nor permit to be occupied, Brothers suitable for learning, either in writing * or in other labours, except in so far as unavoidable necessity should urge. The ordinance of our saint was received not without the murmurings of some; inasmuch as they feared lest through knowledge and erudition golden simplicity and true humility should perish. But that this was a vain fear is shown by very many men of the family of the Observants, illustrious no less in learning than in sanctity, who have flourished from the very beginning of the Order to our own times. To dispel difficulties of this kind the saint composed a special treatise on promoting study among the Observant Minors. For the rest, since, as St. Bonaventure teaches in the Determinations of Questions concerning the Rule of St. Francis, Question II Operum. tom. VII, pag. 356., the Friars Minor by the mission of the Apostolic See spend the labour of preaching and confession on the faithful, the holy Doctor concludes the necessity of the study of letters, which, as experience shows, can excellently be reconciled with simplicity and humility Compare Wadding. Ann. tom. XI, pag. 223.. Whatever therefore may be said of the controversy once agitated between Armand de Rancé and Jean Mabillon, it in no way touches the literary studies of the Mendicant Orders.

[115] again vicar general, James Primadizzi, the three years of his vicariate being nearly finished in the year 1449, convoked a chapter of the Observants in the convent of the Wood of Mugello, a place once granted to St. Francis, and devolved to the Observants on account of its desertion by the Conventuals Gonzag. Orig. Seraph. pag. 230.. A singular thing took place in the celebrating of the chapter. The assembly being hindered for 15 days by his illness, lest Cosimo de' Medici, at whose expense they had convened, should be burdened, the Vicar Primadizzi asked that the Brothers might be allowed in future to seek what was necessary for them through the strongholds and nearby villages. But Cosimo ordered the Brothers to be of good heart, that he would take care that nothing should be lacking to anyone, even if the assembly lasted a longer time Gonzag. Orig. Seraph. pag. 231.. At last on 18 May 1449, the fifth Sunday after Easter, and not, as Marianus and Mark have it, says Wadding Ann. tom. XII, pag. 28., around the feast of Pentecost, St. John of Capistrano was again elected vicar general of the Cismontane family. I think the Observants anticipated the beginning of their assembly, lest the Conventuals, celebrating their chapter at the same time, should be able to put some impediment in the way of the election. Pope Nicholas confirmed the election of St. Capistrano on the sixth day after, by a letter given on 23 May of the same year to Antonio de Rusconi, minister general, of the following tenor Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 29.: To our beloved son Antonio etc. Beloved son, greeting and apostolic blessing. Our beloved son Br. John of Capistrano, about to set out for the chapter, betook himself to our presence, and, as he announced to us that he had been elected and published as vicar, we, having regard to the honesty of his present life and his observance of religion, have confirmed him by our authority and decree that he is to be held as confirmed. Do you act kindly toward him and receive him gratefully, and be willing to be a favour and support to him, in view of us and of his good deserts, in all things which pertain to him and to the others of the Observance, if you desire to do a thing pleasing to us, and confirm him: for the more favourable you show yourself to him, the more pleasing you may think it will be to us: but if the contrary should be done, which we do not believe, so much the more abundant assistance and favour will he obtain from us. Given at Spoleto on 23 May, in the third year of our pontificate.

[116] his brothers, accused of fraud, To Florence, then, in which city around the feast of Pentecost, falling in that year 1449 on the very kalends of June, Antonio de Rusconi, minister general, was celebrating a general chapter of the Order, St. John of Capistrano went. And indeed Antonio held as ratified the election of Capistrano as vicar general: but at the same time the capitulars took it very ill that a family, illustrious in number, sanctity, the favour of princes and the opinion of peoples, should be torn from their bosom: and so they thought they should try by all ways that this division, born and confirmed especially by the Eugenian bull which we brought forward at nums. 105 and following, should at last be removed. The efforts of the Conventuals were favoured also by not a few among the Observants, weary of the more severe discipline and stricter poverty. They pretended, namely, that the Rule of St. Francis required that all the Brothers have a minister general, whom they should be bound to obey. As if indeed it did not pertain to the Apostolic See to dispense in all those things which have borrowed their authority from it: this is namely, as Wadding rightly remarks Annal. tom. XII, pag. 31., to strain out a gnat and swallow a camel Matth. XXIII, 24: unless therefore the Rule of St. Francis be raised above the canons of the universal Church, the power of relaxing the Franciscan Rule cannot be denied to the Pontiff, inasmuch as he can, by the admission of all, loose ecclesiastical laws according to the fitness of persons and times. Although, moreover, the attempts of the Conventuals were then in vain, nevertheless the bond of fraternity began to be loosened, not indeed in the Cismontane family, over which St. Capistrano presided, but in the Ultramontane: for in the same year, on the thirteenth before the kalends of December, Nicholas V at the petition of Juan de Santa Ana, minister of the province of Castile in Spain, granted that those Observants who wished could return under his jurisdiction. Almost the like letter the same Pontiff had given already on the day before the kalends of September 1447 for the province of Touraine in France Ibid. tom. XI, pag. 290..

[117] he defends, This was a wound for the family of the Observants, destined little by little to bring the fault into the remaining members, as Wadding shows at the year 1454 Ibid. pag. 212.. But most damaging to the Observance were the reasons on which the Castilian concession relied. For Pope Nicholas in his bull said that Eugene his predecessor, circumvented, as is likely to be believed, by sinister information, withdrew the Observants from the jurisdiction of the ministers; that convents and brothers of the Observance, feigningly and against their mind and liberty, in order to avoid the sentences, censures and penalties contained in the letter of Eugene, had obeyed the vicars of the Observance, not without scruple of their consciences Ibid. pag. 33.. It could not escape St. Capistrano how great a wound was being inflicted on the Observance through such insinuations, and he easily foresaw that by this liberty, clothed with a pretext of conscience, regular discipline would be enervated. Wherefore, in order to turn away the impending evil from his family, Capistrano ordered his brothers to persist in prayer and fasting. Beyond all others most fervently did Francis of Pavia pray to God, to whom Christ appeared, and consoling him as he mourned, said Ibid. pag. 31.: "Why are you disturbed on account of these things? Why are you so greatly moved? Whose is this work? Whose the family? Is it not mine? I will prosper it and make it grow into a great nation, which for multitude cannot be numbered. Who fitted together this fellowship from so many diverse nations? Who multiplied it in so short a time, with so many opposing? I did it, I will defend it from enemies. Those who disturb you shall not do so with impunity: springing back from this life they shall repent, but those persevering shall fare well; in place of the deserters I will substitute others, who shall receive their crowns." Strengthened by these words, St. Capistrano himself went to the Pontiff, uncovered the arts of the adversaries, armed himself against the calumnies: and at last obtained this, that the Eugenian bull should stand in its strength among the Cismontanes.

[118] and the Ultramontanes Nor did Capistrano allow the Ultramontane family to lack his counsels. For the Vicar general of that family, Jean Pieroche or Maubert, having died on the 24th [ ] 1450, at Ath in Hainaut Ann. tom. XII, pag. 63. Compare Raissii Auctar. SS. Belg. ad XXIV Aug., the Pontiff committed to Theodoric Auriga, vicar of the province of France, the care of convoking and ruling a general chapter, which convened at Barcelona for the day of Pentecost, falling in the year 1451 on 13 June. St. Capistrano admonished the Ultramontane fathers to elect prudently, by a letter given, which we subjoin from Wadding Ann. tom. XII, pag. 109.: To the reverend beloved in Christ fathers and brothers of the Regular Observance, to be gathered in general chapter at Barcelona. Reverend fathers in Christ, and my principal preceptors, saving grace and everlasting peace in the Lord. Having learned at an earlier time of the death of our common father of ever to be recalled and venerated memory, Br. Jean Maubert, I could not but grieve with you, as I ought, both on account of the excellence of his virtues and the sanctity of his life, and on account of the common advantage of which we have been deprived. I for my part judge that it has come to me as the utmost sorrow that we have been orphaned of so great a father, who as common father, pastor of the Gospel sheep, leader of the great portion of the army of Christ, had stood forth as the best: his death has truly brought me such trouble and grief that I do not know what heavier, what more difficult, or what more bitter thing could have been brought. Although, when I collected myself, and contemplated the nature and fragility of human things, reason itself easily lessened and soothed my grief: then indeed most of all, since I not only persuade myself, but am certain, that he has not died, but rather has come to life again and flown to the pleasant spaces of paradise. But enough of these things.

[119] for a good election of a Vicar And lest our discourse be too much prolonged, I come to those things concerning which it is necessary to speak. I have been assured by a report worthy of credit, most revered fathers, that it has been instituted and sanctioned that your general chapter is to be celebrated without fail at Barcelona, on the coming feast of Pentecost, for electing a new father and new pastor, which has brought me such joy and delight that it consoles against all former grief. But consider, I beg, fathers, that there is to be elected by you a man surely good, entire, pious, learned, experienced and holy; for so all reason persuades, that such as you are, you should elect such a pastor. May the Holy Spirit grant you, as you invoke him, a peaceable man, who may govern you in unanimity; a clement one, who may remit faults committed from frailty, and be able to have compassion on the infirmities of his subjects; and a prudent one, who may rule all things to be ruled with the best and mature counsel; a just one finally, who

may strike the obstinate with zeal for guarding and preserving the Religion. And I should wish you to be most intent that the one to be elected be a most ardent zealot of our whole family, which claims for itself the name of Observance, and that he always adhere to the will of the brothers in Italy, so that you may always be with us with one mind and one heart, both in deeds and in work. Let him be admonished, moreover, to render us Italians most diligently informed about all occurrences which could in any way befall to the disgrace or disadvantage of our whole family, so that we, being nearer to the Roman curia, may be able to provide a timely remedy. He will surely find us all ever most ready for his wishes and for the defence and protection of both families.

[120] he exhorts to be made. If you do all these things rightly, best of fathers, both families will flourish again, the world will be edified, the Church will rejoice, the Angels will be glad with us, Christ will congratulate us, the holy and undivided Trinity one God will rejoice together; also that most chaste Mother of the Lord, to say nothing of Blessed Francis, in whose loving bosom our Religion grew together and increased, will be present to you with her delightful support, that, aided by so great a patroness, you may observe without stain of calumny the Gospel of her Son, which you have before professed. Lift up your minds, therefore, most ample fathers, and let us together implore the most ancient merits of the fathers, let us stir up the grace of our forebears; by whose support may there be present to your holy congregation most beautiful charity, which religion urges; may there be present peace, which nature itself proclaims; may there be present concord, which the Christian name sublimely teaches; may there be present truth, which, relying on its own strength, at all times overcomes, conquers and triumphs; may there be present finally unity, which the Church brings forth; which grace supplies, which the supreme benevolence of Christ our Lord and God bestows; so that you may be able to elect a pastor surely most religious and holy, who may be for your use and support, and for our advantage and delight. Fare well in Christ Jesus, and commend me most diligently to your sacred prayers, and use me at your will, while life is my companion. At Venice, 13 April 1451. Your, though useless, yet faithful coadjutor and servant, Br. John of Capistrano, with his own hand. The election fell excellently, as it seems, on the president of the chapter, Theodoric Auriga, who appointed as his commissary for the Spanish nation Alfonso Boroxius; by whose labour and industry the Regular Observance was confirmed in the kingdoms of Spain Compare Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 110 and 542..

* that is, by copying

§ XI. The saint founds various convents of the Observants in Italy; and takes the Third Order under his protection.

The convent of Capistrano St. John of Capistrano not only ruled the youthful family of the Observants by his prudence and defended it from the detractions of adversaries, which grew more vehement even while he was in Germany; but moreover he promoted it by multiplying its dwellings. To omit the convents founded through Germany, of which we shall treat below, we shall here report only those convents and houses of nuns of which Luke Wadding treats through his Annals, to whose narrative the biographers of the saint or the historians of the Order add scarcely anything. The first convent which we know to have been founded by St. Capistrano, and of which we promised above at num. 63 that we would treat, is that of Capistrano. For his fellow citizens, roused by the saint's preaching, resolved to construct a house of ascetics, that would profit posterity also: and when there was doubt about the place, the saint, who was preaching in the open air, said that the convent was to be built in the place where the doves, then flying above the heads of the hearers, should come to rest. And these, after a wandering and uncertain flight, at last settled in a field near the old castle, which belonged to the counts of Celano. There therefore at public expense, the counts of Celano granting the land, the monastery was built, and in it a chapel, afterwards distinguished by the title of St. Capistrano, in whose treasury there are preserved to this day his writings, jewels or sacred vessels and pontifical diplomas. In the Register of his second vicariate are found the contracts agreed with the craftsmen who were to build the convent, written by his hand on 25 July 1449 Wadding. Ann. tom. XI, pag. 312.. To these Wadding adds the principal part of the instrument which Cobella or Jacoba, countess of Celano, gave, and which indicates her supreme affection toward the holy man. The same we too insert in these acts from Wadding Ibid. l. c..

[122] it is founded by the Countess of Celano; Cobella of Celano, countess of Celano etc., to all the faithful of Christ eternal salvation and sincere good will in the Lord. Reviewing with clear mind the immense benefits of our God, what, of what kind and how great thanksgivings we should render as due to the Most High neither can our weak mind conceive, nor tongue utter, nor the joint of the hand trace; since already in former most ancient times gone by he has conferred successively so many and such great gifts on our magnificent and most excellent predecessors, and likewise in this our frail age has deigned to bestow on us no mediocre gifts, and has deigned, on repeated and frequent occasions, not by our merits, but by his most overflowing goodness, to free our person and state from manifold perils and dangers. Wherefore lifting up the eye of our mind to the bestower of all good things temporal and spiritual, and raising the keenness of our intellect as far as our strength allows, we acknowledge ourselves liable and more strictly bound; eagerly desiring, if not equal and worthy thanksgivings, such as we owe and are bound to, at least unequal and feeble, to render immortal ones all the days of our life according to our slight health and virtue; and those worthy praises which we are not able to pay by ourselves, we long to have set forth for perpetual times through his devoted servants, dedicated to his worship; intending with fervent desire to bring aid to these things as is possible, to take care, to give labour, and also evenly to show counsel and help, wishing to exchange temporal goods for eternal rewards.

[123] at the prayers of St. Capistrano; Whence for the perpetual memory of the matter, to all and each of the faithful of Christ to whom our present letters patent and present authentic privilege shall come in future, by the series of these we make known and attest that, with the licence, good pleasure and most liberal will of the magnificent and excellent lord our consort, Lord Leonello Acclozamora, count of Celano, most strenuous knight and captain of arms etc., the venerable father in Christ and our most faithful orator and solicitous promoter to virtuous exercise, and our most fervent and devoted preacher and exhorter to the seizing of everlasting glory, Br. John of Capistrano, of the Order of Minors, supported by apostolic authority, evidently disclosed to us, has received or caused to be received a certain new place under the name of the seraphic Confessor of Christ, Blessed Francis, under whose banner and Order the same Br. John himself, professed in the Regular Observance, shows service to the Most High, and to which most glorious Confessor of Christ, Blessed Francis, we bear a principal heartfelt devotion, in the appurtenances of our land of Capistrano, in the place called Palumbara, near the little hill of Castro Vetere, where it is said that the most serene king Desiderius once built a bastide, to war down the perfidious infidels and Saracens dwelling in the ancient city which at that time was called Fidena. We therefore, for the prosecution and completion of the said place, church and houses with necessary and fitting workshops, for the use and habitation of the Brothers of the said Order who are named of the Observance, to show divine worship perpetually, offering every fullness of our authority, the exchanges, donations and concessions, or whatsoever alienations they may be called, made on one side and the other for the building of the said place by the men of our said land of Capistrano, directed and conferred on the aforesaid Br. John or any other person receiving for the Order and Brothers aforesaid, kindled with more fervent devotion and more courageously animated, we accept, confirm, approve and strengthen by all the manner, law, way and form by which we better can: and from our certain knowledge and from the most ample liberality of our breast, all and whatever pertains to our jurisdiction and belongs and touches to the rights of our court or could in any way pertain, whether by reason of the third part from the alienation of noble and feudal things, or by any other reasons and causes whatsoever, to the aforesaid Br. John receiving, as above, we grant, give, cede, hand over and integrally and plenarily release, etc. Given in our castle of Gagliano, in the year 1447 on the 1st day of the month of December, indiction XI.

[124] at Aquila A monastery near to Capistrano St. John founded in the same year, namely 1447: for when he had sown the word of God in the city of Aquila, it bore that fruit among others, that Virgins of the Third Order of St. Francis, on the very point of solemnly professing the Rule of St. Augustine under the government of the Friars Preachers, changing their plan, and with the licence of those whom it concerned, took up the stricter Rule of St. Clare Ibid. pag. 322.. That this assigning of the convent (for the foundation by testament had already existed under Clement VI, that is, for almost an entire century) is to be attributed especially to our saint is shown by the bull of Nicholas V granted to the monastery, in which those women are said to have lived in the congregation honourably enough, chastely, praiseworthily and devoutly, some of them also in the integrity of sincerity and virginal modesty, aspiring to a more perfect state, and the fruit of a better and stricter life, induced by the counsels and preachings of our beloved son, Br. John of Capistrano, professed of the Order of Friars Minor, to profess the first Rule of St. Clare, and to desire the more fervently to serve the Most High in it perpetually. And the said monastery thus erected is subjected to the rule and government of the Vicar of the Brothers of the Order of Minors of the Observance of the province of Penne Ibid. pag. 513.. Moreover in the following year, namely 1448, as St. Capistrano was running back and forth from the City to the Abruzzi to promote the cause of the canonization of St. Bernardine, he admitted a convent of Brothers of the Observance at Ursinia or Orsonia (Orsogna) in Hither Abruzzo, to be built at the expense of the townspeople under the title of the Blessed Virgin of the Annunciation Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 11.. At about the same time in the town of Campli of the diocese of Abruzzo (Teramo) in Further Abruzzo our saint accepted a convent of Brothers, and indeed with the licence of the Supreme Pontiff it was granted to the citizens of Campli, unequal to founding a new convent, to sell a certain vineyard belonging to them, whose price should be spent on constructing the house of ascetics. Of this foundation there exists a bull of Nicholas V, in which it is expressly said that St. John of Capistrano has authority for founding convents, although he did not then indeed hold the office of vicar general Ibid. pag. 11 and 510..

[125] at Troia The same our saint, again vicar general, in the year 1449 gave in mandate to John of Montalcino, vicar of the Province of St. Angelo, to see to the building of a convent at Troia, which is an episcopal city in the present province of Capitanata, formerly of Daunian Apulia Ibid. pag. 39.. In the same year too St. John, returning from the general chapter of the Wood to Rome, asked Mariano of Siena, doctor of both laws, that in the place of Sinalunga, which is a town of Tuscany, a convent

might be built: Mariano assented, the convent was erected, and the former title of St. Mary of Monte Balbino being changed, it took the name of St. Bernardine Ibid. l. c.. Since, moreover, very many cities were seeking convents of the Brothers of the Observance for themselves, and it was at times burdensome to await a Roman indult for each of them, Nicholas V, congratulating himself on the propagation of the Observance, granted to our saint that he should have the ready faculty of erecting convents in twenty places. We present the bull inscribed to the saint from Wadding Ibid. pag. 523.: To our beloved son John of Capistrano, professed of the Order of Minors named of the Observance. Among the ecclesiastical orders serving as soldiers in the house of the Lord this is more ascribed by heavenly blessing to your Order and its Brothers, as effective experience of things testifies, that wherever they live, they call peoples to the grace of salvation, profiting themselves by the merit of life, and others nonetheless by example. Since therefore, as a petition presented to us on your part contained, it often happens that some of the faithful of Christ, from the devotion they have toward the said Order, and allured by your sermons to exchange earthly things for heavenly etc., would found and construct some places for the use and habitation of the brothers of your Order, etc. We therefore etc. grant to you, and also to the Vicars for the time being of any provinces whatsoever, according to the custom of the Friars Minor named of the Observance, the faculty of causing to be founded, constructed and built, and of receiving and perpetually retaining, twenty places, wherever situated, with church, bell-towers, bells, gardens, kitchen-gardens and other necessary workshops, if they be otherwise canonically assigned to you or to them, or in places suitable and honourable for this, to be perhaps assigned to you by the same faithful of Christ, houses, churches with bell-towers and workshops of this kind, the leave of the diocesans etc. by no means being required etc. And moreover we grant to all and each of the Brothers of the said Order whom it shall happen to reside for the time in such places, that they may use etc. all and each of the indulgences etc.: right etc. being safe. Notwithstanding the decree of Boniface VIII of happy memory etc. Let no one therefore, etc. Given at Fabriano, of the diocese of Camerino, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1449, on the day before the ides of October, in year III.

[126] in the island of Crete; Although, moreover, the pontifical concession of twenty convents may seem unlimited, so that they could be built anywhere; it must however be restricted to the Cismontane family, which St. Capistrano was then ruling, and to which alone his jurisdiction extended. Probably by virtue of this indult, in the island of Crete, at the request of the citizens and with Francesco Dandolo, an intimate and friend of the saint, urging the matter, there was reformed the Minorite convent which Wadding, both in the text and in the margin, sets in the town of Cyleum: erroneously, perhaps by a fault of the typesetter Ibid. pag. 67.. For the town of Cyleum is not to be found in the island of Crete: but there is a town Cytæum, as Gonzaga rightly writes De Orig. Seraph. pag. 439., which Cellarius in his maps places midway between East and West on the northern edge; while D'Anville, in the map made for the Ancient History of Charles Rollin, places it toward the East on the same edge. This diversity among geographers is to be derived from the fact that the older ones wrongly confused the town of Cytæum with the city of Candia, truly set in the middle of the island. But the town of Cytæum is the present Sitia, as may be seen in the historical Atlas of Spruner Compare Tab. LXI, LXII.. That the convent of Cytæum is held to be the same as that of Candia is shown by the praised Gonzaga, saying: the convent of Cytæum (commonly Candia): Gonzaga certainly was not ignorant in what city the convent was situated, which both he and Wadding mark as most convenient for the Observants, putting in there back and forth on the journey to Jerusalem. Then, as Jan Cootwijk witnesses in his Jerusalem Itinerary Pag. 67., there is at Candia a distinguished basilica of St. Francis, to which is joined a very ample monastery of the Minorites: now both Franciscan historians, Gonzaga and Wadding, say that the convent of Cytæum bore the title of St. Francis: whence there is no doubt that these writers wrongly fastened the name of Cytæum on the city of Candia. The convent of Candia however retained some annual legacies, contrary to the custom of the Observance: but the reason for this moderation is that the Brothers otherwise could with difficulty sustain life, among Greek schismatics little friendly, and Latin nobles accustomed to spend the better part of the year in the country on their estates Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 67..

[127] at Perugia, Francis of Sassoferrato had received in mandate from the Cardinal of Fermo, protector of the Order of Minors, to call back to their former regular discipline the nuns of the Order of St. Clare, especially of the province of St. Antony, which was formerly almost enclosed in the Venetian republic: and hence it came about that the said Francis, St. Capistrano above all cooperating, reformed the Perugian monastery of Monte Luce. Which was effected by the government being transferred from the Conventuals to the Observants. Those nuns, however, who refused to admit the reform were dispersed to other houses of the Conventuals. Wherefore, in order that there might be its proper number of virgins for a regular monastery, and that the nuns embracing the reform might have instruction and example of the new life, from the monastery of St. Lucy of Foligno twenty-four sisters were brought to Perugia, on 22 December 1449, together with Margaret of Sulmona, who was to discharge the office of abbess. In a short time the rigour of discipline and the fame of sanctity so grew in this monastery that from it there came forth several who, called to found or reform the monasteries of Gubbio, Arezzo, Borgo San Sepolcro and Montefalco, repaid to other sisters the benefit which they themselves had received from those of Foligno Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 43..

[128] he promotes the Third Order No less actively did the saint promote the Third Order of St. Francis, which he also defended, having published a book which he entitled: Defence of the Third Order, instituted by St. Francis Wadding. Scriptt. Ord. Min. pag. 197,. The same Order, so as to gain all the faithful for Christ, St. Capistrano wonderfully propagated through Germany, Poland and Silesia. There exist many letters, as Wadding witnesses Annal. tom. XII, pag. 309., given to St. Capistrano by various persons of the same Order, in which they consult the saint about their affairs; I shall bring forward one, written from Cracow, from Wadding Ibid. l. c.: To the most reverend father in Christ Br. John of Capistrano, inquisitor of heretical depravity, our only hope and consoler. Most humble subjection with due obedience and reverence continually going before, Most Reverend in Christ, nay rather holy father, and our spiritual consolation, and the only light of our eyes. May your pious paternity not refuse to know that this holy congregation of Brothers and Sisters of Penance of the third Rule of our Seraphic Father Francis, which the Lord almighty deigned to renew, plant, erect and sow in the kingdom of Poland by the fiery utterance of his word through your Paternity, he likewise deigns to water with the shower of his inaccessible charisms; and the further it goes, the more and better, the Lord himself cooperating, it grows and is increased, supported by the salutary aids of the notable and religious father and brother Ladislaus of the Order of Minors, guardian of the convent of St. Bernardine, visitor of our said congregation, and by the documents of commendable life and examples likewise, to whom for such great favours, labours and cares, applied by him to this our Order and to be applied in future, we cannot render equal and worthy thanksgivings in the sight of your pious Paternity. Yet concerning the same father, left to us as a refuge and singular solace, we render to your Paternity and to him together thanks, however unequal to your merits and his, imploring God for your happy state and his with harmonious voice and concordant vow, since no one can add to the fullness of our joys, as often as your auspicious life is perceived to sound in our hearing, because we hold your living as our living and gain, and your being dissolved as ours, etc. May your Reverend Paternity fare sound, glad and prosperous. Given at Cracow, on the very day of SS. Fabian and Sebastian, Martyrs (20 January), in the year 1455. Br. Bartholomew, unworthy minister of the Brothers and Sisters of Penance of the Order of St. Francis.

[129] in Germany and Poland; Ladislaus, of whom the letter treats, Wadding calls the Hungarian, and says that this skilled master of regular discipline was appointed Guardian of the convent of Cracow by St. Capistrano in the year 1453 Ibid. pag. 164.. Thus far indeed rightly: but he errs when under the year 1462 he makes this Ladislaus the Hungarian the same as his namesake, Blessed Ladislaus of Gielniów Ibid. tom. XIII, pag. 269., whose Acts our predecessors gave under 4 May Act. SS. tom. I Maji., pag. 560 and following., although in the Franciscan Martyrology and in the Breviary of the same Order his festival is held on 22 October. This error he somehow corrects, reporting under the year 1505 the death of Blessed Ladislaus of Gielniów Annal. tom. XV, pag. 303.: Gonzaga, he says, and others confuse this man (Ladislaus of Gielniów) with Ladislaus the Hungarian, who we said was appointed guardian at Cracow by Blessed John of Capistrano. The latter was numbered among the Minorites outside Poland, the former within it: the latter, a veteran soldier before the coming of Capistrano to Poland, had acted as guardian in the convents of Cosel and Beuthen in Silesia; the former about that time was studying in the academy of Cracow. For the rest, Blessed Ladislaus of Gielniów, born in the year 1440 Act. SS. tom. I, Maji, pag. 562., admitted to the Order of Minors on 1 August 1462 Ibid. pag. 567., could not as a youth have had great familiarity with St. Capistrano, nor at fifteen years of age was he set over the ruling of eighty Brothers: and he died in the year 1505, and Benedict XIV ratified and amplified his immemorial cult, as may be seen in the Franciscan Breviary. To St. Capistrano is owed also the erection of the magnificent church which the people of Aquila built for entombing the body of St. Bernardine of Siena. For St. Bernardine having been buried among the Conventuals, the Observants were appointed guardians; but it was troublesome for them to dwell in another's buildings, and to carry out sacred functions in a very narrow chapel, and for that reason the Observants resolved to leave the custody of the sacred body to the Conventuals. The magistracy of Aquila opposed the plan, and resolved to build a distinguished chapel within the same church of the Conventuals. While the people of Aquila were setting about these things, there came the letter of St. Capistrano written from Cracow in the year 1554, in which he recalls to their memory the resolution once made of building a magnificent edifice, to be dedicated under the invocation of St. Bernardine: for which work he says that he has obtained five thousand gold pieces from Alfonso, king of Naples, and that the rest of the money should be contributed by the citizens, greatly bound to St. Bernardine. To Capistrano's letter St. James of the March added his force by preaching: and the building begun in the year 1454 received its completion in the year 1472 Compare Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 218 and tom. XIV, pag. 8..

§ XII. Foundations of convents in Germany and Poland.

In Austria the saint founds While St. Capistrano, situated in Poland, was acting so strenuously for building the church of his

Order in the city of Aquila, he was labouring unweariedly to propagate his family in the northern regions, in which, as we shall show below, he had been from the year 1451 by pontifical mandate. Vigil Greiderer, who wrote an accurate history of Franciscan Germany, teaches us that St. Capistrano was the first who introduced the Regular Observance into Austria Germ. Franc. tom. I, pag. 271.. I know well, he says, that Eugene IV in the year 1436, on the eighth before the kalends of September, by the bull "Sacræ Religionis Compare Wadding. Ann. tom. X, pag. 273.," bestowed on St. James of the March (or Picenus) the opportunity of accepting three convents in Austria and of bringing Brothers of the Observance into them: but no trace appears that this favour attained its effect. The first honour in this matter belongs to St. John of Capistrano, who arrived in Carinthia, Styria and Austria in the year 1451, whom the emperor Frederick III through his legates sought from Nicholas V, and, Albert, duke of Austria, adding his aid, obtained around the beginning of the year 1451, so as to quell various controversies seething among Catholic princes, and to set his face against the heresy of the Hussites, spreading itself more from day to day. Having passed Easter at Venice, which in that year had its latest seat, 25 April, the man of God, vicar general of the Cismontane family and pontifical commissary, took up the German journey, of which we shall say more below, and on 2 June, as is established from a letter of Nicholas of Fara, to be presented in another place, he entered Wiener Neustadt. Soon, arriving at Vienna in Austria, he so moved the whole city by his sermons that not only did the women send away their vain and lascivious ornaments, but he also induced many young men to bid farewell to the world, of whom he distributed several through other Orders, but kept fifty for his own institute.

[131] convents: of Vienna; For cultivating these new plants the emperor Frederick offered St. Capistrano whatever place he wished in the city of Vienna. But the saint, lest the hindrances of a great city should retard the course of the beginners, selected in the outskirts of the city a solitary place, which sisters of the Third Order had thus far inhabited: these being transferred elsewhere, he himself occupied the humble dwelling of St. Theobald with his companions on 22 July 1451, and appointed Jerome of Milan as Guardian of the new convent, and Michael the Sicilian as master of novices Greider. Germ. Franc. tom. I, pag. 414.. Gonzaga differs in this from the other historians, that he says that the Viennese novitiate began with seven candidates: Seven, he says Orig. Seraph. pag. 448., Austrian young men of good expectation he clothed with the Minorite habit, and enrolled them in the catalogue of the other Franciscans. Whence Gonzaga found only those seven I could not easily divine. For those who express the number of novices agree on fifty [Greiderer. l. c. Wadding. Annal. tom. XII, pag. 83. Gonzalez. Hist. S. Franc. tom. V, pag. 87. Barber. Vit. lat. pag. 93.]: and others Cataneo Vit. ital. pag. 116. Barber. Vit. ital. pag. 111., alleging no number, nevertheless insinuate that the beginning of the novitiate was numerous: Such blessing, says Thomas Cataneo, God poured on this first convent, founded by St. Capistrano, that within a very short time the number of those who pledged themselves to serve as soldiers under the banner of St. Francis rose to two hundred. There are also some who write that Michael the Sicilian was the first Guardian of the convent of Vienna, and Jerome of Milan vicar and instructor of novices Wadding. tom. XII, pag. 83.: but Vigil Greiderer, who everywhere copies Wadding word for word, disagreeing in this from his standard-bearer, seems either to have inspected the monuments more closely, or to have had them more abundantly Germ. Franc, tom. I, pag. 414, not. n.. In this however they are unanimous, that they hold the convent of Vienna as the first which the family of the Observants received in Germany: and although Germany is Ultramontane for Italians, yet inasmuch as the province of Austria was founded by St. John of Capistrano, vicar general of the Cismontane family, it has to this day perpetually belonged to the latter.

[132] of Klosterneuburg; Not long after the founding of the convent of Vienna, that of Klosterneuburg was begun. Claustroneoburgum (in German Klosterneuburg) is a town of Austria distant one and a half German miles toward the west from Vienna Marian. Vidler. gesch. der Osterklerisey. Part. IV, tom. VIII, pag. 415.. There was there formerly a convent of canoness virgins, but abandoned in the 15th century, whose goods had devolved to canons of the same profession. When therefore St. Capistrano came there, the provost, at the request of the citizens, ceded to the Observants a site for building a convent. The dean of Passau, the see being vacant, held the donation as ratified by the following letter Greider. Germ. Fr. tom. I, pag. 320.: Ulrich Burchard, by the grace of God dean of the church of Passau etc., to the religious, sincerely beloved by us in Christ, Br. John of Capistrano of the Order of Friars Minor of the Seraphic Confessor St. Francis, greeting and sincere charity in the Lord. Since we have learned from your report that a certain site, situated in Klosterneuburg, which nuns were formerly accustomed to inhabit, abandoned and deserted by them, so that no inhabitant appears in it, the said site and abandoned place has been and is granted by the provost and convent of the monastery of Neuburg to you and your brothers, under the Rule of Blessed Francis, called of the Observance, to inhabit, and to serve God perpetually in the same: we, as far as lies in us, by the ordinary authority which we exercise at present, the episcopal see being vacant, approve, ratify and in the name of God confirm the said concession, as is premised, by the testimony of this letter. Given at Passau on 22 December of the year 1451. In the garden of the same convent there exist to this day, says Vig. Greiderer Ibid. l. c., two sundials cut in hard stone, made, as it is said, by the saint himself.

[133] of Brünn; Of the same, indeed of greater, antiquity is the convent of Brünn. Among the cities of Moravia Brünn claims for itself the first place after Olomouc, washed by the rivers Schwarzawa and Zwittawa, which mingle near it. For the Friars Minor, says Vig. Greiderer Ibid. pag. 637., of the Observance the way was opened by St. John of Capistrano, irradiating Moravia with virtues and miracles, who in the year 1451, around the feast of the Apostles SS. Simon and Jude (28 October), at Brünn, in the suburb before the Jewish gate, took up a district for erecting a convent, and dedicated it, built partly from public, partly from private resources of the citizens, to St. Bernardine of Siena. Among the benefactors of the Brothers not the last are reckoned the fishermen of Brünn, made happy by St. John of Capistrano by letters of benefit, which they love to call Filiantia. The holy man caused the Most Holy Name of Jesus to be cut into the wall of the city, prophesying that the city would be subdued by no enemy as long as this Name should meet the eyes in the aforesaid place… The cell which St. John of Capistrano sometimes frequented in this convent was changed in the course of time into a chapel, from which the view to the Name of Jesus, set on the wall, lay open. These things stand right to some extent; provided however that we do not imagine that the saint stayed at Brünn on 28 October, or around the feast of the Apostles SS. Simon and Jude. For that cannot stand with the narrative of Christopher of Varese, an eyewitness, who so orders the Moravian preaching as to describe point by point the deeds of the individual places and days. He moreover, at num. 138 of the Life to be edited below, sets the holy man from 18 October to the 30th of the same month in Krummau (Kromlow), which, he says, is a city of the Lord of the Roses (Rosenberg) and is of Bohemia. There are indeed two towns of this name, one in Moravia, adjoining Brünn, the other in Bohemia, on the river Moldau: of the latter the praised Christopher manifestly treats, who accordingly could err neither as to place nor as to time; especially since he had to take his narrative, so divided, not so much from memory as from daily notes. If therefore around the feast of the Apostles SS. Simon and Jude he accepted the convent of Brünn, he must necessarily have done this while staying in Bohemia, and by no means as if present at Brünn. For the rest, the very vague manner of indication, around the feast, indicates well enough that the instrument of foundation has perished.

[134] of St. Pölten; From the Annals of Zwettl, cited by Vig. Greiderer Germ. Franciscan. tom. I, pag. 322., it is read that three monasteries of his Order were founded in Austria by St. Capistrano: one at St. Pölten, a second at Langenlois, a third at Eggenburg, whose foundation reason itself dictates was made between the year 1451, in which he first came into Austria, and the year 1456, in which he died. The time of these foundations can scarcely be defined more accurately, since contemporary monuments have for the most part perished, destroyed by heresy, war and fire Compare ibid. pag. 318, 322 and 324.. In the foundation of St. Pölten (in German S. Polten), a town distant VIII miles toward the west from Vienna, this occurs to be remarked, that Ulrich of Nussdorf, bishop of Passau from the year 1451 to 1479 Hund. metrop. Salisb. tom. I, pag. 216., under whose jurisdiction the town of St. Pölten then was (for it is now an episcopal city), together with the provost of the canons regular of St. Augustine, brought complaints to Rome; the bishop as if the Observants had begun a new foundation without his consent; the provost as if the same foundation had injured parochial rights. And the bishop acquiesced easily enough toward the Observants, who had used the bull of Eugene IV granting the faculty of erecting, even with the ordinaries not consenting Compare Wadding. Ann. tom. XI, pag. 472., twenty convents, among which was also that of St. Pölten: indeed the same Ulrich a few months before his death granted the Observants a piece of land belonging to the church of Passau Greid. Germ. Fr. tom. I, pag. 318.. But graver was the controversy with the provost of the canons concerning parochial rights, brought again to Rome, which Cardinal Bessarion, then legate in Germany, settled in the year 1460 Ibid. pag. 317.: Albert of Maderna makes no mention of this controversy, although he reports the foundation of the convent Hist. Canon. S. Hipp. tom. II, pag. 252.. But later times were more tranquil, since in the year 1643 the provost most munificently cooperated in the restoration of the same convent Ibid. pag. 399..

[135] of Langenlois; Loysium (in German Loys and Langenlois), from a river of the same name, is a town nine German miles distant from Vienna toward the west. On the main door of the church, named from St. Bernardine, there is carved the inscription: This monastery Blessed Father Capistrano built by the alms of benefactors. The chief benefactors are reported to be the shoemakers and butchers Greid. Germ. Fr. tom. I, pag. 322.. As regards Eggenburg, the third foundation of uncertain time, it is a town nine German miles distant from Vienna toward the north-west. That St. Capistrano was there on 10 October 1451 is shown by his letter from Eggenburg to

the people of Aquila, which Wadding presents Ann. tom. XII, pag. 99.. Although, moreover, a plan of building a convent for the Observants could have been in agitation at that time, yet it did not attain its effect before the year 1460, in which, the parish being transferred to the building of the Templars, the parish church itself together with a ruinous house was assigned to the Brothers: to which property there were afterwards added other houses and gardens, sufficient for a regular convent. The church, dedicated under the title of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is commonly called from this designation St. Mary of the Candles: and its seal displays the same Blessed Virgin, bearing her Son with the right hand, a candle with the left. The canonry of Klosterneuburg and the college of Vienna of the Society of Jesus remitted to the Brothers an annual charge; the canonry under the burden of three Masses, and the Society with the proviso, as long as it should not be alienated by the Brothers Greid. Germ. Fr. tom. I, pag. 324..

[136] to which foundations especially Moreover so happy was the progress of the Regular Observance in Austria and the neighbouring provinces that Pope Nicholas already at the beginning of the year 1452 ordered those convents to grow together into one province, by a bull dated the day before the nones of March of the year 1451, that is, the year 1452, since under that pontificate the beginning of the year was taken from 25 March. In this apostolic letter the Pontiff praises the Observants Ibid. pag. 272. that, having renounced worldly enticements, with the addition of voluntary poverty, they show service to the Lord of virtues in the spirit of humility: that moreover they spend the salutary zeal of their labours for the increase of the orthodox faith, preaching unceasingly in the parts of the enemies of that faith, not without peril to their own persons. The Pontiff then praises our John and his Brothers, through whose preachings very many, even noble and powerful laymen and ecclesiastics, enlightened by divine grace, utterly laying aside the errors (of the Hussites) from their hearts, profess and hold what the holy Roman Church holds and professes; and indeed some of them, kindled by a greater zeal of the orthodox faith and also of religion, have taken up the habit and made the profession of the Order (of the Observants). Whence it came about that the aforesaid John, supported by apostolic authority, received into Austria, in the parts of Styria (in whose place Wadding wrongly again intrudes Istria Ann. tom. XII, pag. 136.) and of Moravia some places of the Brothers, convents and houses, and it is hoped with likelihood that through the sanctity of life of those Brothers, their fervour of faith and assiduous preachings, not only can those erring be brought back from their errors to the light of truth, but also very many of them can be stirred to the imitation of the good. Wherefore the Pontiff erects the said convents and others to be erected in future into a provincial vicariate, under the jurisdiction of the vicar general of the Cismontane family. Meanwhile in the same year 1452, on 27 May, which fell on the vigil of Pentecost, Mark of Bologna was elected vicar general Ann. tom. XII, pag. 145., who for the new province of Austria appointed as his commissary St. Capistrano, and, he being hindered, Gabriel of Verona, who a little after was elected provincial vicar Greid. Germ. Fr. tom. I, pag. 274..

[137] Nicholas V favours, How widely and how swiftly St. Capistrano propagated the family of the Observants is shown by another bull of the same Pope Nicholas, dated the fourth before the nones of May 1453. For the holy man set forth to the Pontiff Ibid. l. c. that in the provinces of Bohemia, Austria and Moravia very many most learned men at various times, and lastly around St. Stephen's day just past, a great many masters and bachelors in theology; and clerics to the number of sixty-five or about, totally denying earthly things and wishing to imitate Jesus Christ our Saviour in beggary, had betaken themselves to the habit of the Order or Religion of St. Francis, and that several others, led by devotion, fervently desired to be received, whom on account of the lack of regular places he could not accept. St. Capistrano therefore asks that power be given him of accepting and erecting in the said provinces and their confines convents of Brothers and also of occupying convents of the Conventuals uninhabited or nearly so. Whence the Pontiff grants the favour asked, that he may erect houses in no determined number, under this sole limitation, as far as they are necessary and timely, on which he declares his conscience burdened. This concession, however, Pope Nicholas made on this condition, that the new province should belong to the Cismontane family of the Observants.

[138] as also to other convents through Germany: Nor was St. Capistrano's zeal for propagating his institute circumscribed only within these provinces. For the Chronicle of Schedel, ending at the year 1460, and thus contemporary, has Oeffel. Rer. Boic. Scriptt. tom. I, pag. 394.: Likewise in the same year (1452) there came to the parts of Germany a certain religious brother of the Order, named John of Capistrano, by nation an Italian, with many brothers of the same Order of the Observance. He ran through all the land of the Germans preaching, having authority to preach everywhere from the aforesaid Pope Nicholas, and he did certain prodigies among the sick. The same man preached at Vienna, and in the same place established Friars Minor under the Observance at St. Theobald outside the walls of Vienna. Likewise the same Capistrano established the same Order at Amberg, where before there was no cloister. The same man ordered and commanded, wherever he preached, the burning of all dice and cards together with tali: whence in the cities of Regensburg and Nuremberg, where he then preached, a great multitude of dice, cards and tali was burned; so he caused it to be done in very many places. Some difficulty is caused by the words in which Amberg is presented as without a cloister; because ancient documents alleged by Vigil Greiderer show that already in the preceding century there was a convent of Minors in that place: and so we must interpret the words of the Chronicle to mean that at that time the Conventuals had left their convent deserted; and if this interpretation, though probable, is less pleasing, it will have to be said that thus far there had been at Amberg no cloister of the Observants, which indeed seems rather insipid, when the talk is of a new planting, now first emerging in Germany.

[139] in Poland convents are founded: of Cracow From Germany the man of God came at length into Poland, whither already from the year 1451 by Zbigniew Oleśnicki, cardinal and bishop of Cracow, through letters which among others are reported by Jan Długosz, secretary and familiar of the same cardinal, in his Polish History Tom. II. col. 75. Edit. Lips. 1712.. But only in the year 53 of the same century could St. Capistrano land here. On the third day of the week, says the praised writer Ibid. pag. 121., or rather the fourth day, in the year 1453 marked with the dominical letter G, on the day of St. Augustine (28 August) they enter Cracow (the legates of Poland with St. Capistrano): and the aforesaid blessed man was gone out to meet, not only by all orders, but all the priests of the city of Cracow too, with the magistrates, with sacred processions and banners, went forth to meet him… A hundred and more persons (Wadding has CXXX Annal. tom. XII, pag. 164.) entered his sacred Religion. Zbigniew, cardinal and bishop of Cracow, erected a place in Stradom (a suburb of Cracow) for a convent and monastery of the Brothers of John of Capistrano of the Observance, on the site of his brother, Jan Oleśnicki, palatine of Sandomierz; and, a wooden church being constructed, he consecrated it on the day of the Nativity of St. Mary the Virgin (8 September) in honour of St. Bernardine, all the processions of the whole city escorting the Cardinal himself and the Brothers, and which after two years, at the expense of the same Cardinal, was adorned with a brick wall. So great was the charity of the city of Cracow and of the whole Polish people toward them that as he departed all orders and men of every state followed him with their own persons and with abundant tears for a very long distance outside the gate, some as far as two miles. Going forth thereafter from this convent the Observant Minors wonderfully propagated their institute through all Poland Compare Greid. Germ. Fr. tom. I, pag. 281..

[140] and of Warsaw To the report of Długosz Wadding adds Annal. tom. XII, pag. 164. that among the candidates clothed in the seraphic habit by St. Capistrano there were many bachelors and masters of the university of Cracow and some distinguished in nobility and riches, to whom the saint himself showed the form of life, since, as the praised Długosz remarks Hist. Polon. tom. II, col. 122., he remained at Cracow from St. Augustine's day until the fifteenth day of the month of May of the following year. Since he was detained by many other cares, he set over the new convent, which counted eighty inhabitants, as guardian Ladislaus the Hungarian, whom we distinguished above at num. 129 from his namesake Blessed Ladislaus of Gielniów. It will seem incredible too to some that the saint, entering Cracow on 28 August, on the feast of St. Augustine, in an interval of twelve days not only obtained the convent, but so prepared it that the church could be consecrated on 8 September. But as we have it from Długosz cited above, both church and convent were put together of timber, and indeed with rude labour, as Wadding insinuates well enough, saying Ann. tom. XII, pag. 164. that a wooden church under the invocation of St. Bernardine was erected HASTILY: around which building were added huts, likewise wooden, which sufficed for the habitation of the Brothers, until a firmer house should be raised. To our saint is owed also the foundation of the convent of St. Anne at Warsaw, which Anne, duchess of Masovia, allured by his sermons and virtues, which she had heard and beheld in person at Cracow, raised from the foundation at her own expense Greid. Germ. Fr. tom. I, pag. 282..

[141] in Moravia, of Olomouc; In the same year 1453 a beginning was given to the convent of Olomouc. Namely in the year 1451 at Olomouc, the chief city of Moravia, St. Capistrano had already preached, and had left a great desire of himself, without however his seeming at that time to have thought of establishing his Brothers there. But returning there in the year 1453, he received a place, formerly outside the walls, afterwards, the city being enlarged, enclosed within the walls. The citizens of Olomouc constructed the convent and church at their own expense: and although according to the mind of St. Capistrano the church was to bear the title of St. Bernardine, yet when in the year 1468 Lorenzo Roverella, bishop of Ferrara and nuncio of the Apostolic See Ital. Sacr. tom. II, col. 553., consecrated it, he set the title of the immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of St. Bernardine Greid. Germ. Fr. tom. I, pag. 616.. In this however Wadding errs Ann. tom. XII, pag. 185., and the others whom Vigil Greiderer cites, that they set two convents of the Observants at Olomouc, one of the immaculate Conception, the other of St. Bernardine, since it is established from the very instrument of dedication that one and the same convent bore the two titles, equally common, as it seems; so that the convent was called now of the immaculate Conception, now of St. Bernardine indiscriminately. An occasion for the error could have been furnished by the fact that the convent of Olomouc, formerly outside, now situated within the walls of the city,

seems to have occupied a varied and different place, and so it was necessary that a double convent be said to have been founded by St. Capistrano. But, as the praised Vig. Greiderer witnesses Germ. Fr. tom. I, pag. 616., there is deep silence in the Bohemian monuments about a double foundation at Olomouc, nor is any trace of a second convent of the Observants to be found.

[142] in Silesia, St. Capistrano smoothed the way for the family of the Observants also into Silesia, when in the same year 1453, arriving at Wratislavia (Breslau), he was received with the applause and veneration of all. On 13 February of the same year, or, as Christopher of Varese has it at num. 160, on the third day of the week, that is, the last day of Carnival, which are accurate, Easter falling in that year, marked with the letter G, on 1 April. The chapter of Breslau gave the land, on which there was a monastery at first of wood, capable of the thirty brothers whom the saint had brought with him. In order that troublesome suits should not arise in the course of time, Peter II Nowak, bishop of Breslau, gave the following letter Ibid. pag. 810.: In the name of the Lord, amen. Peter, by the grace of God bishop of Breslau, for the perpetual memory of the matter. By the tenor of the present letter we acknowledge to all who shall inspect, read and hear this our letter, that there being set in our presence the venerable men and lords Conrad Rehnberg, archdeacon, and Andrew Sorka, canon of our church of Breslau, pievano of the parish church of St. Maurice outside the walls of Breslau, the brother beloved by us in Christ John Capistrano, and in the same place for themselves and in their own names and those of their successors, not induced by force, guile or fear, but of their own accord and freely, mature deliberation being had beforehand, by a pure, irrevocable and perpetual donation they ceded, gave and perpetually resigned to the venerable and God-devoted Father Br. John of Capistrano, of the Order of the sacred and Seraphic Confessor of Jesus Christ, Blessed Francis of the Observance, by the authority of the most holy Father in Christ and our Lord Lord Nicholas, by divine providence Pope V, for carrying out the perpetual worship of God, the monastery of St. Bernardine of new planting, outside the walls of Breslau, situated within the bounds and limits of the said parish church of St. Maurice, and built for the use and habitation of the Brothers who are named of the Observance, according to the tenor of the apostolic letter shown by his most reverend paternity: receiving (as these and other things are contained and expressed in the public instrument of donation, assignment and introduction already long since made by us and by the honourable and circumspect lords consuls of the city of Breslau, as far as pertained to us and the said lords consuls) every right established in first-fruits, offerings and any other rents, proceeds, revenues and profits whatsoever, which belonged or could in any way in future belong to them or to either of them and their successors in the name and on the occasion of the said archdeaconry and parish church of St. Maurice, thence and over all and each of the houses, gardens and sites, on which the said monastery stands built and planted, or to which it can be extended and in future be built, nothing at all being taken away; all and each thing perpetually transferring purely to the Brothers of the monastery already mentioned and their successors, and also to the said monastery and its community, freeing and quitting and absolving them entirely from the aforesaid rights renounced.

[143] of Breslau, Nevertheless on one side and the other for themselves and their legitimate successors concerning the foregoing and each of the foregoing, with all and each of the exceptions, defences, privileges, benefits and aids of both laws, canon and civil, general and special, of restitution in integrum, not turned to the church etc., and any others whatsoever, by which the aforesaid donation, cession, transfer, freeing and full absolution from the aforesaid rights could be in whole or in part, in chapters, clauses, articles and points, infringed, impugned or in any way annulled: to all and each of which, of the venerable men, the lords of the chapter of our church of Breslau, after long treating *, prior consent and will and good pleasure intervening, we interpose by the present letter our ordinary authority, likewise being requested, to last for perpetual times. In faith and more certain evidence of which we have ordered this our letter to be fortified with the greater seals, both ours and that of our chapter, and also of the said lords Conrad the archdeacon and Andrew Sorka, pievano of the church of St. Maurice, outside the walls of Breslau. Done and given at Breslau in the greater chapter, which is accustomed to be celebrated in annual revolution at our said church of Breslau after the feast of the Blessed Martyrs Cantius, Cantianus and Cantianilla, that is, on the last day of May, in the year 1453. There being present in the same place the venerable, lawful and distinguished men, Lord master Francis Woitsdorff, doctor of sacred canon law, scholastic, master Nicholas Tempilfeld of Brieg, professor of sacred theology, cantor, Andrew Sorka, George Octavius, masters, John Stock doctor of medicine, Nicholas Wolff doctor of decrees, Jerome Beckensloer, John of Bladen, John Steynkeler, John Pasisterith, John Schefeler, masters, Peter Wartenberg doctor, Paul Gleycuitz licentiate in decrees, Balthasar de Paulacve, master of the liberal arts, Andrew Wayner, professor of sacred theology, and Nicholas Teynanni, master in arts, prelates and canons of our church of Breslau, gathered capitularly at the sound of the great bell, brothers in Christ Jesus the Saviour sincerely beloved by us, witnesses most worthy of credit to the foregoing.

[144] not without great controversy, That foundations of this kind proceeded by a way so easy and plain was to be attributed first of all to the virtues and preachings of St. Capistrano, but there was present at the same time the authority of the Roman Pontiff, who favoured the institute of the Observants as much as possible, as we showed from the bull of Pope Nicholas V, of which we gave a compendium at num. 136. Moreover the convent of Breslau is said by some, whom however Vig. Greiderer does not cite Germ. Fr. tom. I, pag. 811., to have been founded in the year 1452. But wrongly: for first of all it is established from the contemporary Chronicles of Silesia that St. Capistrano arrived at Breslau in the month of February 1453 Sommersberg. Scriptt. Sil. tom. I, pag. 84, tom. II, pag. 175 and 331., which is also confirmed by Christopher of Varese, saying that the saint arrived on the third day of the week, that is, the last day of Carnival, or, as Sigismund Rositz, a contemporary, has it, on 13 February Sommersb. tom. I, pag. 84., which notes of days fit the year 1453 alone. Then the praised Christopher, the saint's inseparable companion, at nums. 143 and following, accurately describes through the individual days from 2 January to the month of March 1452 the itinerary of St. Capistrano, from which it is manifest that the saint in that interval of time in no way touched the borders of Silesia. It stands unshaken, therefore, that the foundation of the convent of St. Bernardine of Breslau is to be referred to the year 1453: whose later fortunes are recounted in part by the praised Vig. Greiderer Germ. Fr. tom. I, pag. 812. and a German work, whose title is: Supplement to the description of Silesia Beytrage zur Bescreibung von Schlesien. tom. XI, pag. 207 and following.. The author seems to be non-Catholic, and so certain accusations imputed to the Observants would have to be examined on the balance; especially since this very convent was afterwards adjudged to the followers of Luther. But before the rebellion of Luther a controversy had already begun; when namely the Observants tried to compel under their jurisdiction the Conventuals, inhabitants at St. James: from which dissension the magistracy of Breslau, taking occasion, wished both convents to coalesce into one community, to be established at St. James. The decree of the magistracy was resisted on both sides; and the Observants, leaving Breslau, departed secretly, not to return except after an absence of many years and indeed on another piece of land, given by the city, on which a church was built under the title of St. Antony of Padua Compare Beytrage. and Greid. l. c..

[145] of Opava; In the same year in which the convent of Breslau began, a beginning was given to the convent of Opava. Opava (German Troppau) is the chief city of present Austrian Silesia at the confluence of the Moravice into the Opava Henet. Silesiograph. Urbes et Opp. pag. 400.. The citizens of Opava, roused by their duke William, already in the year 1451 on the feast of St. Matthew the Apostle, 21 September, had promised by a public instrument for themselves and their posterity that they would appoint one or several procurators, to provide for the needs of the Brothers, that namely they might be able to exercise divine worship more fervently, all outside occupations being altogether cast away Greid. tom. I, pag. 647.. That instrument was not only approved by John XII, called Haz, bishop of Olomouc Pilarz. Morav. Hist. tom. II, pag. 171., but by public letter he granted an indulgence of XL days to all the faithful of Christ of either state and sex subject to his jurisdiction, and to all other faithful of Christ whatsoever, who should supply food for the sustenance of the said poor Brothers, or for the building of their oratory and monastery, and should stretch out helping hands, as often as they should do these things. Given and done at Olomouc, in the year of the Lord 1452, on the last day but one of the month of January Greid. tom. I, pag. 648.. The same bishop favoured St. Capistrano in all things, and ever defended him from all injury Pilarz. Morav. Hist. tom. II, pag. 171.. Whence, both powers concurring, and the citizens contributing timely aid, this foundation shortly grew into a regular monastery, dedicated to St. Barbara: so that already in the year 1474 a provincial assembly could be celebrated in it Greid. tom. I, pag. 648..

[146] in Austria, of Enzersdorf. In the year 1454 Ulrich, count of Celje, whom we shall find in the Turkish war as the enemy and rival of John Hunyadi, Capistrano's great friend, wished to foster the saint's family by constructing a convent in the town of his dominion Enzersdorf. Moreover there are various places of this name through Austria [Marian. a SS. sacr. als Fidler. geschicht der Osterr. Klerisey, tom. VIII, pag. 387.]: but in order to be distinguished from places of the same name, it is called Enzersdorf at the Mountain (Germ. Enzerstorff am Gebirge), distant two miles from Vienna. The count assigned land and on it some buildings for building a convent there: but the parish priest of Mödling put a bar to these beginnings, and brought such troubles on the Brothers that they thought they should consult St. Capistrano about deserting the place, and brought back from him the reply that they should go away. Count Ulrich bore this very ill, and by letter pressed the Blessed Father to enjoin perseverance on the brothers. And if, he says Greid. tom. I, pag. 350., there are any obstacles, we can by the grace of God utterly remove them and provide well for the quiet of the said monastery; show your special and accustomed friendship toward us, for which you will also be able to have us most ready for your good pleasure. Given at Vienna on the second day of the week after Palm Sunday (31 March) in the year 1455. The letter turned out according to his wish, and at the order of St. Capistrano the Observants persisted at Enzersdorf, the confirmation of Ladislaus, king of Hungary and Bohemia and duke of Austria, being added. The monastery itself, count Ulrich having died without sons, by

his heirs, was enlarged with broad estates. Feldsberg too, a town nine miles distant from Vienna, owes its convent of the Observants to St. John of Capistrano: it was formerly a monastery of the Conventuals, which they handed over freely and of their own accord to the saint himself Greid. tom. I, pag. 358.. Judenburg likewise, a city of Styria, had a convent of the Minors, but very poor and inhabited by very few Conventuals, which, at the instance of the emperor Frederick with the minister general of the Order, Jacopo of Mozzanica, the Conventuals relinquished to the Observants; the lands and estates were obtained by the guilds of butchers and shoemakers, who thereafter remained beneficent toward the Observants Ibid. pag. 326.. That the saint stayed for some while at Judenburg we have from various letters of his, given from Judenburg. The chief one we brought forward above at num. 18, from which we were able accurately to investigate the time of his birth and of his entry into Religion. And these are the fruits of his labours which St. Capistrano gathered in promoting the institute of the family of the Observants.

* tractatu?

§ XIII. St. John strives with every aid and counsel to avert the perils impending over the new reform.

Pope Nicholas being somewhat offended with the Observants, While St. John of Capistrano was spending himself wholly on the cares of promoting his institute and of carrying out the legation which Nicholas had committed to him, and which we shall explain below, the adversaries of the Observants were not at rest. For, says Wadding Ann. tom. XII, pag. 212., since Pope Nicholas with a pious zeal for peace, but a worse counsel, having removed the censures pronounced by Eugene against those who, spurning their superiors of the Observance, should pass over to the Conventuals, and against those who should receive or retain those passing over, had made free the power of passing over, recourses and journeys of this kind were made everywhere and on all sides. For whenever prelates tried to reprove those erring, subjects, to avoid punishment, fled to the Conventuals, by whom being kindly received, they fared well, and so as to be the more enticed, laymen were taken up to the clerical state, clerics to the priesthood, priests, however undeserving, to honours and offices. Then many of these being placed in some monasteries, they composed a certain new kind of reformed life under the total power of the Conventual superiors. Again they preferred these to the Observants among the people, as they published that they lived religiously under legitimate prelates without any offence against the Rule, but that the others strayed from true obedience to superiors by the privileges of bulls. Finally the Conventuals more easily and freely went to the dwellings and companies of the Observants, by whose continual commerce and laxer custom the fervour of spirit grew softly lukewarm and the rigour of poverty gradually declined. Roused by these and other evils arising therefrom, Capistrano by a letter given to the Pontiff distinctly reviewed and worthily weighed everything, asking that he should meet such great troubles, the Eugenian bulls being restored in integrum to their strength. Soon to the Cardinal of Fermo, protector of the Order, openly hostile to the Observants, favourable to the Conventuals … he gave a letter somewhat more ardent in keeping with his zeal, and bolder in keeping with the authority by which he prevailed among all, casting up those things which he had committed against the religious institute.

[148] the saint seeks patronage among the Cardinals Wadding would have done a thing pleasing and useful to hagiographic erudition, if he had displayed the letter itself. For the rest, it does not seem that St. Capistrano greatly offended the Cardinal of Fermo: for the later letters that exist show well enough that the blessed man both won and retained great favour with the Cardinal. The Cardinal, moreover, commonly called of Fermo, from the bishopric of that name which he administered, was Domenico Capranica, a noble Roman: on the death of Cardinal Cesarini he was substituted in the protection of the Seraphic Order. Of this man speaks Mainardus of San Gimignano, biographer of St. Antoninus, who records among the friends of this saint, Dominic of Fermo above all, a man outstanding in virtue and great in charity, who left to posterity a celebrated name for sanctity and integrity Compare Act. SS. tom. I Maji, pag. 315 and 316.. The quite magnificent house which he had built for himself at Rome in the Colonna quarter, furnished with a rich library, he wished on his death to be a school for forming youths: from which then proceeded the Collegio Capranica, flourishing at Rome to this day Ciacc. Vitæ Pontt. et Cardd. tom. II, col. 859.. As regards St. Capistrano, Angelo, bishop of Ascoli, afterwards of Rieti and Cardinal, full brother of the Cardinal of Fermo, attests that he often and very often heard his brother of good memory relate these words, that he did not think he had seen another in the Religion of Blessed Francis in his times whom he would judge to be preferred to Br. John of Capistrano, either for sanctity and perfection of life, or for more effective ministration of the word of God. I omit, he says, his infinite praises, which it would be long and tedious to review, and above all superfluous especially before those who are far better aware than I of the grace and divine power conferred and poured out on the holy man. Whatever blemish, therefore, there was in the said letter, if we weigh the dignity of the Cardinal, this was effaced by the friendship of the Cardinal of Fermo and the great opinion of the sanctity of our John Hermann. Capistr. triumph. pag. 650..

[149] and the emperor, But not content with his own industry and that of his brothers, St. Capistrano wrote seriously and at length to the vicars of all the provinces, that they should meet so great a crisis of affairs, and employ princes as helpers. He himself certainly went to the emperor, and obtained from him a letter to Pope Nicholas, by which the impending danger might be averted. Here is the letter of the emperor Frederick, as Wadding reports it in his Annals Tom. XII, pag. 262.: To the Most Blessed Father etc. Pope Nicholas V. Most Blessed Father, our most reverend Lord, how praiseworthy is the new planting of the Friars Minor, who are named of the Observance of St. Francis, and how much fruit it has brought to the Christian religion, neither is hidden from your Beatitude, nor have your predecessors been ignorant of it. For since the works of this planting were most pleasing in the sight of the holy Apostolic See, your predecessors judged it fitting and necessary to fortify this fruitful vineyard, acceptable to God, with rampart and ditch, to surround it with hedges, and to guard it with every defence, lest the boar from the forest should be able to destroy it. The Roman Prelates were most attentive over this flock, and studied by all means to take care that ravening wolves should not enter the true sheepfolds of Francis, or lead sheep away from them. They gave, therefore, many privileges to this planting, they furnished apostolic letters full of wonderful protection and worthy favour. And since a great multitude of Brothers of the same Order, but not of the same life, who are called Conventuals, had declined not moderately from the institutes and true Rule of Blessed Francis the founder, yet wished to rule the whole Order, and to elect a minister from among themselves, who should rule the whole Religion at his nod; by the provident ordinance of your predecessors it was provided that to those brothers who were called of the Observance, and who followed the true road of their master, a vicar general should be granted, who should have the care of this devout family, and could not in any way be hindered by the command of the Conventual Brothers. It pleased also your predecessor of holy memory Eugene IV to interpose a decree that none of the Observant Brothers could migrate to the Conventuals, an anathema being promulgated against those who should presume to attempt this. This new planting, therefore, has been peaceful down to these times, agitated by no whirlwind of seditions, it has served God in charity unfeigned.

[150] who to the Pontiff It has extended its branches into all the earth, it has brought manifold sheaves to the threshing-floor of the Lord; much was this holy family enlarged under St. Bernardine of Siena, whom your Beatitude has enrolled in the heavenly orders of the Saints; much too has it grown and advanced under the venerable father of most pure life and excellent preacher Br. John of Capistrano. We omit what is done in Italy, and what in the other regions by the Brothers of this planting, who we do not doubt teach the way of God in truth everywhere. In this our Germany certainly Br. John himself and those who follow him have brought more usefulness than can be set out in our letter: for since this man of God preaches assiduously, thunders against vices, extols virtues, and calls all mortals to penance; and since there is nothing which could be reproved in either his sermons or his acts, and all his works are worthy of praise; we could not easily say in how great favour and devotion both of the peoples and of the princes of our nation this family is held, whose subjects we notice daily increasing and whose works of piety growing. But we have lately heard that Your Holiness, at the instigation of the Conventuals of the said Order, has suspended the aforesaid decree or bull of Eugene and its effect, and has granted to the same general some other privileges, which seem to bring back and draw the Observant Brothers to the obedience of the Conventuals. We believe for our part that Your Holiness turns whatever it does to the advantage of the commonwealth, and does not bring forth the conception of its mind without great counsel and mature deliberation: yet this, at the urging of the said Conventuals, is said to have been done by Your Holiness concerning the decree of Eugene. It seems most grievous and insupportable, as we understand, to the Brothers of the Observance, and it utterly ruins that family, nor is it believed possible that it can last, unless Your Holiness changes its counsel, and decrees that those things established by the provident meditation of your predecessors have their course, and cherishes its sons, and guards them with apostolic fortification. Considering therefore that it is unworthy that those who lead their life for the Rule taken up and sworn, and decline neither to the right nor to the left, should be subjected and compelled to obey those who have gone far from the limits of the life which they have professed. Affected also toward this new and salutary planting, whose progress and increase we greatly desire, and whose ruin we fear as most damaging to the Christian people, we strenuously entreat * Your Holiness, and supplicate it with sincere and most ardent affection, that, restoring the decree of Eugene to its former validity, and confirming any privileges and indults whatsoever of the Brothers called of the Observance, you may deign to provide and timely take thought for the indemnity and stability of their Rule and family. This will be for us as a singular and most ample gift, and Your Holiness will be commended equally among all peoples, as having taken into its protection and guardianship a fruitful family, acceptable to God. Given from Wiener Neustadt on 10 January 1455.

[151] and he writes to the Cardinal of Fermo; To the letter to the Pontiff the emperor added another letter to the Cardinal of Fermo, protector of the Order of Minors, that he too should provide for the safety of the Observants Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 264.: To the Most Reverend Father etc. Cardinal of Fermo etc. Most reverend father and our most dear friend. We are writing to our Most Holy Lord the Pope on a certain business concerning the Brothers of St. Francis who are named of the Observance: for we have understood that a certain bull of Pope Eugene IV of happy memory, granted in favour of the said Brothers, has lately been either revoked or suspended by the Apostolic See. Which thing brings much harm to the aforesaid Brothers, and seems utterly to scatter their family. Since moreover your Most Reverend Paternity, as we have heard, is the protector of the whole Order of Friars Minor, and it pertains especially to it to think of its happy state and useful progress, we have resolved and

to write to your worthiness on the same matter. We ask therefore and attentively request that you be willing to promote our writing before our Most Holy Lord, to hold this family of the Observance as commended, to cherish its privileges and to assist it with every effort; since there is nothing that comes forth from its works except what is fruitful and salutary for the Christian people. In this your Reverend Paternity will do us a most singular pleasure, and a thing most pleasing to God and useful and acceptable to the Christian people. Given from Wiener Neustadt on 10 January 1455. In order that his authority might stand behind these petitions, the emperor gave in mandate to Henry Senfleben, his orator before the Pontiff, to deal sedulously with Juan Carvajal the Spaniard, called from the title of his church Cardinal deacon of Sant'Angelo, and to communicate with him the imperial letter given to the Pontiff.

[152] Æneas Sylvius the saint At the same time Æneas Sylvius, who as bishop of Siena was carrying out a legation for the Pontiff to the emperor, most urgently patronized the cause of the Observants, and gave a letter to the Cardinal of Fermo, protector of the Order, so honourable both to St. Capistrano and to his whole family that they deservedly claim their place in this Commentary. They are of the following tenor Wadding. Annal. tom. XII, pag. 264.: Most Reverend Father and my most revered Lord, after humble commendation. Although with the emperor writing and commending the affairs of the Brothers of Blessed Francis of the Observance, it would have been more modest for me to keep silent; yet because, in memory of St. Bernardine, my countryman, I am singularly attached to this family, I cannot restrain myself; I am compelled to assist the holy family, nor can I deny my patronage to those who help not only me, but all the faithful of Christ by their prayers and pious works. Would that there were in me an abundance of aid, and that my patronage could do something, truly I would deny nothing to these servants of God; for although I am myself a sinner and surrounded by iniquity, yet I love those whose chaste and clean life I see; for the less of virtue there is in me, the more attentively I ought to help those whose uprightness is in the open, so that if I cannot please God by my acts, I may at least be rendered acceptable by their commendations. For just as fearful and faint-hearted soldiers in secular battle are saved by the valour of brave men, so too in the little boat of Blessed Peter prudent and courageous sailors preserve the senseless and sluggish rowers. This is done by the Religion of Blessed Francis, which is held among the Observants: for this, like a most choice band of soldiers, patrols the army of Christians on all sides: it protects now this, now that part, it wards off ambushes, it breaks the assault of the enemies; ever armed, ever on watch, ever in business, that it may bring forth leisure for us.

[153] by letters given We know how much this Religion profited the Catholic Church under Bernardine of Siena, now of the court of the heavenly Jerusalem, and how much usefulness it has now brought under Br. John of Capistrano. And what else does this Religion do than what we know the Gospel to command? It tears thorns and thistles out of the Lord's field, sows good seed, cuts off tares and darnel with the hoe of truth; it exterminates avarice, drives away lusts, thunders against enticements, strangles pleasures, puts ambitions and hatreds to flight, applies the goad to sloth and sluggishness; and opening its mouth in the Church every day, it urges penance, and teaches the way of the Lord in truth. These are the works of the Brothers who are named of the Observance. I do not know to whom these things would not be pleasing. I believe that to all members not utterly cut off from the Church their way of life is pleasing; nor have I any doubt that the holy Apostolic See is attached to these soldiers of Christ; for also the Roman prelates have conferred very many privileges on this family, by which it might persevere unharmed by the assaults of enemies. But I hear that in the latest days something has been suggested to our Most Blessed Father, Pope Nicholas V, against this sacred and holy congregation: for it is reported that His Holiness has either revoked or suspended the letters of Eugene his predecessor, which issued in favour of these Brothers of the Observance; which he would by no means have done, unless, as they say, he had been sinisterly instructed concerning the way of life of these Brothers. A pernicious thing is a deceitful and crafty tongue, and it often brings much harm in the common good: but great is the force of truth, which against all snares easily emerges of itself. The life of these Brothers is in the open: a city set upon a mountain cannot be hidden; this family is as a burning lamp upon a lampstand, which irradiates with wondrous splendour the house of the Lord, that is, the Church. The prince of this world has now come against it, and has nothing in it; the house is founded upon firm rock, there is no reason why the north winds should prevail against it. But although it is believed to be sustained by the hand of the heavenly emperor and does not fear the serpent's wiles, it nevertheless desires to be fortified by the aid of him who holds the place of the great God on earth; for even if the house itself cannot be torn down, if the little boat of Blessed Francis cannot be sunk, yet some of the dwellers or of the sailors can be endangered, nor is it altogether safe, unless it is fortified by the protection of the Apostolic See.

[154] he confirms in his purpose: It is not mine to judge of the lofty judgment of the sacred senate, or to say anything about the first see, whose works no one of mortals on earth can judge. Yet I should not think that I err if before your worthiness I open the secret of my mind, and make plain to your wisdom what I believe expedient: for I remember that I swore I would do this also, when I was initiated into the sacred pontificals. I, to speak openly with your worthiness, vehemently fear lest this novelty breed scandal, if Brothers of the Observance are permitted to migrate to the Conventuals: for first of all I do not understand this to be lawful: "Vow and pay" we know to be written, the things which those of sound mind and of age promise are to be kept. The gate which leads to destruction is to be closed, that which shows life to be opened. There are moreover, as fame has it, above twenty thousand Brothers who are called of the Observance; all Christendom is full of them: it is no light thing to offend so great a multitude, it is incautious to contend with them. And if it be said that the Conventuals are much more numerous, and that their doctrine seems more penetrating, and that their preachings too are heard in all cities: I am not moved at all; a discourse to which the life is contrary profits little, nor does knowledge without wisdom profit. We see the monasteries of the Conventuals dwindling and falling, those of the Observants increase and flourish; the ears of princes lie open to them, nor do pontiffs or other prelates oppose them. For the rights of parish churches are in no way injured by them, they are a support to the pievani, not a burden: but the Conventuals now covet offertories, now contend about the right of burial; for which things the Observants are more acceptable to all the people than the Conventuals. I am silent about the unlike life, which is designated by the very name. To me truly it does not seem that the Roman Pontiff ought to sadden this family. And since your worthiness has taken upon himself the protection of the Order of Minors, I have presumed to write these things to you. You will understand from the emperor's letter his mind: I think it useful to provide. Br. John is a man of God: the peoples of Germany hold him as a prophet; he could, when he wished, by raising a finger make a great tumult. I perceive from those who are with him that what is reported about the bull of Eugene is hard for him. But the wise man feigns hope with his countenance; he presses down deep grief in his heart; although I know that his constancy is immovable, and that there is no fear that his tongue, which has ever proclaimed the dignity and eminence of the Apostolic See, will go back. It is fitting however for the providence of the supreme Pontiff to do good to those and console them who have deserved well of the Roman Church. That such is this father John with his Brothers, no one of sense will deny. I should wish to have said these things by your good leave: may your worthiness receive in the better part what I say with free voice, and hold me commended in its accustomed way. From Wiener Neustadt, on 10 January 1455.

[155] Nicholas having died, his successor Calixtus III But all these cares and industries for preserving safe and sound the institute of the Observants lacked their effect. For these letters had scarcely reached Rome, when Pope Nicholas V died on 24 March 1455. His successor Calixtus III was elected on 8 April following. His assumption being heard of, once foretold by St. Vincent Ferrer Act. SS. tom. I April., pag. 499, St. Capistrano from Judenburg gave a letter of congratulation to the Pontiff on the Kalends of May, in which he incites his zeal for bravely conducting the war against the Turks, and commends to him strenuously and with what efficacy he can the Religion of the Seraphic patriarch Francis, most of all the Brothers who are named of the Observance Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 246 and following.. To which the Pontiff replies by a brief, given under the ring of the Fisherman, on 20 July 1455, that it would be most pleasing to him to see Capistrano in person, nevertheless considering, he says Ibid. pag. 248., what salutary fruits God will be able to work through you in those places, and that it greatly conduces to our intention of preparing an expedition against the Turks, to which we attend with unwearied zeal, that you be there, and fervently continue the work begun, we therefore exhort your devotion, beloved son, and by the present letter mandate you in virtue of holy obedience, that until you shall have another mandate from us, you by no means depart from that illustrious kingdom of Hungary (to which, the war against the Turks being promulgated by Calixtus, he had betaken himself Ibid. pag. 245.) and the places next to the infidels, where you can be more useful, but by admonishing, preaching and exhorting both prelates and secular princes and the barons of the aforesaid kingdom, and those peoples devoted to St. Peter, you work privately and publicly, by the grace given you from heaven, all things which you judge conduce to the preservation of the Christian faith and the overthrow of the infidels. In like manner the Pontiff directed another letter to Capistrano, on the eighth before the ides of December of the same year, in which he confirms and renews the faculties once granted by his predecessors: also those which pertained to the propagation of the family of the Observants Ibid. pag. 251..

[156] At the same time, however, Pope Calixtus was applying himself to this, that he should at last settle the controversies for the conventuals the question continually stirred up between the Conventuals and the Observants. Wherefore on 29 July 1455 he gave a letter to Baptista of Levanto, Cismontane Vicar general of the Observants, in which he mandated that he with the vicars of the Cismontane provinces and other suitable Brothers should convene at a chapter in the convent of St. Francis in the city of Assisi, and there together with the minister general of the Order and other Conventuals called for this purpose should treat of the peace and concord of the whole Order Ibid. pag. 267.. Some months after, Calixtus gave a bull on the sixteenth before the kalends of November (17 October) to the prelates and other Conventuals, in which he commands them that, all favour, fear and other passions of the mind being put far away, they should seriously deliberate with the Observants

about restoring the purity of the Rule and renewing concord Ibid. pag. 268.. To this assembly, which seemed decisive, Baptista of Levanto had called our Capistrano, so that he might personally set a timely bar against such great evils impending over the Observants; for by reason of the very great authority by which he prevailed among all, the saint was hoped to find some remedy. But he replied that the public affairs of Christendom prevailed over the controversies of a particular institute: for he was then wholly engaged in enrolling an army of crusaders against the common enemy of the Christian name: moreover that it was not open to him, heavy with years and broken by labours, to press by great journeys from furthest Hungary to Rome. Nevertheless he performed what he could for the preservation of the family of the Observants: for both he himself wrote a most humble letter to the Pontiff, and he took care that both the emperor himself and the prelates and nobles of Hungary should show their intercession on behalf of the Observants Ibid. pag. 281..

[157] he decides for a time. And St. Capistrano indeed on 23 September 1455 from the church of Csanád Ibid. l. c., which he calls the last of Christendom, inasmuch as it is distant at most fourteen miles from the most perfidious Turks, sent a letter; in which he says that he had received from the Brothers a letter full of griefs, tears and sobs, and of sighs and anguish, because at the sinister information of rivals His Holiness seemed inclined to make void the salutary decrees of the Observants, handed down and granted also by the common concord and consent of the general and provincial ministers, the cause being known. Nevertheless the saint will consider as decided by the Lord Jesus Christ whatever His Holiness shall resolve on these and on any other matters, confiding in the Pontiff's conscience and sanctity, justice and equity and fullness of power, that he intends to spread rather than diminish divine worship and the mysteries of the holy Catholic faith. To the Cardinal of Fermo Capistrano wrote more openly. At the beginning he took it ill that the most grave matter of concord among the religious committed to his care was being treated with him excluded, and that the arduous business had been entrusted to St. James of the March alone: whence the man, aware of the impending calamity, promoted concord the more sluggishly. Wherefore St. James professed that it was altogether among his wishes that he himself should carry through the business before the Pontiff, and should commend to the Pope the laws of peace and concord written by him Wadding. Annal. tom. XII, pag. 281.. St. Capistrano wrote therefore to the Cardinal of Fermo Ibid. pag. 283. that he could not be persuaded that, as long as the Cardinal lived, he would not interpose himself to the last breath for the defence and preservation and also the increase of the family of the Observance, as a true and sincere protector of the family. He asks too that he so take up the cause of the Observants before the Pontiff that the latter may not acquiesce in false suggestions. The vexed question Pope Calixtus at last somehow solved through his bull, dated the fourth before the nones of February 1455 Ibid. pag. 423., that is, 1456, since for Calixtus the year began from the following 25 March. St. Capistrano certainly obeyed, as he had professed, the pontifical mandate. Nevertheless even when dying he cherished the hope that at some time the Calixtine constitution would be revoked: this is witnessed for us by John of Tagliacozzo, who wrote commentaries on the saint's last illness and death, which we shall give below: for in them there is had in Wadding Tom. XII, pag. 399.: He foretold that our family, then observing the bull of Calixtus, would return to the Eugenian bulls. He foretold that the Hungarian Brothers would depart from the family solely on account of the bull of Calixtus: yet he praised the bull of Calixtus. It belongs to the general history of the Order to unfold these things more widely: let it suffice to have indicated that the truth of St. Capistrano's prophecy was proved by the outcome.

* exoramus?

§ XIV. Of the cult of the most holy Name of Jesus, propagated by St. Bernardine of Siena, and vindicated from calumnies by St. John of Capistrano; of the procuring of the canonization of the same St. Bernardine.

The cult, to the Most Holy Name of Jesus Among the other advantages which St. John of Capistrano procured for the new family of the Observants, no last place is claimed by the defence he undertook of St. Bernardine, rashly accused, and by the canonization procured after his death and the promotion of his cult. Namely, as Wadding says under the year 1427 Ann. tom. X, pag. 113., Bernardine of Siena, acting as guardian of Fiesole, at Florence first, to put to flight various corruptions of oaths and irreverence toward the most holy name of Jesus Christ, and to imprint it more firmly in hearts, with what zeal and effort of speech he could began to celebrate its praises, and to stir up the peoples to the veneration of the divine word. Then, running through other cities, in this year (1427) he held the Lenten sermons at Viterbo, and toward the end of the sermons, as he had also done elsewhere, he set out reverently and religiously for the people to behold a tablet, on which was painted in golden letters the most sacred name of Jesus, surrounded on every side by the rays of the sun, and the people on bended knees most devoutly adored it. Of the cult of the most holy Name, renewed by St. Bernardine, St. Antoninus writes in these words, which I cite from Amandus Hermann Capistr. triumph. pag. 91.: At that time there was a certain man of the Order of Minors, Br. Bernardine by name, of Siena by nation, an excellent preacher of venerable life and renowned fame. Daily after the celebration of Masses he preached to the peoples, running through the cities and towns of Tuscany and Lombardy and the duchy of Spoleto; and with such grace that he filled churches and squares with hearers, and offered to God very much fruit from the seed of the word scattered by him. He invented a certain honey-flowing method, as it is believed, with pious intention: namely that the honey-flowing name of Jesus, as if effaced, might grow warm in the hearts of the faithful. For, painted or carved on a great adorned tablet and shown to the people, he caused it to be adored. Although this seemed to the simple to bring devotion, the wise judged that it tended to idolatry, or at least to superstition; since the peoples venerated those letters more than what was signified by them, namely Jesus Christ.

[159] brought by St. Bernardine, Some preachers of the Order of Minors imitated him, carrying such tablets with that name in processions and putting them before the cross, which is customarily carried in front. Hence great contentions arose among the peoples, some commending the deed, others reproving it; since also Bernardine in preaching to the exaltation of that name brought forward some things which did not seem to rely on the truth. At last he was cited to the Roman curia on these matters. And Pope Martin, a solemn discussion of the matter and reason having first been had by masters and prelates, that invention being shown to be superstitious and dangerous, prohibited it to be done any further, or shown to the peoples in that way. Which mandate Bernardine, a son of obedience, humbly accepted and integrally observed. Since St. Antoninus in the cited text says that certain wiser persons scented in the veneration of the tablet distinguished by the name of Jesus idolatry or at least a certain superstition, this calumny must first of all be washed away. St. Bernardine himself certainly repels it, when in the sermon of the second day of the week after the sixth Sunday, or Palm Sunday, he says (I recite the words of the saint from Amedeo of Venice, his biographer) Vita di S. Bernardin. da Siena, pag. 324.: Believe therefore, O devout and faithful one, that every power of working well is included in the powerful name of Jesus, so much so that just as you adore Jesus in the flesh, so you ought to adore the name of Jesus: I do not say the carving or the colour, but the savour; not the sign, but the thing signified, because the name of Jesus signifies for you Saviour, Redeemer and Son of God. A little below, treating of the gifts which godparents were accustomed to slip into the swaddling-bands of the newly baptized, he exhorts them that in place of profane little gifts they should give gold or silver coins, marked with the name of Jesus: so that, he says, the little infant may bear it on him out of devotion, and not because it is of silver or gold, but on account of the power implanted in that name: and the child, coming to the days of discretion, may be able to grasp the devotion of the name of Jesus, and continually to be reminded of it in the manner of pictures representing to us the Blessed Virgin or other saints, which pictures are made only for the memory of those saints.

[160] is relative; According to the mind of St. Bernardine of Siena, therefore, the cult shown to the most holy name of Jesus was relative, in that it is honoured on account of him whom it recalls to memory, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Cornelius a Lapide, commenting on the words of St. Paul to the Philippians II, 10, At the name of Jesus let every knee bow, says: The name of Jesus can be venerated in two ways, just like any image. For it is itself as it were an image and representation of the thing named, or of the person who is signified by this name. The former way is if the mind is borne not to the name, but to Christ, represented by the name; and then Christ is properly and primarily venerated, just as the honour of an image, as image, is borne to the prototype. The latter, if we venerate the name itself in itself, yet on account of the relation it has to the thing named: for thus some honour is due to it. For a thing which is referred to the religious cult of anyone can also in some way itself be venerated, on account of that to which it is referred or which it represents. For thus we kiss the very images of Christ and of the saints, because they are their images. On which matter he adduces from canon law an example which bears wonderfully on our question, namely canon 2 de immunit. eccles. in 6 (III, 23), in which the ecumenical Second Council of Lyons, celebrated in the year 1274, prescribing that entry into churches be humble and devout, says: Those coming together there are to raise up with a display of special reverence that name which is above every name, than which no other under heaven has been given to men, in which those believing must be saved, namely the name of Jesus Christ, who will save his people from their sins, and what is written generally, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, each individually fulfilling in himself (especially while the sacred mysteries of the Mass are being performed), whenever that glorious name is recalled, let them bend the knees of their heart, which they are to testify at least by an inclination of the head.

[161] and it has its root But why, says Molanus De sacr. Imag. pag. 233. Edit. Lovan. 1771., among so many names of our Saviour is that one above the rest so held in honour, not only in painting and in the institution of a feast, but also when it is named? For when Jesus is named, we show an external sign of reverence by bending the knees or uncovering the head, but when God is named, nothing of the kind is done. The reason of this is that Jesus is the proper name of Christ, who worked our salvation and redemption, who freed us from eternal perdition and merited the grace of arriving at eternal life. For that benefit, therefore, which is by far the greatest among all which God has furnished us, we give thanks to God when we honour the name

of Jesus, because that name clearly sets that benefit before our eyes; since Jesus is nothing other than Saviour, as the Angel says (Matth. I, 21): "You shall call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins." Thus far Molanus. The Venerable Bede, commenting on the words of Luke II, 21, His name was called Jesus, which was called by the Angel before he was conceived in the womb, after giving the interpretation of this name, adds Migne, Patrol. tom. XCII, Oper. Bened. col. 338.: Of which most sacred name not only the etymology, but also the very number which it comprises in its letters breathes the mysteries of our perpetual salvation. He then shows that the Greek letters Ἰησοῦς make the number 888, or three eights, namely the simple, the tenfold, the hundredfold, or, as Bede himself shows, a number and thing rising on every side to the summit of perfection.

[162] in the remotest antiquity; Combinations of letters and numbers of this kind, however, are far older than the Venerable Bede, inasmuch as they are to be found among the primitive fathers. Certainly the Catholic Epistle which is everywhere attributed to the Apostle St. Barnabas, and which thus came forth in the first century, already presents such calculations. From the Greek sigla IH and T it tries to prove that the efficacy of circumcision is to be derived from faith in the Messiah to come, and that nothing profits without Christ. Learn therefore, it says Epist. Cathol. num. 9, pag. 28. Edit. Clerici., sons, about all things abundantly. Abraham, who first gave circumcision, looking forward in the spirit to the Son (read Jesus with the Oxford editors, Ménard, Davis etc.), circumcised, having received the teaching of three letters: for the Scripture narrates that Abraham circumcised of the men of his house ten and eight and three hundred. (Abraham indeed fought with CCCXVIII home-born servants against five kings, Genes. XIV, 14; but whether the same, none being taken away or added, were circumcised, the Scripture does not hand down.) What knowledge, then, was given to him in this? Learn: first, ten and eight; then three hundred. Now ten and eight are expressed by III, I ten, II eight; you have the name of Jesus; but because the cross in the figure of the letter T, which designates the number CCC, was to have grace, he therefore says also three hundred. He shows therefore Jesus in two letters and the cross in the third. He knows this who has placed in us the implanted gift of his doctrine. No one has received from me a more genuine word; but I know that you are worthy. To these three hundred and eighteen home-born servants the fathers frequently alluded, when they were building up the authority of the First Council of Nicaea, consisting of as many bishops. Read St. Ambrose in the Prologue to the books On the Faith to Gratian, num. 5 Migne, Patrol. tom. XVI, op. S. Ambros. col. 529.; St. Pope Liberius, in the letter to all the bishops Ibid. tom. VIII, Ep. Liber. col. 1384.; St. Hilary in the book On the Synods, num. 86 Ibid. tom. X, Hilarii oper. col. 538., etc.; Paschasius the Deacon in the Preface of the books On the Holy Spirit Ibid. tom. LXII, Pasch. oper. col. 9. etc. This number of the Nicene fathers was so common that the council of Nicaea was indicated by it without further circumlocution. Here is a sepulchral stone from Aringhi, book I, chapter 26 Rom. subterr. tom. I, pag. 89..

HIC REQUIESCIT IN PACE DOMNO BONUTA

QUÆ VIXIT ANNOS XXXX ET D. MENNA

QUI VIXIT AN … E(t) (h)ABEAT ANATHEMA

A JUDA SI QUIS ALTERUM (h)OMINE(m) SUPER

POSUER … ANATHEMA (h)ABEAS(t) DA (id est ab [Muratori. Antiq. med. ævi. Dissert. XXXII, tom. II, col. 989. Edit. Mediol. 1739.] TRICENTI(s)

DECEM ET OCTO PATRIARCHÆ (is) QUI CANONES

EXPOSUERUNT ET DA SANCTA (is) CHRISTI EUANGELIA.

[Here rests in peace Lady Bonuta, who lived 40 years, and Lord Menna, who lived … And let him have anathema from Judas, if anyone has placed another man above … let him have anathema from the three hundred and eighteen patriarchs who set forth the canons and from the holy Gospels of Christ.]

[163] as is evident from the most ancient Fathers; After the apostolic fathers, among whom we deservedly number St. Barnabas, there occurs to be cited by us Clement of Alexandria, a writer of the 2nd century, who in book IV of the Stromata Clem. oper. pag. 656. Edit. Paris. 1641. seems in a way to have copied out the letter of Barnabas. Just as, then, in astronomy we have the example of Abraham, so also in arithmetic the same Abraham. For when he had heard that Lot had been led away captive, having numbered his three hundred home-born servants, he attacked the enemies and conquered a very great number of them. They say therefore that the type of the Lord's sign, as regards the figure, is the element that signifies three hundred (namely I, the figure of the cross, in Greek indicates three hundred). And that Ἰῶτα and Ἦτα signify the saving name. It is signified therefore that the household of Abraham and those joined to him, as regards salvation, because they fled to the sign and name of the Lord, also overcame those who were leading them away into captivity and the very many unbelieving nations who followed them. Compositions of letters of this kind could easily be multiplied; for those who use the Roman Breviary know how frequent among the Holy Fathers is the use of numerical combinations; indeed some are to be found who hold up this manner of arguing as insipid and childish. But to that kind of reasoning the Fathers were forced, even against their will; namely because Jews, heretics and certain philosophers abused it to subvert Christian truth. Wherefore Clement himself, just cited, before setting out the interpretation of the name of Jesus, treats of this combination of letters and numbers, frequent among the adversaries, and subjoins Clem. Oper. pag. 656. Edit. Paris. 1641.: For the things which those who spend their labour in heresies use wickedly and maliciously, he who is endowed with knowledge will use rightly. And from these machinations of the enemies is to be derived the use of combinations both of letters and of numbers.

[164] but in the 15th century It is moreover not the place here to show by more documents in how great veneration from the first centuries of the Church was this Most Sacred, as Bede puts it, name of Jesus, which the Doctors of the Church succeeding also pursued with the highest cult. But at the time when St. Bernardine of Siena began to proclaim the cult of the most holy name of Jesus to the peoples, and taught that honour should be shown to it, not only had the ardour of devotion cooled, but the very offices of ancient piety seemed obsolete. Indeed the saint's adversaries had come to the point of denying sacramental absolution to those who kept in their houses this glorious name, whether written or painted. Indeed when the Friars Minor were seeking their food from door to door according to their custom, the common rabble cried out: Out with Jesus Hermann. Capistr. pag. 91.. So too Poggio in a letter to Francesco Barbaro, a most learned Venetian knight, which Amedeo of Venice cites in the Life of St. Bernardine Pag. 223., praises Barbaro because in his writings he joins the name of Christ with the name of Jesus. Now at last, he says, I rejoice that you are a Christian, having left that Jesuity which you used to write at the head of your letters. I have noticed indeed that you have fallen away from the impudence of those who, clinging to the name of Jesus alone, were contriving a new sect of heresy, and were seeking glory in the amplifying of that name among the vulgar and rude common people, for whose gifts they pant. But you, as befits a man not only learned but wise, joining Jesus and Christ, do not disjoin words which cannot be separated. From these things it is evident enough that the veneration and invocation of the most holy name of Jesus was something unaccustomed, and so new, in the fifteenth century, and that some smelled something of error in that cult.

[165] it seems to have become obsolete: Which indeed ought deservedly to seem strange, since St. Bernard heaped such encomia on that name, specifically in Sermon XV on the Canticle Migne, Patrol. tom. CLXXXIV, col. 74.; and St. Bonaventure not only wrote a special little work on the Praise of the honey-flowing name of Jesus, but is said to have used its monogram as a family shield Prodrom. ad oper. omnia S. Bonavent. col. 748. Edit. Bassan. 1767.. Nevertheless, to forestall the jibes of the malicious, Martin V, as Sponde narrates in the Continuation of the Annals of Caesar Baronius at the year 1419, § V, ordered an image of the Crucified to be painted onto the picture of the name of Jesus: and hence is said to be derived the usage of placing a cross in the middle of the letter II, in this form . The praised Sponde, l. c., citing Sigonius, says that the origin of such pictures is to be derived from the counsel given to a certain craftsman, who complained before St. Bernardine that, the instruments of games and dice which he had been accustomed to paint being abolished, he no longer had whence to feed his family. He received this remedy from the holy man; namely that he should thereafter paint in a rayed circle the name of Jesus, according to the exemplar which St. Bernardine formed with his own hand. The matter fell out as wished, and, people flowing together from all sides to buy the image, the craftsman took in far greater money from it than from the cards and game-boards. Sigonius narrates the history truly in his commentary on the bishops of Bologna, book IV, under the year 1423 Sigonii oper. tom. III, col. 468. Edit. Mediol. 1733.: but by no means or word, contrary to what Sponde says, does he insinuate that this counsel of St. Bernardine gave origin to such pictures.

[166] the discourse runs out What has been said thus far, as also what is to be said below, would have been more fittingly placed in the Commentary on the Acts of St. Bernardine of Siena, since these things touch our saint John rather obliquely: but since most of them were omitted in the Bernardine commentary Act. SS. tom. V Maj., pag. 257.*. and its Appendix Ibid. tom. VII Maj., pag. 825., they come to be treated here; inasmuch as our saint stood forth as the principal vindicator of the doctrine and sanctity of his master, St. Bernardine of Siena. Wherefore, to show that St. Bernardine and his vindicator St. John of Capistrano drew forth nothing new, as if from their own store, it will not be idle to inquire into the sigla by which the name of Jesus was marked from the first times of the Church down to more recent centuries. Which labour indeed falls the more convenient for me in that I may sample documents from a work, hitherto in manuscript, of one of my colleagues. Moreover we have already seen above at num. 162 that the digram IH was employed from the first century of the Church, namely by St. Barnabas: and so in Mamachi there occurs this digram, marked on a ring-stone Orig. Christ. tom. III, pag. 23. Tab. II.. The siglum I, consisting of the first letter alone of the name of Jesus, is equal or at least nearly equal in antiquity. Of it Clement of Alexandria often treats: so in the Pædagogus, book II Pag. 165.: Does not, he says, the ten-stringed psaltery signify the Word Jesus, who is manifested by the element of the decad? And in book VI of the Stromata Pag. 687.: And in sum, the decalogue by the element Ἰῶτα signifies the blessed name, showing Jesus, who is the Word. Like things concerning the first element of the name of Jesus are brought forward by St. Epiphanius, Heresy L, nums. 1 and 3 Orig. Christ. tom. I, pag. 419 and following., and St. Methodius, bishop of Tyre, in

the Banquet of the Virgins, sermon VII Biblioth. Max. Patt. Lugdun. tom. III. pag. 688.. From these testimonies of the ancients it is manifest enough that the monogram I was formerly used for the name of God our Saviour: thus far however this monogram seems not to have been found apart from other signs; for what is marked in Aringhi on the garment of St. Marcellinus with the letter I has near it an H marked on the clothing of St. Pollio Rom. subterr. tom. I, pag. 229., so that it makes the digram IH: on the other hand it sometimes occurs with X, expressing the name of Christ, either separately I. X or crosswise . But the same monogram I is of most frequent use in words compounded of three manifold terms, namely ΙΧΘΥΣ, D. N. J. C. Of the sigla ΙΧΘΥΣ, the chrismon , the monogrammatic cross and similar things, although they pertain quite closely to our argument, we omit to speak, since recently Giovanni Battista de Rossi, a Roman archaeologist, has spoken of them with admirable erudition and care in volumes III and IV of the Spicilegium Solesmense and in the appendix to the dissertation of Carlo Vercellone on the Vatican Alexandrian Bibles.

[167] in various sigla There is also the digram IC, frequent enough on the coins of the Greeks, which however has not thus far been found before the times of Michael Rhangabe [Compare Du Cange. Fam. Byzant. tom. XV, Corp. Hist. Byz. tom. I, 108. Edit. Venet.]. Whence there arose among scholars the question whether the trigram IHC or ΙΗΣ is older, or the digram IC. That the digram first arose in the Middle Ages is contended by Alessio Pellicia De Christ. Eccles. Politia, tom. III. part. I, pag. 276. and Anton Binterim Denkwürd. tom. II, part. I, pag. 361.: because it is not older than Michael Rhangabe, while the trigram is found on earlier coins. Nevertheless in favour of the antiquity of the digram there seems to tell the custom of the Greeks of impressing on the bread to be consecrated an equilateral cross, above whose arms there is written on either side ĪC, XC, and beneath, on this side N, on that K; namely ΝιΚᾳ, Jesus Christ conquers. Which forms, since they pertain to the liturgy, are not easily changed, especially among Orientals, most retentive of their rites. For the rest, whoever desires to see more about this Seal, which the Greeks call Σφραγιδα, may go to Sirmond on the Azyme and the Leaven, Goar in the Euchologion of the Greeks, Renaudot in the Collection of Oriental Liturgies, Martène on the Ancient Rites of the Church, Claude de Vert in the Literal and Historical Explanation of the ceremonies of the Church. The siglum IC is used also by the Greco-Slavs, as is established from the pictures which Papebroch edited at the head of Volume I of May of the Acts of the Saints. All these things abundantly show that the digram ĪC, even if it did not come forth from the primitive Church, nevertheless has a quite remote antiquity.

[168] by which the Most Holy Name of Jesus But on coins the older use is that of the trigram ĪHC or ĪΗΣ, which is found already under Justinian II, who flourished at the beginning of the 8th century, and indeed under this form, by which we shall explain more recent trigrams, IhS CRIStUS REX REgNANtIUM Jesus Christ, King of those who reign [Fam. Byz. pag. 99. Edit. Venet. Compare Eckhel. Doctr. numar. Vet. tom. VII, part. II, pag. 228. Edit. Vienn. 1828.]; in which writing we see forms of letters mixed, both capital and small. The most ancient monument, at least known thus far, distinguished by this glorious trigram is an onyx from a ring, worked in quite rude fashion, on which Peter, walking upon the sea, is raised up by Christ, and it is inscribed with a double trigram, namely ĪHC and PĒT Aringhi. Rom. subterr. tom. II, pag. 244.: and the carving presents the history reported by St. Matthew XIV, 28. This moreover is to be remarked in the digram brought forward, that the line drawn over indicates a siglum, in that some letters are absent. And indeed I and H create no difficulty, inasmuch as they are the first two letters of the name of Jesus: but the sigma Σ, which is here written C according to the custom of the Greeks, can be either the middle or the last letter of ΙΗΣΟΥΣ. That the letter C designates the last element of the name becomes manifest from the fact that not rarely the last C is changed through the cases: so that in the genitive, dative and vocative IHV or IHY is written, in the accusative IHN. If certain persons had noticed this, they would not insipidly have made out of the glorious trigram the siglum IHS Jesus hominum Salvator and more shameful interpretations than these. The reason for changing the last element through the individual cases borrows its authority from ancient monuments: for in a marble Calendar of the 9th century found at Naples there is read at 25 December: NT (natalis) DNI NRI IhU XPI the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ Mai. Vet. Scriptt. Collect. tom. V, pag. 65. and just as it is easy to find the name of Christ in the siglum XPC carried through various cases, so the same happens in the name of Jesus.

[169] anciently From what we have said it is established that St. Bernardine, when he began to heap praises on the most holy name of Jesus, and to promote its veneration, brought nothing new into the Church of God. This only is to be remarked, that the saint fashioned his picture in gothic forms; whence also the Greek ἦτα presents the Latin letter h, whose longer shaft, being crossed, makes a cross, : but what is graver, of the Bernardine siglum, as far as the prints show [Hermann. Capistr. pag. 102 Amadens. Vit. di S. Bernardino in imagine ad caput libri et ad pag. 129, 172 et 179.], the first element is y; which I think proceeds from a badly understood siglum, already like an enigma in the ninth century, as is established from the letter of Amalarius of Metz to Jeremiah of Sens Migne, Patrol. tom. CV col. 1333., in which he inquires the reason why the name of Jesus is written with an aspiration; and it seems to him, since the Greeks write that name with these marks I. C. and read IHCΟΥC, that it ought to be written with I and II and C, or S, which we read Jhesus. Jeremiah replies, unravelling the Greek letters quite accurately, that one should write Jhesus, without however giving any reason for the aspiration Ibid. l. c.. Whence it is not strange that Amalarius had recourse to Jonas, probably bishop of Orléans, whom he asked by which marks figured below it seems more correct for the name of Jesus to be painted, ĪHC or ĪHS: and Jonas replies: Just as with X and P, Greek letters, and some other fitting Latin one the name of Christ is written, so with I and H, a fitting Latin one added, ĪHS is written Ibid. l. c.. By fitting Latin letter I take it to mean that which is declined or inflected through the various cases. The Society of Jesus has constantly retained and retains in the Seal of the Order the same trigram, which our predecessors displayed in the Commentary on the Acts of St. Ignatius the founder, under 31 July Act. SS. tom. VII Jul., pag. 532., under this form , which St. Ignatius employed.

[170] and more recently We have abundantly shown that St. Bernardine devised nothing new or unaccustomed when he ordered the most holy name of Jesus to be carved or painted, and taught that due honour should be shown to it. But because, says Wadding Annal. tom. X, pag. 114., the savage importunity of malicious men is never idle; but, stirred by a devouring envy, it prepares snares and ambushes for the innocent, many … heard him, that catching him in his speech, they might be able to build an accusation and bring it to the supreme Pontiff. They noted at length and calumniously collected certain encomia of the most holy name of Jesus, brought forward, they said, otherwise than the norm of the Catholic faith prescribes. Adding also false inventions and interpretations devised by themselves, and calling witnesses of their following, in this year (1427) with great ardour and deceitful arts they called him into peril of heresy before Pope Martin. He, stirred at this, at once summoned Bernardine from Viterbo to Rome, and the latter most promptly obeying the precept, his sermons being broken off, came to the City, yet with the people following in great numbers out of reverence for his doctrine. The Pontiff received him sharply, prostrate at his feet, and if indeed the matter stood as it had been narrated, said that it must be washed away with grave punishment, and as a rash preacher and master of a new heresy he forbade him sacred sermons and the setting out of the tablet, and ordered him not to leave the City, until by a serious inquiry into the matter it should be openly established what had been done. Meanwhile many learned men and masters of sacred theology, especially of the Order of Preachers and of the Hermits of St. Augustine, accurately inquired into all his books and sermons, which he had collected from the divine books, and a solemn sitting being set up, it was enjoined on the informers to convict him of the alleged heresy, on Bernardine to wash away the things imputed.

[171] was expressed; Some men of his institute came to the share, to help their fellow: but the standard-bearer of all was John of Capistrano, the disciple and companion of Bernardine, to whom the Brothers above the others commended this province. He was preaching at Naples, supremely dear to queen Joanna… Dismissing his sacred ministry, he went away to Aquila, to bring his papers and writings, where he caused the name of Jesus to be painted on a beautiful tablet in a most accurate form of characters and with a splendour of rays, and accompanied by many citizens of Aquila, he flew to Rome. At the gate of the City, the board being raised on a pole, he went before as standard-bearer, and a great multitude of strangers and Romans followed, singing and chanting praises to the most holy name: "than which nothing sweeter is sung, nothing more delightful is heard, nothing dearer is thought: for it is honey in the mouth, melody in the ear, jubilation in the heart, at whose light every cloud flees, and serenity returns." The standard therefore being unfurled and the column led, as a forerunner of victory he proceeded to the contest; and going through the middle of the City, the pious army growing on every side, he arrived at the Vatican on the very day of the appointed encounter. Moved by the piety of so great a people conspiring together, the Pontiff put off the sitting to another day, and gave Capistrano the faculty of speaking for Bernardine. The contest being entered upon in the basilica of the Prince of the Apostles, many persons cast up many things, and in various argumentations said that they were contrary to the sacred canons and Scriptures: but Bernardine responding to each one, and Capistrano learnedly declaiming on his behalf, the Pontiff well noticed that all that accusation was kindled up by hatred and envy; inasmuch as neither in words nor in writings was anything detected which deviated from the right rule. On the following day, therefore, he called him to himself and imparted a most abundant blessing, and gave ample licence for preaching the word of God freely on every side, and for displaying the most sweet name of Jesus to the peoples.

[172] whose cult was renewed But in order that his innocence might appear publicly in the City, where the grave ignominy had preceded, the Pontiff ordered that in honour of the most sacred name a public supplication of the whole clergy be made, a banner being raised on high, with the characters of this word painted: from which time it began to be affixed to the doors of churches, to the fronts and doorposts of houses, and veneration grew everywhere both toward the most sacred name and toward its most holy herald. It would have been pleasing to the reader to present even in compendium the disputation held before Pope Martin, from which we could have drawn the accusations against St. Bernardine and his

disciples: but the objections and the replies brought forward in the solemn disputation have thus far lain hidden: so that Amandus Hermann, to patch this gap of history somehow, composed by his own effort a dialogue between Capistrano and Antigenius, in which he reported what seemed to him to bear on the matter. Which things indeed must be omitted by us, seeking especially contemporary monuments. But in this the writers agree well enough, that the controversy was circumscribed within the charge of idolatry, of which we treated from Cornelius a Lapide above at num. 160 Barber. Vit. Ital. pag. 37.. We taught above at num. 65 that Pope Martin, to avert any suspicion, ordered that an image of the cross or of the crucified be painted onto the siglum. Nor moreover does it shrink from antiquity that St. Bernardine inscribed the siglum in a rayed circle; since besides other monuments, there exist coins on which both the siglum X under Gratian Du Cange. Fam Byz. pag. 44., and the cross in a crown, whether of oak or laurel, under Theodosius the Younger, have been engraved Ibid. pag. 52.: so that neither does this veneration, employed toward the divine name, smell of any novelty.

[173] by St. Bernardine; Although, moreover, after the doctrine of St. Bernardine had been approved and public honours had been decreed and bestowed on the most holy name of Jesus, the suit ought to have seemed settled, the adversaries did not however rest: but, Pope Martin having died, they contrived new machines under Eugene IV. For when in the year 1432, as Wadding reports Ann. tom. X, pag. 187., St. Bernardine had preached the word of God at Bologna and according to his custom had extolled the Most Holy name of Jesus with praises, the clergy and people placed honourably above the image of the principal altar the tablet received from the holy man. But Louis of Pisa, inquisitor of the faith, ordered the holy name to be erased, and lest the excellent work and ornament made by the people of Bologna be deformed, he ordered the image of Christ crucified to be substituted for the erased name of Jesus. That matter treated the inquisitor ill, since, his decree being abrogated, the Pontiff commanded that over the tablet of the crucified the deleted siglum be written again. The adversaries therefore sought out another art, namely they caused proceedings to be taken against St. Bernardine and his supporters through Michael, pievano of St. Adalbert of Prague, and the cause to be brought before Juan de Casanova, of the Order of Preachers, recently taken up to the cardinalate, so that, the Pontiff unaware, the suit might be settled without din and form of judgment. The matter proceeded prettily so far: but when the Pontiff learned of these things, by a letter given on the seventh before the ides of January 1432, he called the cause to himself Annal. tom. X, pag. 189.. Wherefore, St. Bernardine being heaped with the highest praises, he calls the cause to the casket of his breast, since, he says, it is among the greater ones: and he frees Bernardine himself from the citation, that he may attend to his salutary preachings and other divine services the more freely as he shall have been released from the aforesaid odious impugnments. Repulsed by Eugene, the adversaries had recourse to the Council of Basel, the schism being now made, and in it Labbe, tom. XIII, Conc. col. 1561., says Agostino Patrizi, canon of Siena, in the History of the Council of Basel, chapter 79, on the delation of Bartholomew of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine, there was treatment of the cult of the tablet of the name of Jesus, which Br. Bernardine of Siena, who was afterwards recorded among the saints, had introduced. The Cardinal of Arles asserting that Bernardine had abstained from such a cult after the prohibition of Pope Martin, the matter was left undiscussed and dismissed. But that the Cardinal of Arles falsely pretended a prohibition is manifest from what we have said.

[174] whom then to canonization he promoted Moreover that in this so tediously prolonged controversy St. Capistrano was a faithful fellow soldier to his master Bernardine is shown by his ardour after the death of Bernardine that he should be enrolled in the Catalogue of the Saints, and that his cult should thereafter be promoted everywhere. The biographers of St. Capistrano treat at length of his zeal in procuring the canonization of his master; so that it is superfluous here to hammer out the same things again. For six continuous years, that is from the year of St. Bernardine's death, 1444, to 1450, he laboured at the work. Christopher of Varese at num. 82 puts seven years as spent on this work, which I think is to be ascribed to the carelessness of copyists, since from 20 May 1444, on which St. Bernardine died, to the 24th of the same month 1450, on which he was canonized by solemn rite, only four days exceed six years, so that it cannot rightly be said that St. Capistrano's labour was prolonged even into the seventh year. And indeed that he was the principal promoter of the cause is established from documents, of which Salvatore Massonio has preserved for us one or two fragments Vit. ital. pag. 139.: thus it is read: In the year, indiction and pontificate as above, on Saturday, the 14th of the month of June, in the first cloister of the convent of Aracœli at Rome, the venerable and religious man Br. John of Capistrano, of the Order of Minors of the Observance, asserted promoter in the below-written cause of the inquisition of the life and miracles of Bernardine etc. The year of the drawing up of the instrument, and so also the indiction and pontificate, is drawn out from the fact that Saturday, falling on 14 June, requires the dominical letter E, which belongs to the year 1449 alone, since no other year between 1444 and 1450 is marked with this letter: and hence it is clear that one must read: in the year 1449, indiction XII, the third of the pontificate of Nicholas V.

[175] St. Capistrano strenuously. But the office of promoter did not indeed begin then; for in the praised Massonio Ibid. l. c. there is had a letter of a certain Leonardo of Siena, dated 8 May 1446, in which, being asked about the origin, life and morals of Bernardine before his entry into Religion, he transmits to St. Capistrano what he learned from very many very well-known companions, worthy of credit and coeval with the blessed man, about his birth, boyhood, adolescence and youth. In promoting this cause the holy man did not lack adversaries: for they had too greatly attacked the doctrine of St. Bernardine to suffer without opposition that he be set forth for the public cult of the faithful. Whence so many and such great obstacles were set against the cause of canonization that the matter sometimes seemed plainly hopeless; and when he sensed that the Pontiff himself was at times uncertain from the whisperings and censures of many, he offered that, himself and the body of St. Bernardine being thrown into the fire, a trial of the sanctity of his master be made by a new miracle: on this condition, however, that if the flame consumed both Capistrano himself and the body of St. Bernardine, this be attributed to his own sins, the sanctity of his master remaining unharmed. Pope Nicholas did not admit the condition, but dissolved in tears, he thereafter conceived a greater opinion of the sanctity of Capistrano himself Ibid. pag. 141.. At last the constancy of St. Capistrano conquered, with Alfonso, king of Aragon, also urging the matter, whose letter Wadding presents Annal. tom. XII, pag. 1., and other princes and the cities of Siena and Aquila, and in the jubilee year 1450, on the day of Pentecost, 24 May, three thousand eight hundred Minorites standing by, with solemn apparatus in the Vatican basilica, Nicholas V numbered St. Bernardine among the heavenly ones. St. Capistrano thereafter took care that very many churches be dedicated and altars erected under the invocation of his master: already above, treating of the zeal of our saint in enlarging the family of the Observants, we showed many churches erected by him in honour of St. Bernardine, and below in the course of this Commentary other examples will occur to us.

§ XV. St. John acts against the Fraticelli.

The sect of the Fraticelli, born in the 13th century To his merits toward his Order St. John of Capistrano added a crowning heap, when he allowed the foul sect of the Fraticelli to stand in no place, who, born in the 13th century, boasted before the ignorant common people that they were the true sons and pupils of St. Francis. For many, deceived by the external appearance, confused the Friars Minor with these charlatans; whence the disclosed turpitude and false doctrine of the Fraticelli redounded on the Order of Minors itself. Wherefore Wadding ascribes it to praise Annal. tom. VI, pag. 289. that Blessed John of Capistrano and Blessed James of the March, Minorites, apostolic inquisitors, wiped out the last remnants of the Fraticelli. This sect is thus described by Giovanni Battista Pigna, whom I copy from the continuation of the Annals of Baronius under the year 1317, § LVI: The stain of the Fraticelli, he says, was that of the Anabaptists, calling all things back to community, judging it quite worthy of Christian piety not to preside in government, not to manage property or to take up any civil offices. These, as far as the Annals of the people of Ferrara disclose, used to initiate into the sacred rites virgins, married women and choice widows in the manner of priests, with whom the prelates would couple without any distinction. The offspring first brought forth into the light (a wicked invention of unheard-of ferocity!) was at once, a gathering being assembled, thrown into the air, each throwing it away from himself, until it breathed out its last breath: into whose hands it came at the very moment of its fleeing little soul, he was consecrated pontiff. That the sect of the Fraticelli was widely propagated is shown moreover by the bull of John XXII, dated the fourteenth before the kalends of March of the year 1331, in Baronius, § IV, in which it is said that some of the profane multitude, who are commonly named Fraticelli, or Brothers of the poor life, or Bizochi, or Beghini, in parts of Italy, and also in the island of Sicily, in the county of Provence, in the cities, dioceses and provinces of Narbonne and Toulouse, and in other parts on this side of the sea, against the sacred canons have presumed the habit of a new Religion etc. For that reason the Pontiff under pain of excommunication prohibits such a state and habit.

[177] and in the 15th century widely But the decrees of the pontiff being spurned, the sect sprouted, and at once drove deeper roots. At the time when St. John of Capistrano began to pursue these heretics, they were raging especially in Picenum. St. James of the March set about refuting them not only by word, but also in writing, of which Wadding hands down to us some fragments [Annal. tom. XI, pag. 104. Compare Baluzii. Miscell. tom. II, pag. 595 and following. Edit. Luc. 1761.], which show what sort the Fraticelli were in the 15th century. First of all the saint reproaches them with the dissimulations of clothing by which they pretended to be now religious, now seculars. Of you, he says, some go about as hermits, some as professors of the Third Order of St. Francis, as just now went about Br. Matthew, your bishop, captured and detained in the curia of our Lord Pope Nicholas V. Others go about as seculars with caps and leggings, riding with lances; others carry keys and cheap wares for sale, others in the manner of pilgrims penetrate the houses of the simple and overturn the hearts of the inhabitants Compare bulla Joannis XXII ap. Wadding. Ann. tom. VI, pag. 289.. He then sets out how, pretending the strictest poverty, they nevertheless panted after the wealth of others. When twenty-four years ago I was preaching in the strongholds of Meliorata and Massalium, and they had been destroyed on account of your crime, I found that at your petition, William, noble of the stronghold of Meliorata, who bore himself as emperor of the Christians, and lord Raynald the heretic, a secular priest, who bore himself as Pope, had thirty-two hundreds of ducats at the requisition of these Fraticelli. And while Braccio

da Montone was plundering the people of Recanati, the aforesaid William bought from that plunder five hundred oxen. And when he was holding out the money: These, he said, are of the poor brothers of St. Francis; thinking and hoping that out of piety and commiseration he would remit the price. But, said Braccio, I will accept it for that reason, in order to make paupers of those who ought to possess nothing and who sell us the highest poverty. For they exported much money from Tuscany, scraping it from widows and silly women: and although they preach charity and contempt of money to others, through the twenty-four years in which I have been preaching to them and opposing them, I have not found that their shoemakers have given a pair of shoes, or the other craftsmen have bestowed anything on any poor person for the love of God.

[178] propagated especially through Italy. He reproaches them with schism from the Roman Church in these words: When our Most Holy Lord Pope Nicholas V in the year 1449 in the month of November had sent the venerable father Br. John of Capistrano and me, to bring back those heretical strongholds of Majoretum or Meliorata, Massalium, Podium and Merulum to the bosom of the Church, as we did bring them back; after they had abjured in our hands, we found these foolish and insane characters cast on the bell of the stronghold of Majoretum: "In the year of the Lord 1319, in the time of Brother Gabriel, bishop of Philadelphia, universal pastor, and minister general of the Friars Minor. Christ, Mary, Francis." Your Pope called himself by this name pastor of the church of Philadelphia, which you called the universal and last church of Christians. Of the vices of the Fraticelli he subjoins these things: I testify before God to the truth, which I have proved by much inquisition of so many years against your followers, that a huge cesspool of vices is found in you, and that in villages and towns, while men are engaged in cultivating the fields, your people work horrible things with their wives and daughters. To these things they added other crimes: The preachers, he says, who inveigh against you, you constantly contrive to remove from the midst. You sent five hundred ducats to certain persons, to kill Br. John of Capistrano; and two hundred others, to murder me at Majorata, one of whom revealed these things to Br. John of Ascoli, my confessor: another hundred and fifty gold pieces you gave to a certain man of Sant'Anatolia, to kill me while I was preaching in the city of Rieti; and led by penitence he came to Fabriano, and had absolution from the Lord Cardinal of Fermo, the supreme penitentiary, and from me. Truly by a special providence God has frequently freed me from the hands of your hirelings. Like doctrines infected other regions also: in the Miscellanea of Baluze we read a process instituted against William of Hildernissen and Giles Cantor by Cardinal Pierre d'Ailly, bishop of Cambrai, in the year 1411 Miscell. Bal. tom. II, pag. 289. Edit. Luc. 1761., in which the same errors occur, raging especially in the town, as it is said, of Brussels.

[179] which horrible Whoever runs through these and other monuments will perhaps wonder that one acted with such severity against the Fraticelli and those sharing their doctrine, that they were judged to need extirpating with fire and sword, and that monks, especially Friars Minor, were employed to exterminate the sect. But, since the Fraticelli everywhere falsely called themselves Friars Minor to the infamy of the whole Order, it is easily understood that it especially concerned the Minors to destroy that most pernicious sect: and whoever then weighs the doctrines scattered among the common people will easily perceive that the civil commonwealth no less than the ecclesiastical was being shaken by the tenets of those heretics, and that these especially looked to action. Whence it came about that the very foundations of human society were not only being weakened, but utterly destroyed. For what the Fraticelli taught, and what they themselves received from earlier heretics and handed down to those after them, presents the system which today we call Socialism and Communism, new names indeed, but ancient errors. A compendium of the doctrine of the Fraticelli is described for us by Thomas Cataneo, biographer of St. John of Capistrano, and he shades his description in such colours that one would think oneself reading a most recent writer, although the book was already printed in the year 1691. From the Italian idiom we render his words into Latin as accurately as we can Vita ital. pag. 40.

[180] he scattered As the 13th century was verging to its end, a certain Hermann, of uncertain homeland, commonly called the Italian, poor, but a friend of delights such as would scarcely befit a king, resolved not to confine the rest of his life within the limits of a sterile and empty desire, but by all industry and art to struggle up to what fortune had denied. Various plans being weighed and balanced with an equal scale, he understood that in the condition of his affairs no other remedy remained than dissimulation and hypocrisy, which is usually the instrument of the unwarlike, though at times employed by the more powerful, when they either fail in strength or fear infamy. Among the various arts of dissimulation he preferred that which would be the most difficult of all to investigate and detect, namely that which should be most like truth and goodness. Having assumed therefore the austere habit of a penitent, he struck up friendship with two kinds of men, with the wicked and the simple, the latter liable to deception, the former friendly to it. And attentively weighing the condition of these men, so discrepant from one another, he discovered between both a certain bond of relationship. For he said to the wicked that they would be damned not indeed on account of works, but on account of faith; for the acts of the senses, which the common people, terrified by a political rather than a Catholic law, called fornications and adulteries, were not sins, unless believed to be sins. That such deeds were not evil he persuaded his followers by teaching that these were works on every side conformable to the primary precept of God imposed not only on men but on all creatures, and so necessary, which no other law whatsoever, abrogating or restrictive, could remove: and that precept was: "Increase and multiply." This law is engraved on every creature, which is made fruitful by mutual love for perpetuating its species. Matrimony, moreover, as it is circumscribed within the straits of the laws, is nothing other than a certain supreme tyranny, tolerable so far by usage, but devoid of reason, brought in by kings and the more powerful so that, the poor being excluded, their sons alone should have the inheritance of their goods.

[181] concerning the very foundations of human society But it is a monstrous crime that some should usurp for themselves the earth, given to all the sons of Adam, others being driven out, both equal by nature and more outstanding in talent. Why then should not dominion be eliminated by election? And after one has held goods for some while, why should they not be conferred on another, so that in this way, in the course of time, the earthly substance, as if passed through the hands of all, all may enjoy it? Justice would be more holily preserved by all, each foreseeing that he would perhaps at some time be judged by him to whom he had done injury. And if matrimony was instituted for this, that a tyrannical domination should persist in one family; it is therefore contrary to the law of nature, and no less contrary, therefore, is the ownership of goods. If the earth is a good common to all, of which all ought to be sharers: why is there not a community of men and women? For God the Creator fitted woman to man, and man to woman, more than the earth to either sex. If then we are all lords of a cheap thing such as the earth is, and no one can rationally say, this field is mine, how can man ever say this of woman, or woman of man? It is manifest therefore that fornications, adulteries and things like these are not sins. By which reasoning moreover they themselves also believe, and by believing make themselves guilty by their error before God; whence they incur eternal penalties, and are tormented by the goads of conscience, by which pleasures otherwise licit grow bitter. Let them continue therefore in their manner of living, but let them beware of doubts, let them harden their minds against all the goads of conscience through true faith in God, who will at some time enlighten them and set them in the supreme quiet of mind.

[182] the foundations Hermann moreover admonished his followers not to be disturbed by what they saw and heard to the contrary. For first of all the nobles and rich spoke for their sons, for whom they scrape money together and heap estates on estates: then there are many who fear God, who secretly do what they can and as far as the civil laws allow, so as to fulfil the divine law and arrive at the golden liberty of mind and body, of which he had thus far spoken. Afterwards in a tearful voice and with an ascetical sound, so to speak, he said that he hoped to enrol a great number of pious men, whence at last the true Church of God would become visible upon the earth, which thus far had lain hidden for fear of persecutions: that he had many times begged for the divine light, and that now at last there was in him a fixed and settled plan, that, armed with the arm of Moses, he should rescue the chosen people from the servitude of so many Pharaohs. These things in summary that wicked man taught the wicked, and proved them by his examples, and he insinuated them also to the simpler: so that both the criminal and the rude drew one and the same consequence from such a doctrine, namely that under the Gospel law all things ought to be common, as in the nascent Church possessions and goods were placed in common. Then various consequences were born according to the condition of persons. For the criminal concluded: therefore we can go on doing what we have done thus far: and the simpler: therefore there can be done what has not been done thus far.

[183] errors. Since however a doctrine so opposed to the truth was received with difficulty, and Hermann's hearers, however much he said it, did not so suddenly grasp it as true and to be fulfilled in deed, he astutely subjoined that the community of goods was new not in reality, but in name: namely that it was nothing other than the doctrine of Christ and the Apostles about Gospel poverty; and in a manifold discourse he astutely exaggerated the perfection of the new law, as consisting in the sole renunciation of every kind of dominion and ownership: whence of its own accord there arose the doctrine of the community of all things. It remained that he should wipe away from the minds of his people the fear of civil laws and of princes: wherefore in the manner of all heretics, who, having shaken off the yoke of the Church, trample on earthly powers, he taught that among Christians the name of political power, whether it be a king or a commonwealth, was the offspring of paganism, under which one lorded it over many, and that the lot of the Christian faith would be wretched as long as abuse and corruption of this kind flourished. But he concluded that the time had now come for Gospel poverty, such as was handed down by God, to sound the trumpet and enrol as its soldiers all the nations of the world: that that plan would indeed suffer its difficulties in the beginning: but after the peoples had perceived the truth, and tasted the golden liberty of enjoying all things, the matter would turn out well without trouble. Meanwhile however let them press these divine dogmas down in silence, lest being divulged they should create danger for the church now in travail: and that God would in a short time furnish occasion for going forth in public and for singing of victory in open battle-line: meanwhile let them do in secret what they wished to be done publicly by all.

[184] together with St. James of the March From the year 1297, then, as Cataneo, cited thus far, has it Vit. ital. pag. 44., the foul plague had crept on, when Martin V, being informed that the Fraticelli were lurking in Picenum and scattering their false dogmas, ordered SS. John of Capistrano and James of the March to make inquiry into heretics of this kind, and to extirpate their sect. Apostolic,

he says Wadding. Ann. tom. X, pag. 101., the See ought most vigilantly to attend lest the ravening wolf, having a thousand arts of harming, should lead to the pit of perdition the innocent sheep, which it continually strives to deceive with exquisite fallacies; but that those astray, returning to the Lord's flock, may know the way of truth. Since therefore, as has become known to us with displeasure by the report worthy of credit of very many, in very many parts of the world a certain sect of heretics, namely the abominable Fraticelli, commonly named "della opinione", the sower of tares working, alas! has burst forth, vomiting out a pestilent venom, has deceived simple souls by ensnaring them with its gins and cloaked colours, under pretext of feigned sanctity, striving to send them to be consumed by eternal fire: we, desiring to meet with a salutary remedy this poison of nefarious heresy and pestilent stain, which we long with the utmost affection to have extinguished, and wishing salutarily to provide that a disease of this kind infecting may not grow further, but, the Lord cooperating, be plucked out by the root everywhere, and hoping that you (John Capistrano), whom, as we have learned by testimonies worthy of credit, the Most High has distinguished by constancy of faith, zeal for religion, purity of life and the merits of other manifold virtues, by the zeal of your prudence and solicitude will strive to extirpate a stain of this kind and to transplant fruitful branches of the orthodox faith. He then grants a most ample faculty of inquisitor, so that he can proceed not only against individual persons of whatever dignity, grade, order, condition or pre-eminence, but also against corporations, communities and municipalities in any parts of Italy; to which concessions he adds the power of subdelegating suitable men and of revoking the subdelegates. The bull was dated the sixth before the kalends of June, in the ninth year of the pontificate, or common year 1426.

[185] St. Capistrano appointed inquisitor A little later, that is, on the fifth before the ides of October, the Pontiff gave a like letter to St. James of the March; but the power of subdelegating was restricted, so that he could subdelegate only four companions, and these to be taken from the Order of Minors, without the faculty being given him of revoking them Ibid. pag. 103.. From which it may be conjectured that St. Capistrano was the principal inquisitor against the Fraticelli: especially since the ministry of St. James looked chiefly to preaching and to the absolution of those returning to the true faith. Some time after, namely in the year 1430, Giordano of Albano and Antonio of Porto, both Cardinal bishops, commissaries of the Pontiff against every kind of heretics, communicated their authority to our saint, supported by which he accomplished many things for the extirpation of the heresies then raging Ibid. pag. 166.. The Cardinals, first reviewing the bull of Martin V brought forward above, grant the faculty of inquiring, besides the Fraticelli, against heretics and others in any way straying from the Catholic faith, and that not only in the provinces of Rome, of the March of Ancona and of the duchy of Spoleto, but also through any other parts and climes of the world, wherever he should know such persons to be and stay. The mission against the Fraticelli was renewed by subsequent Pontiffs, up to Calixtus III, under whom St. Capistrano died: Eugene IV indeed in the year 1432 on the kalends of March Ibid. pag. 191., and Nicholas V in the year 1447, on the fifth before the nones of July Ibid. tom. XI, pag. 280., confirmed the letter of Martin their predecessor. It is not so clearly established of Calixtus III, who, recently taken up to the pontificate, Capistrano himself requesting that there be renewed for him the letters of Nicholas V which seemed more useful and necessary for divine worship Ibid. tom. XII, pag. 250., granted for three years most ample faculties of absolving from certain enormous sins and the privilege of occupying twenty convents in the parts of Austria, Bohemia and Moravia Ibid. pag. 251.. For the rest, by no word does he touch the office of inquisitor; whence it would seem quite doubtful that the saint exercised this under Pope Calixtus. But of this ministry carried out under the said Calixtus we have a most brilliant witness, Christopher of Varese, who at num. 35 says: The supreme Pontiffs, Martin V, Eugene IV, Nicholas V and Calixtus III, seeing him act so fervently and diligently in the cause of the faith and extirpate heretics, appointed him general inquisitor of heretics in the whole world, and furnished him with the privileges necessary for such an office.

[186] for the greatest part he extinguishes. Moreover how strenuously and fruitfully St. Capistrano sustained all the parts of a most grave office the praised Christopher explains in the number just cited: He performed, he says, skilfully the office enjoined on him: and although he pursued all heresies with the utmost effort, yet he pursued three principally flourishing in his times, namely the heresy of the Fraticelli de opinione, the heresy of the Bohemians and the heresy of the Greeks. There were in the time of John XXII, when he seemed to persecute the Order of Friars Minor, making certain constitutions against it, and revoking in some statements the decretal "Exiit, qui seminat" C. 3 de verb. signif. in 6 (v. 12)., placed in the sixth book of the Decretals, and derogating, as it seemed to them, from the highest poverty, certain Brothers who withdrew from the Church, saying that Pope John was a heretic, and therefore deprived of the papacy; and they began to lead many others to this opinion and to build some underground places… These, I say, Fraticelli he strongly persecuted: wherever he knew them to be staying, thither he hastened in haste. He destroyed many of their places in which they dwelt, put many to flight, converted many to the truth of the faith, and many obstinate persons, who refused to be converted, were burned with fire. And although some powerful persons were held by this heresy, he spared no one. Whence near Rome, he imprisoned without fear a certain great lady, who was of the house of Colonna, which house is most powerful, and compelled her to revoke her errors. On account of this they were also most hostile, and sought out all means by which they could deliver him to death; but the Lord, for whose truth he was fighting, ever stood by him, nor permitted him to be harmed in anything. On one occasion, when he had to walk through a certain solitary place, the heretics, understanding this, prepared an ambush for him. The servant of God, ignorant of this, perhaps so that it might be more free for him to pray, was going before his companions by a long space. The heretics, beholding him walking alone, yet not knowing who he was, approach him, and furiously demand where Br. John of Capistrano is. At which word, at first sight terrified, afterwards having full confidence in the Lord, choosing rather to die than to lie, in a loud voice, after the example of Christ, he answered: I am he. By whose power those ambushers were so astounded that they could do nothing against him. Meanwhile the companions, who had remained behind, came; and binding them they brought them to the nearest city, where they paid the due penalties for their evils. He did not cease, therefore, to persecute this pestilent sect, until few of them remained. And these very ones a few years after returned under Paul II to the unity of the Church [Raynaldi Ann. Ecc. ad an. 1467. § XV and Moroni. Dizion. ar. Di Erudiz. V°. Fratricelli. tom. XXVII, pag. 234.].

§ XVI. St. John discharges the office of preacher in various cities of Germany.

St. Capistrano preaches Already in the year 1442 Anton von Rotenhan, bishop of Bamberg, had invited St. John of Capistrano to instruct the people committed to him in the word of salvation. In order to allure his diocesans by the hope of spiritual gain, he set out an indulgence of 40 days for the hearers, by a letter given on the fourth day of the week after the Division of the Apostles, or after 15 July, on which it is celebrated: and so the letter was written on 22 July, since the Division of the Apostles itself, in that year, marked with the dominical letter D, fell on the fourth day of the week. The letter is of the following tenor Wadding. Ann. tom. XI, pag. 162.: Anton, by the grace of God and of the Apostolic See bishop of Bamberg. We have heard some time ago how the venerable in Christ and religious Br. John of Capistrano, of the Order of Friars Minor, is about to illumine our city and diocese of Bamberg, and proposes to sow the word of God there. Desiring therefore that the faithful of Christ may flow together to him the more gladly, for the sake of devotion, as they see themselves more abundantly refreshed by the gift of heavenly grace; to all our subjects of the Christian name, truly penitent and confessed, who shall be present at the sermons or preachings of the said brother and at his Masses in our city and diocese, confiding in the mercy of Almighty God, and in the authority and merits of his Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and also of SS. Kilian and George, Martyrs, Henry, Confessor, and Radegund *, Virgin, patrons of our church of Bamberg, for each occasion, by our ordinary authority, we mercifully relax in the Lord forty days of indulgences from the penances enjoined on them. In testimony of the foregoing our seal is appended to the present letter. Given at Bamberg, on the fourth day of the week after the Division of the Apostles, in the year 1442.

[188] at Bamberg; Giovanni Battista Barberi in the Life of St. Capistrano published in Italian Pag. 72. supposes that the saint preached at Bamberg at the time when, the visitation through the Ultramontane provinces being completed, he was preparing his return into Italy. But these things do not seem to cohere well enough with the chronotaxis. For in the month of July, verging to its end, Capistrano was expected at Bamberg, as the letter of bishop Anton just cited makes credible; but only at the beginning of September did Albert of Sarteano, vicar general, destine St. John as visitor to the provinces of Touraine, France, Burgundy, England and Ireland Ibid. pag. 159.: who indeed, if after such visitations, necessarily requiring a stay of at least several months, he came to preach at Bamberg, it is not understood for what reason bishop Anton anticipated the holy man's arrival by so many months, and indeed with danger of forgetfulness among his people. Wherefore, certain documents being lacking, we judge that St. Capistrano first went to Bamberg, before he girded himself to visit the Ultramontane provinces: in this way bishop Anton rightly convoked his people at nearly midsummer of the year 1442, and Albert of Sarteano gave the letter of visitation on the very kalends of September of the same year, which Eugene IV then confirmed and enlarged on the kalends of December of the said year 1442 Ibid. pag. 160.. And so the Bamberg preaching seems to have preceded the visitation of the Ultramontane provinces. Emilian Ussermann in his History of the bishopric of Bamberg says Episcopat. Bamberg. pag. 201. that he must be sparing in recounting the deeds of Anton, on account of the lack of documents, which were destroyed partly by the Bohemian and peasant tumults, partly by devouring flame. It would have been worth the trouble, however, to present the preaching of St. Capistrano made at the instance of the bishop, as an indication of the spiritual care which Anton spent on his people.

[189] he goes to the duke of Burgundy: At about the same time, in the year either 1442 or 1443, the holy man had a conversation with Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, in order to keep him in the obedience of Eugene IV (compare above num. 77). So great indeed was the fame of St. Capistrano that Philip's wife, whom he had taken in third marriage, Isabella of Portugal, could not be appeased, says Wadding Annal. tom. XI, pag. 97., unless he came by great journeys, and consoled her by his sight and prayed well for her infant son. It is not established for us in what place St. John

met duke Philip, whether in Italy or in France; whence it cannot be conjectured what place is to be designated for his conversation with Isabella of Portugal: if however Capistrano met duke Philip in Burgundy, I scarcely doubt that he went by great journeys, namely, as far as Belgium to Isabella; whose son he then prayed well for, namely Charles, afterwards called the Bold, who was born of Isabella on 10 November 1433 Anselm. Hist. Général. de la mais. de France, tom. I. pag. 245.; and so he was then nine or ten years old. It must be confessed, however, that this chronotaxis is not confirmed on every side: for since the fathers of Basel on 25 June 1439 had deposed Pope Eugene IV, and had substituted for him Amadeus, duke of Savoy, under the name of Felix V, his election being confirmed on 17 November of the same year Labbe, tom. XII Conc. col. 619 and 636., Eugene would seem to have sent Capistrano into France quite tardily to forestall the schismatics. But Pope Eugene had already acted before, both by letters and by legations, before this year: and since on the other side our saint was first destined as visitor of his Order into France in the year 1442, Eugene seems to have used this occasion to confirm princes and peoples in obedience toward the Apostolic See. Wherefore, although uncertain, we prefer to assign the French journey to the year 1442.

[190] he comes into Austria with some companions; At last in the year 1451 St. John of Capistrano left Italy, not to return. Namely, as Wadding teaches us Annal. tom. XII, pag. 78., the emperor Frederick (third of this name), having sent to Pope Nicholas legates to treat of the gravest affairs of the empire, begged that John of Capistrano be sent to him, a man equally learned and holy, whose fame, spread far and wide, inspired great hope that by his presence and counsel the various controversies of the princes could be more happily ended, and that by his doctrine and sanctity the orthodox faith could more easily be restored to the Bohemians and neighbouring provinces, in which the pernicious heresy of the Hussites was again sprouting with great force. Among the legates, the chief, Æneas Sylvius, a little before translated from the bishopric of Trieste to that of Siena, and afterwards raised to the cardinalate and the supreme pontificate, obtained this from the Pontiff, with the aid of Albert, duke of Austria, the emperor's brother, at the beginning of this year (1451). Bzovius refers the German journey of our saint to the year 1450, but wrongly: Christopher of Varese, the saint's biographer and companion on the journey, who recorded in order the deeds of the individual days, says at num. 115: In the year of the Lord 1451, after the feast of Easter he withdrew from the city of Venice, in which through the preceding Lent he had preached with the working of many prodigies. And he took with him twelve companions, namely seven priests and five laymen: namely Gabriel of Verona, afterwards Cardinal, Jerome of Milan, Nicholas of Fara, Peter of Sopron, Bernard of Modena, Valentine of Tuscany, presbyters; and as laymen, Bernard of Naples, Paul of Ferrara, John of Campli, Michael of Perugia, and John of Austria. These indeed Christopher himself enumerates at num. 116. Wadding differs somewhat from Christopher Ibid. pag. 80.: for he omits Valentine of Tuscany, who, hindered by illness, could not leave Italy, as Christopher himself, the seventh priest, reports. But to the lay brothers Wadding adds Ambrose of Aquila Ibid. l. c., and if we number him, St. Capistrano would then have had thirteen companions, not twelve, as he expressly notes. That this Ambrose was present at the death of St. Capistrano, however, we know from the letter of John of Tagliacozzo to be edited below Ibid. pag. 394.: whence Ambrose of Aquila may have arrived in Germany a little later.

[191] and his arrival is celebrated Æneas Sylvius in the History of the emperor Frederick III narrates Kollar. Analect. Vindobon. tom. II, col. 176. that the emperor's legates, when they had heard him (Capistrano) commended by the voices of very many, whom rumour asserted to be a learned man and a follower of the apostolic life, obtained a letter of Pope Nicholas to him, by which a journey into Austria is mandated to him: there, at the will of the emperor, he should reform the monasteries of the Minors that had strayed, and preach peace to the peoples and teach the way of life in truth. And a little below Ibid. col. 177.: During the same time (1451) John of Capistrano entered Germany by apostolic order, and came through Carinthia and Styria into Austria. Priests and peoples met him with relics of the saints, and received him as a legate of the Apostolic See, as a preacher of the truth, as some great prophet, as a messenger of God, and as if Peter or Paul or another of the Apostles were making his journey that way, all the dwellers of the mountains came down, ran to meet John, eagerly touched the fringes of his garments, brought the sick and ailing before his feet; of whom report had it that very many were restored to health. He stayed moreover in Wiener Neustadt (Wienerisch-Neustadt) for some days, preaching the way of the Lord, and calling all mortals to penance. Meanwhile a great fame of miracles filled Vienna: that there had arrived at Cæsarea (for so some call Neustadt) a holy man, an Apostle of God, who drives away diseases, who teaches the way of God in truth, who spurns money, flees honours, lives in abstinence. The peoples run together to him in tumult, nor do they think they will live so long as until they can behold the man: elders and leading men of the city are sent to him as legates, to bring him to Vienna. For they feared lest he should withdraw back into Italy, or set out into Hungary by another road, Vienna being passed over: which thing they considered in the place of a great loss and reproach to themselves.

[192] with the highest praises John, then, being invited, makes for Vienna. There arises such a commotion of the people on every side, such a running together, that no square capable of the multitude is found. Wherever he had passage, men and women make a rush, press one another, gaze on the man, send forth tears of joy and devotion, raise their hands to heaven, bless him who comes, praise him who sent, those near touch and kiss his garments; they look on him as sent from heaven and an Angel of God. He was received then among the Minors, Brothers of his Order, not of his life (that is, Conventuals). There food was supplied to him and his companions at public expense. Æneas then explains the manner of life which the saint held in Germany: but this we have already set out above at num. 52, so that it is not necessary to repeat it here. Then the praised writer subjoins Ibid. col. 179.: So the man led as it were a heavenly life on earth, immaculate, without filth, without sin: I would dare to say without sin, although some said that he was a man vainglorious and a boaster of himself, that he had received his reward from reports, seeking to please men rather than God. But they are unjust judges, who do not interpret hidden things for the better; when what lies open they see to be all good. Why should they calumniate the man who has lived a long life in poverty? Who has spent many years in teaching the people, persevering in abstinence, in labours, in humility, and matching his works to his words? Who has desired nothing of this world, who has been injurious to no one, but who has left himself to his worshippers according to this? Human praise would be a small reward for such great labours. He is a fool who on account of the petty rumours of men afflicts his body and defrauds his genius. I judge that a holy and just man, who has trampled on avarice, subdued lust, fled the honours of the world, who has set patience against injury and anger, who has shown himself zealous in cherishing the poor, who has displayed no tinder of pride, is held by the sole confidence of things to come, and awaits the repayment of the heavenly treasure, and says with Paul II Cor. I, 12: "This is our glory, the testimony of our conscience, and for the rest there is laid up for me a crown of justice, which the just judge will render to me in that day."

[193] Æneas Sylvius, afterwards Pope Pius II; The perpetual gladness of the man indicated this; whom no one saw sad, but ever of the same countenance, as antiquity relates of Socrates. For he knew that he was free of mortal fault, intent on good works, he was waiting to be dissolved and to be with Christ. But if he had been seeking the glory of the world, he would know that he was not acceptable to God; and he would often seem rather sad, driven by the goads of conscience. For those who pursue human praises, depending on another's judgment, often deceived, mourn: only the servants of God enjoy perpetual quiet and tranquillity of soul. Such I should by no means doubt John to be; whom we saw at Vienna, small in body, of old age, sixty-five years old, as he himself used to say: dry, withered, exhausted, put together of skin alone and sinews and bones, yet cheerful and strong in labour, preaching every day without intermission, discoursing on lofty and profound matters, satisfying learned and rude ears, soothing minds, impelling them to the pact he wished. To whose sermon twenty and thirty thousand men gathered daily: and they heard him with greater attention, although they did not understand, than the interpreter: since his custom was to pronounce the whole sermon in Latin words, then to give place for interpreting. But he, after he had erected a new monastery of his Order, set out into Moravia etc. These things we have brought forward from Æneas Sylvius, a contemporary and eyewitness, the more gladly in that thereby is more effectively refuted the judgment of the same Æneas and of others accusing St. Capistrano of vainglory, because, narrating the victory won at the fortress of Taurinum, he touched by no word on John Hunyadi, commander of the Christian army: whence not a few, among whom also the praised Æneas Sylvius, deduced that Capistrano therefore kept silent about Hunyadi so as to ascribe the honour of victory to himself alone. Which judgment indeed we shall refute more broadly when we write of this very victory.

[194] But at the time when Pope Nicholas was sending St. John of Capistrano off into Germany, the greatest calamities were impending over the Christian people, the Christian commonwealth being disturbed by wars, to be inflicted by the Mahometan Turks, who were threatening ruin to the Christian religion. In this very year 1451 Mehmed II, his father Murad having died, had girded on the sword of slaughter, and intended nothing less than to set up his stable, as he kept saying, in the principal church of St. Peter at the Vatican, and that his horses should find their manger on the high altar of the church. Already he was aiming next at the city of Constantinople. Roused by such great dangers, Pope Nicholas was striving to convoke the Christian princes, that, with united forces and common counsel, they might turn away so great a disaster from Christendom, and drive the perfidious enemy to the furthest shores. But this most wise counsel was first of all opposed by the continuing wars both of princes among themselves, and of peoples against princes: whence it happened that the peoples, in a way unarmed, offered themselves as easy prey to a most powerful enemy. There were then contending in Aquitaine the English with the French, in England the Scots with the English, the duke of Burgundy with the people of Ghent in Belgium. So much Christian blood was poured out by them that those who were slain in these battles could have overthrown the Turkish empire; for in one battle at Gavere twenty thousand and more of the people of Ghent were slain

Raynald. Continuat. Baronii ad an. 1453 § I.. Nor were matters more peaceful in Germany, nearest to the Turks; in Austria very many nobles were at variance with Frederick III Chron. Matth. Dôring. apud. Mencken. tom. III, col. 18.; the Hungarians and Bohemians were demanding back their king Ladislaus, an infant scarcely twelve years old, and threatening the emperor with war unless he were handed over Hist. Fred. III, ap. Kollar. Analect. Vindob. tom. II, col. 185 and 206.. From all of which it is easily understood why Pope Nicholas, in order to turn away the Turkish yoke from the Christian people, strove to reconcile princes and peoples among themselves, and chose for himself a man who, powerful in word and deed, could settle tangled controversies. For we said above at num. 190 that a twofold mission was entrusted to St. John of Capistrano, namely of ending the various controversies of the princes and of bringing back those astray to Catholic unity: the former charge he carried out especially through Germany; the latter in Moravia and Bohemia, infected by the errors of the Hussites.

[195] he announces the word of God in various cities. The primary care of St. Capistrano, however, was to repair the damage which the Catholic faith had suffered through heresy: wherefore he was thinking of hastening into Bohemia, as it were the citadel of the Hussites. But as the leading men of Bohemia hindered the saint's entry, he went around a great part of Germany and in very many cities preached the word of God according to his custom. He went around, says the Magdeburg Chronicle, of nearly the same time, in Meibom Rer. German. tom. II, pag. 362., through the land (of Germany), because he could not have safe-conduct to Bohemia, and he was at Erfurt, Naumburg, Halle; and to Magdeburg he came in the octave of St. Francis and was solemnly brought in by the archbishop and all the clergy and people, and he preached in the New Market in Latin, with an interpreter putting it into the vernacular for the people: and he caused dice to be burned publicly and many other instruments of vanity and illicit adornments of women, and he withdrew on the Sunday before St. Gall (16 October) toward Zerbst (Zerbst), Wittenberg, Leipzig, Meissen, Kamenz, Bautzen, Görlitz, Breslau, and everywhere he preached, and there was a running together of peoples everywhere, and with the relics of St. Bernard (rather Bernardine) he did miracles, placing them on the heads of the sick, a few only, and he entered Hungary. To these cities the monk of Pirna, in Mencken Scriptt. Rer. Germ. tom. II, col. 1518., adds Halberstadt and Augsburg. Like things are reported by Chronicles of the same times. But the Lutheran heresy being propagated through Germany, those men of this sect who have written cast in mention of St. Capistrano not without reproach. Let Achilles Gasser stand for all, in the Annals of Augsburg in the same Mencken: John Capistrano, an Italian Minorite, as crafty as he was most confident, when he could neither lead away nor convert the old Waldensians or the new Hussites to the bosom of the Roman See among our citizens, lest he should seem to have effected nothing worth the repentance, burned painted carts, dice-boxes, game-boards, dice, of which it is established that there were fifteen hundred, and playing cards, in the citadel of the episcopal palace, on a public pyre, with a more than theatrical gravity. What we have already said of St. Capistrano, and what we shall further say of his deeds, show well enough that the saint need not seek an empty solace to bring forth works not to be repented of, even apart from the reconciliation of the Hussites: both because he brought many thousands of the Hussites themselves back to unity, and because games of chance were inflicting a most grave ruin on both commonwealths, by whose extirpation accordingly St. Capistrano was providing for the honour, integrity and fortune of families. We think, therefore, that we shall do better by editing at this place the letter of Nicholas of Fara, in which he sets out with wonderful simplicity the manner of acting of his master Capistrano: we give it from Wadding in the following § Annal. tom. XII, pag. 84 and following..

* of Kunegund, spouse of St. Henry.

§ XVII. Br. Nicholas of Fara, an eyewitness, describes the German journey; the jibes of certain persons against the saint are discussed.

About to describe the German journey To the Reverend Fathers in Christ, Br. Louis of Siena, vicar, the guardians and other brothers of the province of Tuscany, Br. Nicholas of Fara of Capistrano, least of the Minors, says abundant greeting in the Lord. If you are well, it is good, we are all well. Your singular benevolence itself orders, most revered Fathers, that by my office I should inform you of the great, stupendous and wonderful things which our exalted God works daily through our holy senior; that you may know how rich the best God himself is toward all, how merciful, loving and clement, how most liberal and most munificent a bestower of the greatest gifts he is found to be in these latest days, not only among the Italians, but also among the Germans, Moldavians, Bohemians and Hungarians; how he adorns, decorates and illustrates first of all our Religion and every Christian religion with inexplicable miracles, signs and prodigies. This, indeed, although I do it gladly for the common gladness of all, yet because I seem to approach a great and very difficult matter, I cannot but fear; indeed, to confess the truth, I blush incredibly to embrace so great a majesty of the matter in a bare and slight speech. For the magnitude of this matter is so great that it seems to require not a letter, but a very great little book. When I often turn this over in my mind, I am more and more affected with trouble, and especially since I easily judge that it cannot be treated by me with any dignity of words, or with any splendour of eloquence: since there is in me no faculty of speech whatever, nor is the leisure afforded which the magnitude of the matter demands. Nevertheless since I have very often seen most learned men, speaking extempore, wander far from the ornament of words and of thoughts, I bear less troublesomely the unskilfulness of this letter, and my rusticity in speaking, the leisure which is not given, and the very magnitude of the matter will excuse it not a little.

[197] Nicholas excuses his rudeness; But why do I press on in many words? Does this so magnificent, so excellent, and so illustrious a work need the pomp of words, the aids of speech? Since no one doubts that it proceeded not humanly but divinely: for truly so great is its munificence and glory that even if it is unfolded in bare speech, its memory will ever be to be cherished and venerated both by those present and by posterity; for a deed is usually adorned with polished words when it is small in itself. But there is offered me a field of speaking not only most adorned, but most ample, so that it is more difficult to express the whole true matter than to add anything feigned to adorn my speech, so that it may seem more abundant, more brilliant and more illustrious. And lest the discourse be prolonged, I will begin to speak of the matter itself. I do not fear, best Fathers, if I should wish to recount to you all the magnificent deeds from the departure from Venice to the entry into Germany, that I shall have a longer discourse; but since I am persuaded that you already have your ears full of them, I shall turn my discourse not to those, but to the things which were done in Germany.

[198] he then sets out with what jubilation As we set out, Reverend Fathers, for these parts of Germany, so as to carry out certain apostolic admonitions, at once all the people were moved, and as if inflamed and taught by the Holy Spirit, embraced our holy senior with such honour that it is the opinion of all that none or few, having entered this homeland from Italy, have been received with greater honour or triumph. For the Lord our God has magnified him among the Germans, Moldavians, Bohemians and Hungarians by many miracles, signs and prodigies; and has so magnified him that he is now held, extolled and proclaimed by all with the highest veneration, no longer as a mortal man, but as a heavenly Angel. Indeed nearly all the peoples of the Germans, Bohemians, Moldavians and Hungarians run after him; and as if made mad by excessive devotion, they set out not only from two hundred and three hundred miles away, but even from four hundred and five hundred. Most adorned processions come to meet him, with crosses, relics, banners, lights, and most sweet hymns and canticles; bells and organs are sounded, the roads are adorned with herbs and most sweet flowers; and each one thinks himself blessed who can touch and kiss the fringe of his garment. What shall I say of the peoples flowing together from all sides to contemplate the common father himself, as a heavenly oracle: since sometimes we behold a hundred thousand, sometimes a hundred and fifty thousand men; to pass over that most sacred day of Corpus Christi, on which it is believed that beyond doubt there were in this illustrious city of Vienna three hundred thousand men? There are present also at the preaching sometimes sixty, sometimes eighty thousand, sometimes a hundred thousand: although if all could understand and hear, no field would be found which could hold them for the excessive throng and magnitude of men. What shall I say of the multitude of the sick, since sometimes three thousand, sometimes four thousand and five thousand are together waiting to be blessed by the Father himself, and to obtain the best health by his merits and intercession.

[199] everywhere by the whole people Very often all cry out to God almighty, invoke his mercy and clemency, implore his grace with such great, frequent and broken voices that not only tender, but even marble hearts would be softened. For they sometimes provoke the common Father to such incredible lament that he seems half-alive for the excessive flow of tears. Who could unfold the supreme devotion and faith of these peoples; since every place at which we stay is surrounded day and night by a copious multitude? For they do not fear hunger, nor thirst, nor having the cold ground for a bed: for their faith is so great that the common Father himself confesses that he has never found greater faith. They dare also to bring even the dead, to pass over in silence the others, affected also by various kinds of infirmities: for fervour and devotion do not diminish, but continually grow and increase. For never from the time of the Apostles to the present day has so great a commotion of peoples been heard of. This assertion is not only mine, but of all those who are far more learned than I, to whose knowledge I adhere very much, nay greatly praise and commend it. But whither am I going? I see, most revered Fathers, that I am led into a long discourse, if I should wish to weave all the deeds in series. But because almost no leisure is left, let us come to the sea of miracles, that we may understand how outstanding, how divine are the abundant fruits of our holy senior. Let us then unfold only the places where miracles were done, and the number of the miracles.

[200] especially on account of the miracles, Italy being left, best Fathers, with the highest glory and magnificence of God, and as we were passing through at Pontia, a very great village situated on the borders of Italy, a certain blind girl recovered her sight, a certain dumb and deaf man speech and hearing, a certain lame woman her walking. But with what praise shall I pursue the things done at Villach, where no one denies that more than thirty most excellent miracles were done within the number of two days? For there the blind see,

the lame walk, the deaf hear, and the dumb speak. This however is worthy of memory, that fourteen, carried in chairs, crippled in hands and feet, and altogether unable to move of themselves, went home on their own feet sound and unharmed, praising and magnifying God. What shall I say of the town of the lord bishop of Gurk, since no one doubts that twelve miracles were done there? Why should I speak of Friesach, Judenburg and some towns, in which the Lord showed many signs, none of which we were able to write down on account of the supreme throng of men and our hasty departure? Nor with less praise do there seem to need commemorating the sixty-four miracles done at Wiener Neustadt, within the number of eight days, where we found the most illustrious king of the Romans.

[201] on the road and at Vienna Besides all these things, this is to be celebrated with the highest praise, glory and magnificence, that within the number of twenty-eight days in which we have thus far been here at Vienna, two hundred miracles have already been done, as everyone has seen. Why should I speak of the second day of Pentecost, on which we beheld twenty sick persons going away sound and unharmed, the Father having preached on Pentecost Sunday? For on the same day, when no miracle had appeared, the common Father used these words: "Behold, I am all tired out, and nothing has been done today." And I replied: "Let no wonder hold you, Father, perhaps the Lord wished to test your patience." For we had all come into the highest wonder, because on account of the solemnity of the day we were hoping to see many signs, but he, rebuking our incredulity, spoke thus: "O men of little faith, what do you suspect? Tomorrow indeed you will see the glory and magnificence of the great God: do not doubt." O golden voice! O prophetic word, proceeding not from human conjecture, but from heaven! On the following day, as I have said, we saw with our eyes and handled with our hands twenty miracles, as he himself had foretold to us. Daily we see new miracles: I have already composed one little book of the miracles done. All Hungary to the borders of the Turks has been moved, to pass over all Germany, Bohemia and Moldavia; for a commotion of this kind is an unheard-of thing. So great is the stench, that were it not overcome by the wind, which continually reigns in this city, that I easily persuade myself that this illustrious city could not have avoided an epidemic, but by the continual wind all the stench is driven out. The number of the sick is now beyond telling, who flow together from all sides, as if they were setting out for a jubilee. For that two hundred miracles have been done in the space of twenty-eight days here at Vienna is no little thing, and there are already three hundred and twenty miracles which we have noted down with our hands in Germany: to pass over many which we could not write down.

[202] performed, It seems that there should by no means be silence about what God has wrought in confirmation of these miracles in these days. A certain baron, when he would in no way believe that these miracles were true, turned to his blind dog, and said: "Then will I believe the miracles that are reported, when this dog of mine shall obtain its sight." O wonderful and stupendous thing! Suddenly, these words being said, the eyes of the dog were opened, and he himself was made blind. A certain other detractor and unbeliever too, when he was speaking against these miracles, was seized by a grievous death. A certain other was killed by a dog; a certain other crushed by a cart, as they tried to repel these miracles: for these are signs of very great things to come. What then more magnificent? What more outstanding? What more wonderful? What more divine could be said, heard, understood and thought out? That great and stupendous things were done in Italy in a former time I do not deny; but if there be diligently considered so small a number of days in which these things were done, truly the magnitude of these miracles surpasses the others; and carries away for itself an illustrious and glorious name. Sing therefore, my most revered Fathers and Brothers, a new song, sing to the Lord all the earth, be joyful and exult, and with the Germans, Bohemians, Moldavians and Hungarians again and again sing and say: "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord," as they themselves say, when they come to meet him, and give immortal thanks to our best God, for our holy senior first of all, and pray unceasingly for all his companions.

[203] have been received: And because the common Father has been assured by divine revelation that he ought to set out toward Bohemia to extirpate those wicked heresies, by which very many are bound: on this account we shall soon direct our steps there: for he says that we shall shortly see things more wonderful and outstanding than have thus far been done. For he has resolved never to return to Italy, unless he is compelled by a precept of our most holy Lord Pope. Moreover I wish you to be informed of those things which our same Father has uttered in prophetic manner: "If any of the Brothers shall strive through apostolic letters that I return into Italy, they will not escape the judgment of God, if they hinder so great an honour of God and fruit of souls." Wherefore, my best Fathers, I greatly ask you to give no effort at all to his being compelled to return to Italy. Moreover many churches and chapels are being built in honour of our Holy Father Bernardine, whom the holy senior has so magnified and magnifies that it is wonderful to tell. All the glory of his miracles he attributes to St. Bernardine, for he wishes that all the props left behind by the sick who are healed be placed and hung around the circuit of the chapel of St. Bernardine. And I will add another thing: there is no religious body of Observants or Conventuals which does not desire to receive the Father's blessing. Many sick persons of the Observance of St. Dominic have wonderfully obtained health. Princes and barons, and other nobles, embrace the Father with no less devotion and veneration than the other sick. And that I may now make an end of speaking, if any errors have been made, Fathers, in keeping with your singular pursuits and most illustrious morals, most munificently forgive them. Do you meanwhile give care to the good health of body and, what is more outstanding, of soul, being surely ever mindful of me in your prayers; than which thing nothing more pleasing, nothing more delightful can befall me. Fare well in Christ Jesus and pray for me again. From the illustrious city of Vienna, 24 July 1451.

[204] the jibes of Matthias Döring Thus far Nicholas of Fara, biographer of the holy man and eyewitness of the things done by him. There were not lacking however even among the Minors those who gnawed at the fame of Capistrano and the glory of his miracles. Matthias Döring, provincial minister of Saxony, a Conventual Mencken. Scriptt. Rer. Germ. tom. III, in Præf. § I., a man of rather free talent and probably less friendly to the Observants, writes these things about our saint Ibid. col. 19.: Br. John of Capistrano, sent to the kingdom of Bohemia, at first indeed fervent for martyrdom, afterwards refused to enter unless he should have a safe-conduct. And John Rokycana the heresiarch asserted by writing and by preaching that he was a forerunner of antichrist. For he, going around Bohemia, preached through an interpreter, now in Austria, now Bavaria, now Saxony, Thuringia, Silesia, now Poland, now Moravia; ill content if anywhere he was not received with much tumult of procession. And however much he seemed to hold out contempt of the world with his, as it were religious, observances; yet they were accustomed to seek exquisite foods and better wines, to procure the applause of men and their running together, to send ahead proclaiming runners and to magnify the fringe from the many and great miracles done by the aforesaid Brother John. And he appeared so pretentious that he could not patiently bear a word contrary to himself. And in order to be seen before men, in profane places prepared for this in the market of the cities with much apparatus, where however there was a number of solemn churches and monasteries, he was accustomed to celebrate Masses, nor did he preach in any place except one much raised and adorned. He ordained also in the individual cities places in which the sick should gather … hour, whom he then visited: and if anyone crippled or lame, from confidence arising from the rumour of the foregoing, thought that he stood better, his companions compelled him to go forward, shouting and with great tumult provoking the people to shout "Jhesus": they took their staffs and props, hanging them in the church before the image of St. Bernardine. There was a report however that those thus cured, relapsing, for the most part asked for their staffs again. He received many into his family, and sought from lords and communities places for building monasteries, to be named of the Observance, to gather them in; and he obtained in the province of Saxony and in others a great disturbance.

[105] against St. Capistrano, And that these things were written invidiously no one will easily deny. There was then especially blazing up the most grievous contention between the Conventuals and the Observants; these labouring with every effort that the Rule of St. Francis be brought back to its primitive purity, those striving against it. Whence it was a tendency to interpret sinisterly whatever was done by either of the parties in dispute, and to hold as suspect whatever was proclaimed in praise of either. To the family of the Conventuals belonged Matthias Döring, and what he himself marks at the end of the text as a great disturbance of Saxony and of other provinces was nothing other than that St. Capistrano and his companions were striving to introduce a renewal of the whole Order, everywhere hated by the Conventuals. Moreover Matthias turns three things especially into a fault in our saint. First of all that, as if having before feigned a desire for martyrdom, he nevertheless afterwards shrank from the Bohemian journey, unless security by public letters, or safe-conduct, had been promised to him: secondly that he wished to be received in the cities with great apparatus, and to perform the sacred rites and preach with greater adornment: and finally that the healings which were everywhere narrated among his miracles were often fabulous. As regards the first, the accusation is false: for it is established from the letter of Rokycana, the pseudo-evangelist of the Bohemians, dated on the Saturday before the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, that is, 11 September 1451, that a conference was offered to St. Capistrano, to be held in one of three cities, at Moravian Trebonia, at Deutschbrod and at the monastery of Pellitz, and Rokycana adds Wadding. tom. XII, pag. 92.: Nor let any dread of peril rise in your heart; since I intend by the divine grace, supported also by the secular arm, to ordain faithfully the safest, indeed most sufficient safe-conducts for guarding your life. On 20 September St. Capistrano accepts the conference proposed, and at the same time gives thanks that Rokycana insinuates that he will ordain safe-conducts for guarding his life Ibid. pag. 93 and following.. Indeed when afterwards Krumlov had been designated for 28 October, Capistrano stood by in person, as is established from Christopher the biographer at num. 138: but, as we shall explain below, Rokycana did not appear. Then it was the error of the Montanists, as Baronius has it at the year 250, § XII and following, and of the Marcionites akin to them, to be so desirous of martyrdom as to offer themselves of their own accord to torments: and so St. Capistrano, although he burned with the desire of martyrdom, could not neglect those

aids of prudence which were offered either by adversaries or by his patrons: otherwise he would deservedly have incurred the mark of rashness.

[206] the Life of St. Bernard being alleged The second head of accusation brought forward by Döring is the apparatus and adornment with which the man of God was received by the people and heard when speaking. And truly, if the saint had sought popular honours by industry and art, he would not be free of fault: but if he accepted honours offered of their own accord, it is plainly not perceived in what he sinned. Döring's calumny, moreover, Æneas Sylvius refuted, cited above at num. 192; when he had said that some held him a vainglorious man and a boaster of himself, he subjoins: but they are unjust judges, who do not interpret hidden things for the better, when what lies open they see to be all good: and running out into praises of the saint, he attests among other things that he displayed no tinder of pride. And certainly of greater authority is the testimony of Sylvius, an eyewitness, nor attached to either Franciscan faction, than that of the Conventual Döring, who had learned the deeds of Capistrano at times from sinister hearsay. For the rest, the honours paid to the holy man are not new: we have at hand the Life of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, composed by Geoffrey, the saint's notary, which may be read in our Work under 20 August Act. SS. tom. IV, Aug., pag. 295 and following.: In it we see Ibid. pag. 306. that Matilda, queen of the English, showed St. Bernard such an affection of devotion that, as he came to Boulogne (on the sea), she ran to meet him on foot outside the city with the people, though herself pregnant and very heavy. Likewise too as the servant of Christ entered the city of the Treveri, the whole people rushed to meet him ACCORDING TO CUSTOM Ibid. pag. 314.. No one would say that St. Bernard provoked these runnings together by certain arts, when he has seen and read that the devotion of the peoples was rewarded by very many miracles. And this very thing may be wondered at in our Capistrano: so great is the likeness of life between St. Bernard and Capistrano that the one seems to bring aid and furnish an opportune response to the other.

[207] they are refuted Thus too we read that St. Bernard wished indeed to flee solemn receptions, but was rarely able to do so Ibid. pag. 339., and that at Cologne, in which city, to use the words of Döring, there was a number of solemn churches and monasteries, he held a sermon in the square, because the church could not sustain the capacity of the people Ibid. pag. 340.. The Life of St. Bernard presents also a multitude of those healed: for when in the territory of Auxerre a multitude of the fevered, as they were accustomed everywhere, were asking blessed bread from the man of God, a certain cleric Girard from the stronghold named Clamiceium (Clamecy, in the country of Nevers), ill-informed and sneering at the faith of the people, was blaspheming. But in the very words of blasphemy, seized by a most grievous fever, he was forced to follow the man of God as he went away as far as Auxerre, and doing penance before him, he obtained the very blessing he had detracted from. Such blessing being tasted restored health to so many that it could be comprehended by the knowledge of God alone, by whose power these things were done Ibid. pag. 311.. Many other things we could heap up from the biographers contemporary with St. Bernard and eyewitnesses of his deeds, which the reader will drink more purely at those very sources. We have sampled these things for this reason, that it may be established how great is the likeness between the two saints and so that what is cast up to the one redounds also on the other. For the rest, Döring finishes himself off by his own words: for even granting what he narrates on the report of fame, that those cured, relapsing, for the most part asked for their staffs again; yet it follows that some were restored to health, and so that St. Capistrano worked some miracles: now even one single miracle sufficed for the saint to establish credit for his doctrine: especially since he also gave sight to the blind, hearing and speech to the dumb, which prodigies are not impaired by staffs taken back again. But enough now of these things.

§ XVIII. The acts of St. John of Capistrano against the Hussites.

The errors of the Hussites are set out St. John of Capistrano had, as we have already said, a special mission from the Roman Pontiff to bring back to the unity of the Catholic faith the heretics who were then raging through Bohemia and the neighbouring regions and turning upside down sacred things and profane alike. The errors of the Bohemians or Hussites are touched in few words by the writer of the Chronicle of the abbots of Sagan in Silesia Stenzel. Scriptt. Rer. Silesiæ. tom. I, pag. 284.: There were, he says, these their principal errors: first, that clerics ought to live in poverty, like the apostles; which was not a little acceptable to laymen, especially the nobles; whence they rejoiced at the opportunity and occasion gained of despoiling clerics and monks of their possessions and goods. Secondly they taught that anyone could preach in the manner of the Apostles, saying that the word of God is not bound. Thirdly they said that anyone could accuse anyone of mortal sin, according to that saying of the Saviour: "If your brother sins against you" etc. Fourthly, concerning the communion of the common people under both species. Fifthly, they asserted communion under both species as of necessity for salvation, which however is proved by no sacred Scripture soundly understood. But because, as the Philosopher says in the first of the Philosophics, a small error in the beginning will be great in the end; from these errors above mentioned they fell into in a way innumerable others (from the depravity as branches coming forth from a trunk). For they denied that sacramental confession was of necessity for salvation: they denied purgatory after this life; and they said that the suffrages done for the dead are empty: likewise they denied indulgences: they said that all were simoniacs who according to the rite of the Church gave or received anything in the ministration of sacred things, or for the suffrages of souls: likewise they forbade giving offertories, tithes and oblations to presbyters: likewise they asserted that to honour the saints and to direct entreaties to them was idle and superstitious, since they could not help others: likewise they execrated the images of the saints, and said that no reverence should be shown to them, nor even to the relics of the saints.

[209] errors, Likewise that no care was to be had about solemnities in the Mass and the other Sacraments; but that in the Mass the consecration alone sufficed: likewise they asserted that God alone was to be obeyed: likewise that the authority of the Pope did not extend further than that of another presbyter: likewise that neither the Pope nor any other prelate was to be obeyed, if he was wicked: likewise they said that whoever could consecrate the body and blood could also administer the other sacraments and exercise episcopal works: likewise that the body and blood of Christ could be received meritoriously by the fasting and the non-fasting indifferently: likewise that to say the canonical hours was not necessary, nor did clerics sin by omitting them. Behold how great a forest a small spark burns. And because none of the kings of the kingdom of Bohemia from the beginning of this heresy to this day, namely the year 1489, has been one who did anything effective for the extirpation of errors of this kind, but rather, for the most part, this pestilent people had them as supporters and protectors, especially George of Poděbrady, who first in the time of Ladislaus was for a long time governor, after whose death he was elected and held as king by the Bohemians themselves, and greatly fostered, promoted and enlarged the same heresy, for that reason the men of that land and no less of the margravate of Moravia have fallen into infinite errors, so that each one too, deceived by whatever heresy or error, and depraved and driven out of other lands and kingdoms, freely places his seat in whatever city, town or village he prefers (a few cities excepted), no one inquiring of what sect or error he is, and holds and observes his own without the contradiction of anyone. Unless we had it from the Chronicle itself that these things were written in the year 1489, and so almost thirty years before Luther, we should easily believe that most of it was drawn from the Lutheran store, and that the author had fashioned the Hussite heresy after the image of the more recent heresy. But at the same time it may be remarked that the Hussites smoothed the way for Luther, and that the German lands were prepared for the sowing of errors.

[210] most pernicious to both commonwealths; It helps also to remark that doctrines of this kind attack not only the ecclesiastical but also the civil commonwealth; for if God alone is to be obeyed, it follows that any power whatsoever is usurped, whether ecclesiastical or civil, that human laws are vain, in so far as they are unjustly enacted: and so that those doctrines look to open rebellion. Since then the whole clergy is to be despoiled of its goods, no rites to be observed in sacred actions, no honour to be shown to sacred images or the relics of the saints, indeed, since it is free for anyone, no distinction being made of condition, age or sex, to bring forward publicly whatever doctrine or opinion he wishes, indeed to accuse anyone at all of sin: it is manifest that errors of this kind shake the whole society of men, nor can they be defended or promoted without men, at variance among themselves, bursting into open struggle. And hence were born those murderous wars by which all Bohemia and the neighbouring regions were made deadly for a course of many years. By which reasoning it is plainly elucidated why secular princes did not allow perverse doctrines to stand in their kingdoms, but held the promoters of errors as manifest enemies of the commonwealth both civil and ecclesiastical, and afflicted them with punishments. For no human society can stand, unless it can protect itself from those who weaken its foundation: and the doctrines of the Hussites, set out above, led to this, that there should be neither king nor priest who could rule the people, and that each should direct his actions according to his will and lust, no regard being had to others: whence the bond of human society must necessarily be altogether broken.

[211] so as to refute them, To overthrow these monsters of errors St. John of Capistrano, fortified by apostolic authority, had been destined by Pope Nicholas V. His legitimate mission was confirmed and urged by voices come down from heaven, by which the journey to the Bohemians was intimated. And so at the end of July of the year 1451, leave having been obtained from the emperor, he pressed into Bohemia, and resolved before all else to attack Prague itself, the metropolis of the kingdom and of the error. But access was prohibited by John Rokycana, pseudo-bishop, and George of Poděbrady, who held the helm of the Bohemian kingdom for Ladislaus, the king under age. Nevertheless, as we saw above at num. 205, so as not to seem to shirk the contest Rokycana proposed three places of conference, Moravian Trebonia, Deutschbrod and the monastery of Pellitz Wadding. Annal. tom. XII, pag. 92 and following.. But for a cause unknown to us, none of these places pleased for holding the disputation: and at last it was agreed that for the festival day of the Apostles SS. Simon and Jude, 28 October, an encounter should be held at Krumlov. Krumlov (Bömisch Krummau) is the principal city of the most noble family of Schwarzenberg, in the circle of Budweis Schaller. Topogr. des Kônigr. Bôhmen. tom. XIII, pag. 164.. There, as Christopher of Varese witnesses at num. 138 and following, the man of God was present at least from 18 October to 14 November, without Rokycana appearing: for George of Poděbrady had proclaimed that Capistrano should not be received anywhere; but if he should arrive at Krumlov, that by all, as a disturber of the public peace

he should be shunned Wadd. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 94.: and Wadding adds Ibid. l. c.: Rosenberg (the Catholic lord of Krumlov) was the first to warn Capistrano of the danger. He therefore refused to go to the place designated for the disputation. Hereupon Rokycana, triumphant among his own, inveighing against the absent man, published a letter to Capistrano full of insults, by which he should depress his fame and esteem.

[212] a conference with Rokycana Wadding seems to err in insinuating that St. Capistrano shrank from the disputation of Krumlov; since, as we showed from Christopher at num. 205, he remained there for nearly a whole month, it cannot be said that Capistrano refused to go to the place designated for the disputation. It is true indeed that Rokycana by a letter given to Capistrano proposed a conference concerning lay communion received under both species, so that thus, he says Ibid. pag. 92., opposites being set side by side, what is of the truth and of the salvation of the peoples may shine out more clearly. Accordingly he proposes to our saint a threefold arena of disputing, Moravian Trebonia, Deutschbrod and the monastery of Pellitz. To this letter, written on 11 September 1451, Capistrano replies nine days after, or on 20 September, saying Ibid. pag. 93.: That in the most holy council of Basel you put your shoulders under the labours, I have examined and discussed and often seen, and also the decree of the sacred council of Basel, after your departure, declared in such a cause, which I without doubt suppose that you received with an authentic decision. But what is of the truth, or what of salvation must necessarily be observed, I think you have very often read both there and in the decree of the sacred council of Constance. A conference to be held with you, moreover, I most affectionately desire and likewise urge, with a ready mind, a cheerful countenance and a glad heart. As for the place, day, manner and persons to intervene in the proceedings, I beg you, father to be loved, to be revered in the truth of Christ, that it may not irk you meanwhile to destine some of your people, with whom I can treat and conclude concerning the foregoing. For I have come far enough from the City of Rome and beyond, going around as far as Olomouc. A place therefore is to be determined, common, suitable, convenient and secure for any who shall come to the act, in which, with the brightness of divine wisdom irradiating, the knowledge of the truth may be made manifest and clear and the way of salvation may shine on all the faithful of Christ.

[213] St. Capistrano seeks in vain; From this letter we see that St. Capistrano did not admit any of the three places designated by Rokycana, but wished that, counsels being again compared, it should be decided about the place, day and manner of holding the disputation. And I think that then Krumlov was proposed and accepted on both sides: whither the holy man betook himself, and there stayed from 18 October to 14 November, as we have just shown: and so that the disputation was not celebrated on the said 28 October was not the fault of Capistrano, but of Rokycana: who namely was the author to Poděbrady, governor of Bohemia, of his issuing the decree by which access to Capistrano, if he should happen to come to Krumlov, as an enemy of the public peace, was forbidden Ibid. pag. 94.. There then follow the words of Wadding brought forward at num. 211, which are to be corrected according to what has been said, so that certainly on this head there is no reason why Rokycana could sing a triumph, since on the contrary St. Capistrano held the battle-line, staying at Krumlov until 14 November. That the saint speaks with such reverence of the council of Basel, let the reader remark that he is treating of that time at which the Fathers of Basel still persisted in communion with the Apostolic See; by which reasoning the holy man was striving to conciliate to himself the minds of the Bohemians, who favoured the Baselites: so that they should reject as false the doctrine concerning lay communion under both species, and acknowledge that the manner of communicating is placed in the power of the Church Compare Labbe, tom. XII, col. 100 and tom. XIII, col. 1541..

[214] and the hope of entering Bohemia being lost, Since therefore the hope of entering Bohemia, and of gathering that nation to Catholic unity, was disappointing the holy man, he began to go around the neighbouring regions, to heal the peoples infected by the errors of the Hussites. Wherefore, as Amandus Hermann reports Capistr. Triumph. pag. 365., since Capistrano could not make for Prague by the direct road, he took his way around the borders and making a half circle, he who was prohibited from penetrating Bohemia from the east, entered from the west. For going out from Brünn on 5 October he came to the village of Drasoff, XI miles from Brünn, and on the 10th and following days at Eggenburg in Austria he gathered others (Hussites) together; from the 18th at Krumlov, in the presence of Lord Ulrich, a leading man, patron of the Catholics, he brought back many nobles, innumerable common people to the way of truth; until he arrived at Eger. At Freiberg, on 24 February, and in the city of Meissen from 18 March, and from the 25th of the same month to the beginning of June in the city of Pontensis of the kingdom of Bohemia, I find that he underwent the same labour with wonderful fruit, many thousands being transferred to the camp of the Catholics and gathered to the flock of the faithful. Besides the city of Pontensis, that he also touched Tachov, Pilsen and Kaaden is attested by Dubravius Rer. Bohemic. pag. 237.; and it is confirmed by tradition, by which it is believed that he blessed that spring which is by the chapel of the XIV Helpers. To which journeys if we add his setting out into Silesia, it is clearly seen that the holy man went around the borders of all Bohemia, and as it were fortified all the roads beforehand, lest the fire of error should be propagated more widely.

[215] especially in Moravia That these apostolic pilgrimages did not lack their fruit is attested by the saint himself in his letter to the University of Vienna, which Wadding reports Annal. tom. XII, pag. 88.: After, he says, I entered Moravia, most outstanding masters and doctors, I have ever acted, as I ought, according to my strength against the condemned heresies of the Bohemians; neither by threats nor by any fear have I ever desisted from the office of preaching, but speaking openly, I have applied myself with all the zeal I could to repelling the damnable opinion of those who say that it is necessary for salvation to communicate under both species. Whereby it has come about that not only many barons and nobles, but also priests, to more than four thousand, have abjured the errors of the Hussites in my hands, besides other converts who live under the dominion of the same converted barons. As regards the threats and terrors cast at St. John, Barberi reports in chapter XXV Vit. ital. pag. 119. that ambushes were prepared for him as he journeyed alone: for when, for the sake of freer prayer, he had withdrawn from his companions, suddenly some assassins leap from their hiding-places, surround the holy man on all sides and with fierce countenance ask who that Br. Capistrano is: the saint replies that he is the man they were seeking: terrified by this simple word, they fell silent, and, their captive being released, went away whence they had come. Threats too were heaped up with reproaches, that the esteem and authority of John among the people might be either removed or at least lessened. A certain Borotinus, one of the principal followers of Rokycana, held up St. Capistrano by public letter as a melancholy monk, a hypocrite, a perfidious despiser of councils, a prevaricator against the Gospel Capistr. triumph. pag. 367..

[216] the Hussites St. Capistrano replied Ibid. pag. 369.: I care nothing for your detraction and your barking against me, that I deceive the peoples with lies: for already by the grace of God my doctrine, not only through Italy, but also through France, Germany and through Spain and other parts of the world, with my life and morals, is so known, not in corners, but in public squares and in the most solemn cities of studies, that your very whispering would be rather praise, and your praise according to your purposes would be disgrace and infamy. In another letter of yours you hinted at me and, though unknown to you, rashly and most ineptly judged me melancholy; yet I am by nature sanguine and choleric. Surely this neither Aristotle nor Plato taught you, to presume to judge a man unseen, or even figured in an image and of unknown physiognomy. Now you are not ashamed to call me a monk; though you have never seen me a monk, nor am I one: but a Friar Minor of the Order of St. Francis, on whom the office of preaching has been enjoined by the most holy Roman Church, and of inquiring and proceeding in all the world against all heresies; then also as apostolic commissary and universal inquisitor of heretical depravity. The reproaches of the Hussites, however, did not hinder the fruit which St. Capistrano was gathering from his labours: on the first day of August 1451 at Brünn in Moravia he admitted to the communion of the Church the chamberlain of the province, of whom these things are reported in a public transcript of a notary in Wadding Annal. tom. XII, pag. 88.: The magnificent lord Benedict, commonly named Beneš, baron in the margravate of Moravia, and chamberlain of the same province, confessed before a copious multitude of peoples, there assisting the most reverend Lord G., most worthy bishop of Nicopolis and suffragan of the most reverend father and lord bishop of Olomouc, and acknowledged that he had adhered to the superstition of the Bohemians and the errors of the Hussites, believing, favouring and defending their heresies to the rending of the most holy Roman Church, and to rebellion against obedience and the perversion of the ecclesiastical rite in communion under both species, and at times in leading men of arms in aid of the same Bohemians, and to the offence of Catholics; and that he had erred in the foregoing, and with a contrite and humbled heart he sought absolution and penance over these things publicly and openly in the public square of Brünn, on bended knees before the Reverend Father Br. John of Capistrano, inquisitor of heretical depravity, and abjured the aforesaid and all other heresies, by whatever other name they may be reckoned, and afterwards in the chamber of the residence of the same Reverend Father Br. John promised and swore on the holy Gospels of God, the Scriptures being touched bodily by hand, that he would thereafter perpetually keep the holy, undiminished and immaculate Catholic faith, which the most holy Roman Church holds, preaches and teaches, and promised that he would live perpetually under the obedience, devotion and reverence of the same holy Mother Church. And the above-mentioned Reverend Father Br. John, the oath having been received from the aforesaid baron, absolved him by the authority of our most holy lord Pope Nicholas V, there being present, etc. And a little after he gathered to the communion of the faithful the wife of the same baron, his kinsmen and his whole household, numerous enough.

[217] he pursues, and converts many, To our saint too Æneas Sylvius ascribes the conversion of a certain Moravian noble, whose son not long after was taken up to the see of Olomouc Æn. Sylv. Oper. pag. 414. Edit. Basil.. He was Wenceslas Boskowitz, otherwise called of Czernahora or Schwarzenberg, by whose conciliation and mediation the place and day of the disputation, as we said above at num. 213, were designated Wadding. Annal. tom. XII, pag. 94.. He had a son Protasius, who, Bohuslav of Zwola being removed by death, was elected bishop of Olomouc in the year 1458, and held the see up to the year 1482 Pilarz. Morav. Hist. tom. II, pag. 173 and following.. We shall show a pleasing thing to the reader

, we believe, by copying out at this place the form of absolution which St. Capistrano gave in writing to the recently converted, which is of the following tenor Wadding. Annal. tom. XII, pag. 89.: To all and each of the faithful of Christ, both prelates and subjects, ecclesiastical and temporal, to whom the series of the present letter shall come, Br. John of Capistrano, least and unworthy of the Order of Minors, inquisitor of heretical depravity by the institution and commission of our most holy Lord Pope Nicholas V, to superiors humble and devout commendation, and to all the rest greeting and everlasting peace in the Lord. Know by the present letter how N. N., an oath having first been taken, the Sacred Scriptures being touched bodily by hand, abjured and denied all the heresies of the Wycliffites and Hussites, and of any other heresiarchs and heretics whatsoever, to whom he adhered for very many years, promising on the Holy Gospels of God to stand by the mandates of the Church the whole time of his life, to live under the obedience of the Apostolic See and of the most holy Roman Church. Wherefore, because he came of his own accord, by the authority of our same most holy Lord Pope Nicholas V and of the office committed to me, a salutary obedience being imposed on him, I have absolved him from all excommunication and from all ecclesiastical censures which he had incurred for the aforesaid causes, and have restored him to the honours, dignities, offices, benefices, states and grades which he had previously held, and with pious benignity have received the same to union, reincorporation, reintegration and reconciliation with the one mystical body of Christ and the one most holy Roman and universal Catholic Church militant, and have received him to participation in all the goods and merits of the whole Christian people, in so far as he shall live justly, in Catholic manner and rightly. Whence for the faith and testimony of the foregoing I have ordered this present letter to be made, fortified with the accustomed pendent seal, and have subscribed it with my own hand. Commending him to all and each of the faithful of Christ in the bowels of charity, and nonetheless mandating under ecclesiastical censures that no one presume to inflict any trouble on the same N. for the aforesaid causes. Given, etc.

§ XIX. The acts of St. John of Capistrano against the Hussites are continued.

In the synod of Basel Since it was not given to St. Capistrano to reach the interior of Bohemia, and especially the seat of iniquity, the chief city of Prague, he not only went around the neighbouring provinces, extirpating heresies, but strove with every effort first of all to pluck up the roots of the errors, to destroy the pretexts in which they are not rarely wrapped and with which they deceive the simple. The Bohemians, in order to defend their perverse opinions, used and abused certain concessions extorted from the synod of Basel, which were commonly called the Compactata. That these might be abolished, he laboured very much. For they were, says Amandus Hermann Capistr. triumph. pag. 358., the argument and only shield by which Rokycana with his followers defended himself against the preaching of St. John of Capistrano. The origin of the Compactata is reported by the praised Amandus Ibid. pag. 359. and Adolphus Pilarz in his History of Moravia [Tom. II, pag. 33 and following. Compare Joan. Cochlæus. Histor. Hussit. lib. VII and Stenzel. Scriptt. Rer. Siles. tom. I, pag. 312.]. The legates of Bohemia, namely, sent to Basel, asked of the fathers certain articles, on the granting of which the Bohemians pledged that they would return to unity. For fifty days, therefore, there was most sharp disputation over those articles at Basel: when however the Bohemians, though accurately convicted, pertinaciously defended their opinions, and were preparing their departure to their homeland, the matter being unfinished, the Baselites sent to Prague their orators, to agree with the Bohemians on the laws of concord. But the attempt thus far fell empty; until at last, at the demand of the emperor Sigismund, the orators of the Baselites consented under a certain formula of words: which indeed, says Cochlaeus in the History of the Hussites, book VII Cochl. pag. 270., was established on the last day of November (1433), but could not be brought into effect: because the Taborites and Orphans, and other heretics who were besieging Pilsen, would not consent to it. But after three years (and thus in the year 1436) at Iglau before the emperor Sigismund it was accepted by the common consent of all the Hussites, and strengthened by public seals. The tenor of that concord, which they commonly call the Compactata, conceived at Prague, reads thus.

[219] certain articles had been approved, In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. These things which are written below, by the grace of the Holy Spirit have been agreed between the legates of the sacred council of Basel and the general congregation of the illustrious kingdom of Bohemia and margravate of Moravia, in the city of Prague. First, the said congregation, in the name of the said kingdom and margravate, and for that kingdom and margravate, all and each of them who are of their party, shall receive and accept and make a good and firm and perpetual peace and ecclesiastical unity, which they shall profess and confirm in the due manner. This being done, the said legates, by the authority of the said sacred council, shall admit and receive the said peace and unity, and shall pronounce a general peace of the whole Christian people with the inhabitants and dwellers of the said kingdom and margravate: they shall remove all sentences of censure and shall make plenary abolition: and they shall mandate to all and each of the faithful of Christ that no one thereafter presume to defame the said kingdom and margravate on account of things past; nor to invade or offend them or their inhabitants, but that they observe Christian peace toward them, and hold them as their brothers, namely as reverent and obedient sons of holy mother Church, and treat them with firm love.

[220] commonly called the Compactata, Concerning the matter of the first article, which the ambassadors of the said kingdom and margravate offered to the sacred council under this form: "That the useful and salutary communion of the most divine Eucharist, under both species, namely of bread and wine, be freely ministered by priests to all the faithful of Christ in the kingdom of Bohemia and margravate of Moravia, and to those established in places adhering to them in this respect." It is agreed in this way. That to the said Bohemians and Moravians, undertaking ecclesiastical unity and peace, really and with effect, and in all other things besides the use of communion of both species conformed to the faith and rite of the universal Church; those men and women who have such a use shall communicate under the double species, with the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the Church his spouse. And that article shall be discussed in the sacred council, as to the matter of the precept, fully, and it shall be seen what is to be held concerning that article for Catholic truth, and what is to be done for the advantage and salvation of the Christian people: and all things having been maturely and methodically treated, if they nevertheless persevere in the desire of having the said communion under the double species, their ambassadors indicating this, the sacred council will grant in the Lord to the priests of the said kingdom and margravate the faculty of communicating the people under both species, namely those persons who, being set in the years of discretion, shall reverently and devoutly request it, for their advantage and salvation. This being always observed, that priests always say to those so communicating that they ought firmly to believe that not under the species of bread the flesh alone, nor under the species of wine the blood alone; but under each species is the entire and whole Christ. And the legates of the sacred council by their letters, by the authority of the sacred council, shall mandate to all and each, of whatever grade or condition they may be, that no one dare to reproach the said Bohemians and Moravians using the said communion under the double species, or to detract from their fame or honour, and the sacred council will do the same when it shall make the said concession of liberation.

[221] by whose concession Concerning the matter of the three following articles it was said by the aforesaid legates of the sacred council in the following form. Since concerning the doctrine of Catholic truth one must walk so soberly and cautiously, especially by a sacred general council, that the truth be declared in words so ordered in their conception that there be for no one in future a stumbling-block, at which he could strike and have occasion of error, and, to use the words of Blessed Isidore, lest it contain anything through obscurity for a snare: concerning the matter of the restraint and correction of sins, on which you have placed an article in these words: "That all mortal sins, and especially public ones, be restrained, corrected and eliminated by those whom it concerns, reasonably and according to the law of God." Behold, the phrase "by those whom it concerns" is too general and could be a stumbling-block. And according to the sentence of Scripture we ought not to place a stumbling-block before the blind Levit. XIX, 14: and ditches are to be closed, lest the neighbour's ox be hurt there Deut. XXII, 1; and all such occasion is to be removed. We say therefore that according to the sentence of Sacred Scripture and the documents of the holy Doctors, it is thus to be held in Catholic manner: that all mortal sins, especially public ones, as far as can reasonably be done, according to the law of God and the institutes of the Holy Fathers, are to be restrained, corrected and eliminated: but the power of punishing criminals pertains not to private persons, but only to those who have jurisdiction over them of the forum, the distinction of law and the order of justice being observed. Concerning the matter of the preaching of the word of God, on which you have placed an article of this tenor: "That the word of God be preached freely and faithfully by the priests of the Lord and suitable levites." Lest from the word "freely" occasion be taken of a wandering and costly liberty, which neither do you (as you have often said) intend, circumstances must be added: and we say that according to the sentence of Sacred Scripture and the documents of the holy Doctors, it is thus to be held in Catholic manner: that the word of God be preached by the priests of the Lord and levites suitable for this, and approved and sent by the superiors (to whom it pertains), freely, yet not indiscriminately, but in orderly fashion and faithfully, the authority of the Pontiff being safe, who is the fore-ordainer in all things, according to the institutes of the Holy Fathers.

[222] the Hussites Concerning the matter of the last article, expressed in these words: "It is not lawful for the clergy, in the time of the law of grace, to lord it in secular fashion over temporal goods." We remember that when in the sacred council a public and solemn disputation was held on this matter, he who was deputed by the sacred council to dispute placed two conclusions in these words: First, that clerics, not religious, or those who have not bound themselves by vow to this, can lawfully have and possess any temporal goods, paternal inheritances and those of others, if they be left to them, and other goods justly acquired by reason of donation, or of another lawful contract, or by a lawful art. Second, that the Church can lawfully have and possess temporal goods, movable and immovable, houses, estates, villages, towns, castles, cities, and have in them private and civil dominion. That one of your ambassadors who disputed conceded the same, saying that they did not contradict the sense of his article, well understood; since he himself understood his article of civil dominion, formally understood. From which and from other things it could well enough be understood that the words, "to lord it in secular fashion," placed in the article inserted above, seem to be referred to some special mode or use of lording. But since the doctrine of the Church

is not to be treated in ambiguous words, but plainly; for that reason we have thought that what is to be held in Catholic manner according to the law of God and the documents of the holy Doctors should be expressed: namely that the two aforesaid conclusions are true, and that ecclesiastical men ought faithfully to administer the goods of the Church (of which they are administrators), according to the institutes of the Holy Fathers: and that those goods ought not to be unjustly detained or occupied by others. The said congregation receives and accepts the declaration of the said three articles, which relies on the truth of Sacred Scripture.

[223] they were hoped to be brought back to the unity of the Church: But because concerning the matters of those three articles it seems to some that several abuses and some disorders are current, it is the intention of the said congregation that concerning the reform of the said abuses and disorders it intends to apply instance and solicitude in the sacred council through its ambassadors: and that if any, even individual persons, should wish to promote such reforms in the sacred council in a due and honourable manner, this may be allowed them and the faculty granted. This pleased the aforesaid legates of the sacred council, since the sacred council attends to the reform of morals, and wishes (the Lord granting) to apply zeal and solicitude: and the legates themselves, since they desire with all longing that every good reform be made in the Church of God, wish and promise to be helpers and cooperators in all things which concern the good reform of the Church. Finally, after, by the grace of God, all war shall cease for causes of faith and there shall be a good peace, for whose preservation all diligence ought to be applied, it seems very expedient that also for other causes not concerning the faith, if they have any with the neighbours around, all parties should cease from every way of force, and that those controversies be ended by diets of agreement or otherwise in the sacred council or outside it, by concord, amicable composition or judgment. For the firmness and observance of the peace, there shall be given by the said legates of the sacred council and altogether firmly procured a bull of the council and mandates of the said sacred council to all the princes and communities around, and other things which shall be necessary and timely. On the part of the said kingdom and margravate, letters shall be given with firm seals and timely fortifications: peace shall be procured and ordered to be kept, and all other things shall be done which shall be necessary and timely for the observance of the said peace and unity. The foregoing and above-written were agreed and confirmed by several masters and priests deputed by the general congregation of the kingdom of Bohemia and margravate of Moravia, in the name and by special mandate of the said congregation; between the above-named lords legates of the sacred council on the one part and the said general congregation on the other, and by stipulation of hands on both sides, with verbal promise made concerning the foregoing. In the city of Prague, in the college which is called the college of Charles, in the year of the Lord 1433, indiction XII, on the last day of the month of November, in the third year of the pontificate of the most holy Father in Christ and our Lord, Lord Eugene, by divine providence Pope IV, there being present for these things the provident and honourable men, etc.

[224] but as they abused the concession of Basel, These things had to be set out at some length, because talk of the Compactata of Basel often occurs in the controversies between Capistrano and the Bohemians, and they are commonly named rather than unfolded. We see too that the Baselites timidly rejected the articles of Prague, and evaded disputation rather than sought it. Yet there had been sharp debate over these articles in the very synod of Basel: the fathers admitted the use of the chalice with difficulty: and the theologians spoke gravely and severely on the three remaining articles, which were individually refuted with the best arguments by John of Ragusa, of the Order of Preachers, Gilles Charlier, dean of Cambrai, and Henry Kalteisen, likewise of the Order of Preachers, whose treatises rather than sermons Philippe Labbe has preserved for us Tom. XII Conc. tom. XII, col. 1013 and following.. It is true indeed that the Compactata of Basel, soundly understood, do not deviate from the norm of ecclesiastical discipline: but, as generally happens when terms are made with rebels, the words of the Baselites were twisted to the worse part, and the very indulgence was believed derived from fear: whence it happened that it did not so much cut off the growing evil as foster it, the Bohemians, namely, abusing the benignity of the fathers to guard their errors and propagate them more widely. Such consequences of the Compactata are cast up to the Bohemians by Nicholas of Cusa, Cardinal of St. Peter in Chains, bishop of Brixen and legate of Nicholas V to the Bohemians Ciacc. Vitæ Pontt. et Cardd. tom. II, col. 974., in a letter given at Regensburg on 27 June 1452, in Cochlaeus Hist. Huss. pag. 384 and following.: Nor, he says, let anyone be moved by the fact that when the orators of the council of Basel were then treating at Prague of the peace of the Church, it came to compacts. For it has been found by experiment that that method did not effect an entire peace and unity with the Holy Roman Church… Count as little all that they (the Hussites) heap up about the Compacts: for to the confusion of those smatterers God permitted them to be so made. Nor does the religious Br. John of Capistrano, a man truly having zeal for God with knowledge, nor anyone else, assert that the Compacts contain heresy in themselves; but it is constantly denied that such things are conceded in them as are falsely suggested to you. The legate then shows that the Compactata were badly observed by the Hussites; whence he concludes that the compacts provide nothing singular to the Bohemians; but only express the confusion of those who, seduced by their presumption, have seduced others, that they may be judged out of their own mouth.

[225] St. Capistrano resists; Against St. Capistrano, who was to be a minister and companion of the apostolic legation, certain persons by various arts had stirred up Cardinal Cusanus, accusing namely the holy man as if he were condemning the Compactata as heretical, and hindering peace with the Bohemians by his invectives against them: from which Cusanus was somewhat offended with Capistrano. Wherefore the saint from Pons in the kingdom of Bohemia gave a letter to the Cardinal, on 17 May 1452, in which he shows that great losses would arise for the whole Christian people, if the Compactata were approved; since, especially from the depravity of those interpreting them, they would supply kindling to heretics. The holy man writes therefore Wadding, Ann. tom. XII, pag. 129.: Whence knowing that one must not contend with the most pertinacious heretics, I would not consent to the diet (of Regensburg), except in a certain definite way… Those who persuade your Reverend Lordship to grant to the laity communion under both species are already consenting to the errors of those who assert that all are damned who have not communicated and do not now communicate under both species… Behold, now they have resolved at Prague, because of our cries and writings, that they wish to keep the Compactata, cloaking themselves on this account, lest they be judged heretics, and they assert that they will come to Regensburg under your pledge, because you intend to concede to them the Compactata and more; which does not seem credible to me, since neither Martin of happy memory, nor Eugene, nor our Most Holy Lord has done this up to this day. If they can protect themselves with this shield and helmet, it will be an example for other Christians of doing like things, and of rebelling against the obedience and decrees of holy Mother Church and of rising up against prelates, as they themselves have now done for very many years with faithless, savage and monstrous severity. For Catholics will presume that they ought not to be of worse condition than the Bohemians; whence if the Bohemians have received such good pacts from the Church, we too, they will say, shall obtain equal or greater: for our predecessors endowed the churches, to us therefore those goods belong. See, Lord, and diligently attend, lest by this way you reckon to acquire Prague, and lose all the remainder of the Christian people. I know what I am saying, what I have heard from some men of great weight. May the Most High direct his cause: neither my iniquity, nor my sin: "I am innocent of the blood of you all," said the Apostle Act. XX, 26. I have discharged my conscience, and I shall discharge it before God and men… I do not know what whisperers it delights you to hear, flattering you with feigned and honeyed speeches, containing inwardly hidden the incurable venom of asps, that by their false suggestions and promises they may strive to lead your Reverend Lordship to grant them communion under both species, and ecclesiastical goods and the other things they require, to the blackening and disgrace of the Apostolic See, and the disparagement and contempt of ecclesiastical dignity. Truly you act against yourself, if you grant such things. I heard from your mouth in the City that you did not accept the hat for genuflections before feet, but that you might be able to do something arduous in the Church of God.

[226] and he shows that the Compactata, The opinion which he had of the Compactata of Basel St. Capistrano professed also before the Bohemians. For his access to the city of Prague being hindered by the arts both of Rokycana the pseudo-evangelist and of George of Poděbrady, governor and guardian of the kingdom of Bohemia, he wrote to the assembly of the magnates of Bohemia a very long letter, in the spring-time, as it seems, of the year 1452, in which he refutes the errors raging through the kingdom, and exhorts all to return to the unity of the Church. The whole letter, inasmuch as Amandus Hermann says that he extracted it from the archive of Javor Capistr. triumph. pag. 371., and thus less known, we should gladly give, but it so teems with the faults of copyists that in very many places we could by no means grasp the right sense of the words: and therefore from Cochlaeus, who gave some fragments Hist. Hussit. pag. 375., we present a compendium. In the beginning he asks that the barons and nobles be willing to hear the other side, and not be burdened to inspect how many and how great evils the heresy of the Hussites has brought on Bohemia. He then impugns the Compactata in these words Ibid. pag. 376.: If any should wish to excuse themselves with the Compactata, let them read the little book destined for Rokycana; where there is had at large a declaration not only of the Compactata, but of all his vain opinions, by which he tries to entice the peoples to communicate under both species, by force or prayers or most false persuasions. Which little book indeed, if it be diligently examined and read through by your magnificences, you will easily understand that the Compactata are more to the disgrace and confusion of Rokycana than to his praise and defence. Of which Compactata indeed he has never stood forth as an observer, but as a most perfidious persecutor. For the Compactata do not grant to all indiscriminately to communicate under both species, but conditionally and distinctly, as clearly appears in them. They permitted licence indeed, the things to be observed being observed: but how far the things contained in the Compactata have been observed, I bring you yourselves as witnesses.

[227] wrongly explained by the Hussites The holy man goes on thereafter in the same letter to wash away the calumnies which the heretics were making against him. To the rest, he says Ibid. l. c., which Rokycana bellows against me, falsely indeed, our little book responds most sufficiently: although it would be too heavy for me to respond to each of the things which fools and ill-wishers say against me, and especially to certain letters, divulged through all Bohemia, which, I know not what lost

and lying men ascribe to me. In which it is said that I boasted of having the spirit of prophecy, and also many other things, which, as is commonly said, the mouth of an oven would not say *: which truly, God being witness, were never brought forward, nor said, nor written by me. But let my detractors take notice that I value their whisperings as much as the mud which I tread under my feet. It is enough for me to be commended by the wise: and also that my works are in the hands of most skilled men, who are much better able than Rokycana to judge of my doctrine. If he does not blush to curse and call heretical the whole Christian and Catholic people existing under heaven, calling all his enemies, how much more John of Capistrano: whom if all the wise bless, it will be reckoned as levity and folly, if one wicked foolish old man curses. The calumnies of the wicked are not to be valued by those who contend for truth, faith, religion, for justice, for extirpating vices and planting virtues. Each can speak against another according to his will, if it pleases. It is enough for me that the infamy which Rokycana has cast on me is refuted by all Italy, Flanders, France, Burgundy and Germany, in which I have now for XXXVI years continually evangelized. To pass over England, Spain, Portugal, Catalonia, Dalmatia, Hungary and Poland, to all which kingdoms and their kings and princes I am known, if not by face, yet by fame.

[228] that it tends to the detriment of religion, Capistrano moreover sets the praises paid to him against the insults of his adversary: O Rokycana, most unhappy of men! you call me a fugitive seducer and antichrist, who am known to all. O magnificent and excellent barons, Rokycana is more clear-sighted than the whole Catholic people, and than all the universities of studies written below; he thinks himself more learned and more clear-sighted, namely than the Roman, those of Naples, Siena, Perugia, Florence, Ferrara, Bologna, Padua and Pavia, in which through the course of so many years I have preached the word of God, in which my doctrine was not called heretical, not condemned, but praised and approved: to pass over in silence many most renowned cities, in each of which there are no fewer doctors and most learned men than in any of the aforesaid universities. And you senseless beast, you were calling me a seducer! You will perhaps say that I adduce remote testimonies, which cannot avail me here. If anyone does not believe the remote and far-off, let him believe those near and neighbouring. Or was it perhaps, when I was a stranger, and altogether deprived of the German tongue, that I was received with the highest honour in the illustrious city of Vienna by its most renowned doctors and masters, of the remnants of whose doctrine Rokycana stands in very great need? My doctrine, sown there for fifty continuous days, was not called heretical, but supremely commended: where there stood forth such a gathering of peoples as has been neither heard nor seen since our days. O you senseless beast, you do not blush to call me a fugitive and a sorcerer. But when I was a foreigner and unknown by face, in the city of Olomouc, on a certain Sunday (as was the judgment of all) a hundred thousand persons were then present at our preachings. O beast and viperine tongue! do you proclaim me a fugitive? Was I not received by all the Austrians, the people of Olomouc, of Brünn, of Znaim, by the magnificent lords of the Roses, by the people of Passau, Regensburg, Eger; by the most illustrious, most excellent princes, Lord Louis, duke of Bavaria, Lord Albert, Lord John, margraves of Brandenburg, and by the most illustrious and excellent Lord prince Frederick, duke of Saxony, and by all and each of the cities of the same princes, among whom I made my passage, with such great honour as no religious has been held in this our age? O accursed tongue! you name me fugitive and seducer, who am sixty-six years of age.

[229] and that he seeks nothing but the salvation of souls: It must not be concealed that the holy man at first view seems both to pour himself out broadly in his own praise, and to attack his adversary in rather harsh words. But as to the former charge, the saint himself washes it away, when, pursuing his apology, he says Capistr. triumph. pag. 377.: Yet according to his custom Rokycana will murmur against me, that I have said all these things in my own praise and boasting, and that all those named above were blind and deceived. I neither praise nor extol myself; but I praise, extol, magnify my Creator, God almighty, who for his ineffable clemency and mercy has chosen the least things, that he may confound all strong things: and I give and shall ever have inexplicable thanks to his divine majesty, who has made me known among foreign peoples by no merits of mine: that Rokycana and the blind Bohemians (the salvation of whose souls I have desired as my own in truth and without simulation, God being witness) may acknowledge Br. John of Capistrano, not as a seducer, not a sorcerer, not a fugitive, not an antichrist; but a messenger and apostolic commissary, and general inquisitor of heretical depravity appointed not only by the most holy Lord Pope Nicholas V, but by Martin and Eugene of happy memory, as the authentic bulls which are with me attest. For I did not set out to this your kingdom, most outstanding lords, except for your salvation, and the peace and tranquillity of the whole kingdom. If indeed I had sought honour, I would have turned aside to the most serene king of Poland, to Hungary, Germany and Italy, by which I have been invited with the highest prayers: broad and ample for me are the kingdoms of Christendom, so that there is no need for me to bear things of this kind, except for your common salvation. St. Capistrano closes the letter by protesting that whatever he has said has proceeded from the fount of charity and benevolence.

[230] on which head also there is excused But the holy man did not obtain the response he desired: but he received such a little letter as, says Amandus Hermann Capistr. triumph. pag. 379., neither Wadding nor Sedulius would adduce out of reverence for him. But the reproachful letter of the Bohemians does not seem to us at all to be suppressed, especially since it both smooths the way for us to excuse the bitterness of Capistrano, and it is moreover useful, for exercising criticism concerning the Acts of the Saints, to understand what the adversaries have cast up to the saints. Cochlaeus presents the letter of the following tenor Hist. Huss. pag. 378.: To the religious man, Br. John of Capistrano, now staying in the city of Pons, George of Kunštát and of Poděbrady, governor, and the council of the kingdom of Bohemia. Religious man, the letter offered to us on your part contains (as it seems) rather the character of a libel than of a letter: it smells by no means of the nature of a religious man: which, by your leave, stands woven of such venomous sentences that it can scarcely differ from the manners of actors. Certainly if you pretend that these things are lawful for you by apostolic authority, which you boast of having in this respect, the piety of His Holiness himself is presumed to be much dissonant from your sense, indeed it appears totally contrary, which has ever been accustomed to show the paternal bowels of love. For granted that that venerable man, master John of Rokycana, had in any way exceeded the bounds in anything, which however we neither believe nor see; nonetheless the prudence of a religious man ought to have resolved to approach us more aptly everywhere; and not so to assail with a turbulent mind: knowing that a harsh word stirs up fury. For in a certain tragic manner, Capistrano, with bellowing and bombastic mouth, you, monk, and also with your accustomed detraction, John, with which you inveigh so cruelly and emptily against our most faithful doctors, our ears ring etc.

[231] On both sides, as we see, things have been written and said harshly and bitterly: and one will wonder that such vituperations flowed from the pen of a most holy man. The bitterness of the saint in writing. Certainly in our age, more polished and perhaps more malicious, insults of this kind would be unbecoming a man, I will not say holy, but of any sense, and for the most part that kind of jibe is left to scribblers of the lowest note. But in the 15th century, before humane letters, thus far quite neglected, had begun to tame minds, there was scarcely any controversy, however little ardent, in which insults were spared, cast not so much at persons as at their errors or vices. And certainly St. Capistrano himself, before he treated Rokycana and his followers most severely, wrote with every mildness and humility both to Rokycana and to Poděbrady Compare Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 93 and 121.. But when he saw that all attempts at reconciliation were vain, stirred by zeal for the house of God, in order to turn danger away from others, he dealt severely with those who were the heads of the heresy. Nor in this matter did St. Capistrano deviate from the norm of acting of other men illustrious in sanctity and learning. Let the books of St. Jerome against the heretics Jovinian and Vigilantius be read, by which it is clear that the holy Doctor most sharply refuted those erring: it is true indeed that William Cave holds up the saint as of an over-fervid and uncontrolled temper, but Erasmus excuses Jerome, as may be seen in our predecessors under 30 September in the Commentary of the Acts of St. Jerome, num. 1298 and following [Act. SS. tom. VIII Sept., pag. 677. Compare Prosp. Lambertini. de beatif. et Canon. SS. lib. III, c. 41, num. 5.]. And he who is everywhere adduced as an exemplar of mildness and gentleness, St. Augustine, certainly was not one who wished heretics, especially the obstinate, to be enlightened by doctrine alone; but he openly professed that severity must at times be exercised in bringing them back. Thus in the letter to Vincent, the Rogatist bishop, XCIII in order, otherwise XLVIII Migne. Patrol. tom. XXXIII, col. 322. Compare Baron. Ann. Ecc. an. 420, § XI., treating of the imperial laws enacted against heretics: if, he says, they were terrified, and not taught, it would seem a wicked domination, as it were. Again if they were taught, and not terrified, hardened by the age of custom, they would be moved more sluggishly to take up the way of salvation. And he ends the lengthy letter with these words, which are rightly applied to our Saint Capistrano, inasmuch as he ever showed himself ready to receive those returning from heresy, in the spirit of gentleness Ibid. col. 347.: You have a letter longer perhaps than you would wish. But it would be much briefer if I thought only of you in responding: but now even if it profit you nothing, I do not think it will profit nothing those who take care to read it with the fear of God and without respect of persons. But it was not allowed St. Capistrano to go to Prague or the interior of Bohemia: which thereafter for a solid fifty years was agitated and laid waste by civil and external wars.

* an Italian idiom

§ XX. The deeds of St. John of Capistrano in Silesia, especially at Breslau.

From Breslau St. Capistrano expels Since indeed St. Capistrano found Bohemia, so sought with such great wishes, obstinately closed, he turned his cares elsewhere: and first of all he resolved to go to Silesia, neighbouring the infected kingdom. Nowhere, says Wadding Annal. tom. XII, pag. 142., did he bear greater fruits, or was he more honourably received, than in the city of Breslau, the chief one of Silesia.

In this year (1452) the whole city, torn from its seats, seemed to set out to meet him: the whole clergy and magistracy, and all the people received him with exultation as he arrived, and heard him teaching. There was nothing wrong here which he did not correct, nothing unjust which he did not make even, he ordered nothing which was not at once done, all obeying his doctrine as divine. Wadding seems to err in this, that he refers the Silesian journey, and so the entry into the city of Breslau, to the year 1452, which rather belongs to the following year. Christopher of Varese, who, as we have already said, reviews the deeds of the saint in detail through each day, ties the preaching at Breslau to the year 1453. For at num. 160 he has that St. Capistrano arrived at Liegnitz on 10 February of the year 1453: for in the preceding number the biographer had said that the Christmas feast of the year 1452 was celebrated at Dresden. Then, some other places being interposed, he says that the saint healed the sick at Liegnitz on 10 February and continues: From Liegnitz, having passed through some other cities occurring on the road, he came at last to Breslau, a magnificent and illustrious city, on the third day of the week, that is, the last day of Carnival. In the year 1453, marked with the dominical letter G, with Easter falling on the first day of April, on the last day of Carnival, or the day before Ash Wednesday, which concurs with 13 February, he entered Breslau. Nor ought it to move us that from the 10th of the same month he passed through some other cities occurring on the road; for Liegnitz is distant from Breslau nine German miles, which space certainly could be covered most conveniently within three days.

[233] the remnants of the Hussites; The holy man remained at Breslau until the end of August of the same year, both to found and consolidate a convent of his Order, and to restore his strength, worn down by a long and grave illness. The biographer adds at num. 161: That city among all the cities of Germany ever had the greatest devotion toward the Father, while he lived, and even after his death it perseveres to this day. The Father too among other cities loved it most, and called it his own. Moreover on account of the Father's sermons, it alone would not adhere to George of Poděbrady, heretical king of Bohemia, unless it were first established of his conversion, that he was declared a true Catholic by the Apostolic See. On the arrival of St. Capistrano, however, the people of Breslau had their faction of Hussites: for, as Wadding reports Ibid. l. c., certain Hussites and feigned Catholics brought to the saint with funeral pomp a bier, on which, feigning death, a youth was lying, asking that he be recalled to life by his prayers. He, taught from heaven of the perfidy, replied: "Let him have his portion with the dead for ever." The Hussites, mocking the saint's words: "Behold, they said, the sanctity of the man: he has gone away, he has fled, because he cannot raise a dead man: now therefore you shall see that holier men are had in this our company. They order therefore one of their own to pour in the spirit of life. When then the suborner had approached the coffin, and had commanded Peter (that was the youth's name) to rise, Peter was found truly dead. Stupefied by which portent, most ran to the holy man to ask pardon, which they also obtained, the two principal authors of the deed being sent however to Rome, both to witness to the great works of God, and to obtain indulgence for the crime."

[234] the audacity of the Jews St. Capistrano acted severely also against the Jews, whose crimes he pursued in that he was inquisitor of the faith, and consigned the accused and convicted to the secular arm. A mutual and huge hatred had blazed up, even from the very beginnings of the Christian age, between Christians and Jews: frequent, when the Christian religion was being born, were the accusations of the Jews, and often, with them as authors, persecution broke out afresh against Christians, as may to some extent be seen in our historical Commentary on St. Florentinus, bishop of Trier, under 17 October Act. SS. tom. VIII Octob., pag. 23.. But in the Middle Ages Christians paid back the Jews in brilliant turn. There meet one in the histories of nearly all the provinces of Christendom expulsions, despoilings and at times massacres of the Jews: frequent was the intercession of the pontiffs that a people, hated by most, should not be altogether destroyed [Compare Michaud. Hist. de Croisad. Lib. XIX, tom. VIII, pag. 134. Edit. Bruxell. 1841. Journ. hist. et litt. Liége an. 1840, tom. VII, pag. 586.]. Meanwhile there did not cease the most grave accusations against the Jews, and they were held by all as accused and convicted especially of enormous usuries. Already, as we showed above at num. 56, our John had been appointed by the queen of Naples as inquisitor against the Jews: in Germany horrible crimes and nefarious sacrileges were cast up to them. I would not indeed say that all these things were true: but the opinion of such crimes prevailed widely and unshaken. Nor can it rightly be demanded of a man, even holy, of sense and prudent, that he himself should count as nothing an opinion universally in force, and that he alone should perceive its falsity or exaggeration. We know how general was the view about the multitude of witches, and how severely they were punished; yet Friedrich Spee, a priest of our Society, taught by his own experience that women of this kind had for the most part been falsely accused, tortured and condemned, wrote in the little work under the title: Cautio criminalis or on processes against witches, in which he shows that the errors of judges were most frequent, indeed almost perpetual. Whether truly any such thing was committed against the Jews, I shall not easily pronounce, since the texts alleged by Sixtus of Siena, formerly a Jew, afterwards a pupil of the Order of St. Dominic, in the Bibliotheca Sancta Pag. 144. Edit. Lugd. 1575., are such as most openly manifest a murderous hatred. And in this way is explained the severity employed by St. John of Capistrano in pursuing the Jews Journ. hist. et litt. tom. VII, pag. 70 and 443..

[235] he represses; Certainly most grave were the crimes of which the Jews were accused. To the Jews, says Wadding Annal. tom. XII, pag. 142., a certain peasant had sold nine consecrated hosts, which they, placing them on a linen cloth, beat with rods, mockingly repeating: "This is the God of the Christians." And that it was truly so he demonstrated, copious blood being sent forth from the little forms, which dyed the linen. The matter being disclosed, by the duty of inquisitor he apprehended very many, subjected them to torture, and those confessing the crime he consigned to the flames (that is, he handed over the convicted to be punished by the secular arm according to the laws). While these things were being done, a woman converted from Hebraism came forward, and narrated that she had seen a sacred host thrown into the fire by other Hebrews spring back unharmed three times, and that an old woman then converted, who at once confessed the true God and reverently adored it, the indignant Jews killed and buried in a dark corner. Moreover she said that they had stolen a little Christian boy; fattened him with the best foods, and then, rolling him in a cask among the points of nails, killed him; that they had sacrificed the blood and sent it to the nearby synagogues; and hidden the little body in the inner parts of their houses. Men being sent to inquire into the truth of the matter, the bodies were found, and Capistrano distributed them as relics of Martyrs. The peasant and forty-one Jews, sharers of the crimes, were burned: the rest were driven into exile beyond the dominion of king Ladislaus. Capistrano exercised the office of inquisitor, however, with the consent, indeed at the request of Peter Noach or Nowak, bishop of Breslau, as is established from a letter of the same given to the saint on the fifth day of the week before the feast of St. Vitus, in the year 1453, that is, on 14 June: in which he asks Ann. tom. XII, pag. 165. that, taking with him the venerable men, the lords of the chapter of the church of Breslau, he deign to examine the case of the most venerable and most revered Sacrament of the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ and to end it with more salutary remedies, lest from its undecided delay anything contrary could be said, or scandal be stirred up, to be spent as a pleasing favour to good people.

[236] he founds several convents through Silesia, Within Breslau, however, the ardour of St. Capistrano in sowing the word of God and propagating his Order did not confine itself: indeed before the saint arrived at Breslau, he had visited the city of Sagan, on 10 January 1453: how true this is, if you look at the defined time, I could not easily say. For the biographer Christopher, describing the journey from Leipzig to Breslau at num. 159 and following, reviewing various cities from Dresden, where the Christmas feast had been celebrated, by no word indicates Sagan, and would probably not have omitted such a narrative, if the saint had reaped there the fruits that are reported. But Amandus Hermann, who notes the arrival of St. Capistrano Capistr. triumph. pag. 436., cites the Chronicle of Sagan, which, if it is contemporary, ought deservedly to remove all doubts: especially since the saint, setting out from Dresden for Breslau, certainly could have passed through Sagan, if perhaps he did not have to on account of the ease of the roads. There he preached according to his custom, with a certain George, a fellow of his Order, as interpreter: he restored very many sick persons to their former health, abolished dice and that kind of games, and corrected to the ancient modesty the various adornments of both men and women, especially in the hair, which was wonderfully curled. In the same province of Silesia there is also Oppeln (Oppeln), where duke Bernard, in view of St. Capistrano, founded a convent, as is established by a letter of the same Bernard, dated on the feast of St. Urban, or 25 May, of the year 1455: which foundation we think is to be referred to earlier years; for the duke writes Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 304. that he has understood from the noble Conrad Clavarus that the monastery of Oppeln has pleased Capistrano: it therefore already stood built: the duke believes too that it has not fallen from the saint's memory what he had long since written, asking that he be willing to accept and take up the monastery: whence too it is given to understand that this business had been treated already some time before: which accordingly can conveniently look to those years in which the saint stayed in Silesia, namely 1453 or 1454. And certainly that the convent of Opava had its beginnings then we showed above at num. 145. To the same time is to be referred the foundation of the convent of Leobschütz. Leobschicium (in German Lubschitz) is a town of the duchy of Jägerndorf, formerly most celebrated for its grain markets, inasmuch as it is surrounded by a very fertile territory Heneb. Silesiogr. cap. VII, pag. 267,. And indeed that around the year 1454 the monastery had a beginning, at least for the Brothers of the Observance, is witnessed by the register of St. Capistrano, written by his secretary, in which under the year 1454 we read Hermann. Capistr. triumph. pag. 204.: Places of the province of Austria and Bohemia, received with the authority of the Reverend Father Br. John of Capistrano: Vienna, the place of St. Theobald or St. Bernardine, Klosterneuburg of St. James, at Brünn of St. Bernardine, at Olomouc of St. Bernardine, at Breslau of St. Bernardine, at Cracow of St. Bernardine, at Warsaw of St. Bernardine, Bethlem, Cosel, Opava, Clupsicium, Leobschütz, Jamnitz, Enzersdorf, Feldsberg, Judenburg.

[237] among which the convent of Breslau is pre-eminent, For the rest, the principal one, as it seems, even from the beginning was the convent of Breslau, inasmuch as in it there was celebrated under St. John of Capistrano himself in the year 1454 a provincial assembly Greiderer. Germ. Francisc. tom. I, pag. 812.. I think this city was selected also because it was most loving toward the holy man, whence a more abundant food supply was hoped for the sustenance of so many Brothers.

As witnesses of the solid friendship we have the letter of the citizens of Breslau, which Wadding recites under the year 1454 Ann. tom. XII, pag. 209.: To the most religious and most venerable Father in Christ Br. John of Capistrano etc., their most revered preceptor, themselves with humble commendation ever ready for all the good pleasures of his mandates. Most religious and most reverend Father. May your paternity know that the messenger who went with your letter to Prague, returning lately on the Sabbath to Breslau, brought two letters directed to your Paternity, which we send here bound together. Then we signify to your Paternity that after your lamentable departure from the faithful little sheep of Christ of this city, they, as good disciples, have not thus far ceased to groan in tears; but just as orphans sigh after a benign father, as little lambs bleat after a most faithful pastor, and as the needy complain after a liberal benefactor: so truly the faithful, subject to your doctrinal mastership, still lament, saying with groaning: why, father, have you deserted us, or to whom have you left us desolate? For we fear lest, in your absence, ravening wolves should invade the flock of Christ; since in time of tribulation we see that we shall be forsaken. We have heard however a comforting word to us, promised by your Paternity for the moderation of our sorrow: namely that although your Paternity should absent himself from us bodily, yet he would be willing to be present to us by mental favour and paternal love: to that extent we pray your Paternity with earnest prayers that, although you can no longer feed us with the rains of spoken doctrines, yet at least sometimes by a few writings of letters, as by drops, you may be willing to refresh us by most grateful consolation, and of your paternal benignity graciously to strengthen us, especially with advices against the machinations of the unbelieving heretics, if your Paternity should perceive that they are willing craftily to build against us deceitful ambushes, or even manifest attacks. By which your salutary forewarnings we shall be able to act more constantly and sincerely, as, with Christ's aid, we faithfully intend to act, in which you show us a principal confidence and your Paternity's sincere charity, indeed may you renew in us that sign of inner love, which tears, mingled with the words of your farewell and blessing, openly attested. We desire your Paternity to fare happily for the defence of the Catholic faith for long-lasting times. From Breslau on the day of St. Mary Magdalene (22 July) in the year 1454.

[238] in which city, ill, he made a long stay. What at length St. Capistrano did for the city of Breslau is presented in compendium by Amandus Hermann Capistr. triumph. pag. 430., except that, perhaps by a fault of the typesetter, he assigned the entry of the holy man to 15 instead of 13 February 1453. Brought in by solemn rite into the greater or Cathedral church of St. John, after thanks had been given to God and an oration held by Caspar Weigel, he in turn gave thanks to the clergy and people, and prayed well for all. On the following day, which was Ash Wednesday, in the church of St. Elizabeth, and thereafter in the Salt Market, most capable of the people running up from all sides, he held a sermon in Latin, a brother of his Order, Frederick by name, taking up his words and interpreting them. The beginning was given to the convent at the start of Lent, which was hastily built: since on the vigil of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, that is, 24 March, the choir being erected, the remaining parts of the church were constructed by Quasimodo Sunday, that is, 8 April. We conjecture that this first foundation was rude and extemporary; in that manner, namely, in which we set out the erection of the convent of Cracow above at num. 140. The principal fruits of the preaching were the extirpation of the flourishing heresy of the Hussites, and the burning of gaming furniture and women's finery, in that this everywhere provoked men to manifold sin. On Jubilate Sunday, or the third after Easter, in that year 22 April, at the church of St. Vincent, which is an abbey of the Premonstratensian Order, on the occasion of the anniversary of the dedication of that church Stenzel. Scriptt. Siles. tom. II, pag. 145. and the showing of the relics, he held a sermon to a very numerous people. On which day too, and on the two following he directed words of salvation to the people, and on the following sixth day of the week, or 27 April, with doors closed, to the whole clergy, secular and regular. Two days after, on Cantate Sunday or the fourth after Easter, 29 April, together with bishop Peter Nowak he betook himself to Neisse, a distinguished town of Silesia; whence, sick and languishing, brought back to Breslau on the vigil of Pentecost, 19 May, he had to care for his body until 21 August of the same year, on which he went away with the Orators of the king of Poland to Cracow, an inhabitant there until the vigil of the Virgin's Assumption of the following year, or 1454, on which, intending to go away two days after, or on the feast of St. Arnulf, 16 August, he bade a last farewell to the whole people.

§ XXI. The deeds of St. John of Capistrano in Poland.

King Casimir by letters Scarcely had St. Capistrano touched German lands, when the Poles sought his presence. For Casimir IV, who then held the Polish throne, by a letter given in the year 1451, on the third day of the week on the vigil of the Nativity of St. Mary, invited the saint into Poland, and to stir up his diligence Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 98, he praises first of all the counsel of the Roman Pontiff, who is known to have poured out abundantly his favour on the Slavic nations, when for the bringing back of the Bohemian people, who, going away into a region of unlikeness, were following various dogmas of heresies, he sent across a man once known to him and proved, distinguished by divine mind and stupendous works (Capistrano). He asks therefore that the saint be not burdened to turn aside into his kingdom: there is, he says, the kingdom of Poland, observing the Catholic religion with tenacious faith; there is also the duchy of Lithuania, whose people our father, Wladyslaw of most renowned memory, most Christian king of Poland, brought back from the worship of idols to the knowledge of the one true God. The people of both our dominions greatly long to see you, and desire your presence with the highest desire and the highest prayer. There are besides for us the very broad lands of Russia, which although they profess the Christian faith, have long since been drawn into the sect of the Greeks and treat and guard their rite: nor in so long a time, which has followed their fall and their split from the Latin Church, could they be drawn or torn away from the gloom of their ceremonies (although labours have been interposed in many councils). All these with one spirit appeal to you, that you may not disdain to visit them, that they may be able through you to be gathered into the bosom of the unity of the Holy Church of God. There exist many who, allured by the mere fame of your name, promise to renounce the old sect and rite, and to enter the way which you shall show. If the bringing back of the Bohemians so urges you, that for their salvation it would be sweet to undergo all adversities and dangers; much more let the devotion of the Ruthenians move you. For although both peoples are veiled by the gloom of error, yet you may persuade yourself from many respects that the bringing back of the Ruthenians is easier: since the nation is desirous of good, simple, rude and devoid of all worldly learning, which guards its errors with feeble opposition; nor does anything but a certain custom and inborn love of that rite in which they have been nourished forbid them to acknowledge the authority of the supreme Pontiff and the unity of the faith. You will dissolve all these knots however and by the one sun of your works and merits you will scatter and cut through the inveterate gloom.

[240] he invites the saint into Poland, Let there come to the mind of your charity the example and form of the Apostles, whose footsteps you imitate, of whom some traversed several regions, sowing the truth of the Gospel and the doctrine of Christ, that they might gain some. Do you, certain in a way of the reward of your labours, not disdain to come for the salvation of many peoples, whose conversion depends on you. Consider how many souls you will bring into heaven, if you come; how many you permit to be detained by Satan, if you delay to come. Gird yourself therefore, best of men, for this business, to which the voice of many nations calls you, to which we too invite your charity by our prayers. Your profession urges this on your charity, zeal for souls urges it, love of the faith and charity compel it: God himself, sitting on high, mandates and commands it. For the next feast of St. Michael * the prelates and barons both of our kingdom of Poland and of the grand duchy of Lithuania are to celebrate a parliament, to discuss arduous matters of great moment, which draw war or peace with them. We pray you to be willing to entreat Almighty God with singular prayer that the grace of the Holy Spirit may visit the hearts of our prelates and barons, and reconcile their minds and hearts, that with concordant and unanimous vote they may ordain, complete and decree the affairs of the kingdom and duchy. Given at Grodek, on the third day of the week, on the vigil of the Nativity of St. Mary, in the year of the Lord 1451.

[241] which journey, hindered at first, St. Capistrano could not indeed at that time, sent by the Pontiff to the emperor Frederick to settle the Bohemian dissensions, comply with the desire of the king of Poland. But at the time at which we write this, with the Ruthenians of today sitting among the leaders of political affairs in Christendom, how desirable it would be today that the holy man, leaving the Bohemians, had spent his labours and the fruits of his labours on the conversion of the Russian people. Divine providence, namely, plays in the world and knows its times and moments, which we pray from the heart with the Catholic Church may arrive as speedily as possible. Although moreover king Casimir could not obtain the Polish journey of St. Capistrano, even urging it with the highest prayers; yet he did not desist from soliciting it with new petitions. At nearly the same time there wrote to the saint Cardinal Zbigniew Oleśnicki, bishop of Cracow, whom Ciaconius calls Vitæ Pont. et Cardd. tom. II, col. 910. a most religious man, patron of orphans and widows, liberal to the needy, a vindicator and most sharp defender of the Church, most zealous for the commonwealth, a despiser of threats and dangers. It befitted such a man to deal with the saint, that he should be willing to put his hand to labouring Poland. Certainly the Cardinal by a letter given on 15 April 1452 signifies that he has already written another, by which he had drawn forth a promise of coming. Wherefore I repeat, he says Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 138., your promise: for many things concur which supply me with both words and spirit: your kindly and sweet response, your propitious and clement promise, made not to me alone, but also to the most serene prince, Lord Casimir, king of Poland, the order of the supreme Pontiff Pope Nicholas V, written to your charity at my instance, and lately signified to me by letter from the City. The Cardinal then complains that, Poland being neglected, which first awaited his coming, supported by its own and royal letters, he has gone to Meissen: but he hopes that the holy man will shortly gladden all by his presence.

[242] he is at last received; King Casimir himself by repeated letters sought St. Capistrano, and in order to attract him more powerfully into Poland, he says that he is on the point of founding a convent of Brothers of the Observance, and has already assigned a certain church, timely for beginning the convent. By this consideration too, the king goes on Ibid. pag. 140., we again and greatly demand your coming, by which also the said

Brothers (already staying at Cracow) might be formed by your example for fuller perfection and the people of our aforesaid kingdom might rejoice to be also a sharer of the graces and spiritual consolations which the merciful God deigns so abundantly to work through you. The letter was dated at Cracow on the sixth day of the week within the octave of the Visitation of Blessed Mary, that is, 7 July 1452. However much the holy man desired to satisfy the king and the cardinal, yet not even then, called away elsewhere, as Wadding sets out Ibid. l. c., could he go off into Poland. But at last in the year 1453 he gave more certain hope of a future coming, as is clear from the letter of the praised cardinal Zbigniew, which Wadding reprints Ibid. pag. 162.. For although by two letters of Capistrano every reason for doubting about the future setting out into Poland had been dispelled, the cardinal nevertheless feared lest he should be hindered by some chance: but the report which was brought to him, that Capistrano had entered the neighbouring city of Breslau of his diocese, excluded the remainder of suspicion also. Indeed Zbigniew, who had thought after the Easter feast of transferring himself to the interior part of his diocese, resolved to stay at Cracow, intending to send to meet him those who should provide for the travelling expenses and other things necessary for the journey. The letter is read as dated 28 March, and thus in that year the fourth day of Holy Week. Nevertheless the setting out of St. Capistrano to Cracow was put off until the month of August of the year 1453. The cause of which putting off may perhaps have been the marriage to be arranged at that time at Breslau between king Casimir and Elizabeth, daughter of Albert of Austria. Certainly Jan Długosz, then canon of Cracow, afterwards elected archbishop of Lwów in Galicia, deputed by cardinal Zbigniew to bring St. Capistrano to Cracow, writes in his Polish History, book XIII Hist. Polon. tom. II, col. 121. Edit. Lips. 1712.: The matters of the marriage being completed, the legates of Poland return to Cracow, bringing with them in their company John of Capistrano, a brother of the Order of Minors, a man of excellent sanctity; and on the third day of the week, on the day of St. Augustine (28 August) they enter Cracow.

[243] at Cracow he preaches with huge fruit, And there was a going out, continues Długosz, to meet the aforesaid blessed man not only by all orders, but all the priests of the city of Cracow too, with the magistrates, with sacred processions and banners, went forth to meet him: and the citizens, men and women, had flowed out in crowds for two miles to receive him. Almost the whole city being poured out to meet him, king Casimir too with queen Sophia, his mother, and Zbigniew, cardinal and bishop of Cracow, with a great number of the whole knighthood and clergy, receive him in the field before Kleparz, and bring him in great triumph into the city. Great was the exultation of clergy and people at his coming, whence every sex too was poured out to meet him. For his lodging the house of George Sworez, on the Cracow square, was assigned; and around the church of Adalbert a throne was made, on which each day, before the intense cold arrived, Mass being read, he preached the word of God in Latin, according to his custom, for the space of two hours, the common people hearing and conceiving no disgust: endowed with such prudence, eloquence and learning that he seemed to speak with a heavenly mind and tongue: and his preaching was taken up again for another two hours in the vernacular: thus for four continuous hours, each day, the preaching lasted. And when the frosts arrived toward the snows, the throne was placed in the church of St. Mary the Virgin, near the sacristy, and for each day the preaching was continued, first in Latin, then in the vernacular tongue. He remained moreover in the city of Cracow from St. Augustine's day until the fifteenth day of May, during which time he cured, the people looking on, a great multitude of the sick, blind, lame, withered and those oppressed by other ailments. For which reason the whole kingdom of Poland, and also from the neighbouring provinces, a very great multitude of men flowed together both to have their needs and infirmities cared for, and to see the word of God. A hundred and more persons entered his sacred Religion. Thus far Długosz.

[244] and to the royal marriage Like things are had by another historian of Poland of nearly the same time, Marcin Kromer, who flourished in the earlier part of the 16th century. He, when treating of the nuptials of king Casimir with Elizabeth of Austria, wrote De reb. Polon. pag. 523. Edit. Basil. 1558.: There was a contention between the archbishop (of Gniezno, Peter Sprowski) and cardinal Zbigniew over the nuptial ceremony, which of them should be its minister: because the former was archbishop and primate, and the latter cardinal and bishop of Cracow, where these things were being done. The matter being long agitated, it was agreed at last that they should confer that honour on John of Capistrano. He was an Italian not ignoble, of the fellowship of the Franciscans, who call themselves Observants and Bernardines, powerful in learning, eloquence and sanctity of life to such a degree that he proved it by many miracles. He had undertaken the pilgrimage for the sake of bringing back the Bohemians especially to the right religion: and when he had not made much progress in that matter among the Bohemians, summoned by cardinal Zbigniew, he had arrived in the preceding year (1453) at Cracow, almost the whole city being poured out to meet him with the priests and bishop and even the king himself and queen. And a chair being placed in the square, and then in the winter-time in the church of the Virgin Mother, he held sermons daily to the people through an interpreter, and healed many sick by divine power: and he was the author to Zbigniew of founding a monastery, the first of all in Poland, for his fellowship under the citadel at the southern gate of the city. To him therefore then was given the business of joining the new spouses by solemn rite. But since he was skilled neither in the Polish nor the German tongue, and adjudged the discharge of that office to Zbigniew; Zbigniew, skilled in both tongues, the archbishop yielding, carried it through. The archbishop, the sacred rites being performed, anointed the new queen and girded her with a diadem. Amandus Hermann rightly remarks Capistr. triumph. pag. 461. that the writers vary somewhat among themselves, some asserting that our John himself, others that cardinal Zbigniew, gave the nuptial blessing.

[245] he is said to have imparted the nuptial blessing: For the praised Hermann reports that the contention between the archbishop primate and the cardinal bishop of the place was settled by the king in these words: "And so let this father (Capistrano, present) confer on me what you on account of your discord shrink from conferring." And thus write the chronicles of the Minors of Poland; so that St. Capistrano in very truth joined the spouses, but with cardinal Zbigniew, skilled in both tongues, as interpreter. But other Polish chroniclers ascribe the ministry of the nuptial blessing to cardinal Zbigniew alone, in that sense, namely, which Kromer, cited above, sets out, namely that St. Capistrano conferred the sacred function entrusted to him, the archbishop primate himself consenting, on his patron Zbigniew. I for my part think this truer: for it seems altogether unbecoming that a cardinal bishop in his own diocese, in the sight of the nobility and the whole people, should have played the part of a chaplain of inferior rank before some religious, holy indeed and proved by miracles, but yet a simple presbyter. Nor would St. Capistrano himself have suffered so humble a ministry to be shown him by a Cardinal, nor have allowed himself to be raised to that summit of honour, than which scarcely anything loftier can be thought. Indeed the adversaries of Capistrano, who often complained of a certain pride arrogated to himself both in his entry into cities and in his manner of preaching (compare above num. 204), would not have been silent about a ceremony celebrated beyond all order, in which Capistrano had joined to himself as it were as two coadjutors the archbishop primate of Poland and a bishop presented with the hat of the cardinals. Wherefore we judge truer the opinion of those who say that cardinal Zbigniew imparted the blessing to the spouses, king Casimir and Elizabeth. Of this union moreover there came forth a second-born son, St. Casimir, whose Acts our predecessors gave under 4 March Act. SS. tom. I Mart., pag. 337..

[246] and the raging heresy of the Hussites At the time, moreover, when St. Capistrano was staying in Poland, he did not neglect the things which were of his office against the Hussites. There was a certain doctor of medicine, Paul of Prague, sent, as it seems, by Rokycana into Poland, both to build ambushes for the holy man and to weaken his authority in preaching. But St. Capistrano forestalled the ambushes, and by the office of inquisitor which he exercised apprehended the spy of the Hussites, and informed of his capture Zbigniew, bishop of the city, then staying at Sandomierz Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 194.. Zbigniew greatly praised the zeal of Capistrano, and by a letter given from Sandomierz, on 22 January 1454, says Ibid. l. c.: Your zeal is greatly to be commended in the extirpation of heresies according to the duty of your office, thus far shown in the capture of master Paul of Prague. For it had been spread abroad in the kingdom of Poland and the city of Cracow that the aforesaid master Paul had favoured the heretics of Bohemia, and had written from Breslau certain letters to Rokycana the heresiarch and other followers of his to the insult of the holy faith, and had secretly fled from Breslau, as your Paternity also assures me by your letter. The way would therefore have lain open to some great scandal, if the man himself, so notoriously erroneous and infamous, had been tolerated in the city of Cracow; especially since, not content with his errors, he used reproaches against the doctrine and preaching of your Paternity: since not only in my judgment, but also in that of other prudent and learned men, your doctrine and preaching sound nothing else but the planting of morals and virtues, and the extirpation of heresies and vices, nor could it be reproved by anyone of sound mind.

[247] he extinguishes. The captivity of the aforesaid master Paul therefore turned out to my great gratification, which even in the absence of your Paternity, moved by the aforesaid rumour alone, I was going to effect according to my pontifical duty. I am writing therefore to the venerable Paul, my vicar, to Scabus and to my voladarius, that they use laborious diligence for the custody of the aforesaid detainee, lest he evade the prison by art, guile or ingenuity. I have proposed moreover to enter Cracow within a few days, where in this cause all my assistance will not be wanting to your Paternity for the honour and favour of the holy faith, nor will the detainee himself be able to use any intercessions whatsoever to prevent just judgment being done on him, to be executed, the Lord granting, according to your sentence and decree and that of other learned men. Given at Sandomierz, on the 22nd of the month of January, 1454. But while the holy man was spending his labour on eliminating heresies from Poland, he was sending his brothers into Prussia and into the province of Rascia, which lies to the north of Serbia, to keep the peoples in the Catholic faith and to bring them back to better fruit. He himself was panting for Prague, the citadel of the Hussite superstition Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 195., which however it was not given him to reach. Meanwhile a huge calumny was being built against him, namely as if he had been the author to king Casimir of standing for the Prussians, who were giving themselves up to the Polish crown, and of bringing war on the Teutonic knights who were occupying the region, which calumny we shall call back to the balance in the following §.

* 29 September

§ XXII. The accusation is refuted that St. John of Capistrano, when everything urged peace among Christians, had been the instigator of the war between the king of Poland and the Teutonic Knights.

Of the Prussian war, As we said at the end of the preceding §, St. Capistran was accused of having persuaded King Casimir to make war on the Teutonic Order, or Order of the Cross-bearers. To refute the calumny it is necessary to take the dispute further back; not that it is our design to set out the entire series of events; it will be enough to have sketched the main outlines. In the year 1440, then, on the second Sunday of Lent, or the 21st of February, there had assembled at Elbing, a city of western Prussia lying not far from the Baltic Sea, the nobles and the envoys of certain cities; but being fewer in number than they had hoped, they announced a new assembly in the neighboring city of Marienwerder for Passion Sunday, or the 13th of March. On that day, by common counsel, they resolved to pool their strength and their resources for the relief of the grievances that were oppressing them Hist. de l'Ord. Teuton. tom. V, pag. 509 et seqq.. This importunate petition certainly displeased the Teutonic Knights, the lords of Prussia, and, as usually happens in military Orders, against the will of, or at least with the silence of, the supreme master of the Order, Paul von Rusdorf, the affair shortly came to arms, and private wars flared up Ibid. pag. 527.. Moreover the Poles were gaping after a rich prize, since through Prussia the approach lay open to them to the Baltic Sea and to the maritime cities, wealthy emporia, and thus for the Polish commonwealth an increase of strength and riches. To bar the way to such great evils, Louis von Erlichshausen, who after his namesake Conrad had succeeded Paul von Rusdorf as master of the Teutonic Order in the year 1450 Ibid. tom. VI, pag. 56., had recourse to the apostolic see, that the Pontiff might bring the rebels back to their due obedience: and indeed about the end of the same year Nicholas V sent as legate Louis, bishop of Silves in Portugal Ibid. pag. 61.. But he, having summoned the parties to Elbing, tried in vain to settle the disputes, with each side accusing the other.

[249] whose origin is related, At length the contention boiled up to such a degree that the Prussians (I deliberately use this word, that they may not be confused with the Borussians of today, living under the monarchy of the house of Brandenburg) declared themselves ready to answer the supreme master on the charges laid against them, not only before the Pope, but also before any other prince whatever. At this Louis, the supreme master, blazed up, and replied that he too stood by the judgment of the Church: but let them beware lest, by despising the ecclesiastical sentence, they incur the penalties of excommunication. While these things were being done at Elbing, however, the Prussians, fearing that the master might invoke the protection of the emperor, forestalled him: and having obtained a diploma from Frederick the emperor on the 3rd of February 1451, they reported their confederation as ratified Ibid. pag. 63 et seq.. And so, with the business unfinished, the legate was compelled to depart. Accordingly, says Caspar Schütz Ibid. pag. 69., Pope Nicholas wrote with great threats both to Louis the master and to the bishop of Warmia; rebuking the master because he had let the legate of the sacrosanct see go from Prussia with the business unfinished, by a reprehensible precedent, and had not proceeded against rebellious subjects, worse even than heathens, whence one might suspect that he himself was a supporter of their conspiracy: and commanding him likewise, with greater severity, unless he wished to be held an enemy of the Roman Church and an apostate from the apostolic see, to obey his commands more exactly in future. Nevertheless the Prussians persevered in their confederation, and when the emperor Frederick had been appointed arbiter of the disputes, they rejected the imperial judgment, and at last on the 4th of February, or the Monday after the Purification of St. Mary, in the year 1454, the Prussians, as a confederation, renounced the obedience owed to the Teutonic Order; and after the space of two months, namely on the 15th of April, they confirmed their renunciation and gave themselves up and subjected themselves to the Crown of Poland Georgisch. Regesta. tom. II, col. 1164..

[250] In this state of affairs Casimir, king of Poland, fearing, whether truly or feignedly, that Prussia might pass to other neighboring princes to the detriment of the Polish commonwealth, admitted the confederates Hist. de l'Ord. Teuton. tom. VI, pag. 114.; and, spurning the pacts which he had confirmed by solemn oath eight months before Hist. de l'Ord. Teut. tom. VI, pag. 121., he declared war on the Teutonic Order Ibid. pag. 120.. It is not our purpose to narrate the varied fortune of the long war: it is enough for us to have so set out the beginnings of the dispute that the reader may be able, at least in some measure, to judge on which side the just cause of the war stood; and thus how blameworthy St. John of Capistrano would be if, at his instigation, the dispute had come to the point of bloodshed. The origin of an accusation of this kind I judge to be derived from the authority he enjoyed with King Casimir, and hence from the conjecture by which it was thought that the king would have done nothing without consulting John. It is certain, on the word of Długosz himself, a contemporary who favored the Poles more than was fair Ibid. tom. V, pag. 442., that in the consultation held on admitting or rejecting the surrender of the Prussians, opinions varied greatly; that the bishops Cardinal Zbigniew and John of Włocławek, who, so far as can be conjectured from Długosz, were the only ecclesiastics present in the council, dissuaded the king from granting his consent to the surrender: but the votes of the majority drew forth the contrary Hist. Polon. col. 131.. Since therefore St. Capistran was an intimate friend of Cardinal Zbigniew, by the conjecture set out above concerning King Casimir one would have to conclude that the Saint had been the Cardinal's source for dissuading the surrender: the contrary inferences thus cancel out, and from his friendship both with King Casimir and with Cardinal Zbigniew one may not conclude to Capistran's holding either opinion: it remains therefore for us to inquire to which opinion St. Capistran did in the end assent.

[251] that St. Capistran was the author or adviser is denied, as is made credible by And indeed there is no leisure to refute the calumny by conjectures alone, though they be probable and well founded. When Constantinople had been taken by the Turks in the preceding year, that is, 1453, Pope Nicholas V at once directed all his effort to this, that, peace being reconciled among the Christian princes and their arms combined, the Turk might be driven out of Europe: it is certain therefore, given the well-known obedience of St. Capistran toward the apostolic See, that he could by no means have favored the war that had broken out between the Poles and the Teutonic Knights, and thus, if he did anything, it must be said that he labored only for this, that a firm and sincere peace might be established between the contending parties. Although the conjecture is of such a nature that, in the absence of every other argument, it would seem abundantly sufficient to enervate the whole accusation, we nevertheless have written records that make the matter certain. For on the day of SS. Philip and James the Apostles, or the very kalends of May, there was to be held, as Długosz says Ibid. col. 145., a general assembly: and so on the fourth before the kalends of that same month St. Capistran gave a letter at Kraków to the king, in which he exhorted him as effectively as possible to cultivate justice and peace. It is not the part, he says Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 196., of a faithful little servant or a diligent friend to withhold useful counsel from kings or a prince. Nor do I, a most faithful devotee of your majesty, refrain from offering sound and most wholesome counsel, pleasing to God, profitable to your salvation, and happily suited also to the honor and glorious fame of your name, to be left both to those now living and to posterity, that the dignity of the Christian name may not grow torpid, nor the splendor of your sacred majesty suffer any diminution of its royal eminence.

[252] Behold, after the coming of your little servant into the sight of your glory, a letter, written by him to the king the crown of your sublimity has been magnified, and your highness is believed to have been exalted in many ways, both through the kinship of your happy marriage and through the enlargement of your dominion by seventy cities and more, and by towns and villages innumerable, and your name has been spread abroad through very many regions, near and far alike. The cedar of your garden has grown to a mighty height and reached even to heaven, and your power to the ends of the earth. Deign therefore to consider, most serene king, that God alone, the Most High, the King of kings and Lord of lords, holds in his hand all the kingdoms of men, and dispenses them to whomsoever he will. Let the eyes of your majesty therefore be raised to heaven and intent on God, watchful and bowed down in obedience to his commands: for the Lord does not withdraw himself from the person of anyone, nor will he stand in awe of anyone's greatness; for he himself made the small and the great, and he will judge all equally according to their merits or demerits. I beseech you therefore, with all the reverence I can, not to take ill the counsel I offer: deign to embrace the Christian name, and to observe what it contains: and do not exalt the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things; nor unbecomingly grant them license to rage against Christians: revoke the privileges already in fact granted without counsel and unjustly handed over to them, and bring them back to the form of common law: lest perhaps the Lord be angered and scatter the counsels of princes, and they perish from the just way, and he transfer kingdoms to foreign correctors. These things I wished to send for the excusing of my conscience, trusting in the kindness of your majesty, that you may read the mind rather than the foliage of the words, and may store the fruits more willingly than the flowers in the little casket of your breast, to the glory of God, your own eternal salvation, and the continual progress of your clients and subjects, the happiness of both the outer and the inner man, for the prosperous government of your peoples. I desire that you may fare well and live happily forever. From your renowned city of Kraków, 1454, on the 28th day of the month of April, with the pen running swiftly. Your humble servant and chaplain, Br. John of Capistrano.

[253] and to the Pontiff. This letter, delivered to the king at precisely the time when the general assembly was to be held for concluding the surrender, certainly condemned that surrender with fitting modesty. Further, when the accusation had a little later reached the ears of Pope Nicholas, St. Capistran, in a letter given to him from Frankfurt on the 13th of October of the same year, complains of John Lutko, envoy of the king of Poland, that he had said it was as though Ibid. pag. 197. by his counsel the most serene king of Poland had attacked Prussia, which, saving the peace of whoever says it, was nowhere true, but rather the entire opposite. For, he says, in the presence of the most reverend Lord Cardinal of Kraków, of two archbishops and two bishops and other counselors of the said king, I counseled that he should bring the cause itself before the judgment of Your Holiness; and that the said king himself, being bound by oath to a perpetual peace, should offer himself as mediator to reconcile the subjects with their lords the Cross-bearers. But my counsel did not hold, just as neither did it concerning the privileges of the Jews, a copy of which I sent to Your Holiness with other tracts against the heresies of Rokycana and his followers. I know that I seek not my own, but the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Meanwhile the invidious rumor was spreading, and, carried about through Germany, it had reached even the archbishop of Mainz. Wherefore St. Capistran wrote to the archbishop of Mainz

from Passau, on the 26th day of November 1454, that a report was going about that he had been imprisoned by the archbishop and had with difficulty obtained his freedom by order of the Pontiff: and so the holy man asks him to deign to testify, before the magnates and prelates of the empire, especially of Saxony and Bavaria, to his innocence and to his own good will Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 197.. And thus the calumny laid upon the Saint stands cleared.

[254] Constantinople is taken, Meanwhile, while Christian princes were crossing swords for the enlargement of the frontiers of their realms, and those above all to whom the danger was greatest, ruin was threatened to all Christendom by a most powerful enemy, proud of the victories he had won and of an army accustomed to triumphs, Mahomet II, who in the year 1451 had succeeded his father Amurath. In the third year of his reign he gained possession of Constantinople. When Amurath at Croia (today among the Turks Eski-Serad, a town of Upper Albania Hofmann. Erdbeschreib. tom. II, pag. 3474.), says Bonfini Rer. Hungar. pag. 486. Edit. Francof. 1581., that the matter may be taken up a little further back, was seized during the siege by a grave illness, he was carried across to Adrianople, and in the year of salvation MCCCCL he died. Mahomet, his son, the seventh king of the line of Othman, took up the empire of the Turks: far surpassing his father and his ancestors in the affairs of war, in greatness of spirit, in fierceness of nature, in counsel, in cunning and in the glory of his deeds. Having gained the kingdom, since he burned with a far greater lust to reign, he made peace with the despot and with the emperor Palaeologus. Soon he crossed over into Asia, and moved his camp against Karaman, tyrant of Iconium; whom, as he was stirring up great tumults in Asia, he overthrew in a war of nearly six months. The province being pacified, in order to pursue the grand undertakings he had conceived in his mind, he recalled himself with his army to Europe, and began to violate the peace he had made with the emperor and the despot: following the saying of Euripides, often used by Julius Caesar, That it is lawful at times to violate right for the sake of ruling. First of all, in order to sow the seeds of war and at the same time to besiege Byzantium, he set up twin fortresses on either side at the Euxine Bosphorus, and completed them with wonderful speed, so as to block the city from the Pontus and Maeotis: and to cut off all help not only from the Pannonians and Mysians, but in short from all Scythia. The emperor, that the approach of the provinces allied to him might not be blocked, had begun to complain, first by letter, then by envoys: but he pursued his undertakings no less vigorously, turned a deaf ear to the complaints, pretended not to notice many things, sometimes excused himself, and offered some pretexts: at length he attacked Palaeologus, gravely provoked, in open warfare. And at once he gathered from Asia and Europe what forces and auxiliaries he could, well aware of how great a city he was undertaking to besiege… Mahomet, having gained possession of the city in the third year of his reign and on the fiftieth day of the siege, ran riot in great slaughter and plundered everything; no age and neither sex was without some hostile injury. All things were polluted and defiled, and the churches with far greater zeal: to the crimes committed no addition could be made. Constantine Palaeologus, born of Helena, in order to fall more honorably, was cut down fighting among the thickest of the enemy and was recognized only by his general's cloak. The city therefore, in the four hundred and fifty-third year of salvation above the thousand, the Roman having been driven out, passed, not without the greatest grief of the Christian commonwealth, under a barbarous and profane empire.

[255] and the Turk upon all Christendom, At the news of the destruction of Constantinople, the minds of all the faithful were dismayed, and especially of those on the borders, who saw ruin impending closer. Nicholas, the supreme Pontiff, a parent of learning and a most devoted shepherd of the Catholic people, since he feared greatly for the Pannonians and Mysians, on whose loss he reckoned that it was all over with the Christian commonwealth, promulgated a most wholesome edict of sacred warfare, by which he granted to all who should freely take up the token of the most holy cross against the Turks and serve without pay a complete remission of all their sins. Moreover he had sent John Capistrano, born among the Samnites and initiated into the rites of holy Francis, a most holy man besides, and supremely fitted to rouse peoples to this by his copious speech and the uprightness of his life, to the Germans, Hungarians and Poles, to exhort men by sacred discourses to the salutary expedition. Thus far Bonfini, whom we have thought it proper to cite in order that the reason for the sacred mission which St. John of Capistrano had to undertake might be clear to the reader. The Greeks, however, did not lack warnings to avert the impending calamity, and to obtain from the Westerners, by means of ecclesiastical unity, a more certain and more powerful protection. This was done among others by Nicholas V, who in his letter, dated the fifth before the ides of October 1451, by a certain prophetic spirit set three years for the conversion of the Greeks and their reconciliation with the Roman Church, on the lapse of which he foretold that the unfruitful fig tree would be cut down. This letter, directed to Constantine Palaeologus, is presented by Odorico Rinaldi in the Continuation of Baronius under the year 1451, § II. If, he goes on further, adopting a sounder counsel, you with your nobles and the people of Constantinople embrace the decree of union, you will have us and our venerable brothers the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, with the whole Western Church, ever attentive to your honor and your state. But if you refuse with your people to receive the decree of union, you will compel us to provide those things by which both your salvation and our honor alike may be provided for. Similar things had been foretold to the Greeks by Bessarion, himself a Greek, in an oration delivered in the year 1439, chapter IX Labbe, tom. XIII, Conc. col. 451.: For who, he says, does not know that the only refuge left to us was the friendship of the Latins and the union to come with them, since by this we hoped both to be able to protect ourselves and to conquer our enemies? And that this alone deterred the enemy and bridled his fury against us? Wherefore if we are now deprived of it, whither shall we flee? What will be the end of our calamity? What the outcome of our evils?

[256] But all things were attempted in vain: the Greeks persisted in their obstinacy, and the final calamity came upon them. Further, although these things had befallen enemies of the Church, for which therefore peace was supremely necessary, the whole West nevertheless groaned at so great a disaster, and understood that it too was shaken by this calamity. First of all Pope Nicholas, who even before the capture of Constantinople had fitted out a fleet and prepared the other aids, as Odorico Rinaldi shows at the year 1453, §§ II and III, having exhorted the Christian princes to reconcile peace among themselves and turn their arms against the common enemy, also issued a bull on the day before the kalends of October of the same year, in Rinaldi at § IX, in which, having set forth the calamities threatening all Christendom, and certain to come unless they were met quickly and vigorously, he adjures kings and princes by virtue of the profession made in the reception of holy baptism to hasten to the defense of the Christian religion and faith, and he also declares it to be of necessity of salvation for each person that all, by virtue of their faith, assist in the defense of religion bravely and perseveringly with all their strength and their whole power. But since for accomplishing these things a vast amount of money is needed, he prescribes first of all that all the revenues coming to the apostolic chamber from any benefices whatever be reserved for this holy work totally, entirely and without any diminution. In the same manner, next, threatening defrauders with the penalty of excommunication, he prescribes for all the Cardinals and prelates of the Roman curia a full tenth of all benefices of whatever kind. Finally he burdens with the same tenth, under the same penalty, absolutely all benefices greater and lesser, with cure and without cure, secular and regular, by whatever name they are called. Lastly he forbids under the gravest penalties that provisions or arms be brought to the enemy, and he implores all to observe a general peace, or at least a truce.

[257] is impending. Nor was Pope Calixtus III less vigorous than Nicholas, who, elected on the sixth before the ides of April 1455, immediately bound himself by a solemn vow to use all his effort that the race of the Turks might be either destroyed or converted. The formula of the vow was transcribed by Wadding, from whom we borrow it Ann. tom. XII, pag. 245.: I, Calixtus, Pope III, promise and vow to the most holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to the Mother of God ever Virgin, to the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and to the whole heavenly court, that even to the shedding of my own blood, if need be, I will work and apply all diligence, as far as I can, according to the counsel of my venerable Brothers, for the recovery of the city of Constantinople, which, alas! as the sins of men demanded, was in our times seized and overthrown by the enemy of Jesus Christ our Savior, the son of the devil, Mahomet, lord of the Turks; next, for the liberation of Christian captives, and also for the exaltation of the orthodox faith, for the extermination of the diabolical sect of the reprobate and perfidious Mahomet in the eastern parts, where the light of the faith has most of all gone down. And if I forget thee, Jerusalem, let my right hand be given to oblivion, and let my tongue cleave to my jaws, if I do not remember thee, and if I do not set Jerusalem at the beginning of my joy. So help me God and these holy Gospels. Both Pontiffs, Nicholas V and Calixtus III, left behind them efforts not inferior to their words and vows; and, with nuncios sent to all Christian princes, they sounded the trumpet against the common enemy of the Christian commonwealth: among the apostolic legates, however, St. John of Capistrano claims the first place for himself, as we shall set out in the following §.

§ XXIII. St. John of Capistrano fires the Christian princes to undertake a holy war against the Turks.

By a letter given to St. Capistran, When, as we set out above, a war almost civil was raging between Casimir, king of Poland, and the Teutonic Order, Zbigniew, Cardinal of Kraków, gave a letter to St. Capistran from Kraków on the 16th of August 1454, in which, having set out the state of the Prussian war, he goes on to say Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 201.: Some time ago we received from Hungary a sure messenger, sent to our most serene king and to us, by whose report, and also by the letters of the prelates and barons of Hungary, we are assured that the emperor of the Turks with four hundred thousand fighting men has come down into the land of Rascia and the borders of Hungary, and has invested by siege the fortresses of Belgrade, Suaderono and Olubecz, situated above a ford of the Danube. And not content with a land army alone, in order to appear the more terrible to the besieged he has also stationed a fleet on the waters of the Danube. A diet was held by the Hungarians at Szeged to provide against this perilous evil, and after many deliberations no plan could be found by which so great a multitude could be resisted by the forces of the Hungarians, weakened and exhausted by earlier wars. They resolved therefore to wait for the hoped-for aid of certain kings and princes, which they assert has been promised them, and meanwhile to endure as best they may the siege of the aforesaid fortresses: for they judge it impossible to join battle with the Turk with their own soldiery. They also entreat our king with great insistence to bring help to their distress, lest, if they are conquered, he be compelled to have the Turks as neighbors. Now the lords of Hungary are beginning to discover and learn better how great the benefits were that they had received from the lord king Vladislas, and how much their frontiers had grown while he lived, and how formidable they were to the Turks by the name of the king alone, and how much they are now despised and brought into danger by his death and fall.

[259] Zbigniew, cardinal of Kraków, It would indeed be a thing most highly salutary and necessary for our king to bring help to the holy faith and to them: to which I with many

others am renewing and kindling the mind of his serenity by manifold considerations. For, the praise of this kingdom and its people being set aside *, I see no other king existing who could help the cause of the faith and of Catholics against the Turks with a land army both more easily and more strongly; since he could bring into the resistance of the Turks not only the peoples of his kingdom and dominions, Poles, Lithuanians, Ruthenians, Wallachians, but also the strength of the Tartars, and could assemble an army of at least two hundred thousand, if the affairs of Prussia, by which all his action is hindered, did not detain him. For it is not now possible, with the affairs of Prussia unfinished, to raise the siege of the fortress of Marienburg, nor to leave the land of Prussia without a very strong garrison of troops; since both the master, set free with those who are shut in, and the other auxiliaries would not fail to inflict the gravest wars on the subjects and faithful of our lord king, once they understood that he was occupied with foreign wars. The despot of Rascia with his wife and sons and his chief men, abandoning his lands of Albania and Rascia, has come into Hungary with all his goods, expressly declaring to the Hungarians that the power of the Turks cannot be resisted by his strength; and that either they should protect him and his lands and dominions from hostile invasion, or else accept with equanimity his making surrender to the Turks. Therefore if our most holy lord wishes the cause of the faith and of Catholics to be safe, let him first of all provide for peace in Prussia, and let him encourage and induce our king to rise against the Turks, with a subsidy of money sent to him, by which he may summon to his aid the Tartars, by their own nature hostile to the Turks: for in conducting and waging war against the Turks, the king would set against the Turks in the first rank and the first line the Tartar peoples, the most robust the world has, so that he might conquer dogs with dogs, since the Turks are far inferior in strength: then with a lively and intact army he would fall upon the wearied and diminished Turks, to overcome their remaining power with the help of God.

[260] and Aeneas Sylvius Assuredly, for vanquishing and breaking the power of the Turks and averting the impending dangers, there was needed before all else a true and sincere concord of the Christian princes, out of which an alliance of arms against the common enemy might then grow. But the supreme destruction hanging over all was not able to extinguish their hatreds. With what great wars nearly all the kingdoms of Christendom were entangled is painted in true colors by Aeneas Sylvius in Letter CXXVII, who was then active in Germany. Christendom, he says Oper. pag. 656. Edit. Basil., has no head whom all are willing to obey: neither to the supreme priest nor to the emperor are the things that are theirs rendered. There is no reverence, no obedience: we look upon the Pope and the emperor as though they were feigned names, painted heads. Each city has its own king; there are as many princes as there are houses. How will you persuade so many heads as rule the Christian world to take up arms? (Come, say it:) that all the kings should run together into war? To whom will you give the command? What order will there be in the army? What military discipline? What obedience? Who will feed so great a people? Who will understand the various tongues, who will govern the diverse customs? Who will make the English friends with the French, who will join the Genoese to the Aragonese, who will reconcile the Germans with the Hungarians and Bohemians? If you lead few against the Turks, you will easily succumb; if many, you will be thrown into confusion: there are straits on every side. Go further, and look upon the face of Christendom. Italy, you say, is at peace; it will easily take up arms against foreigners, being quiet at home. I do not know how quiet; between the king of Aragon and the Genoese there still remain the remnants of war Muratori. Annal. d'Ital. tom. IX, pag. 260. Edit. Monœc.: nor are the Genoese men to be believed likely to fight against the Turks, to whom they are said to pay tribute. The Venetians have struck a treaty with the Turks Ibid. l. c. Istor. Veneziani, tom. I. Sabellic. pag. 708.: and although they say they will take up arms for our faith if the other Christians declare war on the Turks, who will fulfil this condition? One will now have to call upon, to entreat and to rouse the Venetians, who would have imitated the rest if they did not have peace with the Turk. What will you do with the Italians, when two naval powers, and those the greater ones, are lacking? The king of Aragon, although he is most powerful and burning for the common good, will by no means wage a naval war against the Turks alone. How great the fleet of the supreme Pontiff is you are not unaware Ibid. l. c.. We lack therefore the other part of the war. For since the purpose was to harass the Turks by land and sea, if the Italians fail there is nothing that we may hope for from a maritime war. The Hellespont will lie open to the Asiatics: and if the war be waged by land, the Turks will bring infinite forces from Asia into Greece.

[261] they exhort the Saint, In Spain you know how many kings there are, unequal in power, in government, in will and in opinion: and they, lying in the farthest west, are not to be drawn to the north: and they have something to do with the people of Granada at home [Mariana. Hist. de Españ. Lib. XXII, cap. 10, tom. VII, pag. 267. Edit. Valent. 1791.]. The king of France, though he has driven the enemy out of his whole kingdom, nevertheless has unquiet sea coasts, nor will he dare to send soldiers outside the kingdom while he fears sudden fleets from England Daniel. Hist. de France, tom. VIII, pag. 77. Edit. Amstel. 1742.: the English have nothing else in mind than to avenge their expulsion from France. The Scots, Danes, Swedes and Norwegians, situated on the farthest shores of the world, can do nothing outside their homes. The Germans, divided among themselves, hold together in no part: the cities are at odds with the princes; and the princes themselves are held together among themselves by no bond of concord. The Swiss hold an old hatred with the dukes of Austria Anal. Vindob. tom. II, pag. 117.: the count Palatine is hostile to the archbishop of Mainz Joannis. Rer. Mogunt. tom. I, pag. 766.: the duchy of Luxembourg hangs in litigation between the king of Bohemia and the duke of Burgundy, although there is a truce in that matter up to the kalends of November Bertholet. Hist. du Luxembourg. tom. VII, pag. 462.. The dukes of Saxony have a suit with the Bohemians over sixty castles. The people of Wrocław, when requested by the king of Bohemia, refused to do homage unless the king should come to them. The Prussians, who were subject to the Religious Order of St. Mary of the Germans, having thrown off their former yoke, have gone over to the king of Poland Cfr supra num. 249.: he has now entered the region and, with his wife, is receiving oaths of fealty. The people of Legnica, whom King Ladislaus had given to the governor, refuse to undergo the yoke: nor are the Pudwicenses * willing to obey the lord of Rosenberg, although by the king's gift they belong to him. In Austria nothing is quiet: they spurn the ruling baron Eizinger, they love the cities, frequent seditions are carried on Cfr Æn. Sylv. Hist. Frider. III, apud Koller. Analect. tom. II, col. 195.: Wancho the Bohemian with two thousand brigands harasses the region far and wide: in Vienna frequent fires take place, and the authors do not come to light. In Hungary the prelates and barons are hostile to John the Voivode, who was once governor, now holds the name of captain, and occupies the greatest part of the kingdom. Giskra the Bohemian, invested by the king with the territory of Szepes in Hungary, is prevented by John from coming into possession. The despot of Rascia, although he is thought to be united with the Turks, seeks the aid of the king of Hungary, and asserts that the Turks are ready for war Cfr supra num. 259.. Yet at this the Hungarians are not at all moved; but they are believed likely rather to have a truce or concord with the enemy than to begin a war. Declare now, in so great a variety of affairs, what is to be hoped or feared. Aeneas wrote the letter from Wiener Neustadt on the 5th of July 1454: for the year noted as 1444 crept in by the fault of the typesetter.

[262] to apply his efforts It would be beyond our purpose to run out into a more extended commentary to show how real were the difficulties met with in reconciling a league of all the Christian princes; for this reason we have noted at the foot of the page some authors who attest the same thing. As for what pertains to the year of the letter's writing, it can be no other than 1454: for in that year the truce expired between the king of Bohemia and the duke of Burgundy, as we are taught by the History of the Duchy of Luxembourg of Jean Bertholet indicated above Hist. du Luxemb. tom. VII, pag. 462.: and thus the cited letter of Aeneas Sylvius is to be tied to this year. We have adduced it, moreover, in order that it may be understood how grave and impeded was the legation committed to St. Capistran by Pope Nicholas Barber. Vit. ital. pag. 138.. First of all, the assemblies of the empire had been announced for the day of St. Michael, the 29th of September 1454; and Aeneas Sylvius earnestly begs with the utmost entreaties that the holy man betake himself there, as is evident from his letter, given on the 26th of July of the same year, which we cite from Wadding Ann. tom. XII, pag. 202.. First of all Aeneas refutes in a few words the accusation fastened on him, that he had spoken ill of Capistran, and professes that he had always made much of him: and then he comes closer to business. You know, he says, by what a wound Christendom has been struck in our time in Greece. Now a diet is to be held at Frankfurt at the feast of St. Michael; there all Germany has been summoned to treat of the manner of protecting our faith and of avenging the injuries of our Savior. There I should greatly desire you to be, that you might rouse torpid minds by your lively eloquence. For that you could go to Prague is a dream, and those who advise otherwise deceive you. Your presence at Frankfurt would be useful beyond measure; nor would I advise you to go into Hungary to preach the cross of Christ against the Turks: for the Hungarians will undertake nothing against them unless they understand that the other Christians also are coming together. Therefore one must press most of all that the Frankfurt diet may have a good outcome. I think this will happen if you are there. I, as I judge, shall proceed there in the name of the emperor, unless his opinion be changed.

[263] at Frankfurt and elsewhere St. Capistran assented to the petition, and wrote back to Aeneas that he would be present at Frankfurt, as is sufficiently evident from another letter of the same Aeneas, given on the 26th of August 1454 Ibid. pag. 203.: The letter of your reverend and most excellent paternity was most welcome and delightful to me, from which I understood that my persuasions about your going to the Frankfurt diet had found favor in your sight. I think your journey will not be useless, and our most holy Lord, as I judge, will have satisfaction in it. One thing I wish to say, although I seem to be teaching Minerva: you will find on the way some princes who, when they are requested by your discourse to go to Frankfurt and take thought for the commonwealth, will excuse their negligence under the shadow of the emperor, saying that nothing good is to be hoped for from what is done at the diet, because the emperor will not be there. These, I pray your wisdom, resist with your whole endeavor: for the emperor, although he will not go there because of pressing causes, will nevertheless send legates and presidents with the fullest mandate, nor from his side anything

will be wanting: and if the princes who are near assemble, the business will be able to have an honorable outcome. But I consider this to be of the greatest advantage, that, if it can be done, Margrave Albert * be present at the assembly, who is an active prince and has great power of eloquence, and in my judgment he would be the one who ought to be chosen as leader of the war before the rest: for he is provident in counsel, swift in action, brave in dangers, and experienced in every matter. I say no more now: I commend myself to your prayers, of which I seek to be made worthy.

[264] for peace, then most of all endangered, What outcome the Frankfurt assembly further met with, St. Capistran himself sets out in his letter to Pope Nicholas, given at Frankfurt on the 28th of October 1454; and thus nearly one month after the assembly had begun. He first gives his reason for having gone in haste from Olomouc to Frankfurt, and, having praised the prudence and solicitude of Aeneas Sylvius, the imperial envoy, he explains that the princes of Germany, otherwise tepid, nay growing cold, took it ill that the apostolic nuncio came late, and that he, namely John, bishop of Pavia Cfr Raynaldi. Cont. ad an. 1454 § II., had not been adorned with the honor of the cardinalate Wadding. Ann. tom. X II, pag. 203.. But at length, by the grace of God, both before the arrival of your legate himself and after, the detractors themselves were so satisfied that, when I read out among the people copies of the bulls of the Crusade (since I could not have the leaden-sealed ones), the diligence, the singular solicitude and the holy provision of Your Holiness were commended by all with the highest praises. But I do not recount these things, Blessed Father, because I wish it to be held that anything great was done here by me, but that Your Beatitude may understand my continual fidelity toward you, and that I, worthless as I am, have set all things aside in order to attend to the vanquishing of so great an enemy of Christ and of our faith. And certainly, Blessed Father, all things are to be set aside, and this most mighty enemy alone is to be pressed, who has promised with an oath to blot out the Christian name forthwith: for although it appears to many that great things were concluded at the present diet, it has seemed to me that either nothing or little good was concluded. And let Your Holiness notice, I beseech you: they have appointed a third diet at Wiener Neustadt for the feast of the Purification of the Virgin; whence it comes about that before the next month of August, as the German princes themselves have testified to me, no aid can be supplied to the Hungarians, and Hungary will be laid waste or stormed by the Turk before the army of the Germans, sent ahead, is gathered in Germany.

[265] among Christian princes Meanwhile what will the Hungarians do? Will they wait to be subjected to the Turks first, rather than come to terms with him for their own preservation? Many say many things; but the envoys of the Hungarians, complaining with me several times in these days, used these words: “It was permitted us to accept what we could; but we were hoping for at least seventy thousand equipped men by way of aid from the Germans next spring.” If therefore through slowness in supplying aid a peace or truce should be made between the Hungarians and the Turks, woe to you, Italy; woe to you, O Rome! And although it is true that the envoys of the Hungarians promised here that they would in no way enter into new truces with the Turks, they nevertheless declared to me that they would keep this if a suitable and sufficient aid were contributed to them. It is necessary therefore, Blessed Father, if you wish to have a war at a distance and to defend the Christian people, that this diet at Wiener Neustadt be shortened, so that on the coming kalends of May at the latest the German army may be united to the army of the Hungarians. Besides, some German princes doubt whether Your Holiness is fervent for this expedition against the Turk, alleging chiefly that the Right Reverend Lord bishop of Pavia (who certainly spoke excellently among these princes and bore himself well on his coming here) had not seen the face of Your Holiness; as though you had sent him to the diet for some trifling matter, or as an excuse on the part of Your Holiness. But the greatest doubt of these men is that no land or sea force is being made by the Italians, and that, when the Germans have made an army, they may not be deluded by the Italians. For a general disaster threatens the Christian people, whose father and prince Your Holiness is, who will have to render an account to God for us all.

[266] is to be reconciled; For I, though consumed by old age, who have no power of gold and silver, have resolved for this magnificence of the name of Christ, for the preservation of the faith, for the honor of Your Holiness, to expose my life and to pour out my own blood: and departing hence tomorrow, with God as my leader, I shall go to the most serene emperor, to awaken him as far as I can, to beset him, to drive him on; since for the storming of so great an enemy it would have befitted the most ample nation of Germany to have offered a larger army of twelve thousand horse and thirty thousand foot. Then I shall set out for Hungary, requested by the king, the council and the princes of the Hungarians with repeated entreaties, at least that I may restrain them, if I can, from suddenly entering a new treaty with the Turk. And if I had had the leaden-sealed bull of the crusade with me, or had otherwise been made better informed of the will of Your Holiness on a matter of this kind, I might perhaps, the Lord granting it, have been able to add a greater good to a great good. But in all things may the will of God be done. It will be for Your Holiness therefore to console the Hungarians both by prayers and by letters; to admonish these German princes and communities to be solicitous for an expedition of this kind, and to make the most serene emperor more diligent by daily exhortations and by most judicious nuncios. For, Blessed Father, all the princes, all the lords, the whole world generally says: “How are we to expose our own sweat, our own goods, the bread of our children against the Turk, seeing that the supreme Pontiff spends on towers, on thick walls, on lime and stones the treasure of St. Peter, which he ought to spend on the defense of the holy faith?” But what I have answered publicly and privately, what I answer (although they accept no excuse on this matter), God and my soul know. All these things I wished to make known to Your Holiness for the sake of my conscience and of the honor of Your Holiness, so that, being informed of the truth, you may provide more prudently for your honor, and for so great a necessity and the calamities of your people.

[267] wherefore the Saint, with various princes, especially with Philip, At about the same time, namely on the 4th of October of the same year, in which he was writing these things to Pope Nicholas, St. Capistran was giving a letter to Philip, duke of Burgundy, in which he praised to the highest degree his ardor of faith and his spirit ready for sacred wars. I do not cease, he says Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 205., to marvel at the noble and manly constancy of your most serene Lordship, who in greater peril does not cease to offer himself ever more ardently and excellently from day to day, and most liberally. He next exhorts him to persevere in the counsel he has undertaken, and not to suffer the noble palm to be snatched away from his house. In another letter, given as it seems at the same time, he likewise impresses upon him that the emperor of the Turks with four hundred thousand has already invaded the land of Rascia, with neck erect, thinking to extinguish utterly the name of the Christian religion Ibid. pag. 207.. And after a few words the Saint adds: The salvation of the whole Christian religion, after God, depends on you: the eyes of all hope in you; those who are now being struck by the blows of the Turks await certain help from you alone: you alone at the present time claim for yourself the name of most Christian. Strive therefore that no one's belief be deceived in so great an expectation. For what could be more acceptable to God, or what more salutary for you, than to free the faithful from so perfidious an oppression, and to be the cause that so immense a multitude of souls should be rescued by your help from the jaws of Satan, souls whom our Savior redeemed not with the blood of goats or calves, but with his own most precious blood, by the most shameful death of the cross? This will be the salutary seed of your treasure, which will be sown in heaven, which will bear fruit beyond measure, which will be kept forever, which at last will set you crowned among the hosts of Angels and Saints. This will be the glory of which you will be deprived in no ages: this the mighty praise which you will leave to all your posterity: this will be the perpetual ornament and splendor of you and yours, which will revive the blotted-out memory of all the former kings and princes who were accustomed to fight most constantly against the infidels, and which will be so pleasing and acceptable to God that nothing more acceptable, nothing more pleasing can be devised.

[268] the duke of Burgundy, he presses; And rightly indeed did St. Capistran use this encomium of praise and exhortation in writing to Philip, duke of Burgundy, surnamed the Good. For at that time, as Aeneas Sylvius attests in his Letter CXXVII, given on the 5th of July 1454 Oper. pag. 655., the one prince to be praised above all was Philip, duke of Burgundy; who, although he was entangled in the British war, nevertheless, when called to the assembly which had been announced for the salvation of the Christian people, would not be excused, would not fail the commonwealth: he would not have a congregation which appeared to treat of the common good deprived of his presence. He came therefore to Regensburg, and promised that he would go against the Turks in his own person, if either the Emperor or the king of Hungary or another great prince should lead the army; if not, that he would send what forces he could: nor in these matters did he wish to hold himself excused, unless such an impediment should come upon him as all Christendom would reckon legitimate. Who could sufficiently commend this prince? There is no one among Christians who has less to fear from the Turks and the other infidels than the duke of Burgundy. Yet there is no one to be found more solicitous than he for repelling and repressing the enemies of the faith. Whence does the man have this mind? No greed of plunder draws him, who has infinite wealth: no hope of the pleasures which victors think to enjoy, for he is also rather advanced in age: and if he should love delights, he would find them nowhere greater than at home: no reckoning of enlarging his dominion, for he knows that he can by no means reign in Greece or Asia. But this is a religious prince, he loves the Church his mother: he desires that our faith be provided for, he grieves when he hears the Christian name blasphemed: he pities the unhappy souls who are daily carried off into captivity by barbarians.

[269] who in turn all his effort He is ashamed at the ignominy which the Turks inflict on us, for his is a noble soul; a mind born of high blood cannot but meditate high things: a generous spirit can endure nothing base. He sees that by the gift of God he has been set over most ample and most populous regions, and heaped with many benefits; he does not wish to seem ungrateful: he acknowledges that the divine gifts upon him are very many; he wishes according to his ability to return the favor. He remembers John his father, whom the Turks took captive as he fought for the Catholic faith. He desires to avenge the paternal wound, and to follow the footsteps of his ancestors, who are known to have been most ardent for the orthodox faith. By his effort, therefore, it came about that at the assembly of Regensburg certain articles were drawn up, of which I have made a copy for the rulers of our city. Nor do I doubt that you have knowledge of them. For articles of this kind have also been sent through their envoys to the illustrious dominion of the Venetians, with which you are now staying; if the execution of these be carried out, nothing

will have to be feared for our religion. The Emperor, desirous of this, has announced a new council at Frankfurt: it is to take place on the third before the kalends of October. The Emperor will either transfer himself and his court there, or he will send presidents supported with full power, nor will the assembly be neglected, so far as in him lies. Thus far Aeneas Sylvius. And indeed Duke Philip had instituted the knightly order of the Golden Fleece at Bruges in Flanders, in the year 1430, to the praise and glory, as he himself says in his diploma Katschutnig. Vellus Aureum, pag. 18., of the supreme and almighty God, our Creator and Redeemer, and the veneration of the most holy Virgin his Mother, and the honor of holy Andrew, the renowned Apostle and Martyr, and for the protection and exaltation of our Christian faith and of holy Church, and for the stirring up and increase of virtues and noble manners. So that Philip seems by the institution of his knightly Order to have aimed at this, that there should be men whose greatest care should be both to protect and to propagate the Church of Christ.

[270] he promises and performs. When, with Constantinople taken, calamity loomed nearer over all Christendom, Philip summoned his nobles to Lille in Flanders to a most splendid festival and knightly games: and on the 17th of February 1454 both he himself and the rest of the nobles, a vow being conceived in express words, promised to pour out their goods and life itself for the destruction of the Turkish race [Plancher. Hist. de Bourg. tom. IV, pag. 283. Olivier de la Marche. Collect. des mém. de l'hist. de Fr. I série, tom. III, pag. 489. Collect. des Chron. Belg. tom. VIII, pag. 173.]. Dom Plancher in his History of Burgundy does not seem to have observed the points of chronology closely enough, when he places the Lille solemnity under the year, as he notes at the head of the page, 1453 Pag. 285.: for although Olivier de la Marche indicates this year Pag. 489., it is to be noted that it ran on until the 25th of March or until Easter, and thus the festival belongs, in our manner of reckoning, to the following year. Next the same Dom Plancher seems to indicate that the duke's vow emanated from the assembly of Frankfurt Pag. 285.; wrongly indeed, since this assembly was announced for the third before the kalends of October 1454, as we have from the letter of Aeneas Sylvius cited in the preceding number: accordingly Philip and his nobles had already made their vow seven months earlier. It is indeed true that Philip issued his vow under the proviso that it should please Charles VII, king of France, and that the Burgundian provinces should enjoy peace, as the cited Olivier de la Marche has it Oliv. de la Marcha, pag. 489.. King Charles consented at first with reluctance, both because the king of France is supreme and answerable to no one, and thus cannot be bound by the decrees of assemblies of the empire, such as those of Frankfurt were; and further, as regards the tenth to be exacted from all by concession of the Roman Pontiff, it was held to be of Gallican law that tenths could not be collected against the king's will. Nevertheless the king, both from zeal for protecting the Catholic faith and for his friendship with Duke Philip, granted that both soldiers should be enrolled for the holy war and the tenths paid Plancher. pag. 285 et seq. Preuv. pag. CCXVI.. The individual provinces also contributed their share for the war: the duchy of Burgundy decreed sixty thousand livres, which money, since in the middle of the 15th century it was worth as one to thirty Mém étrang. de l'Acad. des Inscrip. et Belles-Lett. tom. I, pag. 273., would make the sum of 1,800,000 francs at the present day. Fifty-three thousand livres had been sought from the people of Artois, but their estates agreed to forty-three thousand. The Belgian clergy also contributed their share for promoting the holy war, as is evident from the diploma by which Callistus III grants to Duke Philip that he may receive a full and entire tenth from all benefices secular and regular, exempt and not exempt: but the duke, at the petition of the estates of Flanders, on account of the damages arising from the wars, mitigated the tenth Invent. des Archives de la Belg. tom. III, pag. 98., and committed the execution of the granted tenth to Jean Clerici, abbot of Ninove De Smet. Corp. chron. Flandr. tom. II, pag. 76. and Paul de Rota (De la Roe), as sub-collectors, as is evident from the rendering of receipts made on the 12th of September 1460, which is preserved in the archive of the kingdom under no. 16,100. Although in these instruments only that part of Flanders is treated which belonged to the diocese of Cambrai, there is no doubt, the papal bull extending itself to all the provinces of the principality of Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, that a similar collection of the tenth was carried out throughout all Belgium and Burgundy. The said tenth, moreover, for the lesser part of Flanders, by far the greatest part of it belonging to the diocese of Tournai, yielded seven hundred and twenty-six livres parisis, nineteen sous, or, as the instrument has it, virlanders or stuivers, and six deniers: which money, according to our present coinage, makes about fr. 27,051 [Mém. des Assoc. étrang. de l'Acad. des Inscript. et Bell.-Lett. tom. I, pag. 275.]. To the vast warlike preparation that he was undertaking our Duke Philip's burning piety toward the places of the Holy Land added a crown. In the Bullarium of the Holy Land there is extant an apostolic letter of Nicholas V, given under lead on the sixth before the kalends of August 1448 Bullar. tom. V, pag. 57., by which it is granted to him with many praises that he may repair the church of St. Mary in Bethlehem, which was crumbling. He had likewise ordered in his testament that, his entrails being laid up at St. Donatian's at Bruges, his heart should be placed in the church of the Holy Sepulcher at Jerusalem. This his heir, Charles the Bold, was at pains to carry out, when the heart, says Quaresmius [Elucidator. Ter. Sanctæ, tom. II, pag. 483. Cfr. Mislin. Les lieux SS. tom. II, pag. 241.], was carried to Jerusalem with many nobles in attendance, royal gifts being given to the Friars Minor there: for he who while living always held those places dear manifested the proofs of his love even in death. Finally, that the warlike ardor against the Turks might blaze up more and more, there began then to be scattered the sheets commonly called flying leaves, by which Christians were reminded of the dangers threatening from the enemies of the faith. Such was a little work, printed in German type under the title: Mahnung der Christenheit wider die Türken: A warning to Christians against the Turks. This booklet came out at Bamberg from the press of Pfister in the year 1455 and is inscribed to Duke Philip. If these things are true, the origins of typography are to be advanced by two years, since they are for the most part tied to the year 1457 Messager des Sciences hist. anni 1841, pag. 423..

* circumspecta?

* Budwicenses?

* of Brandenburg

§ XXIV. The hope of a confederation among Christian princes against the Turk proving false, St. John of Capistrano betakes himself into Hungary.

After the assembly of Frankfurt, new At the assembly of Frankfurt, says Christopher of Varese at no. 171, St. Capistran did many things for the cause of the faith. Nevertheless, what Pope Nicholas most desired, namely that all the Christian princes should, with arms combined, break the Turkish power, did not obtain a happy outcome in every respect. Accordingly, for the 2nd day of February 1455, the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, a new assembly was announced Cfr supra, num. 264., to be held at Wiener Neustadt (Wienerisch-Neustadt), distant LIII kilometers south of Vienna, where there was an ancient princely palace. Wherefore our St. John had come to Vienna, about the Christmas feasts, as it seems: for Wadding presents in reversed order the letter of Aeneas Sylvius in which he first of all congratulates St. Capistran on his happy entry into the city of Vienna Ann. tom. XII, pag. 240.; but he appends to the letter no chronological note, which is supplied to us by the Florentine codex of the Medicean library, namely the day before the kalends of January 1455 Bandini. Bibl. Med. Codd. latt. tom. II, pag. 667.. After the congratulation, then, Aeneas goes on Ann. pag. 241.: I am not without great fear lest our buildings fall, which we erected at Frankfurt. The minds of the princes are wavering, as I see, the kings are torpid, the peoples languid: the little ship of the fisherman, dashed by greater storms in the midst of the sea, is nearly sunk; contrary winds blow from this side and that, the sails are torn, the mast is broken, the keel gapes open, the rowers have no care, nor does the master seem to have any hope of safety. All of us, as though thunderstruck, yield to the tempest. There will be need therefore of your speech, of your spur, of your fire; we must be roused, urged, kindled; unless we are compelled to do well, by our own nature there is nothing that we think about the commonwealth, and would that even under compulsion we might at some time be watchful. There will be here, unless I am mistaken, many nobles from Germany, from Bohemia, from Hungary: some also from Italy and from France itself have arrived: the business of protecting our religion will be treated; what was mediated, what was concluded at Frankfurt will be taken in hand.

[272] are called together to Wiener Neustadt, What impediments in particular stand in the way of the confederation of all the princes both growing together and taking increase, Aeneas indicates in the same letter Ibid. l. c.: If you find the leaders of our people timid and discordant, then you will perform your office, then you will cry out without ceasing, and lift up your voice like a trumpet: you will accuse sloth, you will arraign pride, you will detest avarice: for these are the three most pernicious plagues, which are all but subjecting our religion to the sword of the Turks. For if we were humble, if we were resourceful, if we were liberal, we should easily assemble an army which would be able to crush the audacity not only of the Turks but of all infidels. Not so long after this letter, Aeneas writes another to our Saint, namely on the 8th of February 1455, in which he announces Ibid. pag. 239. that the archbishop of Trier Cfr Gesta Trevir. tom. II, pag. 334. Edit. Trevir. 1838. with most of the envoys of the princes is awaiting the return of the emperor, who is believed to be coming today from Gretz (Graz, the chief city of Styria): the governor of Hungary with most of the prelates and barons is hoped to come here within ten or twelve days. At length Aeneas conjectures from the circumstances of affairs and persons that little can be done before the first Sunday of Lent, falling this year on the 23rd of February. Meanwhile St. Capistran seems to have asked of Aeneas whether he should betake himself to Wiener Neustadt or on the contrary remain at Vienna. To which question Sylvius replies on the 12th of February Ibid. pag. 240. that St. Capistran's presence will always be welcome to the imperial majesty; but since few have as yet assembled, the imperial highness advises that, as soon as the Bohemians have come, he direct his steps here, and by his discourses direct the princes and peoples to the things that are of God.

[273] which, as is plain from the records, To this letter, whose chronological note Wadding omitted Ibid. l. c., and which we give from Bandini, namely Vienna, the last of February 1455 Biblioth. Medic. Codd. latt. col. 663., St. Capistran replies that there is a rumor that the assembly itself has been transferred to Vienna

since it does not seem that all the princes with their envoys can be lodged in Wiener Neustadt to their convenience. He asks accordingly to be informed with certainty what must be done: meanwhile he announces the arrival at Vienna of King Ladislaus, of the governor of Bohemia, and of many barons; from Hungary only the bishop of Várad, but that the rest are expected, though at an uncertain time. At the end of the letter he adds that some of the Bohemians are seeking to present earnest prayers to the holy emperor, by which they may obtain his favor and grace, that he may direct a letter to our most holy Lord, seeking with the greatest zeal the confirmation of the abominable heresiarch Rokycana as archbishop of Prague: and that in this way the union of the Church could be brought about. But the efforts of the Bohemians fell void: for from about the year 1421, when Conrad the Westphalian was deposed, to the year 1561, in which Antonín of Mohelnice was elected, the archiepiscopal see of Prague seemed extinct: in the intervening time twenty administrators, succeeding one another, ruled the Church of Prague with the title of vicar [Balbin. Miscell. hist. Bohem. Lib. VI, part. II, pag. 62 et seqq. Richard. Biblioth. sac. V°. Prague.]. Nevertheless the Hussites stubbornly had the insignia and the pastoral staff carved on the tomb of Rokycana, which, says Balbín Balbin. Ibid. pag. 67,, I have seen broken.

[274] because of the dissensions of the princes Meanwhile there came together at Wiener Neustadt not so much the princes as their envoys; seeing that, as Rinaldi relates at the year 1455, § I, those who stood out in dignity at the assembly were James, archbishop of Trier, and Albert, margrave of Bayreuth, of the house of Brandenburg. There was also present John, legate of the apostolic see, whom Rinaldi mistakenly calls bishop of Toul, since, as he himself notes a little below, the bishop of this see was Guillaume Fillastre, who held it from the year 1449 to 1460. In place of the error, therefore, whether of the writer or of the typesetter, there is to be substituted the true title of the legate, namely bishop of Ticinum or Pavia; for the Italia Sacra Tom. I, col. 1102. has it that John Castiglione, a Milanese, previously bishop of Coutances in Normandy, then placed in the see of Pavia in the year 1454, on the fifth before the nones of October, discharged a legation to the emperor Frederick to rouse the nations against the Turks. What effect the assembly held at Wiener Neustadt had, moreover, is shown by the letter of Aeneas Sylvius, given to John de Carvajal, Cardinal deacon of Sant'Angelo, which I read in Rinaldi at the year 1455, § I: At Wiener Neustadt, in the year MCDLV, in the assembly before the emperor, when the princes and legates who were present were called to begin the business, there first arose a contention about precedence. The archbishop of Trier wanted the first place at the right hand of the emperor, and after him the envoys of the other electors; the bishop, the Pope's legate, said that the first place was owed to him, and the envoy of King Alfonso claimed a place above the envoys of the electors. There it was recalled that in the Roman curia due honor had not been given to the Germans, when the vice-chancellor had dared to sit before the king of the Romans, and when the king of Hungary, who holds the fourth place among kings, was given a place among the last of the Cardinals: and the electors themselves were by no means received among the Cardinals.

[275] do not obtain their effect: The assembly, then, having been entangled for some time in these ceremonial trifles, came at length to business; for Aeneas, continuing his letter, says: The Bohemians and Hungarians were expected from day to day. The envoy of King Alfonso asserted that his king was most ready for that war and now had a fleet prepared: the envoys of Trier and of the others that they would consult more fully, and at length would do those things which befitted true Christians. The Burgundians affirmed what they had elsewhere promised, namely that their duke would serve for Christ in his own person. The envoys of the cities, afterward admitted, promised that they would do everything: they were XXIV in number, and had a mandate for others also. But when the death of Pope Nicholas was announced, this expedition was deferred to the following year. Nicholas being dead, there succeeded on the 8th of April 1455 Calixtus III, who, having made the vow we gave above at no. 257, gave himself and his resources to carrying through the holy war. Our Capistran, on the 1st of May, having first of all congratulated Calixtus on the supreme pontificate, exhorts him to expend all his effort and all his resources on struggling Christendom. Truly, he says Wadding. tom. XII, pag. 247., I think it would be more pleasing to Peter and more acceptable to God that in this evident necessity and peril of the faith the ornaments of the basilica of the Savior and of the Apostles Peter and Paul should be melted down and sold for the protection of the Christian religion, than if all the churches of the City and the World, towers and palaces, were built of pure gold and set with precious stones. The Saint indicates to some extent what seems to have been objected against Calixtus's predecessor, Nicholas V. For he, when close to death, gave a discourse to the assembled Cardinals, in which he excuses himself concerning the multitude and magnificence of his buildings. Now, he says, as his biographer Giannozzo Manetti has it Muratori. Scriptt. tom. III, part. II, col. 949., we come to refute the objections against our buildings. Then in many words he explains the reasons by which he was led to construct various buildings: namely the very majesty of the pontifical city, which is the more venerable to the peoples the more magnificent it is; and then the protection and security of the Pontiff and of the Roman people. Such a profusion of money St. Capistran perhaps less approved, who saw before him the more urgent necessity of the Christian people, and thus he was urging the new Pontiff Calixtus to relieve it.

[276] St. Capistran to the Pontiff: The holy man was imploring the help of the apostolic see the more effectually the more the minds of the secular princes grew torpid. For, he says Wadding. tom. XII, pag. 247., in these parts there is no care or solicitude: the most reverend Lord bishop of Pavia has labored enough, the most reverend Lord of Siena has sweated greatly, and let my labors and dangers be passed over in silence. From Poland, from Bohemia, from Moravia, from Austria, from Bavaria to the diet of Regensburg, then to that of Frankfurt, to Vienna, to the diet of Wiener Neustadt in the presence of the sacred emperor : in the end it was concluded that for the present year nothing can be done, but in the coming year, at the feast of the Lord's Ascension, they say they will prepare themselves … O most blessed Father, have pity on the tears and sobs and groans of the peoples, both Greeks and Rascians, who, by the judgment of God perhaps disposing or permitting it on account of their errors and schisms, have been led away as a prey and sold like brute animals: have pity on maiden virgins, on the married, on widows, on orphans and wards; have pity on Italy and on all the Christian people: remove delays, lest through the slowness of your provision a like destruction overtake us too, like a storm bursting in for ruin and overthrow. Would that I, small and useless, could place myself, I do not say as a shield or breastplate, but as a bavatum or something less under the feet of the horses of those fighting for Christ, and be trampled underfoot. For I have often been asked and more frequently requested by the most serene Lord king and the other princes and prelates, ecclesiastical as well as secular, to go to Hungary and Rascia, with the exhortation of the Lord emperor and of the reverend lords apostolic legates, of Pavia and Siena, with the most insistent and effectual letters of the Lords the Despot of Rascia and John Hunyadi, governor of Hungary, and of the other barons, to whom I have promised that I will go, unless I shall have received other commands from the Holy Apostolic See. I am now therefore on the road, about to proceed to Buda before the feast of Pentecost (falling this year on the 25th of May). I therefore, a little dog and little worm of Your Beatitude, submit myself to the feet of Your Holiness, that you may dispose at your nod of the life and death of my small misery, and may make use of my useless service at the pleasure of your will… From the town of Judenburg, in the province of Austria, 1455, on the day of the Apostles Philip and James (1st of May).

[277] he offers himself ready, Now since St. Capistran showed himself ready for whatever might avert disaster from the Christian people, and did not find among the princes that ardor of faith which would have been necessary for preparing soldiers and provisions, the holy man was thinking of betaking himself to Hungary, over which ruin was hanging from close at hand beyond the other provinces of Europe. Denis, Cardinal archbishop of Esztergom, in a letter to the Saint given on the feast of St. Bernardine or the 20th of May, that is, the Tuesday before Pentecost, congratulates him on his fortunate arrival in Hungary Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 257., and at the same time asks that he be willing to direct his steps to Esztergom without long delay, since it will be the greatest joy to you to be able to rejoice in mutual converse and consolation. A few days afterward, namely on the Friday before the feast of the Most Holy Trinity, or the 30th day of May, he asks St. Capistran to delay in the town of Győr, because a notable gathering of prelates, barons and nobles of the kingdom will be held to form an assembly on the business of the kingdom itself Ibid. l. c.. With no less veneration was the Saint honored by Ladislaus of Hédervár, bishop of Eger Schmith. Episc. Agriens. tom. II. pag. 68., who on the Wednesday after the feast of St. Stephen the king, that is the 5th of September 1455, commends to the Saint his kinsman John, son of the ban of Lossoucz Ibid. pag. 258., afflicted with a cloud on his darkened eyes … that for the perfect cure of this weakness and the refreshing of his sight he may deign to entreat God, the maker of all things, that by his omnipotence, through the aforesaid merits and intercessions, and through the mediation of his prayers, he may remove what hinders, supply what is lacking, and restore his sight and return him to the benefit of perfect health. He then asks that he be willing to visit his Church as soon as possible, as, he says, I have already begged. For three months earlier, that is, on the Friday after the festival of the life-giving Body of the Lord, or the 6th day of June, Bishop Ladislaus writes Ibid. pag. 257.: I have gladly heard from the account of many that your Holiness in devotion has entered the borders of this renowned kingdom of Hungary in the name of Christ, sowing the word of the Savior as far as Győr, and is from there visiting also the surrounding parts of the same kingdom and its notable places, that the people may be instructed by the food of holy preaching and by example; the bishop therefore asks that John deign to come to Eger, which, founded by St. Stephen, the apostolic king, is not lesser among the other cathedral Churches after the holy metropolitan Church of Esztergom.

[278] that, at the request of the bishops of Hungary, Into his diocese also Peter, bishop of Csanád, called the holy man; sending, that is, the archdeacon of his Church to solicit his coming: and after an interval of a few days, by a new letter and a new delegated messenger, a canon of his Church, he pressed the matter: and to urge it more effectually, he says that in his own house near the side of the church of St. George he has had good lodging disposed and arranged both for Capistran himself and for his brothers Ibid. pag. 258 et seq.. John Hunyadi also, count of Bistrița, whom we shall soon see as leader of the Christian army against the Turks, calls our John to him at Hunyad, both that they might converse more conveniently and because pestilence was infecting the place. The castle

of Hunyad seemed tainted by a noxious air; seeing that the wife of John Hunyadi by most urgent letters and multiplied messengers besought the Saint to betake himself there, to cure her daughter-in-law, the daughter of the count of Cilli, who was suffering from a pestilential fever. But the Saint could not come to the place to which he was called with so many and such great entreaties: since his presence was on the other hand necessary at Buda, to which the leading men of both estates had been summoned to deliberate on the commonwealth. I judge the fruit of the assembly of Buda to be the letter given by the Estates of Hungary to Pope Calixtus, in which they set out to him the miserable state of the commonwealth and congratulate him on his assumption to the supreme pontificate: it was given on the 21st of July 1455. How much now, they say Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 254., and how extremely the afflicted condition of Christians needs the protection of Your Holiness, although it does not escape the attention of Your Beatitude, you can nevertheless understand more fully from what the legate of the apostolic see has most recently reported from the assembly of Wiener Neustadt: where, after the loss of the opportune time and after hopes deceived, this alone was accomplished, that our enemy might rejoice that nothing had been accomplished.

[279] he may betake himself there Of the assembly held at Wiener Neustadt they speak more severely than St. Capistran himself. They were, of course, Hungarians, over whom the evil was hanging most closely: wherefore they add Ibid. l. c.: There is added to this a recent instance of Christian calamity, which supplies a fuller cause for relieving the common necessity. The Turkish enemy, as soon as he learned that the proclamations about the stirring of the strength and arms of Christians had gone forth to no purpose, turned all the apparatus of his power, both raised and purchased, which he had prepared for resistance, to doing harm. And so he invaded anew the duchy of Rascia in that part which among the common people is called Scithrycha, where, occupying himself in the usual manner with plunder and rapine, he at length, having gained his opportunity, closely besieged the fortress and town called Novaborda: the town was first easily taken, and afterward, the fortress itself having been battered by assaults and engines, he gained possession of it a little later. He then sent to attack the remaining fortresses, and is preparing to receive that whole duchy in surrender. This matter, indeed, although in so brief a report it may seem small, is in truth a great wound that we have received from it. This fortress was the head of that country: this country certainly was the nurse and strength of the ducal state in Rascia, fertile in soil, abundant in fruits, most productive of mines of gold and silver. The enemy himself knew that chief sinew of our enduring defense; he knew also the obstacle opposed to his assault, and having shrewdly recognized it, he hastened at once to forestall and bring it to nothing. This event therefore, set upon the heap of former ones, how much commiseration it demands from the breast of Your Holiness, we leave to be weighed by you, who by the judgment of your religious and paternal heart began to be moved to works of mercy before you were asked.

[280] as is evident from the letter, Admonishing the solicitude of Your Beatitude with filial confidence in this one thing only, that in the pursuit of your salutary vow you not neglect the opportunity of the time still granted, nor think, when the enemy has been more widely strengthened, that an opportunity for rising like the present one will return: for as there is no one among us now who does not judge that Europe can still be set free; so after a little while there will be no one who judges so. We meanwhile, with our accustomed constancy, as far as shall be possible to us, shall prepare all our forces for our preservation, and we are resolved to await the benefits of Your Holiness, even at the cost of our damaging delay. We have amid these straits of waiting a fit comforter, the venerable Br. John of Capistrano, of the Order of Minors, who, having traveled through many parts of Germany, had gone to Poland, and having returned again from there through Silesia and Moravia, withdrew into Austria, and at length to these parts, renowned everywhere for zeal of faith, renowned for doctrine, but among us most renowned for exhortations necessary to the condition of our affairs. By his discourses we are refreshed, by his devotion we are restored, and finally by his merit we embrace the whole family of that Order, hitherto dear to us, as henceforth dearer. He is useful to our state, opportune to our hope, and no less most necessary for the conduct of affairs: he, worthy of the favor of Your Holiness by his virtue, we each declare the worthier by our testimony, and in him and with him we most devoutly commend to Your Beatitude that whole family, as regards all its progress. The letter was subscribed by the chief bishops and magnates of the kingdom of Hungary, and the other prelates and barons and nobles of the kingdom of Hungary, gathered first at Győr, now at Buda.

[281] in common name The subscribed names of the bishops are of Denis, Cardinal archbishop of Esztergom, Raphael, archbishop of Kalocsa, and of the bishops Ladislaus of Eger and John of Várad. What was the cause that among so many bishops of Hungary only four subscribed the letter to the Pontiff, no one could easily guess. Yet St. Capistran, in a letter given one month earlier, discloses something of a cause why perhaps some were rather slow in assembling. Not without, he says Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 252., ill will and murmuring was it that in the gathering of so many lords letters were presented on behalf of Your Holiness to some of the lesser, and were not given to nearly the chief men of the same kingdom, to the bishop of Pécs, to the bishop of Várad, and to certain worthier barons of the kingdom. Since however the bishop of Várad, who seemed to have been omitted by the Pontiff, appears among the subscribers of the common letter, we judge that this negligence, such as it was, did no great harm to the Christian cause; especially since the Saint asserts in the same letter that the assembly is proceeding as well as possible. He adds Ibid. pag. 253. that the city of Rascia Haborda, which the Hungarians above called Novaborda, on being captured delivered to the Turk the mines of gold and silver which yielded to their lord annually, as they say, one hundred and twenty thousand ducats. Then Capistran unfolds to the Pontiff the plan by which provision could be made for endangered Christendom: namely John Hunyadi, governor of Hungary, offered at his own cost and expense to put under arms and in the army ten thousand horsemen, chosen at his own discretion. Ladislaus also, king of Hungary, for the rest of the kingdom twenty thousand horsemen, and the despot of Rascia, although greatly damaged, ten thousand were promising. Then from the Pontiff twenty thousand horsemen, from the king of Aragon and the cities of Italy likewise ten thousand were being sought: to which the duke of Burgundy was thinking of joining twenty thousand, partly horse, partly foot. Thus, all being reckoned up, says Capistran, there would be a hundred thousand; John (Hunyadi) himself is confident of bringing such a battle against the Turk within three months that there will be no place in Europe where he may lay his head; especially since he himself knows to a nicety the power of the Turks and of the other infidels, and understands to the marrow the manner of waging war with such a people.

[282] given to the Pontiff. Accordingly, in the presence of all these lords and barons he asserted today that with so great a number of armed men he would hope even to recover Jerusalem, and would seek pay for the aforesaid horsemen only for three months. It would indeed be expedient that Your Holiness should appoint some Cardinal to these parts, as president of such an army, with a sufficient sum of money: or if it seem good to Your Holiness to commit this matter to the Right Reverend Lord Cardinal of Esztergom, since he has very great power in virtue, foresight and counsel, it would, as I think, be well provided for. Moreover John * himself offered, if they should be truly warriors, not boys, but vigorous men and experienced in arms, fit for pursuing the enemies of Christ, to persevere with such an army for a year and for years, if need be, and to require no other pay, trusting that from the goods and dominions of the Turk himself he would acquire enough to maintain such an army even at the Turk's own expense. In such a manner, then, with the most serene king of Aragon contending by sea, and John himself by land, there could be firm hope both of recovering what has been lost and of acquiring the dominion due to Christian princes, and also of possessing the riches of the infidels, with an ample extension of the holy Catholic orthodox faith, to the eternal glory and immortal praise and everlasting memory of the name of Your Holiness. The Saint gave the letter from Győr, a town of the kingdom of Hungary, on the 21st of June 1455: and thus the assembly of Buda, from which the magnates of Hungary wrote, sat for the space of one month both at Győr and at Buda; and from this we have the reason why they said (above, no. 280), gathered first at Győr, now at Buda.

* supply: an assembly was held

* dung

* Hunyadi

§ XXV. The labors of St. Capistran through Hungary and the neighboring provinces; the enrollment of soldiers for the holy war.

The Saint preaches at Timișoara. Yet in the midst of his cares of provoking kings and peoples to the holy war, St. Capistran did not neglect the ministry of the word and the salvation of souls. For when the beginning of the war had been postponed to the following year, he began to traverse Hungary, especially in the part where it touched the Turkish borders, both to restore the Catholic faith, weakened among many, and to correct the depraved morals of the people. When the Buda gathering was dissolved, he went away to Timișoara and to Lippa, lying beside the river Mureș. Timișoara is the episcopal seat of the diocese of Csanád, and the Saint seems to have arrived there about the middle of September. The citizens of Lippa were burning to hear St. Capistran preach, and they sought to entice him with that lure by which they knew very well he was to be attracted; namely the manifold conversions of faith and morals to come, if he should betake himself there. And so on the Thursday before the feast of St. Matthew the Apostle, or the 18th of September 1455, they send the following letter Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 260.: To the most reverend father in Christ, Lord John of Capistrano, our lord and honored father, Prayers, due in the Lord, for your salvation and life. Most reverend father in Christ and our honored lord. Since we have heard most certainly in these days that your venerable Paternity intends to proceed to the town of Timișoara, and to leave us, as though exiles, from the preaching of your Paternity itself; yet we have awaited the coming of your Paternity joyfully with exulting spirit, as that of our most honored father; and we can make known to the same your Paternity how in our midst there exist many pagans, schismatics and unbelievers, whom your Paternity itself can convert to the faith; although we universally do not neglect to go in personal presence to your Paternity, and do not omit to go: (Lippa is in fact five German miles distant from Timișoara): but yet we cannot lead with us those unbelievers, whom we should wish to be converted to the Christian faith, and whom we should desire to hear the discourse of your same Paternity.

[284] and at Lippa; And indeed that the holy man's coming obtained its effects Wadding testifies, saying Ibid. l. c. that he gathered a vast harvest among the schismatic Wallachians, whom he brought back to the true faith both at Timișoara and at Lippa and in the nearby towns: especially since, supported by royal authority, he had sent out of the province the archdeacon of that people, Peter, and the pseudo-priests who, admitting neither the baptism nor the dogmas of the Roman Church, were impiously leading this people astray. He drew above all to the Catholic faith Peter, Voivode or duke of Moldavia Ibid. l. c.; whose

labor then crushed the schism in that province Ibid. pag. 315.. And in order that the true faith might be more effectually preached, St. Capistran set over the evangelical work throughout Wallachia John of Gezth, guardian of Thuissin, and in Transylvania Br. Michael the Székely; and he treated earnestly both with the bishop of Transylvania and with the lord of Várad, that they should see to the conversion of the Jobagiones (this was a race of forest men that was spread throughout Bosnia, Croatia and the neighboring provinces). But what was of the greatest moment of all the holy man accomplished when he brought back to the Church the pseudo-bishop of the Wallachians, John of Capha by name, commonly called the Vladika, a man of the greatest authority among his countrymen. For having been captured by John Hunyadi, he was committed to the custody of St. Capistran, who, having diligently examined him and instructed him in the faith, sent him to Rome, to be absolved and restored to his former honor Ibid. pag. 315 et seq..

[285] he brings schismatics back to the Church; John Hunyadi, that is, in a letter given on the feast of St. Dorothy or the 6th of February 1456 to the Castellans of the Castles of Șoimoș, Hunyad and Deva and their deputies, had ordered Ibid. pag. 316. that all the priests of the Wallachians ordained by the Vladika and residing in their lands, once it had first been ascertained by legitimate proof and truth that they had been ordained priests by the said Vladika, and had not been priests before this, who at the preaching and salutary admonition of the religious Br. Michael the Székely should refuse to receive the faith, they should expel and cast out from their goods, and should cause such priests to be brought in their own person into the presence of the said Br. Michael. A few days before, that is, the Vladika himself had been captured by order of John Hunyadi, as we have from his letter given to St. Capistran from Timișoara on the feast of St. Anthony or the 17th of January of the same year. Yesterday, he says Ibid. l. c., that perfidious Vladika was brought captive to this place, and I would gladly have sent him after your paternity, but his horses were tired, and we also do not know to what place we ought to send him to your Paternity. We therefore diligently ask your Paternity that, immediately on seeing these presents, you be willing to write back to us to what place we should send him to you, since, as we have assured your Paternity, we will not permit him to remain in this kingdom any longer. That the Anthony whose feast is indicated above is the Hermit, venerated on the 17th of January, and not the Paduan of the Order of Minors, to be celebrated annually on the 13th of June, is clear also from the following letter given by the same John Hunyadi on the Sunday next after the feast of St. Vincent the Martyr Ibid. l. c., or the 24th of January 1456, by which he instructs Ambetusius his Chamberlain to guard the captured Vladika according to the instruction of Br. Bartholomew.

[286] Br. Bartholomew seems shortly to have delivered the Vladika thus brought in to St. Capistran, who instructed him in the faith and joined him to the Church, as the letter has it, given to the Cardinal of Fermo at Buda on the 15th of April 1456, which we here subjoin Ibid. l. c.: It has ever been my confidence that I may take refuge in necessities with Your Right Reverend Lordship. I therefore commend the bearer of these presents, that by the help and effort of Your Right Reverend Lordship he may obtain favor from our Most Holy Lord. For when he was the chief of the schismatics and a heresiarch among the unbelieving Wallachians, and under his shadow schisms and very many errors were being fostered in the lowest parts of the kingdom of Hungary, by the Lord's disposing he was enlightened, and being brought to me, he of his own accord abjured all errors and schisms, submitting himself to the obedience of the most holy Roman Church: and he formerly bore himself as a bishop, but neither knew the truth of the holy apostolic see, nor, being unconfirmed by it, did he consecrate Wallachians in any but his own manner. I however, when I examined him over a long time on all the sacraments of the Church and the articles of faith, found that he erred and strayed wholly from what pertains to salvation. But when the doors of truth and light were opened, and he recognized that he was in a bad state with all his people, he asked to be baptized. This I saw done, and he was baptized conditionally according to the form of law. Wherefore it is necessary that he be restored to his dignities by the authority of the holy apostolic See. Of this matter I make commission to Your Right Reverend Lordship: whom may Christ Jesus deign to preserve for a most abundant age, for the conservation of the Catholic faith and of our poor little family, which I commend singularly to Your Right Reverend Lordship. The matter turned out as desired: for the Vladika, returning from Rome with authority, labored greatly for the conversion of his countrymen, and as many as ten thousand men were brought under the obedience of the apostolic see. They then went so far as to ask that priests of the Roman rite and some Minors be sent to them by St. Capistran Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 317.. But that happy state of minds seems gradually to have grown lukewarm. For we read in the History of our Society Hist. soc. Jesu. Part. V, tom. II, pag. 417. that in the year 1611 our fathers went forth into Wallachia from the college of Kamianets, and found a miserable ignorance among the Wallachians, chiefly of the priests. So true is it that faith planted by most holy men must be continually watered, and one must pray that God himself may deign to give the increase.

[287] asked by the archbishop of Kalocsa, Further, that St. Capistran might keep watch from closer at hand against the enemy of the Christian name, his coming was earnestly demanded by the archbishop of Kalocsa and Vác, Raphael Herczegh of Szekcső. For the Turk was hanging from close at hand over the diocese of Kalocsa; wherefore the archbishop desired that the holy man should be present, as a most certain protection. We have often, he says Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 329., humbly asked that your Paternity be willing to visit this our Church of Bács, where you could gather much fruit of souls, and keep watch from close at hand, lest the Turks suddenly invade these lands of Christians. For these eight days we have been thirstily awaiting the coming of your Paternity, and, moved by this hope, the surrounding peoples have flocked here in so great a number that victuals are now lacking, and on account of the dearness of grain it can reasonably be feared that many may perish of hunger. We therefore pray most insistently that you be unwilling further to defer this favor, which we seek with all affection and await eagerly. Given at Apathy on Monday, on the festival day of the Holy Cross. This feast is that of the Finding of the Holy Cross, the 3rd of May, which in the year 1456, marked with dominical letter C, fell on a Monday. Moreover, since the said bishop again urges the coming of the holy man for the same reasons, and this letter was written from Bács on Saturday, the vigil of Pentecost Ibid. pag. 330., that is, the 15th of May, it is sufficiently manifest that the feast of the Holy Cross is to be understood of its Finding, occurring on the 3rd of May, and not of its Exaltation, which on the 14th of September fell that year on a Tuesday. In this second letter Archbishop Raphael promises besides that he will bring much fruit and will rouse innumerable people to take up the sacred cross and go forward spiritedly against the adversaries of the Christian faith. The subscription of this letter is moreover useful for identifying the bishop, whose name was unknown to Mátyás Bél in his episcopal list of Kalocsa and Vác. For in treating of the Prelates of Kalocsa he says by guesswork that Peter of Rozgony occupied the see after the year 1435, and held it, unless there was a vacancy, until the year 1464 Bel. Notit. Hung. tom. III, pag. 553.: but Raphael opportunely fills this gap with his episcopate. Similarly, among the bishops of Vác the said writer has a lacuna from the year 1435 to 1458; because, that is, the names of the bishops have not been brought out from the diplomas Ibid. pag. 118.. The letters, therefore, that we have adduced from Wadding show that Raphael occupied the see of Vác up to the year 1456.

[288] he could not go to him, It appears, however, that St. Capistran, though sought by the wishes of all, could not immediately comply with the demands of the bishop and people: for Francesco degli Oddi, bishop of Assisi Ital. sacr. tom. I, col. 482. (whom Amandus Hermann wrongly calls Julius Capistr. triumph. pag. 518.), who at that time was assisting the Cardinal of Sant'Angelo, legate a latere for the holy war, writing almost a whole month later, namely on the 14th of June, from the suburb of Petrovaradin, says Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 330.: I believe your Paternity already knows that the Most Reverend Lord Legate has sent me here, and that the cause of the mission is manifest to you, and accordingly I think there is no need to linger over these matters. The Lord Archbishop of Kalocsa has most insistently urged me by letters and messengers to persuade your Paternity that you should by all means transfer yourself there. I humbly ask that you satisfy the wishes of so great a man and excellent prelate; and if need be, I will accompany your Paternity there. To this, I beg, write back as soon as possible. I commend myself from the heart to your prayers, ever ready for your good pleasure, whom may God deign to preserve for the common good of the Christian commonwealth. From the suburb of Petrovaradin, 14th of June, the son of your Reverend Paternity, the bishop of Assisi. A few days afterward, namely on the 19th of June, the same bishop presses that, at the request of the parish priest of the suburb of Petrovaradin, he be willing to go down to the three cities and the remaining villages which are under the dominion of the abbey of St. Mary of Bellefontaine, and to set forth to them the word of God even on one occasion only Ibid. l. c.. This abbey, also called of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the valley of Unta, lies beside the Danube, near Petrovaradin, as is shown by the ecclesiastical map of the kingdom of Hungary in Spruner's Atlas. About the same time, namely on the Friday after the Ascension of the Lord, or the 7th of May, the Magistracy of Siklós, a city in the diocese of Pécs which Wadding wrongly calls Saklas Ann. tom. XII, pag. 331. Cfr Hermann. pag. 519., invites St. Capistran to deign to sow the word of God among its people, who were as close as possible to the danger.

[289] the legate pressing him to return to Vienna; But he could scarcely acquiesce in these invitations, most powerful with the holy man; for the Cardinal legate, on the 2nd of June, gave him the following letter, by which he was recalled to Germany Ibid. l. c.: Although our most holy Lord has written to your Paternity not to depart from the parts of Hungary while this great peril of Christendom lasts, I for my part believe it to be the intention of his holiness that your circumspection should be occupied there where you can bring greater damage to the enemy and more powerful gains to the faith. I know for certain that it will be useful and profitable enough if your Paternity be willing to set out for Vienna to the emperor, because he will send his army of Germans more quickly and in greater number. I should wish, if it could be done, to have you in several places, since I know how much you are worth and can do among all, and how much fruit your Paternity can produce everywhere. Deign, I beseech you, to inform me as soon as possible whether you can go to the emperor, and how much the number of those signed with the cross has grown. May the Almighty

God deign to preserve your Paternity for the holy work of an evangelist, to which he has set you apart. I send your Paternity a copy of the letter of Scanderbeg, from which you will perceive with what forces and engines he is preparing himself to resist the Turkish fury. Farewell, from Buda, 2nd of June. But John Hunyadi intervened against the plan of returning to Vienna, and it was resolved that St. Capistran should not abandon Hungary. For the Cardinal legate writes to Hunyadi Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 331.: As far as concerns the venerable father John of Capistrano, we had decided to ask him to go to the emperor, with whom there are now two dukes of Austria and other nobles, and we hoped that he would induce them to do much for the business of the faith. But since to your illustrious lordship the contrary seems expedient, we are writing to the same father to do according to your desire and counsel. We judged that his presence was not so necessary in the lower parts of Hungary, believing that the Hungarians there could easily be roused to war either by your authority or by their own hurt and fear of the Turks; and for that reason we did not much care that he should labor there, hoping for greater fruit from him with the emperor. But now we yield to your disposition, and we commit him to your judgment. Since therefore we yesterday gave a letter to the said father by a special courier, whom we hired for this alone, and today he has returned the letter to us, because he did not find him there, let your illustrious lordship deign to send him the enclosed letter, and we, as far as lies on our side, will see to it that he assists you there. From Buda, 15th of June, at the very hour at which we received yours.

[290] against which plan John Hunyadi intervened, While meanwhile everything looked toward war, and our John was enrolling soldiers by the imposition of the cross, John himself gave a letter to Calixtus III, in which he renders an account of the Hungarian mission Ibid. pag. 322.: Most abundantly in these past days the Right Reverend Lord of Sant'Angelo, most worthy Cardinal, Legate from the apostolic see, has declared to me with how great love and affection Your Beatitude, Holy Father, on the day of your assumption through the Holy Spirit, in his presence and hearing, gave commission that it should be written to me for my joy; which had also been made known to me by my brothers at that time. My spirit therefore exulted when I understood that the Christ of the Lord, desired by all nations, had been taken up, a man especially necessary in our age, whose ardent desire for the Catholic faith I had long known. For that faith and devotion compelled me that I should boldly and willingly make known to my only Christ on earth all things as they occurred. I had done this sedulously; and after five letters, when I saw myself deprived of the expected consolation and unworthy of even the least answer, a certain grief affected me considerably. Behold, to me grieving and laboring in the fears * of the Christians, six miles distant from the Turks, there was delivered on the first of December from my most holy Lord a brief, dated the 20th of July, which filled me with supreme and ineffable joy and gladness. You instructed, Holy Father, that I should not absent myself without the special mandate of Your Beatitude from the kingdom of Hungary and from the parts bordering on the infidels. Meanwhile a letter is given me by the Right Reverend Lord Legate, calling me to his presence at Buda: I obey, hastening from afar through cold, snows, ice and winds, and I arrived at Buda before the coming of his Right Reverend Lordship. I await him expected, and at last, together with the most serene king, I reverently looked upon him on the sixth of February. But how much he reported to me here of the kindness, piety and holiness of Your Beatitude, and of your ardent desire, holy vow and indeed divine intention, I will explain another time. Afterward two briefs are given me from Your most clement Beatitude, one on the 6th of February, dated the 10th of November; the other dated the 22nd of February, with a leaden bull, confirming and strengthening the concessions granted me by the predecessors of Your Holiness. With how much joy I was filled by these things, both on account of your ardent charity toward the people entrusted to Your Holiness, and on account of your singular and ineffable love toward me, unworthy, your useless but faithful servant, in which you address me so tenderly and paternally, Blessed Father, and on account of the confirmed graces, and finally on account of the preservation of the poor little family of St. Francis, I cannot, Blessed Father, I cannot, I say, tell. And this one care gnaws at me, this solicitude tortures me, that for such great things I have not the wherewith to render thanksgiving, nor can I conceive it by thought alone: such however as I can, I return vast and immortal thanks.

[291] supported also by the mandate of the Pontiff, The Right Reverend Lord Legate labors tirelessly and wonderfully for the Christian religion. And I, though I labored before, will now work the more ardently as I have been made more certain by Your Holiness of a matter already begun and a cause in no way to be postponed. Very many both prelates and barons have received the sign of the life-giving cross, of the lower sort a multitude, and from day to day we are signing more. I, with all devotion added, received the cross blessed by Your Holiness through the hands of the Right Reverend Lord Legate, and having received it I will keep it even to the shedding of blood, even if there be need a hundred times a day. From Buda, 24th of March 1456. The cross of the holy war was at first red, afterward, in order that they might be distinguished among the various nations, of different color Cfr Encyclop. Cathol. tom. XVIII, Dict. des Croisades, v°. Croix.. Because therefore St. Capistran received the cross sent by the Pontiff himself and powerfully promoted the holy war, he is generally depicted. The Saint is shown now wearing a cross on his breast, now carrying a banner marked with a cross: because, that is, with the banner going before, the Saint appeared everywhere with the crusaders in the fight against the Turks, as John of Tagliacozzo narrates, to be cited below at no. 322. Eusebio González further writes that the cross sent by the Pontiff to John and affixed to his right shoulder by the Cardinal Legate was of scarlet color Chron. Seraf. tom. V, pag. 129.. Further Amandus Hermann relates Capistr. triump. pag. 527. that this reception of the cross took place on the first Sunday of Lent or the 14th of February 1456: and afterward the Saint proclaimed the holy war everywhere, and in solemn rite, clothed in sacred vestments, he affixed the cross to the shoulders of those who sought it, admonishing each one to stand by him whenever he should be called. At the time when St. Capistran was wholly bent on the work of preparing the holy war, Ludovico Scarampi, Cardinal and patriarch of Aquileia De Rubeis. Monum. Aquilej. col. 1054., had been set by Pope Calixtus over the fleet to be sent against the Turks: by a letter therefore given from the City on the 26th of April 1456 Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 323. he exhorts the Saint that, seeing a great part of the ships has already been brought down into the Tiber and is to be directed as soon as possible against the enemy by the Mediterranean Sea, he should, as he has hitherto done, take care with all diligence and zeal to rouse princes and kings to this necessary and meritorious war, and to exhort them that, setting aside their hatreds and dissensions, they gird themselves against the common enemy of the Christian name; so that at the due time they may be ready with the maritime expedition.

[292] who himself also was preparing everything for war Calixtus III writes nearly the same in a letter given on the 4th of May of the same year, and he announces that the fleet is now ready for the maritime expedition. By the continual testimony, he says Ibid. pag. 334., of our beloved son John, Cardinal deacon of Sant'Angelo, our Legate and that of the apostolic See, we have understood with how great diligence you apply yourself not only to skillfully assisting the office of the legation enjoined on him, but to accomplishing the other things that you consider conducive to this holy work of the faith. Although we were certainly persuaded that this was so, yet this zeal of yours has increased our love for you; and although this common care is owed by you and by every Christian, we nevertheless give thanks to your devotion, and we exhort you to pursue without intermission, as you have begun, manfully assisting this cause of God. You have, moreover, as leaders of your labors our legates there, who rely greatly on your fervor, and by whose exertions it is to be hoped that, with the grace of God, salutary fruits will follow through you together. Press on therefore with all your strength and fight this good fight which God has set before you, that at last you may merit to receive the crown of glory. And since your devotion knows how highly the Hungarian strength is to be esteemed, and what it has been accustomed to be in such cases, therefore take care, beloved son, that by your effort and exhortations this well-pleasing service be rendered to Christendom, than which certainly nothing can be more glorious for you or of greater merit before God. We for our part are applying vigilant care to preparing the fleet, which without delay we have ordered and will undoubtedly order to be put to sea. Given at Rome, at St. Peter's, under the ring of the fisherman, 4th of May 1456, in the second year of our pontificate.

* metas?

§ XXVI. A complete victory over the Turks at Nándorfehérvár or Belgrade is won by the prayers and effort of St. John of Capistrano.

Calixtus III prescribes public prayers throughout the whole world, Although the Roman Pontiffs were undertaking many great things for the defense of the Christian people, those whom they had taken on as helpers in the work, for the most part the secular princes, nevertheless grew torpid, and, as we have already said above at no. 254, were fostering the greatest dissensions among themselves. Meanwhile Mahomet II, the most bitter enemy of Christendom, the Greeks having been vanquished, resolved to attack the interior of Europe, and transferred the war into Hungary. When the strength of the combatants on either side was weighed by the human measure, it seemed that the Christian cause was given up for lost: but Pope Calixtus did not lose heart, and after he had got ready all human aids, as far as in him lay, he declared that the chief strength of the war was to be sought in the help of God. Wherefore on the third before the kalends of July 1456, or the very feast day of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, he gave a bull to ecclesiastical persons established anywhere throughout the Christian world Apud Raynaldi. Continuat. Baron. ad an. 1456, § XIX., in which he teaches that the faithful are to be admonished to amend their vices, the causes of the scourge, and to take refuge in prayer: and first of all, that all priests when celebrating are to recite a special collect for the crushing of the pagans, and next, that all the people of whatever sex and kind may be able to share in these prayers and indulgences, he prescribes and commands that in each of the churches of whatever cities, lands and places, between nones and vespers, that is, before the ringing of vespers or near it by at least an interval of half an hour, on each day three times one bell or more be rung sonorously, so as to be well heard, in the way that it is customary to ring in the evening for the Angelic Salutation. And hence it came about that the name of the Turkish bell, Turkenklok, became attached to this ringing. In addition the Pontiff prescribed that on each first Sunday of every month solemn supplications should be held with the clergy and people.

[294] by whose help especially the victory was won, The prayers poured out to God profited more than the arms laboriously prepared against the enemy; for

as many as wrote of the victory regarded it as the equivalent of a miracle that an enemy most savage, proud in his triumphs, and overwhelmingly powerful in the number and skill of his soldiers, was vanquished by a slight force with astounding slaughter. Further, to avoid too frequent repetition of the same things, we select chiefly three authors among others, whose narrative is fuller, namely Antonio Bonfini, who, flourishing at the beginning of the 16th century, himself saw what was done, being born in the year 1427 Biogr. univ. V°. Bonfini., and learned it from very many eyewitnesses. To him we join John of Tagliacozzo, of the Order of Minors, who stood by the Saint both as he fought and shortly after as he died. Of no less authority is the narrative of Nicholas of Fara, who likewise was a companion of St. Capistran; since however we are publishing the Life of the Saint, we deliberately omit his special report of the victory. As concerns Aeneas Sylvius, already frequently praised by us, we find the victory briefly related, and this we will report before the others in his words, as they occur in the Life of the emperor Frederick III written by him Kollar. Analect. Vindebon. tom. II, col. 460.. Mahomet, he says, having gathered huge forces, hastened out of Thrace through the Tribali (Bulgarians) into Hungary; they relate that there were a hundred and fifty thousand fighters in his army. Puffed up with the opinion of himself and swelling with so great an army, he did not doubt that, with Hungary shortly vanquished… he would make for Italy by the land route. But a small city checked his attempts: our ancestors called it Taurinum, the French Belgrade, the Hungarians Nándorfehérvár, the Germans Griechisch-Weissemburg, situated at the confluence of the Danube and the Sava.

[295] which Aeneas Sylvius describes in brief: This Mahomet resolved to attack first, on account of the opportunity of crossing the river. John Capistrano, a professed member of the Order of Minors, renowned for the holiness of his life, was at that same time rousing the Hungarians to arms by public sermons; who, when he learned that the Turks were approaching, without delay betook himself to Alba, leading with him no small multitude of those signed with the cross. John Hunyadi also, having hastily collected a militia, set out there. The Cardinal remained at Buda, gathering larger forces. The king , when he learned that the coming of the Turks was certain, and that the Hungarians did not have sufficient strength to bear so great a force, trusting nothing to the Hungarians, whose fickle minds he knew, and thinking it not safe enough to remain at Buda, left Buda under the appearance of a hunt and returned to Austria. Meanwhile the Turk, having pitched his camp near Alba, began with his utmost strength to attack that part where there was a level approach, and having placed his bronze cannon, he threw down a great part of the first wall. There was a not small empty space inside as far as the second wall; there those signed with the cross fought for a long time, and at last repelled the enemy: but, with the emperor pressing and urging, a second irruption was made, and a second time they were repelled; and the onset of those signed with the cross grew so strong that, not content to have defended the walls, they drove the enemy back into his camp. The Turks fled on purpose, that, when the Christians had been drawn far outside the town, they might send in a line of battle which would prevent their return to the city; and then attack them, having come out, from the front and from the rear. Those signed with the cross, raging and exulting in victory, did not notice into what peril they were rushing headlong. Capistran saw from the walls the enemy line drawn across, and, recognizing the ambush, began to recall his men. When he was little heard, he slipped headlong into the fight, and running between the two lines and the flying missiles, by shouts and signs he compelled to return those signed with the cross, who in no way heard the voice of Hunyadi. The Turks, cheated of their great hope, returned to camp. The battle was fought from evening to evening: many fell on both sides; very many of the Turks, and those indeed the more distinguished. Concerning the enemy slain opinion varies; some have related that over XX thousand fell, others relate that at most IV thousand were slain. Which to us seems below the truth: for in so great an army that would not have seemed a disaster; a greater loss forced Mahomet to depart. Thus far Aeneas.

[296] Bonfini more clearly; More lucid is the narrative of Antonio Bonfini which we subjoin, which we borrow from Decade III, book VIII of the Rerum Hungaricarum Rerum. Hungar. Decades, pag. 487. Edit. Francofurt. 1581.. Mahomet, excessively elated by the empire of the Greeks, conceives far greater hopes; having measured his strength, he is not unaware that he is inferior to the Italians in naval warfare, and turns his mind from troubling Italy: he understands that he is overwhelmingly powerful by land; he understands that Illyricum and Dalmatia, subject to petty kings and scattered in villages and small towns, can both be weakened by daily incursions and easily taken: he fears only the despot * and the Hungarian, since he perceives that each excels in gold and soldiery. If he should succeed in conquering them, he reckons he can attack the rest more boldly. And so, entering first into Upper Moesia, he strives to seize the silver mines which belonged to the despots: he besieges and storms Novo Brdo, Trepča and Prizren, his towns, most productive of silver and metals. The despot is gravely distressed that he cannot withstand his strength; and his rich revenues and precious imposts having been cut off, he withdraws into more fortified castles near Hungary, so as to share his evils with the Hungarians, whom he knew to have often been the best of champions. Soon reports are spread everywhere that the Turk will from day to day move his camp to Greek Alba, which they now call Belgrade. That the successes of fortune have added the greatest audacity, that unless he is met, all things will shortly fall in ruin, and that no pardon or tolerable condition can be hoped for from the enemy: that the disaster of Constantinople is an example to all.

[297] namely the Turks, fierce with victory, Corvinus, however, who had been appointed by royal authority to protect the borders of Lower Hungary, and who could hope for little in a boy king and a pernicious Count , neither lost heart in so great a tumult nor failed in counsel. First of all he takes Capistran as his colleague for this siege; that the one might rely on human, the other on divine strength: he consults him on what seems chiefly to be done. He bids him be of good courage, since he declares that he has raised from Germany no mean army of those signed with the cross. Although this nation has of old been hostile in war to the Hungarian, nevertheless in a common cause and necessity he judges that it will by no means fail: moreover he boasts that he has stirred up all Hungary against the Turks after the captivity of Constantinople. Meanwhile he bids Corvinus see to the other things that are of use for war: he promises that he will supply these aids in time; finally he kindles him to this occasion of seizing immortality. He gathers all the veterans and the other soldiers of proved valor, and with wonderful speed prepares a fleet on the Danube: since he had learned through scouts that the Turk also had prepared many vessels on the Pontus and had ordered them to come up the Ister * shortly and to stop wherever they should perceive the camp to be. Pope Calixtus, who had succeeded Nicholas, not unaware of the impending danger, had sent John, Cardinal of Sant'Angelo, a man excelling in wisdom and magnanimity, into Germany and Pannonia, to stir up the nations of the northern region, so far as in him lay, against the dread enemy. Meanwhile a report is brought that Mahomet, having crossed Haemus, is leading through the Triballi and the Ister a hundred and fifty thousand men to besiege Alba. Hungary is plunged in the greatest trepidation of all things. Corvinus and Capistran, with brave spirit, each with his army, hasten to protect Alba: they bring down a fleet laden with provisions and soldiers: the Cardinal stayed at Buda, to see to other matters with the king. Ladislaus and the count of Cilli, on hearing of the coming of the Turks, were so dismayed that, feigning a hunt, they left Buda and withdrew straight to Vienna: moreover they left the citadel of Buda destitute of all garrison, which for about thirty days lay open even to the enemy.

[298] they besiege Alba, Alba meanwhile is besieged by the Turks, which they say happened on the ides of June *. The city is situated in the angle where the Sava flows into the Danube: on the north it is washed by the Danube, on the west by the Sava. A citadel commands the hill, most strongly fortified by position and art: at the foot of the hill the city pours out onto the banks of each stream; it is strengthened by a thick wall on the side of the confluence, and on the side of the mainland it is fortified by a double rampart, a ditch and walls. Mahomet divides his army into two camps: he duly places one along the Sava, over which the Pasha of Asia commanded, the other along the Danube, over which he himself commanded. In his camp he then arranges his engines of war in front, he surrounds the place with a rampart and ditch, that he might not be exposed to sorties of the enemy: the remaining multitude he pours out through the fields, and it seemed to fill them all. When he had besieged the city from the mainland with an almost continuous camp, so that nothing could be carried out or in, he had filled the Sava and the Danube with a fleet. Since the storming of the city demanded a mad size of engines, and they could not easily be drawn on account of the difficulty of the road, the barbarian mind used this device; he broke up his engines before beginning the march, so that, reduced to light pieces, they might be carried more easily through steep places: then, as soon as they came into Upper Moesia, he at once restored them at Chrysonicum from the molten bronze. When he had moved them closer to the city, and had strengthened them with the fortifications that were needed, he soon undertakes the assault; he batters the walls day and night, and now allows the townsmen no rest. Corvinus and Capistran perceive that the city has already long been most fiercely besieged; they bring down with the stream a fleet filled with Hungarians and those signed with the cross, in order to enter by an assault the citadel of Alba, besieged by water and land. When they came near, they see the city being constantly battered, the citadel being struck by stones thrown on high, the region, dark far and wide with sulfurous smoke, keeping perpetual darkness.

[299] which, the fleet of the Turks being destroyed, Seized with pity for their allies, who were being tortured by a most fierce siege, they truly conceive mighty spirits and are provoked to the contest. There were three hundred of the Poles who, for the sake of the most ardent religion, having taken the token of the cross, were serving; likewise a vast number of Germans who had freely undertaken the sacred expedition, and both were eagerly of the opinion that they must run to the aid of the besieged. The crashing of the bronze cannon was heard even as far as Szeged. Wherefore, with the fleet drawn up and the land forces led out in line of battle, they descend with the stream. Mahomet, daring to meet them, opposes his fleet, that they might bring no aid to the laboring city. The standards being joined on the Danube, a river battle is engaged. An immense shout is raised on both sides, and the Danube thunders with the crash of the roaring cannon, and groans beneath the weight of each fleet: the Christian fleet, spread out in a square formation, was skirting both banks: on the banks square formations of mailed horsemen protected each wing of the fleet; Corvinus was in command on the right, Capistran on the left. He, at the prow, embracing the crucifix and as a suppliant, exhorted his men to the salutary battle, promised divine help, and cursed the profane enemy. Corvinus fought most fiercely, and by his example kindled the Hungarians to the fight, ordering them to bend to their oars, and with the Danube's favor to fight hand to hand. When this was done, they bind the vessels together on each side with mutual chains. Corvinus leaps onto the admiral's ship, his companions follow, they swing the sword widely, and they tumble the Turks, wounded and half-dead, into the Danube: the rest do the same. A fervent struggle was seen everywhere, many fall on both sides, and when all were seeking one another with dreadful slaughter, they dye the whole Danube with gore. Since our men were relying on the aid of the favoring stream, they bend the Turkish fleet and cut it down: they, compelled to yield before the opposing river, turn away their prows: many vessels were intercepted amid the flight and sunk beneath the waves; the rest took refuge with the garrisons of their own people. Corvinus, the fleet having been routed and put to flight, since at Alba

he had drawn near, he opens it up and enters the city, which he fills with arms, soldiers and provisions, he leads out the wounded and sick townsmen, he supplies a most strong reinforcement to the citadel: he restores the spirits of the besieged by the recent victory, and together with Capistran, a most holy man, he exhorts all to the defense of the city.

[300] and a victory won on land, Mahomet, at the news of the rout of his fleet, said: Although with more difficulty, nevertheless we shall obtain altogether what we desire. What survived of the fleet he ordered to be burned; and he bent a most obstinate mind to storming the city. When his father's friends reported that Amurath had once spent seven months in the siege of Alba, and had at length departed with his attempt in vain, he assailed his father's shade with many reproaches, and boasted that he would gain the city before the fifteenth day. The Pasha of Asia happened to be present; he, the more to flatter the glorious prince, promises that a certain victory is at hand, since he himself had taken Byzantium by force, furnished with old art and every greatest fortification: and that towns are not accustomed to be fortified more strongly and defended more vigorously by Hungarians than by Greeks; to whom not undeservedly the glory not only of eloquence and wisdom but also of discipline is by right attributed: moreover many towers were destroyed, the ditches filled, and the walls now leveled to the ground; accordingly he affirmed that there was by no means any cause for distrust. Mahomet, inflamed by these words, orders all to take up arms on the following day; and just as he had decreed, he resolved never to cease until he should gain Alba. He arranges his army in so many ranks that he can continue a perpetual battle, and thus from time to time renew the wearied lines, so that, with no rest given, the townsmen should be compelled to give out.

[301] the Christians, trusting in God, That day was sacred to holy Sixtus, the eighth before the ides of August, on which, the bulwarks having long been thrown down, the ditch filled with rubble, and the walls overthrown and lying open, the enemy attack the city at sunset. The townsmen resist, and when from the citadel they looked out on the fields filled with an innumerable multitude, and saw the walls widely leveled, they were compelled to despair of safety. No greater hope and consolation occurred to them than, having despaired of bodily safety, to die most nobly. John, with the company of holy Francis, exhorts the cross-bearers to the salutary fight, and, embracing the cross of our Savior and as a suppliant, promises the presence and help of God. They, seeming rather to seek than to dread a glorious death, and most ready for the fight, run to meet the Turks. One thing was against them, that they were armed in spirit rather than in body. They were struggling only with swords and lances; few had protected themselves with helmet and breastplate. An exceedingly dreadful and bloody fight is engaged on the ruin of the walls; it is fought with supreme force on both sides. The enemy's shouting, the drums and trumpets filled heaven with sound and din. The rubble is befouled with great slaughter, as those strive to enter by force and these to throw them back. Corvinus, running to wherever there was pressure, now by words, now by deeds supplies help to all: he shouts at and rebukes the timid and slothful, he extols the vigorous, he commends each of the bravest and exhorts them to defend most bravely this city, the bulwark of the Christian commonwealth: let them know that they have to do with those whom they had so often routed of old, had conquered and had often cut down to destruction, and so many of whom they had finished off on the Danube in the earlier battle: that divine help was not lacking, the presence of Jesus Christ, under whose name, leadership and auspices the fight was being waged. Soon, supported by a body of veterans, he ran here and there, restored the ranks, supplied as needed the strong for the weary, the living for the dead, the whole for the wounded, the armed for the unarmed: at times, wherever he perceived the greatest pressure, he brought succor, thrust himself among the thickest of the enemy, threw back the enemy who had entered, and performed the office of the best of commanders and soldiers.

[302] the Turks struggling in vain, On the other side Mahomet pressed on his men from behind, promised great rewards to the soldiers, recalled those retreating into rank, and at times cut them down with his curved sword, begged them to fight vigorously, exclaiming that the city was now being taken and that his men had penetrated within; accordingly he exhorted them to advance in a great column. Fortune varied for a long time as they fought, since the Turks often penetrated into the city, and were thrown back by the Christians not without great slaughter on both sides. Over the corpses and ruins of the walls the fight went on for long, the victory wavering and doubtful: and hence, as hope kept rising on either side, so they fought with extreme and untiring strength. Often the Turks had burst into the city with the greatest impetus, often also, having been thrown back, as Mars from time to time smiled on them, they restored their wedge and sought again most obstinately the lost victory. And so, as the fight went on with equal hope on either side, Mahomet took a prompt plan, to burst into the city with as strong a column as he could, and to hold it most pertinaciously. And if he could not, then, being thrown back from there, to feign a flight, by which he might draw out the townsmen, enticed, into the fields, and soon, with the multitude of horsemen sent forth breaking out from the rear, might cut off their return, so that the Christian people might be cut down from behind and in front alike. Wherefore he restored a very strong column. Having surmounted the heap of the dead that had piled up on the ruins, he bursts into the city, the townsmen giving way: he penetrates into the forum, and in the middle of the forum the battle is renewed. Of the Turks the greater part carry their standards into the forum, some try to take down from the high towers the banners of the king which had until then survived intact on the walls. They recall a Turk going up with a banner, who, in order to set the standards of his king on the pinnacle of a tower, to rouse into the city the spirits of his comrades who had not yet penetrated within, and to throw down the Hungarian ones so as to dishearten the Christians, suddenly climbed a very high tower: a Hungarian immediately followed him; and before he could take down his native standards, he grappled with the enemy on the top of the tower: since he could not prevent it in any other way, he threw himself headlong with the Turk, whom he had seized, from the very high summit.

[303] under the leadership of Capistran and Hunyadi Corvinus, seeing the city brought into the supreme danger, having summoned Michael Szilágyi, his uncle, and Ladislaus Kanizsai, also Sebastian Rozgonyi, and the other bravest nobles of the Hungarians, rushing from the citadel into the forum, bends the Turks: they engage with such fury that, many being cut down in the square and the streets, they at once threw them back outside the walls. The cross-bearers, believing themselves helped by divine aid, with increased courage go out beyond the walls, and range among the enemy with savage slaughter. Mahomet, when he sees that he has been thrown back again and again, at once feigns flight, and plainly turns his back, and draws them out. The cross-bearers press on from behind and, enticed by the smiling of victory, pursue pertinaciously. And they had now reached the camp of the Pasha of Asia, which he had placed on the bank of the Sava; Capistran, seeing from the citadel the ambush of Mahomet, immediately shouts to his men to withdraw. When he could not be heard for the din and great tumult, he gives the signal for retreat from the rear: they on the contrary, intent on victory, hear nothing, attack and set fire to the enemy camp. The Father, with the company of priests, runs down there from the citadel through the midst of the swords, and recalls them. Mahomet, who had taken refuge in the fortifications of the engines of war, when he saw the Pasha's camp being burned and plundered, strove to bring succor there with the cavalry which he had left in the rear to block the townsmen's return. Upon this the day was now declining. Corvinus, seeing the fortifications and cannon deserted by Mahomet, bursting out of the city with his companions, suddenly seized them: the bronze engines he partly blocked with a nail driven in at once and rendered useless, partly turned and aimed against the enemy. The Turk, having thrown back the cross-bearers from the camp, who, recalled by Capistran, had readily given way, returns to the fortifications; he finds them occupied by Corvinus. When, as twilight came on, he renewed the battle for the sake of recovering them, he found the engines turned against him; since his companions were most gravely hurt by these, as night came on, he withdrew into the rear camp, not without shameful flight. Others record that he retreated to camp wounded in the breast beneath the nipple.

[304] they set free. Corvinus, having gained the fortifications, burned them. Since, with night pressing on, he could not carry off the bronze engines, he rendered them useless by blocking their bores; and he returned to the city victorious and exulting. The Turk, as he saw himself often thrown back from the city and stripped of the Asiatic camp and the fortifications, in the dead of night directed his march toward Macedonia. Some report that he, wounded by an arrow and carried half-dead into camp, lay for some time: that the Turks, the camp being moved from there, took their emperor to the town of Sarnus, fearing lest, in the event of his death, they should be cut down to destruction on the following day. That when he had recovered his breath a little at Sarnus, he inquired about the outcome of the war: that when they answered that the Pasha of Asia and nearly all the nobles had met death, that a great part of the army had been slain, that Kurkutoa, prefect of the praetorian cohorts, had been butchered beneath the walls, and likewise that all the fortifications had been taken by the enemy: that at this the man, as they say, groaned to such a degree that from weariness of life he ordered poison to be given him; that when his friends refused, timid and downcast, the camp being set on fire, he took to shameful flight: that he had not come with so elated a spirit as he went away dismayed: and that he who had proclaimed that he be called the Terror of the World had been routed and put to flight by a small band. Most relate that the Pasha of Asia, whose name was Caracia, died at the fortifications, struck from the city a few days before. On the forty-sixth day of the siege, therefore, by divine rather than human help, the city of Alba was set free from the hands of the Turks. Although many fell on both sides, yet very many of the Turks perished: many have recorded that forty thousand of the enemy died, some twenty thousand, and there are not lacking those who affirm that there were only four thousand. But how great that disaster was the flight of a most powerful king attests. The Turks also by no means deny that it was vast and incredible; indeed they assert that more of them were slain that day of themselves than by the hand of the Christians; since many bodies of the dead were found without a wound, which were reckoned to have fallen by divine rather than human force. Capistran and Corvinus, having gained a signal victory, each wrote separately to Pope Calixtus about this war: each strives in his letter to claim for himself the glory of so renowned a deed, as neither made the slightest mention of the other. Excellent men, to be sure, would rather suffer themselves to be defrauded of kingdoms than of due praise. But since the two leaders fought vigorously, one by prayer, the other by hand, for this reason most people judge that it was done by this most holy man, that in that battle divine rather than human powers, which the Turks do not deny, might be seen to have shone forth. That battle was fierce and unheard of, since they relate that it was fought for twenty-four hours without any intermission.

[305] some errors of Bonfini are pointed out. Bonfini in this narrative of his extols Corvinus, or John Hunyadi, chiefly, and presents him as if the primary, nay the sole architect of the victory won. Others on the contrary ascribe the principal part to St. Capistran, inasmuch as he brought about the triumph not only by prayer, but also by counsel and by hand. The companions of St. Capistran, eyewitnesses of the deed, attribute more to the Saint than to Corvinus: and although on account of their fellowship in the Order they may seem partial to some, there is nevertheless no doubt that the command of the Crusaders, who labored powerfully to vanquish the enemy, belonged to Capistran. Further, Bonfini, although contemporary, nevertheless was not present at the battle; and what he narrates he learned from witnesses rather than saw in person. And hence he fell into some errors: for example when he says at no. 301 that the decisive fight took place on the feast of St. Sixtus, or the 6th of August: on which day the news of the victory of the 22nd of July

reached Rome. Further, what he writes in the preceding number is not consistent enough, namely that the siege lasted forty-six days. For he places the beginning of the siege at no. 298 on the ides of June, or the 13th of that month, from which if we reckon forty-six days we arrive at the 28th of July, which agrees neither with the 6th of August, on which Bonfini places the victory, nor with the 22nd of July, on which the battle was truly fought. If therefore the siege began indeed on the ides of June and was raised on the eleventh before the kalends of August by the slaughter of the Turks, it will have to be said that Alba was set free on the fortieth day of the siege.

* the Legate

* Ladislaus

* of Rascia

* of Cilli

* the Euxine

* the Danube

* 13th of June

§ XXVII. John of Tagliacozzo, companion of St. John of Capistrano and eyewitness of the deed, begins to narrate the victory won over the Turks.

To St. James of the March John of Tagliacozzo, a professed member of the Order of Minors and inseparable companion of St. Capistran, whose pious death he described at length, as we shall present below, reported to St. James of the March, or of Picenum, in a letter mutilated at the end, the victory of Alba, of which he too was an eyewitness. He takes the affairs of Hungary somewhat further back; but he clothes his narrative with so many circumstances that we do not judge it will be burdensome to the reader for us to unfold the letter entire, as Wadding has preserved it. St. James of Picenum had at that time been sent by Pope Calixtus into the March of Ancona and the neighboring provinces, to rouse the peoples to promote the holy war in deed and by hand Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 324.. Deliberately, therefore, to sharpen his diligence and increase his joy, Tagliacozzo transmits to James the narrative of the illustrious victory. Although, he says Ibid. pag. 340., I am not unaware, most excellent elder, that your Paternity, filled with every ornament of learning, has no need of my most uncouth pen, since all receive of your learning; yet because your nature and venerable old age is made the more joyful and fervent the more often it reads or hears of the mighty works of God and unheard-of deeds done in the present time, I have resolved to compose and write for your Paternity, as best I can, the course of that marvelous victory, had by the grace of God over the Turks: namely the beginning, the progress and likewise the outcome: which indeed was had in the renowned kingdom of Hungary near the Castle of Nándorfehérvár, under the banner of the most holy Cross, with the acclamation of the name of Jesus in the time of the crusade, the triumph of which victory is attributed for the greater part to the immortal God alone, and to the merits and most fervent labors and prayers of the most blessed man, Br. John of Capistrano of the Order of Minors, then by commission of the holy apostolic See leader and captain of all those signed with the cross in the said kingdom; with the favors and defenses assisting of the illustrious lord, Lord John Hunyadi, the aforesaid governor of the kingdom of Hungary, and of the magnificent Lord Michael Szilágyi, the most diligent castellan of the castle of Nándorfehérvár.

[307] John of Tagliacozzo writes, But although, most devout Father, others can do this much more ornately and seriously, yet because your Paternity requests this of me, since by the disposing of divine clemency and at the urging of your Paternity it fell to me to be with that same most blessed man at that time, I will report this truly and sincerely, clinging to no flattering charm of words, but describing the truth of history alone in simple words. May God himself, most clement, instill into me a sinner the dew of his grace, that what I have seen with my eyes and handled with my hands I may be able to report worthily, conscientiously and truthfully, that by these things which I am about to say before God the holy and terrible name of Jesus may be magnified, the faithful may be more ardently kindled toward it, and the devotion, zeal and fervor, and the obedience toward the most holy Roman Church of the most blessed Father Br. John may be made famous. Receive then, most excellent elder, the course of the aforesaid victory, and when you have taken it in, proclaim it publicly to the peoples with your accustomed most fervent voice.

[308] St. Capistran divinely directed into Hungary, When in the year of the Lord MCCCLIV, in the month of November, the blessed Father himself with his companions, after the Frankfurt diet, had been at Nuremberg in a great agony of doubt, as to where he should betake himself to preach, or where he could more profit the Christian people, on the following night, when after matins, prayer having been offered first, he had given himself to sleep, he saw that his death would come not by shedding of blood, but by a bloody labor; for he was burning in wonderful manner for martyrdom. But when, celebrating there on the following day, he prayed attentively, and desired to know where he ought to go, he heard various voices resounding in the church: “Into Hungary, into Hungary;” and while he was preaching in the square before the great church, he often heard the same in the air. Thus rising from doubt, he resolved to set out into Hungary according to the will of the Lord. And so, the word of God having been sown throughout Germany, and the family of the regular Observance planted there, and about sixteen thousand Hussite heretics in Bohemia having been brought back to the unity of the Roman Church, and marvelous fruits, by the Lord's granting, having been accomplished in Poland, in the month of May of the following year MCCCCLV he flew into Hungary, whose nation was at once stirred in wonderful manner at his entry. He was received by all as another apostle; and although he, a despiser of honors, very often turned aside from the road, and changed the plan of his approach or departure, although also by a certain most honorable deception he did not keep the appointed day or hour, by which the waiting peoples might be disappointed in their desire and he himself be made a stranger to honors of this kind; nevertheless what man kept silent or hid, God brought forth: for at his very entries the clergy, solemnly adorned, Cardinals, archbishops, bishops, abbots and prelates of churches, very often with Relics and with the Sacrament of the Eucharist, not without many lights and peoples of both sexes with branches of trees, lighted candles, bells ringing, coming to meet the lover of humility, led him in with the greatest honors, songs and tears. Princes, barons, nobles and common people loved and honored him exceedingly, of whom so great a multitude flowed together to him that only the broadest fields or the greatest squares were able to hold them.

[309] to provide for the salvation of the people, When he set forth the word to them, the peoples, coming from the most remote parts, seemed to run in troops, not as to a sermon of one hour, but as to a very great indulgence. Nor is it a marvel, since, having tasted the sweetness of his conversation and the purity of his speech, and having received his salutary doctrine, and having seen most openly the brightness of his miracles, all were turned to admiration of him. He thundered against vices, and implanted virtues; he was renowned and pleasing in all things to all the princes, and he thought himself happy who could stand with him even a little, or could speak with him or hear him. Yet always amid such honors, shown to him against his will, humble of heart he said: “Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to thy name give glory.” And since the king was then absent from the kingdom, and the governor and defender of that kingdom was the illustrious Lord John Hunyadi, he conceived such devotion and love alike toward that man of God, Br. John of Capistrano, that whatever was to be treated for the kingdom, both in secret and in public diets, he with the other barons called him, admitted him and brought him forward, wishing to do nothing without his counsel. After many sweats of his most fervent preaching, after most abundant fruits marvelously accomplished through Hungary, by the favor of the said Lord John he betook himself to the Transylvanian parts, to the Wallachians, schismatic Russians and Patarenes; of whom in the space of three months eleven thousand were by his preaching, having received baptism, brought back to the unity and obedience of the most holy Roman Church. Their master also and patron, after the burning of his dwelling at Hunyad and the plundering of his goods, convicted by his disputation publicly before barons and prelates, he baptized at Buda in the form of the Roman Church with the assent of the Right Reverend Lord Legate.

[310] and having taken the cross, others The cross sent to him by our Most Holy Lord Pope Calixtus III through the hands of the Right Reverend Lord Legate, the Cardinal of Sant'Angelo a latere, in MCCCCLVI, on the 14th of February, namely the first Sunday of Lent, he received with the greatest devotion and a most abundant outpouring of tears, after a sermon at Buda, and preaching the crusade and the cross to be distributed, both by the apostolic brief and by the concession of the said Lord Cardinal, with plenary authority against the enemies of Christ, he eagerly took it up, ready to die for him who deigned to die on the cross for the human race. For although he had foreknown that he was to be deprived of the crown of martyrdom by the shedding of blood, he strove nevertheless to lay down his life for his friends and to obtain the aureole of martyrdom through labors. He preached the taking of the cross to the Hungarians, and, clothed in vestments, tirelessly and solemnly affixed it to their shoulders, and sent those signed with the cross back to their own homes, admonishing them to stand by him whenever they should be called. Meanwhile reports arise throughout the kingdom, and it is spread abroad that the Turks will come to the castle of Nándorfehérvár with a fleet and a land army of wonderful might, so that, having gained it, they could seize other parts of the Christians. This is announced to the Blessed Father by frequent letters and messengers from Lord Michael, castellan of the said castle. That castle was on the border of the kingdom and the principal gate into Hungary, girded by the waters of the Sava and the Danube, very great rivers, on two sides. This castle the Turks have always tried to take from the Hungarians, that through it entry into Hungary and exit might lie free to them. The Blessed Father hastens to invite the Hungarians to the cross, to place the cross on them, to imprint the memory of the cross on their minds, and to raise arms against the Turks. And thus it came about that over a space of nearly five months he gathered a very great multitude of those signed with the cross by his preaching and that of his men. When however he had been informed, both by letters and by messengers of the illustrious Lord John and of Lord Michael, that the Turks had approached with wonderful might and had found the castle itself empty of defenders, and the lords were pressing him that, leaving off his preaching, he should hasten as quickly as he could with those signed with the cross to the defense of the castle, otherwise the Turks would shortly gain possession of it; he was filled with vehement fervor and most holy zeal alike.

[311] he might sign with the cross, He calls together as many of those signed with the cross as he could, he arranges small boats, he seeks victuals, he encourages the Christians, he foretells the coming danger to all Christendom: and so, leaving off his sermons, with these ships and with a few of those signed with the cross, he began to go down by vessel toward the castle itself, in the name of the Lord, not without sadness of heart. For he considered the mighty power and savagery of the Turks; he saw the fewness and unfitness of those coming to the rescue. There was no one in Hungary who would take up arms against the Turks; the king and barons sat at home; Lord John was staying in the town of Karom with his household, intending from there to hinder the galleys of the Turks from passing, nor did the imminent peril permit a new delay; and the blessed captain stood, glad on the one hand that the time of his martyrdom had come, yet sad that, while all slept, the Turks were watching for the destruction of Christendom and for the confusion of the name of Jesus Christ. He wept over the ruins of the Christian religion, he lamented

the destruction of the Christians, and especially of the Hungarians, saying: “Now tribulation is very near, and there is none to help.” And God himself, wishing to console him, filled him with joy and gladness, foretelling to him in wonderful manner the things to come. For when the Father, descending the Danube with so small a number of defenders, came thus sorrowful to the town of Petrovaradin, and celebrated there praying most attentively that God might deign to protect his cause, and not regard the ingratitudes of Christians, it seemed to him, as he celebrated with hands joined and eyes closed, that a certain arrow, sent from heaven, was swiftly shot before him upon the altar, on which in golden letters was read thus: “Do not fear, John, but go down securely, as you have begun, and hasten, for in the power of my name and of the most holy cross you will obtain victory over the Turks.” Gladdened by which words the Father cast off sadness, put away terror, and from that time was not seen sad or sorrowful. This marvelous vision he made public in preaching in his sermons, he revealed it more openly to his confessor, and he often recited it to the brothers at table, comforting them. Taking joy from this matter, the sorrowful gird themselves to follow so spirited a leader, ready to go with him to prison and to death.

[312] and secure of victory, Having received the joy of this vision, and the certainty of things to come being declared by it, the Father himself with his own hands affixed the cross on the shoulders of the remaining brothers who did not have it, and he marked with a red cross all the vestments both of the altar and of the priest, and he also excellently arranged with the cross the banner previously furnished or painted with the figure of St. Bernardine, saying: “Since in the power of the cross the enemies of the cross are to be confounded and crushed, let all things granted us for use be marked with the character of the cross,” often repeating that saying: But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And thus, urged by the castellans, he hastens to the aforesaid castle with those signed with the cross, with five small boats, not a few also going by land; and both castellans and citizens, seeing him from afar, signs of joy being shown in the castle, came out to meet him, and led him joyfully with the said crusaders into the castle itself, the banner going before, on the second day of July, namely on the feast of the Visitation. Now by his coming all rejoice who had been in the greatest sadness: now a day of joy has come for the timid: now, with him present, they do not fear the Turks: now they spend glad days who had sad ones. Meanwhile messengers come, announcing that the Turks are now near. The illustrious Lord John the governor, since he was in the town of Karom, which is on the shore of the Danube, four Hungarian miles distant from Nándorfehérvár, below the castle itself, was opposing the galleys of the Turks, that they might not pass in going up, and he sends word to the blessed Father that of the persons he had brought with him he should leave part in the castle, and bring part down to him; for Lord John himself then had no one besides his household. But the Father, wishing to comply with Lord John, decided, the camp having been arranged, to go down to him; so that on the same day on which he entered, having celebrated Mass, and having made an exhortatory sermon to guard, fidelity, usefulness and to martyrdom, after refreshment he prepares to go down toward Lord John with three ships laden with those signed with the cross. But Lord Michael the Castellan, knowing that the Turks would soon appear both by land and by water, asks the Father not to withdraw; for he said that the Turks would be met on the Danube, and that he was more useful in the castle than on the water. But he, wishing to satisfy and obey Lord John, toward whom he was wonderfully well disposed, began to go down, now despising the perils of his body for the honor of God and the increase of the Catholic faith. Now he thirsted for martyrdom more fervently than usual.

[313] to vanquish the vast But God disposed to preserve him for his own honor and magnificence, and the hand of the Lord came upon him; for when about the hour of vespers the air was most bright and clear, and the sun was burning more vehemently with its heat and fire, and the Danube was flowing most quietly, the air is overwhelmed with the densest clouds, the sun is darkened, the strongest winds blow, the Danube is disturbed and stirred, thunders resound, the rain thickens, and there was so great a darkness that, not seeing one another in the same ship, they were carried to the shore unwillingly. When they had been brought to land, fair weather soon returned and calm was made on the Danube as before. And behold, at once the galleys of the Turks occupy the place from which so mighty a tempest had driven back the blessed Father. What else is to be thought and judged, Reverend Elder, except that Almighty God wished to reserve his most faithful servant for the conflict with and the crushing of the Turks by the power of the name of Jesus, under the banner of the cross? For God did not permit that that flesh, so wearied by labors, vigils and abstinences, should be laureled through martyrdom of blood, but through the burning of the mind, and that he, a martyr in desire, after a glorious victory, should render his spirit to God in peace, full of merits, and should not be without the crown of martyrdom. Free, then, from the hands of the Turks, he returned to the castle by night. And on the following morning, namely the third day of the month, behold, the army of the Turks began to appear: of whom some, separated from the army itself, came close to the castle, running about here and there, as though they wished to provoke the Christians. When the Father saw them, wonderfully inflamed, he said: “Let us go to them; who wishes to follow me?” and such things: but he found no one following him, full of that confidence and desire of martyrdom.

[314] strength of the Turks, On the fourth day they see them besieging the castle from a distance, and so in a few days the whole might of the Turks was stationed there: for never, as we learned from them, have the Turks invaded any place so mightily, so astutely, so strongly as this one: for a hundred and sixty thousand, and many say two hundred thousand, of the Turkish warriors, of the more select and stronger, assembled there, bringing with them camels and other innumerable animals laden with engines of war. There no one could have counted the pixides, the scopets and the spingards, nor the very great bombards, the like of which have never been seen, which would have ground to dust not only the castle but the highest mountains. There were twenty-two in particular, each of which was nearly XXVII feet in length, which the Turks brought there not without the greatest contrivances and expense; of the small ones, which could be transported, there was no number. They had also brought seven other engines, with which they threw in wonderful manner very great round stones on high, to kill men, day and night without intermission, both into the castle and into the city, the stones of which, so horrible, although they very often fell among men standing most closely together and in houses full of men, nevertheless never killed anyone except one single woman. Which I think was no small miracle, since at night they could in no way be guarded against; but in the daytime, on hearing a very great noise, or a signal being given in the greater tower with a little bell, persons, leaving their dwellings and standing apart, would look in the air at the stones, which from the most violent impulse were thrown on high for a great Italian mile, and which also, when they fell on the said ground, were swallowed by the earth, and were seen no more. Munitions so great and so diverse were brought by them that many places were filled with them. There was among them an exceedingly large church, distant from the castle one Italian mile, which was said to be of St. Mary Magdalene. This church was filled with powder for bombards, with very thick ropes, with iron tools, and with everything that was thought necessary for storming: the tents were very high, exceedingly large, and arranged in wonderful and most beautiful manner, and were so many that that very great land would be judged rather covered with clouds than full of tents. The banners were beyond comprehension, great, high and various, and diverse according to the conditions and dignities of the Turks. The great insignia of the lord of the Turks had a half moon on a green field. Animals were continually being brought from Turkey, Bassia and from Bosnia, laden with arrows, bows and victuals; for they abounded in camels, oxen and buffaloes. The slighter animals carried wood. Wagons of bronze, iron and wood, on which with the greatest contrivance they drew the greatest bombards, could not have been comprehended by number.

[315] Christian soldiers Trumpets and other instruments of sound were innumerable. To that place they had brought exceedingly large books containing their ceremonies, cloths and other things pertaining to their diabolical sacrifice. Mills for grinding grain, ovens for baking bread, various vessels relating to their use were infinite: all of which, and many more than these, they brought there, not on one day but on several, not without the greatest labors. That they had also brought dogs to devour the flesh of Christians, and CMXXX beautiful women to unman their virtue, we have heard by a most true report. Horsemen, foot soldiers, sappers, masters of bombards, the nobler and the more powerful from all the dominion of the Turks had been chosen there. The vice-emperor, who had come with the first armies, and princes and nobles were stationed there with so great an apparatus, as though betaking themselves as victors not to besieging that castle, but to storming Hungary and other kingdoms *. For we heard from those who fled to us that the supreme emperor of the Turks himself had sworn by his prophet Mahomet and by his own salvation that within two months, Hungary being captured, he would have supper at Buda; not knowing that all the things he had caused to be brought were to fall out to the profit and triumph of the Christians, and to the destruction and confusion of the Turks. And thus the camp of the Turks is placed not very far from the castle of Belgrade.

[316] he might direct and encourage. Their emperor is stationed in an elevated place, whom for his guard five thousand Janissaries, whom in Italian we call “Provisionati”, surround and fence in with tents and banners; who were the nobler, stronger, more select and more intimate and faithful to him. Coming up also by the waters, they brought sixty-four galleys with many skiffs and small boats in the service of the galleys, which could not be hindered by Lord John or by others in passing the town of Karom; in which galleys there were men of diverse tongue and various nation, trained in naval warfare. In these a multitude of arms, clothing and precious things was kept in store; the construction of these galleys was wonderful and new, and, artfully arranged for attacking and storming, they flew over the waters not like timbers but like the swiftest arrows. Among them one appeared greater and swifter than the others: in this only the particular nobler and more astute men stood, with many arms and banners; for this one was bolder than the others, and, to mock or insult the Christians, it often appeared, running along with lightness at a short distance: this, finally, stood forth as the empress and governess of all the others. But to speak more briefly, whatever the astuteness of the Turks could devise over many years for storming that castle and occupying Hungary, there both by land and by

water the infidels brought it together. But because the land army had not yet secured its positions, the galleys themselves stood away from the city.

* supply: they would seem

§ XXVIII. John of Tagliacozzo describes the naval victory over the Turks, and the most blameless morals of those signed with the cross.

Some Friars having been left in the castle of Alba, Now the emperor of the people of God signed with the cross, the blessed Father Br. John himself, when he saw the castle now besieged, and the Turks arriving in greater numbers daily and preparing themselves for storming the castle, in order that, having obtained it, they might be able to occupy Hungary, considering their might and contrivances both by water and by land, and also the fewness of the crusaders defending it, decided to summon those whom he had everywhere signed with the cross. And so on the fourth day of that month, having celebrated Mass and given a public sermon of exhortation to guard and to manly defense and resistance, taking with him four brothers, namely Brs. George and Francis, Hungarians, Alexander of Ragusa and Ambrose of L'Aquila, leaving the rest in the castle with a blessing and an exhortation to martyrdom and to works of mercy and piety; from there he betook himself swiftly by vessel to Petrovaradin, accompanied by two ships of the Lord castellan, not without the greatest danger, having first said to the castellans: “Do not fear, but resist bravely, for with the Lord's favor in a short space of time I shall summon so great a multitude of those signed with the cross that the Turks will be greatly stupefied.” Then he commanded and persuaded us to prepare ourselves for martyrdom, if occasion should be given; yet he gave excellent hope of good success, and that we should press on with the works of mercy: “Hear confessions, settle discords, tend the wounded and sick, bury the dead, preach resistance and fortitude: and you priests, take care not to strike any of the Turks, nor to supply or prepare for others stones or arrows or even arms for striking or killing. Let these be your arms against the enemies of the cross of Christ, prayers, sacrifices, works of mercy and the administration of the Sacraments. But for the lay brothers I set no rule, nor do I command otherwise, except so far as God shall inspire them.” But here too note, most beloved elder, the zeal of that most holy Father for the salvation of souls. For when, going up to the said town to gather men, he heard that the people of a certain village, not far distant from the Danube, had fled from the face of the Turks, by the inspiration of the divine spirit, though the boatmen objected (for there was great fear of the nearby Turks) he turned aside to that village: which, having been looked over and searched, he found a certain very little girl, the daughter of a schismatic, left there through forgetfulness, whom he, the zealot for souls, taking with him on the ship, carried to Salahamen *, and he found a spiritual father and mother, to whom he handed her over to be brought up and in her time to be married.

[318] When the fearless and solicitous captain of God was at Petrovaradin, he announces to the Lord governor the destruction and peril of the whole Christian religion, St. Capistran encourages Hunyadi to undertake the war, asking him to be willing to give his aid in so great a crisis for the love of God and of the Catholic faith, and for his own honor. This lord, after the passing of the galleys of the Turks, had withdrawn from the town of Karom, and was staying with his accustomed and honorable household in a certain safe plain: who, although he was always a very great champion of the Catholic faith, and a most fierce defender and governor of the kingdom of Hungary; yet because he had been made hateful to the royal majesty and falsely accused, because no one even of the barons of the kingdom was moved at so imminent and great a danger, because he knew that so great a might of the Turks could not be overcome by unarmed crusaders, and also because he was unwilling to trust himself to crusaders: he was refusing to give aid in this matter, although he was pricked by the goads of the greatest grief that the Turks should enter Hungary through Nándorfehérvár. For this castle, although it belonged to the kingdom of Hungary, was nevertheless under his custody, and that lord * had set over the said castle Lord Michael and Lord John Bastida. Yet, assailed by letters and messengers and entreaties, he came to the blessed Father, whom he honored and loved in wonderful manner: after many words, which it would be long to write, at length, all things being put aside, he took up the cause of the defense: and they agreed together that both the men signed with the cross and such small boats as could be had should be gathered at Slankamen, and the most blessed Father himself writes letters, sends brothers, admonishes barons, asks prelates to send as many crusaders as they have, and to come themselves. He even personally betook himself to Bács to the most reverend Lord Raphael the archbishop, urging him, and told him of the imminent danger. The crusaders are admonished, it is commanded under pain of excommunication that all assemble at Slankamen. They are given hope of victory, they are given also desire of martyrdom, and so the report is spread through the whole kingdom.

[319] the apostolic legate also orders everything; The most reverend Lord Legate, about to go down for the defense of the aforesaid castle, arranges arms, summons the crusaders: he was then staying at Buda; he encourages his household against the Turks, and finds victuals; and thus ready to go down, he sends ahead the Lord bishop of Assisi to Petrovaradin, to be informed by him of what was occurring, and to announce his coming down shortly. Now the crusaders begin to assemble at the appointed place, now the poor are roused, the rich and noble sit at home; report flies on every side, frequent letters are sent; and the Father himself, kindled with zeal for the defense, and seeing so notable a danger for the Christians, took no care either to eat or to drink or even to sleep. Lord John, at the exhortation of the Father, summons small boats, and so for ten days the nearer crusaders arrive. Meanwhile the Turks most powerfully besieged the castle, the very great bombards are arranged in a triple placement, that by such an arrangement any of the walls might be leveled to the ground. Among them are placed ordinary bombards and larger ones for the guarding and defense of the greatest; the towers are stormed, the bulwarks thrown down, and in the space of ten days nearly all the walls of the castle were leveled to the ground: there remained however the inner towers of the castle; for the terrible stones in one stroke destroyed the greatest part of the walls, however difficult. And the greater ones were so arranged and placed that a boy alone could have turned any of them at will. The masters of all these were Italians, Germans, Hungarians, Bosnians and Slavs. These were most learned and chosen to strike accurately with them, as with crossbows; nor were there lacking those who carried rocks in very great baskets, nor those who shaped round stones from them: others supplied powder, others fire; and they had made before them a very great heap of earth, so that both those throwing and those standing should in no way be hurt by the bombards of the castle, and these masters labored at throwing both by night and by day.

[320] and at length, when all things seemed desperate, Although in the day, at the signal of the little bell, we would flee to the lamae , or to the vaults beneath the arches of doors, gates and windows, yet at night we committed ourselves to the divine disposition, awaiting martyrdom and the sword or the stones of the Turks upon us. Then, reverend Father, we applied ourselves to confession and to weeping, then to spiritual converse, then to sacrifices, then to prayers, then to contrition for our sins, then strict silence was kept. O sacred time! O days full of spiritual sorrow! Yet the castellan was of good spirit, and hoped for the protection of both Johns, and coming often to us he said: “Do not fear.” And once when I was celebrating in the church that was in the castle, and was on the point of communion, behold, a very great stone from a greater bombard of the Turks struck the roof of that church, at which the men, fleeing outside, left me alone. Afterward, having taken all the vestments, I fled to them; and then we raised an altar in the palace, and there sacrifices and prayers were made. The only hope remained by way of the Danube. Meanwhile, while the most blessed Father was intent on the gathering of the crusaders, behold, the galleys of the Turks, going up most impetuously and swiftly along the side of the Danube, occupy the crossing of the Danube; and so the hope of protection and relief is taken away; and neither the help of the blessed Father nor of Lord John is any longer expected. Although we were unanimously disposed to martyrdom, we were all in the greatest sorrow. There was now both in the castle and in the city a severe plague and the greatest want, nor could food be brought to it by the Danube. The galleys spread out along the Danube, they show their joy, they cling to the shores, men go down from them, and now they cut the grain, thresh out the straw, cleanse the wheat, load skiffs with it, and carry it to the camp; and so in a few days all the fields adjoining the Danube were emptied of the wheat, oats and barley with which they were full; all of which things were plainly seen from the castle. After this the galleys establish themselves above the castle at one Italian mile, near a certain village which is called Semly : for this village, as appears, had been a great city: but now, from a burning by the Turks at a former time, it has been reduced to a village.

[321] one blow of a stone, shot by chance, The castle was now destitute of all human aid: some of these galleys frequently came down against the castle, or rather the city, and sometimes the small boats of the citizens, withstanding them, joined battle with them. But once there came that most adorned galley, of which mention was made above, full of banners, sounds and noble Turks, and laughing at the Christians by their acts, as though they were saying: “Now you are in our hands, now your God cannot help you, now you cannot escape, now Hungary is ours,” etc. O almighty God! a certain most terrible stone, coming out from the greater bombards, and passing over the castle and the city, against the will of him who shot it, fell upon that galley of the mockers and boasters, which at once, no one escaping, was partly sunk, partly broken up and about to sink, and floated on the waters. But the citizens were at hand, who, sailing to it, seized all the banners, clothing and those things that had not sunk so quickly, killing those who were alive. This stone, honored Father, I think was shot by the hand of the Lord, who does not suffer those who spurn him. The pious Father, hearing that the castle was being horribly stormed with bombards, and that the most savage spirits of the Turks were being more and more kindled against it; hearing also that the galleys now held the crossing, and that there was no access to the castle, nor could food be sent, the lands being beset, nor protection given, nor could they be relieved, unless first, the Turkish galleys being put to flight from the Danube, they should recover the crossing, consults Lord John, urging him to have gathered at Slankamen as many small boats as he could have from the neighboring parts, on which also that lord had previously been engaged. It was done at once; for in a few days about two hundred small boats, assigned to the use of men, were brought there; which, many masters being employed, were at once arranged with planks * for attacking and defending. The little chests are filled with arrows, crossbows, scopets and pixides: rocks are heaped up, bulwarks are made, victuals are brought in, and they are filled with chosen and brave crusaders. To these the herald of God, after an exhortation, first

made on the defense of the Christian faith and on the plenary remission of all sins and on martyrdom, commanded that nothing else be invoked and shouted, both on water and on land, but the Name of Jesus.

[322] the vast fleet of the Turks Both Johns by night, not without danger from the Turks, warn the castellans that on the coming Wednesday, namely the 14th day of the month, they should prepare and arrange as many ships as they could, and that when they saw them coming down to such a place, they too should come up with the said ships. They at once fit out forty small boats, and they give them to the citizens alone to steer: for although citizens of this kind are schismatics, they are nevertheless most hostile to the Turks, and the Turks fear them more than others: they are also most skilled archers, and do not turn their backs. With these, therefore, the said ships were filled. Lord John himself, however, because he had no confidence in such an apparatus of small boats, both those above and those below, arranges one very great ship, as it were a directress, preserver and helper of all the others, filling it with arms, lead, munitions and persons of his household. In this all hope had been placed, in this confidence and all security were placed. All these things being arranged, when the appointed day had come, the small boats from above, thus armed, begin to come down spiritedly toward the Turks: after which, not far off, is led the great ship, the guardian, protector and helper. The Father, the patron of the crusaders, goes ahead along the Danube; from there he appears visible to all, for the instilling of confidence. Peter, a noble man, cheerfully bore his banner. Lord John himself, at a distance, with some horsemen, was going down by land to guard the small boats: when the Turks saw these, laughing at them, they drew themselves together, and, in the manner of a very strong bridge, they strengthened themselves by binding one to another, and prepared themselves to resist, believing that they would utterly capture them. The small boats of the city, on seeing those above, now began duly, swiftly and spiritedly to come up. Now, as the Father, the athlete, chafed within himself and invoked the Name of Jesus, the Christians begin the war. Lord John powerfully and astutely took care that no aid should be sent from the camp of the Turks to the galleys, or that the Turks, leaping from the water, should not occupy the land, or even escape by land. The Turks resist the Christians, nor is one loosed from another.

[323] began to destroy, The blessed Father, staying at the shore, directed the cross of the banner toward their faces, as though he were saying: “Behold the cross of the Lord, flee, ye adverse parties:” running about here and there in the manner of a most robust young man, and invoking the most holy Name of Jesus. And when forty ships came up from the city, the Turks are fenced in on every side, on every side they are girded by small boats, on every side too they are harassed by them: and when they were loosed and involuntarily separated from one another, they now come to blows. There resound very great crashes, scopets and pixides are fired off on both sides, voices and shouts are sent up to heaven, they strike one another with swords and blades and stones; the most blessed Father praying with hands joined and eyes lifted to heaven that God himself might deign to protect his cause, invoking the Name of Jesus in aid of the Christians. Prayer also was made continually in the castle. The galleys of the Turks are loosed, they are scattered along the Danube, they are assailed by crossbows, bows and spingards, and so for the space of five hours so fierce a war lasted on the river. Why do I linger on many things? The war being ended, three great galleys of the Turks were seen sunk with their persons, four captured with all their munitions and ornaments: the remaining galleys, rowing swiftly, went down to the place where they had stood before, with nearly all their persons wounded to death. Over five hundred Turks were drowned: and the galleys that survived were so weakened that they could never again harm the Christians or profit the Turks. Besides those things which the Christians gained here, two most noble garments, long down to the ankle and artfully arranged for fighting, were presented by one of the cross-bearers to the blessed Father, which he gave as a gift to the most reverend lord Legate on his arrival. Here among others two most noble Turkish youths were brought to the blessed Father, who, after they would not have baptism either by persuasions or by entreaties or by blandishments or even by threats, were sent to Lord John, as if for the triumph of the victory, and when that fiercest enemy of the Turks saw them, he ordered them to be beheaded before him. When it was said to this lord: “Let us hold them for some days afflicted in prison and chains; perhaps they will be baptized:” he said at once: “Behead them, and afterward baptize them.” Those Turks, contending and saying that they wished to hold the opinion of their ancestors, soon died by the cutting off of their heads, and were left in a very remote field to be devoured by beasts and birds. Yet let no one accuse the lord of cruelty, but rather he is to be praised for zeal for the Catholic faith and for enmity against those who offend the Christian religion. And that he said they were to be baptized after death, he said in derision: for he knew the hardness of the Turks, and that they would never be converted, and that “baptize them” was as though he said, when their heads have been cut off, sink them in the Danube. These things I would have said, excellent Father, in excuse of the magnificent Lord John.

[324] and enriched the Christians with abundance of grain and engines. To return to the history, thus, with the Lord's favor, the Danube was recovered. Now hope is given to the besieged, now those who had been in sadness rejoice, now those who remained sorrowful exult, now the besieged fear the bombards but little, now the ruins of the castle's walls were due to be repaired, now victuals rain down, now wheat and wines come down, now hope of escape arrives; and so both city and castle show signs of joy, while the Turks are sad. And here, excellent Father, note that Almighty God, wishing to show that this glorious victory, had on the Danube, was done by his hand and not by human industry, by his permission it came about that that ship, so great and artfully prepared, in which all human hope had been placed, rather than in the small boats of the poor, when the war had already begun, through imprudence, the powder of the bombards being set alight, was wholly burned up. Meanwhile the Turks did not desist from storming the castle, but much more ardently than usual they hastened day and night to the ruin of the walls and towers; and those banners captured from the Turks, with which Lord Michael had girded and adorned the castle around the circuit of the walls, in the sight of the Turks, to repress their audacity, had fallen torn by the blows of the bombards and lay trampled. Now the Turks prepare timbers, carry straw, gather dung and ashes, heap up stones, and pile shrubs, that they may be able to fill the ditches, which were great and broad, and, the ditches being filled, have free access to the castle. “But not so the wicked, not so, but like the dust which the wind drives from the face of the earth.” The bombards too, as has been said, placed in triple placement and fenced with ditches, were held so strengthened and guarded by heaps of earth that they could not, so to speak, have been violently taken from them by the strength of the whole world. To return to the point from which I digressed, excellent Father, this victory having been won on the water, both Johns, entering not without the greatest joy, see the castle, see the ruin of the walls, consider the savagery and purpose of the Turks; and at the exhortation of the Father John girds himself for the repair; he is filled with fortitude, he is encouraged at the word of the Father.

[325] The Danube being set free, the crusaders are disposed partly in the city, But on the day on which they entered, when Lord John saw some of the Turks walking about near the castle, as though wishing to provoke the Christians to contest, that lord commands some of his household to be armed and to fight with them: among whom a certain one of his more intimate men, Forcas by name, coming to the Father, sought a blessing, because he wished by the command of his lord to fight with the Turks. The Father said to him: “Have you confessed and communicated?” To him saying: “Yes,” he gave his blessing. And he, going out and bearing himself vigorously, killed some Turks, and at length he himself was killed, whose death was exceedingly grievous to his lord. I have said these things, Father, because some enemies of the truth have dared to say that he went out of the castle to fight with the Turks by the command of the blessed Father. All who were in the castle remained flooded with great joy at the presence both of Lord John and of the blessed Father. That lord, having sent out all the crusaders who had been in the castle, brought in other fresh ones: and he piously sent the wounded and sick to the upper cities to be cared for, and had them carried by ship. The Father consoled the brothers by his words, and took a brief and light refreshment together with them. He restored joy to the sorrowful, security to the fearful and certainty to the doubtful; and all being encouraged and instructed, as he had done before, leading me with him, whom he perhaps considered weaker than all, he returned in haste to the place of Semly, where the victory had been won. For in this place the crusaders were to assemble; in this the Father fixed his tent, in this Lord John himself, the walls having been repaired, was stationed: and this place is near the Danube, near the castle, and in the sight of the besieging Turks. But that night a stone from a greater bombard fell on the straw on which, staying in the castle, I was always accustomed to rest at night. What? Did the Father perhaps, foreknowing the future, lead me out for this reason? I do not doubt it; for if I had been there, I should without doubt have perished by that stone. O most savage Turks, why did you not throw that stone sooner, that it might have crushed my body! O most blessed Father, why did you not permit me to stay there, that I might no longer have offended my Creator!

[326] partly outside it; The good Father stayed in the said place calling, awaiting and receiving the crusaders, now arriving from every side, even from remote parts, because they obeyed the blessed Father, and no other, as their captain, nay as the vicar of Jesus Christ. Nor is it a marvel; for, roused by his preachings and admonitions, they had taken the cross from him, having promised to go with him to prison and to death; and because they saw him living an evangelical life among men, working wonderful prodigies upon the sick, laying down his life for Christ, minding the things that are above, not those upon the earth, laboring tirelessly for the liberation of the kingdom, for this reason all desired to obey him, and loved and feared him in wonderful manner as an apostle sent to them from heaven. For he was the ruler, judge, leader, captain and emperor of all the crusaders. Truly here, sweetest Father, it is to be noticed that all the crusaders, moved by letters, messengers and reports, were hastening to the blessed Father stationed in the aforesaid place, coming in wonderful, devout and fervent manner: not all in a troop, but from the several countries and places individual troops arrived there, bearing their own banner. The banners had on one side the sign of the cross, on the other the figures of Blessed Francis, or Anthony, or Louis, or Bernardine, so

that by this it might be indicated that these crusaders had been gathered by those who were of the Order of Minors; or that it might be understood that this crusade was of the poor only, and not of the rich, and that their captain was poor: or they did this to conform themselves to the banner of their Father, or that they might merit to be helped by the patronage of these Saints under their banners. Nor were various instruments of sound lacking to each troop for rousing their spirits: there trumpets, there horns, there drums, there citharas, there little bells, there din of sounds, resounding rather to attract animals than men. The Father had two trumpeters by command of Lord John; for by these instruments they were rendered watchful, solicitous and glad; nor did they take up their position until first, a display having been made before the blessed Father in the manner of a procession, and a blessing received from him, a place and assigned dwelling was assigned them by that patron of the peoples: who also came so glad, so merry, so fervent, that they seemed to be running not to fight with the most fierce Turks, but to celebrate banquets: and so in nine days, coming from every side, sixty thousand crusaders were gathered together.

[327] and in Christian virtues All of these had been signed with the cross in Hungary both by the blessed Father himself and by his Hungarian companions, although among them were some Germans, Poles, Slavs and Bosnians. Among them there was no idleness, no softness, no unchastity: there was no drunkenness there, no reveling, no indecency, no keeping of concubines; no vanity of words there, no gaming, no thefts, no rapine; no detraction of the absent, no murmuring, no whispering, no insult among them: but there was devotion there, there prayer, there frequency of Masses; for although many came to the Mass of the blessed Father, nevertheless each troop had its own priest, secular or religious, from whom it frequently received the sacraments. There were also many priests and religious signed with the cross, frequently singing Masses and the divine offices. There was fasting there, there in firmness of faith frequent silences, there a firm resolve of shedding their own blood for the love of Christ, there frequent proclamation of the Name of Jesus. There was the highest piety among them: some, whose sustenance had already failed, lived abundantly by begging and alms: great was the patience among them, great the peace, great the concord: all had the highest obedience, for although they would comply with none but the blessed Father, among themselves one obeyed another mutually out of charity. And if the Father had sent them to water, to fire, they would have obeyed without sadness like novices of religious: and to speak briefly of their prompt obedience, when the Father shouted, all shouted; when the Father remained praying either with hands raised or with hands stretched out in the manner of a cross, so they did: when the Father raised the banner, all raised their banners: when the Father walked, they too walked: all however followed in concord the banner of the blessed Father himself. The rigor of justice also was kept to the highest degree, nor did any offense go unpunished: although each troop or people had its own prefect, all causes were brought to the Father himself, as to a common judge. If however any of them had publicly committed some grave crime, he was publicly punished by the common judgment, that an example might be given to others.

[328] they exercise themselves excellently. When a certain one of them stole a coin, his right ear was at once cut off, without the Father's knowledge. When another, after the crossing of the Danube had been recovered, secretly sold loaves at a dearer rate than usual, as soon as it came to the notice of the crusaders, all his loaves were thrown into the Danube; and unless I with a certain other brother, called George, had been there, he too would have been drowned: yet he was beaten with various scourges. The crusaders would not have anything committed among them by which they might be withdrawn from divine worship, saying: “We have come to shed blood, and we have a holy, just and pious leader, and ought we to perpetrate such evils?” They were also of wonderful charity toward God, since they were ready to lay down their life for his honor. By which that saying of Ecclesiasticus is shown to be verified: “As the judge of the people is, so also are his ministers, and what manner of man the ruler of the city is, such also are those who dwell in it Eccli. X, 2..” When about sixty thousand crusaders had arrived, the man of God preached to them the way of salvation, he exhorted them to martyrdom, to constancy and to the defense of the Christian religion: and by the voice of a herald he commanded all that whether they came or withdrew, whether they struck or were struck, they should frequently invoke the Name of Jesus, affirming that there is salvation in no other: he commanded them to fight manfully with the enemies of Christ, and not to press after rapine or spoils. “Drive back the Turks,” he said: “do not let Christendom be occupied by them: we are easily conquered if we press after spoils; we shall be overcome by the Turks if we pursue them for the sake of rapine. If we war for the sake of the faith, God will give them into our hands, and all their goods will be ours: for Christ's sake fight manfully, and you will see the help of the Lord upon us. When they are overcome, whatever they have brought against us we shall possess: be strong in war and fight with the ancient serpent, and you will receive the eternal kingdom. Confess your sins: the supreme Pontiff gives you plenary remission of all sins. O my sons and most devout Hungarians, O poor ones, to Turkey, to Turkey.” He admonished them besides not to molest anyone except the Turks, saying: “Whoever wishes to stand with us even against the Turks are our friends, Rascian schismatics, Wallachians, Jews, heretics, and whatever unbelievers wish to be with us in this tempest, let us embrace them in friendship. Now against the Turks, against the Turks we must fight.” And thus the Father, general inquisitor of heretical depravity, although he had always been a most fierce persecutor, extirpator and confounder of perverted men of this kind, nevertheless did not then wish those who took up arms against the Turks to be troubled by any molestation, and he very often made them shout aloud the Name of Jesus. All these things took place in a very broad field, the Turks looking on and hearing from their camp and siege.

* hiding places

* Semlin

* asseribus?

* Salankemen?

* Corvinus

§ XXIX. John of Tagliacozzo describes the various devices by which St. John of Capistrano encourages those signed with the cross, and he sets out the impending ruin of the city.

Few nobles signed with the cross; It must be noted besides that although so copious a people assembled in this place, none of the barons appeared there except the illustrious and renowned Lord John, governor of the kingdom, as has been said, with his household. He had not yet restored his army (I call God and his Angels to witness that I do not lie in the aforesaid things); although some of his subjects and vassals and nobles were staying with him at that time; but he with his counsel and help made up for all the others. There also stood by that magnificent baron, Lord John of Borogh, perpetual count of Castillis and ban of Macsó, and also count of the counties of Orban and Požega; for he by reason of his banate arrived there with some horsemen; for Nándorfehérvár was under his banate: he showed great fervor, a man of sound counsel and of the best discretion and devotion. Of the nobles and clients, although many had been marked with the character of the cross, because it is the custom in Hungary for them to go to war under their lords, their lords not coming, none of them came, or, to speak more soberly, very few appeared. But all who had assembled were common people, peasants, the poor, priests, clerics, scholars, students, monks, mendicant brothers of different religious orders, persons of the third Order of St. Francis, hermits, among whom you would have seen few arms. We saw no horses there except for carrying victuals, no lances except among those who covered themselves with coats of mail. They seemed like David armed against Goliath; they abounded in swords, clubs, slings, staves, like shepherds: among them there were crossbows, bows, scopets, spingards, leaded maces, iron hooks for seizing. O if you had seen a certain prior of the Order of Hermits with seven brothers of his convent, who, burning with zeal for the faith and love of martyrdom, with habit tucked up, girded with swords, protected with helmets, with shield at the shoulders, how they ran to martyrdom, you would have wept for devotion. Of all of whom the blessed Father himself, as has often been said, was the leader and ruler, as another Moses, as another Joshua.

[330] St. Capistran fires Meanwhile the Turks did not cease from storming the castle, but they began to fear, as I afterward learned from themselves, when from their camp they saw so many crusaders, whom they thought they saw there gathered, not few or poor, not unarmed, but the whole world, shining bright with all arms and fortified; they also thought the Father himself to be the emperor of the whole world. O God! with how great a fear were they then already shaken! Therefore they hastened to the destruction of the castle, and at times they put on a show of joy to terrify the Christians. One evening, in order to terrify the Christians, they made frequent and very great fires scattered through the camp, indicating by this that, the walls of the castle being now destroyed, they would have the victory. On another night the captain of God orders many fires to be kindled in his camp; and the peoples, obeying, made fires so copious and various that that whole great plain of the Christians appeared one single and very great fire. For the man of God said, turning toward the great Turk: “With fire you wished to terrify us, you great dog; by fire you will be burned, by fire you will be expelled and put to flight.” He spoke thus as if foreknowing the future, and thus he comforted the people and persuaded all that they should not call the emperor of the Turks, but the great dog, taking it ill if he was named by any other than such a name. On the following evening various instruments of sound are heard being played in the camp of the Turks, and so much joy was made by them that they were thought rather about to conquer than to be conquered. But the emperor of the cross-bearers himself, kindled with a holy jealousy, commands by the voice of a herald that whoever had instruments for sounding or for terrifying should sound and terrify after midnight until day, and that those who lacked instruments, by striking shields most vigorously with sticks and stones, should make the hugest and most fearful din. As day dawned, all, with banners raised, exulted in joy and gladness in the sight of the Turks; and thus, passing the whole night sleepless, not so small a people, but the whole world seemed to be present there with diverse and various sounds and din of instruments. And so, with the pipers sounding, some sing, some shout, some lead dances, some lift up their hands to heaven with a shout, some leap, and by so doing they lessen the audacity of the Turks and strike fear into them.

[331] he orders to be kindled throughout the whole camp; And so many Turks, seeing and hearing such things, fled, saying: “Let us withdraw, for behold the whole world has come to the help of the Christians; and, as we see, they mock our might.” But that most savage dog, more and more kindled with anger and fury against the Christians, orders the bombards to be continued more ardently than usual, and hastens to level the mountains of earth with the castle, commands subterranean caverns to be made, and things gathered for filling the ditches to be dragged and brought next to the ditches, that, at the

appointed day, the ditches being filled, free entry to the castle might lie open to them by a level path. Here it is to be noticed that in these eleven days during which, after the naval victory, the blessed Father remained in this place with the crusaders, as has been said, he frequently entered the castle, he sent out of the castle the weak, the faint-hearted, the sick, the wounded and the poor; and if any were dead, he had them buried: and he brought in new, spirited, robust and steadfast crusaders, whom he commended to Lord Michael. To these, as to the former ones, he preached the guard of the castle, martyrdom and constancy, admonishing them to obey the castellans, and, the castle being thus arranged, he returned to the army. What sort of exertion he had in the camp can easily be gauged from this, that he no longer took food; if at any time he wished to lie down for the sake of rest, the bare earth was the bed for his wearied little body: if he was thirsty, he drank either wine very hot from the sun with muddy and stinking water, or the plain water itself. He took no sleep; and although he was a septuagenarian, in labors, in vigils, in enduring evils he was a most robust young man. Now he entered, now he left the castle; now he taught, now he admonished; now he exhorted, now he corrected, now also he commanded: and it was his office to guard both the castle and also the camps of the peoples; placing guards, having watches kept and sending out scouts: he had such labors, sweats, occupations and cares that no one so robust, especially in these days, was found who could persevere with him; even horsemen could not follow him in such labors; the bravest and those most accustomed to labors gave out. What more? Lord John the Governor, seeing him occupied in such labors, and that the care of all lay upon him, gave him as a gift the better horse that he had, which was so exhausted by his assiduous labor in those few days that in the midst of the peoples, not without the greatest amazement of all and compassion, it was stripped of its hide; and when from assiduous labor he ought to have borne himself more slackly, he appeared from day to day stronger and stronger. Masses he celebrated daily with the Collects: “Do not despise thy people, Lord,” etc. as in the Missal for Any tribulation; or: “Crush, we beseech thee, Lord, the pride of our enemies,” etc. as in the same place against Persecutors and evildoers; or: “Almighty eternal God, in whose hand,” etc., as in the same place against Pagans, exhorting the people as before. O Father, already worn out with age, most untiring! O blessed man, to be attended with all honor and reverence! O athlete of Christ, conquered by no labor! For although you were failing in age, yet in continual labors you never grew old: in you charity, in you hope and the greatest confidence; in you inexpressible faith, in you the zeal for martyrdom, in you that most kindled fervor flourished unspeakably.

[332] the leaders of the war are indeed terrified, The illustrious Lord John also stood with Lord Michael; and whatever fell by night from the engines of the Turks, he repaired by day. He spent the night continually in his tent, and labored tirelessly for the preservation of the castle; and however many crusaders he needed for the defense of the castle, he made it known to the blessed Father either in person or through a messenger. The Father, taking the defenders, led them to the castle by the Danube or by the rear gate of the castle, and in such manner he preserved the castle in those days. Lord John, although he did not cease to repair the ruins of the walls, both he and Lord Michael believed that the castle would shortly come into the hands of the enemy, and they announce this to the blessed Father: who, knowing what was to come, took care to take fear away from them and to give them hope of victory and liberation, exhorting them besides to the repair, saying: “Do not fear, magnificent Lords, God is able to free his people,” and such things. It is to be noted here that the most reverend Legate in those days gave a letter to both Johns from Buda, sending word that they should in no way join battle with the Turks; for he would shortly come down with a strong force, moved by this, that so great a people, unarmed and unaccustomed to war, was said to be gathered there: for he feared that all might come into the hands of the Turks. It seemed reasonable and opportune that such a descent should be made quickly and that he should bring a strong force. From this command of the Legate some detractors of the most blessed Father argue that he was disobedient, in that by divine impulse he waged war with the Turks. O if the crusaders had been conquered, what would such rivals have said against him? Such men do not consider that all Christendom was set free solely by the industry, prayer, preaching, incitement and labors of so great a Father. Certainly he obeyed the Right Reverend Lord Legate as the supreme Pontiff; but because he was impelled by God and provoked by the Turks, therefore, as will soon be said, he waged war against them.

[333] while the walls of Alba are leveled to the ground, But behold, now all the walls were leveled to the ground, now that very great and as it were leaden tower had been split down the middle, in which the watchmen stayed and in which signals were made for avoiding the bombards. But because from another tower a certain man mocked the great dog * by forming words with a certain horn, and from it some damage was done to the camp of the Turks (for, in my presence, a certain priest, chaplain of the castle, with three shots of a bombard killed seven Turks) now the most cruel Turks resolve to storm the castle with their whole might. Now it is proclaimed that the greatest gifts be given to the first to enter, to the second and third and so by degrees, and they decide to do this soon; for they saw that the army of the Christians was multiplying daily, and, as has been said, it seemed to them that the whole world was coming there against them. Thus all gird themselves, that it may be done on the following day, on the vigil of St. Magdalene. Now the bombards and pixides fell silent, now they ran about the camp in solicitude. Having seen and considered these things, Lord John, the most faithful champion of the kingdom and of the Catholic faith, leaving off the repair of the walls, being exceedingly wearied, came by night to the blessed Father, saying: “Behold, Father, we are conquered, we are altogether succumbing to the Turks: I have now many times carried off the triumph of victory over them, and sometimes indeed I crushed them not by a multitude of armed men, not by the strength of warriors, but by diligence, industry and cunning, and I know their ways in military affairs. But now I have no device, no industry and no cunning against them; there remains to me no means of attacking or of defending. What I could I have done; now I altogether fail, nor is there a way of defending the castle any longer: now the castle can no longer be repaired, now all the walls and towers are destroyed, now access lies open to the Turks; we are few against so great a multitude, and we have inexperienced men, unarmed, poor and weak and timid: the barons do not assemble: what more can we do?” To whom the Father of consolation said: “Do not fear, magnificent lord, God is able with few and unarmed men to overcome the might of the Turks, to defend the castle and to confound his enemies.”

[334] but Capistran promises imminent liberation, God willed that the magnificent lord should say these things, that the future and excellent miracle might appear more clearly, more certainly and more wonderfully to the minds of mortals, and that those things which the right hand of God was about to do might be ascribed not to human but to divine power. He however did not enter the castle again, but some of his household remained in it for its defense. For that lord said: “Tomorrow the castle will altogether not be ours, but the Turks will gain it.” On hearing this the Father, gladly, on the contrary, said to Lord John: “Do not fear; rather it will be ours, it will be ours,” often repeating, “the cause of God is at issue, the name of Christ is being defended: I am certain that God will protect his cause.” O most confident Father! Who would not exalt him with praises and proclamations? Yet he called in from outside four thousand of the crusaders, who seemed the stronger, more spirited, more faithful and more loving: whom, having reviewed them, with his banner going before, he led into the castle. They followed the banner of the blessed man so gladly that they seemed to go not to shed their blood and to die, but like famished men invited to a feast, or to obtain the greatest riches. When the Father had brought them in, all rejoice, and both castle and city willingly show signs of joy. Yet all were exceedingly afraid. The Father, as he was accustomed, gives to all an exhortation to careful guard, to martyrdom, to defense, to constancy and to fidelity; and he sent out the weak, the wounded, the faint-hearted and the useless; the sick he sent over to the upper cities to be cared for, as he had done before: and to those remaining he commanded that they invoke and shout nothing but the Name of Jesus, foretelling to them that in the power of this most holy Name the Christians would have complete victory over the Turks. Lord Michael the castellan he encouraged to the aforesaid things with all the exhortation in his power, commending the crusaders to him, and telling him to establish and assign to them their places of defense. Lord Michael himself was a vigorous man, trained in arms, spirited and warlike, who both by reason of the kingdom and by reason of Lord John the governor, to whom he was related (for the wife of John himself, namely Lady Elizabeth, is the blood sister of Michael), and also by reason of his own honor and reputation, was a most fierce champion and defender of the castle.

[335] and the Christian soldiers fearless There was also there, as has been said, Lord John of Gest, a most noble knight and most experienced in defending castles, a man indeed renowned for ability, cunning and sagacity. The Father left five brothers there, whom, as before, he commanded to press on with the works of mercy and to receive martyrdom, if it should please God; since the time of the crown was now at hand. All these things being duly arranged, and a blessing given both to the castle and to those who were there, and a public and loud acclamation of the Name of Jesus having been made, with the banner going before, he returned secure and cheerful to the army of the Christians, staying in the same plain, having hope in him who does not confound those who trust in him. On that day many women from the city betook themselves to the castle, especially those of the higher sort and virgins, lest they be given over with the others to plunder or rape: judging it safer to be in the castle than in the city, both by reason of the crusaders and by reason of the brothers, and also because they did not believe that the castle, which had been fortified by the Father with so many defenders, would readily come into the hands of the Turks. Let no one wonder, excellent elder, that the blessed Father was unwilling to remain in the castle that night, for he had a very great army, obedient to no one but him. He was intent on giving aid to those fighting within, from those who were outside, if need should be. And because the army was disorderly and untrained, it continually needed a ruler and director, lest if any dispute should arise among them in the absence of him to whom, as has been said, all so greatly deferred, it should redound to the scandal of the crusade. Besides, to those fighting in the castle he was present in spirit and prayer, and to those outside in bodily presence; those

he helped by prayer, these he corrected and awed by his most gentle precepts, and he said continually: “Save thy people, Lord,” etc. About the third hour of that vigil the Turks, being about to join a general battle for the capture of the castle, according to their custom first offer prayer, and pour out their supplications to their diabolical Mahomet. For a not very brief space, therefore, various instruments of sound having first been played, they cry out most loudly, so that it might be believed rather the lowing of oxen than the voice of men. But on the other side a song of praises is made in the camp of the Christians with the acclamation of the Name of Jesus: with banners raised a most loud shout is made also in the castle, and the crusaders are disposed on the ruins of the walls, girding themselves for battle, ready to lay down their life for Christ, and not to leave their assigned places until they either met death for Christ or saw the castle free of the enemy.

[336] against the attacking Turks And behold, about the hour of vespers of the same day the Turks, rushing on in troops with great shouts, approach the castle, like roaring lions ready for the prey: some throw bundles of timber into the ditches, others straw, others earth, others dung, others ashes, others cast planks and wood; some also, coming through subterranean caverns, like ravening and famished wolves, were arriving at the ruins of the walls; and so they labored both to fill the ditches and to come to them and go down. But the crusaders remained constantly in place of a wall, at the urging of the castellan, and with pixides, bombards, scopets, crossbows and arrows they wounded and killed the Turks. But the ditches are filled by the Turks nearly to the middle; yet not evenly do the Turks enter into the fight about the ruins of the walls, standing like ants in the ditches, who could not have been counted, they shoot arrows, they fire scopets; some throw stones, others rocks by hand; others dig the earth, others make hidden caverns, others tilt beams on the ruins, others strive to climb; some strike the Christians with lances, others with javelins, others with terrible swords: but the archers too, standing farther off, did not cease to shoot poisoned arrows, some shooting two, others three arrows at each turn and from a single bow in wonderful manner, so that the air seemed to be thickened with arrows; and thus until the first hour of the night, fighting fiercely, they strive to enter the castle, of whom many were killed and many wounded by the Christians.

[337] he directs by prayers and commands. Of the Christians, however, although they were on the walls and bulwarks of the castle, few then fell; for they stood above the Turks and were overwhelming them with stones alone. These being withdrawn, not without their very great loss, they rushed on again, and others on every side, girding the castle more closely and fighting with the Christians more harshly and fiercely, after the slaughter of many entered the castle: but the crusaders, invoking the Name of Jesus, rushed upon them vehemently, by whom, many also being killed, they were driven back in confusion. The shouting among those fighting was very great: for those outside shouted the name of the devil Mahomet, those within the name of Jesus Christ. The Father himself stood with the other crusaders, praying and saying: “Save thy people, Lord,” and such things: the peoples too stood praying with him. Lord John, as has been said, believed that the castle was altogether to be lost, and in truth by human judgment it was bound to be lost. They attempt it also a third time about midnight of the feast of the most blessed Magdalene herself: they come all together with various instruments and engines, they fence in the castle on every side, they begin a most fierce fight, they do not fear death, and the number of the attackers was now infinite. The worshipers of Christ resist, who longed both to be struck and to die for Christ, they drive back the Turks, they break the Turks with stones and do not cease to slay them. They helped one another in turn: and the women too (they seemed not females but lionesses), girded and behaving honorably in a certain manly fashion, supplied to the men fighting arrows, stones and other engines of war, they gave the men spirit both for defending and for attacking; they dragged the wounded from the walls into the interior of the castle, drawing out the iron arrowheads from the wounds with hands and teeth, and they appeared long trained in such an art of warfare; they also labored not to walk in womanly fashion but to fly through the castle; nor is it a marvel, “perche la necessita fa buoni fanti:” necessity makes good soldiers. For in such exertion they were defending their modesty, chastity and virginity.

* the Turk

§ XXX. Tagliacozzo narrates that, the victory being won, the city of Nándorfehérvár was at last set free.

The outer walls being already occupied by the Turks, But now the worshipers of Christ, fighting continuously, can resist no longer: now wearied and afflicted by labor, vigils and blows, of whom some also were dead, all are rendered weaker: and so the Turks in troops, although many were being struck and were dying, begin to enter the castle or the level ground of the first castle and to occupy it, though with difficulty. It is to be noted here that that castle of Nándorfehérvár is threefold: the first contains a great circuit and a level ground; here are the habitable houses of many nobles. The walls of this first castle had been destroyed, and since from this there is the access or descent to the city and the access to the two other interior castles, and without which no one could occupy the others, this the Turks were striving to gain, this to enter, the level ground of this to occupy. The second is smaller, but exceedingly well fenced on the side of the first by great ditches, and fortified with very difficult towers and bulwarks, to which there is no access from the greater level ground except by one single gate and by a drawbridge. From this second there is access to the third, much smaller, but very difficult; in this is that tower which is called “Noli timere”, of which mention was made above. In this are the royal apartments; in this are the munitions, as in a most fortified place; here are very high windows toward the city; here is the rear gate, by which one can go down to the city and enter the Danube: here the books of the blessed Father, here the Relics, here the greater bombards: by this gate, the castles being occupied, men can be saved: by this protection can be sent in to those besieged in the city: here the brothers stood, here everything was kept. The walls of the first and greater castle were leveled entirely to the ground; though some small parts of the towers still remained, threatening; the towers of the other castles, although they had been greatly damaged by the blows of the bombards, had nevertheless not fallen.

[339] the Christians with iron Into this first level ground the Turks were now entering in troops, with very great slaughter and striking of them. The Christians however did not on this account leave the places assigned to them, but although they bore themselves more slackly than usual, they did not cease to make a great shambles of the Turks at this entrance, and a very great slaughter. Now there are in the level ground of the outer castle nearly seven hundred Turks, who were being helped by those coming up: now they believe they have the castle, now they fix their banners on the various ruins of the walls; now they call out those outside, now they shout most loudly, the worshipers of Christ not withdrawing from their places, who manfully resist, renew the fight, and hinder the Turks' entrance with all their strength. Seeing this, Lord Michael and the said nobles together with the men of Lord John, all the goods that were in the interior castle being put on ships, labor to save themselves by the rear gate of the smaller castle, and they enter the Danube; and those to whom the door of exit did not lie open threw themselves down of their own accord through the very high windows. The women from the outer level ground had fled there with effort, with hair unbound, saying: “Alas, we flee the Turks, and have now come into the hands of the Turks.” The brothers, on bended knees and with covered face, praying, were awaiting the crown of martyrdom: and thus the castle, both inner and outer, the crusaders alone held and protected. Yet the Turks multiplied in the first castle, although many were killed by the crusaders at the very entrance. Lord John, hearing that the Turks had now entered the castle, and that for this reason it was now abandoned, says in haste and sorrow to the blessed Father: “Alas, now the castle is abandoned, now the Turks, as I always said, possess it.” The Father comforting him, and withdrawing from him in silence, again chose many thousands of the cross-bearers, and leading them with him, brought them into the castle by the rear gate, encouraging them to constancy, etc. This done, returning at once to the army, he set all in readiness, and commanded them to watch and pray; and he himself with vocal and mental prayer commended the cause of God solicitously to God himself.

[340] and with fire they defend the interior bulwarks, When the Turks had now multiplied in the level ground of the first castle itself, and saw that the castle itself was held only by an unarmed people, believing the first to be already occupied by them, they rush onto the bridge, which had not been raised, in order to be able to occupy the second castle; for they could not go to it by any other way than by the bridge. There too are the crusaders within, especially those whom the Father himself had brought in a little before, resisting them most bravely. Those crusaders who were around the circuit of the first castle remained firm, pressing on with the striking and killing of the Turks. In this entrance of the bridge a most fierce battle was joined, and a very great conflict. When about dawn the crusaders who were around the circuit of the outer castle saw and heard that a most fierce fight was taking place on the bridge, and that a very great multitude of Turks was now in the level ground, and saw the ditches now fullest of Turks, and the number of those entering was growing rapidly, and for this reason they feared that they could no longer withstand them; taught by the Holy Spirit, they seize innumerable bundles of timber, sticks, withies and other combustibles, set alight with sulfurous fire, and, thus burning, they throw them at the same time, as with one hand, upon the Turks, both those standing in the ditches and those climbing through the ruins, as though they had held all the bundles in a single hand. O Almighty God! No one could flee from the face of the fire: all who were in the ditches, who could in no way have been counted, were consumed by fire, nor did one of them remain alive. Those who were about to go down to the ditches all withdrew in fear: and those who were in the castle, and who were striving in that most fierce fight to occupy the bridge, seeing themselves fenced in on every side by the flames of a very great fire, leaving off the fight, labored to go out of the castle with a very great shout: who, being struck with fear and a certain blindness, and full of confusion, believing they would escape and leap from the walls, leapt forth into the fire, and remained there consumed: and the rest, who were afraid to make such a leap, were butchered by the crusaders in the level ground of the first castle. Those who had not yet gone down into the ditches, and who were supplying diabolical instruments to those entering, sending up lowings to heaven, betook themselves running to the places of the bombards, as to a most safe citadel.

[341] they drive back the Turks Having seen these things, now the whole camp of the Turks is filled with sadness, their audacity is crushed, and their pride cast down: now there are not lacking those among them who say: “Let us withdraw, for the God of the Christians fights for them.” Now they do not sing, now they do not shout, now trumpets and other instruments of sound are not heard. O Father

elder, from where do we think that fire came, if not from the bosom of the great God, at the intercession of the blessed Father, who was praying without intermission together with the people that God might protect his cause and save his people? O glorious Mary Magdalene, who would not believe that you were present in aid of the Christians on the ruins of the walls to throw the fire? Who would doubt that you defended the cause of him from whom you merited to receive such great benefits? This so glorious liberation of the castle and the naval victory, which God brought about beyond all prudence and reckoning of human sense, reverend elder, all ought to ascribe only to the merits of the most blessed Father himself, by whose happy prudence, skill, care, persuasion, confidence and most fervent prayer it was brought about that both Hungary and other nations of Christians were set free from the hands of the Turks: for if that castle had come into their hands, they would first have occupied Hungary and then other nations beyond doubt. There is the greatest joy in the castle, and in the camp of the Christians: those who had left the castle return; Michael took up his spirit again, and others put on new constancy and fortitude: now those exult who had been in sadness; now the women, freed from fear, rejoice; and the brothers give thanks to God.

[342] with great loss to them, and very small to his own As day dawned more clearly, the Turks appear burned and butchered alike, gore appears scattered on every side, and the ditches are seen full of heaps of corpses, and in the smallest space you would have seen many consumed by fire, nor was there free passage or access for the multitude of corpses. Here the more powerful, here the bolder Turks indeed perished. Of the Christians, however, scarcely sixty obtained the crown of martyrdom for Christ; many more were wounded and struck; nor is it a marvel, nor would they, unarmed and unskilled, have fought with the Turks so fiercely, so constantly and so untiringly, except so far as was supplied from above. And if all had been killed, it should have been no marvel to anyone of sound mind: for the very walls, the very towers, the very bulwarks of the castle were *. O Father, if you had seen the multitude of arrows which from the beginning of the fight the Turks had so artfully shot at the castle! That whole great level ground of the outer castle was so full of arrows that one could not set his feet except on arrows; and both women and men, gathering them, made not a few bundles, as small reeds are accustomed to be gathered and tied in an abundant reed bed. The walls or the ruin of the walls were full of so great a piercing of arrows and with so great a density that you would have thought it had been done on purpose: beams and planks and other timbers projecting seemed hedgehogs. I am silent about the other engines of war, which could not be counted. You have here, venerable Father, the course of the liberation of the castle, and the victory divinely won in it, though at greater length than perhaps you desired; yet I omit many things; I touch only on those things which lack all doubt, and which are accustomed to be related variously and confusedly by others, so that, weariness being cut off, your Paternity may have what you requested of me.

[343] Capistran, against the will of Hunyadi, Now I come to another victory: in the third victory, outside the castle in a very great field, much more marvelous than in the first two, the omnipotence of God will appear, the power of the most holy Name of Jesus and of the most holy Cross will be shown, and how acceptable to God himself was his most faithful servant, the often-mentioned blessed John, by whose ministry, at God's command, all these things were done. But here it is first to be noted that after the liberation of the castle the excellent governor and defender of the kingdom John, lest glory should be turned into confusion, commands Lord Michael to permit no one to leave the castle and go against the Turks; he commands the boatmen also, under pain of death, not to carry anyone across by the Danube or the Sava; fearing that so great a multitude of peoples, unarmed and untrained, might be destroyed by the most furious Turks, now turned to rage and desperation, believing also that the Turks would come again to storm the castle. Lord Michael, having been advised about the guard of the castle, clothed in a coat of mail, with two men, was carried in a certain small boat now along the Danube, now along the Sava: for he was waiting to see with what end these things would close. Meanwhile the most blessed captain comes, with his banner going before, with the whole army of the crusaders, with all the banners raised, not without various sounds, din and most loud acclamations of the Name of Jesus; all are stationed in the field next to the Sava and the Danube, precisely where the Sava enters the Danube. There the banners are fixed, there is shouting against the Turks. The greatest terror seized the Turks. Meanwhile, as it happened, crusaders are seen outside the castle, furnished with little chests and arrows, against whom a very great multitude of Turkish horse rushed with lances thrust out. They, standing on a certain heap of earth, with bows stretched, were filling the Turks with arrows: and they, turning their backs, pierced by the shots of arrows, sought their own people in confusion. Others, attempting the same, at the acclamation of the Name of Jesus which was made by the most blessed Father, all responding, either fell from their horses, or the lances loosened from their hands, or the horses prostrated themselves on the ground beneath them: nor is it a marvel, since at this Name every knee bows, according to the Apostle. Excellent Father, the acclamation of this most holy Name was so great that at the voice of the blessed Father all responding together seemed to make thunder.

[344] leads the crusaders against the enemy Many others also go out, without the castellan's knowledge, who, although they drew near to the Turks, were nevertheless not hurt, but seemed to walk about securely before the eyes of the Turks. These men, going out fearlessly, and thus remaining unhurt before the arms of the Turks, although they appeared men, others judged to have been Angels, indicating to the Christians the victory to be won over the Turks, and enticing them to the fight on that day. The blessed Father, ruler of the people of God, looking out on the aforesaid things, although he was burning in wonderful manner for martyrdom, was calling them back, seeing an ambush being prepared by the Turks. But when he gained nothing, he said: “This is that day of victory which we await; let us cross over and go up: and do not fear the enemy of God's people.” What else do we judge is to be thought, excellent Father, than that voice divinely made to him which Gideon heard, namely: “The Lord is with thee, bravest of men; go, and in this strength and confidence thou shalt deliver Israel,” that is, the Christian people, “from the hand of Midian,” that is, of the great Turk. Who, when he humbly doubted because of the fewness and inexperience of the fighters, heard: “Do not fear, I will be with thee, and thou shalt strike Midian as one man.” And so, taking with him two brothers and the noble man Peter the standard-bearer, the Father had himself carried in a small boat by two boatmen to the other side of the river Sava, on which the Turks were staying. Here a most astounding miracle is to be noted: for when he alone with two brothers, namely Br. John of Tagliacozzo and Br. Ambrose of L'Aquila, was crossing by a small boat, it seemed to the Turks that an innumerable multitude of armed men had crossed against them, when in truth there were only six persons, namely the Father with two brothers and the standard-bearer and two boatmen; although many brothers were in the same place, none however then crossed with the Father: the aforesaid Br. Alexander of Ragusa was there.

[345] and a vast number of Turks being slain, When, as is stated, he had crossed, he begins with the aforesaid brothers and the standard-bearer to climb from the river to the ditches of the castle on foot, fasting, indeed for many days fed on scanty food, weary with labor; for he had run about here and there the whole night: pressed down by wakefulness; for during many days and nights he had taken neither food, except as a little boy, nor any rest. It was about the sixth hour; and when those who were staying outside the castle, and who had first gone out, saw him, they at once run gladly, as to a Father. When those who were in the castle saw this, although exit was not open to them because of the command, nevertheless some through the ruins, some through holes in the walls, some under the gate, betook themselves to the blessed Father: and so many join the Father himself. He, coming first to the ditches, saw the marvels which were done both in the night and in the morning: he saw the innumerable corpses of the Turks, which lay burned along the ditches, the fire not yet extinguished. He considered the very great danger which all Christendom had escaped on the preceding night, and with hands joined and eyes raised on high, he magnified God, rendering thanks to him, and he often said: “He who gave to begin will give also to accomplish.” At length he stations himself between the castle or the ditches of the castle and the bombards; and when the Turks saw him, they seemed to fear more and more, drawing together to the places of their quarters and to their emperor and to the bombards, and they prepare themselves to defend, if perhaps the Christians should wish either to attack them or to take the bombards from them. They take arms, they arrange scopets, and fit out pixides. Yet the number of crusaders coming to the Father continually grew, nor could they be held back from about two thousand of them joining the Father: and since he then had no interpreter, a certain venerable priest signed with the cross, Paul by name, canon of the greater church of Székesfehérvár, was interpreter for the Father himself. He, having long had a devotion toward the Father, in this tempest never withdrew from his side.

[346] the siege is raised, When the Father himself, leader of the army of God, saw the aforesaid multitude of crusaders joined to him, knowing that the victory of war is not in the multitude of an army, but that strength is from heaven, with the banner going before, he began to go first to the first station of the bombards, at a slow pace, on foot, supported by a certain staff on which was marked the Name of Jesus (which staff the blessed old man used both in riding and on foot), wearied by so long a labor and continual wakefulness, with his white head uncovered, most mightily shouting aloud the Name of Jesus. Perhaps a thousand men signed with the cross followed him, and when the Turks who were standing at the first bombards saw and heard them, terrified, withdrawing from there, they fled to the second; and so the first bombards were gained and captured. When they were seen, they were turned to the admiration and joy of all. If anyone had then seen the blessed Father full of joy, cheerful and exulting, O who could have reckoned the value of these things at a worthy price! Certainly if nothing except these first had been acquired from the goods of the Turks, it would have fallen out to the great honor and gain of the renowned kingdom of Hungary. These being occupied, that tireless despoiler of the Turks sets out toward those. Likewise the Turks, not able to endure the Name of Jesus, or the Father, or the banner, leaving the second without resistance with all their appurtenances, betook themselves to the third.

[347] the Turks are put to flight, But the Father, made like a lion in his works, after signs of vast joy shown before the eyes of the Turks, sets out to the third, which were fortified by various guards, in whose station pixides and various engines had been kept for their guarding; and this station was on every side by ditches, a rampart and

heap of earth most strongly enclosed. But the fearless captain himself, calling up many, encouraging them to plunder and gain, with the banner going before, with a mighty shout of the Name of Jesus, makes for the third. When the wretched Turks saw him unresisted, blocking the bores with iron nails, crying out as if cursing themselves, leaving the bombards and many other things which could not be written, they returned lamenting to their emperor. O Holy and terrible Name of Jesus Christ! O old and unarmed Father, most lovable in the grace of all holiness! O admirable power of the cross, with whose character both the blessed Father himself and the others standing with him and the banner were marked! O Most Holy Bernardine, whose image, painted on the same banner, showed with his hand the name of Jesus to the Turks and terrified them! Let your Paternity consider here how great was the joy to the blessed Father himself, how great the sadness to the Turks, how great the confusion, or how great the loss, of which more will also be discussed below. But here now it is especially to be noted that, although the Turks are most spirited and warlike, and unwilling to yield to anyone from their stubborn pride, they were nevertheless compelled to flee from the face of the blessed Father, because, according to what they themselves afterward confessed, it seemed to them that from the face of that man there came forth so bright and radiant rays of the sun, and that they struck back upon their faces, that they could in no way endure them; nor the banner either, which appeared to them full of the rays of the sun: therefore they fled from the face of the blessed Father. Some however, most pious Father, vary concerning this capture of the bombards; for some say, as I have put here, namely that the Turks, fleeing from one station of the bombards to another, were driven out from each separately, as has been said. Others say that when the Turks saw that the Father with an infinite multitude of armed men was crossing the river against them, and that he, standing next to the ditches, was about to attack them with so great a multitude, with the banner raised, when in truth there were not yet two thousand, all terrified together… The rest is wanting.

[348] and rich spoils are brought back The loss of the mutilated letter can be repaired by a bull of Calixtus III given on the kalends of December to the king of Ethiopia, in order to encourage him too to the holy war. In that battle, says the Pontiff Raynaldi Cont. Baron. ad an. 1456, § XLVII., about twenty-four thousand of the Turks were slain, as many perished in flight, killing one another: the camp was burned, about three hundred bombards were captured, an innumerable abundance of crossbows, machines for carrying vessels over mountains, instruments contrived for ferrying peoples across, military standards, and of the sixty-four vessels which he held on the Danube twenty were captured and are with our people. And the Turk himself, lately the leader of so great an army, having fared badly, and not even yet setting a limit to his pride, when he had reached the city of Sofia, turned to rage, and killed very many of his relatives with his own hand without cause. A certain despot in the province of Serbia, adhering to our peoples, sent many scouts to inquire diligently where the Turk himself had withdrawn to, and although many of them returned and reported the same thing, nothing certain could be ascertained concerning his life. We suppose that he has either been slain; or perhaps, terrified, has withdrawn into some hiding places. Although many report this, we have not however been made certain of it by the letter of our beloved son John of Capistrano, a professed member of the Order of Minors, who was present at all these events. The Pontiff's last words must be so interpreted by us as if up to this time the fate of the emperor of the Turks was not established for Calixtus: for this it is necessary to conclude from the letter of St. Capistran, to be cited below. Indeed John Thuróczy, a contemporary Hungarian, in the Chronicle of his people, which he carried to the year 1464, remains uncertain as to what became of Mahomet II after the slaughter of Nándorfehérvár. Behold his words Schwandtner. Scriptt. Rer. Hung. tom. I, pag. 272.: But how the Emperor himself (the great Turk), under the deep darkness of that same night, slipped away in flight from beneath that same castle, no one has it for certain to say: yet it is enough for the praise of God and the confusion of that same emperor that, stripped of all his warlike apparatus, and all the machines and other kinds of cannon which he had brought there being left behind, he returned to his own country after an immense slaughter of his people. And in time to come also the memory of this castle, made by anyone in his presence, was never pleasing to him. Some however have spoken thus of the flight of that emperor: namely that the emperor himself, as the more fierce war was raging, while he was forcing his men to the contest, was wounded by an arrow in the breast, and at once fell half-alive; and his men, snatching him up, carried him in their hands to the tents, etc. From these things it is clear that the fate of Mahomet II long remained uncertain; and thus that Calixtus could draw nothing certain from the letter of St. Capistran.

* add: destroyed

§ XXXI. The calumny of vainglory fastened on St. John of Capistrano is refuted.

The accusation of vainglory brought against St. Capistran We come now to the capital charge brought against St. Capistran by many, especially by the promoter of the faith, when the question of the Saint's canonization was being treated. He is accused, namely, of having tried to arrogate to himself alone the glory of the triumph, omitting the name of John Hunyadi in the letter written to Pope Calixtus on the very day of the victory of Nándorfehérvár. Prospero Lambertini, or Benedict XIV, in his work on the beatification and canonization of Saints, book II, chapter 42, no. I, adduces Aeneas Sylvius, afterward supreme Pontiff under the name Pius II, who on the occasion of the victory won by the Christians over the Turks writes these things in his book on Europe, chapter VIII Opera. pag. 403. Edit. Basil.: Three Johns were held the authors of the victory; the Cardinal legate (John de Carvajal), under whose auspices the deed was done, and Hunyadi and Capistran, who were present at the battle. But neither did Capistran make mention of Hunyadi, nor Hunyadi of Capistran, in the letters which they wrote about the victory obtained, either to the Roman Pontiff or to friends: each affirmed that God had given the Christians victory through his own ministry. The human mind is most avaricious of honor: it shares a kingdom and wealth more easily than glory. Capistran could despise patrimony, trample on pleasures, subdue lust; but he could not spurn glory. Perhaps someone may say that his concern was not for his own honor, but for that of God, who willed to save the Christian cause through the poor and unarmed: we yield to this assertion, although Hunyadi too called himself a minister of the victory, not its author. Aeneas passed the same judgment in his Bohemian History, chapter LXV Ibid. pag. 138.: Hunyadi, he says, and Capistran were present at this war, each wrote of the deed; neither made mention of the other; each usurped to himself the solid praise of the deed. The vast sweetness of glory is said to be more easily despised than it is despised: Capistran had spurned the pomps of the world, had fled delights, had trampled on avarice, had subdued lust; he could not despise glory.

[350] by Aeneas Sylvius, renewed by the Promoter of the Faith, These things, says Prospero Lambertini at the place cited, were vigorously objected by Pietro Francesco de Rossi, formerly Promoter of the Faith, when the reputation for holiness of the then Servant of God, now Saint John of Capistrano, was being treated. The postulators could have answered that Pope Pius II by no means thought that any substantial prejudice had been brought to the holiness of the said man by the aforesaid animadversions which he had made. He then cites Aeneas's book, the History of Affairs Everywhere Accomplished, chapter I, in which it is said: A few days afterward John Capistrano died, placed among the saints by the opinion of men: by which words it is shown that nothing was taken away from his reputation for holiness with Aeneas by the fact that our Saint ascribed to himself some of the glory in the victory of Nándorfehérvár. To confess the truth, I have not found the text indicated at the cited place: nor does it seem to me altogether suited to excusing St. Capistran, if there is any blemish: for although by common opinion he was to be numbered among the Saints, it could happen that more curious investigators might at some time find such a fault as, though it escapes the common people, ought nevertheless deservedly to prevent solemn canonization. I would prefer therefore to produce from the writings of Aeneas another text, which we cited above at no. 192, from which it becomes manifest that the writer altogether softened his former judgment: Although, he says, some said that a vainglorious man and boaster of himself had received his reward from rumors, whom he strove to please more than God. But they are unjust judges who do not interpret for the better things that are hidden, when in the things that are plain they see all good. By these words, that is, Aeneas altogether blots out what he had rashly written elsewhere, and what others, with Aeneas as guide, wrote again. Moreover the postulators of the cause of Capistran used another means to wipe away the stain cast on the Saint: namely by alleging the very letter, the cause and foundation of the whole charge, in which John Hunyadi is called the terror of the Turks and the bravest champion of Christians; which praises abundantly indicate that no envy had settled in the mind of the holy man. Calixtus himself then, in the bull issued in the year 1457, when he ordered the feast of the Transfiguration of Christ to be celebrated with more solemn rite, in memory of the victory won at Nándorfehérvár, says that it (the victory) was won, there being likewise present the late John of Capistrano, a professed member of the Order of Friars Minor, an excellent man, and outstanding in merits before God and men, and invoking trustingly and assiduously, with all the people encircled, with one voice the name of Christ Jesus, in which our salvation consists. And from this the said Prospero Lambertini concludes that it does not stand in the way, nor ought to stand in the way, of the holiness or reputation for holiness of any servant of God, if some things have been written about him by an author, even a weighty one.

[351] it is refuted first of all from the letter of the Saint himself But all these things must be unfolded more carefully: and accordingly before all else there must be produced the letters which gave the cause of the accusation. On the very day of the victory won, then, Capistran sent the following letter to Calixtus Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 371.: Most blessed Father, after kissing your blessed feet, joy and exultation. Glory to God in the highest, from whose mercy it comes that we are not consumed: for we were placed in such tribulation and in such straits that all thought the might of the Turks could no longer be resisted: and that duke Hunyadi himself, in truth the terror of the Turks and the bravest champion of Christians, judged that the castle of Nándorfehérvár was to be abandoned. For the most fierce Mahometans were attacking the citadel so mightily and incessantly, and were throwing down the walls with so many engines, and were fighting so terribly against our men, that our strength had already given out and the chief soldiers were dismayed. But in the midst of the tribulation the Lord gave us life; for when the most mighty enemies, driven out of the city, were guilefully withdrawing, in order to prepare an ambush for our men as they came out, although Lord Hunyadi ordered that none of our soldiers should leave the castle; yet the crusaders did not care for his command, but rushing on the enemy, they placed themselves in great peril. But I, the least servant of Your Holiness,

when I could not recall them from the walls, went out into the field, and running about here and there, now I recalled them, now I encouraged them, now I arranged them, lest they be surrounded by the enemy. And at length the Lord, who can save as well in few as in many, mercifully gave us the victory, and made the most savage army of the Turks flee, and our men obtained all their cannon and diabolical engines, by which they thought to subject all Christendom to themselves. Let Your Holiness therefore exult in the Lord and order praise, glory and honor to be offered to him, for he alone has done great wonders. Not I, an unarmed and useless servant, or the poor and rude crusaders, servants of Your Holiness, could do these things by our own strength. God, the Lord of hosts, has done all these things: to him be glory forever. I write these things briefly and in haste, wearied, returning from the fight; I shall soon write more distinctly what was done in particular. From Nándorfehérvár, on the feast of St. Mary Magdalene, the very day of the most glorious victory.

[352] and of Hunyadi, John Hunyadi did not indeed direct his letter to Pope Calixtus, but to his king. It was written on the Saturday next before the feast of Blessed James the Apostle, in the year 1456, marked with dominical letter C, and thus on the 24th of July, or two days after the victory won. It is of the following tenor Pray. Annal. regum Hung. tom. III, pag. 180.: To the most serene prince and lord, Lord Ladislaus, by the grace of God king of Hungary, Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, etc., also duke of Austria and Styria, and margrave of Moravia, our most gracious lord, the faithful procurator of your eminent serenity, John Hunyadi, count of Bistrița. Most serene prince, our most gracious lord, after the most humble recommendation of my services. We recall having written quite recently also how and in what manner the emperor of the Turks had besieged this castle of Nándorfehérvár with such injuries that the eyes of man have never seen such contrivances, nor could the mind of man have thought of them. For he caused the castle of your serenity to be so destroyed with bombards, down to the ground together with the ditch, that I cannot call the castle itself a castle, but a field. For we with our own head were in that castle from the beginning and also at the time of the storming, and we are now. At length, the castle itself having been worked over and destroyed, the emperor of the Turks, after the hour of vespers, on Wednesday , beginning around that castle a hand battle, commonly a sturm *, began it to such a degree that it lasted through the whole night, and on Thursday until the hour of dinner, so that on two occasions we fought with those Turks in the castle itself, face to face, as in a field, because of the working over and destruction of the wall, whom we always conquered, God granting it. At length, with God's help, we burst out and rose up against those Turks, so that we drove the emperor of the Turks out from beneath the aforesaid castle and from the field, as one vanquished; also that we obtained his bombards, God granting it: with him too we had a battle on Thursday before evening. At length the emperor of the Turks by night, in confusion and with great shame, turned himself to flight from there.

[353] who refers the victory to God, And so never at any other time was the emperor of the Turks in such destruction as he now is, and in such shame, as is not read in the chronicles. Let your serenity also know that the greater part of his foot soldiers has been vanquished; others also, his chief and principal men, have remained killed beneath this castle. In men and members of our household we have great loss from those enemies. Therefore let your serenity know thus, that at present the emperor of the Turks is so greatly destroyed and confounded that if the Christians should rise against him, as had been set in motion, then, God granting it, they could very lightly obtain the whole kingdom of Turkey, because he has lost all his might beneath this castle. For quite recently, before the aforesaid battle, we had a battle with the galleys on the water; of which galleys we obtained very many: for those of them that remained, when we seemed about to fight against them on the aforesaid Thursday, at once turned themselves to flight, and leaping from them, had them burned with fire. Although also your serenity has written to all to come with their armies to us for the defense of the kingdom of your serenity; yet let your serenity know that with us there have been only the men signed with the cross and John of Korogh *. We therefore diligently ask your serenity that you be willing to send a faithful servant and sure German man, who may see the destruction and working over of the aforesaid castle of your serenity, and that your serenity inform us about that castle, what we are to do with it, because we cannot say it is a castle. We too are prompt and ready to keep that fidelity toward your serenity which we have promised and now promise. Given at Nándorfehérvár, on the Saturday next before the feast of Blessed James the Apostle, in the year of the Lord MCCCCLVI, the 24th day of July.

[354] won by those signed with the cross Behold the two letters, the foundation of the charge of Aeneas Sylvius, whom many afterward followed, so that to most the matter seems settled Michaud. Hist. des Crois. tom. IX, pag. 14 et seq. Edit. Brux. 1841.. I for my part detect in neither letter a courting of vainglory. As concerns Capistran, he regards the victory as the equivalent of a miracle, and refers it to God as received. He says indeed that Hunyadi had despaired, him, namely, in truth the terror of the Turks and the bravest champion of Christians, but he does this to show that the victory was won not by human help, but by the aid of God. Certainly St. Capistran does not claim for himself even the smallest particle of glory. Hunyadi expressly writes that with him there were only men signed with the cross, and thus that the victory is owed after God to them. The very sortie of the crusaders outside the castle, which Hunyadi had most severely forbidden, was decisive: but Capistran neither ordered it nor approved it: but, as he says, since the crusaders did not care for Hunyadi's command, he first of all tried to recall them, and when this succeeded less well, then he went out into the field, and, made commander by necessity, did what he could to avert evil and to guard against the ambush laid. Aeneas himself also, as we showed above at no. 295, confesses that the Saint tried to recall the crusaders from the line of battle; but that he could not hinder what had been done. Perhaps Hunyadi could have been more sincere by confessing that the crusaders had burst out of the castle against the Turks against his will: but this Capistran confesses, so that all glory redounds to God, the author of the victory: nay he praises the prudence of Hunyadi in hindering the sortie, since he knew that an ambush was prepared. Further, St. Capistran reported in his letter nothing other than what John of Tagliacozzo wrote in the letter given above to St. James of Picenum, in which certainly all the glory of the triumph is ascribed to God alone. Finally, that there was no ill will between Capistran and Hunyadi we have from the report of the death of Hunyadi, by whom our Saint stood faithfully up to his end, as we shall show more fully below. Further, that neither says anything of John Carvajal, the Cardinal Legate, is not to be blamed: for he was staying far away, namely at Buda: if the victory had anything human, it is to be traced to the onset of the crusaders, which assuredly can by no reckoning be attributed to the Cardinal Legate. From these things it is evident that Aeneas Sylvius is not to be listened to when he charges either Capistran or Hunyadi with vainglory.

[355] by another letter to the Pontiff, A similar judgment, having recited both letters, was given by Georg Pray in the Annals of the Kings of Hungary Tom III, pag. 183.. I do not see, he says, what in this matter can be to the fault of Capistran, when in express words he ascribes that victory to the manifest help of the divine power, and has mentioned Hunyadi frequently, and not without the praise with which a most excellent man could be adorned; and both, having shared counsels with each other, wrote out to the king and the pontiff not only the beginnings and progress of the war but also its outcome in good faith and diligently, as has been narrated. That no mention is made of the Cardinal ought not to seem strange, since to him who had kept watch at Buda during the war no part of the deeds done pertained at all. Testimony of the intimate friendship that joined both Johns is supplied by another letter of St. Capistran given to Pope Calixtus, in which he recounts more in particular the fruits of the victory of Nándorfehérvár Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 372.: Most blessed Father, to the kisses of your blessed feet, most humble and devoted obedience even to the death of the cross and of any most savage punishment. Since where something is lacking the right of supplement has place; therefore what I could not take in at first sight on the day of the glorious victory of our Lord Jesus Christ, divinely given to us by the authority of Your Holiness and the ministry of a few, indeed marked with the character of the life-giving cross, afterward however, clearer knowledge being had, although the machines, instruments and terrible contrivances which they had prepared are indescribable, the wagons for carrying bombards, the iron wheels, the wooden wheels for transporting ships and boats over mountains and hills, for ferrying peoples across, for the spoils of the kingdom of Hungary, which however God did not permit them: behold, those things which can be described one by one I now supply, not giving time to ornament, but to simple truth. For where I said, many thousands of them were killed, the illustrious Lord despot, who, although he does not agree with our faith, yet according to the intention of Your Holiness joining against the Turks is with us, announced yesterday to the most reverend Lord Legate and to me that over twenty-four thousand perished by slaughter on the day of battle: and he asserts that he holds for certain that as many and more perished on the road, butchering one another, as in the time of Gideon; and not without divine judgment did the prince of the Turks himself, with his more intimate warriors who had remained, after he reached Sofia in stupefied flight, intending to restrain his ministers who survived, lest they should pass further, kill very many with his own hand and that of his executioners.

[356] in which more particularly the victory The despot himself further adds that the principal Voivode, the deputy of that most damned Mahomet, the great Turk, who presided in Scythia, where the gold mine is, which belonged and by right pertains to the despot himself, has been beheaded by the sword, he and his wife, by those who are said by right to be subject to the despot: yet his castellans still hold five castles, which, with the Lord's help, he hopes to recover, but with the favor and protection of Your Holiness and of the Right Reverend Lord your Legate a latere. Besides this the despot himself also announces that when he had sent forty scouts to find out what had befallen the most savage Turk, and a fourth part has now returned, and all testify that they have used all diligence, they could learn nothing certain concerning his life; from which the despot himself is strongly of the opinion that he is dead:

would that it were so! I had written, Blessed Father, that in our first encounter I had counted forty-four galleys, and so it was: but afterward, a clearer truth being ascertained, we found sixty-four counted; of which twenty-seven are still kept with us, small and large reckoned together. Concerning the multitude of the army of armed men, although many assert that they were a hundred and twenty thousand; the most reverend Lord Legate, however, after he had gone over with me the greater part of the space in which the army of the wicked was stationed, judged that there could probably have been a hundred and fifty thousand by the signs of so great a camp. I had written in my second letter of thirty-two bombards, because I had not then seen more, but afterward, all being reckoned, small with large, we found over three hundred, and of the pixides that are fired by hand, and in our parts are called scopets, we have no number of those found, because many have been hidden. Blessed Father, since the Justinian law declares: “Nothing seems to have been done while something remains to be done;” therefore behold now the acceptable time, behold now the day of salvation of the Christian people: behold now the time of fulfilling the desire of Your Holiness, that we may go forward, not only to recover Greece and Europe, but to recover the Holy Land of Jerusalem: which Almighty God will easily bring about, if Your Holiness does not cease from the holy desire you have conceived. Let this one most pious thing be kindly granted by your most pious Holiness and by your Right Reverend Legate, most zealous in the faith, that you transmit from Italy alone twelve or at least ten thousand horsemen, armed in the Italian manner, at your expense: who, if for six continuous months they persevere with your devout sons the crusaders and with these illustrious princes, prelates and barons of this kingdom of Hungary with us in the army, we hope to acquire so much from the goods of the pagans that for three continuous years thereafter we shall abundantly not need other expenses, but with their spoils we shall abundantly fill all our armies.

[357] Capistran describes, Behold, the same Lord despot vehemently affirms that at present we can more increase the Christian faith and suppress the pagans with ten thousand warriors than at other times we could have with thirty thousand. Behold, all these approach ardently to this desire of the Right Reverend Lord Legate, who for the name of Christ and for obedience and devout reverence to Your Holiness receive the character of the life-giving cross. And though it has so pleased the Most High that he has taken from our midst the unconquered champion of most illustrious memory, the formidable defender against the enemies of the holy Catholic faith, Lord John Hunyadi, who passed from this life on the 11th of this month of the plague, he has nevertheless substituted for us a man not unequal to him, Nicholas of Újlak, under whose strong and powerful lordship the same John himself began his soldiering with five or six horses. For the same Nicholas is an illustrious prince, excellent in magnificence, provident in counsel, cautious in affairs, of manly spirit, fervent in faith, humble in obedience to Your Holiness, a jealous guardian of his honor and of great zeal, powerful in work and speech, who among the other princes, prelates and barons of this kingdom is reputed among the more principal, and all have great expectation of him and attribute to him a laudable reputation, according to the office he possesses hereditarily in this kingdom in the banate. Now therefore, most Blessed Father, Christian kings and princes are to be urged anew: while the furnace boils the gold must be congealed; while the enemy is weak and fervor flourishes in the Christian people, warlike arms are to be roused against the perfidious infidels. Let Your Holiness therefore now command at your good pleasure what is to be done. May the Most High deign to preserve you to his Holy Church for longer times. From Slankamen, MCCCCLVI, 17th of August. And from this letter there shines forth the wonderful humility of our Saint: by no word, however slight, does he indicate that he had any part whatever in the victory; and similarly he again praises John Hunyadi, whose death he makes known to the Pontiff. We have therefore in this letter a new argument by which it may be shown that no feeling either of pride or of envy lay hidden in the mind of the most holy man. Which will further be shown more clearly when we treat of the death of John Hunyadi at no. 366.

[358] he arrogates no glory to himself. And indeed Pope Calixtus himself, replying to the letter sent by Capistran, says that he learned not so much from his report as from that of his Legates how great a part the Saint had in the victory of Nándorfehérvár. For he has these words Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 374.: Beloved son, health and apostolic blessing. We do not doubt that for obtaining this glorious victory against the Turks your devotion supplied great aid by word and deed: for so we have often understood from the report of many, and especially of our Legates whom we have there. Wherefore, while we hold everlasting thanks to Almighty God, the bestower of so great a gift, we also deservedly commend your fervent zeal in this, by whose effort both the minds of the faithful were strengthened for resisting, and other things were done which profited privately and publicly. You will have as the true rewarder of these your good deeds God, for whom these things are done, and we shall never be unmindful of so great a work. We exhort your devotion, moreover, and require it from the heart, that you persevere constantly in what you have begun, and now most of all rouse up your spirit for the common salvation; since our Redeemer, having pity on his people, has offered himself as leader of victory, and gives most ample opportunity of renewing in these parts his holy name, from which the impiety of the barbarians had taken it away: and do not cease day and night to assist our beloved son John, deacon cardinal of Sant'Angelo, Legate of the apostolic see, and to help his holy works by your zeal; to exhort by the grace of Christ given to you from heaven the prelates, barons, nobles and the peoples of the whole kingdom of Hungary to follow the cross of Jesus Christ, which we have sent to you, to press on the enemy now conquered and disordered, and to offer to the Most High this full and perfect sacrifice, which has been made such that it is to bring forth perpetual security for the aforesaid kingdom and all the faithful. We for our part work without intermission what we can, and already since the last day of May past, as we offered earlier, we have sent out to the eastern parts a Legate with our fleet, who is pursuing his voyage, to give the land army the highest opportunity for following up the victory. We exhort also daily by letters and by our nuncios all the faithful princes and potentates, who anywhere seem to have some power, that, since God has opened the way of salvation, they should rise up mightily to crush utterly the infidel race: in which, beloved son, cooperate with us as you can. Given at Rome at St. Mary Major in the year MCCCCLVI, the eighth before the kalends of September (25th of August), in the second year of our pontificate.

[359] Pope Calixtus, the feast of the Transfiguration being renewed In another letter next, given on the sixteenth before the kalends of October (16th of September), the Pontiff enlarges the power of St. Capistran in spiritual matters, and at the same time gives some commissions on behalf of the noble man, Count John the Voivode, or Hunyadi, of whose death he was as yet unaware Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag, 374.. Further, that a perennial memory of the portentous victory might stand in the Church, Pope Calixtus instituted, or rather renewed, the feast of the Transfiguration, to be celebrated in the whole world on the 6th of August, on which day he received the news of the victory. The bull of institution is reported by Rinaldi in the continuation of the Annals of Baronius at the year 1457, § LXXIII. But writers vary in this, that some ascribe to Calixtus the first institution of the feast itself, others only a more solemn rite of a feast already instituted. Wadding tries by various arguments to prove that the festival itself began from Calixtus, and if any writers older than Calixtus are cited, he pronounces them interpolated Ibid. pag. 378. et seq.. But Edmond Martène in his Treatise on the Ancient Discipline of the Church in Celebrating the Divine Offices Pag. 575. Edit. Lugd. 1706. shows this festival to be far older than Calixtus, both from the booklet of Bishop Ildephonsus Migne. Patrol. tom. CVI, col. 886., from which we have it that formerly three Masses were celebrated on the day of the Lord's Transfiguration in the Churches of the Spains, just as on the Lord's Nativity, and that communion was commanded for all Christians on that day: and from the Martyrology of Wandalbert, where the same solemnity is treated in these verses: “On the eighth before the ides the holy flesh of Christ, about to suffer death and the cross, gave beforehand an ethereal figure.” Moreover in an old Missal of the renowned Church of Tours, written by hand 800 years ago, the same feast is found with a Mass “On the vigil of the Transfiguration.” Peter the Venerable also in the Statutes speaks of the feast of the Transfiguration as an ancient feast, celebrated widely with the highest solemnity: for after he has decreed that it should be observed in the same manner as the feast of the Purification of Blessed Mary, giving the reason of his statute, because, he says, “its dignity is inferior to the solemnity of no other day, and the ancient and modern usage of many Churches throughout the world, which observe the memory of the said Transfiguration with no less honor than the Epiphany and the Ascension of the Lord Ibid. tom. CLXXXIX, col. 1027..” Whence the zeal of Potho, priest of Prüm, seems altogether preposterous, who in book III of the House of God disapproves of the celebration of the feasts of the Holy Trinity, the Transfiguration and the Conception of Blessed Mary Biblioth. max. Patt. tom. XXI, pag. 502.. Further, the solemnity of the Transfiguration was renowned not only among the Latins but also among the Greeks, seeing that mention of it is made by their Menologion on this day and by a constitution of the emperor Manuel, which is found in Theodore Balsamon on the Nomocanon of Photius, Title VII, chapter I. Thus far Edm. Martène.

[360] Moreover Pope Calixtus, reckoning that the time had come for breaking the Turkish power, exhorted all the Christian princes, as a monument of the victory, rouses the princes to the holy war. that, their domestic discords being settled and their forces joined, they should rush upon the common enemy of Christendom, and free the Church of God from all fear thenceforward. But nearly all the Christian princes grew torpid, nor was any effectual help greatly to be expected. Enmities had blazed up between the emperor Frederick and Ladislaus, king of Hungary; because, that is, King Ladislaus had been withdrawn from the emperor's guardianship by force and guile, and the dispute would have burst into open war, had not Calixtus, with the threat of anathema, driven them to a peace of a kind. The German Churches complained besides that their rights had been injured, and the archbishop of Mainz (this was Dietrich of Erbach), taking it ill that subsidiary money was being raised by him for the holy war, dared to appeal from the Pontiff to a future council Raynald. Cont. Baron. an. 1456 § XL.. In France matters proceeded no better, as Calixtus complains: From the kingdom of France itself, he says Ibid. § XLIII., which is the chief among Christians, little or no fruit is felt; neither that men be signed with the cross, nay nor that the crusade be preached, but only, as they say, concerning the tenth to be collected, we grieve and vehemently

grieve. Moreover that the very collection of the tenths was not greatly supported by royal favor we have from what we said above at no. 270 about the Burgundian tenths Cfr Hist. de l'Egl. Gall. tom. XXI, pag. 23. Edit. Paris. 1827.. England was too much agitated and disturbed by the domestic factions of Lancaster and York for any help to be hoped for from there Lingard. Hist. d'Anglet. tom. V, pag. 184 et seqq. Edit. Lovan. 1828.. Spain had its own Saracens or Moors, and since they were not yet fully vanquished, it could not send its soldiers elsewhere. Portugal however had destined an army for Italy, but with the disturbances of the Italian cities standing in the way, it was compelled to recall its soldiers home Mariana. Hist. de Españ. tom. VII, pag. 310. Edit. Valent. 1791.. There is no need for us to unfold all these things more broadly, since they do not pertain to the Acts of St. John of Capistrano, seeing that they happened after his death. Let it suffice to have added one thing to show the sloth of the Christian princes, namely that Pius II, successor of Calixtus III, came to the point that, for keeping the Catholic faith safe and sound, he took up the plan of converting Mahomet II to Christ, and in a very long letter, having demonstrated the emptiness of the Koran, he shows the truth of the Christian religion, and promises him a happy empire, long-lasting and widely extended. The entire letter is presented by Rinaldi under the year 1461, § XLIV. But enough of these things.

* fracto?

* 21st of July

* sturm, storm, assault.

* Borogh?

§ XXXII. The death of John Hunyadi or Corvinus, at which St. John of Capistrano assists.

The hopes conceived from the victory, the death The vast hopes, which, as we have just seen, the folly of the princes disappointed, had been roused by the victory won at Nándorfehérvár: which however themselves soon languished through the death of both leaders, namely John Hunyadi or Corvinus and John Capistrano. And indeed Hunyadi closed his day on the 11th of August, a mortal illness having been contracted from the corpses of the barbarians, which were exhaling an intolerable and pestilential stench. His death is described by Bonfini, Rerum Hungaricarum, Decade III, book VIII Pag. 491. Edit. Francof. 1581.: That nothing, he says, might be added to the felicity of either leader, not many days afterward the divine benignity endowed each not only with mortal but also with heavenly glory. But Corvinus attained this first, since, wearied by the long and intolerable labor of the war, he fell into a most burning fever, by which he was carried off in a few days. By order of the physicians, all of whose aids were vain, his friends took him to the town of Semlyn; where by the mildness of the climate he might more easily redeem himself and his body from languor. There were present his two sons, Ladislaus, a young man of fierce spirit and robust body, and Matthias, a youth endowed with a divine intellect and an excellent nature; likewise a no mean number of kinsmen and friends. Capistran did not depart from his side. The fever rages from day to day, and by no medical art remits its savagery: the man's recovery is despaired of, and the efforts of the physicians are baffled. At length Capistran exhorts Corvinus that, since perhaps the time of the divine call was at hand, he should issue his testament, dispose of human affairs, provide for his salvation, and prepare everything that pertains to the departure of the soul, as the sacred offices enjoin, lest he should seem to himself less industrious and prudent now, when there is need, than formerly.

[362] intercepted first of all those of John Hunyadi, That bravest of men smiled at this, and commended the pious counsels of the father, but replied that he had disposed of everything long before this: he reckoned that man slothful and imprudent who should defer those offices to the extremity of life, when no one could be master of himself for fear of death. “Do not, Capistran,” he said, “I would ask, think me so incautious and imprudent as to have deferred what you rightly urge to the agony of death and the time of departure: I settled all these things long before; for long now I have got together what would serve for departing; I made my testament long ago, and I consider that what is to be left to my children and friends, what to the immortal gods *, has been provided for well enough, unless I am mistaken, according to the abundance of my means. I judged that the care and salvation of my soul was by no means to be delegated to my children: according to my means I have founded some churches, I have expended on the poor what humanity and the reckoning of piety bade: and for accomplishing the journey that is at hand, I have also got ready my viaticum, a firm and constant faith and a vast hope: likewise so many wounds and labors received for the orthodox faith, and especially the divine benignity and presence so often proved by me, bid me hope: not unaware that Corvinus, in this wretched life of mortals assailed by so many snares, tossed by so many perils and tempests, will at length find a happy rest. This one thing distresses and tortures me, that for the narrowness of the time it has not yet been granted me to make return for the divine beneficence poured out upon me. But in this the overflowing clemency and piety of Jesus Christ the Savior comes to the rescue, since he will allow satisfaction to be made by me without my soul's having to borrow. My whole life I have soldiered under his leadership and auspices; although I served without pay, yet he has repaid much more in life than my merits demanded: that leader will not desert the fidelity of a most faithful veteran.

[363] who, with Capistran assisting him, But you, my children and dearest friends, I pray you to suffer with equanimity that I be discharged from the miseries of this life: all things here are fleeting and perishable; there is nothing that has anything of good but the shadow. We have soldiered here enough and more than enough; we shall claim the rewards of our soldiering among those above, and we shall obtain from the divine liberality those benefits that are to last forever. If you are rightly wise and the foolish affection of mortals does not deceive and disturb you, you will reckon that my fortune is to be trusted rather than pitied. That most powerful and most gracious leader, under whose auspices I have served my sacred pay, pitying the labors of his veteran, grants him discharge from service; and the great rewards he has long held out he will now give to one who has served his time: accordingly bear this departure of necessity most patiently. If you judge that any gift is to be given to Corvinus on his departure in this procession and sending-off which will be most pleasing, follow, sweet sons, your father's footsteps, contend with your father's valor and glory; try whether it may be granted to surpass what has been cut off from me by death: continue and finish the war with the Turks. Regard that as firm, constant and glorious which fosters honor and piety, and reckon it most pleasing to God. Persist in divine worship and religion; and, what it was not granted me to attain, win the glory of having blotted out the name of the Turks. It is not indeed unworthy or unbecoming to receive the inheritance of a father's studies and soldiering, as well as of the fortunes bequeathed. And this above all I pray, that you may not seem, by degenerating through negligence and sloth, to dishonor your father's name. I bid you above all to do this, sweetest Matthias, for the younger you are by birth, the better your good nature compels one to hope of you. Therefore farewell, all, mindful of Corvinus: you also, Capistran, farewell; pour out pious prayers and supplications for our salvation; and since we have served under the same commander, make haste to receive pay with me.”

[364] having exhorted his sons to every virtue, When he had said these things, his children being present, he gave them a kiss and blessed them, he commended them to the friends weeping around, and he grasped the right hands of all. He soon entreated them, and above all Capistran, to carry him to the nearest church of the holy Mother of God for performing the sacred rite; and, as he was about to receive the Eucharist, by no means to allow the Lord to come to the servant, which was unworthy, but to bring him into the church to the Lord. Being carried into the church, and the sacred rites having been performed, having received the Eucharist, and the divine powers being at once appeased, he breathed out his soul; he left also a perpetual longing for himself to the Hungarians. He died therefore in the year of salvation four hundred and fifty-six above the thousand, on the fourth before the ides of September . His body, as he had directed in his will, was carried into Transylvania, and buried with a magnificent funeral in the church which he had founded at Alba Iulia . He was a man of moderate stature of body, with a large head, curling hair of a shining chestnut color; his eyes were large, his gaze serene, his face somewhat ruddy and handsome; his aspect so beautiful and pleasing that it bore a singular grace, and claimed a silent reverence for him: all the members of his body so harmonized with one another that nothing more elegant could be wished for; finally equally powerful in strength of body and of soul. O happy man! to whom it was given to live with singular valor and to die in the highest glory. While he lived he freed Pannonia and the Christian commonwealth from every danger. Wherefore, when his death was made known, he was not undeservedly mourned publicly for a long time throughout all Hungary by every age and both sexes. Some repeated in eager mourning that he was the bravest of champions, the soldiers that he was the most invincible commander, all that he was the father of the fatherland. How he bound the Hungarians to himself by immortal benefits, and how much love and favor he won for himself by the glory of his deeds, the outcome of the matter shows: since after the death of King Ladislaus all with one voice proclaimed as king Matthias his son, by no means born of royal stock, and still a boy and without power over affairs.

[365] closed his day most piously, on the 11th of August While he was still breathing his last, Capistran groaned: “I envy, Corvinus,” he said, “your death, who, having also fulfilled the office of the most excellent leader, and having routed and put to flight the enemy whom they called the Terror of the world, fly away at once to those above, lest your happiness be stained by any blemish, and you gain the most ample glory of both lives. O wretched we who have remained! for whom, if any name has been won by the recent victory, the inconstancy of fortune can easily endanger it while we survive. Would that it were granted me by fate to follow you, that we who have served alike under the heavenly commander might also triumph together in heaven.” They say that Mahomet, at the news of the death of Corvinus, at once fixed his eyes on the ground, and, turned to tears, said that no one from the beginning of the world had ever under any prince had more merit and right to be grieved for by himself, since it was no longer granted him to avenge such disgrace from the disaster he had received. All Europe mourned the man's fate. Calixtus, on hearing of his death, poured out not a few tears; and he also paid solemn funeral rites in the basilica of holy Peter to the defender of the Christian faith. Thus far Bonfini, who, unless an error of the typesetter has crept in, is certainly mistaken in saying that John Corvinus died on the fourth before the ides of September: for from the letter of St. Capistran given on the 17th of August, which we gave above at no. 357, he affirms that Lord John Hunyadi had already passed from this life on the 11th of this month of the plague. Nevertheless John Thuróczy, in the Chronicle of the Hungarians, chapter 56 Schwantner. Scriptt. Rer. Hung. tom. I, pag. 274., has it that Corvinus died in the one thousandth year of the Lord's Incarnation and at the same time the four hundred and fifty-sixth, with the virgin housing the sun in her ethereal chamber, that is, when the sun is in the zodiacal sign of the Virgin, or from the 21st of August to the 21st of September, and thus, since it is a question of the ides, which fall in the earlier half of the month, the death of Corvinus would have to be assigned to the month of September. Similarly in the church of Brașov or Corona in Transylvania, it is noted on the wall Ibid. pag. 886.: 1456

John Hunyadi dies on the 10th of September *, likewise Capistran. But although these things seem firm enough, they vanish for one who reads the letter of St. Capistran written on the 17th of August: for unless we say that the day of the letter's writing is wrong, the authority of our John stands unshaken. Further, against our saying that an error has crept into the subscription of the letter stand the words of St. Capistran saying at no. 355 that what I could not take in at first on the day of the glorious victory … afterward, clearer knowledge being had … I now supply; and thus the Saint would not have waited for fifty days (from the 22nd of July to the 10th of September) to give the supplement; when twenty-seven days (from the 22nd of July to the 17th of August) were amply sufficient for him to be able to acquire full knowledge of the events. Finally John of Tagliacozzo, the Saint's companion up to his death, in the letter on the death of the holy man, to be given below, says at no. 386 that St. Capistran set out on the 1st of September from Slankamen to Ilok, and remained there until his death: and thus on both these heads the letter of St. Capistran is not to be removed from the month of August; and accordingly it must be held that John Corvinus died on the 11th of August.

[366] with the greatest grief of Capistran. The remaining contemporary historians are unanimous in setting forth the grief that St. Capistran showed at the death of Hunyadi: whence it is again concluded how far from the Saint's mind was all envy or courting of vainglory concerning the victory of Nándorfehérvár. Further, he is written to have given to his departed friend such praises as utterly wash away all suspicion of any spite. John Thuróczy, who offered the book of the chronicle of the Hungarians to the chancellor of King Matthias Corvinus, son of John Cfr ibid. pag. 39., says Ibid. pag. 274.: When Br. John of Capistrano looked upon him (Hunyadi) laboring in his last breaths, after making his recommendation to God, he is said to have spoken this tearful song: “Hail, aureole of heaven, thou hast fallen, crown of the kingdom: the lamp of the world is extinguished. Alas, that mirror is broken which we hoped to look into. Now thou, thy enemy being vanquished, reignest with God, and triumphest with the Angels, O good John.” Assuredly if St. Capistran had been suspected of envy on any head, Thuróczy, a Hungarian most loving of his country, would at least with some word have taunted the man's ambition: whence it may be understood that nothing similar had settled in the mind of contemporaries. Pietro Ranzano also, who was present at the funeral celebrated at Rome for Corvinus, recites the same words as uttered by Capistran Ibid. pag. 389., except that he says they were pronounced after his death, while Thuróczy places them before his death. Finally how great was the friendship between the two, John Hunyadi and Capistran, Hunyadi himself made attested, when he wished to have our Saint as his chief exhorter at the point of death.

[367] Of the two sons of Hunyadi, the elder, Hunyadi had two surviving sons, Ladislaus and Matthias: the one, says Bonfini, Decade III, book VIII Rer. Hungar. Decades, pag. 493., who was the elder by birth, excelling in military discipline and valor, was likewise endowed with singular honor and magnanimity: the other, the younger, seemed born perhaps for greater things than his father: finally each was like his father, degenerating not even in the least thing from his father's valor. But which of the two would enjoy either a longer life or greater glory, Capistran, as if divinely inspired, excellently augured. For when Corvinus, about to approach him, brought both sons with him, Capistran always placed Matthias at his right, and at his left Ladislaus the elder by birth: the father wonders at the strangeness of this, and asks the cause: he answers that this is not done by him without reason; since the one, snatched away by an untimely death, will not be able to rise; the other will obtain the kingdom of Hungary, will contend in valor and glory with Alexander, and will be the fiercest champion of the Christian people; and if it is granted him to live long, he will consume all the princes of the world with admiration of him. How truly and accurately St. Capistran foresaw the fate of both sons of Corvinus the outcome proved within a short time. For, King Ladislaus having died in the year 1457 Raynaldi Cont. Baron. an. 1457 § XVI., Matthias, son of John Hunyadi, on the 24th of January of the following year was elected king of Hungary, and he reigned up to the year 1490, second to no prince of his time. But Ladislaus the elder died an untimely death, as he had foretold. For when grave hatreds had once intervened between John Hunyadi and Ulrich, count of Cilli, who clung to the side of King Ladislaus, on the death of Hunyadi the father they passed to the sons and at length bloodied both families. Namely King Ladislaus, after Nándorfehérvár had been set free, returning into Hungary together with the count of Cilli, came to Futak, a town situated in the territory of Bács, and there announced a very crowded assembly.

[368] Ladislaus, Ulrich of Cilli, Ladislaus (Corvinus), says Bonfini Rer. Hungar. pag. 494., who was holding the citadel of Alba and the borders of Lower Hungary with the same power as his father, when he perceived that the king had drawn near, ran to meet him at Futak, not without a very strong cavalry, lest he should suffer any harm from his enemy. He is received by the king with a welcome look, and hears that he will shortly come to Alba, to survey the spoils of the enemy and the traces of the camp. Here too he is admonished to beware by many from whom the king's counsels were not hidden, and he is informed that the king's mind has been made hostile to him by the count of Cilli: that the king is therefore coming to Alba with a band of German cross-bearers, that, having cast him out, he may give them the citadel to guard, and, having driven them out, commit to the Germans all the towns, prefectures and magistracies that are in the hands of the Hungarians; and that he will chiefly accomplish this, to annul for the children of Corvinus all their father's power: finally that Ulrich is the author of all the evils. Ladislaus is wretchedly disturbed by these words; yet to the best of his power he dissembles his hatred and restrains himself. He communicates these things to his friends and to the nobles of the Hungarians, to whom he understood the count to be hostile, and to whom he had perceived that these things pertained. They are nonetheless stirred, and judge that the enemy is altogether to be destroyed at the first occasion. At length they come to Alba, which Ladislaus was holding with a very strong garrison: he opens the citadel to the king on his arrival, he receives him with those in purple and in the toga; but to the rest of the armed men, who were about four thousand, he closes the gates; he admonishes the garrison not to give up their hidden arms day or night, lest they suffer any harm from the Germans hostile to them. He brings the keys of the citadel to the king, and says: “Receive, excellent king, the keys of your citadel, which my father with so much sweat and blood lately rescued and freed from the jaws of the Turks. What a mighty task that was, his ensuing death attests.”

[369] an ambush being laid, “I think indeed that my father's valor, fidelity and integrity have been sufficiently proved to your majesty and to the whole world: we who have survived him, lest we seem degenerate, strive to be heirs no less of our father's valor and fidelity than of his other goods. Ulrich secretly assails us with your Majesty by envy, most clement prince, and strives to strip us not only of dignity but, if he may, of life. Accordingly, if you are not going to give the keys to any one, or to our enemy, receive them; since we ourselves and all these things are yours. If you are going to listen to the counsel and lust of an envious detractor, I beseech and implore you, king, not to judge that the Corvine offspring, who by their right ought to be commended to every one of faithful mortals, and to you above all, is to be dishonored so soon, against right and equity. Know therefore that I, as is fitting, shall always obey your majesty, but shall never yield to my father's enemy.” The king at once bade him first to take back the keys, to care for the citadel, to perform his father's office and to be of good courage. While delay is being spent there, the count of Cilli does not cease to irritate the king against Ladislaus and to stir up all things. On account of the multitude of armed men not admitted into the citadel, he charges Ladislaus with an audacious crime. The young man, on the other hand, being irritated by daily charges, consults his father's friends about killing the count; above all John Vitéz, bishop of Várad, formerly counselor of Corvinus, who was afterward raised by King Matthias to the archbishopric of Esztergom. He, for the sake of religion, that he might not be held the author of a murder, replied that he by no means advised its being done; if it were done, he could not disapprove it: the rest advise that the enemy should be butchered. But a more recent plot, being detected, hastened the intended deed.

[370] he killed; Ladislaus had recently been betrothed to the daughter of the count palatine, born of the most noble race of the Garai: Ulrich's wife was the daughter of the despot. To the despot he had written a letter some time ago that, after he had arrived at Alba with the king, he would shortly send him two little balls, with which he might very well play: in these he was promising the heads of both sons of Corvinus. The letter is intercepted by Ladislaus's servants, and it was brought to their master and read through. By chance the king was absent at the sacred rites, and the nobles, on that day which was sacred to holy Martin *, were holding a council in a secret chamber. The count, conscious of evil, being summoned there, hesitated for some time whether he should come forth; soon protected by a tunic of mail, before he came forth. Ladislaus then, inflamed by the letter, meets him, and, a conversation being requested, displaying the letter he cries out upon the traitor, who once plotted death for the father, now unworthily for the sons; and who has also made the king hostile to him: he repeats that the day of punishment has now come. Some say that the count first assailed Ladislaus with reproaches; and that he greatly accused his audacity in not admitting the praetorian cohorts into the citadel. This is plainly established, that Ulrich, snatching a sword from the hand of an armor-bearer, hurled it at the head of Ladislaus, that Ladislaus, suddenly throwing up his hand, received a wound on the crown and on the fingers at the same time. A shout having at once arisen, the Hungarians burst in, and cut down the count, resisting most fiercely, and pierced by many wounds. For some time King Ladislaus dissembled what he thought to be the injury done him by the murder of Ulrich: indeed, when Ladislaus and Matthias, sons of Corvinus, most insistently begged that pardon be given for the murder committed, as he had long promised, with grave assertion, with an oath entered into holily and reverently upon the Eucharist, he forgave all injuries and enmities conceived from the death of Ulrich, adopted both brothers, and undertook that he would always hold Elizabeth (the mother of the Corvini) in the place of a most pious parent Rer. Hungar. pag. 497..

[371] and he himself then by the king The prudent matron Elizabeth had counseled her sons never to enter the palace together: fearing, that is, the king's inconstant mind, and lest, with both crushed by one calamity, the Corvine family should be utterly destroyed. The young men spurned their mother's most wise counsel, and being both admitted together into the palace, they are shut up in prison. On the third day, says Bonfini Ibid. pag. 498., Ladislaus, to be punished with capital sentence, is handed over to the praetor; and with the sun now declining, a dark and mournful banner being borne before, with hands bound behind his back, he is led out into the square that spreads widely before the palaces of Sigismund, walking with hair loosened, head high, and in a golden garment, which he had perhaps received from the king, he goes forth to death: fearlessly he looks here and there upon the groaning people. When he had come to the place appointed for death,

he bids the executioner gather up his hair: then, having said a few words in his own defense, and being ordered to bend his knees, he obeyed: and he never showed any sign of trepidation. The herald, who by custom proclaims the crimes of the condemned, silence being obtained, announced nothing else but that kings ought to exact such penalties from their perfidious and faithless subjects. The executioner, ordered by the praetor to draw the sword upon the neck of the most handsome young man, seized alike by pity and fear, dealt three blows, and had not yet cut off the head, nay he had not even been hurt by a mortal wound: that noble young man had steadfastly received three wounds on the neck. But when at the third he had fallen forward, soon raised up by great force he appeals to the justice of gods and men, he cries out that he is no longer to be sought by the executioner; that a fourth was forbidden to the executioner by law; that a miracle had intervened for the injured deity of innocence. At this some nobles, who were watching from the palace of Sigismund, with the king presiding, and were panting for the death of Ladislaus, rebuke the executioner and bid him strike again at the neck with his sword. Wherefore scarcely with the fifth blow the unhappy man is cut down, aged four less than thirty: or twenty-six years. Nearly the same is had by John Thuróczy Schwantner. Rer. Hung. tom. I, pag. 279., Pietro Ranzano Ibid. pag. 392. and Aeneas Sylvius Oper. pag. 140. Edit. Basil..

[372] punished in the head. The cited authors agree excellently in all the circumstances accompanying the death of Ladislaus Corvinus: there is one thing in which they differ; namely concerning the day on which these things happened. Bonfini, just reported, says that on the ides of March, or the 15th day of the month, Ladislaus was captured, and on the third day after, that is either the 17th or 18th of March, was handed over to the praetor to be punished. But John Thuróczy says in a varnished style indeed Schwantner. tom. I, pag. 279.: For the twin brothers, then, being within the circuit of the royal court, the time was pressing, when, that is, the Lenten fast, observing itself, had carried its course nearly to the middle, the second feria next after the Sunday “Oculi”, illumined by the clear ray of the sun, had fixed the noonday: that is, the Corvini were reduced to captivity on the Monday after the third Sunday of Lent, or, since in the year 1457, marked with dominical letter B, Easter fell on the 17th of April, on the 21st of March, and thus Ladislaus Corvinus was punished in the head on the 23rd or 24th of March. Finally the Benedictine Chronologists write that he was punished with death on the 8th of March L'art de vérif. les dates, tom. II, pag. 58.: unless however by the fault of the typesetter VIII was put for XVIII March, in which case the Benedictines would agree with Bonfini; which indeed I judge sufficiently probable. And so a double opinion remains, and it must be decided between Thuróczy and Bonfini which has told the truth. I for my part lean toward Thuróczy, because not only was he a contemporary, as Bonfini was, but because besides, writing in Hungary itself, he had easier access to the records of the country: further because in a more abundant compass of words he indicated that the captivity fell at the time when the Lenten fast was already holding its middle course; indeed if we consider the day of the beheading, namely the fourth or fifth feria of the third week, we have very nearly mid-Lent. The younger son of Hunyadi, after the death of King Ladislaus, was king of Hungary in the year 1458, and died in the year 1490.

* !!!

* rather, the third before the ides of August

* Karlsburg

* the fourth before the ides

* 11th of November

§ XXXIII. John of Tagliacozzo sets out the beginnings of the last illness of St. John of Capistrano.

Most clearly of all the illness Capistran, says Bonfini Rer. Hung. pag. 494., after Corvinus had died, was never seen to laugh again; as one who had soldiered under the same auspices and, having gained a signal victory, was defrauded of his due triumph while his colleague triumphed. He passed some nights sleepless, often complaining with God during contemplation why it was not granted him to die with his colleague. He soon fell into a languor of body, which he had contracted from grief for him: the aids of the physicians being baffled, summoned to triumph, he fell asleep in the Lord a few days afterward: he was buried at Vilachum, in the territory of Sirmium, in the church and college of holy Francis. Placed among the gods by the opinion of men, he is invoked with daily vows for human aid; the miracles, affixed in the church, plainly attest the greatness of his divine power. I have already indicated above the unbecoming use of profane words, namely that, not to say Saints in the Catholic manner of men outstanding in Christian virtues, he calls them gods: that is, to be sure, to affect pure Latinity almost to the point of blasphemy. Besides Bonfini, the pious death of St. Capistran is reported by his biographers, to be published below. But most accurately of all these things were described by John of Tagliacozzo, who was the Saint's companion in Hungary, and was present with him as he died. It would perhaps have been proper according to our custom to add here and there some annotations to his text: but since similar things occur in the Lives to be published, we have deliberately abstained, content to write some words in the margin for the sake of interpretation: and thus we present in order the long letter, given to St. James of Picenum at Florence on the 10th of February 1461, divided not only by its numbers but also by §§. We transcribe Wadding Annal. tom. XII, pag. 384..

[374] To the reverend father in Christ and excellent elder, Brother James of the March, most approved of the Order of Minors, of St. Capistran, writing to St. James of the March and most renowned preacher of the divine word, Brother John of Tagliacozzo, the least and unworthy of the same Order, commendation as humble as it is devout, and prompt obedience. Having pursued, at the command of your paternity, in a truthful but lowly style, the admirable and astounding victory over the Turks, divinely had through the merits and works of the most blessed man, Br. John of Capistrano, Reverend Father, I promised, according to your most pious desire, to set down briefly also for your paternity the happy departure of the same most blessed father from this world to heaven, more truly than can be told by others. For he is convicted of being guilty of no small detraction against the divine goodness who, when he could bring forth the divine mysteries, seems to pass them by in silence. Hence the Angel Raphael said to Tobias Tob. XII, 7.: “That it is honorable to reveal and confess the works of God:” hence also the psalmist said in singing: Ps. IX, 2. “I will confess to thee, Lord, with my whole heart, I will tell all thy marvels.” Desiring therefore to comply with your Paternity, and being many times requested, nay compelled, by some devout faithful of both sexes, that I myself, who, by the disposing of divine clemency, saw with my own eyes the most happy end of the marvelous labors of this most renowned man and most faithful servant of God, and was present at each and all of his last acts, should describe with a running and undoubting pen the beginnings of his illness, its course, and his passage from this world to the Father of lights, for his glory and for the example of posterity, especially since in all these things God himself is praised and magnified, who makes his servants serve him and persevere even to the end.

[375] John of Tagliacozzo sets out; There is added that when the most blessed father, from Kraków, sought by letter from the Reverend Father Br. Mark of Bologna, the general vicar, that I with Br. Ambrose of L'Aquila should come to him in haste from our native province, and the brothers wished for certain legitimate causes to defer our going, you, Father, encouraged the brothers to send us without delay to the same Blessed Father; saying: “These are they who will close the eyes of our Father Br. John, and will carry back his books to his province.” By which words, spoken by you at L'Aquila, we were at once bound by obedience to go to him; and those words, as is plain, seemed to have the force of prophecy. But my demerits forbid me to narrate and recount these things. I fear indeed lest that saying be divinely addressed to me Ps. XLIX, 16.: “Why dost thou declare my justices, and take my covenant in thy mouth? But thou hast hated discipline, and hast cast my words behind thee.” My ignorance denies this, by which I fear lest my speech rather diminish than unfold this matter. There are those also who knew this Blessed Father better than I, and who know how to narrate his individual works more fully. But this happy death would be known how to describe much more ornately and much more elegantly by that venerable Br. Jerome of Udine, a man indeed renowned in the manner of speaking, who, just as he adorned the blessed Father in health with his tongue and his most polished style of writing, so with all services of charity he tirelessly cherished and nourished him when sick in his bosom and arms. To these indeed rather than to me it belongs to write the course of the whole life of this most blessed servant of the Lord, and his death and the wonderful signs of prodigies done at the invocation of his merits. But since they are silent, I undertake this burden, pricked by the goad of conscience, attracted beforehand by it, and, as has been said, many times asked and compelled by many. For the doing of which I invoke the supreme maker, who makes, renders and shows his servants who serve him constantly and happily to be renowned in life, more renowned in death, and most renowned after the debt of the human condition.

[376] his last illness, from a loathing of food This blessed Saint, then, and most mighty athlete of God, enriched with wonderful and indeed innumerable merits of works, that he might become richer in the merits of sufferings and of patience, by the disposing of divine clemency, was surrounded by the affliction of a long and most grievous illness. Nor is it a marvel: for although he was failing with old age, and from the beginnings of his conversion had most fervently exposed his body to all the afflictions of sufferings, and had subjected and held it to the spirit by incredible labor, abstinence, vigil and continual fasting, yet before he took up the Cross and received the Crusade to be preached from the supreme Pontiff Calixtus III through the Most Reverend Lord Cardinal of Sant'Angelo, he so hid and dedicated himself in such great sufferings and labors, running about here and there, preaching, signing with the cross, admonishing, that from admiration the eyes and minds of all were turned upon him. Hence some called him a Saint, others an Apostle of God, others an Angel sent from heaven. At that time, however, when the most savage and powerful Turks held the castle of Nándorfehérvár besieged, putting on military industry, he appeared a most vigorous young man in labors. For since he was the ruler, leader and emperor of the crusaders, and the cause of defending that castle was chiefly referred to him, and the crusaders obeyed no other but him alone, he never rested, he underwent inestimable labors, now on horseback, now on foot, full of sweat, fasting, unwearied, he ran swiftly by day and night throughout the camp of the Christians. If at any time he was enticed by his companions to take food, he said Joan. IV, 32: “I have other food to eat, which you know not.” For he had placed his mind, his desire and all his zeal there, that he might keep the faith of Christ safe, defend the castle, confound the Turks, and guard the kingdom of Hungary unharmed.

[377] arising, by vigils When however he was pressed by necessity to take food, the hardest bread was his food and the bare ground his table: there no warm

dishes, no fresh or cold wine, no meats, which he had always abhorred, were set before him, nor were various foods prepared; and although he was a septuagenarian, and needed, as is the way of old men, liquid or warm food, he overcame by his wonderful virtue of abstinence. For although at other times he refreshed himself once a day with slight food, and at night after prayer and study took brief sleep, yet at this time he sometimes passed three days without the support of any food or drink, and spent the nights sleepless. In my presence, with many hearing, when he was urging the illustrious Lord John Hunyadi to the defense of the cause, he said that in seventeen days and as many nights, during which the Turks had stood there, he had slept scarcely seven hours. He wore out all his companions, though young men, and overcame them in labors: now no one of the strong laymen could hold out, now all marveled at the dead, most strong and swift horse given him by the same lord. The most intense heats, colds, the sun by day, the moon by night, continual unrest, assiduous occupation, untiring labor, were the cause of his illness. In the threefold conflict also, in which the might of the Turks succumbed both on water and on land, he wearied himself much more laboriously than usual: for it fell to him to bring the crusaders into the castle, to govern them, to command them, and to order them both within and without. Here he magnified the Name of Jesus by proclaiming it most loudly; here he had commanded that nothing but this most holy Name be invoked by the worshipers of Christ.

[378] and aggravated by labors, In all these days, in which he exposed himself to incredible labors, he was never seen sad; for he judged that a certain victory would be won over the Turks. When he was urged to allow his beard, which he wore long, to be shaved, by no means, he said; I will not allow myself to be shaved except after the victory. His mouth was so full of dust that it could scarcely be cleansed with repeated efforts, various remedies being applied. The dust had also clung so tenaciously to his tongue that it had to be scraped with a little knife: similarly his palate too had now become black and dark and indeed stinking from the abundance of dust; from which he tasted no natural savor of any food or drink, as he had no desire for it. His clothes also, by reason of his continual occupation and the unfitness of the place, could neither be washed nor changed for him, and the sweats flowing down could by no means be wiped off with a cloth. Now his skin clung to his bones, now he had been made black by the excessive heats of the sun. Yet so great a desire of martyrdom had grown strong that, although he was certain that he would not leave this world by the shedding of blood, he burned nevertheless with anxious desire to finish his life in those very labors, that if his soul were not taken away by the persecutors' sword according to his intense desire, he should nevertheless not lack the reward of martyrdom.

[379] he knows divinely that it would end in death For it had been revealed to him in the city of Nuremberg that he would shortly finish his life in Hungary, not by martyrdom of blood, but by the desire of martyrdom. The divine clemency kept him unhurt; for neither dangers nor the tempest of the Danube harmed the fearless man; neither bombards nor arrows, nor scopets, nor the missiles of the Turks, which were heaped upon him from every side, could kill him, placed near the Turks at the front of the army, and remaining on high on a certain heap of earth between the last placement of the bombards and the Turks. And although from his excessive fervor he stood before the eyes of the Turks like a mark for arrows, now shouting the Name of Jesus, now raising his eyes and hands, he nevertheless suffered no one's blow, nor did his raised banner. In him that saying was verified P. XC, 14: “Because he hoped in me, I will deliver him, I will protect him, because he has known my name. He cried to me and I will hear him: I am with him in tribulation, I will rescue him and glorify him.” And although during that space of time in which the siege of the Turks had boiled up, the blessed father himself was afflicted with the said and many more labors, anxieties, occupations, and various afflictions and straits of sufferings, on that night with the following day, in which he stood forth victor, he suffered such great and such grievous things that no one could doubt that this most blessed man was laureled with the crown of martyrdom. After that happy victory, had in the aforesaid castle, on the day of Most Holy Magdalene, on the sixth day of the month of August immediately following, the blessed father began to labor and to be overcome in that same castle by the force of fevers and various pains of his wearied little body. At that time the Right Reverend Lord Legate, Cardinal of Sant'Angelo, was residing there, and the illustrious Lord John Hunyadi was sick there of the plague, who afterward, on the 11th of the same month, closed the last day of his most renowned life. There were present also Lord John, bishop of Várad, Lord Michael Szilágyi, most worthy castellan of the same castle, and many other nobles, who could not bear the so great stench there. For after that vast slaughter, from the corpses of the dead a horrible and abominable affliction had grown strong, so that there was scarcely anyone who did not fall ill from it. To speak of myself, when by order of the Lord Legate, to take the measure of the camp positions for avoiding the stench, I rode out outside the castle with Br. Alexander of Ragusa, crossing that great plain where the Turks had fallen, such a horror of stench seized me, and so great an abomination from the sight of the corpses lying there swallowed me up, that not without manifold and painful vomiting, scarcely alive, I returned running to the castle.

[380] the pestilence coming on, Now that great field was full by night of wild beasts, and by day of most rapacious and innumerable birds. All these things, Reverend Elder, I have written as a preamble to the sickness of the most blessed father. And when the blessed man himself was so ill that he could scarcely take anything for the sustenance of nature, he, full of the fervor of faith, did not cease from works of piety: now with the Lord Legate, now with others he conversed on defending the faith and on utterly extirpating the Turks. He also visited Lord John, by day and night, supported by a staff, and by his visit he comforted him in wonderful manner, and with all the efficacy of words he could command he led him to die well. For whom the blessed father had loved in health he loved much more in sickness; so much so that, although he himself was sick and weak, he did not give up the offices of charity and friendship toward the aforesaid lord. When he was distressed by the troublesome pains of his body, he said with the Apostle Philipp. I, 23.: “I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ.” And although, various penal straits being spread through each of his members, he was from day to day failing in bodily strength, strong and fervent in spirit he proposed, like another patriarch Francis, to do vast things for the Catholic faith and for the conversion of sinners; thirsting in wonderful manner for obtaining the palm of martyrdom, with wonderful desire to return to the beginnings of humility, and striving to recall his body, consumed by such labors, to the former strength of piety and to the offices of humility, made a true imitator of Blessed Francis. And since from the horrible stench and from the corrupted air nearly all there were falling ill, at the persuasion of the Lord Legate he betook himself with him to the place called Simly. This place is where the crusaders, assembling before the victory, stayed, and near which on the Danube the victory over the Galleys of the Turks had been had; in which, although men had formerly lived, and it was no small city, yet, destroyed by a burning by the Turks, it had been reduced to a small village, from which also in this same tempest the people had fled from the face of the Turks. Here some both of the Brothers and of the household of the Lord Legate began to fall sick: here there was such inconvenience and unfitness of the place that if anyone had seen the blessed man, old, sick, weak, laboring under most acute fevers and tasting nothing, he would have been flooded with the greatest amazement. For in place of a bed there was the bare ground, in place of a pillow a stone or wood, in place of straw a rug upon stones, and for covering a mantle. And since this place, deserted because of the age of its ruin, was open on every side, the father became a companion of mice, serpents, lizards and flies, and he spent his nights sleepless, and his days he passed in affliction of his whole body: and although from the beginnings of his conversion he had reined in his body by every law of abstinence, and in health had kept the greatest and almost incredible temperance both in food and in drink; yet in the time of this illness he would scarcely admit anything for sustenance; and if at any time the Legate himself sent him something prepared in his tent, tasting it a little at once out of reverence, he shared it with his companions.

[381] he looks to the health of the Brothers, The Lord Legate, seeing some of his servants already lying down with illness, and others worn out with grief, fearing lest he himself should fall ill in such a place, persuaded the blessed Father that they should betake themselves to the city of Calanchemen * for recovering health and for greater convenience of place. And so they went up together to the said city; the Legate turning aside at the greater church, the blessed Father at the house of the parish priest. Here then the pious Father, although sick, since he had some companions sick and some well, decided to provide for the health of all. For although sometimes he had more, sometimes fewer, at that time however he had twelve companions: of whom Jerome of Udine, Bernard of Modena and Ambrose of L'Aquila, with Br. Vitus of Vienna joined to them for their service, he sent to the place of Aconya to be healed: the Brothers George of Passau and Lawrence of Transylvania he had go up by vessel to Buda with the books: the Brothers Conrad of Bavaria and Epiphanius of Styria with some Hungarian brothers he commanded to go to the place of Ilok, to await him there: Br. Francis the Hungarian, then his interpreter, Alexander of Ragusa and me he kept with him. O most pious father! He was gravely sick, and he took care that others should not fall sick, and strove to free others who were sick.

[382] one of the Italians, Tagliacozzo, being kept with him. From this city he gave a second letter to the Pope, in which were contained the true number of the Turks killed, and the losses inflicted on the Turks, and the goods taken from them in the aforesaid victory; he also announced the death of Lord John Hunyadi, and he promoted and magnified before the same supreme Pontiff the illustrious Lord Nicholas of Ilok, whom he hoped would be another John Hunyadi for the Catholic faith, as much in zeal as in might and industry. For this lord was in command with a very great army at the borders of Hungary, to attack the Turks if they should wish to approach; whom also the blessed father had many times encouraged and invited by word and letter to take up the cause of the faith and the defense of the Christian religion. At length sometimes he was pressed by a graver, sometimes by a lighter pain, yet he was assiduously troubled by various and most acute fevers. He had no one sent from Italy except me, and when I was troubled by some illness, and for the sake of jest or solace said to him that, as he had done with others, he should send me too to recover my health; drawing me aside he said to me not

without tears: “Son, do not abandon me: I am alone, and have no Italian besides you, who may stand by me if perhaps I am to die, and who may close my eyes, and see to carrying back to the province the books granted to me: but bear with me patiently, and stand by me. If I escape in health, we will go up to Buda together to gather souls.” These things and the like the blessed man said, not yet knowing that death was near him. For although he held it certain that he would die in Hungary without shedding of blood, he was nevertheless ignorant of the outcome of his illness.

* Salankemen

§ XXXIV. St. John of Capistrano, sick, lacks remedies; he goes away to Ilok; he is visited by the king of Hungary.

He takes care for his burial, Not only to me, however, but to all who stood by him he repeated many times that, if he should die, his body was to be buried in the place of Ilok: and when I once said to him that there were other places nearer, in which he could be buried more worthily and conveniently, he said that the place of Ilok was among schismatics and near the Turks, and had been taken against the will of the general of the Brothers: “and I know,” he said, “that some brothers have said that this place is to be held only so long as I remain in this kingdom. If therefore my bones are buried there, the Brothers will not give up that place, and thus the Brothers dwelling there will be for a light and for the conversion of the peoples.” It could also be said that the blessed Father said such things in order that both Lord Nicholas and the other surrounding nobles might be more and more encouraged by his burial to defend the cause of the Catholic faith and to keep peace among themselves. But I rather think that the blessed man said these things in order that, as while living he spurned the honors of the world as far as he could, so dead and buried among schismatics and unbelievers he might be utterly without all honor. From which also it can easily be gauged that this was the desire of the most blessed Father, that what the Turks and other unbelievers, the Lord forbidding it, could not do to him while living, they might at least carry out at will upon him dead. Let no one presume to judge this most blessed man concerning the choice of his burial, since we read that some of the Saints both of the Old and of the New Testament did the same for some reasonable cause, or by divine instinct. For when at another time discussion took place among the Brothers before him about burials or about Brothers to be buried, the man full of God said of himself: “This body of perdition I should wish to be dragged along the ground and buried in a most unclean place, most worthy of all confusion.” O blessed man, full of humility, abhorring all pride! And so God exalted him before death and after death, that it could truly be said of him: “He who humbles himself shall be exalted Matth. XXIII, 12.”

[384] sick, he is left destitute of remedies: To the heap of his merits, moreover, although he was exceedingly distressed by his growing sufferings, no remedies of physicians could be found (for Hungary lacks physicians, and abhors medicines); with wonderful patience he bore all things for Christ's sake, and he kept wonderful abstinence both in food and in drink. When he was enticed by entreaties and persuasions to eat a little of the flesh of a certain chicken, excellently prepared, as soon as he had tasted it to satisfy the one asking, he put down the rest like poison; for since in health he was not accustomed to eat meat, in sickness also he abhorred it. And he so held the rigor of justice with all mercy that, the offense having been corrected, the person of the offender was altogether unknown. For when here a certain fault of a brother was brought to him, immediately, without the knowledge of his companions, however intimate, he secretly and most strictly rebuked the delinquent brother. This manner of correction he had always excellently observed as a prelate; and therefore delinquents were in wonderful manner well disposed toward him. He was held also by a vast desire of setting out to Lord Nicholas, who was with his army on the frontiers of Hungary toward Bosnia, and in the manner of an elephant he was encouraged more ardently than usual against the unbelievers. After some days, having somewhat regained his strength in some sort, the Lord Legate advising him, he decided to go to the aforesaid Lord Nicholas together with the Lord Legate. When I opposed him: “Do not do this, father; for we see you burdened by a long illness and so worn away that you cannot stand.” With these and similar words we tried to turn him from his purpose, alleging the dangers of death, the length of the road, the country and the way full of unbelievers, the most intense heats, the want of victuals, the displeasure of his companions and their illness, and the pestilential dust. But the fervent servant of God replied that God had inspired this in him. “With my conscience urging me,” he said, “and the Legate advising, I must altogether go. Would that I might die on the road, in this work of God, in this exertion! Come, sons, and accompany me, for God will protect us by his grace.” When he began to go toward the same Lord, he did not seem sick, not worn away, not indeed having a body collapsed with labor and illness; but he appeared to all a military young man, and indeed industrious, healthy, fresh and strong and unencumbered, so that none of us, however swift his horse, was able to reach him; for it was not a horse that carried him, but zeal for the faith and desire of martyrdom. On this journey he was content with very little food *, being somewhat relieved from his usual sufferings.

[385] And when on this road we were moving among schismatics and unbelievers, they were moved with so great a love and reverence toward him, he was in the highest veneration with all, that to see him, closing their little houses and leaving off their labors, they ran together in troops, and some, strangers to piety, offered alms, others their dwellings, both to him and to his companions. The pious Father did not allow damage to be done to them by undisciplined men; but if at any time some passersby had carried off chickens or animals for fodder, at once the blessed Father ordered them either to be returned or to be satisfied with money, and he preached to them the way of salvation, and poured back upon them the food of salvation. When in four days both the Legate and the man of God himself had reached the aforesaid Lord, by many reasons and persuasions they together induced him to take up and defend the cause of the faith; but especially the blessed man explained eloquently how great a favor would be poured back from God, from the Supreme Pontiff and from men upon his soul, life and fame; and at length that lord promised that he would do everything as far as he could. When he had received them honorably, after many conversations, he insistently asked that they betake themselves to his city of Ilok to obtain the gift of health. For the Lord Legate himself too was affected with some illness: but especially Lord Nicholas himself was burning with desire that at least the blessed Father, to whom he was greatly attached for his devotion and holiness, should set out to Ilok, that there he might either escape in health, or, the Lord permitting, lie dead. Which desire was indeed in accord with the desire of the most blessed man himself.

[386] but especially with Nicholas, lord of Ilok, For although the man of God himself was honored by all with the highest zeal and highest reverence, Lord Nicholas himself held him and called him a Saint. It is no marvel then if he aspired to have his city adorned by his presence and burial. To this the Father acquiesced. On the following morning Lord Nicholas, about to withdraw there with his army, having sent a letter to Ilok, in which he made known that the blessed Father would shortly go there, came to him to seek a blessing; he would not go out to him, nor ordered him to be brought in, until he had completed the Office which he was reciting with a companion. We who stood by feared lest so great a lord or his great nobles, who were waiting patiently outside sitting on their horses, should blame the discreet Father for indiscretion. But the Office being finished, not indeed hurriedly but slowly and deliberately, as was his manner, going out to the aforesaid lord, he said: “Until now I have spoken with God in saying the Office, therefore I did not go out to your lordship; but now I will speak with your magnificence at your pleasure.” Which words were for the admiration and edification both of that lord and of the others hearing them, and having received a blessing, after some words exchanged, the lord withdrew: on which day both the Lord Legate and the holy Father, directing their journey toward Ilok, entered the city on the 1st day of September. The Legate turned aside at the house of the parish priest, the Father at the place of the Brothers of the Observance, which he himself had taken before the victory, to which the title of the Blessed Virgin belongs.

[387] At this the whole city rejoiced in wonderful manner, the Brothers were flooded with exceedingly great joy, now having the blessed Father, come forth from such great dangers, although they had him sick. who transfers the Saint into his castle; Lord Nicholas, knowing that the Lord Legate and the blessed Father had betaken themselves to his city, according to his wish, not long afterward, having dismissed his army, himself also entered it, not so much to receive them honorably in his land as to retain the blessed Father himself, sick, in his city, to be cared for with the highest zeal: or, if it should befall him to die, by God's will, to bury him with worthy honor and venerably. For, to speak only of the kingdom of Hungary, although other magnificent barons desired to have this blessed man in their lands, living and dead, this lord, on account of the singular devotion and love he had conceived for him, rightly strove to keep him in his city, either sick or dead. For, enlightened by a certain gift of faith and devotion, he knew that through him surviving, at the Lord's command, vast things could yet be done, and through the same man departed the Christian faith would be further strengthened; that by his merits and prayers he himself and his affairs would be helped and protected; and also he held it certain that by the tomb of this so great and most holy man his name would be exalted throughout all Christendom, and his dominion enlarged and in many ways adorned. This magnificent lord's desire of retaining the blessed Father had indeed gone before. For when the blessed Father was still sick at Slankamen, and the Brothers were going up by vessel toward Buda with the books and other things pertaining to the use of the Brothers, as soon as the little boat was seen near Ilok, the citizens, forewarned at the command of that lord, ran to it armed, believing that the body of the blessed Father, dead or about to die, was being carried in it. When they did not believe the Brothers, snatching up swords and with blades drawn, they turned over everything most diligently. To return to the matter at hand, Lord Nicholas, having shown them benefits of humanity, admonished his vicar, namely Lord Lawrence, to supply the necessary things at pleasure to the Father, sick or well, and to watch most attentively that he not suffer the sick Father to be transferred elsewhere: similarly, if he should die, not to allow his body to be carried outside the city, but to celebrate solemn obsequies for him dead. These things being duly and secretly arranged, after a long conversation with the blessed Father, having received a blessing, he returned in haste and gladly to the army.

[388] where St. Capistran, applying himself to most intense devotion When the blessed man to the desired place,

by the disposing of divine clemency, had come, he was filled with the greatest consolation: who, although he was still afflicted with various and indeed continual fevers, and, his limbs failing, was affected with the greatest pain, while the sick and old are accustomed to live more slackly, he stood forth from day to day stronger and more fervent in spirit. For from the beginnings of his illness he strove either to say or to hear Mass: if at any time from weakness, especially at Ilok, he could not celebrate, coming to the church, he communicated most devoutly at the hand of another, with tearful eyes. He never in his illness omitted the divine Office: if at any time near the end of his life he could not discharge it, at his command and with him listening attentively, he had it said before him. Sometimes in this illness and for their solace he was accustomed to eat together with the Brothers at the common table. He did not cease from divine conversations, nor even from correction: for when once a certain brother had sinned against his prelate before the Brothers, as soon as this was brought to him, at his command the brother, having said his fault before the Brothers in the refectory, disciplined himself, and he punished others for other excesses. O most just Father! he was certain to die, and he mercifully kept the rigor of justice even to death.

[389] and foreknowing his death, He foreknew and foretold his passing long before: for on the night following the Nativity of the Virgin Mary it was revealed to him in prayer that he would altogether die of this illness, which he many times revealed both to Brothers and to men of the world. He rejoiced exceedingly that, having laid down the burden of the body, he was bidden to leave the world. Yet he was flooded with the greatest grief that he had not shed his blood and life for the love of Christ, and he said frequently: “Woe is me, woe is me, woe is me! that my sojourn has been prolonged, and that I have been disappointed of my long desire.” And when someone said to him: “Perhaps your desire will yet be fulfilled; at other times you have been anointed with holy oil two or three times.” “Woe is me! This is my last illness. Why has this been denied me, to die for Christ? So many times exposed to death in war among the unbelievers, and I have escaped, that now like a sluggard I should die in bed without the sword of a persecutor?” Yet he rejoiced that the end of his life had arrived; and although, as has been said, it had been revealed to him by the Lord at another time that he would shortly die without shedding of blood, he yet assiduously prayed God that he might be made worthy of the merit of martyrdom, and he gave his effort as far as he could to fall by the swords of the wicked. But what the wicked could not do to him, long affliction and manifold illness did: for through the whole month of September, although he walked supported by a staff, so great a sickness seized him that whoever looked on him was moved with compassion.

[390] he is visited by King Ladislaus At the same time the most serene King Ladislaus, on hearing of the illness of the blessed Father, coming down the Danube, visited him twice with many princes, lords and prelates; and the Father, so weak, went to meet him as best he could, but the second time, not being able to rise from his bed, he attentively admonished him, as he came into the cell, to defend the cause of the faith and to live well and blessedly, disclosing to him that he would altogether die of that illness. Hearing this, the king was flooded with the greatest grief, likewise the barons; and after consoling words, going out from him, having kissed his hand, all were flooded with tears, and withdrawing, some said: “O desolate kingdom!” Others: “O wretched we! What shall we do without the holy Father?” Others: “We were helped more by this man alone than by infinite thousands of armed men.” And such things they repeated to one another many times. The king not only ordered his physician to attend him, but also commanded that he be amply supplied, even if the whole kingdom should have to be laid out: so also the Lord Legate had his physician treat him with all necessary things. They, with diligent care and skillful zeal, with various remedies and sweet blandishments, tried to relieve him from his illness. To whom he continually said: “Do whatever you wish, say whatever pleases you; I will obey you as far as I can, but this is my last illness, and know that I shall die of it beyond doubt.”

[391] and by various brothers, Lawrence too, the deputy of Lord Nicholas, arranged all things carefully, attending diligently to everything that was done or said: and the city shared with the Brothers whatever it knew to be opportune. As the report of this illness grew, magnificent barons and nobles either come or send to visit him, and also most worthy and devout ladies sent to him from afar, with pious devotion, electuaries, confections and precious foods. The blessed Father either refused what was sent, or, having accepted it, distributed it to others, tasting nothing whatever of these things. There came also the Reverend Father Br. Stephen of Vassan, then most worthy vicar of the province of Hungary, truly the best son of the Father himself, and formerly his most faithful companion: who, when after some days he wished to visit certain convents, and hoped to return soon, and did not believe the Father would die so soon, sought his blessing: to whom he said: “If you withdraw, you will no longer see me living in mortal flesh.” And while he made little of such words, and no signs of a dying man appeared in him, after two days of his journey he sorrowfully heard that the Father was dead, and so he was compelled to turn back. There stood by him some fathers and brothers of Hungary, serving him with all veneration and charity.

[392] whom, though his strength was broken, all, He burned with the continual force of fevers, and labored under the greatest pains of his whole body, suffering a continuous flux through the whole month of September: and the force of this flux grew so strong that it was scarcely believed he would reach the fifth day. Yet there was in him the same tranquillity of mind, the same fervor, the same devotion, the same zeal burning continually for the honor of God's name and the salvation of souls and the increase of the Christian religion. Such authority also shone in him that, although he saw death imminent for himself, nevertheless the sick who came to him, or who were even brought, he signed with his sacred hand, and as many as he touched he sent away either healthy or better. Of how great holiness this blessed man was can easily be gauged from this, that when it was announced to him at the same time that his beloved and dear companion, Br. Ambrose of L'Aquila, was laboring in extremity in the place of Achya, and, having lost speech, had come to his last, at once that night on his bed, kneeling, those present standing by in tears, he prayed for him, and thus it came about that at that moment of time when the prayer was poured out by him, the sick man, five miles distant, speech being restored, escaped free from the dominion of death, as I myself found on that same morning, running to him with a companion: for him whom I believed I should find lying dead on a bier, I saw eating and safe. O truly blessed man! He himself was hastening to death, and both those present and those absent he freed by touching or praying from languors and from the bonds of death.

[393] especially the companions of his journey from Italy, At that time there returned to him that venerable Jerome of Udine, renowned for all religious spirit and sufficiency of letters, indeed healthy and whole, and since at the same time I myself was laboring with a tertian fever and walking weakly, full of charity he sent me to the same place. But when I did not willingly leave him, not because I believed he would die of that illness, but because I feared I should die absent from him, the pious Father said to me: “Go securely, for when the end of my life has come near, I will call you back.” O most pious man! who would not weep for you? who would not long for you? who could forget the bowels of your piety and charity? Woe is me most wretched! woe is me ungrateful! woe is me a sinner! For although from the beginning of the conversion of the blessed Father others beheld many and in a manner infinite marvelous works done by divine clemency through his merits and prayers, yet my depravity in a small course of time saw many things for the glory of God, by the disposing of the divine will, all of which approve and confirm his glorious works, and when in these few days of life I ought to make progress, I so fail that I seem to forget my own salvation. Yet my hope is God, who casts away or confounds no one who goes to him.

[394] he embraced most lovingly. When the blessed Father knew that both I and the aforesaid Ambrose had recovered our bodily health, and already saw that the day of his death would soon be at hand, he called us to him from the said place of Achya on the feast of the Seraphic Father Francis; at which time he had received letters from Italy containing many things welcome to him. Among which letters were those most sweet and full of admiration of the venerable Father Bernardine of L'Aquila, then most worthy vicar of the province of St. Bernardine, containing the happy death of the blessed Br. Philip of L'Aquila, who in the month of May preceding migrated happily to Christ in the city of Sulmona. This letter, for the sweetness of love and devotion, he now read, now kissed, now had read and explained both to people and to clergy. To some of the nobles of those provinces he ordered a copy of it to be sent; and he never read it without being flooded with tears, saying: “Woe is me, that my sojourn is prolonged!” Although the pious Father exalted this blessed brother with many proclamations of praises, he nevertheless said this singular thing of him to me in secret: “Br. Philip heaped up many merits for himself, especially by reason of faith and the continual guard of chastity and the victory he had obtained in the war of the flesh. For he had been, as long as he lived, assailed in wonderful manner by the goad of the flesh, from which, with the help of divine grace, he had come out victor: for God does not abhor the man who suffers the allurements of the flesh, but him who follows the desires of the flesh and of his own will.

* erat?

§ XXXV. The illness of St. John of Capistrano grows heavier; he exhorts his brothers to regular observance; he prepares himself closely for death.

The illness of Capistran growing heavier, When the blessed man himself saw with certainty that his death was imminent from close at hand, he longed in wonderful manner for his body to be exposed to sufferings, that, the chaff being trampled and shaken out, the pure grain might be able to be placed in the barn of the supreme king. His fevers are doubled, a very great flux grew hot, so that, as he now took nothing, his little body worn away and blood continually flowing out, most intense pains also grew throughout each of his limbs. There had been added a cough so horrible and so great that those hearing it were moved with compassion. Now he took no food, now the thinnest drink and rarely; he could also take no rest of sleep or slumber. The fathers of Hungary who were then standing by him are witnesses: the venerable Fathers and Brothers Jerome of Udine, Epiphanius the German, Ambrose of L'Aquila, Victor of

Vienna and many others; but especially Lord Lawrence, who observed curiously everything that was done. My conscience, if I have any, is witness that in all the aforesaid sufferings, pains, straits, anxieties, torments and bodily penalties of this most blessed man, he not only did not abhor them, but rather desired them to grow stronger and invited any harder one, if there were such, to come. He was of imperturbable spirit and most perfect patience, and there was in him the same voice, the same sense, the same understanding, the same tranquillity and cheerfulness of mind, the same most fervent zeal for God and the salvation of souls, as before and the more as he knew for certain that he would not survive: sweet words, gentle converse, wonderful discretion, paternal love, the greatest patience, incredible abstinence, a ready and sensible speech affected all who stood by him.

[396] some hope, And to confess the truth, Reverend Father, although from such great and such continual sufferings we saw that most patient man so diminished and afflicted and being continually diminished and afflicted more harshly, considering what has been set down above and many other things which could not be written, we could in no way be brought to believe that he would die at that time: yet we marveled that he often repeated that his death would shortly be at hand. But when he repeated these words, “Woe is me,” and I, infirm of mind, said to him why he said that so many times; the patient and cheerful elder replied: “Woe is me, because I have sinned exceedingly,” etc. He read the letters sent to him, he dictated replies or subscribed them with his own hand. And if any were admitted to visit him, a most sweet correction being made to them, he sent them back glad to their homes. And the holy man, knowing that the time of his dissolution was now arriving, one day had his companions who were there summoned, and to each of them, after sweet words, he distributed certain little vessels or trays full of confections and electuaries, which had been sent to him by many noble men and women on hearing of his illness, and of which he had never tasted, saying: “Let this be a sign to you that, while you escape healthy and free, I alone shall shortly die.”

[397] some despair of his life being prolonged; Although his words were to us as the words of an Apostle, and although we marveled at such a distribution, we nevertheless did not believe he would die, and there was very great disputing among us. For some said: “He has now come to nothing from the flux;” some: “He will be restored, for he now flourishes with a keener sense than before;” some: “Now his skin clings to his bones”: and so we stood in various opinion, but more believed that he would die according to his words. But I, wretch that I am, thought he would yet survive free of this illness. He was another Paul in glorying in his infirmities, and another Job in enduring them. And so he was never seen to say a word offensively to anyone, never to do a single act of disturbance, as the sick are accustomed, but with imperturbable spirit he remained in all his sufferings. On the day of St. Luke the Evangelist, having summoned me, he secretly foretold that he would shortly die, and he tried with what words he could to remove all doubt from me, and, in the presence of Br. Epiphanius, placing his right hand on my shoulders, he said: “O Son, what will become of you after my death?” Those words were fixed in my heart. After a sweet admonition made to me singly on perseverance and charity, on the care of the companions and patience, and diligence in carrying back the books, he ordered all the Brothers to assemble to him. To them, after a sweet discourse, after an exhortation to the honor and fear of God and to regular observance, kneeling on his bed as he could, he accused himself as guilty, and not without the greatest tears he committed himself to the prayers of the Brothers and to the penance of the Father Guardian.

[398] and he most piously seeks the last sacraments, The guardian of that place at that time was the venerable Father Br. Michael of St. Denis, the vicar Br. Michael the Lame, a man indeed fearing God, to whom also he said that the burden of his body was shortly to be laid down, commending to them that place, together with his companions; and he said that he would receive all the ecclesiastical sacraments. When these Brothers had gone out, he arranged many things, deciding and admonishing that he wished to receive all the sacraments together on the bare ground on the following day; for so he ordered the Brothers to be admonished. Having therefore made a most worthy preparation, he confessed to me, generally and specially, with such great contrition and with so tenacious a memory that he seemed to have the smallest offenses not as past, but as present, nay before his eyes. O who might have seen this blessed man, renowned for all holiness, an old man of seventy, only skin clinging to dry bones, wasting away with a long illness, whose body had already collapsed as much with labor as with affliction, kneeling and prostrate, with hands joined, with head uncovered, beating his breast and pouring forth continual tears! O who might have heard him, recalling even each minute thing, and reciting sacramentally each sin of commission and likewise of omission with so ardent an understanding, and with so effectual a voice and word before God, with each and all the circumstances! When out of compassion I invited him to sit, and wished in a manner to oblige him, he said he would in no way do this; and he was so humble an accuser of himself that he seemed another David in his confession: but I call to witness God and all his Angels that, although he esteemed himself the greatest of sinners, he was pricked by the goad of no mortal offense after his entrance into Religion, nor had any mortal fault stained him.

[399] and at the same time the papal indulgence This however he grieved at most, that he had not attained martyrdom for Christ, nor had done more things that could have been done by him for the honor of God and the salvation of souls: when in truth during forty years, since he began to serve God, such things were done through him in diverse climes of the world, God favoring, that after the Apostles we do not read of one like him. And although he needed the benefit of no penance and no absolution, he nevertheless wished, having received a salutary penance, to have also the gift of absolution both papal and of the Lord Legate bestowed on him. I for tears could scarcely accomplish this, nor did I, full of sins, dare to touch his holy head. These things took place on the morrow of the said feast. This confession being finished, in the same place, namely on the ground, he gave himself to prayer, and indeed suppliant and prostrate, preparing himself for Communion. Meanwhile for the Communion to be made, a table of the altar is prepared in the same cell; the little bell of the refectory is rung at the guardian's command, the Brothers assemble at the church, all the gates of the convent are blocked, lest men of the world rushing in should hinder this sacred office; only Lord Lawrence, who at his lord's command was present at each and every thing, is admitted.

[400] which he receives with the greatest devotion, And when all things were prepared, as is the custom, behold, about the hour of Terce, the Father Guardian, clothed in vestments suited to this business, and all the Brothers, who were about thirty, come with the most sacred Body of the Lord and with the sacrament of Extreme Unction: to meet whom the Father, supported by others, went forward reverently, saying: “Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof,” and often repeating similar words, not without most abundant tears. When these sacraments had been placed on the table, before going further, the holy Father, kneeling again, said his fault, sought pardon, asked that he be made worthy of such great sacraments, sought prayer for himself, and said that the end of his life was shortly imminent. Thereupon he requested that, the sacraments being given to him, they should say the Office of the Commendation of the soul, as far as “Go forth, Christian soul, from this world,” adding: “When I shall be in the agony of death, or when I shall feel myself coming to the extremity of life, I will have you called.” At length, profoundly adoring the sacrament of the Eucharist, he dissolves into tears with most bitter weeping; now he signs himself with the cross, now he kisses the cross, now he beats his mouth, now his breast with his weak hand, now also he spoke to the sacrament, now to the cross, accusing himself as the greatest sinner. O most holy Father! O armory of holiness! He had been from his entrance into Religion ever a man both upright and fearing God, and withdrawing from evil, as another Job; he had remained immovable in the fear of God, as another Tobias; he had been a just and perfect man, walking with God, and doing all things whatsoever God had commanded him, as another Noah; and yet he proclaimed himself the greatest sinner. O most profound humility! For this blessed man knew that it is the mark of good minds to acknowledge fault where there is no fault.

[401] and by holy works At what words of so great a Father, at what weeping, at what compunction, at what humility all those standing by were alike turned to tears, so that they could scarcely perform that Office. At length they begin: some read, some sing psalms, others prepare other things, some are filled with weeping and sobs, venerably admiring the holy Father. After these things they come to the sacrament of Extreme Unction, which he received with wonderful and indeed incredible reverence, most profound humility, abundant outpouring of tears and composed bearing of the body. For the usual Confession being made first, and the cross having been several times embraced and kissed, and the benefits of absolutions from many of the brothers being bestowed on him, he appeared of such holiness that nothing could be above it. When he, by reason of his excessive and long and indeed most acute illness, was hammered and shaken, adapting himself in all things, he ardently longed to be fortified by these sacraments. If anyone had seen him stripped, he would assuredly have seen another Jerome, another John the Baptist, having only the surface of flesh with the bones.

[402] he disposes himself for the agony; At length, as he himself had requested, the Brothers begin the Litanies for the Commendation of the soul, the humble Father being most devoutly prostrated, and responding piously up to the end. In this reception of the sacraments there was seen so great a devotion of the blessed Father, and so great a compunction with a flood of tears, that it can by no means be explained by the tongue: such keenness and clearness of understanding, and such liveliness of all the senses flourished in him, that, although he was utterly diminished and exhausted in body, in this office he did not seem sick: for, filled with a wonderful cheerfulness of mind, together with the others he either spoke or responded, so that both in the Litanies and in other things he seemed not a sick man, but one of the healthy bystanders in speaking, responding and correcting what was badly uttered. O who, weighed down by the burden of sins, would not consider this with attentive mind, that such and so great a man, full of the innumerable merits of good works, just, pious and holy, received the divine sacraments with so great a devotion of heart and body, contrition and attention.

[403] then his brothers Afterward he is laid back on the bed by the hands of others, he remains glad and at peace, often repeating: “Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, Lord, in peace, etc.,” like another Simeon, just and God-fearing: nor, because of so lively and clear a voice and ready speech, did doubt cease in us concerning this death. For these three things alone argued death, namely his own frequent prediction of death, his tasting nothing of food or drink, and the continuation of a most violent flux: but all the other arguments about him did not

appear those of a man about to die, but of a man about to live. From the reception of the sacraments up to his death five days passed, in which many things were wonderfully done and said by him, which are in no way to be passed over in silence. For within the aforesaid space the several Brothers, coming to him and declaring themselves guilty to him, were freely fortified by him with blessings, with the kissing of his hand, but especially the companions standing by him and serving him he filled with his blessings and with what gifts he could. To the venerable Br. Jerome of Udine, whom in his sickness he had had as a most welcome servant, he deservedly granted a solemn letter, full of most worthy faculties and prerogatives; he also gave him, in the same manner as was permitted him, a Bible or another codex that he might wish: to another who asked and was in need he gave his shoes: to another a book, to another clothes: to some also he gave an obedience, by which they should return to his province of St. Bernardine: appointing me guardian of his companions until the obedience should be completed.

[404] he encourages them to preserve regular observance: All of whom he comforted by the sweetness of his speech, saying like another Mattathias: “You therefore, sons, be comforted and act manfully in the holy law, in the Rule which you have promised to observe to the Lord our God and to our most blessed Father Francis; in it you will be glorious.” And he repeated similar things many times. At length he ordered the books lent to him to be returned: the books, letters and small works containing the heresy of the Bohemians he wished to be left in the province of Austria; but the books and the things he had had for his use both from the apostolic See and from the Order he wished to be carried back to his native province and to the place of Capistrano, as is the custom in the Order of Minors: likewise the bulls, graces, faculties, and apostolic briefs and the small works which he himself had published. Let the detractor of this holy Father keep silent here, if he should presume to judge him rashly from such a grant, distribution, remission and disposition; since he had full faculty of ordering and disposing in this way both from the apostolic See and from the Order. Moreover the Reverend Father Br. Baptist of Levanto, then general Vicar, had made him his commissary, sending him out of reverence a blank paper with the subscription of his own hand. Further it is not to be thought that this man, shining with such great holiness, acted against conscience in the last moments of his life. Finally holy men sometimes do by instinct of the Holy Spirit what it would not be permitted others to do.

[405] he takes care that the books brought from Italy be restored; He made for me a letter of obedience, gracious enough, commanding that I should carry those books to the native province, together with Br. Ambrose of L'Aquila; and that I should betake myself by way of Austria and through Vienna: first, that I might commend that province, which he himself had planted, to the venerable fathers, Brs. Gabriel of Verona, then vicar of the province, and Christopher of Varese, as his untiring helpers and faithful companions: second, that I might obtain from them in his name favor and help for carrying the said books. He also wrote an effectual letter to the respected Lord Simon Pötel of Vienna, affected toward him with the greatest devotion, that by his effort and industry he might deign to send the same books to Venice. Third, he wished us to return to Italy through Austria, that, some books against the heresy of the Bohemians, of which above, being left at Vienna, we might carry back some to be brought to Italy with the others: for he was held by the greatest desire that the said books should be carried to the place of Capistrano. This place, taken by his effort and begun by his labor, had been built by that illustrious and most devout Lady Countess of Celano, the dearest daughter in Christ of the Father himself, and the chief benefactress of our whole family. In which place, in the same year, that lady, admonished by a letter of the blessed Father, had caused to be built an ample and beautiful library for the books to be carried there; which, I do not doubt, was done by the divine spirit: for in that year in which the aforesaid lady was urged by the Father's letter, and the library was made, the Father departed from the world, and the books were carried through so long a space of lands, and were handsomely placed in it. I do not wish to pass over in silence, either, for your Paternity the wonderful diligence of the blessed Father concerning the sending back of these books: for when, the other books having been sent to Buda by Br. George of Passau, he kept with him only seven volumes, he used such great care and skill concerning their sending that, although he was of no strength and felt death near him, he nevertheless had the rug he had used on pulpits placed on his bed, he tied up these books wrapped with it with a rope with his own hands, and ordered them, thus placed apart, to be transferred with the others to the same province. Who, seeing such things, would have said that he would shortly die? But let him keep with attentive memory the things that follow.

[406] and the last blessing to the Brothers, Seeing that he was gradually coming to the last of life, and feeling his eyes already growing dark, he blessed all Christendom and the Religious Orders, especially our family; and since I had not noticed this, on the day before his passing, kneeling before him, with Br. Epiphanius of Styria standing by, not without frequent tears I sought his pardon, I acknowledged that I had been guilty toward him; and he, stretching out his hand, comforted me supremely with consoling words and blessed me, made like Isaac. At length when I asked him to bless the Brothers, he said: “Son, I blessed them yesterday, and I will bless them again.” For in my absence he had given other blessings on the preceding day both to the Brothers and to the peoples; but then, bathed in not a few tears, raising himself as he could, he blessed Christendom, with which he suffered most; for he saw many evils impending over it, as he had often said. He saw also that the kingdom of Hungary would run into many dangers: yet he blessed them with wonderful desire of heart, and with hands joined he prayed to the Lord that the holy Catholic faith might be kept safe. At length the whole Religious Order of Friars Minor, but especially the family of the Friars of the Observance, he filled with tearful eyes with honey-flowing blessings, naming as it were the several provinces of Italy, making the cross with his hand, not unmindful of his native province, nor of the provinces of Austria, Bohemia and Poland, which he himself had planted in regular Observance. He blessed also the Brothers both present and absent, both living and dead, both present and future, and especially those whom by his preaching or persuasion, or whom he had received into the Order by his own hand, he supported with the gift of a manifold blessing.

[407] and to the patrons of the Order he imparts. He blessed all the benefactors and patrons of our family, naming many, as they were set before him: from which blessing his fellow countrymen were not excluded, nor the people of L'Aquila, whom he had so loved that he was mindful of them up to his death. Nor was that most religious and most illustrious Lady Cobella, Countess of Celano, a stranger to this blessing; nor indeed were her sons. This magnificent lady, having suffered some adversities from her early age, clinging to the counsels of the blessed man, was freed from all the afflictions of her adversities, and as she had this blessed man, living in the flesh, as her chief father and the counselor of her whole life, so now she has him, reigning in heaven, as her singular advocate. In this giving of blessings he especially included his benefactors, his particular patrons, helpers, well-wishers, friends and kinsmen, both those who enjoyed the gift of the present life and those who have migrated from this life. He blessed also all the sisters of St. Clare, living regularly in monasteries, but especially at this hour he was mindful of the monastery of the Eucharist of L'Aquila, which he had established not without labor. He had always especially loved this place, in which he had enclosed fourteen sisters with his own hand, as stones of the foundation. Afterward the aforesaid monastery so increased that within a small space of time, by his prayer and favor, those holy nuns reached the number of sixty, excelling in all holiness. From which blessing also the monasteries of the Third Order, founded both by him and by others, were not excluded; he especially blessed the monastery of St. Elizabeth, which he had established in the city of L'Aquila. At length he blessed with hand and mouth all persons of the Order, living both in monasteries and in their homes. In which blessings he included many others by name. But to confess the truth, I stood kneeling before him not without an outpouring of tears, and as many as I set before him or named, he likewise blessed with the whole affection of his heart.

§ XXXVI. St. John of Capistrano foretells various things to various persons; he dies most holily; a great concourse of the people takes place to his body.

Many things concerning Bohemia and Hungary, I will come now to certain predictions: although this holy man in his whole life shone most openly with the spirit of prophecy, as will be said elsewhere, and as the venerable companions he had before truthfully report; yet at this end of his life he foretold many things, of all and each of which I confess that I am forgetful. But certain things, after they were verified, came back to my memory. He foretold first his death in Hungary, and the journey to that place of Ilok, not without a most abundant fruit: he foretold that that place of Ilok, situated among schismatics and unbelievers, would be for the very great profit of the Catholic faith. He foretold, when he was speaking of Bohemia, that after his death some places among those heretics would be taken, and many Hussites would be converted from heresy. He foretold that all his companions then sick would recover when he died. He foretold that our family, then keeping the bull of Calixtus, would return to the bulls of Eugene. He foretold that the Hungarian Brothers would depart from the family only on account of the bull of Calixtus; yet he praised the bull of Calixtus. He bewailed most bitterly the ruin of the Christian religion; he bewailed also the sloth of Christians: he foretold that part of Christendom would be occupied by the Turks, and suffering with the kingdom of Hungary he often said: “Woe to the kingdom of Hungary.”

[409] he foretells many things concerning particular persons: He foretold that a certain companion of his would be separated from the family and raised to the dignity of a bishopric. This was Alexander of Ragusa, who, although then a stranger to this purpose, was made, and is even now, bishop of Skradin. He foretold to the illustrious Lord Count of Cilli that he should beware; not doing which, he was killed by Lord Ladislaus, son of the illustrious Lord John Hunyadi, in the castle of Nándorfehérvár. He foretold to us, about to return to Italy, our whole journey, and that we should find the Brothers in chapter in the province, and that the books would be carried safely: and although for some causes we wished to act otherwise than he had said, we altogether could not, rather, without our procuring it, whatever he foretold to us was beyond doubt verified. He foretold that the venerable Father Br. Nicholas of Fara would come there after his death; who, although he was far from us, on the seventh day after his death arrived there with Br. Francis of Piacenza, and him whom they desired to see alive they beheld dead. Many other things in this illness of his, moved by the divine spirit,

the blessed Father foretold, of which some have been seen utterly fulfilled, and some are feared as yet to be fulfilled. But this does not seem to be something to pass over in silence; for he said several times to his companions that a great persecution would be inflicted on him after his death, and indeed by those who seemed to love him while he lived.

[410] dying, he commends regular discipline with a grave admonition; All the aforesaid things, Reverend Father, can be fortified by various testimony and by a most firm oath both by me and by my companions. Now we must come to those things which, after the aforesaid, he said on the day before his death for the preservation of our family, and had written down. For after the blessings mentioned, commending to God our family, and the family both of the Sisters of St. Clare and of the Continent, turning his face to me he said that there are three things that preserve our Religious Order, hold it fast and make it pleasing to God, namely: “Zeal for religion, fervor of charity, and rigor of correction.” These most sweet words, written at his command by Br. Epiphanius of Styria, his watchful guardian and minister, he had given to him, and he himself read them, and afterward he said: “These things are to be kept in our family, these are to be held in the monasteries; I excuse my conscience: tell the vicars in my name: these things to the vicar of Austria, my son Br. Gabriel of Verona, these things recount often to all the Brothers.” From all of which it can easily be gauged that this most blessed man was very like the patriarch Jacob, who, about to die, stretching out his hand upon his sons, accomplished these three things: for he blessed his sons, instructed them, and foretold to them things to come. That the blessed Father did these three things is certain. He stretched out his hand, moreover, when he said to me: “What will become of you, son Br. John?” To many Brothers also he held out his hand; he sweetly embraced Br. George, who is soon the diligent guardian of his tomb. So the Venerable Peter of Sopron, so also the Father Vicar, to whom on his departure he said: “Son, you will not see me again, etc.” O most holy Father! O truly admirable man, and to be admired! O zealot not only for our family, but also for all the faithful even to death! Who would not magnify you? Who would not render you thanks? Who would not have you as intercessor before God?

[411] at length, the brothers being called together, When these and many other things exceedingly to be admired, which, my memory failing, I am neither able nor know how to write, had taken place around him, and now the day had come on which he was to pass from this world to everlasting glory, to receive a reward worthy of his labors and his heaped-up merits, since his understanding had always flourished entire in him, wishing, according to his promise, that the Brothers be called for completing the commendation of his soul, he said to me: “Tell the Father Guardian to have the little bell of the refectory rung, that the Brothers may be gathered, and being assembled may go on with the Commendation of the soul.” When this did not seem right to me, and I said that it was not necessary at that time: “Go,” he said, “do what I have said.” For although I had now believed that he would die of that illness according to what had gone before, yet not on that day, nor in those days. So Br. Jerome, so Br. Ambrose, so also all the other companions, nor did the fathers of that place think this. Yet all come: and when they had gathered, he said before all that he would altogether die that day. He had gone nine days without tasting any food or drink; yet he asked that julep be given him, which could not be found, nor made. He commended himself to the Brothers and comforted them with very many words: he commended to them his companions, as he had also done that place, saying: “Finally, father guardian and you other Brothers, Br. John, my companion, would like to carry back to Italy this habit with which I am clothed; I have forbidden him, and thus I ask your Paternity that you bury me dead in this habit, with it: for this habit was sent to me from Italy, on it is the cross which the most holy Pope Calixtus sent me, which the Lord Legate placed on it with his own hand, with which I preached the Crusade, with which, by the Lord's consent, and with the banner of the most holy Cross, the might of the Turks was crushed by the powerful right hand of God. Go on now with the Commendation of the soul.” But the Brothers said: “Father, we know that you will not die, but the will of your paternity will be fulfilled.” And so they surround the bed, the most blessed Father being most attentive; candles are lit, the Father Guardian begins: “Go forth, Christian soul, etc.,” and as he read it not correctly, the blessed Father said: “Take our Breviary; there that Office is well corrected.” This being received by the Father Guardian, the blessed Father responded together with those standing by.

[412] the Commendations of the soul being made The aforesaid Lord Lawrence stood, a silent observer of all that was done, not so much to conceive devotion from these things as to seize the body after death, to carry out accurately the commands of his lord, namely of the aforesaid Nicholas. The gates of the convent were closed and guarded; nevertheless some men of the world were let into the convent by the effort and industry of Lawrence himself and of some brothers. The Brothers leave the cell, the blessed Father remaining conscious and speaking, with whom remain the aforesaid brothers, Jerome and Epiphanius. But I, doubtful and sad, staying in the cell with Br. Ambrose, was speaking of the things that were occurring. Meanwhile the blessed Father now turned to the cross, now raised his eyes to heaven, now remained with arms open, now closed. And when he had so persevered up to the hour of vespers, at which hour his eyes had now grown dark, called at once we run to him, whose lips were moving, and he was speaking so softly that his voice was not heard at all: he looked now at this one, now at that, now at Br. Jerome, now at Br. Vitus, now at Br. Epiphanius, now at Br. Ambrose with a pious and tearful face. I, drawing near to him, said with tears: “Father, we do not understand what you wish. What do you wish, Father, what do you wish? What can we do?” And he placed his hand now on his head, now on his breast, now on his tongue, now on his mouth.

[413] his most holy soul Meanwhile the Brothers assemble again who were not occupied in singing Vespers: especially the Father Guardian, Br. Luke, companion of the Father Vicar, who had especially served him; and seeing the blessed Father remaining thus, and indicating such things with his hand, although some wished to interpret that his head or breast or even stomach pained him, they were occupied in various occupations around him. One rubbed his head, another his shoulders, another warmed cloths, another soothed his hands: I however thought that he was doing this that he might expire laid on the ground: but both affected by grief, and lest by any hurt the Father should breathe out his last the sooner, I kept silent. Yet all understood afterward, from the frequent indication of his hands, that the Father would pass at that hour. The candles are lit again, some of the Brothers climb up, some with bosom, some with hand, some with mouth try to warm him: the rest go around the bed. The recommendation of the soul is resumed, and when it was being said, all weeping, with Lord Lawrence looking on, the blessed Father turned his face to heaven, joined his hands, became glad, fixedly looked upward, and seemed as though, being called, he wished to go. I, wretch that I am, stood at his feet, and, bathing my face with tears, silently with myself repeated that saying of the disciples of Blessed Martin: “What shall we do, Father? For ravening wolves will attack thy flock.” I wept for the death of so great a Father, I wept also for my hardness: some had their eyes there where the Father was looking so fixedly.

[414] he returns to God the Creator: It was believed beyond doubt that Christ had come, for whom the blessed man himself had so ardently longed to die, and Blessed Francis, whose footsteps he had so fervently followed, and St. Bernardine, whom he had so loftily, so widely, so gloriously preached and magnified, living and dead. The Commendation being finished, or nearly at its end, that sacred spirit, leaving the body, happily migrated to heaven, the mouth closed and the eyes remaining open. Since the Brothers did not perceive this because of the beautiful comeliness of his face (for no sign of a dead man appeared), thinking that he still had breath, they wished to resume the Commendation again: but Br. Jerome, running up, closed his eyes, and I likewise, pressing his brows and eyes with a trembling hand, held it as firm that he had expired, and by touching him all clearly saw this: and since he remained with his hands still joined, he seemed another Paul the Hermit. When this was seen, we all turned to mourning: some said: “O sun darkened!” Others: “A great star has fallen from the heaven of the Church, the column of the Religious Order has fallen.” Others: “The crown of our head has fallen, etc. Now unbelievers, heretics and schismatics rejoice,” and such things. It was the twenty-first hour, on Saturday, the Brothers singing Vespers; and thus, by the will of the Lord, it came about that in that month, on that day of the week, and at nearly the same hour on which the holy patriarch Francis died, this blessed man John also passed, his perfect imitator. Rejoice, excellent elder, to have sent such companions of yours ahead to prepare a place for you. Let holy mother Church rejoice to have a most faithful son placed in heaven. Let the threefold Order of St. Francis also rejoice to have had on earth such and so great a father, leader, ruler, patron and prelate, and now to have the same in heaven as intercessor and advocate.

[415] at the news of whose death Seeing this, Lord Lawrence tried to carry out what his lord had ordered: for those who were hiding in the convent rush in, wishing to take that body from the hands of the Brothers, nor would they permit it to be washed, as is the custom. At length with difficulty it was brought about by the effort of the Brothers that they suffered that sacred pledge to be washed; nor could it be done without them; for they wished without doubt to stand by. The holy body is stripped; and when it was stripped, there appear only bones wrapped in skin. Whoever had seen him would have said that there was no flesh there, no blood, no innards, but he appeared beautiful in face, beautiful in eyes, beautiful in nostrils. Who would dare deny him a Martyr, and more than a Martyr? When I shall write of the proclamation of his praises, as, the Lord willing, I shall do, gathering up his renowned deeds, scattered everywhere, I shall show clearly that he had the efficacy and truth of all the Saints and Angels. While the body, if it can be so called, was being washed, for it was rather a framework of bones, some drew away the cord, some the tunic, some the towels or handkerchiefs; for Br. Ambrose took the tunic from the hands of a certain man running with it. This being done as best it could, that tabernacle is carried in silence by a hidden way to the church, for whose guard sixty-four citizens are appointed, and those indeed the leading men of the city.

[416] the whole city runs together; But meanwhile the whole city is stirred: men try to burst into the place, they climb the walls and roofs alike, they try to break the gates. That tabernacle is placed next to the altar; after its placing, before the church is opened, tribulation seized us

very great, and those who had before been patrons and friends became troublesome and hostile to us alike, of which it has been spoken elsewhere. After the sealing of all things that had belonged to the blessed Father, on that same evening they begin to ring the bells, and thus for seven days solemn obsequies and solemn ceremonies were celebrated. That sacred tabernacle of the body, however, for fear, was not carried through the city, as had been decided; for it was feared that, if this were done, from the excessive and disorderly devotion of the Hungarians that body might be utterly torn to pieces, or men might kill one another. But thus, placed in the church with extraordinary honors, it is guarded with the greatest guard. On hearing this, both the king and the prelates and barons, then going out to the diet at Futak, are affected with the greatest grief; likewise the most reverend Lord Legate, who was there. After the seventh day, at the Legate's command, that pledge was entombed. On which day Lord Nicholas, returning, rejoices and is sad; for what he had longed for, he had; and the body, which he desired to bury magnificently, he saw unduly buried. He at once had it exhumed, and thus placed it with honor; for he put it in a certain iron chest, furnished with seven keys, in a very beautiful chapel in the church of the same place.

[417] and his tomb is made glorious by miracles. This most blessed Father passed in the year of the Lord MCCCCLVI, on the 23rd day of October, at the twenty-first hour, on a Saturday; he was buried and interred on the Friday next following. After his passing he began to shine there with miracles, so that to his tomb, as to the tomb of an Apostle, peoples flow together from every side: nor is it a marvel, for through the merits of this Saint after his death various fevers and various pains and diverse illnesses were put to flight; those suffering a flux of blood, abscesses, wounds and ulcers were cured: the ruptured and those laboring with the falling sickness, paralytics, the withered, the contracted, the dropsical, the possessed, the demented, the lame, the deaf, the blind and the mute were freed: women, freed from the peril of childbirth, had ease of bearing. Many also were freed from various perils and losses, some from the peril of death: those in agony and laboring in extremity at once escaped healthy: and what is greater than all these, two dead men were brought to life by the merits of the Saint himself and are living, both named John. Five also who were utterly dead, either by a visit to the tomb, or by a vow made by their own people, were most plainly raised through this blessed man. These miracles, both in Hungary and in Italy, the divine clemency wrought through the merits of this holy man.

[418] The writer affirms by oath that what is narrated is most true. Let your Paternity therefore consider, venerable elder, of how great holiness this companion of your paternity and Father of our family was. Each and every thing in this letter, written with a running pen, I have truly recalled before God and the Angels. I call as witness God, who destroys all who speak falsehood: the Angels are witnesses, all the Saints of God, men and women, are witnesses, especially the Virgin Mary, Blessed Francis and the most glorious Mary Magdalene, my chief advocate, that in all and each of these things which I saw and handled with my hands, as they have been set down, they are truthful, utterly lacking all doubt. Indeed I confess that I have said too little: many * more things occurred, which through my laboring memory have vanished. These things have been written that both your Paternity and others, who desire deservedly to exalt that holy man on earth, may have matter of true praise. I ask both your Paternity and others, into whose hands such a letter may come, that perhaps in emending general incongruity, in changing those terms, they not change anything of the substance of the aforesaid: I should wish, however, that all that I have set down here be read, heard, corrected, emended and enlarged or diminished by those who were present at the things said. Although I, wretch that I am, heard some of these things from them, and, by the working of divine clemency, saw more than I have narrated here, and having contemplated them I have tried to store them in the little cupboard of my breast, that I might afterward be able to recount them to the glory and praise of the name of Jesus Christ and of all his Saints, for the confirmation of the Catholic faith, for the magnificence and exaltation of our most sacred Religious Order, and for our imitation, and also for kindling, enlarging and confirming devotion toward that most blessed Father Br. John of Capistrano; by whose prayers and merits, together with the suffrages of your Paternity, may I merit to be contrite for sins committed, and to be kept perseveringly from sins to come. Fare well, your Paternity, whom may God preserve, and cause to see the canonization of the aforesaid blessed Father. From Florence, MCCCCLXI, the 10th day of February. Further concerning the various circumstances of his death, as concerning the place of burial of St. Capistran, we shall treat more fully both in the Annotations to the Life of the Saint and in the course of the Commentary. Now we hasten to the deeds after his death.

* multo?

§ XXXVII. Immediately after the death of St. John of Capistrano the king and princes of Hungary press for his canonization.

The rumor of St. Capistran's death being spread, When the rumor of the death of St. John of Capistrano had been spread, the brothers established in different places at first would not believe it; because the calamity seemed too great for the whole world: but shortly all doubt was removed by an encyclical letter of Baptist of Levanto, vicar general of the family of the Observants, given to all the provincial vicars, of the following tenor Wadding. Annal. tom. XIII, pag. 1.: I grieve vehemently that my letter will supply you with matter for grief: for I am about to tell you grave and sad news, which neither I should wish to relate nor you to hear. But I must say it and make you most certain that the crown and glory of our Order, the Reverend Father Br. John of Capistrano, has in these latest times migrated from this life, or peacefully rested in the Lord, as I have learned from his companions themselves. His most sacred body is most plainly established to have been deposited at Ilok, a city of Hungary, diligently secured under five locks or keys. He died on the 23rd of October. I therefore admonish you and most insistently beseech you to have the solemn office of his obsequies most diligently celebrated by all the brothers, sisters and ladies living in your province. I commend this to you so seriously, not because I think he needs suffrages or aid of this kind, but that we may faithfully carry out those things that are our part. Farewell. From the place of St. Mary of the Angels outside Milan, the nones of February 1457.

[420] as miracles multiplied at his tomb, Immediately from his death God made the holy man's tomb glorious by frequent miracles performed: and heavenly honors would have been decreed within a short time after his death, if Nicholas V had lived, to whom the holiness of the blessed man was very well known, and who often professed that he would do this, if St. Capistran should lay down his mortality in his time Ibid. tom. XII, pag. 415.. And indeed not without the wonder of good men he could obtain this honor only after 244 years. At the beginning the Cardinal of Sant'Angelo, the Legate, stood in the way, who, says Wadding Ibid. pag. 416., took it ill that in the letters of Capistran sent to Calixtus his name was passed over in silence, and that his companions sang the triumph to him (Capistran) alone. He called him rash, who by a blind and disorderly sortie from the camp, as though the die were cast, had brought the Christian cause into the supreme crisis: covetous of vainglory, who eagerly sought the palm of a matter accomplished more happily than prudently, and, impatient of a partner, ascribed to himself alone the glory of the enemy's rout: irascible, who with harsh words from the pulpit embittered his hearers, and received impatiently those opposed to him. These things he impressed everywhere, he objected them to those who magnified Capistran; and as long as he stayed in Germany, he stood in the way of the miracles being written down and delayed the canonization. The accusations of Cardinal Carvajal must be looked at a little more closely, that we may see on how weak a foundation they rest. And first of all, as concerns the courting of vainglory objected against St. Capistran, we have already refuted the charge above at nos. 349, 357 and 366: and in particular, as though Capistran had deliberately omitted the name of the Cardinal Legate, it is refuted from the letter given to Calixtus from Slankamen on the 17th of August, which we reported above at nos. 355 and following, in which he writes nothing but what is good and honorable about the Cardinal.

[421] even against the will of the legate Carvajal, Moreover, says Wadding Ibid. l. c., from what has been reported above it is plain that Capistran went forward to the camp not so much rashly as unwillingly, and that he shouted to the crusaders not for battle but for retreat. To those stationed in the line, however, the Lord gave such fortitude, and to the enemy such dread, that a glorious victory befell them more happily than could have been hoped. Further, he reported the victory to Calixtus in a sincere and brief little letter, which was done without any injury to the Cardinal, of whom nothing was then to be reported, who stayed far from danger at Buda, and arrived at Belgrade only after the deed was done and the victory won. And that Capistran was at times angry is not to be attributed to him as a vice: for not anger, but the degree of anger, or an unjust cause, is to be held in the place of a fault Cfr S. Thomas 22, q. 158, art. 1.. Not that we are angry, but why or how much we are angry, is to be diligently weighed. Capistran had such authority among the people that, according to the Apostle's instruction, those deaf to salutary doctrine and unwilling to comply with pious counsels, or lying sordid in their sins, he reproved, rebuked and sharply chided: “He corrected by loving, not with the desire of harming, but with zeal for correcting August. serm. LXXXII, al. XVI cap. 3. Cfr Migne. Patrol. tom. XXXVIII. col. 507..” That finally he received those opposed to him impatiently, there is that one example of the matter transacted rather harshly with the heresiarch Rokycana. Who, about to plead God's cause, would patiently bear the venomous snares of a wicked seducer, insane errors against orthodox doctrine, and impudent calumnies against the ministers of the Church? Let us grant finally that by human frailty he contracted some slight vice, or was subject to imperfection; this does not eliminate holiness, but exercises it. You will find few Saints, even those strong in outstanding virtue and compared to the cedars of Lebanon, who are not moved by the stirrings of temptations, or are not bent by the graver onset of sin admitted and bowed to the depths. “It is so permitted by the dispensation of divine piety, that the mind, progressing to the virtue of justice, may be the better strengthened by its own infirmity. The stars are darkened by the gloom of night Job. III, 9; and holy men, although they already shine with great virtues, yet have of the obscurity of fault something to strike at. And although they already shine with great brightness of life, yet they draw, unwilling, some clouds of sin, as it were certain remnants of the night Greg. Magn. Lib. IV, moral. cap. 22. Patrol. tom. LXXV, col. 658..”

[422] a man otherwise Further, this resistance of Cardinal Carvajal did not long harm the beginning of the canonization of St. Capistran: for St. James of Picenum, who, sent into Hungary by Calixtus in the year 1457, was preaching at Buda, brought out into the midst of the assembly a girl blind from birth, whom St. Capistran had healed by his touch: and when before

the king, the legate and the rest of the crowd she had professed the miracle, to which many besides testified; he asked the notary of the archbishop of Esztergom, who was present there, to take down the girl's words in writing, and to examine her again before the archbishop and then before the legate. So it was done: and being questioned a third time, she constantly repeated the same things before the barons of the kingdom Annal. tom. XIII, pag. 5.. Moreover, on the witness of the same Wadding Ibid. tom. XII, pag. 414., the first process was put together in the city in which he died, in the year 1460, of which a copy is preserved in the royal library of Paris; the second was made in the same city in the year 1461, in which only those miracles are had which he performed in that year from the vigil of Pentecost to the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. The third was made at Buda by apostolic authority about the year 1465, in which are reported all his marvels performed both in life and after death up to that time. Thus not even a decade had passed since the death of St. Capistran when three processes had already been completed. A little later, that is under Sixtus IV, who held the pontificate from the year 1471 to 1484, a fourth process, greater than the rest, has a vast heap of miracles distributed under various heads. The fifth was made in various parts of Hungary by the authority of Leo X by the bishops of Pécs and Sirmium and by the abbot of Gethlo, of the diocese of Pécs. Finally, the said Wadding goes on Ibid. l. c., a report of all the deeds, and a learned allegation of reasons in juridical manner for obtaining the canonization, was made for Leo X by a certain jurisconsult, after the pattern of that composed for the canonization of St. Bonaventure by Giovanni Francesco de' Pavini. He divided it into sixteen foundations or articles, which I here transcribe. “The first, he says, will be called the wonderful conversion of the Blessed Father himself to the Religious life of the Mendicant Order of St. Francis, with his singular fervor. The second, sacred doctrine with a multitude of books. The third, contempt of worldly and ecclesiastical dignities. The fourth, his surpassing virtues and signal merits. The fifth, his holy government with the liberation of the family of regular Observance. The sixth, patience in persecutions on account of zeal for God. The seventh, many labors, chaste morals and vigorous acts, etc. The eighth, the much glory that the Lord wrought with him, etc. The ninth, sufficiency in works of charity and innocence. The tenth, the renowned reputation of his blessedness and his precious death. The eleventh, the manifold insistence of those supplicating. The twelfth, the very great delay of times, studiously waited out. The thirteenth, the most diligent solemn inquiry held. The fourteenth, the pious devotion of the peoples toward him, ever growing. The fifteenth, the manifold fruit that has followed in the Catholic Church. The sixteenth, the long-continued shining of many true miracles.”

[423] excellent, Although the Cardinal of Sant'Angelo, or Carvajal, by the very impediments that he objected to the canonization, showed that he had suffered something human, he was nevertheless himself also a man conspicuous for holiness of morals and zeal for the Catholic faith. Of him Ciacconius writes Vit. RR. Pontt. et Card. tom. II, col. 925. et seqq.: For six years in those places (of Germany and Hungary), under an unhealthy sky and among that people, having discharged his legation, often staying in the camp, with soldiers marked with the cross by his diligence he went to meet the irruptions of the enemy; never deserted by his men, he never deserted himself. The force of the colds took away his teeth, and afflicted by many other hardships, he bore all things for Christ with an even and eager spirit, a man outstanding in learning and holiness, of great counsel, ever a most fierce assailant of heresies, excelling his whole life in the praise of integrity and continence. In his legations, which, on the witness of the Cardinal of Pavia, were thirty-two committed to him by the Church, he complied not only with the commands of the Roman Pontiffs but with their wishes; he composed very many peaces; he restored the liberty of the cardinalitial Order, lost in certain places. He retained the authority of papal legate, and exercised it with a ready spirit; he affected the peoples with great benefits, and deserved excellently of all: and when he had traveled through many regions, had always treated great matters, he brought into his private house nothing but the glory of a chaste priest… He lived in a modest house near the church of St. Marcellus, with no vanity of hangings or embroidered coverings: such also was the style and modesty of his household that the discipline of the holy old man was easily seen in it. Always intent on fasts, he supplied aid to the needy with a generous hand; he restored many sacred buildings; he most bravely gave patronage to the failing causes of the humbler sort. He always cultivated cheerfulness, which was so great and so continual in him that he seemed no less to delight men by pious festivity than to help them. Truly worthy of the Church and of the holy service of God, whom this age can without injury equal to those old fathers of the Church in its birth. Whatever blemish then there was in Cardinal Carvajal, the integrity of his whole life easily blotted out.

[424] processes are set up for the canonization, Moreover, while he was active in Germany, which he left in the year 1461, the Friars Minor were not only occupied in instructing processes for the canonization of St. Capistran, which in a vast region could be carried on without great noise, but already in the year 1459, with Pius II, successor of Calixtus, favoring, they began to press more openly for the canonization. The Pontiff himself, says Wadding Ann. tom. XIII. pag. 123., judged that an upright man should be sent into Germany and the adjoining kingdoms of Poland, Bohemia and Hungary, in which he was said to have performed so many marvelous works, to report complete records of his life, doctrine and miracles. There was chosen for this office John of Tagliacozzo, formerly companion of Capistran, an eyewitness of the chief things done by him, excellently versed in those far-off regions. For carrying out the business more easily and promoting it with the emperor, kings and princes of the empire, he employed as intercessors very many prelates of Italy, long familiar with Capistran, and all the noble cities in which he had preached. And Wadding at once presents the letters of Angelo Capranica, bishop of Rieti and legate of the city of Bologna for the Roman Church Ibid. l. c., of Francesco de' Monaldeschi, bishop and prince of Ascoli Annal. tom. XIII, pag. 124., of the Anziani and Consuls of Bologna Ibid. pag. 125., of the Anziani and the common people of Ascoli Ibid. l. c., of the deputies of the royal city of Padua Ibid. pag. 126., of the Provisors and deputies of the commonwealth of Treviso Ibid. l. c.; all of which aim at one thing, to magnify the virtues of the holy man, indeed most of them profess themselves witnesses of his holiness. We judge it superfluous to bring forward these letters, which Wadding recites word for word in the places cited above.

[425] which the princes seek, Similarly the princes, prelates and cities of Germany, Bohemia, Hungary and Poland gave letters to Pope Pius, in which with earnest prayers they sought that he should enter St. Capistran in the roll of the Saints. They gave these letters, says Wadding Ibid. pag. 216., to be carried to a certain Minorite, a grave and learned man, who died on the journey, as I have indicated elsewhere Ibid. tom. XII, pag. 415., and near death he commended them to a noble knight of Assisi, who was returning from Germany. He laid them up at home, and shortly afterward returned to Germany, where he died. His sons and grandsons, suspecting that something sacred was contained in so many papers, sheets and parchments, decently laid up the little chest in which they were enclosed, until I, staying in that city for some days and searching for records of the Order, learned that many writings concerning our affairs were kept in that house. I approached, I asked the man of the house to show me what was neglected with him, and perhaps opportune for me. He did so most kindly, and gladly handed over the little chest. With the greatest joy I beheld the letters that I here produce, directed to Pope Pius, written on parchment, sealed with great and wonderful seals; and while I open some, I see that all aim at that goal of canonizing Capistran. I showed them to Pope Urban VIII, to many cardinals and to princely men, whom it greatly pleased to behold the common opinion of those regions about the holiness of Capistran, and they ordered them to be kept for a suitable time, as they would perhaps at some time have effect. It is well to adduce some letters, by which is shown not only the opinion of holiness that flourished everywhere about our John, but also the zeal of faith that animated various cities now subject to heresy.

[426] and the Seraphic Order, Already at the beginning of the year 1459 Stephen of Vassan, Vicar of the Observants in the province of Hungary, gave a letter to Cobella, Countess of Celano, by which to sharpen her diligence in procuring the Saint's canonization. He first of all recalls the memory of the holy women who were solicitous about the burial of the Lord, and then goes on Wadd. Ann. tom. XIII, pag. 128.: This blessed Father, kindled with zeal for the Christian faith and moved for the salvation of souls, when he was traversing the climes of diverse regions of the world, I too was present in his company, the least and unworthy, and assisting him I remember that many times most sweet letters of your magnificence, written in your own hand, were delivered with all honor to that blessed Father, by which the Father himself, consoled, could not refrain from showing in words a token of reciprocal charity, knowing that whatever things were written in your letter were written for his consolation, and proceeded only from the fervor of good will and unblemished charity. This blessed Father therefore has now been taken away from this wicked world, to be crowned forever with the robe of immortality, and if, while he was still living in mortal flesh, we commended ourselves with the whole devotion of our mind, with all confidence, to his merits and prayers, desiring to be saved by his intercession, how much more ought we to commit ourselves to him whom we piously believe to have been advanced before the sight of the glory of the great God and crowned with glory and honor, whose principality also has been so confirmed that all who in necessities flee to him feel the patronage of his merits and prayers? This the wonderful works of signs prove. For at his invocation the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and many are freed from diverse illnesses. Blessed therefore is he who has not been scandalized in this blessed Father. If therefore, magnificent lady, you loved this blessed Father in his life with so great a devotion of mind, love him dead with the same and attend him with the zeal of humanity. Press on, labor and diligently apply your effort for his canonization, and promote it and hasten it with all your strength. Anyone can be ungrateful who bestows a benefit slowly or wearily; he who has done it slowly has surely long been unwilling… From our place of Zalard, 21st of January 1459.

[427] in particular Matthias, Matthias, son of Hunyadi, who had been elected king in the place of the dead Ladislaus in the year 1458, gave a letter to all the princes of the orthodox faith in Italy to promote the canonization of St. Capistran; which indeed we present the more gladly as it shows the more clearly that no ill will intervened between his father, John Hunyadi, and our Saint; and that Matthias without circumlocution poured back upon Capistran the glory of the victory won. Behold the letter Ibid. pag. 157.: Matthias, by the grace of God king

of Hungary, Dalmatia, Croatia, etc., to each and all the princes of the orthodox faith, dukes, margraves, counts, Anziani, priors, judges, and rectors of cities and communities, who shall see or hear these presents, health and prosperous success according to their wishes. We, who are commanded by the prophet to praise the Lord in his Saints, judge it worthy and in accord with right reason, nay due, that we praise, according to the measure of our possibility, with a certain more special devotion, Almighty God in those things which he has deigned to work, especially in our times, in this our age, through his servant of good memory Br. John of Capistrano, of the Friars Minor called of the Observance, whom the glorious God himself gave to us as a most pure mirror of most blameless life and a man of most holy conversation, for our glory and that of our kingdom, as it were another Apostle. For this blessed man, leaving his native soil, when he had resolved to traverse for the gathering of souls the diverse regions of the world, sowing everywhere the word of God as fervently as devoutly, after many sweats of holy preaching, at length by the divine nod, as we do not doubt, betook himself into this kingdom, the greatest part of which he held in the strength of his soul rather than his body, and he went around like a most robust young man, preaching everywhere, teaching without intermission concerning the kingdom of God. And because what he taught by word he showed by example, and his life and conversation did not differ from his doctrine, at once at his very entry the reputation of his holiness filled diverse parts of our said kingdom; and he was held so desirable by all that he thought himself most blessed who could see him or be consoled by his conversation.

[428] king of Hungary, whose letter So great a multitude continually flowed together to him from diverse parts of our kingdom, not only of the people but also of prelates and barons and nobles, that when he set forth the word of God to them, only a field or the broadest level of a square was able to hold them: for all who had sick persons brought them to him, as very many of our faithful testify that many who had been so brought, having received the grace of health, returned home with joy. But this man was accustomed in his humility to ascribe these and similar things not to his own merits, but to those of the most blessed Bernardine, whose biretta and holy Relics he carried with him, and placed on the heads of the sick, out of hatred of vainglory, with whose dust he refused to be defiled. This man did not lack a fervent desire of martyrdom, of being laureled in his own blood, if there had not lacked a persecutor who would have wished to rage against his blood, or could have by divine permission. He received the sign of the holy cross from the most reverend John, Cardinal of Sant'Angelo, Legate of the holy apostolic see: having received which, signed with the cross himself, he began to preach the cross, and in a small space of time he gained by his preaching a great multitude of crusaders, and he made their spirits, for receiving the greatly to be dreaded onset of the most savage Turks, the enemies of the cross of Christ, not only bold, but also daring, like lions rushing most impetuously upon their prey.

[429] most honorable to the Saint, And when a very great multitude of Turks had besieged Nándorfehérvár, a castle on the border of our said kingdom, there being brought there infinite pixides and bombards, and all the warlike contrivances that the cunning of the unbelievers could devise for storming that castle, with the illustrious prince, of pious memory our lord and father John Hunyadi, that blessed Father, ready to die for the Catholic faith, entered with the crusaders into that castle, so strongly besieged. Already on that side, where so fierce a war had grown most hot, the wall of the outer castle, destroyed by warlike contrivances, was so leveled to the ground, and the ditches also so filled, that entrance and exit lay freely open to the Turks, and already twice battle had been joined on the outer level ground of the castle; when the army of Christ at the exhortation of the blessed man, in the acclamation of the Name of Jesus, which war-cry and military signal it had received from that blessed man to shout in war, boldly and in the greatest strength of spirit rather than of force, about to fight more by faith than by iron, rushed on the enemy; then the blessed John himself, standing in a more elevated place, that the soldier of Christ might fight in the hands of all, by his exhortation provoked all to fight mightily. Why should we linger? After many sweats of so fierce a war, the army of Satan was crushed, turned to flight from the face of the soldiers of Christ, and with great ignominy, after vast slaughter, leaving behind all pixides, bombards, engines and other warlike contrivances, withdrew confounded by night. A glorious victory over the enemy having at length been won by the unarmed people of Christ (if we can call unarmed a people whom the faith of Christ had splendidly armed), the castle itself came forth free from the enemy. Who would doubt that this so signal a victory is to be ascribed to the merits of that blessed man? Finally the man full of good works, in exchange for this transitory and perishable life received a life, as we do not doubt, to last without end, commending his soul to heaven, his body to earth. After whose happy passing, those infinite miracles and prodigies, which Almighty God does not cease to work, even up to the present, for the declaring of the merit and glory of his servant, at the invocation of the name of the blessed John, and for the sick brought to his tomb, or at least through some vow made in his honor, as the faithful testimonies of some of our faithful make us more certain, clearly demonstrate that the most holy soul of that blessed man, taken up into the company of the Saints, is flooded with everlasting joy. And because we have judged it worthy that he should be honored by all on earth whom the Almighty has so exalted in heaven, after our happy election to the summit of the royal dignity, divinely brought about, it has always been our special care to press for the canonization of so great a man and of so blameless a life before our most holy Lord the supreme Pontiff: which we should undoubtedly have done, if the disturbances of our kingdom, by which it has been until now shaken in diverse ways, had not hindered us from this holy purpose. We pray that an end may be put to the said disturbances, whereupon, the Lord granting it, we shall altogether press for the canonization of the same blessed man, as is our purpose. And we exhort you, O Christian princes of Italy, to be willing to be as favorable to this most holy matter as you are nearer to the apostolic see. Given at Buda, this 22nd day of the month of March in the year of the Lord 1460.

[430] as also that by Nicholas of Ilok At about the same time, namely on Passion Sunday, on which at the introit is sung Judica me, the 30th of March, that is, Easter falling on the 13th of April, Nicholas of Újlak directed a similar letter to all the princes, to urge the canonization of St. Capistran; in which, having recounted his merits briefly, he says Wadd. Ann. tom. XIII, pag. 160.: After the aforesaid and many other things wonderfully accomplished by him, with many merits, in our said city of Ilok, as he always wished, he happily migrated from the world. After whose happy death signs at once began to appear, and have so grown up to this present day that to his most holy tomb, as to the tomb of an Apostle, peoples flow together from every side; of which miracles no small register has been made. Almighty God does not cease to work miracles through his most faithful servant, of which miracles, although we have certainty by the truthful report of our faithful, we have also seen with our own eyes some, held by various languors, freed through the merits of that blessed man. We have also heard that our most serene king said before many barons and nobles that he had been freed from prison and elected king, having made a vow to that blessed Father. We too have experienced in our own person the manifold grace of that blessed man: for when we were suffering a very great dizziness of the head, as soon as our head was bound with a certain small cloth that had been for the use of that man of God, all the infirmity went away… Now we shall arrange that both my most serene lord the king and we also send special and notable envoys to our most holy Lord the Pope and to the college of Cardinals for this cause.

[431] to all the princes, are recited. The letter of their prince Nicholas was corroborated by the testimony of the citizens of Ilok, when under the 9th of April 1460 they write Wadd. Ann. tom. XIII, pag. 161.: We indeed, who make constant stay in this our city, are able to be true witnesses of those prodigies and miracles which the Most High does not cease to work through the merits of the blessed man: since from diverse parts, far and near, we behold innumerable people from every side in troops at the tomb of that blessed man; among whom we discern some brought from blindness to seeing light clearly, others cured of deafness, others healed of muteness, others restored from inability to walk to an upright step, others fully freed from paralysis, some contracted and withered restored to entire health, very many freed from demons, those laboring in extremity and in agony rescued from the jaws of death, and also others, for whom hope of life had perished and who had been dead, a vow being made for them to that blessed John, that they returned safe, we have so many times experienced and experience incessantly. Nevertheless there are many other things, which it would be long to recount with the pen, which are held registered with us in the monastery of the glorious Virgin among the Friars Minor, whose truth is clear and manifest to us. Giovanni Battista Barberio in the Latin Life of St. John of Capistrano published an instrument, drawn up by public authority, in which many miracles of every kind are reported: but whether the people of Ilok in the cited letter allude to this document is not certain to me, especially since in it there are narrated miracles that happened some days after the letter was written. I should believe, however, that it is a question of this same instrument, both because it does not exceed the month of April 1460, in which the letter was written, and because in the proem nearly the same forms of words are used as in the letter. The instrument itself we shall subjoin to the Lives of the Saint to be published below.

§ XXXVIII. Letters given by princes and cities of Germany are recited, in which the canonization of St. John of Capistrano is urged.

The emperor Frederick III writes to the Pontiff, The primacy that both the king and people of Hungary had taken in procuring the canonization of St. Capistran was shortly followed by other princes and cities. The emperor Frederick III on the 24th of October 1461 gave a letter to Pius II, in which he urged the same cause. He writes Ibid. pag. 188.: To the most holy Father in Christ and Lord, Lord Pius II, by divine providence supreme Pontiff of the most holy and universal Church, our most reverend Lord. Most blessed Father, most reverend Lord, The religious Brothers Gabriel of Verona and the others of the Order of Minors commonly called of the Observance, established in our hereditary lands, fruitful doctrine, and also the conversation of morals and of a blessed life

of Br. John of Capistrano of good memory, while he lived a professed member of the same Order, which we have long known by experience to be praiseworthy, recalling to our memory with sincere affections, have so kindled us with fervor of love toward him that him whom we gladly honored while he lived in the world we now desire from our inmost heart to venerate dead, so far as is becoming. Since therefore, most blessed Father, report proclaims that the aforesaid Br. John of Capistrano not only shone in life but even, stripped of human things, shines forth with miracles and prodigies, deservedly, as we judge, to be kindly considered: we beseech Your Holiness, with what veneration we can, that, if the business of his canonization should perhaps happen to be treated before Your Holiness and the holy apostolic see, in view also of these our prayers, you may deign out of the favorable and accustomed clemency of Your Beatitude to have the processes usually observed in such matters instituted more quickly, and to commit and direct the matter itself; so that we may feel that our affection in these things has been heard; lest among others perhaps about to petition in this matter we be reckoned the later, the hearing being most welcome to us and to be acknowledged as a singular benefit. Given on the 24th of October 1461.

[433] various princes and bishops of Germany, On the same day Frederick sent a letter to all the princes and cities of Germany, in which he exhorts them Ibid. pag. 189. that for the honor of God and for the piety of so venerable a man and of a work of this kind they be willing to bestow their favors on his purpose. To the emperor's exhortation, who again sent the same letter to the Pope in the following year, kindly ears were lent, and similar letters were given to the Pontiff from Regensburg by the brothers John and Sigismund, palatines of the Rhine and dukes of Bavaria Ibid. pag. 217.; by Rupert, Count palatine of the Rhine, duke of Bavaria and administrator of the Church of Regensburg Ibid. l. c.; by Albert, margrave of Brandenburg and burgrave of Nuremberg Ibid. pag. 218.; by Conrad, duke of Silesia Ibid. l. c.; by Andrew Odrowąż, palatine of Lviv Ibid. pag. 219.; by Peter, Cardinal bishop of Augsburg Ibid. l. c.; by the bishops of Kraków Ibid. pag. 220., Olomouc Ibid. pag. 221., Meissen Ibid. pag. 222. and Eichstätt Ibid. pag. 223., by the Castellans of Kraków Ibid. l. c. and Landensis Ibid. pag. 224.; nor did the towns of Germany neglect their part, in which the Saint had once discharged his sacred ministry. To consult brevity, we shall report chiefly the letters written by those cities which half a century later fell away from the Catholic faith. The doctors and masters of the University of Leipzig on the morrow of St. Bartholomew, that is, on the 25th of August 1462, gave this letter to Pope Pius Ibid. pag. 228.: With most humble obedience and most devout reverence, themselves to the kisses of your blessed feet. Most blessed Father and most clement Lord. Since by a letter of exhortation of the Imperial majesty, lately shown to us, certain brothers of the Order of St. Francis, who are called of the Observance, on behalf of their vicar general have with devout requests begged us that we deign to bear faithful testimony in writing, to be produced in its time before Your Holiness, concerning the life and conversation of the most devout late brother of happy memory, John of Capistrano, of the same Order, so far as is established to us by experience and truly:

[434] the academy We, favorably assenting to so holy an intention and so pious a desire, recollecting from memory the things that became known to us about that same eminent man by the diligent tracking of investigation, recite them in pure and simple narration in this our letter. For it is established to us that after that same venerable man some years ago, going about in Germany and traversing various places, had labored by his preachings and doctrines to turn back to the uprightness of the Christian life many walking in the crooked windings of the way of morals, he also turned aside in person to us in the town of Leipzig *: where, remaining continuously for over a whole month, he discoursed of evangelical and apostolic truth in a certain devout and effectual and gentle kind of exhortation, now arguing, now beseeching, now rebuking, now also in a mild, now in a stern, now in a compunctive exhortation, always pleasing to all, never fruitless, unlocking some hidden things of theological truth, also explaining more limpidly certain rules of Christian conversation according to the institutions of the sacred canons: with sound doctrine, with sober speech he preached to the people of both estates, held in suspense by most devout attention, and by his exhortation not moderately amended. For, attracted by these his exhortations, within a short time more than seventy of us, scholars and masters, putting aside the trappings of this world, took the habit of his Religious Order. The common people also, pricked by his admonitions, at once put behind them many levities of games hitherto customary, and many obscenities of diversions. Nor is it a marvel; since the exemplarity of a good life and the renown of pleasing eloquence, which according to the estimation of all flourished splendidly in him, more easily and effectually, according to the psalmist, gave to his voice the voice of power.

[435] and the magistracy of Leipzig By this double grace, then, and besides by the glory of miracles, of which report has been spread abroad, and many among us assert that they have experience, that same most religious Father, endowed with the copious gift of God, merited in the estimation of very many to be marked with the title of holiness while still living; and therefore they have raised him even to the stars with wonderful praises; nor do they now doubt that for his so vigorous labors and the works of so great a solicitude he has merited the prize of supernal blessedness. These our testimonies, therefore, and those of others, Most Blessed Father, let Your Holiness weigh and diligently examine, and, as the just and sole father of the family in the house of the Church militant, consider and judge what and how much of reward is to be given to so renowned a laborer, who in the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth has labored for so long a time, so laboriously, so fruitfully and faithfully for the daily denarius, that thus what is his may be given to him according to the law of justice. And may the Lord Jesus our God deign to preserve your holiness happily in a prosperous and tranquil state and for a long time. Given in the town of Leipzig in the year of the Lord 1462 on the morrow of St. Bartholomew, under the seal of the rectorate. The academy of Leipzig had been erected nearly fifty years before by Frederick the Warlike, Landgrave of Thuringia and duke of Saxony; which erection Alexander V confirmed at Pisa on the fifth before the ides of September 1409 [Cfr Georgisch. Regesta. sub. ann. 1409, num. 50. Luce. Europäesch. Helikon, pag. 660.]. On the day before, the magistracy of Leipzig had given a similar letter to Pope Pius, in which the same things are reported as the academy had recounted: but it says one thing more explicitly, namely that among the seventy whom St. Capistran added to the Order some were distinguished by the honor of the mastership, others by nobility of blood, others by abundance of riches, and others by stature of body Wadd. Ann. tom. XIII, pag. 238.. The magistracy of Magdeburg transcribed the Leipzig letter, with the necessary changes, says Wadding Ibid. pag. 239., on the 2nd of September of the same year.

[436] the city of Dresden. The people of Dresden similarly testified that St. Capistran is held worthy, by the splendor of holiness and miracles, to be placed in the catalog of the Saints. Because, they say Ibid. pag. 233., it is not becoming that the deeds of the great and the praises and merits of the good should be passed over in perpetual silence, that by continual report itself a truth-telling fame may proclaim in remote places for their testimony and for an example to others; hence it is that, a singular benevolence and consideration being first had concerning the venerable father and devout brother John of Capistrano, of the Order of Minors called of the Observance, we attest that, according to the demand of his virtuous morals, he was of praiseworthy life, of fragrant reputation, and of commendable conversation, while he was among men: especially the assiduity of his labors shone out as he stayed for some time with us, while by the outpouring of the divine word, by which he bore very many good fruits, he brought back a multitude of the people to the way of virtue, restrained them from evil customs and enormities, removed them from games of dice and similar hurtful vanities of this kind, and suitably fitted them to the divine service; and moreover he shone with very many miracles. The reputation of the renowned life of this honorable Br. John of Capistrano we desire the more fervently to reach the feet of Your Holiness. In view of all of which, together with other towns professing the orthodox faith, which, as we have clearly learned, implore Your Holiness with what humble prayers they can for his canonization, that he be inscribed in the catalog of the Saints, we likewise direct devout prayers before your blessed feet, that for the praise of God and of his Mother, the honor of his Saints, and also the increase of the whole Church militant, and the everlasting memory of your most holy paternity, your clemency may not disdain to attend to the canonization and holiness of the said so great father, and, according to the very great wisdom of your clemency, to which we leave this matter, favorably to hear our prayers. May the most high King strengthen it and make it to abound in happy successes. Given at Dresden on the 9th day of the month of August in the year of the Lord 1462.

[437] the people of Lubań and Halle The consuls and sworn men of the town of Lubań, at the instance, they say Wadd. Ann. tom. XIII, pag. 239., of the brothers of the Order of Minors of the province of Saxony, offered similar prayers to the Pontiff, in which they testify that he notoriously and manifestly lived in a praiseworthy manner in their city, utterly desolated twenty-five times by the damned heresy of the Hussites, at Lubań and in other cities lying around; and that, as experience teaches, he worked very many signs on the sick and frail in the midst of many, after the invocation of the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord and of the Holy Father Bernardine. And especially, they say, in our city of Lubań he restored to health, God being propitious, a certain vicar of the church of the Order of Minors, then walking among us on crutches… Given in the year 1462, on the 5th day of the month of September. The magistracy of Halle, of the diocese of Magdeburg, sets forth more explicitly what great labors the man of God sustained for all Saxony. Almighty God, they say, who created all things by his word, to whose power nothing is difficult, has so excellently shown his marvels in the said so renowned a man, that all Saxony, after the manner of flowers in spring, has been filled far and wide with a most sweet scent, and as it were with a most fragrant odor of Christ. All Saxony cries out that he was beloved of God and men, austere in life, ripe in morals, renowned in knowledge, nay a shining exemplar of the whole Christian religion. The same we have seen, this we testify: for after very many perilous crises of the roads on account of the plots of the Bohemians, whom he strove to bring back to the union of the holy Roman Church, a safe-conduct having been denied him, as is reported, by that man of damned memory, John of Rokycana, leavened, alas! with many errors, and by his followers, strayed from the faith, lest he should have run in vain, he scattered the seed of the word of God, not without fruit, through Thuringia, Meissen, Saxony and other neighboring places. At length he also turned aside to our town, and it did not displease him to discourse to us from the most pious secret of his breast, generously, the salutary doctrine of evangelical and apostolic truth, with wonderful effort, fervent zeal, and modest eloquence and prudence: for a most copious flock of both sexes, flowing together far and wide, even from the remote bounds of the world, divine

grace illumining him, he called away from contempt of the world, and to love of heavenly things, and by vigilant care he provoked them to rules and norms and expositions by which they might attempt this: besides he took away very many abuses from every estate, and utterly enervated among us the levities of games and the curiosities of frivolous women, vain ornaments, and other baseness, and the windings of morals. Moreover he did a thing worthy of note, that the gulf of usuries, both of Jews and also of Christians, and contracts not in accord with the divine laws were utterly sent into exile from among us. For this perfidious race of the Jews, since it would not be subject to such divine laws, being utterly and from the roots torn away from us, the said vices with their authors stand rejected far from us. Many besides, for the fruit of a better life, giving a bill of divorce to the world, joined themselves among us to the Order of the Religious life of the said Father. And in truth we most firmly believe and in no way hesitate that the so renowned deeds of the said Father could by no means have been accomplished by human industry only, if the interior teacher and divine anointing had not taught him. Very many assert moreover, although we have not seen it, how by a singular gift the Most High confirmed the sermons of so pious a Father with signs and prodigies cooperating… Given at Halle in the year of the Lord 1462, on the 6th day of the month of September.

[438] the people of Wrocław and others; Letters of similar tenor were given to the Pontiff by the cities of Nowy Targ Ibid. pag. 225., Brno Ibid. pag. 226., Nysa Ibid. pag. 227., and Wrocław, which has this special thing Ibid. l. c.: We are silent, they say, about the many most beautiful churches and cloisters built by him against heretical depravity, in which, increasing the divine honor, he laid no feeble foundation for the Catholic faith. Nor do we doubt, nay we believe that the world is not unaware, with how great miracles he shone in life, which, nay his whole life not being hidden from Your Holiness, set forth a truer testimony of his holiness. Among other things, however, that we may not be silent about the holiness of so great a man, we recite one: when he was with us, very many years before, he foretold to the point, like an ancient prophet, all that has now befallen the city and us, which it would be long to set down in writing, and which we think no slight testimony of his holiness, in which the people of Wrocław rejoice today, and have fixed the anchor of their hope as on a prophecy. The people of Olomouc further testify to his miracles in these words Ibid. pag. 228.: Whom also, knowing that for his signal merits he shines forth not only in life, but now stripped of human things, with great miracles and prodigies in very many places, we are not sufficient to recommend to Your Holiness… There stand open miracles, done by him, as has been said, when he stayed at one time with us, which, if it be opportune, will be plainly evident before Your Holiness by most clear testimonies. And to these are to be subjoined similar letters of the cities of Meissen Ibid. pag. 234., Oschatz Ibid. l. c., Grossenhain Ibid. pag. 235., Torgau Ibid. pag. 236., Wittenberg Ibid. l. c., Grimma Ibid. l. c., Ezcellusten Ibid. pag. 238., Magdeburg Ibid. l. c., Halle Ibid. pag. 239., Lewenburg Ibid. pag. 241., Arnstadt Ibid. l. c., Coburg Ibid. pag. 242., Nuremberg Ibid. l. c., Bamberg Ibid. pag. 243., Regensburg Ibid. l. c., Augsburg Ibid. pag. 244., Kraków Ibid. pag. 245., Kościan Ibid. pag. 246., Uscow Ibid. pag. 247., and Gobilinum Ibid. l. c..

[439] and a decade later But all these letters, written about the end of the year 1462 or the beginning of the following, did not reach the hands of Pope Pius II: the causes of the neglected delivery we have brought forward above at no. 425. Although a delay seemed to have been thrown in the way of promoting the cause of canonization, yet some of the more fervent did not cease to urge it. Thus when in the year 1472 the Turks were again threatening Hungary, seeing that in the autumn season, with no one resisting, they had harried a great part of eastern Hungary Timon. Epitom. chron. rer. Hung. pag. 83., Elizabeth, mother of Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary, directed the following letter to Pope Sixtus IV Wadd. Ann. tom. XIV, pag. 72.: Most blessed Father and our most clement Lord, after the kisses of the blessed feet of Your Holiness. It is not hidden from Your Holiness that the knowledge of Br. John Capistrano, formerly an eminent preacher, is held worthy of praiseworthy and renowned memory. For this man while living, most renowned in the whole Christian world, as an evangelical herald, passed through various parts of the world, both of Christians and of schismatics and heretics, evangelizing the word of God, and he brought back very many strangers to the faith to the sincere faith by his sermons: he also shone with some signs while still living and, setting out against the enemies of the cross of Christ, the most savage Turks, with the common people, he encouraged by assiduous exhortations the troops of the people to fight manfully for the Catholic faith, that they might oppose themselves fearlessly and boldly against the mightiest army of the Turks, so that some of those Christians, laying aside the arms that protected them, snatching up in their hands only swords or blades, fearlessly penetrated the strongest lines of the army of the Turks, and in the conflict wrought the greatest slaughter in the army of the pagans, nor did they fear to give themselves to death for the name of Christ at the exhortation of the aforesaid man: where, a glorious victory having been won, and a very great multitude of the enemy put to flight, no small gain was carried off from the spoils of the pagans: after which Br. John himself, seized by illness, paid the debt of humanity by a death at once victorious and glorious.

[440] Elizabeth, mother of King Matthias. Although he has migrated from this world, yet as though still living, even after death, shining with frequent miracles, he assiduously preaches to the troops of peoples through the benefits bestowed on them; whose canonization and inscription in the catalog of the Saints by Your Holiness the whole number of Christians, not only of the kingdom of Hungary, but also the peoples of other Christian kingdoms, desire with very great affection. And we too with our son, the illustrious king Matthias, wish with very great desire that this be accomplished by Your Holiness. Wherefore we beg Your Holiness with most humble prayers that according to the custom of the holy Roman Church Your Holiness may deign to commit to some Catholic prelates of Churches the beginning of this desired matter; who, examination being made and the truth found, may be able to inform Your Holiness more fully concerning those things that are necessarily required for such a canonization. These being duly found and approved, we ask yet more insistently of Your Holiness with the whole affection of our heart, that Your Holiness may deign, by a renowned inscription in the catalog of the Saints, to make known in the whole Christian world the aforesaid man, whom the Christian people proclaim to be blessed and holy, as truly a Saint to be venerated by all. In which matter, most blessed father, most clement lord, there will truly be great honor to God: for God himself will be venerated and honored in his Saint, if he be canonized, by all with most devout worship, and the Christian people will be greatly strengthened and established by this in the sincerity of the Catholic faith; and nonetheless the race of schismatics, of whom there is a very great multitude round about the place where the body of the blessed man lies entombed, will by this either, God calling them, be converted, or will at least incur shame in their errors, and will render to the sacred Christian faith the honor of the truth. Moreover Your Holiness will accomplish a thing very useful to us and to the kingdom of Hungary in this work of canonization, and the same Holiness will kindly confer a most welcome gift of apostolic bounty, which we undoubtedly trust and hope will be fulfilled and accomplished by Your Holiness. There will not be lacking, moreover, most blessed father, from this kingdom also the aids that are necessarily required for a work of this kind. May the Most High preserve Your Holiness long and happily for the government of his most holy Church. Given at Old Buda, on the 8th day of the month of August, in the year of the Lord 1473.

* Leipsig

§ XXXIX. The cult of St. John of Capistrano, delayed for a long time, is at length permitted by Leo X and Gregory XV.

The cult delayed for a long time Above at no. 425 of this Commentary we gave the reason why so many letters, most insistently seeking the canonization of St. Capistran, obtained no effect. Amandus Hermann, the Saint's biographer, as if fearing lest the delay in canonizing the blessed man should bring some detriment to his fame, shows Capistr. triumph. pag. 749. that St. Bonaventure was first canonized two hundred and eight years after his death, since that doctor, although he had been head of a most ample Religious Order, doctor of the academy of Paris, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, who deserved excellently of the apostolic See in the council of Lyons, so fell from the memory of all, so lay in obscurity, that neither the professed of his own institute, nor his fellow members, the masters of Paris, nor his colleague Cardinals, nor finally the Supreme Pontiffs, and especially that truly greatest Gregory X, designated by Bonaventure for the highest summit of eminence and through whom in turn, by reciprocal affection, he grew to such glory, and under whom he departed from this life, girded themselves to procure his canonization, whom nevertheless they could otherwise easily judge by the merits of his virtues and the signs of his miracles to be reigning with the heavenly ones. This reputation of holiness, shining out immediately from the death of St. Bonaventure, is clearly explained by a contemporary author in the Brief Note of the things done in the Council of Lyons Labbe, tom. XI, part. I Conc. col. 960.: In the same year, he says (1274), and month (July), on Sunday, the 15th of the same, at the morning hour, there died Br. Bonaventure of renowned memory, bishop of Albano, who was a man of eminent knowledge and eloquence, indeed a man outstanding in holiness, adorned with a most excellent life, commiseration * and morals, kind, affable, pious and merciful, full of virtues, beloved of God and men, who was buried on the very Sunday in the place of the Friars Minor at Lyons, at whose obsequies the Lord Pope was present with all the prelates who were at the council and the whole curia. To the holiness of St. Capistran, therefore, a later canonization ought not to do harm, which fastened no stain on the glory of St. Bonaventure.

[442] various causes of St. Capistran's are alleged: Moreover, various writers bring forward various causes of the delay. Amandus Hermann holds as the chief one a lack of money necessary for canonization: which was being absorbed by the continual Turkish war; whence, he says Capistr. triumph. pag. 750., the canonization of Saints was not so much attended to, when the expenses collected and the very sacred furnishings of the churches had to be sold off to gather the sinews of war. To this matter he brings forward a diploma of Louis, king of Hungary, given on the Thursday next before the feast of the Nativity of Blessed John the Baptist (21st of June) 1524, in which he confesses that by indult of Clement VII he had levied among other things the money given by the late most illustrious Lawrence of Ilok, duke of Bosnia, for the canonization of the late religious Br. John of Capistrano; and at the same time he promises that he will return the said money when the expedition is finished. Whether the money was ever restored, we strongly doubt, if the things are true which the said

Hermann reports a little below; namely that Innocent XI, when funds were lacking, bestowed the first thousand Roman scudi by way of alms, to which other moneys were afterward added, by which the canonization could at length be accomplished. The objections opposed to the cause of Capistran have already been set out and refuted above at nos. 419 and following.

[443] at length Leo X, Although the insinuations of men, otherwise most weighty, already refuted elsewhere, delayed the cause of the canonization of Capistran, at length the pious endeavors of the devout prevailed, and a beginning of the cult to be paid to the blessed man was made in his native place, Capistrano. Of this matter we have as witness a letter of Cardinal Bernardo Dovizi, commonly surnamed Bibbiena from the town of his origin, Bibbiena, of the diocese of Florence, of the following tenor Wadd. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 417.: Bernard, by divine mercy deacon Cardinal of St. Mary in Portico, of Bibbiena, to each and all who shall inspect the present letter, we attest and make known that our most holy Lord Leo X, Supreme Pontiff, in the preceding year, on the day of St. Sylvester, granted, when we were indeed present, at the petition of Br. Christopher of Forlì, vicar general of the Order of the Observance, that in the diocese and territory of Capistrano the feast of Blessed John of Capistrano may be celebrated, in view of the very great devotion with which the peoples are affected toward the aforesaid Blessed; in such a way that nothing can be imputed or objected to the celebration of that very feast. Which feast ought to be celebrated on the 23rd day of October both by the brothers themselves and by the secular clergy also, and by others who wish, in the diocese and territory of Capistrano, and this for perpetual future times; restraining all objectors whatever under pain of excommunication latae sententiae. In faith of which we have ordered the present letter to be made, subscribed by our own hand, and fortified by the approval of our seal. Given at Rome in the apostolic palace, on the 4th day of October 1515, in the third year of the pontificate of our Most Holy Lord Leo X, Pope by divine providence.

[444] and after him the Sacred Congregation of Rites The cult of the blessed man was next increased by Gregory XV, who extended the concession formerly made to the people of Capistrano to the whole Order of St. Francis of both sexes: first indeed through a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, approved by Gregory XV, as Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte attests in these words Barber. vit. lat. pag. 179.: Whereas by Pope Leo X of happy memory, in the year 1514 (rather in the year 1515, since all the codices carry the third year of the pontificate, which took its beginning on the 11th of March 1513) it was granted that on the 23rd day of October the feast of Blessed John of Capistrano could be celebrated by all in the diocese and territory of Capistrano itself, the Sacred Congregation of Rites, having seen the aforesaid concession at the command of our Most Holy Lord, at the instance of the Reverend Father Br. Benignus of Genoa, minister general of the Order of St. Francis, judged, if it should please the same Holiness, that the aforesaid favor could be extended to all, both brothers and nuns, of that whole Order, as regards the Office under a double rite from the Common of Confessors not Pontiffs, to be recited on the aforesaid day; but as regards the Mass, also to any secular priests whatever celebrating in the churches of the Friars of St. Francis. The same Most Holy One, having heard from us the inclination of the Sacred Congregation, approved the above-said decree with the plenitude of apostolic authority. For since the cult of the blessed man among the Christian people and the veneration of his virtues increases daily, it is fitting also that the glory and veneration that follow those virtues should likewise be propagated. Francesco Maria Cardinal del Monte. Place † of the seal. Giovanni Battista Rinuccini, secretary.

[445] whose decree Gregory XV approves, This decree, given on the 16th of July 1622, Gregory confirmed by his letter under the ring of the fisherman in these words Wadd. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 417.: Pope Gregory XV, for the perpetual memory of the matter. Acting on earth, although unworthy, in the place of our Lord Jesus Christ, who rewards his servants in heaven with the prize of eternal glory, we are bound by the debt of the pastoral office enjoined on us from above to take care that the due veneration of these servants of Christ be promoted more from day to day, and that the Lord be praised in his Saints. Wherefore we gladly assent to the wishes of any of the faithful, but especially of those serving the Most High under the yoke of sweet religion, which regard the particular cult of servants of this kind, according as we perceive it to be salutarily expedient in the Lord. Indeed on the part of our beloved sons the minister general and the Reformed friars of the Order of St. Francis it has lately been set forth to us that at another time, by Pope Leo X of happy memory, our predecessor, in the year MDXV it was granted that on the 23rd day of October the feast of Blessed John of Capistrano could be celebrated by all in the diocese and territory of Capistrano itself. Since however, as the same petition added, the aforesaid friars, for the affection of devotion they bear toward that blessed John, and for increasing the devotion of Christ's faithful toward him, greatly desire the concession of our said predecessor Leo to be extended by us as below; we, wishing to assent kindly to these wishes of the same friars, as far as we can with the Lord, and to attend them with special favors and graces, and, absolving by the tenor of these presents their individual persons from any excommunication, suspension and interdict, and other ecclesiastical sentences, censures and penalties, imposed by law or by man on any occasion or for any cause, if they are in any way bound by them, for the effect only of obtaining the present grant, and judging them to be absolved, inclined by the supplications humbly offered to us in their name concerning this, by the counsel of our venerable brothers the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church set over the sacred rites, by whom the said concession of our predecessor Leo was seen at our command, by apostolic authority, by the tenor of these presents, perpetually extend and enlarge that same concession to all, both brothers and nuns, of the whole Order of St. Francis, as regards the Office from the Common of a Confessor not a Pontiff, to be recited on the aforesaid day: but as regards the Mass also to any secular priests whatever celebrating in the churches of the friars of the Order of St. Francis. Notwithstanding apostolic constitutions and ordinances, and anything else to the contrary whatever. Given at Rome, at St. Mary Major, under the ring of the fisherman, on the 10th day of September 1622, in the second year of our pontificate. Scipione Cardinal of St. Susanna.

[446] public cult is permitted; From these decrees of Leo and Gregory it is manifest that a formal beatification did not intervene in the cause of St. John of Capistrano: but that his cult was, as is commonly said in similar processes, an excepted case, inasmuch as, as Prospero Lambertini says in book II of On the Beatification and Canonization of the Servants of God, chapter XVII, no. 1, there were for our Saint pontifical diplomas permitting, as we saw above, his cult. But hence arose a new difficulty, which, as the said Lambertini says in book I, chapter XXXII, no. 3, Prospero Bottini, archbishop of Myra and promoter of the faith, proposed in the cause of the canonization of our Saint; namely that safely in a cause that had proceeded by way of excepted case one could not come to canonization, when, that is, the approval of only two miracles of the third kind had been added. But the Sacred Congregation of Rites in the cause of St. John of Capistrano judged, by a decree issued on the 13th of June 1679, that two miracles suffice, even in an excepted case, because, by the opinion of the doctors, relying on canon 52 de testib. et attest. (II, 20), the number two makes a plurality, and thus, since the cited canon treats of inquiring into the life and miracles, two miracles suffice to confirm the holiness of any servant of God, and thus for paying him the honors of canonization.

[447] a hymn with Collect is subjoined. Further, from those decrees the cult of our John began to take greater increases. His fellow friars, says Wadding Ann. tom. XII, pag. 420., frequently sang a rather short hymn in his honor, to which, on the witness of Barberio Vit. Ital. pag. 231., a collect or prayer was appended; we give both:

O famous soldier of Christ,

John, in voice and deed

In these latest days

Thou hast appeared renowned.

Thou by the cross dost rout the Turks,

Thou by the cross dost heal diseases,

Thou by the cross dost help all those

Of whom thou wast the leader.

Implore for us pardon

And constancy of faith,

The keeping of the law of Christ,

Whom thou didst truly love.

℣ Pray for us, blessed John of Capistrano,

℞ That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray. O God, who didst wonderfully exalt thy Church by the merits and doctrine of blessed John of Capistrano, and through him didst make thy faithful triumph over perfidious tyrants in the power of the most holy Name of Jesus, grant, we beseech thee, that, prevailing over our enemies on earth by his intercession, we may merit to be rewarded with him in heaven. Through the same Lord.

* conversatione?

§ XL. Julius Caesar Fagnani, consistorial advocate, delivers an oration before Pope Alexander VII for the canonization of Blessed John of Capistrano.

Before Pope Alexander VII Julius Caesar Fagnani The cult of St. John of Capistrano, which Gregory XV had extended to the whole Order of St. Francis, added new goads, that his canonization might at length be procured. Giovanni Battista Barberio, in the Life of the Saint written in Latin, reports an oration held in public consistory, when Pope Alexander VII decorated with the red hat Pascual of Aragon, created Cardinal on the 5th of April 1660 Cfr Ciac. Vit. Rom. Pontt. et Cardd. tom. IV, col. 749.. The oration was pronounced by Julius Caesar Fagnani, advocate of the consistorial court, and we present it here from Barberio Vit. lat. Part. II, pag. 181.: Conspicuous by the light of his virtues, with the most distinguished titles of illustrious merits, there comes before Your Holiness, most blessed Father, there comes the most mighty athlete of Christ, the glory of the Seraphic Order, the tamer of heretics, the terror of unbelievers, the champion of the Christian commonwealth, Blessed John of Capistrano; he comes admirable not so much by the splendor of his birth as by the glory of his deeds and the course of his whole life most holily led; he comes also at the very time when the renowned company of the provinces of Germany beholds the squalls of the storm of war, and recalls and records that this same man was once a most vigorous unarmed warrior for protecting her and repelling enemies; he comes, and perhaps not at an unsuitable time, that a most invincible soldier may be crowned by the supreme leader of the Catholic Church.

[449] he sets out that St. Capistran, noble by birth, There is a town in ancient Samnium at the head of the river Aternus, they call it Capistrano, which, though other things should be lacking, which are by no means lacking, one Capistran sufficiently makes illustrious and ennobles, who neither allows the name to be unknown, and extends the lasting glory of fame widely into distant shores and into all the memory of posterity. In that town, of parents especially noble and splendidly furnished with the goods of fortune, but most conspicuous for piety and concord, in the year of Christian salvation 1385 John obtained the light of life, about to give the world a light that knows no setting; of a mother of Capistrano, of a German father, who, when he had come into Italy in the retinue of the duke of Anjou, had fixed his seat and domicile at Capistrano, taking a wife from that place and having children. But scarcely had he begun to enter

on life, scarcely had he been able to attempt the first essays of words, when illustrious prodigies of a lofty and heroic nature hastening to great things flashed forth; and thus, diligently trained in those arts by which boyhood is customarily shaped to humanity, early wise beyond his years, he came to the Italian Athens, to the most noble emporium of the best disciplines, to the august academy of the Etruscans, Perugia; where what a zeal for study and vigil at once appeared, and how great, what a capacity for laboring and finishing a task, and with what ever unconquered constancy throughout nearly a whole decade? Applied day and night, assiduous, untiring, stubborn, to what glory of both laws and of the whole encyclopedia was he shortly raised, everywhere equal to the first of the wise? And together with this, what is chief and first, what uprightness of morals, what humanity of manner, what courtesy of speech, what love of piety, what integrity of life, what innocence?

[450] through the greatest calamities But good God, how hidden from human understandings and how inscrutable are thy ways, how different are thy counsels from our thoughts! Thou dost cast down and lift up, nay thou dost most lift up when thou dost most cast down, thou dost then heal when thou dost strike, thou dost cure when thou dost wound, and thou dost for the most part bid the causes of goods and evils to be hidden under a contrary appearance. Behold, as happens, some quarrel at Perugia, whether it was a popular sedition or a tumult between the nobility and the common people. While John, a herald of peace for calming minds, excelling in eloquence and authority, strives to reconcile favor, he himself is nearly made the accused, he is thrown into strict custody, compelled to endure ill will in place of favor, insult in place of benefit; but soon out of the turbulence what serenity, out of the tempest what tranquillity! Having found light in the dungeon, triumph in captivity, senatorial rings in chains, imperial crowns and collars in fetters; he nowhere appeared more illustrious than among the attendants, and nowhere did he either learn better or sacrifice more religiously to human and divine wisdom than when, far from books, far from teachers, he lay hidden, shut up and bound in the dark of the prisons.

[451] wonderfully converted, He went away, his chains shaken off, free in body and soul, about to go into the true liberty of the sons of God, lofty and eager, now master of himself, and restored to himself he revisited his native place, but not with that plan with which most do, to seek a slothful retirement and soft leisure, to live idly and pleasantly for himself alone, to bend his care to managing and enlarging his domestic affairs, but to say a last farewell to his kinsmen and relations, and to his native place itself and to the world, and, whatever there was of fields and household goods and interest being sold off at a sudden auction, the price being collected, to bestow it upon the poor, and, freed from all earthly business, to give himself wholly over to the heavenly ones. From there he went straight to Perugia, to the known and beloved wrestling ground of his wisdom, but with what a face and how changed from that man! Ragged and torn in clothing, with hair uncombed and dirty, humble in dress, modest in gait, and made on every side to the imitation of folly, sitting on a little ass, his head covered with a little paper cap, he turned the eyes and the wonder of all upon himself. Such a habit, to be sure, befitted him who had put off the old man with his deeds, and, a stranger from the company of mortals, sought to lodge among those above.

[452] gave his name to the Seraphic Order; And indeed he suddenly began to lodge there, when he was co-opted into the religious family of holy Francis, so that he seemed to lead in the fellowship of that society a life not human but plainly angelic, an eminent despiser of himself, most zealously pursuing all the most abject ministries, with the harshest dress, the thinnest fare, the lightest sleep, for whom the greatest and only pleasure was to macerate his body with hair shirts, fasts, vigils and stripes, to wear down his strength, to serve the sick, to sit by the languishing, to bring solace and help to the afflicted, to be kindled with affections, to melt in tears, to devote himself to prayers and studies alike, and with his whole mind, his senses being estranged, to be snatched away to God. But although he had easily won for himself the good will and veneration of all to whom it was given to know him by face or to have heard of him by report, and being made all things to all was observed and honored by all, yet by I know not what closer bond of intimacy and familiarity he seemed to be bound and to cling perpetually to holy Bernardine of Siena, as a companion and disciple and imitator, so that John also fought keenly for his comrade and master, and once so restrained the calumniators as to overturn the calumny itself from the foundations, and bade it pass into wonder and stupefaction.

[453] and in it abundant, especially Thus, heaven also being witness, by a truly illustrious prodigy, with the people looking on, the holiness of both was proved; for what happened to the man of Siena is known to have happened likewise to Capistran, that above the head of each, while they were preaching in the forum at L'Aquila on the praises of the Virgin, at noonday a star was seen to shoot forth rays, I might almost say, brighter than the very noonday sun. But in vain did Pope Eugene wish to give to the people of L'Aquila and Rieti as bishop, for his eminent merits toward the Roman Church, the most holy man conspicuous by so many heroic virtues; since he, mindful of what he had learned that his teacher Bernardine was accustomed to use as a familiar saying in a similar matter, replied that he, to whom the Lord had assigned the whole world, as far as it stretches, for disseminating his Gospel, was unwilling to be confined within the narrow bounds of one region or people, that, better than Socrates, he might be called not an Attic or a Roman, but a citizen of the world, or more truly of heaven. Thus he filled far-scattered shores with the fame of his name and the wonder of his virtue, thus his fruit went out into all the earth, and the most abundant harvest of the divine word was made everywhere, and having eminently and happily discharged so many legations for the Catholic cause, as it were military expeditions, he triumphed a noble victor.

[454] in Transalpine Europe, For to pass over in silence those things, when he was delegated against the heretical Fraticelli, when he was sent to Philip, duke of Burgundy, to remove the schism, when he was proclaimed by Eugene the Fourth general inquisitor and vicar general of his Order, from the very many things at least something must be touched on in a brief compendium of narration. Mahomet, fierce of nature, and elated by the success of his affairs, Byzantium, the head of the empire, being stormed, was threatening that whatever there was of the Christian name would be routed and consumed by his victorious army, and that, Hungary being laid waste and the Illyrians, whom he had already devoured in spirit, being subdued, nothing either in Germany or in Italy, and thus in all Europe nothing would be left to piety and religion, but that all would be overwhelmed and sunk in the sea of a most wretched inundation, and it would have been sunk undoubtedly, had not Blessed John run to help as an Angel of peace and an apostolic messenger. He therefore is delegated as commissary into Germany by the Roman hierarch, James of Picenum being taken into the fellowship of the sacred expedition; and when he had come to the Po, and the service of a ferryman was not given for crossing, God showed by a splendid miracle how beautiful are the feet of those who evangelize good things, when, a mantle being spread on the waves, he made him cross the stream safely with his companions; to him arriving in Austria, as to their salutary and beneficent divine power, one could see peoples flying out to meet him, poured out in congratulation and veneration, and with the peoples lords, with the lords priests.

[455] particularly in Germany and Poland, The spirit of the Lord was present with him as he preached, who spoke in the man, and there was present an innumerable multitude of every order, and with such great profit of souls that, abjuring the errors of perverse opinions, they returned to the body of the Church in troops and eagerly every day. Hence those most ample regions, illumined by the new light of preaching and holiness, lay open to the light of the Gospel; hence, King Casimir seeking him by a suppliant letter, he came into Poland, and there, received with incredible applause, how many thousands of men he called back to a sounder fruit by teaching and acting, when at the reputation of so great a holiness, without waiting for the force of his voice, by the sight alone, so many ran to voluntary penance and came to their senses of their own accord? So that it should be no marvel if he could found in those provinces so many churches and so many convents of his Order, if he could lead away with him into the sacred warfare noble Polish knights, who commanded the minds of all and was in the affections of all.

[456] and most of all extended in Hungary; But now the last peril was hanging over Hungary, Mahomet pressing with a strong army of one hundred and fifty thousand armed men. John therefore, at the summons of the emperor Frederick and by delegation of the Supreme Pontiff Callistus, returns to Vienna, and having received from him the cross, which he was to use as a military banner, by his sermons he gathers vast columns up to eighty thousand signed with the cross, everywhere the driver, the exhorter, the standard-bearer, the leader, stirring up the fight with ardor if not with hand, and kindling his men against the enemy by speech, as another Joshua, Capistran in spirit as well. John Corvinus, count of Bistrița, by the authority of the Emperor, with John and James as his drivers and thus his helpers and auspices, undertakes the care of protecting Hungary and repelling the war. Alba is besieged by the Turks, battles are keenly fought, assaults are made, sorties, onsets, the affair is sustained by the hand of Corvinus and the counsels, words and prayers of Capistran, the siege is raised, the enemy put to flight, the victory won; and in Hungary alone the whole Christian commonwealth is released from trepidation and crisis and destruction; so that deservedly Pope Callistus proclaimed to the Church supplications in thanksgiving, and ordered a solemn day to be observed by posterity with an annual celebration. But his virtue, now ripe for heaven, more heaped with merits than with years, and the triumphal laurels demanded the victor among those above. Corvinus full of glory, and not long afterward Blessed John, with vast mourning of the peoples, as though summoned to the palm, fell asleep in the Lord, and, solemn obsequies being given for seven whole days, his body was laid in an iron urn sealed with five keys, which after many years, incorrupt and soft, thrown by heretics into the Danube, was found not far from Vienna.

[457] and at length by labors, writings, To those considering this manner of life so laborious, and exercised through all that is harsh, it may seem scarcely credible that the man of God should have devoted himself so earnestly to any other things. For it is a great thing so to pass one's life as by effort and prudence to profit those present, nor perhaps is it a lesser thing to extend benefits into a long age and to deserve well of all posterity. These things, renowned even when separate, how much more are they to be thought so when joined, when with untiring labor one and the same man is sufficient for so many cares, so that it is like a prodigy that one man could both do and write so many things. And truly when in Blessed Capistran we hear of so many distant pilgrimages undertaken, so many difficulties of journeys endured, so much of vigil consumed in the meditation of heavenly things, his little body macerated and almost killed by fastings, hair shirts and the butchery of stripes, so much time given over to sermons, and to subduing souls away from Orcus and claiming them for heaven, what spare spaces of hours, after all, can we understand to have been left for working by lamplight on books and filling pages? And yet what not few, what varied monuments of divine genius, full of all wisdom, are carried about?

[458] and renowned by miracles, On censures, on usuries and contracts, on cases and on penalties to be enjoined, on the penalties of hell and purgatory, on matrimony, on restitution, on enlightening the conscience, on ecclesiastical dignity, on the Conception of the Blessed Virgin, on covetousness, on the Passion of Christ, against the Hussites,

on the Rule of the Friars Minor, letters, and so many other things, that by his own right this most religious man is named powerful in work and speech, and an eminent canonist, and that they everywhere call him a man sent from God, and of singular authority in the Catholic cause; intimately dear to princes, most venerable to emperors and kings, and that they attend him in his whole life, which surpasses all belief, of austerity and innocence, as a new Apostle of Christ, a new Angel everywhere, with great but true eulogies, and with contending affections of minds and applause of tongues. Nor did he ever cease, whether while he was on earth or after he was translated among those above to the fellowship of the blessed, to shine with most renowned prodigies of miracles, and if the power of the divine work showed itself in any other after the times of the Apostles, and God, ever wonderful in his Saints, shone forth once in one especially, and shines forth at present in Capistran, who both with a prophetic spirit foretold very many things, and performed those things which cannot be done except divinely, of which who could reach the number, and recount how many sick received health through him, the deaf hearing, the mute speech, the blind sight, when, what is the greatest of miracles, those are counted as eight whom, snatched from death, he brought back to life.

[459] seems worthy to be inscribed in the Catalog of the Saints. All these things could gather for Capistran, while still surviving and among men, so great a veneration, and so great a reputation of holiness everywhere, that Pope Nicholas V publicly testified at one time that, if Capistran should die in his reign, he would not hesitate at once to proclaim him endowed with altars and churches and divine honors and inscribed in the catalog of the saints. But what Nicholas V could not accomplish, Leo X in part rendered, and he decreed annual celebrations in solemn rite, and, heaven applauding and the earth rejoicing, placed him in the class of the blessed; but the chief glory has been reserved for the felicity of our times, most blessed Father, that you may put the last hand to so great a work, and may place a man so distinguished by the praise of his virtues in the Roll of the Saints, and set him forth to the Church for veneration, and that thus the memory of your countryman Bernardine may come upon you, and since that union of souls was so close, since an equal laurel fell to both among the heavenly ones, an equal cult among men may be added also at altars and shrines, and that this may be among the chief praises of your most blessed Pontificate, to increase the number of the saints, to enlarge the bounds of religion, to provide with all care and zeal for the piety and salvation of the peoples. So therefore think, Most Blessed Father, that holy Bernardine of Siena is here present from heaven as author and fellow-suppliant, and implores you with most fervent prayers not to suffer longer that his disciple and companion and comrade and helper, Blessed John, excelling by so many signal merits, should lack this title of holiness long since due, for whom the Emperor as a suppliant, and all the nobles of Germany and Poland, and again the Franciscan family, and so many lords, who humbly seek this from you and, rolled at your most holy feet, await the oracle of the Pontifical voice. Reply of our Most Holy Lord, Lord Alexander VII, Supreme Pontiff. Let the Congregation of Sacred Rites hear and report.

§ XLI. Innocent XI declares that one can safely proceed to the canonization of Blessed John of Capistrano; and the miracles approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites are reported.

Innocent XI decrees, What had been done before Alexander VII in the cause of the canonization of St. John of Capistrano obtained its effect. For the same Pontiff, by a decree of the 17th of January 1663, declared that the blessed man had exercised the theological and moral virtues in the heroic degree. Of this decree we have a most lucid testimony in the decree of Innocent XI, given on the 13th of June 1679, in which the Pontiff decrees that one can safely proceed to canonization in these words: Of the Abruzzi, or of Sulmona. Of the canonization of Blessed John of Capistrano, of the Order of Minors of St. Francis of the Regular Observance. The cause of the canonization of Blessed John of Capistrano, of the Order of Minors of St. Francis of the Regular Observance, having been resumed, by means of a commission signed by the hand of Innocent X of happy memory in the Congregation of Sacred Rites held on the 2nd of May 1650, in the state and terms in which it was found, in virtue of the decrees of Urban VIII of holy memory which had come upon it; and it having been established from the processes drawn up by apostolic authority concerning their validity, and the theological and moral virtues in the heroic degree of the aforesaid Blessed before Alexander VII of happy memory on the 17th of January 1663.

[461] that one can safely proceed to the canonization of Blessed Capistran: And of the many miracles discussed, both in life and after death, besides the public and most renowned reputation, two brought forward in the most recent processes of Sulmona and Rome, as most conclusively proved, were approved by Clement X of holy memory on the 14th of July 1675, namely the fifth, in the person of Ignatius Bracci of Sezze, at once freed from the jaws of death. And the sixth, in the person of Bernardine Michael of the town of Cervara, for eight months hindered in body and destitute of strength, by the help of the said Blessed likewise immediately restored to his former health. Those things being at length completed which the aforesaid decrees of Urban VIII require in causes of Blessed persons of this kind, through the most eminent Lord Cardinal Altieri, ponente in the same cause, the doubt having been proposed in the same general Sacred Congregation of Sacred Rites held before our Most Holy Lord Pope Innocent XI on the 20th of December 1678, whether, the things above narrated standing, His Holiness could safely come to the solemn canonization of the said Blessed, and the matter being maturely discussed, all, both consultors and the most eminent Lord Cardinals set over the Sacred Rites, with unanimous vote judged that His Holiness, whenever it should please him, could safely come to the solemn canonization of the same Blessed John of Capistrano, according to the rite of the holy Roman Church and the disposition of the sacred canons, and define him a Saint reigning with God, and propose him to the universal Church to be honored and venerated. The Most Holy One, the gravity of the matter so requiring, decided to explore the divine will by prayers and suffrages. These being performed, His Holiness, having heard again the archbishop of Myra, promoter of the faith, and the secretary of the Sacred Congregation, not only confirmed and approved the sense of the same Sacred Congregation, but also ordered this last and final decree of the solemn canonization of the aforesaid Blessed to be issued. On the 13th of June 1679. Cesare Cardinal Facchinetti. Bernardino Casali, secretary of the Sacred Congregation of Rites.

[462] the Acts of the canonization themselves being lacking, Amandus Hermann explains these things somewhat more carefully, and we adduce them the more gladly, as we the more grieve to lack the Acts of canonization themselves. That holy soul, he says Capistr. triumph. pag. 756., reigning in heaven (of Capistran), wherever it was invoked, did not cease to obtain wonderful graces for suppliants, so that his fame grew more and more through Italy: which things being duly examined and presented, Pope Urban VIII issued letters remissorial and compulsorial for forming a process “on reputation” in the Roman curia and the city of Sulmona, according to the rules and decrees prescribed by the Sacred Congregation of Rites, since his heroic virtues could not be proved in another manner; since then nearly two centuries had flowed from the happy passing of Capistran from this world to eternal glory; these being exactly and rigorously carried out, and finished in the year 1625, and reviewed by the Sacred Congregation as correct and valid, His Holiness then committed the business to the sacred tribunal under the title of the Roman Rota; where by the three senior auditors, Lords Coccino, Pirovano and Manzanedo, each and all the Acts were ventilated and discussed, and a report being made with approval both of virtues and of miracles, both in life and after death, Urban received great satisfaction, filled with joy and jubilation; but death intervening cut off all his thoughts. Urban was succeeded by Innocent X: he ordered with equal zeal that so holy a cause be pursued without intermission, which could not be done without a new approval of the Sacred Congregation: wherefore it was also resumed by it, with a good beginning and an end protracted to our times. Why the canonization of so great a Saint was prolonged and deferred, I have already said, happened by the sweet providence of God, who in his times shows to the human race fitting medicines, and so also sets up suitable advocates for the Church.

[463] in a compendium When the moment of time arrived, set by the heavenly Father, at which divine providence had resolved to glorify St. Capistran before the whole world, it arranged in most sweet manner that the town of Capistrano, as to temporal and spiritual dominion, should be transferred to the most serene house of Medici, of the grand dukes of Florence, who always venerated the virtues and miracles of this man. Then the most eminent Lord Charles of the same house, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church most worthy of eternal memory, turning his eyes to his ancestors, and weighing more deeply the sublime merits of Capistran toward the Church of God, conferred with Father Bartholomew of Pettorano, a professed Reformed of our Order, and Lord Bernardino Barberio, agent of the catholic king in the parts of Italy, intimating to them that he would cooperate with every effort, and would concur with his strength as far as he could, if the process of canonization were resumed for attaining the desired end. In that agency there afterward succeeded Giovanni Battista Barberio, nephew of the former as of an uncle: he, having very great influence with the same Cardinal, was assured by him of a particular commission made by him to the Lord Count Montanti, of which family had granted Mount Alverna to St. Francis for habitation, then residing at the Roman curia for the most serene house of Medici, that for the Capistranean apotheosis, in every place and time, he should interpose offices and effectual recommendations, always taking for counsel and direction the aforesaid Giovanni Battista Barberio, who for twenty-five years carried on the cause of St. Capistran faithfully, fervently and effectually, sparing no expenses, nor yielding to labors or oppositions, until he plausibly completed it in the year 1690.

[464] is presented To report this in order, it must be known that Urban VIII was succeeded in the pontificate by Innocent X, and he by Alexander VII of the Chigi family of Siena, named Fabio, before whom the most eminent Lord Cardinal Palotta in the year 1657 proposed in the business of the Capistranean canonization this doubt: “Whether one could proceed further,” because the most illustrious Lord Pietro Francesco de Rossi, promoter of the faith, objected that Capistran had been presumptuous, rash and irascible, and as such had been rebuked immediately after his death by Lord John, Cardinal of Sant'Angelo, surnamed Carvajal, and apostolic Legate in Hungary, as Wadding himself, the renowned author of the Order, attests in his Annals Tom. XII, pag. 1.. Since this matter was very delicate, it was then decreed “that it should be taken account of at the end of the cause,” that is, that the cause of canonization was to be pursued, since at the end of it the points and the merits of St. John could be more ripened and ventilated. Then he stirred up (as Lord Barberio applies it to himself) the spirit of a younger boy Barber. Vit. Ital. pag. 237., who not without a particular instinct of God more generously took up the defense of this Saint, and as an advocate intimated that he humbly

in due place and manner, begging as a suppliant that these objections be examined and dissolved not only at the end, but at the beginning. And to the first petition offered his holiness most clemently granted the requests, adding a paternal and pastoral admonition: “That he should extend his powers in this business, since he desired nothing else than to canonize Capistran;” in testimony of which matter he adduced the most holy Trinity. Nor do I wonder, since long ago both Eugene IV and Nicholas V asserted that they would canonize him, if he should die in their times.

[465] the series of processes, Having obtained then this gracious pontifical assent, I do not doubt that he solidly refuted the objections made, which he indeed briefly intimates in his work, and I should have liked to have them at length, to see how much I differ from him in my rejoinder, put forward in sect. XXX: for the reasons that I have seen he brings out less than I do; I suppose however that it was done more amply and fully in the body of the process; although in my opinion the objections do not need longer refutations. Wherefore also, the reasons produced by Barberio and others being considered, the Sacred Congregation in the year 1662, on the 17th of September, issued this most ample decree in the cause of canonization: “That one can proceed further, and that nothing is established against Capistran's reputation of holiness.” Under the same Alexander VII, in the year 1663, on the 17th of January, the same Sacred Congregation said that the last two processes were valid and good, and accordingly in the same year, on the 25th of September, it was decreed and resolved that Capistran's virtues, both theological and moral, were in the heroic degree, as Cardinal Franciotti proposed in place of the absent Cardinal Pallotta. Some ancient miracles being further presented, the reply was given in the year 1664, on the 10th of July, that those proofs were not sufficient of themselves, yet without any prejudice to the public voice and notorious reputation of them. Wherefore the Lord procurator Giovanni Battista Barberio, wishing to finish the business he had taken on himself, went to the Abruzzi and from there to Sezze, a town in the Roman Campagna, where he had heard that two miracles had recently happened, concerning which, as soon as he was more fully informed, he again offered suppliant prayers to the Sacred Congregation for new letters remissorial, which were most kindly granted to him, by virtue of which processes were formed thereupon, carried to Pope Clement X through Cardinal Altieri and approved in the year 1676, on the 14th of July. Thus far Amandus Hermann, who then cites the decree of Innocent X, which we gave at the head of this §.

[466] and two miracles are reported; Further, as is manifest from the cited decree itself, Clement X approved two miracles, which it is worthwhile to report here. The first is reported by the said Hermann in these words Capistr. triumph. pag. 724. Cfr Barber. Vit. Ital. pag. 249.: In the year of the Lord 1649 Ignatius Bracci, a surgeon of Sezze, of the diocese of Terracina, when he had come to the last of his life, fifteen days of a malignant fever having passed, with most bitter and incessant pains of the head and kidneys added, fortified himself by the reception of the sacraments of the Church; this being done, he lost his speech: whence the physician, whose name was Marcus Aurelius Cimaroli, seeing the sick man's incapacity to take other restoratives and antidotes, took his leave, since he had also found that the most precious medicaments of the treatment previously given had been in vain. For which cause the sick man's sister, Caesarea by name, had Father Angelo of Lantosca, a Reformed friar and guardian of the convent of St. Francis, called, to assist with religious piety at his last agony of life. As the aforesaid religious was coming, the physician met him, who, knowing that he was going to assist the half-dead man, asked him to run with swift step, lest through delay he should find him dead, as the guardian himself experienced on his arrival.

[467] of the healing of Ignatius When he was already placed in agony, he nevertheless wished to give him some help; he took a small piece of the tunic of Blessed John, exhorting the sick man to have full confidence in his merits, as in him who a little before by a manifest miracle had freed his sister Caesarea from a continual dizziness, and Canon Rossi of Sezze from the jaws of death, asking him in a loud voice whether he had confidence in the patronage of the said Saint; to which he answered that he did, by the sign of pressing his hand three times. Then the aforenamed father placed the Relic on his head, devoutly saying: “They shall lay hands upon the sick, and they shall be well; may God, Blessed John of Capistrano interceding, free you from all evil, in the name of the Father, etc.” In this act Ignatius closed his eyes, as if he wished to pass from this mortal life; but opening his eyes with a violent motion, he burst forth in articulate voice, saying: “Father, I have been made well,” and looking on heaven with lively heart he exclaimed, saying: “I give you thanks, O my glorious St. John, that you have obtained for me entire health;” as it was in fact. For in the same instant he set himself up on the bed, and clothing himself in his own garments, then without interval, as if impatient of delay, he ran to the public road, that he might make such an evident miracle known to all, which took place about the 23rd hour (that is, one hour before sunset). On the immediately following day, in the morning, together with his sister, friends and others joined by blood and familiarity, he betook himself to the church of St. Francis, to give thanks to his liberator Capistran: and in the said church there was a blessed painted image of him, to which, although it was distant a very hard mile, he nevertheless went with bare feet, not using a staff, performing henceforth all his affairs with all ease.

[468] Bracci, To this miracle Giovanni Battista Barberio adds another shown to the same Ignatius by Blessed John, whose words we render in Latin Vit. Ital. pag. 251.: To which (narrative of the preceding miracle) I subjoin with firm conscience and with oath that when in the year 1664, before the process of the preceding miracle was formed, I had betaken myself to Sezze to track down the fact, I found Ignatius unequal in strength to undertaking a journey, and hence unfit to betake himself to Rome, that the miracle done on him might be examined there, seeing that there had come upon him a very great relaxation of the kidneys, from which proceeded both bloody urine and most atrocious pains, whenever he moved himself violently on foot or on horseback. He had been suffering these things for some months now: whence I could in no way persuade him to come with me, nor did any prayers avail, or the offer of a litter, by whose help he might move without wearying himself: for he constantly replied that he ought not to expose himself to the supreme peril. Whence in the gentlest manner I could I reproached both his ungrateful spirit and his little faith, inasmuch as the Blessed, who thirteen years before (rather fifteen, from the year 1649 to 1664) had snatched him from the jaws of death, could easily grant him the journey and free him from the present illness. By these words it pleased God that he should be persuaded; and he pledged me his faith that within two days he would carry out what he promised. He stood by his promises, and alone on horseback he completed the journey: as he arrived at my house by a straight path I received him with all affection, and amid mutual embraces with great feeling of soul he exclaimed: “Long live, long live our glorious Capistran; since never before this from my youth have I experienced so easy and so prosperous a journey as today's, for although placed at the age of fifty-five years, and troubled by a grave illness, without any pain or inconvenience, as though I had never suffered infirmity, I have completed a long pilgrimage.” And in fact within the five or six days in which he stayed with me, he never gave a sign of bodily affliction. Thus Barberio.

[469] and of Bernardine the oxherd, The other miracle produced in the cause of the canonization of St. Capistran and approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites and the Pontiff is reported by the said Barberio Ibid. pag. 252.: In the year 1656 Bernardine, son of Michael, an oxherd of the land of Corvara near Capistrano, was most gravely beaten by robbers and savagely tied to a tree, that they might more easily steal the oxen with which he was plowing the field. So great was his terror and fear, joined with the most atrocious pain of his broken body, that he seemed possessed by evil spirits. The wretch remained there for some space of time, more like a dead man than a living one, until he was both freed from his bonds by his countrymen passing that way and carried back to his home, and was laid dying in bed: where he remained for a whole year, deprived of the use of his lower parts, which lacked all motion and feeling. He often tried indeed with the help of others to stand on his feet, and as though formed of wax they bent. Within the twelve months during which the illness lasted, he gave most evident signs of possession, especially on the more solemn festivals, on which he gave forth horrible howlings, bellowings and shouts: there was added also a vast pain, both from a quasi-serpentine motion of his dry feet and hips, and from fevers continual without intermission. Meanwhile all the medicaments applied were vain, until, persuaded by the counsel of others to have recourse with his whole heart to John the wonderworker: which he did by making a vow, that he would go to the shrine of Capistrano: nor then, the vow being made, did he experience any solace; nevertheless he resolved on the third day to fulfill the present vow.

[470] approved by the Sacred Congregation. Placed therefore on a horse, four men assisting on this side and that, he had scarcely reached the door of the church when the enemy of the human race, putting forth his last strength, so disturbed Bernardine that, shouting confusedly and struggling with his hands, he refused to enter the sacred place: whence the four aforesaid companions had much labor that he might be brought into the church. There the religious placed on the sick man the prodigious cap of Capistran, and he lamented more than until then, and prostrate wore away the ground with mouth and nails for the space of one Credo sung. Then, the two reliquaries being opened, in which the Relics of the Saint are perpetually kept, he at once remained without motion as if dead, and persevered in that state for two hours: then suddenly roused he raised himself easily and firmly on his feet, and exclaimed cheerfully and gladly: “I give thanks to you and be blessed forever, O my glorious John, since I feel myself altogether freed.” On hearing this the bystanders were stupefied, and as they ran to help him, he refused it, at the same time warning them not to come forward, that so clear and manifest a miracle might not be interrupted. In confirmation further of what he said, thanks being given to God and to his liberator, he kissed the footpace of the altar, and, having saluted the sacred Relics, alone, with no one helping, went out of the church, and likewise mounting the horse with all agility returned home: and on the following day to the glory of God he took up his former office, as though he had never experienced so deadly and cruel a misfortune.

§ XLII. By the intercession of St. John of Capistrano a victory over the Turks is won in the year 1683 by John Sobieski, king of Poland.

By the intercession of St. Capistran, invoked by Innocent XI, Innocent XI had declared, as we said above at no. 460, that one could safely come to the canonization

of Blessed John Capistrano: and he would himself have accomplished it, if continual infirmities and growing age had not stood in the way of his plan. And indeed when in the year 1683 Kara Mustafa, the supreme minister of the Sultan, having overrun Hungary, girded Vienna, the capital of Austria, with a siege, and the greatest calamities were threatening the whole Christian people, the said Pontiff, reckoning that the most powerful protection was to be expected from him who had once fought most ardently against the Turks, ordered that on the high altar of the renowned church of Aracoeli at Rome the image of St. Capistran should be exposed for public veneration, lit by many fires by day as by night; and that the Roman people also might be roused to invoke the blessed patron, he granted a plenary indulgence of sins to those who should implore the mercy of God through the intercession of the blessed man: but the chief supplication was celebrated on the feast of the Blessed Virgin assumed into heaven Barber. Vit. Ital. pag. 234.. And indeed a few days afterward, namely on the 12th of September, the Christian army, led chiefly by John Sobieski, king of Poland, won a signal victory over the Turks: for whose perennial memory the same Innocent XI instituted the feast of the most holy Name of Mary, to be celebrated annually on the Sunday within the octave of the Nativity of the same Virgin, as may be read in the Roman Breviary.

[472] a great one, by Sobieski, king of Poland, This victory and its most abundant fruits are excellently described by him who is held the chief author of the victory, King John, in a letter given to his wife Maria on the day after the triumph was won. This we think should be given here, rendered in Latin, since it most clearly unfolds both the supreme peril of the Christian commonwealth and the most complete liberation of the Christian people Salvandy. Hist. de Pologne. tom. II, pag. 135. Edit. Brux. 1841.: Blessed be the name of the Lord, who has given the Christians victory, has given such a triumph as no former age has seen. All the cannon, the whole camp, and an almost infinite abundance of things have fallen to us: the bulwarks of the walls and the fields around are filled with corpses, and what is left of the enemy has fled dismayed. Our men are continually bringing in camels, mules, oxen and sheep: many deserters also run to us, for the most part apostates, excellently furnished with arms and horses. In short the victory was so sudden, so prodigious, that both in the city and in the camp they were still trembling, uncertain whether the enemy would not suddenly return; since they also left to us warlike equipment to the value of ten hundred thousand florins. This night I beheld in person a thing that I had long desired to see: our men set fire to gunpowder in various places, and so great was the commotion that the universal judgment was believed to have come, yet no one was hurt: by this experiment I learned in what manner clouds are formed: it nevertheless had this much of calamity, that over five hundred thousand florins were lost.

[473] won, as he himself writes, The vizier, content with the garment that covered him and the horse on which he sat, left the rest to me as heir, to whom everything has fallen. While I was fighting at the first front of the army and driving back the vizier, a household servant met me, who led me into his tents, which were so great that they equaled the extent of the city of Warsaw or of Lviv: I took above all the ornaments and insignia for myself: but the chief banner, which Mahomet * had entrusted to his faith and valor, I have sent to the Most Holy Lord by the courier Talenti. Besides there are ours the magnificent tents, the chief horses, and thousands of most precious trinkets. I have not yet seen everything, but it far surpasses what we took at Khotyn: four or five quivers, adorned with carbuncles and sapphires, cost a thousand ducats. Therefore, dearest, you will not reproach me, as Tartar women are accustomed to do when their husbands return without spoils, that I am no noble soldier, since I have brought back no booty; for he who does not attack the enemy from the front can take no spoils. There has also fallen to me the vizier's horse with its trappings. They pursued him as closely as possible; and his deputy and other chief leaders were killed. Our soldiers brought back many swords adorned with gold as spoils. Night cut off the pursuit of the enemy: especially because the Turks, even in fleeing, fought most bravely, and withdrew in an excellently ordered column. Only the Jenisseri (Janissaires), as though neglected in the siege rampart, perished at the edge of the sword. So great had been the elation and confidence of the Turks that, the army being divided, some fought in the open field against us, others meanwhile attacked the city of Vienna at close quarters. And certainly they had abundantly with which to fight on both sides: for besides the Tartars, I reckon that three hundred thousand Turks stood in arms; there are those who have said that they counted as many tents: but so great a number of soldiers exceeds all belief: I should indeed readily grant that there were a hundred thousand tents; for they occupied three immense camps. For two nights and a whole day everything lay open to plunder: the citizens themselves ran from the city in search of booty, and it is established that they carried away with them eight days' grain.

[474] the victory; The Turks left behind in their flight many Christian captives, especially women, namely those whom they could not butcher: many therefore died, but very many also, only wounded, will be able to be restored to health. I saw yesterday a little child of three years, handsome of face, whose head had been cleft through the mouth. The vizier had captured in the imperial palace a live ostrich, which in fleeing he ordered to be beheaded, lest the Christians should recover it. It cannot be described in detail with what exquisite luxury his pavilions were filled; for there were baths there, gardens adorned with fountains, warrens, and even a parrot, which our soldiers hunted but could not catch. I have today looked around the city, unequal to resisting for five days: the imperial palace is pierced with bullets, the hanging ruins of the bulwarks threaten horribly. All the soldiers performed their part excellently and bravely, and they ascribe the victory to God and to us. When the enemy began to turn his back (I was directing the fiercest conflict at the front of the vizier) the rest of the cavalry flew to the right wing, the left and center now being idle: the princes of Bavaria and Waldeck and others ran up, and they embraced me, kissed me, the leaders grasped my hands and feet, the rest acclaimed me, their vigorous king. Foreigners obeyed my voice more than the Poles themselves.

[475] of which the fruits were the liberation of the city of Vienna, This morning first Lorraine and Saxony, who yesterday, stationed at the extreme left wing, could not be present, came to greet me: I had given them some troops of Hussars (Hussards), under the leader Lubomirski, count of the stable. The prefect of the city, Starhemberg, also visited me himself today: all embraced me, and proclaimed me savior of the empire: in the two churches to which I went the people kissed my hands, feet, clothes, and would have burst forth in most fervent acclamations, if they had not feared the emperor's ministers: nevertheless a certain troop of the people shouted “long live the king,” which the imperial party received with a frowning brow. Wherefore, having dined with the prefect of the city, I at once left the city and, the people accompanying, returned to the camp. Starhemberg seems to agree less well with the city magistracy, seeing that he did not even deign to name it to me. The emperor has informed me that he is one mile from the camp… But behold, the day is dawning, the letter must be closed, nor may I any longer give time to writing or enjoy your converse.

[476] and rich spoils; Many of ours fell in the battle: we grieve especially for two lost, of whom N. Dupont will report to you. Among the foreigners Prince Croy was killed, his brother gravely wounded, certain other nobles also perished. Father Aviano kissed me a thousand times in jubilation of heart, and said he had seen a white dove flying above the Christian army. Today we go forward into Hungary to pursue the enemy; the electoral princes have promised to be companions. It is certainly a great benefit of God, to whom be honor and glory now and always. As soon as the vizier began to despair of victory, calling his sons together, he wept bitterly; and to the leader of the Tartars said, “If you can, save me.” To whom the Tartar replied: “We know the king of Poland, whom we are not able to repel, therefore let us provide for ourselves by flight.” The heats of summer are vast, which we can scarcely temper with continual drink. Camp grain is again being uncovered: so that I truly do not know what provisions remain to the enemy at last, with which he can renew the war: at length they left fifteen cannon behind in flight. This letter is the best report of the victory won, which it is permitted to make public, provided it be added that it is a letter of the king to the queen. Bavaria and Saxony have professed that they will follow me wherever I go. For two miles we shall have to ride at the swiftest pace, to escape the foul odor of slain men, horses and camels. I have written to the king of France, to whom first, as the most Christian king, notice was to be given of the victory won and the salvation of Christendom. The emperor is fifteen thousand paces away; he is slowly coming down the Danube with the stream, and I understand, perhaps lest he stumble upon the formulas of court rituals, that he is by no means glad at the sight of me. He is hastening to Vienna, to give thanks to God with solemn ceremony, for which reason I yield place: for I hate court rituals of that sort, with which I have been sated to the point of loathing. Our son has shown himself a man to the greatest degree.

[477] the lesser part of the victory to John Sobieski The cited letter sufficiently shows that Sobieski was somewhat offended with the emperor Leopold I and the Austrians: and indeed already at that time some were probably trying to transfer the glory of the victory won from the king of Poland to Charles of Lorraine. Carlo Francesco Palma, bishop of Colophon in the parts of the unbelievers, so narrates the event that the praises of the triumph seem to be poured back upon Lorraine. There came meanwhile, he says Notit. Hungar. tom. III, pag. 362., to the aid of the besieged city (of Vienna) John III Sobieski, king of Poland, with twenty-six thousand Poles, whom Innocent XI, a Pontiff most devoted to the house of Austria, had happily drawn by his counsels to this, that, dismissing the French alliances, he entered into a most close friendship with the emperor Leopold. There came also about the same time the electors of Saxony and Bavaria, and many other dukes and princes of the Roman empire with their forces, by the accession of all of whom the army of the Christians had grown to seventy thousand armed men. And so Charles of Lorraine, having held a military council with the other princes, reckoning that nothing further was to be waited for, on the 12th of September attacked with all his strength the enemy, expecting anything but a battle. After a struggle of many hours, the Turks, many thousands of theirs being lost, leaving their camp and all their baggage, went off in headlong flight.

[478] attribute This beginning of the victories of Leopold the Great was the more joyful, Austrian writers: as it was the more unexpected: that you may understand that God brings help most of all at that time when all human protections seem to be absent. On receiving the news of so illustrious a victory, the Emperor returned to Vienna from Linz, where he had meanwhile withdrawn with his whole family; both that he might behold with his own eyes the traces of the disaster, and that he might give in person due thanks to the princes who had so promptly brought him succor, but especially to John, king of Poland, who desired on that occasion to converse with the Emperor more familiarly, without witnesses, and to renew and establish the former treaties, new pacts being added. At that time no slight dispute arose among the ministers of the court about the manner in which

Leopold, saving his dignity as Roman emperor, ought to receive the Polish king coming to him. When, with different men advising different things, the Emperor hung in doubt of mind, the decision of the question was referred to Charles of Lorraine: he, taking it ill that so slight a matter should be disputed by most weighty men at that moment of time, replied that it would be most fitting that the Emperor should rush into the embraces of King John, as of an excellent friend, and thus testify his gratitude to him. In nearly the same way Hermann Meynert, in the History of the Austrian States, blots out the glory of John Sobieski Geschichte Oesterreichs. tom. V, Part. II, pag. 274.: and he enumerates the fruits of the victory as twenty thousand oxen and beasts of burden, ten thousand sheep, a hundred thousand sextaria (malter) of wheat, with a vast abundance of grain, all of which the soldiers, occupied in scraping together jewels and money, left to be seized by the citizens of Vienna: whence it came about that the domestic affairs of very many, weakened by hunger and plague, were restored entirely Ibid. pag. 277..

[479] but the greater part for himself The signal victory was followed by a portent, set down in public documents, which Giovanni Battista Barberio reports in the Life of St. Capistran Vit. Ital. pag. 235., and Amandus Hermann has preserved for us in Latin Capistr. triumph. pag. 533.: Let it be known to each and all how on the fourth day of October of the past year 1683, in a certain hermitage dedicated to the seraphic father St. Francis, not far distant from Scheisheim, of the diocese of Freising, while vespers were being celebrated by the religious with most pious solemnity and the attendance of a most frequent people and faith, to the wonder and stupefaction of all the following prodigy occurred. There had been exposed there a magnificent image, or, to speak more plainly, a wooden statue of the most glorious Blessed John of Capistrano, which was fixed on its base with iron bars; in one hand it held an image of Christ crucified, in the other a banner marked with the most holy Name of Jesus, namely in that form and manner in which, living, he had encouraged the Christians at Belgrade against the common enemy. This statue, moreover, was seen, no human work helping, to turn to the other side, that is from West to East, fixing its blessed face toward Hungary; and it stayed in that position for about two hours, until, two very robust workmen being called, it was brought back with great labor to its former state. By which prodigy it is signified that, as the most blessed John in his life never ceased to labor for Christ, and in particular showed himself an untiring champion of Hungary, so it pleased the divine goodness to show by this portent that this Blessed is the one patron of the arms of the empire and of Poland: which indeed experience teaches exactly, as is plain from the prodigious liberation of Vienna, and from the help wonderfully given to the Poles, when at Esztergom, the Poles being placed in the supreme peril, God, with Capistran as patron, brought succor, the Turks namely committing themselves to shameful flight without any military cause.

[480] by a portent he claims Moreover when our men recovered Párkány, the Turks, the bridge being wonderfully broken, were partly drowned, partly butchered by arms, so that more than ten thousand perished. Which things indeed suffice to show the mercy of God and the continued protection of the great guardian Capistran; to whom alone be honor and glory. At Munich, 4th of October 1684. I, John Ren, electoral ecclesiastical counselor, chief chaplain of the court, and also invested with apostolic authority, for the truth of the matter have written out the account, fortified by several respected sworn and sufficient testimonies legitimately gathered in the German language, have read it, subscribed it, and confirmed it with my accustomed proper and public sign of the protonotariate, on the 13th day of October in the year 1684. Place of the Seal. I, John Paul Gazin, Doctor of both Laws and invested with imperial notarial authority, for the truth of the matter have written out the aforesaid account, fortified by several respected sworn testimonies, have seen it, subscribed it, and confirmed it with my accustomed and public sign, on the 13th day of October in the year 1684. Place of the Seal. I, John Joseph Wigularis, free baron of and in Weialis, chamberlain of the most serene elector of Bavaria and of his court councils, testify that this report concerning the statue of Blessed John of Capistrano has been verified by common report. Place of the Seal. Yet the cited Hermann himself, who reports the portent, confesses that some have assailed the fact and even now think that this could have happened naturally: but, he says, it is not my purpose to discuss facts, but to narrate deeds. It would certainly be most welcome to us to call the portent to the scale, investigating for example whether the statue was fixed to the base with iron fastenings, so that it could not as it were of its own accord, or by some slight motion, be turned sideways. But the elements of argument are lacking to us.

[481] St. Capistran. Amandus Hermann reports Capistr. triumph. pag. 760. that Innocent XI, moved by these and similar portents, had a most firm will to pay to Blessed Capistran the honors of the Saints in solemn rite: and because by a decree of the Congregation of Rites, before the canonization itself, a thousand Roman scudi (about fr. 5,400) must be consigned to the Vatican church of St. Peter, lest for this cause the apotheosis of Capistran should languish, the Pontiff himself, seeing the poverty of the family of the Observants, supplied the necessary money from his own treasury. The same Pontiff declared more openly still his esteem for the Blessed man, when the procurator of the cause, Giovanni Battista Barberio, asked him to pronounce this glorious citizen of the supernal Jerusalem such also before the Church militant, and, since, his bodily infirmity preventing, he could not perform the rather long rites of the sacred canonization, that these should be contracted into a compendium after the example of his predecessors; the venerable Pontiff kindly replied that it was his very great inclination of soul that the honors of the heavenly ones should at length be solemnly decreed to the holy man; for, he said, if a greater glory could be given by our militant Jerusalem, it would on all heads be owed to John Capistrano: but he asserted that the rite of canonization would at some time devolve on a successor. Meanwhile the Pontiff, who often and gladly treated of that business with the promoter of the faith, showed a tender affection toward the Blessed, and manifested that he grieved exceedingly that his infirm health stood in the way of performing the rite of canonization: and he meanwhile constantly kept an image of the Blessed in his inner chamber and honored it with great piety.

* the 4th of this name

§ XLIII. The bull of the canonization of St. John of Capistrano, celebrated by Alexander VIII, is published by Benedict XIII; and another is subjoined which was not published.

Of the canonization made by Alexander VIII, Innocent XI having died on the 12th of August 1689, there succeeded on the 6th of October of the same year Alexander VIII, who at length accomplished the canonization of Blessed John of Capistrano in solemn rite. But since he scarcely survived the solemnity by three and a half months, he did not himself issue the bull of canonization, which he left to be drawn up by Benedict XIII, who in the year 1724, on the day before the nones of June, gave the constitution which we subjoin from the Codex of canonizations of Giusto Fontanini Pag. 558.: Benedict, bishop, servant of the servants of God, for the perpetual memory of the matter. It accords with reason and agrees with equity that those things which the Roman Pontiff, in a plenary assembly of the venerable brothers the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, patriarchs, archbishops and bishops, their unanimous counsel being shared, has sanctioned and defined, although afterward on account of the death of the same Pontiff an apostolic letter concerning them was not written, should at length obtain their effect. Set by the giver of all goods at the highest summit of the Church, our predecessor of happy memory, Pope Alexander VIII, by his pastoral vigilance noticed that this one thing above all lay upon him, that, performing the office of watchman for the house of Israel, he should lead the peoples entrusted to him into the ways of the Lord. And he thought he would accomplish this, if, according to the rite and discipline of the Holy Roman Church, the virtues of those being reviewed and approved who had previously shone before others by holiness of life, he should kindle the ardor of piety the more in the hearts of Christ's faithful, as he opened more lucidly to the view of the universal Church a life piously led by just men. And so with other servants of God, who had long been held worthy of veneration for truly Christian morals, he judged that John of Capistrano, of the Order of Friars Minor of Blessed Francis, who are called of the regular Observance, most renowned for many great virtues and signs, should be duly placed by him in the canon of the Saints.

[483] Benedict XIII publishes the bull At Capistrano, a town of the Marsi, in the territory of L'Aquila, and in the bishopric of Sulmona, John was born in the year of Christ the Lord one thousand three hundred and eighty-five. Instructed in the gymnasium of Perugia in Christian and liberal disciplines, he at one time conducted public affairs; but afterward, called by the admonition of God to a holier ministry, in the same city he most eagerly embraced the Order of Friars Minor of Blessed Francis, who are called of the Regular Observance, which he had sought with most fervent vows, although repulsed and tried by harsh and even public tests, in the year of Christ the Lord one thousand four hundred and fourteen. In divine letters he had as his teacher the Blessed Confessor Bernardine of Siena, whom, when he was traduced by calumnies on account of the most sacred Name of Jesus, he vigorously defended before our predecessor of pious memory Pope Martin V in the basilica of Blessed Peter, prince of the Apostles, and he himself and his fellow friar James of the March took care that the same man was afterward placed in the canon of the Holy Confessors by our predecessor of renowned memory, Nicholas V, each of them to be afterward placed in the same canon of the Saints, and James indeed to be placed by us as soon as possible, with the Lord's favor. The fame of John's doctrine, harshest penance and holiness growing from day to day, he is sent by our predecessors the Roman Pontiffs to many and various provinces, Italy, Germany, Sarmatia, Pannonia, to restore Christian morals and discipline by word and by writings, of which he published very many.

[484] in which the Pontiff, his life being briefly recounted, The same Martin V, whom we have mentioned, appointed him with James of the March as inquisitor to repress by word and writings the sect of the Fraticelli; over whom John, happily triumphing, he creates general inquisitor against all heretics: the people of Rieti and the neighboring peoples, contending among themselves with hatreds and arms, he reconciles by the sweetness of his eloquence. In the lands of the Holy Roman Church on this side of the Lighthouse, at the demand of Queen Joanna II, he roots out the depraved license of Jewish usury. He foretells the falling asleep of our predecessor Martin, and the succession of Eugene IV of pious memory, by whom he is sent for the great affairs of the Church to the Insubrians, the Sicilians and others. Having refused the bishopric of L'Aquila, he does not cease to discharge the office of preaching the Gospel, and in the plenary assembly of the fathers at Florence he shines like a certain sun; at Rome he brings back to the profession of the truth a master of the synagogue of the Jews with forty followers. That he may bring back heretics into the bosom of the Church and the minds of princes into concord, at the demand of the emperor Frederick III he is sent into the parts of Germany by the aforesaid Nicholas V.

[485] and his labors for the Church being narrated, In Germany, Bohemia, Sarmatia and Pannonia, in a six-year pilgrimage, Hussites, Adamites, Taborites and innumerable Hebrews being converted to Christian truth by the light of doctrine, holiness and miracles, he wonderfully increases the glory of God. He heals very many sick, raises the dead, restores speech to many. Finally, about to defend the whole endangered Christian commonwealth from the most savage tyrant of the Turks, he sets himself as a wall for the house of Israel, while our predecessor of pious memory, Pope Calixtus III, John chiefly entreating,

decrees an expedition of Christian soldiers, marked with the sign of the cross, against the Turks oppressing Europe: and at once, John flying through Pannonia, Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia like lightning, seventy thousand Christians are enrolled, and, he himself, protected by the shield of faith, bearing before them the banner of the cross, a victory is won over a hundred and twenty thousand of the enemy, to the wonder of the whole world: at the news of which, brought to Rome on the eighth before the ides of August, the same Calixtus perpetually consecrated the memory of that day with the solemnities of the Transfiguration of Christ the Lord.

[486] he shows that long since by many John, after these and other deeds splendidly done, most worthy of everlasting memory, having contracted a mortal illness from the fatigue of his body, is carried to Ilok, a town of Lower Pannonia in the territory of Sirmium, where he is visited by King Ladislaus and other princely men, and having received the holy sacraments of the Church with the greatest religion, and having foretold many things which were to come, having exhorted princely men, King Ladislaus, Matthias Corvinus and others to protect the Christian religion, an apostolic man and a Martyr in will, he died piously in the Lord in the year of salvation one thousand four hundred and fifty-six, on the tenth before the kalends of November. For the deceased, three-day obsequies were paid in Pannonia, Germany and all Italy. After his death, as in his life, he shone with many great miracles. For his being placed in the canon of the Saints it was written from every side to the apostolic see: from the cities of Italy, Bologna, Padua, Treviso, Ascoli. Frederick III Augustus and Casimir, king of Poland, requested this of Pius II, our predecessor of happy memory: which Pius, while still Aeneas Sylvius, a rich witness of the most signal virtues of John, at the request of the same Frederick III, had obtained from Nicholas V that he be sent into Germany. To these things John and Sigismund, counts palatine on the Rhine, Rupert, duke of Bavaria, Albert, margrave of Brandenburg, Conrad, duke of Silesia, Peter, cardinal priest of the Holy Roman Church of the title of St. Vitalis, called of Augsburg, legate of the apostolic see in all Germany, the bishops of Meissen, Eichstätt and others, King Matthias and Elizabeth, queen of Pannonia, and very many cities of those parts demanded the same from the apostolic see.

[487] the canonization sought: Wherefore, moved by so many and such great proclamations of the man of God, brought and flowing together from every side with one voice to the holy Roman Church, our predecessor of happy memory, Pope Leo X, through Bernard, deacon cardinal of the Holy Roman Church of St. Mary in Portico, called of Bibbiena, granted in the year of salvation one thousand five hundred and fifteen that the feast day of John's pious falling asleep should be celebrated annually in perpetual future times by the secular and regular clergy among the people of Capistrano. Afterward another predecessor of ours, also of happy memory, Pope Gregory XV, inscribed John in the fasti of the Blessed, and on his birthday permitted a double Office and the most holy sacrifice of the Mass in his honor to be celebrated by the whole Order of the Regular Observance of Blessed Francis and also by the secular clergy in the churches of the said Order. Soon under another predecessor of ours of pious memory, Urban VIII, the eminent and many virtues and miracles of the man of God being called to examination according to the rites and canons of the apostolic constitutions, and being received with the approval and proclamation of all, also under our predecessors of happy memory the Roman Pontiffs, Innocent X, Alexander VII and Clement X, at length by our predecessor likewise of holy memory, Innocent XI, it was sanctioned that the blessed man be placed in the canon of the Saints, with repeated prayers demanding this also from Leopold of illustrious memory, elected emperor of the Romans, Charles II, king of the Spains, and Cosimo III, grand duke of his subject Etruria.

[488] decreed by Innocent XI, But when, the matter being unfinished, the same Innocent, at the Lord's command, had piously migrated from this life, Pope Alexander VIII of happy memory, substituted for him, by the authority of the Roman Pontiffs, the ritual constitutions, canons and decrees being duly observed, providently took thought for inscribing John in the canon of the Saints. Wherefore on the seventeenth before the kalends of November, in the year of salvation one thousand six hundred and ninety, the second of his pontificate, he set out to the most holy basilica of Blessed Peter, prince of the Apostles, with the highest celebration of the whole Roman Church: where once, twice and a third time, in a plenary assembly of the venerable brothers the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, patriarchs, archbishops and bishops, prayers to God being repeated for John's being placed in the canon of the Saints, with the unanimous acclamation and suffrage of all, after the grace of the Paraclete Spirit had been invoked with the highest religion, the same Alexander VIII, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, for the honor of the Holy and undivided Trinity, the exaltation of the Catholic faith and the enlargement of the Christian name, decreed and defined that Blessed John of Capistrano, of the Order of Friars Minor of Blessed Francis, called of the Regular Observance, of the greatness of whose virtues and prodigies it had been amply established, together with other Blessed men, Lawrence Justinian, Confessor and pontiff, John of Sahagún, John of God and Paschal Baylón, Confessors not pontiffs, is a Holy Confessor, he placed him in the catalog and canon of the Holy Confessors, and sanctioned that he be henceforth honored, invoked and venerated in the whole Church as truly a Saint; he pronounced that sacred buildings and altars can be built and dedicated in his honor, in which the most holy sacrifice of the Mass may be offered to God, and that annually on the tenth before the kalends of November, on which day the holy man fell asleep in the Lord, his memory can be piously observed, as of a Holy Confessor not a pontiff.

[489] completed by Alexander VIII, Soon Alexander, having venerated with great religion God the eternal Father, and the king of glory Christ the Lord, his everlasting Son, and the Holy Paraclete Spirit, in three persons one God and Lord, and having prayed by a special prayer through the merits of John the Confessor, with a commemoration of him and of the others celebrated a solemn Mass at the high altar above the confession of Blessed Peter, bestowing on all Christ's faithful who were present at so great a ceremony a plenary indulgence and remission of sins. But lest concerning this apostolic decree, definition, sanction, inscription, placing, concession and the other aforesaid of Pope Alexander VIII, because no decretal letters were drawn up in the customary way by him or by his successors Innocent XII, Clement XI and Innocent XIII, Roman Pontiffs of pious memory, our predecessors, there could at any time be any hesitation in any way, we, who, though by unequal merits, by the Lord's disposing have succeeded them in the chair of Blessed Peter, will and by apostolic authority decree that the decree, sanction, placing, inscription and the other things hitherto recounted shall from the said seventeenth day before the kalends of November of the year one thousand six hundred and ninety obtain their entire and plenary effect, as if decretal letters had in fact been drawn up on the same day by the same Pope Alexander VIII and promulgated in the customary way, as is narrated above.

[490] now in solemn rite We will, moreover, that the present letter altogether suffice everywhere to prove the decree, definition, sanction, inscription, placing, statute, concession and the other aforesaid, and that no aid of any other proof be further required for this. Besides, since it would be difficult for this our letter to be brought to each of the places to which there might be need, we will that copies of it, even printed, subscribed by the hand of a public notary and fortified by the seal of some person established in ecclesiastical dignity, obtain everywhere the same faith which this our letter would obtain, if it should happen to be shown or displayed anywhere. Let no one at all therefore be permitted to infringe this page of our decree, definition, sanction, inscription, placing, statute, concession, or to go against it with rash daring. But if anyone should presume to attempt this, let him know that he will incur the indignation of Almighty God and of his blessed Apostles Peter and Paul. Given at Rome at St. Peter's, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand seven hundred and twenty-four, on the day before the nones of June, in the first year of our pontificate. † I, Benedict, bishop of the Catholic Church.

[491] to be promulgated with the subscriptions of the Cardinals present There follow next the names of the Cardinals, which, omitting the crosses of vacant titles and of absent Cardinals, we subjoin: † I, Francis, bishop of Palestrina, Cardinal Barberini. † I, Lawrence, bishop of Tusculum, Cardinal Corsini. † I, Joseph, of the title of St. Praxedes, priest Cardinal Sacripante. † I, Philip Anthony, of the title of St. Cecilia, priest Cardinal Gualterio. † I, Louis, of the title of St. Sylvester in Capite, priest Cardinal Pico della Mirandola. † I, Anthony Felix, of the title of St. Balbina, priest Cardinal Zondadari. † I, Peter Marcellinus, of the title of St. John before the Latin Gate, priest Cardinal Corradini. † I, Melchior, of the title of St. Mary of the Angels, priest Cardinal de Polignac. † I, Bernardine, of the title of St. Peter in Montorio, priest Cardinal Scotti. † I, George, of the title of St. Agnes, priest Cardinal Spinola. † I, Louis, of the title of St. Prisca, priest Cardinal Belluga y Moncada. † I, Joseph, of the title of St. Susanna, priest Cardinal Pereira de la Cerda. † I, John Baptist, of the title of St. Stephen on the Caelian Hill, priest Cardinal Salerni. † I, Alvaro, of the title of St. Bartholomew on the Island, priest Cardinal Cienfuegos. † I, John Baptist, of the title of St. Matthew in Merulana, priest Cardinal Altieri. † I, Vincent, of the title of St. Onuphrius, priest Cardinal Petra. † I, Prosper, of the title of St. Chrysogonus, priest Cardinal Marefoschi. † I, Nicholas, of the title of St. Mary in Domnica, priest Cardinal Coscia. † I, Benedict, of St. Mary in Via Lata, deacon Cardinal Pamphili. † I, Joseph Renatus, of St. George in Velabro, deacon Cardinal Imperiali. † I, Lawrence, of St. Agatha ad Montes, deacon Cardinal Altieri. † I, Charles, of Sant'Angelo in the Fish Market, deacon Cardinal Colonna. † I, Curtius, of St. Eustace, deacon Cardinal Origo. † I, Fabius, of SS. Vitus and Modestus, deacon Cardinal degli Abati Olivieri. † I, Charles, of St. Mary in Aquiro, deacon Cardinal de Marini. † I, Julius, of St. Adrian, deacon Cardinal Alberoni. † I, Alexander, of St. Mary in Cosmedin, deacon Cardinal Albani. † I, Nicholas, of St. Mary of the Rotunda, deacon Cardinal Giudice. P. Cardinal Prodatary. F. Olivieri. Seen by the Curia, J. archbishop of Ancyra. L. Marinetti. Registered in the secretariat of Briefs.

[492] For the sake of learning Besides this bull, authentically issued and promulgated, another had been written, at the instance of the Seraphic Order, by a particular gathering assembled by order of Innocent XII, who immediately succeeded Alexander VIII. This gathering, moreover, was composed of the Cardinals Casanate and Colloredo, and of the prelates Bottini, Inghirami and Sacripante. Its form differs in many ways from the bull of Benedict XIII given above; wherefore we have judged that it should be transferred here, as it is read in Amandus Hermann Capistr. triumph. pag. 765., omitting only the customary formulas which are common to both writings. It is of the following tenor: It accords with reason, etc. Some time ago indeed Pope Alexander VIII of happy memory, our predecessor, in pious meditation pondering the beauty and comeliness of the Church militant, whose structure, with Christ Jesus himself the supreme cornerstone, by the wonderful variety of those precious stones

shines, whom the almighty Father had chosen before the foundation of the world to be made conformable to the image of the same Jesus Christ his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren: and passing from there in similar meditation to the ineffable abundance of divine bounty, which for the present profit and adornment of the Church wonderfully distributes such grace to the elect through the Holy Spirit, the manifestation of the Spirit being given to each. For to one, according to the Apostle, there is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit: to another faith in the same Spirit; to another the grace of healings in the one Spirit; to another the working of powers, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another the interpretation of speeches.

[493] another bull is subjoined, which was not approved: And since one and the same Spirit works all these things, as the Apostle continues, dividing to each as he wills, the same predecessor exulted with great joy, congratulating himself and the Church then committed to his government, when he learned from legitimate processes that gifts of heavenly charisms had been abundantly conferred on the faithful servant of God John of Capistrano, who, powerful in work, writings and speech, not only as a chosen and brilliant stone adorned the beautiful structure of the Church with the splendors of eminent virtues and signal miracles, but appeared given to kings, princes, priests and people as a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall; and set providently and happily against lamentable times for repressing pestiferous heresies, restraining a most pernicious schism, repelling the growing tyranny of the Turks, beating back the force of spreading vices and dissensions, restoring the collapsing discipline of life and morals, and strengthening charity, which had then grown very cold. Reckoning therefore that the homage of human veneration was owed to so great a man, that the peoples might tell his wisdom and the Church proclaim his praise, the same predecessor inscribed him among the holy Confessors by a decree of solemn canonization, resolving in his mind from that time to set forth in summary his life, virtues and miracles and the series of his actions, and to corroborate it by his apostolic letter for the perpetual memory of the matter. Since he, forestalled by death, could not carry this out, we, who have succeeded him in burden and honor by the inscrutable secret of eternal wisdom, have decided to supply such a narration, taken from the aforesaid Acts, by the present letter of ours, in the manner that follows.

[494] in it also are recounted his birth; At Capistrano, which is a town of the kingdom of Naples under the diocese of Sulmona, the servant of God was born of Catholic and honorable parents, on the seventh before the kalends of July, in the year from the Virgin's childbearing one thousand three hundred and eighty-five, and he was washed with the water of baptism, and in the course of time confirmed by the sacrament of chrism. He obtained a nature hastening to great things, and from his early age he showed a specimen of future holiness. He had not yet learned his letters, and, made a teacher of morals, he persuaded his widowed mother to continence, that, spurning second nuptials, she might be more devoted to God. Piously brought up, and assiduous in the frequenting of churches and the veneration of Saints, he took up such a manner of living that he displayed a singular piety and prudence for that age. Endowed likewise with a teachable mind and an excellent memory, having happily traversed the studies of the liberal arts, he devoted sedulous effort to the science of canon and civil law in the university of Perugia, in which he merited to be adorned with the laurel of the doctorate. Called from studies, in which he had easily surpassed all his contemporaries, to magistracies and prefectures, he joined justice with piety, severity with clemency, jurisdiction with moderation in such harmony that, made at once a just judge and a loving father of the peoples over whose government he presided, he won for himself the singular love and the highest esteem both of them and of Ladislaus, king of both Sicilies.

[495] his call to the Seraphic Order; But the eternal wisdom and true light, which enlightens every man, unwilling that this man, predestined to a sublime ministry, should be detained longer by secular business and offices, shone with the brilliant light of its clarity upon its servant, who was reflecting on the darkness of human vicissitudes and calamities, and, having forestalled him with the abundant gift of its grace, called him to the perfect and apostolic norm of living in a certain wonderful and special manner, that like a lamp, kindled with the fire of divine charity, and placed on the high lampstand of the Church, he might drive out the darkness of unbelief and vices, and spread far and wide the rays of Catholic truth and eminent holiness. From the very beginning of this calling it evidently appeared that the grace of God toward him was not void: that he could say with the Apostles: “Behold, we have left all things;” following that counsel of the Lord: “Go, sell what you have and give to the poor,” that thus his justice might remain for ever and ever. Knowing however that it was not enough to have left all things unless he also followed the Lord, which is properly the part of the Apostles and of believers, he chose for himself the best part of the regular life among the Friars Minor of St. Francis called of the Observance.

[496] the public of humility Desiring to construct a lofty fabric of virtues in the religious life, he first thought of the foundation of humility, by zeal for which, wishing to be held a spectacle at Perugia, that where he had shone with great honor he might be mocked with greater contempt, he went around the city ragged and torn in clothing, with hair uncombed and dirty, humble and modest in aspect, and made on every side to the imitation of folly, sitting on a little ass, and wearing a little paper cap on which he had written his sins: he aroused either the wonder or the derision of all who had previously known him in the rank of dignity. Yet truly wise before God, and counted among his sons, when he wished to be held among men in derision and as a byword of reproach. Thus in the spirit of humility and in a contrite soul, stripping off the old man, he renewed the spirit of his mind, and put on the new man, and the new habit of the said Friars Minor, to whose religious family, in the thirtieth year of his age, he gave his name in the convent of St. Francis of the Observance of the same city, and, the year of probation being finished, not without vast joy of himself and his fellow friars he made profession, being then initiated in sacred orders. Flooded with a draught of new sweetness, he thenceforth judged the more bitter whatever the golden cup of Babylon offers to drink; and intoxicated with divine love, he was borne wholly by the impulse of his mind toward God, and zealous for his honor, he strove for the better charisms, by which, going from virtue to virtue, he reached the goal of religious perfection, and like a tree planted beside the running waters, he continually gave the abundant and eminent fruits of his virtues in his season.

[497] profession; For more ardently pursuing the exercise of humility begun in the secular state, in the regular discipline of Blessed Francis, resting principally on the base of this virtue, he exercised himself in the most abject offices of religion, he fled human praises, desiring nothing more than contempt of himself: and the works whose applause he could not prevent he attributed to the divine majesty, repeating with the Prophet: “Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to thy name give glory.” And, “Praise the Lord, all ye nations, praise him, all ye peoples.” Or with the Apostle: “Not that we are sufficient to think anything of ourselves, as from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.” Hence proceeded his disparagement of himself as a great sinner, his splendid gentleness toward his neighbor, his highest reverence toward the prelates of the Church, and his wonderful contempt of honors and dignities, and most of all when he refused the miters of L'Aquila and Rieti. Crucifying his flesh with its vices and concupiscences by constant abstinence and austere affliction, lest it should rise against the spirit, he refreshed himself once a day only with a little bread and water, and sometimes with wine much diluted. On the ground, upon bare boards, he took a brief sleep, the rest of the night being spent in studies and prayers. He always walked with bare feet, taking sandals only in old age. With rough clothing likewise, frequent and inconvenient journeys, incessant labors, and dire flagellations, hair shirts and other macerations he so chastised his body and brought it into servitude that in it, dried up and emptied to the bones, sinews and skin, the ardor of carnal concupiscence could never be kindled; but the spirit always triumphed over the domestic enemy, bound in the bonds of strict mortification. He who had so subdued his flesh always kept his spirit also placed under the sweet yoke of regular obedience: in proof of which it will suffice to have narrated this one thing, that, to obey him who was over him, he drew a cloth out of boiling water with his hands without hesitation, yet suffered no hurt, so that from this there might appear at once the example and the reward of the splendid virtue of obedience.

[498] piety and charity; Fortified with these protections, he ran the way of the just without offense, and the laws of honor, modesty and piety being always kept, nothing appeared in his words or deeds that did not breathe of piety and edification; indeed in all things composed in sweetness and ripeness of morals, and breathing holiness, he drew the minds of those conversing with him and hearing him, nay merely looking at him, to love of virtue and to penance even to tears. Burning with the love of charity, although he was detained in body on earth, he seemed to dwell in soul in heaven: hence the intimate affection of heart with which he was poured out in prayers, and the rapid transport of mind with which he was borne toward God, fixed in the meditation of divine things and the mysteries of the faith, but especially the Incarnation, Nativity, Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ: hence the fervent ardor of love with which he was sweetly rapt toward God, when he offered the most holy sacrifice of the Mass, or ministered to others the ineffable Sacrament of the Eucharist: hence the eminent devotion and veneration toward the Most Blessed Virgin, by whose vision he was refreshed: hence the worship of God, wonderfully increased by very many churches and convents built by John's effort: hence, other things being omitted, the desire with which he burned of undergoing martyrdom for Christ the Lord and his faith. By a similar impulse of charity toward his neighbor, made all things to all, he passed over no such offices of love, that he might again and again provide for the salvation and solace of souls and bodies. For besides the conversions of souls and the abundant fruits of evangelical preaching, reported below, he had understanding for the needy and poor, whom he took care to receive with food, drink, clothing and hospitality. Among his chief delights were the spiritual and bodily services rendered to the sick, some hospitals also being erected and enlarged for their benefit by his exertion. To those at odds he was at hand with peace, to those detained in prison with liberty, to the dead with suffrage, and to all with the help of prayers, tears, afflictions and other pious works which he continually offered to God for the salvation of souls.

[499] his labors for the canonization of St. Bernardine; Moreover, he who bore all in the bowels of charity also repaid an equal favor to St. Bernardine of Siena, his teacher and companion, to whom in life, as he was most obedient and obsequious in every kind of office, so for him dead he procured not without great labors the honor of solemn canonization; and he either imitated his spirit, or the like, as a worthy disciple, or even attained it doubled, as another Elijah. That the Lord had set his faithful and exceedingly prudent servant over his family was proved by the many offices, even that of vicar general, laudably discharged by him in the Religious Order of the aforesaid Friars Minor: and his singular prudence in conducting affairs, and the prosperous fruits gathered from it in the Lord, are well known also to those

of the times, the emperor, kings and princes, as often as they employed his effort and counsel; and the Roman Pontiffs, our predecessors, as often as they delegated to him the arduous offices of inquisitor, visitor, reformer, commissary and apostolic nuncio with most ample faculties. Nor was his wisdom less, and his erudition of every kind, but especially sacred, which his sermons, disputations and works continually demonstrate, and which the very many monuments of books published by him both in the world and in Religion abundantly attest.

[500] his zeal for souls Above all it is not obscurely perceived that by the special providence of Almighty God this Blessed was given in those most difficult times, that, led by an apostolic spirit, he might scatter the chairs of pestilence, beat back the tyranny of the Turks, growing excessively and hastening to far greater things, propagate the Catholic religion and amend morals depraved by the malice of the times. For he scattered the nefarious sect of heretics called Fraticelli, which, vomiting forth its pestiferous venom, deceived simple souls by ensnaring them in its traps and cloaked colors, under the pretext of feigned holiness: and he routed it as it sprouted and grew again and again. He also restrained the perfidy of the Hebrews, when, appointed and confirmed as inquisitor of heretical depravity by our predecessors of pious memory Martin V, Eugene IV and Nicholas V, he proceeded with like justice and zeal against those of the aforesaid heretics and Hebrews, either relapsed or wrongly despising the laws of Christ and the decrees of the Roman Pontiffs, whom with great charity he could not gather into the barn of Holy Church. Likewise a most fierce assailant of these and of other heretics, schismatics and Saracens, not in Italy alone, but in Germany and the adjacent regions, and likewise inquisitor against them by apostolic authority, he left nothing untouched, that those whom he had not been able to receive in the bosom of charity he might storm by work, writings and speech, and refute their false dogmas. And when they dared to undertake the contest of disputation, either they could not escape; or they were convicted by the wonderful power of John and with their own equal confusion, not being able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit who spoke through his mouth. No less sedulous and salutary effort did the servant of God give to repressing the schism of those who, after the translation and dissolution of the council of Basel made by our said predecessor Eugene, had remained at Basel under the name of a general council, and especially when he happily persuaded the duke of Burgundy, to whom he had been sent by our aforesaid predecessor Eugene, not to adhere to the side of the pseudo-pontiff Amadeus, but of the same Eugene the true Pontiff.

[501] especially in Hungary, After the manner also of the Saints, who, on the Apostle's witness, became strong in war through faith, and turned back the camps of foreigners, this poor and unarmed religious and old man, yet clothed with the breastplate of faith, and armed with the banner of the cross, routed the Turks who were trampling on the necks of the faithful and threatening extremities to the Christian commonwealth, fighting the battle of the Lord, who through his faithful servant poured out his wrath upon those same Turks. For when Mahomet, tyrant of the Turks, fierce of nature and insolently elated by the storming of Byzantium and the addition of the Eastern empire, was devouring Pannonia in spirit, and was threatening that whatever there was of the Christian name would be consumed, to bridle this swollen and otherwise irreparable torrent there came forward, given by the eternal providence of God, his humble servant, who, refusing to glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, under the banner of that same cross, which he had received from Calixtus III of memory to be recalled, also our predecessor, through the hands of the apostolic legate, gathered very many signed with the cross, both by sermons, and by letters, and also by messengers. Although the number of these and other soldiers was far unequal to the innumerable and victorious army of the aforesaid Mahomet, whose very presence was pressing, John nevertheless, everywhere the driver, exhorter, standard-bearer and leader, raised up into living hope under the protection of the Lord of hosts and the banner of the cross, was not afraid before the face of the Turks, trusting in their ferocity. Greek Alba is besieged, battles are keenly fought, assaults are made, attacks, sorties, onsets: but the affair was sustained by the counsels, words and prayers of Capistran, the siege was raised, the enemy put to flight, the victory won, and through the liberation of Greek Alba alone the whole Christian commonwealth was released from trepidation, crisis and destruction.

[502] and in reforming the regular Order; Kindled by a like zeal for the propagation of the faith, Italy, Germany, Poland, Russia, Hungary, Transylvania, Wallachia and Moldavia being traversed with great labor and equal fruit, the faithful servant of God converted innumerable schismatics and heretics of very many sects, and a Hebrew master of the synagogue, convicted in public disputation here in the City, with many adherents of the same perfidy, to the light which is Christ, and to his orthodox faith under the unity of Holy Mother Church, with wonderful ease and felicity, the grace of the Holy Spirit working. Turning finally his chief endeavors attentively to amending and reforming morals depraved by the malice of the times, he salutarily cleared the Lord's field, abounding in thorns and as it were growing wild, and by the restoration of charity brought it back to good fruit. For he restored the censure of regular life, relaxed in the Order of Minors, and bravely and sweetly kept it, once restored, safe and sound: the monastery of nuns of St. William of the Order of St. Clare outside the walls of Ferrara, deformed in morals, he called back to its former discipline, lest its relaxation should offend the eyes of the council soon to be celebrated there; he restrained the usuries of the Jews, and their commerce and dealings with Christians; he drove off dress, games and womanly vanities, and more than once he beheld their instruments publicly burned, the peoples of their own accord throwing them into the fire: pernicious dissensions being plucked out, he brought in mutual charity: for spreading vices virtues, for wickedness piety, for unbelief the worship of God and the veneration of the Name of Jesus he substituted, with vast gain and profit of souls.

[503] at length renowned by the praises of all, And since he who shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven, such assuredly ought John to be called, who, sowing first the seeds of good work, gathered the abundant fruits of preaching carried on for the space of forty years. His speech, effectual and as it were a burning torch, confounded stubborn minds, softened the hard, brought back the straying, taught the rude, confirmed the doubtful, kindled the lukewarm, perfected the good. The little ones asked for bread, and one was not lacking to break it for them. Cities, provinces, peoples, the emperor, kings and princes eagerly invited the servant of God, as he evangelized, to themselves, and he, to satisfy the innumerable multitude of hearers, was obliged to discharge the office of preaching not in churches alone, but very often in squares and open fields. And so in many ways the Lord made his Saint wonderful even while living, that he who had shone with the excellence of signal virtues and merits might also be renowned for the brightness of miracles and a particular gift of prophecy: and so strong grew the constant and common opinion of such holiness, virtues, charisms and miracles, that our aforesaid predecessors, besides his effort salutarily employed in arduous matters, made worthy and honorable mention of him in several of their letters: and likewise the emperor Frederick III of renowned memory, Casimir, king of Poland, the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, prelates, princes and magnates made known very many times by word, writings and deed with how great honor and devotion they venerated the servant of God; the peoples also, that they might see, hear and honor him as an Apostle and be healed by him, flowed together from every side, and went to meet him even with processions and other applause and honors.

[504] he dies at Villach: At length, the course of this life being happily traversed, the acceptable time arrived at which Blessed John, who had long thirsted for the strong and living God, should come and appear before his face, to receive the crown of justice after glorious contests: for seized by a long fever, he is informed of his near falling asleep, and brought to the extremity, fortified by the sacraments of the Church with intimate and splendid devotion, ever master of his mind, he sweetly fell asleep in the Lord at Villach in Carinthia *, on the twenty-third day of October, in the year of salvation one thousand four hundred and fifty-six. This death being made known, a vast multitude of the people flowed together, and, seven-day obsequies being celebrated with particular solemnity and the greatest devotion of those gathering, the corpse was laid up in an iron chest, furnished with five keys, and entombed in the cloister of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary among the Friars Minor, which for years after was found soft and pliant. The fame of the aforesaid holiness and the devotion of the peoples growing, Pope Leo X of happy memory, likewise our predecessor, granted that the feast of Blessed John could be celebrated by all in the town and territory of Capistrano on the twenty-third day of October, and this indult Pope Gregory XV of the same memory, also our predecessor, by the counsel of the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church set over the sacred Rites, as to all, both Brothers and nuns, of the whole Order of St. Francis, for the Office from the Common of Confessors not pontiffs to be recited on the aforesaid day, but as regards the Mass also to any secular priests whatever celebrating in the churches of the said Brothers, by his letter in the form of a Brief issued on this matter on the tenth day of December in the year one thousand six hundred and twenty-two, by apostolic authority perpetually extended and enlarged.

[505] and various processes being instituted, Afterward, with the assent of Pope Urban VIII of like memory, likewise our predecessor, besides older documents, other processes on the reputation of the virtues and miracles of the servant of God, both in the Roman curia and in the diocese of Sulmona, were drawn up by apostolic authority in the year of the Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty-five, and these being accurately reviewed and discussed by three auditors of the causes of the apostolic palace, namely John Baptist Covinus, Philip Pirovano and Alfonso Manzanedo, a distinct and opportune report was compiled by them and made to the same predecessor of the things contained in the said processes. Meanwhile, the notorious decrees of the same predecessor Urban being promulgated, a particular commission being given beforehand, signed by the hand of Innocent X of memory to be recalled, also our predecessor, in the said Congregation of Cardinals set over the sacred Rites held on the eleventh day of May in the year of the same Lord one thousand six hundred and fifty, the cause of this canonization was resumed in the state and terms in which it was found. Which congregation indeed, after it had replied under the seventh day of September in the year one thousand six hundred and sixty that one could proceed further, and under the seventeenth day of January in the year one thousand six hundred and sixty-three that the validity of the said processes was established, on the twenty-seventh day of September of the same year, before Pope Alexander VII of like memory, also our predecessor, the consultors being heard, judged that the virtues both theological and cardinal were established, and that one could proceed further.

[506] the miracles are approved; There remained therefore the approval of the miracles performed at the intercession of the servant of God, of which in his life and after death a public and most renowned reputation had grown strong, supported in many ways, but, a greater and legitimate proof of them being desired, two further processes, likewise Roman and of Sulmona, were drawn up by like apostolic authority: and the doubt being disputed on the twenty-second day of June in the year one thousand six hundred and seventy-five, “whether the validity of these new processes was established and the relevance as to the six miracles brought forward in them;” the aforesaid Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, set over the same sacred Rites, the consultors having first been heard, judged that two of the said miracles were established: namely the fifth, in the person of Ignatius

Bracci of Sezze, at once freed from the jaws of death; and the sixth, in the person of Bernardine Michael of the town of Cervara, for eight months hindered in body and destitute of strength, restored by the help of the said Blessed John to his former health, if it should please Pope Clement X of pious memory, likewise our predecessor. Who on the seventh day of July of the same year, having heard the report of our beloved sons, the promoter of the faith and the secretary of the aforesaid congregation, approved and confirmed this sense of the same Congregation.

[507] and the canonization is decreed, All things being at length completed which the aforesaid decrees of the said predecessor Urban require in causes of Blessed persons of this kind, and a report of this cause being made by our venerable brother Paluzzo, now bishop of Sabina, but then priest cardinal of the basilica of the Twelve Apostles, called Altieri, in a general congregation held before Pope Innocent XI of holy memory, also our predecessor, with the attendance of the consultors, on the twentieth day of December in the year of the same Lord one thousand six hundred and seventy-eight, and the doubt being then proposed: “Whether, the things above narrated standing, one could safely proceed solemnly at any time to the canonization of the same Blessed John and to the issuing of the final decree;” the aforesaid promoter of the faith having first been heard by voice and in writing, and the matter being maturely discussed, both the consultors and the aforesaid Cardinals with unanimous vote judged that the same predecessor Innocent, whenever it should please him, could safely come to the solemn canonization of the said Blessed, according to the aforesaid rite of the Holy Roman Church and the institutions of the sacred canons, and define him a Saint reigning with God, and propose him to the universal Church to be honored and venerated. When however the same predecessor Innocent, the gravity of the matter requiring, had decided to explore the divine will by prayers and suffrages, these being accordingly performed, and the aforesaid promoter and secretary having been heard again, on the thirteenth day of June in the year of the same Lord one thousand six hundred and seventy-nine he confirmed and approved the said sense of the same congregation, when he ordered the last and final decree of this solemn canonization to be issued.

[508] whose solemn rite Alexander VIII, Meanwhile the aforesaid predecessor Innocent having entered the way of all flesh, the last hand not yet being put to this business of canonization, when after very many and earnest prayers, offered to the Holy See in the past and present century by many kings, prelates, princes and magnates, other similar prayers had been offered by our dearest son in Christ Leopold, king of the Romans elected emperor, and by our beloved son the noble man Cosimo III, grand duke of his subject Etruria, and also by the Order of St. Francis, to Lord Alexander VIII, successor of the aforesaid Innocent, our predecessor, and thereupon our, then his, venerable brother Alderano, bishop of Ostia, Cardinal of the said Holy Roman Church, called Cybo, prefect of the aforesaid congregation, in the secret consistory of the same predecessor Alexander, held on the twenty-third day of August in the year of the same Lord one thousand six hundred and ninety, had set forth the sum of the process, and his own opinion and that of his other colleagues, Cardinals of the said Holy Roman Church set over the same sacred Rites, and the other Cardinals present in the same consistory had adhered to him with unanimous vote, and afterward in another public consistory, assembled on the fifth day of September of the same year, to which besides the aforesaid Cardinals there had also come the patriarchs, archbishops and bishops staying in the City, and our beloved sons the prelates of the Roman curia, and the household of the same predecessor Alexander, our beloved son Urbano Spreti also, advocate of our, then his, consistorial court, had spoken of the life, virtues and miracles of the said Blessed John of Capistrano, and in the name of the aforesaid king of the Romans elected emperor, of the grand duke of his subject Etruria and of the Order of St. Francis had brought suppliant entreaties for his canonization; the same predecessor Alexander lent gracious ears to these most humble prayers, by which it was desired that the supreme honor of canonization in the Church of God be decreed to the same Blessed John, whom, as he knew him to be marked with heroic virtues and to have won in this arduous agony of mortal life eminent victories over himself against the power of darkness, so he knew him worthy to receive by right and merit on earth, for the imitation and norm of the peoples, the crown of perfect adornment.

[509] the Holy Spirit being invoked and counsel sought But since so great a judgment could not be duly pronounced unless his help were first invoked who is the king of glory and reigns forever in heaven together with his Saints and elect, the same predecessor Alexander therefore then earnestly exhorted each and all of the faithful that by prayers, fasts, alms and other works of Christian piety they should strive suppliantly to implore for him from the sun that never sets the rays of inaccessible light, whereby, the hiding places of human understanding being scattered, he might be able to search out and fulfill the divine good pleasure. Moreover for deciding a matter of so great moment most accurately, he gave notice that he would seek in another semi-public consistory the opinions of the same venerable brothers of his, the Cardinals of the said Holy Roman Church, and also of the patriarchs, archbishops and bishops then staying in the City. That semi-public consistory, therefore, being assembled on the twenty-fifth day of the said month of September, announced for this effect, there being present also our, then his, notaries of the apostolic see, and also the auditors of the apostolic palace, the said Cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops and bishops, coming to one and the same opinion, judged by their votes that one could proceed to the solemn canonization of Blessed John of Capistrano.

[510] Having heard their unanimous consent, since nothing else was wanting of those things that, he accomplished. by the authority of the Holy Fathers, the decrees of the sacred canons, the ancient custom of the aforesaid Holy Roman Church, and the prescription of the said decrees of the said predecessor Urban, were to be done and observed, the same predecessor Alexander on the seventeenth before the kalends of November of the year just past, one thousand six hundred and ninety, the second of his pontificate, in the most holy basilica of Blessed Peter, prince of the Apostles, where in solemn rite he had come together in the morning with our, then his, venerable brothers the Cardinals of the aforesaid Holy Roman Church, patriarchs, archbishops and bishops, and our beloved sons the prelates of the said Roman curia, his officials and household, the clergy secular and regular and a very great crowd of the people, petitions for the decree of canonization having been repeated first, second and third by our, then his, beloved son Peter, deacon cardinal of St. Lawrence in Damaso, called Ottoboni, in the name of the aforesaid Leopold, king of the Romans elected emperor, after sacred hymns, litanies and other prayers and after the grace of the Holy Spirit had been duly implored, for the honor of the most holy and undivided Trinity, for the exaltation of the Catholic faith and the increase of the Christian religion, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and his own, mature deliberation being first had and the divine help often implored, and also by the counsel of the aforesaid Cardinals of the same Holy Roman Church, patriarchs, archbishops and bishops then present in the City, decreed and defined that Blessed John of Capistrano, together with Blessed Lawrence Justinian, John of Sahagún, John of God and Paschal Baylón, is a Saint, and inscribed him in the catalog of the Saints, establishing that by the universal Church every year on the twenty-third day of October, on which the same Blessed John of Capistrano fell asleep in the Lord, his memory ought to be observed with pious devotion among the Holy Confessors not pontiffs, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. What follows are the ordinary clauses.

* rather, Hungary

§ XLIV. Of the title of Apostle sought for St. John of Capistrano.

John Baptist Barberio, Giovanni Battista Barberio, not content with the honors of canonization paid to his patron St. John of Capistrano, further attempted to adorn him with a new title, that by apostolic decree he might also be called Apostle. For this purpose he offered a suppliant petition to Innocent XII. We transfer the petition here the more gladly, as it presents at the same time an ἀνακεφαλαιωσιν of all John's deeds. It is of the following tenor Capistr. triumph. pag. 775.: Most Blessed Father, the deserved exposition made in the past year of the most glorious John of Capistrano for universal cult, with the canonization so sighed for and applauded, has caused such jubilation and devotion in the hearts of the faithful without exception of rank, condition and sex, that, not ceasing to acclaim him a new Apostle of the true God, it is humbly begged of Your Holiness for the same cause to grant him the title “Apostle of Europe,” the more because such a prerogative most justly belongs to him for the following irrefutable reasons.

[512] from Innocent XII That his prodigious life is truly and really a composite of the most excellent miracles and wonderful mighty works which the divine Omnipotence has wrought on earth by means of its Holy Apostles; which is openly attested among other classic writers by Flavio Biondo in the XIIth region of his Italy Illustrated in the following tenor: “Capistrano, a town of Apulia, is now adorned by a most renowned man, John Capistrano, of the Seraphic Order, whom it adorns as its nursling, shining in life with miracles and indeed frequent ones, which after the times of the Apostles has been rare and almost unheard of.” And St. Augustine, discoursing on the power given by the Most High to his Apostles, said from his most profound knowledge: “The Lord gave the Apostles power over nature, that they might heal it, over demons, that they might overthrow them, over the elements, that they might change them, and over death, that they might despise it.” With these same prerogatives and gifts Capistran was endowed in the superlative degree, so that if it is a question of things exceeding all the powers of human nature, or of its defects, abundantly supplied to the admiration of nature itself, anyone can and ought to be content with the wonderful effects of his infinite miracles, since, setting aside the innumerable blind, mute, deaf and lame restored, he recalled thirty and more dead to new life, according to the approved report of Matthäus Rader: “I will add this: I have read an expressed number of those cured, partly dead and partly about to die; of the former, over thirty called back to the offices of life; of the latter, ears opened for the deaf, three hundred and seventy; mouths for the mute, thirty-six; eyes, one hundred and twenty-three; defects of feet or joints corrected, whether they labored under sad gout, or torturing chiragra, or base lameness, nine hundred and twenty; of other illnesses no number could be reached.”

[513] he seeks that, the course of his life being weighed, Moreover, besides having raised one woman dead four days, he also made a nursing infant of two months speak with loosened tongue and beautifully articulated voice, so that John the Regular, discoursing in the Belgian Chronicles under the year 1452 on similar and other miracles he had learned of, could generously say: “By the Relics that he brought with him, touching the heads of each, he healed very many of the sick, by whatever infirmity they were held:… All of which, following him at Erfurt, at Nuremberg and at Halle, we saw being done and marveled; for never have we read such things in holy books.” If it is a question of absolute dominion over the wicked serpent, he not only freed anyone possessed, however cruelly he had been troubled; but also, commanding in fervor of spirit all the spirits of hell to come up and adore the most worthy Name of Jesus, behold in the twinkling of an eye, in the sight of a hundred and twenty thousand persons, they suddenly carried it out

in conformity with the explanation of Wadding in his Annals Wadding. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 409.: “At L'Aquila in the Vestini Capistran was exalting with worthy praises the most holy Name of Jesus, to be celebrated by Angels, venerated by men and trembled at by demons. And that an assembly of a hundred and twenty thousand men might see how powerful and effectual it was against the evil spirits, in the power of the aforesaid Name he commanded that they should be present, and before all should adore the divine word, painted on a tablet. Behold, in the twinkling of an eye, innumerable demons appeared in various forms of beasts, raging and howling, and, with neck bowed and reverence made, vanished.”

[514] splendid deeds, As concerns the obedience shown to him by the elements, besides that with his powerful right hand on several occasions he instantly dispersed clouds and calmed tempestuous squalls, this new Moses also made the very deep waters of the river Sile decrease, crossing it with a free and swift step, accompanied by twelve companions and a beast of burden laden with books; these are the precise words among others of the above-named Wadding Ibid. l. c.: “About to cross the deep river Sile near Treviso, when the inhuman ferryman would not take him across without a fare, he withdrew a little from the sight of his companions to pray; then he stretched out over the waters the habit of St. Bernardine, drawn from a little bag. A wonderful thing! At once the waters began to diminish and to offer fords, so that they scarcely reached the middle of the shin, and when Capistran, his companions and the ass which carried the little packs had been set on the opposite side, they rose on high to their former measure. As to contempt of his own life and peril of death, for the complete glory of the Creator, Capistran so panted for martyrdom, that, fearing nothing, poisons, plots, assaults, he kept it exposed to all these, through the course of forty years and months, at every moment without human respect, for the defense of the holy faith and the propagation of the faith of Christ; in attestation of which truth Calixtus III burst forth in these words in one of his letters: “We beseech you in the Lord, unconquered herald of God, and already in life almost a Martyr.” And Blessed James of the March, weighing with mature consideration the most arduous endeavors and impending crises to which the great restorer John was ever subject, could by no means refrain from writing to him in sympathy: “Martyr before the time, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and peace be multiplied in you … I do not doubt that you bear many labors and very many straits: I indeed suffer with your old age, placed for many years under the yoke of many years.”

[515] both for his Order, Since therefore the signification or etymological definition * is nothing other than messenger and legate of the supreme God, on every head St. John Capistrano is to be entitled legate and messenger; since, as it were another Saul, with the divine splendors shining specially upon him, by means of the Seraph and his standard-bearer Francis of Assisi, he was called by the supreme majesty, to repair the shipwrecking Church militant. For this, as a sign of a perfect dominion, it provided that a crown was invisibly formed on his head in the manner of the Friars Minor of the Observance, without its ever being renewed for him through his whole life. From then on he was perpetually employed in the services of the Holy See by three vicars of Christ against the innumerable disturbers and open enemies of the same: namely he was appointed inquisitor by Martin V for the destruction of the Fraticelli in various parts of Italy; directed by Eugene IV to many kingdoms and very many provinces of Europe to reunite the Catholic flock, now manifestly divided, seduced by the accursed conciliabulum of Basel, after he had assisted at the council of Florence and put a bridle on the Hebrews in the whole kingdom of Naples; and at length sent by Nicholas V into the parts beyond the mountains, as a balm of paradise, to oppose himself to so great a variety of heretics oppressing our most holy law, he never was wearied or rested for the space of five years, until he saw the infernal flame totally extinguished. For accomplishing this the most kind Lord supplied such grace and fortitude that where previously neither the arms of the allied princes of the empire nor the very crusade of Martin V were ever sufficient to repress them, holy Capistran easily subjugated them by sign, by the living voice of his most pious faith, so that for such eminent deeds he was already called by all an Apostle, a great prophet, an Angel of heaven, and a messenger of God, and again it pleased Calixtus III to approve him with another like and fitting title in the form that follows: “We exhort your devotion … since our Redeemer, having pity on his people, has offered you as leader of victory, and gives most ample opportunity of renewing in these parts his holy Name.”

[516] both for the Church of God, The said northern regions consisted in Germany, Bavaria, Swabia, Thuringia, Saxony, Austria, Bosnia, Bohemia, Hungary, Poland, Russia and other most vast provinces, which he purged by the admirable conversion of infinite souls: all this is attested by Marracci in his Bibliotheca Mariana, p. 13: “John Capistrano, of the Order of Minors, an Italian by nation, born of a noble family, a man most renowned for learning and holiness, who brought back innumerable gentiles, Jews, heretics and schismatics.” And that Capistran was always venerated by each one under the name of Apostle is attested also by Pope Pius II in a letter directed to the Saint, where out of his innate candor he inserts these words: “The imperial majesty will gladly see you, and will venerably embrace you as an Apostle of Christ.” The same, writing to the Cardinal of Fermo, protector of the Seraphic Order, attests him such in the following most worthy encomium: “Br. John of Capistrano is a man of God, the peoples of Germany hold him almost as a Prophet; he could, when he wished, with a raised finger make a great crowd.” Afterward in his Chronicles the very same Supreme Pontiff concludes, saying: “At the same time John of Capistrano came into Austria, whom priests and peoples met with the Relics of the Saints, and received him as some great Prophet, as a messenger of God, and as though Peter or Paul were making his journey that way… Thus the man led as it were a heavenly life on earth, immaculate, without stain, without filth, without sin, whom we saw at Vienna in old age,” etc.

[517] By virtue of these things Eugene IV and Nicholas V reasonably burst out on several occasions: in bringing back heretics, “If Capistran should die in our times, we should at once inscribe him in the Catalog of the Saints:” and this on account of his immaculate and most pure life, in which he fulfilled all the parts of a most faithful messenger of the supreme king, when he rendered the whole world obedient and devoted to his majesty, and in the same interval of time dismayed the Ottoman pride before Belgrade by the sole ensign of the most powerful Name of Jesus, at whose invocation legions of Angels were seen warring for us, on which portent Nicole Gilles discoursed in his ancient French Annals: “And the said Capistran added courage to the Christians, so that the Turks said that so great a multitude of arms had followed them that none of them dared look back, although no one was pursuing them except the Angels. Likewise Paul Lang in the Chronicles of Zeitz has transmitted to posterity under the year 1456:” About a hundred thousand of the Turks were killed near the town of Taurinum, which in our age they call Alba, situated at the confluence of the Danube and Sava, and this was done by the Christians signed with the cross, John Capistrano, as the Christians fought, showing an image of the crucified and crying out: “O God! O Jesus! where are thy ancient mercies, come to the help of thy people.” For every greater proof St. Antoninus, archbishop of Florence, attests in the third part of his Chronicle, title XII, chapter 14, §1: “The most worthy leader of the Christian cohort … there being present also the venerable religious Br. John of Capistrano of the Order of Minors, an excellent man and outstanding in merits before God and men, the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, in which our salvation consists, being trustingly and assiduously invoked with one voice by all the circumspect people, the banner also of the most holy Cross being raised with great shouts and tears toward heaven, whence ineffable help came,” etc.

[518] and in promoting the holy faith. Whence if, as a reward of similar heroic deeds and conversions, very many have been worthily inserted and registered in the Roman Martyrology and reported by Spondanus, and by apostolic indult are called Apostles of those parts which each of them traversed, profitably sowing the word of God, so, the far greater merits of the great missionary Capistran being weighed (speaking however with due deference and reverence) it seems that the very gratitude of things and what is owed require that he too be acknowledged worthy of the title of Apostle of Europe, since great kingdoms and whole provinces were converted through him to the faith, as St. John Chrysostom most fittingly discoursed: “The best guardian of benefits is the very memory of benefits and the perpetual confession of graces;” that he in turn may be the more bound to protect holy Church in the future, as we have experienced with the highest applause in these past years in the siege of Vienna.

[519] the title of Apostle may be conferred: Nor let it be said that the title of Apostle does not belong to anyone except the first introducers of the most holy faith into unknown parts, ignorant of it: for the opposite has already been declared, as will be proved in its place and time, and the most wise Capistran himself proves it from experience and most learned reasons in one of his treatises entitled “On the authority of the Pope.” That I may not depart from the most fundamental reason, let us attend to the most manifest difference that intervenes between the derived and natural unfitness, or better the gross ignorance of idolatry, and the accursed depravity of the obstinate and perverted heretic, who apostatized from the primitive mother holy Church for no other end than to shake off the yoke of her so well ordered norm, and consequently, the reins being loosed, to fulfill unbridled concupiscence and more and more unrestrainable ambition, as the nurse of every execrable vice and detestable falsehood that the infernal hydra is able to stir up; since it is certain that for imprinting the knowledge of the true God on the darkened and shadowed minds of the heathen, the perceived insubstantiality and frailty of the false gods being also set forth at the same time, natural instinct rather concurred, the first light shining upon them, and no less; nor that which is reported of the infinite number of Holy Martyrs and Confessors *; among whom St. Cyprian from a heathen and magician came forth a great defender of Christ, as soon as the impotence of idols was uncovered for him. St. Chrysanthus from a simple reading of the holy Gospel immediately abjured the false gods, and his wife followed him, hearing an explanation of it made by the same St. Chrysanthus. Fortunate Clovis, by the efficacious reasons adduced by St. Clotilde, had himself washed in the sacred bath of regeneration with his entire kingdom. St. Eustace, beholding above the head of a stag the cross of Christ, embraced with one accord with his wife and sons the true faith of the incarnate Word. Here also the writer adduces SS. Josaphat, Denis and Martin, converted to the faith with easy effort. And then he goes on.

[520] because more difficult of heretics But on the contrary, to draw a heretic away from lusts already tasted proves much more

arduous than any worldly creature can imagine for himself, as experience has taught us from the accursed seducers and most stubborn heresiarchs of the Calvinists, Lutherans, Arians, Jacobellians, Nestorians, Hussites, Taborites, Patarenes, Adamites and other such oppressors of holy Church, of whose perfidy, if it be well weighed, one can most justly declare with St. Anselm: “I judge it a greater miracle when God restores to the will the rectitude it has abandoned, than when he restores to a dead man the life he has lost.” And yet, the diabolical filth being repudiated by the Adamites (since the discourse is of them), the most powerful Capistran induced them to subject themselves without delay to the gentle yoke of sacrosanct matrimony, and to acknowledge with one accord with the other things required the supreme Roman Pontiff as the one and legitimate pastor.

[521] than the conversion of unbelievers; Nevertheless if all these things adduced hitherto do not seem sufficient for numbering Capistran among the Apostles of our time, since the aforesaid title belongs to none but the privileged Apostles, to each of whom provinces were determined by the Redeemer, that the most holy and evangelical doctrine might be announced everywhere on earth, let the most merciful God supply the same, by whom for the conversion of two special kingdoms John, his beloved and most recent Apostle, was expressly sent by an articulate divine voice; so that the Evangelist's saying can be repeated with full cheeks: “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John;” which can in no way be denied. Wherefore noticing in the imperial or Austrian city of Neustadt, or the New City, a wonderful change of morals; and not judging that he should go further before he had first prayed to the Lord, on whose nod he always desired his whole life to depend, he besought him from his inmost heart that he should deign to manifest to him to what more needy part he ought to turn for the salvation of Holy Church; nor did the divine goodness delay to manifest its will, when by a heavenly oracle, in the manner of a resounding trumpet, it replied: “To the Bohemians, to the Bohemians go.” Which he also carried out without the least tergiversation.

[522] because both by words The mission committed to him in the kingdom of Bohemia being ended, passing on his return to Nuremberg, having recommended his needs in the sacrifice of the altar, he soon sweated at preaching: behold, unexpectedly he clearly understood from the supreme Lord that he desired him not there, but in Hungary, with the greatest speed; from hearing those words reverberating from heaven: “Into Hungary, into Hungary go, and delay no longer.” When on this account John did not desist from the discourse he had begun, he felt himself pricked with repeated impulses by other similar voices crying out: “What are you doing, what are you doing, why do you not go to Hungary? Make an end and walk.” Whence in no way able to resist the heavenly violence, he made for Hungary, so to say, as though flying, where to what degree of magnificence his wonderful life, the exemplarity of his morals, the ardor of divine love and the conversion of heretics were exalted, each thing is diffusely reported in his admirable Life, recently brought to light, that the omnipotence of the most absolute Lord may be known to anyone; so that, as he always judged it opportune to send his most faithful herald by command for the salvation of souls rebelling against him, so he commanded him not to absent himself in a time of such extreme necessity from the despaired-of fortress of Belgrade, a sacrosanct and irrevocable promise being given to him: “Be constant, John, and do not fear, for in the power of my most holy Name and of my cross you will without doubt obtain victory over the Turks.” As also happened, when, as it were another Gideon, with only three thousand weak soldiers he easily turned to flight the formidable armies of the Ottoman adversary, with a slaughter of a hundred and more thousands.

[523] and by miracles, And as a pillar of fire was granted by God for a leader, and to the three Magi kings a most bright star, so by similar portents also the most pious Lord willed to manifest to the universe that John was truly his messenger to the infected and wretched parts beyond the mountains, according to the following report of Wadding and of the most prodigious Capistran himself. First then Wadding says: “Having therefore received the apostolic blessing and the power of pontifical commissary and general inquisitor, that he might undertake the burden received more easily and accomplish it more happily, he went away to Assisi, to implore the help of the most holy Virgin in that place in which his founder Francis, by the merits of the same Mother of God, conceived and brought forth the Spirit of evangelical truth. His supplication being finished, after he had gone forward a little from the place, his going out for this signal and great mission seemed to be approved from highest heaven: for surrounded by wonderful light, wholly shining with rays, he proceeded as far as half a mile; God thus showing beforehand that he would copiously carry the evangelical light to distant nations by doctrine, virtue and holiness of life.” There follows the report made by Capistran himself and registered by the same Wadding: “In the square of L'Aquila, a multitude of peoples being present, namely at the hour between terce and sext, there appeared there a most brilliant star; those who were present, looking at it, roused one another: yet I myself did not then see it, who, unworthy, presiding at the pulpit, was also preaching on the Blessed Virgin… Since I had no knowledge of the appearance of the said star, marveling, through trustworthy report, at the commotion of those present, I was searching out what they were asking among themselves, as I could not see the star above my head; then they indicated to me the appearance of the same star, which had shone above the head of St. Bernardine, most evidently declared there. When I had raised my head, I saw that same star most limpidly, giving thanks to God and trusting from the divine goodness and the protections of the blessed Virgin that I should infallibly obtain a happy success and a glad effect in the canonization of the holy man of God. And so it came about, by the Lord's disposing, that the following morning, directing my steps from L'Aquila to the Holy Roman Church, not I alone but very many companions who were with me saw the aforesaid star several times on the way, as the leader and companion of the journey.”

[524] both by written books And so if the Holy first Apostles, to spread the Catholic faith through the whole world, were not content to preach by living voice in the provinces assigned to them, each one also wished to make it known especially by letters to the more distant and foreign regions, that no one of mortals could ever object ignorance of it, according to the sayings of the Prophet: “Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. Ps. XVIII, 5.” With equal zeal and fervor of spirit the new Apostle John desired to show to all the one and true way of eternal salvation, when, setting aside the daily sermons proclaimed for thirty-nine years, for totally purging Europe of sacrileges, nay lusts and the very iniquity of sin, he left to posterity forty-eight most essential treatises, that by their rule the divine law might be fulfilled, besides a considerable number of sound counsels and truly apostolic letters, concerning the public interest of the Christian religion and the private necessity of consciences, as from the following letter, directed to the king of England, can be conceived all the others, proceeding from his sublime doctrine and holiness, treating of which in the fourth book of his chronicle Mark of Lisbon, full of admiration, declared: “No one more acceptable to the Roman Curia than he, no one more skilled in canon and civil law, none more tenacious in memory, and in wearying the body no one like him, none either more ardent or stronger or more effectual than he in pursuing heretics and schismatics, none superior to him in faith or in work or in the power of miracles, and more eager for martyrdom and more fervent in procuring the salvation of souls.”

[525] he deserved excellently of the Church. Amandus Hermann further says that he will not report the letter to the king of England, because he had published it above Capistr. triumph. pag. 424.; and we refrain from transferring it here from him, seeing that we give it elsewhere from Wadding Annal. tom. XII, pag. 210.. Barberio goes on: How profitable he was to one sex and the other in freeing them from whatever snares of the infernal enemy, namely women from superfluous vanities, men from illicit retentions, is amply described by Albert Krantz in the book on his Metropolis, chapter 49, discoursing thus: “Two years afterward there came from Italy the religious father John of Capistrano… He so moved the people that they brought into the forum all vain kinds of games, chess, dice, whatever is of that kind, and the women burned in one fire, the people looking on, their bed-coverings and head-structures and other vain headbands.” Since then these are the eminent deeds wrought by God in the person of the new Apostle Capistran, by means of which we behold at one stroke the horrid winter of iniquities changed into the flowery spring of paradise, with so great a stupefaction indeed of the spectators, that each of them desires these things to be committed to eternal memory, that so noble a fame may never be blotted out by any forgetfulness, as the graver histories, written at the end of the aforenamed Life, abundantly testify. His Holiness is again begged to turn himself with paternal piety and right justice to matters so conspicuous and worthy; which if they are weighed by his limpid mind and most pure heart, we hope without doubt to obtain the perfect grace, to the greater glory of God, the exaltation of holy Church and the tranquillity of the apostolic see, since that untiring champion labored without end for these same things, as is known to each one. Giovanni Battista Barberio. Reviewed: Andrea Pieri, sub-promoter of the faith.

[526] But the question, referred to the Sacred Congregation of Rites, With the Supreme Pontiff's assent, the question: Whether the title of Apostle is to be granted to Capistran, was proposed to the sacred congregation of Rites. The promoter of the faith seems to have objected two things especially, since Giovanni Battista Barberio discusses only two difficulties, namely that the title of Apostle, conferred on other Saints, lessens the reverence owed to the twelve Apostles of Christ, and that a title of this sort can belong only to those who first brought the evangelical light into some region. And as concerns the former difficulty, Barberio shows with easy effort Capistr. triumph. pag. 783. that the title of Apostle was given even by Paul himself to those who were not counted within the number of twelve: thus he writes at Philipp. II, 25. But I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, but your Apostle and the minister of my need. Let the commentary of Cornelius a Lapide on this text be compared, if it please. Moreover the Church had already adorned with the title of Apostle, saving the reverence due to the twelve Apostles, various Saints, as is clear from the Roman Martyrology. Namely it is read under the 8th of January: Among the Norici, of Saint Severinus, abbot, who propagated the Gospel among that people, and was called the Apostle of the Norici, etc. On the 5th of June: Of Saint Boniface, bishop of Mainz, who, coming from England to Rome and sent by Gregory the Second into Germany to evangelize the faith of Christ to those peoples, when he had subjected a very great multitude, especially of the Frisians, to the Christian religion, merited to be called the Apostle of the Germans, etc. On the 24th of September: In Pannonia, of Saint Gerard, bishop and Martyr, called the Apostle of the Hungarians, a Venetian patrician, who first his native

land illustrated by a noble martyrdom. On the 3rd of December: On Sancian, an island of the Chinese, of Saint Francis Xavier, of the Society of Jesus, Apostle of the Indies, renowned for the conversion of the nations, for gifts and miracles, etc.

[527] has hitherto had no solution. Besides these Barberio cites some Saints marked with the title of Apostle, although they were not the first who brought the Gospel of Christ to their regions: namely St. Gregory the Great, called the Apostle of the English, although Britain under Pope Lucius, or the middle of the third century, had already received the faith: St. Omer, because he restored the Christian religion, almost destroyed, among the people of Thérouanne: St. Suitbert similarly, because he restored the collapsed faith among the Boructuari and other neighbors. Hitherto, however, the Congregation of Rites, to which the cause had been entrusted for examination, has given no reply. Nor is this a marvel; since the title of Apostle of Europe to be attributed to St. Capistran seems too ambitious: for there are many provinces of Europe which did not, at least at close quarters, share in the labors of the Saint. But if, the appellation of Europe being blotted out, the apostolate of St. Capistran should be restricted to some province, I find no other than Bohemia, from which he tried to extirpate the heresy of the Hussites: and in truth our Saint worked much indeed in bringing back a multitude of Hussites to the bosom of the Catholic Church: but no one could easily say that the heresy was extirpated, which Rokycana, pseudo-bishop of Prague, kept safe and sound to the end of his life, that is, to the year 1470 Dubravii. Rer. Bohemic. Histor. pag. 250.. Besides, no example can hitherto be alleged of a title of Apostle conferred, when some Saint brought over some province from heresy to the Catholic faith. Conjecturing therefore I say that the title of Apostle was not attributed to St. Capistran for the reasons brought forward.

* add: of Apostle

* obscure passage

§ XLV. Of the Body and other Relics of St. John of Capistrano.

The body of St. Capistran, at Ilok Vilak, which is also called Ui-lak or Ilok, is a town situated on the right bank of the Danube, populous with 3400 inhabitants and the chief place of the county of Sirmium Gnibert. Diction. Geogr. v°. Illoc.. That he died there, and obtained a tomb, we have indicated above at no. 416. Nicholas, namely, the lord of Ilok, as Wadding has it Ann. Min. tom. XII, pag. 413., took care that the body, well secured in a noble casket, should be placed in a special chapel, and that torches should perpetually shine night and day before the tomb; where this epitaph was carved:

Hic tumulus servat præclara laude Joannem.

Gente Capistrana, fidei defensor et auctor,

Ecclesiæ tutor, Christi tuba, tum Ordinis ardens

Fautor, in Orbe decus, tum veri cultor et æqui

Et vitæ speculum, doctrinæ maximus index,

Laudibus innumeris jam possidet astra beatus.

Vixit annos XXXCI, menses III, dies XXII

[This tomb keeps John, of splendid praise. Of Capistrano's race, defender and author of the faith, guardian of the Church, trumpet of Christ, then ardent patron of his Order, an ornament in the World, then a cultivator of the true and the just, and a mirror of life, the greatest pointer of doctrine, blessed with innumerable praises he now possesses the stars. He lived XXXCI years, III months, XXII days]

(We have already shown above at nos. 18 and 19 that the age of the Saint, inscribed on the tomb at a later time, is erroneous, and that one should read): Vixit annos XXXC. menses III dies XXX. He lived XXXC years, III months, XXX days.

[529] buried; Further Wadding says Ibid. pag. 414.: It had lain honorably in the aforesaid chapel at Ilok for many years (the body of St. John of Capistrano), the devotion of the people ever growing. When the City was taken by the Turks (probably in the year 1526 Cfr Timon. Epitome. Rer. Hung. pag. 117.), the body was translated to another place of the county of Zakmar on the borders of Transylvania, then to Zolasium : and, heresy creeping into the town, and the lord of the place being infected, it was first ill-treated and mocked, then thrown into a well of that same convent, a great heap of stones being thrown in, the convent also being destroyed. So the Hungarians relate and Nicholas Istvánffy confirms in his Hungarian History Lib. XX. Hist. de reb. Ungar. pag. 384. Edit. Colon. 1622.. For after he narrates the capture of Francis Perényi, a princely man, of Catherine his wife and his children in the citadel of Zolosium, and the plundering of all things by the soldiers of King Ferdinand, he adds: “There were those who judged that Francis was deservedly punished by the angered divine power with that calamity, because the body of Capistran, celebrated for holiness, Sirmium being captured by the Turks, laid up by the monks in the monastery of Zolosium, the monastery being plundered and the monks driven out or slain, he had ordered to be broken and profaned in unworthy ways and thrown into a deep well.” And hence it is rendered less credible what some invent, that the Turks, on capturing Ilok, led the body away with honor and reverently kept it with them, and would not give it back for any price, however much they were asked by envoys sent for this very purpose to Constantinople, saying that they still feared the man through whom they had received so great a disaster, and preferred to keep it honorably held in their power, safe from injuries, than to hand it over to enemies who would stir up against their destruction. Nor do I reckon that more probable which Rodulphus writes, that a few years ago the body, thrown by heretics into the Danube, was found at Ilok not far from Vienna. For if this is so, how could it happen that, so diligently sought over long intervals of time by his fellow friars and pious men, it could not be found, or at least it could not be known in what place on earth it lies hidden? And those who feign that it is reverently honored among the Turks, why in all this space of years do they not indicate the place of veneration? And that I place only in the rank of common piety, which some of the Hungarians ascribe to tradition: that all Hungary will then be recovered by the Christians, when the body of Capistran shall appear.

[530] then transferred to Szolosium, Wadding rightly rejects the opinion of those who think that the body of St. Capistran is preserved at Illok near Vienna: for the opinion seems to rest on this, that they did not know that Illok and Vilak were one and the same place: and thus when they read that the Saint had his burial now at Vilak, now at Illok, they believed two different places were indicated. In the county of Szatmár, to which the body of the Saint was first carried, there is also a place whose name is Ui-lak or Illok Cfr Atlantem. Europæ Phil. Vander Mælen. Tab. LVI.: and thus the sacred remains could have rested there for some time: but how they dreamed up an Illok near Vienna I do not grasp: for no town or small village of this name, as far as I have been able to consult either lexicons or geographical maps, is to be found near Vienna or even in Austria. Further, as concerns the translation of the body of St. Capistran from Vilak or Illok to Szolosium, it is confirmed by our John Baptist Trsztyanski in his Topography of Hungary in these words Pag. 590.: At Szolosin (which is the chief place of the county of Ugocsa, situated toward Poland) at the citadel of Kanko the Perényi family had raised a very celebrated house of religion for the sons of holy Francis; but heresy long ago razed it, the monks who then inhabited it being killed. This happened shortly after the Turk gained Sirmium. In that same tumult they report that the venerable remains of holy John Capistrano were brought there from Szemlin in a silver chest, which were thrown with the treasures of the church into a well, when the Calvinists were attacking the religious house with arms. With vast effort and singular zeal the Austrian province of that sacred Order sought for this treasure after the peace agreed by Leopold the Great with the Turks: but the attempt was vain, because the huge heaps of ruins could not be cleared away. Ladislaus Turóczi writes that this is held by the repeated confession of the Calvinists, that those heterodox have often seen at the old church of the monastery splendid processions of monks lit by a great light, by which they were filled not only with wonder but also with fear; yet without their shaking off the darkness of errors even when touched by that light.

[531] lost; The cited Topography of Hungary was printed in the year 1750; and thus up to this time nothing certain was held concerning the body of St. John of Capistrano, and matters were altogether in the same state in which Ambrose Podiebradsky describes them, an old man of seventy of the Order of Minors, in a letter given to his provincial. In the year, he says Hermann. Capistr. triump. pag. 790., 1672, when I had visited our reformed province of the most holy Savior of Hungary, entrusted to me, and had long before heard of the body of St. Capistran, namely that when he had come sick to Vylack (the most glorious victory over the Turks having been won at Greek Alba), and there, pressed by further illness, had expired, lest the Order should be deprived of such a body and treasure, for fear of the Turks laying waste everywhere around the said place of Vylack, where he was buried, it had been translated to the borders of Transylvania, to the town called Nagy-Szöllös, because it is so written in Hungarian. In which town, when I had arrived there, I found one moderate hillock, once adorned with a citadel and a monastery of our Order, where in modern times there are mere vineyards. On this hill I beheld a sufficiently wide and deep well, which had served, divided down the middle from above, both monastery and citadel, because the monastery and citadel had been built together at a small distance. Inquiring therefore of the family of the magnificent Perényi living there, those four, by which family all our brothers had once been slaughtered as by heretics, whether they had heard anything of the body of St. Capistran, when our brothers were all slaughtered, where the body of this Saint, long deposited there in the monastery, had gone; they affirmed, as they had it from their predecessors, that such a body had been thrown into that deep, great and wide well, together with the bodies of other fathers and brothers: whether of all God knows. Having heard this, I visited the hill together with other fathers staying there in the town, and some Calvinist laymen: especially there went with us a certain Calvinist surgeon, who had served the residence.

[532] nor hitherto When we had reached the hill and the well, an exhortation being made to all, all with one accord began to empty the well, filled with rubble and stones, and the further and deeper we came, all perceived a wonderful odor, murmuring to one another: Here will be the body of St. Capistran. Meanwhile our Calvinist surgeon of the residence and servant, understanding nothing of what we were saying to one another, burst out in these words in the Hungarian tongue: Fathers, I perceive such an odor as I have not perceived in my life. To whom I said: Be silent, only throw out more. On the second and third day we did likewise. When I had prepared my departure, I asked the aforesaid magnificent Perényi, some of whom lived rather wretchedly with few subjects, exhorting them, since by the predecessors of their family so great a slaughter and persecution was made against Catholics, especially against our brothers and the body of the Saint, and supposing them made in modern times such wretched and needy magnates, that they would do us this favor, and for emptying the well each of you give the father president one subject from time to time: know for certain that, as you are now cast down, God will exalt you through the merits of this Saint and of his companions. They promised and labored a little: but by an unexpected Calvinist rising, the president, who was a general lector, John Francis Szegedi, they horribly wounded, they threw him naked into the densest thorns, together with his companion, and left him scarcely alive. Which place was afterward uninhabitable for many years, except that now again some few have lived there for some few years,

and with fear and trembling serve some few Catholics. Here it is lastly to be noted that the aforesaid moderate hill, on which together the citadel and monastery were, is called Kanko, and the town, as above, Nagy-Szölös. Br. Ambrose Podiebradsky, senior of the province, of LXXIV completed years.

[533] found with certainty: Further, that from the year 1750, in which John Baptist Trsztyanszki wrote his Topography of Hungary, to this present day the body of St. John of Capistrano has been found, no authentic instrument teaches us: and thus Alban Butler is mistaken when he says at the 23rd day of October: Ilok being captured by the Turks, the body of the Saint was translated elsewhere: then the Lutherans (we have seen above that one should read Calvinists), his chest being plundered, threw the body into the Danube, which, happily rescued from the waves, is preserved to this present day. The cause of an error of this sort I place in this, that among some it is read that the body of St. Capistran was entombed at Illok or Illoc, as we have already noticed above at no. 528, and since most did not know that Vilak and Illok are one and the same town, and on the contrary took them for different places, thence the fable arose that the remains of the Saint, translated from Vilak to Illoc, are preserved even today: how far this is from the truth we have shown above from domestic records.

[534] although with some likelihood From what has been said hitherto it is altogether evident that the body of St. John Capistrano lay hidden up to the middle of the century just past. It was accordingly our purpose to inquire sedulously whether anything has come to light in these later years by which the hidden treasure could be discovered. From papers lately sent to us from Hungary by the benevolence of our Fathers, we see that in the year 1803 a Synopsis of the life of St. John of Capistrano was published and that the body of the holy man still lies hidden; although a most ancient tradition, flourishing in Sirmium, relates that men exceeding the age of XC years and who died before the middle of the 18th century had received from their forefathers that they had seen and kissed the body of St. John of Capistrano both at Šabac and at Belgrade; seeing that it had come to monks of the Greek rite not united, redeemed from the Turks at an enormous price. But the origin of this tradition is very remote, so that it could conveniently be referred to the 16th century. Further others will have the Saint's tomb preserved elsewhere: from which diversity of those holding opinions the obscurity of doubts is also increased.

[535] in Lesser Wallachia, Nevertheless there are those who think that at Bistrița, which is a town of Wallachia, situated on the left bank of the Danube, the body of St. John is still kept in a convent of Greek monks. For this is had by the Protocol of the province of St. Francis of Bulgaria and Wallachia, united in the year 1851 with the Capistran province. The body was redeemed from the Turks by a noble called Barkul, who placed it in the monastery of Bistrița under the name of St. Gligori Decapoleos, Gregory the Decapolite, that, namely, it might seem to be the body of some Saint originating from Greece. The memory of this Gregory is celebrated in the Roman Martyrology under the 20th of November. There are moreover various arguments which show that the body religiously kept at Bistrița is not that of some Greek Saint but of a Latin. First of all the body, hitherto incorrupt, lacks a beard, and has its hair shaved in the manner of the Franciscans, whereas Greeks, whether priests or monks, grow both beard and hair: and lest Catholics should recognize that the body belonged to them, the schismatic archbishop ordered the head to be covered with a silk cap, duly sealed: but in vain; for very many Catholics had seen the monastic tonsure before. Further in the same chapel in which the tomb is, there is a painting of a man clothed in the Minorite habit; which image indeed is for the most part veiled: yet three years ago a Greek monk uncovered it for Father Otto Smeiczer, adjuring him not to betray him. Within the tomb there is another image, similarly showing the habit of the Friars Minor; and indeed the right hand is as of one blessing, and from the left there hangs down a band, on which the name of the Saint ought to have been inscribed, but there is no trace of letters on it.

[536] namely at Bistrița, Moreover the opinion is spread among the people and the monks that the Saint is a certain Catholic of the Order of Minors; indeed the bishop of Râmnic of the Greek rite, asked by the minister provincial about the manner of life of the Saint whose body they religiously kept, replied that he had traveled through Italy, Sicily, Germany, Poland and many other regions; all of which accurately fit our John. Moreover the said Father Provincial, from whom we draw all these things, adds: From the whole discourse of the bishop of Râmnic I noticed that knowledge of that Saint is by no means lacking to them, if only the will to manifest it were not lacking. Lesser Wallachia, in which Bistrița is, was once brought back by St. Capistran to the bosom of the Catholic Church not only by apostolic fervor and doctrine, but also by signs and miracles, wherefore, says the said writer, it came about by divine disposition that his body, the inhabitants falling away from union, came to these parts as a testimony of their perfidy, that thus at least they might venerate the Catholic faith, while they knowingly venerate the body of a Catholic Saint. The sacred body has further been resting for nearly CCXL years in the monastery of Bistrița; and although since that time the Turks and Tartars have often ruined Wallachia with iron and fire, that cloister together with its church has always remained unharmed by every hostile incursion.

[537] lies, on account of the incorruption of the body and the Franciscan habit, The cited Protocol gives also a description of the chest in which the sacred body lies enclosed. It is namely of five feet in length, of cypress wood: lined within on every side with silk, but covered on the outside with silver, partly gilded, partly well polished. The convex lid is occupied by an image of the Saint in the Franciscan habit, as we said above, which like the other figures is not engraved in the silver, but beaten out by the smith's hammer; the right hand gives a blessing and the left holds a hanging band, on which the name ought to have been incised. At the head of the Saint is an image of the Crucified, of the Sorrowful Mother and of St. John: at the feet is shown Prince Michael with his wife and offspring, inasmuch as about the year 1593 he gave the precious chest for laying up the sacred body. The chest is closed with a gilded lock, which is opened by a golden key. The body lies wrapped in four veils: the first is of red color with golden flowers; the second yellow; the third nearly green; the fourth of white color; of the same material and white color is the little cap, which comes down to the neck and is tied beneath the chin, sealed with the episcopal seal. In the whole body nothing is bare except the blackening hands, under whose blackness however a whitish skin appears: the joints of the fingers cohere with the nails and skin, the feet appear raised under the veils, with the toes; all of which shows that all the bones have remained duly joined. It cannot however be so certainly defined whether the bones remain still clothed with skin, since, as has been said, all except the hands are veiled.

[538] in a precious chest, which is described, On the breast is an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary engraved on bronze, formed in the German manner, framed, covered with glass and adorned with four or five gold coins, not very old. Moreover on the breast there also lies a small silver cross, carved in the Catholic manner, with which the Greek priest signs on the forehead those approaching the sacred tomb. In the same is kept also the instrument of purchase, by which the ban Barkul testifies that he redeemed this body from the Turks, who had brought it from Hungary. It is finally worthy of observation that the Order of Minors has lost no incorrupt body of any Saint except that of St. John of Capistrano, which after it was buried at Ilok disappeared, and could hitherto be discovered by no certain indication, where it has gone. The present guardian of the tomb, a monk of seventy, adds also that when he enters the church to keep the night watch, he has often seen beside the Saint's chest men clothed in the Franciscan habit, singing divine praises, but that they suddenly vanished.

[539] may be said. Moreover, as the often-praised Protocol has it, several supreme princes of Wallachia have visited the sacred body. First of all Michael II, called the Brave, the donor of the chest described above, betook himself to Bistrița for piety's sake together with his wife. But on the very journey a messenger came from the prince of Moldavia, seeking aid against the Tartars threatening his province. Not without grief Prince Michael broke off the pious pilgrimage, and with haste ran to the help of the Moldavians, his wife meanwhile being sent to Bistrița. The victory being won, not unmindful of his purpose, he erected as a perpetual monument of his piety the magnificent chest that we have described above. Afterward in the year 1735 the prince of Wallachia, Constantine Mavrocordato, while plague was raging through Wallachia, ordered the sacred body to be transferred to Bucharest: the bishop of Râmnic and the nobles of Lesser Wallachia tried with all their power to hinder such a translation. The bishop, feigning to obey, through his Calugers or monks spread among the people that the sacred body could be raised by no force. The matter went better in the month of April in the year 1765: namely when Prince Stephen Racoviță, probably induced by the prayers of his consort, had given a most strict mandate to the bishop of Râmnic that the Saint's remains should be transferred to Bucharest. The bishop resisted even now, and, although the minds of all were dismayed, struck with fear, he complied with the mandate. And so he called together the whole clergy, announced three days of prayers, and in solemn rite, priests and monks bearing it on their shoulders, brought the sacred pledge out of Bistrița. As they arrived at Râmnic, the clergy and people received it with great applause and prayers: a three-day station being again performed, and the river Olt crossed, on the 17th day of May the sacred body arrived at Bucharest. There were at hand the prince with his courtiers, the archbishop with a multitude of priests and monks, and an innumerable people, who all with the highest celebration carried the body of the Saint to the church of St. George. A few days afterward the prince ordered the head, which had been wrapped and sealed, to be uncovered. But seeing that the Saint had a crown and was beardless, and that the lower garment was made in the Franciscan manner, they paid him not very great honor, indeed both Greeks and Wallachians said indiscriminately: This Saint is of the Catholics, of those Baratz, that is, says the writer, of our brothers. Barat in Hungarian signifies Friend, and is commonly taken for the Mendicants. After some weeks the body was carried back to its former seat. So much then concerning the holy body resting at Bistrița: which, although they are not on all sides certain, nevertheless bear such an appearance of truth that they ought to provoke a fuller investigation, if it can be done.

[540] at Capistrano and at Rome there are his writings and biretta, Although therefore Relics of the body of St. Capistran are hitherto lacking, there remain nevertheless other things which the Saint used in life, and which are deservedly held in veneration like Relics. First of all at Capistrano, in his native soil, within the church of the convent founded by Cobella, Countess of Celano, there is a signal chapel dedicated to the Saint, in which is kept his image, signal for miracles, especially concerning the possessed; and there in a little chest are diligently kept his writings, jewels

and pontifical diplomas Wadd. Annal. Min. tom. XI, pag. 312.. At Rome likewise, with Giovanni Battista Barberio, procurator in the cause of the canonization of our Saint, was kept the Saint's little miter or biretta, with which he protected his baldness. For Barberio had received the said little miter as a gift from the Order of the Observants, and esteemed it above gold and gems; by whose help health was restored to many sick. A singular miracle took place in the house of the said Barberio, which we render in Latin from the Seraphic Legendary of Father Br. Benedetto Mazzara Legendario. Francesc. Octob. pag. 333.. We should certainly have preferred to draw it from the Life written by Barberio himself: but the copy we have before us is mutilated in this part: wherefore we bring forward the text of the said Mazzara.

[541] by whose touch a woman, A certain woman, Laura Camilli by name, a woman of fifty, originating from Viterbo, at the beginning of the month of February 1679 fell backward down a stair of about ten steps. The fall was so horrible that for the space of twenty-four hours she lay lifeless. Carried on the third day after to the Lateran hospital, she was laboring with an acute fever, a vast pain of the head, and a stomach abhorring all food, nor did suitable remedies help; when, refreshed by the last sacraments, after a space of two months she recovered so far that, dismissed from the hospital, she could enter service with the said Barberio. Meanwhile the pains of the head did not cease, which indeed subsided when medicine was applied: but Laura, weary of remedies, stubbornly refused them, whence the evil also broke out afresh; so that at the beginning of July of the same year her stomach would bear no food, very black blood burst from her mouth and nose, her body, burdened by a vast weight, was bent, and her feet, as though entangled, no longer gave their service. At length on the 29th of July, her strength exhausted, she lay groaning. She cries out for help: the household run up, and they find her with eyes horribly distorted, mouth foaming, without speech, howling atrociously. The apothecary, Francesco Bottoni, who was first called and arrived, foretold the very last things, since her stomach was capable of no remedy. About dawn the surgeon Luigi Ventura visited the sick woman, to whom Domenico Piconio, a most skilled physician, shortly joined himself as colleague. When further from the medicaments tried they had experienced nothing salutary, they declared that it was not in their power to recall the dead to life. Yet to satisfy Barberio's insistence, that they should leave nothing untried, they cut a vein in many ways, but all in vain. Wherefore Piconio, returning some hours later, pronounced that all hope of health was altogether removed: the parish priest therefore is called, who, having given Laura extreme unction, testified that he had never seen so deadly a case, and the same was asserted both by the brother in charge of the infirmary of Aracoeli, and by the fathers of the institute of St. Camillus de Lellis who minister to the sick.

[542] already breathing her last, When Barberio heard these things, he thought that more powerful, that is, heavenly aids should be employed. He said therefore to the household that, since no human hope remained, recourse was to be had to the patronage of Blessed John Capistrano; let them accordingly recite five times the Lord's Prayer and the Angelic Salutation in memory of the last five years which the Saint spent on earth, with the Responsory and the accustomed Prayer: then they gave the sick woman two rather thin threads drawn from the habit of the Saint and placed in water to drink: at once the pains and spasms ceased, and a sweet sleep crept on, which the bystanders interpreted as agony. But when morning came, Barberio went sorrowfully to Laura, and found her raised up in bed, and saying with a sweet and serene face: What is the cause, Lord John, that you seem sad? Being questioned by Barberio, she replied: With me it is well, praise be to God and thanks to the Saint: I wish to put on my clothes, to perform the tasks of my office in the house. This however Barberio hindered, alleging that it was not yet the hour for rising. When afterward he had gone down to the woman who had sat by the dying woman the whole night, she said this: Truly great and prodigious is Blessed John: for Laura has slept sweetly the whole night, without feeling any pain or spasm: indeed on waking she sat up and wished that, the light being put out, I too should go to bed: she asked for a drink and with her own hands quenched her thirst.

[543] she was perfectly healed: While the woman was narrating these things, Laura appeared fully clothed and joyful: to Barberio all this seemed a dream. At length, certain of the miracle, he exclaimed: O God! who am I, that thou shouldst deem me worthy of so great a benefit! Blessed John, sweet patron, how shall I ever repay such favors? The voice of the man proclaiming the miracle roused not only the household but also the neighbors, who all ran up in haste, and with stupefaction heard Laura extolling the benefit of God and of St. Capistran. At the same moment of time the physician Pitonio arrived, who, before he got down from his carriage, asked whether Laura was still alive. And when he heard that she was living, he rushed from the carriage, and marveling saw the woman alive and vigorous, and jestingly asked what news she had brought back from the other world. To whom the woman replied: I could ask the same of you, seeing that I have never been there. But I do not know why they force me into bed, perfectly well and with an appetite for food. The physician, having felt the pulse, exclaimed: God is wonderful in his Saints. I greatly rejoice that Laura henceforth needs the help of no physician. The same was testified by the parish priest and the surgeon, who thereafter held Blessed John Capistrano perpetually as their special patron.

[544] Other Relics of the Saint The chief Relics however are kept in Moravia and the adjacent regions. At Brno, which is today the chief city of all Moravia, among the ecclesiastical furnishings of the Friars of the Observance are kept the mantle, tunic and part of the hair shirt of St. Capistran, and although these have often been cut up at the request both of laymen and of clerics, there remains nevertheless a notable part, which is often applied as a powerful medicine Hermann. Capistr. triumph. pag. 799.. There stood once at Brno a house, which passed into the right of the monastery of Velehrad, of the Cistercian Order: in it, since he had no convent of his own, St. Capistran stayed for some time; and as a token of hospitality he himself painted with his own hands, in an old script, the most holy Name of Jesus, girded with a radiant crown. The house fell to various lords, most of whom, being at one time infected with the Lutheran plague, were unaware of the monument, smeared over again and again with lime: but at length a certain noble man, Sartorius by name, uncovered the image, and thereafter took care that every week from the third hour after noon on Thursday to the same hour on Saturday a lamp should burn continuously. When afterward the house had fallen to the monks of Velehrad, a more earnest cult was paid to the most holy Name: for in the year 1694 Bernard, abbot of Velehrad, erected a most elegant chapel, in which that very most holy Name, shining with rays, serves as the altarpiece; and on the walls and vault the history of our Saint has been painted Ibid. pag. 802.. Similar pictures are possessed by the other chief city of Moravia, Olomouc, distinguished by its metropolitan see. Amandus Hermann, from whom we transcribe nearly everything, enumerates four: the first over the gate of the city by which one went out to the convent of the Observants, which was afterward carved in stone, and, he says, still persists, decently renewed. The second picture stands in the hall destined for the public weigh-house: the third in the house of a senatorial citizen, Scebasta by name, who maintains before it a continually burning lamp: the fourth at last is over the gate of the town house, but without special veneration Ibid. pag. 804.. Another chalice also, with which the Saint performed the sacred rites, is kept in the convent of Klosterneuburg near Vienna Germ. Francisc. tom. I, pag. 321..

[545] in the parts beyond the Alps. Nor is Poland defrauded of its treasure. For, as Wadding writes Ann. Min. tom. XII, pag. 419., at Poznań in Greater Poland, among the Minor Observants, commonly called Bernardines, there is shown the banner with which the holy man went forward to that Turkish war. There stand to this day and are kept with reverence two of his little caps, one adorned with gems among the same fathers in the convent of Sambor in Russia, the other with other Relics of his among the fathers of the Society in the aforesaid city of Poznań. Again among the same Minorites of Sambor there is a little parchment book, of old binding and script, inscribed thus: “This passion of our Lord Jesus Christ has been briefly compiled by me, Capistran, according to authentic doctors.” The theme of the sermon is: “Whither has thy beloved gone, O most beautiful of women, and we will seek him with thee.” Some of his small works also the Polish fathers eagerly study and diligently guard, namely on the Primacy of Peter, on Spiritual War, on the Times and Persecution of Antichrist, and on the End of the world. Nearly all his works are had in manuscript at Capistrano, to be brought to light at some time, God granting, by some effort of ours.

* Rather, of Szatmár

* that is: Nagyszolos

§ XLVI. Of the Writings of St. John of Capistrano.

The many writings of the Saint which are enumerated. Now then with an uphill step we come down to the literary merits of St. John of Capistrano, and gird ourselves to enumerate his writings. We follow as a leader first of all Luke Wadding, who in the book entitled Writers of the Order of Minors, under the word Joannes Capistranus, recounts the works of the Saint; they are these: 1 On the Election of the Pope; 2 Treatise on the dignity of the Church, to Nicholas V; 3 Against the Hussites, one book; 4 On the Authority of the Pope and the Council; 5 On Religion; 6 On the Blood of Christ; 7 On the Poverty of Christ; 8 On Cases reserved to the Pope; 9 On the Manner and Form of the execution of a Testament; 10 On the Instruction or Direction of simple priests; 11 Mirror of clerics, or Sermon delivered to the clergy at the diocesan synod of Trent, in the year 1439, on the 22nd of April, before Alexander, duke of Mazovia, bishop of Trent; 12 Defense of the Third Order, instituted by St. Francis; 13 On Excommunications imposed by the law itself; 14 On the Use of any adornment; 15 On the Adornment of women; 16 On Matrimony; 17 On Excommunication; 18 On the Penitential Canon; 19 Mirror of conscience; 20 On the universal Judgment and Antichrist and on Spiritual War; 21 On Usuries and Contracts; 22 On Blasphemy and Perjury; 23 On Restitutions and Contracts; 24 On Confession to be made to one's own priest; 25 On Censures; 26 On Cases and Penalties to be enjoined; 27 On the Penalties of hell and purgatory; 28 On Covetousness and Avarice, three books; 29 On the Passion of the Lord; 30 On the Procession of the Holy Spirit; 31 On the Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary; 32 Commentary on the Rule of the Minors; 33 Treatise against Philip Berbegall, who spurned the pontifical declarations on the Rule of the Minors and brought pernicious novelties into the Order; 34 Another treatise against Rokycana; 35 Treatise or Preached Expositions on that saying of Isaiah, chapter VII “Behold a Virgin shall conceive, etc.”; 36 Interrogatory; 37 Another book on Cases of conscience; 38 Treatise against Jews and heretics; 39 Treatise entitled: Canons extracted from the body

of law; 40 Compendium of Resolutions on the whole body of the Decretals; 41 Question: whether every lie is a sin; 42 Treatise on the Apocalypse; 43 Sermons for Sundays and feasts; 44 Animadversions on the most holy sacrifice of the Mass; 45 Treatise or Sermon to students; 46 Many letters to Supreme Pontiffs, Cardinals, prelates of Churches, kings and princes, and other persons.

[547] hitherto unpublished, It is truly to be regretted that the works of St. John of Capistrano have not hitherto been collected into one body and made public. Luke Wadding, adduced at no. 545, had indeed promised that he would do this: but dying in the year 1657, he could not fulfill the promise. From the Bibliotheca Sicula of Antonino Mongitore we have it Append. pag. 21. that John Anthony Sessa, of the family of the Minor Observants, prepared for the press all the works of St. John of Capistrano, of the Order of Minor Observants, collected by the long labor of twenty years, illustrated with notes and arranged in XVII volumes. Sessa lived, moreover, into the eighteenth century: for the second volume of the Bibliotheca Sicula was printed in the year 1714, and the author Antonino Mongitore says Ibid. l. c.: There lives at Rome a man worthy of eternal praise, very well known in the City and the World, attended with great veneration, devoted to literary labors in the service of the Catholic Church. But Sessa, born in the year 1640, having reached seventy-four years, could not put the prepared work to press. Indeed the works of St. John of Capistrano, collected and illustrated with so many cares, probably lost through the vicissitude of the times, were not long ago found again. For Paolo Beorchia, priest of our Society, wrote these words from Rome on the 10th of May 1855 to our common friend Lord Pietro Cernazai of Udine. The monuments of St. John of Capistrano have recently been found and, carried to the Roman convent of Ara Coeli of the Minor Observants, are religiously kept: and they are the very ones which Father John Anthony Sessa of Palermo had collected at the beginning of the 18th century and had resolved to publish: and they all have the approval of the Most Reverend Father Master of the sacred palace, that they may be committed to print either in the City or outside the City. That this may at length be done at some time is greatly to be wished. To the first volume there are lacking at the end XX pages; but since they are of a work, unless I am mistaken, already printed, they can easily be supplied. Further the works here collected are partly already printed, partly hitherto unpublished; not indeed autographs, but genuine indeed; since there is no reason to doubt the diligence, zeal and fidelity of the said Father John Anthony Sessa of Palermo, who collected them. Sbaralea treats of him in the Additions to Wadding's Library of Franciscan Writers.

[548] John Anthony Sessa prepared for print, The said John Anthony Sessa, then, who had collected the works of St. Capistran within XVII volumes, had resolved to have them printed in five tomes, of which we here subjoin the list, because in the Waddingian catalog some small works are lacking and on the other hand Wadding adduces certain things which, unless they are reckoned under another title, are wanting in Sessa. There was prefixed to the entire compilation the title: All the works of Saint John of Capistrano, of the Order of Minor Observants of St. Francis, by the labor of Father John Anthony of Palermo, priest of the same Order. Tome the First. 1 On the Authority of the Pope and of the Church or Council. 2 On the Election of the Pope. 3 On the Dignity of the Pope, to Nicholas V. 4 Mirror of clerics. 5 On the Instruction of simple priests. 6 Interrogatory of confessors. 7 Animadversions on the Most Holy sacrifice of the Mass. 8 On Ecclesiastical censure. Wadding seems not to have made mention of this small work. 9 On Excommunications. Is it the same that Wadding recounts above under no. 13, On Excommunications imposed by the law itself? 10 On Cases reserved to the Pope: and this small work is lacking in Wadding. 11 On the Penitential Canon. 12 On Penances and Remissions, lacking in Wadding. 13 On Cases and Penalties to be enjoined. All these are comprised in three manuscript volumes in 4°, of about 700 pages each.

[549] to be divided into six tomes; Tome the Second. 14 On the Life and honor of clerics, on III Decretals. Lacking in Wadding. 15 On Avarice, on V Decretals. Wadding has at no. 28 On Covetousness and Avarice, three books; whether they are the same as the Sessian treatise can rightly be doubted, for a little below Sessa recounts another work, against Covetousness. 16 On Usuries and Contracts. 17 Against Covetousness, perhaps one or the other volume makes up the Waddingian treatise just adduced, On Covetousness and Avarice. 18 On the Extravagant of John XXII I, de Verbor. Signif., against Berbegall. 19 Defense of the Third Order. 20 Canonico-legal Consultations. Is it the same as with Wadding at no. 40: Compendium of Resolutions on the whole body of the Decretals? 21 On the Canonical Fourth. Lacking in Wadding. 22 On the Form of the execution of a testament. 23 On Matrimony by way of counsel. This small work seems to be lacking in Wadding, since below Sessa recounts a treatise On Matrimony. This second Tome consists of three manuscript volumes as above. Tome the Third. 24 Mirror of conscience. 25 On Penance singly, or on the Power of the sacrament of Penance. Lacking in Wadding. 26 On Confession to be made to one's own priest. 27 Question: whether every lie is a sin. 28 On Matrimony. We have then a double small work on this sacrament, while Wadding recounts only one. 29 On Consanguinity and Affinity. Lacking in Wadding. This third Tome similarly consists of three manuscript volumes as above.

[550] and to be illustrated with animadversions: Tome the Fourth. 30 On Fasting. Lacking in Wadding. 31 On the Use of any adornment. 32 On the Adornment of women. 33 On Blasphemy. 34 On Perjury. Wadding under no. 22 joins these two treatises into one work. 35 On the universal Judgment. 36 On Antichrist. 37 On Spiritual War. These three Wadding presents as one treatise under no. 20. 38 On Hell, I should judge it the same as the Waddingian under no. 27. 38 On the Penalties of Hell and Purgatory. 39 Apostil on the Apocalypse of Blessed John the Apostle. This fourth Tome consists of four volumes as above. Tome the Fifth. 40 On the precious Blood of Christ. 41 On the Poverty of Christ. 42 On the Double Conception of Blessed Mary ever Virgin. 43 Against the Hussites and Rokycana. 44 On the truth of the Faith; Wadding adds at no. 34 a treatise written against Rokycana. 45 Against the Jews; Wadding adds at no. 38 and heretics. 46 On Religion. 47 Life of St. Bernardine of Siena. Lacking in Wadding. 48 Prolusion or Sermon to students. 49 Another, to the lovers of Wisdom. Lacking in Wadding, as also the following. 50 On promoting study among the Minor Observants. 51 Letters sent and in reply to Supreme Pontiffs, Cardinals and princes, LXXIV in number, and II others to private persons. It is certain that there were more letters of St. Capistran, especially written to private persons, which hitherto lie hidden; indeed in the course of this Commentary we have cited various ones. 52 There follow certain preachable fragments, which the archive and reliquary of our convent of Capistrano supply to us, which the author used according to the variety of the time. This fifth Tome consists of three manuscript volumes as above. A preliminary Tome, as it seems, was to be made up by the Life of St. John of Capistrano compiled by John Anthony Sessa himself with an ample collection of testimonies concerning St. John of Capistrano. It is a manuscript codex of about 600 pages. To this is subjoined the Life of John of Capistrano written by four of his companions; namely Nicholas of Fara, Jerome of Udine, Christopher of Varese and Peter of Sopron. A manuscript codex of about 300 pages.

[551] which seems between Wadding and Sessa We noted above that Anthony Sessa under no. 47 recounted a Life of St. Bernardine of Siena, which we said is absent from the Waddingian Catalog. Further, on account of the authority or silence of Wadding the Life of St. Bernardine is commonly denied to St. Capistran. Thus our predecessors in the preliminary Commentary to his Acts, at the 20th of May, no. 6 Act. SS. tom. V Maji, pag. 259 *, from the silence both of the biographer Nicholas of Fara and of Henri Willot and especially of Luke Wadding, argue that St. Capistran did not write the Life of his master. Similarly Amadeus Maria of Venice, of the Order of Observants of St. Francis, in the year 1744 most accurately composed in Italian a Life of St. Bernardine, illustrated with many notes, in the preface to which, relying on the silence of the same writers and confirmed by the authority of the Bollandists, he similarly assigns the said Life to our Saint. Nevertheless the said John Anthony Sessa above under no. 47 places this Life among the genuine works of St. Capistran: but since we have nothing else than a bare list, we cannot inquire into the reasons for which the said Sessa recounted this labor among the genuine writings. Moreover according to a note written by the hand of our dearest friend Doctor Cernazai in a copy of the Life of St. Bernardine, Leonardo dei Benvoglienti of Siena is said to have written, at the request of St. Capistran, a Life of St. Bernardine; but as Ildefonso of St. Louis has it, Leonardo in the year 1446, that is two years after the Saint's death, only wrote out the Life from his birth up to his entry into the Order of Minors, which St. Capistran used as a norm, to complete the whole history. By this reckoning one may conjecture how the writing remained uncertain between two contemporary authors.

[552] the diversity is somehow explained: This also is to be noticed, that certain works which Wadding ascribes to the Saint are absent from the Sessian list. He has among others under no. 23 a treatise on Restitutions and Contracts, under no. 25 on Censures, under no. 29 on the Passion of the Lord, under no. 30 on the Procession of the Holy Spirit, under no. 35 Preached Expositions on that saying of Isaiah VII “Behold a Virgin shall conceive.” The reasons, however, are hidden from us for which we see these treatises eliminated from the Sessian List: especially since treatises of this sort do not seem to lie hidden under another title. Similarly Sessa omitted the Commentary on the Rule of the Minors, adduced by Wadding under no. 32: certainly Wadding did not proceed rashly, seeing that he adds: I have it in manuscript in Italian. Nor will anyone wonder that our John, one of the first who undertook the reform of the Order of Minors, and at the same time a most diligent propagator of this reform through the various provinces of Europe and for some time general superior of the whole reform, wrote a commentary on the Rule, which he not only desired to be restored with all his strength, but procured by the untiring labor of many years. Above at no. 549 we noted that some works are probably presented under various titles in the Waddingian and Sessian Catalogs, although they seem the same; wherefore we do not wish to recount them among those omitted by Sessa.

[553] and at the same time the printed works are recounted, Although many works of St. Capistran still lie hidden in libraries, written only by hand, some nevertheless have seen the public light.

For, as our Possevino has it in the Apparatus Sacer Pag. 833., among the Tractatus juris printed at Venice in the year 1584 there are extant, he says, by the same John of Capistrano a book on the Penitential Canon, T. XIV, fol. 395; on Excommunication, in the same place, fol. 388; on Matrimony by way of Counsel, T. IX, fol. 77; on the Power of the Pope and the Council, T. XIII, part. I, fol. 32; Mirror of conscience, T. I, fol. 323. Some works were published separately; for Antonio Ferrari at Venice in the year 1580 printed on his press: On the Authority of the Pope and the Council, against those of Basel who wished the Roman Pontiff to be subject to their council, and dedicated it to Gregory XIII: then the Mirror of the clergy, which he inscribed to Ferdinando de' Medici, Cardinal protector of the Order of Minors: and finally a third work, the Defense of the Third Order, he dedicated to John of Calusio, minister of the province of St. Bernardine. Pietro Dehuchino, also at Venice, in the year 1583 made public four small works: on the universal Judgment, on Antichrist, on Spiritual War, and on Usuries and contracts Oudin. de Script. eccles. tom. III, col. 2460.. Moreover in the library of the Roman College, on the witness of our Paolo Beorchia, there remain other printed works, namely against Berbegall, on Penances and Remissions, on the Life and honor of clerics, on Matrimony. From these things it is plain that he would do a useful work who should at some time bring to light the edition prepared by John Anthony Sessa.

[554] those being eliminated which are falsely attributed. Besides, other writings are attributed to St. John Capistrano which are not his: Wadding cites them. 1 On the Origins of the cities, states and towns of the whole world. 2 On Archbishoprics and Bishoprics. 3 On the Origin of the military Religious Orders for the faith of Jesus Christ and the defense of the Roman Church. 4 On the true Donation of the emperor Constantine. 5 On the Lives of the Saints and the Affairs of the Church. But these, says Wadding, are spurious and fabricated by a signal architect of lies, who under Gregory XIII paid with capital punishment for so many impostures and frauds, by which he was corrupting all history and enervating the credit of good writers. This was Alfonso Ceccarelli, an Umbrian physician; whose frauds and fictions not only corrupted history, but also tended to the detriment of families: for by exhibiting false instruments he gave occasion for invading the fortunes of others, and for defiling the name of illustrious families: whence according to the law in force he had to pay for his impostures with deserved capital punishment Biograph. Univ. V°. Ciccarelli.. Against Ceccarelli Leone Allacci wrote a small work, which we lack, under the title: Animadversions on the fragments of Etruscan antiquities published by Inghirami. Girolamo Tiraboschi, as the Biographie universelle cited above has it, had written a special Commentary on Ceccarelli and his fates, which however hitherto lies hidden. And let this be enough on the Writings of St. John of Capistrano.

[555] By way of a finishing touch we add a pious exercise, A confraternity is instituted at Antwerp in the Saint's honor. which has been customarily performed in honor of our Saint in various places, especially in Italy. Giovanni Battista Barberio, a most ardent promoter of Capistranian piety, instituted first within his domestic walls, and then brought forward for public benefit, the devotion, namely, of the five Saturdays in honor of St. John Capistrano, because, that is, the holy man died on a Saturday and for five years, namely from 1451 to 1456, he labored with vast ardor in the northern regions both for the bringing back of heretics and schismatics and for vanquishing the Turks, enemies of the faith: this devotion consists in this, that on five continuous Saturdays one receive the Most Holy Sacraments, and recite five times the Lord's Prayer, the Angelic Salutation and the accustomed doxology Hermann. Capistr. triumph. pag. 810.. And these pious exercises God has at times heaped with prodigies and benefits, as Amandus Hermann narrates Ibid. pag. 811.. At Antwerp also, when in the month of July of the year 1691 the feast of the canonization of St. John Capistrano was being celebrated, the standard-bearers of the city (commonly called Alpheren), coming together in one counsel, instituted a certain sodality, composed only of the standard-bearers and their wives and children, under the patronage of St. John Capistrano in the church of the Friars Minor Observant. This confraternity, erected by the bishop of Antwerp, and enriched by Innocent XII with very many indulgences, especially commended a truly Christian life, and a special piety toward St. John Capistrano, whose honor and glory they were to procure, especially by contributing to the splendor of his festival to be celebrated annually. Now we step forward to publishing the authentic Lives of the Saint, hitherto unpublished, as we have them from the codices.

THE LIFE OF THE MOST RENOWNED MAN, BROTHER JOHN OF CAPISTRANO,

Happily begins, by Brother Nicholas of Fara, his companion.

From the Aracoeli manuscript.

John of Capistrano, confessor of the Order of Friars Minor, at Villack in Pannonia. (S.)

BHL Number: 4360

BY THE AUTHOR NICHOLAS OF FARA.

PROLOGUE.

Although in this pilgrim age very many ^c great and excellent heralds of Christ have shone like columns with the highest zeal and the highest care for the almost collapsing city of God, , and have strengthened it with most solid foundations, John of Capistrano nevertheless seems to have stood forth as not the lowest among these divine consuls. Through whom our merciful and compassionate Lord God, who alone does great wonders Ps. LXXI, 20, and who adorns his Holy Church with most holy men as heaven with stars, remembering his ancient mercy, for the dayspring from on high has visited us Luc. I, 78.: has most recently deigned to illumine, mark and enrich his people, sitting in the darkness of sins, with so munificent and so splendid a gift of blessing and grace, that in this one most renowned herald of Christ this our most flourishing age may be able to contend with antiquity in every kind of praise and glory. For this John was so excellent and so splendid in nature, virtue, learning and holiness that he may think he has obtained a most ample gift who has been able to behold with his eyes such and so great a man, in whom there shone forth that ancient upright and holy manner of living well and blessedly of those our ancestors who are rightly called blessed. This is he who, brought up in divine and human studies, not by speech only but also by life instructed and composed his subjects, who set himself before all as an exemplar and model of all virtue , having from his norm of living the testimony of doctrine , and who like the morning star in the midst of a cloud first shone upon the Italians, at length shone forth like the sun to the Germans, Bohemians, Poles and Hungarians, instructing Christian peoples for the kingdoms of God, by assiduous speech and unconquered labor, healing languors and driving out demons, clothed with great power from on high, a renowned offspring of heaven indeed, an immense glory to the Italians , the most brilliant star of our age, the happy strength and joy of the Hungarians, the great glory indeed of the Minors; the terror of the Turks, an unconquered champion, and a wall of Christians.

* fulcierint W

* Dei donum W

* vere W

* verum et vitæ exemplo W

* composuit; quiomnibus totius veritatis W

* advehens W

* adds mox

* Italiæ W

CHAPTER ONE.

Of his birth and his conversation in the world; of his calling and admission to the Seraphic Order.

He is born at Capistrano, and is excellently educated; A nursling indeed of the land of the Abruzzi, born in the town of Capistrano ^d of renowned parents, he brought incomparably more of name, fame and dignity to Capistrano and his people than he took from them; in stature also, though upright and moderate, he was nevertheless lofty in counsel and exalted in virtue. His voice was clear; his speech pure; his tongue eloquent; he was most acute in intellect; white in hair and beard; bald of head; wrinkled of forehead; ruddy and serene of face; robust of body; of handsome countenance; venerable in aspect; with rather long arms stretching down to the knee, prefiguring and foreshadowing the working of eminent and great virtues. Accordingly by the effort of his parents he was dedicated from his early age to the studies of the good arts, and was imbued and educated in the best morals, found nearly always glad and eager, most anointed with the oil of divine gladness; beloved of God, acceptable to men, most renowned in the world. When he as a youth had attained grammar and rhetoric in his father's house, as far as that age permitted, he is sent to Perugia, and he, strong in a great and excellent intellect, in a short time acquired so great a knowledge of civil and pontifical law that he was held not only the chief of all among his contemporaries, but also by the merit and excellence of his learning could be promoted to the solemn insignia of the doctorate: to which degree he had decided not to be raised unless he had first received the dignity of knighthood, deceived by the vanity of the passing world, he was often set over the government of cities and towns, being a licentiate in civil law: in which magistracies indeed, although eager for honor and dignity, so that he desired to claim for himself nothing at all but human praise and glory, by the blind custom of those beloved of the world.

[3] piously discharging various magistracies, Yet he never did injury to anyone, he never administered any injustice, nay rather, holding the balance of the most equal law, he neither left delinquents unpunished, nor permitted the innocent and harmless to be troubled by the wicked: he spurned money, he refused gifts, he did not fear the face of any powerful man for truth, for justice, for his God. For once a weight of gold was offered him by a certain noble and powerful Perugian, if he would promise to pass a capital sentence on a certain citizen accused and imprisoned against justice; and if he refused to do this, he should not doubt that he would soon be punished by the stroke of the sword. But John, solid in constancy, upright in judgment, fearless in spirit, not only did not pass a sentence of death on the captive, but fearing God more than man, at once promulgated a sentence of liberty. For this John was greatly dear to Ladislaus, King of Sicily, and strove so to comply with him as continually to render the peoples entrusted to him more dear to him through justice and equity. He was so endowed with humanity, prudence, temperance, fortitude and munificence that he drew and impelled the minds of all to good will toward him, pious toward the good, severe toward the wicked. For while he presided and commanded, thieves and robbers, terrified with fear, all went away, and the commonwealth also enjoyed so great a peace and quiet that whoever lived under his most just government thought himself happy.

[4] into prison by the Perugians While then the bond of Christian peace was being loosed in the territory of Perugia, and the whole province

was being pressed by the onset of wars; beyond expectation, by a certain exile of the renowned order of Perugia, of the adverse party, by an unexpected chance, he is captured outside the city of Perugia ^e; he is led to the town of Brufa ^f, shut up in prison, and held day and night in fetters. The captive however meditates flight, and, believing himself seen by no one, throws himself down from a tower, runs about, escapes and hides, looks about for flight, at length follows it up as he can; fear lends strength, and the hope of attaining liberty; his hands brought help to the fetters: and believing that he has now avoided Charybdis, he falls into Scylla. For being impeded by the hindrance of the fetters, not able to continue his journey swiftly, he is captured again and brought back to prison, seen by a certain farmer and exposed by a most powerful shout. By the divine disposition, then, thrust into stronger custody, relying no longer on any hope of seizing flight, as he was pressed by the weight of a dire prison, he cried to the Lord, and he heard him, and delivered him from all his tribulations Ps. XXXIII, 6. For as he walked about in the place of the prison bound in fetters, and was reciting the Office of the most chaste and glorious Virgin Mary, there appeared in the air a certain man, clothed in the habit of the Franciscans, addressing him thus in rebuke: Why do you stand, why do you delay, why do you wait, proud one? To whom John, struck with vast terror, said: What does the Lord wish me to do? To him he replied: Do you not see what God has resolved to do with you? Do you not perceive this habit that I bring? Take this, leave the world, enter Religion.

[5] shut up, and admonished by a wonderful vision, But John, entrusting himself to the favor of the pious father who called him, although he took it ill to enter the cloister of Religion and the voice of the one appearing seemed to him harsh and bitter beyond what can be believed, nevertheless replied: I will do what the Lord commands and you exhort, since such is the will of God. And hastening with swift step to hold and embrace his feet, he at once disappeared from his eyes, nor could he see him any longer: and it seemed to him accordingly that he beheld the world as it were wholly overshadowed with darkness, and in the midst of the darkness a certain ray of light remaining, to which light many peoples and many nations flowed together. For he always thought and believed that this man who had appeared to him was Blessed Francis. And that the peoples flowing to the light were the Italians, Germans, Bohemians, Hungarians, Wallachians, Transylvanians, Russians and Slavs, no one can deny: and the ray of light assuredly was John himself, who, illumined by heavenly doctrine, and adorned with the wonderful and astounding brightness of miracles, shone forth to the said nations.

[6] at length complying with grace, he resolves to enter the Franciscan Order: Nor is he undeservedly rebuked, who had thought little of and despised so great a miracle wrought upon him a little before by the most powerful hand of God. For at night when he was sleeping, his hair not shaved but plucked out, he found on himself a crown in the manner of the Franciscans, made not by the hand of man, but of the supreme artificer. And he not only did not wonder at and search into the mystery of God, but, enticed by blind love of the world, was turned and stirred to a great fury of soul. For he said: Would God wish that I enter Religion? Would he perhaps wish that I be marked with the title of priesthood? Am I to be clothed in a monastic habit? Hard truly is this saying for me, my mind rejects it, I abhor the condition, I am resolved in short never to do this. And bursting more and more into anger and blasphemy, Never, he said, will I become a cleric; never will I undertake so bitter and so displeasing a work. But he who had been unwilling to hear the voice of the one kindly inviting, soon, the vision having passed, did not pass over the order and command of the one harshly and sharply rebuking. Here was the finger of God and the change of the right hand of the Most High. For sending at once, as he could, to the legitimate sons of Francis who were staying at Perugia, he asks with no mean entreaty that a habit be sent to him. Meanwhile from a certain mantle he prepares with his own hands a garment after the likeness of the habit of the Minors, that thus at least he might fulfill the command of the one commanding. At length two brothers come to him, bringing the habit, and they do not dare to clothe the prisoner, since sacred Religion does not receive a man unless he is free: but he, clothing himself, promised by a vow to keep the Rule of Blessed Francis as long as life should accompany him. Whence it comes about that he who had dedicated his whole heart to the world now hastens to consecrate it to Christ with the highest zeal. Now those eyes pour out bitter tears which had taken very great delight in the vanities of the world, to the offense of the Creator; now that tongue recites and sings psalms and divine chants which had been accustomed to speak with delight of the perishable things of the world; every thought of the mind now tends to heaven, which before was wholly engaged in the world: he now begins to follow Christ in the hands of men, who before was held captive in the hands of demons. For this man had been a very great partisan ^g, and desired so much to please Ladislaus, King of Sicily, that he did not make much of displeasing his God: he renounces the devil, he clings to Christ, the interior man is changed, seeing that the whole exterior man is changed, and thenceforth more and more solicitous for his liberation, a certain sum of money being given, he is at length restored to the desired liberty.

[7] the test of his humility is taken, Having thus attained liberty, John returns to Perugia, and leaving his noble and very rich virgin wife, betrothed to him, but not joined by carnal union ^h, leaving the rights of his patrimony, leaving friends and kinsmen, saying farewell to all that had once been precious to him, these snares being loosed, and having been sufficiently deceived by worldly sweetness, in the thirtieth year of his life he betook himself with most glad and joyful mind to the place of St. Francis on the mount. When he came into the presence of the superior, without delay of time, kindled with love of the supernal country, he asks as a suppliant to be received and clothed. The brothers, however, considering the man's no mean capacity, since he was very well known to all both for the excellence of his learning and for the dignity of the prefecture formerly held, in order that he might more and more trample on the world, overcome the devil, abhor his vomit, renounce the pomps and honors of the world from his inmost heart, and become wholly dead to the world, who was to be a great and most renowned herald of Christ, decided not to receive him unless he had been tested. They therefore send him into the city in contempt, crowned with a miter of paper on which he had written all his sins; the wise man feigns himself a contemptible youth, and almost mad, he sets out and enters the city, clothed in dirty and mournful garments; he lies open as a spectacle to all, and where he had shone with a more illustrious name and ampler glory of honors, there he fearlessly showed himself the more manifest. O, I say, holy folly, which is changed into everlasting wisdom! He goes around the square of the nobles, where in the manner of Italian students he had exercised his most perspicacious intellect: the jurist is seen by students and doctors thus confounded and derided by most: he goes on thus crowned with a crown of confusion, that he might be crowned in heaven with an unfading crown: he confesses, accusing himself as the greatest sinner and a criminal, guilty of all crimes, worthy of any punishment, that among the hosts of saints and angels he might be received excused: he makes little of being despised by the voice of men, that he might be able to be extolled by the voice of Christ; he does not care to be looked down on on earth, that he might well merit to be praised in heaven.

[8] which he wonderfully endures; At length a concourse of citizens takes place from every side, most wonder at the man: and some think him insane, but some, wiser in higher things, think him drunk with the Spirit of God, they praise, proclaim, are pricked at heart: and the women, flocking to the windows, their cheeks wet with tears, gave out tearful voices, “he has been made mad, he lacks sense,” they said. The mortal world having been vanquished in this manner, and the common enemy subdued by this memorable example of humility, he returns glad and victorious to the place of the brothers, and, spurned by the guardian, not seriously but feignedly, that he might more and more test the man's constancy, on being dismissed he did not withdraw, on being rebuked he did not excuse himself, not permitted to enter the place, he cried that he would go nowhere else, but kneeling and suppliant, with a certain wonderful humility he knocks to be received and clothed, he presses with prayers, he obtains by tears. Received therefore by Br. Mark of Bergamo ⁱ, a most approved man, he is handed over to the care of a rigid and austere preceptor, that he might be imbued with spiritual doctrine in many ways and manners; he is tried like silver in the furnace, he comes forth a most pure vessel and full of sanctification. Excellently taught in the school of Christ, he shone in the first year with such perfection of life that he did many works of the perfect. For rebuked by all with a certain praiseworthy art, justly or unjustly, he always ascribed the fault to himself; often assailed by all with insults and reproaches, he never burst out in any sign of impatience. He always obeyed his Prelates as Christ, he kept poverty, and the lily of chastity, most diligently as the pupil of the eye. On the first occasion also on which he received the Lord's body in religion, he took no food for three days.

[9] and at length he is admitted among the Brothers as a novice; Why more? First in the humble services of the brothers, solicitous in the divine office, sedulous in prayer, not slothful in vigil, humble in word, sparing in food, most temperate in drink, drawn to religion like another Paul, called to follow Christ like Peter the prince of the Apostles, ready in short always to accomplish great things, for being once sick, and altogether despaired of by the physicians, fortified with all the ecclesiastical Sacraments, when he heard the guardian commanding him to eat a not small piece of pork, trusting in the powers of obedience, at once, the command being carried out, he miraculously obtained the best health, so that he who was thought about to depart from life presently *, soon rising from bed healthy and safe, went away where he wished. Similarly also, eating a boiling egg at the order of his preceptor, beyond the laws of nature he felt no hurt from the heat: add that when again, according to custom, the washed cloths were being washed by the novices, and no one dared touch them for the excessive heat, he, his face being washed by the hand of the preceptor with a certain cloth drawn from most hot lye, suffered no burning of the fire, and where he ought to have appeared with face burned and scalded, he bore before him no sign of burning at all in any way ^k.

[10] and by profession he is co-opted into the Order, Nor was the ancient enemy lacking, who did not try to hinder his most fierce penance. For when the new novice, by the appointment of his superior, was most diligently discharging the office of sacristan, and in the sacristy itself was praying at night, and, subjecting his body to the spirit, was most devoutly reciting the penitential psalms with the discipline, the devil came to him with a fearful sound and noise, that thus at least, instilling fear, he might remove the psalm-singer from prayer and discipline; to whom the most mighty soldier of Christ said: Whatever the Lord permits against me, do; you can do nothing against me except what is pleasing to the divine will. And persevering most constantly in the discipline and the singing of the psalms, the devil withdrew confounded and vanquished. These are the first best seeds of eminent virtues sown by John, the signal novice of Christ, which clearly indicate a fruitful and most abundant harvest to come, since a good tree cannot but bear good fruits Matt. VII, 17.: these truly are the unshaken and most solid foundations of his spiritual edifice, most great and most high, to be raised, which not only prepare the splendor and comeliness of an interior lodging for Christ the Lord, but also an image of the greatest things to be done by him

bear before them a most beautiful image. Here therefore, the other things being omitted, many and marvelous as they are, which still seem to demand a longer order of speaking, putting an end to his new warfare, let us now come to narrate the most mighty and wonderful deeds of John, and let us see and know what many, excellent and most sweet fruits the grain of wheat, having died, has yielded.

ANNOTATA.

* the Italian word statim

CHAPTER II.

Of his manner of life; of his knowledge; and of the defense of the Order of Minors undertaken.

He is promoted to sacred Orders; A most beautiful flower, then, and most fragrant with the odor of all graces, John of Capistrano, sprung up in the field of the Minors, the year of novitiate having passed, the greatest foundations of holiness being laid, is received to solemn profession, well deserving in the opinion of all: and a very few months having run their course, he is promoted to sacred Orders. Being made a deacon, he is at once designated a herald of Christ, before receiving the priesthood: and lest, preaching to others, he himself should be made a castaway, when a freer power of conducting his life was given to him, chastising his body with frequent disciplines and fasts and bringing it into servitude, he ever led a most strict life. For with bare feet, content only with wooden clogs ^a, he went on up to old age, although in his youth he walked unshod for nearly seven years. He never rode a horse or ass, except after he had reached an advancing age, and although, when he was once companion of the Blessed ^b minister for the reform of the whole Order, he was compelled to ride, yet after four months he put an end to this labor, which was rendered empty of fruit, no reform of the Order following. He was ever clothed in a humble and mean habit, wearing for a long time day and night, next to the bare flesh, a wooden ring and a hair shirt; he would never sleep on a bed of feathers, and one offered in the houses of lay people, when he was journeying evangelizing, he always ordered to be emptied down to the straw.

[12] and he leads a life as austere as possible; Meat he never ate except at times, affected by great illness, yet compelled by his companions, and although for some months, as he grew old, he was forced by the command of Pope Eugene to eat it, he nevertheless took little, and so he was soon absolved from that command, that we can assert that for thirty-six years he never ate meat. Wine he drank so watered that it would be reckoned by others to have been a taste of water rather than of wine: for not for pleasure, but for refreshing his strength, a tamer of pleasures, he took only the reckoning of living; he never took bodily medicine, although he was often affected with many illnesses. The three Lents expressed in the Rule of Most Blessed Francis ^c he, neither pressed by grave illness nor wearied by the greatness of his pilgrimage, at no time ever broke, until he gave back his spirit to heaven. And although he was most rigid to himself, he yet always desired all to be well. To sleep indeed he gave himself for three or four hours, though more often two: afterward he recited the morning Office with a companion, with wonderful attention of mind and exceedingly becoming pronunciation, with honor and dignity, and although often hindered by many arduous affairs, yet no occupation so great could befall him, no solicitude, no shortness of time, no reckoning of propriety, that could recall him from the established manner of praying; whence in my opinion no one said the divine Office more diligently, no one more accurately, than this divine John used to say it. The Office of the Dead, of the most blessed Virgin Mary, and the Penitential Psalms, and the Benedicta ^d, all of which he was accustomed greatly to frequent, if at any time, occupied with more useful things, even on double feasts he had omitted them, he afterward repeated many and many times when on the road. Food throughout all the time of his life he took sparingly in the morning with the others: and if at any time he had been excessively wearied by a longer journey, content with a very small taste, he refreshed his wearied little body in the evening. By this very great grace he excelled, that he could stay awake as much as he wished, since if he had resolved to sleep one or two hours, as soon as they had run their course, with no one rousing him, he would rise: and all the action of his life was engaged in reading or preaching or prayer or giving counsels: and although he was cultivated with many eminent and outstanding virtues, so that he seemed to have attained every degree of perfection; I have yet seen no one more blessed than he, who ever had leisure in business and business in leisure.

[13] by the study of sacred letters His mind was ever in the law of the Lord, and on his law his assiduous meditation, wherefore he was found like a tree planted beside the running waters, which gives its fruit in its season Ps. I, 3. For reading the holy books, and holding them with a most tenacious memory, he came forth so learned and skilled in the divine scriptures beyond human opinion, that not only in the daily preaching with which he most fruitfully nourished and brought up Christian peoples for nearly forty years, but in very many booklets and treatises, which he left in the holy Church of God most ample and most sweet to those who fully taste them, the divine scriptures poured out with all abundance, he appears to readers like a great river inundating and overflowing. Many splendid things certainly, and many very useful things he wrote skillfully and weightily, who was rich no less in the excellent gift of doctrine than of preaching. For he discoursed on all things firmly, all weighed, all examined, and drew from the sacred sources. His splendid works are in our hands. For he published a signal and wonderful work on the dignity of the Church, entitled to the Supreme Pontiff Nicholas V, where whatever can be said or written in praise, strength and protection of Ecclesiastical power he both most learnedly gathered and fortified with the firmest foundations and opinions of the holy Fathers. It is established that this so pleased the supreme Roman Pastor himself that he gave two hundred gold pieces to John the servant of God, to be distributed to the copyists at his discretion. Moreover for keeping conscience he composed for the orthodox another exceedingly great work, where he poured out so great a variety of matters, and learning and doctrine of cases of conscience, that you would believe it a most flowering garden, and it contributes all things to the salvation of the soul. On usuries and contracts of usuries also he composed a most ample treatise on c. omnis utriusque s., and in canon law itself he likewise composed many very useful things: among which there is extant a golden treatise, which he wished to be called the Mirror of Clerics, on Censures, on Hell, on Judgment, on Confession, on Blasphemy, and on innumerable kinds of matters, and on the praise of virtues and the detestation of vices.

[14] helped, he wrote many things, I will not say sermons, but it is established that he published booklets: so that not for a year, but for years and years anyone could always preach new things. Most acute booklets besides against Rokycana and many Bohemian heretics, against Berbegall the Spaniard, against the Hebrews and Jews of Wrocław, in protection of the third Order of Minors, which it would be long to enumerate, he likewise wrote with a certain divine spirit ^e: from whose mouth, by reason of the keenness of his excellent intellect, in which he wonderfully excelled, so great an abundance of scriptures flowed and instructed so decisively, that on whatever matter was proposed to him, especially such as pertained to civil or canon law, he at once gave a most approved opinion. For the words of this servant of God were of such authority among both lay people and religious that, on taking counsel from him, the conscience of anyone at once remained clear and serene without any hesitation. Nor did great and most skilled doctors disdain to seek counsels from him; but to him, as to the oracle of the world and an eminent and singular doctor of truth, all of both orders flowed together in arduous and doubtful causes: nor is it a marvel, if he had obtained so great a light of divine and human scriptures. For he used to say that when sleeping at night he had drunk a silver bowl of wine from the hand of the most glorious Virgin Mary (to whom he was ever most devoted), appearing to him and offering it to drink.

[15] in the gravest matters Whence it came about that, although he gave many and various counsels to the faithful, both in person and in writings, in very many parts of the world, he yet never uttered at any time a word that it was necessary for him to retract. Nay rather he himself often disapproved and refuted the less correct opinions of great doctors, being consulted for the light of truth. For once a hundred and ten doctors, at the request of Nicholas, Marquis of Este, asserted that the marriage contracted between the illustrious Francis Sforza the son and Lady Bianca, only daughter of Philip Maria, duke of the Milanese, with many promises and writings, could be dissolved; and that she could be joined as a legitimate wife to Leonello, the Marquis's son. But the great jurist John, being asked what he thought, a treatise being first published, gave a contrary opinion against all, and

confirmed it, and so confirmed it that the duke himself, Bianca's father, would nowhere depart from him ^f. Who moreover was more tenacious in memory than John of Capistrano? Who richer in the knowledge of civil and pontifical law? Who more learned in the divine books? I omit the volumes of the four Gospels, I pass over the epistles of the Doctor of the Gentiles and the canonical ones, all of which he could have recited from memory. I am silent about the old and new testament, the sacred laws and the sacred canons, of which he had such familiarity that I do not know who could surely be found equal to him.

[16] he is employed as counselor: But I will touch very briefly on some things which plainly indicate and demonstrate to us both his divine intellect and the incomparable treasure of his memory. Alfonso the Great, king of Aragon, after the death of Joanna the second, Queen of Sicily, when he was raising a most copious army by land and sea, to claim for his dominion the kingdom of Sicily, which he said was his by right; John is sent by Pope Eugene to the King, to dissuade him from an unjust war. When he had betaken himself to Capua, where the prince of Faenza was then present, and being asked about the justice of the war, had by no means answered that it was just; twelve doctors were summoned, to convince the servant of God by reasons and arguments, as he brought forward such things. When these had come together, and all had argued with three and four arguments; at length the apostolic envoy, who had stored each thing in the little cupboard of his memory, first took up in order the things brought against him, then responding to each thing, most skillfully destroyed all and most mightily refuted them ^g. For his memory was so fresh, and his apprehension of the scriptures he had read so tenacious, that in the time of Martin the Fifth, evangelizing at Rome in the Campo de' Fiori, he was found to have preached four hundred conclusions once in one sermon.

[17] and the new family of the Observants, Marvelous certainly are the things we have said, but more marvelous are those we shall subjoin. While Martin the Fifth sat in the see of Peter, the Sons of Francis are accused of bringing forth dangerous novelties in the holy Church of God. A hundred and fifty Fathers of the new family of Francis are called to Rome. All assemble in the place of St. Francis across the Tiber; not without fear the sheep stand without a shepherd, dreading to be led away by the wolf's work outside the fold of Francis. For the modern manner of ruling and living had not yet been granted by the Apostolic see, since greater heads were not set over them from the flock of the Observants. Hope therefore (being called) they feign in their face, they press deep grief in their heart. While with minds thus in suspense they were waiting to be called, not knowing the cause of so great a congregation, the Divine John rises in their midst, who addressed the assembly of the fathers with such an oration: Fathers and Brothers, it is hidden from none of you that we have been summoned to this place by the command of the supreme Pontiff; but for what we have been called we are altogether ignorant; for it does not seem a small matter for which so great a gathering of Fathers has been collected here; but a great one, and exceedingly dangerous, where our salvation will be at issue. In my opinion, therefore, one of us should be chosen, who, if there be need, may reply in the name of all. Now see whom you ought to put forward. And when the most wise speech had vehemently pleased all, they agreed on John as most fit for giving replies.

[18] mightily assailed, On one of the days, then, the brothers being summoned to the place where three Lord Cardinals were present, appointed by the supreme Pastor, there rose in the midst a certain bishop, clothed in the habit of Francis, but little a friend of following his way, who, sitting in the lofty and most adorned chair of pestilence, armed and girded for three months beforehand for storming and utterly blotting out from the face of the earth the beloved family of Christ, belched forth against the servants of God for three hours such great, such enormous and such wicked crimes (yet all false, and altogether strangers to all truth), that nothing more impudent or base could ever be heard or uttered; for he tried to explain the causes of all the heresies that had hitherto sprouted in the Christian religion, making at length the inference that, as many pernicious heresies had arisen from the novelties of certain men, so by the novelty of these brothers, walking with bare feet, clothed in humble dress, and not handling money, unless they should come to their senses, other heresies were on this account to sprout and grow in the holy Church of God; urging then with what strength he could the ruin and complete overthrow of this new temple.

[19] he learnedly and manfully vindicates it from calumnies. But John, most distinguished in word and deed, and a nursling of great wisdom of sacred letters, when he had bound all and each of the insults in his most tenacious memory, kneeling with the others, begged with humble prayer to be heard. And since the length of the oration delivered had brought no slight annoyance, those sacred senators said to him: It is now the hour of dinner, let us go away; and the servant of God replying that it had by no means been the hour of dinner when they had given a kind hearing to so many and such great insults against the innocent family of Christ, free license of speaking was granted. He, beginning from the exordium of the bishop's oration, with a certain divine spirit took up again all and each of the arguments, and went back over all the conclusions and opinions with the highest praise and admiration of all. At length, as he began to reply to the first things brought forward, and struck the adversary bishop with the most mighty blade of the sacred scriptures, and with the greatest ease and learning refuted and rebutted all things, stupefied and amazed at the wonderful wisdom and knowledge of the man of God, all those sacred hinges of the world, recognizing that the beloved family of Christ was falsely charged, imposed silence, and made peace between both parties. And the legitimate sons of Francis, rejoicing and exulting, returned to their homes, freed by the tongue of the great John of Capistrano. The servant of God himself on that same day, in sign of a peace truly made, together with the bishop, became guest and table companion of Lord Orsini, then Protector of the Religious Order ^h. O truly wonderful man! O greatest servant of God! O most worthy son of Francis! Who would receive you with great veneration, raise you up in dignity, place you on a high and lofty summit? You who raised up the collapsing house of Francis, who did not permit truth and innocence to be overthrown, and who freed us all from so great a danger with your highest glory. To you therefore we sing great praises, to you we hold vast thanks, to you we confess that we are all bound for perpetual ages. For what is more beautiful than this triumph? What more excellent than this contest and encounter? What at length could I say can be found more beautiful than these merits of yours? I will surely say more freely still and more openly what I feel of your most renowned deeds, of which I profess to have touched on few as yet. Now therefore, betaking ourselves to more excellent and higher things, and examining for a little the more principal vows of the profession made, let us behold John fighting manfully and vigorously with his public and private enemies.

ANNOTATA.

designate was being kept far from the house, far from the threshold of the court, and that the time of the marriage never came; and that others meanwhile were more powerful, with no other commendation, to be sure, than hatred and rivalry toward him. Philip Maria in turn had his own causes for expostulating and complaining most gravely, whether there was some fault in the son, or, though there was none, it was feigned by the father's suspicion, by the art of rivals, or even the young man, innocent, as most believed, was compelled to sin somewhat and by sinning to hurt himself, on account of those very things by which he complained that he was hurt. Thus the marriage of Francis and Bianca was ratified, as is commonly said, since the names of son-in-law, father-in-law and heir occur; but it was not consummated, since Francis complained that the time of the marriage never came. For since Philip Maria, duke of Milan, had no legitimate offspring, various nobles were gaping after his inheritance Muratori. Annal. d'Ital. tom. IX, pag. 192.; to cut off their hope, he placed his daughter with the inheritance in marriage with Francis Sforza; which according to the Annals of Forlì took place on the 25th of October 1441, Cremona and Pontremoli being granted as the woman's dowry Scriptt. Rer. Ital. tom. XXII, col. 221.. Henry Sanclemente therefore errs in his episcopal list of Cremona, when he puts off those nuptials to the year 1463 Series Critico-Chronol. Epp. Cremon. pag. 147..

CHAPTER III.

Of his virtues; of the confidence of four supreme Pontiffs in him.

Living in the highest and purest poverty, John, beloved of God and men, whose memory is in benediction, glorying in the want of Christ, that he might purchase for himself heavenly treasures, embraced poverty with such zeal in his whole life that he not only for the most part denied necessary things to the powers of nature, but at times scarcely supplied the very last: for his sparing food and insipid drink so rendered his little body lean and bloodless, that his familiar companions, contemplating his daily continence, often wondered how he could pass his life. And although holy poverty always shone forth to a greater degree in all his actions, yet leading a celibate life, most clean in every work of his, keeping temperance in abundance of things and unconquered patience in want, as no lustful desire corrupted him, so neither did sordid poverty befoul him: the bowels of whose piety were so poured out toward the poor of Christ, that whatever was left over at table he always ordered to be given and bestowed on the needy and beggars, unwilling that anything be reserved for the morrow. Whence it came about that, more copious alms flowing in the more before his lodging, while he was journeying abroad sowing the streams of the sacred Gospel, he often fed a great crowd of the poor sitting at table, often repeating that saying: If few, we abound in few goods, if many, in many. And hence it came about that, having a most faithful confidence in the Lord, he thought of nothing less than of the morrow, and so felt the divine clemency providing for his extreme necessities, that among the most holy and most acceptable friends of God, as a true fulfiller of the Gospel word, he can be most worthily numbered by these two miracles alone which are subjoined.

[21] he is at times wonderfully sustained: Once the servant of God was going from Rome to Naples, and when, the sky weeping excessively, he with his companions had arrived wholly soaked at a certain lodging in the country, situated by the public road, and there was nothing for him to eat, turning to the host he said to him: Supply us, I pray, with all necessary things, and do not care for your reward. For perhaps someone will come to us from Milan in the evening, who will satisfy you on our behalf. O prophetic voice, O divine provision! Behold, in the evening a hasty courier coming from Milan arrives, consigns a bundle of letters to the holy man, and most gladly pays with his own money all that had been received for refreshment. On a certain winter occasion John, the servant of the great King, was traveling from Bologna to Florence with his companions, going before them and breaking the snows for them, and while he was pursuing the journey with no slight labor, he met a certain man bringing him some most seasoned loaves; and when he had offered them to him, he so vanished from his eyes that it was no longer seen either whence he had come or whither he had gone.

[22] he keeps chastity with the highest care: With how great zeal he acquired for himself the treasure of priceless modesty is assuredly difficult to say. For crucifying his flesh with its vices and concupiscences by hunger, cold, thirst, vigil, discipline and the hair shirt, he shone with such comeliness of the senses that he seemed a certain singular exemplar of all holiness and honor, whose heart, as it was illumined by the rays of the brightness of Christ through his continual meditation, so he bore before him in all his senses a spiritual gladness and comeliness, in which this man of God so excelled that, being among many religious, unknown by face, when seen by strangers, with no one informing them, he was at once recognized. As he attained the other virtues with the highest labor, so he claimed for himself the glory of unblemished chastity with the highest triumph of contest. For once being most vehemently tempted, when he could neither by prayer nor fasting nor discipline rout the enemy and extinguish the flame of lust, plunging himself into that place where in the summer time the tunics of the brothers are cleansed and shaken out, for a long interval of time wholly covered with fleas, he remained there naked and motionless until he felt that he had obtained perfect victory over the adversary: and he did not shudder to become the food of fleas, lest he should become the food of fire and of the demon. What shall I report of the new kind of warfare which the renowned conqueror of himself used against his domestic enemies? For when at one time he was burned by most ardent flames of pleasure, and had experienced many spiritual remedies, and his illness found no health, kindled with the flame of the love of Christ Jesus, that he might keep chastity immaculate for himself, not merely twice and three times but many and many times he extinguished a lighted torch on his own flesh, he overcame fire by fire, he subdued enemy by enemy. Many of the brothers saw the splendid signs of this most savage war on his scalded flesh. I too who narrate these things saw with my eyes the traces of the holy scars, to be imitated. What at length shall I say of the honor of his whole life? When he gave his mind to no pleasure of the flesh, when he always abhorred idle words and murmurings as venom, when he was never seen to speak alone with a woman alone except in the open. Possessing his vessel in sanctification and honor. No one indeed has been so zealous concerning his own wife as this man was concerning the keeping of modesty; excluding every vice from his soul, that he might be filled with all virtues.

[23] he takes care for the reform of the Seraphic Order; But with what worthy praise shall we attend his most prompt obedience to his superiors? With what splendor of eloquence shall we declare his supreme vigilance in things committed to him? With what triumphs at length shall we celebrate his speed in accomplishing, gentleness in acting, wisdom in counseling, prudence in arranging? From the most light and sweet yoke of obedience he not only never withdrew himself, but at all times complied with the will and voice of his superiors. How many vast labors, how many crises, how many perils of death he bore, to fulfill the arduous causes committed to him, the whole Order of Minors is witness first of all, whose affairs, when by the command of Pope Martin in the General Chapter celebrated at Assisi the common reform was being treated, he most diligently and most wisely handled; and so handled, that he himself drew up the constitutions which we call Martinian, containing every rule and discipline of living well, and that for some months he accompanied the Minister General William of Casale, who had promised by oath to reform the whole Order, then collapsed, and never to seek release from that oath: although he kept nothing of it, that thus at least he might lead all to live well and blessedly by word and example ^a.

[24] he also traverses various provinces; Witness is the whole new progeny of the Franciscans, which, as a fruitful and most acceptable vineyard to God, he fortified with a rampart and ditch, and surrounded with the hedges of many apostolic privileges obtained by him, which he not only spread and enlarged through Italy, Germany, France, Bohemia, Poland and Hungary, but with equally great labor freed from very many supreme and greatest perils, from the hands of those seeking its life, and kept unharmed. Witness is France, where in the time of the Basel schism, according to the commands of Pope Eugene, he most accurately and laboriously completed many affairs of the Church and the Order committed to him ^b. Witness is Philip, the illustrious king of the Burgundians ^c, who heard him, sent to him by Eugene lest he adhere to the schism of the Antipope Amadeus of Savoy ^d, praying and preaching, and who, confirmed by John in obedience to Eugene, then conceived such faith and such devotion toward him, that he would have reckoned it a very great gift to have seen him again in his dominion. Witness is Alfonso the great, king of Aragon, before whom by the command of Eugene he many times pleaded the highest causes of the Church ^e. Witness again is France, where by those who did not bear sound doctrine, and whom the institute of Religion had disgraced, he was twice given poison to drink, though freed by the clemency of Christ, reserved for greater things.

[25] he exterminates the Fraticelli; Witness is Italy, which, both in the March of Ancona and in the Roman territory most basely befouled by the most pernicious heresy of the Fraticelli ^f, whom they call of the opinion, was purged by his effort and zeal: of which heretics indeed he burned thirty-six places, had some relapsed burned with fire, and some to the bosom of holy Church by oath

he brought, and very many, with the assistance of the most renowned man Br. James of the March ^g, whom he ever singularly loved, he drove into Greece ^h; and although their impiety often tried to kill the servant of God, yet fortified by the protection of Christ, passing through the midst of prepared snares, he was ever kept unharmed: and once in a certain wood of the March of Ancona, while he was being watched by a great troop of henchmen, so very high an inundation of waters and tempests broke out that, no one being willing to take up arms, the servant of Christ, his companions going ahead by a great distance, when he had remained alone, escaped safe, who was to be given to death by a most firm sentence.

[26] he settles ecclesiastical affairs at Venice; Witness is the whole people of the Venetians, where he, at the command of Pope Eugene, with great labor extirpated the pestiferous heresy that had arisen of the simple soul ⁱ. Witness is Frederick, the present Emperor, who received him, obtained from Pope Nicholas, with vast joy, and not only wished many times to hear him evangelizing, but to have him as counselor in the greatest matters of protecting the orthodox faith ^k. Witness is Bohemia, witness is Moravia, which, infected by the most damned heresy of the Hussites, beheld by his industry and wisdom about twelve thousand heretics brought back to the obedience of the holy Roman Church. Witness is Rome: he drew Gagellus ^l, master of the Roman synagogue, convicted in disputation, to the light of Faith, and with him forty other Jews were converted to Christ the true Pastor. Witness is Wallachia and Russia, on whose shores he caused over ten thousand schismatics, not well baptized, to be baptized, and fitted them to the truth of the faith.

[27] to Hungary in danger, Witness is Hungary, which, when it was being pressed on land and on the Danube by a most strong and powerful army of the Turks, by the appointment and obedience of Pope Calixtus, the divine John preaching the cross against Mahomet, the most savage enemy of Christians, with most mighty spirit, and gathering the forces of the crusaders with wonderful solicitude, and signing and fortifying himself within and without with the sign of the same Cross, and bearing and carrying it about on his own habit, as the vigorous first centurion and signal standard-bearer of the most high king and Lord of hosts; not standing still, but going before, and not saying go, but come, zealous for the commonwealth more than for his own life, boldly casting himself before the enemies of the Cross of Christ, and by the strength of his spirit, and the fervor of love wearing him away, and by the trumpet of his voice he encouraged, strengthened and comforted the failing people and those fighting and contending at close quarters with the most mighty enemy and the henchmen of Leviathan: so that he then defended and recovered the most renowned and most fortified castle of Belgrade, the citadel and asylum of that kingdom and as it were the outer wall of Christendom, situated on the borders of the Turks, causing great regard for itself in the enemy, encompassed and besieged with arms and engines of war and a strong army and now nearly stormed and obtained by him, and by his great sweat and vigorous work brought it about that it should not fall utterly into his power ^m.

[28] the Turks being routed, The enemy being thus vanquished and shamefully put to flight from beneath the castle, and his strength and might being broken, by him (as at whose right hand the Lord has crushed kings in the day of his wrath Psal. CIX, 7), the camp goods, arms and engines of war in which the enemy trusted being left behind and crushed, as though mad he fled confounded and escaped, and thus he brought joy and gladness to that country and nation, and acquired no small glory for himself, whose memory among that same nation for so splendid a deed is and will be in benediction forever. Wherefore the aforesaid Pope Calixtus, that he might decree that the day of this renowned victory be observed and venerated by all Christ's faithful, and, illustrated not only by the splendid Transfiguration of the Lord, but also by that glorious victory of which we speak, given by God the Best on that same day, from whom has been the salvation of all peoples, for rendering thanks therefore to Almighty God, might establish and commit that it be rendered more illustrious and more renowned, instituted and ordained that it be henceforth celebrated and venerated in the Church of God under the rite of a greater double feast ⁿ. Of these things the aforesaid Hungary, bearing testimony, confessed that it was freed by no help of kings and no help of princes, but only by the aid of God, and by the work and power of this servant of the Lord.

[29] he brings succor, and frees it entirely: Witness is the most powerful Ladislaus, king of the Hungarians and Bohemians, and the illustrious Nicholas, otherwise Voivode of Transylvania, who was always held first among the chief men of the kingdom of Hungary and was at length raised to the royal sublimity, and stood forth adorned and marked with the royal diadem ^o. In whose royal residence (namely in his own seat of Ilok) holy John fell asleep in the Lord, and there in the church of the most exalted Virgin Mary, Mother of God, near his royal residence of Ilok and founded there, among the Friars Minor of his Order, shining daily with miracles, he rests in peace in a glorious tomb. Both of whom professed with free voice in the sight of the most excellent Lord Cardinal of Sant'Angelo, apostolic legate, that the nation of the Hungarians was rescued from the hands of the Turks by the work and industry of John of Capistrano [p]. Finally witnesses of the obedience of this most holy man are the four supreme Pontiffs, namely Martin, Eugene, Nicholas and Calixtus, who committed to him the holy people of God entrusted to them, with innumerable and most ample indults and privileges, with whom his estimation and reputation was so great that either none or few could be found who more truly and more excellently claimed with them the name of holiness.

[30] the Pontiffs, Eugene IV, Nicholas V For Martin first designated him general inquisitor of heretical depravity in the whole world: and Eugene not only confirmed this, but granted him so many and such great things, both against Jews and against heretics, and for the salvation of Christian souls and the spread and increase of religion, that you would believe him another Pope. He wished indeed at one time to set him as pastor over the Church of Rieti and of L'Aquila, but clothed with Franciscan humility, that he might profit more, he preferred to refuse the pontifical dignity than to withdraw the ministry of preaching from the whole world. For he said that he was unwilling to be shut up in so small a region, to whom the Lord had given the most broad field of the whole world for disseminating the word of God. With how great good will and devotion Nicholas attended him is clearly evident not only from the grant of most ample graces, but also from the most true testimony of his words. He thought such great and such sublime things of the man of God that he said, speaking of him in passing: If this man dies in my time, I will inscribe him in the catalog of the saints. Through so great a faith conceived toward him it came about that he was led by his prayer more than that of others to canonize Saint Bernardine [q]. Nor is it a marvel: since he remembered that, when he was appointed bishop of Bologna, he had foretold to him with prophetic mouth that he would soon be raised to the supreme summit of the apostolate.

[31] and Calixtus III made the greatest account of the Saint. Calixtus also embraced him with no less faith and devotion, who, being in lower rank, not only wonderfully favored him with his familiarity, but, assumed to the height of the apostolate, both enjoined him to preach the crusade against the Turks, and confirmed the privileges of his predecessors [r], and honored him with many familiar letters. As he greatly loved him in life, so after his death especially in that privilege which he established on the institution of the office of the Lord's Transfiguration, he adorns him with the greatest and highest praises, attributing to himself and to John the aforesaid victory over the Turks, magnificently won at Belgrade [s]. Pius besides, the present Pontiff, while he was at the imperial court, how much he loved and honored this servant of the Lord, and what he thought of his eminent virtues, can be plain from his most elegant little book of the histories of this age, where he not only exalts him with the greatest and incredible praises, while he narrates with great copiousness of speech and supreme eloquence his splendid deeds in Germany; but in very many letters, directed to Pope Nicholas and to the Cardinals of Fermo and Sant'Angelo, he praises, proclaims and exalts him beyond what can be unfolded by my slender speech, whose counsels John so always obeyed, that you would think him foreknowing of his most ample dignity.

ANNOTATA.

composed, in which the errors of the Jews are refuted Capistr. triumph. pag. 249.. Since this conversion took place a little before St. Capistran departed from the City, St. Bernardine of Siena having been canonized, it is to be tied to the year 1450 Wadd. Annal. tom. XII, pag. 51..

The feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord was not instituted by Calixtus III, seeing that in the thirteenth century, on the witness of William Durandus in his Rationale, book VII, chapter 22 Fol. V°. 271. Edit. Lugdun. 1551., it was celebrated on the feast of St. Sixtus, or the 6th of August. But in the preceding century, Potho of Prüm, who then flourished Fabric. Glossar. med. et inf. latinit. V°. Potho.. in book III On the State of the House of God Biblioth. Max. Patt. tom. XXI, pag. 502.: We wonder therefore greatly, he says, what has seemed good at this time to certain monasteries to change the best color, introducing certain new celebrations. Are we more learned or more devout than the fathers? With proud mind we presume whatever their prudence in such matters has passed over. Nor can we find anything in such matters which could have escaped their diligence. What reason then has led us to celebrate these feasts? Namely the feast of the Holy Trinity, the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord: to these is added by some, what seems more absurd, the feast also of the Conception of Holy Mary. There is however cause for us to wonder that Wandalbert, in the ninth century himself also deacon and monk of Prüm, in his metrical Martyrology wrote under the 6th of August D'Achery. Spicil. tom. II, pag. 5. Edit. Paris. 1723.:

On the eighth before the ides Note: VIII idus Augusti. the holy flesh of Christ, about to suffer death and the cross,

Gave beforehand an ethereal fi[gure.

From which it is clear that the feast of the Lord's Transfiguration was not new at Prüm, but disused. Alban Butler at the 6th of August says that this feast was already celebrated at Rome in the 5th century, for which matter he adduces a sermon of St. Leo the Great: but this sermon is said to be wrongly attributed to St. Leo Migne. Patrol. tom. LIV, S. Leonis Oper. col. 520.. But that celebration is older in the Eastern Church, as Stefano Morcelli shows in the Calendar of Constantinople of the 8th century Kalend. CPolit. tom. II, pag. 230.; since it has both a vigil and a continued solemnity of eight days Ibid. pag. 188.. This then Pope Calixtus III accomplished, that the feast, which among the Easterners was both most ancient and most renowned, and among various Westerners or Latins was frequented, should be celebrated more solemnly and by all Augusti. Denkwurdigk. der. Christi. Archaologie. tom. III, pag. 282..

p. That to Ladislaus, king of Hungary, whose dominion was freed from a vast calamity, the victory won over the Turks was most welcome, there is no reason for us to doubt: that he ascribed it to St. Capistran no document shows us: whence I believe that some error has crept into Nicholas the biographer, already deceived concerning Nicholas of Ilok, and that for King Ladislaus there should be substituted his successor Matthias Corvinus, who in fact gave a letter to the princes of Italy on the 22nd of March 1460 Wadding. Ann. tom. XIII, pag. 157., in which he writes among other things, that the cause of canonization might be urged: Who would doubt that this so signal a victory is to be ascribed to the merits of that blessed man (Capistran)? So also Nicholas of Ilok: The might of the Turks, he says Ibid. pag. 159., under the banner of the cross and of St. Bernardine, with a mighty shout of the Name of Jesus Christ, he, unarmed, broke and laid low.

q. What St. Capistran accomplished in procuring the canonization of St. Bernardine of Siena we have shown in the preliminary Commentary, no. 174.

r. Both letters given by Calixtus III to Capistran are presented by Wadding Ibid. tom. XII, pag. 248 et 251..

s. The sense is that the victory was attributed to St. Capistran and John Hunyadi: this is evident also from the bull instituting the solemn feast of the Lord's Transfiguration, in Rinaldi at the year 1457, § LXXVII, which after God makes special mention of John the Voivode of renowned memory, most fierce defender of the Catholic faith, and of John of Capistrano, a professed member of the Order of Friars Minor, an excellent man and outstanding in merits before God and men.

CHAPTER IV.

Of various miracles; of his command over demons; of his preachings.

He commands a tempest at Tivoli, The proven obedience of John toward God and his superiors, then, not only men, but even irrational creatures in their own way praise and confess as wonderful. For once when the man of God was evangelizing the people of Tivoli in the garden of the Minors ^a, and his preaching was excessively hindered by the song of the cicadas, the true worshiper of the Trinity addressed them thus: In the power of the Holy Spirit, he said, I command you to fall silent and let me preach. A wonderful thing certainly and worthy of renowned memory, the command being given, as if rational creatures, obeying the most faithful servant of their Creator, they at once fell silent, and gave not a single note more until the word of God was brought to an end: and the preaching being finished, the servant of God giving them license to sing, all began to sing unceasingly, as before, the whole people of Tivoli being present. At another time also the people of Lanciano ^b rejoiced in a like miracle. As the servant of the Lord was preaching before the church of Sant'Angelo, where swallows, singing and chattering in their frequent going out and coming in through the window of the church, greatly disturbed the preaching, being ordered to be silent and to remain still, they at once fell silent and stayed still until the divine preaching was finished.

[33] to harmful animals at Lanciano and Anglona Nor shall we pass over in silence what the divine power wrought in Anglona ^c, a royal town, through the minister of Christ. For the hand of the Lord having come upon the inhabitants of that place, so great a multitude and abundance of mice arose in their fields that it utterly laid waste the grain ^d of each, and gnawed the roots of all the trees. As the people bore this scourge of the Lord with annoyance and pain, processions were instituted by the servant of God, and, confession being made first, all the people were persuaded and led to receive the sacrament of the Lord's Body: these things being performed, a prayer being poured out by the divine John, the dangers ceased, the mice perished, and the very great multitude of them was buried in ditches, lest the healthy air be corrupted by their stench. And that the holiness of the preacher might be more and more laid open to them, and his doctrine be proved by a still greater miracle, as the divine John was preaching outside the town, it happened that a certain ox came running from afar toward the people hearing the word of God; which, striking a certain pregnant woman with its horn, and lifting her by the secret place of nature, mightily threw her behind its back: when the people standing by all reckoned her dead, the servant of God was called, to help the dead woman by his prayer. When he had prayed for the dead woman, and had commanded her to rise in the name of Christ, at once the woman (wonderful to say) rose healthy, and obtained not only life, of which by the opinion of all she was thought deprived, but the best health, and gave birth to a safe girl, who still survives today.

[34] to rain in the Valtellina, Nor do I judge that I should pass over the eminent virtue and holiness of this servant of the Lord, which did violence even to the sky. For in the Valtellina ^e, which is situated in the parts of Lombardy, in the town that they call Morgenum * ^f, when the servant of Christ was preaching, the clouds once began to thicken and the air to be darkened. The people, although they dreaded the coming rain, yet no one, from eagerness to hear the word of God, withdrew from the field where the streams of the Gospel were being poured out. But John, the friend of the Most High, fearing lest the people should withdraw because of the coming rain, together with those standing by poured out a brief prayer to the Lord, and behold, while it rained round about, the place of preaching remained utterly untouched, so that not a drop fell upon that ground: and when the people departed, the face of the earth was found greatly soaked by an inundation of waters outside the circle. They, stupefied and amazed by so great a novelty of miracle, thenceforth attended the man of God with such devotion that they venerated him as another Apostle, and kept his mantle, through which the Most High grants many benefits to his faithful.

[35] at Várad; At another time also, when he was evangelizing in the Hungarian city of Várad, before the prelate and an innumerable multitude of peoples, there came on so great an inundation of rain that all were soaked. And when they had been asked by the herald of Christ whether they wished to withdraw or to stay, and had replied with one voice that they would in no way depart from the preaching, all were led to entreat God: and when the servant of God had prayed with them, at once the rain ceased, the clouds disappeared, and the sun shone forth most splendid as before. At that same time, as holy John was preaching in the same city before the said bishop and many prelates and peoples, it happened that a certain sparrow flew so familiarly and tamely among the arms of the man evangelizing that it could altogether be caught by him; the man of God smiled, and provoked the bird to fly, and when it was flitting around the pulpit, being called by him it placed itself a second time in his arms. At length it set itself in the bishop's lap, not without the amazement of all.

[36] demons at L'Aquila To him the demons also were compelled to obey, and being called to respond. For in the greater square of the city of L'Aquila ^g, where first his preaching greatly flourished, when at a certain time he was preaching on the excellence and power of the most glorious Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and with a most mighty voice was calling all the demons, many were seen and heard answering him, some as sheep, some as bears, some as wolves, some as lions, some in the manner of other beasts, with terrible voices and gestures lowing and raging, not only those present, but those staying far off. This excellent and singular miracle was seen by the whole people of L'Aquila: this unheard-of spectacle was seen by nearly a hundred thousand men, who had assembled from the neighboring regions to receive the heavenly food. It does not seem by any means to be passed over in silence what was done in Guardiagrele ^h, a royal town,

which is known to have been done, to be celebrated in everlasting memory. For there, as holy John was preaching with a great crowd of peoples standing round, there was brought to him a certain woman, for a long time troubled and oppressed by a demon; when he had poured out a most devout prayer for her liberation, in the power of Christ he commanded the demon to come out of her; and the possessed woman to spit; and when she had spat out a bare, black and long worm, it was at once changed into a certain square matter, after the likeness of a great black die. But the servant of God, knowing that it was a demon, tying it up in a handkerchief, hung it outside the window of the cell. And when at length he wished to go away, and had resolved to burn the vanities of that people, namely cards, gaming boards, dice, masks, and the false hair of women, and things like these, of which a great spectacle had been prepared, remembering the demon hanging at the window, he ordered it to be brought, and thrown into the fire once and twice it at once leapt out, hissing like a serpent and flying on high, as all looked on; driven into the fire a third time at the command of the servant of the Lord, it was consumed like stubble; and it so filled the people's nostrils with its horrible stench that it was to the highest stupefaction and amazement of all who were present.

[37] and at Venice; At Venice moreover, as John was in the act of preaching in the church of the Minors, there was brought to him a certain woman, for a long time troubled by the enemy: who, when she was being forcibly brought in, began to shout terribly: Woe to me, she said, today on your account, Capistran. When he had cast the demon out of her in the power of the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord, the woman fell as if half-alive, but rising as if freed from sleep, she returned home excellently well. On another day, returning to the servant of the Lord, she was scarcely recognized, who, as terrible as she had seemed before in gestures, bearing, voice and aspect, so comely, devout and well composed did she afterward appear. O, I say, ineffable man! at whose command cicadas obey, swallows comply, mice die, a dead woman is raised, the sky serves, demons respond with fitting voice when called; to whom this man of God was such a terror that rarely or never did any possessed person come to him without going away freed. It would be long to recount each thing, and exceedingly arduous to embrace in a brief narration all the miracles performed by him, which if they should all be written down, it would be necessary to make a great body of a volume. Well therefore and with equal right all things obey him who always obeyed his Lord, a despiser of himself, a trampler on the world, the terror of demons, the dread of unbelievers.

[38] constancy in celebrating Mass, Many indeed are the splendid ornaments of holy John of Capistrano, most worthy of all praise and proclamation; but I judge that to be held in the highest admiration which we saw and knew of his daily offering of the holy Mass. For praying for himself and for his beloved peoples, to appease the divine Majesty toward all, being healthy in body, he celebrated Mass every day, which, deterred neither by the dread of cold nor by the greatness of winter, he never omitted, although the people, well clothed and covered with furs, in the most frigid air of Germany, Poland and Hungary could scarcely persevere in hearing it for the rage of the cold. For we experienced such bitterness of cold in the kingdom of Poland that although we warmed the wine and water and the chalice, and supplied them all together not at the beginning of the Mass, but immediately after the offertory, as divine John was celebrating, binding the chalice with a most hot cloth, we could yet scarcely keep the sacrament from freezing, nor for this did the holy old man, to the highest stupefaction of all, cease from daily celebration with his head uncovered.

[39] in which he was illumined by supernal light; For in it he not only very often tasted how sweet the Lord is, but he was at times illumined by such grace and swiftness of the holy spirit, that he both clearly foresaw things to come, and understood things absent as though present. For in the place of Bosco Mustello ⁱ, situated in the territory of Florence, when the general chapter was being celebrated, he was informed in the Mass that he was to be set up as minister general of the whole Cismontane family; which election made of him he would by no means have accepted, unless he had received the Lord's will through revelation: similarly, that he should undertake the expedition against the Turks, he learned also by revelation while he was celebrating at Nuremberg ^k. And that of many I may recall only one, that seems to be celebrated with immense praise and glory for perpetual ages which is reported to have happened to this kindly man as he celebrated in Hungary. For at the time when Belgrade, in the manner already set forth, was being besieged by the most powerful force of the Turks, where also the servant of God himself was besieged, he was admonished by that most mighty N of the Christians, fighting on the bank across the Danube against the fleet of the Turks, that, leaving Belgrade, of which he altogether believed it was as good as all over, he should return safe to him, because he reckoned that the savagery of the enemy ought to be made slacker in his absence than in his presence, on account of those very great forces of crusaders which he had provoked against them with great zeal, to whom divine John replied such words: We will ask Almighty God that he reveal his will concerning this which you seek of us. And when he had often prayed, and neither from a motion of the mind nor from any exterior sign was able to understand what was more pleasing and acceptable to God, to stay or to go: at length while he was offering the divine things at the sacred table, an arrow fallen from heaven appears in the middle of the altar before the eyes of the servant of the most High, marked and inscribed with these golden words: “Be constant, John.” Strengthened by this divine vision and command, understanding that a triumph over the enemy was now prepared close at hand, he afterward remained firm and fearless, exhorting the others. O certainly a wonderful man and shining with the greatest holiness! given to mortals from heaven to illumine our times, to whom, offering the salutary host on the sacred altar, an arrow is sent from heaven, constancy is urged in golden letters, and a happy victory over the Turks is announced.

[40] he preaches with great fruit; The signal servant of the Lord John, when he was first designated a herald of Christ by his superiors, so untiringly gave all his effort to teaching the people of Christ for nearly forty years that he was never seen to grow torpid in any idleness; most discreet in silence, most prudent and most fruitful in word, having more of good and perfect action than of eloquent and tricked-out preaching. This was truly a man sent from God, whose name was John, who made straight the ways in the desert, and likewise directed the crooked, and who gave not only to the Italians but also to many other nations a right leading for following immortality. This was another Paul, who with the sword of the word of God could mightily strike those contradicting sound doctrine, and most salutarily instruct the obedient, bearing the triumphal Name of our Lord Jesus Christ before kings, princes and nations. This was another Angel, ascending from the rising of the sun, who preached the eternal gospel to innumerable peoples, who converted innumerable heretics, schismatics, Jews and sinners to Christ, the true Pastor, who increased, raised up and spread the Religious Order of Francis not only as to the first but as to the second and third Rule more than others.

[41] the family of the Observants, For the province of Saint Bernardine, which is now adorned by eighteen places, he almost wholly formed by himself before he left Italy; and he planted the province of Austria; and the province of Bohemia, where there are now nearly twenty-five places, in which eight hundred servants of God now live, he himself, with men of venerable life, namely Br. Gabriel of Verona ^l and Br. Christopher of Varese ^m, his most beloved helpers, within a very few years raised and enlarged from the first stone. And in the provinces of France, Saxony, Strasbourg and Hungary he was himself the author of many places likewise. Finally in Italy equally he began and had built the many places we have recalled, and others. So that there is scarcely any province in the Order which has not received from him a great increase of religion. For at that time when this man of God entered the sacred Religious Order of the Franciscans, so small was the number of those who kept their profession that it seems incredible to say how so quickly this new planting of Francis was increased.

[42] hitherto very small, For in Italy, as the divine John was accustomed to say, there were two hundred of the Observants living, when he himself entered Religion, and about thirty places, yet they were inhabited by so few that one priest sufficed for three. We speak of those three which are situated in the territory of Rieti; they were few indeed in number, but fewer who excelled in knowledge and learning, small * and abject in the sight of men, but great and accepted in the sight of God, seeing that they were for the great part ignorant of letters, yet by no means lacking the spirit of the Lord and his holy working, signal in religion, foremost in faith, rich in poverty, burning in charity, shining in chastity, pressing beyond measure on prayer, and surpassing one another in most humble subjection, mortified in face, unshod of foot, all clothed in the most humble habit, cast down, fearful, trembling, bloodless, beloved of God, abject to the world, needy yet enriching many, as having nothing and possessing all things ⁿ II Cor. VI, 10.. These indeed took their beginning from the excellent man and most religious brother Paoluccio of Foligno ^o, most renowned not so much in religion as in family.

[43] he enlarges, For this Paoluccio, when he was being called away by many and various hindrances from being able to serve God, affected by innumerable injuries and wounded by reproaches, seeing that he bore many and nearly judicial persecutions for justice, for truth, for religion, for his God, and for keeping the Rule of Francis; at length by the effort of the lords of Foligno, to whom he was joined by kinship, he obtained from the Minister General of the Order license, with one companion, and the place of Brogliano [p], which is situated between Camerino and Foligno, where he could pass his life at his own discretion. There indeed leading a most religious life for a long time he brought forth many sons in the Lord, whom he made imitators of Christ and true sons of Francis, by example more than by doctrine. For he was a lay brother. Attracted then by the most holy odor of their holy and chaste life, many indeed ran from this side and that after Christ, embracing his light and sweet yoke (leaving all that they had). All of whom, spreading their wings everywhere, by the protection of good men, turned to taking places. This first line truly had many eminent and singular men, but none more excellent than Blessed Bernardine, for he, rich in learning, noble in family, foremost in holiness, and shining with the whiteness of virginity, raised to the office of preaching, when he had preached for seven years, was never pleasing and acceptable to the peoples, so that, distrusting the grace of evangelizing, he thought at one time of giving up the office of preaching, and devoting himself to himself alone. But indeed, the seven years having run their course, the door of the peoples was opened to him, the gift of preaching was given, and a concourse of nations takes place from every side to his holy preachings.

[44] especially by sermons delivered: And when he had betaken himself to the city of Milan, where first his preaching began to flourish, John of Capistrano to the world

was snatched away, he became a herald of God, a son of Francis, and a disciple of Christ; who, after he began to disseminate the streams of the Gospel, by his own preaching, and that of Bernardine, and also of the Brothers Albert of Sarteano [q], James of the March [r], Anthony of Bitonto, and very many others whom it would be too long to enumerate, many nobles, many students and many doctors betook themselves to Religion: of whom some came forth most acceptable and most fruitful preachers. To these indeed the Lord bestowed so great a grace of evangelizing, and so great a hearing of the peoples, that all Italy seemed spread beneath their feet, and we beheld fulfilled in them, as in the Apostles, that prophetic saying: he has subjected peoples to us and nations beneath our feet Ps. XLVI, 3. Nor is it a marvel if this new family of Francis has embraced nearly the whole world, and extended its branches up to the last bounds of the earth, which was made fruitful by such heavenly Fathers, and marked by such splendid consuls, who, flourishing in all wisdom and doctrine, composed and illumined not only all Italy, overwhelmed with the thorns and thistles of horrible crimes, but now nearly all the shores of Christendom, with the best and most Christian morals and precepts of doctrine. Most of whom also after their falling asleep shone with many signs and many prodigies.

[45] by whose help a manifold race of men Yet of all these, no one was found more acceptable to the brothers than John of Capistrano, no one in greater favor with the Roman curia, none more learned in civil and canon law, none more tenacious in memory, more laborious in body, none more ardent against heretics, schismatics and Jews; none more zealous in the spread of the Religious Order, none more powerful in the performance of miracles, none more fit in protecting the Religious Order, none more desirous in the desire of martyrdom, none more renowned in the reputation of holiness. Whence it came about that in many provinces of Italy he received, against his will, the greatest and highest honors, and that so great was the concourse of peoples to his preachings, that we recognize that the times of the Apostles flourished in him. At his entry indeed all the cities and towns were stirred, flowing in troops to his preachings, for from one side by letters, from another by envoys he was summoned by the peoples, and through apostolic mandates obtained by very great and powerful men he was often compelled to preach to the people; and the word of the Lord was effectual and living in him, and not in the words of human wisdom, but in the power of the Holy Spirit, he announced to all the kingdom of God, the Lord working with him, and confirming the word with the signs that followed. Marc. XVI, 19. Although, most renowned by the name of holiness, he was pleasing and greatly dear to all the peoples of Italy; yet to the people of L'Aquila, Siena, Arezzo, Florence, Venice, Padua, Treviso, Vicenza, Verona, Milan, Brescia, Mantua and Udine he was more pleasing and more acceptable, beyond human opinion; for these, and the peoples who dwell in the kingdom of Sicily, received and heard him so honorably and so eagerly that their most ample squares and broadest fields were often filled with men, who flowed together to hear the word of God; so that sometimes twenty thousand, sometimes thirty thousand, sometimes forty thousand, sometimes over a hundred thousand men were present at his preaching.

[46] he brought over to the true faith and the Christian life. The devotion of the peoples toward this servant of God was so great that often he could not be led from place to place on account of their multitude, who, that they might have something of his garments, presumed to cut his mantle and habit for themselves. For at Brescia in the last year in which he left Italy, so great a multitude both of the city and of the neighboring peoples assembled, as he preached, in that most ample field which is near the gate of St. Apollonia, and the extent of the place being measured, since the servant of God could in no way preach in the common square of the city for the excessive multitude of the people, we saw that a hundred and twenty-six thousand men most truly were present at one sermon [s]. These had assembled not only from the territory of Brescia but from those of Cremona, Bergamo and Milan. For not everyone could hear his voice, but it seemed enough to them to have seen or touched the man of God, for the trees in the nearby gardens stood laden with men, and although their branches were often broken by the multitude climbing them, and many fell from them; yet none of them was hurt by the fall, but rising at once safe and glad, they sought either to hear or at least to see the servant of the Lord. With like devotion the people of Vicenza, Verona, Treviso, Padua and Mantua attended him in the same year: among whom also many signs and prodigies were performed by the servant of the Lord, some of which, done at Vicenza and Verona, were examined and written down by the hand of a public notary [t]. And the Florentines were so attached to him that for the excessive multitude of the peoples rushing upon him, wishing either to touch or to kiss him, the friend of the Most High could not walk through the city unless fortified and protected either by lighted torches, or in the midst of four beams, or by a multitude of armed men. These honors, then, and these commotions of the peoples, John, the very vessel of humility, frequently indeed turned aside from and frequently indeed evaded, withdrawing himself from the people at night stealthily and with a certain praiseworthy art. But when he could neither prevent nor escape it, he often said with the Prophet: Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to thy name give glory. Ps. CXIII, 9.

ANNOTATA.

p. Of the convent of Brogliano Wadding writes Act. SS. tom. VII, pag. 168. that John of Valle in the year 1334 obtained from the minister general the very harsh place of Pisquia or Brogliano, at Colfiorito and

Serravalle, of the province of St. Francis, of the custody of Spoleto, between Foligno and Camerino, where with the brothers adhering to him he lived in regular observance. Gonzaga on the contrary attributes the foundation of Brogliano to Nicholas de' Trinci, nephew of Paul through his brother De Orig. Seraph. pag. 160., whereas Wadding teaches that the convent was built at the expense of pious men of the aforesaid town, that is, of Brogliano Ann. Min. tom. VII, pag. 174..

q. Albert of Sarteano, who died on the 15th of August 1450 Ibid. tom. XII, pag. 63., he constantly calls Blessed both in the Work and in the Index, but the Roman-Seraphic Martyrology omits his name.

r. We have already said above that St. James of the March is to be treated at the 28th of November.

s. Of the sometimes exaggerated number of hearers we have treated in the preliminary Commentary, nos. 63 and following.

t. Of these records we have indeed no copy: moreover what we have from elsewhere, and the testimonies which his companions themselves, eyewitnesses, reported, abundantly supply what could be recounted from the documents of Vicenza or Verona for establishing belief in his miracles.

* Morbegno?

* so the manuscript. Perhaps Duce

* so the manuscript.

* humiles W

CHAPTER V.

Of his zeal for piety and peace; of the greatness and power of his faith.

Suffering with his neighbor, His most ardent charity, with which he embraced all, speech certainly does not unfold: for the intimate compassion of his soul is seen by all, with which he was borne toward the poor of Christ, for whom he was the greatest help and incitement not only in relieving their want, calamities and oppressions, but in raising and building new dwellings. For in the city of L'Aquila he had a signal and most wealthy hospital built. And for the Hospital of St. Mary alla Scala, which at Verona is most renowned ^a, by one most fruitful counsel, which he published in its favor with many night labors, he acquired twelve thousand gold ducats ^b. If he heard that the poor and imprisoned were ill-treated beyond justice, he at once most willingly begged for their liberation from the princes and secular powers, to whom he was ever most dear; if it came to his ears that the goods of the poor were being wasted ^c, that widows, orphans, wards were being oppressed, he always set himself as a shield of justice and innocence and made himself such.

[48] for his benefit. And in these works of religion and piety he was exceedingly sedulous and dutiful not only toward the peoples of his own country, but toward all wretched persons and the sick, most of all those of the household of the faith. For when placed in Hungary, both walking about and evangelizing, among the institutes of his life he had a special care for the sick (moved by most tender compassion, and heartfelt piety toward them). And he likewise had this praiseworthy custom, that every day, after the manner of a good and pious physician, twice in the day, the divine offices having first been completed and Mass celebrated, after a sermon held to the people through an interpreter, and after the canonical hours were completed, namely sext and none, he visited the sick, not passing by perfunctorily, but staying long with them; and laying hands on all, and touching them with the biretta of St. Bernardine, which he had with him ^d, he prayed the Lord as a suppliant for all. Then he supped, and meanwhile gave a kind hearing to those coming to him, and soon, vespers being completed, he returned to the sick, bearing a mother's bowels for them, and spending his effort, and occupied with them until night, thence, dutiful as he was, he turned to other duties, and thus concluding the day with pious and holy exercises he gave his little body to rest for a little.

[49] he spent himself entirely; O lamp! a lamp, I say, shining on a holy lampstand, whose light is above the bounds of the earth, seeing that by spreading it reached even to the Hungarians. For what light does from its own nature, namely because it has communicability in its diffusion, for ever generating it multiplies itself, until it fills the whole hemisphere, this the most brilliant radiance did, a man of heavenly life, diffusing his light in work through the spread of good work and piety. For then in the order of morals each thing is perfect, when the good is known, known is possessed, possessed is spread, and is diffused to others. But enough of these things: that the holy story may be taken up from the digression, let us return from where we digressed, and let us measure with the pen the remaining works of his piety and holiness. How many who were to be punished by the sword and afflicted with perpetual chains did this man set free? How many enemies and men opposed to each other did he make friends? How many towns, how many cities laboring with internal discords did he bring back to keeping perpetual treaties of peace? How many internal wars did he suppress? He extinguished inveterate hatreds, he put quarrels to flight, he restrained seditions, he sowed the holy seed of peace, friendship, concord and benevolence. For we remember that the city of L'Aquila, from the anger and fury of Alfonso the Great, king of Aragon, who, a very great army having been raised, had girded himself to destroy it, was freed at the instance of holy John; and that the city of Sulmona ^e, tossed by long internal discords, we saw pacified by the effort of this servant of God up to his falling asleep.

[50] and those at odds among themselves The peoples of Ortona and Lanciano, assailed by many wars and injuries, we know likewise to have been led by his zeal and industry to the kiss of peace. In testimony of which holy concord a place was begun near Lanciano, which John wished to be called Sant'Angelo della Pace. At which time the people of Ortona ^f merited to see no small miracle, which is subjoined. For when the settling of peace was being treated, and John's labor could not attain the desired end through the hindrance of certain men, as he was evangelizing before the Church of St. Thomas, he said to all the people standing by: It is indeed a dog that does not permit the peace which we are urging on you to be made: this dog you will all see with your eyes. These words being said, a black dog also appeared, which, running through the midst of the people hearing the word of God, all shouting out in excessive stupefaction, Mercy, Mercy, so at once vanished that no one could know either whence it had come or whither it had gone.

[51] he brought to peace, Moreover we are not ignorant that the city of Rieti ^g, after the slaughter of four hundred men and many wars waged, was reconciled with Cantalice by the effort of this servant of the Lord; and let us very briefly narrate how these peoples rejoiced in a memorable miracle. For while negotiations for peace were being held, a certain man of Cittaducale ^h was most cruelly cut down by a certain party head. The wound inflicted was so great that both the brain wrapped in hair and the split bones lay plainly open to all. And when no aids of physicians availed, and no human hope of life was left, John, the mediator of peace, was called, who, wholly worn with bitterness, when he had approached the sick man, first separates the hair from the brain, and with his own hands binds the incurable wound, then having poured out a prayer says to the wounded man: “In the Name of Christ Jesus rise, and be well.” Wonderful certainly to say, he came forth healthy and safe, who in the judgment of all was believed about to die very soon; and so the divided and broken bones were solidified, and the flesh well healed, that only a trace of a scar remained. This astounding miracle being seen, the hearts of all were so moved to keeping peace that a tranquil quiet and benevolence followed among them for a long time afterward. For God conferred on this heavenly man so great a grace of uniting and appeasing those at discord, that he by a simple word accomplished more than most by resounding sermons.

[52] and he extinguished private hatreds: I omit the rest, which a great body of a volume would not easily unfold, and that our narrative may not come out too long, let one example declare the greatness of such grace divinely conferred on him. There were in the parts of Apulia three youths, of whom one had reached the eleventh, another the fifteenth, and the third the eighteenth year: when these met in the fields for the sake of play, he spoke * to his companions, “one of us must be chosen, to be over the others; now therefore decide whom you ought to choose.” And when they set him up as lord, he said: “I indeed by your opinion ought now to be over you, and you ought to obey me;” and turning to the younger, led by a diabolical spirit, he solicited him for a most wicked unnameable vice. But he, abhorring so great a crime, by no means resolved to assent, but when he could not be persuaded or bent by frequent flatteries, he was put to death by his companions, more savage than any beast. These, opening the body of the Martyr (so I dare to say with equal right), first drew out the entrails, and, these being balled up in the thorns, taking the liver, they cooked it, and when they had returned home, they happened on the father of the slain boy, to whom they also said: “We have a good cooked liver, do you wish to go to the tavern with us and we will eat it now?” He assenting, all go on together: and when they come to table, the father unknowingly ate of the liver of his son: and the refreshment being finished they say to him: “What you have eaten, know that it was the liver of your son;” and these things said, fleeing at the swiftest run, they at once went away. The father, however, not easily believing the words, inquiring about the health of his son, at length learned that he had been killed and butchered by them, and his entrails balled up among the thorns. This man then the most Blessed John, when he was evangelizing there, so bent and led to piety and mercy by the divine word that the man hurt by so grave an injury and so irrecoverable a loss he (wonderful to say) reconciled with his enemies, and led to the holy kiss of peace.

[53] relying on faith, he performed miracles He was so full of faith indeed that we by no means fear to compare him to those most ancient and most blessed fathers. For besides the miracles we have incidentally narrated above, he raised a dead boy on Monte Tuscolo. Cobella, Countess of Celano, despaired of by the physicians, he snatched from the jaws of death. A certain citizen of L'Aquila, who in despair had thrown himself down from a very high window of the convent of the Minors, broken and nearly dead he set free. A girl in Germany four days dead he restored to life. To say nothing of the many blind to whom he gave sight, the many lame for whom he obtained walking, the many deaf to whom he granted hearing, the many mute to whom he restored speech, the very many afflicted and held by various sicknesses on whom he conferred good health. These miracles indeed we pass over in silence in this place, both because the detractors of John ascribe them to Saint Bernardine, since they contend that many, although not all, were done at the touch of his Relics, and because we would not render the reader fastidious and annoyed by a longer discourse. We hasten now to narrating the things done after his falling asleep, by which it can be plain, clearer than the sun, how greatly they are foolish who think so of holy John.

[54] a girl dead for three days But that we may not altogether pass over the wonderful resurrection of the girl four days dead, let us very briefly show how it was done. At Vienna, which is the chief city of the Province of Austria, which our ancestors called Flavia, as John, the most renowned herald of Christ, was evangelizing with an incredible crowd of peoples, a girl of three and a half years, Catherine by name ⁱ, the only daughter of her mother, in

a certain village, which is distant two German miles from the town they call Lach ^k, is lost by her mother, called Clara, wife of Peter the tailor. Sought for two days among friends and kinsmen, she is by no means found. Drowned, she is drawn out of a well by her uncle as he was drawing water, and presented dead to her afflicted mother. As soon as she saw her, she said to her brother: I have heard, brother, that in these days there has come to Vienna a certain holy Italian man, through whom Almighty God works many miracles; I ask you that we carry this dead girl there. For I hope that he will restore her to us alive.

[55] he raised; He assenting, mounting a wagon, they go on together to Vienna, and on the fourth day from the drowning, when the holy man, after the celebration of Mass, on the step of the altar was waiting for the multitude of people packed in the church of the Minors to be emptied out, that he might go out from there to preach in the field that is before the church, they offered him the dead girl, covered; and when he had touched her and blessed her together with the other sick who could draw near the altar, he at once betook himself to evangelizing: not waiting for or seeking to know whether the Lord had bestowed any grace or benefit on any of the sick. For in the morning he did not give time to visiting the sick except when his preaching was completed; but only, to respond to the devotion of those whom he could not avoid on the way, he touched them simply, blessing them. The mother, withdrawing to a certain altar of St. Bernardine, uncovered the girl she was holding in her arms, and found her alive; and when she saw this most astounding miracle done, she began to shout loudly, but was not heard. For as many people were likewise shouting by the force of the pressing, and all were hastening to take places, she returned home exceedingly glad, with her daughter raised to life and her brother.

[56] at Vienna in Austria many We however knew nothing at Vienna of this wonderful sign, but when we were setting out into the province of Moravia, passing through the said town of Lach, as we stopped there a little, we learned it first from the chief men of that town, then from the mother of the raised girl, who, at the prayers of the holy elder, had been summoned there with her daughter by those townsmen: for curiously examined by very many she always asserted the same thing, and always affirmed the same thing in order. The girl herself was indeed of wonderful beauty and gravity, so that she seemed the daughter not of a peasant but of a prince; and I, marveling at her singular comeliness, asked the mother whether she had been of such elegance before; she answered by no means, but that she had come out more beautiful and comelier after her resurrection. Of how great power then this great herald of Christ was, and with what testimonies of holiness he shone, although it has been sufficiently demonstrated from what has already been said; yet we will add one miracle, heaped with many miracles, which we saw with our own eyes, performed by the servant of God in the renowned city of Vienna, at that same time at which the said dead girl returned to life. When then the feast of Pentecost was arriving, and a very great and almost incredible crowd of peoples had come from the surrounding kingdoms and provinces to hear the Word of God, there came also a great abundance of sick, hoping to be freed by the prayer of the man of God; and when at the hour of vespers they had been visited by him in the customary manner, none of them was freed. But some of his companions, seeing that so very renowned a day had passed without signs and prodigies, and that none of the sick had gone away healed, began to murmur: to whom the servant of the Lord said: “O ye of little faith, why have you doubted Matt. XIV, 31! For tomorrow you will see the glory of God.” On the following day, the preaching being finished, when he had touched some of the sick, six of them, wonderfully healed, returned to their homes, of whom three had been deprived of light, one deaf, and another destitute of his limbs; of which miracles so great a rumor resounded through the city, that at the hour of vespers no place in the convent of the Minors could be found that was not filled with those in ill health.

[57] a great multitude of the sick running together, Some being thus freed from the multitude that was in the cemetery and in the upper and lower cloister, he came at length to the church; and when he saw it full of sick, not trusting for the excessive multitude to console each by touch, having in his hands the biretta of Saint Bernardine, he began to bless them, that thus at least they might be dismissed in peace, and that he, now weary, might return to his cell. But they, contemplating his face like the face of an Angel, desiring to be touched by the hands of the holy man, with most loud voices implored pardon; they all wept for excessive devotion, and John, the man full of God, filled them with blessings. And so great a wailing arose in the whole multitude that all seemed kindled by the grace of the Holy Spirit, and as with broken voices the wailing grew more and more, the servant of God, exceedingly dissolved in tears, scarcely returned home, as if half-alive. In that very outpouring of tears many recovered from their infirmities and returned most gladly to their homes, glorifying God in his servant.

[58] he healed; On the following night a great crowd of the people kept vigil in the church in tears, prayer and devotion, waiting to see the servant of God in the morning. The holy man also, being asked by his companions what was to be done, since the church had remained full of men the whole night, answered them: Let him console them who invited and provoked them to come. Like this miracle also we saw in the territory of Brescia, at Pratalboino ^l, where our brothers live. Where, when over twenty thousand men had assembled at night from the neighboring regions to hear the word of God, so loud a cry of the weeping people arose, that the servant of God, most vehemently moved to tears, was compelled for a great space to leave off his preaching. This being completed, he visited the sick, of whom over twenty, the divine power assisting him, he magnificently freed, and sent them glad to their homes. And lest we should think that these things were done only by the merits of Blessed Bernardine and not by his own: that similar things were wrought through him by the Lord before the falling asleep of Bernardine, in very many parts of Italy, there is no one who can deny. For this man, while Blessed Bernardine was still living in this world, did many signs and prodigies.

[59] which he also accomplished in Italy. Among which is counted that exceedingly wonderful one which he performed three years after his entry into religion. For once as the friend of the Most High was walking about the cloister of the place, he met a certain madman, with whom suffering from his inmost heart, he gave him his biretta, and placed it on his head with his own hands, and as soon as he received it, at once feeling the divine power he attained a good, right and strong mind and was restored to health. At another time also in the parts of Apulia, when a certain Apothecary was for many years affected by so grave a sickness that he could neither move by himself nor be turned in bed, he was carried to the church through which the servant of God was to pass; and when the divine man saw him so wretchedly contracted and utterly destitute of strength, he said to him: “What is this, poor man?” When he had explained all his languor in order, with tears he most devoutly commended himself to the servant of Christ. To whom John said: “If it were decreed by the divine will that you should always remain thus sick, would you assent from the heart?” To him he replied: “Certainly, Father.” Then the evangelical herald added: “What grace does your soul now desire?” And he: “That I may at least be able to go to the church and to the shop.” To whom the servant of God said: “Trust in the Lord, for you will obtain a far greater grace.” And taking his right hand, he at once raised him up, and healed him, who, walking continually and freely on his feet, so came forth safe that he said he could even in that hour go two miles at a swift run.

ANNOTATA.

* add: the elder or the older

CHAPTER VI.

Of his zeal for prayer; of the gift of prophecy; of his manner of governing subjects.

Illumined by prayer, he foretells many things; to his betrothed, For these things and for accomplishing all his works he had a supreme and singular zeal for prayer; who, as he was found always to have had a proved habit for the cultivation of all virtues, so he was discovered to have put on the arms of continual prayer, keeping his heart ever taken up in the contemplation of eternal things, and preserving for himself a most clean and most chaste mind from the allurements of this world. Who, although he could not always exalt his condition by vocal prayers, yet strove continually to nourish and fatten his soul by divine meditations, offering to his God a rich sacrifice of body and soul. Whence it came about that, not relaxing his unconquered spirit from vocal or mental prayer, he came into such knowledge, companionship and friendship of his God, that, having obtained the spirit of prophecy, he disclosed many wonderful hidden things, and, foreseeing, foretold many things to come. For this is he who about the beginning of his conversion, urging on his betrothed entry into religion, threatened her with a horrible scourge of God coming upon her, unless by a perpetual vow she should consecrate her virginity to her Lord, to be joined only to the immortal Spouse. She, by no means persuaded by the exhortation of her holy betrothed, joined at length to a mortal spouse, was struck with a most horrible leprosy. This is he who, going out from the court of Pope Martin, saw lightning falling from heaven, when he read “he shall not see the light of the rising dawn” Job. III, 9.: on account of which, as was done presently *, he clearly knew that the Roman Pontiff himself would die.

[61] to Martin V, This is he to whom, as he prayed before the altar in our place of Sant'Angelo in the parts of Aquileia ^a, the earth seemed to be raised and heaven to be bent. This is he who foreknew by several months the assumption of Eugene to the height of the apostolate, and intimated it with prophetic mouth to him while still bishop of Siena ^b. For once when he had visited him, by reason of the incredible familiarity he had with him, saying farewell, being about to depart into a distant region, he fell to the ground and kissed his feet. At which the bishop, greatly amazed, asked the servant of the Lord why he had done so; he replied: I do not believe that I shall see you again except as Roman Pontiff. This is he moreover who, sent by Pope Eugene to Alfonso, king of Aragon, who was about to have a naval battle with the Genoese near the city of Gaeta, dissuading him, foretold by prophecy his captivity and that of all his soldiery. “Do not, he said, I beg, lord king, undertake the battle, for you will be captured with all your princes, unless you acquiesce in my counsels.” Which the king not following, hastening to battle, at once succumbed, and was made the prey of the Genoese. And thus the man of God had foretold concerning the Aragonese fleet: for the lesser force of the Genoese won a most happy victory ^c.

[62] to Eugene IV, For this is he who foreknew the falling asleep of Eugene one year before he died, and indicated it to the Roman Pontiff himself in this order. For when he had supplicated for the canonization of Saint Bernardine, and the supreme Pontiff had replied that in that year he would canonize Nicholas of Tolentino ^d, and in the other Bernardine, he addressed the apostolic pastor in these words: “For another will come after you, most blessed Father, who will canonize blessed Bernardine,” as was done. For his successor Nicholas, created in the following year, in the year of Jubilee, on the most renowned day of Pentecost ^e, at Rome in the church of Blessed Peter, with very great and incredible honor and with a crowd of prelates and of every nation under heaven, proclaimed and ordered Saint Bernardine to be honored and venerated by all Churches. This is he who in our place near Borgo Sansepolcro ^f, the preaching being completed in praise and glory of the most blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, on the day of her Assumption, sitting at table, saw the blessed soul of that heavenly trumpet Br. Albert of Sarteano ^g migrating to heaven by a straight path. For with a certain most glad angelic face, I and very many brothers being present, looking up to heaven he spoke thus: “I see, he said, the soul of one of our brothers flying up to heaven, behold it goes, behold it hastens, often repeating.” And when we at once set out into the Romagna, we were informed that that most eloquent and most renowned man of Sarteano, who also shone with many miracles, had given back his soul to heaven at Milan on that very day of the Assumption.

[63] to Nicholas V, This is he moreover who, Pope Eugene being dead, evangelizing the people of L'Aquila, foretold in two ways the assumption of Nicholas to the supreme summit of the apostolate ^h. For both in preaching to the people, many times in the course of his discourse he announced that Nicholas had been designated Pastor of the universal Church: and to his companions, when they were reciting the divine office with him, after the Salve Regina, he openly foretold it by that prayer: “O God, Pastor and Ruler of all the faithful, thy servant Nicholas, whom thou hast willed to preside as Pastor of thy Church,” etc.

[64] the perils of the Christian commonwealth, Nor shall we keep silent about the wonderful vision which he saw while evangelizing the Hungarians, and which he made known in his own hand to Lord Domenico Capranica ⁱ, the most worthy Cardinal of Fermo, protector of the Religious Order: the truth of which, that it may shine out the more, the words of John himself are to be set down in order; “A doubtful mind, he says, deterred me somewhat as to whether I should write or keep silent: at length the zeal of the old confidence ^k prevailed, which I have securely borne toward your Right Reverend Lordship, to express rather than suppress what I had seen, on the feast of St. Bartholomew, in the present year; preaching at Székesfehérvár to many Christian soldiers, an interpreter declaring what I had said, of the near perils of the Christian faith. I saw four rivers contending with one another, of which the first was from the east, the second from the west, the third from the south, and the fourth from the north, and each strove to flow and ebb in the great sea with onset. In its ebb each acted violently, to draw the water of the whole sea with itself: at last the western river prevailed. What these things mean, attend; what the spirit indicates, examine. On this day, on the feast of the sacred Stigmata of seraphic St. Francis, our renowned Patriarch, while the interpreter was expounding what he had heard from me before on the impression of the marks of Christ Jesus, your little servant saw in heaven a great battle between the sun and the moon, and the stars; the moon and stars, rushing against the sun, carried off the victory. Stupefied and amazed, ignorant of what these things meant, I heard: the sun has been overcome by the moon, the judgments of God are a great abyss! Psal. XXXV, 6 As if thunderstruck I lamented that there was no astrologer to determine this. Again a spiritual voice thundered: Incomprehensible are the judgments of God: Rom. XI, 33 abyss calls on abyss. Psal. XLI, 8. Again I searched and received this conclusion. The greater shall serve the lesser, and the end hastens: nor anything further.” Thus he, whose it is to establish and to unravel.

[65] and the greatest calamities, Besides these things we add another, which many of the brothers heard from his mouth, in no way to be kept silent from mortals. When the servant of God John stopped his step for three days in the Town of Timișoara ^l, which is situated in the region of Hungary, and lay down once, with only Br. Jerome of Udine, his scribe, as companion ^m, he roused the sleeping Jerome with no small sobs, whom the good companion, perceiving him sighing from the depth of his breast, observes curiously; the holy elder redoubles his wailing, and as the grief of his heart grows, a certain hoarse and more bitter murmur grows in his throat ⁿ. Jerome stiffens, conjecturing what adverse thing has happened: the weeping bursts into voice. He is asked by his companion what sadness oppresses him; the servant of God was wailing; to whom Jerome said: What trouble has befallen, Father? He answering nothing, but only increasing his sobs, tears and most bitter wailing, the brothers are summoned, who, looking on him, bathed on every side with rivulets of tears, inquire, marvel, console. But the servant of God, continuing his wretched mourning, cries out with shrill voice, “Have mercy, have mercy, O clement Lord God, have mercy on the people redeemed by thy most precious blood. Have mercy by thy wounds, have mercy by thy Cross;” and recounting each of the mysteries of the last passion he did not for a long time cease to cry “have mercy”; when at length he recovered his breath, they importunately waited to learn what was the reason of the trouble and sadness, compelled by whom he said: “Although an old man, and decrepit at seventy-one years, seems * perhaps to rave, yet these things are true beneath the eyes of the Divine Majesty. For so many adversities, so many misfortunes, so many and such great calamities and straits I contemplated in one brief moment as about to shake the world, as many and as great as have not been from the beginning, and for all these the event will be the proof, but by no means, he said, let my words fall from you.” How clearly and how openly this prophetic voice has been for the greatest part fulfilled, and is daily being fulfilled, is evident from those things which have been done since the falling asleep of John, and which are being done. Whether these are to be held ridiculous and for ravings, those who have experienced them have declared. Let those who feel them say, let the Hungarians say, let the English say, let the Italians say, let the Germans say also.

[66] the slaying of the count of Cilli, For after the glorious death of the servant of the Lord, which followed in the same year, that great count of Cilli, wishing to kill, is killed by Ladislaus, son of John Hunyadi, at Belgrade ⁿ. For the avenging of whom Ladislaus himself, by Ladislaus, king of the Hungarians and Bohemians, is beheaded at Buda; an army of seventy thousand Crusaders, joined and gathered against the Turks, is dismissed to their homes with the vast grief of all. Ladislaus, fearing death, flees from the Hungarians; he is honorably received by the Bohemians. In his City of Prague he is wretchedly killed by certain barons ^o. Forty days after the falling asleep of the servant of the Lord, on the feast of Saint Barbara [p], at the eleventh hour of the night, in the whole kingdom of Sicily the foundations of the earth trembled. Many cities, towns, castles and citadels fell and were scattered, and over sixty thousand men died almost in one moment [q]. In the following year by plague

most cruel, the Italian and German peoples are struck [r]. Afterwards Pope Callixtus and Alfonso, the most powerful King of Aragon, die [s]. The King of the French and the English is snatched from the world [t]. A very great conflagration of wars is kindled in Italy, Germany, Hungary, England, Spain and Aragon. Many princes and many magnates depart from life, lordships change hands, envy grows, and the lust for reigning; son against father, father against son, brother against brother take up arms: a severe famine presses upon the kingdom of Sicily, and every precious thing is given for food to revive the spirit.

[67] the plague in the Abruzzi, Five years after the falling asleep of Blessed John, great earthquakes occur again in the province of the Abruzzi: yet none is believed to have been crueller than the plague of Aquila [v]. The whole kingdom, however, is so wretchedly pressed and ground down by the onset of wars that nothing can be sung of it but songs of mourning. For within is terror, without is the sword, plague and famine in the inmost parts. For who could set forth how many and how great the multitudes whom famine has consumed, the sword devoured, and plague swallowed up, and is swallowing now, while these things are being written? Indeed in this very year, and in this province of the Abruzzi, half the population has already perished, especially in those places where the corrupted air has prevailed; and thus sudden and raging death continually reaps full handfuls of the just and the wicked, so that no sort of men escapes unpunished: and though these and very many other evils have been done, which the pen does not easily set forth, yet the end has not yet come, but daily new disasters and new slaughters and ruins of Christians are announced, so that thus is fulfilled the prophetic word of the most blessed John of Capistrano, who (as we recalled above) had vehemently bewailed these most wretched events for this reason, that, by Christ's revelation, he had foreknown that they would surely come upon the Christian people.

[68] his own death in Hungary: Nor was the dwelling-place of his body hidden from him, which, before he left Italy, he foretold would be in the kingdom of Hungary. Nor was he ignorant of the most abundant fruits which his preaching would bring forth in Germany; but while he was preaching the Gospel to the Venetians, and in the place of Artinia [w] was exhorting his brethren and sons to live well and blessedly, bathed in tears for excess of spiritual joy, he declared: "Greater things," he said, "will the Lord yet work through one member of this Order than he has done from the time of our most blessed father Francis to this very day." And foreseeing that immense persecution which certain men, who went out from us but were not of ours, were about to stir up against the sheep entrusted to them, he added with tearful eyes: "Woe to that man who shall have persecuted the family of God." Nor indeed was he unaware of the extinguished devotion of the Venetians, which he prophesied would certainly revive after the middle of Lent. Many waters, he said, could not extinguish charity; and when his companions were grieving that he had left the most devout peoples of Liguria and had come to the undevout nation of the Venetians, who seemed to care little about hearing the word of God, he said: "The Lord has made a truce with us until the middle of Lent; afterwards the truce will be broken [x]." And so it came about.

[69] he works signs at Venice, For when a mute boy spoke through the touch of his hand, precisely on that Thursday which divides Lent in the middle, and when on the following Monday, in the sight of the people, a certain man crippled in hands and feet was freed, who had been carried on a seat from the Merceria [y], who had no power of walking nor of opening or moving his hands, while all the people standing by wept for the greatness of their devotion, there was such a concourse of the Venetian populace to his preaching that it was necessary for him to go out to preach into the very spacious campo of San Paolo; and thus the many waters of the Venetians, as he had foretold, could not extinguish his most ardent charity; which brought forth so great a flame of devotion that there was no place where he could be kept unharmed from the crush of the peoples rushing in, wishing to touch or kiss him, except by a strong hand and the most careful exertion of certain officials, whom the most illustrious Venetian government had appointed to guard his person. Why say more? For so great was the goodness and innocence in this most renowned man, so great the sincerity and purity of mind, so great the gentleness and perfection of spirit, and so great the force of prayer, and * as often as he stirred himself to devotion, he at once poured forth showers of tears; and of those things which he was either about to do or greatly desired to know, he understood the will of God either by revelation, or by some apparition, or by the infusion of the Holy Spirit.

[70] and he foreknows the death of Pope Nicholas: Once, indeed, while he was preaching at Rome, hearing the voice of a most devout woman crying out, who, inflamed by the excessive ardour of divine love, could not contain herself, and understanding the secrets of her heart and what the Lord was shortly to do with her, he said to her before the whole multitude: "O woman, make ready at once to return home, for you will certainly die." When she had fulfilled the commands of the man of God, she very joyfully soon departed to the Lord. He also foretold the falling asleep of Pope Nicholas, while he was staying with the imperial majesty at Neustadt, to the bishop of Pavia, the apostolic legate in Germany [z]. When the legate himself had been informed of this by couriers, he said: "Now I truly know that Brother John has the spirit of prophecy." It would be long to relate each of the things he accomplished, and too arduous to bring forth each of his revelations, since no one knows * who enjoyed his familiarity even a little, who has not learned, either in himself or in another, with experience as teacher, that John the servant of God possessed the prophetic spirit and had a singular grace of foretelling.

[71] appointed to the government of the Order, The government of the Order, often committed to the servant of God for ruling, he so wisely, so prudently conducted, that no one better, no one more profitably than he has ruled, preserved and cherished the new offspring of Francis. For, furnished and endowed with the greatest gifts of our God, he was so pleasing and acceptable to the prelates of the Church that, for repelling either the fox-like cunning or the devilish astuteness of certain men who sought with the utmost zeal to supplant, overturn and abolish the true purpose and institute of the Order, he always found the greatest protections and aids he asked for. For while he was watching over his flock, no rabidness of wolves, no calumny of those lying in wait, no malice devised by wicked men was ever able to do harm. Nay rather, their arrows became their own wounds Ps. LXIII, 8, and vexation always brought increase to the Order. Assuredly this holy man was so clothed with dove-like simplicity in every manner of life, that in carrying on the government of the Order he lacked none of the wisdom of the serpent, appearing everywhere the same, never relaxing the severe and rigid manner of life which he had chosen for himself from the beginning of his conversion, and striving to be loved by his subjects rather than feared, and to instruct their minds toward perfection of life by deed rather than by words. He certainly was seen to display no imprudence in counsels, no folly in thought, no inconstancy in word, no sloth in action, no corruption in morals, no elation in power, no dejection in adversity, no ostentation of honour or of vain praise in good fortune.

[72] he is dear to all, Considering so splendid and so distinguished an image of his exceptional virtue and holiness of life, his brethren, if it could have been done, would always have set him over the Order as general pastor. For indeed they never found anyone more apt, anyone more powerful than he in protecting and enlarging it, one to whom there were present in abundance all the things that seemed to belong to a true and worthy pastor. For while he presided, all enjoyed the utmost peace and the utmost quiet; while he spoke, all who opposed their Order fell silent. Finally, when he fought with counsel and wisdom, prudence, authority and goodness, the chief enemies of the Order, of justice and of truth were always defeated. While St. Bernardine was living in this mortal flesh, though innocent and without stain, he was often calumniated and accused; yet by the tongue of St. John he was with the highest honour freed and purged from every filth of false charge. When he had been stigmatized and accused of heresy, chiefly on account of those sermons which he had delivered to the Christian peoples on the excellence and power of the Name of Jesus and its carved image, he was by no one more strongly aided and defended than by John: for he often disputed for Bernardine's protection, often bound himself to the fire for him, and often exposed himself to the greatest dangers for him [aa].

[73] and he marvellously propagates the Order; These indeed were two most flourishing olive trees, and two great luminaries shining before the Lord, who, spreading everywhere the greatest lessons of morals and doctrine, illuminated the world; who renewed the way of perfection, already obliterated; who raised up the almost overturned house of Francis; who, finally, showing examples of light to all, carried innumerable souls who were to perish to the happy kingdoms of the heavens. These assuredly stood forth as the renowned princes and leaders of the new army of Francis, whose sound went out into all the earth, and whose words went forth to the ends of the world Ps. XVIII, 4.. Bernardine was at one time John's prelate, and John was Bernardine's disciple and companion. For in order to learn the manner of preaching, John followed Bernardine for one year. The one preached peace, the other made peace among those at discord. For they loved each other exceedingly, and when a three-year term had revolved, one usually commanded the other. But when John learned that blessed Bernardine, his subject, had died and was shining with miracles, he at once set out for Aquila and had the sacred relic honourably placed and shut up in an iron chest, fortified with iron chains, and had the miracles written down with most diligent examination; and when he saw their greatness and efficacy, he first promoted his canonization with Eugenius, the Roman Pontiff, and with great and skilful zeal he stirred up other princes and peoples to promote it.

But lest he should labour in vain, when he had sought the good pleasure of the Lord through the prayers of his brethren, and he himself had most vehemently besought almighty God, St. Bernardine appeared to him as he prayed in a certain cell at Siena, and greatly encouraged him to pursue the holy work he had begun, filling him with incredible consolation. At the very time when these things were happening, one of his companions entered the cell of the man of God, to whom he said: "The Lord spare you, brother; I was just now holding converse with St. Bernardine."

[74] the canonization of St. Bernardine Wherefore, inflamed with a certain excessive devotion toward him, he afterwards so solicitously, so fervently, and at last so insistently pressed both Eugenius and Pope Nicholas that he caused certain bishops to be designated to examine the miracles which were reported of St. Bernardine in many places. These bishops, going about together with the man of God through many cities, towns and castles, first completed two solemn processes. Lastly Lord Angelo de Capranica, then bishop of Estulanus [bb] *, but now the most worthy Cardinal of the title of Holy Cross in Jerusalem, distinguished in virtue, celebrated in fame and pre-eminent in holiness, having carried out a third process, when he had traversed various places with the man of God as companion, and had made a singular report to Pope Nicholas on the now examined miracles of Bernardine, at last, after the unspeakable labours of John, in the sixth year from his

holy falling asleep, by the work of the man of God, St. Bernardine was inscribed in the Catalogue of the Blessed at Rome in the year of the Jubilee, the brethren of the whole Order, of both families, celebrating a general chapter in the sacred convent of Ara Coeli [cc].

[75] he procures with the utmost industry. In the very examination of the miracles, when certain miracles were seen to have been performed by the hand of John, which the man of God ascribed to St. Bernardine, the said Lord Cardinal by no means permitted them to be numbered among the miracles of Blessed Bernardine; but when he had asserted to the supreme Pontiff that Bernardine was most worthy of canonization, he also most constantly professed that the servant of the Lord John of Capistrano, while still living on earth, had well merited a singular and outstanding title of this kind. During these years in which he was labouring so greatly to obtain the canonization of Bernardine, it happened that Brother Thomas of Florence, a man of the greatest virtue and holiness, died in the city of Rieti [dd]; and since many signs and prodigies were being done through his merits and invocation, John, fearing that the canonization of Blessed Bernardine might either be impeded or too much delayed, commanded him in virtue of holy obedience, because he was discharging the office of vicar general, that he should work no more miracles; and he who had shown him the promptest obedience in this life, so, reigning in the heavens, at once at the command of the man of God John (a marvellous thing to tell) desisted from the performance of miracles, he who, as we have recalled, had previously shone with many signs and prodigies.

[76] those opposing the Saint's words How great the power of the words of this man of God was, and how great a vengeance the Lord exacted upon those who spoke maliciously of the integrity of his servant, we can observe from these punishments which some (as is most undoubted) experienced. There was a certain man adorned with high dignity who did not believe the miracles of St. Bernardine, and, when the man of God was urging them, demanded of him that a man dead for seventy hours must be proved to him, otherwise he would by no means give credence to what was said; to whom John replied as follows: "The resurrection of Christ is proved true through forty hours; if the resurrection of any dead man cannot be called true because it is not proved to have happened after seventy hours, it follows that the resurrection of Christ was not true, which to assert is impious, as no one of the faithful would deny." And in fervour of spirit he added, saying to him three times, "Beware of the judgment of God." But that unbeliever, not dreading the voice of the one threatening him, not many days after, crushed by his falling horse, closed his last day [ee]. At another time also, when a certain wanton priest and a certain lascivious woman were murmuring against him, in the great city of Germany which they call Ratisbon, it happened that the one, having learned that certain crimes are especially wont to arise from the accursed lust for gaming, bore the bitter sermon with vexation and resentment, since he was wholly sunk in games; he flatly denied that so many capital sins could arise from gaming, and said that he did not wish to lessen his mind's desire for it, since gaming is the solace of life and the sharpener of wit. The other, when she understood that the vanities of women and adulterine hair were condemned, assiduously disparaged the truth still more gravely with a mad mind; and behold, the two, jointly trampling on the truth, the following night at the same moment fell by sudden death. The rest, corrected by fear, sealed up all their gaming gear and the wanton allurements of women, and all were publicly burned in the fire.

[77] are punished by God. At another time too, when the servant of God was preaching the Gospel in the city of Cracow, which is situated in the kingdom of Poland, while many instruments of gaming were being carried to the holy man to be burned, it happened that the abundant soot of a chimney, catching fire, sent forth a great flame in the dwelling in which John was lodged. When a certain rival saw this, he began to revile the people for believing gaming to be so great a sin; and thinking that that house would surely be burned because the gaming boards were kept there to be annihilated by fire, and that the people were too prone to believe the words of the holy old man, on the same day he saw his own house almost entirely burned, while the dwelling of the Lord's servant remained wholly unharmed and untouched. Wherefore the detractors must altogether cease to speak ill of or to carp at this holy man, whom Christ has blessed and filled with so great an abundance of graces. Nay rather, they must be admonished and invited to praise and bless him, lest they fail like a garment in time, and the moth consume them like wool. For he will announce the divine powers to men who wishes the Lord to be magnificently praised and worshipped in his servants. Let us too praise the servant of the Lord, humble, pious and holy, whom we have very often seen fleeing honours, and sometimes weeping when praised to his face; let us praise, I say, a man outstanding in every virtue, ruling his affections well, and governing his spirit most excellently and most rightly. I will tell all who worship God how great were the things shown in Germany through his servant John in the days of my life. Lend, therefore, I beseech you, your pious ears still, you who are about to read these things, and understand how greatly our great and exalted God is to be magnified and praised in his most faithful servant John.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. The feast of St. Barbara falls on the IV of December; and so from the XXIII of October to the IV of December there are forty-three days; and if you subtract both extreme days, as being halved, there are still forty-one days: therefore the biographer has made his calculation less accurately.

q. Of this earthquake, which he places on the fifth day of December 1456, Muratori treats in the Annals of Italy Ann. d Ital. tom. IX, pag. 261., and says that Brindisi, Benevento, Ascoli, Avellino and many other cities, towns, castles and churches were overthrown, that in the one city of Naples twenty thousand men perished, and that that kingdom never underwent a greater calamity Ibid. pag. 264..

r. Muratori writes that the plague continued in the year 1457 Cfr Chronica di Bologna ap. Muratori. Scriptt. tom. XVIII, col. 722. and carried off a great multitude of men: whence it came about that a certain John the Baptist of the Order of Preachers, bearded and barefoot, publicly foretold at Piacenza that the end of the world was most certainly at hand, to be consummated in the year 1460.

s. King Alfonso died on the XXVIII of June, Pope Callixtus III on the VI of August 1458.

t. Charles VII, king of the French, on the XXII of July

1461 died: but Henry VI, who ruled the English, was killed much later, that is in the year 1471: but in the year 1460, defeated by rebels, he retained scarcely the shadow of a great name; in which sense the biographer could say that he was snatched from the world.

v. Of what particular plague the biographer speaks, no one could easily say: it is certain from the Bolognese chronicles that in the year 1461 the factions contending over the kingdom of Naples pitched their camps in the territory of Aquila and joined battle, from which a great slaughter followed Muratori. Scriptt. tom. XVIII, col. 738..

w. From what has been said it is clear that there was a convent of Friars Minor in that place: but I suspect the name is badly written, inasmuch as it is not found among the places of the Minors enumerated by Gonzaga: there is indeed a convent at Arzignano, but that was first founded in the year 1494 De Orig. Seraph. Rel. pag. 312.; and so it could not have been designated by Nicholas.

x. A truce (treuga) is a suspension of hostilities, either for composing a peace or for interrupting slaughter. See this word in Du Cange's Glossary of Medieval Latinity.

y. Merceria in Du Cange, just cited, is the wife of him who sells small wares, and who is called a Mercerius. Here, however, I interpret it as the very place in which wares of this kind were displayed for sale.

z. The bishop of Pavia was John Castiglione of Milan, translated from the see of Coutances in Normandy to that of Pavia in the year 1454: he died a Cardinal in the year 1460 on the XVIII of the Kalends of May Ughelli. Ital. sacr. tom. I, col. 1102..

aa. Of this controversy we treated at length in the whole of § XIV.

bb. Angelo Capranica, brother of Cardinal Domenico, of whom above in annotation i, first bishop of Siponto, afterwards of Ascoli; he ascended the chair of Rieti in the year 1450 or the following; created Cardinal by Pius II in the year 1460, he died in 1478 Ciaccon. Vit. Rom. Pontt. et Cardd. tom. II, col. 1035..

cc. In this chapter Angelo Serpetri of Perugia was made minister general, who appointed St. Capistran as his vicar general of the Cismontane family Wadd. Annal. tom. XII, pag. 63.

dd. Of this Bl. Thomas we shall treat at the XXXI day of October, inasmuch as his cult was approved by Clement XIV, as is evident from the Romano-Seraphic Martyrology. Wadding treats of him at length in his Annals Tom. XI, pag. 292..

ee. Wadding narrates the matter a little differently Ibid. pag. 412.: namely as if the unbeliever had exacted from Capistran himself a new miracle in confirmation of those performed by St. Bernardine: in which sense the unbeliever says to our Saint: "I will by no means believe you unless you make this trial, that you recall to life one dead for at least seventy hours." But from the response of St. Capistran it is clearly evident that the unbeliever asked of him to prove that the resurrection of the dead which was said to have occurred at St. Bernardine's intercession was true, not by a miracle to be performed by Capistran, but by a dead man recalled to life by St. Bernardine after seventy hours. To which matter the Saint responds excellently with the example of the Lord's Resurrection.

* shortly after

* do I seem?

* that?

* is?

* Asculanus

CHAPTER VII.

The journey to Germany and Poland; and the miracles performed on it.

at the invitation of the Emperor Frederick, When, therefore, the celebrated and glorious name of John had reached the notice of the Emperor Frederick ^a, and when Aeneas Silvius, bishop of Siena ^b, now the greatest and supreme Roman Pontiff, and the Emperor's brother Albert, the illustrious duke of Austria ^c, had come to Rome, they obtained from Nicholas the supreme Pontiff, in the Emperor's name, that the servant of the Lord should visit the imperial majesty; and he, though he had earlier decided to set out to preach the Gospel to the Hungarians, yet, sent by the Pope into Germany before he should enter Hungary, went the more willingly. When therefore he had finished his preaching at Venice, where by apostolic precept he was compelled to preach the whole of Lent, having traversed with the word of God the nobler part of the Province of Forlivium ^d, with many signs and prodigies and with the incredible devotion and concourse of all those peoples, he betook himself to Villacum, the first town of Germany, quite populous, on the road that leads to Austria ^e. Received by the people of Villacum with great joy and great honour, both on account of the summit of his holiness and on account of the splendid fame of the miracles done in Forlivium * and on the borders of Germany, by the working of divine grace he marvellously freed more than twenty sick persons on the first day he began to preach with an interpreter, using Latin speech ^f.

[79] St. Capistran sets out for Germany, For a certain general sickness was then prevailing there, by which those men were so deprived of strength in all their limbs that no one could come to the man of God unless carried. When fourteen of these had returned on their own feet to their homes, most joyful at being freed from this pestilent disease, leaving behind the pallets or seats on which they had been carried, and when two had been enlightened who could not see the light of heaven, and one deaf man, and another with gout, as well as two crippled in hands and feet and having their very feet crossed in the manner of a cross; and when a certain vicar of the cathedral church, who, stricken with palsy, had for a long time been unable to celebrate the divine offices, had obtained the best of health from their infirmities, so great a flame of devotion was kindled there toward the man of God that he was believed by them to be another Apostle.

[80] through Carinthia and Styria, This report having spread through the neighbouring regions, the celebrated renown of St. John so grew among the Carinthians, Styrians and Austrians that many peoples from there hastened to him with most ornate processions as he was journeying to the Emperor, singing and saying: "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." There he visited the imperial Majesty, by whom above all, and by Ladislaus, King of the Hungarians and Bohemians ^g, and by all their princes and barons, he was seen and heard as an Angel of God, excellently lodged, magnificently honoured, with most frequent visitation of the nobles and assembly of the peoples at his sermons. When he had given himself much to prayer during that time, asking of the Lord that he should direct his path according to his good pleasure, at last he learned by divine revelation that he should go into the kingdom of Bohemia, there to do mighty things for the exaltation of the Orthodox Faith.

[81] and he there shines with many miracles: So, having finished a number of sermons in Neustadt ^h with the Emperor, with a number of signs and prodigies, summoned by the prayers both of the Emperor and of the envoys of the Viennese, he set out for Vienna; which is one of the more beautiful and famous cities of Germany, having a most flourishing school of letters and of the divine arts, to which the Emperor himself also wished to come and to hear the servant of Christ very often. How much John achieved there, how honourably he was treated and how joyfully received, is truly difficult to narrate. For there he received a religious house for his brethren, where afterwards we, one hundred and eighteen in number, dwelt ⁱ; there he stirred many students, bachelors and doctors to the divine religious orders, and with his own hands clothed a number in the habit of Francis. There he nourished the people for fifty days with heavenly doctrine; there, to the utmost joy and amazement of all, he shone with the glory of many miracles; and there, as Hungarians, Moravians, Austrians and Bavarians often flowed together, not only was the very spacious public square wholly thronged with men, but the city itself was so filled that you would have believed a jubilee was being celebrated. As this glorious fame of him flew through all Germany, when he had betaken himself into Moravia and Bohemia to try the bringing back of the Bohemians and Moravians, of those, I say, who, stained with the heresy of the Hussites, had withdrawn from the obedience of the Roman Pontiff, and when accordingly, albeit with the greatest and most extreme dangers to his life, a great conversion of heretics, as much of barons and nobles as of common people, had been made, and he had traversed Bavaria, Meissen, Thuringia, Saxony, Silesia, Poland, Franconia and Swabia in four years, all the peoples went forth to meet him as he approached with such great celebration, and every age accompanied him as he departed, that they could not have venerated an apostle of God more.

[82] For kings, for princes, for peoples, for nations summoned him most eagerly, now by frequent letters, now by messengers, and by princes, prelates and people now by envoys and most ornate embassies; finally, as he set out to them, not only renowned kings and most illustrious secular princes, but ecclesiastical prelates and all the clergy and companies of religious, with crosses, banners, Relics, hymns and spiritual canticles, with bells and organs sounding, received him with ineffable piety, joy and veneration, and conducted him to the cathedral churches, where, singing Te Deum laudamus, and having received the blessing of the man of God, they accompanied him to the dwelling prepared, and returned to their own homes most joyful, giving the greatest thanks to God because they had merited to see so heavenly a messenger in their lands and cities. On the following day the herald of Christ would begin to preach the word of God to the people, and no day passed while he stayed among them on which he did not refresh them with heavenly food. And though the Latin discourse was drawn out for a long space of time, often in the winter season, in the public squares, yet all, most eager to see and listen to the servant of God, stood most willingly for four and five hours in snow and cold, until the interpreter had declared what John had first proclaimed in Latin.

[83] he is received with immense joy; The sick and those in poor health, whom they placed either in the churches or in the public squares, the man of God visited nearly every day around the evening hour, after prayer first made; and as often as he wished to go out of the house, he was accompanied by noble and distinguished men, and by them, both going and returning, he was guarded like the pupil of the eye. In Bohemia and Moravia he was always led by a strong band of Catholics, lest he should come into the power of the heretics; who by threats and terrors so disturbed the orthodox who were receiving him that they drove and put to flight the servant of the Lord from many places. And although all the German, Bohemian and Moravian princes, prelates, magnates and peoples, those I mean who profess the Catholic faith, received and loved him as one fallen from heaven, yet the people of Brünn ^k, Olomouc, Znojmo, the Lords De Rosis ^l, the people of Passau, Eger, Nuremberg, Amberg, Magdeburg, Leipzig, Breslau, the Austrians, the Bavarians, the people of Meissen, of Corlin, and nearly all the peoples of Silesia, Louis duke of Bavaria ^m, John and Albert margraves of Brandenburg ⁿ, Frederick and William dukes of Saxony ^o, and the bishops of Burgiensis, than whom I know of none more devoted that most chaste Mary has on earth [p], of Eichstätt [q], of Magdeburg [r], who is also primate of Germany, of Breslau [s], of Bamberg [t] and of Olomouc [v] more splendidly and honourably; the people of Munich, Augsburg, Frankfurt and Würzburg, very great and powerful peoples, although they did not meet him with that splendour and pomp of processions, nevertheless showed no less devotion and attendance at hearing the word of God. For so great a commotion of peoples was made in all Germany by St. John through the testimony of the holiness of his life and miracles that very often fifty thousand, very often sixty thousand,

very often more than a hundred thousand men, especially at Erfurt, we beheld [w].

[84] he preaches with great increase of religion: Moreover signs and prodigies, as we recalled above, were done in great number in nearly every city and town where he set foot even for a little, which were examined and written down by very many secular persons, and which no one can deny unless he is either envious or malevolent. Besides, this wonderful herald of Christ caused to be built so many and such great churches and religious houses in the said regions that the supreme increase of divine worship and of the Christian faith is to all a matter of the greatest and most incredible wonder; and though, the Bohemians refusing him, he was unable to enter that metropolitan city of Prague, yet his cubs, as he had foretold, took a place in it before his falling asleep. As for the multitude of vanities, gaming boards, dice, sledges, and the pestilent instruments of other games which he consigned to the flames in Germany itself, it is beyond my ability to set forth. For when I had seen at Nuremberg six great wagons full of gaming boards brought to the common market, where also more than seventy painted sledges, in which, drawn by horses through the city in winter for the sake of pleasure, many crimes were committed, were likewise consumed by fire as all looked on, I thought that because of the excessive multitude so many could not be found in all Italy.

[85] into Poland also, What shall I say of the very great crowd of young men whom he allured and drew to the service of Christ in these parts? For when he had preached most ardently on the remembrance of death in the whole land of Leipzig, he so aroused the minds of all to contempt of the world that one hundred and twenty students betook themselves to various religious orders within a few days, of whom he himself clothed nearly sixty in the habit of Francis, and would have clothed more, had not the lack of suitable places prevented it. What shall I say of the city of Breslau? where, a church having been built in honour of St. Bernardine, he placed in that house more than sixty brethren whom he had led out of the world by his preaching [x]. What finally of the city of Cracow? from which he drew nearly one hundred and thirty students and led them into the company of the Franciscans, of whom he left nearly eighty in the new house of St. Bernardine received there, to the utmost joy of all; and they afterwards not only built many religious houses in the kingdom of Poland, but also planted a house in Lemberg, which is a famous town in Russia [y], a place near the Tartars, which is a great light of the Catholic faith for the various kinds of tongues dwelling there.

[86] he proceeds, and at Cracow he draws many to the Order, When the man of God had come to that city of Cracow, filled with a multitude of students and doctors, at the request of the renowned Casimir, king of the Poles [z], not only did all the people and clergy and the whole company of students and doctors meet him with a most ornate procession, but the king himself, with the queen his mother and Zbigniew, the most worthy Cardinal of Cracow [aa], came to meet him outside the walls of the city: and he embraced him with such devotion and such goodwill that he kept him for nine months to instruct the Polish nation; to which, both by the miracles which the Lord deigned to work through him, of which more than a hundred are known to have been examined and recorded by Lord Nicholas of Cracow, an eminent doctor of pontifical law, and by the daily sermons given there for nine months, which brought no moderate admiration and amazement to the learned, he was so pleasing and acceptable that you would believe he seemed to them another Apostle. Departing from there at last, after many gaming instruments had been burned, surrounded by a multitude of weeping people, and unwillingly accompanied by that holy man the Cardinal, whose great praise is in Poland for building churches and nourishing and sustaining the poor of Christ, having traversed many towns, he returned to the city of Breslau.

[87] at Breslau, against the Jews convicted of sacrilege, For this is that most beautiful and most devout city in which his preaching had already twice produced most abundant fruits, which could not be satisfied with seeing and contemplating his face, and which, as if torn from its seat, came to meet him the third time with such joy and applause of every age and sex that it seemed never to have seen him, though it had twice before received him with the utmost and incredible honour. How great and how excellent a miracle concerning the sacrament of the Eucharist occurred there, let us briefly tell. There was a certain peasant in a village not much removed from the city of Breslau, who, corrupted by money, stole nine consecrated hosts from the pyx and sold them to the Jews of Breslau. The elders of the Jews, laying these upon a linen cloth, each with rods in his most impure and wicked hands struck them, saying: "This is the God of the Christians, this" (repeating it again and again) "is the God of the Christians." While this great outrage was being committed, miraculous blood began to flow from the hosts in such abundance that that linen cloth was rendered dyed in great part; and when the crime came to light (which divine justice did not suffer to be long concealed), all the families of the Jews were at once taken captive, some of whom, by the authority of St. John, in virtue of the office of inquisitor general which he discharged, when they had been put to the torture, affirmed that the miracle had most truly happened as we have stated.

[88] he punishes severely. While these things were being done there came to the holy old man a certain Christian woman, who had hitherto been a Jewess, saying: "I remember," she said, "when I was still in Judaism, at six years of age, I saw many Jews gathered at a great fire, and a certain consecrated host brought, which certain men had stolen; and it was thrown in mockery into the midst of the fire, but, harmed in no part of it, it at once miraculously came out; thrown in similarly a second and a third time, it leapt out of the fire wholly intact. When a certain old woman saw this most stupendous and wonderful prodigy performed, she fell at once to the ground and adored it," and said: "I believe, O Lord, that you are God, that you are my Saviour and the Messiah for whom we wait; I adore you with my whole mind, and I venerate you with my whole heart, and I worship Christ Jesus my Lord." The Jews, taking this ill, killed her at once with staves and buried her in such a corner of the house. She added that she also had seen a Christian boy, secretly carried off by the Jews by stealth, delicately nourished and fattened, placed in a great cask pierced and perforated on all sides with a multitude of nails, and stabbed and lacerated among the thick points of the nails for so long, until he had given up his blessed spirit; whose blood the Jews offered in sacrifice and sent to other neighbouring synagogues: but the holy body of the boy they gave to burial in such a part of the house. When his remains were found as the devout woman had indicated, which I saw with my own eyes in the hands of the holy old man, it came about that by the counsel of John, set out with great skill and sent to Ladislaus, king of the Hungarians and Bohemians, it was decreed by the king that all the children of the Jews under seven years should be baptized and nourished by Christians [bb]; while those found in the crime, together with the Christian peasant, should be given to the fire: and the rest should be sent out of the royal dominions into perpetual exile. So there were burned one and forty. But the master of the synagogue strangled himself by night, and encouraged all to do the like; the king also took the property of all, imitating his most illustrious father Albert, king of the Romans, who for a similar crime had caused two thousand Jews in the province of Austria to be burned, shut up in one day in one dwelling.

[89] He preaches in Moravia. Having at last finished a number of sermons in the city of Breslau, not without the immense grief of that people, John went up and returned into the province of Moravia, and in the city of Olomouc delivered a number of sermons: where, when he had found that the heretics had calumniated the miracles formerly done by him in that place, he said: "If anyone is here present who in former time, while I was preaching the Gospel to you, being ill, received any less of health, let him rise and bear witness to the truth." And behold, as the man of God was preaching, there rose before all the multitude a certain man, saying: "I was sick when this Father preached to us on another occasion, and so afflicted by illness and deprived of the strength of my feet that I was unable to walk by myself; but carried to him and touched and signed with his hand, I was immediately made well, and went away alone where I wished." The servant of God willed this to happen for this reason, that the calumnies of the heretics might be cut off by the testimony of the truth, and that the pious hearts of those who had returned through him to the unity of the faith might be the more strengthened in orthodox truth and in the obedience of the Roman Pontiff, never at any time to adhere further to the errors of the Hussites.

[90] His supreme humility. For this man of God was so fixed and founded in the abyss of humility that he attributed to the divine majesty all his works which might earn him human praise and commendation, often repeating with the Apostle: "Not that we are sufficient to think anything of ourselves, as from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God." II Cor. III, 5 Though the greatness of this humility is sufficiently and more than sufficiently declared by his cheap garment, his contempt of self, his frequent tears, his flight from honours, his renunciation of dignities, his supreme reverence toward the prelates of the Church, and his services of most gentle kindness toward all, yet we will add one singular example which will clearly show that this virtue existed most excellently in him. Once indeed, when the humble servant of God had obtained from Nicholas de Stella, the commander of arms, permission to take down five men hanging on the gibbet and give them burial, and he began to shrink from the horrible sight of the dead, conquering himself, he most tightly embraced one of the hanged men in fervour of spirit and thrust his whole head into his belly: and, harmed by no stench at all, he was at once filled with such an odour of sweetness as he could not have been filled with from the fragrance of many spices; and where he should have sensed human stench, there he sensed the greatest divine consolation from his own most profound humility. O truly divine and apostolic man, on whom such honour is bestowed among foreign nations, to whom the most ample power of signs and prodigies is divinely granted, to whom the highest grace is given from above of the expansion of the new Franciscan offspring and of the uprooting of heretics and Jews, and to whom is given the greatest odour of incredible sweetness in the embrace of a corpse.

ANNOTATIONS.

first of all the province of Forum Julii (le Frioul), whose chief city is Udine. A little below, Forlivium occurs again, which is placed on the borders of Germany, and so indicates Forum Julii.

p. What this bishopric of Burgiensis may be, I could not divine: since no bishopric of this name exists in all Germany.

q. From the year 1445 to 1464 the chair of Eichstätt was occupied by John III of Eych, a pious man and a zealot for souls Falckenstein. Antiquit. Nordgav. tom. I, pag. 203..

r. Frederick III of Beichlingen held the see of Magdeburg from the year 1445 to 1464, a pious man and devoted to works of penance; he was the first to add to his name the title of Primate of Germany, a dignity which his predecessors had already held for a long time L'art. de vérif. les dates, tom. III, pag. 526..

s. The bishop of Breslau was Peter Novag, who held the see from the year 1447 to 1456: though entangled by malevolent men in many lawsuits, he nevertheless brought the Church to a better state Stenzel. Scriptt. Rer. Silesiac. tom. I, pag. 169..

t. Anthony de Rotehan or de Rotenheim was bishop of Bamberg from the year 1432 to 1459: he seems to have been given to the study of alchemy, but in other respects upright Ussermann. Episcopat. Bamberg. pag. 201..

v. Paul Miglitius died in the year 1450, and had as coadjutor John, provost of Olomouc, who survived his predecessor by four years, and so could have honoured St. Capistran Richard. Biblioth. sacrée v°. Olmutz.. Others, who also give the family name, namely Haz, say that he ended his life on the XXIX of May 1454 and also that he was a principal patron of our Saint Pilartz. Moraviæ. Hist. tom. II, pag. 171..

w. Erfordia, Erfurt, a celebrated town subject both in temporal and in spiritual matters to the archbishop-elector of Mainz, is today the chief city of the Saxon province of the kingdom of Prussia. It had a university founded in the year 1392 and extinguished in the year 1810 Gilbert. Dict. Géograph. v°. Erfurt.. As regards the number of hearers, which we think the biographer exaggerated, see number 63 of the Preliminary Commentary.

x. The convent of Breslau, founded by St. Capistran, lasted until the year 1522, when the Friars were driven out by the Lutherans: finally in the year 1679, the old monastery having been surrendered by lawful documents, a new one began to be built within the walls of the city under the title of St. Anthony. Of these things Vigilius Greiderer treats at length German. Francisc. tom. I, pag. 812..

y. Leopolis, Lemberg, formerly capital of Red Russia, but now of the kingdom of Galicia, under the Austrian crown: in that city the Observants had a principal convent, founded by Gabriel of Verona, while St. Capistran was living, as is clear from the text; whence what Vigilius Greiderer insinuates cannot be admitted, that it undoubtedly began in the year 1465 Ibid. tom. I, pag. 282..

z. Casimir IV, elected in the year 1445, died in 1492; St. Capistran blessed his nuptials.

aa. Zbigniew Oleśnicki, created Cardinal by Eugenius IV in the year 1439, afterwards turned aside to the party of the antipope Felix V, or at least stood midway between the two parties: for the rest pious, brave, lavish toward the poor, he died in the year 1455 [Ciaccon. Vitæ Rom. Pontt. et Cardd. tom. II, col. 910. Moroni. Dizion. v°. Olynitz.].

bb. The theologians everywhere teach that little children, against the will of unbelieving parents, except at the point of death, are not to be baptized; because if they are snatched from the power of their parents for the sake of Christian instruction, there is manifest injury, since they have power over their children by natural law: and if they are returned to their parents after baptism, there is a manifest and certain danger of apostasy Sylvius. Comment. in III part. S. Thom. tom. IV, pag. 259. Edit. Antv. 1714.. An exception is made, however, for the case in which the little children are separated from their parents, whether by right or by wrong, and are handed over to Christians to be educated Ibid. pag. 260.. Indeed according to John Voet, paternal power is dissolved by the exile of the father, especially in Germany, where exile is equated with deportation Comment. ad Pandect. Lib. I, tit. VII §9.. And such is the case set forth by the biographer, since by decree of King Ladislaus all Jews above seven years of age were perpetually banned from the Bohemian and Hungarian lands.

* Forum Julii.

CHAPTER VIII.

The journey to Hungary; the proclamation of the holy war; the naval victory.

Against the Turks, who threatened Christendom, After therefore the herald of Christ, the wonderful John, had gathered a great company of religious to divine worship in the provinces of Austria, Bohemia and Poland, and had increased very many houses for them, provoked and compelled both by the exhortation of Aeneas Silvius, then imperial secretary, and by grief at the announced pitiable disaster of Constantinople ^a, departing from Moravia he came with the greatest labour through the greatest and widest stretches of land to the assembly of Christian princes appointed at Frankfurt ^b: where, when he had for several days roused and inflamed the minds of all with most ardent sermons to defend the faith and to avenge the injury which the great victory of the Turks had inflicted on the Christian commonwealth through the loss of the city of Constantinople, hoping that they would gather against the Turks those greatest * and highest forces which the Hungarians had been promised, he went down at once into Austria, intending afterwards to set out to encourage the Hungarians, as he had received by revelation from the Lord at Nuremberg ^c. For many princes and many of the most powerful Christian peoples had pledged that they would fight against the Turks.

[92] while the Christian princes were torpid, But when a second diet had been appointed in the presence of the imperial Majesty, both for setting a commander over the army and for composing peace among the worshippers of Christ, so that, leaving their homes at peace, all might more willingly take up arms; to this the servant of God, admonished by a letter of Aeneas Silvius, then bishop of Siena, but now supreme Roman Pontiff, betook himself from Vienna, where a second time, with the utmost joy and acceptance of all, he had for many days sown the holy seed of the word of God; but when he realized that by the work of the ancient enemy the expedition already set on foot against the Turks was being hindered: since not only in treating the greatest matters of the defence of the faith, but in the very manner of sitting, as to who should have the first place beside the Emperor and who the second, they could not agree, he, unheard, who * had brought forward into their midst that gospel: "Let him who was greater among them become as the lesser Luc. XXII, 29;" nearly despairing of every work of the Christian princes, having first received and brought back the convent of Judenburg ^d at the request of the Emperor, he crossed over to the Hungarians as soon as possible;

he traversed the borders of Wallachia, Transylvania and Rascia ^e. When those peoples saw him working many signs and prodigies, they everywhere received him as an Angel of God and an Apostle of Christ with incredible honours and immense preparations.

[93] St. Capistran rouses the peoples There indeed you would have seen innumerable peoples flowing together from the remotest shores to hear the word of God, there very spacious fields packed with nations, there most ornate processions, there commons, there nobles, there prelates, there religious and clerics, coming to meet him with the utmost joy and veneration, sounding forth spiritual canticles with the sweetest melody. And although the Germans, Poles, Bohemians and Moravians who profess the Catholic faith received him with the utmost honour, yet the Hungarians too welcomed him with no less devotion and honour, all calling and proclaiming him holy, all a blessed Father. At that time Mahomet Bey, emperor of the Turks, puffed up by his great victory and the final ruin of the Greeks, built huge engines out of the bells of Constantinople, and prepared innumerable instruments of war, a most powerful fleet to be brought through the Danube, and gathered a very great and very numerous land army. When the Hungarians learned that he intended to fight against them, they held many diets for collecting forces, at which St. John, surely a tireless rouser, was present, although, so great a danger of destruction impending, the elders brought no aids and no protections to the wretched people, except the illustrious men John Hunyad, governor of the kingdom ^f, whose son Matthias now sits on the royal throne of Hungary ^g, and John de Rorogh ^h, who is called perpetual count; and these indeed appeared with a very small band of soldiers.

[94] and having received the Cross, When most blessed John learned that the Cardinal of Sant'Angelo, the Apostolic legate ⁱ, had come to Buda, he at once betook himself there, and through his hands he received both the Cross of Christ sent by Pope Callixtus and the authority for preaching the crusade, entrusted to him by apostolic letters ^k. On this day, then, which was the first Sunday of Lent ^l, having received the apostolic power, beginning to lift up his voice like a high-sounding trumpet, he allured and incited within a few months a very great crowd of Christians to accept the Cross and imitate him; and he incited them the more strongly in that, for defending the orthodox faith, heaven itself, as if by two heavenly trumpets, cried out in its own way in the month of June for many days before the coming of the Turks: for when two comets appeared, one before dawn, which by reason of its size terrified all the nations of the world, the other after sunset, which also seemed to bear a like shadow of death ^m, the servant of God began to be of good hope, since, by Christ's revelation, he knew that they foreshowed a most mighty victory over the Turks.

[95] he exhorts them to fight for the faith: Wherefore he exhorted all, and openly preached to each: "Fear not, little flock, do not tremble. God will indeed give us the desired victory over our enemies, which the forerunning stars show will surely come." So, as the emperor of the Turks hastened toward the Hungarians, John made haste to summon those signed with the cross for the protection of the Christian commonwealth, now by letters, now by messengers, and he himself with a number of others sailed to Belgrade, which the Turks had prepared themselves to storm, and was received with great honour and incredible joy. For on the III of July the Turks first besieged Belgrade from afar, then, when the whole multitude had come up, more closely by land and by the Danube. Their army was of one hundred and twenty thousand fighting men, abundantly furnished with horses, camels, engines, wagons, wealth, gold and silver. Their fleet on the river Danube had sixty-four triremes, which by the more usual word we call Galleys, besides other smaller vessels.

[96] and he wins a naval victory. When the servant of the Lord saw Belgrade besieged, he first exhorted all to constancy, then sailed to Salankemen ⁿ, in order to return with the army of crusaders and free Belgrade. When he had preached there for a very few days, with the illustrious royal governor John Hunyad at his side, a most powerful and most numerous fleet of those signed with the cross was prepared. Rushing at once on the fleet of the Turks, the crusaders, while St. John prayed on the bank of the Danube and cried aloud with the mightiest voice, "Jesus, Jesus," the people of Belgrade fighting as well, contended so manfully and strenuously that within five hours they overcame the whole fleet of the Turks. There a very great slaughter of the Turks was made, and many were given to the edge of the sword. Three triremes were lost in the waters; four came into the power of the Christians. The rest were driven off in so fierce a battle that they could never more harm the worshippers of Christ. The most illustrious governor of the kingdom had indeed prepared a certain very large ship, fortified with many defences, in which all the hope of the Christians seemed to be placed. But in the very fiercest encounter of the battle, through the imprudence of certain men, fire falling on the gunpowder of the engines and miserably burning and hurting very many, the multitude of crusaders assigned to it was compelled to go out of it. This was so that it might be given to understand that that happy victory was granted to the worshippers of Christ not by human but rather by divine power; and although, new and fresh fighters being at once put aboard, it was restored to its former state, yet the triumph of victory was common to all.

[97] having entered Belgrade, The Turks therefore having been routed from the Danube, the holy old man entered Belgrade, all applauding for joy; and he, having sent out all the wounded and weak, brought in new and fresh fighters. In the morning, when he had exhorted the people with most sweet words to resist manfully, he returned to the camp, which was placed beside the Danube. For there sixty thousand crusaders assembled, and with them many priests and religious who ministered the divine sacraments to them. Yet nearly all were unarmed; those who had bodily strength carried bow and quiver and shield. The servant of God rejoiced on seeing so great a multitude of crusaders, and with a most joyful face embraced them all; all obeyed his command, and those most devout peoples denied that they had any other leader than John of Capistrano. And although the prince in war and commander of the Christian army was that most mighty conqueror and hammer of the Turks, John Hunyad, yet he had no power to take counsel about the conduct of affairs, or to draw up any battle lines, without the servant of God.

[98] he again encourages the Christians Furthermore so great a Hungarian people was led under the auspices of John of Capistrano, and not only the most robust young men, in whom the blood boils and for whom a seasoned labour is wont to be the more pleasant, but old men worn out with burdensome age followed him as leader, him as commander, to die or to conquer with him for Christ. And the servant of God himself, intent with daily urgency on sacred prayers and on the Mass, with great strength of mind and incredible fervour of spirit encouraged and urged all to drive off the enemy for Christ, for their own and for the common salvation of all; teaching them not to gape after plunder or spoils, but before the battle to give themselves to prayer, devotion, confession and the reception of the sacred viaticum, and to fight with a most upright and uncorrupted spirit. For he had established that most glorious Name of Jesus to be frequently cried aloud by all the worshippers of Christ against the enemies of the Cross, and that nothing else, whether in camp or in battle, should fly upon the lips of the Christians except Jesus, Jesus.

[99] and before the conflict he refreshes them with the sacraments; The words of John were of such esteem and repute among them that each seemed to receive them with the utmost devotion and observance as if from the mouth of Christ. There was one voice among all, that they would most willingly undergo a sacred and renowned martyrdom with him, and would in no way depart from his side, even to the shedding of blood: since they understood that their minds were persuaded and aroused to a work surely worthy of all praise and all glory, and destined for a heavenly and immense reward: and it came about accordingly, while the siege lasted, that many, after confession first made and the sacred viaticum received, received the blessing from the man of God on bended knee, and set out to the fight inflamed with the love of Christ, and fell by a glorious and renowned death. Their heads the Turks cut off and, fixed on lances and raised on high, carried by the rampart of Belgrade for the terror and spectacle of the Christians.

[100] and when all were despairing, Why say more? The walls of the first castle having been levelled to the ground, and the towers broken and overthrown in great part by the huge engines, the royal governor came to him by night, struck with incredible fear: "We are conquered *," he said, "Father; the castle will soon come into the power of the Turks; the way of entry already lies open to the enemy. Against so great a multitude we have untried and unarmed fighters." To whom the servant of Christ, trusting more in the Lord than in man, said: "Let not your spirit be afraid, my lord, for the Lord will be with us, who is powerful to subdue and enervate our enemies." Then the most illustrious governor: "Tomorrow," he said, "the castle will not be ours." "By no means," replied the servant of God, "it will indeed be ours and it will not be taken from us." When therefore the vigil of the Magdalen had come ^o, prayer having first been made according to the custom of the law of the most foul Mahomet, around the evening hour the Turks began battle with the Christians, and, with a very great assault, strove to enter the first castle; a dreadful and most bloody slaughter was made, the ditches were filled by the Turks, and it was fought on both sides with all their strength until the first hour of the night. The great might of the Turks took possession of the first walls, and as the sky gives snow and the clouds rain, so the bows of the enemies of Christ gave a multitude of arrows. O most savage kind of war! O almighty hand of God, O immense clemency of the Saviour, who never forsakes anyone who flees to him with his whole heart!

[101] Around the middle of the night, as the whole multitude of the Turks surrounded the whole castle, a most cruel battle was joined; the whole level ground of the first castle was seized by the Turks, and they came as far as the bridge of the second, [from the second castle, already surrounded on all sides, he drives back the Turks,] which is encircled by great ditches and by most difficult towers and defences. The Turks, not noticing that many Christians still remained around the first, rushing onto the bridge, which stood unraised, were busy to enter the second castle, stronger than the first. But those who had remained on the first walls threw burning faggots of wood into the ditches, which were full of Turks striving to enter the castle. So the Turks, seeing themselves surrounded on all sides by flames, turned to flight, but, being unable to get out, were either consumed by the fire or killed by the sword from behind by the Christians coming out across the bridge. The fight went on most mightily until morning. So great a slaughter of the Turks was made that blood was seen poured out on all sides, and in the ditches very many corpses of Turks appeared; so great was their multitude that the Christians had no free way of crossing: but of the Christians, for whom the Lord wonderfully fought that night, St. John praying and vehemently crying aloud, "Jesus, Jesus," scarcely sixty fell [p].

[102] and at last the Christians, So as day broke, St. John placed the whole camp by the river Sava, and in the place where it is joined to the Danube. For Belgrade, which the Hungarians call Nanderalba, and which the Latins also have called Alba Graeca, is girdled by these two rivers [q], having three castles, one joined to the other. Now only the water of the Sava lay between the forces of the Turks and the Christians. But when the holy old man saw that a certain very few of those signed with the cross had rushed upon the Turks and had manfully repulsed a great multitude of the enemy, burning for martyrdom, rushing into

him the Holy Spirit: "This is," he said, "that day which we were awaiting; let us cross": and though John the Voivode, often asked, did not assent, since whoever crossed the Sava against his precept was subject to capital punishment, the servant of Christ commanded the whole Christian army to cross the Sava, and the human precept was not observed where the divine prevailed; for the royal governor feared that the victory obtained at night would be turned into calamity by day, and that the unarmed infantry would be trampled in the plain under the feet of the Turkish horses; and for that reason he had ordered that no one should henceforth be permitted to engage in battle with the enemy, the Lord permitting it, so that even thus the power of Christ might shine the more in St. John.

[103] even against the will of John Hunyadi, upon the Turks So at the voice of the servant of God the whole army of the Christians crossed, the illustrious John the Voivode remaining on the Danube, whom * no prohibition could hold. When the Christians began to fight, the Turks at once turned their backs and abandoned the emplacements of the engines; and at the same time they drew themselves together in their camp, seized by immense grief and terror. But St. John of Capistrano, when he saw that all the engines had come into the power of the Christians, filled with great joy, was rendered the more ardent and spirited against the enemies of the Cross. That honey-flowing and most mighty Name of Jesus was often cried out by him, and as all the worshippers of Christ responded on every side, this voice flew so mightily to heaven that that whole region seemed to tremble. At length the servant of the Lord raised the spirits of his fellow-soldiers by his most sweet speech. He exhorted all to the defence of the faith, and said to them: "Behold, now is the acceptable time, behold, now is the day of salvation. 2 Cor. VI, 2. Run to meet the enemies of the cross of Christ. Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul Matt. X, 28." And thus by these and other like words from the Scriptures, in which he abounded to a greater degree, he so roused and encouraged the hearts of many to the fight that they seemed to be going not to war but to a wedding.

[104] they rush on, and call out the Name of Jesus, So a most savage encounter continued for six hours; the fierce enemy brought most mighty force to bear: it was fought on both sides with all their strength; and the servant of God, like another Joshua with his fighting men, went forward supported on a staff, on the top of which was a Tau, with which to render them more spirited and more daring; and when once at the urging of his companion, again and again repeated , he was being called back from the very jaws of death: "Do not go, Father, do not go, Father; you will give to death." Aspiring to martyrdom, "For this I came," he replied: "let him who wants to flee, flee." And that he might fight in the hands of all, invoking and crying out the Name of Jesus by prayer and with the mightiest voice, like another Moses he implored divine help for the people of God. And though arrows were flying on all sides and killing many and wounding them mortally, yet they always left him, fortified by the protection of Christ, unhurt and untouched. At last a most bloody slaughter of the Turks was made; all the worshippers of Christ crying out Jesus , the enemy turned their backs, the Christians, God fighting for them, wonderfully prevailing; they who had come in glory with one hundred and twenty thousand retreated without glory: for, struck by a most mighty slaughter and by a most immense terror, dismayed by the incessant crying out of the Name of Jesus, their camp broken up, having left * twenty-four thousand slain, having left behind many very great engines and instruments of war built with wonderful craft, giving themselves most shamefully to flight, by the road by which they had joyfully come they returned sorrowfully to their homes with a hundred and more wagons of wounded. And they who thought to bring the whole Roman empire under their dominion did not set foot down for nine days on account of their excessive fear.

[105] and the enemy, terrified from heaven, For so great a terror had seized them that, fearing that the face of the earth would perish before their eyes, they thought of nothing except flight . For it seemed to them that they felt the greatest forces of soldiers at their backs, whereas in fact none of the Christians went out beyond the plain where the most dreadful battle had been fought. Nor was the whole Christian army in the battle, but scarcely five thousand, and, as some affirm, three thousand were those who made the victory. Who then ever heard of such a war, or who has seen one like it? that a very few farmers, diggers and ploughmen, almost unarmed, should put to flight so great, so mighty and so numerous an army, destroy so great a multitude, and wound so great a host. Many indeed of the more noble Turks fell. And their Emperor , struck in the left side by a spear-point , in the excessive rage of his pain gnashed with his teeth, and repeated lamentations of this kind: "Assuredly not a marquess, not a duke, not a prince, not a king, not an emperor, but rustics, ploughmen of the earth and diggers, the vilest kind of men, have routed me." For he knew that Vladislaus, the most powerful king of the Hungarians and Bohemians, had not departed from his Austrian seat, and that John the Voivode had sent his bravest soldiers home and had come alone with his household to the help of Belgrade, but that only by the work of John of Capistrano uncultivated * rustics had taken up arms against him, whom he believed, with most firm opinion, he could very easily overcome.

[106] with immense slaughter and the ruin of their warlike apparatus Nay, the Emperor of the Greeks having been killed, the Greeks subdued, and Constantinople conquered, Constantinople, this city so distinguished and so exalted, ill defended through the sloth of the Christians, lifted up with Luciferian pride he in no way doubted that he could tame and subjugate to himself the whole southern and western region. But the most unconquered commander, Christ Jesus our Lord, who promised always to be with his faithful until the consummation of the world, who prayed for Peter that his faith might not fail Luc. XXII, 32., and who always hears the voices of those piously crying to him, not suffering barbarous nations to lord it over his holy Church, not by the most robust soldiery of Italians, of Gauls, of Germans , but by the sole invocation of his most excellent Name, by the work and industry of his most faithful servant John, crushed the pride of Mahomet, the most atrocious and bloody enemy of the Christian name, saving his people, through * his Name, that he might make known his power.

[107] they afflict But he denied John a brief martyrdom, lest Hungary * should perish: yet he did not take away the crown of Martyrdom; since he, desiring to die for Christ, often of his own accord exposed himself to dangers, to missiles, to innumerable arrows among the encountering wedges of troops, and in that whole siege of Belgrade never spared himself, in most rapid hastenings about, in the heats of the sun, in sleepless nights, in thirst, hunger and labours so many, that he exhausted his frail little body more than can be said. For this most happy and most glorious victory over the Turks, by the authority of St. John and of no other, let them say what they will, was divinely obtained by the Hungarians in the thousand four hundred and fifty-seventh year [r], on the birthday of Mary Magdalen; on which day John the Spaniard, Cardinal of Sant'Angelo, the Apostolic legate, departed from Buda; and arriving at last in Belgrade, he found the camp of the crusaders dissolved for want of money. And although afterwards these were reassembled by him with the help of the servant of God, nevertheless by the death both of John the Voivode, which followed on the twentieth day after the victory [s], and of John of Capistrano, who within three months gave back his spirit to heaven, and also of the Count of Cilli, who was killed by the sword at Belgrade by Ladislaus, son of John the Voivode [t], they were dissolved again, nor by the secret judgment of God did they ever go beyond Belgrade [v].

ANNOTATIONS.

is called by the aforesaid Tagliacozzo, Preliminary Commentary number 329 Wadd. Ann. tom. XII, pag. 352., perpetual count of Castellis and ban of Macsó, and also count of the counties of Orban and Posega; for he came there by reason of his banate with a number of horsemen; Nanderalba was under his banate.

p. The Great Belgian Chronicle, contemporary with the event, relates the victory of the Christians in these words Pistorius. Rer. Germ. Scriptt. tom. III, pag. 416.: "A miraculous victory is given from heaven to the Christians in Hungary across the Danube against the Turk, who lost many and fled shamefully, struck with fear of the enemy, while no one was pursuing him. The hand of the Lord alone terrified him on the day of St. Sixtus (rather on the day of St. Magdalen), when St. John of Capistrano was present there and urged on the trembling people to pursue the fleeing infidels; and a great vengeance was wrought. The Turks themselves said that so immense a number of armed men was seen by them that they scarcely dared to look behind them; and therefore, leaving everything, they fled. They were in fact holy Angels." From this it may be seen that the victory was attributed everywhere to God alone.

q. Belgrade, or Alba Graeca, is indeed situated at the confluence of the Sava with the Danube: but the city does not lie midway between the two rivers; it has the Danube to the north, the Sava to the east, as is clear from geographical maps.

r. The biographer connects the victory of Belgrade with the year 1457, which he repeats below at number 111, saying that St. John died on Saturday the twenty-third of October 1457. That the reading of the year LVII of the XV century is faulty, whether it be ascribed to the biographer himself or to his copyist, is evident even from this, that in that year LVII Saturday does not coincide with the twenty-third of October. Then, all the other contemporary biographers set the year of the Saint's death at 1456; which is also confirmed by the bull of Callixtus III instituting the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, given on the VIII of the Ides (the VI day) of August 1457, in Raynaldus at 1457, in which at § LXXVII our Saint is counted among the dead: "at the victory, the late John of Capistrano being present."

s. John Hunyadi died on the XI of August of the plague, as St. Capistran writes to Pope Callixtus from Salankemen on the XVII of August 1456, in Raynaldus at the year 1456 § LII: so that if you subtract either the day of the victory won or the day of death, exactly twenty days intervene; by which same reckoning the day of St. Capistran's death is distant three months from the same victory, as the biographer says a little below.

t. Ulrich, count of Cilli (Cilley), substituted by King Ladislaus as governor of the kingdom for the deceased John Hunyadi, at first feigned friendship with his sons, and what was more, adopted Ladislaus, the elder by birth, as a son: meanwhile he was plotting the slaughter of Hunyadi's children Fessler. Geschichte der Ungern. tom. IV, pag. 847.. But the Hunyadis, secretly aware of the plots that were being laid against them, thinking the wicked machinations must be forestalled, on the feast of St. Martin, the XI of November 1456, under pretext of treating of business, lured Ulrich into a house and killed him with many wounds inflicted Ibid. pag. 852.. The crime was concealed for some time, but the king at last, on the XVI of March of the following year, avenged it by beheading Ladislaus Ibid. pag. 861..

v. The sense seems defective: perhaps there was written "præteriere", or something similar, by which it is signified that those signed with the cross thereafter never reached Belgrade.

* et is missing in Wadding

* perhaps because

* W. suscepturi

* W. discessuri

* W. Victi sumus

* W. quos

* W. continuas

* W. vocibus

* W. adds ne te ultro:

* W. repeats Jesu

* relictisque W.

* W. cogitarunt

* W. juxta

* W. adds etiam

* W. scopeto

* W. hujusmodique

* W. domi

* W. multos

* W. adds non Romanorum

* W. crudelissimique

* W. propter

* W. Hungarica gens

CHAPTER IX.

Of the Saint's death; of certain miracles performed after his death.

On the VI day of August, seized by a malignant fever, St. John therefore, defender of the Christian faith and immense dread and terror of the infidels, the Turks having been routed and the Hungarians freed, began to be sharply tormented with fevers and an irreversible flux on the VIII of the Ides of August ^a. This illness, brought on by excessive labours, he bore with a most patient spirit for seventy-eight days ^b, praising and magnifying God; and though hitherto he had especially longed to be dissolved and to be with Christ, often repeating that prophetic word: "Woe is me that my sojourning is prolonged; I have dwelt with those who dwell in Cedar; my soul has long been a sojourner Ps. CXIX, 5." Yet he desired to survive a little longer for the exaltation of the orthodox faith, always aspiring to an expedition to destroy the enemies of Christ, and resolving rather to die in the camp or in battle than to draw back from his holy purpose. From this resolve, even when the hardships of many miseries were put before him, his companions could never recall him, until the birthday of the glorious Virgin ^c made him more certain of his falling asleep by a divine oracle.

[109] he learns from heaven that his death is at hand, When he learned by revelation that he would depart from this light through that illness, to be received into the eternal tabernacles, he wished to be carried to the Convent of the Minors at Wilak, which he had brought back to the regular Observance with no moderate labour, so that even in this way, by his dying there, the Observant brethren should at no time ever abandon it, and that place, where so precious a treasure of his body was to be laid ^d, should in no ages lack divine praise. There he was visited by King Ladislaus and his princes, he who had snatched the nation of the Hungarians from the hands of the Turks, the most splendid star of our age, the armoury of the Scriptures, the most beautiful crown of all the Minors: for the sole hope and the trust of the German nations placed in him pressed them with deep grief, and he who was being snatched away afflicted their spirit; and since he saw that because of devotion to him an incredible army of Christians was continually coming to him, therefore with St. Martin he often said: "Lord, if I am still necessary to your people, I do not refuse the labour; your will be done."

[110] among most fervent prayers, He bewailed exceedingly the miserable events which he foresaw would without doubt come. And for that reason, with flowing tears, he assiduously implored the divine mercy: "Spare, O Lord," he said, "spare your people, and do not give your inheritance to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Have mercy, O Lord, have mercy on us, have mercy on the Christian people, redeemed by your most precious blood. Lord God, kind and merciful, do not do to us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities Ps. CI, 4.." And thus that sacred mind, joined by perpetual zeal to things above, tried to redeem the coming oppressions with tears, so that, though pressed by the mass of the body, it could in no way seem idle, but its solace was to give itself to the divine praises, to listen most attentively to Masses, to frequent confession, and most holily to communicate.

[111] and having received the Most Holy Sacraments And finally, demanding the wages of life, rejoicing now to be released, he wished to confess for the last time, to communicate, to be anointed and to commend his soul to God, not on a bed, not on soft things, not among delights, but on the floor; praying for himself no less than the others: "Holy Mary, pray for me, Holy Abraham, pray for me," and repeating the rest, applauding and with hands raised alternately with dignity and reverence, more attentive than all those standing by, and so much more attentive that he quite often corrected and amended the hebdomadary when he pronounced less well and spoke barbarously ^e. So on Saturday, the twenty-third of October 1457, when he had filled all his brethren and those devoted to the Order and his own, scattered throughout the world, with many divine blessings, having arranged all things necessary concerning his companions, when the first signal was being given for vespers, perfectly in possession of his mind and lively in sense, calling by a nod to give him aid Brother Jerome of Udine, whose account of this passing of the man of God we in great part imitate, he wished to sit up, and bending his tottering head to his breast, his mouth gently and gradually opening, he left his lifeless body between that man's arms, full of days and of good works.

[112] The report of his passing, going through the whole town, he dies peacefully: and is committed to the tomb. so moved all the people that, as all hastened in crowds to see the blessed body, it became dangerous for the brethren to draw out the funeral for long. It was therefore carried to the church, to which all the people had run in tears. They fulfilled the exequies * with solemn hymns, praises and worthy honours, each according to his own dignity. It was kept in the middle of the choir, with torches burning on all sides and an abundance of lights, with alternating watches and careful solicitude for fear of its being stolen, unburied for several days; at last that blessed body, soft, flexible and in every way pliant, was shut in a chest surrounded with iron plates and fortified with chains and keys. Seeing it up to the eighth day as a most precious treasure, and kissing it for the greatest devotion, and bedewing it with many tears, we found it so flexible, pliant and wholly without any bad odour that it seemed in some way to be alive.

[113] immediately after death with miracles As soon as he gave back his spirit to God, he at once began to flourish in the glory of miracles: so that he who in life had stood forth as the form of justice, the trumpet of truth, the norm of perfection, and the dwelling-place of virtues and charisms, should also, reigning in the heavens, become a splendour of miracles. For him whom the Lord had made illustrious by such signs and prodigies in this pilgrimage, he wished to render more illustrious after his falling asleep, dwelling on high with his Angels and Saints; and though the great body of a volume could not easily set forth the greatness of these miracles, yet let us bring forward, as briefly as we can, for the praise of God and as a notable testimony to the holy life of John, the rest of these, diligently examined under the oath of neighbours, which have come to our notice, extracted from the register of the citizens of Vuilak specially deputed for this by the magnificent and illustrious man Lord Nicholas the Voivode ^f.

[114] he shines, When therefore the body of the heavenly man had according to custom been brought out in public, and the people were flowing together from every side for the sake of seeing and kissing it, there was led forward Elizabeth, daughter of Balthasar the furrier of Vuilack, paralysed in neck and head and for three years wholly blind; who, having kissed the sacred hands of the deceased, at once by the power of St. John both received her sight and stood freed from the paralysis, as her father confirmed by oath before the designated witnesses ^g. Peter, called Leep, of Vuilak, having a son five years old suffering from a most savage ulcer, so that he could neither drink nor eat anything, having made a vow of visiting the tomb of the man of God and having fulfilled it, received his son healthy and unharmed. Helen, mother of John the stonecutter of Vuilak, deprived of the use of one hand and one foot, having made a vow of coming to his tomb, by divine aid through John's merit bestowing it, at once obtained the best of health. The son of Michael, called Tegzis, of Vuilak, five years old, who had been so afflicted with a tertian fever for half a year, and afterwards a quotidian, that being able neither to drink nor to eat he was thought close to death, he, invoked by the prayers of the parents, snatched from the jaws of death.

[115] first at Villack; most of all The daughter of Anthony, called Portolab *, of Vuilak, lay so weighed down by a pestilential disease that no human hope was left of recovering her health; when she had been carried to the tomb of the blessed man, the abscess being suddenly annihilated and dispersed, she returned home healthy and unharmed. Nor does it seem worthy of less praise for remembrance that Lawrence, called Pap, likewise a citizen of Vuilak, is known, when he had been blind and crippled for more than a year, so that he could not go out of the door of the house without the help of supports, on hearing the report of such great deeds to have invoked with a vow the aid of the Blessed Father, and upon the invocation to have been at once restored to health ^h. And that his gifts might appear the more abundant, Margaret, wife of Martin of Vuilak, having a little son afflicted by the falling sickness, as soon as she vowed with bent knees and tears to carry him to the tomb of the holy man, received him unharmed, of whose recovery of health there was no hope.

[116] of various diseases Besides these, that also is memorable which happened to Barbara, wife of Balthasar the furrier of Vuilak, who for a year suffered incredible pain of the teeth and a severe paralysis in the neck, so that she could neither raise her head nor turn her neck; having made a vow of going to the tomb of most blessed John, she at once received the best of health. With what praise shall I attend the great and singular sign of deliverance which he showed in the son of a certain George, noble by birth, called Scheurak, whom, when in the extremity of his agony, this most blessed man, implored by the prayers of the mother who came to his tomb, so aided that the mother, returning home, found her son healthy and unharmed, whom she had left half-alive in the village of Athya, not much distant from Vuilak ⁱ.

[117] the healing: the lame, the blind, What shall I say of the wife of Paul the furrier of Futhack ^k? What of Caspar, son of Valentine Pasga of Chitel , ^l, all of whom, suffering from the falling sickness, the one afflicted for ten years, the other from his youth, having made a vow of going to the tomb of the holy man, were determined to have been most excellently freed by his aid? What of Valentine, called Zabo, of Vuifalun ^m, deprived of the light of his eyes for three years through a certain illness, whom they beheld rightly enlightened, when at last he had invoked him? What of another Elizabeth, wife of Peter Zebeer of Szeged ⁿ, miserably lame in one foot for more than a year, freed likewise with his help? What moreover of Benedict, son of George, called Vuzear , of Vorves * ^o, who suffered such an infirmity that the privy matter of nature came out by the urinary way, and who, while labouring in his last extremity, a vow having been made by his mother to carry him to the tomb of the servant of God, soon obtained good health?

[118] the deaf, But it is not enough that he brought aid to the lame, the blind and those in agony; he is known also to have granted to the deaf and mute that they should speak and see. For that George de Bede, likewise a noble man, for seventeen years wholly deaf and hearing nothing, unless by means of a nod, stood healed by this most holy man, a vow having been made to him, is most celebrated through the whole province of Bács. It is known moreover that Stephen Sergyartho of Bodizrethmiiklos, who had been blind, mute and deaf for four years, having made a vow of going to the tomb of the man of God, was healed on the road while being carried to fulfil his vow, and his tongue was thus loosed, his eyes opened and his hearing wholly restored, so that he obtained full grace in all respects. Nor does it seem that we should keep silent on what is known to have happened to Nicholas, son of Matthias Lede of Keniieres. While he was cutting wood in a grove, he was overtaken by a certain sudden infirmity and lost his speech, and for four weeks, being able neither to walk on his feet, nor to bend his hands or arms, nor indeed to take food or drink for the same time, at his father's vow and tears, by the patronage of most blessed John, he was most excellently restored to soundness, so that he who was standing with mouth shut and teeth clenched, nourished only by the dripping of some liquid, soon, a vow being made to the tomb of the servant of God, came forth free of all illness. Dorothy, wife of Emeric the shopkeeper of Temesvár [p], noticing the very widely spread fame of these prodigies, when for more than a year she had had her eyes covered with certain little skins, so that for three months, though many remedies were applied, she saw nothing at all, with faith and an upright spirit, having made a vow of going to the tomb of the blessed man, was at once most clearly enlightened.

[119] those with fever To the feverish, and those already despaired of for life, it is also clearly established that he brought the desired health. For Margaret, wife of Benedict of Chika near Bács [q], tormented beyond measure and for more than a year by most violent tertian and quartan fevers, and Scholastica, wife of Peter of Zelenus, shaken by long and deadly fevers and so swollen for three months that all hope of recovering health had been removed, he magnificently freed when suppliantly invoked. Matthias, son of Benedict Zongo of Karom , ten years of age, afflicted from his earliest age with the falling sickness, so that, worn away, he was already near to death, he perfectly restored to health at his father's vow. Benedict, the father of the said Matthias, oppressed by a most grievous illness and having his head so swollen that he had no power of opening his eyes, he, when entreated, snatched from all infirmity. Blaise, son of Peter the shopkeeper of Szeged, crippled in hands and feet from birth, and bent backward so that, like a dry log, he could in no way bend or extend himself, lying with chest stretched out, eyes open and fixed upward, and keeping his mouth shut, so that it could scarcely be forced open for taking milk, and for sixteen days unable to suck the breast, continually failing and deprived of hope of life, since he was putrefied both from the bending under his arms and from the clenching of his hands and feet, by the heavenly power of this holy man, at the vow of his father, obtained perfect health.

[120] those near to death, Why say more? Lawrence, son of John, called Nemes , of Szeged, already in agony, so that it could no longer be discerned whether he was living or had died, he restored to life at the tears and vow of his parents; but the vow itself having been made and by no means fulfilled, after a number of days the boy marvellously relapsed, afflicted by a graver illness, and so vexed by violent fevers that no spirit of life was perceived in him; which negligence the parents at once redeeming by many tears and the fulfilment of the vow, and carrying their son swiftly to the sacred relic, happily obtained from the man of God the grace they desired; and so those who had come sorrowful to the sacred tomb of John returned to their homes joyful and most glad with their son freed. A similar miracle is manifestly known to have happened to John, son of Stephen Bakardi of Szeged, who, deprived of all strength for eight days, and able neither to speak nor to utter a sound, at his mother's vow, by the intercession of most blessed John, obtained the best of health. Nor does it seem that we should pass over in silence the excellent gift which St. John conferred on Margaret, wife of Augustine Czepheci of Pocha *, three miles distant from the city of Várad [r], who for seven years was unable to get about except by venturing on hands and knees, nor to eat with her own hands; having made a vow, she at once received a good faculty of walking, so that she went freely on her own feet to the tomb of the servant of the Lord.

[121] the crippled, Nor shall we keep silent about the son of Nicholas Kadasi of Vuilak, freed from the illness which they call the she-wolf or the dog [s], and John, son of Andrew of Naghfalwa, wonderfully rescued when miserably afflicted by the falling sickness. Nor shall we pass over in silence Barnabas, son of Valentine Pathakii of the village of Zeutes , whom, lying nearly dead from the fourth day of his birth up to the tenth, so that he could neither wail nor give voice in mute or tiny sounds, nor suck his mother's breasts, the man of God raised healthy and unharmed at the vows of his parents; and he of whom it could not be known whether he had departed life or was living, carried to the sacred relic of John, soon got well and revived. Nor shall we be silent about Anne, wife of Simon the cobbler of Vuilak, whom, for more than three months deprived of strength in her arms and feet after childbirth, having no power of moving, turning or sitting, but carried by others, when carried to his tomb, he wonderfully helped, so that the next day, returning free and healthy, she was recognized by all. Nor the son of the said Simon, whom, crippled in one foot, the same man, asked by the prayers of his father and suppliantly invoked with a vow, healed at his tomb. Nor Adrian, son of Michael of Sisigh *, who, suffering a miserable wound and swelling in the face, so that his eyes could not be seen, was cured at his mother's vow, as was most widely known to all the inhabitants of that village.

[122] those suffering from epilepsy, Nor Bartholomew, son of Demetrius of Peczki, who, suffering from the falling sickness and unable to suck the breasts for eight days, the help of most blessed John being invoked through his mother, was restored to his former health, as all saw. Nor Peter, son of Elias Redzzek of Siisigh , freed by him at his mother's prayers and vows from mortal fevers, for whom there was no further hope of life. Nor Dionysius, son of James Thoth of Fannuslaun , living in foolishness since fourteen years of age, and so deprived of strength that, stretched out on hands and feet, he crawled for three years, having no faculty of walking, who at the vow of his mother and the prayers offered to the man of God came forth freed, as many saw. Nor Magdalen, daughter of Blaise the cobbler of the aforesaid village, who suffered most acute fevers for more than a year, whom, roused by the prayers of her relatives, he healed little by little; but when she was able to go on her own feet to the tomb of the blessed man, fulfilling her vow, she was wholly restored to her former health.

[123] the dropsical, Nor Helen, wife of Brivius of Vuilak, deprived of the light of her eyes for a year and miserably languishing with the disease of dropsy, who, when she had most devoutly gone to the tomb of the most blessed Father, obtained from him the best grace of deliverance. Nor Elizabeth, wife of George Vsaii of Schitoleze, afflicted for five years by the falling sickness. Nor Catherine, daughter of Michael Piilki of Siisigh, of the age of XIII years, who suffered sometimes quartan, sometimes quotidian fevers with violent gnashing of the teeth for more than six months. Nor Ursula, daughter of Cosmas of Siisigh, tormented for two years by quartan fevers. Nor the little son of George Kalmar of Kemethi , a village not much distant from Vuilak, nearly dead. Nor Matthew, son of Oswald of Pesth, opposite Vuilak [t], having his right arm so bent that he nowhere had the faculty of raising it to his mouth: nor the same man afterwards, made blind for two months by a certain grave illness. Nor Catherine, daughter of Michael Raakz of the village of Thanevus , unable to walk for three months: for all of whom, at the vows of the parents, most blessed John obtained the gift of entire safety.

[124] the demented, But with what worthy praise shall we celebrate what clearly happened to the wife of the said Matthew Oswald of Pesth? She, in the judgment of those standing by, could in no way escape death soon from a certain illness, and was already anointed with holy oil; a vow being made for her to the tomb of the Blessed man, she soon recovered and was restored to her former soundness. What moreover shall I say of her son John, made demented by a certain infirmity? What of the other son Emeric, having so great a wound of the she-wolf in his mouth that a finger could be put into his jaw? What of the same boy, losing his hearing through a graver illness intervening? To these the servant of the Lord granted the best of health; and, invoked by the father, he soon restored to life the third son, Peter, in agony at death, a vow having been made to carry him to his tomb, who was not hoped to survive until the next day. Did he not also wholly free Helen, wife of John Cokius *, a citizen of Vuilak, lacking sight and hearing through a pestilential disease and deprived of the faculty of speech, who most devoutly wiped herself with the shroud with which the body of the Blessed man had been covered before it was entombed, and kissed it with tears?

[125] and others variously afflicted are restored to health. Did he not soon snatch from the jaws of death Elizabeth, wife of Nicholas the tailor of Vuilak, in agony at death, and holding a lighted candle in her hand, who in the opinion of all standing by would not survive an hour, and who at the persuasion of certain people devoted herself to the man of God? So that, perfectly healed, she began the next day to fulfil the vow she had made. Did he not restore to soundness, at the mother's vow, the son of the said Helen, who had been feverish for a long time and could be healed by no remedy? Did he not also, at the prayers and vow of the mother, cure Agatha, daughter of the said lady, lying frantic and half-alive for three days, speaking empty things without understanding? And did he not at once make healthy the same Helen, suffering a most violent pain of the teeth, tasting nothing for three days, finding no place of rest, and commending herself to the holy man at his tomb? On Elizabeth, daughter of John Vuerenus of Vuilak, shaken for a year by terrible fevers and already come to the extremity and as it were dead, carried by her mother three times by vow to the tomb of St. John, he conferred the best of soundness. On Agatha, wife of Gregory the furrier of Harsam near Vuilak, walking on hands and feet because of a certain wound of an abscess on the right foot, having made a vow of going to his tomb, he bestowed the gift of deliverance. And Michael, son of Stephen of Bacuh , labouring in his last extremity, he wonderfully helped at his father's vow; and he who had lain sick for a month came forth healthy in the best manner, and together with his father visited the tomb of the blessed man on his own feet.

ANNOTATIONS.

knows it, and Lawrence himself testifies, who for more than a year so suffered paralysis that he came to be wholly crippled in his feet and in his eyes, and for more than a year was so ruined and blinded that he could not even go out of a part of his house without a guide, and could not be led except on supports. Having made a vow to the tomb of the blessed Father, he was immediately restored to the best of health and walks without supports wherever he wishes and without a guide, and together with others practises the craft of a fisherman."

p. Themeswar or Temesvaradinum, a city on the river Bega in marshy ground, is the seat of the Latin bishop of Csanád.

q. The instrument in Barberius has these things more clearly Pag. 14., namely: "Margaret, wife of Benedict Sardo of Chica near Bachia at a distance of four miles from Wilak etc." Bachia or Bacs is an episcopal city, whose see is today united to that of Kalocsa.

r. There are various cities of Hungary of this name: Petrovaradin, which is scarcely three miles distant from Vilak, Varadin in the county of Bihar, which is thirty-four, and Great Varadin, which is thirty miles: between these latter two let the reader choose.

s. Lupa, in Du Cange Lupus, is a carcinoma or cancer, a disease usually most grave.

t. Pest is a small village on the opposite bank of the Danube, toward the north, as is evident from the map showing the Theatre of the Russo-Turkish war, begun in the year 1786 and continued up to the year 1791.

* vicissim

* better diebus

* better exsequias

* B. Pholach

* B. Ghitel

* B. Wifalu

* B. Ezeleer

* B. Huza

* B. Vornes

* B. Hongo

* B. Hazam

* B. Hames.

* B. Bukor

* B. Pochaji

* B. Patalei

* B. Theudes

* B. Tysligh

* B. Redurh

* B. Fisigah

* B. Januffalva

* B. Basilii

* B. Bricevii

* B. Vuraji

* B. Piissrii

* B. Nemethi

* B. Raatz

* B. Zheuutes

* Loflhi

* B. Vueres

* B. Banchii

CHAPTER X.

The account of the miracles is continued.

Raised from death, Peter Viida, But we are not unaware that he also restored life to many dead. For although it is established by the oath of the parents that this St. John freed more than twelve from the jaws of death, yet for the present, for the consolation of the faithful, we will bring forward and set forth seven. Among whom Peter, son of Clement Viida of Chazar, stood first. When he had been vexed by the falling sickness for several days, day and night, and had been unable for three days to suck the breast, hearing the report of the miracles of most blessed John, he was carried by his parents to his tomb. When they had reached the first street of Vuiilak, they found the boy, wrapped in swaddling-clothes, dead, chilled and blackened. When the mother saw this, she said to her husband with very great weeping: "Let us go back and bury him, for he has died." And feeling the boy again, and squeezing his ears, nostrils and other members, they judged him wholly dead. But the father, raised up in faith and spirit, said: "Let us carry him to the tomb of this holy man; God is indeed powerful through his merits to give him back to us alive." And going with the greatest devotion they began to circle the tomb, and when the threefold circling had been made, the boy revived in full health, beautiful, fresh and delightful ^a.

[127] Lawrence Benukius, Andrew, then, son of Lawrence Benukius, having suffered the falling sickness for six years, and being every month oppressed from Thursday to Sunday, at vintage time more severely than usual, it happened that on a certain Sunday he expired in his mother's arms. Wherefore she sent her daughter into the field after the father, that he should return to bury his son. Meanwhile with many tears she implored divine help, that by the intercession of St. John her son, who was already cold and blackened, might be restored to her alive. Marvellous indeed to tell, the prayer having been poured out, the boy began to grow white and to yawn and to move his hands, and before the father returned, he had both obtained life and good health from his former illness. Moreover the daughter of Nicholas of Petheno, when she had lain dead from the evening hour until morning, at the vow and tears of her mother obtained life, the intercession of most blessed John, being invoked, wonderfully helping.

[128] the son of John de Borogh, the daughter of Barnabas of Hozzunbach; The boy and son of the noble Lady Elizabeth, widow of the magnificent Lord John de Borogh, perpetual Count of Castellis, drawn wholly dead out of a millet pit, the holy man, invoked by the father with a vow of visiting his tomb, magnificently restored to his former life; thus it is proved by the testimony of the said countess ^b. Likewise the daughter of Barnabas of Hozzunbach *, ten Italian miles distant from Vuilak, who had lain dead from the preceding day until the hour of Mass, carried by her mother to the tomb of the Blessed man, by divine grace, the power of John intervening, received the spirit of life. For when, because of the excessive pressure of the people, she could not be brought in the morning into the chapel where the sacred relic rests, she was placed outside wrapped in swaddling-clothes, wholly deprived of life: and at the hour of vespers she was placed beside the tomb, that by the holy man's intercession she might be restored to life. When vespers had been said, the mother continually praying for her and most devoutly commending her to most blessed John, the girl began to grow warm and to move, and thus she was at once raised up and made fresh ^c.

[129] various persons snatched from the jaws of death; Likewise the son of Paul, noble by birth, at the father's vow, dead rather than alive, he freed from the jaws of death ^d. Moreover Catherine, daughter of Gregory Castellanus of Vuilak, who was also believed dead, he raised from death at the vow and tears of her mother. But with what praise shall I attend Blaise, called Horogh *, and Fabian of Buda, of whom the one, overtaken by a most violent intestinal pain, had fallen, lying as if dead, without speech and without colour: the other placed in such an extremity of life that, the commendation of his soul having been made, and candles lit according to custom, nothing was expected but that he should breathe out his spirit. A vow having been made for Fabian by his people, and by Blaise for himself, by an inward healing both soon came forth free and unharmed under John's patronage ^e. What shall I say of Hedwig, wife of the noble Luke, daughter of a certain noble Nicholas of Addam, and Ladislaus, son of John the shopkeeper of Temesvár, already in agony at the point of death? who, relying on no hope of living, were rescued from the gates of death at the vows of their relatives ^f?

[130] others What of Ladislaus, a noble man of Bancha, suffering for ten months a certain horrible illness which they call the she-wolf, by which his flesh was gradually devoured, and to which no remedy could be applied ^g? What of Nicholas Volachus of the village of Jubogh , so afflicted by a pestilential disease on the left side in the shoulders that from its swelling, both in the throat and in the chest up to the eyebrows, he seemed lost? What of Dorothy, daughter of Stephen of Rees , lying for seven weeks like an immovable trunk, but without sight for fifteen days. What of Catherine, wife of Lawrence the cobbler of Zytzegh , tormented for five months by a most grievous illness, and so deprived of strength in hands and feet that she had no faculty of turning, sitting or walking. What of Ursula, wife of Andrew Hathas of Korusko , made withered from the girdle down and deprived of strength, so that for four months she could neither be turned, nor leave her bed, nor be carried by others? What of Helen, wife of the late James of Varadin, crippled in both feet, so that in no way for five months could she walk or move herself on her knees, unless carried? What of Ladislaus Bagar of Szeged, tormented for more than forty years by the falling sickness, sometimes three, sometimes four, sometimes five times in a day? All of whom, at the vows both of their relatives and of themselves of going to his tomb, most blessed John mightily freed from their infirmities and restored to the best of health.

[131] What moreover of Clare, wife of Stephen of Gara , made wholly blind for half a year? from manifold She, led by the hand of her husband to the tomb of the blessed man, confessed that the mists and darkness of her eyes had so departed from her that she seemed as it were to see a bright star on the first circling of the tomb; on the second she was more enlightened; finally, going round a third time, she obtained the full gift of seeing. At the newness of this miracle the people of Vuilak so rejoiced as is truly difficult to say. What moreover shall I tell of Catherine, wife of Gallus Soka in Pesth opposite Vuilak, blind in one eye for three weeks, to whom, as she vowed to visit the tomb of the blessed man, after the threefold circling John, being invoked, restored the clearest light? What of Stephen, noble by birth, seven miles distant from Vuilak, who for eight years so suffered a most grievous illness that, swollen in body, he could neither move himself nor walk, unless carried by others? What of another noble of Enoch *, made blind in both eyes by a certain illness? What of Ursula, wife of Gallus Banchus, vexed by the falling sickness for ten years? What of the son of Lawrence of Nagheer, suffering most violent quartan fevers for a year? On whom, being entreated, he conferred the best of health.

[132] from the evil What of Margaret, wife of Nicholas Parvus, of the village of Kerezthuur , withered in hands and feet, and already nearly deprived of the light of her eyes by this infirmity? What of Fabian Keever , of the street of Kyssevvas *, already in agony from a violent pain of the chest and suffering from frenzy. What of the son of this Fabian, Nicholas, so afflicted by a terrible falling sickness that from the great swelling of his throat and face his eyes seemed two eggs; all of whom, it is established, John, suppliantly invoked with a vow of visiting his tomb, freed by divine aid. Nor does it seem that we should in any way pass over what was done in Matthias, son of Luke Zugia of Zatha. For he, for half a year most grievously vexed by the falling sickness day and night, and so wasted that his arms and feet appeared dried up and could in no way be bent or curved, had his mouth so shut that

it could not even be parted with a sword, but he was nourished for three months by the dripping of milk or wine or water; and his neck was now so bent over, drawn up against the shoulders and putrefied, and with continual discharge of scale or gore, that the boy was labouring in his last extremity; whom his parents vowing with tears to carry to the tomb of the blessed man, when they had discharged the vow and twice circled the tomb, they soon received healthy in all his members; and he who could not even speak at once asked for fish to eat ^h.

[133] freed. And the same singular gift was obtained by Lazarus, son of Peter Cherenuk of Lenlazlo , who, having suffered fevers from his birth and the falling sickness for four months, and there being now, in the opinion of the neighbours, no hope of obtaining health, the vow of his parents having been made of going with him and with a wax image to the tomb of most blessed John, was at once made healthy of all his infirmities, he who had also already lost the light of one eye. Why say more? Elizabeth, wife of Giles Altansus of Zopor , despairing of her safety; Barbara, daughter of Valentine Saghas of Ciien , placed at the point of death, who for a whole week, through a certain particle of eggshell taken in through girlish foolishness, had been unable to suck her mother's breasts or to swallow anything else; Luke, son of John Magnus of Chee , miserably crippled in the left foot and walking on hands and feet; Agatha, wife of Ladislaus Heut of the village of Bodogazzontheteke , having a horrible wound in the right breast and finding no human remedy: all these he freed. The daughter of Blaise Sakezi of Fyzeegh, bereft of one eye, he healed. Philip, son of John the saddler, he restored to health at the vows and tears of his relatives, who in the opinion of all was very soon to be given over to death. And that his gifts might appear the more abundant, Elizabeth, widow of Nicholas Zeeleb * of Vuilak, nearly consumed by the abyss of the illness which they call the she-wolf, he restored excellently to health; and she who lay as dead, and for fifteen days had never spoken, having made a vow in her heart of going to the tomb of the blessed man John, was soon healed and made firm in all her members.

ANNOTATIONS.

* B. Hozyungax

* B. Thokax

* B. Walactum

* B. Tubaji

* B. Recs

* B. Sybzeegh

* B. Bathas de Curitha

* B. Bogar

* B. Baray

* B. Gallisotta

* B. Riich

* B. Heroztum

* B. Licwer

* B. Nislonezas

* B. Turuz

* B. de platea S. Ladislai

* B. Antalfii de Zepor

* B. Saghisas de Gyen

* B. Ehed

* B. Heus de Sadogazzontalek

* B. Zeles

CHAPTER XI.

Of a number of other signs and prodigies, performed also after the falling asleep of John.

Helen, crippled; But now let us show, as briefly as we can, what divine power availed through the merits of this most holy man for driving out very many other infirmities from the bodies of many. For it is established that Helen, wife of Stephen Hispan of Symelchen, when in childbirth both her hands had become crippled and swollen and miserably bent, and had recovered no health for three years, having made a vow of visiting the presence of blessed John while he was still living, at once recovered in great part; and she who could not visit him while dwelling on earth, going to the tomb of him reigning in heaven, was made free of all her infirmity, so that her fingers, in which they had found dryness and contraction, came out flexible and lively. It is indeed very celebrated that Valentine of Szeged, for a year so afflicted by a most grievous illness that he could not be turned in bed except by the help of others, and incessantly suffering a flow of blood, from which he could be freed by no human aid, having invoked the help of the blessed man with a vow of going to his tomb, obtained the best of health.

[135] the demoniacs; The demons too declare his wonderful power, when, driven out by him, they were compelled to release Nicholas Slavus , a carpenter having demons in Vuilak, whom they had vexed for fifteen years, as soon as he vowed to set out for the tomb of the blessed man. Nor does it seem worthy of less praise to celebrate the great gift of deliverance which Agnes, wife of Nicholas Rusa of Batha , obtained at the vows of her people. She, having been vexed by a demon for a year, carried in a cart to the tomb of the man of God, began to cry out terribly, "I will not, I will not go by any means to the tomb of that monk;" and thus repeating such things quite often, she made such a din and violence that on the level plain the cart was wholly burst apart and broken. Then the woman cried out in her natural voice with tears, saying: "Behold, I am freed by the grace of God and of that blessed father, Brother John;" and she showed them the toe from which the demon had gone out, on which appeared the trace of a small wound, from which gore of blood was flowing. They nevertheless all went to the tomb of the blessed man, fulfilling their vows, and returned most joyful to their homes with the freed woman.

[136] a woman imperilled in childbirth, When invoked he also granted the grace of childbearing to Susanna, wife of Blaise, a noble of the town of Vuilak. For she, having twice suffered miscarriage, the infants coming out in a manner contrary to nature, that is by the feet, and those born dying without baptism, labouring in a like danger for a third time, had commended herself with great devotion to the blessed man, and at once the infant, who had already put his feet outside, went into the maternal womb and came out, observing the manner of nature. How greatly he was present with protection and aid to many other blind and mute persons, those suffering the falling sickness, and those placed at the point of death, is witnessed by Stephen Serghyartho of Bodyzemthmyklos *, who, when for four years he had been blind, mute and deaf, having made a vow of visiting the tomb of the man of God, soon obtained a wonderful grace: for when he was being led by his people to Vuilak, on the way his tongue was loosed, and his ears opened, and his eyes opened, so that he came out perfectly free of his infirmities. Witness is Catherine, wife of Ladislaus Roboz of Candentz, whose little daughter was for one year wholly deprived of the light of one eye, and whom, as soon as she vowed to carry her to the tomb of the blessed man, she at once received freed. Witness is Valentine, a cleric of Temesvár, blind in both eyes for a long time and afflicted with quartan fevers, who, as soon as he made a vow of going to the sacred relic of John, was made free of both his infirmities.

[137] a mute man, epilepsy, Witness is a certain man of Varadin who, returning from Rome with a very large company, beyond expectation lost his speech and his arm, which had been made crippled, and was left behind by his companions at Quinque Ecclesiae ^a: urged by the words of Father Valentine, a canon of the cathedral church and master of arts, to commend himself to blessed John and bind himself by a vow; and when he had done this he at once obtained the grace of speaking, his arm remaining infirm; but as he was persuaded by the said priest to set out for Vuilak if he wished to recover the lost health of his arm, on fulfilling the vow at the sacred relic he was suddenly made healthy. Witness is Catherine, daughter of the aforesaid Blaise Curcus * ^b; who, already nearly consumed by the falling sickness, while labouring in her last extremity, so that the candles had been prepared for her funeral, a vow having been made by her mother to carry her to the presence of the blessed man, still dwelling on earth, at once opened her eyes and within a few days received the best gift of health; as her relatives, afterwards to visit

his tomb, came and declared with thanksgiving and great exultation of the people.

[138] those suffering from a flow of blood, Witnesses are the wife of John Haclius of Kyralgour near Szeged, and a certain girl, daughter of a certain noble of Buda, and also Simon, son of Margaret, widow, of Athya, who, violently vexed by the falling sickness, at the vows of their parents obtained wonderful deliverance. For the first had not only suffered the falling sickness for XX years, but from that disease had incurred paralysis in all her members. The second was tormented by a continual flow of blood: and the third by the falling sickness seven times within a day and a night. Witnesses are the noble lady Helen, wife of a certain noble man of Erdevid , and Elias of Lichot , whose sons, placed on the very verge of death, most blessed John, entreated, recalled to life at the vows and tears of their parents. Witnesses also are Demetrius Hemeth of Hibot and Giles of Athiia, in agony at the point of death, who, a vow of visiting his tomb having been made by prayers, were at once rescued from the jaws of death, as all saw. Witness moreover is Margaret, wife of Fabian, of a certain village near Apathi, who, for fifteen years deprived of her feet, hearing of the glorious miracles of the blessed man, as soon as she vowed to go to the sacred relic began to recover to some degree: and when she had arrived and circled the tomb, she said with a great voice and great joy: "Truly now I can return home running."

[139] one deprived of his limbs; Witness also is Blaise, son of Matthias of the village which they call Kuun, of the diocese of Csanád ^c; who, when for nearly a year he had been unable to get up from bed, deprived of all his limbs, was gradually failing, and could be helped by no remedy: hearing therefore the most splendid fame of the man of God, because of the very great signs which were being done at his tomb, he conceived the highest devotion toward him, but did not dare to bind himself by a vow, since he had no faculty of leaving his bed: as he slept, then, the holy man appeared to him in dreams, saying: "If you wish, Blaise, to be freed from your illness, make a vow to come to my tomb." And though he despaired of going because of the length of the journey, for he was twenty miles distant from Vuilak, yet as soon as he vowed to go to it, he at once wonderfully recovered.

[140] What then shall I say of Hedwig , daughter of the noble man Nicholas of Adon , and what of Blaise Theret of Vuaskapuu ? What of Fabian of Buda? who, placed in the agony of death, by the intercession of the man of God were restored to life at their vows. What likewise of that case in which the wife of a certain Luke, noble by birth, labouring with a like illness and danger of death, was likewise freed by a like aid. And what of that which happened to Paul, a priest, chaplain in Kaniisa ? Does it not seem great and worthy of remembrance, that he, lying in bed for five years, afflicted with an intestinal abscess so that he could not turn onto the other side without the help of others, assuredly recovered on the spot at the tomb of the Blessed man? Should we think it of little account also that the son of Michael of the street of the fishermen in Vuilak, crippled for eleven months in hands and feet, at the vows of his parents, the aid of John being invoked, came forth unharmed? Worthy of the highest praise accordingly seems what is known to have been done in Helen of Posega, wife of James of Vuilak. She, deaf for two years, when she had been carried to the sacred relic, soon received the best of hearing. But where am I going? Did he not snatch from the jaws of death Rusina, daughter of N. of Rerezthum, and two children of Emeric of the village which they call Illye, of the diocese of Bács, already near death in the judgment of all who were present? Demetrius of Vuilak, a fisherman shut up in prison in Athiia *, and most strongly bound by the feet in the stocks, and about to be thrown into the river Danube, he, most powerfully invoked, freed.

[141] and many others are healed: Nor shall we pass over in silence James, son of Nicholas of Durth , who, about to depart soon from this light, by his parents' vow of carrying him to the tomb of the man of God, he restored forthwith to soundness of life: nor Margaret, wife of Nicholas of Chiika near Bács, afflicted five years with the falling sickness: nor Demetrius, a priest of Zagreb ^d, surrounded by the blaze of a fire; all of whom were freed by divine aid through John's intervention, as all saw. For when Nandor Alba was burning on all sides, this priest, wishing to go out of his house, and seeing himself surrounded by flames on every side, so that, a strong wind blowing on him, he expected nothing but death, as soon as on bended knees he vowed that he would go to the tomb of the blessed man, the wind ceased, and although the whole town was burned, yet his dwelling remained unharmed and untouched, to the utmost admiration of all. Why should I write of many other things in number, although these few that I wished to accept as more certain were confirmed and examined by oaths and witnesses, for wonderful and incredible things are reported to be done by him; for very many other things are still in hand, on which the pen falls silent, lest the too great magnitude of the matter should cause weariness to those reading.

[142] the detractors of John are punished: And that the rivals of our John, if there are any, may believe through the things which have been done after his death that what he did while still on pilgrimage on earth was most true, and that those who speak against the holiness of the man may take thought for their own life, we will here describe the example of one detractor, against whom divine vengeance blazed out for love of the servant, and so that we too may now come to the end, who have perhaps spoken for longer than we think. When therefore the man of God John, in the same year in which he paid the debt of human flesh, was procuring to recall to the regular state the convent of the Minors at Vuylak, now nearly dispersed, so that even thus, the Lord inspiring him, he might prepare a dwelling-place for his body, where the lawful sons of their father Francis should live; there opposed the holy work to a greater degree a certain religious of the Franciscan kind; who, since he presided over that custody as custos ^e, trusting little in God, refused to bring labourers into the vineyard of the Lord, dreading an extreme want of food; compelled nevertheless by the apostolic authority by which the servant of the Lord was supported, he murmured at wholly tilling the Lord's field, and spoke against the holiness of John. But not long afterwards, when the Blessed Old Man had given back his spirit to heaven, that man was seized by divine vengeance, namely by a bitter oppression of the breath, and, drawn up, he was nearly suffocated, and despairing of his safety, there came fully into his mind the grace of heavenly gifts, which is bestowed through John's merits on those asking in faith: and contrite and suppliant, having made a vow of visiting the tomb, he was soon called back from the very jaws of death to good health, obtaining pardon for what he had said ill, saved, and from Saul was made Paul, coming to the tomb of the man of God whom he used to disparage, reverently adoring the traces of his feet ^f.

[143] of the whole writing From all these things, which we have described according to the smallness of our poor little wit, we can already clearly observe the excellence of the holiness of John, and how severe he was in penance for trampling down the allurements of the passions, admirable in morals, lofty in counsel, conspicuous in virtue, the greatest index of doctrine, guardian of the Faith, author of the Order, rich in charity, supreme conqueror of heresies, pre-eminent in faith, most shining in chastity, full of the spirit of Christ, wealthy in poverty, faithful in what was entrusted, a splendour of miracles, the singular glory and ornament of the Minors, renowned in life, more renowned in death, and most renowned in blessedness: surely since it has now been demonstrated that this St. John, not only in life but after his falling asleep, healed the lame, the crippled and the withered from paralysis, freed them from the falling sickness, enlightened the blind, rescued from prisons, preserved from many dangers, gave facility of childbirth, conferred hearing and speech on the mute and deaf, recalled to life those placed at the point of death, raised many dead, and put to flight innumerable sicknesses.

[144] the conclusion. All of which, though they are great and wonderful, yet no one would doubt that the things he did living by his preaching were greater and more excellent, such as to have increased and built so many houses of the divine holy Orders, to have confirmed Christian worship, to have inflamed peoples and princes to peace and love, to have recalled them from vices and crimes, to have spurned dignities and honours, to have saved so many souls who were to perish by the testimony of his words and life: and to have freed the Hungarians from the Turks. For I value these things more than to have given back hearing to the deaf, the use of the tongue to the mute, and life to the dead. Accept therefore, Most Holy Father, this praise of you, such as it is, which Nicholas, once the companion of your journey, has hammered out in memory of your most illustrious deeds, unequal indeed to his strength, and meagre and least in comparison with your highest and greatest merits. And by your kindly protection keep from sin one who is on pilgrimage on earth, that he may at last receive me through you who carried you to the heavenly kingdoms. Amen.

Here ends the life of Blessed John of Capistrano, written by Brother Nicholas of Fara, his companion.

ANNOTATIONS.

* B. Solanum

* B. Bathaka

* B. Bodezentimelos

* B. Hursii

* B. Helye de Kyralgen

* B. Erdoch

* B. Lythot V

* B. Nemeth

* B. Lythot

* B. adds Senthgeurgh.

* B. Agatha

* B. Adan

* B. Theret de Vasxapu

* B. Kavisa

* B. Achia

* B. Huith

* B. Eyga

LIFE OF ST. JOHN OF CAPISTRANO,

Written by Brother Jerome of Udine, from the Ara Coeli manuscript.

John of Capistrano, confessor of the Order of Friars Minor, at Villack in Pannonia. (S.)

BHL Number: 4362

BY JEROME OF UDINE.

Here begins the proemial Letter, which is sent by the vicar of the province of St. Anthony to Brother Jerome, for composing the Life of our St. John of Capistrano, the Old Man. The second Letter contains the whole life, divided however by rubrics into chapters for easier finding.

Letter of Peter Mauroceno to Jerome of Udine To the excellent religious man and venerable father Jerome of Udine ^a, Brother Peter Mauroceno, unworthy vicar of the province of St. Anthony ^b, gives very many greetings. As I was longing, nay thirsting, for some writing of yours, there opportunely presented himself to us Brother John, the carrier of the books of our most holy Old Man; and meeting him at once, I asked that the gift of your letters, if perchance it were at hand, be given to me. The Reverend Father Vicar, Brother Gabriel, had written to me in former days a few words out of our mutual goodwill, and most of all for this reason, that you were entrusting very ample and most carefully worked things in a cause most desired by me. I was therefore expecting to receive from you a history on the death of so great a Father, whose like we have not seen: for both the authority of the man, and the eloquence of the writer, and the abundance of matter easily promised these things; but when a small volume of letters was brought into the midst, even before they were unsealed, already, I say, my hope deceived me. Yet most eagerly reading again and again I examine whether perhaps others might be sent under seal; there is no mention. You will patiently bear with me chiding you, or rather loving you. It does not escape you, you have read much, how great was perchance the celebrity and glory, not as much as flowed from their magnificent deeds, but rather as much as there was dignity in the writing of them. For the adornments of writers have been wont to bring that dignity to illustrious men and to the dead, and they make them stars glittering in heaven. I exhort you therefore, according to the ancient custom of good men, not to suffer a man given to heaven to fall silent, as it were, in telling of him on earth. This labour befits you; the custom of good men invites you; this friendship of ours asks that this be granted to it as the greatest gift. But if perchance I should be spurring one already running, grant pardon: conscience has goaded me, lest if I were silent I should hereafter pay most deserved penalties. These things have been written most rapidly. Not that they should savour of elegance, but that I may obey love and conscience, a limit of writing has been set at my little dinner. Farewell, excellent Father. From the place of St. Blaise near Vicenza, on the 28th day of March 1457.

[2] The response of Jerome, in which he offers the Life of St. Capistran. To the venerable Father Brother Peter Mauroceno, Brother Jerome of Udine sends humble and devout commendation. Your sweet letter has asked me, most reverend Father, to give you a letter about that religious, nay I say divine man, our late Old Man, once easily the prince of the Minors. I would gladly satisfy you who ask honourable things, if only the faculty of my wit and the abundance of speech answered me; but when I turn back to the poverty of my poor little wit, at once indeed I shudder, since I plainly know that the greatness of that outstanding man, celebrated and admired through nearly the whole world, can scarcely be sufficiently praised and admired. For what will I dare, insipid, weak and dry as I am, if I am to obey the poet, by no means unskilful, who admonishes among the satyrs:

You who write, take up matter fair to your strength , and ponder long what your shoulders refuse to bear, what they are able to *.

Wherefore, excellent Father, for recounting the divine praises of so great a father there is need, not of my slightness, but of the skill and likewise of the eloquence of some most adorned orator and most eloquent man. Of whose most singular virtues, surely, even if very many things had been said, by sound judgment far more would still have to be said; but lest you accuse me of being ungrateful for your merits and fleeing labour, I have thought it better to comply with your wishes according to my measure, than idly to pass over in silence a few small things, so that at least from these few, by your innate virtue, accustomed prudence and facility of invention, you may be able to devise many.

* vestris

* aptam

* Hor. De arte poet. V. 38

CHAPTER I.

Of the city and lineage of the Saint; of his zeal for virtues and letters in secular dress; of his entry into the Order.

The birthplace of St. Capistran; It is in the first place a sufficiently proved truth that a good tree makes good fruit: since it is unusual that grapes should be gathered from thorns or figs from thistles Matth. VII, 16. Whence it comes about that for the most part the honourableness of a family is wont to bring forth noble offspring: for how much true nobility contributes of virtue and honour to posterity has been sufficiently explored in John. When he had sprung from Capistrano, a town not inferior to the others of that * territory both in situation and in pleasantness of place, he drew very much dignity and honour from the noble hearth of his forefathers: but, by your good leave, Capistrano, I should say that John has brought more of grace and name to you than you have conferred on John: for whereas you did not hold a renowned title among the first places of the earth, it has come about by the virtue of John that you are more often named everywhere throughout the world. But neither was virtue lacking from you. For from his earliest age, educated by the zeal of parents not of the lowest rank in the best institutions under a tutor, on account of the skilful sharpness of his wit and his innate memory, he so far advanced in the liberal disciplines that a firm proof was left to all that John was bound to turn out a perfect man. In which matter the outcome deceived no one; but though the distinguished things of this age, which proceeded from good roots, ought to be handed down to memory, yet it is not my intention to recount each of them, lest a too prolix discourse should engender weariness. So a certain notable grace, and the charm of a tender disposition, and also gravity of morals made the youth adorned and most pleasant to all, and so most pleasant that it was merited of him, as has been borne: Virtue is the more pleasing coming from a beautiful body.

[4] his youth, Which thing the father himself sometimes recalled in conversation, asserting: "As much by a certain innate modesty as by fear of my parents, how imbued I was with good morals! since if I perceived anything that belonged less to honesty of life, I so abhorred it that from hatred of vicious speech, suffused with a blush, I at once turned to flight." These were indeed the signs of a modest and seemly spirit. At last, entering on youth, after the beginnings of the arts, at the persuasion of his elders he gave his attention to civil law, where how much knowledge he acquired in a short time his more frequent solicitude showed. For since he held the palm of understanding among his contemporaries, for the glory of acquiring praise, as he himself proclaimed, he so applied himself to his studies day and night that deservedly and with the best right he was held the prince of students. From which it came about that not only very many of the hearers but even the doctors did not blush to go to him quite often for the sake of asking counsel.

[5] appointed to public office; Hence the integrity of the man grew so long that he was set over the governing of peoples and cities with all praise and admiration. And he, on account of a great zeal for preserving justice and of the glory of acquiring a name, just as the blind ambition of human praise is wont to desire, resolved to use such severity in the conduct of affairs that he determined that for equity's sake neither anyone of his own nor he himself should be spared. Which thing did not pass by with a deaf ear. But what the sentence of the divine counsel determined must be diligently noted. For while he thought that gloriously in lofty pride he had fixed his foot on a stable step, on the contrary an unexpected lot, scattering the counsels of men, stirred up factions in the city; the crowd rose up, raged; the one party gave way; it cried that the governor of the city was guilty of death; insane fury took him captive, overcame him, imprisoned him, bound him by the hands and feet *: thrust into prison, he lay without glory, he who had been wont to glory imperiously; assailed with reproaches, insults and injuries by the watchmen succeeding one another, who by turns taunted, struck and tormented him. Yet bearing it, John was magnanimously glad, being then appointed by the king of Aragon, to fall by any death, even a shameful one, for the glory of the faith kept toward his lord.

[6] he incurs the hatred of the citizens, and is imprisoned; But when an interval of days had calmed the onset of the raging people, the watchings of the crowds being diminished, the industry of his spirit, having obtained the opportunity of the time, suggested that he should somehow escape the foul prison. The desired lot followed, which forthwith allowed him to creep through the tower and to hurl himself from on high, no one witnessing. Fear gave him strength, his hands * brought help to the fetters; he crept, hurried, escaped, lay hidden, looked about for flight, pursued it; but, O immortal God! Behold, a hateful farmer perceived him fleeing through by-ways and labouring under the hindrance of his feet; at once he suspected, recognized that he was still bound, and cried out: "Ho, run up, run up, the oppressor of our country is escaping, the betrayer of the faction." Wretched John stiffened on the spot, and injury inflamed his spirit, and, seizing a spade ^d, he actively attacked the rustic, threatening: "Unless you are silent, most worthless of rustics, here I will give you over to death." That man, trembling, fell silent, and swore at his compulsion to disclose the matter to no one.

[7] and at length, having obtained his liberty The one went swiftly his way; the other flew to the city, proclaiming the flight of the captive. A band rose up, followed raging at a rapid pace, and at last found him, tired out, stuck in the brambles: in their fury they captured him, brought him back, shut him in a most foul prison, bound with tighter and heavier fetters. "He cried to the Lord when he was in tribulation, and he snatched him from his necessities Ps. CVI, 6," when he was already despairing. For the Almighty stole away from the royal power the high fidelity of John, to be rendered to his own majesty, so that what

he had determined to do for empty glory, he might accomplish for everlasting glory; for this purpose his beloved, the Seraphic Francis, made like himself, whom he had bestowed with the signs of his soldiery, for a token of special love he sent down from highest Olympus to him who lay in darkness, and with rays of eternal light he made the dark dwelling exceedingly bright. And Francis, awakening the sad John, said: "Soon to be freed, may you follow me; this is the finger of God and the change of the right hand of the Most High." The fierce lion grew gentle: and giving himself up like a lamb, he resisted not at all, and with free faith dedicated himself to be numbered in his soldiery so long as he should be on pilgrimage. And so, the tumultuous peoples having been pacified by God's doing, John was granted his liberty.

[8] And that he might carry out the promises of the soldiery, the wages of a crown were given to him. He resolved to enter the Order of Minors. For, crushed by the weight of the dire prison, he fell ill, and a baldness in the likeness of a crown made him, who bore it, mindful of his promise. Understanding this more fully, wholly renouncing the noble and very rich maiden betrothed to him, and all the rights of his patrimony, as well as every blandishment of the world, he feigned himself despised and nearly mad like a youth: and for that purpose he prepared for himself an ample mitre, on which he accused himself as wicked, guilty of all crimes, deserving of any punishment whatever. Soon putting it on his head, clothed in filthy and mournful garments, where his name had shone more brightly and the greater glory of his dignity, he went at sunrise to the square of the city, fearless and without shame: and getting up at a certain corner, he offered himself as a spectacle from morning until evening to each of those passing by and those running together to the assembly. Those whose minds were the more insane derided him whom the spirit had filled, mocked him as demented, called him a fool: but it was worth the trouble to see, recognize and admire the immovable constancy of his unbroken spirit. His miseries having at last been completed, he betook himself with joyful spirit to the lawful sons of the Seraphic Father who was calling him. They, overcome by his prayers, joyfully took the man, who was in his thirtieth year of age, into the regular Observance.

ANNOTATIONS.

According to custom we set down the Order of the chapters as they were distributed by Jerome, and which we contract into fewer: it is as follows:

PROLOGUE.

* ejusdem?

* perhaps compedibusque

* thus in the manuscripts. Perhaps the sense here is: compedibus manus etc.

CHAPTER II.

Of his manner of life in the Order; of his entry into Hungary and the siege of Belgrade.

proegu Sailing therefore in the harbour of perfection, how piously, how honourably, how prudently, how religiously, how holily, finally, he conducted himself, is hardly easy to say. For since at the beginning he had cast such seeds of virtues as foretold a future excellent harvest, not without reason the grave fathers of the Order at that time wished him set apart from the other novices; who used toward him neither signs of probation, nor trial of mortifications, nor finally harshness of discipline, as is usually done, but a certain venerable gentleness. For they beheld him more clearly as an ineffable despiser of vanities and of himself, a conspicuous imitator of humility and a most keen tamer of pleasures. When at last he had made profession, the proclaiming of the sacred Gospel was with special care committed to him, wherein how greatly he stood by those in error it is not for my wit to teach. For a light had risen in the darkness, which showed, taught and kept the path of truth, the doctrine of Christ, the apostolic life. Who indeed, like him, has shone forth in our ages, who has produced so many most abundant fruits in the Church of God? Who has more richly increased the Christian religion? Who has more abundantly enlarged the Order? Who has striven more faithfully for the most holy Roman Church, for truth, for faith, for equity, for the salvation of souls? Who, finally, has deservedly claimed for himself a more glorious name for his full virtues and for particular pledges of praise?

[10] he leads an austere life, His rivals must admit that one small in stature, lofty in counsel, high in virtue, filled with divine gift and grace, has rarely found his like, or perhaps no one; but setting aside for the present very many things worthy of celebrated memory, I shall sip with the tips of my lips some few small things, which turned out no small ornament to him, and a salutary profit to others for the glory of Christ Jesus. After the Paraclete by supernal grace had set on fire the one called to the observance of religion, who has followed the measure of rectitude with a just end of living more thoughtfully, more constantly, more modestly, more equitably? For since he had established the worth of things not from opinion but from their nature, he was the same everywhere, as the necessity then of things and of times demanded. For the authority of a speaker could not move him from equity, one whom easy credulity did not seduce, but a great confidence of living well made his spirit free and fearless, and above all free of crime: who for that reason, hateful to the wicked on account of truth, especially to the infidels and those in error, nowhere dreaded death so often impending; for the consciousness of an irreproachable life furnished him with daring: wherefore no desire vitiated his celibate life, whom a manner of life drew not to pleasure but to the renewal of his strength. There was therefore no unclean poverty, no languid parsimony, no sordid simplicity, finally no narrow meagreness, whence the modesty of a severe spirit made him a fleer * of his own vices and an honourable corrector of those of others. Wherefore, passing by a right step, he followed the just custom of human society so far that it was his invariable study to profit all, to harm none, to restrain those who harm, to put down those who restrain just things, to love, extol and embrace those who put down unjust things.

[11] assiduous in prayer; But where shall I end up? since the whole action of his life was occupied either in prayer or in sermon, or in reading, or in pious and splendid actions. Nor would I wish to persuade myself that he saw a more blessed man, he who always had leisure in business and business in leisure. For there is praised the care for prayer, which by common judgment was dear to his heart above all mortals; and that I may silently pass over that immense contemplation of the heavenly fatherland, this however must be remembered, that he always preferred divine worship to other business. He had indeed a more vehement care and a more attentive ear for the integrity of the words and the correctness of the pronunciation in paying his office *, but so paying it that neither business, nor solicitude, nor shortness of time, nor any honourable reason could recall him from the established manner of praying through in their proper times, so far as could be done. Nor could any urgent necessity make him, the divine praises put aside, refresh his weary body with even the least food and drink. Nor did I judge it a common example in an old man, whether well or sick, that he never drank anything of draught or liquid or medicine, never pure water for washing the mouth, without having saluted the glorious Virgin with the customary blessing. Which, even when he was now passing through the end of life, the office of his tongue now failing, he never omitted, as he was able, with stammering and anxious mouth and with raising of the hand.

[12] untiring in cultivating the sciences, The length of his studies, to which he added long vigilance, is not a matter for a brief speech to set forth. For he did not allow any moment that remained to go empty: nay rather he was wont to cut back the necessities of life in order to give more time to his most welcome reading. Indeed from his dear furniture of books he took so much sweetness and solace that the fruit of his labour was plainly evident in giving counsels and conducting affairs. So the crowd of peoples marvelled exceedingly that in so small a little head so much salt was stored, that perfect responses, in no way to be refuted, were given to the various opinions of men and to different cases; hence as the fruit of such vigils there came forth worthy little works. Which indeed are so very sweet to those who taste them fully that they can scarcely be sated with them; hence besides, rich and profound sermons taught hidden things, which made straight paths in the desert; and likewise directed the crooked, not exquisitely but fruitfully. For all Italy testifies, Gaul testifies, the parts of Germany testify, Bohemia testifies, where of the most abominable heretics about twelve thousand he led to abjure the condemned heresies of the Hussites, their errors rejected, and fitted them to the salutary bosom of the most holy Roman and universal Church; ardent Poland also testifies, etc.

[13] after enduring many labours, into Hungary Finally devout Hungary testifies to his most shining works, which, when he was in Venice, he foretold by a prophetic oracle would be the dwelling-place of his body; in which how the event came to pass has proved ^a. For since there is no doubt that a wanton people, too much given to Ceres and Bacchus, kept less well the grace of justice and equity, and turned good morals to corruption; he rose up so severe and sharp against vices that he generally reined in the unbridled. And they understood, observed and carried out what is modest, what is equitable, what is to be imitated. For this reason such great expectation was everywhere created that even the regions neighbouring on the Hungarians were awaiting the Holy Father, for so he was called, as an Apostle. Finally, as he set out for the bounds of Hungary and proclaimed the faith of Christ and the light of truth with very great authority, the finger of God so cooperated both among the Wallachians and the Rascians and the other schismatics that of these he drew by his exhortations far more than ten thousand to the orthodox faith, and those of the infidels reborn in the baptism of Christ he by no means neglected to make Catholics.

[14] he is sent to the holy war Meanwhile, as the light of truth outshone the darkness more abundantly, from which more abundant fruits had come forth for living well and blessedly, the Legate from the Apostolic See, the Cardinal of Sant'Angelo, coming down from that region into Hungary, summoned Capistran to preach the Cross against the Turks, the most savage enemies, and deservedly: for nearly the whole nation of Hungary was led under the auspices of the Holy Father. When at last he arrived after a long journey, the crusade to be proclaimed was entrusted to him by the command of the Apostolic See, which the old man, burning for martyrdom, accepted with a joyful spirit. But when he began more fervently to proclaim it, since by a divine presage and by forerunning stars, of a comet above all, the bands of peoples flowed together from all sides, and there was one voice, to die and to live under the Holy Father as leader; the common destruction of the Christian people was often brought up: the old man taking pity, foreknowing the evils to come by divine revelation, said: "Rouse yourselves mightily, all of you, to provide against the evils," repeating as often as possible with a certain noble piety: "Would that all the oppressions about to come upon the Christians might be ended in this wretched body; and that by the peril of my head the human race might be saved!"

[15] to preach, and many, though of the lowest condition, But alas! Mahomet Bey, the most bloody emperor of the Turks, hastening too greatly, with a strong and mighty hand invaded with daring the castle of Nanderalba, the most fortified gate of Hungary. The old man announced, now by letters, now by most speedy couriers, that those signed with the cross, and those whom it concerned, should in no way delay to be present at the peril not only of a renowned kingdom but of the whole Christian commonwealth. For the most deadly enemy was hastening, fortified with such great apparatus, with so many instruments of war, with so many forces of fighting men, that it seemed all was over with us. At this lofty voice active bands of the lowest men, but of the powerful either no one or few, were aroused, and so aroused that without doubt one moved another by the blaze of a heavenly fire. They could in no way be held back, but the powerless and infirm, with old men and young, hastened to the Holy Father, to die or to conquer with him for Christ, even without saying farewell to those of their households. O immense God! how abundantly the fire burned! The mothers and wives of the Hungarians were in no way inferior in war to the Persian and Astracian * women ^b; for fearing for the common safety, their only sons,

and their husbands, the viaticum having been given, rushing into embraces and kisses, with tears profusely shed, they were busy to hasten and urge on against the blasphemers of the Cross; and these eagerly, with undisturbed spirit, sprang forth.

[16] he leads those enrolled into battle line; Why say more? The forces assembled under the banner of the Cross, as if unarmed, but those in whom there was bodily strength carrying bow and quiver with shield, to serve under the leadership of the Holy Father. The old man rejoiced, and embraced all with joyful countenance: they obeyed his command without hesitation, and those untamed nations denied that they had any other leader. Although the prince in war and leader of the Christian army that was set over them was that magnanimous conqueror of the Turks, John de Huniade, by whose strenuous virtue, industry and counsel provision was without doubt excellently made against dangers; yet he had no power to take counsel about the conduct of affairs or to draw up any battle lines without the old man's work. Why do I dwell on many things? The shrewd enemy mightily lay in wait for the Castle, on the land side alone with one hundred and twenty thousand light-armed men, and on the Danube with sixty-four triremes, not counting the smaller vessels, brought force to bear, and with dreadful engines near three hundred put in position and other instruments of war, stormed it; towers collapsed, unharmed in many wars of old; walls were levelled with the ground; it was fought on both sides with all their strength; by a most bloody slaughter the Turks took possession of the fortress, the citadel however being preserved.

[17] and he obtains a notable victory. O unusual kind of war! O almighty hand! O Christian faith! Who in our ages has heard of most ardent, most cunning, most experienced fighters being overcome, driven off and routed with the utmost disgrace by nearly unarmed countryfolk, by ploughmen, by humble shepherds? They withdrew without glory who twice gloriously possessed the town; they turned their backs on the fortress, they who subjected the East; in dismay they loved flight, who in name and in fact alike put to flight nearly the whole world. This victory, lost indeed to human ingenuity, Mary Magdalen, who overcame seven demons, implored for us from heaven on her birthday ^c. The enemy therefore having been routed, the weary old man granted himself leave, he who to his last breath never spared himself in most rapid hastenings about, in the heats of the sun, in sleepless darkness, in thirst, hunger and many calamities, by which, alas, he wholly exhausted his too frail little body. Here, however, the hand of the Lord denied the old man the palm of martyrdom, which he had long coveted; for since he greatly desired to attain it among the encountering wedges of troops, he deliberately exposed himself to dangers, javelins, missiles and innumerable arrows, which, while they harmed, killed and mortally wounded very many, left him, flying around him, unhurt and untouched. He sometimes went boldly before all as first, hurrying as best he could with his staff, to make the Christians more daring. And when very often, at the urging of his companions, he was being called back from the very jaws of death with repeated cries: "Do not go, Father, do not go, Father, you will give to death *," "For this I came," he replied.

ANNOTATIONS.

* austerum?

* perhaps divinum officium or divinas Laudes should be added

* Arsacis

* add te non

CHAPTER III.

Of his last illness, death and burial.

Afflicted with a most grievous illness The Almighty, I say, denied him a brief martyrdom; but with bitter ill health, brought on by excessive labours, he began to visit him on the VIII of the Ides of August: for he was incessantly tormented by long-lasting fevers and an irreversible flux for sixty-eight days ^a: these being followed by the heaviness of haemorrhoids, the pain of stone and gravel, the stabs of the flank, and a long-lasting breaking of the thighs. All of which, ever praising and glorifying God and assigning them to his own demerits, he bore with great spirit. And although he was gravely ill, yet he always aspired to such an expedition against the enemies of the faith, wholly resolving to meet death for Christ either in the camp or in battle, from which resolve, though the hardships of miseries were put before him, we could by no means recall his spirit: until on the birthday of the glorious Virgin a divine oracle made him more certain of his falling asleep ^b. And now gathering the appointed limits, which cannot be passed, he rested joyfully on the divine will.

[19] St. Capistran prays for the people, One piety, however, pressed deep in his spirit: that since he saw that he would be no small aid to the Christian religion, and all the hope of the German nations had been placed in him for protecting the Catholic commonwealth, he was being taken from the midst, often feeling with Martin: "Lord, if I am still necessary to your people, I do not refuse the labour; yet your will be done." He bewailed exceedingly the miserable events which he knew would one day come. For this reason he assiduously besought the merciful God with flowing tears, saying: "Spare, O Lord, spare your people, and do not give your inheritance to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Have mercy, O Lord, have mercy on us. Have mercy on your Christian people, whom you have redeemed with your precious blood. Lord God, kind and merciful, do not do to us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities." And in short he tearfully offered such pious prayers of the Scriptures, in which he overflowed abundantly, from his innermost heart for appeasing God.

[20] and great calamities Nor is it a wonder: for since he was frequently made a sharer in divine revelations, it may not be out of place for the present to set forth just one. When we were setting out from the remote parts of Transylvania to Buda, to the Legate of the Apostolic see, a certain special reason stood in our way: on the Ides of January it was necessary to stop in the town of Temesvár for three days. The old man, exceedingly watchful, at times released from cares, was wont to allow himself rest; he lay down, I alone as his companion; I stretched myself out opposite his feet; a light sleep overcame me; I thought the father, who always leaned on spiritual things, was about to sleep; whether he slept or was wrapped in rapture I do not know: a little later, myself lightly drowsing, I perceived him sighing from the bottom of his breast, I observed him pouring forth sobs abundantly with tears, he redoubled them, and as the sorrow of his heart grew, there grew a certain hoarse and bitterer murmur in his throat. I stiffened, conjecturing what adversity had happened, and yet I noted it; his lament broke out into speech; I sprang up asking, what calamity presses you? He wept, and again: "Tell the cause of your grief, I beseech you, Father?" He lamented; running, I called the brethren, bidding them hurry, as they rushed up, "Alas, what is it?" We saw him bathed all over with tears; we asked, we felt him, we consoled him; he went on with his pitiable mourning, crying out with raised voice: "Have mercy, have mercy, have mercy, Lord God most clement, have mercy on the people redeemed by your most precious blood; have mercy by your wounds, have mercy by your Holy Cross, have mercy by your death." And recounting each of the mysteries of the last passion, for a long time he cried Miserere. When at last he drew breath we importunately waited: What was the reason for the distress and sadness?

[21] he foretells: Compelled by the importunate ones he said: "Although as an old and decrepit man of seventy-one years I may be judged to be raving strongly , yet these things are necessary under the eyes of the divine majesty; for so many adversities, so many misfortunes, so many and so great calamities and straits I beheld in one brief moment that are to shake the world, as many and as great as have not been from the beginning, and of all these the event will be the proof; but may my words by no means fall away from you?" We, unconsidering, thought nothing of it then; but truly, as to what was afterwards done, and what is being done, whether they are to be held laughable and as ravings, let those who have experienced them declare, to whose posterity the plain monuments of evils will stand . For God sometimes signified to his servant John what must soon come to pass; but of these things enough. For this reason he was given to tears, his sacred mind, joined by perpetual zeal to things above and to the saving Sacrifices, being the more fully intent on redeeming the coming oppressions. For, pressed by the mass of the body, his sacred spirit could not seem idle, but his solace was to give himself to the divine praises, to listen more attentively to Masses, to frequent confession, and most holily to communicate ^c.

[22] at last fortified with the Sacraments, And finally, demanding the wages of life, rejoicing now to be released, he wished to confess for the last time, to communicate, to be anointed and to commend his soul to God, not on a bed, not on soft things, not among delights, but on the floor; nonetheless than the others praying for himself: "Holy Mary, pray for me, Holy Abraham, pray for me," and repeating the rest, applauding and with hands raised in ordered alternation with dignity and reverence, more attentive than all those standing by, and so much more attentive that he quite often corrected and amended the hebdomadary when he pronounced less well and spoke barbarously. He survived us after this seven days, sustained by a single yolk of egg and three grapes. On the Saturday, then, on which the seraphic Father, when the first signal was being given for vespers, perfectly in possession of his mind and lively in sense, calling me by a nod to give him aid, wished to sit up, and bending his tottering head to my breast, his mouth gently and gradually opening, he left his lifeless body between my arms. Alas, bitter day, alas, tearful hour, alas, lamentable time! What stony heart, think you, abstained from a flood of tears? The Brethren wailed, the Brethren lamented, the Brethren kissed the blessed body, which, though previously fresh and most beautiful and shapely, from whose mouth namely, in private as in public, those beholding it as from an angelic face were expecting *, yet now exhausted it seemed far more beautiful and shapely, and as if smiling.

[23] he dies holily: We each complained at being orphaned of a most celebrated father, recalling his singular titles. "Wretched us," one said weeping, "how has fallen the crown of the Order, which above all adorned true Religion, multiplied cultivators and fields for divine cultivation, and was zealous for all to live well and blessedly." Another followed: "Who has passed the fortieth year of religion equally as this man, who ever more persevering than he? And more honourable, going with a straight and unstumbling foot?" But a third narrated: "Who indeed has loved the Church of God so fervently? Protected it so constantly? Increased it so unhesitatingly?" "You speak truly," said another, "but who among mortals has offered to God an unstained faith? Capistran." Who has led Jews, heretics and schismatics, almost innumerable, to the faith? Capistran. Who has preached God more abundantly, one God and the faith of Christ? Capistran. "I ask that this place of speaking be given to me," the next asked; "he attained the seventy-first year, small in stature, robust in strength, ready in wit, given to studies, unwearied in labours, composed in morals, proved in holiness; I surely have seen no one like him. Praise indeed fitly brings out the holiness of his life. For that among human beings he was refreshed by one meal daily, fasted continually, renounced flesh-meat, did not drink pure wine, never lay on feathers, ate sparingly, and laboured very much, I consider to be not of a human but of an angelic office."

[24] his praises the men of his household, "Though it may be lawful to remember all things, is it not evidently splendid," someone said, "that the Blessed Father excelled the others in dignity as he did in virtue; who, while he was judged austere, not only was subject to the words of his superiors, but delivered himself humbly to each even of the least of his companions?" He so observed the laws of poverty that he scarcely supplied the necessities of life, in order to repress pleasures the more diligently. For no one ever perceived in him any trace of an unchaste or dishonourable spirit. And what it now pleases me to say, he macerated his flesh, and over his flesh with the long-lasting harshness of a rough hair-shirt, and sometimes, when urged by sharper goads, mark this I beg you, he himself seared his genitals with a glowing iron. "Plainly," another discoursed, "he came down from highest Olympus, who was not so much pleasing to God by merits as famed for miracles by divine favour." For this reason those who never saw him loved, sought and venerated him on the sole testimony of his holiness. For kings, for princes, for the Pope, for nations eagerly called him with letters, with messengers and with ornate envoys; and that their wishes might be satisfied, they obtained it by apostolic mandates.

[25] For witnesses are the accepted customs of the supreme Roman Pontiffs, who with privileges, indults and graces entrusted the people of God committed to them to the upright man. Witnesses are the divine Emperors, who embraced him with great favour for concord, for peace, for the sum of the Commonwealth, for the amplitude of majesty, for the dignity of empire. Witnesses are the renowned kings, the most illustrious princes, the most distinguished magnates finally of both ecclesiastical and secular rank, who with ineffable piety, joy and veneration kept him, admitted him and held him dear. To which things there were as solemn testimony processions, immense preparations, religious spectacles and feast days. With such great celebration indeed every age went out to meet him as he approached and accompanied him as he departed, that they could not have venerated an Apostle of God more. But what need of words, someone announces. The day is short for numbering his lofty proclamations and glorious virtues.

[26] the body is shut in the tomb Now the report of his passing, swifter than the deed, going through the whole city, moved all; half-dead with grief they hastened in crowds, so thirsting to see the blessed body that it was dangerous for us to draw out the funeral for long. We took care therefore, and carried the most pleasing body to the church, to which the whole city had run in tears. With solemn exequies for seven days, with more than ordinary zeal, with hymns, praises and worthy honours: each according to his dignity filled the middle of the choir, with torches burning on all sides and an abundance of lights, with alternating watches and the warm care of the watchers, for fear of the body's being stolen it was kept unburied for these days. Lastly a chest, surrounded by iron plates, fortified with chains and five keys, shut in that blessed body, soft, flexible and in every way pliant, as if it were alive; and, sealed on all sides, it contains the intrepid limbs, an adorned tomb supports it ^d, where the signs and miracles of grace and very many gifts of God shine forth more and more from day to day.

[27] the charges brought against the Saint are refuted But because outstanding and flourishing virtue is envied, there is not lacking the imperfect care of mortals and the devouring spite of rivals, in whom there is too little of consideration or equity. For the whisperers charge that the old man was more than enough desirous of his own praise, and a somewhat irascible man. But truly, let no one be moved by a stain not unusual, since from the beginning of the ages through the envy of the devil death entered the world, and they follow him who are of his party; nor is this new to a prudent and sensible man, that biting rivals should emulate Capistran too, who gloried in nothing except in the praises of God, "because if they have persecuted me," says the Truth, "they will persecute you also." Why not then yield to the detractors, whom the old man himself, near to death, pardoning, said openly: "A number will disparage me, and bite with reproaches, but since our glory is the testimony of our conscience: Lord, spare them, I beseech you."

[28] the accusations, But as I reflect there comes to my mind that one may exceedingly rejoice in these ages of ours, because they have brought us a man whose light we have plainly seen shine before men, that they might see his good works; and we have so seen it shine, that they should glorify the Father who is in heaven. Nor is it to be feared that he should be blackened by rivals whom eternal light has made bright. Let the curses be torn out and be cut to pieces, let their very flanks burst, and with their rumours let them give to vice what they owe to virtue. For it is even lawful to be angry, and to have a sharp and troubled face and justice toward enemies, as is fitting. For the good old man was as greatly roused as he loved: the just and merciful man was angry at sins, yet did not at all hate, by which (as he asserted) the eye of charity would be extinguished. I confess indeed that he sometimes flared up at the wicked, but never at the good. For to such a man, according to the sacred sentence, God does not impute his sins, because he did not do those of others, because he did not approve negligence, because he did not keep silent about pride; because he remained in the unity of truth; wherefore let them cease to curse him whom Christ has blessed, and when they have judged themselves innocent, let them condemn the guilty one.

[29] and his detractors Let them consider more earnestly, I beg, lest they be punished by the vengeance of a just judgment; as most undoubtedly happened to a wanton man and a lascivious woman in a large city of Germany. For when the one discoursed how from the accursed lust for gaming certain chief crimes are wont to arise, the other man, taking it ill that the old man was hard on him (for he was wholly sunk in gaming, detesting the old man), flatly denied that so many capital crimes could arise from gaming, and that he therefore wished to lessen the desire of his mind, since gaming is the solace of life and the sharpener of wit. The other, when she understood that the natural and adulterine paints of women were condemned, chattering with a mad mind, assiduously disparaged the truth. O judgments of God, a great deep! Behold, the two, jointly trampling on the truth, the following night (God have mercy on me) at the same moment fell by sudden death. Terrified by the strangeness of it, the rest presented to the old man all their playthings * of gear and the wanton allurements of women, which were continually committed to the flames in public.

[30] are severely punished. Wherefore let those take thought for their own life who speak malignly of a man most upright, lest for love of the servant the Lord be angered, who was fittingly praised in his servants. I would set no limit on you if I were to try to disclose all things; yet I will console those who defer to the blessed man by the example of the detraction of a certain man, who, though he was a religious and acted less religiously, at length learned what is due to be deferred to the servants of God. Being wonderfully zealous for divine worship, the old man was sometimes co-opted, so that a religious cloister that had been in some way stifled should be * more frequented for the praise of God and the edification of the people. The superior of the place resisted, trusting less fully in God, bringing labourers into the vineyard of the Lord, dreading want; compelled by the zeal of the old man to till the Lord's field diligently, he murmured, spoke against him, did not think rightly: not long after, the old man died; seized by divine vengeance, the detractor, constricted by a bitter oppression of the breath, was nearly suffocated: he despaired in spirit, there came into his mind the grace of heavenly gifts which is bestowed through the merits of blessed John the Old Man on those asking in faith: contrite and suppliant, having made a vow of visiting the tomb, he was without delay rescued from the very jaws of death, as, with me as witness, he declared; he obtained pardon for his curse, saved, and from Saul was made Paul, and those who had disparaged him came to him and adored the traces of his feet.

[31] Epilogue. You have then, Father to be revered, in a brief tablet some things of the first institutions, of the plan of life, of the good progress, and of the profit of leisure, of the end of the pilgrimage of our Blessed Old Man, whom in heaven one may call a saint, scratched out with a hurried pen. Nor am I unaware how great a province I have undertaken, who imprudently attacked a matter unequal to my strength, so that I might lessen the integrity of the man, whose splendid deeds great volumes would fill; yet I preferred, according to my duty toward you, even with defect in the matter, to have satisfied your wish a little, than altogether insolently to have neglected it. But you, excellent Father, remake what has been done less correctly: and what is lacking, restore according to your singular prudence, maturity and facility of speaking. Farewell. From our convent of St. Theobald in the suburb of Vienna, on the fifteenth of the Kalends of July 1457 ^e.

ANNOTATIONS.

* VI of January

* thus in the manuscripts; perhaps sopiatur

* an forsitan?

* The evils from the heresies of the XVI century?

* pendebant?

* ludicra?

* perhaps erigeret

LIFE OF ST. JOHN OF CAPISTRANO,

Written by Brother Christopher of Varese, from the Ara Coeli manuscript.

Of John Christopher of Varese, companion of the Blessed Father John of Capistrano, on the Life of the same,

John of Capistrano, confessor of the Order of Friars Minor, at Villack in Pannonia. (S.)

BHL Number: 4363

BY CHRISTOPHER OF VARESE.

PROLOGUE.

Letter to Brother Gabriel of Verona. To the venerable Father Brother Gabriel of Verona, of the Order of Minors, most worthy vicar of the provinces of Austria, Bohemia, etc., Brother Christopher of Varese ^a, least and unworthy of the same Order, prompt obedience and all subjection. According to Your Paternity's desire, by God's aid, I have brought to a finish the Life and Deeds of our blessed Father Brother John of Capistrano. And because I know myself to be insufficient for these things, since a man of such great holiness required some most learned man who should describe his deeds in ordered and composed eloquence, I pray that you read through each thing, so that if you find anything less (orderly?) or less well placed, you may deign to emend and correct it at the discretion of your will. This order, however, as you will see in the course, I have observed: First, of his conduct in the world. Second, of his conversion to Religion. Third, of the probation of his novitiate. Fourth, of his profession and preaching. Fifth, of the persecution of Jews, heretics and schismatics. Sixth, of some

miracles performed. Seventh, of the multiplication of houses and brethren, and of the canonization of St. Bernardine. Eighth, of the manifold revelation made to him. Ninth, of the irradiation of his knowledge and his manifold disposition and the composition of very many little works. Tenth, of his mission to Germany, and the beginning of the province of Austria, and the working of miracles. Eleventh, of his entry into Hungary, and the defeat of the Turks, and his happy departure from this life. Twelfth, of the performance of his miracles after his death ^b.

PROLOGUE.

CHAPTER I.

The Saint's birth; his liberal education; his deeds in the world; his entry into the Order of Minors.

Born at Capistrano, and piously and liberally educated, Near the city of Aquila, in which the venerable body of St. Bernardine is laid, there is a certain very strong and comely town, by name Capistrano. From this the parents of our blessed Father Brother John, conspicuous in morals and life and kindred, drew their origin, and in the same town they begot and nourished him. While he was still a little boy, bereft of his father, who had entered on the way of all flesh, he showed to his surviving mother, as if already he were to be a future preacher of the Gospel, that he began to preach widowly continence and to allure her with coaxing words not to take another husband. He was thereafter given over to be imbued in the liberal arts; in which, beyond all his contemporaries, he advanced in so short a time that all marvelled at his subtle wit. Afterwards he was sent to the city of Perugia, to study there both pontifical and civil law. He remained there about ten years and so applied himself to that faculty that all who needed counsel, leaving aside doctors of no mediocre fame, ran to him for counsel. He would have been raised to the grade of doctor in both laws, but, still desiring the things of the world, that is, human glory, he was unwilling to be made a doctor in law unless he should at the same time receive the insignia of knighthood.

[2] he is betrothed to a girl of Perugia; Meanwhile, however, he betrothed a certain girl, distinguished in beauty and nobility, who was to succeed to a most opulent paternal inheritance ^c. And fortune, smiling on him, so made him most dear and most friendly to the king of that kingdom that he committed to him cities and castles of no small estimation, and bestowed great gifts on him. While he was conducting the government of the said cities and towns, he carried out all things with such wisdom and prudence, arranged all things with such maturity, punished the wicked with such severity of justice, and finally cherished the good with such clemency, that his fame was spread on all sides, and from day to day he was made dearer and more familiar to the king. All things succeeding prosperously for him, he was honoured by all, so that a man believed himself happy who could be joined to him in friendship: from which his mind, wholly given to the world and to the honours of the world, turned less to the things of God; but walking after the blandishments of that world, this alone he busied himself day and night, how he might be pleasing according to the * to his earthly king.

[3] and when all things were succeeding prosperously, Yet there was in his heart such compassion toward the poor and the troubled that he both helped them with his resources as far as he could, and consoled them with sweet words. But also zeal for justice had so possessed him that he could in no way be torn from it by prayer or by price, by love or by hatred. Therefore in the cities and towns committed to him such peace and security prevailed that each one possessed his property securely, and, as is commonly said, a quiet road was afforded to anyone, even one carrying gold in his hands. For, terrified by his zeal for justice, robbers had gone far away, and he had driven from the country thieves and plunderers and also invaders of other property. I say nothing of his other virtues with which the Most High had adorned him. For prudence, temperance, fortitude, magnificence, liberality and the other virtues so adorned that young man that if I should wish to narrate each one, I fear that our discourse would be stretched out too long.

[4] a civil faction suddenly prevailing, Wishing therefore, the merciful God, who in his ineffable mercy does not cease in each age to visit the world through his saints, in this evil time in which the charity of all has now grown cold and in nearly every estate iniquity abounds, to destine this blessed man as a burning torch and an evangelical herald to all the people; in order to draw him back from the love of the world, in which he was wholly wrapped, he permitted him to fall into various temptations; and he afflicted him with tribulations and vexations, that from them he might be instructed and might gain the understanding of serving God. And thus it came about that, an ambush being laid for him by the rivals both of the king he was serving and his own, he was captured and consigned to close custody. For they thought that they had found a great treasure when they were keeping so distinguished a man, bound to the king by such friendship, in chains. For while, detained in chains, he was inclining his clean mind to the service of God, yet he was continually hoping to be freed from chains by the king's support and to return to his former honours. But the God of mercies, who, now by sad things, now by joyful, does not cease to call his elect to serve him; seeing that his mind had not yet been changed by the chains, began by certain revelations to incline the spirit of his elect to his obedience.

[5] he is thrust into prison, On a certain occasion, then, when he was placed in bitterness, and was thinking various things, as is the custom of such men when imprisoned, there appeared to him a certain man clothed in the habit of the Friars Minor, directing his eyes on the man of God: and when he had looked at him, his heart was softened with such tenderness that his eyes burst forth as if into a river of tears, and from the depths of his heart there overflowed moanings and sighs in no small measure. Who could doubt that that brother was the Seraphic Father Francis, who rejoiced in the so great increase of his Order to be brought about through this man, and for that reason had come, sent by God, to console him, as his future faithful son and most diligent observer of his Rule? And at the same time, as it seemed to him, a certain ray of sunlight was issuing from a crack in the prison, which was seen as if to illuminate the whole world. This without doubt signified that the man of God was to be a light of the nations, and by his wonderful life, by examples of holiness and by splendid doctrine was to illuminate the world. Yet not yet understanding from the foregoing visions what was being done about him, he had not recalled his spirit from the blandishments of the world, nor had he inclined his mind in any way to the entering of Religion: because truly it is difficult for those who have subjected themselves to riches and honours to spring back from them any further except by the greatest violence.

[6] in which, refreshed by a heavenly vision, A third time, then, when he had given himself to sleep, and had thought nothing earlier about any Religion, the most clement God, wishing by an evident sign to bring him to Religion, arranged that the hair should fall from the crown of the sleeper's head, so that, the crown deprived of hair, he seemed to bear a tonsure in the likeness of the Friars Minor, which afterwards for the whole time of his life, being in religion, he always had as the sign of a miracle. Nor at any time while he lived was a razor necessary for him to shave the tonsure arranged by the hand of God. When he awoke from sleep and felt himself deprived, on the crown of his head in the manner of a tonsure, of his most beautiful hair, in which earlier, as a comely youth, he had taken great satisfaction: at first glance, as if indignant, he burst forth in words like these: "Since I have no affection for Religion, I wonder at you, almighty God, that you propose to make me a religious against my will." I do not know which of these we ought to wonder at more, whether the Lord so sweetly calling, or the servant so strongly resisting; but we can rightly admire both: namely the exceeding clemency of the Lord calling, who had decreed to illuminate the world through this great vocation, and the very great humility of the servant resisting, who judged himself unworthy of divine revelations, and did not easily lend belief to visions of this kind, after the fashion of a number of proud men who have been deceived by them, but, as the Apostle teaches, first "wished to prove whether the spirit was from God or not." I Joan. IV, 1.

[7] he himself sews a Minorite garment for himself, When therefore he gradually recognized the divine vocation, inflamed by the Holy Spirit he at once joined his will to the divine will with his whole heart: and inclined his mind wholly to entering the Order of blessed Francis of the Observance. Thereafter with his whole heart he began to think of every way in which he might fulfil so holy a purpose, which, by God's inspiration, he had firmly conceived in his mind. At last, calling the keeper of the prison to him, he began to ask him with what prayers he could, to bring to the prison for him grey cloth, in which the Friars of the Observance of St. Francis are wont to be clothed, shears, thread and a needle, promising him that he would restore everything and more, if God should free him from the prison. The keeper of the prison, who loved him greatly for his virtues, assented to his will, and without delay brought the requested things to him in the prison. Having received them, he prepared a habit for himself, as best he knew and could, and, having taken off the secular garments with which he was clothed, weeping with the greatest devotion, he put on the habit which he had prepared at the decree of the Holy Spirit: firmly purposing in his heart that he would never again lay it aside, judging that from this he would be a most true imitator of the Seraphic Father Francis, who, as we are taught by the writings of our predecessors, in a similar way made and put on his first habit for himself.

[8] and with some nevertheless suspecting deceit, When those who were keeping him in chains heard these things, smiling they began to utter words such as these: "We know the wickednesses and cunning of his heart: he labours in vain, believing that by these malicious tricks he can deceive us, and by such pretences escape from our hands; we will multiply guards and chains upon him, and we will see whether his machinations can free him from our power." These words were reported to the man of God; on hearing them he at once gave himself wholly to prayer, and with what prayers he could he commended his cause to the Lord, saying: "You, Lord, who have deigned to put this holy will into my heart, dispose of me your servant according to the pleasure of your will; for whether I die in prison or out of it, I am yours. To you I have voluntarily offered the two mites which I had, that is, body and soul, and as far as I can I offer them. For it is not unknown to me that, since I have vowed myself to serve you perpetually in this religion, it no longer lies with me either to will or not to will; let your will be done, then, most high God, in all things."

[9] the sincerity of his conversion But because God had care of his servant, not long after he put it into the hearts of those who were detaining him to inquire into the truth of the matter, namely whether he was proceeding in this business genuinely or in pretence. Coming therefore to the place in which he was detained, they began skilfully to probe him as to why he was striving to deceive them with such fraudulence, that is, by the wearing of a religious habit; to whom he said: "I am not deceiving you, nor was it ever my custom to pretend, but to proceed openly in all the things done by me." He added also: "Have some Brothers of the Observance, who have experience of these matters, come to me, in whom you too may have confidence, and they will inform you more fully whether my vocation is feigned or true." There was summoned meanwhile a Brother of the Observance of no small estimation, venerable in morals and life, most welcome and acceptable to all who knew him on account of the holiness of his life: who also had had full knowledge of the servant of God while all things were still succeeding prosperously for him. Coming to the place of the prison and seeing him clothed in I know not what badly made habit of religion, smiling he said: "What kind of Religious habit, Lord John, have you assumed?" To him he fully disclosed with many tears, from beginning to end, all the things which had been done about him by the hand of the Lord, and the manner in which they had happened. In testimony of the foregoing he also showed his head, divinely made bald on the crown in the manner of a tonsure.

[10] a Fratre noreproba That religious devoted to God, understanding that that wonderful change was not feigned but most true, and that the aforesaid visions were not fantastic but divine, not a little gladdened in mind, hastened to those who were keeping him bound, and narrated to them in order the series of the whole matter. He then added: "Do not doubt in anything, because in truth he has been converted with his whole heart without any pretence, intending wholly, despising the delights of the world and the flesh, to serve the Lord faithfully in our Order. And if you wish, hold me as hostage for him, until you see to what end the business comes. But if you do not doubt that my words are true, I pray you, for the love of God and of our Order, to release him free, so that he may carry out his holy will inspired in him by God." On hearing these things their hearts were softened, and, acquiescing in the prayers both of the venerable brother himself and of the servant of God, they released him free. Having then resumed his former garments, he came to the city of Perugia, in which he was known to nearly everyone, with the said Brother. Seeing him, the people of his household, filled with joy and likewise with wonder, solicitously inquired how he had escaped from the hands of his enemies. He came to the said city for this reason, not that he had any further care of visiting friends, since he had already wholly trampled down the world in his mind, but that where he had earlier offered examples of pride and vanity through his dissolute ways, he might offer examples of humility and holiness through an unheard-of conversion to God and casting off of the world.

[11] quaprop vinculis ratur: Not many days after, then, armed with power from on high, being now wholly disposed for entering the Order, desiring to be sated with reproaches and mockeries for the Name of Jesus, he had all his sins, and many more than he had done, painted on a certain mitre, and on the mitre he wrote: "This is that malefactor who has committed all the misdeeds painted on this mitre and much greater." This mitre, painted and written as has been said, he fervently placed on his head, and, set upon a cheap little ass, he had himself carried through the whole city of Perugia, always having on his head the mitre on which the sins he had done were open to all: surely an imitator of him who was not ashamed to bear a crown of thorns on his most holy head for our sins. Those who had known him earlier, seeing him, were moved, some to blushing, who were joined to him in friendship; some to laughter, who thought him mad; but some to bitter tears, who perfectly understood his conversion. Boys also, hurrying after him, threw stones and mud at him, he being in truth about to become a true disciple of our most blessed Father Francis, who at the beginning of his conversion was pelted with mud and stones by boys who thought him mad. But the heralds or sbirri ^d too, seeing so many and such great crimes painted on his mitre, which he had nevertheless not committed, brought him to judgment. Asked by the judge whether he had committed such offences, he humbly answered: "I am the greatest of sinners, and I have merited every kind of torment beyond thieves, robbers and murderers." When the judge and those who were with him recognized the fervour of his devotion, as prudent men they praised his most holy will, and rebuking the heralds who had brought him, permitted him to go away.

[12] and he goes to the convent of the Friars Minor: Sated therefore, as has been said, with tribulations, derision and reproaches, and having trampled the pomp of the world, he hastened to the place of the Friars Minor of the Observance situated outside the city of Perugia, which place is called al Monte ^e, in which Blessed Brother Giles, companion of Blessed Francis, is read to have performed many miracles. There, prostrate at the feet of the Brothers, he began most humbly to beg that the habit of the sacred Religion should be given to him and he be placed in the number of the Brothers. The Brothers (who are not wont to allure anyone with blandishments to enter Religion), declaring to the full fasts, vigils, prayers, disciplines, bareness of feet, the utmost want of things and the other things of this kind, asked him whether he was ready to endure such things. To them he, inflamed by the wonderful heat of divine fire, answered with a cheerful face and a joyful voice: "I am ready to suffer not only what you have said, but much greater things, for the name of him who willed to be born into this world and to die for our salvation, with a willing spirit until the day of my death."

[13] in which with the greatest fervour On hearing these things the brothers, greatly consoled at his so great fervour, his secular garments cast off, conferred on him with great devotion the habit of the sacred Religion, and made him a notable soldier of Christ with knightly arms. At once the report was spread on all sides that St. John of Capistrano had become a religious. On account of which the whole city, placed in wonder, seemed to speak of nothing else but this celebrated deed. But his betrothed too, of whom it was told above, understanding this, breaking out in many tears because of the excessive love with which she most tenderly loved him, ran in haste to the cloister, and besought the Brothers with groans and tearful cries that she might be permitted to speak with her betrothed, who had left everything: the Brothers refused, and constantly affirmed that this was by no means lawful for her. But at last, moved by the excessive importunity of the woman, trusting nevertheless in the Brother's constancy, wisdom and gravity, they assented with difficulty, and agreed that she should speak to him.

[14] the foundations of future How many tears, what sweet words, how many prayers she poured out to call him back from his purpose, let him who reads understand. But he, who had already tasted the spirit, on account of which all flesh had become insipid, stood in no way broken or changed: but with kind voice and lowered eyes he began to instruct her to persist in virginity and to serve the Most High. Understanding therefore that her betrothed, founded on the firmest rock, could in no way be changed, she bound herself by a firm pledge never to wish to take any other as husband. To her he foretold, prophesying, the vengeance of God that would fall on her if she should act against her promise; which also came about. For, made inconstant after the manner of women, and wholly forgetting her former betrothed, to her own damnation she took on another, by whom she had a daughter, who died in a short time. And she herself, seized by a long-lasting languor, was finally consumed by a growing leprosy.

[15] of holiness, through the exercise The servant of Christ therefore began in the year of his novitiate to act manfully, and to put on the new man, wholly laying aside the old. And because he knew that nothing could be built above if the foundation was lacking; at the very beginning of his conversion he so gave himself up to devotion that all the brothers foretold he would be a man of great holiness. For quite often, ruminating on the Passion of Christ in his heart, he poured out tears on his cheeks, his breast and the ground, and, as if he wished to be wholly dissolved, he sighed with very great groans. The Mother of God he named with great affection and greeted her very often with the Angel Gabriel, knowing that no one could attain the palm without the help of the glorious Virgin. How great was his humility and patience can shine out clearly from the few things which I will relate. For although he had been of such knowledge, prudence and sagacity, and of such great reputation in the world, nevertheless the Brothers, who are wont to spare no one entering our Religion from proving whether he is of clay or of silver, in order to found him in humility, placed him under the rule of a certain lay brother, a man of great austerity and holiness ^f; who began to take most diligent care of him, seeking out all ways by which to make him humble and patient, and to instruct him in religious morals. Every day, then, he rebuked him and imposed new penances on him. For sometimes he enjoined disciplines, sometimes fasts, sometimes only the eating of bread and drinking of water, at times that he should eat on bended knee on the ground before the brothers sitting at table, and other mortifications and penances of this kind.

[16] of Christian humility But the servant of Christ, forgetting all smattering of knowledge and worldly wisdom, so obeyed that lay brother in all things as if he had been a man of great literature or the minister general. For which reason he not only fulfilled all the foregoing gratefully and with a joyful spirit, but begged that such penances be enjoined on him more often. Because, as was touched on above, he was held a man of great counsel and prudence or knowledge by the citizens and others coming to him for counsel, the Brothers at times could not deny them his presence: and so when, counsel having been given, they withdrew, that lay brother, lest some smoke of vain glory should invade his mind, attacked him like a prudent physician, saying with boorish words: "O proud one, do you now believe that you are something? Why did you not stay in the world, if you wished to follow such vanities?" And he said many other things, crying out over him; the poor novice knelt down, and, humbly bending his head, endured everything most patiently.

[17] and of austerity he laid. On a certain occasion, when the most severe fevers held him and he could not be healed, that brother began a certain little broth, which, still fiery, seething and very hot, he brought to the sick disciple, and enjoined him to drink it off thus, so boiling. He, wishing to do this, and hoping in holy obedience, drank it off thus steaming and hissing with heat. Marvellous indeed to tell! the little broth, thus received through obedience, did him no harm at all, and wholly put the fevers to flight. When he was asked whether he had feared to drink it, "I believed," he said,

"that it must wholly burn both my throat and my tongue, but trusting in holy obedience, I received it, though nature shrank from it." On another occasion, when some cloths were to be washed by the novices, as is the custom, the novices stood around and did not presume to touch the cloths, because the water was hissing with excessive heat. That lay brother, coming up and, as must be believed, taught by the spirit of God, leaving the other novices in peace, harassed this one alone with words, calling him lazy, sleepy and negligent. Then, taking a very hot cloth, he threw it in his face: feeling its heat and burning, he humbly knelt before his master, believing that his whole face was flayed and that he had lost the light of his eyes, but, because of the merit of humility and patience, no sign of burning at all appeared on him. Proved in manifold other ways by that brother, he most evidently showed of what great holiness he was to be. Of that lay brother he very often related of his master: "I give thanks to almighty God, that he deigned to provide me with such a master. For if he had not been so austere toward me, I could never have acquired the virtue of humility and patience." These were the golden foundations of the Blessed Father, these the marble columns upon which he afterwards built so splendid an edifice.

ANNOTATIONS.

* add: sæculum

CHAPTER II.

Of his profession and preaching.

Having made his regular profession, When the time of profession came, because according to the Rule of the Seraphic Father Francis, at the end of the year of probation, novices who have lived laudably in the year of novitiate are to be received for profession ^a, the servant of the Lord began humbly to ask the Brothers, kneeling before them and pouring out tears most abundantly, that they would deign to receive him for profession; but nevertheless asserting that he was unworthy of so great a benefit of God, especially because, being himself the greatest sinner, he did not merit to be counted in the company of the servants of God. And because it is the mark of good minds to acknowledge fault where there is no fault, he accused himself of many transgressions committed in the year of novitiate, such as disobedience, negligence and many others. But the Brothers, considering his most profound humility, his frequent prayers, his lively wit and his ardent desire, received him for profession not so much willingly as longingly, with great desire.

[19] and having set new ascents in his heart, After profession, from humble he became more humble, from devout more devout, from fervent most fervent: for he frequently swept the house, washed the dishes, served the Brothers, and, a true imitator of Francis and Anthony and Bonaventure, performed other works of humility. When therefore the time came at which the Lord had decreed to send him into his vineyard, the servant of Christ went forth like a roaring lion, and like a heavenly trumpet, lifting up his voice, he announced according to the prophetic saying to all peoples their crimes and sins, going about from place to place with the greatest fervour; and he demonstrated most clearly from the divine Scriptures that vices were to be shunned and virtues embraced. But, a true imitator of God, lest his speech be held contemptible, he not only preached, but carried out much greater works of perfection.

[20] he begins to announce the word of God Whence, continually traversing various cities in order to pour forth the divine words in them, he used neither horse nor ass nor any other beast of burden, but placed on his own shoulders only the little books granted for his use, and carried them on all sides; until, hindered by old age and by arduous business for the Catholic faith, compelled by necessity, he was forced to do otherwise. After long and most fervent sermons, though greatly fatigued by the movements of his body and his loud cries, yet reckoning that he had done nothing, he would take his little sack, and with a companion beg necessities from door to door, following Blessed Francis, who, sometimes invited to the table of the rich, yet begged bread for the love of God, as more welcome to him. He walked with bare feet, nor, however severe the cold, did he wear shoes; and he put a rough hair-shirt on his naked little body for many years; but who could narrate his abstinence and the sparingness of his life?

[21] the supreme penance From the time he entered Religion until his death, he never ate except once a day, and on that occasion was content with a modest food that would scarcely have sufficed for an infant of six years. He never used flesh-meat unless necessity pressed or obedience compelled. The Brothers, fearing at times that he would fail through excessive labours and debility, sometimes begged the supreme Pontiff to command him to eat meat, which he took with such sparingness and bitterness of heart that their use seemed rather for penance than for any refreshment. Therefore he practised fasts on bread and water, continual disciplines and other macerations of the flesh, by which he led the enemy of his own house under the bridle of reason, and compelled the flesh to serve the spirit. For fortified with these rigours of abstinence, armed with these virtues, he set forth the word of God with all confidence, the Lord working with him and confirming the word by the signs that followed. Marc. XVI, 20

[22] joining with most ardent zeal, For, clothed with power from on high, he was heard by all, invited by peoples; that city reckoned itself blessed which merited to enclose him: for which reason some cities obtained him from the Pope, some from the Protector of the Order, that he should come to them to preach. The people flowed together from all sides to his sermons, and quite often in such a multitude that scarcely a church or any square could hold it. For very often fifty thousand, eighty thousand, a hundred thousand, a hundred and fifty thousand were counted at his sermons; the shops, * men abstained from labours as if some solemn feast were being kept. If I should wish to narrate the richer fruits which he gathered into the Lord's barn, running through all the regions of the Christians, namely through all Italy, through France, through Germany, through Poland, through Hungary, through Bohemia, etc., I confess my lack of skill, because I am not sufficient, and a book of great volume could not hold it: everywhere he brought mortal enemies to friendship by sermons, prayers, threats and other means that he could.

[23] peace and concord, And that it may be understood how great was the efficacy of his speech in reconciling enemies, there happened in a certain city of Italy a certain wicked affair, most horrible to hear. Two shepherds, advanced in age, when they had burned with lust for a certain boy keeping the flock, and he would not consent to them in the unnamable vice "on account of which the wrath of God comes upon the children of unbelief," Ephes. V, 6. those men, indignant, seized the boy, killed him, opened his belly, and taking the liver with the heart and the other innards, cooked them, and with unheard-of madness, blinded by the devil, invited the boy's father to eat with them. The poor little father ate unknowingly the innards of his son, and praised them as good and sweet to eat. But because there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, after the meal those murderers fled. When the boy did not return, he was sought here and there and found dead and disembowelled. The crime was made known, and no small rumour thundered forth.

[24] the forgiveness of injuries, How great was the grief of the father, especially because he had eaten the innards of his son, how great the indignation against those malicious men, how great finally the wrath of the whole people against them, no one of sane mind should doubt. When the saint of God came to that city, those malefactors came to him and humbly set forth the case that had happened, so that he might be willing to reconcile them with the boy's father and with the whole city, offering themselves to any penance, and promising wholly to amend their life. The man of God was aghast on hearing so wicked a crime, and vehemently rebuked them; nevertheless, moved by piety, he urged them to penance, asserted the great mercy of God, and promised to interpose his powers between them and the father of the slain boy and also the city. Why say more? So fervently he preached on peace, on the love of enemies, on the mercy of God, on the last judgment, that in the presence of all the people, all weeping, the father of the dead boy embraced the said murderers in sign of peace.

[25] flight from secular vanities, Everywhere on earth, then, considering that our Lord Jesus Christ, coming into the world, brought peace, withdrawing from the world left peace, preaching in the world taught peace, he brought long-standing enmities back to peace, and rooted out long-lasting rancours from the hearts of men. This he did not only in individual persons, but he also calmed intestine wars arising from opposing parties: and he made friends of cities quarrelling with one another: so too the city of Aquila, against which destruction was being prepared by the most powerful king of Aragon, he freed from danger by his prayers and labours. His words were not, as is read of St. Francis, empty nor worthy of laughter; they penetrated the marrow of the heart: therefore many most obstinate and hardened sinners, of whom there was no hope of conversion, were subdued to penance by his fiery sermons. Thieves, robbers, usurers and holders of others' property in various parts of the world, compelled by conscience, hastened to give back what they had unjustly taken. Likewise dishonourable women, leaving off prostitution, either married or otherwise served the Lord.

[26] and of dice With such fervour and loud cries he exclaimed against dicers and other gamesters that in nearly all the cities in which he preached there were gathered together all the gaming boards, cards, chessmen and devices of other games; and when these had been gathered and brought into a heap, the holy Father ordered them to be set alight in the presence of all the people, that thus the devil, the inventor of games, might be confounded, God glorified, and men kept away from games. And because such an act was most pleasing to God, it pleased his majesty to show certain wonders in that very act. In a certain city of Italy, when the aforesaid instruments of games were being burned, for the greater confusion of the devil a certain most foul image of a demon, painted on paper, had been placed on the heap of instruments to be burned; and a violent smoke, coming out from the gaming boards, lifted it up into the height of the air as all looked on; and seeing it rising aloft, he commanded in the hearing of all, saying: "In the power of our Lord Jesus Christ I command you to return quickly to the place from which you have withdrawn: let there be no delay." And behold, before all the image itself, falling by a straight line of smoke into the fire, was burned.

[27] he preaches through Italy, Germany and Poland; While he was preaching on this matter in a certain city of Germany, by name Ratisbon, and the people were bringing the gaming boards in crowds to the burning, a certain priest of no small estimation, moved by envy, began to disparage the man of God, and to rebuke certain persons for acting foolishly. O judgments of God! That night on which he had disparaged him, he was found dead. When the Blessed Father was preaching in a certain city of Poland, by name Cracow, and men were bringing (as was the custom) instruments of games to be burned, it happened that a fire breaking out by chance burned a little of that house in which the gaming boards had been gathered. Seeing this a certain man began to disparage all, asserting that this had happened on account of the sin of credulity, because the people too easily believed that gaming was so great a sin. That fire ceased in a short time, and on the same day the house of the detractor was almost wholly consumed by fire. Other signs of this kind have been seen in various parts of the world: but let the foregoing suffice as recited. One thing, however, must not be omitted, that on account of his most fervent sermons against gamesters, statutes were made in various cities of the world, against the consent of all, strengthened by grave penalties, that no one should presume to play at dice in public. That readers may understand more clearly how living and effective was the word which proceeded from the mouth of John the servant of God, and how pleasing he was to God, I have thought it right not to pass over in silence certain wonderful things that were seen at his sermons.

[28] God too by signs Once, while he was preaching in a certain city, and the multitude of the peoples were listening to his word, above his head three most beautiful little birds, otherwise unknown in those parts, began to flutter in the air without his knowledge, and did not go away from there. The people, marvelling at those little birds, pointed them out to one another with the finger. The divine herald wondered what this was, and at last, looking above his head, with immense joy he saw the little birds, which forthwith disappeared, and were never seen again. At another time, when he was labouring to re-establish peace between the people of Aquila and the king of Aragon, and was preaching before the king in the city of Tivoli, the chattering cicadas pressed on so with their cries that they afforded no little hindrance to the divine word; and he, rebuking them with fervour, commanded them in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ to be silent; at which command they all fell silent, nor was any heard any more as long as the sermon lasted.

[29] and prodigies In the parts of Lombardy, in the Val Tellina, in a certain town which is called Morgobegnuum ^b, while the wonderful herald was preaching the Gospel, and a multitude of people had gathered around, the clouds began to thicken and the air to grow dark, and since he was preaching in the field, the people began to dread the rain to come. Yet in their eagerness to hear the word of God, no one withdrew from the place. Seeing this, he together with the people poured out a brief little prayer to God, and behold, the rain fell all around, and only that space which was covered by the Blessed Father and his hearers remained free from rain. So not the least drop of water wetted that ground nor any of the hearers, the waters rushing outside the circle and running down in rivulets from the excessive rain ^c. Stupefied, they were touched by the strangeness of the miracle, and were bound to the man of God with such great devotion that they compelled him (though unwilling) to leave them the cloak he was wearing for a memorial. This they keep to this day with great devotion, and through it many benefits of God have been shown through the merits of blessed John.

[30] cooperating Similarly in a certain city of Hungary, by name Taurinum ^d, it happened, when he was preaching before the bishop of that city and an innumerable multitude of people which no church could hold, that such a flood of rain came on that all those standing by were soaked. When he asked them whether they wished to withdraw, they answered that with one accord they wished to bear the rain with a willing spirit. He exhorted the people, therefore, to pray to God; and at once, after saying "Our Father" and "Hail Mary" and two collects, namely "O God who the hearts of the faithful" and that for fair weather, immediately the rain ceased, and, the clouds disappearing, the sun at once shone out as before. Similar things are read to have been done by our Blessed Father Anthony. At the same time, in the said city of Taurinum, into the very arms of the preacher, before the bishop and very many other prelates and barons and an innumerable multitude of people, a certain sparrow flew so tamely that it could have been caught by him. The Father smiled and urged it to fly away; it, fluttering about the ambo, being called again by him, placed itself a second time between his arms; afterwards it settled in the bosom of the bishop, as all marvelled. But if any city despised his sermons or took no care to correct itself of vices, when the messenger of God preached a judgment to come upon it, not long after that city did not escape the hand of God in his fury.

[31] to his servant John. But how true his words were, experience proves. Whence, when in a certain city of Apulia the people were obstinate and would in no way correct themselves at his sermons, by divine judgment so great a multitude of mice grew up in that whole territory that it consumed all green things and roots. Those who were negligent before ran to the friend of God, promised to amend, and humbly begged him to entreat God for them. He prayed God that the plague should cease, and at once all the mice fell dead in such a multitude that they almost covered the whole land. All feared an infection of the air from so great a multitude of dead mice, but the man of God ordered pits to be made and all the mice to be buried in them. And so it came about that those who earlier would not believe words, on seeing so great a miracle, afterwards believed. Why do I delay further, if I should wish to narrate every single thing that was done at his sermons? I fear to generate tedium for my hearers from the excess of things to be said; so let the foregoing suffice for devout readers. From them they can draw how great was the power of his words and how great the fruit that followed. Well therefore did the Minister General, Brother Anthony of Pereto ^e, since he was High Priest of that year Joan. XI, 51, prophesy of him. For he, when John was still a novice, calling him to himself and considering in him the elegance of his person, his most fervent zeal, the beauty of his knowledge and the sharpness of his intellect, said: "If this young man lives and perseveres, he will be a great crown of our Order, a mirror and exemplar of the Christian people."

ANNOTATIONS.

* add claudebantur

CHAPTER III.

Deeds of the saint against Jews, heretics and schismatics.

He pursues the Jews, Burning with zeal for the orthodox faith, this most devout man, though, as has been noted, he was the exterminator of all evils and sins, yet blazed up especially against three kinds of men, namely Jews, heretics and schismatics, that he might either convert them to the faith, or subject them to the laws, or wholly eradicate them. For considering that the most faithless Jews, after their other malices and hardness of heart, continually blaspheme the honey-flowing Name of our Lord Jesus Christ and of his glorious Mother the Virgin Mary, he was moved with such indignation against them that, had it been possible, he would have repelled them from the whole Christian people. Observing, however, that they were placed among the worshippers of Christ as a testimony to the death and burial of Christ, as the Saviour says, this generation shall not pass until all things come to pass, and for this reason the Church bears with them, though faithless, concerning the norm of living delivered to them, in ways

all that he could, he laboured that the ecclesiastical statutes issued against them should be observed throughout the whole world. In those ecclesiastical statutes it is contained and most strictly commanded that the Jews may not exact usury from Christians, that Christians must avoid familiarity with them, that they should not receive medicines from them, that they should not go to their baths, etc., many things contained in the decrees and decretals; and besides he obtained many other things by public bulls in favour of Christians against the Jews.

[33] and he urges the laws passed concerning them, If in the cities to which he turned aside he saw that all the foregoing were not being observed, and especially if he understood that things were being done against them either by princes, or by prelates, or by cities, or by any other privileged persons, not regarding the persons of princes or others, but armed with zeal for the Christian people, he cried out against princes, against prelates, against citizens, and declared that such things were in no way to be done *. And if public preaching did not suffice, he very often went personally to princes and cities, even asking them with tears not to permit Christians, signed with the baptism of Christ, to be harassed by the infidel Jews. Thus in various parts of the world he snatched from their hands very many Christians who were vexed by the Jews, especially through the abyss of usury, and obtained the infringement of those diabolical privileges issued in favour of the Jews: but in the cities to which he came to preach, if there was a great abundance of Jews, he willingly preached to them, demonstrating to them with most clear proofs that their law and the proclamations of the Prophets were fulfilled in Christ, and that the Messiah whom they still expect to come has come; and he most evidently declared from their Scriptures that he is the true Son of God, born of the Virgin.

[34] and he converts some, and has others, the criminals, punished: When any Jew wished to confer or dispute with him about the truth of the faith, he patiently and kindly listened to him, and after long discourses declared to him the truth of the one orthodox faith, and on this account he led many of them in various regions, founded in the Christian faith, to the grace of baptism: and especially in the city of Rome, in which in the said way he caused their principal Rabbi or master to be baptized. By his example very many others, having discovered the truth, abandoned Judaism and were converted to Christ; but, as was touched on above, he pursued with unspeakable fervour Jews who did not keep the laws delivered to them, or who oppressed the worshippers of Christ: whence he caused them to be expelled from many cities or otherwise punished. In a certain city of Silesia which is called Breslau, he found a certain horrible crime of the Jews against Christians. For many of them, seizing a certain little Christian boy, and hiding themselves in a certain most secret place, having long tortured and afflicted the little boy, in order to offer a sacrifice to God, finally killed him, and thus killed, buried him. There was present then at this wicked crime a certain little Jewish girl, who afterwards by divine regard, when she was advanced in age, became a Christian. She, coming to the Father, disclosed what had been done by the Jews ^a. The Father sent for the consuls of the city; the Jews were summoned, examined and tortured; the truth was laid bare, and finally those found guilty in this crime, who were forty in number, were burned with fire. All the others were expelled from the city. So all the Jews, on merely hearing his name, were vehemently afraid. Sometimes out of fear they offered him gifts, but he, smiling, was unwilling to take them and refused.

[35] the heretics also, But he pursued heretics the more than Jews in that he knew they harmed the Church of God more. He did not cease, most zealous for the Christian faith, to seek out heretics in each province; of whom he admonished some, seized or captured some, put some to flight, and afflicted others with various punishments. Seeing that he acted further so fervently and diligently in the cause of the faith and in extirpating heretics, the supreme Pontiffs Martin V, Eugenius IV, Nicholas V and Callixtus III appointed him general inquisitor of heretics in the whole world, and furnished him with the privileges necessary for such an office ^b. He skilfully carried out the office enjoined on him: and though he pursued all heresies to the utmost, yet he pursued three principally growing strong in his times, namely the heresy of the Fratricelli de Opinione, the heresy of the Bohemians and the heresy of the Greeks. There were in the time of John the twenty-second, when he seemed to persecute the Order of Friars Minor, making certain constitutions against it, and revoking in some of its statements the decretal "Exiit, qui seminat", placed in the 6th book of the decretals; and also derogating from the most high poverty, as it seemed to them, certain brothers who withdrew from the Church, saying that Pope John was a heretic and therefore deprived of the Papacy; and they began to lead many others to this opinion and to build certain underground places ^c.

[36] the Fratricelli, These in a short time had many followers: and this was and is their principal error, that they say that there has been no true Pope after the aforesaid John, and consequently that there is no lawful bishop or prelate in the Church, and therefore they with their followers elect a Pope, ordain bishops and other prelates, and feign that the Church consists in them. They assert also that it is not lawful for ecclesiastical prelates or clerics to possess anything of their own, and many other things. Meanwhile this erroneous sect had so grown that in nearly the principal cities of Italy very many were infected with this heresy. These so-called Fratricelli had also taken certain places in which they dwelt, wearing a monastic and hooded habit, like ours in colour, but they professed no approved Rule. These Fratricelli, I say, he mightily persecuted: wherever he knew that they were staying, he hurried there in haste. He destroyed many of their places in which they dwelt, put many to flight, converted many to the truth of the faith, and many obstinate ones, who would not be converted, were burned with fire.

[37] he cast out of all Italy: And although some powerful persons were held by this heresy, yet he spared no one. Whence near Rome he imprisoned without fear a certain great lady, who was of the house of Colonna, which house is most powerful ^d, and compelled her to revoke her errors. For this reason they were also most hostile, and sought out all means by which they could deliver him to death; but the Lord, for whose truth he was fighting, always stood by him, and did not permit him to be harmed in anything. On a certain occasion, when he had to walk through a certain solitary place, the heretics, learning of this, prepared an ambush for him: the servant of Christ, not knowing this, went ahead of his companions by a long space, perhaps that he might pray more freely. The heretics, seeing him walking alone and yet not knowing who he was, came up to him and furiously asked where was Brother John of Capistrano. At that voice, at first terrified, afterwards having full confidence in the Lord, choosing rather to die than to lie, he answered with a loud voice, after the example of Christ: "I am he." By the power of this voice the ambushers were so thunderstruck that they could do nothing against him. Meanwhile his companions, who had stayed behind, came, and binding them, led them to the nearest city, where they paid the penalties due for their evils. He did not cease therefore to persecute this pestilent sect until few of them remained.

[38] the Hussites Because the heresy of the evil Bohemians is known to the whole world, I do not care to extend myself much upon it; this however must be known, that their heresy consists principally in two things. First because they assert that as of necessity for salvation all Christians must communicate under both species; second because they say that prelates of the Church, clerics and religious, cannot hold temporal goods, and for this reason they have despoiled and destroyed all the churches, and to this very day retain their goods. How much he blazed against them and publicly proclaimed, both while he was still in Italy and after he came to the parts of Bohemia and in other adjacent parts, is known to the whole world. For coming to the parts of Moravia, to the city which is called Brünn, he was admonished by a number of barons and prelates to preach about their errors with gentle and mild words; the Father assented: but after he came to the ambo, the hand of God being upon him, he was changed into another man. For he knew their obstinacy in spirit, and with loud cries, naming them heretics and confuting their errors, he deduced by clear reasons of how great temerity and madness they are who embrace such heresies.

[39] he led many back to the Church: Very many therefore began to detest and abjure all heresies, and especially those in which they were entangled, before the people. Among whom there was a certain Baron, by name Benesius de Cerno, together with his brother, over whom, because he was of great estimation, the hearts of the Catholic faithful exulted. From there he went on to another city by name Olmütz: where he strengthened the Catholics in the faith, condemned the heretics, and did many miraculous things, from which heretics came in droves, and publicly abjured in his hands, promising with a most firm pledge that from then on they would observe all the rites of the Roman Church. Many more would have come, had they not been forbidden under most grave penalties by the governor of Bohemia, who was the chief of that sect, and who was afterwards taken up as king ^e. Withdrawing from Moravia, under the safe-conduct of a certain great baron, the Lord de Rosis ^f, he entered Bohemia, and there he grew much stronger and confounded the heretics; miracles were shown by divine power through his merits, prodigies were done daily, the hearts of many heretics were softened. For sometimes a hundred, sometimes two hundred, sometimes three hundred came to abjure their heresies. These things were done in the parts of Bohemia, namely at Cuipsiacum ^g, at Pons, and in the adjacent parts, as in Moravia, in Meissen, in Silesia.

[40] others who refused entry to Prague When Pope Nicholas V heard of the very great fruit which he was making in those parts, sending to him his own messenger, he granted him full authority in papal cases and licence of dispensing in irregularities, and also bestowed many years of indulgences on those present at his sermons. At this the hearts of the heretical Bohemians were cut to pieces, they raged like boars and gnashed their teeth at him: they sought to kill him, but could not, because the temporal lords, the cities and all the Catholic men kept him like the pupil of the eye. But what they could not do to him, they did to his image. For they publicly painted him hanging by the feet, sometimes with women, sometimes with devils. Besides this their priests sang derisive ditties about him, and preached from the ambos that he was antichrist, a seducer and a devil incarnate. When these things were reported to the man of God, he smiled, and with joined hands entreated that God might spare them. They wrote him long letters, full of lies and insults, to which he vigorously replied and showed them to be liars and heretics.

Broken or changed therefore by no injuries, he persevered in asserting the Catholic truth, seeking all possible ways by which he might free them from heresies and from the power of the devil.

[41] he strove to bring back: Whence he went about here and there, asking and begging that free access might be afforded to him to Prague, from which the heresies had their origin, and in which their leader and patriarch Rokycana was residing ^h, as he still remains at present, grown old in days. But they insolently replied that they would rather admit a hundred thousand demons into the city of Prague than him. Seeing them therefore hardened and most obstinate, and considering them enslaved to the service of the devil, considering the Saviour saying in the Gospel: "Do not pour out speech where there is no hearing. Eccli. XXXII, 6. And again: If they do not receive you in one city, flee to another" Matth. X, 23 ⁱ, leaving them in their errors, yet with the greatest fruit gathered, both on account of those who had abjured, and for the strengthening of the faithful, and also for the extirpation of some errors, though not of all in Bohemia, he transferred himself to other parts of Hungary. Before that, however, he said, prophesying: "Since I cannot enter Prague, in a short time my cubs will enter." Calling cubs his disciples and those whom he had received into the Order. And so it came about; for the venerable father Brother Gabriel of Verona, his most beloved companion, now the most worthy vicar of the province, with one other Italian brother, and the venerable father Bonaventure of Bavaria, Brother Francis of Bohemia, who was a knight in the world, now dead, as well as Brother Angelo of Styria and Brother Michael of Russia, entered Prague after a short time, and received the place of St. Ambrose for the use of our brethren.

[42] he also confuted the errors of the Greeks: When therefore he had come to Hungary, he found there many entangled in the errors and heresies of the Greeks. He began in the manner * in which he had in Bohemia to cry out against them, and in short through his sermons many were converted, many expelled, and many taken captive. Among whom he ordered one of their bishops to be captured and imprisoned, and converted him to the true faith; and had the Turks not come on, with whom he was afterwards occupied until his death, of which I shall speak below, he would undoubtedly have brought back much greater fruit from them.

[43] the schism arising at Basel, Now how he universally attacked the schismatics I will disclose in the briefest way I can. In the time of Eugenius IV of happy memory, the general council gathered at Basel was in the course of time revoked by Eugenius himself. The Cardinals withdrawing from it, except one ^k, and nearly all the other principal prelates, certain men of small estimation and few in number remained: so that it could rightly be called no longer a council but a conciliabulum. These, led by I know not what spirit, rashly elected as Pope a certain Amadeus, formerly duke of Savoy, who had left the duchy and was leading or feigning a hermit's life; whose election, because he was powerful, and had kinship with many illustrious men, as the king of France, the duke of Burgundy, the duke of Milan, etc., generated a great schism in the Church and disturbed Pope Eugenius together with the Cardinals not a little.

[44] as apostolic legate of Eugenius IV Pope Eugenius therefore, knowing of how great prudence, how great sagacity, how great knowledge and how great virtue St. John of Capistrano was held among all the Christian people, enjoined him through obedience first to betake himself to the duke of Milan, then to the parts of France, to do what the spirit of God should suggest to him was to be done for the defence of holy Church. Coming therefore to Milan to the duke, on whom it was feared that the Roman Church was greatly imperilled, because that duke had taken as wife the daughter of the antipope, he addressed him with such prudence and strength of spirit that in great part he changed his mind so that he should not consent to Amadeus: and not only the duke himself, but also the duchess, daughter of Amadeus, he turned to indignation with her father. Moreover among all the people of Milan his sermons were so accepted that he brought back very great fruit from that people. Then betaking himself to the parts of France, he went to the duke of Burgundy, most powerful among the other princes: to whom he so wisely, fervently and clearly discoursed on the dignity of the Roman Church, and on Eugenius as the one Pope and true successor of blessed Peter, and on the very great danger of the schism, that the duke himself detested the madness of Amadeus, and promised that he would in nothing consent to him or give him aid.

[45] he extinguished among various princes. Finally the duke and duchess conceived such devotion toward the blessed man that they reckoned him as another Apostle or an Angel of the Lord. It was necessary indeed for him at the prayers of the duchess to walk a very long way to bless her only son, she most firmly believing that from the blessing of so great a father and friend of God her son would obtain great grace in the Lord. Passing on at last to other regions and their lords, the Holy Spirit cooperating and furnishing power, he obtained from them whatever he asked and strenuously fought against the antipope. He nonetheless brought back a very great gain of souls through his sermons and holiness of life. He was heard by all as the servant of the Most High, and honoured by each as a most worthy legate of the most holy apostolic See; for which reason the antipope Amadeus with his adherents sought every opportunity by which they might either expel him or be able to root him out of the land. One day, as he was making his way in the cause committed to him, he met opponents and schismatics, who, attacking him with words of insult and bringing on many threats, thought to disturb his undertaken purpose; to whom he, replying kindly and insinuating to them the errors by which they were held, the Lord protecting him, escaped their threats in security. The legation committed to him having been finished, therefore, and brought to the desired end, he returned glad and rejoicing to the parts of Italy, and was honourably received by Pope Eugenius who had sent him.

ANNOTATIONS.

* add posse

* add eodem

CHAPTER IV.

Of the performance of miracles.

He exercises very great command over demons: Because almighty God, who deigns to make his Saints glorious not only in the heavenly fatherland but also in the present life, saw the very great fervour and rich fruits which his servant John was bringing into his barn, he decreed to show him famous to the whole world through some evident signs. And because, if I should wish to describe one by one all the things which divine clemency has worked through him, the discourse would be drawn out too long, and it would be impossible for me to collect them in one place: I beg devout readers to be willing to be content with those noted below. Indeed, as I have found written and heard from persons worthy of credit, I will disclose them with what brevity I can. Now although he shone with many and diverse signs, yet God showed him wonderful especially in three things, namely in driving off demons, in healing bodies, and in crossing rivers. When the man full of God was preaching in the greater square of the city of Aquila, about sixty thousand persons standing by, and there was there a multitude of the sick, and also a not small multitude of demoniacs, in the very sermon turning his speech to the demoniacs, he cried out with the greatest fervour, saying: "Answer me, you demoniacs, in the Name of Jesus," saying it three times. "O most powerful voice; O most terrible voice; O voice divinely sent forth!" To which there answered not only those present who were devout and in their senses, but also absent demoniacs, at the same hour and moment, wherever they were in the county of Aquila or in the county of Faliacozs-Cela ^a. To this the people of Aquila testify, and the inhabitants of the said counties who arrived later, who conscientiously assert that this voice was heard by demoniacs, who answered through XXVIII Italian miles ^b.

[47] two women at Aquila and Venice, A certain woman, by name Valentina, from a certain castle called Scampa ^c, horribly possessed by malignant spirits, could find no remedy for herself, speaking terrible words and performing inhuman acts. Hearing the fame of the blessed Father, who was then preaching at Aquila, she was brought to him with the greatest labour and ingenuity. When she had been presented, she began to cry out most loudly and furiously, and to tear and rend her whole self; so that she could scarcely be held by many; the sign of the Cross having been made over her, she soon came to herself and stood freed before an infinite multitude of men. In sign of her liberation she cast from her own mouth a certain little stone of marble, which a certain magnificent man, Lord Peter De Caponichis, took and showed to many in admiration. This man, being a count and a knight, is a witness of this miracle; witnesses also are the relatives of the woman freed and many others. A like thing happened at Venice in the great convent of the Friars Minor. There, when he was preaching continually and devoutly celebrating Mass, on a certain day about the middle of Lent ^d, as he was celebrating Mass, there was brought into the church a certain woman, horribly possessed. She, when the body of Christ was elevated, made a din with such loud cries that all in the church, as if hearing the voice of a demon, were held by the greatest dread. When Mass was finished, he ordered her to be brought to him; and when she had been brought, as he fortified her with the sign of the Cross, she began to leap aloft, to distort her face, to send forth foam from her mouth, and to cry out terribly, and a multitude of men could not hold her from leaping into the air: at last by the divine nod, the demon being expelled, she remained quiet and healthy.

[48] a woman and a young man Likewise a certain woman named Margaret, wife of a certain George de Larmera, when she was XIV years of age, was so gravely troubled by certain sorcerers with their sorceries, deceits and incantations that she could in no way stand without the greatest trembling of the body. Sometimes also making terrible gestures, one hand was so tightly clenched that no one, however strong, could open it. Presented by her people to the blessed Father, as soon as she had been signed by him and touched on the head she stood most perfectly healed, never again feeling trouble from the past infirmity. A certain man of Aquila, called Zotz, of the age of XI years, vexed by a demon, had come to this, that going about as if demented he attempted by all means to hang himself or to cast himself headlong: which he would have done had he not been most diligently guarded by his people day and night. When he had been brought with the greatest devotion and the greatest desire to the man of God at Aquila, then preaching, and given to two brothers, he ordered him to be guarded in the chamber of the blessed Father's residence. When the blessed Father set out to the place of St. Julian outside the city ^e, the sick man, left meanwhile by his guards, throwing himself from a certain window of that chamber, of the height of about seven paces, fell on the stone road, from which fall he was made as if lifeless, deprived of all his limbs, his strength and his spirit, wholly losing his speech. To this spectacle many ran together from the neighbouring square, marvelling that he was not dead. He was put on a bier, carried home, mourned as if dead, and funeral things were prepared. Word was sent meanwhile to the Father, who, made very sad, at once went from the place to the sick man. Before him he devoutly knelt, raised his eyes to heaven, and praying fervently and tearfully for the sick man, all who were present also weeping, after a little while the father rose joyful, and called the sick man three times; at whose voice the sick man answered and began little by little to recover.

[49] at Aquila He then ordered him to raise himself and to get up from the bed. O divine goodness in the servant of God! O most powerful holiness of the servant of God! O most stupendous divine works in his servants! He raised himself unhurt, whole and healed, who had been near death, deprived of sense, health and limbs. And the father adding that he should leap from the bed: O wonderful and heaped-up miracle! He so leapt from the bed as if he had risen refreshed not from an infirmity but as if from sleep: running through the house, speaking rightly and orderly; and thus all fantasy or madness with his other infirmities went wholly from him, with the joy and at the same time the wonder of the whole city. And the following morning coming eagerly on his own feet to the church of St. Francis, he most devoutly heard the Mass of the man of God; which being heard, it was evident to all that he was perfectly free of all infirmities of mind and body, and he lived healthy and sane to the end. To this the whole city of Aquila testifies, the friends of the possessed man testify, and the Brothers testify who guarded him in the aforesaid chamber.

[50] are freed from a demon: No less I have heard recounted by the aforesaid that, when the blessed Father had made the sign of the Cross over a certain demoniac, a frog, leaping out of the mouth of that demoniac, left him freed. That frog, as it leapt here and there, he ordered to be caught by the Brothers his companions, and causing it to be tied on a stone, he had it kept in a certain place. There sat nearby gaming boards, dice and other vanities to be burned in the way shown above. The Father ordered the tied frog to be brought and thrown into the fire; and it, leaping out from there, tried to escape the fire. He ordered it to be thrown again into the fire; and it soon, dissolved into great smoke and leaving a very great stench, showed that it had been the devil under the appearance of a frog. By these things it is most evidently clear how he shone in driving off demons.

[51] at Rieti a man wounded in the head, It follows now to see how the grace of God was given to him in healing bodies. That this may appear more clearly, I will first unfold how the infirmities of the head, and successively of the other members in order, were cured by his merits. At the time when this blessed man was preaching at Rieti with immense acceptance, it happened that a certain man Manzania, of Città Ducale ^f, through his own imprudence, on account of a certain disturbance which was between citizens and certain partisans, was so struck on the head that the head was divided into two parts, the brain appearing and flowing down on each side; he was despaired of by the physicians, and death was expected at any hour. The whole city was stirred and great destruction was being prepared for it. For it was divided into two parties, of which one held with the wounded man, the other with the one who wounded him: thus a great shedding of blood would undoubtedly have followed. Hearing this the man of God hastened in haste to the sick man, put the brain back into its parts,

joined the head, and thus he who was near death, abandoned by the physicians, from the frequent visitation and handling of the father came forth healthy in a short time, all the citizens of Rieti being astounded, and others who bear the firmest testimony of this matter. On account of which miracle the citizens were pacified, nor did any shedding of blood follow. And that man lived to a decrepit age, ever giving thanks to God and to the Blessed Father John of Capistrano.

[52] at Aquila a woman gravely suffering, Lucy, wife of a certain man by name Patriarcha, of Aquila, pressed by a most grievous pain of the head and excessive dizziness, having set out for Rome in the year of the Jubilee, when amid the excessive pressure of men she clung to the cloth of the Blessed Father, and devoutly kissed it without his noticing, was made wholly free, feeling no more trouble of such infirmity. When the man of God had scarcely completed his third year in the Order, on a certain occasion walking through the cloister he met a certain man out of his mind, wholly ruined in the head; on whom having exceeding compassion, and fully trusting in the benefits of God, he came up to him and placing his biretta on his head, the man returned to his mind and was restored to health. When the man of God, in the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred and fifty-one, had come to the city of Brescia, there was such devotion toward him that a crowd of peoples ran together from all sides as to an Apostle of God; there ran also a multitude of the sick, and the pious Father visiting them for seven days, the benefit of health was conferred on many.

[53] at Brescia a blind man, elsewhere mutes, On the seventh day he found a certain man blind from birth; touching him with his hand, and rubbing and anointing his eyes, he prayed that he might receive sight. And the blind man himself, as soon as he had been touched by that blessed hand, clearly saw; asked by many how he had received sight, he answered, through the merits of Father John. Devotion grew, the affluence of the peoples of all Lombardy was increased. Blaise of Valle Ciciliana in the Abruzzi ^g, of XIV years, mute for seven years, so that he could express nothing, was led by his parents to the Father, then preaching in the town which is called Rocca di Mezzo ^h, of the diocese of Aquila. As soon as, prayer having been made, he had been signed by him with the sign of the Cross on the tongue and on the forehead, before an infinite multitude of men, he received the faculty and grace of speaking, and afterwards so spoke that no one would have judged that he had been mute. A certain boy, James by name, son of a certain man by name Cyriacus Corivinus of Capistrano, at the age of one month having such a rupture that, growing up to three years old, it troubled him wonderfully; and he could be helped by no remedy; he was carried by the venerable lord provost to the oratory, to the Blessed Father, who was then residing in the house at Capistrano; as soon as he had been signed, the provost received him healthy, and gave him back healthy to those who had brought him, and to this day he continues healthy and whole.

[54] at Aquila and elsewhere the lame, Andrew, son of John Cola of Aquila, four years old, having thirteen wounds infested with worms from the knee to the flanks, for seven continuous months, was made so lame that he could not walk at all; carried by his parents into the presence of the Father, they humbly asked that he would deign to bless him. He, stretching the boy out on the ground, and touching the places with his hands and blessing them, made him healthy. A certain girl, by name Mary, daughter of Benedict Patrocha of Pupleto ⁱ, of the diocese of Aquila, of the age of eight years, was so deformedly lame that she limped to the shame of her people. Sent to the Father, as soon as she was signed by him and handled by his hands, she was freed of all deformity and lameness. In the city of Brescia a certain Christopher, called Zopetus, twenty years of age, lame from birth, not able to walk without crutches, was signed three times by the Father, and, throwing his crutches behind him, was at once freed, walking upright and healthy and exultant. Some say that wishing to throw away the crutches he fell, but raised by the Father and signed a fourth time on the forehead he began to run more swiftly. So that he turned those standing by to great laughter with wonder.

[55] at Barletta a paralytic, In Apulia, in the Land of Barletta, of the diocese of Trani ^k, a certain spicer was for many years so oppressed by an infirmity that he could neither move by himself, nor even rise in bed, nor be turned. Hearing of the arrival of the blessed Father, then vicar general, he had himself carried and placed in the church through which he was to pass. Seeing him so crippled, moved with pity he said to him, with a press of people standing by: "O poor little man, what is this?" He, having narrated his illness, most devoutly commended himself to the Father with tears. To whom the Father: "Tell me, if God had disposed that you should always remain sick, in the way you now are, would you be content?" And he: "Certainly, Father." The Father added, "What grace do you wish from the Lord?" And he: "That I may so recover, that at least I might be able to walk anywhere to the church and to my shop." To whom the Father: "Trust in the Lord, for you will have more than you desire." And taking his right hand, he raised him up. O most stupendous thing! O miracle most manifest to all! At once he stood on his own feet, and returned home as if he had never had any evil, all who were present and who met him being astounded. And he said to everyone: "At this hour I can run for two miles."

[56] he heals a feverish boy: Anthony, son of Petrarcha of Aquila, when he was XII years old and for seven weeks had been held by grave fevers, and could be helped by no remedy, was led by his mother, by name Lucy, not without great difficulty, to the church of St. Mary of Collemaggio, where the servant of the Lord was then residing, and since because of the excessive press of people the said feverish boy could not get to him, with great devotion, at the Father's counsel, he asked to be covered with the Father's cloak, which a certain Brother Blaise of Bozano was carrying. When this had been done, the boy recovered, the fever departed, his former strength returned, and with a most beautiful colour he walked free. It seemed to him that he had come out of the greatest fetters, and from that hour forth he never suffered any evil. Nicholas, notary of the lord of Rocca di Mezzo, of the diocese of Aquila, was from a long and grave infirmity so near to death that, the physicians having gone away, nothing else was being treated of but the funeral and his burial. His relatives bewailed him as dead. They nevertheless sent to the man of God, who was then staying at Aquila, that he would deign to come to the said sick man, now in agony, whom he had always loved, so that, blessing him, he might also impart the plenary absolution which he had earlier obtained from the apostolic see. He answered that there was no need of his visit, because he would not die. And this he repeated many times, namely that he would not die, while they pressed him to come. And so it came about that he who was judged about to die within the hour was restored to his former health. Behold then how divine power shone forth in the healing of bodies.

[57] How God made him wonderful on rivers will be shown by two miracles. When the man of God was returning at his command to Rome from the parts of France, to which he had been sent by Pope Eugenius the Fourth on account of the schism, in a little boat wholly shattered and came one evening to the Po, a most celebrated river in Italy, he asked the boatmen for the love of God to take him quickly across with his companions; and when they had been asked again and again and would not do it without money, leaving them he came to others, who gave him the same answer. The sun had already set and night was following. When the father, walking along by the river, not without wonder at such hardness of the boatmen, had come to a certain place where at the edge of the river he saw the top of a little boat, long since sunk, having hope in the Lord he got down from the little ass, which he used because of old age and the length of the journey, saying to the three companions he was leading with him: "Let us pray, sons, to God, who is powerful to carry us over the waters dry-shod." And when the prayer had been made, he said to them: "Have you faith, and do you believe the wonders of God, and do you wish to do what I shall do and say?" They answered: "We have, we believe and we wish."

[58] he crosses the Po; When this had been said, the packs were set down, the halter of the little ass was taken, the top of the little boat was tied, and it was dragged to the shore, not without great labour. And since the skiff seemed wholly rotten, full of mud and sand, and so disjointed that a hand could easily be put between the planks, they took a bowl, which the Brothers were wont to carry for use on the journey, emptied the little boat, and threw out the mud with the sand. When this had been done, the cracks appeared more and more: the Father ordered the little boat to be put in the water. O magnanimous man! O man distinguished and most worthy of all praise! The skiff so stood as if it had been newly made and disposed by heaven for human use. The servant of God therefore ordered the little boat to be loaded; they put the packs in it, made the little ass go up aboard, the boat standing fixed as though it had had reason. Lastly the four themselves got in, and, at the Father's command, taking the staves meant for the road, used them for oars. Raising his eyes to heaven and making the sign of the Cross, through so very ample a river, through so deep and swiftly flowing a water, in a dry vessel they swiftly reached the other side of the river: and when everything had been set down on land, the little boat, which had been given to the servant of God for a bridge, its office done, sank again. O who here could refrain from tears for joy; who will now doubt of the holiness of so great a man? Who will not proclaim him most full of divine gift, to whom even senseless creatures submit and serve, a service granted even by heaven?

[59] by a tempest wonderfully arising on the Danube. No less wonderful was what the clemency of the Saviour showed to the aforesaid blessed man on the Danube. For when he had gone to the aid of the castle of Nandoralba with many signed with the Cross, on the second day of July, in the year of the Lord 1455, and on the same day, taking a certain multitude of them, wished to go down with three ships to that man who was always the greatest champion of the Christian faith, Lord John de Hunyad, governor of the king of Hungary and count of Bistrița, who was wonderfully attached to the servant of God, and who was staying in a certain town called Cominum, pressing against the Turks, who were going up with a multitude of galleys against the aforesaid town of Nandoralba, the land army coming by land. About the hour of vespers, behold, the air grew dark, the winds blew, the Danube was disturbed, with rain so very dense that one could hardly see another on the water, and

so great a tempest followed that the Father himself was compelled to go down to land with the ships, and suddenly there was a calm. And behold, the Turks occupied the place from which the tempest had driven the Father. From which it is surely given to understand that almighty God, who had snatched his most faithful servant on the river Po, through calm, from the jaws of a most rapid river; on the Danube also, through tempest, freed him from the most savage hands of the Turks: reserving him in the former for the edification of many, in the latter for the destruction of the Turks. God willed also that that flesh, wearied with so many labours, vigils and abstinences, should give back its spirit full of God not by the martyrdom of blood but by desire of mind, after a glorious victory, with the desire of martyrdom.

[60] he escapes the hands of the Turks. From the foregoing miracles, therefore, though few in comparison with all those done through the blessed Father by divine power, it can be understood of what great holiness, of what great merit he was with God; which miracles also were for the greater part done while St. Bernardine was living ^l. Nor must it be omitted that when the blessed Father recited at the ambo many miracles and other things for the edification of the people, a certain companion and confessor of his, on account of his excessive crudeness and roughness, rashly judging that he uttered them from some vain glory or boastfulness, sometimes refused to absolve him in confession, which the Father patiently bore, knowing himself not to be culpable in this. At a certain time also, when the blessed Father was ill, a certain great lady, similarly ill, visited him, most firmly believing that she would be freed from her infirmity if she could receive the Father's blessing. Having received the blessing, she was at once healed. Seeing this, the same confessor, at once led by penitence because he had judged the Father and had been unwilling to absolve him, falling at the Father's feet, confessed his fault, and did and received penance.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER V.

Of his labours for the unity of the Order and for the propagation of the Observance.

With the utmost zeal above all Now it must be shown how great a profit he made in the Order, with God's help. Which indeed can easily be recognized if we consider how much he laboured for the union of that Order, how solicitous he was in prelacy, how greatly the family of the Observance profited through his providence, and also how much he wearied himself for the canonization of St. Bernardine, for the glory of God, and for the honour of the Order: because nearly the whole Order of St. Francis had corrupted its way, and scarcely anyone was found who wished to observe the purity of the Rule. Certain Friars in the parts of France, understanding this and perceiving the danger of souls hanging over them, mindful of their profession, began to wish to observe the Rule. But because Cain always persecutes Abel, and Esau Jacob, they suffered many troubles from evil brothers, on whose account they could not fulfil their purpose. Whence, taught by the Holy Spirit, they obtained bulls from the council of Constance, from Pope Martin V and from the council of Basel, that they might reform some convents or observe the Rule in them; so that neither the minister nor other prelates of the Order should exercise any jurisdiction over them, except in some cases ^a.

[62] The Father therefore, seeing that the Order was divided; he labours that with joined strength and turning over in his mind how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell in unity, Ps. CXXII, 1 began with immense grief to bewail the rending of his mother, the most holy Religion, and the discord of his brethren. He began also in that beginning, before he learned the truth by experience, to be contrary and troublesome to those Friars who had obtained the bull of division ^b. In Italy indeed there were also brothers of the Observance, but they remained under the jurisdiction of the ministers with the greatest tribulations and impediments. Whence seeking out all means by which he could bring about both union and reform in the whole Order, he went to Martin the supreme Pontiff, to whom he fully disclosed the relaxation and division of the Order and the dangers that might follow from them; humbly begging him that his holiness would deign to provide against these evils, so that the Rule should be observed by all in the Order and union be had among the brothers. The Pope, condescending to his petition as holy and reasonable, committed the cause to a certain most reverend Cardinal, ordering him to assemble the prelates of the Order and to provide for the reform and union of the Order: giving them all jurisdiction and power over the foregoing ^c.

[63] the Order of Minors should be reformed, and he proposes The legate himself carried out the apostolic mandate, and when the prelates of the Order had been assembled at Assisi, the union and reform of the Order were most diligently treated. Meanwhile the legate himself called Brother John of Capistrano, strictly enjoining him under obedience that he should skilfully write down what seemed to him necessary for the foregoing. The most zealous Father therefore, devising one manner of living, common to all, possible and easy, from which no one could be excused, composed certain Constitutions, which today are called Martinian, and presented them to the legate. The legate, seeing them so reasonable, clear and possible, ordered them to be read with a loud and intelligible voice before all the Friars gathered together. They very much pleased all the Friars, and all, both prelates and subjects, promised that they wished to observe them: the minister general also pledged that he wished to observe them, and to have them observed in the whole Order as far as he could, under the greatest penalties and oaths.

[64] the Constitutions, which all receive; The legate rejoiced, the blessed Father rejoiced, and the other Friars of good will rejoiced, believing that the whole business was now complete, when it had not yet been begun. That all these things might be carried out more maturely, more diligently and more studiously, the apostolic legate ordered the minister general to receive Brother John of Capistrano as companion, and to govern himself according to his counsel in reforming the Order. The minister general feigned to assent to this, and the Father assented, protesting however that if he recognized that the minister general behaved with pretence in this, he would wish to withdraw from him as quickly as possible. So when the legate returned to the curia, the Father remained with the minister general, believing that according to the oath and promises made before the Lord legate he must attend to the reform of the Order. The Father himself therefore began, following the minister, to keep a studious watch over this. Whence, carrying shears in his sleeve, if at times he saw any conventuals wearing hoods too misshapen, ample and long, he would secretly come up and cut them off.

[65] as vicar and companion to the minister general, in vain But in a short time iniquity lied to itself. For the minister and other ministers, who had so fervently promised before the apostolic legate to observe those constitutions and to have them observed by their subjects, were the first to withdraw from them, and hindered their being observed. Seeing this, the Father, and pondering in his spirit that the Order could not be reformed, considering nevertheless that the poor little Observant friars suffered many troubles from the Conventuals, by which they were greatly hindered in the divine service and the observance of the Rule, grieved that he had ever been contrary to those Friars of France who had obtained bulls from the Councils and from the Pope for their quiet life. The Father nevertheless thought day and night whether perhaps he could find some way by which the Order could be united in the true observance of the Rule.

[66] he tries a reform; Meanwhile, Martin having died, Eugenius was created Pope, who bore great trust toward the servant of God, and often used his counsels; and when once he was speaking to him sorrowfully of the relaxation and division of the Order, and Eugenius asked him how it could be reformed, he answered: if three P's are taken from the order, the Order will at once be reformed. To whom Eugenius said, smiling: "What is it, Brother John?" He said to him: "By the first P, most blessed Father, I understand pueri (boys), by the second P, petulantia (wantonness), by the third P, I understand pecunia (money). If then boys, wantonness and money are taken from the order, there will suddenly be a reform in the Order." When therefore Pope Eugenius inquired about the further reform of the Order, and had learned from the servant of God that the impediments of such a reform lay in the ministers, and principally in the minister general, he thought it would be good if some suitable brother of the Observance should be made minister general.

[67] after the death of the minister general Meanwhile the minister general died ^d, and, the blessed Father being in remote parts, Eugenius committed the vicariate of the whole order to Brother Albert of Sarteano of blessed memory, a man of great holiness and knowledge and most renowned in all Italy: intending that he should afterwards be elected minister general in the general chapter ^e. But God, without whom not a leaf falls from the tree, changed this opinion for the better, lest from where reform was hoped for, there should have been

a following ruin: because if the said Brother Albert had been elected minister general, and had wished to reform the convents, for reforming which he would have taken the better brothers of the Observance from their houses, even so the convents would not have been reformed and the Observance would have failed. A master from the Conventuals was therefore elected minister general ^f.

[68] he obtains a special vicar for the Observants; The Father therefore, seeing that he was making no progress, and that the brothers of the Observance were being troubled in many ways by the Conventuals, first obtained from Pope Eugenius that a plenary commission should be made by the minister general to some suitable brother of the Observance over all the brothers of the Observance: so that the minister general should not meddle with them at all. A commission was therefore made by Apostolic authority to the blessed Father John of Capistrano, which provision lasted for a time; afterwards, for the greater quiet and peace of those Friars of the Observance, he obtained that provincial vicars should be established in the individual provinces, and that they should every three years elect a vicar general for themselves, who should preside over the whole family of the Observance, and that neither the minister general nor the provincials should meddle with the brothers of the Observance, except in some cases expressed in the bull of Eugenius.

[69] in which office, successor of St. Bernardine, Brother Bernardine of Siena, who is now inscribed in the Catalogue of the Saints, was therefore elected first vicar general, and for three years gloriously discharged the office of vicar; and to this day our family of the Observance continues under this provision. The blessed Father therefore did not, as some malignant persons say against him, procure any division in the Order, but applied all zeal and all diligence that the Order might be united, as was clearly shown above. When the vicariate of St. Bernardine was finished, after him our Father was elected, who in that three-year term, running here and there through all the provinces, exhorted the Brothers to observe the Rule of St. Francis, to persevere in the divine service, and to fight manfully against the enemies of all good things, namely the flesh, the world and the devil. For he was, as is read of St. Anthony, kind in admonishing the brothers and severe in correcting them; he also made some Constitutions for the greater instruction of the Brothers, in which consists as it were the marrow of all the Constitutions of the Order, and sent them through all the provinces.

[70] he writes the Constitutions of the Order; he cultivates chastity For he reflected on the words of the Apostle saying: He who presides is in solicitude Rom. XII, 8; and mindful of that saying which runs: It can be no excuse for the shepherd, when the wolf eats the sheep and the shepherd does not know. He watched therefore the more attentively, and applied all solicitude, that not even the least of those subject to him should fall into the snare of the devil or otherwise stray from the right norm of living. For this he spent sleepless nights, and with unspeakable groanings asked of God that he would rule and govern him with those subject to him. Above all, however, he showed by word and example that most holy chastity was to be kept, which is the crown and glory of every Religion, and when it ceases, the whole spiritual edifice collapses. So honourable indeed was his conversation that after entering Religion he never did anything dishonourable, either by word, or by sign, or by deed. In this was his principal endeavour, that he might observe a most shining chastity. Asked at one time by the Brothers what had been the greater labour in the Order, he answered: "I have had the greater labour in this, to drive away unclean thoughts at once." When he was still in the flower of youth, and unclean thoughts assailed him, inflamed with unspeakable fervour he took burning torches and put them out on his body: so that as long as he lived, signs of the burning always appeared on his body; sometimes, while the brothers were resting, in order that he might wholly bring his flesh into the servitude of the spirit, he stripped himself naked, and in that place where the brothers cleanse their garments from impurities, which is called the expuligatorium, he stretched himself out, so that, thus tormented by vermin, he might humble himself and escape the temptations of the flesh.

[71] One day while he was walking along a road, near which a certain man newly hanged was hanging, through very great mortifications; sensing his stench, he vehemently recoiled, and began to close his nostrils. Then, remembering that blessed Francis had kissed lepers, wishing to conquer himself and to bring his flesh into servitude, with the greatest fervour he climbed up a ladder to him who hung on the gibbet, and embraced and kissed him, stinking now for a long time. God, looking down from on high on his charity, changed that stench into an odour of sweetness, so that it seemed to the blessed Father that he was handling not a stinking corpse but most sweet spices. At another time also, when a certain man of the more principal men of the court of Pope Martin was to be divided into four parts on account of his misdeeds, the most pious Father followed him, bringing him to patience by all means that he could. When he had been divided, with his clean and most holy hands he gathered up the entrails and intestines scattered here and there, and, inflamed with exceeding charity, buried them.

[72] intent on enlarging the family of the Observants, The pious Father carried out his office, I say, diligently, and to the Brothers who had recourse to him for their necessities he showed himself not a prelate but a servant, according to the tenor of the Rule. If, however, he found any insolent, rebellious, or scandalizing seculars, leaving aside the oil, he poured wine on them, that he might call them back at least through austerity; and if any perhaps did not listen to his admonitions and holy teachings, they experienced the judgments of God without doubt in a short time. Among whom a certain very famous preacher, when he despised the words of the Father and would not obey him, a short time afterward suffered ruin and was given to the whole world as a byword. These same things, and many greater, he accomplished in his second election as vicar general.

[73] he multiplies the houses of the Brothers How greatly the Observance advanced and was increased through his provident governance or rule will clearly be established if anyone wishes to look at the multiplication of brothers, of houses, and of indulgences or privileges obtained in his time. For at the time when the blessed Father entered Religion, very few houses of the Observance, scattered here and there, were to be found. But after he began to preach, by the diligence and work of St. Bernardine and of himself, together with the holy old man still surviving, Brother James of the Marches, they were so multiplied in all the bounds of the Christians that a province can scarcely be found in which you will not find houses of the Friars Minor of the Observance built. For the Father himself not only received brothers, but even founded provinces anew, such as the province of Penne, the province of Austria, the province of Bohemia, the province of Poland, etc., of which I shall speak below.

[74] in the various provinces of Christendom He also received houses in France, in Saxony, in Strasbourg, in Hungary and in other parts of the world. Likewise the houses of the nuns of St. Clare of the Observance and of the Third Order of St. Francis ^g, when they were either few or none, grew to a great number. But also the multitude of Friars is so public to the whole world that it does not need my testimony. They ran in crowds from city to city, leaving the world, seeing the signs and prodigies which were being done daily through him. Whence sometimes twenty, sometimes thirty, sometimes forty he accepted into the Order before all the people. Of whom many, through St. Bernardine as well as through himself, grew into men conspicuous for holiness, knowledge and doctrine.

[75] and he receives many distinguished for holiness; Several indeed lived so holily that after their death they also shone with miracles, such as Brother Francis of Pavia, Brother Gabriel of Ancona, Brother Philip of Aquila, Brother Albert of Sarteano, whose soul, while the Father was in remote parts, he saw carried to paradise. He, in the likeness of a heavenly trumpet, illumined all Italy with his glorious sermons, and was also in the lands of the infidels, desiring to undergo martyrdom for the Name of Jesus: but, God disposing otherwise, he could not fulfil his desire. Brother Nicholas of Osimo, a man of great knowledge, and of such holiness and honour that he seemed to excel all others, also compiled several excellent little works ^h. Many other Brothers also, distinguished in holiness, famous preachers and doctors in the Order, have shone in our days, whose names, because they are known to God and his Angels, written in the book of life, I do not care to name at present.

[76] he obtains privileges for the Order, Privileges also, and apostolic benefits, came to the family in great number by the solicitude and diligence of the blessed Father. For all the Brothers, by the authority of the supreme Pontiffs Eugenius, Callixtus and the present Pius, are plenarily absolved at the point of death from all censures and sins, and by those supreme Pontiffs many privileges have been granted to our family, by which the mouths of rivals are stopped, and the family is kept in peace. But how many labours, how many calumnies, how many injuries he suffered for the defence of those privileges, those who saw it can bear witness. O how often we saw him weeping and anxious, when he learned that anything evil was being attempted against the family. For protecting it, he did not spare vigils, nor labours, nor fasts, nor journeys, nor any other danger, but he as it were wholly disembowelled himself, and exposed his body, that the family might remain in observance and advance from good to better.

[77] and he vindicates it from calumnies. In its defence divine aids and miracles were not lacking to him. For several ministers general, who were trying wholly to overturn and root out this family, by divine judgment, when they were already hoping to attain their intent, were taken from the midst. Some of whom, when they saw themselves near to death, goaded by conscience over the persecution brought on our family, were compelled to confess their fault. Some went out from us, but they were not of us; who like ungrateful sons tried to destroy their mother, the Observance: but, God protecting her, they remained confounded, and the family carried off the victory. Of whom one brother, called John Donzelli, of great reputation and knowledge, while he was striving to infringe a bull obtained by the Father for the defence of the family, was overtaken by sudden death, having however first, as I believe, recognized his fault. The most pious Father so tearfully bewailed his death that he also moved others to weep.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER VI.

Of the labours spent on the canonization of St. Bernardine of Siena; of the gift of prophecy.

When St. Bernardine of Siena had died, Now how many labours, derisions and troubles he endured for the canonization of St. Bernardine his companion, I will disclose, as far as I can, with brevity of words. St. Bernardine himself was making his way toward Aquila to preach the Gospel there, and when he had already drawn near to the city, he was attacked by the sickness of the flux. As this grew stronger, he scarcely reached the city, where within a few days, namely on the day of the Ascension, while there was being sung in the Church: "Father, I have manifested your name to men Joan. XVII, 6 ^a," he gave back his happy spirit to God. The city, hearing of his death, was wholly moved. The blessed body was placed in the church, and all the people came together to visit it. Certain sick persons also, drawing near to the blessed body, touched it with great devotion and faith; God therefore, wishing to make more renowned in death him whom in life he had made renowned to the whole world, bestowed full health on many sick persons invoking the merits of St. Bernardine.

[79] he hurries to Aquila, The fame of such stupendous miracles, then, spread everywhere on earth, reached also the blessed Father, then vicar general and staying in remote parts. Understanding this, he was filled with joy and with sorrow. For which reason he could not cease from tears and sighs. When the Brothers asked why he wept so bitterly, since God was so magnifying him, he answered: "I do not weep on this account, for I know he is in heaven, but for myself and the family, who are deprived of his familiarity and aid." At length, recovering his spirit, he made his way in haste toward Aquila, where, having with tears visited the holy relic and devoutly handled it, he made a sermon to the people, most firmly promising them that within a certain term of days they would see much greater things than the earlier.

[80] and, a witness of miracles, at once The people waited rather curiously within that term to see the wonders promised by the Father, but, God so acting, none was shown within that time. Over this the Father was troubled, yet having firm hope in the Lord that he would not abandon him in so holy a work. And behold, on the last day of the appointed term God opened the hand of his mercy, his benefits appeared, and miracles were heaped on miracles. The Father, seeing these with his own eyes and diligently ruminating on them in his heart, believing that it would be pleasing to God that the cause of the canonization of blessed Bernardine be proposed to the supreme bishop, the vicar of Christ, having comforted the people of Aquila and as it were assured them of the canonization, came with rapid step to Rome. And he visited Pope Eugenius, and disclosed to him the miracles which were being done by the merits of blessed Bernardine, humbly asking and begging of him that he would be willing to impart his benevolent favour in this pious cause, that blessed Bernardine might be inscribed in the Catalogue of the Saints.

[81] he urges his canonization with Eugenius IV, The bishop promised that he would furnish every favour and act diligently in this. Meanwhile also many letters were written to his holiness, both from the king of Aragon and from the people of Aquila, in which they asked this same thing as the Father. A commission was therefore made to three Cardinals, who sent two venerable bishops to inquire whether the miracles that were spoken of were true ^b. In this intervening time Eugenius died and Nicholas was elected Pope ^c: before whom the Father pressed the cause of canonization. He, imitating his predecessor, delegated this cause to three Cardinals, who similarly sent two bishops for the inquiry into the miracles. Then the same Nicholas delegated two other bishops for such an inquiry. Lastly, not content with the foregoing, he sent one other special and conscientious bishop: who all with one and concordant voice reported the mighty works of God, which the clemency of the Saviour was working through his servant St. Bernardine.

[82] and having overcome the impediments, In all these legations our blessed Father was present, who rested neither for an hour nor for a moment, but all his zeal, all his vigilance, all his desire was borne toward this, that the canonization of his companion should be brought to the desired end. Nor is this cause to be thought to have lasted one or two years, but for seven continuous years, in which the blessed Father had no rest. But now to the Roman curia, now to seek out miracles, now to Cardinals, now to bishops, now to others he kept running. And because the devil lies in wait for every pious cause, either by himself or by his followers, there were not lacking gainsayers and contradictors to oppose this divine work, of whom some were prelates of the Church, some also evil brothers: that the saying of the Apostle might be fulfilled: "Danger among false brethren. II Cor. XI, 26" And how many repulses, how many reproaches, how many injuries did he bear? How often did the Brothers despair that this business would not be accomplished: but he was always most constant, having hope in God and in St. Bernardine that he would not abandon his cause. Whence he was often wont to say: "Blessed Bernardine, pray for yourself."

[83] offering himself as surety, On a certain occasion, when he saw so many contradictions and impediments, inflamed with zeal of charity and faith, he said to the supreme Pontiff: "Take the body of blessed Bernardine, and throw it together with me into the fire, and if we are burned, attribute it to my sins, but if we are preserved unharmed, understand the divine will." At which words the Pope and those who were with him, exceedingly amazed, scarcely held back their tears.

[84] and having forbidden the faculty of miracles to Bl. Thomas of Florence, At the same time a certain solemn miracle was shown; when Blessed Thomas of Florence, a lay brother, a man of great holiness and abstinence, who had for a long time been detained in prison by the infidels, had happily died in the city of Rieti, which is situated near Aquila. He shone with very many miracles; so that many sick persons, not able to obtain the grace of health at the tomb of Blessed Bernardine, visiting the body of this Blessed Thomas, were perfectly healed. Our blessed Father John, fearing that the canonization of St. Bernardine would be hindered by these miracles, since already in the Roman curia a voice had sounded: "Behold, all the Brothers of the Observance wish to work miracles," went to the tomb of this Blessed man, and, since he was at that time vicar general, spoke such words to him: "Blessed Thomas, while living you were always obedient, nor did you ever gainsay the commands of your prelates; in virtue of obedience, therefore, I command you to abstain from the working of miracles, lest you hinder the canonization of Blessed Bernardine." O truly stupendous and celebrated miracle! O admirable voice of the blessed Father! After this precept he ceased from miracles, nor was any further sign shown at his tomb ^d.

[85] at last he obtains the canonization: The most pious Father did not cease, therefore, until Blessed Bernardine, in the year of the jubilee, when there was a greater concourse of people from all the regions of the world, on the holy day of Pentecost, was most solemnly canonized, to the praise and glory of God and of the Blessed Virgin, to the honour and adornment of the Order, to the consolation of the good, and to the confusion of the evil and of rivals. Nor must it be omitted that, when Pope Nicholas saw in the servant of God such zeal, simplicity, innocence and fervour, he said to him: "Who will labour for your canonization, Brother John?" To whom the most humble brother answered: "I am a sinner, and such things are not due to sinners." The bishops also who were sent to examine the miracles of Blessed Bernardine, from the long-continued association which they had with the servant of Christ, considering his honourable conversation, and his life not human but divine, and the divine works which were done through him, had said to some: "We wish to tell our Lord Pope that together with Blessed Bernardine Brother John should also be canonized."

[86] enlightened by heavenly visions, I confess that I can in no way either narrate or describe the individual revelations made to the blessed Father; but as I described above in the recital of the miracles in the second place; so now here also I propose to relate twenty-four revelations divinely shown to him; asking devout readers to be willing to draw from these how the spirit of God, which revealed to him future things, dwelt in his heart. The first revelation he had while still a secular. While he was detained in prison, as was recalled above, it seemed to him that the whole world was pressed by the greatest darkness. And through the cracks of the prison certain rays of sunlight went out from the prison, whence a great multitude of people came to the prison, that at least from those rays coming out of the prison they might see the light. This vision has been well fulfilled, and by his most fervent sermons, his angelic life and his works to be searched, he illuminated, as far as he could, the world, now growing old and darkened by many sins.

[87] he is called from heaven to the Order of Minors; The second vision he had in the same prison, which was such, eight days after the first: while he was awake and devoutly saying the Office of the Blessed Virgin, above his head, as far as he could raise his hands, there appeared a certain man in the habit of the Friars Minor, who began to rebuke him: "Why did he not purpose to be a Friar Minor?" There is no doubt that this was St. Francis, who rejoiced very much at the entry of such a son into his Order. And of these two revelations it has been set down above at the beginning of the legend.

[88] he is refreshed by the Blessed Virgin; The third vision he had in our house situated outside Perugia, which place is called al Monte. In the same place, while he was still a novice, and was sleeping on a certain occasion, there appeared to him a certain most beautiful woman, having a most white garment, like snow in the winter time: who, having a silver bowl in her hands and drawing near to him with a joyful and glad face, held it out to him to drink. Surely this woman was the Blessed Virgin, whom he always venerated with the greatest affection; of whom, when he read or preached, he was so dissolved in tears from exceeding devotion that he could scarcely utter his words. There is no doubt, then, that the Most Blessed Virgin herself, whom he so loved,

as she is believed to have poured knowledge into Blessed Bernardine from her breasts, so also ministered to this servant of hers in a silver bowl the grace of preaching and of solving doubts. In all necessities he had recourse to her, and she did not delay to hear him. On a certain occasion, when he was very ill and believed that he would certainly die, he raised the eyes of his mind to her, with what devotion he could, humbly entreating her that she would deign to obtain for him from her Son a true contrition for his sins before death. There was no delay, and behold, a flood of blood came out from his nostrils, which obtained both true contrition for sins and perfect health of body.

[89] he foretells the death of Martin V; The fourth vision he had at Rome: for while he was preaching in the church of Holy Cross he was rapt out of himself for a long space of time, in which rapture he learned that the death of Pope Martin V was near. When Martin himself called him and asked what he had had in that rapture, he was unwilling to disclose it to him, fearing lest he should disturb him; at last, compelled by him, he narrated with fear what he had seen. Which also came about. For dying in a short time he showed that the vision was not fantastic but true. The fifth vision he had concerning that Pope Martin: for withdrawing from him within a short time, he being somewhat ill, when he had reached a certain place not far from the city, he saw a thunderbolt fall very swiftly from heaven. In this he read: "he will not see the light of the next dawn." Which also came about, for the following night he died before or about the middle of the night.

[90] the pontificate to Eugenius IV; The sixth vision he had concerning the assumption of Pope Eugenius to the Papacy: for Eugenius himself, when he was still Bishop of Siena, had great familiarity with the man of God: and so he visited him quite often, and it was his custom to humble himself before all ecclesiastical prelates; when he was withdrawing from him, he would kiss his hand. Once, then, when he was asking leave of him, wishing to betake himself to a certain remote place, impelled by the Spirit he fell at his feet and kissed them. The bishop, stupefied at this, and asking why he had done this, he answered: "I do not believe I shall see you any more unless as Pope." Martin having died, therefore, the bishop of Siena was elected Pope, who was called Eugenius the Fourth. The seventh vision he had on Monte Sant'Angelo: for when on a certain occasion he was sent by Pope Eugenius to the king of Aragon for some business of the Order, he came to a certain place called on Monte Sant'Angelo; where after dinner, thanks having been given, remaining in the choir, he faithfully commended to the Lord the cause for which he was being sent. And behold, he saw a certain little brother, whom the earth seemed to lift up, and heaven to bend down to receive him; the mystery of which vision, because I do not understand it, I do not presume to declare to others.

[91] defeat to the king of Aragon, to Thomas of Sarzana, The eighth vision he had concerning that king of Aragon, when that most severe king wished to rise up against the Genoese, he consulted the blessed Father on this in the city of Gaeta. He not once or twice but very often urged him not to do it: because there would without doubt be danger to his person. He, paying no attention to the presages of so great a Father, wishing to fulfil his purpose, was captured by the Genoese at sea and handed over in triumph to the duke of the Milanese. This king indeed conceived such devotion and love toward the same Father that whatever he asked of him he at once obtained. The ninth he had concerning the assumption of Nicholas to the Cardinalate and the Papacy; for when he was called Master Thomas and had been created bishop of Bologna, the blessed man visited him, and said to him: "Today you have been elected bishop of Bologna; I congratulate you, but you will not remain so: drawing near to the cardinalate and hastening to the papacy." At these words, as he laughed and would not believe it, the Father said: "You are Thomas; for Thomas was hard in believing." When within two years he had attained the Cardinalate and the Papacy, the Father wrote to him: "Now you know that you were Thomas when you would not believe."

[92] The tenth he had concerning the death of Eugenius and the election of Nicholas, which was thus. The blessed Father was saying the Office in the city of Aquila with a certain companion, Eugenius being dead, the pontificate who was called Brother Nicholas the German. When the Office was finished, as according to the custom of the Friars he was saying the prayer for the Pope, namely: O God, Shepherd of all the faithful, etc., not knowing of the death of Eugenius, he said your servant Eugenius, etc. To whom the Father: Say Nicholas. And he, believing that the Father wished to joke with him, said smiling: I will never be Pope. After the said prayers, jesting, he said to the Father: If I become Pope, I will make you a Cardinal. Then the Father declared to him that Eugenius was dead and Nicholas elected. These same things he said in the morning to the people at the ambo, although there is a distance of three or four days' journey between Rome and Aquila. It was found therefore that on that same day Eugenius had died and Nicholas had been elected: and this Pope Nicholas conceived great trust and devotion toward the Father, and did him many favours.

[93] the episcopate of Aquila to Amicus; The eleventh he had concerning a certain man to be elected Bishop of Aquila. For there was a certain man of Rocca di Mezzo, of the diocese of Aquila, who was called Lord Amicus, and he was very familiar with the Father. To him he once foretold that he would be bishop of Aquila, which in a short time was fulfilled; as the bishop himself testifies at this day ^e. The twelfth he had at Rome, concerning a certain woman about to die. For when he was preaching with a very great concourse of men, there was present at the sermon a certain devout and honourable woman of the Third Order of St. Francis, who, inflamed with exceeding ardour and seized with immense devotion, rose up among the people and began to cry out to the Father with a loud voice. At her cry the people turned to wonder. But the servant of God, understanding the secrets of her heart, and knowing what was to come upon her, said to her: "O woman, returning quickly home, prepare yourself, for you will certainly die." Surely God is wonderful in his servants; returning home, as soon as she had prepared herself with a joyful spirit, she rested in the Lord.

[94] his own death in Hungary, The thirteenth he had at Venice, when he was preaching there in Lent with immense acceptance, and after Easter was to come to the king of the Romans, staying in the parts of Austria; several times he said to his companions at table: "Hungary will have my bones." And so it came about. For walking through nearly all Germany, Bohemia and Poland, coming finally to Hungary, he died there in a certain city which is called Vuiilak. The fourteenth he had at Neustadt, where, when he had come to the king of the Romans and was placed in doubt whither he should direct his way, he was made certain by an impulse that he should extend his way toward Bohemia, because through him a good fruit of souls would follow. And so he went on to Bohemia; and many, abandoning their errors, were converted, as was shown above.

[95] without the shedding of his own blood; The fifteenth he had at Nuremberg, in our convent, when he had returned from the diet which was held at Frankfurt for the cause of the faith. He was in a great agony of doubt whither he should go for the greater glory of God. Over this, as was his custom, he wished to implore divine aid. Whence he enjoined his companions that each of them should say three Our Fathers and as many Hail Marys in the form of a cross, and he himself prayed likewise. When therefore he had given himself to sleep, it seemed to him that he was celebrating Mass, and when he had consecrated the host and elevated it, the server, taking the chalice, poured out the wine not yet consecrated from the chalice, and when the Father insisted that wine for the sacrifice should be given to him, the server held out a host to him. Meanwhile his companion opened the door, and he awoke, and said to his companion: "God spare you, why did you not allow me to finish the Mass?" This dream the Father himself interpreted: that although he desired to drink the chalice of martyrdom for the faith of Christ, yet Christ himself had decreed to make him his Martyr not through the shedding of blood but through immense desire. And so it came about, because on account of the very great labours which he had against the Turks he indeed died, but did not shed his blood.

[96] the death of Nicholas V; The sixteenth he had on the same day in the same place, for while he was devoutly celebrating and earnestly entreating God that he would deign to show him more clearly the way by which he ought to walk, it seemed to him at the Mass, which he had celebrated earlier, namely while he was preaching to the people, that the air resounded with voices: "To Hungary, to Hungary, to Hungary." And it seemed to him also that certain persons were impelling him, as he delayed, to Hungary; made certain by these visions, and all gladdened, he said to his companions: "Now our way is toward Hungary." Coming therefore to Hungary he worked by divine grace wonderful things, most worthy of all admiration, in a few days, and afterwards rested in peace, a Martyr by desire, as will be told below in its place. The seventeenth he had at Neustadt. There, when he was staying with the Emperor Frederick, and there was there also a certain Apostolic legate, namely the Lord of Pavia, the Father said to the same Legate: "I assure you that Pope Nicholas is dead." Within a short time, then, messengers came who reported that Pope Nicholas had died at that time at which the Father had asserted him to be dead. Whence the bishop, marvelling, said: "Now I am willing to believe that Brother John has the spirit of Prophecy."

[97] various visions besides The eighteenth and likewise the nineteenth he had in Hungary, at Alba Regalis, in which the kings of Hungary are wont to be crowned ^f. Of which two visions he himself wrote to Dominic, Cardinal of Fermo, the Pope's supreme Penitentiary and Protector of our Order, his words to the letter, which are as follows *: "A doubtful mind deterred me a little, whether I should write or be silent, as at length the zeal of ancient confidence, which I have securely maintained toward Your Most Reverend Lordship, rather to express than to suppress what I had seen on the feast of St. Bartholomew in the present year, at Alba Regalis, preaching to many soldiers worshipping Christ, an interpreter declaring what I had proclaimed, concerning the proximate dangers of the Christian faith. I saw four rivers contending with one another, of which the first was from the east, the second from the west, the third from the south, and the fourth from the north, and each strove to flow and ebb with force in the great sea. And in the ebbing each acted violently to draw with it the water of the whole sea: at last the western conquered. Attend to what these things mean. Press on to what the spirit indicates."

[98] concerning future things he has There follows the nineteenth: "On the feast of the Sacred Stigmata of the Seraphic Father Francis, our renowned Patriarch, when the interpreter was expounding,

what he had first heard from me, on the imprinting of the signs of Jesus Christ, your little servant saw in heaven a great battle between the sun and the moon and the stars. The moon and the stars, rushing against the sun, were carrying off the victory. Stupefied and marvelling, not knowing what these things meant, I heard: the sun has been overcome by the moon. As if thunderstruck I lamented the judgments of God, a great deep, that there was no astrologer to discern these things." Again a spiritual voice thundered: "Incomprehensible are the judgments of God; deep calls to deep Rom. XI, 33 et Ps. XLI, 8." Again I lamented, and I perceived this conclusion, the greater should serve the lesser, and the end hastens. These are the words of him whose it is to establish and to unravel.

[99] concerning all Christendom, The twentieth he had in Hungary. For when he was with the bishop of Vác, he foretold that three things were imminent for the world in the near future, namely: a very great shedding of human blood, the overthrow of very great buildings, and the death of leading men. The first was fulfilled in the slaughter of the Turks; the second in the overthrow of cities, towns and many lands in the kingdom of Sicily and elsewhere; the third in the destruction of great men, such as was the Governor of Hungary, King Ladislaus and the others. The twenty-first he had also in Hungary, in the town which is called Zalonkæmen. When he was on the way to aid the castle of Nandoralba, which was about to be besieged by the Turks, and was leading with him a few signed with the Cross, he was rendered very slow and somewhat sad by the fewness of those signed with the Cross. As he celebrated therefore on a certain morning, it seemed to him that a certain arrow, sent from heaven, appeared in a moment on the altar, on which was written in golden letters: "Do not fear, John, but go down secure and be constant: for in the power of the Cross you will carry off victory over the Turks." Gladdened by this the Father marked all his people with the Cross, and carried off the victory over the Turks.

[100] concerning the day of his death, The twenty-second he had concerning his death. For in the same year in which he died, he wrote to the Venerable Father Brother Gabriel of Verona, vicar of the province of Austria, and to a certain Italian brother, that if they wished to see him alive, they should come down to him, who was then preaching at Buda. When they delayed to come down, he called them by two other letters, repeating the same words as before. Besides the letters he added similar words, announcing them through a messenger. And when they came down, and were received by the blessed Father with great charity, within a short time he happily departed to the Lord. The twenty-third he had concerning some generals of the Order, to whom he announced that they would die shortly if they tried to persecute the brothers of the Observance. Not heeding and not observing his words, savagely raging, within a short time they were taken from the midst: and especially Brother James of Mozanica, to whom, when he had humbly and kindly written not to bring oppression on the brothers of the Observance, he derided the blessed Father's admonition to his own prejudice, and stood out as more troublesome to the Observants than all: but within a few days, though he was most acceptable to all and believed that he had already destroyed the Observance, he was overtaken by sudden death, the Observance remaining in its state.

[101] and concerning the Order of Minors. The twenty-fourth he had concerning the bringing back of the Observance to its former state, and the confirmation of the Bulls of Eugenius. For while in the time of the aforesaid Brother James, minister general, the family of the Observants was suffering many upheavals and the Bull which Pope Eugenius had given it had been changed, the pious Father wept, and could not cease from tears. At length returning to himself, and consoled in spirit, he said: The family of the Observance will never be in peace until the Bull of Eugenius is again confirmed, and shortly, God granting it, it will again be confirmed. Pope Callixtus having died, therefore, who had changed that Bull, shortly Pope Pius the Second was elected, who confirmed the Bull of Eugenius, and brought the family of the Observants back to its former state,

ANNOTATIONS.

* add proferam

CHAPTER VII.

Of his knowledge and the books he wrote.

Excellently instructed in knowledge and letters, Now that the miracles of the blessed Father have been narrated, and after the divine revelations made to him, it must be narrated with what great clearness of knowledge he flourished, what great and manifold disputations he conducted for the defence of truth, what splendid works he published for the profit of the faithful. While he was still a secular, studying in the university of Perugia, he so advanced in the faculty of both laws, canon and civil, that he was held wonderful by all. The doctors and other students of the university did not disdain to follow his counsels and opinions. Secular persons also, leaving aside the doctors, had recourse to him for counsel in their causes, reckoning his responses as true and firm as if they had been given out by any jurisconsult. For the opinion of his knowledge had been so spread abroad that even in the year of his novitiate the Brothers could not hide him, but at the importunate prayers of many secular persons they very often ordered him to communicate to them the counsels they were seeking; as was also declared above.

[103] he gives his attention to Scripture and theology, But after he made profession in the Order, he entered on the spacious and most pleasant field of Sacred Scripture, in which he laboured so continually, manfully and solicitously that within a short time, the Holy Spirit furnishing strength, he accomplished much more than he had earlier advanced in law. In the Bible indeed he was so sure and expert that nothing is treated in it that was not plain to him. The Master of the Sentences also, and all the doctors of Sacred Scripture, he ran through with most diligent study, and nothing was said by them that escaped his knowledge. Thereafter he was held celebrated in the whole world, and they flowed to him for counsel from various parts; no one better than he, no one more clearly solved doubts, no one more luminously declared cases of conscience, no one more effectively rooted scruples from the mind.

[104] and both by private counsels, Nor was it ever found of him that either through fear or love or any other cause he suppressed or kept silent about the truth. For speaking to the great and to the small he struck alike with the javelins of truth. For whether he spoke to prelates of the Church, or to kings, or to princes, or to the rich, or to the poor, to all he laid open the truth; no adulation, no pretence, no hypocrisy could be detected in his words or his gestures. We have seen him sometimes reprove the vices of some great men with such fervour and charity that he even moved them to tears. Not only therefore fortified by holy works and an angelic life, but most perfectly imbued with the knowledge of the divine Scriptures, he uttered words most acceptable to God and the Angels, to the wise and the unwise. For from the thirtieth year, in which he entered Religion, after his profession up to the seventy-first, in which he gave back his spirit to God, nearly every day, unless he had been prevented either by arduous business or by infirmity, he preached a sermon to the people; nay, sometimes when feverish he did not on that account cease from preaching.

[105] and by public sermons His sermons he weighed in so even a balance, and with such zeal brought them to the file of reason, that although he preached in various parts of the world, for instance in all Italy, in France, in Germany, in various kingdoms and duchies, and in many universities before bishops and before doctors, yet never in any point or in any false quotation was he proved to have erred ^a: because indeed he abounded in citations of Sacred Scripture and of the laws. There were at times most learned men who, led to admiration, wrote down each quotation, and diligently examined whether he had cited well, but no one in truth ever caught him in error.

[106] he provides for the salvation of all; He set forth the word of God with such gladness of face and alacrity of spirit that not only those understanding his words, but even those not understanding, beholding his face as the face of an Angel, were never affected with weariness at his sermon. For the most part when he was preaching in Germany and the kingdoms of Bohemia, Poland and Hungary, illiterate persons and rustics who did not know Latin, and likewise women, did not depart from the sermon as long as he was speaking; but more often after the interpreter was expounding to the people what he had said, you would have seen the people in great part going off and returning to their homes, as if having greater devotion in the mere sight and gracious aspect of the Father than in the words of any interpreter. If at any time snow or rain fell from the sky, the fervent people did not on that account go away, but persevered until the end of his words.

[107] he also gives salutary admonitions to both clergies: In nearly all the principal cities to which he turned aside, he was invited by the bishops and the clergy to make a sermon suitable to them. He then, excluding seculars, because the laity should not know what clerics do, preached to religious and clerics about their state, and above all about keeping honourableness, about fleeing avarice, about observing the other virtues and fleeing vices, and with such gravity of words and humility, and also fervour of spirit, that although he censured each according to their state, and flattered the vices of no one, however great, yet all, both prelates and subjects, both old and young, both learned and unlearned, received his words with as kind and grateful a spirit as if they had been uttered not by a man but by an Angel. Outside those sermons, however, when preaching with the people he never narrated anything that could tend to the scandal of the clergy.

[108] that a concubine woman must be denied ecclesiastical burial, At the ambos at which he preached, intricate cases were sometimes devised; questions, in a way insoluble, were proposed, all of which he at once solved without delay of time: so that his knowledge seemed wonderful to all. Moreover many times he disputed publicly for the defence of truth, and finally carried off the victory over his adversaries. When once in the province of Sant'Angelo in the land ^b, a certain concubine woman, who ought not to have been buried in a sacred place, had through the ignorance of certain persons been buried in the cemetery, and this was announced to the Father as he was passing through there, he answered that she must be exhumed and buried in a profane place. His sentence, because it was troublesome to many who earlier perhaps had thought she should be buried in the cemetery, a public disputation was ordered, in which the most learned Father so drew out the cause of truth that, all present and silent, nay with heads bowed, the shameless woman was exhumed and thrown into the field like a beast.

[109] that to another, unjustly deprived, it should be restored, he demonstrates; Another, unjustly buried outside the sacred place in the city of Aquila, the most prudent Father, through a universal and public disputation, though in that city there is a very great abundance of learned men, had exhumed and buried in a sacred place, namely in the church of St. Blaise of the same city. No one therefore ever disputed with him unless unwillingly: for wonderful knowledge flourished in him, seasoned with the salt of discretion. There was in him also wisdom and natural intellect with the infusion of divine grace, on account of which, lest he be guilty of ingratitude before God, he was everywhere a lover and defender of truth and a zealot for the honour of the Lord, as well as a preserver of the fame of his neighbours. For when in the time of Martin the Fifth, Brother Bernardine of Siena, then a most fervent preacher, but now a distinguished Confessor of Christ, was preaching in the City, and some articles had been imposed on him by rivals, moved by envy, which, as they asserted, savoured of heresy: a day of public disputation was appointed about them.

[110] he vindicates St. Bernardine from the accusation of heresy; Meanwhile certain Romans sent the said articles to the Father Brother John of Capistrano, who at that time was preaching at Rieti, announcing to him the day appointed for the disputation. The principal of these articles was: that Brother Bernardine was an idolater, because he carried the Name Jesus painted on a tablet and had it publicly adored by the people. When this came to the Father's ears, seeing the injury to the Christian name, and the malice of the rivals, and the disparagement of preachers, and wishing to come to the aid of the desire of those devoted to our Order, although Bernardine himself, full of divine grace and learned in knowledge, trusted that he would defend the articles falsely imposed on him; yet at once, inflamed with zeal for his master, Brother Bernardine, whose disciple and companion he had been for many days, he had a beautiful tablet made, on which he had the Name of Jesus most ornately painted, and prepared a pole or lance, and, taking his companions, leaving off his preaching, he flew to Rome.

[111] the cult of the Most Holy Name of Jesus And when on the appointed day of the disputation the Father had come to the gate of the city, he tied the tablet thus adorned with the Name of Jesus to the pole, and thus tied to the pole he raised it aloft, many citizens running together; and thus, relying on divine grace, and armed with the Name of Jesus, through the public and greater road of the city with such a banner he came up to the steps of the palace of St. Peter, his companions singing praises: at which the Pope marvelled, the Cardinals were astounded, and the whole city was stirred. The disputation was put off to the next day; the rivals assembled, the citizens were gathered, the prelates were summoned, the circle was ordered, the articles were recited, the arguments were made, and place was given to the Father to respond: all turned their eyes on him, and he most elegantly confuted all the errors and defended the articles, nor was anyone found in so great a city to contradict the opinions and conclusions of the most learned man. The rivals blushed, the truth shining forth. O inestimable wisdom of St. John! O most zealous prudence! O most fervent charity!

[112] he defends and promulgates; Thereafter a venerable procession was commanded in honour of the Name of Jesus, which was also carried painted on a tablet as a banner; and from then on devotion to that Name so increased that in churches, in squares, over gates and doors of houses it was everywhere honourably painted, that it might be venerated. It is no wonder therefore that the blessed Father aided his master, Brother Bernardine, with such diligence, by whose most grievous labours, miracles going before, he was even to be promoted to canonization. Very many other brothers who were vexed by rivals the most wise Father defended, and by evident proofs showed that his gainsayers wished to be wise more than is fitting; and especially in the city of Milan, in which there flourishes an abundance of those skilled in every science, when certain malevolent persons were contradicting the sermons of the blessed Father Albert of Sarteano, the distinguished Father, coming upon them, so clearly shut the barking mouths that no further gainsayer appeared.

[113] he condemns the Acts of the council of Basel; In the city of Vienna, when he had preached that the council of Basel had acted presumptuously, in that it had presumed to elect Felix the Antipope while Eugenius the true Pontiff was alive; certain of the more principal doctors of the university, taking this ill, threatened to dispute publicly against it. When this had been truthfully announced to the Father, he again repeated what he had said, and so strengthened his words by reasons and authorities that, although he invited the aforesaid doctors to dispute, yet no one who asserted the contrary dared to appear in public. In the parts of Burgundy, when he was commissary of the supreme Bishop Eugenius, the minister of that province, living insolently, unwilling to acquiesce in the words and admonitions of the Father, believed that by his knowledge and sophistic arguments he could evade the Father's hands and defend his errors. Summoned therefore by the Father, he came with a large company of brothers and others bearing arms, believing that by this he would terrify the Father. But the intrepid Father, making little of the knowledge and arms of the minister, convicted him of error, and so deposed him from the ministry by the authority of the supreme Bishop.

[114] though entangled in many affairs, he nevertheless writes various books. Although the most zealous Father preached daily, and, as was declared above, laboured for the common good, running here and there; yet reckoning that he had done nothing, he composed many Treatises for the profit of many. For he composed a certain beautiful treatise on the punishments of hell and purgatory. Likewise several little treatises on cases of conscience, little treatises on penances to be enjoined, on questions to be asked in confession, little treatises on restitutions and contracts; a beautiful treatise on excommunications; he made a subtle book on the authority of the Church, which he also presented to the Supreme Pontiff: he wrote a long and most useful treatise on marriages; he composed a beautiful treatise against the heresies of the Hussites; he published many long and distinguished letters against heretics and especially against the Hussites; he composed a certain most devout and copious treatise on the government of clerics, which he entitled the Mirror of Clerics, and many sermons which he preached to the peoples. He made many other things with watchful study and diligent care, which it would be long to enumerate ^c. The aforesaid works are copied here and there throughout the world by many, and honourably placed in several libraries. For the lover of God, reflecting that each must render a most strict account of the dispensing of his time, so disposed his time that not the least particle of it should pass without fruit. And therefore by preaching, praying, reading, labouring and composing the aforesaid treatises, he sweated most vigilantly in the field of the Lord.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER VIII.

The journey into Germany, and the miracles performed on the journey.

At the invitation of the Emperor Frederick, After the happy canonization of St. Bernardine, most pleasing to God, celebrated in the year of the Jubilee by Pope Nicholas, when the blessed Father was discharging the office of vicar general, betaking himself to the parts of Lombardy and the March of Treviso, in all the cities which he visited unheard-of and most stupendous miracles were shown by divine largess, both by the merits of St. Bernardine and by the holiness of the blessed Father himself. The report and novelty of these was carried through nearly all the regions of the world with the wonder of all. Hearing the certainty of these things, the most serene emperor Frederick, then king of the Romans, sending Lord Aeneas, bishop of Siena, now Pope Pius, to Pope Nicholas the Fifth, requested with great entreaties that the man of God should be sent to his presence. The supreme Pontiff therefore wrote to the blessed Father that, after celebrating the feast of Easter, he should direct his way toward the parts of Germany to the presence of the king of the Romans. So in the year of the Lord MCCCCLI, after the feast of Easter, he withdrew from the city of Venice ^a, in which he had preached through the preceding Lent, with the performing of many prodigies.

[116] and taking twelve companions; But before he withdrew from Italy, he chose twelve Friars as companions of his journey, in imitation of Christ: namely the venerable Father Brother Gabriel of Verona, Brother Jerome of Milan, Brother Nicholas of Fara, these three were afterwards made vicars of provinces, Brother Peter of Sopron, Brother Bernard of Modena, Brother Valentine of Tuscany, Brother Christopher of Varese, priests, Brother Bernard of Naples, Brother Paul of Ferrara, Brother John of Camplo, Brother Michael of Prussia *, and Brother John of Austria, laymen ^b, of whom two, namely Brother Valentine and Christopher, overtaken by infirmity, remained in Italy. But Brother Christopher not long after,

having obtained his former health, followed the Father, whom he found preaching at Znojmo. But because the wonders performed at Venice and in other cities of Italy have been written down by very many in more diligent style and speech ^c; I in as brief a way as I can, and summarily, will take care to recite the things done by the Father from his departure from Venice up to his entry into Hungary, only the more principal cities and not the names of individual towns and villages, for the sake of brevity.

[117] he sets out for Germany, and at Capriolo, Udine In the Name therefore of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose power signs and prodigies are done, and who alone does great wonders, let us enter on the open sea. First in the city of Capriolo ^d, on the XXII day of April MCCCCLI, a certain man mute from birth, twenty years old, and likewise deaf, and another deprived of strength, crawling on crutches, were healed. At Portogruaro ^e, on the last day of April, a cripple, a paralytic, and a lame woman, whose shin was lengthened by half a palm, were cured. In the castle of San Vito ^f, on the first day of May, a certain woman crippled from birth, three lame men, and two brothers mute and deaf from birth were healed. In the city of Udine ^g, on the IV day of May, four crippled in their limbs, one woman immovable, one man mute for two years, and a woman dragging her foot behind her were healed. There on the fourth * day of May four lame men, unable to walk without supports, two mute from birth, two gouty, and one woman having her face turned and immovable and also a twisted mouth, were healed. There on the VII day of May five unable to walk without crutches, a woman having drawn-up feet, three crippled in their limbs and nearly immovable, two carried on pallets and the third in a chair, one blind in one eye, and one woman deaf and mute from birth were freed. In the city of Cividale Austria of Friuli ^h, on the X of May, one man immovable for a year, three lame men supported on crutches ⁱ and staves, one man having an immovable arm, and one deaf for very many years were most excellently healed.

[118] at Clemona, Pontebba, In the land of Clemona ^k, on the XI of May, a certain woman deaf for XII years was healed on the way to Clemona. There on the XII day, in the cloister of the Minors, two grown men deaf and mute from birth, XXXVI gouty persons unable to go without staves, one having scarcely a glimmer from one eye, and one numbed with cold and immovable in his legs, were healed. On the same day after dinner six who could not go without staves because of gout and other sicknesses, one mute and deaf from birth, one unable to extend his head or his arm, one woman blind in one eye, and one woman having a drawn-up hand were freed. There on the XIII of May three lame and gouty, seven deaf, one woman unable to speak or to walk without a staff, and one of XII years scarcely seeing a glimmer from birth were wonderfully healed. In the village of Puntafil ^l, on the XVII day of May, one mute and deaf from birth, one woman wholly blind, seeing nothing, and one lame woman, leaving her staff behind, were healed. On the way also in the channel many were healed, but because of the crowd and multitude that flowed in from all sides, and also on account of the haste of the journey, they were not written down.

[119] at Villacum, At Villiacum ^m, on the XVIII * of May, on the vigil of St. Bernardine, in that same city an unheard-of disease arose, which in a few days wiped out many of both sexes: for while eating, drinking, dancing or doing other things, suddenly seized by pain of the heart, and deprived of all their limbs, they fell dying to the ground, immovable: and so for some hours or days, according to the strength of their constitution, they painfully breathed out their souls. Many of these, brought half-alive on pallets and on chairs, returned home with joy. Of whom fourteen, men and women together, carried as dead in the disease, on their own feet, having received the sign of the cross and the Father's command to rise, leaving behind the pallets and chairs, which still hang as a testimony in the church of the Minors, returned even running, with the incredible weeping and astonishment of all standing by. Likewise two blind, one deaf, one gouty, one drawn up in his hands, another drawn up in hands and feet, and two having immovable feet, crossed in the manner of a cross, were most excellently freed. There on the XX of May, on the feast of St. Bernardine, the vicar of the church, made useless for celebrating by palsy, was most excellently healed. On seeing this miracle, so great was the crush of the crowds that the Father with his companions scarcely escaped safe. And therefore other things done could not be written down.

[120] at Stroburga, at Judenburg At Stroburga ⁿ, at the residence of the bishop of Gurk, on the twenty-third of May, two blind, one deaf, two or three deprived of their limbs by the aforesaid disease, one woman wasted of strength by a long-lasting flow of blood, two lame, three drawn up and numbed, and one woman nearly failing with pain of the kidneys, very greatly burdened day and night, went away healthy. At the intermediate cities and villages, as at Friesach ^o and Judenburg [p], there were many signs, but because of the speed of the journey they could not be noted, until the next-to-last day of May, on which the Father arrived at Neustadt [q], gloriously and honourably received by the most serene king of the Romans, Frederick. At Neustadt from the last day of May to the sixth of June seven blind, of whom one from birth, sixteen deaf, eighteen lame, one mute and deaf from birth, seven drawn up, some in the feet, some in the hands, some in both, four deprived of all strength and wholly immovable, with many others, went away healthy.

[121] at Vienna, of Austria At Vienna, the renowned city, on the ninth day of June, three blind, five deaf, four paralytics, unable with the mouth, one woman wholly immovable, one woman mute and deaf for twenty years, were cured. There on the tenth of June four drawn up, some in the feet, some in the hands, six lame, of whom the shins of three were wonderfully lengthened, two deaf and mute from birth, one blind, one deaf, five deprived of all limbs and wholly immovable, went away healthy. There on the eleventh of June three lame, one gouty, one deaf and one blind in one eye were made healthy. There on the twelfth of June three deaf women, one woman wholly immovable, one man drawn up in his hands, and one woman disabled on account of bodily pain were healed. There on the thirteenth day, on the day of Pentecost, when about four thousand sick persons had arrived, and nothing worthy of memory had been done, the Brothers being as it were saddened at this, the Father in fervour of spirit said: "O you of little faith, why have you doubted? Behold, I am safely willing to be eaten by dogs, if tomorrow you do not see the wonders and glory of God." There on the fourteenth day of June four blind, of whom one from birth, one deaf woman and one man deprived of limbs; six lame, of whom the shin of one was very greatly lengthened, two drawn up; five carried, immovable of themselves, and one dropsical woman, were most excellently freed. There on the fifteenth day of June one woman wholly blind, two deprived of limbs, six lame, of whom one left behind his crutches, and for two the shins were wonderfully lengthened, and one immovable were healed. There on the sixteenth day one mute and deaf from birth, five lame, of whom one left behind his crutches, and the shin of another was much lengthened, one deaf, one deprived of limbs, and one woman creeping like a snake, not able to raise herself, were healed.

[122] he performs many miracles on various There on the seventeenth day one blind woman, one lame woman, one immovable man, one mute woman and one possessed woman were freed. There on the eighteenth day two disabled, one in the arm, the other in all his limbs, one deaf, and three lame, leaving their staves behind, were healed. There on the nineteenth day three, all deprived of strength, one deaf, one gouty woman, one lame man, unable to walk without a staff, were wholly freed. There on the twentieth day, on the day of the Trinity, one woman deaf and mute from birth, one blind woman and four deaf, seven deprived of limbs, two in the feet only, two in the feet and hands, one woman wholly paralytic, one lame, unable to walk without a staff, one woman drawn up in the hands, so that they could not be opened by great force, one paralytic woman, and one man who from birth had not urinated except by drops and with pain, at once, without hurt, passed urine in abundance in the church; and so all were healed.

[123] he performs on successive days; On the same day a certain girl of XVII years, already deprived of all strength, lay on the ground as if dead, her parents and those who had brought her thinking about burial; at the single voice of the Father saying: "Rise in the Name of Jesus and walk," she at once rose, and as if coming from sleep, not from the jaws of death, she began to walk and to run freshly. There on the twenty-first day two blind women, one wholly immovable, and one disabled in the arm, shaken with continual pains, were freed. There in the following three days so great was the multitude of the sick that not only could it not be visited, but, all the corners in the convent of the Minors being occupied, the Father with his companions could scarcely go out of their rooms; and therefore, although many were healed, yet because of the press they could not be written down.

[124] which also at Lak In those days, near the city of Lak [r], in a certain village called Hofflein, a certain woman by name Clare, wife of Peter the tailor, while on a Saturday she was baking loaves about noon, her daughter, by name Catherine, two and a half years old, fell into the well which is in the middle of the village, no one seeing; in which she lay suffocated until Monday. The sorrowful mother, having drawn her out, taking with her Lawrence her brother, went to Vienna, carrying with her her dead daughter, no one however knowing this. When she had come to the Father, and could not get to him because of the excessive press, she drew near him as far as she could, and, together with her dead daughter, having received a blessing from him, and withdrawing in hiding to the chapel of St. Bernardine, and looking at her daughter's face, and seeing her alive, thunderstruck with excessive joy, saying nothing, she returned home, and narrated to all what had happened.

[125] are renewed. There on the twenty-fifth day three deaf, two blind women, one lame woman, and one woman unable to walk without a staff were freed. There on the twenty-sixth day one woman wholly blind for four years and one lame woman were freed. There on the twenty-seventh day three lame and one blind woman went away free. There on the twenty-eighth day two deaf, one lame baron and one possessed woman were healed. There on the twenty-ninth day two blind women, one of them from birth, of twenty years, thirty-six deaf, two lame, one drawn up in hands and feet, one numbed and deprived of all

strength, went away unharmed. There on the last day of June six lame women, one blind woman, one woman monstrously drawn up and two deprived of strength were healed. There on the second day of July four deaf, one blind and one lame were freed. There on the third day two deaf, three deprived of limbs and strength, one blind woman, one lame woman and three drawn up in hands and feet were freed. There on the fourth day three women drawn up in hands and feet, two lame women, of whom one was bent and crippled in one hand, one man who could not have breath, made half-alive, and one woman deprived of limbs and strength were healed. There on the sixth day three deaf, one blind, one woman deprived of strength, one lame woman, one woman immovable from gout and one woman paralytic in her limbs, all went away healed. There on the seventh day a chancellor of the court of Pressburg [s], all swollen from the middle most monstrously, was at once restored to his former health. There on the eighth day one woman blind and lame, one woman drawn up in hands and feet, and one woman severely lame were healed.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. Judemburgum, a town of Styria of one thousand five hundred inhabitants Cfr Merian. Top. Austriæ, tom. I, pag. 43.: it is also called Judenwürg, the Slaughter of the Jews, because in the year 1312 the Christians massacred all the Jews at the feast of the Nativity: it seems to be the Idunum of the Romans Mar. Fidler. Aust. sacr. Part. III, tom. V, pag. 122..

q. There are various cities and towns of this name in Germany (Neustadt): but in our text it is a matter of Nova Civitas, XXXV kilometres distant from Vienna in Austria, for which reason it is also called in German Wienerisch-Neustadt. It is called Nova Civitas because, begun to be built at the end of the XII century, it had a royal palace, in which there is now a military school.

r. Hoflein near Laak on the river Thaya, according to the present division, belongs to Moravia, but on the extreme border toward Austria.

s. Posonium (Pressburg), the chief city of Hungary, in which the diets of the kingdom are held today, where the primate archbishop of Esztergom (Gran) resides.

* Perusia

* quinta?

* XVIIII?

CHAPTER IX.

Of the foundation of the Austrian province of the Friars Minor of the Observance; and of the miracles performed in Moravia.

The first convent having been founded at Vienna, Meanwhile, namely from the ninth of July to the next-to-last of the same, the most zealous Father, considering that in the parts of Austria and in the others around there was no house of the Observance, and that they did not even know what the Observance was; seeing moreover that many masters and notable students desired to be his disciples, began to think that it would be a great gain of souls, an amplification of divine worship and an honour to the Order, if some house of the Observance should be received. Addressing therefore on this matter the most serene king of the Romans, Frederick, and the citizens of Vienna, after many places shown to him by them, the place of St. Theobald pleased him for the dwelling of the brothers of the Observance ^a, and, supported by apostolic authority, he received it in the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred and fifty-one, in the month of July. In this place the Sisters of the Third Order of blessed Francis had earlier dwelt, who, all their possessions being retained, were transferred to another place.

[127] many flow to the Order: After the reception of the place, then, many students began to flow in and humbly to ask entry into the Order. So within a few days very many masters, bachelors, students and others were received by the Father into the Order with great devotion of the people. And thus in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ this new planting, the province of Austria and Bohemia, was begun. Within these days, namely from the ninth of July to the next-to-last, many miracles were shown, but I have found only those written below noted. Namely ten deaf, two blind, two women disabled, but one in the arms only, four lame, of whom one with the extremity, one going only with the help of the toes, touched the ground, two drawn up, one in the hands only, two immovable, but one in the feet only, four unable to walk without staves, and one without crutches, with many others, were most excellently freed.

[128] the miracles continue in the same place; Among whom a certain woman, by name Margaret, greatly swollen from drinking at a spring, and curable by no medicine, was carrying frogs of varied colours in her body, by which, wasted, she was gradually failing: but, having received the sign of the Cross from the Father, a little after she voided in great quantity through the lower parts, with exceeding pain and labour, the frogs which she had carried in her belly for five years, and, strengthened in vigour, was made joyful and well. Then the Father, withdrawing from Vienna, and coming to the city of Lak ^b, in the same place one crippled in his limbs, one woman pierced in the arm with a knife, and one woman much crippled in the hands were suddenly healed.

[129] likewise at Brünn In the city of Brünn ^c, on the last day of July, three deaf, five lame, of whom one left behind his crutches, three disabled in the hands, and another half-alive in his whole body, carried on a pallet, namely the vicar of the principal Church, one woman immovable, and two not walking without staves were healed. There on the same day two women disabled in the hands, one lame man, and one woman crippled in the hands, and one woman not walking without staves were freed. There on the first day of August Gabriel, an infant, son of Dorothy, of the old quarter * in Brünn, in agony, was carried by his mother: but as the Father delayed, candles having been lit, he was seen to breathe his last, and after this, deprived of all vigour, his pulse ceasing, he was judged dead by the multitude of those standing around. Then, the mother praying, by the merits of St. Bernardine and of blessed John, that the boy might revive, after a brief delay the boy, as if roused from sleep, appeared more cheerful, who earlier was believed to be dying. One disabled in the arm, a certain woman walking with feet monstrously turned over, and one woman lame from shortness of foot were made unharmed.

[130] from the last day of July There on the second of August five blind, one woman wholly deprived of limbs, and two lame were most excellently healed. There on the third of August one woman unable to walk without staves,

one lame man were healed. There on the fourth of August two blind, one woman wholly disabled, one lame woman and one woman most feeble from a long infirmity in which she had lain, were healed. There on the fifth of August one lame man, two deaf women, one blind woman, one woman disabled in the arm, and one man not walking without crutches were freed. There on the sixth day one blind woman, one deaf man and two lame, of whom one went only on the tip of the foot, were freed. There on the seventh day a certain woman, by name Ludmila, unable to walk with a flat foot, was healed. There on the eighth day one woman greatly drawn up in the hands, one deaf woman and a third unable to walk, brought in a cart, were freed.

[131] to the XV of August 1451; There on the ninth day one deaf man, two unable to go, one carried in a cart, one having a disabled hand, three lame, one crippled woman carried on a bed, and a certain man having his foot and knee drawn back were wonderfully healed. There on the tenth day two paralytic women, one woman disabled in the arm, two blind women, of whom one had never seen, and one deaf man were freed. There on the eleventh day three deaf, one blind woman and a certain man walking in a marvellous manner on his heel were healed. There on the twelfth day a certain man wholly deprived of all strength, who was carried in a great trough with a bed, one blind woman, one gouty man and one deaf woman went away joyful, having recovered their health. There on the thirteenth day one woman mute and deaf for six years, and another not walking without a staff were healed. There on the fourteenth day four deaf, two blind women, and one of seven years born mute, who seemed indeed to attend to voices but could say nothing, were healed. There on the fifteenth day, on the day of the Assumption of the blessed Virgin, thirteen deaf for many years received the best of hearing: and this that the deafness of the Hussites might be confounded, who disdained to hear the truth. There also he received the place which the brothers inhabit, namely the place of St. Bernardine ^d.

[132] at Olomouc from the XVIII of August In the Town of Vuyschau ^e, one deaf and mute from birth, two not walking without staves, and one hearing from birth only with shouting were healed. In the city of Olmütz ^f, on the eighteenth day of August, two unable to walk without crutches and a third not walking without one, and wholly deprived of strength, were healed. There on the nineteenth day two deaf, one gouty, namely the vicar of the cathedral Church, and seeing nothing in one eye from a swelling, were at once healed. There on the twenty-first day three deaf, a certain man who had never walked, having his feet crossed in the manner of a Cross, of which he had never set one on the ground for his support, one blind man, one woman having a wholly withered hand, and a certain woman so crippled in the hands that they could not be opened by great force obtained health. There on the twenty-second day John of Carnonia, a paralytic, was healed.

[133] to the II of September There on the twenty-third day five blind, one deaf woman, three deprived of strength, of whom one was brought in on a bed, one woman drawn up in the hands, and one not going without a staff were healed, and one came by vow on account of a continual pain of the chest, and was healed. There on the twenty-fourth day eight deaf, one blind, six lame, four not going without staves, and one mute and deaf from birth began to say: "John;" and afterwards whatever was said to him he also said; they were healed. There on the twenty-fifth one blind woman, one woman deaf and mute, one woman disabled in the arm, two lame, two women drawn up in one hand each, and one woman deaf and mute from birth, having eight years, were healed. There on the twenty-sixth day one blind woman, four deaf women and one lame woman were freed.

[134] many are healed; There on the twenty-seventh day two blind, three deaf, and one mute and deaf from birth were freed. There on the twenty-eighth day three deaf, one lame, two disabled, one in the arm, the other in all his limbs, carried on a bed, and one not going without a staff were restored to good health. There on the twenty-ninth day three deaf, two deprived of strength, two not walking without a staff, and one deaf and mute, who from birth had never spoken a word, although he seemed to hear voices, were healed. There on the thirtieth day a certain blind woman, two deaf, four lame, one woman drawn up in the hand, and four deprived of limbs, not walking without crutches and staves, were restored to the best of health. There on the last day of August one deaf man, two blind women and one possessed woman were cured. There on the first day of September one lame man and one deaf woman were freed. There on the second day two blind women, three deaf, one deprived of limbs, and one unable to walk without a staff were healed.

[135] again at Brünn, From Olmütz he returned again to Brünn, and there, on the eighth day of September, two blind, one deaf woman, one disabled in the arms and one not going without a staff were most excellently freed. There on the tenth day two deaf, one blind woman, two disabled in the arms, one lame woman, and two crippled, one in three fingers of the hand, the other in the whole arm, were healed. There on the eleventh day one wholly blind and one deaf were healed. There on the twelfth day a certain woman severely lame on both sides; there on the sixteenth day one deaf woman and one woman lame on both sides were healed. There on the twentieth day a certain aged deaf man received the best of hearing.

[136] at Znojmo from the XXIII of September From Brünn he went on to Znojmo ^g, and there, on the twenty-third day of September, two deaf, two unable to go unless supported by another, one woman crippled in hands and feet and made immovable; a certain woman by name Dorothy, near death, was carried on a bed, and guarded with lit candles, who was already as if consumed by long infirmity; touched by the Father and urged to rise, she at once rose and walked most excellently, and became a wonder to herself and to all standing by, and so all were healed: there on the twenty-fourth day three deaf, and one mute for a year from infirmity were freed. There on the twenty-fifth day two lame, one woman possessed by demons, one deaf man, and one deprived of strength and unable to walk rejoiced in health. There on the twenty-seventh day two deaf women, and one who had not walked from birth were healed. There on the twenty-eighth day four deaf, one woman deprived of limbs, carried in a cart, one woman not walking without a staff, and one girl of ten years deaf and mute from birth and crippled in the hands were freed.

[137] to the V of October, There on the first day of October four deaf and two lame, of whom one could not go without great pains, were healed. There on the second day a certain woman deprived of all strength of body, and one half-mute man, impeded in the tongue and speaking badly, obtained health. There on the third day three deaf, and a fourth always very hard of hearing, one not walking without a staff, and one of ten years deaf and mute from birth were most excellently freed. There on the fourth day, on the feast of our blessed Father Francis, two deaf women and one man for eight years unable to raise his arm or put his hand to his mouth were healed. A certain man, by name James, on this day gave testimony of himself, that when he had blasphemed St. Bernardine and Father John, on the third night he was blinded in one eye, and on the following night he saw the blessed Father in dreams, but nevertheless he obtained no grace. There on the fifth day a certain man having a withered hand, and unable in any way to close it, from the handling of the Father at once closed it and moved it freely.

[138] as also at Eggenburg many are healed. From Znojmo he directed his steps to Eggenburg ^h, and there, on the seventh day of October, thirty-six disabled in the arms, one lame, one wholly immovable were healed. There on the eighth day a priest not going without a staff, one deaf woman, two lame women, and one woman dragging her foot behind her along the ground, deprived of all strength, were healed. There on the tenth day two deaf, six lame, of whom three from birth, one woman drawn up in the feet, and one woman nearly immovable, deprived of strength, were freed. On this day it was reported that two priests, namely the parish priest of Deesendorf and Lord John of Nihilspurg, had preached that Father John was a seducer, and that no more credence should be given him than to a dog: and therefore the one, at once caught in adultery, through infamy; the other through the pain of a grave infirmity, obtained the vengeance of God. There on the eleventh day three lame, one deaf woman, and one woman consumed by infirmity, unable to go in any way without a staff, were healed.

ANNOTATIONS.

* contrada, street?

CHAPTER X.

Of the miracles performed especially in Bohemia.

at Krumlov, From Eggenburg he went to Czunethel ^a, and there, on the twelfth day of October, a certain nun deprived of strength and two lame girls were healed. From Czunethel he went to Krummau ^b, which city is of the Lord de Rosis and is in Bohemia, and three sons of that man conducted him

of the Lord de Rosis, namely Lords Henry, John and Jodocus, who is now bishop of Breslau ^c. On the way, in a certain town, one noble, deaf for eight years, and one woman from birth miserably walking on the tips of the toes were healed. At Krummau, on the eighteenth day of October, a certain woman disabled in the arms was healed. There on the nineteenth two lame, one not going without a staff, and one woman touching the ground only with her toe and so miserably walking on them went away healed.

[140] and neighbouring places, There on the twenty-first day a certain man in no way able to walk, namely disabled in the feet, one deaf woman, and one woman for four years severely lame were healed: there on the twenty-second day one gouty man not walking, one lame woman, and one woman having seven wounds on the feet with continual pain were most excellently healed: there on the twenty-third day four blind, two deaf, and one walking on his toes only for thirty years were healed: there on the twenty-fourth day two blind, one deaf, two lame, and one woman deprived of limbs, unable to walk, were healed: there on the twenty-fifth day five deaf, one lame woman carried in a cart, and one woman walking with turned-over feet were healed: on the same day a certain priest of the village of Connotz ^d reported on his faith that when a certain rustic of that village had heard the sermon at Cznuthel, and after the sermon had derided and blasphemed the one crying out "Jesus and Mary" with the people, the next night he was found suffocated and dead in his bed, to the great terror of all who heard this. There on the next-to-last day of October one lame man with continual pains, one deaf man and one blind in one eye from birth were most excellently freed.

[141] at Pathovia There on the last day one deaf man in the court of the Lord de Rosis, one not going without a staff, a certain woman lame for twenty years, and one woman disabled and numbed in the right arm went away healthy: there on the fifteenth day of November two deaf, and one who could not raise his arm, wholly disabled, were made healthy. There on the ninth day a certain man of twenty years, deaf and mute from birth, was freed: there on the thirteenth day a certain man of twenty years, deaf and mute from birth, was healed in like manner: there on the fourteenth day one disabled in the arm, unable to raise it, and another wholly deaf were most excellently healed. At Pathovia ^e, on the twentieth day of November, one deaf woman and one lame woman, unable to walk without a staff, were healed: many others obtained grace, but so great was the concourse of the peoples that as often as the Father appeared, they ran even over the roof-tiles of the church, no danger being reckoned. Blessed be the devotion of the Germans! Therefore they could not be noted down.

[142] at Ratisbon In the castle of Wisihoffen ^f, on the twenty-second day of November, one deaf, one lame, and one deaf and mute from birth were most excellently healed. At Ratisbon two deaf, a certain woman having her left hand wholly crippled, one lame man, and one disabled man not walking without a staff were freed: there on the twenty-sixth day of November three deaf, two women disabled and drawn up, the first in the hands only, the other also in the feet, so that if she had had to be burned, she would not have taken one step by her own strength; touched, she was freed in the feet only, but a little later, brought to the Father, he handling her hands, which could be opened by no force, she at once extended them, the sinews crackling: and thereafter, weeping for joy, she began to open, close and move them at her will; and another who could not go because of infirmity were healed: there on the twenty-eighth day two disabled in one arm each and two not walking, one in no way, the other without staves, were healed.

[143] at Eger from the end of November From Ratisbon he went to Eger ^g, and midway in a village, an old woman wholly blind being brought forward as the Father was passing by, having received a simple blessing, and her eyes having been touched with his fingers, received the best of light: on seeing this, a certain crossbowman, who had murmured within himself, believing that such things could not be done by the Father, wholly terrified and made as if bloodless, acknowledged his fault before all the people, and asked pardon and received a blessing. At Eger, one having the middle finger of his hand drawn up for twenty years, never extended by any force, touched by the Father's hand, extended it, like melted wax, as it seemed to him; and one who could not walk without a staff were healed: there on the eighth day of December two deaf, one blind and lame, another lame woman, and one dropsical woman unable to go were freed: there on the ninth day one woman disabled in the arms, one woman having her foot very twisted, unable to put it flat on the ground, and one lame woman were healed. There on the twentieth day one blind, one deaf, five lame, one drawn up in the hands and feet, and two unable to walk without a staff were most excellently freed: there on the twenty-third day one blind woman and two lame women were freed. There on the day of St. Stephen the protomartyr, a citizen crippled in hands and feet, carried in a chair, was freed. On the day of St. John a certain gouty noble, his crutches left behind, and another not going without a staff were healed.

[144] to the end of January 1452, On the day of the Innocents a certain woman lame from birth, of ten years, and limping on both sides, was healed. On the day of St. Thomas the Martyr, one woman disabled in the arm, one deaf woman and one lame woman were most excellently freed. On the day of the Circumcision one deaf woman, one woman disabled in the arm, one lame woman, and two not walking, one at times also disabled in the arm, and the other not without a staff, were healed. On the octave of St. Stephen, the second of January MCCCCLII, one deaf woman, two disabled, one in the arm, the other wholly, carried in a cart, one woman not walking without staves, and one woman whose shin was lengthened by a palm, with the amazement of all standing by, were healed. On the octave of the Holy Innocents one lame woman, one woman disabled in the arms, and one deaf from birth, of eleven years, were healed: there on the sixth day of January, namely on the day of the Epiphany, one lame woman, one man disabled in the arms, unable to raise his hands beyond his mouth, and one deaf man were wonderfully cured.

[145] at Hellinetz, From Eger he went to the town of Hellinetz ^h, in which, on the first of February, one crippled woman unable to raise her arms, one miserably lame woman and one lame man were healed. There on the second day one lame man not walking without a staff, two women crippled in one arm, unable to extend their arms, and two deaf, of whom one with his right ear could scarcely hear a bell, the other having slow hearing, were healed. From Helsintz he went on to Zuitania ⁱ: there on the fourth of February two lame women, of whom the first from birth, were healed: there on the sixth day four lame, of whom one woman from birth on both sides, one deaf man hearing little from the right ear, and one lame on both sides were healed: there on the tenth day one deaf man and one woman nearly blind in one eye were healed. There on the eleventh day one crippled in the right arm, so that he could not take food, was healed: there on the fourteenth day one woman lame from birth on both sides was healed. There many other things were done, which I have not found noted down.

[146] at Chemnicium From Zuitania he went to Hemnitz ^k, and there, on the seventeenth day of February, one very lame woman and one deaf woman were healed. There on the eighteenth day one man wholly blind, one woman crippled in one arm, one woman deaf from birth, and one man crippled in one arm were freed: there on the twentieth day one woman lame from birth on both sides, one woman crippled in the arm, and another likewise crippled in one arm were healed: there on the twenty-first day one woman crippled in one arm and deaf, and two, namely a brother and sister, hunchbacked and crippled, were healed. There on the twenty-second day Lord Francis, parish priest of the village of Neurinchen, so gouty that he could not take the least step, carried in a cart, was healed. From Hemnitz he went to Friberga, and there, on the XVIII of February ^l, one lame man not walking without a staff and one woman nearly blind were freed: there on the second day of March one gouty woman in no way able to walk was freed: there on the third day one miserably lame woman not walking without a staff was healed: there on the fifth day two lame women, of whom one from birth, and two lame men, one from birth, were healed.

[147] at Meissen From Friberga he went to Meissen ^m, and there, on the ninth day of March, one man wholly blind, one lame man dragging the tip of his right foot along the ground, and one lame woman were healed: there on the tenth day one lame man and one crippled woman, that is, not walking without two staves, her staves left behind, likewise one deaf man and one deaf woman were healed: there on the eleventh day one lame man deprived of strength and one woman lame on both sides, their staves left behind, were healed: there on the twelfth day one lame man having his feet in the manner of a cross, and two crippled women, one in the fingers, the other in the arms, were healed. There on the thirteenth day one woman crippled in hands and feet and wholly immovable, so that she was carried in a kneading-trough ⁿ, one deaf woman and one blind woman were healed: there on the fourteenth day two lame women, of whom one miserably lame from birth, and one of the Order of Crossbearers ^o, wholly immovable, carried to the Father, were healed: there on the sixteenth day two lame men, of whom one did not walk without a staff, and one deaf man. From Meissen he returned again to Friberga, and on the twenty-second of March a man wholly gouty was healed. From Friberga he went to a certain town called Sayda [p], and there, on the twenty-third day of March, two deaf, one woman crippled in the right arm and one gouty man not going without a staff, his staff left behind, were freed.

[148] in the city of Pons From Sayda he went to the city of Pons, in the kingdom of Bohemia [q], and there on the twenty-sixth of March five lame, of whom four not walking without staves, their staves left behind, were healed: there on the twenty-seventh one gouty man, in no way walking without two staves, and also unable to raise his hand, and one lame man not walking without a staff were freed: there on the twenty-eighth day one lame woman, unable to touch the ground except with the tip of the foot, and unable to raise her arms beyond her head, and one blind woman were healed: there on the twenty-ninth day four

lame, of whom two did not walk without a staff, were freed: there on the last day three lame, of whom one from birth, one deaf woman and one woman crippled in the hand were healed. There on the first day of April one lame woman was freed. There on the fifth day four lame, not walking without staves, one woman crippled in the arm and one deaf woman were freed: there on the eleventh day two lame women, of whom one from birth, and one woman immovable for seven years, carried in a cart, were freed: there on the thirteenth day four lame women, of whom one from birth, two deaf, and two crippled women, each in one arm, were healed: there on the sixteenth day one immovable woman, carried in the arms to the Father, two lame and three crippled in the arms were freed: there on the twenty-first day one lame for twelve years on both sides, his staff left behind, was healed.

[149] he cures many sick persons. There on the twenty-second day two lame, their staves left behind, and one deaf man were freed: there on the twenty-third day of May one man deaf for eight years and one lame man not walking without a staff were healed. There on the Sunday within the octave of the Ascension [r], a certain lame priest, in no way walking without a staff, was freed. There on the day of Pentecost two deaf women, one blind man and one lame man not going without a staff were healed. There on the fourth day of June one woman crippled in one arm was freed. In that same city, when he was vicar general, and the feast of Pentecost was approaching, mindful of the divine goodness by which the Holy Spirit was sent upon the disciples, before the brothers standing by, with his arms stretched out in the manner of a Cross, he turned to the four parts of the world, namely East and West, North and South, saying: "You are my witnesses, that I receive all the faithful in all parts of the world into our confraternity, and, as far as I can, I grant them participation in all good things."

ANNOTATIONS.

p. Sayda, a town of Saxony 35 kilometres distant from Saxon Friberga, nearly destroyed by the fire of the year 1842.

q. A threefold place of this name occurs in Bohemia (Brück): two in the circle of Pilsen Schaller. Top. Bôhm. tom. IX, pag. 180 et 218., and a third in the circle of Elbogen Ibid. tom. II, pag. 224.. Which of these three is indicated in the text, I have nothing to say.

r. In the leap year 1452, marked with the Sunday letters BA, Easter falling on the IX of April, the Sunday within the octave of the Lord's Ascension coincided with the XXI of May, and Pentecost with the XXVIII of the same month. I suspect that some fault has crept into the numbers given by the biographer, since before the Sunday of the Ascension or the XXI of May, he has already treated of the XXI, XXII and XXIII of May. But if after the XVI of May of the preceding number we set a narrower interval, we shall have for example the XVIII, XIX and XX of May, and everything will flow rightly.

CHAPTER XI.

Of his miracles in Germany.

He works miracles at Ratisbon, at Amberg From Pons he was called by Lord Nicholas of Cusa, cardinal of St. Peter in Chains and Apostolic legate ^a, to the diet which was being held at Ratisbon with the Bohemians. He departed in haste, and in seven days came from Pons to Ratisbon, and there, on the twenty-second day of June, two crippled women, one in the arms and in her step, the other immovable, and two lame men were healed. There on the twenty-third day a certain crippled woman, unable to raise her arms as far as her mouth, was healed. There on the twenty-fifth day two crippled women, of whom one immovable, unable to walk without two staves, one man crippled in the arms, one lame man not walking without crutches, and one lame woman not walking without a staff, one deaf woman, and one lame man, his staff left behind, were healed. From Ratisbon he went to Amberg ^b, and there, on the fourth day of July, one man lame for eight years, in no way walking without staves, was healed. There on the fifth day one woman deaf for twenty years and one blind man were freed. There on the eleventh day four deaf, of whom one mute and deaf from birth, and one crippled in the right arm were healed. And there he received a beautiful place where the Brothers live.

[151] at Eichstätt From Amberg he went to Neumarkt ^c to the illustrious lord Otto, Duke of Bavaria ^d, and afterwards to Eichstätt ^e. And in these two cities many miracles were done, but, because of the negligence of the writers, I have not found them noted: the signs left there, however, are staves. From Eichstätt he went to the city of Mellita, namely Nuremberg ^f, and there on the twentieth of July one crippled man carried by four, three lame women, of whom two without staves and the third without crutches did not walk, one lame man walking with crutches, and two deaf were healed: there on the twenty-first day four lame women, not walking without staves, three deaf women, one lame man not walking without any staff, and another not without two, were healed: there on the twenty-second day, that is, on the day of Mary Magdalen, four lame, of whom three could not walk without crutches, another walking with his hands to the ground and unable to raise his arm, one blind woman, one crippled woman not leaving her bed, and one deaf and crippled in the hands were freed.

[152] at Nuremberg There on the twenty-third day two lame, of whom the first did not walk without two crutches, the other not without a staff, one blind man, one deaf man and one deaf woman were freed: there on the twenty-fifth day two deaf women, one man crippled in one hand, two lame walking with staves, one blind woman and one deaf man were healed. There on the twenty-eighth day one woman deaf for twelve years was healed: there on the twenty-ninth day three deaf, two blind women, of whom one from birth, five lame, of whom two without crutches, another without a staff did not walk, one deaf man and one woman blind in one eye were healed: there on the last day of July four deaf women, one lame woman not walking at all, one woman blind in one eye, and one lame man who did not walk without a crutch were freed.

[153] from the XXIII of July to the IX of August, There on the first day of August three lame women unable to walk, of whom one was also crippled in the hands, and one deaf woman were freed: there on the third day two deaf, one lame man not walking without two crutches, and two deaf women were healed: there on the sixth day three lame women unable to go without staves, two crippled women, one in the arm, the other wholly,

carried on a bed, and two deaf were healed: there on the seventeenth day one blind man, who had not seen for twenty years, one deaf man, one lame woman, two women crippled in the hands, of whom one also could not raise her hand, and one blind woman were freed. There on the nineteenth day one lame woman unable to walk without a crutch, and one lame man without two, were healed.

[154] at Bamberg From Nuremberg he came to Bamberg ^g. And there, on the fifteenth day of August, that is on the solemnity of the Glorious Virgin Mary ^h, five lame, of whom three could not walk without crutches, two without one, one blind in one eye, and one woman blind from birth were freed. There on the sixteenth day three lame, one not walking without two crutches, the others without staves, two deaf and one blind were healed. There on the seventeenth day one mute man, two lame women, one not walking without two crutches, the other without one, two lame men, of whom the first could not walk without two crutches, one deaf man, and one blind from birth were freed. There on the nineteenth day one woman crippled in both hands, one man crippled in one arm, one lame woman walking with two crutches, and two lame men walking with staves without crutches were freed. There on the twentieth day two lame women walking with two crutches, and one lame man likewise walking with two crutches were healed.

[155] at Coburg, at Erfurt, From Bamberg he went to Coburg ⁱ, and there, on the twenty-third of August, one woman crippled in one arm, three lame men not walking without two crutches, and one lame woman likewise carrying two crutches were healed. There on the twenty-fourth day four lame, of whom two walked with two crutches, a third with one, and another with a staff, were healed. From Coburg he went to Arnesth ^k, where there is our house of the Observance. And there many wonders were done, but there was no one to write them, though the signs still appear in the church. From Arnesth to the renowned city of Erfurt ^l, and there on the first day of September two lame women and one lame man walking with one crutch were healed. There on the second day two crippled women, one in the feet and the other in the arms, one lame woman and one lame man walking with two crutches were healed. There on the third day one lame woman with a staff and two lame men walking with two crutches were healed. There on the fourth day one deaf man and one lame man walking with one crutch were healed.

[156] at Jena From Erfurt he went on to Jena ^m to the illustrious prince Duke William, duke of Saxony: and there, on the sixth day of September, four lame men, two unable to walk without two crutches, one without one staff and another without two, two lame women, one walking with two crutches and the other with a staff, two crippled women, one in one arm, the other in two, two deaf women and one deaf man were freed. There on the seventh day two lame men with two crutches, and one lame woman walking with one staff, two deaf women and one man blind in one eye were healed: there on the eighth day one lame man walking only with two staves and one deaf man were healed. There on the ninth day two lame women unable to walk without a staff were healed: there on the tenth day one lame woman with two crutches, one lame man walking with one staff, and one man crippled in the right arm were freed: there on the eleventh day three lame, one with two crutches, another with one, the third lying in bed for twelve years, and not walking without some crutch, were healed. There on the twelfth day one woman crippled in the right arm, and one of six years, who had never been able to open his left hand, were healed.

[157] and in many other cities. There on the thirteenth day one lame woman without one staff and two lame men, of whom one could not walk without a staff, were freed. There on the fourteenth day one man crippled in the left hand, one deaf man, one woman blind in one eye, one lame man and one lame woman, not walking without a staff, were freed: there on the fifteenth day two lame men, of whom one walked with two crutches, the other with a staff, and one crippled woman, who for four years could not kneel, were healed. There on the sixteenth day one deaf man and one deaf woman were healed. From Jena he returned again to Erfurt; from Erfurt he went to Mersberch. Then to Halle ⁿ, then to Magdeburg, then to Czernist ^o; afterwards to Lipsk. And on this road, namely from Erfurt to Lipsk [p], in the aforenamed cities, and in several others, whose names I do not know, many wonderful and most splendid works were done, but on account of the negligence and lack of writers I have not found them noted; yet the staves and other supports hanging in the churches show the truth of the matter.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. Lipsia (Leipzig), a city of the kingdom of Saxony, the principal one after Dresden, celebrated for its academy and commerce, especially the book trade.

CHAPTER XII.

Of the foundation of convents; the Saint traverses Poland; he attends the diet of Frankfurt; he enters Hungary.

He works miracles at Leipzig, Coming to Lipsk, he was received with the greatest devotion, but especially by that kindly university of students of all faculties, and a number of times, drawn by their devotion, raised in their greater college to the master's chair, the masters and students sitting around in their order, he gave with the greatest fervour salutary admonitions pertaining to the salvation of souls. Staying therefore there for a long time, doing wonders, of which also through the negligence of writers I have found only a few written in summary, in the day and month ^a, namely twelve lame, two crippled women, of whom one was carried on a pallet, the other crippled in one arm, three deaf men and four deaf women, one blind, one suffering a great infirmity, one crippled man carried on a stretcher, one blind in one eye, and five lame were healed.

[159] and he founds a convent; And there he received into the Order many masters, bachelors and students of various faculties, and notable and renowned men, around the number of seventy. Of whom I from Lipsk up to Vienna led some in great cold with daily fasting, perhaps XXIV, of whom a number are now dead. The rest still survive, namely Brother James of Glogau, now guardian of Opava, Brother Bonaventure, now guardian of Lubsia, Brother Francis of Silesia, who was the first received, now guardian of St. Radegund, Brother Paul Wisina, now guardian of Langnia, Brother Christopher of Pretin, and many others. He was lodged there in the convent of the Friars Minor, and these Conventuals, after the Father's departure, laudably reformed themselves, living according to regular institutions, led on by his example and exhortations.

[160] he visits the neighbouring cities; Withdrawing at last from Lipsk, and with him

leading very many novices, although he had also sent very many from Lipsk before his departure to the upper parts, to be brought up by the Brothers of the Observance. In the same year MCCCCLII, on the XX of November, he traversed many cities, namely Crym, Torgo, Dreser, where we kept the nativity of the Lord, Hanitz, Cametz, Budissum, Corlicz, Lubana and Lemburgh ^b. And in these cities many stupendous works of God were shown, but because of the intense cold and the negligence of writers they were not noted. At Coltheberg ^c, on the third day of February, two lame, one woman not walking for two years, another not walking except on the tip of the foot, and one woman sick for four weeks were healed: there on the fourth day one crippled woman, unable to bend herself, and one woman * were healed.

[161] From Holtherbergh he came to Liegnitz ^d, and Liegnitz also there, on the tenth day of February, two crippled women, one in the hands, and likewise the other, were cured. Two lame men and one lame woman walking very much distorted were healed. From Liegnitz, having traversed a number of other cities occurring on the way, he came at last to Breslau, a magnificent and renowned city, on the Tuesday, that is, the last day of the putting-away of flesh ^e. Received by God and the people so magnificently, he was led in procession to the cathedral church, where, after his reception by the bishop ^f and clergy, after a long sermon made by a certain doctor, he was led back again at last to the lodging prepared for him, with the unspeakable joy of all. There on the last day of February a certain noble virgin, twenty-six years old, so broken by fevers that she could in no way walk, carried to the Father on a bed, one gouty woman of twenty years, deprived of strength, carried on a pallet, and one lame man who could not walk without crutches were healed.

[162] Breslau, There on the third day of March one mute woman, one blind woman, one woman crippled in the hands and one lame man were freed. There from the ninth day to the twentieth day, namely on the feast of St. Benedict ^g, two deaf women and two deaf men, five lame and two crippled, one in the whole right side, the other in the arm, were healed; likewise one unable to breathe through the nostrils was healed. There from the twentieth day until the end * two lame, of whom one with his staves left behind, two crippled in hands and feet, two lame women, one blind woman, one gravely sick man, two deaf, another blind woman, one man crippled in the arm, one lame man, and one woman crippled in both hands were healed. Many more, to be numbered fourfold, and splendid works also were performed in it, which through the negligence of writers were not noted down. On account of which that city among all the cities of Germany always had the greatest devotion toward the Father, while he lived, and also after his death, and it persists to this day. The Father also among other cities especially loved it, and called it his own. Moreover on account of the Father's sermons it alone would not adhere to George of Badbrath, the heretic king of Bohemia ^h, unless it were first established of his conversion that he was declared a true Catholic by the apostolic see.

[163] where a convent of the Brothers is built; In the same city also or its suburb he received a place which, in MCCCCLIII, on the day of Parasceve ⁱ, the Father having concluded the preaching of the Lord's Passion in the city, and Jesus having been placed in the sepulchre, the sepulchre itself being carried by the Brothers, with a very great company of the people of the city and the clergy ordered in procession, was solemnly handed over and received to the praise and glory of God and of St. Bernardine, in whose title it was consecrated. In it were placed the novices clothed by him at Lipsk and elsewhere, two hundred up to this day, and advancing in life and regular Observance ^k. In which place of the Lord, to a certain man wounded to death, of whose life there was no hope, a promise was made by another friend of his, namely that if he visited the Church of St. Bernardine he would be restored to his former health ^l.

[164] he migrates into Poland, At last, after a long and grave infirmity which the Father suffered in the said city, gradually recovering, he was called by the most serene king of Poland ^m and the Reverend Lord Cardinal, bishop of Cracow, Zbigniew ⁿ, and directed his steps toward the city of Cracow ^o. There in the year of the Lord MCCCCLIII, on the second day of September, two women blind for ten years, and another from birth in one eye, three lame women, of whom one could not walk without a staff, three lame men, of whom two could not walk without staves, and one deaf man were healed. There on the fifth day one woman crippled in the chest, three blind women, of whom two in one eye each, four lame, of whom three did not walk without a staff, their staves left behind, were healed.

[165] and at Cracow There on the seventh day one deaf in the ear, one lame man, one lame woman and one deaf woman were freed. There on the eighth day two blind, of whom one in one eye and the other in both, and also one deaf man, one mute man, one lame woman walking with a staff, and one deaf from birth were freed: there on the twelfth day two lame women, of whom one could not walk without a staff, one deaf woman, and two lame men, one with his staff left behind, were healed: there on the fourteenth day two lame men, their staves left behind, were healed: there on the sixteenth day one crippled in the hands and shins, one blind man, one lame man, his staff left behind, and two lame women were freed. There on the twenty-first day two deaf, one in one ear, one blind man, two deaf women, of whom one from birth, and one woman crippled in the hands were healed.

[166] from the II day of September 1453 There on the twenty-eighth day three blind women and three deaf women, of whom one in one ear, were healed. There on the last of September one blind man, two women deaf in one ear each, and one lame man, his staff left behind, were healed or freed: there on the third day of October one blind from birth, one lame man and one lame woman walking with a staff were freed: there on the seventh day two deaf were healed: there on the tenth day two lame, of whom one could not walk without a staff, were healed: there on the twelfth day one deaf woman, one blind woman, one dropsical man, and one man crippled in the arm, namely a priest who for a year could not celebrate, were healed: there on the fourteenth day one lame man, one woman crippled in the arm, and one blind woman were freed: there on the eighteenth day four blind women, of whom one in one eye only, one deaf woman, one lame woman who could not set her feet flat, one who could not walk, his staff left behind, and one sick man were healed.

[167] to the month of February of the following year, There on the nineteenth day two blind women, one in one eye because of fire which had fallen into it, and two sisters also blind were healed: there on the twenty-first day one seeing little from his youth and one woman injured in the foot were freed: there on the twenty-sixth day one blind woman seeing little and one lame man were freed. There on the twenty-eighth day one sick woman, one noble disabled in the arm and seeing little in one eye, and one lame man unable to walk without a staff were healed. Likewise also one lame woman crippled in the hands. There on the first day of November two lame women, one in one foot, the other from the cradle, two blind women, one in one eye and the other in two, was cured: because she kept silent and would not give praise to God, the following night a great pain and swelling of the eyes attacked her, but vowing to visit the church of St. Bernardine she was healed; and one deaf woman was likewise healed.

[168] There on the fourth day one deaf, not hearing well, many miracles one gravely sick, and one unable to walk were healed: there on the seventh day one blind woman, one woman badly uttering words, and one deprived of strength were freed: there on the eleventh day one deprived of strength, unable to walk or put his foot to the ground, one lame woman walking on the tips of the feet, one lame man walking with staves, and another unable to walk without a staff were freed: there on the thirteenth day one lame woman, two deaf women: there on the twenty-first day one woman of eighteen years deaf from birth were freed: there on the ninth day of December a certain woman, while she was healthy and scorned the sign from the Father, began to have pain in her eyes, and when she scorned again, there came on her a swelling in the manner of a nut under the eye; she made a vow to Blessed Bernardine and was cured in the eye, but remained deaf; afterwards, signed by the Father, she was healed: there on the second day of the month of February, MCCCCLIV, a certain man having a great sin did not dare to be signed with the Relics of St. Bernardine, because he would not confess the sin: whence, withdrawing from Cracow, he became swollen in his whole body; led therefore in a cart to the Father, and signed by him, he was healed.

[169] he performed, From the second day of February until the Father left Cracow I have found the miracles written below noted without day and month. A certain woman made foolish, striking men, a vow having been made by her brother to St. Bernardine, and first signed by the Father, was healed. One woman swollen in the throat, one having pains in her eyes, one swollen in the neck, one tumid in the eyes, one man deaf in one ear, one unable to walk, one blind man, one deaf man, one lame man walking with a staff, one crippled in the arm, one woman unable to walk, one woman disabled in the arm, one woman possessed by devils, crying horribly, one blind woman, one woman deaf in one ear, one woman walking with two staves, one woman crippled in the arms, one deaf woman, one deaf man, one crippled in one arm, the lady of Cracow crippled in one hand, namely the left, one deaf woman, one woman blind in one eye, and two crippled women, one in one arm, the other in the hand, all were healed.

[170] and he founded a convent of the Brothers; Many other signs were done at Cracow, perhaps sevenfold, which are not noted here for lack of writers. Many splendid and wonderful miracles also were done here and there in Poland, while the Father was at Cracow, at the invocation of St. Bernardine. For several dead were raised, several freed from the jaws of death, several blind enlightened, prisoners freed, and many other things were done, which I do not care to narrate, since my intention is to relate only those things done by the hands and ministry of the Father. In this renowned city also he received a new place, offered to him by the lord

Zbigniew, the most reverend Cardinal and bishop of Cracow, with a solemn procession and the immense joy of clergy and people. And there he placed masters, bachelors, students and others whom he received there into the Order, perhaps one hundred and thirty in number. In this city also he joined in betrothal the king and queen, and did many other things worthy of praise [p]. From Cracow he came to Bithohom [q], and there two lame, not walking without a staff, of whom one was also crippled in the hand, and one lame woman were healed. From Bithohom he came to Oppel [r]; and there two lame, of whom one could not walk without two crutches, were healed. From Oppel he came to Storlicz [s], and there two deaf, of whom one from birth, and one deaf woman were freed. Then, having traversed many cities, he came to Breslau, where he stayed for many days.

[171] called to Frankfurt, Afterwards, summoned by Lord Aeneas, then bishop of Siena and apostolic legate, but now Pope Pius II, to the diet which was held at Frankfurt against the Turks, he passed through Silesia, Moravia, Austria and the parts of the Rhine, and, the diet having been held, in which he did many things for the cause of the faith [t], having had the revelations of which we spoke above, that he should go to Hungary, he returned again to Vienna, and afterwards went to Hungary. In the aforesaid countries and cities wonderful and most stupendous things were done, which because of the negligence and sloth of writers (God spare them) were not noted, but the whole world, and also the signs hanging in the churches, testify to the truth. These are the things which the glorious, most blessed Father, venerable through the whole world, divine power shining in him, wonderfully did in these parts of Germany. A true physician not only of souls but also of bodies.

[172] in virtues, Nor is it a wonder if such great things were shown through his most holy hands: because almighty God was responding to his most ardent charity. For though he was most clean in body, and nevertheless most delicate, on account of the exceeding compassion which he had toward the sick, desiring to restore all to health if he could, he did not shrink from lepers, nor from those full of ulcers, nor from others however deformed, but touched their ulcers with his hands, wiped their bleared eyes, and put his fingers into the ears of the deaf. And the pious Father did all he could that the sick might be healed, though he was now decrepit, and preached daily and composed books, gave counsel, and laboured in various ways; nevertheless the faithful servant, not considering the heat, not fearing the cold, nor the press of the people, nor the mockeries of rivals, inflamed with exceeding charity, visited the sick, touched them with his hands, and most devoutly signed them with the Relics of St. Bernardine which he carried with him. The most humble Father did not attribute to himself the miracles and prodigies which were done, but to the merits of St. Bernardine, whose biretta he carried with him, and with it signed all the sick.

[173] especially in humility He imitated surely that holy bishop of whom Gregory relates in the Dialogue, who, when he shone with many miracles, and on this account the sick flowed to him, took the shoe of his predecessor, and touching the sick with it, said that they were healed by the merits of that predecessor; desiring in this way to hide his holiness under pretext of the shoe: although Gregory himself says that the miracles were done not by the power of the shoe but on account of the humility of that holy bishop [u]: so surely this blessed man, though he attributed the miracles to the merits of St. Bernardine and tried to hide himself with his biretta, yet the wonders were done on account of his own very great faith, most ardent charity and most profound humility, and this was often shown by clear indications. For often the sick, signed with the biretta of St. Bernardine, obtained no benefit of health; but afterwards returning and handled by the hands of the Father, they were healed.

[174] he excels: For as was touched on above, many miracles were done by the Blessed Father himself before the death of St. Bernardine. Nor do I write this because I intend to derogate from St. Bernardine in anything, or to prefer our blessed Father to him, since he is already canonized in heaven and on earth, but that I may relate the truth, and give to each what is his. The whole world knows that St. Bernardine raised many dead, and that in various parts of the world many wonders have been done by his merits and are done daily. Let it know also that by the merits of the blessed Father John of Capistrano many things were done while he lived, and that they are still continually done after his death, to the praise of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

[175] from Vienna he prepares God, now disposing to put an end to the labours of his most faithful Blessed John, divinely inspired him through several revelations, of which some have been set down above, to direct his way toward Hungary. Whence the Father, obedient, desiring to fulfil the divine will, and also desiring to end his life by martyrdom, hastening from Frankfurt, where the diet had been held in the cause of the faith, flew to Vienna. There, staying for several weeks in the place of SS. Theobald and Bernardine, which he himself had received, he conversed with his sons, whom he had taken into the Order, in the greatest charity and spiritual joy. Then, exhorting them to the observance of our profession and Rule, the morning Office having been said, he took for his theme the word of the Apostle: "Persevere in discipline." Hebr. XII, 7 Pouring forth honeyed words from that theme, he drew out the sermon until dawn, commending the Rule, the observance of morals and ceremonies with all the efficacy of spirit he could: commending the province to the Reverend Father vicar of the province, Father Brother Gabriel of Verona, who was present, and to the brothers he said, moved by a prophetic spirit: "For you will not see me any more;" adding: "For I know that after my death some will come bringing certain doctrines, constitutions and ceremonies; do not believe them, do not believe them;" adding also: "If an Angel from heaven should come, let him be anathema."

[176] his departure And thus the blessed Father, the vicar of the province and each of the brothers weeping: who could conceive, unless bathed in the piety of Christ, this last and bitter farewell. When therefore the dawn as it were gave the end, bending his knees, bathed in most abundant tears, the good shepherd kissed the groaning sheep one by one, and soon, entering on the Danube, he made for Hungary. He came therefore first to Taurinum [w], where he was received by the bishop of Taurinum and all the clergy and people in procession with great solemnity, as in other cities throughout all Germany. That it may be given to our posterity to understand, for the glory of God and the honour of the Order, with how great solemnity our Blessed Father was received in all parts to which he turned aside, it pleases me to depart a little from the matter, and to declare it compendiously, as far as we can.

[177] into Hungary: For in all the cities, towns of the lands, as noted above, to which he turned aside, the clergy and people went out, men and women, young and old, with great jubilations and spiritual canticles, bringing in the blessed man and messenger of God as another Apostle; religious and secular priests, clothed in sacred vestments, carrying sacred Relics, and the other clerics like good sheep clothed in surplices, after whom the common people, each joining in their own bands, in procession devoutly with melody and devotion running to meet him, received him. The bishops of the cities did not disdain to go to meet so great a Father, nor other prelates, nor temporal lords, nor cardinals, nor kings and queens, as was done at Cracow. There the most serene lord king of Poland and the queen, and the most reverend Cardinal, and all the clergy and people humbly met him over a long space. In some places you would have seen scholars going before and singing most sweet songs in varied manner, after the fashion of angels. In some places all the virgins, gathered together, filled the air with sweet melody.

[178] everywhere with fruit But when the Blessed man, thus received, entered the cities, mindful of the words of Christ, who says: "Seek first the kingdom of God," he first visited the church with all the clergy and people. After the cessation of those praising with organs and musical instruments and of the others, as was said, reverence having first been made, and a brief prayer, and the sermon made by him according to the sequence of the season, freeing himself from the people with thanksgiving, he went with his companions to the lodging for rest and refreshment. When he went out of the house on the next day, and through all the time in which he stayed in any city, the more principal men of the people and the clergy assembled, conducting him sometimes even with lights, whether he was going to celebrate Mass, or to preach, or to visit the sick, sometimes between them, leading him by the arms on both sides with all reverence, especially in the winter and rainy season, and so he was brought back.

[179] he preaches, In all these things his spirit was not lifted up, nor was he carried away by any vain glory or reputation of his own, but from day to day made more humble, he gave glory to God, repeating quite often with the Prophet the verse: "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give the glory Ps. CXIII, 9." Joining to his contemplation: "Praise the Lord, all you nations, and praise him together, all you peoples Ps. XVI, 1." Often also after receiving so many and such manifold honours, he went at once into his chamber, and turning over in his mind his frailty and the sins which he had once committed in the world, he poured out innumerable and bitter tears, turned laughter into lamentation and joy into sorrow. But besides these things, what can one weigh (I do not say express), on account of the dangers of roads and of robbers and of heretics, especially the Hussites, of the safe and wonderful escort with which he was accompanied from city to city.

[180] the multitude of the people flowing together from all sides, For you would have seen at his departure such weeping and lamentation of all as if the father or firstborn of each had died. For according to the amount of joy at the arrival, the sorrow was heaped up at the departure of so lovable a Father. You would have seen finally warlike men in crowds, abundantly and carefully ordered through their ranks of the army, both on horseback and on foot, equipped with their arms of war. With whom the pious Father, sitting on his beast, with a company of brothers, went secure to the place where a like or greater apparatus was awaiting his arrival; and received by them joyfully, the former were given leave, having received the Father's blessing. A number however, and commonly the more distinguished, as if unable to be sated with his presence, pursuing the journey, betook themselves to the nearest cities. These things, in the kingdom of Bohemia and its borders, such as Silesia and Moravia, not undeservedly for the praise of God and of the Roman Church, we saw shown more zealously and more frequently to the Father by the faithful, for repressing the temerity of the heretics. To return to our purpose, after he had preached the Gospel for some days at Taurinum, he traversed nearly all Hungary, visiting all its cities, namely Alba Regalis [x], in which he had the revelations mentioned above, Szeged [y], Buda [z], etc., in which many miracles and stupendous signs were done, which I have not found noted.

ANNOTATIONS.

a. Note,

in which the day and month of the prodigies performed is indicated, is omitted, whether through forgetfulness or ignorance. But since we have from the preceding number that the Saint remained at Jena up to the XV of September, and then visited various cities, Merseburg, Saxon Halle, Magdeburg and Zerbst, and worked miracles there, it may be judged that he spent at least half a month on the journey: and so the beginning of the stay at Leipzig may be brought back to the Kalends of October; since he remained there, as is said below at number 160, until the XX day of November, it follows that the miracles here recounted happened in the intervening space of time.

p. Namely, as Ciaconius has it Ibid. col. 911., a dispute had arisen between the archbishop of Gniezno and Cardinal Zbigniew over which of them should perform the sacred rite in the royal marriage: the former as archbishop and primate, the latter as Cardinal and bishop of Cracow, where these things were being done. The matter having been long debated, they agreed to offer that honour to John of Capistrano of the Order of Minors, staying at Cracow at that time, powerful in eloquence and holiness of life.

q. Bithohom, a place which must have lain midway on the road from Cracow to Opolia, I find to be no other than the town of Beuthen, also Bytom, in the district of Liegnitz in Silesia.

r. Oppel (Oppeln, Opolia), a town of Prussian Silesia on the river Oder with about seven thousand inhabitants.

s. Storlitz I do not find as a place either on maps or in lexicons: but I find midway the town of Strelitz between Oppeln and Beuthen: but if the biographer means this place, it must have been that St. Capistran went back there from Oppeln, which does not seem to agree well enough with the Saint's manner of acting, who scarcely ever retraced his steps.

t. Wadding reports under the year 1454 Ann. Minor. tom. XII, pag. 202. that a council of the Germans assembled at Frankfurt, that a levy of soldiers might be made there and the moneys that feed a war be established. But the business succeeded less prosperously, "with a varied," says Wadding Ibid. l. c., "and unstable vote of the princes, and with minds turned away from the Pontiff and the emperor, who, they said, wished to scrape gold together, not to move a war; whence they cursed both, despised their legates, and derided the Burgundians, who seemed inclined to the expedition. At last through the eloquence and power of speaking of Aeneas Sylvius, and the assiduous preaching and fiery discourse of Capistran, all returned to their former ardour for waging war, the decree of Ratisbon being renewed, and help of ten thousand horsemen and thirty-two thousand foot promised to the Hungarians." From Wadding we brought forward in number 267 of the Preliminary Commentary letters written both by Aeneas Sylvius and by St. Capistran.

u. The biographer alludes to the passage of St. Gregory, Dial. book I, chap. 2 Migne. Patrol. tom. LXXVII, Greg. M. Opera. tom. III, col. 160., in which he narrates that Libertinus, provost of the monastery of Fondi, was wont always to carry in his bosom, wherever he went, the little shoe of his predecessor Honoratus: asked at one time by a woman to recall a dead little boy to life, he hesitated; for he feared lest he should presume unwonted things, he grieved lest he should not help the bereaved woman: at last piety prevailed: he brought the little shoe out of his bosom and over the dead boy's body; he returned to life. It is clear enough that Christopher the biographer, by a slip of memory, said a bishop, who was provost of a monastery.

w. Taurinum, or, as Ortelius has it in his Geographical Theatre, Taurunum, at this word, is the present Belgrade, or according to the Roman Martyrology at the XXIII day of October the castle of Taurinum. That Belgrade is indicated here is made doubtful for me by this, that below at number 182 he names Belgrade Nanderalba, and it seems rather strange that the Saint should have crossed as if by one leap to the extreme eastern border; indeed after Taurinum it is indicated at number 179 that the Saint visited Alba Regalis, Szeged and Buda. But though on this head the indication of the city of Taurinum is ambiguous, on the other hand I do not see how we can otherwise interpret this place, which had, as our text has it, its own bishop. Certainly it is not a matter of Turin in Piedmont, nor of the Taurisci who inhabit present-day Styria Ortel. Theatr. georg. v°. Taurisci., since one setting out from Vienna toward Hungary would have been going back on the Styrian road, not forward. The things then which stand in the way of our interpreting the city of Taurinum as Belgrade are indeed doubtful; yet not so great as to compel the rejection of the interpretation.

x. We have already indicated above at chap. VI Annot. f that Alba Regalis is a city of Hungary, today Stuhlweissembourg.

y. Zegedinum, Szegedin, one of the principal cities of Hungary with 32 thousand inhabitants, at the confluence of the Tisza and Maros (Theiss and Maros).

z. Buda (Budin, Ofen), the capital city of the kingdom of Hungary, which the Danube divides from the city of Pest (Pesth).

* something is missing.

* add mensis

CHAPTER XIII.

Of the Victory of Nanderalba and of the happy Death of the Saint.

The Turks invading Hungary, And because the enemy of the cross of Christ, the emperor of the Turks, with great power, about that time was violently invading the renowned kingdom of Hungary by naval and land warfare, the Father most zealous for the Christian faith, though he was now decrepit and without strength, nevertheless ran here and there preaching the Cross against the Turks with the greatest fervour, bringing back to the memory of Christians how much our Saviour suffered for us, what grave torments the Martyrs bore for the defence of the Christian faith, by how many miracles the most living and one faith of Jesus Christ, outside of which there is no salvation, has been strengthened through all the Saints; moreover he instructed them to reflect how those dogs, continually blaspheming the name of the Lord, deride the faith of Christ, destroy churches, profane sacred altars, not shrinking from deflowering virgins on altars dedicated to God, pour out the blood of Christians with savage rage, reduce them to servitude, and extol, magnify and exalt their own faith, handed down to them by the diabolical man Mahomet, full of filth and ignominies.

[182] the Christians to arms By these and other sermons he encouraged a multitude of men, both noble and ignoble, both rich and poor, to the defence of the Catholic faith, and marked them with the sign of the cross of Christ against the Turks. He himself also, a true lover of the Crucified and of his most holy cross, though he always had it fixed in his heart, nevertheless reverently and devoutly received the red Cross sent to him by Pope Callixtus from the most reverend Lord Cardinal of Sant'Angelo, Legate of Hungary, and wore it attached to his habit until his death ^a. For he said that he who for the whole time of his life from the day of his conversion had followed the cross, and had continually borne it in his heart, and had shed infinite tears for love of the crucified Jesus, should not end his life except with the sign of the cross. O how often, when he preached of the Passion of Christ before all the people, he wept like a little child, and moved all the people to weep: likewise when he read, spoke or meditated anything of the Passion of Christ, he could not hold himself back from tears.

[183] St. Capistran calls forth; Moreover many in the parts of Germany, understanding that the blessed Father had accepted the Cross and was preaching in the parts of Hungary, encouraged by his example and trusting in his holiness, themselves also received the Cross, to the parts

of Hungary betaking themselves as quickly as possible, not only to fight against the Turks, but to be able to see the Father, whom they had beheld working wonders in their cities. While these things were being done, the power of the Turks increased from day to day; they invaded towns, devastated villages, carried off the Christian people and slaughtered them like cattle; they had occupied the greatest rivers, namely the Danube and the Sava ^b, with most powerful and well-fortified ships, so that they covered water and land like locusts or flies. And although their intent was to occupy not only Hungary but the whole of Christendom, yet they then made a great effort and assault to occupy the very strong and very fortified castle of Nandoralba ^c; that once it was held, they firmly thought they would easily have entry into all Hungary.

[184] above all to Nanderalba, Around that castle, then, they pitched tents, disposed engines, brought up ships, directed their battle lines, and prepared the other things necessary for fighting. The Christians on the other hand, though beyond comparison fewer than the Turks, whose leader and captain was the illustrious man and champion of the Christian faith, the most mighty Lord John de Hunyad, count of Bistrița and governor of the kingdom of Hungary ^d, yet placing their hope in God and trusting in the Father's holiness, disposed themselves as best they could to resist the most savage Turks. All therefore fled for refuge to the Father, who was then placed not far from the castle of Nandoralba; and they sought his counsel on what needed to be done, promising that they wished to acquiesce in all his counsels and to fulfil his orders.

[185] besieged by the Turks, But the Father, arming them not with spear nor shield but with excellent sermons, exhorted them to place their hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, who promised to defend his faith until the end. Nor should they be terrified by the multitude of the enemy, because God is powerful to save by few as by many. And he brought in examples of Sacred Scripture, especially examples set down in the books of the Maccabees, adding: "O how happy are those who will die in this battle of Christ, for at once they will be crowned by the Angels with the Holy Martyrs who have died for the faith." Encouraged by these and other divine words, the Christian people, without any fear, panted for war against the enemies of the cross of Christ.

[186] he shows must be freed with every effort; Meanwhile ships were prepared, that the Christians might go down more swiftly to the aid of the castle of Nandoralba, with whom the Father too wholly disposed himself to go down, as leader of the army. Understanding however from informants the innumerable multitude of the Turks, and noting the fewness of the Christians, he was made somewhat sad, fearing lest perhaps on account of the sins of the Christian people the victory should be granted to the Turks by God, whose judgments are a great deep. But while he was celebrating Mass, as was noted above, he had a revelation that he should go down secure, because he would carry off the victory over the Turks. Going up joyfully therefore on the ship, and purposing that day with those signed with the cross to put in at a certain castle or town called Cominum ^e.

[187] But behold, most violent winds arose, the air grew dark, with those signed with the cross to that place the Danube was disturbed, so that the Christians were compelled to go down to land, which is known to have been done by the ministry of God. For if the Christians had reached that town on that day, they would all together with the Father have been captives of the Turks, who on the same day besieged it. After therefore they had gone down to land, the air grew clear, the Danube grew calm, and all things were restored to their former state: and thus, leaving that town behind, they went down by the straight road to Nandoralba; and the inhabitants of the castle, seeing them, received them with great joy, hoping to receive help from them, and especially on account of the merits of the Father. The Father therefore, having entered that distinguished castle together with the soldiers of Christ, went up with his companions to its upper parts, and looking around saw the tents of the Turks filling the land; he beheld their innumerable multitude, considered their bombards and arms of war; and raising his eyes to heaven he prayed to Christ: "Lord Jesus Christ, your cause is at stake, defend your cause." When evening had come, looking at the camp they saw an innumerable multitude of lights, for each of the Turks was carrying a burning brand in his hands, and with bent knees on the ground asked the help of their leader and ruler Mahomet.

[188] the Saint goes down, But the Father prayed to God, saying: "I beseech you, O Lord, dash down the strength and might of those who are striving to destroy the faith of your Only-begotten Son." When morning had come, behold, the Turks, greedily thirsting for the blood of the Christians, joining engines to engines, and likewise with bombards multiplied beyond number, for so strong were the engines and bombards, and so great their multitude, that the walls of the castle gradually collapsed; so that they were already preparing themselves to take it. Seeing this the Father with a great voice multiplied the Name "Jesus" and urged the others to cry out. Then, going down from the castle with great fervour, he took his staff, on which the sign of Tau appeared, and calling after him the soldiers of Christ, that is, those signed with the cross, ordered the gate of the castle to be opened. But the castellan, on the tower of the castle which still remained, looking out on all things and seeing the strength of the Turks, not however understanding the mystery of God, cried out from the tower with a strong voice: "Do not go out, Father, do not go out, for you will all die."

[189] and having won a naval and land victory, Meanwhile, as these things were being done, that most serene soldier, the great champion of the faith, the governor of Hungary, the often-named John, was carrying on a naval battle with the enemy, and by his daring and with divine aid assisting, of the Turkish fleets some were sunk, some burned and some captured. The Father therefore, going out of the castle with a few signed with the cross, like another Joshua went before the people, crying as much as he could: "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus;" and when he could cry no more, he said to his companions who were with him: "O Brothers, cry out, imitate me." Meanwhile arrows and stones, thrown by the Turks, were flying around the Father's head, but could do him no harm. In the power therefore of the Name of Jesus Christ, the enemy were turned to flight, and the Christians, encouraged, pursuing them, killed infinite numbers of them, put others to flight and led others captive. And their emperor too, wounded, could scarcely at last escape. Their munitions too, namely engines, bombards, wagons, horses, the Christians captured and brought with joy to the castle. Certain of the Turkish captives, when they were asked why they had turned to flight, though they were so powerful, answered: "Because the air seemed full of voices crying Jesus."

[190] he frees the citadel: When at the general chapter held on Monte La Verna I, Brother Cherubin of Saxia, had narrated this victory, divinely won by the Father ^f, there was present a certain venerable Father of our Order, a famous preacher of the province of Calabria, who, confirming everything, said with cheerful spirit: "When I was preaching to Christian travellers in a certain city subject to the Turks, during Lent, and on a certain occasion, accompanied by Christians, was going through a certain street, carrying in my hand a staff with the sign of Tau, I unexpectedly met a certain Turk, who, as soon as he looked at me, stopped, gnashing his teeth most foully; and those who were accompanying me spoke to him in his own language, asking why he was gnashing his teeth so. He answered: 'This is one of those who, flying in the air with such staves, turned us, in so great an army, to flight from Hungary, from the castle of Nandoralba.'" And to them the Venerable Father piously explained that the Angels of God, ministering by the divine will, so appeared to them, asking me in a long discourse to tell others, that this victory might be common for the honour and praise of the best God: and because it agrees with the said history. For it is possible that some saw in the air brothers with staves, while others were turned to flight by the power of the Name of Jesus. This celebrated and memorable victory was therefore had in the power of the Name of Jesus through the prayers and orations of Blessed John of Capistrano, through the intercession also of Blessed Mary Magdalen, whose feast was kept on the same day, in the year of the Lord MCCCCLVI.

[191] ill for the last time When the war was finished and the Turks driven far away, on account of the immense labours, cares, vigils, privations and other tribulations which he had borne, John the old man, the servant of Christ, his natural strength exhausted, began to be ill in no moderate degree. And he said to his companions: "I am not yet certain whether I shall die of this illness, but on such a day I shall be made certain." When that day dawned, he assured his companions that he would die. And because the Hungarian Brothers, then under our vicar general, were making themselves difficult about taking on the convent in Vuilak, although they had Apostolic Bulls on this matter, the most zealous Father ordered himself to be carried to that convent, saying: "If I die in it, the Brothers of the Observance will not leave it any more." O wonderful fervour of the man of God, O immense zeal which he had for the Observance! Who, although he was about to die, yet desired even so to establish this place also in the Observance through his death.

[192] he ordered himself carried to the convent of Vuilack; Carried therefore to the house located in Vuilak, for many days he laboured under a severe sickness of the flux (of which St. Bernardine also died): so that he could retain nothing at all. This infirmity he bore most patiently, ever giving thanks to God: nor ever ceasing from prayer, he paid his divine office as long as he could open his mouth. This most blessed Father, as long as he was in the Order, was wont to say the divine Office most devoutly, in a drawn-out and pontacute ^g manner, nor was he ever seen, on account of any labours or other business, to say the divine praises hurrying through them after the fashion of some. At length, the disease growing stronger, the strength of his body failing, yet raising * himself somehow, and sitting on a stropodium ^h, drawing to himself one of his companions, namely Brother Jerome of Udine, and resting his head on his bosom, having first been fortified with the sacraments of the Church, he most devoutly gave back his happy spirit to his Creator, whom he had most faithfully served, full of the Holy Spirit and of good works, and crowned with the palm of martyrdom; because though he did not shed his blood in martyrdom, yet on account of the excessive labours, vigils and tribulations which he suffered in the cause of the faith against the Turks, he incurred a grave infirmity of which he also died; whence it comes about that no one of sane mind would doubt that he attained the crown of martyrdom from the Lord, who weighs not only the shedding of blood, but also the desire of martyrdom and other causes concurring to martyrdom.

[193] where he dies holily, The Brothers standing by wept for the death of so great a Father, saying with tearful voices: "Why do you forsake us, Father, or to whom do you leave us desolate? Who now will protect the family of the Observance, which you have planted and fostered by your labours? Who will answer for us before the Pope and the Cardinals? Who will further resist our adversaries?" These and similar words the Brothers placed in the whole Order could repeat, when they heard of the death of the Blessed Father. But above all his last sons, namely the Brothers of Austria, Bohemia and Poland, as younger and more than others

in need of the aid of so great a Father, lamented: of whom the Father, as of those last begotten, in that very illness had the greatest care to commend them to the prelates of the Order and especially to the venerable Father Brother Gabriel of Verona, now most worthy vicar of the province of Austria, Poland, etc. To whom also at the very time at which he died, namely on the same night, he appeared in dreams and said: "I appoint you my commissary, and I grant you all my authority." Father Gabriel himself was then in the parts of Poland: and, hearing afterwards of the Father's death, and having made a computation of the days, he learned for certain that the Father had died on the night on which he had had the said vision.

[194] honoured by all orders. But also all the ecclesiastical prelates, temporal lords and cities which had had knowledge of the Father, understanding that he had died, made much lamentation. For him also in many places, by very many lords, prelates and cities, solemn exequies were celebrated; not that they thought he needed such things, since all undoubtedly believed that he was placed in heaven, but as a sign of love and affection they did these things, as true sons. And rightly indeed, for that holy man was the true father of all. Whence while still living he was called by all the Holy Father. For when in common speech it was said: "The Holy Father did or said this;" it was understood of Brother John of Capistrano. So the man of God died, the Blessed common Father of all, in the year of the Lord MCCCCLVI, on the twenty-third day of October ⁱ.

ANNOTATIONS.

* add se

CHAPTER XIV.

The Saint's burial; miracles at his tomb.

St. Capistran, buried a second time When the Blessed Father had died, and his body was lying unburied, as he was already beginning to shine with some miracles, behold, the devil, moved by envy, incited a certain parish priest in Vuilak, who earlier had apostatized from our Order (and no wonder, since every apostate is a persecutor of his Order), to write to a certain Cardinal legate in the parts of Hungary ^a, how the Brothers were keeping the body of the Blessed Father unburied, and were causing him to be venerated as a saint. Provoked by his writing, the Lord Cardinal strictly ordered the Brothers to bury him as quickly as possible. The Brothers, fulfilling his command, choosing to obey rather than to sacrifice, sorrowfully buried him. The magnificent Lord Nicholas, hearing that the holy Father had died in his city of Vuilak, being in remote parts, hastened to his city, rejoicing in so precious a treasure which the Lord had bestowed on him. Entering the city he went at once to the place of the Brothers, burning with ardent desire to see, touch and kiss that holy body. But finding him buried, inflamed with zeal for the honour of God and of the blessed Father, he began to censure the Brothers as to why they had put so holy a relic in the ground. When the Brothers had disclosed the series of the matter to him, he ordered his servants to exhume the holy body; and when it had been exhumed it was held above ground with great reverence for many days, that all might be able to see it; and some also, in their exceeding devotion, touched it, whose members seemed so soft and ductile that he was believed to be not dead but sleeping.

[196] he begins to shine with miracles: After many days had afterwards passed, it was placed * in an iron chest, fastened with four keys and locks, and placed in a certain chapel, with many lights burning day and night. When the said magnificent Lord Nicholas had come to the presence of the legate, he spoke boldly to him: "You in Italy frequently entomb usurers and evil men over the more eminent places of churches, and this servant of God, who has wrought such great good things, you have ordered against justice to be buried beneath the ground: this I in no way purpose to bear in my dominion." The Blessed body therefore remained honourably laid away, as was touched on, and at once began to shine with many miracles. For life to the dead, sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf and health to the sick were given back by the merits of the holy relic. The people flowed in from all sides, and miracles were added to miracles. All of which, if I should wish to write them, could not be contained in a great volume. I will therefore recite some of them; and that some order may be kept in what is to be said, I will try to keep the following manner: first of the dead raised, second of those freed from the point of death, third of the crippled healed, fourth of those failing in sight, hearing and speech freed, fifth of those suffering the falling sickness, sixth of those suffering other infirmities, seventh of several other miracles performed ^b.

[197] the dead restored to life; the boy Peter The first dead person was raised in this manner. A certain boy, by name Peter, son of Clement Vuyda of Chosar *, was for a long time very greatly vexed day and night by the falling sickness, so that he could not suck his mother's breasts, but daily failing he was rather nearer to death than to life, and his parents did not know what to do about him. They vowed therefore to carry their son to the tomb of the servant of God, Brother John, and wrapping the afflicted boy in little cloths, began to go on to fulfil the vow; when they were in the first street of the city of Vuilak, the mother, anxious for the boy, uncovering him too, found him dead, chilled and wholly blackened, and showing him to her husband she said: "Let us return to our home and bury him, for he is dead." Wishing to learn more surely whether he was dead or not, they squeezed the boy's fingers and toes, his nostrils also and ears and all his members, and neither any sensation nor voice appeared. Whence the boy's mother, by name Helen, was pressing her husband that they should return and bury their dead one. To whom her husband: "Assuredly I will not return; for almighty God can give him back to us through the merits of this Blessed John." They came therefore to the tomb of the man of God, and going around the tomb three times with the boy thus chilled, on the last circling the boy revived in full health, and is today a most fresh and healthy boy ^c.

[198] Andrew Brok, The second was raised in this manner. A certain man, by name Andrew, son of Lawrence Brokus *, suffering the falling sickness for six years, every year for four continuous days the said disease so vexed him day and night that on the fourth day it attacked him seven times; so that he expired and died in his mother's arms. Seeing this, the sorrowful mother sent after the son's father in the field, and announced to him the series of what had happened, that a pit being made, he should be given to burial: but before the father came, the mother, standing over the now chilled body of her son, with weeping and sighs called on the Lord that he would revive her son through the merits of the man of God, Brother John. When this was done, soon the blackened son began to grow white, began to yawn, began to move his hands, and before the arrival of the father from the field, the boy wholly recovered, and thereafter suffered no evil ^d.

[199] Catherine Crochi: The third was raised in this manner. A certain woman, by name Catherine, wife of Anthony Crochius of Capistrano, with very great pains brought forth a boy wholly lifeless and dead. And when very many women who had assembled were, for compassion, all weeping on bended knee, they then had recourse to the merits of Blessed John, saying with heart and mouth: "O Blessed John, so great are the miracles which God does through your merits; grant that this boy may live, that at least he may be baptized;" and they said: "Our Father." Two Brothers also, passing by there for alms, seeing this, they too knelt down with the others for compassion before the door; and when this was done, the boy revived and was baptized with immense joy: and he was called John and lives fresh and healthy, to the honour of God and of his servant John. The fourth was raised in this manner. A certain woman, by name Gemma, wife of Juvenal Angelin of Capistrano, when she was tormented with intolerable pains and could not give birth, with devout mind commended herself to Blessed John, and brought forth a boy wholly dead and extinct: but at the prayers of the women who had assembled there, through the merits of Blessed John, he revived; that night he was baptized and was called John, and still survives and lives an elegant infant.

[200] freed from imminent death, Of those who were freed from the point of death, the first was a certain son of a certain George Henurek , who is called Turcus, who, in his last extremity, was near to death in Athya: for whom his anxious mother with rapid step went to Vuilak, a Hungarian mile, to the tomb of the man of God, leaving her son in agony: when she had arrived there, she poured out prayer for her son, and returning home found the son whom she had left placed in extremity safe and unharmed ^e. The second was a certain little infant, newly brought into the light, son of a certain Valentine of Thitheus , having his mouth so obstructed that for nine days he could not suck his mother's breasts, and was near to death; a vow having been made by the mother to the tomb

of the man of God, the infant's mouth was soon opened, and healed he sucked the breasts ^f. The third was a certain woman, by name Catherine of Circus, near Rachia, at a distance of four miles from Vuilak, who for three months was so oppressed by fevers, wonderfully swollen, that there was no hope of her living until the next day; her mother vowing her to the tomb of Blessed John, she was soon restored to entire health ^g.

[201] by the vow of parents, The fourth was a certain little girl, daughter of a certain Elias, a butcher of Canmenez *, who, suffering fevers for two continuous years, was already near to death, nor was she hoped to survive even for a short space of time; her father vowing to carry her to the tomb of the blessed Father, she was soon freed of the fever and restored to entire health ^h. The fifth was a certain boy, by name Lawrence, son of a certain John Names of Szeged, who, lying down with excessive infirmity, was placed in the agony of death, nor was it known whether he was alive or dead. For him his sorrowful mother, by name Elizabeth, kneeling and promising to carry him to the tomb of blessed John, soon the boy was made fresh and healthy, in the year of the Lord MCCCCLVIII, on the feast of Corpus Christi. But when she had neglected to fulfil the vow, behold in the same year, around the feast of the Assumption of Blessed Mary, the boy, struck by a graver infirmity, was nearly failing. For him the father and mother, wailing and kneeling together, renewed that vow, and soon carried the healed boy to the tomb of the blessed Father, saying: "We reckon it no less than if blessed John had raised our son from the dead" ⁱ.

[202] very many infants: The sixth was a certain boy of five years, by name John, son of Stephen Bacher of Szeged, who, oppressed by a most grievous infirmity, lay in agony for eight days, and as if dead sent forth foam from his mouth, made wholly insensible, nor in those eight days did he utter any sound. For him his mother, by name Sophia, made a vow to carry him to the tomb of the man of God. Marvellous indeed: as soon as she made the vow, the boy began to speak, and on the same day was made healthy and unharmed ^k. The seventh was a certain little boy of eleven months, by name Barnabas, son of Valentine Pataris, of the village of Thythenus , who, held by a most grievous infirmity, lay as if dead: so that he had no voice, nor could he suck his mother's breasts; and nothing of a living man appeared in him, but he was rather judged dead by all. As his parents carried him to the tomb of blessed John, he soon so recovered that the boy began to pat his mother's breasts with his hands, and in the same hour was fully healed ^l.

[203] seized by fevers, The eighth was a certain boy of six years, by name Peter, son of Elias Redenk, called of Syzeagii, who, suffering severe fevers for very many days, was hoped to live no longer. For him his parents, making a vow to the tomb of the blessed Father, and carrying the boy there, he was soon restored to entire health ^m. The ninth was a certain boy of three years, by name Peter, son of Matthew of Pesth, opposite Vuilak, who, oppressed by a grave infirmity, was in agony. Seeing this the embittered father, sighing to God, said: "O how great are my sins before you, O Lord, that you permit such adversities to come upon my house: but I ask your majesty, that through the merits of St. John you restore to me this son of mine also." For through the invocation of the blessed Father he had received many other benefits earlier, as will be seen in what follows. And binding himself by a vow to carry his son to the tomb, he carried him, thus in agony, according to the vow, where the boy was soon restored to health ⁿ.

[204] placed in agony, The tenth was a certain woman, wife of Nicholas the tailor, a citizen of Vuilak, who, vexed by a most grievous infirmity from the feast of St. George to the feast of St. James , could no longer speak: and placed at the last point of life, she was in agony, and was not hoped to survive any longer. To the woman thus in agony a lighted candle was given in her hands, according to the usual custom; but soon, a vow having been made for her, she too, using the reason of her mind, flew to the merits of the man of God and was immediately restored to health. And the next day she visited the tomb of blessed John, giving thanks to the Lord ^o. The eleventh was a certain boy of four years, by name Matthias, son of a certain Luke Zucegaya, called of Zatha, who, suffering the falling sickness day and night for a whole half year, was wholly consumed, and his feet and arms were dried up, and they remained stretched out like dry wood, so that they could not be curved or bent; and the palms of his hands, so that they could not be opened; his mouth also was similarly so closed that it was opened only with a little knife for twelve weeks; the boy was nourished by his mother's care with the dripping of water or wine, or broth [p], or milk into his mouth for twelve continuous weeks, in which he uttered no sound.

[205] with limbs already putrefied, He also had his neck, by the force of the infirmity, so drawn up clinging to his shoulders that from that injury and connection neck and shoulders were putrefying. And when now the boy was in his last extremity, in agony, his parents carried him with devotion to the tomb of blessed John of Capistrano; on that occasion he recovered to some degree, and carried there a second time on the feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in the year of the Lord MCCCCLVII, and they going around the tomb of the man of God with him, the boy soon obtained full health, and began to speak, who in XII weeks had uttered no words; and he asked his mother for fish to eat. In all respects he obtained the very best of health, so that no trace of infirmity appeared in him: and the boy is healthy to this day, and today his parents have great joy of him, and all who saw him thus despised in his infirmity [q].

[206] deranged through the violence of pain, The twelfth was a certain man, by name Fabian Keever , named of the street of Kylkolonch , in Vuilak, who, suffering an excessive swelling of the body, through the force of the pain incurred frenzy and was alienated in mind, and began, as one near to death, to be in agony. For him his wife, by name Helen, made suppliant, with bent knees and poured-out tears, besought blessed John that he would deign to intercede with the Lord, that her husband, placed in agony, should not die. Soon the man recovered, and according to the vow of his wife made for him he visited the tomb of Blessed John healthy, as if he had never suffered any evil, which he had borne for weeks. The son of this Fabian, by name Nicholas, of the age of four years, was freed from the falling sickness, a vow having been made for him to the tomb of Blessed John, and afterwards suffered no hurt [r]. The thirteenth was a certain little boy of two years, by name Lazarus, son of Peter Nerek *, in the street of St. Ladislaus, in Vuilak, who suffered quotidian fevers from his birth, and the falling sickness from the Nativity of the Lord until the feast of St. George [s], and through the illness was blinded in one eye, and also so wasted and dried up in his whole body that there was no hope of his life; so much so that the husband forbade the boy's mother, by name Catherine, to take care of him, that he might die the sooner. For he said to the mother: "Do not be concerned about him, that he may die the sooner (for he was reckoned more dead than alive); do not then hinder him." But hearing of the miracles that were being done around the tomb of Blessed John, they vowed to carry their son there with a wax image; when this was done, the boy soon recovered and was freed from the falling sickness, and clear sight also was restored to him to this very day [t].

[207] unable to bear any food, The fourteenth was a certain woman, by name Elizabeth, wife of a certain Giles of Zopor, who was so vexed in the body by a certain wonderful infirmity that for XV days she took neither food nor drink: her life was despaired of by all, and she was not believed to be going to live any longer. She, taking hope in the Lord, vowed to visit the tomb of Blessed John if she recovered; when this was done, she recovered and was healed of all infirmity, and came magnifying and giving thanks to the Lord [v]. The fifteenth was a certain female, by name Barbara, still a girl, daughter of a certain Valentine Baylyas of Elienn *; when her mother, by name Helen, had given her an eggshell to play with, she threw a particle of that shell into her mouth; which entering her throat could neither be swallowed nor cast out. The girl was therefore afflicted, unable to suck her mother's breasts for a whole week; and so she was in agony, made black as if about to die; honourable matrons also coming consoled the girl's mother, that she should not afflict herself over the death of the child, since no remedy was seen to be possible by human means. But the mother, with anxious mind having recourse to the tomb of Blessed John, if she were restored to health; marvellous to say, soon, the vow having been made, the eggshell came out of the girl's mouth, and she was perfectly freed [w].

[208] labouring in childbirth, The sixteenth was a certain woman, by name Susanna, wife of the noble man Blaise Kirchius *, who, when she had twice brought forth an aborted child, and the foetus did not come out of the womb rightly, but with the feet, as if born dead; labouring in like danger a third time, she commended herself to Blessed John, and called on him to free her from such a danger: wonderful indeed, the foetus had already put out his feet, but as soon as the woman commended herself to the Blessed Father, the boy drew back his feet and, turned over in the womb, came out healthy with his head first and was born whole, and he lives to the present day. On another occasion also the same noble lady Susanna, placed in danger of childbirth, having by her a certain towel, with which the body of St. John had been wiped when dead after the washing according to the custom of our Order, when the woman was anxious in childbirth, girded herself with this towel and without any trouble brought forth a male son, who still lives, a fresh boy [x].

[209] infected with plague, The seventeenth was a certain little boy of two years, son of a certain noble of Erdenud , who, when he was in the agony of death, a vow having been made for him by the father to the tomb of Blessed John, was soon restored to health; nay as if raised from death to life, whose soul's departure was already expected [y]. The eighteenth was a certain little child, son of a certain Elias of Lithoth, who, when he was in the agony of death, a vow having been made for him by the father to the tomb of the Blessed Father, was soon perfectly restored to health and recovered [z]. The nineteenth was a certain man, by name Demetrius, of Litoth ,

who, when he was near to death, making a vow to visit the tomb of the man of God, was restored to health [aa]. The twentieth was a certain boy, by name Dionysius, of four years, son of James of Lavilaya of Aquila, who, coming to the end of life from the infirmity of plague, was so near to death that nothing else was treated of but funeral and burial: carried by his father in his arms to the Brothers, and signed with certain little cloths which Blessed John used, and commended to him, he suddenly recovered.

[210] one suffocated in water, The twenty-first was a certain boy, by name Parascensus, two years of age, son of George Marcellarius of Aquila, who, while walking and going through the house after the manner of children, had fallen into a certain basin full of water, of quite a large capacity [bb], for washing cloths, and stood in it with his head under, for no short space, so that he already appeared wholly white; there was an outcry, and his maternal aunt, by name Martha, running up, suddenly lifted him; and when he had been lifted, the said Martha not noticing, he fell again into the water with his head under. But his mother, by name Joanna, perceiving the danger of her son's death, anxious and on her knees and bathed in tears had recourse to the merits of Blessed John, saying: "O glorious Blessed John of Capistrano, I commend my son to you, praying you that God may deign to grant you that my son may not now be drowned, and may come out healthy." When this was done, and the boy lifted up, the boy said: "My mother, do not fear, for I have no harm." O thing most worthy of all admiration! The boy stood thus healthy and of good colour, as if he had never touched water.

[211] those corrupted in the intestines are cured. The twenty-second was a certain female, Mary, by name Angeluccia, daughter of John Manicina of Aquila: when she was four years old she was afflicted with a horrible infirmity, so that she was putting out her intestines through her sex. From this she had come to such an extremity of life that she seemed about to breathe out her spirit altogether. Her mother seeing her, her eyes already rolled back, and with a lighted candle in her hand, as is the custom, knelt down, with tears most devoutly had recourse to the merits of Blessed John, saying: "O Blessed John, by those most holy sermons of yours which you made, and by those most holy feet of yours, which, without your noticing, I sometimes kissed, and by your most holy merits, I pray you that by your intercession you may cause that my daughter, the only one I have, may not now die, that I may not suffer so great a sorrow; and I promise to paint your image, for my devotion, in front of my house." When this was said with tears and beatings of the breast, suddenly she who was in agony and nearly dead recovered, and was perfectly freed from the instant danger of death. The twenty-third was a certain man, by name Francis, son of John of Eselo, dwelling in Aquila, who, being sick with so grave an abscess for nine days that he was judged wholly near to death, and there was no longer any hope of his life; a vow having been made to Blessed John, he was suddenly snatched from the jaws of death, nor did any evil overtake him further.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. Brodum, according to Du Cange at this word, is a broth of boiled meats; whence in the same meaning the Italians have Brodo, the French Brouet.

q. Compare Nicholas, number 133, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 43..

r. Compare Nicholas, number 132, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 45..

s. From the Christmas feast to the feast of St. George, or from the XXV of December to the XXIII of April, there run one hundred and twenty days.

t. Compare Nicholas, number 133, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 46..

v. Compare Nicholas, number 133, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 47..

w. Compare Nicholas, number 133, and Barberius Ibid. l. c.

x. Compare Nicholas, number 136, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 55..

y. Compare Nicholas, number 138, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 58..

z. Compare Nicholas, number 138, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 59..

aa. Compare Nicholas, number 138, and Barberius Ibid. l. c.

bb. Our text had: In quamdam plenam aqua, satis magnam portatam pro pannis etc. Into a certain one full of water, quite large, carried for cloths etc. To give some sense to the words, I corrected: In quamdam pelvim plenam aqua, satis magnæ portatæ, seu capacitatis Into a certain basin full of water, of quite a large portata, or capacity.

* add corpus

* Viida de Chazar N.

* Benukii N. Behii B.

* Scheurak N B.

* Thytno B.

* Vumant. B

* Bahor B. Bakardus N.

* Pataleus de villa Theudes B

* XXIII of April

* XXV of July

* Licwer B.

* Nislonezas B.

* Cherenuk N. Turuz B.

* Saghas de Ciien N. Saghyas de Gyen B.

* Hurtii B.

* Erdevud N. Erdoch B.

* Lichot N.

CHAPTER XV.

The crippled, blind, mute, deaf and epileptic cured.

The crippled cured: Barbara, Margaret, Helen, First then there was healed a certain lady Barbara, wife of Balthasar the furrier in Vuilak, who, when she had suffered for a year an intolerable pain of the teeth, and by the force of paralysis her neck had been rendered immovable or rather unturnable, making a vow to visit the tomb of the servant of the Lord, soon received health from all these things ^a. Second there was healed a certain woman, by name Margaret, wife of Matthias called Contra, of Vuilak, who, struck in one foot with a certain abscess, so that for two months she was crippled and could not walk at all, having made a vow of visiting the tomb of Blessed John, was soon restored to entire health ^b. Third there was healed a certain woman, by name Helen, mother of a certain John the stonecutter of Vuilak, who, oppressed by a certain infirmity, was deprived of the help of one hand and one foot, so that she could lift neither hand nor foot, and so desolate she lay for a long time. Making therefore a vow of visiting the tomb of the Blessed Father, she was immediately restored to entire health, and began to walk, and came healthy to the tomb ^c.

[213] Lawrence, the daughter of George Pap, Nicholas, Fourth there was healed a certain Lawrence, named Papa, dwelling in Vuilak in the street of the Fishermen. When he had lain for a year and more, suffering paralysis, he was crippled in the feet, and so bereft of the light of his eyes that he saw nothing. Making therefore a vow to the tomb of Blessed John, he soon received health, and walks without the aid of staves, and sees clearly, and with the other fishermen practises the fisherman's craft ^d. Fifth there was healed a certain little girl, daughter of George Papa, called of Moho, who, being crippled, so that she could no longer walk except by going on knees and hands, a vow having been made for her by her parents that they would carry her to the tomb of the Blessed Father if she were restored to health, soon received health ^e. Sixth there was healed a certain Nicholas, called the Little, of the town of Kazoin, who, being crippled in the feet and back, having made a vow to visit the tomb of Blessed John, at once obtained health ^f.

[214] Elizabeth, Benedict Monos, Seventh there was healed a certain woman, by name Elizabeth, wife of Peter Zeleer *, of Szeged, who, crippled in one foot for more than the space of one year, so that she could not walk, a vow having been made of visiting the body of the servant of God, forthwith obtained health in her foot ^g. Eighth there was healed a certain man, by name Benedict Monos, called of Erdeve, who, when on the feast of St. Michael he was sitting at table in the year of the Lord MCCCCLVII, had fallen into this infirmity, that one part of his body was as it were wholly withered, and one foot and one hand were as if immovable, and his mouth was as if stretched on one side to the ear, and so foully drawn that he could say nothing at all: he, making a vow within himself that he would visit the tomb of Blessed John, soon his mouth returned to its due place, and he received full freedom of speaking as before. In November, before the feast of St. Elizabeth, having himself led to the tomb of the Blessed Father, on the next day he stood perfectly healed, and that dryness was wholly put to flight from his body ^h.

[215] Emeric, Blaise, Ninth there was healed a certain little boy, by name Emeric Zalon Kemen, who from the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin in the year of the Lord MCCCCLVI until the feast of St. Bartholomew of the following year ⁱ, having his feet crippled, and made like a dry log, could not walk at all: he, a vow having been made to the tomb of Blessed John, when he had been led there, forthwith received entire health. Tenth there was healed a certain boy, by name Blaise, son of Peter the shopkeeper of Szeged, who in the seventh year of his age was struck by so severe an infirmity that he lay crippled in hands and feet, and bent backward in the back, and as if truncated, he was made inflexible in all respects, and was wholly useless, nor was there any hope of his life. As they vowed to carry him to the tomb of Blessed John, he was soon restored to health, and he is a boy delightful to see, and is held by his parents as if raised from death ^k.

[216] Margaret, Anne, Eleventh there was healed a certain woman Margaret, wife of a certain Augustine named Cleplere , of the village of Pochzai , distant from Vuilak XXXVII Hungarian miles. She had been struck by a grave infirmity, so made powerless to walk that for seven whole years she went only by crawling on hands and feet, as children do, to the knowledge of the whole village: and, having made a vow to come to the tomb of Blessed John, she was so restored to health that alone, travelling on foot from so long a distance, she came to the tomb of the Blessed Father, fulfilling her vow, healthy also in her hands, which she could not bring to her mouth, but took food by the hands of others ^l. Twelfth there was healed a certain woman, by name Anne, wife of Simon the cobbler of Vuilak, who in giving birth to a male son had been made so powerless in hands and feet and in her whole body that she could not move herself in any way and could by no means walk, and could not suckle the infant, but other women nourished him. She, having made a vow, had herself carried to the tomb of Blessed John, where she so recovered that on the next day she came on her own feet to the tomb, wholly healed, although for five months before she had not walked at all; the son of this woman also, who was crippled in one foot, a vow having been made for him, was restored to health ^m.

[217] a youth of XIV years, Matthew, Catherine Thirteenth there was healed a certain youth of fourteen years, son of Lazastlanus of the village which is called Saint John, commonly called Zentivan, who was so wholly deprived of strength for three years that he could in no way raise himself, but with hands stretched out crawled on his feet on the ground; he, having made a vow of visiting the tomb of Blessed John, immediately rose upright, and walking without trouble fulfilled his vow [n]. Fourteenth there was healed a certain Matthew, son of Oswald of Pesth, across the Danube opposite Vuilak, who, having his right arm so stiffened and unturnable through a certain infirmity that for two months he could not bring his right hand to his mouth, having made a vow to visit the tomb of Blessed John, was soon wholly healed ^o. Fifteenth there was healed a certain girl, by name Catherine, nine years old, daughter of a certain Michael of the village of Hanchuus , who, unable to walk for three months, deprived of all strength, as soon as her mother, by name Elizabeth, made a vow for her to the tomb of Blessed John, was restored to health, and came on her own feet to the tomb healthy, giving thanks to God [p].

[218] Ursula, Helen, Sixteenth there was healed a certain woman, by name Ursula, wife of Andrew de Achas of Otrainsch *, who, when for four months she had been dried up, like an immovable trunk, and could not move or turn herself from one side to the other by her own power, nor even go to the works of nature, unless carried by others, placed in the greatest straits, called on Christ Jesus through the merits of Blessed John, that she might be restored to her former health, and so with devotion together with her mother they vowed themselves to the tomb of the Blessed Father, and soon Ursula herself, restored to her former health, gave thanks to God with her mother Helen [q]. Seventeenth there was healed a certain widow Helen, wife of a certain James of Varadin, who, having both feet crippled, lay wholly deprived of strength for six months, being wholly unable to walk at all or to leave her bed, even by crawling on hands and feet, unless led by others: she, making a vow of visiting the tomb of Blessed John, recovered to some degree, so that, supported on two staves, she walked a little; but when the vow had been fulfilled, she was soon so healed that she walked running before a multitude of men without supports [r].

[219] Luke, John, Stephen, Eighteenth there was healed a certain boy, Luke, son of John Magnus of Ched , who, being so greatly crippled in the left foot that he scarcely touched the ground with his foot, unable at all to walk upright, but going on hands and feet on the ground, a vow having been made by his mother and father to carry him to the tomb of Blessed John, was forthwith restored to entire health, walking perfectly [s]. Nineteenth there was healed a certain man, by name John Bentzefi , of Hagorelgii * near Posega; he, having one arm dried up, so that it could in no way be bent or curved, nor his hand be brought in any way to his mouth, devoutly commending himself to Father John and promising to go to his tomb, was at once restored to perfect health. Twentieth there was healed a certain Stephen, son of Nicholas Zecgech, of Oncha, who, when by the action of a certain infirmity he was crippled in one hand and in one foot, so that he could use them in nothing, a vow having been made to the tomb of Blessed John, was soon perfectly healed [t].

[220] Margaret, Checa, Crisedia: Twenty-first there was healed a certain woman, by name Margaret, wife of Nicholas Parut , of Kerezthuut , who, having withered hands and dried-up feet, and unable to see clearly with her eyes, but directing her sight as if in a certain shadowy little cloud, did not recognize things distinctly; her tongue also was impeded, so that she formed words by stammering; she, placed in great straits, bound herself by a vow to visit the tomb of the Blessed Father John, adding that she would take care to fulfil the vow in whatever way she could; and coming according to the vow on the feast of Pentecost in the year of the Lord MCCCCLVIII to the tomb, lying there, and going around that tomb several times, she was soon fully freed from all the aforesaid impediments, to the gladness and joy of all who were there [v]. Twenty-second there was freed a certain woman, by name Checha, wife of Matthew de Concia, of the village of Santa Lucia and Offena [w], who, when for four months she had been made so withered and so immovable on one side only that she could do or carry out nothing at all, and could not eat without the greatest difficulty, coming with great devotion to see certain things which had been for the use of Blessed John, and which a few days before had been carried to Capistrano to the place of St. Francis, as soon as she devoutly kissed them, and was signed with them, was restored to perfect health. Twenty-third there was healed a certain virgin of twenty years, by name Crisedia, daughter of John Teutonus, a citizen of Aquila, who, when in the month of April in the year of the Lord MCCCCLVIII she was suffering a very great pain in the right arm, so that she feared a withering of that arm, making a vow to Blessed John to offer and hang up before his image or figure an image of wax, was healed on the spot, and never afterwards felt any evil in the said arm; and she, from the devotion which she conceived from this miracle toward that Blessed man, every day said five "Our Fathers" and as many "Hail Marys".

[221] cured also were Elizabeth, blind, Gregory, deaf, A certain Balthasar, a furrier of Vuilak, having a lame daughter, by name Elizabeth, paralytic in the neck and head, so severely vexed that by the force of the pain she had also lost the light of her eyes for three whole years, so that she saw nothing at all, but was led by the hand of her sister to any place: she, led to the body of Blessed John, not yet given to burial, and devoutly kissing the hands of the deceased, was soon freed from the paralysis and healed, and received the light of both eyes: and she returned home alone without a guide, who before was led by the hand [x]. A certain noble, by name Gregory, of the village called Bede *, was made deaf by a certain excessive infirmity, so that he heard nothing at all in both ears, but if anything was indicated to him to be done, he could learn it only by signs of the hands and certain nods: when he had suffered this deafness for XVII continuous years, he came with devotion to visit the tomb of Blessed John, and at once obtained full health and received the benefit of hearing [y].

[222] Valentine, blind, another, mute, Valentine, named Sabo , of Vunifalu , for three continuous years had so lost the light of his eyes that he saw nothing at all, and could find no remedy; having made a vow of visiting the tomb of Blessed John, and fulfilling it in the year of the Lord MCCCCLVII, on the feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul, he at once received light, seeing fully [z]. The son of Matthias Zede of Keyeres *, by name Nicholas, being in a certain wood, overtaken by a grave infirmity, lost his speech and could not walk on his feet; crippled therefore he lay for four weeks, unable to take food or drink or to open his mouth, and was nourished by drippings of broths; his father vowing to carry him to the tomb of Blessed John, he soon recovered his speech and was restored to entire health [aa]. A certain man, by name Matthew, son of Oswald of Pest across the Danube, opposite Vuilak, most grievously oppressed by a certain infirmity, had lost his sight for two months: he, having made a vow to the tomb of Blessed Father John, was perfectly healed [bb].

[223] a blind woman, a one-eyed infant A certain honourable woman, wife of John named Lokius , a citizen in Vuilak, struck by a certain pestilential disease, fell into a grave infirmity, so that she lost sight, hearing and speech. She, recalling within herself that she had by her a shroud with which the body of Blessed John had been touched, which the woman kept by her for her devotion, taking that shroud began devoutly to kiss it, and to wipe her face with it at once; doing this she was soon restored to her former health, and received the benefit of sight, speech and hearing [cc]. Ladislaus, an infant of three years, son of Benedict the cobbler, of Keluud , was bereft of one eye for two months, and when he could no longer see with it, and could not be cured by the art of physicians, nor could that blindness be cured by any medicine, a certain swelling causing it; his father making a vow for him to the tomb of Blessed John, and carrying him there, he was soon restored there to entire health [dd].

[224] Clare, blind, a one-eyed girl, A certain Clare, wife of Stephen of Hara , in the county of Bács, dwelling in the village which is called Santa Caterina, deprived of the light of both eyes for the space of half a year, saw nothing. She, vowing herself to the tomb of Blessed John, had herself led to it by the hands of her husband and son, and going once around the tomb, the darkness of her eyes departed, and she began to see; going around a second time she saw more clearly again, and stood more enlightened; but going around a third time, she received the entire light of both eyes, having no impediment of sight at all, and returned to her home without a guide, giving thanks to God and to Blessed John [ee]. A certain Catherine, wife of Ladislaus Kobloz , having a little daughter blinded in one eye for a whole year,

when she had vowed to carry her to the tomb of Blessed John, she was soon enlightened [ff].

[225] another Catherine, one-eyed, Blaise, blind, Another, by name Catherine, widow of a certain man by name Gallus of Roca *, in the county of Bács, having a defect in one eye for thirteen weeks, so that she saw nothing, when she had vowed to visit the tomb of Blessed John, and had gone around it three times, stood fully enlightened in the one eye, every spot disappearing [gg]. A certain noble man, by name Blaise, of Enoch, while on the vigil of the Nativity of the Lord MCCCCLVIII he was dining at table with his household, suddenly incurred an infirmity of the eyes, which, growing daily, made him wholly unable to see anything at all, and unable to go about without a guide, even in his own house. He, having made a vow to the tomb of Blessed John, forthwith obtained clear light of his eyes, and came to the tomb thirty Hungarian miles [hh].

[226] Stephen, blind, deaf and mute, Anthony, blind, Clare, mute: A certain Stephen, called Serggartho, of Bodizethniclos *, was for four years blind, deaf and mute; his people vowing to carry him to the tomb of Blessed John, while they were fulfilling the vow, leading him on that very road, he was restored to perfect health, so that he saw openly, spoke perfectly, and had plain speech without any impediment, and he is now healthy, who was once like a useless trunk. Anthony Pasqua de Zazenths, of Aquila, of the age of LXV years, wholly blind in one of his eyes for three months, as soon as he devoutly kissed with tears a certain little cloth which the Blessed Father had had for wiping his eyes, and was signed with it, was perfectly enlightened and sees as clearly as if no evil had happened to him. A certain woman, by name Clare, daughter of James of Cigno, of Aquila, of the age of forty years, was pressed down by such an infirmity that for seven weeks she did not speak at all, nor could she so much as move herself to put her hand to her mouth. She, at the urging of her people, touched and signed in her house with a certain little cloth which had been for the use of the Blessed Father, was restored to her former health, and freed from every infirmity which she had suffered for three months, having earlier been deprived of speech for seven weeks.

[227] four epileptics freed, The wife of Paul the furrier, of the town of Tutal , suffering the falling sickness for four continuous years, came to visit the tomb of Blessed John, and stood fully freed from the aforesaid disease [ii]. Caspar, son of Valentine Pasge, of Titel , suffering the falling sickness from his youth, when he had made a vow to wish to visit the tomb of Blessed John, was soon freed [kk]. The son of Benedict Zongo, of Covonz, of the age of ten years, suffering the falling sickness from his youth so severely that he was already thought near to death, and could be helped by no remedy, a vow having been made for him to the tomb of the Blessed Father, was restored to perfect health [ll]. The son of a certain Andrew of Magna Villa, by name John, suffered the falling sickness, and fell sometimes once in a month, sometimes within eight days, sometimes after three days, making with his mouth and eyes such terrible and horrible actions and gestures that those standing by feared and shuddered to look: he, making a vow that he would every year visit the tomb of blessed John, if he should be freed from that disease by his merits: marvellous indeed, after the vow had been made, from that day he was so freed that he had no impediment at all [mm].

[228] Elizabeth, a little boy of VIII years. A certain Elizabeth, wife of George Usay, of the village named Sabrithoza , suffered the falling sickness for five years; who in the last year, namely in MCCCCLVIII, sometimes in a week fell to the ground three or four times, and was miserably vexed; she, at the putting-away of flesh of the said year making a vow of visiting the tomb of Blessed John, was soon fully cured of the aforesaid disease, and brought a wax image with her, coming to that tomb [nn]. A certain boy of eight years, by name Francis, son of Anthony of Zeuclenus , suffered the falling sickness continually; a vow having been made for him to the tomb of Blessed John, he was forthwith freed [oo].

[229] Ladislaus, John and Ursula. Ladislaus, called Bogar, of Szeged, from his youth for forty years suffering the falling sickness so horribly that in one day he fell three or four times, and sometimes even five, vexed by that disease, and frequently also fell into water or fire: he, hearing the fame of the miracles which were done by the merits of Blessed John, bound himself by a vow to visit his tomb, and, the journey having been begun, he was healed of the vexation of that disease [pp]. And John, a youth, son of James of Pustan Zentmichal *, suffering the falling sickness for three continuous years, having made a vow of visiting the tomb of the Blessed Father, obtained entire health [qq]. A certain woman, by name Ursula, wife of Gallus of Banthia, suffering the falling sickness for four continuous years, in the last year was more frequently and more gravely punished and vexed by that disease, and falling she rolled about horribly; she, in the month of February in the year MCCCCLVIII, making a vow of visiting the tomb of Blessed John, was freed from that disease, and afterwards suffered no evil [rr].

ANNOTATIONS.

p. Compare Nicholas, number 123, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 30..

q. Compare Nicholas, number 130, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 37..

r. Compare Nicholas, number 130, and Barberius, who says that Helen was the widow of James of Varadin Ibid. pag. 39..

s. Compare Nicholas, number 133, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 48..

t. Compare Barberius Ibid. pag. 56..

v. Compare Barberius Ibid. pag. 44.. Christopher adds a circumstance omitted in the Instrument of Barberius: namely that Margaret visited the tomb of the man of God on the feast of Pentecost in the year of the Lord MCCCCLVIII; from which it becomes manifest that Christopher used a more accurate copy.

w. Sancta Lucia, an appendage of the town of Montereale in Further Abruzzo under the diocese of Chieti Justiniani. Dizion. geogr. del regno de Napoli. V°. Santalucia.; the word which follows, Offena, does not occur in the Neapolitan topographical Lexicons

x. Compare Barberius Instr. mirac. pag. 4..

y. Compare Barberius Ibid. pag. 9..

z. Compare Nicholas, number 117, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 10..

aa. Compare Nicholas, number 118, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 10..

bb. Compare Nicholas, number 123, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 13..

cc. Compare Nicholas, number 124, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 28..

dd. Compare Barberius Ibid. pag. 30..

ee. Compare Nicholas, number 131, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 38..

ff. Compare Nicholas, number 136, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 40..

gg. Compare Nicholas, number 131, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 56..

hh. Compare Nicholas, number 136, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 40..

ii. Compare Barberius Ibid. pag. 57..

kk. Compare Nicholas, number 117, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 10..

ll. Compare Nicholas, number 119, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 15..

mm. Compare Barberius Ibid. pag. 21..

nn. Compare Nicholas, number 123, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 26..

oo. Compare Barberius Ibid. pag. 36..

pp. Compare Nicholas, number 130, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 39..

qq. Compare Barberius Ibid. pag. 41..

rr. Compare Nicholas, number 131, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 42..

* Ezeleer B.

* Czepleci B.

* Pochaji B.

* add B. Raatz

* Zhewtes B.

* Bathas de Cusstha B.

* Ehed B. Chæ N.

* Boncesii B.

* Nagyhulg B.

* Parvi B.

* Heroztum B.

* Bete B.

* Fabo B.

* Vifalu B.

* Lede de Henieres B.

* Loslhi B.

* Hiuceliud B.

* Baray B.

* Ezobonzii B.

* Gallisotta B.

* Bodizentmelos B.

* Futak B.

* Pasga de Ghitel B.

* Vuraji de Sahitolese B.

* Zeuccles B.

* Putazenth michol B.

CHAPTER XVI.

Of those cured of various infirmities.

Cured were ulcerous boys, A certain boy of five years, son of Peter Zeep , of the street of Renugethen, in Vuilak, struck by a certain very bad ulcer in the throat, so that he could neither swallow a cup of water nor take anything, cured once, was afterwards attacked more severely by the aforesaid infirmity; for him his father bound himself to visit the tomb of Blessed John, and when this was fulfilled, the boy was restored to entire health ^a. A certain young girl, daughter of a certain Anthony named Porkolab , of Vuilak, with a pestilential abscess

struck, so that she was feared to be near to death; but her parents, having hope and devotion in the merits of Blessed John, led her to the tomb of the Blessed man, and as soon as she stood there, the abscess was annihilated ^b. A certain boy of five years, son of a certain Michael named Tegzeo *, in Vuilak, of the street of St. Ladislaus, suffering a tertian fever for half a year, who was so deprived of strength that he was already thought near to death, unable to take any nourishment or to walk anywhere, his parents vowing him to the tomb of Blessed John, was forthwith healed ^c.

[231] the ruptured Benedict and Emeric, A certain boy, by name Benedict, son of a certain George named Horozar, of Vornes, was pressed by such an infirmity that the privy matter of nature came out through the urinary passage, and he was already in his last extremity: for him, his mother Helen making a vow to the tomb of Blessed John, on that day he was fully freed from all infirmity ^d. The son of Emeric the furrier of Szeged, by name Dominic, pressed by a certain most grievous infirmity, was so deprived of the benefit of his feet and hands that he lay like an immovable trunk, unable to move from side to side, or to bring food or drink to his mouth, but was fed and lifted by the hands of others from the feast of St. Luke until the Nativity MCCCCLVII; his father vowing him to the tomb of Blessed John, in a few days he was restored to health ^e. Emeric the furrier of Szeged, having a rupture so grave that he could not go out of the threshold of his own house, because his intestines were descending to his genitals *, so that he could go nowhere without a tight binding, binding himself by a vow to come to the tomb of Blessed John, placed on the road, obtained entire health ^f.

[232] Dorothy, blind, Margaret, feverish, a cancerous boy, A certain Dorothy, wife of Emeric the shopkeeper of Temesvár, daughter of the judge of the city, struck by a grave infirmity for more than the space of one year, had lost the light of her eyes, and now in the last three months saw nothing at all, nor could she be cured by the art of physicians; she, binding herself by a vow to visit the tomb of Blessed John, was soon enlightened, feeling afterwards no impediment in her eyes ^g. A certain Margaret, wife of Benedict Sartor, of Chicha , near Bács, at a distance of four miles from Vuilak, suffering most intense tertian fevers for more than a year, was nearly consumed in strength, nor could she be helped by any medicine; she, devoutly vowing to visit the tomb of Blessed John, was soon wholly healed ^h. A certain little boy, son of Nicholas named Zadori , of Vuilak, was struck by a certain fierce wound, namely the she-wolf or cancer, in the chest, so that for three days his flesh was devoured, sickened and consumed by the said infirmity, so that he was believed to be departing from this life. Whence the father, and the mother by name Dorothy, making a vow for him to the tomb of the Blessed Father, and promising to carry one wax image together with the boy, if their son were healed: marvellous indeed! the boy, carried with the wax image to the tomb, soon received entire health, so that no trace of a scar of the said wound remained on his body ⁱ.

[233] a blind infant, Barbara and Catherine, feverish, A certain little infant, by name Adrian, a year and a half old, son of Michael Lierze , of the village of Fulzergh , suffering for a month a swelling so great in the face that his eyes could in no way be seen, a vow having been made for him by his father and mother, by name Ursula, was carried to the tomb of Blessed John, and on the same day his eyes appeared clear, and in a few days he was restored to health ^k. A certain girl, by name Barbara, daughter of Valentine Maniaros, of Fisegh, suffering most grievous fevers for six months, having made a vow of visiting the tomb of the man of God, was at once in the same hour healed ^l. A certain girl, Catherine, thirteen years old, daughter of a certain Michael called Piski of the Village *, having suffered quartan, sometimes quotidian fevers, from the month of September to the month of April, led by her mother, by name Scholastica, to the tomb of Blessed John, was healed, and was no more troubled by the force of fevers ^m. A certain boy, son of a certain Matthew of Pesth, across the Danube opposite Vuilak, by name Emeric, having for fourteen days a certain wound in his mouth, which is commonly called the she-wolf or cancer, so that his jaw seemed to be consumed by the cancer: the wound was so great that a finger could be put into it; a vow having been made to the tomb of Blessed John, he was soon healed [n].

[234] a feverish young man, Agatha and Ladislaus, cancerous A certain young man of fourteen years, of Vuilak, shaken by a long-lasting fever, when a vow had been made for him to the tomb of Blessed John, was healed. His sister also, by name Agatha, was healed of frenzy and insanity of mind, a vow having been made for her ^o. A certain Agatha, wife of George the furrier, of Harsan, near Vuilak, burdened with a certain abscess of the right foot, had wholly lost its strength, so that she had no help from that foot and could in no way walk from the feast of St. Nicholas until the Nativity of the Lord; but having made a vow to Blessed John to visit his tomb, she was soon healed [p]. A certain noble man, by name Ladislaus, of the village of Bathoe *, for ten months painfully suffering the infirmity of the she-wolf or cancer and unable to be cured, a vow of visiting the tomb of Blessed John having been made and fulfilled, was forthwith healed. This Ladislaus also was healed of the infirmity which he suffered in one hand and one foot, likewise a vow having been made [q].

[235] Benedict, feverish, Agatha, covered with wounds, Benedict, a certain boy, son of Peter John of Athya, suffering quotidian fevers from the month of September to the month of March, was wholly consumed; a vow having been made for him by his mother to the tomb of the Blessed Father and fulfilled there, he was restored to entire health, and was no more vexed by fevers [r]. A certain Agatha, wife of Ladislaus of Bodrogogzontelkon *, suffering in her right breast a certain horrible wound for the space of ten years, could be helped by no medicine, but day and night gore, foul matter and a most fetid uncleanness flowed from that incurable wound, on account of which the woman herself was despised by all, and unbearable to herself and to others. She, placed in such anxiety, and made like a horrid corpse, came tearfully to visit the tomb of Blessed John, and when this was done that horrid wound was wholly healed, and she, coming to the tomb with joy, recited this to all [s].

[236] likewise the woman Elizabeth, A certain widow woman, by name Elizabeth, relict of a certain Nicholas Zelesconniz, in Vuilak, touched by a certain incurable wound called the she-wolf, from the girdle down in the lower part, was wholly consumed by that wound, and stank exceedingly, nor could anyone approach her. From this wound pieces of rotten flesh, as from cattle, were cut away by women, who themselves greatly shuddered and feared to do that act: daily also here and there many pits were formed around the wound, running with foul matter; and the wound itself appeared like a certain window, so that one might look into it as into a certain open vessel. Thus therefore the woman lay as if dead, unable to speak for fifteen days, yet having her senses whole. To her devout women urged that she should devoutly commend herself to Blessed John; and she within herself, with great sighing and devotion, commended herself, and by what signs of the hands and nods of the eyes she could she showed this very thing to the women urging her. O wonderful God! As soon as she did this, she was relieved, and began to speak, and in a few days her whole wound was healed, and the persons who knew her and her wound indicate it as no less than if she had been raised from the dead [t].

[237] Helen and Valentine, crippled, A certain woman, by name Helen, wife of Stephen Ysspan *, in Dimelchen, pressed by a certain infirmity, had in childbirth both hands crippled and swollen and miserably curved, so that she could do no work at all, nor in any way care for the child she had borne, for three whole years. She, while Blessed John was still living, had vowed to visit his presence, but could not. After the vow however she so recovered that she could carry out all her works with her hands, though she still had a certain contraction of the fingers. But afterwards, devoutly visiting his tomb, she was perfectly healed, and her fingers were made flexible, and extended, and wholly freed [v]. A certain Valentine, called Olas, of Szeged, oppressed by a most grievous infirmity, could in no way turn himself, but was turned by the help of others, and for the same time incessantly suffered a flow of blood, nor could he be cured by any aid of physicians. He, hearing the things which God was working at the tomb of Blessed John, devoutly vowed to visit the tomb if health were restored to him. Marvellous to say, on the third day he was perfectly healed, and visited the tomb healthy [w].

[238] Martin and Barbara, withered, A certain Martin, of Vuylak, servant of the steward of the court of the magnificent lord Nicholas of Vuilak, for six months could not walk, nor leave his bed, nor be turned in it without the help of others; for from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head on the left side he was wholly deprived of strength and made crippled: he tried with the aid of two staves to visit the tomb of Blessed John, but could by no means do so; but by the help of others he was brought there. And when he was there, he circled the tomb, others helping him, and soon he received entire health, and returned home healthy, rejoicing and giving thanks, leaving the staves with which he had striven to walk on the tomb, in testimony of the health he had obtained [x]. A certain Barbara, wife of Gallus of Zatha, falling into a most grievous infirmity, could take no nourishment for many days, and lay in bed like a trunk, unable to move herself, and had also lost the use of speech for two weeks: but because she was sound in mind, she devoutly vowed within herself to Blessed John to visit his tomb, if not otherwise, at least on hands and knees: and when this was done, she received again the benefit of speaking and ate, and so recovered that on the fourth day she visited that tomb across three Hungarian miles, giving thanks to God and to Blessed John [y].

[239] a woman with a flow of blood, Stephen, a paralytic A certain Catherine, widow of Peter of Szeged, lying for four whole years in a most grievous infirmity, and for two years suffering a flow of blood, was wholly consumed and deprived of all strength, and was also deprived of the benefit of seeing and hearing, nor had she any faculty of moving herself from side to side: she, placed in straits, with tearful sighing called on Blessed John, and promised, if she were healed, to visit his tomb; and when this was done, she soon recovered, and a few days having passed, wholly

healthy, she visited that tomb across XXXII Hungarian miles on foot [z]. A certain Stephen, a noble man, for eight whole years was held by a certain most grievous infirmity; in the last year of the Lord MCCCCLVIII, about the Nativity of the Lord, he became very severely swollen in his whole body, so that he could neither walk nor move himself from his place, and though various medicines were applied, he made no progress, but was more burdened, and the swelling grew. He, hearing of the miracles which were being done at the tomb of Blessed John, vowed that he would go there if he were healed. When this was done, he forthwith recovered and was wholly healed, walking anywhere freely, and having no sign at all of the former swelling [aa].

[240] a feverish boy, a paralytic woman, another unable to walk, A certain boy of seven years, son of Lawrence Naclkerus , suffering tertian fevers for a whole year, could not be cured, but was daily consumed: his parents vowing him to the tomb of Blessed John, the vow having been fulfilled, the boy was healed on the spot and returned home healthy, nor did he suffer fevers any more. A certain Helen, wife of John the smith, of Szeged, struck by a most grievous infirmity, was deprived of all strength and bereft of all vigour, so that she could neither raise her hands in any way, nor turn herself from side to side without the help of another; for one hand and one foot and a part of her whole body were insensible, as if not having life. She, placed in straits, vowed to visit the tomb of Blessed John, and was soon restored to the desired health [bb]. A certain Margaret, wife of Fabian, of the village called Zanthgierg , was deprived of the help of her feet for five years, and no longer had any hope of recovering; she, hearing the wonders that were being done around the tomb of Blessed John, devoutly vowed to visit his tomb in any way; and when this was done she so recovered that, though not wholly healthy, she nevertheless visited the tomb, where she soon obtained health so entire that she said with great joy before many: "Now I am so healthy that I can return home running." At which there arose a great emulation, with the crying aloud of the Name of Jesus up to the stars [cc].

[241] Stephen, a blind priest, Agnes, gravely wounded, Mauritia, a widow A certain man, an honourable priest, by name Stephen, parish priest of Nagkerius, burdened by an infirmity in the eyes for very many days, was so sick that he feared to incur perpetual blindness. He, vowing to Blessed John to visit his tomb, soon received entire health of the eyes, and was restored in his whole body to the most entire health. Lady Agnes, a conscientious woman, of the third Order of the Observance, living in the monastery of St. Elizabeth of Aquila, when she was going in haste on account of a certain necessity arising, it happened that she struck her chest inadvertently on a wooden post so hard that one rib of her chest was vehemently bent. From this she was made so sick that, a certain wonderful swelling of the whole body coming upon her, she wholly believed that she would lose one side: deprived of all her limbs, she, commending herself to Blessed John and devoutly making a vow to have the image of that Blessed man painted, if she should escape free of the said infirmity, was soon wholly and perfectly freed, feeling no pain thereafter. Mauritia, widow of the late Benedict Stephen of Aquila, for three weeks wholly sick, so that she could neither rise nor move herself in any way without the aid of many. She, commending herself to Blessed John, toward whom she had always been devout, and devoutly kissing certain little cloths which that Blessed man had had for his use, and signed with them, stood soon perfectly healed, and afterwards walked as if she had never been sick.

[242] Lucy, John and Francis; Lucy, wife of a certain Master John, a craftsman of Aquila, suffered for two months a certain very great infirmity, nor could she be helped by the aid of physicians: she, binding herself by a vow to Blessed John, that on the day of his death she would refresh three poor persons, have one Mass celebrated, and celebrate his day like a Sunday, was at once freed of all infirmity. John Tricius of Paganica, a citizen of Aquila, was most vehemently tormented with intolerable pain from the flanks to the ankle for a whole year, and, unable to find any remedy for himself, bound himself by a vow to Blessed John, that if he should be freed by his merits, he would have his image painted in the church of Santa Maria of Paganica, which is one of the greater and stronger churches of the city of Aquila; when this was done he was freed on the spot, so that afterwards, namely the next day, without any pain he went wherever he wished, free and healthy. Francis, son of John of Estulo, dwelling at Aquila, was so sick for nine days with the most grievous and deadly disease of pestilence, or pestilent disease, that he was judged nothing but dead; a vow having been made for him by his mother, by name Gentilena, to Blessed John, he recovered on the spot, and stood freed from the jaws of death.

[243] a broken vessel does not let out its liquor; healed are a foolish boy, A certain Margaret, wife of Martin the tailor of Vuylak, having one vessel of her brother's wine in her cellar, all the hoops of that vessel with which it was bound were broken, so that the wine flowed out abundantly, nor was it hoped that anything would remain. Seeing this the woman, with bent knees, called on Blessed John that he would deign to keep her from loss: at once therefore the wine stopped, nor did it flow out any more, until the woman, having called a craftsman, had that vessel bound [dd]. A certain boy of eleven years, by name Thomas, son of Michael called of Kosde *, of the village of Petzken, was made foolish, having no reasonable understanding at all, but for eight continuous days he made wonderful and brutish gestures with hands and feet, and wonderfully twisted his neck; a vow having been made for him by his parents to the tomb of Blessed John, soon his sound sense was restored to him, as before [ee].

[244] Agnes, possessed, John, an epileptic: A certain woman, by name Agnes, wife of Rusa of Bathka *, for one year was vexed, possessed by a demon, nor could she be freed by the aid of anyone, for whom her husband and the Brothers made a vow that they would lead her to the tomb of Blessed John. When they tried to fulfil this, they led her in a cart, and when they were in a certain very level field, the woman began with a terrible and hoarse voice to cry out strongly, saying: "I do not want to go to the tomb of the monk, I do not want to go." And saying words of this kind, she made such a din and violence that she wholly broke apart and shattered the cart on the level field: when this was done, the woman, returning to her sound sense, cried out giving thanks, saying: "I am freed by the grace of God and the merits of the Blessed Father." And she showed on the little toe of one foot a certain wound, in the likeness of a lentil, from which blood was flowing, and from there the woman herself testified that the demon had gone out: nor did the demon vex her any more, wherever he went out [ff]. John, son of Christiflorellus of Balneum, of Aquila, of eleven years, vexed by a demon with incredible trembling, made such horrible actions and gestures that he was rendered abominable to all, and he seemed as it were to have the falling sickness. He, led by his father to the church of St. Francis in Aquila, and touched with a certain little cloth which the Blessed Father himself used for his eyes, was freed on the spot. The sister of the aforesaid boy, having the age of nine years, pressed by a like infirmity and vexation for a year, touched with the aforesaid little cloth, came forth healthy and unharmed, to the wonder of all.

[245] witnesses of the miracles at Vilak are brought forward. A certain Bartholomew of Brescia suffered this misfortune, that whenever a son was born to him by his wife, after he reached the fifteenth day he died at once. He, having a brother in the Order, who is called Brother Andrew of Brescia, revealed the misfortune to him; and he, compassionating his brother, said: "Bind yourself by some vow on this account to Blessed John of Capistrano, whose holiness you recently knew." A few days having passed, Bartholomew himself and his father and brothers and his pregnant wife vowed in concord that his son, if he survived, they would have wear the habit of St. Francis for three continuous years: and if it was a daughter, they would have the image of the Blessed Father painted. Behold, not long after he had by his wife a son, beautiful and lively, who by the grace of God and the merits of the Father lives upright and healthy. These miracles written above, which were done in Vuilak at the tomb of Blessed John of Capistrano, were diligently examined by conscientious men and citizens of good fame in Vuilak: namely Guido the Italian of Arezzo, Michael Zaffar and Bartholomew Arcupriar. For the magnificent lord and patron of the city of Vuilak, seeing that Almighty God was glorifying his servant by prodigies, appointed excellent citizens for the examination of the miracles which were done daily, who diligently carried out this pious work. Nor did they write down any miracle unless full proofs had been had and oaths received; and although many others always took part, yet these three were never absent.

[246] Epilogue. The miracles too that were done in Italy were most diligently examined with full attestations and oaths, and truthfully written down. But to avoid excessive prolixity I have passed over the witnesses and oaths, both of the miracles done in Hungary and of those in Italy, while the foregoing miracles are those done from the day of his death, which was in the year of the Lord MCCCCLVI on the XXIII day of October, until MCCCCLIX; from which fifty-ninth year until now, as we are now in the year MCCCCLXIII, on the first day of April, many more and more stupendous things have been performed and are done daily by the merits of that Blessed man, both around his tomb, to visit which innumerable peoples assemble to this day from various parts, and in other parts of the world. I do not doubt that it was done by divine counsel that the Blessed Father was buried in Vuilak, in which there are Jews, heretics and schismatics, and Christians, that it might be shown by this that he was common to all; to Christians indeed by encouraging and confirming them to the faith, and to the others by converting them and confuting their errors and faithlessness. It was fitting also that he who by his most holy prayers had conquered the Turks should be buried, to their reproach, not far from them. Accept therefore, Blessed Father, I beg, this little gift, which your unworthy disciple and son offers you, and spare ignorance and negligence, etc. Do not cease to pray for me, your son, and for these provinces of Austria, Moravia, Bohemia, Hungary, Poland, Silesia, Mazovia, Styria and Carinthia, which you founded by your labours, to our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed through the ages of ages. Amen. On the vigil of Peter and Paul 1489.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. Compare Nicholas, number 125, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 33.. From the feast of St. Nicholas, the VI day of December, to the Nativity of the Lord, the XXV of the same month, there run nineteen days: this duration of the infirmity does not occur in the Instrument of Vilak.

q. Compare Nicholas, number 130, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 34..

r. Compare Barberius Ibid. pag. 38..

s. Compare Nicholas, number 133, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 48..

t. Compare Barberius Ibid. pag. 49..

v. Compare Nicholas, number 134, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 50..

w. Compare Nicholas, number 134, and Barberius Instrum. Vilak. mirac. pag. 51.: Christopher adds, what the others omit, that the surname of Valentine was Olas.

x. Compare Barberius Ibid. pag. 52..

y. Compare Barberius Ibid. l. c..

z. Compare Barberius Ibid. pag. 53., who omits the circumstance of the journey of XXXII miles.

aa. Compare Nicholas, number 131, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 43..

bb. Compare Barberius Ibid. pag. 57..

cc. Compare Barberius Ibid. pag. 59..

dd. Compare Barberius Ibid. pag. 27..

ee. Compare Barberius Ibid. pag. 24..

ff. Compare Nicholas, number 135, and Barberius Ibid. pag. 54..

* Leep B.

* Pholax B. Protolab N.

* Regsis B.

* genua B.

* Sardonis de Chica B.

* Radosi B. Kadasi N.

* Gyars B.

* Tysligh B. Naghfalwa N.

* Pyssry de Syligh B. Pylki de Sysigh N.

* Bumhii B. Bancha N.

* Sadogazontelek B. Bodogazzonthelek N.

* Hyspan de Simelchem B. N.

* Nagherii B. Nagheer N.

* Sentgeurg B.

* Dobos de Peren B.

* Bathaka B. Batha N.

APPENDIX.

Some Letters of St. John Capistran, addressed to the Rosenberg family.

John of Capistrano, confessor of the Order of Friars Minor, at Villack in Pannonia. (S.)

The last pages of the Acts of St. John Capistran were already sweating under the press, when there were brought to us copies of letters of the Saint to the most illustrious family of Rosenberg or De Rosis, most deserving of the Catholic cause, and which for that reason the holy man cultivated with great zeal. The most serene prince Adolph of Schwarzenberg permitted them to be transcribed from his archive at Wittingau. The more willingly do we add them to the Acts, because they confirm and elucidate the deeds of the Saint. To each, arranged in chronological order, we will attach certain annotations illustrating what is said.

Letter I.

[1] IHC. Magnificent and excellent lord, and my most singular protector and benefactor! My most humble and due commendation being premised. On this day, which I shall always hold honoured, there were delivered to me the letters of your lordship, and what great joy and pleasure they have brought me I could attain to by no manner of speaking, since I find you so most ready, so most prepared to take me under your protection. For I expected nothing other than what all with one mouth proclaim, bear up and extol in you, namely a most Christian name, that I may pass over in silence your other most renowned and distinguished virtues, which are so many and so great that, to speak the truth, it would be difficult to say; and though other kinds of virtues may belong to the adornment of any prince, your greatest glory of the Christian name conquers, surpasses and treads down all. I greatly rejoice that my letters have pleased your excellent lordship, but that has far more affected me with incredible gladness, that you press for my coming to you to free so many thousands of perishing souls, who daily become prey and food for the gullet of Satan, which you will most firmly attain; for I am at Zwettl ^a, and am to set out tomorrow after finishing the sermon for Weytram ^b. For there I will wait until your excellent lordship shall send for me. If your men should come to me next Thursday, on the following Friday we will take the road toward Crumnavia ^c. But dispose of the day at your discretion; they will always find me most ready to come. But let your lordship see to it that two carts for my companions and books be sent without fail, since we cannot set out without them. I would write more, but we will treat all things face to face, when I shall be with you, which will be very soon, if you will not be burdened to send your men to me as soon as possible. Meanwhile let your excellent lordship be of great soul and most glad, for I hope that we shall attain, divine grace assisting, what was denied to others. For our great and exalted God is present with his admirable and stupendous works. And let it by no means be troublesome to us to be present with human zeal and ingenuity. I have as yet received no letters of reply from my friend Rokyczana; I do not know the cause. For I have been informed that he went to a certain assembly of Bohemian barons, which is being held near Olomouc, not with a willing spirit, unless I am mistaken. A disputation, as you could understand from my letters, I have not refused him, nor will I refuse, provided that suitability of place be granted, and a fair crown of most skilled men. I know and am certain that for the obstinacy of his spirit he will sooner be broken than * he can be bent. His arguments, reasons and, to speak more truly, cavillings, authorities and sayings we shall easily refute. But I should wish censors of his and of mine to be present, so that according to their sentence he might acquiesce and consent to my doctrine. For I do not intend to chatter with him, as the loyci (logici) very often do, but that all things be determined by suitable and due judges. All place for ignorance and fear is removed from me, if he should be unwilling to agree with me on a suitable place and on the men to take part in the act ^d. For an act of this kind ought to be held not among vulgar and unlearned men, but among those whose sentence and authority is proved and authentic. But so much for these things, in all of which I will use your excellent and most faithful counsel. Farewell, your excellent lordship, whom may Christ protect for ever, and take me, as you do, under your protection. On the dignity which the reverend father lord Jodocus your son has deservedly attained, I very much congratulate you, and I give immense thanks to Almighty God, who granted it to him. And I pray that he may raise him to higher things, who from innate goodness and virtue merits all good things. Again and again farewell, my excellent protector, and do not delay to send quickly for me, who have long desired to be with you already. From Czbettel (Zwettl), 12 October 1451. In most rapid hand. Of your excellent lordship the useless servant, though most faithful orator, Brother John of Capistrano, least of the Minors. On the back: To the magnificent and excellent lord, lord Ulrich of Rosenberg etc., his most singular protector and preceptor, let them be most faithfully and quickly sealed.

ANNOTATIONS.

* quam?

Letter II.

[2] All salvation in the Lord and in Rosabella ^a with most sincere charity. Venerable and most beloved brother! Although the manifold merits of your fraternity not undeservedly bind me immensely to you with most fervent charity, yet the most sweet writings of your consolation, delivered to me most recently together with the most welcome Relics of the most holy confessor Bernardine from Vienna, continually supply no small fuel, so that as often as I look at them or recall them, no small spark of reciprocal love surely blazes up. Yet it was not these that first moved me to pray God for your successes, but rather on the first day of your departure from me I began to pursue this more zealously, daily pouring out prayers for you to the Lord, would they were pleasing; nor content with this, but also I long ago began by public edict to have all those subject to me by ordinary law do the same . Although those writings of yours brought very much pleasure, yet much more does the daily report of news gladden me from day to day, running over not only of your prosperous successes, of which I am solicitous to inquire, but also of the magnificence of God, which is seen to shine wonderfully through the merits of the same most holy Bernardine and through your devout ministry. For these things and each of the foregoing, therefore, I most sincerely return due thanks to God and finally to your fraternity, and I exhort you in the Lord to pursue the received work of God unwearyingly, as you do.

Be comforted in the Lord and act manfully for the honour of God and of his holy Church and the salvation of souls, trusting in the protection of him in whose name and power you have begun, that with fruit multiplied a hundredfold you may accordingly merit to be happily crowned in that eternal kingdom, in which, supported by your prayers, I ask and burn with desire to reign together with you. Farewell, man of God, unconquered champion of Christ, and may yours likewise fare well. Given at the castle of the church at Strasburg ^b, on the sixteenth day of the month of October in the year of the Lord 1451. John, by the grace of God Bishop of Gurk ^c. On the back. To the venerable and religious brother in Christ, my dearest, Brother John of Capistrano, general of the Order of Friars Minor of the Observance.

ANNOTATIONS.

* exhortatus?

* inceptum?

Letter III.

[3] IHC. Most blessed Father! ^a To the kissing of the traces of your holy feet. Charity, which is due to all the faithful of Christ, has compelled me to this letter of commendation the more vehemently in that experience has made me more certain of the report concerning the entire virtue of the illustrious (this lord) with his magnificent and most outstanding children. For if, when it was flying through the mouths of all that the illustrious and excellent lord Ulrich of Rosenberg was he who, conquered by no terror, had already for thirty-six years resisted the raging perfidy of the Bohemians, devastating castles, lands and cities with insane fury, and alone, appearing among those who hid, suffering the ruin of himself, of his castles and cities, even to the shedding of his own blood, unwearyingly proclaimed himself a true faithful of Jesus Christ and lawful son of the most holy Roman and universal Church, he drew upon himself the affection of all Catholics, and all attended him with goodwill; how much more would each with me become a debtor to his virtue, and propitious to every honourable wish of his and clement according to his dignity, if for a month there should lie open to each, as to me, when in former days I was labouring with his illustrious lordship for the bringing back of those astray, the experience of the faith and constancy of both parent and children. Justly therefore compelled, though not unwilling, this flower of our faith, if my littleness has any strength with Your Holiness, I commend to your beatitude with that commendation than which none could be greater, namely that when his most faithful envoys shall be with Your Holiness, in every wish of honour and piety of so glorious a lord they may feel the same propitious to them, both by innate clemency and by my commendation, and, returning, may be able to urge on one already running of his own accord, made master of his wishes, more and more to the increase of virtues for the protection of the holy faith. Whatever of benefits and grace Your Holiness shall confer on him, I shall consider done to myself, provided that he understands that my commendation was not common with you. May your most clement beatitude fare well to the wishes of the heavens. From Eger ^b in the kingdom of Bohemia, on the 10th day of January, 1452. Of Your Holy clemency the useless creature Brother John of Capistrano, with my own hand have I subscribed. On the back. To our Most Holy Lord Pope Nicholas the Fifth.

ANNOTATIONS.

Letter IV.

[4] Magnificent and excellent lord! Humble and devout recommendation being premised, salutary grace and everlasting peace in the Lord! I had arranged to send to Your Magnificence many things that recently came to us from the letters of the men of Prague, of the Bohemians and of those confederated with them ^a: but occupied by the speed of my journey, I wished to make known to Your Magnificence only this, that late yesterday by the most reverend lord legate and by the most illustrious lord duke Albert of Bavaria and count of the Rhine, that at the diet of Ratisbon on the Sunday after the feast of Vitus and Modestus ^b, if I love the honour of God and the due obedience to holy Mother Church, I should not fail to be present: which I do not take otherwise than as a certain adjuration, as if they reckon my presence there opportune. I hasten my steps therefore to it, and I hope for your presence there, or that of your son lord Henry, with the venerable lord doctor of decrees your Wenceslaus, whom also advise in my name that he bring with him the names of those absolved in that commission through the lord parish priest or through the same lord Wenceslaus. For I trust that there, the Lord granting, we shall most sufficiently declare our conscience for the truth of the faith and the obedience due to the most holy Roman Church, whether or not the most perfidious Rockyczana comes, whom I have most strictly summoned to this place of the diet ^c. For the haste of the messenger I pass over in silence the things which I have committed to Brother Nicholas of Grezeregina, ministerial Vicar of Bohemia, to be intimated to Your Magnificence. May Your Magnificence fare well happily to everlasting joys. From Pons in the kingdom of Bohemia, 1452, on the 7th day of June, in haste. Of Your Magnificent Lordship the useless little servant and orator Brother John of Capistrano of the order of Minors, with my own hand have I subscribed. On the back. To the magnificent and excellent lord, the lord de Rosis, etc.

ANNOTATIONS.

Letter V.

[5] IHC. Magnificent and excellent lord, lord and my most singular benefactor and preceptor, most humble commendation being premised, salutary grace and everlasting peace in the Lord, with all service of obedience. By no manner of speaking could I attain to with how great joy and how great gladness I have been affected in these days, on hearing, with the peaceful consent of the imperial majesty, of the happy arrival of the most serene king Ladislaus at his renowned city of Vienna ^a, as your and my desires not a little demanded, as I had signified to the imperial majesty himself in my letters in former days: which matter is likely to bring forth wonderful fruits to the whole holy Church of God and to the Christian people itself. No one eager for good is there who ought not vehemently to congratulate himself on this so great news. For I, to speak for myself, so rejoice, am glad and exult that I do not know what more welcome or more pleasant could easily have been brought to me at this time; since I have that most firm hope that he has been divinely given to us to free his people, sitting in the shadow of death, of whom many daily become prey to the jaws of Satan; and to call back those astray to the unity of the Christian religion, from which so many, having cast off the yoke of obedience, have miserably departed: so that the loss of so many souls is to be bewailed, especially, I say, of those who perish in our midst, befouled by the stain of heresy; for obtaining whose salvation, because the honour both of the king and of you is at stake, I have necessarily judged that some things should be written to your magnificent lordship, especially since I have learned by truthful report that a diet of Vienna is to be celebrated on the day of St. Martin ^b, in which your Magnificent Lordship also, unless I am mistaken, will be able to be of the greatest help and greatest protection to the cause of the faith to be treated with the Bohemians, if you wish. And you will wish, since I understand that you are so urged to that matter that you need no commendation, but only a reminder, which, for your singular goodwill toward me, I know, you will not make little of, if, as a most Christian lord, as you have always been hitherto with the highest praise, you will wish to weigh with diligent study the gravity of the affair of the Bohemians. For Your Magnificent Lordship was doubting that the royal majesty would accept the Bohemians to his obedience, or would make no mention of the faith, or would set forth whatever promises they might wish, as the wretched world is wont to do ^c; not thinking of the things of God, but those which seem to pertain only to its own state. The first indeed I greatly praise and approve, that, having obtained their obedience, he may then be able to settle the cause of the faith with greater ease. The second according to the gospel no one

who is a true Christian would fail to condemn: for if the royal majesty shall have promised them, on their rendering him obedience, never to trouble them about the faith, nor to permit them to be troubled, what hope of their bringing back is further to be devised? They who for 40 years now could never be bent by arms, by palpable arguments, by the most renowned opinions of doctors, by the greatness of divine things, but brought their whole zeal to making excuses in sins. Who will further humble those who will guard and protect their cause by the arms of the king? Indeed, if this should be done, which God forbid, not only will they not return to the unity of the faithful, but they will lead many Catholics from the royal dominion to their sect by their diabolical suggestions, about to attach to the sacred royal majesty and to all of you a great stain and mark: for I speak as a faithful servant, not knowing how to use flattery, to his lord. If indeed you do not leave the cause of the faith in the breast of the supreme pontiff, pledging whatever they ask, you will not a little blacken your glory and splendour, about to offend most gravely Almighty God himself, and of your own will to bring upon yourselves so much disgrace and infamy as your Magnificent Lordship, who has always lived with the highest praise and observance of the Christian religion, has never suffered: to say nothing of the state of the lord king in Bohemia, who, on account of their faithlessness, without ecclesiastical obedience, will be founded on sand. Reflect therefore diligently and take counsel for yourselves with mature deliberation. Let not worldly glory move you to lose heavenly and perpetual glory; do not gain the bodies of men to be the cause of the perdition of their souls; be not seduced by uncertain hope to do evil that good may come, which error will be worse than the former: but when they offer obedience to the royal majesty, so accept it as to promise nothing that seems to pertain to the faith; because if a finger is shown to them, they take the whole hand, adding thousands to a single word: since they boast that they have obtained from the holy apostolic see what they never attained, alleging the Compactata, which they never observed ^d; whence it comes about that no treaties of pact are to be composed with them any more, but if they wish to be held and reckoned faithful, let them purely and simply bow their necks to the obedience of the most holy Roman Church, since that kindly mother the Church knows with what nourishments her sons ought to be fed. If indeed they should wish to treat of the faith at all, let the sacred royal majesty send them back to the supreme Pontiff, to whom the cause of the faith pertains, binding himself in no word, not as a mediator between the two parties for composing union: so that for the rest, if they wish to persist in their ancient obstinacy, their bringing back may rightly be undertaken with drawn sword, for vengeance on the enemies of the holy Church of God: whose protection, if his majesty, like his most renowned ancestors, most worthy of all praise, should have accomplished, should have taken up with great and intrepid spirit, as we without doubt hope that he will do, not only will he revive their most flourishing glory, but he will add great splendour to their praise and fame, and acquire for himself and his posterity an eternal and immortal name. And your Magnificent Lordship, if you give that effort which I ask and demand as the highest to obtaining the salvation of the Bohemians, will attain so much praise and glory that it will in no ages lack it any more; wherefore, if my prayers can avail anything with Your Magnificent Lordship, I ask and beseech you with all the urgency I can, and adjure you in the Lord, to be willing to take up the cause of the faith as your own affair, nay more than your own, as most commended with the highest zeal and highest diligence; and that you may do this, again and again I suppliantly beg. There would be more to be written in such a matter, which in this place I pass over in silence, but all these things will be explained to your Magnificent Lordship by Brother Peter of Sopron, the bearer of these ^e and my most faithful companion, to whom I ask you to be willing to give undoubted credence to myself, in each and all the things to be set forth in my name. Commending myself always to your Magnificent Lordship, to whom if my littleness can effect anything dear, anything pleasing, anything acceptable, I promise all that as due, most willingly offering the gift of my . Farewell your Magnificent Lordship, whom may Christ deign to protect for ever, and use me, as a most faithful bondman, at your discretion. From the city of Magdeburg ^f, 15 October, 1452. Of Your Magnificent Lordship the useless servant though most faithful orator Brother John of Capistrano, with my own hand have I subscribed. On the back. To the magnificent and excellent lords, lord Ulrich of Rosenberg and Henry his son, his benefactors and most honoured preceptors.

ANNOTATIONS.

* add: tamquam

* add: precum

Letter VI.

[6] IHC. Magnificent and excellent lord, lord and my most singular benefactor, humble commendation being premised, salutary grace and everlasting peace in the Lord and to desire that on earth which may please on high ^a! While I turn over in my mind your deeds, splendid up to now, whose solemn memory is celebrated among all Catholics, I lament with myself, unable to extinguish the rivulet of the tears of my heart. Who, loving your honour, would not send forth a fount of tears? Who could cease from a very great lament? Who, hearing of your unhappiness, will easily cease from sighs and groans? O detestable promise! O incredible crime! O satanic counsel! A lord and baron, noble by nature, submitted himself of his own will, no one compelling him, to a vile and heretical man. A most famous man has been made subject to an infamous man; the man once a wall of the Catholic faith has taken up the protection of heretics; the father of so many most noble sons, an unconquered shield, has feared where there was no fear. O most renowned name of the most constant house of Rosenberg! Who raised you up to such light? Was it not God? Was not the divine majesty always present to you, magnificent senior, with highest protection and aid? Did he not give to your old age most wise sons, to bear your labours, to govern and rule your dominion, and to protect it from the jaws of the dragon? Why then, without the counsel of your sons, have you entered into a confederation with heretics, whom you always held in supreme hatred, whose adherents you called false Catholics, whose head you exclaimed was not worthy to be your servant? O magnificent lord! How great an infamy you have written upon yourself, how great a victory and joy you have given to your enemies, how great an honour you have taken away from your house! Where is that ancient glory, which you obtained for forty years with such labours, vigils, expenses and sweats, shedding your blood and that of your people? Where is the praise, where the honour, where the splendour, where the great name, where the greatness of the merits stored up with God? All in one moment by a certain vain fear have perished and been buried. Your magnificent son Henry was near, who would have freed you with the highest victory, nor did any reasonable force compel you. Already the victory was prepared for you, believe me! You had obtained the king, you were easily putting an end to the heresies, had you not entered into a confederation with heretics, which could in no way be done honourably. Let anyone say what * he will: no promise binds you; nay rather, if you had affixed a hundred thousand seals, it is not lawful for you to observe it, but thus instructed of the truth you must revoke what you have done and promised, since it is written: "In evil promises cut off your faith, in a shameful vow change your decree." For it is the mark of a wise man to change counsel from evil to good, and from good to better. If therefore you wish to imitate right wisdom, divide yourself from them; follow the footsteps of Christians. It will be no disgrace to you, but everlasting praise and everlasting honour. Behold, all the princes and cities and all Germany have you in their mouths, saying: The glory of the house of Rosenberg has fallen and been laid low without a blow. But the only hope has remained in your most noble sons, and most of all in the magnificent lord Henry, who claims for himself a great name among all on account of the victory which he carried off over the most serene king Ladislaus. You ought to adhere to your sons, abandoning every confederation with heretics, since no feigned or palliated excuse can be had; and if the whole world should wish to be damned, you ought not to neglect your salvation. You have many most holy excuses by which you can depart from their league. First indeed since you have been instructed of the truth, and thus were ignorant of the letter: second, that as regards the dominion, you ought not by law itself to hinder yourself for this reason, that you renounced it into the hands of your sons, even in my presence ^b: third, because it is not lawful to enter into treaties with rebels against the Church: fourth, because you ought not to be a patron of heretics: fifth, because you would be infamous: sixth, because an illicit promise ought not to be observed: seventh, because you will be reckoned a leader by all Catholics: eighth, because you do not wish to be excommunicated:

ninth, because you do not wish to lose your Catholic and glorious name: tenth, because you do not wish to hand over your soul to Gehenna, but to heaven. And thus with these and many other excuses you will be able to divide yourself from them, even if thousands of seals were attached. It is better that you be cursed by a few heretics than by the whole company of Christians. Nay, this will be a splendid praise never to fail you, that you be called hated by and an enemy of heretics: it is shameful to be praised by them, but honourable to be reviled. I shall become longer, if I should wish to write out all that offers itself to be written in such a matter. I will make an end of speaking, therefore, commending to you your honour and your soul, and asking that you receive my words from the charity in which they are spoken, for I am one who does not know how to use flattery. I speak as a faithful servant with his lord. And you, if you love your honour and your salvation, will be what you have been up to now, namely a wall of the holy Catholic faith, and an unconquered shield and uplifter of the good and corrector of evildoers. If you do this with the utmost diligence, you will recover your honour, you will bring great joy to all Catholics, you will increase sadness and grief for your adversaries, you will accomplish a thing dear and most acceptable to God, and for me too, your praiser among all people, nothing more pleasant or more welcome, so that I, who have pursued your praises everywhere in my sermons and letters, may not be judged a liar, but be found a true praiser among all. These few things I wished to write uncorruptedly with hurried hand, that you may know that I have not become unmindful of you. I sent you a very long letter in former days through Brother Peter, whom I sent over to the diet of Vienna with a bundle of letters to all the more powerful men of Hungary, Moravia and Austria, as well as to the king, the emperor and his brother ^c. From those letters you will be able to understand what seems to me should be done by the king with the Bohemians. I, advised by Brother Gabriel, have forborne to come to that diet, having learned that your son Henry said that it was not good that I should set out for it, because George, called by the king, hearing that I was there, will refuse to come. If however they summon me, I will not refuse the labour. Meanwhile I will preach the Gospel here, and then I will betake myself to those six cities ^d. But if I find those citizens fearful, so that they do not wish me to preach the pure truth of Christ, I will set out for the city of Breslau. Farewell in the Lord, and write something that may mitigate my grief, and that you may do this, again and again I beseech you. From the city of Leipzig on the very day of Ursula ^e 1452. Of Your Magnificent Lordship the useless servant though most faithful orator, Brother John of Capistrano, with my own hand have I subscribed. On the back. To the magnificent and excellent lord, lord Ulrich of Rosenberg, his patron and most honoured preceptor.

ANNOTATIONS.

* add quod

Letter VII.

[7] IHC. Magnificent and excellent lord, lord and my most singular benefactor! Most humble commendation being premised, salutary grace and everlasting peace in the Lord. At this hour your letters from Prague were delivered to me; from the reading of which I understood either that you have not been well informed by those who say that I ought to come to Vienna to the diet of Martin, or that the messengers carrying the letters of our most serene King Ladislaus have not yet reached me ^a. Not called, I will not come; called, I will not refuse the labour. I have sent letters in the greatest abundance to all, from the greatest to the least, and I have sent also Brother Peter my companion ^b, who also brought my long letter to you, from which you could easily understand what needs to be done. After this, on hearing the bitter news which is now reported of you through all Germany, I did not delay at once to give you also a long letter, setting forth the distress of my spirit ^c, not on my own account, but on account of the glory of your name, which has declined enough among all Catholics. The present news, which is being done among you, and which you say is not to be scratched down with the pen, is made known to me daily by the tongues of all; if any perhaps lie hidden, I should wish to be made more certain about them, that I might see what they have of truth or of falsehood in what men say. Already in the former letters I have sufficiently opened to you the affliction of my heart, who do not know how to wheedle with you ^d. For I wait to be consoled; but true consolation is not found on earth, but I will wait for it from our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ, whose winnowing-fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing-floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. If you are present at the diet of Vienna, then I beseech you to recover your honour: which you will easily attain, if you do not make little of my former counsels, proceeding indeed from your most faithful servant and friend. May your magnificence fare well to everlasting joys, promised to the faithful by him who cannot be deceived and who is the highest truth. From Lipzk on the very Sunday after the feast of All Saints ^e, 1452. Of Your Magnificent Lordship the faithful little servant and orator Brother John of Capistrano, with my own hand have I subscribed. On the back: To the magnificent and excellent lord, lord Ulrich of Rosenberg, etc., his benefactor and most honoured preceptor.

ANNOTATIONS.

Letter VIII.

[8] Reverend father in Christ and lord, our chief patron! Humble commendation with readiness of obedience! Your magnificent brother, Lord Henry, has filled me with no small joy, who reported to me your assumption to the prelacy of Breslau. Which matter I earnestly wish may turn out to your everlasting praise and glory. Nor do I doubt, since God has so disposed, that you should have this first step, and from this ascend to a higher. Do not disdain to take this benefit of God, that you may not seem to evade the disposition of God; and what is welcome to all your people, to the king as well as to the rest, do not refuse, ever leaning on the counsel of your elders. After the matter shall have proceeded in order, all will be able to furnish themselves according to the opportunity of the time. You will go from virtue to virtue. By my counsel, at least, do not refuse what God decrees, that from small things he may find you disposed to greater. I hope that you will be a great addition to our faith, and may the divine goodness grant it ^a. May your Reverend Paternity fare well to greater things in very long age. From Buda, on the very day of the resurrection, 1456 ^b. Of Your Reverend Paternity the servant and faithful orator Brother John of Capistrano, with my own hand have I subscribed. On the back. To the reverend father in Christ and Lord, lord Jodocus de Rosis, elect of Breslau, most worthy commander, his lord and chief patron.

ANNOTATIONS.

praise worthy; except that he was at times too intemperately given to surfeit and variety of dishes, which he usually had seasoned with sugar… After he found that George Podiebrad had wholly revolted from the Roman Church, and had publicly professed the religion of the Hussites, he deployed both his counsels and his arms with fearless heart against him." Elected on the VIII of March 1456, he ceased to live at Neisse on the XII of December 1467 Sommersberg. Siles Rer. Scriptt. tom. I, pag. 67..