Dorothea

ON BL. DOROTHEA, WIDOW AND RECLUSE, AT KWIDZYN IN POLISH PRUSSIA,

IN THE YEAR MCCCXCIV.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Dorothea, recluse in East Prussia. (S.)

BY R. D. B.

§ I. Why the life of Bl. Dorothea is treated at this day. Her biographers.

In Pomesania, which is a tract of Prussia in the old kingdom of Poland, once under the dominion of the elector of Brandenburg [Baudrand, Novum Lexicon geographicum, volume II, page 75, Eisenach edition. Compare Malte-Brun, Tableau de la Pologne, page 71 and following, Chodzko's edition.] , Bl. Dorothea to be treated at the 30th of October, and especially at Kwidzyn *, or Marienwerder, where in the fourteenth century the bishop of Pomesania had his seat Adrian de Linda, Life of Bl. Dorothea, part II, pages 12 and 17. , Bl. Dorothea, Prussian by blood and nation, is held famous. Her memory is observed at this 30th day of October in the augmented Martyrology of Usuard by Greven of the years 1515 and 1521, in these words: Of Dorothea of blessed memory, recluse of Prussia; which announcement, turned into German, was transferred to the Martyrology of Bl. Peter Canisius, otherwise Walasser, at the same day. They were followed by the priests Johann Stadler and Franz Heim in the Lexicon of the Saints Vollständiges Heiligen-Lexikon, volume I, page 806. . It is hidden from us, indeed, why Greven and Bl. Peter Canisius wrote the name of the blessed widow in the sacred calendars at this day, in no way imitating the manuscript Florarium Sanctorum, where her feast was set down on the day of her death, the 25th of June. Arthur du Moustier chose in the Gynecæum the 11th of September, which he had seen in Bzovius to have been her birthday. We, for our part, fulfil today the promises of our predecessors, who, among the Passed Over both of the 25th of June and of the 11th of September and elsewhere, promised that the Acts of Bl. Dorothea would be illustrated at the 30th of October.

[2] whose Life several have written. It fell out happily for the blessed widow that immediately after her death she obtained excellent writers of her life. For when she had departed from life on the 25th of June of the year 1394, the minds of the people of Kwidzyn were stirred: her virtues and praises were the common talk, and also the miracles which were reported to be done at her tomb. Whence it came about that all vehemently desired to learn more and more exact things, and especially to question her confessors, as the surer witnesses of her secrets: to whom she had been commanded by Christ to make her life known. The chief of these in the city of Gdańsk or Danzig * were Nicholas of Hohenstein, afterwards a brother of the Teutonic Order, and, in his absence, John, parish priest of the church of St. Catherine, or Ludike the priest. In the church of Marienwerder she had John of Marienwerder as her chief confessor, and John Reymam as her second. These two last, shortly after the death of Bl. Dorothea, wrote her Life, and obtained many imitators thereafter. All those works, which, if you except a few, diligently

the distinguished Maximilian Töppen [Scriptores rerum Prussicarum, edited by T. Hirsch, M. Töppen and E. Strehlke, volume II, page 179 and following.] and more fully the venerable priest Franz Hipler [Meister Johannes Marienwerder und die Klausnerin Dorothea von Montau, in Zeitschrift für die Geschichte Ermlands, volume III, page 166 and following.] have reviewed, can conveniently be arranged in four classes. The first comprises the books of John of Marienwerder himself; the second, other Lives composed almost immediately after the death of the holy widow; the third, the Process of canonization and the things pertaining to it; the fourth, finally, certain more recent writings. As we review these several monuments, there meets us before all else the huge work of John the confessor. And since some revile him without proof Compare Lilienthal, Hist. B. Dorotheæ, page 21, Danzig 1743. , rashly and falsely calling him dull, wicked, deceitful, it will not be out of place to describe in a few words this man, to whom we owe the chief history of Bl. Dorothea.

[3] The first of all these, John of Marienwerder, He began life in the year 1343 [Process of canonization, in Andr. de Linda, Vita B. Dorotheæ Pruthenæ, part II, page 125, Danzig 1745.] , in the town of Marienwerder, from which he took his surname, and applied himself to philosophy at the university of Prague. In this he was already teaching in the year 1369 [Monumenta historica universitatis Carolo-Ferdinandeæ Pragensis, cited in Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 803 and following.] , and indeed with such praise, that he both held other honors, and, as we read in the Book of the Deans, was elected in the year 1374 dean of the faculty of arts. Further it is established that he deserved excellently of the schools of Prague, at a time when there sat in them more than six thousand students, and there were in the faculty of arts more than two hundred masters Hipler, work cited, in Zeitschrift für die Gesch. Ermlands, page 181. . In the year 1384 he began to profess theology there, when he had already been inaugurated in the priesthood for eleven years and had held a canonry for at least eight years in the Prague church of All Saints. But having given this up in the year 1387, when the Bohemians and Germans [Compare Höfler, J. Hus und der Abzug der Deutschen Prof. und Stud. aus Prag, page 125 and following. Compare Palacky, Gesch. von Böhmen, volume III, part I, page 185 and following, 228 and following.] were contending in the university in a grave quarrel, he entered the Teutonic Order at Marienwerder. There from the following year until his death we see him dean of the chapter of the cathedral church Hipler, page 211. . In the same church there is still read the title of his tomb: Master John of Marienwerder, professor of sacred theology, last confessor of the happy mother Dorothea, died in the year MCCCCXVII, on the 19th day of the month of September. Of whom also at the year 1417 a contemporary writer says: There died Master John of Marienwerder, a doctor of sacred scripture wholly praiseworthy: he was a doctor more than forty years, a man of altogether holy life [Johann's von Posilge, Officials von Pomesanien, Chronik des Landes Preussen fortgesetzt, in Scriptores rerum Prussicarum, volume III, page 371] . Whoever wishes more about him, let him go to the truly excellent book of the already praised Hipler.

[4] a learned and prudent man, He composed works which were very often copied and survive in many libraries. Besides Funeral Sermons Hipler, page 212. , two Treatises on the Lord's Prayer [Pisanski, Entwurf der Preuss. Literaturgesch., volume I, page 59, cited in Hipler, page 185.] and on the eight beatitudes, the Annals of the chapter of Pomesania [Voigt, Cod. dipl. Prussicus, volume V, page 55. Compare Geschichte Preussens, volume V, page 725.] , besides these, I say, and other writings, he published an Exposition of the Apostles' Creed, most highly approved by learned men in the Middle Ages [Compare Hipler, page 273, page 185 and following. Compare Verzeichniss der Stiftsbibl. von S. Gallen, manuscript 814, page 273. Halm, Catal. codd. lat. bibl. Monacensis, volume I, part II, manuscripts 2509 and 3255, pages 1 and 74.] . That this was composed at the time when Bl. Dorothea was already enclosed, contrary to the opinion of Ernst Strehlke Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 804; compare page 190. , is shown by these words of the ninth article: The Lady Dorothea, recluse at Marienwerder, was often very anxious, etc. Hipler, page 272; compare page 185 and following, 273. . Further, to those who weigh that volume, the author appears a man of keen intellect, grave and sincere, who was a constant reader of the Fathers and ecclesiastical authors, and who, examining things by their own weights, boldly rejected trifling opinions and apocryphal histories.

[5] and confessor of Bl. Dorothea, Nor did he give proofs only of singular knowledge, but also of outstanding zeal for souls and of a holiness increasing day by day [German Life, book III, chapter 43. Hipler, page 212 and following, 240, 274 and following.] . Whence it came about that he was named by Bishop John Mönch, with some other priests, synodal visitor of the clergy and laity. He was reported too to be prudent and skilled in the handling and training of souls, and this reputation, spread through the dioceses of Pomesania, Chełmno and Włocławek, had drawn Bl. Dorothea from Danzig to Marienwerder [Compare German Life of Bl. Dorothea, book II, chapter 26, in Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 267 and following.] . For from the year 1391 she took John as judge of her conscience, and to him, by the Lord's command, as she said, she dictated her deeds and revelations nearly every day. He, moreover, was able to verify and complete some of what he had heard, when in the year 1401 he stayed at Montau, where the mother of the blessed recluse and her acquaintances lived Hipler, page 274. .

[6] he set forth her deeds sincerely, A man so equipped for learning the truth about Bl. Dorothea, did he also mean to write the truth? By no means, says Lilienthal Hist. B. Dorotheæ, page 21. : against whose, not arguments, but conjectures as abusive as they are empty, it will be enough to have indicated these points out of many. That John faithfully reported whatever he found, not with the intention of extolling Dorothea beyond what is fair, but that the truth might be plain, appears even from this, that he disclosed also those things which were less favorable. Bl. Dorothea said that some things concerning the Lord's passion had been divinely shown to her, which were opposed to the revelations of Birgitta, then numbered among the saints: and of that discrepancy, which seemed likely to detract credit from the visions and perhaps to hinder her beatification, Marienwerder himself warns his readers Hipler, page 264. Liber de Festis, chapter 54. . Seven revelations too concerning Pope Boniface IX he not only committed to writing, but sent to the pontiff himself, at the time when the canonization was being pursued: yet among praises these things are written there: Behold how the pope has not yet attained to this, that he can walk rightly. If the head of the universal Church cannot stand or walk, what shall the feet do? And she understood the words of the state, walking or progress of perfection of virtues. Most blessed Father, in a rude style we have written these things according to the words of the one pronouncing them, wishing to remove suspicion of learning and subtlety Cod. dipl. Pruss., volume V, page 75. . I omit other things from which it is understood how greatly the author abhorred falsehood. Whatever, therefore, the prodigies of the life of Bl. Dorothea may be in themselves (which we shall touch upon in passing below), let no one deny that the narrator was most diligent of the truth, and that he wrote down what he saw, what he heard, without evil deceit. Finally, as he did not deceive, so too he was most fully persuaded that he had not been deceived by the pious woman Compare the Preliminary Commentary below, number 48. , and therefore let us not wonder that, challenging his adversaries, he says: Show, if only you can, that what has been written of her in this book is false. Bring forward your contradictions Prologue to the German Life, Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 198. .

[7] first in the year 1395; Now the things which he composed in praise of Bl. Dorothea are to be reviewed in order. As he himself testifies in the Process of canonization Compare Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 186. , he wrote down from her mouth many revelations, and this work of writing, full of labor and anxiety, S. (the bride of Christ) and C. (the confessor) undertook scarcely two years before the end of her holy life Latin Life, book I, chapter 7, below in the Appendix. . In a share of this labor and anxiety (of what kind these were is declared in the first book of the Life) came also John Rymann, the other confessor, and Master Bertrand [Process of canonization, manuscript, Königsberg library manuscript 1241, pages 192, 264 and 157; compare Lilienthal, Hist. B. Dorotheæ, page 15 and following.] . At length twenty weeks before her death, her afflictive exercises too were disclosed, that is, a life full of chastisements and wounds A. Linda, Hist. B. Dorotheæ, part I, page 1, part II, page 129 and following. . But reserving for some years what he had taken down with the pen, Marienwerder indicated only a few things when, after the obsequies of the pious widow had been celebrated, he delivered a sacred discourse in the year 1394. In the following year, together with other most distinguished men urgently requesting her canonization from Boniface IX, he sent to Rome a little work composed by himself and John Reymann or Rymann (as the most learned Hipler thinks) Hipler, page 252. . At the same time he wrote: Let Your Holiness see the booklet of her life, composed in very few words concerning very many things, which the procurator of the Order general… will present to Your Holiness, and you will see the great wonders which the Lord has worked in your times in the midst of the earth Cod. dipl. Pruss., volume V, page 77; compare page 79. … We also direct to Your Holiness the miracles lastly written down by a notary, whom for this purpose in the past year the same our lord bishop had specially deputed, to collect them and faithfully write them out in the presence of suitable witnesses. Whether the booklet has in fact been lost (as most affirm), can be conveniently discussed only when the other Lives have been reviewed.

[8] again, a little more fully, Some time later another work came forth, hastened, as is said in the prologue, on account of the great desire of those who hungered and thirsted to have the life of this blessed woman. The manuscript of the Heilsberg library, in which this Life was extant, copied in the year 1699 by Nicholas Kraus, preacher and penitentiary of the cathedral court of Warmia, was published in the year 1702 by Andreas Adrian de Linda: Life of the great Blessed Dorothea of Prussia, widow, recluse in the church of Pomesania, patroness not only of the living but also of the departed, both in the parts of Prussia and also in other neighboring nations. Likewise the miracles of the same blessed woman, taken from manuscript books of the library of the castle of Heilsberg and of the electoral library of Königsberg. Printed at the expense of… Andreas Adrian de Linda, canon of Warmia. In the year of the Lord MDCCII, on the 31st day of August. In the press of the monastery of Oliva. That book, which we call the Lindan Life, was not printed anew, but

only adorned with a new title, was put on sale at Danzig in the year 1745 Compare Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 194 and following. . They report, indeed, that no manuscript copies exist anywhere other than the transcript of Nicholas Kraus, still preserved in the library of the chapter of Frauenburg (manuscript 645, in quarto). But our museum possesses the same Life, copied by order of the Bollandist associates in the year 1754 from Vatican manuscript 4934: in which we do in fact find that history, and in many places more correct and purer than the Lindan edition. Who has judged rightly of it, whether Fr. Hipler, who thinks it was written shortly after the year 1394, or M. Töppen, who thinks it was written long after, will shortly have to be considered.

[9] and, as it seems, After an exhortatory Prologue to the canonization, it presents in the fifty-six first chapters the deeds, each referred to its time; in the thirty following, certain singular gifts and charisms; in the last, finally, her death and burial. Some parts seem attributable to John Rymann, both because they agree wonderfully with the testimonies given by him in the process, and because they differ in some way from the opinions of John of Marienwerder Compare Hipler, page 254. . Yet we judge the latter to be the chief author; for besides the fact that many passages and in particular the fifty-six first chapters appear entirely the same in his great work (compare number 12 below), no one, I think, besides him would have written these things in the prologue: And it is to be known that this booklet on the life of that glorious servant and blessed bride of Christ has been issued and extracted in few words, with respect to many holy deeds, which could not be comprised in such a compendium; but they must needs be written down in a greater volume in due time, in a clearer order. It has been hastened, however, on account of the great desire of those who hunger and thirst to have the life of this blessed woman, spreading out and making more capacious the bosom of their desire, as those about to receive something great, and truly great, scarcely heard of, concerning the most special consolations, benefits and workings of the Lord. So lofty and elevated is the matter of the holy revelations had through many years; which seek and demand not an abbreviator, but a good and faithful arranger. And those things require nearer volumes and treatises. May almighty God bring it about that these be accomplished Life of St. Dorothea, manuscript of the Bollandist library. .

[10] before the year 1400, Come now, could these things have been written after many volumes and treatises had already been published, in which the holy revelations are explained far and wide? If therefore that prologue, as all agree, belongs to the Lindan Life, Maximilian Töppen will have said undeservedly that this was excerpted from the great works (Latin and German) of John of Marienwerder and from the Acts of the process of canonization of the year 1404. These, although they have much in common with the Lindan volume, will nevertheless have to be thought to have come out after it, as the learned Hipler holds. Moreover, in it and in the greater Latin Life, of which we shall speak below, the mother of Bl. Dorothea is said to be still surviving; but dead in the German Life. In sum, although arguments are not altogether lacking to the contrary opinion, and certain chapters seem to favor it, among other things, where the books of revelations are mentioned (chapter 69, chapter 76, etc.), which will be discussed in their place in the annotations to the Life itself; to us it is much more probable that this Life existed before the longer books. But this is altogether certain, that the Lindan history is not (as the distinguished editor of the Scriptores rerum Prussicarum wrongly indicates) some work put together by Nicholas Kraus after the year 1682 Script. Pruss., volume II, page 194. . For it exists in the Vatican library's manuscript 4934 of the fifteenth century, to say nothing of other proofs.

[11] yet not in the year 1395; But although nothing prevents this or another copy of the same Life from having been carried to the City, when the canonization was being worked for; yet with no right does J. Voigt Geschichte Preussens, volume V, page 679. think that it is the very little work which was offered to the supreme pontiff in the year 1395. For, omitting other reasons to be explained below Prelim. Comment., number 24. , it seems longer than that it could be called the one of which the letter of the confessors speaks Ibid., number 7. . Moreover there is said in it: Agatha, being in age nearly a hundred years, and a widow for about forty-four years Lindan Life, chapter 2. . If these things could have been truly written already in the year 1395, the author of the book composed in the year 1404 would not, I believe, have said: Agatha … being about a hundred years old … a widow for about forty-two years and more [John of Marienwerder, Scriptum de Vita dominæ Dorotheæ, in Linda, part II, page 131. Compare Prelim. Comment., number 20.] .

[12] then in three greater books, Soon John of Marienwerder applied himself to this, that he might now perfectly portray the image of Bl. Dorothea, up to this point only sketched. A great business indeed: for the Lord himself commanded that whatever had been dictated, revealed and done should be zealously written down and reduced to good order, saying: Let C (the confessor, Marienwerder) and P (the provost of the chapter, Rymann) have great diligence that they zealously prepare the good things written by you, beautifully order and adorn them … in gathering together what belongs together, in dividing by books and chapters … so that in pleasing order and delightful arrangement they may be brought to the knowledge of men Life of Bl. Doroth., book I, chapter 6, below in the Appendix. . Whatever, therefore, both he himself and Rymann and Bertrand Compare above, number 7. had put down with the pen, he distributed into three books, or rather three classes of books: he sets forth in the Book on the Life of the venerable Lady Dorothea chiefly the series of her exterior life; in the Septililium of the Venerable Lady Dorothea, her singular virtues and wonderful charisms; in the Book of Feasts, her visions arranged according to the feasts of the year to which they pertain. Everywhere are brought forward the things which the religious woman had said before, even her words and the form of dialogue being kept: so that it is no wonder that these are often called the Books of Dorothea, the Books of the revelations of Dorothea Compare Process of canonization, in Linda, part II, pages 153, 158 and 162. . Of his own, however, John added both certain narrations made in another manner, in which namely Dorothea herself is not brought in speaking (and this especially in the earlier work), and also examples, comparisons, passages of Holy Scripture, even little disputations; but warning the reader that he carefully distinguish these from what is revealed Compare below, Prologue of the Septililium, chapter 3. : If concerning any one of the degrees of charity, he says, I shall set down anything beyond the words of the Lord God or of his bride,… let no one believe that I wish to assert that it was so done … beyond what was expressed by the Lord and his bride I do not dare, nor do I wish or ought I, to intrude myself into defining the modes of the divine works. But I desire only that it be understood that it could have been so done with the truth preserved.

[13] before the year 1404: Now although the three books did not come out at the same time, nor exist together in the same manuscripts, yet that they are one body, parts of one work, composed by the same John of Marienwerder, is now agreed among all [Compare Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 185 and following. Prologue of the Septililium, at the beginning.] . Indeed, when in the year 1404 inquiry was held concerning the holiness of the pious widow, John himself, being questioned … answered that he wrote from her mouth many revelations, from which the same deponent collected three books Process of canonization, page 192. Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 186. ; and naming each, he mentions some effect of charity … of which in the booklet on her life, and in the Septililium … many things are written … and other things which are contained in her book on the saints (or on the Feasts, on the Apparitions) [Process of canonization, in Linda, part II, pages 146 and 150; compare pages 128, 141, 153, 157, 159. Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 187.] . Everyone therefore must admit that these volumes had been composed at least by the year 1404. Indeed, the author took up the matter before the year 1402, since in the second book of the Life he says: Her mother Bl. Dorothea's surviving today; whereas in the process of canonization of the year 1404 [In Linda, part II, page 132. Compare Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 202 and following.] he affirms that she died in the seventh year after the death of her holy daughter, which occurred in the year 1394. Others testify the same. Finally, it pleases some that the work was already finished before the year 1400, both for other reasons and because at this time the wife of Vytautas, duke of Lithuania, longingly asked for the published book on the life of the Lady Dorothea herself, which the lord John, bishop of Pomesania, gave to her … namely two booklets on the life of Mother Dorothea Hipler, page 270 and following. . By which they think the writings of John of Marienwerder are indicated.

[14] namely the Life, In the prologue of the Life (that we may now touch upon each part of the threefold work) the virtues of Bl. Dorothea are compared with the book of the Apocalypse sealed with seven seals: These seven mystical seals were, namely: the profundity of the revelations, the arduousness of the chastisements, the unsearchableness of the renewal of the heart, the inestimableness of the energy of the consolations, the sublimity of the affections and contemplations, the ineffableness of the illuminations, virtues and of her espousals, the priceless causality of the dissolutions of soul and body or of the breakings of the heart; which seven no one could or was able to loose except the lion of the tribe of Judah Latin Life, prologue, chapter 2, On the first seal. . And according to these, yet with the times observed and noted, he divides the whole work into seven books, whose subject-matter the reader will find in the Appendix. The Book of the Life (which for brevity's sake we call the Latin Life) is presented by several manuscripts: the first, once of the monastery of Pelplin, now of the archive of Königsberg, number 407, was written partly by Marienwerder himself, partly also by the canon Kalis. The second, of the end of the fifteenth century, is preserved in the library of the church of the Mother of God at Danzig, number 259 A. Potthast, Bibl. hist. medii ævi, Supplement, page 140. . The third is among the theological manuscripts of the royal library of Berlin, number 207; the fourth in the university of Breslau. But the most zealous investigator of these Hipler, page 260. is mistaken in thinking that there should be numbered among them the Brussels manuscript 8629 – 8639, the Cologne 214, and the Bodeken Passional: for those treat of Dorothea virgin and martyr, and the last of our Dorothea indeed, but it does not contain the great work of John. I should not dare to determine whether or not those Lives are the same which I see to have existed here and there: namely in the library of Strasbourg, the life and honest conversation of Dorothea of Prussia Haenel, Catal. mss., column 451. ; in the Nuremberg monastery of St. Giles, the Life of Dorothea, virgin of Prussia

[Anzeiger für Kunde der Deutschen Vorzeit, volume VI, year 1859, page 205 and following.] ; likewise at Leipzig Compare Hipler, page 260. . There can be no doubt, however, I think, of the manuscripts about which in the year 1459 Vincent, prior of the Charterhouse of Aggsbach in Austria, wrote to John of Weilheim, a professed monk at Melk [B. Pez, Thesaurus anecdot. noviss., volume VI, part III, page 333; compare page 327.] : We have two books concerning her Dorothea, both of which are with you. The first is the Septililium; the second her Legend, which contains twice or more as much writing as the first. The third, on the Feasts, I have never seen. J. Gamans seems to indicate the work of Marienwerder, when he writes from the college of the Society of Jesus at Mainz to Daniel Papebroch Royal Library of Brussels, manuscript 8926. : I have the Life of St. Dorothea of Prussia from Freiburg,… transcribed at Freiburg, which at Bamberg, together with her revelations, likewise copied from the same place, … stays in the room of the Reverend Father Rector; and in another letter: The manuscript itself was entitled: Life and visions of St. Dorothea of Prussia: and indeed the former came first, the latter followed, in a great many leaves, so that both together were easily two fingers thick. Which volume, he adds, he can now find nowhere, and therefore holds to be lost.

[15] in the Book of Feasts A little after the completion of the Life there began to be written the Book of Feasts or of the Saints, or of the Feasts of the Saints or Apparitions, or of the Feasts of the Lady Dorothea: which is held both by the Berlin manuscript indicated above Compare number 14. , and by the Danzig manuscript of the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, number 260, finished in the year 1457, whose title indicates the plan of the book: There are contained in this book first the life of Blessed Dorothea the recluse this Life is sought there in vain … and the apparitions made to her by Jesus her bridegroom and by the Virgin Mary … and by some saints, male and female, according to the order there noted. And at the end of the prologue: Let there be received, then, as a pleasing gift, first the feasts of our Lord Jesus Christ the Redeemer, with the feasts of the most holy mother of the same Lord; after this the feasts of some saints are written down in their order Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, pages 185 and 367. . Beware, however, of thinking that all was committed to writing: In these, says the author, as also in the former, very many things worthy of report have been covered with silence, because the Lord sometimes did not revive past things, and so sometimes did not teach or did not command the expressing of present things, while other things were being written. Many things too were written from her mouth on repeated occasions, which nevertheless are not inserted in this work or in the former, … namely lest excessive length should breed disgust in the readers Liber de Festis, prologue. .

[16] and in the Septililium: In order that he might more fully set forth and vindicate the wonders which had befallen Bl. Dorothea, and make plain their agreement with sacred Scripture and the Fathers, the confessor undertook a third volume. Of which he himself, in the prologue to be published below, says: Seven treatises, placed here according to their order … make up one book, which I name the Septililium, because in it are expressed seven graces… eminently granted to Dorothea, which are fittingly designated by the threefold inner virtue and fourfold outward disposition of the lily Compare below, in the Appendix. . Of this elaborate work several copies were written. The one once kept in the Charterhouse of Aggsbach (compare number 14 above) now seems to be manuscript 1265 of the Palatine library of Vienna, of the fifteenth century: in which there was written: Of the Charterhouse of Aggsbach. Septililium of St. Dorothea with prologue. Where of the seven sections … the first six are written in Latin and the seventh in German [Tabulæ codd. mss. præter græcos bibl. Palat. Vindobon., volume I, page 211, manuscript 1265.] .

[17] in which also are presented the confessions of Bl. Dorothea. In this seventh section the confessions of Bl. Dorothea are treated, of which her biographer says: After this the Lord taught her to confess conditionally concerning the harms done to her by the devil, and of which, on his own testimony, many written from her mouth … were left in her vernacular, that is, German; namely arranged in twenty-one chapters Tract VII, chapter 7 and following. . These occur alone and separately in manuscript 367 of Heidelberg; but are wholly lacking in manuscript 231 of the church of the Mother of God at Danzig, where only the sections written in Latin are extant. Parts of the Septililium are found in manuscript 207 of the archive of Königsberg Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 185. and in Danzig manuscript 26. I do not know whether the copy of the Cistercian house of Osek has been preserved, mentioned by Balbinus Bohemia docta, part III, page 303. in these words: Admirable visions and raptures of the Venerable Lady Dorothea… All of them are most worthy of reading… This book is called the Septililium. Of this labor, never hitherto committed in full to print, the recent editor of the German Life has printed certain chapters Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 360 and following. , and the venerable priest Franz Hipler somewhat more. He namely, from the Vienna and Heidelberg manuscripts just cited, has accurately transcribed the German confessions of Bl. Dorothea [Die Beichten der seligen Dorothea von Montau, in Christliche Lehre in Ermland während des Mittelalters, page 67, Braunsberg 1877. Compare Moriz Haupt, Zeitsch. für Deuts. Alterthum, volume XIII, page 532.] . We too shall share some passages of the Septililium with the reader in the Appendix, following the said authors. What is set forth in it and in the Book of Feasts we shall look at more closely below, when we touch upon the visions, prophecies and other charisms of the blessed recluse. Meanwhile, of her remaining Lives.

[18] Soon there came forth the German Life, Since it was most fitting that such great virtues should spread more widely, and that an account of them could be read by laymen too, that indefatigable John expressed it in the vernacular tongue, but in a style suited to the ears of the multitude, and with those things omitted which the unlearned would scarcely understand or would misinterpret. Which he himself also confessed: These, he says, and many other things … I do not write, many of which I wrote in the Latin book, in which they can be sought German Life, book IV, part I, in Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 334. . From these and other words it appears that that work, which we call the German Life, was in fact composed by John of Marienwerder: in what year is not established, but, as it seems, before the process of canonization of the year 1404 Compare Hipler, page 283. , and certainly between the year 1417, in which the author died, and the year 1400; since Agatha, Dorothea's mother, is said there to have been a widow forty-four years after her husband's death (in the year 1357) German Life, book I, chapter 2. . After in the prologue he has reproved those who deny credit to the prodigies narrated, and has exhorted Christians to read and believe, and has also prefaced a prayer to God, that the work might be read with profit, he distributes the matter into four books. The fourth is excerpted from the Septililium, the rest from the great Latin Life, and indeed in such a way that the two first agree with the first part of the Lindan Life, the same subjects of the chapters being kept, in the same order and nearly the same number. So from the Latin writings the author drew especially those things which were rather historical than mystical. He also added some things which you would seek in vain in the foregoing, such as the death of Agatha Ibid. , the harassments by which Bl. Dorothea was tormented at Danzig Ibid., book II, chapter 26. , and a very few others Ibid., chapter 12. .

[19] printed twice, That monument of German letters, as old as it is excellent, survives to this day Compare Hipler, page 278 and following. , in manuscript 1128 of the university of Königsberg; of which however many leaves have perished [Steffenhagen, Catal. codd. mss. bibl. Regimontanæ, fascicle II, page 19. Compare Die Deutschen Handsch. der K. Hof. und Staatsbibl. zu München, part I, page 126, manuscript 750, Munich 1866.] . According to another copy there was published in the year 1492: Des leben der zeligen frawen Dorothee clewsenerynne in der thumkyrchen czu Marienwerdir des landes czu Prewszen [The life of the blessed lady Dorothea, recluse in the cathedral church at Marienwerder in the land of Prussia]. It consists, so says Theodor Lilienthal, of a single alphabet, as they call it, and six sheets, in the smaller octavo format. On the reverse of the title page is seen a portrait of Dorothea Hist. B. Dorotheæ, Pruss. patronæ, page 3, Danzig 1742. . After the preface comes a synopsis of the contents, according to the order of books and chapters. Then follows the Life itself; and at the end of the book the following words are read: Hy endet sich das leben der zeligin frawen Dorothee clewsenerinne czu Marienwerder im thume des stiffts Pomesan im Lande czu Preuszen. Gedruckt unde volendit in der stat Marienborck durch mich Jacop Karweysze Goltsmyd. Den dingstag noch Gregory alsz man tzelete MCCCC unde CXII . Lob sey Gote. [Here ends the life of the blessed lady Dorothea, recluse at Marienwerder in the cathedral of the diocese of Pomesania in the land of Prussia. Printed and finished in the city of Marienburg by me, Jacob Karweyse, goldsmith. The Tuesday after Gregory, when one counted MCCCC and CXII . Praise be to God.] From the Königsberg manuscript and from the only printed copy that is known (of the library of St. Petersburg) Maximilian Töppen has published the Life with great diligence [Scriptores rerum Pruss., volume II, page 197; compare page 187 and following, 350.] .

[20] and in the year 1404 a brief Latin writing. Nor was that the last praise of the holy recluse. For when in the year 1404 the papal delegates who, as we shall narrate below, were inquiring into her virtues and miracles, had to depart with the matter unfinished, Rymann and Marienwerder each offered for himself a writing, which, if they themselves should die before the cause was resumed, would be equivalent to testimony spoken by mouth. The former afterwards asked back his booklet. Of the other these things are in the process: Brother John of Marienwerder … questioned concerning the reputation of holiness, life and miracles, … offered for answer one paper booklet, in which were written the life of the aforesaid Lady Dorothea, some virtues and miracles, asserting by his oath that the things written in the said booklet contained the pure truth, and that he had seen and heard them, and had been present according to the qualification expressed in the booklet. Whatever is reported in this booklet, composed in the year 1404 and offered on the 27th of June of the same year, the author excerpted from the foregoing Latin books, adding only the miracles and the reputation of holiness. Moreover, he did not wish to descend to the slightness of things, nor to pursue everything in order; but only those things which in a process of canonization would be of greater weight. This brief writing, divided into forty-eight chapters, was printed by Adrian de Linda and added to the Life of Bl. Dorothea Vita magnæ beatæ Dorotheæ, part II, page 125 and following. . This we have judged should be cited the more frequently in illustrating the Life, because its author in the process of canonization

asserted by his oath that the things written … contained the pure truth.

[21] Other Lives were written, Besides John of Marienwerder, whose treatises we have called the first historical source in the present matter, others too wrote of Bl. Dorothea shortly after her death, and first of all her other confessor, John Rymann of Christburg. He was made master of arts in the year 1382 at the university of Prague, in the year 1387 doctor of ecclesiastical law, in the year 1388 provost of the chapter of Pomesania, in which he had been a canon from the year 1379 [Compare Monum. univers. Pragensis, volume I, page 208, volume II, pages 3 and 13. Scriptt. Prussiæ, volume V, page 400.] . He had so great a repute for learning, prudence and holiness, that the master general of the Teutonic Order from the year 1393 wished to have him at his side for counsel Cod. dipl. Prussiæ, volume V, page 56. Compare Hipler, pages 208, 226, 290. , and in the year 1409 he was created bishop of Pomesania [Johann's von Posilge Chronik des Landes Preussen fortgesetzt, Scriptt. Pruss., volume III, page 298.] . At the year 1417, in which he died, a contemporary historian, the continuator of John of Posilge, extols him with praises [Ibid., page 370. Compare O. Lorenz, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im Mittelalter, page 183 and following.] . He then, most devoted to Bl. Dorothea, not only helped John of Marienwerder much in taking down her confessions and revelations, but also in his own name brought forward in the year 1404 a booklet on her virtues. This the most diligent investigators of this matter judge to be altogether lost Compare Hipler, page 254. Above, numbers 7 and 20. . There survive at least the testimonies given by him in the cause of canonization. To which he applied himself so much, that in his will he bequeathed for the church a cloth .. with 200 Hungarian florins or their equivalent for the business of the canonization of Mother and Lady Dorothea In Scriptt. Pruss., volume V, page 403. . Shortly after he had written this, he died, and was buried in the crypt in which Bl. Dorothea lay, as we read in a public instrument of the year 1417: In the chapel of the venerable Lady and Mother Dorothea of the cathedral church of Pomesania… John the second, bishop, .. was given ecclesiastical burial Ibid., page 402. .

[22] of which one There exist in the Royal Library of Brussels Manuscript 8926. two other manuscript Lives: of which our John Gamans once had one copied for the Bollandists from a manuscript of the Carthusian monastery of Cologne, the other from a manuscript of the Augustinian house of Bödeken in the diocese of Paderborn Compare Chronicon monasterii Bödecensis, page 118, Munich 1731. . Of the former nothing need be said, since it is a summary of the latter. This we judge to be the most ancient of all the Lives of Bl. Dorothea. This certainly the author seems to indicate, explaining how his narrative was eagerly demanded by the people, who wished to know, he says, the wonderful, gracious and salutary works and benefits, which the Lord God deigned to work through his servant the Lady Dorothea the recluse: from which some, desiring to be spiritually refreshed, murmur against me: those who have not yet been refreshed, ignorant of the cause of the delay, accuse my inexperience or slowness in the preparation of the food so wholesomely desired. Yet let them deign to have compassion on me, and let their complaint cease, bearing with my unwisdom and inexperience as to the difficulty and rarity of so great a subject, and enduring my slowness in view of the multiplicity of outside matters and occupations. Which things surely, although writers of Lives of the saints not rarely say similar things in their prologues about their inexperience, would be plainly absurd, if Bl. Dorothea had already obtained a biographer. But why say more? That this writing was composed not more than a year after the death of the blessed recluse is gathered from the very words of the author, who indeed says at number 17: In the past year, through the whole winter, in which there was a great excess of cold, on account of which many people perished; yet the saint herself was preserved from injury by the cold. Which is narrated in the other Lives too, but as having happened, not in the past year, but through the last winter of her life Compare Latin Life, book V, chapter 23. German Life, book III, chapter 13. .

[23] it seems to have been composed in the year 1395, I do not know whether the most distinguished Maximilian Töppen sufficiently attended to these things, when he pronounced concerning the Brussels copy: Since it was sent to the Bollandists by Father J. Gamans in the year 1638, it follows that the booklet was composed before the year 1638: it could however be of the fifteenth or sixteenth century (the copies themselves to be referred to the seventeenth century). That it was excerpted from fuller writings is proved by the fact that it has these and similar sentences: "That by no abundance of words, although very many have been written, could it be recounted" (where the distinguished author wrongly reads poterat, in place of poterunt) … "she heard many times secrets, some of which have been written, etc." What is contained in the first part altogether recalls the narrations of John of Marienwerder; what is in the second, the Acts of canonization and especially the articles given in the third place Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 191 and following. , printed in Linda Part II, page 22 and following. . But we are very far from being sufficiently persuaded. Cannot, namely, these earlier writings (of which our author says in another place: yet many more things, he says, have been written from her mouth) signify those things which had been committed to writing while Bl. Dorothea was living and at her own dictation? Does not the prologue urge this interpretation? Where the author says that that work to be written on the life and magnificent benefits and salutary teachings … made and revealed to the Lady Dorothea has not yet been completed, but that he has meanwhile collected something in summary of the aforesaid things… But this settles the matter, that the words objected to us, she heard etc., already occur in the letters of the year 1395 Cod. dipl. Pruss., volume V, page 83. .

[24] and sent to Rome Nor are we any more deterred from our opinion by the fact that several passages of the writing occur also in the Latin Life and especially in the articles annexed to the bull of the year 1404 [Compare Linda, part I, chapter 87; part II, page 24, numbers 5 and 6, page 30 and following, numbers 21, 22, 23, 24, etc. Compare below, number 27.] . For when the matter is examined, it seems credible that of the first and briefest notes of the biographer, some were preserved in the later writings, others greatly amplified. Indeed you might not unfittingly think that that little work was carried to Rome with others, and used by the procurator of the Teutonic Order, when he drew up the articles on which he requested that witnesses be received and admitted and questioned Linda, part II, page 11. . Surely in the year 1395 the confessors wrote to Boniface IX: Let Your Holiness see the booklet of her life, composed in very few words concerning very many things, which the procurator of the Order general will present to Your Holiness; likewise Conrad of Jungingen, master of the Teutonic Order, and the bishops of Prussia: All of which will appear in the booklet on her Life J. Voigt, Geschichte Preussens, volume V, page 678 and following. . This booklet was not the great Latin Life, nor (so also Hipler and Töppen) the Lindan Life, nor any other of those above Compare Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 187. Hipler, pages 252 and 255. : why not then our very brief writing? Since this both consists of very few words, and can be said to have been composed already in the year 1395, we rightly conjecture that it, shortly after Dorothea's death, was offered to the bishop or the master of the Order, was immediately copied and sent to the City.

[25] to Boniface IX, And this is to be noted, by which the opinion is excellently confirmed: the booklet of the Life offered by the procurator of the Order to the supreme pontiff must have been similar, as it seems to the venerable Hipler Work cited, page 252. , to the letters brought at the same time to this procurator, in which the life of the blessed woman is sketched as if in first outlines: these are now extant in the Miscellanea of the archive of Königsberg, folios 60 – 63, and have been published in some part in the Codex diplomaticus Prussicus. Now how greatly our manuscript agrees with these is ready to hand. It contains more, indeed, but whatever is related of Bl. Dorothea in the letter, you will read to the letter and in the same order in the manuscript Life, as we shall indicate in each place. And to bring forward a few things here already: Surely she herself sprung from honest parents etc. For she not only withdrew delights from her mouth and body… To Dorothea too the Lord Jesus … doubly impressed his wounds … as splendid necklaces of the pledge of espousal etc. With the ardor of charity she delighted to see the Lord's Body etc. For frequently receiving the Lord's Body she was so fervently inflamed with spiritual hunger etc., and all that follows, are word for word the same in both writings [Compare Voigt, Cod. dipl. Pruss., volume V, page 82 and following. Voigt, Geschichte Preuss., volume V, page 667 and following.] . Moreover, of those passages some also recur, as we have already indicated, in the Process of canonization. But the same similarity is detected between this and the letter of the year 1395 just cited, and just as no one will on that account say that the Process is older than the letters, so with no right is it gathered that the manuscript Life was composed after the process.

[26] perhaps by J. Marienwerder. It is pleasing to believe that the author of this brief Life was John of Marienwerder. For it not only agrees with those things which he certainly wrote and which we know of him, but the prologue is especially applicable to him; how it could better fit another, I for my part do not see: Some, desiring to be spiritually refreshed by the narration of the virtues of Bl. Dorothea, murmur against me (whom, namely, they know to be preserving her confessions and revelations in writing), but let them remember the multiplicity of my outside occupations (which John could with merit say of himself, as we have already indicated). Would that that work to be written … could soon be completed… O how gladly I would do this!… Let all pray for me that I may be able to compose the book duly! Meanwhile I have collected something in summary of the aforesaid things. This language befits no one better than him who, knowing a great deal about Bl. Dorothea and preserving it in writing, was planning sometime to order and publish it.

[27] There survives also the Process of canonization. We proceed to the third class of writings by which the life of Bl. Dorothea can be illustrated, the Acts of the process of canonization: which, as we shall declare in the history of the cult, was begun, by command of Boniface IX, Roman pontiff, ten years after the death of the blessed widow, that is, in the year 1404. A copy of it is contained in a manuscript of the royal library of Königsberg of the year 1486 [Steffenhagen, Catalogus codd. mss. biblioth. Regimontanæ, manuscript 1241, fascicle II, page 19. Compare Hipler, page 287.] . It is entitled Compare Lilienthal, Hist. B. Dorotheæ, page 7. : Process in

the cause of canonization, of the remission and reception and examination of witnesses, concerning the miracles, life and character of Blessed Dorothea, recluse in the church of Pomesania. Among the more than two hundred and sixty witnesses then employed, there occur three confessors of the holy woman, learned and prudent men; the bishop of Pomesania and many of his canons; the master general of the Teutonic Order, and other well-known men. By whose testimonies not only are the things written of the blessed woman by her biographers confirmed, but many miracles too, wrought by her intercession, have become known. Of the manuscript in which these are presented, pages 1 – 49 and 301 – 319 Steffenhagen, place cited. were copied by John Thaddeus Kober, archpriest of Frauenburg: whose transcript (now of the church of St. Nicholas at Elbing) Andreas Adrian de Linda had printed, and added to the Life of Bl. Dorothea Part II, page 1; compare above, number 8. . There are printed there, besides the apostolic letters of Boniface IX and Innocent VIII, the testimonies of some witnesses, the writing produced by Master John of Marienwerder Linda, part II, page 125. , and the roll concerning which Boniface IX says: Concerning the report of the life of the said Dorothea etc., inquire from witnesses above all … exception, exactly, diligently and prudently, according to the articles and interrogatories, which we send enclosed under our bull Ibid., part II, page 10. ; this roll being divided in three. For there are the Articles first given, twenty; the articles given the second time, again twenty; finally the articles given the third time, one hundred and forty-nine: which Peter of Wormditt, procurator, drew up in the procuratorial name … of the bishop and chapter of Pomesania Ibid., page 22. Compare Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 180. . Some parts of the process and many writings pertaining to it Compare Voigt, Codex dipl. Pruss., volume V, page 74 and following. , several authors have published [Hipler, page 251. Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 202 and following, in the notes. Lilienthal, page 8 and following. Voigt, Geschichte Preussens, volume V, page 668 and following.] .

[28] A Life was also written by Grunau, M. Baronius, It remains for us to review what was published in the sixteenth and following centuries concerning the recluse of Kwidzyn. In his Chronicle of Prussia, composed around the year 1520, Simon Grunau related many things about her [Chronica des Landes Preussen, tract IX, chapter II. Compare Steffenhagen, Cat. codd. mss. bibl. Regimontanæ, fascicle II, page 12, manuscript 1550a and following.] , which you will not find in the ancient Lives, indeed which contradict them. Simon was followed by Leo in his History of Prussia, Braunsberg. At Cologne in the year 1605 from Peter Overrade Compare Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 191 and following. and at Cracow in the year 1609 from Basil Skalski there came forth the Portraits and miracles of the saints of Poland, by Martin Baronius the Pole, where (folio 47 in the second edition) there appears the Life of Bl. Dorothea, widow, of Prussia, taken from the most ancient monuments of the parish church of Marienburg. This was sent to our predecessors by Frederick Szembek, a distinguished priest of our former Society. Today it is preserved in the Royal Library of Brussels Manuscript 8926. , and there was long ago written on it that it had been written two hundred years before by Nicholas, canon of Pomesania, her confessor: but gratuitously, I think. In this brief Life no miracles are narrated as wrought by Bl. Dorothea after her death, but it is only said: At whose tomb many possessed by demons were freed, and very many other miracles followed at her invocation. Some things too are reported there which seem doubtful, as we shall declare later. The whole little work was transferred into his Ecclesiastical Annals by Bzovius Volume XV, at the year 1399, number XII, page 187. , and in some part also by Raynaldus [Ann. eccl. Baronii contin., at the year 1399, number XXIV, page 62, Lucca 1752. Compare Sponde, Baronii contin., volume I, at the year 1399, number XIV, page 674.] .

[29] F. Szembek, A little afterwards Frederick Szembek began to write: how well he deserved of the ecclesiastical history of Prussia is agreed among all. Certainly, on his testimony, a certain festivity in honor of the holy widow in the year 1637 Compare below, number 77. was concluded with the distribution of her Life: which now seems to be lost. But in the year 1621 Szembek himself published in Polish The Ancient Patroness of Prussia, Dorothea of Prussia, and in the year 1638 Compare Lilienthal, page 12. at Toruń the Life of St. Dorothea, widow, patroness of Prussia, and of St. Jutta of Brunswick, etc.: which was printed again in the year 1699. In the year 1638 likewise and again in 1699 there came out at Toruń in Latin the Life of the great St. Dorothea, of Prussia, widow, patroness not only of the living but also of the departed. Finally there came out (in the year 1637, as the distinguished Hipler has written to us) the Polish work: A clear image of Christian preparation for a happy death … that is, of the praiseworthy St. Dorothea, Prussian widow … who, recluse in the cathedral of the diocese of Pomesania in the city of Kwidzyn … happily expired, described more fully than before and printed by Father Frederick Szembek S. J., Toruń. This writing Thaddeus Kober, parish priest of Frauenburg, rendered in German in the year 1681 and printed at the press of Oliva [De Backer, Bibl. des écrivains de la Compagnie de Jésus, volume III, column 1017 and following, edition of 1876. Compare Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 192.] . Since we have not seen all the books thus far brought forward, I should not dare to determine whether we should agree with Maximilian Töppen, who mentions only a certain Polish Life of the years 1638 and 1698, with a German version of the year 1681; or with the more recent authors from whom we have in large part transcribed the series of works: although these seem rather to be followed.

[30] whose work A. Turschi rendered in Latin, The Life published in Polish by our Frederick Szembek was begun to be turned into Latin by Adalbert Turschi: whose writing (reaching as far as the year 1393, or comprising the earlier part of the Life of Bl. Dorothea) was once deposited in the Bollandist museum, and now in the Royal Library of Brussels (manuscript 8926). It begins thus: Most illustrious Life of St. Dorothea, widow of Prussia, from the process made for her canonization, and from old manuscripts of the archive of the Crusaders or Teutonic Order and of the parish church of Margeburg in the bishopric of Pomesania, also of the library of the castle of Heilsberg in the bishopric of Warmia, of the monastery of Pelplin in the bishopric of Pomerania, of the cathedral church of Culmsee in the bishopric of Chełmno, and from the history of her life written most fully by John, dean of Pomerania *, her confessor, by the command of Christ the Lord himself, and also from another compendium of her holiness printed at Margeburg 146 years ago, and from Prussian historiographers, briefly collected; of whom too the most worthy writers of our time, Bzovius of the Order of Preachers, in his Annals, and Balinghem of the Society of Jesus in his Ephemeris, have made honorable mention. All the documents here cited Franz Hipler thinks still exist Work cited, page 251. .

[31] and, besides others, Another writing has become known to us from a letter written at Danzig on the 9th of May 1679 by Father John Hansler of the Society of Jesus to Daniel Papebroch Royal Library of Brussels, manuscript 8926. : The devotion of many has been stirred up … and a start has been made by … John Miczkowski, canon of Chełmno, archdeacon and vicar general of Pomesania, parish priest at Great Montau, in printing the life of St. Dorothea, widow, in the Polish tongue; whose title expressed in Latin runs thus: A wonderful subterranean Echo, heard in the Prussian lands and adjacent borders, of the patroness St. Dorothea, widow; born at Great Montau in the Żuławy of Marienburg, in the cathedral church of Pomesania at Kwidzyn she voluntarily obtained to be enclosed by walls of brick: where also buried after death, hidden until now in darkness by the envy of heretics, etc.

[32] T. Lilienthal. Finally, having many of these books under his eyes, the Lutheran Lilienthal published a dissertation with this title: History of Blessed Dorothea, patroness of Prussia, stained by various fables, which from manuscript as well as printed documents Theodor Christoph Lilienthal, Master of Arts, has restored to historical truth, and illustrated with historico-critical notes. Danzig, at George Marc. Knoch's, 1744. This learned work Lilienthal sprinkled here and there with heretical madness, and it is truly to be wondered at that he spent so much labor to augment and illustrate with commentaries Acts which he judges in great part fabulous. He is however involved in many errors, some of which have arisen from this, that he did not weigh the most ancient works of Marienwerder and their relationship with the later Lives. Otherwise he would not have enumerated the writings concerning Dorothea and her life, revelations and miracles in this manner Hist. B. Dorotheæ, page 15 and following. :

"Book on love, composed in Latin by her confessor.

Book of the Revelations of Bl. Dorothea, written by Master John of Marienwerder and Master Bertrand, provost of the church of Pomesania. In which book there is a special treatise on inebriating charity.

Book of the Life of Bl. Dorothea. This Life without doubt differs from the German.

The booklet called Septililium; which in the Process of canonization is attributed to Bl. Dorothea herself.

Book on the effects of the sacrament.

Two Books on the Life and Revelations of the saints, etc."

These things were taken from the Acts of the Process, where it is read: Arnold the aforesaid procurator exhibited and showed to the said lords commissioners seven volumes, two on the life and revelations of the saints of the said Lady Dorothea, and five others written on the miracles, requesting that mention be made of them at least in the acts of the present cause Process, page 358. Hipler, page 286. . By this volume on the Revelations is signified the Book of Feasts; by the Book on the effects of the sacrament, some part of the Septililium or of the Lindan Life. These names Lilienthal saw in the Process of canonization; from which too he transcribed some things. But since, without warning the reader, he sometimes changed or omitted words and whole sentences [Compare the Testimony of Conrad of Jungingen in the process of canonization, Lilienthal, Hist. B. Doroth., page 72. Linda, part II, page 94 and following. Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 654 and following.] , the excerpts offer little use.

[33] We shall publish the two earlier Lives. Of the Lives of Bl. Dorothea reviewed, that one first of all demands to be published, which, written, as it seems, a year after her death, has never up to now come out in public Compare above, number 22. . This however, because it is very brief, and the things narrated are not each referred to their time, will be followed by a much longer Life, copied from Vatican manuscript 4934 and collated with the Lindan edition Ibid., number 10. . There you will find whatever it is most important to know historically, for the most part in the same words as in the great Latin Life. In this latter many documents of mystical theology besides, pious colloquies of the soul with God, revelations and other things of this kind, are set forth most abundantly. That grand work of John of Marienwerder, whose German translation to all

is at hand Ibid., number 18 and following. , will not be published entire at present, but we take many things from it to be shared with the reader, whether in the Commentary and in the Annotations, or in the Appendix, so that the author's manner of writing may better appear and the Life itself of Bl. Dorothea be more fully illustrated. We shall excerpt the Septililium, the Book of Feasts and the Process of canonization in the same manner. We shall also make very great use of the writing offered by John of Marienwerder to the papal delegates in the year 1404 and woven into the process Ibid., number 20. : which we shall bring forward according to the Lindan edition. The Septililium, however, from the Vienna manuscript, the Apparitions from the Danzig one, the Latin Life from the Königsberg one Compare ibid., number 14 and following. , have for the most part been copied by the learned and venerable Franz Hipler, who has most courteously lent us the transcripts.

* Kwidzyn

* Danzig

* read XCII

* read Pomesaniæ

§ II. Summary of the life of Bl. Dorothea. Her birth, marriage and pious journeys. She becomes a recluse. Her death.

Bl. Dorothea, in the year 1347 What virtues Bl. Dorothea cultivated is copiously narrated in the histories soon to be published. But that the reader may have from almost the beginning a view of her whole life, it will be worth the effort to indicate in this place her chief deeds, and at the same time to dispose of certain doubtful points. All agree that she was born in the month of February, but in what year, they dispute. The year 1334 pleases Martin Baronius Icones, page 47. Compare Bzovius, at the year 1399, number XII. , 1336 Theodor Lilienthal, but our Szembek and many others 1347; which the most ancient Lives also present. For in the one which we judge the first of all, Bl. Dorothea is said to have died on the 25th of June, in the year 1394, in the forty-eighth year of her age. The same will be made plain from the Lindan Life, from the Latin and from the German: there she is reported to have married when she was in her seventeenth year, and to have been bereaved of her husband in the year 1390, after she had lived with him twenty-six and a half years. Moreover she is read to have been favored with a heavenly benefit in the month of January, in the thirty-ninth year of her age, the tenth before her death: and she died in the year 1394 [Lindan Life, chapters 21, 24, 56. Latin Life, book II, chapters 27, 30; book III, chapter 1. German Life, book I, chapters 21, 24, 30; book II, chapters 1, 26.] . For these and similar reasons her birth is absolutely to be referred to the year 1347. Here, however, and in the whole notation of the times Lilienthal went astray, because he thought the blessed woman was in matrimony for thirty-six and a half years, although he himself in another place rightly writes twenty-six years and six months Hist. B. Dor., page 27; compare pages 30, 31, 58, 60. .

[35] born of pious parents, Now of her family and condition. The servant of God was born in the village of Montau not far from Marienburg, a town of Prussia, of the parents Wilhelm Swartz and Agatha, pious and very honorable farmers [Lindan Life, chapter 2; Linda, part II, pages 17, 23. Compare below, Life I, chapter I, annotation.] . In the Process of canonization the father of Bl. Dorothea is called a Dutchman. It is the less to be wondered at that he came to the shores of the Baltic Sea, and there entered into marriage, because there, as is known, the inhabitants used almost the same language as in Holland; and Chełmno and Danzig, from which Montau was not so very far distant, no less than Arnhem, Deventer, Nijmegen and other places of the northern Netherlands, were Hanseatic cities, which accordingly had frequent commerce among themselves Roux de Rochelle, Villes Anséatiques, page 58 and following; 378 and following. . John of Marienwerder testifies in the cause of beatification Linda, part II, page 130 and following. that Wilhelm Swartz was an honorable man and had by Agatha, a most pious woman, four sons and five daughters. Bl. Dorothea was the seventh of the children, baptized on the eighth day before the Ides of February, according to others on the sixth day before the Ides of the same month Ibid., part I, page 2. . But here there is an error: for we read in the German Life, book I, chapter 2: Her baptism took place on the day of St. Dorothea, from whom namely our saint took her name, after the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, that is, on the 6th of February: so that it is no wonder that in the Latin Lives there was written the sixth day before the Ides of February Compare Latin Life, book II, chapter 2. . Wilhelm died before his wife, in the year 1357; and she too is said to have entered the way of all flesh seven years after Bl. Dorothea, in the year 1401 Compare above, number 13. . Her holy daughter, when she had already been sought in marriage by many, was promised by her elder brother to a certain craftsman (Adalbert by name), an honorable and mature man and rich for his class; and afterwards joined in matrimony according to the rite of the Church: to which however she consented in the fear of the Lord, not drawn by lust; and being led to the house of her husband, which was in the town of Gdańsk in the diocese of Włocławek Lindan Life, chapter 21. , and the solemnities of the wedding being completed, she remained untouched not only for three nights, but for several following, tainted by no stain or heat of lust Linda, part II, page 26. . She was then in her seventeenth year.

[36] She marries Adalbert. After this marriage there were born nine children: of whom only a daughter survived her mother, who having entered a monastery of the Benedictine Order, was still among the living in the year 1404. The sons, however, to a man are reported to have been carried off by plague within twelve weeks Lilienthal, page 31. . John of Marienwerder also Linda, part II, page 143; compare ibid., part I, page 25. , the confessor of the blessed widow, heard from the happy Dorothea many times, that when she was handed over to her husband, she remained for love of chastity more than ten days unknown by her husband, and afterwards many times from the conception of one child she remained again unknown by her husband up to the conception of another; and after the birth of the last daughter, they kept mutual continence for a good ten years until the end of the marriage that is, up to the year 1390 [Linda, part II, page 25. , the year of Adalbert's death], to the honor of God. The husband's piety is more than once praised by the biographers. Nevertheless the marriage was at times clouded, as the author of the Life printed by Linda writes: namely, peace being disturbed, the holy woman was afflicted by her husband with reproaches and blows and other injuries of this kind. Beware, however, of thinking that Adalbert was given to vices: he seems to have been an irritable and violent man, a husband, as Szembek says, of odd fancies, who took ill the outstanding piety of his wife, and the incredible austerity of her life Lindan Life, chapters 28 and 41. .

[37] They undertake pious journeys together. But both, around the feast of Pentecost of the year 1384, when all the children except their little daughter had already breathed out their souls, undertook a pious journey, of which the Life itself to be published below treats, to the basilica of the Mother of God at Aachen and to the chapel of the same Blessed Virgin Mary among the Hermits in Finsterwald, their only daughter being very specially commended to friends, their house and goods being sold and disposed of; so that, the vanities of the world shut out, they might serve the Lord more freely Compare ibid., chapter 31 and following. . They returned to Danzig around the feast of St. Martin Ibid., chapter 33. . In the following year around the feast of St. Lawrence, taking their daughter with them, they girded themselves for the same journey Ibid., chapter 41. . They returned to Danzig about the month of February of the year 1387. At the end of the year 1389 Bl. Dorothea alone went on pilgrimage to Rome, to obtain the indulgences of the jubilee of the year 1390. She arrived there around the feast of St. Luke, and there gave herself to pious exercises until Easter of the year 1390 Compare M. Baronius, page 48. , yet in such a way that for seven weeks she lay sick in the Roman hospital of Blessed Mary of Consolation [Compare Lindan Life, chapter 54. Bzovius, Annales eccles., volume XV, at the year 1399, page 187.] Compare Linda, part II, page 144. . She made her way back home by way of Cologne. Meanwhile her husband, who was much more advanced in years than she, died Ibid., page 27. . That he had been admitted to heavenly joy, God revealed to Bl. Dorothea Lindan Life, chapter 57. .

[38] Her husband dead, Bl. Dorothea in the church of Kwidzyn After the death of her husband, at the instigation of Nicholas, a priest of Danzig, her confessor, she went for counsel's sake to John, canon of the cathedral church of Pomesania at Marienwerder. Soon she asked that she might be able to inhabit this very church as a recluse. After the pious woman's former life had been examined, and her constancy tested for a year and a half Compare Hipler, work cited, pages 230 and 232. , with the approval of the bishop and chapter, she entered her new dwelling on the 2nd of May of the year 1393, before an immense throng of people, and, as her biographer says, was firmly shut in with wall and planks. There she established for herself the manner of life which she had been taught by Christ saying: "When you enter the reclusory, you must live very holily; have a glass window before you, stretch out your hand to no one outside the reclusory, without the permission of your confessor. As often as you do this without permission, so often you will have to confess it, and undergo a salutary penance. Likewise from no one receive any gift, and I will reward you with gifts" Linda, part II, page 29. Compare Hipler, page 234 and following. .

[39] she becomes a recluse Of this very dwelling in the church of Kwidzyn, Lilienthal has collected a number of things from various writers: Szembek, he says, calls the place in which Dorothea had herself enclosed a vaulted cell, situated to the right of the high altar; in which there were three windows: one looking into the church, through which she received the Eucharist; another through which she was accustomed to pray toward heaven; the third toward the cemetery, through which food was held out to her. In nearly the same manner the enclosure of Dorothea is described by Caspar Stein, in the Memorabilia of Prussia, Actorum Boruss. volume I, pages 226, 227. Various cells still remain today in the church of Marienwerder, in one of which, whose height is 7 1/6 feet, and length and breadth 4 1/2, there is an opening looking into the church, of a height of 1 1/2 feet, and a breadth of 1 1/6. This is commonly vaunted as the place in which Dorothea lay hidden; but wrongly, since from it there is a view neither to the pulpit nor to the altar, and moreover there are found in it the remains of a stove, which however Dorothea did not use. But there is another cell near the altar, which all the circumstances declare to have been Dorothea's retreat; and these the most reverend Gottfried Thiene, archpriest and inspector of Marienwerder, has not disdained to explore a little more carefully.

But that he too and Lilienthal with him went astray in their conjectures Lilienthal, page 79 and following. , is now held for certain. For whatever we learn of Bl. Dorothea's hiding-place both from the ancient Lives and from the report of Szembek agrees with that little cell which, situated in the corner between the choir of the church and its south side, serves in these times as a sacristy. Its dimensions are those defined by the Order of Recluses printed by our Rader in Bavaria sancta, and from him by Haeften: The recluse's cell, that is, the house of the enclosed one, ought to be of stone; its length and breadth 12 feet; let it have three windows Hipler, page 231 and following. .

[40] of the Teutonic Order. Yet from what has been said before it can easily be gathered that Bl. Dorothea did not follow the manner of life of those recluses, men or women, of whom Holstenius Codex Regularum, volume I, page 291 and following, page 419 and following. , Rader [Viridarium, part III, chapter V, page 720 and following, Bavaria sancta, volume III, page 116 and following.] and often our predecessors in the Bollandist Acta treat. For she followed not the rule of some definite religious Order or the will of a prelate; but she obeyed the admonitions and precepts of Christ the Lord himself, who alone was her master, yet in such a way that she did not neglect to comply with the ecclesiastical law of her age. By which law it was forbidden that anyone should undertake so severe an institute against the will of bishops or abbots. By this discipline it came about that often the different Orders of regulars, and also churches, whether cathedral or collegiate, had their own male and female recluses. Blessed Dorothea, however, can be said to have been a recluse of the Teutonic Order, inasmuch as she was admitted to this manner of life in the cathedral church of Kwidzyn by the bishop and canons of Pomesania; for whom, as members of the Teutonic Order, it was not permitted to do anything of greater moment, except by the counsel and aid of the master general of the whole Order [Baron de Wal, Recherches sur l'ancien Ordre Teutonique, volume II, chapter XIII, page 38; Dlugosz, Hist. Poloniæ, volume I, book IX, column 946. Compare Hélyot, Hist. des Ordres religieux, volume III, chapter XVII, page 160 and following, Paris 1792. Haeften, Disquis. monast., book I, tract VIII, page 82. Rader, Viridarium sanctorum, part III, chapter V, page 720 and following.] . In her cell at Kwidzyn Bl. Dorothea died on the 25th of June of the year of the Lord 1394, as we read in the ancient Lives and in the Process of canonization Compare Lindan Life, chapter 87. Linda, part II, page 167. . The writer of the Life inserted in the Ecclesiastical Annals by Bzovius and Raynaldus therefore erred, affirming that she departed to heaven on the 11th of September of the year 1399.

[41] She dies in the year 1394. The wall of the cell being broken through, her body was drawn out of the enclosure, and, laid on straw opposite the high altar, the people watched it for an entire night. It was buried, not on the 29th of June (as Lilienthal asserts, chapter II, §22), but on the 28th of the same month, as the author of the German Life plainly says (book III, chapter 43); and indeed in the chapel, in which is the burial-place of the greater persons, such as the bishops… Her obsequies were continued for thirty days, which on the first two days, on which the aforesaid lord bishop … celebrated, were so rich and solemn, as to the hangings, as to the multitude of lights, as to the refreshment of the poor, as to the number and dignity of the persons celebrating and as to the distribution of gifts, that the like and equal had not before that day been shown in the church of Pomesania to any woman. Nor was such solemnity of the obsequies brought about by human industry, but by divine providence Latin Life, book VII, chapter 29. . But after eighteen weeks the body was taken up from the tomb: which the bishop asserted in the process in these words: He said that he had committed to some persons that they should exhume the body of the Lady Dorothea, in order that the tomb might be surrounded with a wall, which was done Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 330. . When the monument had been completed, the sacred remains were laid to rest again.

§ III. On the revelations, prophecies and miracles of Bl. Dorothea.

The revelations of Bl. Dorothea, What in the deeds of the blessed recluse surpasses the measure of human nature, it is not for us to examine here, nor to bring forward anew those things which on this subject have been worn out long ago. We shall gather here only those things which seem opportune for illustrating the Acts. That, then, the visions, predictions and miracles may be inspected in order, of the first gift John of Marienwerder confirms these things on oath: He heard from… Dorothea that she prepared herself most devoutly for the feasts of the saints… When the feasts of our redemption, of the most blessed Virgin Mary, of the holy martyrs and of very many other saints drew near, her wounds were then specially moved to sharper pain Linda, part II, page 140. … moreover also commonly on the feasts of the saints, their states and glory shone forth to her … she saw beyond measure keenly the dispensation and mystery of the Lord's incarnation … she saw him born … taken, scourged, judged, crucified … risen and ascended into heaven Ibid., page 148 and following. Compare Lindan Life, chapter 17, below. . Concerning the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity and other dogmas of the faith she was wonderfully taught. She was instructed by the Lord daily in the last three years what she ought to do or what to omit Life I, chapter 3, below. . Finally the Lord on the vigil of Simon and Jude in the year of the Lord 1393 intimated all her deeds and charisms as if in recapitulation, and announced to her many other astounding things Articles given the third time, in Linda, part II, page 29. , many of which have been written down by John of Marienwerder. But whether these things were approved by him and by others of the time, it will not be out of place to declare, so that some passages of the Life may be more easily understood.

[43] as then took place in other saints, Contemporaries were certainly troubled by those singular things, which were seen both in Bl. Dorothea and in other women. Already in the twelfth century the revelations of St. Hildegard had been approved, with St. Bernard, by the council of Trier of the year 1148 and by Eugene III [Acta SS., volume V of September, page 636 and following. Mansi, Concil., volume XXI, page 738.] . In the same age had flourished St. Elizabeth of Schönau Acta SS., volume III of June, page 604 and following. , and in the fourteenth century St. Gertrude and St. Angela of Foligno Ibid., volume I of January, page 186 and following, page 348 and following. . At the very time in which our recluse of Kwidzyn lived, St. Catherine of Siena, divinely taught, was treating with the Roman pontiffs Ibid., volume III of April, page 851 and following. ; likewise St. Bridget [Ibid., volume IV of October, page 368 and following. Compare Eusebius Amort, De revelationibus, app. et vis. privatis, part II.] , whom Bl. Dorothea not rarely saw in apparitions [Compare De festis, chapter 80, below in the Appendix. German Life, book II, chapter 22. Latin Life, book VI, chapter 8, book VII, chapter 19.] and with whom she has very many things in common. Indeed a writer of that age wrote: In these times women rise up, virgins and widows, and take up discipline, they strenuously do penance, they hasten to the divine sacraments and snatch the kingdom of heaven from men … gratefully receiving revelations from Christ and prophecies and frequent and singular visitations… Whence now prophecy and greater familiarity with the Holy Spirit seem to have been transferred to women, to whom great mysteries of God are revealed, … as is manifest in Hildegard … and in Bridget … and also in very many other women worthy of God, whom at Paris and in Rome and in Nuremberg and much more in the city of Prague I have seen and tested From a Prague manuscript, cited in Hipler, page 213. … But Matthias of Janov, who wrote these things in Bohemia, and many with him, did not always keep measure in the matter, so that concerning the pious works of the laity and especially the use of the sacraments a huge controversy arose, some at times yielding to excessive fervor, others protesting. In the year 1389 the council of Prague intervened Compare below, Lindan Life, chapter 57, annotation. .

[44] prudent men not quickly bringing forth judgment, Not long afterwards, in the great council of Constance of the year 1417, the revelations of St. Bridget came under examination; and forty years later, how greatly there was still dispute about the visions of our Blessed Dorothea, appears from contemporary monuments Pez, Thes. anecd. noviss., volume VI, part III, page 332 and following. . For Vincent, prior of the Charterhouse of Aggsbach in Austria, wrote to John of Weilheim: You have asked whether Dorothea of Prussia is canonized … and what I think of her and of her deeds, especially of the treatises of the Septililium… To the first question, then, I say that Dorothea is not yet canonized… So far as I have been able to weigh it, Bridget of Sweden, Catherine of Siena, and the said Dorothea were together among living men at the same time, although one flourished after another. They had as confessors learned men, who transmitted their acts and teachings to our knowledge in writing. In whose writings and especially in the prologues it can be clearly weighed whether the spirit moving each of them was from God, or not… Further, Dorothea so hid her holiness, that besides her confessors few knew her… But the reason why God worked such things in the female sex is nowhere expressed except in the legend of Catherine of Siena. In which she herself reports… that God said to her: "Know, daughter, that at this time the pride of the lettered and of those wise in their own eyes has so abounded, that my justice can no longer bear not to confound them by its just judgment.. Now I will send women endowed with my grace to the confusion of their temerity." I have not known many in the time of my life who lay such teachings to heart … but I have heard innumerable scoffers at them.

[45] they were held in derision by some, These things he wrote in the year 1459. But at the time when she was living, Bl. Dorothea had already been provoked by scoffers. In the process of canonization John, custodian of the Church of Pomesania, testifies to this: Lord Christian, parish priest … in the town of Gdańsk, harassed the Lady Dorothea herself …, saying that she erred in the faith. Likewise, by another witness: Henry of Stein, official of the bishop of Włocławek, and Ludike, famous priests, believing that Mother Dorothea herself erred in the Catholic faith, for this reason, as the deponent herself believes, because the said Dorothea had perhaps recounted in confession to the said priests things unknown to men, believed her to be out of her mind [Compare German Life, book II,

chapter 26. Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 267. Compare Lindan Life, chapter 55, below. Linda, part II, 157 and following.] . Some contemporaries felt yet more harshly on this matter: for we read in a manuscript of that age: What is to be thought of women who say that they are sometimes rapt, and in this rapture take nothing, neither eat nor drink; but some answer men and disclose hidden things of hell or of paradise: whether this happen in itself or by illusion, since such women are held as saints among men. It is answered that it is a trick, and such women are to be sent back to the episcopal authority, because they are presumed to be sorceresses Compare Höfler, Mag. J. Hus und der Abzug der Deutschen aus Prag, page 86. . That not a few felt in some similar way about Bl. Dorothea, her biographer intimates.

[46] although by her confessor Many more, indeed, held the pious woman in honor, especially when after her death her holiness had been explored to clearness. Nevertheless even then some attacked her deeds and words. For there appear in those tracts, at the end of the fourteenth century and the beginning of the fifteenth, men alien to the pure doctrine of religion: At Marienwerder too, on the testimony of John of Marienwerder, a certain man, living in a way like a beast, and presuming on himself, feigned anew a creed, and erred in very many other things Expositio symboli, cited in Hipler, page 271. . That this man with his followers reviled the blessed recluse and denied credit to her Lives, will seem plain to one going through the works of our John. Against them, I believe, speaking of the voluntary chastisements of the servant of God, he says: Let the delicate, the animal, the carnal, the voluptuous, the soft, the dissolute and the slack be silent, and let them not with their arguments reprove the works of God, which divine Providence willed and was able to show forth for their confusion, for the consolation of the Church Lindan Life, chapter 16, below. . And in the prologue of the German Life: "Animal man or gainsayer of the works of God … be silent … Do not reprove the wonders of God… Do not bring yourself to think that she Dorothea or I myself are so forgetful of salvation, that we would be willing to say or write what is false knowingly and wittingly. Then appealing to Christians: Do not incline to her despisers and foolish adversaries, whose calumnies are to be valued no more than the barking of a raging dog… The things that are impossible with man are possible with God Compare German Life, book I, chapter 18. ." On account of these same detractors it came about, I think, that John wrote so many books on the holy widow, some of which, and especially the Septililium, seem to be her defense. There namely he relates many things (as chapter III of the prologue has) to stop the mouths of those who might perhaps attempt to reprove these deeds or words as less in accord with reason or with sacred Scripture.

[47] prudently, But he was very far from defending Bl. Dorothea without due consideration. For a man already advanced in age, rather slow to believe wonderful things Compare Hipler, page 222. , yet versed in them and for some time occupied in excerpting the writings of St. Bridget Compare ibid., pages 213 and 289. Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 258. , he had long before given proofs of how rightly he applied limit and measure to things. He had seen clearly that those unaccustomed ways are slippery and that many have fallen in them, and therefore, when Dorothea asked for the reclusory, he examined her thoroughly for more than a year and a half Lindan Life, chapter 57. . In order, then, to manage the matter with exact judgment, he took care first of all by every means to express most faithfully what the servant of God related, nothing added or omitted. After he had read back the writings to her who dictated them, he was accustomed to send them [Compare Latin Life, book I, chapter 7, below in the Appendix. Lindan Life, chapter 59.] to John Rymann, a priest of proven prudence; who, even when made supreme jurist of the Order, returned to Kwidzyn as often as he could, to see the blessed recluse. Together, considering the things revealed again and again, they held nothing more important than first to test the good faith and probity of the seer. And this, long seen clearly, Marienwerder testifies thus before the papal delegates Linda, part II, page 129 and following. :

[48] as he himself testifies, He also said the confessor, or Marienwerder himself, of Dorothea that she was truthful in words and deeds, because she had the spirit of truth or the indweller of the heart, who was very often invisibly sent to her, and therefore those things are with merit to be believed true, which she said of her life, or of the benefits conferred by the Lord; for she did not say those things desirous of empty glory, or of human complaisance, or of temporal gain, or of promotion, but for the glory of God, by whose aid and the benefit of his goodness she led such a life as she expressed. Nor did she use levity, in saying those things which are contained in her books concerning her life and the benefits of God; because her life, full of chastisements and wounds, remained hidden from every man, up to the end of her life, nor would she have disclosed it then, had she not been urged to this by the Lord, and induced many times by the lord John Rayman, doctor of decretals, and by the same confessor who deposes. Of such a life of hers, indeed, they knew nothing before the last twenty weeks of her life, although she had been known to them already two years before, and had expressed to them the great benefits of God, also only as commanded by the Lord; nor had she said anything of such matters to any of her confessors before them, as both they themselves * and some of them told him, one of whom is the lord Nicholas, preacher at Gdańsk for many years, and her confessor for a full eight years. For she, desiring to lie hidden, so long kept silence, hiding her secrets, until she was impelled by the Lord God to express them; and when she had been instructed and also certified what things, of what kind, how, to what persons she should disclose, she on this account sometimes, concerning the expressing of some things which seemed to sound to her praise or excellence, did not say such things at once after the first command of the Lord, and fearing for her frailty and that of others, she delayed, until she was commanded again, or further, or was reproved for the delay; and from then on, in expressing them, she began to weep, fearing that she could not delay longer without offending God; and also because she could not lie hidden, as she desired out of most true humility. Let the lover of truth, then, and the pious interpreter receive as true her words, for she would have had no cause for saying false or lying things of herself or of another, especially since this would have been to the damnation of her soul; for she so conducted herself, that she could truthfully say with the Apostle: I do not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ does not work through me; and: I count all things as dung, that I may gain Christ; and: May I be found in him configured to his death, namely that in the present I may be incorporated into him in my inmost parts, configured more perfectly to his passion, and in the future may obtain him for the gain much desired. Moreover, as is indicated by those words, she not only began to disclose her matters at the Lord's command, but in order that she might proceed, it was necessary that these or similar things be often said to her divinely: Write boldly, do not be idle Compare Latin Life, book I, chapter 7, below in the Appendix. .

[49] weighed by the rule of Scripture Having found Bl. Dorothea sincere and truthful, Rymann and Marienwerder were not forthwith light in believing, but through long times and many efforts they tested whether the spirits were from God Ibid., chapter 5, below. ; since the woman herself was often very anxious lest anything from another spirit should cling to what was revealed to her by the Holy Spirit Marienwerder, Expositio symboli. Compare Hipler, page 272. , and she said: "I do not wish that you bring forth from my mouth over the earth and to the light any writing out of harmony with the truth." For the confessors must weigh well what was revealed and see whether they disagree with or agree with the sacred page Latin Life, book I, chapter 4. . And in very truth, they obeyed the most wise admonition Compare Benedict XIV, De beatif. SS., book III, chapter LIII, De revelationibus. , especially the dean of the chapter of Pomesania; of whom the Lord is reported not rarely to have said words of this kind to Bl. Dorothea:… You will be able to speak to one discreet and learned priest, who will have to weigh well your utterances, and see whether they agree with sacred Scripture [Latin Life, book I, chapter 1. Compare German Life, book II, chapter 29. Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 273.] ; and Marienwerder saw them so accordant with sacred Scripture, that no one learned in the sacred page could reprove them Lindan Life, chapter 37, below. .

[50] and supported by divine signs, The proofs and indications, then, found in that inquiry, Marienwerder wove here and there into his works; as when he narrates that he examined Dorothea as to how she knew that her raptures were not fanciful appearances nor dreams. To the confessor asking this she answered in general: "By all things revealed I am kindled to the love of God and neighbor … to devotion and detestation of sin … to firm patience, continence, to vigor in doing well, to benevolence and humility Linda, part II, page 148. ." John often notices too and warns the reader, that the more excellent the gifts with which that chosen woman was heaped by God, the more lowly she behaved, and that this humility, not painted but sincere, was a sign of divine action [Compare Latin Life, book V, chapter 45, book VI, chapters 6, 19. German Life, book III, chapters 20, 22, 23, 35. Linda, part II, page 145.] . In another place John, treating of visions, says: All these things this chosen one saw, and she wove them together in elegant words and sentences in pronouncing them, which she could not have so pronounced, since she was an ignorant woman and wholly unlettered, had she not so beheld them in truth and had the Spirit of wisdom instructed her Linda, page 150. . The same Marienwerder in the Latin Life Book I, chapter 4. Compare ibid., chapters 3, 6 and following. : The Holy Spirit suggested to her what the practice of disputations and meditation in the law of the Lord did not grant to them or to others. And if they had a greater understanding of speculative knowledge, she yet had a more excellent acquaintance with the things of the Lord that are to be tasted … this acquaintance she recounted in no unskilled speech in her language, namely German. Moreover very many hearing her words were pricked in heart, consoled, bettered Latin Life, book I, chapter 5, below in the Appendix. . Indeed the confessor understood truly from the things which he heard and saw that… Dorothea the spirit

of prophecy had Linda, part II, page 151. . These signs and many more Compare Lindan Life, chapter 20. German Life, book I, chapter 20. the biographer not only scattered through his works, but also, collecting them into one place, he thus entitled certain parts of the books: Truthful testimonies that she had not been deceived concerning the revelations… Twenty-four probable signs persuading the same, etc. These we think should be published in the Appendix.

[51] at least as to the sum of the matter. These things being weighed, he judged thus in sum: If the revelations which by the Lord's command she pronounced, and the deponent wrote from her mouth, were well weighed, there would be found in them an adorning and confirming of the faith, and also an illustration of sacred Scripture Marienwerder in the Process of canonization, page 198. Compare Hipler, page 267. … Which was said more than once in the process: Examining her we found her truthful, having a sound understanding, not fanciful, having regard also to the subject of the things revealed, which was wholesome, and to the modes of the one seeing, which were customary in sacred Scripture, and to the very person seeing, and to the fruits and usefulness of the visions, which was profitable to the Church and the faith… Dorothea herself was not only a simple and good Christian, but also wonderfully adorned, strengthened and illustrated the Christian faith Process of canonization, cited in Hipler, page 227. . Her revelations, says Rymann, were in sum profound Ibid.; compare page 267. Linda, part II, page 152 and following. . Yet John of Marienwerder did not approve them all in the same manner: but, with the prudence that belonged to the man, he warns that some conflict with the visions of other saints; and accordingly in writing out the historical revelations, that is, those in which the life of our Lord and of the Mother of God was presented, he by no means contends that all things in reality so happened, but only that they so appeared to the holy woman contemplating. Indeed, he used neither these nor other visions to declare the mysteries of the faith Compare Hipler, pages 264 and 272. , however much he praised them.

[52] She erred concerning the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. How the people of her country felt about the revelations of Bl. Dorothea we have now set forth; what they were in themselves we by no means intend to inquire. This alone should be added: since in one of them the Lord is reported to have said: "My most sweet mother was conceived in original sin" De festis, chapter XCII, below in the Appendix. , we wish the reader to be warned that John, the chief confessor of the pious woman, in controversies mostly agrees with the Fathers of the Order of Preachers Hipler, page 201. ; and accordingly there applies to the holy Prussian woman what Nicolaus Lancicius wrote of Bl. Catherine of Siena: If truly that statement that the Blessed Virgin was conceived in original sin was made by St. Catherine, she said it, not by God's revealing, but from her own spirit and mind, as being a spiritual daughter of the Dominican Fathers, by whom she had been taught this opinion. It is to be known, however, that when some pious persons rapt from the senses say something, they often speak from their own mind and sometimes hallucinate. This is only too certain, and those skilled in such matters know it, and it is established from authentic ecclesiastical histories, and I could name certain women placed in the number of the saints by the decrees of the Apostolic See, whose sayings and writings uttered in raptures and derived from raptures I have read, sprinkled with great hallucinations, and therefore not permitted to be printed. These words Benedict XIV himself brings forward, where he inquires whether it can happen that some saint may have revelations not sent by the Holy Spirit, but arising from his own judgment and reasoning, inasmuch as his intellect, led by pious affection, and imbued with opinions on some matter that savors of piety, judges the spirit to be divine, when nevertheless … it is deceived. It can happen that some saint, from preconceived opinions, or ideas fixed in the imagination, may think that some things have been revealed to him by God, which have not been revealed by God [De beatif. SS., book III, chapter LIII, number 17. Compare Acta SS., volume VI of May, page 246.] .

[53] The stigmata now being passed over, As is copiously narrated in the Lives, the Lord not only communicated in a wonderful manner with Bl. Dorothea, but impressed his stigmata upon her body (as upon the bodies of several saints). On this subject our Théophile Raynaud composed an excellent little work, to which the title is: On sacred and profane stigmatism, divine, human, demonic Compare Acta SS., volume II of October, page 651 and following. . Further, many saw the wounds after the holy woman's death. Bishop John Mönch in the process of canonization of the year 1404 testified that … on the day of her death he would willingly have seen her wounds, but he could not come near the bier for the multitude of the people, because the whole night they guarded her body with the greatest devotion. Afterwards however, when the body was taken up to be laid in the new tomb, noble and truthful men, so the bishop again, and a certain Sister Catherine, professed of the Order of Mary, and the lords and masters John of Marienwerder … John Reyman … and others … all said that they had seen scars on the body of the Lady Dorothea. These Marienwerder describes in the same process: After her death, he says, he saw some scars on the back … and especially six large ones, two under the shoulder blades etc. [Compare Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, pages 213, 329 and following. Linda, part II, page 138.] . But there is no reason for us to treat at greater length in this place of those things, which will be described below in more words. It follows, then, that we inspect the prophecies of the servant of God.

[54] Bl. Dorothea knew in a wonderful manner things past, In the Sermons of Jelinus of Vodňany, canon of Prague, Bl. Dorothea is proclaimed as a prophetess Hipler, page 250. . Since, however, scarcely anything is indicated of her prophecies in the Lives to be published below, the chinks must be filled from the Process of canonization and other monuments of that age. In the writing offered to the papal delegates in the year 1404, Marienwerder says of himself: The confessor understood truly from the things which he heard and saw, that the aforesaid Lady Dorothea had the spirit of prophecy, prophesying according to the threefold mode of prophecy things present, past and future, although she lost the reason of prophecy in the first two. The aforesaid * she pronounced in truth, such as the states of her aforesaid confessors before the priesthood, noting the time of the priesthood, and even their ages, more distinctly than they themselves recounted, as to certain things, concerning which she expressed certain disfigured affections and sins Linda, part II, page 151. … A little above: By the aid of grace she knew the souls of certain men as to their inclining affections and temptations, and pronounced to some, as to her confessor the deponent, and to her other confessors, and to certain others… She saw the disposition of her confessors … what they had been before the priesthood for time and place, saying distinctly their sins… So at times she knew the affections of those confessing even in absence, expressing the persons as to both outward and inward bearing … and she told him many things of such matters, and he knew from sure signs that it was so…

[55] things absent Present things at a great distance she knew, and pronounced that it was so in truth, the devotion of certain persons at Masses or other canonical hours … so of a certain provost, who had flour in sacks carried to the waters by his subjects on the fourth feria of Pentecost, which is celebrated in the Church of Pomesania, having this as his intention, that the poor subjects would then do this more conveniently, so that on the other days afterwards they might attend to their own affairs: those affections and burdens she knew at a notable distance. So she knew … of many other things present as to time, not as to sight, which were reported by several witnesses in the interrogations of the year 1404, and in some part published by the writers of the life [Ibid., page 147 and following, 151. Compare Process of canonization, pages 193 and 155, in Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, pages 261 and 262. Compare Hipler, page 237 and following.] .

[56] and future, Likewise she foretold future things, namely the death of Clement the antipope, and of certain others, and foretold some future things, which so came to pass Linda, part II, page 152. . Many of these became known while the cause of canonization was being pursued. To enumerate some, in the year 1404 Bertrand, provost of the chapter, testifies that it was truly foretold to him that he would have to carry with him everywhere for a cross hunger, thirst, contempt, adversities, derision, persecutions, misery of body, tribulation of spirit, want of things Hipler, page 294. Compare Scriptt. rer. Prussic., volume II, page 262. . Long before he had known by prediction that he would be placed at the head of the chapter. The seer also foretold the circumstances of her own death. John, bishop of Pomesania, narrates that on a certain day in conversation with her he added these words: "Would that I could yet be near at your end!" To which the Lady Dorothea answered saying: "There will be no one of men near at my end," and so it came about, as the deponent said [Process of canonization, page 288 and following, in Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 263.] . She foreknew also how great an agitation of minds there would be after her death, and other things of this kind [Compare Latin Life, book VII, chapter 11. German Life, book III, chapter 37. Lindan Life, chapter 86. Linda, part II, page 164.] .

[57] as concerning the Teutonic Order, confidence in God giving help, We cannot but add some prophecies which pertain to the history of the Teutonic Order and which vehemently moved her contemporaries. They were committed to writing in the very process of canonization. John, bishop of Pomesania, heard from the Lady Dorothea herself: she foretold the death of the grand master of Prussia, namely of Lord Conrad Wallenrode, and as she foretold, so it happened; then the election of the present master, namely of Lord Conrad of Jungingen, she foretold a good two months before. And the deponent added that when the aforesaid master had died, the said lord bishop who deposes wrote to Master John, confessor of the said Lady Dorothea, that he should ask her to intercede with the Lord, that he provide the land of Prussia with a good ruler, which the Lord committed to her. And at length when the said Lady Dorothea went around in spirit all the castles of the land of Prussia and found none, she said to the aforesaid confessor that the Lord had hidden this from her. After this the Lord, wishing to console her, revealed to her concerning the present master, saying that the country would be pacified on every side, if he had confidence in the Lord, and further, that he would have to endure very many dangers, and if he had confidence in the Lord, he would escape all. All of which came to pass, because the same master was in six great dangers, from all of which he escaped. The first was on the campaign or expedition against the infidels, namely on the island of St. Mary; likewise in the waters, namely in the sea Kurischab

so called; likewise before the castle Wille of the duke of Lithuania, where he then was with a great army; likewise on the return to the country of Prussia in the forest, where he was surrounded by the pagans. From all which dangers the said master was freed by the intercession of the Lady Dorothea Process of canonization, page 286. .

[58] of the dangers The same things Conrad of Jungingen himself confirmed on oath Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 654 and following. . He said that … Bl. Dorothea had shone with miracles in her life: and that this was established for him from the truthful report … made by John, bishop of Pomesania, to the deponent by word of mouth and also by letter. For when in the year … 1394 he had prepared himself with a great army to invade and go against the infidel Lithuanians, and when … with his grand marshal and the commander at Christburg, he had gone ahead of the army for the disposition and repair of a certain castle, named Ritterswerder, and * had gone out upon the sea which is called Kewrischhap, to sail to the said castle: so great a storm arose …, that he nearly despaired of life, and so being in such danger he committed himself to almighty God, and so escaped the danger of the sea and came to the said island, on which he wished to repair the castle of Ritterswerder, with three hundred men. And when he had come to the island, Witolt on the other side of the island had a great army gathered. Seeing which the deponent, late in the evening, had the water or river tested, and two fords were found, by which Witolt could have come to the deponent and his men, the horses crossing in the water about to the knees.

[59] of its supreme master And so being on that island in danger and straits, he received a letter sent… by John, bishop of Pomesania, and had it read through to him; in which it was written how Mother Dorothea, while she was among the living, had foretold of him that in his first campaign … against the Lithuanians he would have to undergo four dangers, namely at sea, on a certain island, before a certain castle, and in a certain forest; and if he trusted in his wagons, crossbowmen and the multitude of his army, he would escape with great difficulty; but if he committed himself and his men… to God, he would escape easily. On receiving and understanding this letter, he was wholly consoled by it, and he wholly commended himself and his men to almighty God; and in the night he placed the timber which had been brought to the said island for the repair of the castle before the fords, and made from it a fortification for himself and his men; so that the infidels, Withowdus with his Lithuanians, in the morning did not dare to cross the river to the said island. And so by God's help he escaped the second danger. Of the first …, namely that of the sea, he has already spoken. And after this he left the said island, and went with the army to storm the castle of Vilnius, and when … he could not storm it, he ordered that all … prepare for withdrawal, and burn the shelters made by the army. This order being given, they set fire to the shelters. When these were burning, a very great wind blew, and … so great a smoke arose in the army, that one could scarcely see another. And so with the fire and smoke growing strong, the army was in great danger. For if the Lithuanians had come out of the castle, they would have inflicted irreparable harm on the Christians. And so the deponent … committed himself wholly to God, and so they withdrew without harm. And after this, when they were on the way returning toward Prussia, and had come to a certain forest, and Wittoldus with the Lithuanians and Samogitians had set ambushes for the army on all sides in the said forest, the deponent again commended himself wholly to God with his army, and so by the help of God and of the archers whom he had, he escaped… And the deponent added that these future things, which she foretold of him and his success, she could not have known, except from the revelation of God, and … he believes that he was freed by the intercession of Bl. Dorothea [Compare Die Chronik Wigands von Marburg, in Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 655 and following. Johann's von Posilge Chronik des Landes Preussen, at the year 1394, in Scriptt. Pruss., volume III, page 193 and following.] .

[60] and of the ruin of the Order itself. Of this matter testimony was also given by Conrad Lichtenstein, grand commander of the whole Order; Wilhelm of Helfenstein, commander at Graudenz, a professed member of the same Order; likewise Heinrich Hartwig, forest-master at Beenhoff Linda, part II, page 98 and following. . Finally that the fall of the Teutonic Order was foreseen is reported by Grunau, and after him by John Leo: She foretold that the flourishing Teutonic Order would in time fail. By which she made the Crusaders hostile to her, who also on her account held suspect the bishop who maintained her. Dorothea had published that prophecy concerning the future state of the Order because some president of Papau had pressed her about it Compare Lilienthal, Hist. B. Dorotheæ, page 73. .

[61] Very many miracles are reported to have been wrought by her, It remains for us to treat briefly of the prodigies attributed to Bl. Dorothea; not as if all things carried about under this name should seem true and genuine miracles; but it is worth the effort to learn how great a hope the Prussians placed in their holy fellow-countrywoman, with what spirit they received benefits, and how diligently these were preserved in writing. Those which occurred while the servant of God was living are reported by the biographers; those after her death are extant in that Passional of Bödeken from which we have the first Life copied. They agree in substance, although they are indicated much more briefly, with those which were examined in the cause of beatification. Namely, on the 24th of June of the year 1404, in the infirmary of the chapter of Pomesania, a certain Lord Nicholas Glochaw … went up to the wooden step of the infirmary itself, and standing on it … summoned all and each of those for whom miracles had been done at the intercession of Bl. Dorothea. Very many were present, and therefore the lords commissioners … considering that so many people, as had then come together to the church of Pomesania to bear testimony to the truth, it would be difficult to examine according to all the articles contained in the roll even within a year, deliberated that they would examine some people, for whom miracles had been done, only concerning the miracles done for them … for this occasion Linda, part II, page 69. .

[62] which, written down immediately after her death, The miracles nevertheless had already long before been committed to writing, since they were written down (as we read in the letter given in the year 1395 by John of Marienwerder and John Rymann to Boniface IX) by a notary, whom for this purpose in the past year the same our lord bishop had specially deputed, to collect them and faithfully write them down in the presence of suitable witnesses Voigt, Codex dipl. Pruss., volume V, page 77. . The same John of Marienwerder testified on the 27th of October of the year 1404 before the papal delegates. In the process likewise John Rymann said that he saw and knows the notaries writing down the miracles in the church of Pomesania, and saw the books in which the miracles were written down Compare Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 182 and following. . When informed of some prodigy, the canons had the witnesses duly examined and their testimonies recorded by the notaries according to the formulas. But since these, in order better to verify the facts, sometimes undertook journeys, the canons themselves also committed many miracles to writing. In the Acts of the process we read: From the hearing of Nicholas Rogozen, formerly custodian of the Church of Pomesania, who was accustomed to write them down, and to whom as custodian the said miracle was made public. After Nicholas in the year 1396 the custodian of the chapter was the canon Bertrand, and in the year 1403 John Tieffensee; all of whom wrote them down, as is said above Hipler, page 249. .

[63] have come to us only in part. As soon as the acts concerning some singular benefit were complete, the dean of the chapter pronounced them, as John of Marienwerder asserts of himself that many things told him by the persons for whom they were said to have been done, and by the notaries writing them down, he published from the ambo Ibid., page 150. . And witnesses questioned in the year 1404 about the spreading of the miracles answered that they had heard very many miracles published from the ambo in the church of Pomesania Process of canonization, in Linda, part II, page 85 and following. . These volumes, moreover, were diligently preserved. Bertrand, questioned on the 3rd of November of the year 1404, answered that he had written down many miracles in the said church of Pomesania, and has in his power some books of the aforesaid miracles. In the following year John Tieffensee asserts that he has six books written of the miracles of the Lady Dorothea, which books he keeps in the church of Pomesania, as custodian of that church. Lastly, on the 8th of February of the year 1406, the lords commissioners … sitting in tribunal, Arnold the procurator … exhibited and showed seven volumes, two on the life … and five others written on the miracles. But nothing of all these, as they believe, survives, except some miracles which, written down by him on paper, one of the notaries, Christian Coslaw, gave on the 16th of October of the year 1404, and which are enclosed in the Acts of the process. We, however, shall publish those brief narrations, which as we have noted the Bödeken manuscript presents Hipler, page 249. .

* should it not be ipsa?

* read præterita

* perhaps sicque

§ IV. The beginnings of the cult of Bl. Dorothea. The process of her beatification. Cult at Montau, Toruń, Chełmno. Patroness of Poland. Hymn and prayer in her honor.

Shortly after her death Bl. Dorothea began to be venerated Bl. Dorothea had scarcely departed from life, when she already began in some measure to be publicly venerated, as is manifest from the concourse of Christ's faithful at her tomb, placed in the cathedral church of Kwidzyn itself. Many coming there in the very year of her death obtained frequent benefits through her intercession. To this time also is to be referred the beginning of the innumerable pilgrimages, which were afterwards undertaken to the tomb of the blessed woman not only by the Christians of the parts of Prussia, but also by those who are placed in the furthest bounds of the world amid the pagans Process of canonization, articles, in Linda, part II, pages 15 and 65. ; and the very pagans and infidels, who as captives are brought to the parts of Prussia from the parts of the pagans, and the captives themselves, after they are released from captivity, with the greatest devotion come reverently to the said tomb, and there pay the vows they have made and offer oblations. Among those who visited the tomb are mentioned the wife of Vytautas, prince of Lithuania, and her brother Sigismund Lilienthal, page 125. . This piety, of which fuller treatment will be given in the Life to be published below and in the annotations, greatly diminished after some years, was nevertheless not yet obsolete in the middle of the eighteenth century [Ibid. Compare

Hartknoch, Dissert. de variis rebus Prussicis, dissertation XIV, page 233. Compare Verhandl. der 13 Kath. Generalvers., page 178. Munich, 1862.] . The mere crowding around the tomb, however, I should not dare to call ecclesiastical cult; but no one will easily deny that it was public veneration.

[65] with some ecclesiastical cult. But it seems nearer to belief that shortly after her death the blessed servant of God was honored also with ecclesiastical cult. For before the year 1406 very many people, on account of a benefit sought from God and obtained by the intercession of Bl. Dorothea, offered to her votive pictures, offerings of wax, silver and gold, mostly presenting the form of the limbs healed, or other things of this kind Linda, part II, pages 15 and 65. , to be kept in the church in the sight of the people. Which things, admitted into sacred buildings by ecclesiastical authority, are open signs of ecclesiastical cult [Benedict XIV, De beatif., book II, chapter IX, number 4; chapter XI, numbers 10, 11, 14.] . The same is to be said of the name of Blessed Linda, part II, page 56 and following. by which they designated Dorothea at the same time, not only the common folk, but also altogether distinguished men, giving testimony of her virtues and holiness before the papal delegates themselves; such as were Conrad of Jungingen, master general of the whole Teutonic Order; Conrad Lichtenstein, Wilhelm of Helfenstein, commanders of the same Order Ibid., page 92 and following. ; Nicholas of Hohenstein and John of Marienwerder, confessors of the servant of God, and others Ibid., pages 120 and 125. . Which appellation Innocent VIII also gave her in the bull of the 28th of January of the year 1486 Theiner, Vetera monumenta Poloniæ et Lithuaniæ, volume II, page 233. .

[66] In the year 1395 her canonization is requested, But this cult, certainly legitimate, inasmuch as approved by the bishop of the place according to the norm of the law of that time, did not sufficiently correspond to the very great devotion of the people. Wherefore already from the year 1395 the bishops, John Mönch of Pomesania, Henry of Samland, Henry Sauerbaum of Warmia and Nicholas of Chełmno; Conrad of Jungingen, master of the Teutonic Order; abbots, canons and other dignitaries earnestly asked Boniface IX, Roman pontiff, that he solemnly inscribe Dorothea on the roll of the saints. They took care at the same time to have offered to him a brief Life and an authentic report of the miracles. Indeed some things had been sent previously in certain small papers as news to the procurator general of the Order, by … the lord bishop of Pomesania … with our assent (as Rymann and Marienwerder write to the supreme pontiff) to be shown to Your Holiness … But from now we direct to Your Holiness others lastly written down by a notary J. Voigt, Cod. dipl. Pruss., volume V, page 77. . Already in the same year certain Germans, having gone on pilgrimage to the City, were heard as witnesses Hipler, page 253 and following; compare 278 and 283. .

[67] and soon new honors are paid her. But before an answer was given by the Roman pontiff, in the year 1396 two estates were bought by the chapter of Pomesania … so that from their revenues two Masses might be held … the first is to be sung … by two priests and four scholars … This Mass ought to be sung of All Saints, until our aforesaid mother, the happy Dorothea, shall have been canonized. But after she shall have been canonized, then the first Mass of All Saints shall be omitted, and the Mass of Bl. Dorothea herself sung daily in chant at her tomb… Which cult is to be thought of as ecclesiastical, as will be indicated at number 70. Likewise in the year of the Lord 1395 on All Souls' day there was offered at the tomb of the venerable Lady Dorothea a silver candlestick, gilded in some parts, wonderfully wrought, with so many gold pieces, namely 440 … that a light could be kept for all time to last near the tomb in the aforesaid candlestick; in such a way that during the canonical hours and the Mass a double or triple candle should burn; but otherwise by day and night the burning light or candle could be single. And these things are from the Annals of the chapter of Pomesania written by Marienwerder himself, and in some part published by J. Voigt Cod. dipl. Pruss., volume V, page 56 and following. ; who however does not indicate the author, nor did he transcribe the manuscript accurately. They have recently been published anew Scriptores rerum Prussicarum, volume V, page 430 and following. . As appears from the manuscripts of the archive of Königsberg, those signs of piety were soon followed by similar ones: the master of the Teutonic Order himself, for example, taking care that a light be lit at the tomb at his expense Compare J. Voigt, Geschichte Marienburgs, page 242. . Indeed in the Danzig church of the Mother of God, which Bl. Dorothea had very often visited Compare Lindan Life, chapter 30, below. , there are reported soon to have existed a chapel (already in the year 1406) and a pious confraternity distinguished by her name Hipler, page 288. .

[68] The process of canonization begins, But meanwhile Boniface, yielding to the prayers of all ranks, as we read in the bull given on the 18th of March of the year 1404, ordered that the process of canonization be carried out by the cardinals Angelo, of the title of St. Lawrence in Damaso, Henry, of the title of St. Anastasia, Cosmato, of the title of Holy Cross in Jerusalem, Rainaldo, of the title of St. Vitus in Macello. And he committed to the bishops of Chełmno and Warmia, and to the abbot of the monastery of Oliva, that, going in person to the place where… the body of Dorothea rests, … they should take cognizance of the reputation, life, merits, and devotion of the people … and also of the miracles Linda, part II, page 7 and following. . So from the 24th of June to the 6th of November of the year 1404 one hundred and ninety-two men or women gave testimony. After Innocent VII, formerly Cardinal Cosmato, succeeded Boniface IX in the year 1405, sixty-six witnesses in the cause of Bl. Dorothea were heard before the papal judges. All these Acts were sent on the 10th of February of the year 1406 to Innocent VII. Long afterwards, indeed still in the year 1417, as is clear from the monuments of the archive of Königsberg, work was being done toward the canonization [Compare Aufzeichnungen zur Gesch. des Bisthums Pomesanien, in Scriptt. Pruss., volume V, pages 400 and 403.] . The Holy See did not grant it. As nevertheless the Church of Pomesania persisted in what it had undertaken, its bishop, John IV, sparing no effort, betook himself to Rome in the year 1486 Ibid., page 408. Voigt, Geschichte Preussens, volume IX, page 155 and following. .

[69] and in the year 1486 it is resumed, but in vain. In this year, then, at the request also of the master general of the Teutonic Order, the cause was resumed, and Pope Innocent VIII wrote to Stephen, bishop of Chełmno: We command that you send … to us … a transcript of it of the Process drawn up in the year 1406 well and faithfully written. So these documents were copied, and indeed in two copies: of which one, once kept in the archive of the Teutonic Order, the archive of Königsberg has today; the other was sent to Rome Hipler, page 287. . But with what success is not known. Why, however, after the year 1406 the matter fell to nothing, some have devised some causes, others others. Some think that the Order was unequal to meeting the expense which had to be incurred in pursuing the process and celebrating the canonization. And in very truth we read in contemporary historians that the parts of Prussia at that time had come almost to the extreme of want [Compare J. von Posilge, Chron. contin., in Scriptt. Pruss., volume III, page 331.] . Some writers, hostile to the Roman Church, pretend that the Holy See, on account of its enmities with the Teutonic Order or Crusaders, was unwilling to give them the new patroness whom they earnestly requested. Certain others, straying with contrary conjectures, think that at the beginning of the fifteenth century the canonization was neglected because Bl. Dorothea published a prophecy and revelation shameful to the Order, and on that account came to be hated by it. Many things cry out against this opinion. For the same authors, to bring forward only one thing, admit that this prediction became known to the Crusaders while the blessed recluse was still living, and that nevertheless they worked for many years that Dorothea be inscribed on the roll of the saints. Why they should suddenly have changed their mind, no probable reason is brought forward. Omitting also the other fictions or suspicions of authors, it will not be out of place to indicate in a few words the opinion of Frederick Szembek: The outcome of the business, he says, we do not yet know, since many writings were burned at Rome in the age of Charles V, and the archive of the cathedral church of Pomesania was carried off from Kwidzyn by the heretics [Compare Jaroszewicza, Matka swietych Polska, volume I, page 465, edition of 1850 (J. Stadler and F. Heim, Vollst. Heiligen-Lexicon, volume I, page 806. Lilienthal, page 127 and following, 145 and following).] .

[70] Meanwhile Bl. Dorothea is venerated at Montau, Meanwhile that the honors of the saints were paid to Bl. Dorothea in the village of Montau, her birthplace, from earliest memory, is indubitable from a Polish inscription placed there on the wall of the parish church, which toward the end of the seventeenth century was so old, that already then (as John Hansler, priest of the Society of Jesus and German preacher at Toruń, wrote to Papebroch in the year 1679) it had been renewed and painted for the perpetual memory of the matter. This, rendered into Latin and printed, the same Hansler sent to our predecessors Manuscripts of the Royal Library of Brussels, number 8926. . The words of the inscription are these: Blessed Dorothea of Montau. Saint of Prussia and patroness of this place. Her father Wilhelm Schwartz a farmer of this village, her mother Agatha, born among the stubble, that she might shine. Do not reckon her base because a villager: from a denser cloud the rainbow is more brilliant; nor is the sun ashamed to come forth from the darkness. God has made known his power, choosing the weak things of the world: 1 Corinthians. That she may be an example of virtue and have a famous name: Ruth. The husband offered to her she therefore accepted, because she could not refuse, that by a sad marriage she might increase her trials. She made miracles illustrious by virtue, virtue by miracles, as much speaking prodigies as doing them. That she might know herself the better, she begged to be unknown. She obtained to be hidden and enclosed at the then cathedral church at Kwidzyn: there for fourteen entire months, greater than man in vigils, prayers, fasting, mortifications, since she could now live no more holily, she would live no longer. Amid the attendance of those in heaven and sighs she expired. An august dweller, out of straits and her own cell she flew away to heaven, on the 25th of June, in the year of the Lord 1394, of her age the 48th. I suspect that to the most ancient times is also to be referred the custom, of which Fred. Szembek speaks In Lilienthal, page 149. , of celebrating every year a Mass in honor of the Most Holy Trinity on the anniversary of the death of Bl. Dorothea. Which rite indeed is a sign of ecclesiastical cult, being used only in honor of the saints: for, as Benedict XIV says De beatif. SS., book II, chapter XX, numbers 16 and 17. , since it is best detected from the circumstances that a Mass of that kind (of the Most Holy Trinity or of All Saints) is not at all offered for the soul of that servant of God, on whose anniversary

day it is celebrated, but is substituted in place of the Mass of requiem, because it is piously believed that the same soul has no need of our suffrages; this confidence expressed through the sacrifice of the Mass implies public cult, although a lesser one than that which is signified by a Mass celebrated with the name of the servant of God himself expressed in the collects. Which opinion the same Benedict XIV confirms by several decrees of the Holy See.

[71] and together with St. Jutta, at Chełmno, It must not be passed over that the cult of Bl. Dorothea was associated from antiquity with the cult of Bl. Jutta, likewise a Polish widow, who died at Chełmno in the year 1264. For indeed in the chapel of the cathedral church of Chełmno, in which Bl. Jutta is said to be buried, there have existed from time immemorial images of her as a saint. Among these on the south side is a painted panel twelve palms high, in which at the right hand of the blessed woman there is depicted … St. Dorothea, widow of Prussia, having on her left side, fixed in her heart, three fiery darts, and four spears on the right side, on account of the wonderful vision of the wounds inflicted on her, of which her Life treats… At the left stands Bl. John Lobedau of Toruń, the confessor of St. Jutta. When the pious King Sigismund, visiting the tomb of Bl. Jutta in the year 1627, found that this image together with the inscription had been renewed three times, he did not doubt that the honors of the saints had been paid from remote times to Blessed Dorothea, Jutta and John. In the same year 1627 the canon Gabriel Wladislawski, wishing to restore the memory which had grown all too antiquated, and to transfer it into a more durable form, ordered a picture to be made, of the same size as the earlier and of the same outlines and colors, but mixed with oil, to be substituted for that old one; he also had a new epigram added in honor of the Patrons of Prussia. Szembek adds, with whom John Lipski, bishop of Chełmno and Pomesania, agrees, that a hundred years before there were found on ciboria, altars and windows of various churches in Prussia, carved or painted, images of the same saints Dorothea and Jutta; also printed on paper both at Rome and in Belgium, and even in printed books [Acta SS., volume VII of May, page 609 and following. Compare Lilienthal, page 156.] .

[72] and at Toruń. Which cult is pronounced legitimate by the bishop. And so ecclesiastical cult had already been paid to Blessed Dorothea and Jutta for more than a hundred years, when in the year 1634 Urban VIII tempered the immoderate veneration of the servants of God. Nevertheless John Lipski, fearing lest that cult be called in doubt in future times, resolved to leave to posterity a lasting expression of it. Using his ordinary power Benedict XIV, De beatif. SS., book II, chapter VII, number 1. , he therefore pronounced it legitimate, and renewed it with great ceremony in the principal church both of Toruń and of Chełmno. Since Papebroch inserted a lengthy description of this solemnity in our Acta, and M. Töppen has published it again from there in the Scriptores rerum Prussicarum Volume II, page 388 and following. , we think that it should be only briefly indicated. Further, the festivity was begun at Toruń on the 2nd of May of the year 1637, the two hundred and forty-fourth anniversary of the enclosure of Bl. Dorothea. On the following day the bishop committed to Alexander Dorpowski, canon and official of the cathedral church of Chełmno (which he made known to all by public letters), that he should cause the images of the same saints Dorothea, recluse of Kwidzyn, and Jutta of Sangerhausen, widows, ancient protectors for some hundreds of years of Prussia and most of all of our dioceses … to be exposed and placed for the veneration of the faithful by our ordinary authority, together with fragments of the reclusory of the same St. Dorothea enclosed in a separate little chest. All of which was observed to the letter. Then in a public procession four crowned youths carried the images of each of the holy widows on their shoulders. These and others were followed by the official, carrying in an iron chest the fragments of the reclusory of Bl. Dorothea. The solemnities which the people of Toruń prolonged through a whole octave, the people of Chełmno too splendidly instituted on the 7th of June following, on the feast of the Most Holy Trinity Acta SS., volume VII of May, page 610 and following. .

[73] It appears also from images Our Szembek also reports that there was once painted in the cathedral church of Chełmno an effigy of Bl. Dorothea, with this inscription: Saint and patroness of Prussia from time immemorial Lilienthal, page 156. . Lilienthal adds Ibid. that there is seen on the first pillar of the church of Frauenburg, near the door, on the right, an effigy of the blessed widow, clad in a blue undergarment and a black mantle, and holding in one hand seven arrows, directed at her own breast, in the other a rosary. To this was inscribed: Bl. Dorothea from the village of Montau, buried at Kwidzyn. She is so depicted as if she were looking at the altar from the window of her enclosure. Beneath the image these distichs are read, which were also written on the picture at Chełmno Acta SS., volume VII of May, page 608. :

Prussia, rejoice to observe such saints as patrons,

And lay up their sacred bones in purple places.

So may you not suffer plague and sword, famine and fire;

But by their aid may you be able to be safe.

On the panel of Frauenburg is read: Adrian de Linda, canon of Warmia, dedicated this in the year 1699. But that picture does not survive, nor that one either which we gather from the Process of canonization to have existed in the principal church of Kwidzyn, where a certain Margaret answered: The aforesaid Lady Dorothea appeared to the same deponent in such a habit as she is depicted in the church of Pomesania Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 298. .

[74] that Bl. Dorothea was adopted as patroness of Prussia, From which documents it is manifest not only that an altogether legitimate cult was paid to Bl. Dorothea, but also that she was adopted as patroness of Prussia long before the times of Urban VIII. Indeed the Teutonic Order conferred this honor on her shortly after her death. Nor was this unlawful before the Urban decree of the year 1630, by which only those can be chosen as patrons who are venerated by the universal Church with the title of saints, and not those merely beatified: for before this, I say, decree, as Benedict XIV shows by many examples brought forward, not only saints, but also those beatified here and there, whether by formal beatification, or by equivalent beatification, were chosen as patrons. Indeed even afterwards by papal faculty it was granted that the Peruvians should have as patroness Bl. Rose of Lima, the Poles Bl. Stanislaus Kostka, and others others De beatificat., book IV, part II, chapter XIV, number 3 and following. . Why, moreover, almost immediately after her happy passing to heaven Bl. Dorothea was placed among the patrons of her country, Conrad of Jungingen, minister general of the whole Teutonic Order, explained, in requesting solemn canonization from Boniface IX: This pious woman has been given from heaven as a patroness against the attacks of the heathen to our Order, to which have been entrusted … the watches about the bed of Solomon, namely of our mother the Church militant, as far as the bounds of the land of Prussia, on account of the attacks and assaults of the infidels Cod. dipl. Pruss., volume V, page 78. . With Conrad agree the witnesses questioned in the cause of Bl. Dorothea by the papal delegates on this article: That according to the common opinion of the people of the parts of Prussia it is firmly held and believed, that by the prayers and merits of Blessed Dorothea the Christians will shortly obtain victory against the infidel Lithuanians, and very many infidels will be converted to the faith of Christ, as also very many have been converted Linda, part II, page 66. . Which Pope Boniface IX had already mentioned, in the bull which he gave in the year 1404, where he says: Toward Dorothea there is growing so great… an ineffable and continual devotion of the Pomesanian clergy and people, that it is undoubtedly hoped, because of her patronage, that the aforesaid parts of Prussia … will be preserved from the incursions of the infidels Linda, part II, page 8. .

[75] against the infidels. Soon the Christians thought their hope fulfilled. For what Bl. Dorothea had once foretold, saying that the master general Conrad of Jungingen would be pacified in the country on every side Compare above, number 57. , this seemed at length to have been done, when on the 23rd of May of the year 1404 a peace was concluded between the Teutonic Order and the Poles and others [Johann's von Posilge Chronik des Landes Preussen, in Scriptt. Pruss., volume III, page 272. Compare Voigt, Gesch. Preussens, volume VI, page 265 and following.] . Of this peace which they called perpetual, John Rymann gave this testimony in the process: He heard and it is known, as the deponent says, through the whole country of Prussia, that the lords of Prussia partly obtained victory against the infidel Lithuanians and Samogitians, and that the rest of those infidels were converted … and made peace and concord with the people of the country of Prussia. And John of Marienwerder, being questioned, answered that he hopes and firmly believes that the confederation of perpetual peace lately made between the lands of Prussia and Lithuania, Russia, Poland, the Samogitians and Livonia, was obtained by the prayers and merits of the said Lady Dorothea. And so many others believe this same thing, as appears in the Acts of the process [Process of canonization, pages 162, 216, 270, etc., in Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 331.] . Although some years later, the peace being broken, Prussia was occupied by enemies, yet the people of Kwidzyn in some way experienced the patronage of Dorothea, since they did not suffer so great a disaster as was to be feared. At which time, as Dlugosz narrates [J. Dlugossi, Histor. Polonic., book XI, column 285. Voigt, Gesch. Preuss., volume VII, page 118.] , when the king of the Poles, who had vanquished the Crusaders, came to Kwidzyn,… the Pomesanian bishop of that place, with the canons and clergy, meeting the king in procession, received him with due veneration; and when the king had entered the cathedral church, he showed him the cell and dwelling of a certain Dorothea, a religious and devout woman, who, leading a solitary and strait life, became famous for many miracles, not yet however canonized.

[76] Her body was sought in vain. There is nothing to wonder at, then, in Bl. Dorothea's having been venerated with especial zeal, and in her tomb's having had, immediately from her death, the highest renown. But although it is established that she was laid in the church of Kwidzyn, and that her tomb still existed in the year 1544 surrounded by iron bars Lilienthal, page 90. , yet in the middle of the seventeenth century it was hidden from all in what place of the church the sacred bones lay. I do not doubt that Father John Hansler wrote Danzig for Kwidzyn in his letter of the 14th of February of the year 1676: At Danzig there is kept the body, behind the high altar, in the notable parish church, which is in the hands of non-Catholics, the body of the little maiden * St. Dorothea of Prussia, which I remember that I once saw Brussels manuscript 8926. . Moreover, since from the year 1525 the church of Kwidzyn was in the hands of heretics, the sacred relics could not easily be searched for. But the kings of Poland (to whom the tract of Kwidzyn then belonged), Sigismund III and his son Vladislaus IV, interposed their authority. A letter on this matter lately found and published

it has seemed good to excerpt Hipler, Pastoralblatt für die Diöcese Ermland, year 1881, page 131. : Vladislaus IV, by the grace of God King … to the magnificent … Supreme Councillors and Regents appointed to the government of the Duchy of Prussia, sincerely and faithfully beloved by Us. The business of the inquiry for the bones of St. Dorothea in the church of Kwidzyn, long since heard of and begun by Our most serene father and by Ourselves, and broken off by the temerity and obstinacy of the Captain of Kwidzyn, who with difficulty permitted one vaulted tomb to be opened, We have now undertaken to confirm by a more careful investigation, and accordingly, as after consultation with … the bishop of Chełmno and Pomesania We have appointed suitable persons for duly hastening this matter, so We have given letters to the Most Illustrious Elector, that he may for his part be willing that the Captain of Kwidzyn be warned, that he give the searchers designated by Us and by the Reverend Lord Bishop the power of probing and searching the pavement and walls of the church without harm to them, and of taking away from there the bones of St. Dorothea, if they shall have been found, as We wish and hope… Given at Warsaw on the 6th day of the month of March in the year of the Lord M. DCXXXVIII. Of Our Reigns, of Poland IV, of Sweden III. And so, on the testimony of Szembek and Stein, more than once the Fathers of the Society of Jesus and many others, digging all around everywhere in this church … sought the relics of this Dorothea, but found nothing Lilienthal, page 89. . They had not yet been found at the time when Theodor Lilienthal published his book. Indeed to this day so great a treasure still lies hidden, nor does it seem to be hoped that in a church which the Lutherans still hold they will soon be found.

[77] Other relics piously used. Moreover, that the very tunic of the blessed recluse, her bed, the straw on which she had lain, were thought of as relics, is easily seen in the Process of canonization Hipler, page 248. . Marienwerder already asserted the same in the Latin Life Book VII, chapter 30. : It happened many times that some were burdened by some infirmities, who with confidence applied to the affected places straw which they had received from the bed of this bride, on which she breathed out her last… Behold a wonderful thing! … from the limbs … the affliction was soon removed. Similar cures of infirmities were done through the application of parts cut from the bed and the reclusory. At Toruń too there were devoutly kept fragments of the wall of the reclusory of St. Dorothea, widow of Prussia; which, enclosed in a little chest, as we have said before, were carried about the city in the public procession of the year 1637, and then placed under the monument of the relics of Saints Barbara, Dorothea, Margaret. At last the festivity was concluded with the singing of a Polish hymn on St. Dorothea and the distribution of her Life Acta SS., volume VII of May, page 612. .

[78] The chief signs of her cult we have thus far indicated, omitting only those things which indeed are ascribed by some authors to the blessed widow, but in fact apply to another St. Dorothea, virgin and martyr at Caesarea in Cappadocia Pez, Thes. noviss. anecd., volume II, part III, page 231 and following. . It remains, then, that the most ancient Life of the blessed woman be brought forward. First, however, we have thought it fitting to add in this place a hymn and prayer in honor of Bl. Dorothea, imitating Papebroch Acta SS., volume VII of May, page 612 and following. , who placed under the eyes of his readers a similar prayer and hymn on Bl. Jutta.

* viduæ in the margin of the manuscript.

Hymn with prayers on St. Dorothea of Prussia, recluse of Kwidzyn.

From very ancient manuscripts Compare Lilienthal, page 153 and following.

Dorothea, recluse in East Prussia. (S.)

Exalt God, O Prussia,

For Dorothea your daughter,

Star of your people,

Through whom he gives to the whole

Church cause for gladness,

By his great gift.

For he regarded her before many

And loved her from eternity,

Chosen from thousands,

Sprung from the lowliest birth,

The last to be added to the first,

Adorned with so many endowments.

She, born in the village of Montau,

Given over to a husband at Danzig,

Notable for virtue,

Through her vigorous deeds

Was ever striving toward hard things,

Pious, humble.

A mother in flesh, a virgin in mind,

With all her effort seeking

The chaste joys of heaven,

She gave herself wholly to God

And wonderfully afflicted her body,

Detesting the things of the flesh.

Recalling Christ's passion,

Expressing in herself

His dreadful wounds,

Driven by the divine breath

She was willingly and plainly touched

Like Job with sores.

Given as a portent to the world,

And so worthily prepared

As a bride for the bridegroom of blood;

From whom she received a new heart,

And took so many wounds

Of heavenly fires.

From these wholly breathing heaven,

Ever aspiring toward it,

And impatient of delay,

She lived shut by the church's wall

Of her own will, in a hard prison

Suffering so many divine things.

In these inner chambers

Endowed very often

With the gifts of Christ her bridegroom,

By his mother the Virgin

And the host of those in heaven

Refreshed many times.

While she begs twice a day for the flesh

Of the heavenly lamb, the dishes

Of the great banquet:

Pressed extremely by so great a hunger,

She departs, worn out, to the supper

Of the eternal palace.

Rejoicing together in her praise,

The blind see, the lame run,

The dead live again.

Many shattered by hard evils

She renders consoled

In the harbor of their desire.

These also rejoicing in these things,

Hear, Jesus, as they supplicate

By her holy prayers;

And a new heart inflamed,

Wounded by your stripes,

Full of pious tears,

Make ardently to thirst for you,

To long to come quickly

To the happy fatherland,

That here in fire * we may enjoy you

And there behold

Your glory forever. Amen.

LET US PRAY.

Holy Lord of all the Saints, with whom there is no respect of persons, who deigned to choose Blessed Dorothea, a Prussian countrywoman, as a singularly beloved servant to yourself before the foundation of the world, and to adorn her in time with an ineffable desire of eternity and with unaccustomed gifts of your grace: grant to your suppliants, that we who acknowledge and praise you wonderful in her, may also, by her intercession, merit to be ever zealous for eternity, and in the hour of our death and on the day of the last judgment to be enrolled among your elect. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, etc., who with you lives, etc.

SECOND PRAYER.

O most loving Lord Jesus Christ, who, drawing out the old heart of your servant Dorothea, widow, recluse, and hidden martyr, put in a new one, and often wounded it with the lance and various arrows of your love, and espousing her to yourself with exceeding charity, and ineffably gladdening her through the Holy Spirit, revealed to her your secrets, hidden from the wise of the world: by the intervention of her merits, I beseech you, mercifully grant to me a wretched sinner a contrite, new and humble heart; and grant that I may understand your will, and understanding it, by doing well and living holily, may faithfully fulfil it. Who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit live, etc.

THIRD PRAYER.

O God, distributor of all good things and hearer of the wretched, by the gift of your goodness grant this grace to all of us who call upon you in truth through Mother Dorothea the recluse: that, as often as we trustfully call upon her, in our tribulations, desolations and failings, we may by experience of consolation recognize her as truly our mother, consoler of the wretched. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

The hymn set above and the prayers (of which the second and third exist also at the end of manuscript 407 of the archive of Königsberg) are read in the Life written in Polish by Fred. Szembek and rendered in German by Thaddeus Kober. There are presented there also certain German precepts, which teach what is to be done, that by the benefit of Dorothea a blessed death may be obtained from the Lord. These Lilienthal printed anew in his History of Bl. Dorothea.

* read digne

FIRST LIFE OF BL. DOROTHEA

BY, AS IT SEEMS, JOHN OF MARIENWERDER

from the Bödeken manuscript.

Dorothea, recluse in East Prussia. (S.)

BHL Number: 2329

a

BY J. MARIENWERDER.

PROLOGUE.

Those who eagerly await the Life of Bl. Dorothea, It is recognized to be the custom of men who are afflicted with hunger, to murmur within themselves, and sometimes to accuse the slowness or inexperience of the cooks, if something cooked and edible has not been offered by them, by which they may be able to remove and in some way mitigate their impatient hunger, as Scripture testifies, which says: If they are not filled, they will also murmur. If the delay too is not cut short, hunger afflicts more gravely, appetite fails, and one is made famished. So in the spiritual hunger, not for bodily bread or water, but for the word of God, there are many wholesomely famished, some of whom wish to know the wonderful and gracious, the salutary works and benefits, which the Lord God deigned to work through his servant the Lady Dorothea the recluse. From which some, desiring to be spiritually refreshed, murmur against me, those who have not yet been refreshed, ignorant of the cause of the delay. Before your paternity and others they accuse my inexperience or slowness in the preparation of the food so wholesomely desired. Yet let them deign to have compassion on me, and let their complaint cease, bearing with my unwisdom and inexperience as to the difficulty and rarity of so great a subject, and enduring also my slowness or tardiness in view of the multiplicity of outside matters and occupations.

[2] let them read this work, until it is written more fully. Would that that work to be written on the life and magnificent benefits and salutary teachings made and revealed to the Lady Dorothea of holy memory could so soon be completed Consummare in the manuscript. , that their wishes might be satisfied. O how gladly I would do this! With the Apostle I say: To will indeed Quid in the manuscript. is present with me, but to accomplish I do not find. May the prayer of all the devout intervene for me, I beseech, that the Lord Jesus, the wisdom of the Father, may give me inwardly in my soul to savor and conceive right things, and to express plainly and intelligibly and duly to order the things rightly understood and well conceived. But lest their strength be worn down by weariness, hunger or fasting, I have collected something in summary of the aforesaid things, that your paternity may have at hand that by which the hungry may be in some way refreshed, until by the diligence of skilled cooks a store of dishes be set before them. Further, I have confidence in the Lord that they too ought not to be cheated of their desire; for it is written: He has filled the hungry with good things; and again in the Proverbs it is said through Solomon: The Lord will not afflict the soul of the just with hunger.

ANNOTATION.

is at hand, there was written as title: On St. Dorothea, religious widow, enclosed for Christ, in Prussia. The third day before the Kalends of November. Where it has seemed good to bring forward anything from there, we have marked it with the letter C; and with E and R we have noted some variant readings, the chief ones indeed, from the letter given in the year 1595 to the procurator of the Order Voigt, Codex dipl. Pruss., volume V, page 82 and following. and from the roll of the year 1404 Linda, part II, page 22 and following. . For although the writings are in fact different, yet they have parts in common, and so similar, that to one carefully comparing them with each other it appears that the author of the roll used not only the letter sent to him but also our earlier Life, and also the Lindan Life. The first Life, which we believe was written by John of Marienwerder and almost immediately after the death of Bl. Dorothea, is not unlike the history published by Adrian de Linda: for although this is much longer, and there are clearly explained in it things which in our manuscript are only indicated, yet as to the matters themselves they differ in nothing, indeed certain whole passages (and especially the chapters on her death and obsequies) occur word for word the same in the two works. To illustrate these many things must indeed be added; but most of the annotations we shall attach more conveniently to the Lindan Life than to this brief writing, where the matters are set forth thinly and without the times being kept.

CHAPTER ONE.

The parents of Bl. Dorothea. Her penance from childhood and the stigmata.

Bl. Dorothea, sprung from honorable parents, Here begins the life of the Lady Dorothea of Prussia. In the year of the Incarnation of our most loving Lord Jesus Christ one thousand three hundred and ninety-four, from under the bushel of a hidden and humble life a most brilliant light, prodigies and signs coming forth, was set upon the lampstand of renowned and wide fame in the Church of Pomesania ^a, over which in Christ the reverend father and lord John Munch ^b, bishop, worthily presided. That light in truth is the venerable Lady Dorothea, widow, for a time enclosed in the aforesaid church of Pomesania, the holiness of whose life and the dignity of whose person the Lord God demonstrated by magnificent miracles at her invocation. Surely she herself sprang from honorable parents in the village of Montau in the Greater Island of the diocese of Pomesania Pomeramensis C. . Her father by name Wilhelm was called by surname Swartz. Her mother was named Agatha ^c.

[4] by wounds both from herself She from the seventh year of her age until the forty-eighth and last year of her age ^d, in that place in C. lived in very strait penance. Chastising her body and tormenting her flesh, she was unwilling to glory in anything except in the Lord Jesus crucified. Not only resisting harmful desires and affections, but also abstaining from lawful ones, she was not content with an assiduous rigor of fasts, prayers, vigils, disciplines, hair-shirts, prostrations, and other notably grave and austere bodily labors and exercises, with which the most devout exercise themselves, reckoning the aforesaid to suffice them for holiness of life; but going beyond them she strove after greater exercises. In various ways she secretly impressed and inflicted on herself, kindled with divine charity, wounds not few or light, but many and grave, not surface wounds, but deep, in various places of her body ^e. For she not only withdrew delights from her mouth and body, but also imposed grave afflictions upon it; for she frequently beat her body with rods, whips and scorpions, exercised it with prostrations and genuflections, and with various stretchings and torments; she burned it with boiling water, red-hot iron, burning light and fat, making wounds in various places on the shoulders, arms, shins, breasts and thighs, knees and feet, heartily desiring with a pious affection of charity that there should be in her no member which should not have a wound sensibly suffering with the Lord's passion compassivum C, E, R. : for her heart was full of the bitterness of Christ's death, and suspended in the desire of eternal things. To whom too the Lord Jesus, most fervent lover, doubly impressed his wounds, namely interiorly in the heart and exteriorly on the body, as two necklaces of the pledge of espousal, by which in the shedding of his own propria C, E, R. blood and manifold affliction he arranged to espouse her to himself.

[5] and inflicted by the Lord In truth these wounds in the course of time were inflicted on her by the Lord, not the same, but various and many, in different places, bitterly afflicting to her body. But those interior ones, namely impressed on the soul, were not less but more painful, most bitterly amarissimæ in the manuscript and C. showing the Lord's passion. Moreover the Lord impressed his wounds on her around her wounds, in different places, parts and members of her body, small and great, unequal in bitterness and size, sometimes two, sometimes three, sometimes four, five, six, seven, eight, rarely omitted in C. nine, ten, very quickly and suddenly: and rarely was she able to understand the manner in which the Lord brought on and inflicted the aforesaid wounds. And it is well worthy of note that from the seventh year of her age until the forty-eighth and last of the same age, she was rarely or perhaps never without wounds inflicted on her by the Lord God. For when those which she had were healed, he renewed the former ones, or at once afflictingly brought on others. Among the bodily ones which the Lord inflicted, four were notably greater, which lasted longer.

[6] she is vehemently tormented. One was inflicted on her by the Lord in the spine of the back, where the joint is, in the seventh year of her age, and it lasted up to the seventeenth year of her age. This wound was fierce, very large, vehemently afflicting, and so often bleeding that it could be hidden only with great difficulty. The second she had after it, and this brought on her by the Lord at her first childbirth, between the breasts in the region of the heart, where it is called the leaf of the heart, and with several others before, behind and et retro C. under both arms, also inflicted by the Lord. That second wound too was very large and fierce and bitterly afflicted, then especially when her infants sucked her breasts; and this wound lasted about twenty years. After these she had under the armpits or arms two very large and deep wounds, fierce and bitter, on the way toward Rome; and they remained in her for at least five years. The aforesaid four wounds, and others small and great, had pains very sharply and bitterly afflicting. For they were accustomed sometimes to burn fervently, sometimes to suffer an exceeding numbness of cold, sometimes to prick sharply or have sharp stabbings, sometimes gravely to fester, and sometimes abundantly to bleed. The aforesaid five pains were also accustomed spiritually to occur alternately in the interior spiritual wounds inflicted by the Lord and in the exterior ones inflicted on herself, in the various ways written above, by the said directed * Dorothea. Again this was worthy of admiration, that from her infancy, or seventh year, after she began to afflict and wound herself, her wounds, as the feasts of Christ, of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of other martyrs drew near, exercised the said five pains alternately in meeting them, and by this gravely afflicted her; and that bearing joyfully ferebat C. with the Apostle the stigmata of our Lord Jesus Christ in her body, a very fervent companion and lover of the Lord's passion, she therefore received in the present a pledge of manifold consolation, which were so various variæ. in her, that by no abundance of words, although very many have been written, could they be told.

ANNOTATIONS.

* dilectam?

CHAPTER TWO.

Other virtues of Bl. Dorothea from childhood and especially mortification. Divine workings in her.

From childhood she cultivates all the virtues. She was accustomed very devoutly to frequent churches from her childhood; and if ever she was compelled against her will to neglect the divine services which were carried out in church, this was very painful to her heart, and a very bitter pain. Likewise from her childhood, wakeful in prayers, she slept little, she gave generous facultates suas large C. alms according to her means. Enduring strict abstinences, and abstaining from delicacies, she gladly fasted. The word of God she heard with great devotion, attention, delight and diligence. With magno quoque added in C. ardor of charity she delighted to see the Lord's body; nor was her eye satisfied with seeing, even if in one day she had seen this most venerable sacrament a hundred times: so also her ear was not satisfied with hearing and the hearing of the word of God, even if she had heard it through the whole day. She was piously compassionate to those in need bodily, or even spiritually. Patient in adversity, humble in prosperity, not rash in judgments, but she interpreted the deeds of each person in the kindlier sense, so far as was fitting, even if they lasted long. Likewise from her childhood she gladly looked at heaven, as she walked along the way, as she took part in dances, or did some other work; in the time of night from her childhood more wakeful than sleeping, praying, meditating, contemplating, making prostrations, and disciplining herself, she sometimes passed the night sleepless; and always spent the greater part of it, as it were, in the said pious works; so that frequently, because she delighted to look at heaven, therefore in the time of night, opening the windows, that * meditating or contemplating she might look at heaven, she placed herself near them, nor did she care for the unevenness or inclemency of the air, from which snow, hail, rain, or wind rushed upon her. She rarely reclined on her bed,

when she could avoid this on account of people quandocumque hoc vitare potuit C. . But after she was worn out Sed nimium fatigata C. almost to the extreme, then leaning against the wall or a plank of the place lecti C. , she slept a little.

[8] She much bewails her sins. She is harassed by the demon. But from her seventh year she gladly confessed at her times humbly and devoutly. This she did better in matrimony, and still more purely and perfectly after the drawing out of her heart, taught and instructed by the Lord, who then taught her to confess all her sins anew; and those confessions, weeping abundantly with great contrition of heart, she continued not only until she had testimony from the Holy Spirit that all her sins had been mercifully forgiven her, but until the end of her life she confessed almost every day, as she was taught by the Lord to confess. She suffered various temptations from the spirit of distrust from her seventh year until the forty-third year of her age. Which spirit however, by means of divine aid, she manfully resisted, although her temptations were very grave to her and bitterly tormented her.

[9] She torments herself most sharply. Likewise before matrimony and in matrimony she often put herself into icy water, afflicting her body with cold; many times she placed herself under the drippings of the gutters, until, wholly drenched and gravely afflicted by the stiffness of the cold, her garments by freezing adhered to the ground so firmly that with difficulty she could free herself. Likewise sometimes, with almost omitted in C. her whole body wounded in the parts that are covered by clothing, she put herself naked into salt water, left from salted scilicet C. meats or herrings, in which she lay for a time, and bitterly tormented her body. Likewise in matrimony she often pricked her feet with a needle, sending the needle deep into the flesh, so that when she was invited to weddings, or at banquets or dances or the pomps and spectacles of the world, she might recall the bitterness of the Lord's passion, and also that the solaces of the world might not delight her. Sometimes too she so afflicted herself with the needle that with her feet festering she was not able to walk. Her feet too thus cruelly injured she sometimes showed to her husband as an excuse. Sometimes he wished that she visit weddings, or attend banquets; in which too often, although she had grave wounds in secret oculo in the manuscript. , she nevertheless appeared outwardly cheerful and merry. Likewise she had the custom during about nine years in which she was bearing children, that when about half a year had passed from the childbed, the infant being now strengthened, she burned her breasts underneath with flaming candles, so cruelly and so exceedingly that their nipples were loosened underneath from the skin of the breasts, having only a holding on the upper side. In the burned places, when she suckled the infant, she was very bitterly afflicted. Truly through her life full of martyrdom she fervently desired to suffer bitter things for the Lord's sake. And therefore from a fervently burning charity she procured for herself various torments, and bore such not only gladly, but also cheerfully.

[10] God worked certain wonderful things in her. Further in her life and after her death many splendid miracles occurred. For it happened more than plus q. omitted in C. nine years before her death, around the feast of the Purification of Mary, when she had prayed with a wonderful affection of devotion, and had faithfully and wholesomely performed through many days and nights many other things for preparation for the sacrament of the life-giving body of our Lord Jesus Christ, that then the Lord Jesus, her wonderful lover, drew out her old heart de suo corpore added in R. , and in its place thrust in a new and fervent one. ^a This happened autem C. before the altar and the image of the glorious Virgin during the morning Mass celebrated about dawn; before and during which, while she prayed devoutly, and among other prayers was commending angelic salutations, offering them to the Virgin Mary for a garland of roses, suppliantly asking that she intercede with apud added in C. her beloved son for her, a multitude of people arrived, and pressed her so strongly, that she was compelled to rise from her knees, and to stand upright erectam in the manuscript. among those pressing about her, and there to complete her commendation of prayers. Immediately from that hour she felt Ex illa vero hora sæpe sensit C. her spirit raised and rapt to the contemplation of heavenly things, and illumined with a certain transparent and inestimably sweetening light, and her interior senses opened. In that same hour also she heard within the saving Ab illa etiam hora salvifica E, R. voice of the Lord speaking to her, and likewise the song of the angels. She also saw and heard many times cœlorum added in E, R. secrets, some of which have been written and committed by the command scripto sunt ex jussu E. scripta s. ex jussu D. et comm. C. of the Lord, but the rest, which it was not permitted her to speak, are shut under the seal of silence. And she had transparent revelations of the truths of the Lord Jesus and his Mother, and visitations of the saints, and clear apparitions of the Holy Spirit; or by the Holy Spirit, the consoler of the wretched, she was often ineffably consoled.

[11] She vehemently desires to be refreshed by the Holy Eucharist. And for frequently receiving the Lord's body she was so fervently inflamed with spiritual hunger, that only with bitter affliction both of spirit and of body in the last three years could she go without it for two days annos in the manuscript. , indeed in the last year for one day Nec per u. d. valuit E. nec per un. d. voluit C. Vix per un. d. valuit R. ; but with great difficulty and with the wasting extenuacione E. æstuatione R. of both the inner and outer man she awaited the hour of communion, which was during the solemnities of the Mass; and frequently on account of waiting for Mass she was so greatly exhausted and afflicted, that her confessor ^b oportuit confessorem ipsius C, E, R. in the time of night to attend to her *. Likewise with so great a desire she desired voluntary poverty of spirit, contempt of the world and to be despised by all men, often to receive the communion of the Eucharist, to enjoy God, and to lay hold of eternal life, that from this she not only languished spiritually, but also often lay sick bodily.

[12] She is enriched with many charisms, She had her interior senses very much open, by which she knew and felt the divine operation in her, not only generally, but also distinctly and specially, at least in very many things. For she had been keenly discerning as to understanding and affection the operations of the charities, and their differences, of which she knew how to speak beautifully, instructed by the Lord by word and experience. Whence she was accustomed to say to her writer scriptoribus C. ^c: "At that time the Lord gave me a fervently ferventem C. burning charity, fervently and magnificently desiring or wounding, languishing, inebriating, overflowing, enriching, broad and spacious, violent, untiring, insatiable [hilarem, avaram, scatentem, bullientem ac insanientem, impatientem, inquietantem added in C.] , and a charity breaking the heart." At times he gave, and gives Aliquando dedit ei C. , these sixteen kinds of charities; and others not written here. By their effects and feelings, she knew when she had one of them or several. Likewise however with the aforesaid kinds of charities the Holy Spirit was frequently sent to her invisibly, and illumined from heaven she perceived sensibly with what kinds of operations, gifts and virtues the Holy Spirit was sent to her, and of this she expressed beautiful things in accord with truth and sacred Scripture. From this it can in some little measure appear how full she was of divine charity. For her magnificent lover, Christ Jesus, frequently wounded her soul with the darts of his love, with arrows and lances; at whom she, directing the arrows of her love, touched him in return and, according to the manner of speaking of Scripture in the Canticle of Canticles, wounded him too.

[13] especially in Holy Communion. In the sacrament of the Eucharist she felt with interior sense various things, which the doctors of the sacred page write are conferred on a devout man through it; she felt also the Lord coming to her through the sacrament sweetly, fruitfully, magnificently, omnipotently, graciously gloriose C. and running swiftly, who, when the sacrament had been placed in her mouth, at once swiftly descended into her heart and soul in a godlike way, that is without any taste of bread; likewise ineffably gladdening her; likewise strengthening her not only spiritually, but also bodily: often before reception she was destitute of strength and very infirm, and when the sacrament had been taken she was at once strengthened and healed; thus * as fervently kindling her and brilliantly illumining her, and revealing many things; likewise as beautiful above the sons of men, indeed beautiful above thousands of angels, lovable and delightful; likewise as inflaming her desire and raising it on high; and in many other ways worthy of praise, and in accord with the truth. The Lord of his mercy came to her, working gifts of his grace so various, which are beyond telling by me. Yet many more things than are here touched upon have been written from her mouth and committed to memory.

ANNOTATIONS.

* doubtful word, perhaps etc.

* supply deberet

* read item

CHAPTER THREE.

Pious journeys of Bl. Dorothea. Her revelations. She dies. Her obsequies.

She undertakes pious journeys. Out of devotion she went on pilgrimage three times to Aachen ad Aquisgranum et C. to the Hermits in remote parts, among whom she remained with her husband a year and a half, often to places dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and famous for magnificent benefits, and once to Rome before the year of grace or next jubilee et ad Romam veniens tempore anni jubilæi C. , in which she remained until the jubilee. From the beginning of her entry until her leaving Rome, at least half a year passed. In all these places she received large gifts of divine grace. On pilgrimage she was miraculously preserved by the Lord from dangers and from dishonor. Likewise Christ the Lord praised her rigid life, austere discipline, her assiduous wounding, her patience in adversity, faith, hope, charity, confidence, obedience, humility, and constancy and stable perseverance, and various other virtues of

which we need not speak one by one on this occasion.

[15] She has many revelations She had divine revelations of more than omitted in C. nine ^a, not dreaming but waking, sometimes estranged from herself in ecstasy of mind, and this in spiritual vision sometimes without rapture; and in both she felt in the mind or intellect transparent illuminations, and in the affection spiritual delights. In that supernatural intellectual vision, she saw images and heard the voices of Christ, of the most blessed Virgin and of some saints. Sometimes, and this more frequently, in spiritual vision she saw no images, nor even in bodily vision, but she heard the voice of Jesus Christ speaking to her soul without noise, in a manner ineffable to us, by whom namely, Jesus Christ, she was instructed, and was made secure and certainly preserved from being deceived by the spirit of error or of giddiness. Likewise she was instructed by the Lord daily in the last three years, what she ought to do or what to omit, what to desire, think, say and eat, how and in what way and when to prepare for the sacrament of the Eucharist. Likewise, frequently illumined by divine light, she knew what a man could do, what omit, with salvation. And therefore to those consulting her she gave admonitions of salvation and counsels. So illumined she saw also many hidden things in heaven and on earth: in heaven the heavenly joys and the distinction of spirits, and she heard the song of the angels; on earth Christ announced, incarnated in the Virgin's womb, born, circumcised, offered in the temple, crucified and rising, and ascending into heaven, and many other things. And thus she saw the thoughts and sins of many men, indeed she knew the desires of some; to whom she told them, and they knew it was so, as she expressed it.

[16] and singular graces. Likewise, frequently kindled with divine charity, she was so ardent that the ardor of the soul overflowed into the body, warming it and pressing out sweat. She also lamented not only her own sins, but also those of other men; she was often sad from her soul not only on account of her negligences and sins, but because she reckoned that she could not sufficiently love God, do well and live holily. Yet at times, indeed as it were frequently after weeping she was ineffably gladdened by the Lord. She was commanded for exultation to sing some canticles. Likewise she fervently desired to be with the Lord alone, and therefore she sought the reclusory for many years, before she obtained it. Likewise frequently her spirit was inebriated with divine sweetness, and by this was rapt on high, and was intimately united with God. Likewise frequently, free liberæ in the manuscript. from harmful fancies and from every image of creatures, she contemplated the Lord limpidly. Likewise she was often transparent to herself; she knew in herself tiny sins, which appeared small as dust, and she confessed those with great tears. Likewise out of humility she reckoned herself the most wretched among all men; and she was obedient to her confessors in each thing; what they commanded, she faithfully fulfilled.

[17] Miracles wrought in her life. The Lord God proceeded with her in much a miraculous way. First in this, that he preserved her from grave sins, and from her infancy granted her great charity and desire of eternal things. Second in this, that he preserved her from bodily death, by which she would many times have perished on account of cold, heat, wounds and strict fasts, if the Lord had not preserved her eum in the manuscript. . Third in this, that in the past year anno præt. omitted in C. through the whole winter, in which there was a great excess of cold, on account of which many people perished, yet the saint herself was preserved by the Lord from injury by the cold, although she was enclosed by a wall, and by such a wall in which on account of the inclemency of the cold, water standing for a little time in a tankard for cantro or cantharo. or other vessel froze to the bottom; nor is it to be thought that she was preserved from the affliction or chilling of cold by clothing or footwear or fire. For through that winter she never used either footwear or the heat of bodily fire; she used no more clothing, but as it were frequently less than in the preceding seasons of winter. Indeed fervently frequenter C. from the ardor of charity she grew so hot that she was compelled to lay aside her clothes and to seek the cooling of the air. Fourth that not from bodily languor, but from excessive charity breaking the heart, the Lord revealed to her her future death, and so also it came about. Fifth that commonly all men were bettered concerning their life in her, both now when she lived, and then when she passed from us.

[18] Having spoken to her confessor for the last time, In what way she went through her agony. ^b At length after multos added in C, E, R. labors, desires, and exercises and agonies, on several days preceding the ejus added in C, E, R. last day there appeared to her the Lord Jesus, his beloved mother and the angelic spirits, with solemn procession inviting her to the ineffably great joys of heaven, awaiting her passing with sweet-sounding melody. She, illumined sæpe added in R. by supernatural light, saw while still existing in the body the joys of the saints, especially as that last most delightful hour drew near, in which the heavenly bridegroom, the son of the most high altissimus E. Father, was disposing to receive his suavi in the manuscript. pre-elected bride, after long and fervent desires, from the prison of the body to rejoice eternally with him. Then, transparently illumined, she said especially three things to her confessor. First: "I feel the goads of the woundings, both sweet and bitter, of my most delightful bridegroom, who with the arrows of his excessive charity has wounded my heart and my other inward parts: I go about like a woman in labor, finding no rest or peace, sitting, lying, standing, or even walking." The second was: "If you, illumined with supercelestial light, beheld the joys of the saints, as I do, your heart would be rent for the greatness of desire. Behold heaven is opened to me and near, and the joy of the saints clearly laid bare, and the way to it level and straight and bright, from entry to which death alone shuts me out." The third was, that she said: "Come, give me my beloved Lord, that is the sacrament of the Eucharist; for out of love of him I cannot go without him longer, nor do I wish to take any other food or drink of the body any more in the present life."

[19] She dies with a vehement desire of the Holy Eucharist. Saying these things she appeared very famished and wasted by excessive fasting. Her confessor said to her that she should refresh herself by drinking, since quia C, E. on that day, since she had once received that venerable sacrament, she could not have it a second time; but after midnight, during the hymn Te Deum laudamus, he promised that he would give the aforesaid sacrament, the Lord cooperating. She, afflicted by excessive desire and destitute of strength, said: "I do not know how I shall be able to wait, for exsp. quasi dixit E. waiting will be impossible for me, or too difficult and bitter." After this, a few words being had between them, bidding her farewell and commending himself me E. to her prayers, the confessor went away, not knowing that her last hour was so near. It was about the hour of compline when he withdrew from the reclusory. Afterwards during the Te Deum laudamus, having returned according to his promise, when about seven hours had passed, he found that she had given up her spirit. For what cause, however, the Lord did not wish the hour of her passing to be revealed by her to others, he knows to whom no one can say: Why do you do so?

[20] Her obsequies are celebrated with a great concourse. Of the obsequies, and the devotion of the people about the burial of St. Dorothea. When her precious death was learned of, the lord John, reverend bishop of the said Church, hastened to come to the obsequies of so great a funeral; who refreshed the poor, scattering and giving large gifts to the needy, twice celebrating the solemnities of the Masses ^c, and performing the rest of the offices of the dead, personally committed to the earth the precious treasure of the body of the beloved of God. The clergy grieved; a very great people, who, her death being learned of, had flowed together, groaned; lamentation and mourning were common to all, and especially to her spiritual sons, whose sadness he knows who alone regards mourning and pain. And while in the time of the obsequies supply per. the happy woman, full of great graces, virtues, filled with various martyrdoms of afflictions, until that day hidden from all men as to her wounds, a few, namely three only, excepted, had been manifestly preached by her confessor, struck by the unheard-of report of the truth, very many burst into most abundant tears. They grieved indeed for their ignorance of so great holiness, who had neglected to honor with due reverence so excellent a charity in her, unheard of in their times. When therefore she was preached, and when she was buried, with pious affections and tearful looks they stood by the precious treasure of the funeral. There was nevertheless there a devout mind, and the grateful voice of those blessing God for his very worthy gift. There were present at the obsequies those who, hearing of her great labors, sorrows, wearinesses, revelations, merits and the ineffable benefits done to her, began trustfully to believe that by her merits and intercessions they could be relieved in their necessities and infirmities. To those imploring her patronage the divine clemency was present, making wonderful his pre-elected bride, who granted very many remedies of health in the opportune time; whence through her merits and intercession and the touching of her humble tomb there were frequent miracles, very foreign to the condition of human nature. Hence it is that to her tomb not only the inhabitants of the land of Prussia, but also strangers come and run from afar Migravit autem beatissima Dorothea tertio calendas novembris added in C. ^d. Since no one is sufficient to explain one by one the distinctions of virtues and piety done concerning her by the Lord and wrought by her, let us from our marrow offer to the giver of all good things the sacrifice of praise for all his benefits, saying: Glory to you, O Lord.

ANNOTATIONS.

THE LINDAN LIFE OF BL. DOROTHEA

BY, AS IT SEEMS, JOHN OF MARIENWERDER

from Vatican manuscript 4934 collated with the Lindan edition.

Dorothea, recluse in East Prussia. (S.)

BHL Number: 2328

a

BY J. MARIENWERDER.

PROLOGUE.

In the present iniquity of the times Exhortatory prologue to the booklet of the blessed Lady Dorothea, for her canonization. Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

The instrument of truth and teacher of the Gentiles, Paul the apostle, illumined by the supercelestial lights with a clearer wisdom, and rooted in him in whom are all the treasures of the knowledge of God, in the height, breadth and depth of a most fervent firmissime. charity, learned from the things which he suffered inwardly extrinsecus. , pressing him beyond measure, as a most constant zealot of the faith, to bear the maternal solicitude and labors of all the Churches, until by the life-giving Spirit Christ should be formed in them, and by the blessing elogio. of his Gospel he should bring forth again it. part. added from B. omitted in the manuscript. little sons filios. of light. Indeed as a seraphic watchman, foreknowing in spirit that Satan was demanding the Church of God and its members, to sift them as wheat, and so ideo. lest the faith planted and watered should fail in so weighty a contest, he counseled for the vicissitude of all times to redeem redimendo. the time by some sacrifice of praise and spiritual glory: because the days are evil. Leaving aside the courses of times past and future, that today the quam. days are evil, we are taught more by in added. experience than from books. Are there fiunt. not today prodigies and portents in the sun and moon of the ecclesiastical and secular powers, whose sinews are contracted, through abortion and division? Is it not today, the fifth quanto in the manuscript. angel sounding his trumpet, that the third part of the sun and the third part of the stars has been struck: so that the third part of them is darkened, through contempt of the Church's keys and disobedience to her commandments inauditorum. ? Has not the tail of the dragon, that is the malice of the devil, drawn after it the third part of the stars, through that execrable schism, into the abyss of perfidy and damnation? There are some, who escaped the head of the schism in the beginning through faithful adherence to the unity emeritæ. of mother Church, who now proh dolor! added. through wavering and going back recessum. are bound by the dragon's tail ^b.

[2] Dorothea, a most holy woman, Redeeming therefore the time, because quoniam. the days are evil, as the malice and misery of men grow great, if perhaps the regulator and weigher of the times and the zealot of our souls may today accept our sacrifice in an odor of sweetness, as in a holocaust of rams and bulls, and as in thousands arietum added. of fat pinguorum in the manuscript. lambs, the venerable and all-praiseworthy Lady Dorothea datam added. against the malice of the days as a light of the nations, not by chance, but by divine dispensation through the admirable holiness of her life. For the Lord spread over her the mantle of a most ardent charity, and according to the prophet Ezekiel he entered into a covenant with her of bringing her into the repose of a most opulent city. He washed her with the water of irrigating tears, with the desire of eternal things and the love of a most joyous fellowship. He cleansed the blood from her through unheard-of chastisements and disciplines. He anointed her with the oil of most proven mercy and unctuous piety. He clothed her with the many colors of various virtues, et added. he dressed her in the fine garments of different graces, as will appear more clearly in what follows, to one looking brightly succulentius in the manuscript. upon her life.

[3] that she may be for our salvation, To what end has the Lord Dom. eam thus. glorified her by the holiness of her life and the glory of her miracles, et added. as a morning star in the midst of the cloud of evil days, et added. except that in these days her salvation may be to the end of the earth, namely Prussia Prussiæ. , which compared with some alias. lands of Christ's faithful, is as the outermost hem on the tunic of Christ, touching with its borders his. the frontiers and confines of infidels and schismatics? But as at the touch of the hem of Christ the woman with the issue was freed curata. from the flow of blood, so by the intercession of the said mediatrix, the blessed and venerable Lady Dorothea, and ad in the manuscript. of her notable miracles spreading to the borders of the nations, sprinkled with the odor of the fame of her elegant life added from B. omitted in the manuscript. and holiness, the woman with the issue, namely the unbelief of the nations, will be able to be restrained and cured from the menstrual flows of her pleasure and bestiality. Indeed she has been est added. given of the royal munificence to the universal Church for the redemption of the times of evil days, that, according to the prophet Isaiah, she may raise up the earth, possess the scattered inheritances, and that the Lord may say for love of his bride to those his. who are bound in the bonds of tribulations and sins: Come forth to the covenants of divine reconciliation; and to those his. who are in the darkness of this murky and perverse schism: Return Revelamini. , coming back to the bright lights luminaria. of the sacrosanct Roman Church, to which you do well to attend, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day of grace and propitiation dawn, and the daystar of the Catholic profession arise in the hearts of the schismatics among the stars of glory.

[4] is likened by God himself Let no one slander in her the frailty of her sex: for the Lord of all has chosen the weak, that he may confound the strong. Let the wise man of the world not weigh lightly the height of her understanding, since the Lord is accustomed to choose the foolish, that he may confound the wise. Let the noble man not glory in the pomp of his family, considering this bride, like a most precious pearl lying hidden in the shell of a humble lineage; whom beyond the measure of human estimation, indeed even of angelic, the heavenly bridegroom ennobled by loving adaurando in the manuscript. her with a stock of most noble virtues. Whence her fragrant nard of humility and charity most frequently frequentissimæ. drew him from the heavenly seats, who, attended by the heavenly host of thousands of thousands of nobles, was seen rather often by the bride in spirit to come with an unspeakable array of honor and glory. Let the animal man not doubt, unwilling to bring his intellect captive into the service of Christ, those things which are said of the limpidness of the divine revelations and aut. the height of the divine contemplations of this chosen bride ecclesiæ. , the senses of whose soul have been utterly astonished, stiffened, and blocked by the ancient languor of sin; but let him betake himself to the expounders of the orthodox faith, let him attend to contemplatives experienced in divine illuminations, whose souls the Lord is accustomed to fill with the splendors of the saints, and he will find what to detract from not at all, but to be amazed at and wonder at the most profound wisdom of God, and that admirable woman's clear lympidam. understanding of the divine secrets. Let him put off the old man, et added. and in newness of life, wondering admirandæ. , let him say with the Apostle: O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments and unsearchable his ways!

[5] Let him read with affection the present booklet, composed concerning very great things in very few and rude words, and taught in a wonderful manner. and he will find that in these malis added. days the Lord has worked mightily in the midst of the earth. There is no article of the faith which this contemplative, with her lynx-like eyes, contemplating by the supernatural light of knowledge in the manner possible to her, did not apprehend or know, according to the inmost truth of the Scriptures; even the union of the Word with human nature, that is the conception of the son of God made instantaneously in instanti. in the womb of the Virgin Mary, most perfectly according to all the outlines of the body; of which she had a most beautiful revelation: and so of other things consequently. And not only concerning the incarnate Word, sed added. and concerning the most brilliant virginity of the glorious Virgin Mary, and the life, and [ac.] her graces and virtues, did she survey very many things most keenly; contemplating distinctly the Trinity of persons through its most divine effects, likewise the omnipotence of God, not in the common coram. way through the lights lumen. of faith, but by a higher feeling she recognized it within in the soul: as will appear below, concerning the effects of the venerable sacrament of the Eucharist. Likewise concerning the invisible mission of the Holy Spirit. What Quod in the manuscript. more? This et in the manuscript. blessed woman, by living according to the most sacred rules of the sacred page, by contemplating, and by the liveliness vivacitatem. of her intellect apprehending the naked truth, condemned with a further anathema every heresy condemned by the Catholic Church.

[6] O kindly mother Church, made fruitful by the Holy Spirit, since the days are evil, That she may be canonized, let all work: the supreme pontiff, spread wider today your bosom filium. , and this your blessed daughter, conceived and reborn from you by the Holy Spirit, and bound and espoused to Christ your spouse by a spiritual speciali. bond of charity, receive into the catalogue of your holy sons, that through her the malice of the present days may be redeemed. O most holy Father, successor of Peter, et added. vicar of Jesus Christ and supreme pontiff, because the days are evil, let Your Holiness redeem the present time at the price of so great a weight. For you know that you have many prodigal sons, who have gone away from you into a far country, who have dissipated the substance divided to them; nor do they have the means to return to themselves, unless it were given and sent to them by the Father of lights, with whom there is no change. Hasten, therefore, to the office of canonization, if perhaps for love of his son and of the bride brought in he may make large gifts of grace to the universal Church; so that the sons returned to themselves through the fruit of penance may more wholesomely acknowledge you the father, whom they had denied by going away, by returning to you. It is fitting that, since quam. the renowned bridegroom of the Church long ago with binding ingentibus. and hasty festivis. embraces led her with joy into his ethereal bridal chamber, calling together neighbors and friends of the host of the heavenly army to rejoice with him, Your Holiness should deign to stir up the militant Israel Jerusalem. also to a conforming solemnity of joy, that scilicet una in place of S. V. ne. there be fit in the manuscript. no discord of harmonies, but a harmonious voice of praise and honor and glory l. gl. et hon. , according to that word of Isaiah: Rejoice with Jerusalem, and exult in her, all you who love her; be glad with her with joy, all you who mourned over her, that you may suck and be filled replemini in the manuscript. from the breast of her consolation.

[7] the cardinals, O most reverend Fathers and lord cardinals, collegiate members of the apostolic senate, renowned pastors with the supreme pontifice added. pastor, princes of all lands with the prince capite. of the Churches Ecclesiæ. , to you belong counsel and the feeding of the flock. For although the height of divine providence had preordained that the holy Church should advance in persecutions, grow in afflictions, be watered by the blood of martyrs, be lifted up by sadness, be enlarged by straits, be troubled by the waves of temptations, be tested by schism or divisions; yet he wished you to be provident in such

dangers of the sheep of God, solicitous and faithful. O how many thousands of the sheep of God have fallen today at your side, and ten thousands at your right hand! O how many today strive to rend the seamless tunic of Christ! O how many hodie added. outside the ark of the Roman Church today omitted. are drowned by the flood of schism, and outside the house of Rahab are slaughtered by the sword of Joshua! Take heed that the days are evil, and you have need to redeem the time. But you have at hand the price from the furthest bounds of Christ's faithful, of this strong and blessed hebete in the manuscript. woman, by the mercy of God very fit for the altar of incense and of holocausts. To the altar of incense belong the pursuits of contemplation and the devotion of prayer, to the altar of holocausts the exercises of good action and the mortification of the desires of the flesh; which two were excellently excellent in the manuscript. in her, as below in the course of the booklet throughout. Let Your Vestra added. Paternity therefore offer this price for the redemption of the evil days, by promoting the business negocium. of canonization for that venerable woman. There is no doubt that the Lord for the redemption of this time has reserved by his dispensation a person hominem. of such merit meritis in the manuscript. , of so admirable a life, and not only on account of the schism, sed added. that the many malices of men by the example of this one may be corrected, in these last times. For, as the Apostle says to Timothy, in the last days perilous times will come upon us, and men will be lovers of themselves, greedy, haughty, proud, blasphemers, ungrateful, without affection, without peace, accusers criminatores. , incontinent, and many other things which are numbered enumerantur. there.

[8] all the doctors. Let the carnal and delicate man therefore attend to the abstinence of that blessed servant; the man of passion to her patience, the angry to her peace and concord of soul, the lustful to her continence, the proud to her most humble patientiam added. obedience, the avaricious to the want of her holy poverty, the slothful accidiosus in the manuscript. to the vigorous frequency of her works, the tepid to the greatness of her love, the soft to the sharpness of her sufferings, the sleepy to the custom of her vigils, the idle to the multitude of her holy exercises, the undevout to the continuity of her devotion, the sad to the joy of her spirit; so that there may be no one who hides himself from her heat, that is, from the example of her holy life. O venerable masters and professors of sacred theology, shining like stars in the firmament, keys of heaven and instruments of the Holy Spirit, given for the perfecting of the saints in the work of the ministry, et added. and in the sanctifying ædificationem. of the body of Christ, redeeming the time, because the days are evil, say as the elders of Israel: Why has the Lord struck us today before the Philistines Philistimi in the manuscript. ? Let us bring to us the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh, and let it come into our midst, that it may save us from the hand of our enemies. This ark indeed was venerable on account of its containing the heavenly bread, not figuratively but sacramentally, because qui. in her he worked operabantur in the manuscript. many wonders: as below in the chapter on the feelings and effects of the sacrament ^c. Play therefore with the word tuba. of holy preaching before that blessed ark, and bring her down with jubilation of spiritual omitted. exultation, so that by the price of such holy exhortation hujus sanctæ exhort. the malice of the present days may be paid off. O reverend doctors of the sacred canons, and doctors domini in the manuscript. of laws, advocates and procurators, to whom belong counsel and equity, prudence and fortitude, through whom kings reign and the framers of laws decree just things, princes rule, and the powerful decree decer in the manuscript. scientiam et added in B. justice; redeeming the time, because the days are evil, do not send away the ark of the God of Israel empty; but what you owe, render to her for sin: and then you will be cured, and you will know why his hand does not withdraw from you. Let doctors choose her as mother, because she is pious; advocates as advocate, because she is propitious; procurators as procuratrix, because she is solicitous; and let them solicitously omitted. promote this holy business, to the praise and glory of almighty God, who is blessed for ages of ages. Amen omitted. .

[9] The present work is only a summary of the Life. And it is to be known that this booklet on the life of that glorious servant and blessed bride of Christ has been issued and extracted in few words, with respect to many holy deeds, which could not be comprised in such a compendium, but they must needs be written down in a greater volume in due time, in a clearer order. It has been hastened, however, on account of the great desire ^d of those who hunger and thirst to have the Life of this blessed woman, spreading out and making more capacious captiores. the bosom of their desire, as quam. those about to receive something great, and truly reverentia. great, scarcely heard of, concerning the most special consolations, benefits and workings of the Lord. So lofty lata. and elevated alta. is the matter of the holy revelations had through many years; which seek and demand not an abbreviator, but a good and faithful arranger; and those things require nearer volumes and treatises. May almighty God bring it about that these be accomplished to the glory and praise of his name, by promoting, kindling attendendo in the manuscript. and illuminating the understanding and affection of the writer ^e.

Here ends the prologue to the booklet of the blessed servant of Christ Dorothea, exhorting to her canonization. There follow the rubrics, or titles Sequitur rubrica seu titulus. , of the chapters of the aforesaid book.

Here ends the number of the chapters with their rubrics Expl. rubrica seu titulus capitulorum. ^g.

ANNOTATIONS.

the present work uses notes once taken down by himself, intending afterwards to distribute them into certain chapters. Which the prologue seems to confirm: So lofty … is the matter of the revelations … which seek not an abbreviator, but a good and faithful arranger.

CHAPTER ONE.

The birth of Bl. Dorothea. She cultivates virtue from childhood. Contempt of delicacies. Voluntary chastisement. Wounds inflicted by the Lord.

CHAP. I.

That Quomodo. the life of the venerable Lady Dorothea was a Dom. fuit. REVEALED by the Lord. Bl. Dorothea, whose life was revealed by God, Although the whole life of this chosen bride of Christ a Domino added. , and his most familiar confidante, is filled everywhere with miracles and enriched locupleta in the manuscript. with overflowing graces, so that not in the accustomed ways, by which the life of other saints could potuerit. be written down without much difficulty, ought debuerit. it to be pronounced, or that in place of aut quod, atque. it should be established by evidence of the fact; but on account of the intricacy implexitatem. of its manifold fatigues fatigationum. , labors, vigils, fasts, chastisements, most sharp disciplines, cruel sufferings, most savage woundings, and other exercises unheard of in our times, carried on untiringly from the seventh year of her age a septim. æt. s. a. until the end of her life; and finally also on account of the excellent works of the divine consolations, visitations, illuminations and magnificent revelations, she could not personally, the Lord's command not yet having been received, report, or pronounce anything of her own concerning it illa. , even when most urgently induced and asked by her confessors: it merited to be revealed not through a mediating angel, a prophet, a soothsayer archangelum. , or aut. any other divine divum in the manuscript. person, but only by the bridegroom himself, the beloved, chosen from thousands, whose bundle of myrrh she bore between her breasts, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand three hundred and ninety-four, nearly twenty weeks before her death, and consequently after. Note, omitted. understand this Hoc. of the afflictive exercises. Many other things of her life she well revealed before ^a.

CHAP. II.

[11] On her honorable birth. Surely the aforesaid Lady Dorothea, native of the village of Montau ^b Montau. in the Greater Island of the diocese of Pomesania in the land of Prussia Prussiæ. , sprung from honorable parents drew her origin from honorable and devout parents. Her father was Wilhelm Wilhelmus. by name, a man advanced in years of honorable life ^c. Her mother is called Agatha by name, surviving today ^d, being in age nearly a hundred years, and a widow for about forty-four years, serving God day and night, very honorable ^e; to the poor, as long as means were at hand, generous and pious; having four sons and five daughters, and about fifty grandchildren, all of whom in various approved states in stat. d. a. led an honorable and praiseworthy life. Among the aforesaid children she hæc added. was seventh in order, baptized on the sixth day before the Ides of February ^f, excellently brought up in the virtues.

CHAP. III.

[12] That Quomodo. from her childhood she was prevented with grace gr. f. by the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ, from childhood she serves God, who reveals mysteries through his Holy Spirit, and had already gathered her by his grace into the adoption of the sons of God, said to her among other things in revelation: "When you were still very little, I drew you by charity, and you knew me, you contemplated me, you loved me, and you clung to me. You kept your heart clean in place of tu m., immundum. and empty for me; and what quidquid. I gave you for it, this you kept in it. If anything arose in it, or [ac.] entered into it which was contrary to me, this quid ni erat contrarium hoc? mihi. at once gave way, and did not cling by remaining in your heart. Nor were you ever anxious about acquiring temporal things, but you diligently kept your heart unoccupied by passing goods; because I set before you better goods, to which your desires and love dilecto. were ordered."

CHAP. IV.

[13] On the frequency of her vigils ^g. The ardor and fervor of divine love had so burningly flagrantem in the manuscript. kindled accenderant. her to omitted. exercise herself in the Lord's service, she often keeps vigil, that from childhood to old age she rarely composed her limbs to rest, unless they had first been wearied fuisset. by labors, and aut. she had been urged by her mother, or omitted. sister, or maidservant to lie down reclinandam. . Her sisters and maidservants indeed used to accuse her to her mother of not sleeping. While the others were sleeping, she, rising in silence, leaning against the wall and against the bed, prayed and meditated aut ad lecti asserem se ponens orans aut meditans. , until at the last, worn out, she fell asleep obdormivit. a little. In matrimony she so continued her vigils, that her husband attempted with blandishments, sometimes with threats, to induce her to sleep, nor could she in any way be so induced quovis m. ind. poterat. to sleep more than usual, although she sometimes pretended to sleep. After several years passed in matrimony she said to him ut plus solito — ei dixit added from B. omitted in the manuscript. : "Because, beloved brother, she says, I cannot sleep, do not therefore lay it to my charge." He at length, seeing and considering her fervent fervores in the manuscript. desire, gave her leave to be able to sleep apart in another bed loco. , yet in the same chamber. And because she nec. even so slept only very little, therefore he gave her leave to sleep separately in another chamber, according to the good pleasure of her will vol. ben. . With intense desire too desid. etiam. she delighted in the night times to look at heaven. Therefore sitting with open windows in some place, she cared nothing for the unevenness of the air, if licet. snow, hail, rains imber. , wind and however cold a breeze assailed her. This chosen bride of Christ was therefore ergo. ever sober and watchful against the machinations of the adversary the devil, who like a roaring lion goes about et eam circumeuntis. .

CHAP. V.

[14] On her persistence in prostrations and other holy exercises. she chastises her body in many ways, The toiling love of God day and night drove her forward as if with certain goads to the progress of perfection. For even before her seventh year she eagerly exercised and performed some prostrations, in which she fell upon her knees and face, by her mother's instruction with promptness both of spirit and of body, and with such agility of movement, so many times repeating them, that even in the cold algore. of tightening winter she grew so hot, that sweat broke out and soaked her tender limbs. She was accustomed too in the time of night to do this frequently, that she stretched out extendit. her arms in the manner of a cross, and thus standing afflicted afflixit. herself to weariness. After this, placing herself against the wall, she afflicted herself as if on a cross Post hoc-afflixit added from B. omitted in the manuscript. . Her arms were held up sometimes by nails, sometimes by fingers thrust into holes. When wearied by these, she turned to another kind of holy exercise, for instance, weeping, praying, mourning, jubilating, and, opportunity offering, singing, and continuing these things in order for so long, until overcome with sleep she rested a little. For sixteen years and more before the end of her life she continued her exercises on planks, stones or aut. the bare ground; opportunity offering and infirmity not hindering opport.-imped. added from B. omitted in the manuscript. , she nonetheless used a very coarse and knotted hair-shirt, however injured by wounds; and so she was exercised to notable weariness and fatigue; wearied by which she slept a little in the same eisdem. places. Sometimes Aliquoties and so thereafter. , lying on stones, she put a bare log under her head suo added. . In these ways, by which she passed sleepless nights, now she fell on her face, now she rose up, now she reclined on one side now on the other; now standing, now walking, now sitting, now going about on her knees, now creeping on her hands, now holding her whole body in the air by forehead and feet pedicis in the manuscript. , now placing her hands before her in the manner of a cross, now keeping them behind around her back as if quia. bound, she fell on her face; and in many other ways, from fervent and languishing desires for the Lord, she exercised each of her powers, and so compelled them to serve the Lord.

CHAP. VI.

[15] On her fasting and manifold abstinences, etc omitted. . and she keeps fasts. She, invited del. inv. by the Lord to spiritual delights, loathed the adulterine seasonings of carnal things. And therefore on the days of the fasts of precept while still a little girl she did not use milk foods lacticona in the manuscript. with the children of her age, or dishes seasoned with butter or milk, unless this had been commanded her by her mother: and when she ate, she was more afflicted by ex added. sadness than by fasting. As the days of fasts drew near, she had very often begged her mother with insistent tears that she allow her to fast with her. She, sometimes displeased, not allowing permisit. her to fast before her tenth year, as she desired desideravit. , but more often thrust her away with vehemence. When her mother for the veneration of the Virgin Mary fasted one day a week on bread and water, as she had been accustomed for many years, this beloved daughter desiring before her tenth year to observe the said fast with her, quæ added. scarcely with weeping and repeated prayers could she obtain this after her tenth year. After the eleventh year of her age Dorothea had a great desire, that for the seven times on which her mother fasted, preparing herself through the year for the sacrament of the Eucharist, she herself might fast also. And although Quamquam. with weeping, et added. blandishments, and embraces she desired this, yet she was not admitted

to fast at that time in such a manner, except twice in the year, namely in the Lord's Advent and in the Lenten season. In that time too, if her mother's maidservants, much more advanced in age ætatis. and strength of body, wished to fast three days in the week, she would fast four; if they on beer and bread, she strove to fast more strictly on water and bread et pane omitted. . The fasts of precept fannis. , the Fridays and the Lord's Advent she observed with such strictness that from her tenth year retento added. until the end of her life, even in childbed, she refused to use milk foods: fearing it to be a great sin, if in any way she had been violated by milk foods. Sitting at her husband's table, while the others used more refined foods, she labored in fasting, with legumes or aut. porridge kept over to the second or third day; or aut. even using very small little fish spurned by her household, shuddering at the delights of the table corporales. . At times within half a year annum. she scarcely took one egg for the comfort of the body. She ate meat very rarely: and yet she was reckoned delicate by many. The rigor of her abstinences she mitigated little or not at all, neither when pregnant, nor when in childbed. The fast of Advent and aut. Lent she did not omit on account of the labors of delivery and aut. childbirth, but faithfully observed it, and with disciplines and various exercises of chastisement, opportunity offering, and with many other pious works, she was zealous to enrich her fast.

CHAP. VII.

[16] She was quick to confess and to merit indulgences. She frequently uses sacred confession, From the seventh year of her age at the beginning of Lent she hastened to the confession of her sins suor. pec. conf. . Such hastenings * in the little one wearied her elder seniores. sisters and the maidservants, as if quod. by her example the slowness of the others was judged and aut. reckoned the more reprehensible. In the course of time, however, in matrimony she confessed most frequently, at last daily, not only once in the day, but sometimes more often, according as her conscience gave her remorse even in the slightest things ^h. When her elder sisters and maidservants ancillam in the manuscript. visited churches outside or inside the village for indulgences, if on account of the tenderness of her body or aut. age leave was denied her by her mother, she was greatly tormented, so that at length her mother, scarcely induced by her tears, weeping and flet. lacr. et. crying out, granted leave to go.

CHAP. VIII.

[17] That Quomodo. as a little girl she strove already to put her hands to strong things. already from tender years mature and strong. For this blessed Dorothea, while still a young girl, already declared by her spirit what she was to be. When her sisters or maidservants used coarser foods, or did anything else that quidem. was great and difficult, the little one already putting her hands to strong things tried to work at great things with them j. m. oper. already, and to use coarse and et gr. ac. solid foods; not wishing, though a little girl, to be called and reckoned rep. aut nom. weak or aut. delicate. And if at any time she was so called, or was not permitted to use the like things, she wept and was bitterly afflicted, because, strengthened in the Lord, she reckoned that she could do such things as they did. Before her tenth year, if she wished anything aliquod. of the foregoing, namely to fast, to visit churches inside or outside the village even in the time of night, or even to use more solid foods uti cib. , this she had to obtain from her mother with tears and crying out. After her tenth year, however, in a freer manner she was able voluit. to do these and other good things; those things [ea.] which were of a child or the childish ways she put away according to the measure of her age.

CHAP. IX.

[18] That after her tenth year she already nimbly governed the house of her parents. Administering the house, When her elder sisters had been given in marriage, she governed the paternal parentum. house, and dispensed the victuals, as being of good nature and rich in ability. Discretion, outrunning her age, made her, although a girl puerulam. , fit for the governing of the house and the dispensing of the said victuals. She was young and nimble without levity, humble and truthful without duplicity, obedient to her parents without contradiction, cheerful and unwearied in labors without dissipation, hardworking and patient without complaint and murmuring, charitable toward the poor and needy out of pious compassion. Now set on the field of the active act. V. life, she exercised herself in many ways in works of piety, and took up Martha's ministry with commendable solicitude.

CHAP. X.

[19] On her holy affection toward the poor. Indeed from infancy mercy and compassion grew up with her, she cherishes the poor, and with the poor and humble was her conversation. The bowels of her kindness were moved with sedulous commiseration compassione sedula. . Not turning her face from any poor man, but receiving all the poor generally in the house domum. of her father, she gave out alms generously; nor was she accustomed to refuse erogare in the manuscript. herself to those asking. More generously too than she had been ordered by her mother, and better things also, she distributed to the poor; for instance, to give a single measure, she gave double, or a plain drink, she gave exhibuit. a better; and singularly, loving the poor tenderly, she washed their feet, spread their beds, and delighted every day to be, to speak and to converse with them; and they in turn loved her back and spoke of her far and wide. Prayers and songs she had learned from them eis. , which in the time of night and also by day among the other suffrages of her prayers she paid to the Lord as a title of praise; and now already Jam tamquam. through the inmost chambers of her heart holy poverty, which she afterwards pursued more efficaciously in affection and in effect, shone back resplendebat. as with a certain ray of future affection.

CHAP. XI.

[20] That Quomodo. she received with equanimity what was offered her. As long as she stayed with her mother, and she shows herself tractable to all. she did without complaint and impatience all things commanded her by her mother. And finery too according to their means, in necklaces, silken sertis. garments, things of silver and other adornments of maidens cæterum virginis in the manuscript. , she humbly received, giving thanks to her, not pleasing herself in this, nor raising herself above others, but she remained in a certain equanimity of soul; for she was neither elated by the finery of her dress, nor afflicted by the lack of it. So grateful and peaceable was she, that she took for good whatever was done to her. Even when evil was returned to her for good, she did not have her soul cast down by it with sadness perhaps pro . Likewise Idem. it was in matrimony, in which she accepted for good whatever her husband dealt out.

CHAP. XII.

[21] That Quomodo. banquets of men were painful to her, and dances. The delights of the world are irksome to her, In the solaces of men and [et.] in dances she was moved with few parvis. or aut. no consolations; but drawn by the desire of the things above, she was very much held to these. Bitter also and painful to her were the banquets of men, which can be proved by a fourfold testimony. First, because quod adhuc. when very young and tiny, led to banquets, she sat not eating or aut. drinking, but omitted. was heartily cordialiterque. afflicted: so that from this she dissolved in weeping and sadness, and so the harp of worldly solace was turned into mourning. Second, that quidem. at banquets, if ever for a very short time she danced, led by the hand, as soon as opportunity offered she at once turned aside to some corner, most bitterly bewailing the vanity of the world, also [et.] that by these means she should be held back from the contemplation con. D. retardare. of the Lord. Third, when she was in matrimony and bound by the laws of her husband, if at a distance a wedding banquet was approaching, to which she feared being asked, she pricked her feet with a needle, sending it notably into the flesh in carn. mit. eandem. , and showed them to her husband as a proof of her inability and infirmity; he, not perceiving the punctures distinctly, but only the notable swelling of her feet, accepted it as her excuse, and at once factum. imputed it to the cold or aut. to other events. The fourth testimony, that she very rarely came to a banquet convivia. , when she was in matrimony, without wounds, and because as a young woman, to the others of her age in matrimonio added. , that the rigor of her penance might better lie hidden, she conformed herself in shoes and wooden pattens in matrimony in mat. omitted. , and while she danced, although very briefly, the wounds which she had in the shins, in the legs below and above, bled abundantly, so violated by the motion, whence her shoes were filled with blood et ita cruciabatur added. . Afterwards not being able to bear the sadness stricturam. or pressure of the shoes, she wore boots lined with coarse felt viltio. , which she hid by the length of her garments. But yet she was no less hurt by these in the winter time, which, adhering to the hurt places and drawing out the blood, her feet became too cold, and in summer they were burned utebatur. with no small heat, and so dancing in these, she suffered both excessive pain and excessive heat ⁱ.

CHAP. XIII.

[22] On a certain event bringing about the beginning of her sufferings. already in the seventh year of her age. When the happy omitted. Dorothea was six years old, and had reached her seventh, by chance she was entirely scalded with boiling bulliente. water; and her mother, taking care of her, nursed her, afflicted with most vehement pains, in the cradle. In all that time the almighty Lord, the most loving consoler of the afflicted, prevented that blessed child with the grace of visitation, so raising up the desire added from B. omitted in the manuscript. of that afflicted girl to himself, that from that hour until the end of her life she never suffered loss, but continual increase of virtues. For many times she felt the drawing tractum. of the Lord taking place around her so strongly, as if she were being drawn up with body and soul: and so without interruption she was borne by desire to heavenly things, which she had before her eyes, as the house of the Lord and his kingdom. For the sake of which she gladly gazed on heaven and seu. also in the time of night on the firmament, and was fed in this by a certain joyful zeal of contemplation.

CHAP. XIV.

[23] How Dorothea knew distinctly the sharpness of her wounds, the Lord revealing it. The Lord reveals to her It came about by omitted. the immense goodness of the Lord Jesus, the chosen bridegroom, some weeks after the day of Blessed Agatha the martyr in the year of the Lord MCCCXCIV, that as Dorothea was in the ardor of divine charity exeunte in the manuscript. and praying with tears, the Lord, wishing to reveal to her distinctly the bitterness of her sufferings, said: "Run back in recollection over your life from childhood, which you led with great difficulty and with the huge pain of wounds; so that you may be able to express something of it for my special praise, and leave it in the world. You indeed know well that that life was mine, not yours. You feel well too, that without me you could not have endured such grave and bitter wounds. You know also by experience, that eam added. without me

you will not be able to enumerate enarrare. anything of it. You also, made secure by me, will be able to say boldly audacter. that from the time when you began to know something of me, I dealt with you miraculously. Recall how I held your wounds open, filled with bitter amaris. pains, in which at times there was a pricking itch, or as of an ant biting, as if they had been fuisset in the manuscript. fuissem. filled with biting worms. At times there were in them most bitter gnawings, afflicting as if they were full of very sharp præac. tel. darts. At times they burned, as if they were wholly on fire. At times however tantum. they festered, and at length burst from their great swelling. At times with vehemence of pain they bled so freshly and abundantly quæ tandem-cruentabant omitted. , as if they had been most recently inflicted. Truly your eyes in the time of sleep were so filled with bitterness, as if they had been full of soot. You from your childhood had so many and such great tua added. wounds, that if I had not specially preserved you, you would have been contracted, mutilated or aut. bent double, or aut. would have perished from putrefied wounds. You never spared yourself on my account, clinging to me with full confidence: therefore I was zealous to preserve you specially." These and many other things serving as nourishment acrimoniam. of her sufferings he revealed distinctly ^k.

CHAP. XV.

[24] How she chastised and wounded herself ^l. how she tormented herself, To what most sharp chastisements and inflictions of wounds the devout servant of Christ was led: rather often frequenter. she beat her body with rods, whips, thistles, branches of thorny trees of various kinds, and most sharp scorpions. She also burned herself from the seventh year of her age rather often frequenter. , and often with boiling water, sometimes with red-hot iron, sometimes with burning light, sometimes with boiling furente. fat, hurting and wounding herself in different places; namely on the shoulders, arms and thighs, hips, shins, knees genibus. , calves and feet she wounded herself with the aforesaid instruments, making wound around wound, from the tops of the shoulders to the ends of the sleeves. So from the thigh to the place which was covered by the end of her garment or tumenti. , making one wound around another, so that it appeared as if one continuous wound from top to bottom. In a like manner she wounded herself on the breast, on the shoulders and on the thigh. And she beat herself from her youth up to matrimony; and being in matrimony, day and night many times with the aforesaid instruments she many times lacerated her chaste flesh to the point of manifold and grave wounding and abundant shedding of blood, and as if furrowing she made long ob longa. wounds; some parts of the flesh being torn off clung to the pricks of the knots in the whips, to the thorns, and aut. to the spines. Moreover she hurt her knees by kneeling in rough places, on planks or sharp splinters, on which she gravely wounded them: the pain of which was very bitter to her; nor is a wound on the knees quickly healed, as neither are those wounds easily healed which are caused by burning. On a certain occasion in her childhood, without discretion being kept, she burned herself excessively aqua curata, tam exc. around the ankle with boiling water, so that from this she was gravely ill, and thence a fierce wound arose. In the tenth year of her age, at another time she again burned both feet with boiling water, and exceeding measure; that the heat might be drawn out, she put herself in a muddy place, placing dung fumum in the manuscript. and mud under the hurt places, continuing the said sitting for about omitted. three quarters of the day. On all omnibusque. the days of her life from the seventh year of her suæ added. age she was under the stripes of rods, of scorpions, and she wounded and pierced herself with various instruments. And although all the aforesaid pr. omitted. things were grave and sharper than sharp things, yet this venerable woman sweetened them with desire of eternal things and certainty of hope.

CHAP. XVI.

[25] She further exasperated her wounds with biting things ^m. and how she exasperated the pain. This venerable servant of God, not content with the wounds thus inflicted, but driven by the fury of divine love, applied to the wounded and vuln. et omitted. afflicted places things more afflicting and biting. For she was accustomed, what it is a horror to think of and more horrible to endure, often to put or thrust into her wounds nettles, the harder and sharper parts of a broom, broken nutshells, other rough things and bitter herbs: and such things she also put in her wounds for another cause, namely that they might be renewed, and kept open longer. This renewal of her wounds she was accustomed to work by other ways and graver means also; and by these openings of her wounds she was often wholly wounded, lacerated and bloody in the parts of the body covered by clothes. And by a very biting and coarse hair-shirt next the skin, and [ac.] by a coarse tunic, hairy or woolly, whose hairs were thrust into the fresh wounds and pressed compacta. there, she was hurt more than by the hair-shirt, as she asserted. She was accustomed also when wounded sometimes quandoquidem. to put or dip herself into salt water left from meats or herrings; sometimes in icy water in added. in the winter time, now one foot, now two, now one hand, now both, and sometimes up to the navel, and sometimes up to the neck she put herself in and stood, until the surrounding water was frozen into ice so hard, that there was some difficulty in drawing out the said parts. So she sat under the dripping of a gutter in the winter time, until wholly or for the greater part drenched, and by the stiffness of the cold her garments were joined by freezing to the ground. These plunges into icy waters aquam gelidam. she began incepit. to make in the eleventh year of her age ⁿ, and she frequented them for about twenty-six years. And had not the divine clemency, which disposes all things sweetly and governs most wisely sapienter. , been specially with her, her feet and aut. hands, indeed her whole self, would have perished from the excessive cold. And as here in a wonderful manner, so she was preserved by divine providence from delirium, when her vigil was continued for one or ac in the manuscript. two weeks. From which vigils her head ached gravely, and [et.] she sensibly perceived sens. perc. a ringing, as if it were the chattering of many birds. O admirable fortitude of this woman! Who has heard the like of this in all respects? Indeed all things are full of the wonders of God. Let the delicate, the animal, the carnal, the voluptuous, the soft, the dissolute and the slack be silent, and let them not with their arguments reprove the works of God, which divine providence willed and was able to show forth for their confusion, for the consolation of the Church, for the arousing of the faithful, for the astonishment and wonder of all hearts in so frail a sex, as the world grows old and charity grows tepid.

CHAP. XVII.

[26] On the wounds also impressed on her by the Lord. After the tender maiden had by the aforesaid means subjugated her flesh to the spirit, She receives wounds impressed by Christ. she was omitted. wounded by the sword of divine love and [et.] of the Lord's passion. Her bridegroom, for whose sake she so untiringly endured bitter wounds, also impressed his wounds as a sign of undivided love, namely on the shoulders, arms, on the breast, et added. back, under the armpits, on the legs, knees and shins et tibiis. , and these suddenly, when she was weighed down by sleep, he inflicted very swiftly, one, two, four, five, six, seven, eight or aut. more: nor nec. could she say definitely the greatest number of wounds impressed on her by Christ a C. vuln. . The Lord's wounds were deep in the fleshy places to the length of at least one finger-joint, in other places they were less deep. It happened also sometimes, but rarely, that some wound was inflicted on her by the Lord in such a manner: for in some part of the body there would very swiftly occur a swollen inflammation, which at once seethed and burned, and rising on high burst from the rigid stretching of the skin, and so a wound was caused: in this manner both the Lord's wounds and her own were at times renewed. Singularly it happened in the ninth year of her age, that one fierce and large wound was a D. unum. inflicted on her by the Lord in the spine of the back over one of the bones, which was so afflicting and bitter to her, that she was compelled to walk bent over, not being able for a long time se ad rect. l. temp. er. to raise herself upright; and on this account it was judged by others that she would remain so bent over all the days of her life. The said wound remained open ap. p. until the seventeenth year of her age, often bled abundantly, and the blood hardened in her undergarment gravely afflicted the tender maiden. Which Quin. wound omitted. she omitted. also had to bind round omitted. with many cloths morning and evening, lest the blood flowing down should appear in the bedclothes litisterniis in the manuscript. , on her garments or aut. in other places, and the wound be unable to lie hidden. That wound, and many others invisible invariabilia. to her, were up to matrimony inflicted in the aforesaid places by the Lord and by herself in turn: which afflicted her very bitterly; above all the Lord's wounds brought on pains of various kinds day and night. In walking she was filled with blood and bitter pain; yet she always showed herself cheerful and joyful jucundi spiritus. , she hid the bitterness of her sufferings by joy of spirit juc. spir. omitted. . To no one did she reveal the aforesaid wounds, nor did she complain of their pain to anyone cum al. omitted. all the days of her life until the time noted above, in which the Lord willed fuit in the manuscript, for fecit. such things to be revealed. And it is quite a wonder that the matter could lie hidden from her mother, sisters, maidservants and husband: this was done specially by divine providence. At times she was omitted. noticed to be gravely hurt in some places of her body, and then being questioned she answered int. resp. : "It is scabies," or: "That part is scabby." And in order the better to hide her wounds, in the time of night she secretly washed the parts of her garments stained with blood. Through the aforesaid wounds of the Lord and her own the stigmata of the most holy wounds of Christ were from her innocent childhood until her end sensibly impressed on her memory ^o: in which she read together the pain and the love of the Lord Jesus Christ.

CHAP. XVIII.

[27] That she might hide the greatness of her pains, certain remedies were sometimes mercifully granted sibi f. non. m. a D. her by the Lord. She is at times refreshed by God. For the wounds ejus added. of this pre-elected bride were accustomed in turn to suffer five quandoque. sharpnesses of pains, sometimes to burn fervently, sometimes to be exceedingly cold, sometimes to prick sharply, sometimes gravely to swell and sometimes abundantly to bleed. In these five quandoque. pains and other painful dolorosis. occurrences the tender maiden before matrimony, and afterwards also in matrimony when grown, was weighed down with pains,

so that at times it was beyond her strength to bear the vehemence of such great pains. And then the Lord, most loving consoler, who by no means permitted her to be burdened beyond her power, was accustomed in this way to soothe her pains somewhat. For there being given sometimes on her neck several small abscesses rising into a certain swelling, she could indicate this to others and bring it to light, saying: "My neck and head hurt; see how many abscesses I have:" of her wounds and sufferings she kept utterly silent. From the vehemence of which, however, she had to lie down in bed loco. for a time. Sometimes she was shaken with infirmity infirmitatem. of the eyes, sometimes with some fever: and this variation and bringing on of illnesses occurred twice in the year, or ac in the manuscript. three times within the year. And this was accustomed to happen then, when the excess of pains afflicted her too greatly. When she lay down for a natural day, she lay as if asleep in great sweetness: her soul then, melted with spiritual delights, seemed about to faint away defluere. . The Lord then in a wonderful manner, soothing, consoled the tenderness of her patience. When two or aut. three days had passed in these hujusmodi. consolations, then her wounds alternated their aforesaid five quandoque. stabbings, and afflicted her most bitterly. From the vehemence of which pains she could neither lie nor rest for three vel added. , four or aut. more days: yet she had from divine providence præsentia. , which she felt showing itself most friendly, manifold consolation, and in the bitternesses of the pains some [ac.] remission too of the wounds [p]. At length after some days, the storm of pains ceasing, the wounds were healed within six, more or fewer days: not all however, because some remained unhealed. Yet in spite of those, she rose from her sickness fresh and sound, nor did she seem changed in color, neither omitted. then when she lay down, nor then when she rose: but in both cases she appeared in her face well disposed, that is ruddy.

CHAP. XIX.

[28] On her admirable devotion concerning the divine offices, She keeps feast days holily, on which the pain of her wounds increases. and her more wonderful preparation for the solemn feasts. With what diligence and devotion she prepared præparavit. herself for the sacred festivals appointed institutas. by the universal Church, with what purity of mind and piety charitate. of faith she embraced them, with what charity and reverence she carried them out, what confidence and hope too certam. of future reward she received from them, not only when grown, but also when a young girl, he alone knows who is the knower and searcher of hearts. Indeed while still a little girl she rejected vain things, gladly visited churches, and at the divine offices of day diuturna. and night, which were carried out in the church according to the succession of the season, she stood by with great affection of devotion. And if at any time in the deep of night, as at Easter festi Paschæ. , something was carried out in church, to which on account of her tenderness she was not permitted to go, she nevertheless for desire of being present wept so inconsolably, that she could not sleep. In the eleventh year of her age, receiving for the first time the sacrament of the Eucharist acc. Euch. , she had many and great wounds, some inflicted on her by the Lord, some by herself; on account of the affliction of which and likewise of her singular desire to be present at the office of the Lord's Resurrection, she watched the doors sleepless that night, so that she might go to church with her mother when she rose; but she was not permitted; although she more urgently asked her mother, she was repulsed, because she had received communion on holy Saturday. On account of the repulse the young girl wept inconsolably, continuing the night in wakefulness, although her father, staying at home, labored to soothe her weeping with human or pious consolations. But the Lord, very friendlily consoling the sad servant of God, abundantly poured out spiritual delights for her. A wonderful thing! and behold on the day of Easter her wounds bled so abundantly as if they had been freshly inflicted. And on this account, lest the abundant blood should disclose patefierent. her wounds, she lay hidden in the hiding-places and recesses of the house. A singular thing and worthy of admiration, indeed to be preached on the housetops for great sanctification, that from that time when she had first been burned by hot water, namely in the seventh year of her age, through all the remaining time of her life, when something according to the season temporis congruitatem. was done in church, and she was not permitted to be present, she urged with such importunity of prayers and labors to be present, that she was thought by some to exceed reason or to be mad insaniæ. . From the same time too et added. for the rest of her life, as the feasts of our Redemption, of the glorious Virgin Mary and of the holy martyrs, and of very many other saints drew near, then she had wounds, and some singular martyrdoms through her wounds, and sometimes their pains of which we spoke above; which began, in meeting some approaching feast, to burn fervently, to be exceedingly cold, etc., in the manner in which joy arises in the hearts of other devout people in meeting some approaching feast, and the greater the nearer the feast. So also in that chosen one the wounds increased, and their pains around the aforesaid feasts, as if with their stabbings they heralded the solemnities to come or future, and so she was more bitterly afflicted [q]. She had also by prerogative of singular grace that around the feasts the joys of eternal life and of the saints shone upon her; this however did not happen in her youthful age, but in old age.

CHAP. XX.

[29] On the mighty battle of the devil, which also was a cause of her wounds. She is assiduously harassed by the demon, The ancient foe, enemy of human happiness, with his poisonous suasions virulentis persuasionibus. began to attack and assail with his mighty machinations the young Dorothea, eager with desire of heavenly things, and to shoot into her heart the very sharp arrows of temptation, in order to turn away avelleret. her mind from good pursuits and hold her back from the contemplation of heavenly things. At times he thrust in his malevolent malivolas. suggestions inussit omnes. , as if to say: "Turn away from God; it is superfluous and vain vacuum. to do good, since you cannot reach God Dominum. ." As she was in prayer he said: "Why do you wish to pray, to weary yourself, to break off your sleep, and to endure the cold, since those things profit prosunt. you nothing?" As she attended Incedenti. and looked tum inspicienti. at heaven with devotion, he said: "Why do you look at heaven, since [tu.] you will nevertheless not reach it?" When she wept and mourned, he said by suggestion: "Why do you weep and mourn? It is better to make merry with men, than to be wasted by empty manibus. labors;" and so he tried to seduce this tender girl. When she wished to visit a church, et added. to give alms, patiently to bear adversity, and to do other good things, he exercised a thousand thousand wiles, and was zealous to call her back from what she intended: and so he most mightily afflicted her. She, however, the divine grace aiding, did not consent to his suasions, but clung to the Lord with more diligent zeal; and the more fervent the desire studio. with which she pressed on with holy works, the more mightily the adversary sharpened and exasperated his temptations. The suggestions which the assailant had thrust in were so mighty and painful, that she would have preferred and chosen to complete perferre. one great bodily wound in her body, than to endure those wicked suggestions. There was another cause too of the difficulty of bearing such temptations: because she was ignorant of the depravity potestatem. of that perverter in tempting and of the difficulty in resisting. But the Lord, making a way out in temptations, fortified the tender girl with magnanimity magnanimiter fortificavit. , and rendered her insuperable to the tempter. When, however, sitting alone in meditating, devoutly praying, or singing canendo. some song of the Lord, some fervor of devotion flamed up afflagravit. , that wicked spirit could not bear this, but brought more difficulty than usual with his suasions; and that harassment she would most gladly have redeemed at the price of the world, if it had been hers. Thinking the heat of such temptation to be the cause by which quod. she did good works remissly, and less well and duly regulated, therefore with roused spirit, the more she was attacked, the more she did good things: loving God more intently, and having a more fervent ferventius. desire, she took no care of her flesh; she made little of harm to it, and chastised herself strongly, that she might be freed from the devil, and be fixed on the solid firmament of the Lord. And it is quite a wonder that she was not added from B. omitted in the manuscript. seduced by the devil's instigation so that, the moderation of discretion not being kept in wounding and in vuln. et se cast. chastising herself, she should have afflicted herself omitted. too much, and so perished. And on this account frequently, the more quando. she abounded in spiritual delights, the more and the more cruelly he then attacked her. For he strove through the bitterness of his suggestion to diminish diminuere. the delights of her spirit, so far as in him lay.

[30] especially in matrimony. This battle of the malignant spirit was, and [ei.] on all days before matrimony from the ninth year of her age, and assiduously in matrimony. And although she was much weighed down by this, she quia in the manuscript. nevertheless always appeared to men cheerful and joyful. She thought also that her flesh was the cause why she was so tempted, although she was not tempted impugnaretur. by the flesh. For she said that she had never had temptations of the flesh. This thought she had until the drawing out of her heart, which took place from omitted. the thirty-ninth year of her age. On this account she afflicted her flesh most cruelly from the seventh year of her age and, as was said before, wounded it. When she was in matrimony, the attempts of the apostate spirit were more persistent. When out of the fervor of divine love she visited churches on account of indulgences, that envious calumniator said: "Why do you run like a madwoman and go about different places? Why do you not quiet yourself, praying with devotion in church?" But if, steeped in devotion, she remained in silence and quiet in church, that pestilent one objected: "Why do you not visit those and those istas. churches, because there are many indulgences there?" And so he tried maliciously to change the composure of her soul and body. But the Holy Spirit was with her in the fraud of those who surrounded her, and diminished and broke the importunity of the tempter [r], saying a good ten weeks before the end of life to his beloved bride: "When you turned to me with true love, then the malignant spirit began to hate odisse. you, and to oppose repugnandum sibi. him you had to begin labors so arduous that you would have proceeded with greater ease in fighting daily against your bodily enemies; surely because against such you would have had friends to help you, you would have known them more easily, when they were present or absent, or at what hour they were approaching to harass you more gravely." Since therefore she bore pertulerit. so assiduous machinations of the malignant spirits, it is a probable argument that the revelations and other interior int. oper. workings were done by the Lord, according to the saying of the Savior: When the strong man armed guards his court, etc.; for the devil neglects to attack those whom he feels that he possesses se possidere. in quiet right.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. In her pains Bl. Dorothea was at times refreshed by song: to whom the Lord said on a certain day: "Sing with the scholars, if perhaps it may go better." And as she sang, that rigor was relaxed, and it appeared to her that if she had not sung, and if the Lord had not helped her in some other way, she would have died of languishing love Latin Life, book IV, chapter 21. .

q. Compare the Writing of the year 1404 Linda, part II, page 140. .

r. Of the apparitions of demons these words among others are in the Latin Life Book II, chapter 35. : There came a huge multitude of malignant spirits… But the bride … did not fear, nor was she troubled, and the Lord said to her: "Now look how weak the demon has been made before you. See how he creeps insidiously; who would not gladly see you, as he sees you: but in a way he is necessitated to attack you, compelled by another demon his superior."

* read accelerationis

CHAPTER TWO.

The marriage of Bl. Dorothea, ecstasies, pious journeys. The drawing out of her heart and other singular graces. Her wonderful endurance. She is divinely snatched from dangers.

CHAP. XXI.

Bl. Dorothea, holily married On her praiseworthy marriage. Since not only virgins and the continent, but also the married, pleasing God through right faith and good works operationem bonam. , merit to come to eternal blessedness beat. p. , not by chance but by divine dispensation I think it came about that this beloved bride of God D. dil. should be joined to a human hujusmodi. spouse; that enim added. the state of matrimony, as it is approved by the Church, might be further approved by holiness of life; that she might be more humbled in bearing the burdens of matrimony; that the Lord might be more magnificently praised in her children; and that being tested in all the states dedicated to God omitted. , she might be more profoundly exercised to the praise and glory of God. After this chaste and modest virgin, like a most pure lily, keeping the whiteness of all honor, had faithfully guarded the cleanness munditiam. of heart and likewise of body as a hidden treasure until the seventeenth year of her age, she kept her soul clean from all concupiscence with Sara and Rachel Rachelis. . Never did she stain herself by sharing with players and aut. the insolent. For she was sober, modest, humble, affable, kind, cheerful, peaceable, interpreting each thing in the better sense, never rash in any judgments, of good fame, and glorious gratiosa. in the eyes of all. And when she had already been sought in marriage by many a mult. jam. , she was promised by her elder ^a sermone in the manuscript. brother to a certain craftsman, an honorable and mature man, and omitted. rich for his class; to whom afterwards she was joined juncta. omitted. in matrimony according to the rite of the Church. To whom however she consented in the fear of the Lord, not drawn by lust; and being led to the house of her husband, which

was in the town of Gdańsk Gdantzg. of the diocese of Włocławek Valdislaviensis in the manuscript. , and the solemnities of the wedding being completed, not only for three nights according to the angel's counsel, but for several following frequentes. she remained untouched, tainted by no stain or aut. heat of lust. Truly between them there was a chaste and venerable honorabile. marriage, and an undefiled bed, endowed and gifted with the threefold good of matrimony, namely fidelity, offspring, sacrament.

CHAP. XXII.

[32] On the observance of matrimonial fidelity. Her husband, she continues to live holily, Adalbert by name, moved by devotion, visited the thresholds of the saints for indulgences. To Rome also and to the blessed Mother of God at Aachen Aquisgrani. he set out sometimes on pilgrimage. And then in his absence, intent on praiseworthy works, she was better able to continue her exercises and wounds, and to hide the bloody sanguinum. bridegroom Christ, and to delight in him more freely. Yet she, both when her husband was present and when he was absent, keeping herself irreproachable ^b, showed herself devoted to God and friendly and kind to him.

CHAP. XXIII.

[33] On the bringing up of her children. That they might have together solace in children, and she excellently trains her children. they obtained a blessing in nine ^c children. That blessed woman labored over the children, whom in God quos mundo. she had begotten bodily, that she might bring them forth to God spiritually, and so they might be natural and spiritual children. And since it belongs to parents to give children nourishment and discipline, this blessed woman, suckling her children, poured in and steeped them together with the milk with this most sweet name Jesus Christ; and rising at dawn with blessed Job, she offered holocausts of devout prayer for each, not without fervent desire and weeping: and she instructed them from infancy to fear God, and to abstain omitted. from every sin delicto. with Tobit. Nor did she chastise remissly with Eli, but sharply according to the demand of their fault. To the love of the heavenly fatherland she raised up and directed erexit. them by holy factis. words and conduct. And that she might bring them forth to the Lord, she sweated more from much care and labor, than she had been wearied in their natural generation. So also concerning others whom by the Lord's command she had to bring forth spiritually, she labored with unspeakable invincibili. solicitude: for praying day die. and night, desiring, entreating, reproving, weeping; and whatever quidquam. she was to do out of the love of God, she was tirelessly zealous to obey the divine will. Whence the Lord, among other sufficiently instructive revelations, set forth to her nine modes of spiritual generation, of which it will be said in another place. It went therefore to the heaping up of her merits ergo m. e. , that those whom she could not bring forth by privileged acts, for instance by the word of preaching, she nonetheless brought up as sons by the examples of her holy conversation and the sweetness of her manners.

CHAP. XXIV.

[34] On their undivided cohabitation or union. Nor was the third, She returns early to all continence namely the sacrament, lacking to them [ei.] , which represents inseparability. For not man, but God separated them through the payment of the natural debt. This servant of God, bound by the laws of matrimony, cohabited with omitted. her husband twenty-six and a half years, keeping conjugal continence. She never demanded the debt, when demanded she rendered it to her husband with the fear of God. After the last daughter was conceived, considering that every weighing is unworthy of a continent soul, they then for ten years kept mutual continence for the Lord's sake, that their spirit might attend the more freely to the Lord. And that daughter, the sole survivor, became a nun ^d. At the beginning of the marriage, when they had come together, the wounds, which before she had almost always open, especially then when she was well, were now almost wholly healed, some of which aliquando in the manuscript. she renewed, and when eight weeks or aut. a little more had passed from the celebration of the wedding, she fell into a very great sickness aut added. infirmitatem added. , in which, provided with all the sacraments, from great desire she desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ. In which the Lord visited her by his grace and, sending into her a sweetening delight, ineffably gladdened her through many days: and this the Lord was accustomed mercifully to do in other infirmities as well.

CHAP. XXV.

[35] On her holy exercises continued in matrimony in matr. omitted. . and austere exercises, Dorothea the servant of God desired up to old age and decrepitude to spend all her strength in his service. She, with charity goading her, neglecting the care of her body, did not spare herself from labors, both then when she was near childbirth, and then when she was suckling her children; she climbed, she carried potavit. , she bent down and did the other works otherwise incumbent on her. So too abstinences, disciplines, prostrations, chastisements and afflictions of the body she did not give up even in childbed, nor did she have any peace in childbed in her house, both on account of multos added. those laboring there, and on account of the wailing children, and on account of the afflicting pains, and also on account of the wearying labors. Therefore she languished in body, she languished in mind also with the affection of devotion, because she had to abstain from entering the church for the forty days of purification. This separation from the church wearied her greatly. When the days of her purification suæ p. were fulfilled, she visited the church according to the most Christian rite with the little one she had borne. She was then at once rejoicing erat p. and grieving: rejoicing, because she could poterat. visit the church and take part in the divine solemnities; but grieving and sad mœrens. , because on account of the care of the infant she was drawn retrahebatur. a little from the church, and was compelled to return to her husband's bed, from whose bed she had gladly absented herself, when she conveniently could, on this account many times sitting by the cradle, rocking the wailing child the whole night, in the time of winter cold, in a single tunic, and having over herself a thin and old little mantle. She however made little of the labor and the cold: indeed, that she might be separated from her husband's bed, she gladly bore it. Nor did she care, both before matrimony and in matrimony, if she was never warmed the whole winter. Committing also the care of her children to the Lord, ordering as best and most diligently potuit. she could the necessaries for the child and the house, she arranged that very early, before the doors of the church were opened, she could go there, commonly going before all the others omnes alios. . If any person had come before her, she grieved, blushing at her late arrival: for there was in her a desire that in keeping vigil, praying and serving the Lord she might be first or at least not late. Many times it happened, that praying before the doors of the church with tears and genuflections she continued in a long delay, until the doors of the church had been unlocked. When these were unlocked, entering with reverential fear as into the house of the heavenly Father, she turned aside to some corner, multiplying there genuflections, prostrations and prayers, with such fervor of spirit and effort, that even in winter, she being only in a thin tunic and thin mantle, from excessive ardor an abundant sweat broke out, and soaked her. This done, resting in quiet, praying, meditating, and aut. fervently clinging to the Lord alone through contemplation, she was many times so inflamed as if she were in some very hot place, for instance in an overheated bath. On this account in winter, as sometimes in summer, she cooled herself by the blowing of the air and by putting cold stones under herself, or by placing herself against them. While she wished to persevere in prayer, in omitted. meditation or contemplation up to the end of all the Masses, she was at times hindered by her wailing infant, whose weeping she knew in church by this sign in h. signo. , namely when she felt milk flow from her breasts. Whenever she perceived this in church, or outside, she hastened to the infant without delay, and [et] this was very wearisome and laborious, especially in the time of night hurrying festinanter. from the church through the mud to the house without a light.

[36] Christ himself driving her on, As often as she was hindered in her morning going to church by her husband or ac in the manuscript. by other business, she was so bitterly afflicted, as if a very sharp sword were passing through her heart. On this account she was erat. mourning and full of sadness, afflicting herself for so long, until she had been consoled by the Lord; nor, the consolation being received, did she cease to afflict herself. For when the burden is lightened, affliction grows sweet, especially then when in the very pressure of the burdens the first fruits of the future consolation are tasted beforehand. Therefore in greater charity striking herself more gravely, she afflicted herself more bitterly, frequently et added. from various blows and wounding vulneribus. piercings afflictionibus. or punctures she walked wholly wounded and bloody within infra. her garments. And although, wherever she moved, it was painful and bitter to her, yet day die. and night, in spirit and body she did not rest, ceasing from labor. When she did not remain exercising herself in one place, and afflicting herself omitted. with disciplines and the goads of the whips, then she prayed and visited various churches ^e for indulgences, or the poor, or ac paup. V., ac in the manuscript. went to preaching, Mass, or ac in the manuscript. Masses, weeping, wailing, and [et.] lamenting her sins and those of others, she poured out many and great tears for her failing and for her sojourn in this life. She then felt, as she afterwards knew by the Lord's revelation, that she had been impelled by the Lord to afflict herself, like a beast of burden which is driven by whips to walk faster; and from one afflictive exercise to another, from labor to labor the Lord had impelled her, not permitting her to rest or sleep: and if at any time she desired to rest and to refresh her weary and wounded vulnera. limbs, the Lord seemed so to show himself to her, as if he were thrusting her, impelling her and moving admonens. her to keep vigil and labor: and so siquidem. she very rarely slept, and little: this however was for many years very bitter to her, and she was more bitterly afflicted sleeping than waking, in spite of great preceding fatigue of the body.

CHAP. XXVI.

[37] On her ecstatic sleep and the excesses of mind first known and begun. giving ecstatic sleep, And because the Lord after a storm makes a calm, and after weeping pours in exultation, she at length after many labors in matrimony, afflictions and agonies, was permitted by the Lord sometimes to rest, and to sleep sweetly for one, two or three hours, or a little more: this took place long before the drawing out of her heart extractiones in the manuscript. . Further in such sleep she felt her spirit sweetly delighted, the Lord whispering with her soul, and having great joy, although she did not yet understand what the whispering of the Lord was. Her heart then gladdened leapt nimbly; and in sleep she prayed very devoutly. For she was trying to pay in sleeping the sacrifice of prayer, which she was hindered from completing while waking:

and this was from the habit of praying and the great affection of charity. And for so resting or sleeping she had a great desire, because in such sleeping there arose a great divine consolation of charity charitas. and inward gladness oriebatur. , and holy desires were mightily raised val. er. on high by the Lord with great fervor of spirit. To the aforesaid foretaste of the sweetness of future blessedness she was admitted for more than sixteen decem et sex. years of her omitted. present life: and because she had already tasted how sweet God Dominus. is, the whole world grew more bitter to her than before.

CHAP. XXVII.

[38] From the tasting of spiritual things she was often estranged from the senses, and rapting her by day, and went astray in exterior actions. Drawn wholly by the Lord's free goodness to the enjoyment of contemplation, she was so wholly set on fire with his charity, that to break off the quiet of sleep, to put off food, and to omit whatever pertains to one's own advantage, she reckoned rather a joy than a labor. Truly she felt that enim. divine sweetness immeasurably exceeds added from B. omitted in the manuscript. human, and that [ad.] all carnal delight compared with divine is of far less proportion, than is one tiny drop of dew in respect to the whole sea. From then on, as the Lord increased her holy desires des. ej. , she began to hate odisse. more strongly the world and its glory. To be occupied Occupare. with temporal things, to wear precious garments, adorned vestimenta pretiosa ornata. according to the world, or to have many mul. V. clothes, or aut. to attend banquets or aut. worldly solaces, was so painful and horrible to her in spirit, that quod. a nauseating horror, coming down from the spirit, overflowed into her ejus added. body. So Tantum. was her spirit inebriated with divine sweetness, that she walked as if drunk. And when quandoque. wholly sunk in sleep in those spiritual delights and withdrawn alienata. from the senses, she lay as if asleep, and then she was reckoned to be sleeping or ac in the manuscript. to suffer madness. Whence, often called by her husband when she was in rapture, not knowing inscius. of the matter, she did not answer; which he imputed to rebellion, not to grace. Once on account of such a thing he drenched her with water, rapt as she was Semel-perfudit added from B. omitted in A. , and again a second time, nor did she then feel it, except after some aliquanta. delay had passed, and only then did she feel the wetting. In a like manner Consiliit vero in the manuscript. , at other times, called back from the region of light by disorderly kicks or movements of the feet, she appeared glad and grateful. Likewise sometimes entering some chamber to carry out her husband's commands, absorbed by divine sweetness, placing herself somewhere, she neglected to do what she had been ordered. So sometimes commanded by her husband to buy fish or ac in the manuscript. meat, she bought eggs or ac in the manuscript. some other things. From this too she often went astray in the path of her feet: wishing indeed to cross to the market, she went to the church, or ac in the manuscript. to another place. Likewise sometimes she was so tantum. drawn in, that outward things otherwise commonly well known to her she did not recognize cognoscebat. . Whence once handling goose eggs, and looking at them diligently with her eyes, she did not know that they were goose eggs; whence the women standing round smiled at her. Sometimes drawn up on high by the Lord, or aut. magnificently favored beneficiata. in other ways, she did not have the power of herself to walk, or to move from the place. Yet tum. laughing and being cheerful, and sometimes uttering words of joy in the house or church, she could not contain herself from the abundance of her gladness and inward jubilation, although some, not knowing the gift of God and inexperienced in spiritual things, animal and carnal men, thought that she was raving in such benefits.

CHAP. XXVIII.

[39] How her husband put her in chains for certain good things displeasing to him. even against her husband's will; Her husband Adalbert nomine added. , easily moved ^f, both tamen. on account of his complexion, and tamen. on account of the infirmity of paralysis, as long as this holy woman hæc m. had fulfilled his will, suffered her before dinner to serve the Lord in what pursuits studuit. she could and would; and lest she be held back by the needs of the little ones, he made and appointed himself eorum added. their guardian and nurse in the meantime. At length, relying on devotion, with counsel and discretion, she sometimes withdrew from her husband's private company, embraces and bed. On account of these and other works of her goodness, for which she had an unwearying desire, her husband once being moved said: "Unless, he said, threatening, you give up dimiseris. your runnings about, and apply diligence to your house, I will restrain you with bonds and chains." He, overcome by the ill-advised heat of anger, for three days bound this venerable woman with chains in his house. She, armed with the shield of patience, bore patiently the blows of his fury and the reproaches, all murmuring and complaint being put aside. Whence her husband forte added. , thinking the holy patience of this woman and her peaceable silence to be well enough rebellion et sil. pacif. hujus æstimans minus bene rebellionem. or insolence, struck that venerable woman mightily on the head with a stool. She, embracing both joyfully and sweetly bearing them, on this account then had an inward consolation from the Lord, sweeter than every passing sweetness.

CHAP. XXIX.

[40] On the four spiritual languors proceeding from love. but in that very languor of divine love Inflamed with divine charity, taken with the love-charm phyli. of her only love amatoris. , she languished for love. She had spiritually four infirmities in succession, after the aforesaid, around the thirty-second year of her age. The first was, that she was anxiously afflicted from the greatness of her love, how she could be planted together with her only unice. beloved, held here on earth in t. omitted. as one despised and the last of men, and in the likeness of his most profound humility. Therefore she strove in spirit and mind to be freed from all perishable and passing things, which she now reckoned as dung. The flower indeed of human mundanæ. glory, falling, now withered in her heart ^g. The second infirmity was more excellent than the former, in which she burned æstimavit. for the summit of evangelical perfection, poverty, exile, self-despising, and contempt paupertatem, exulationem, s. despectionem et contemptum. ; and because she was bound to her matrimonial matrimonialiter. partner, she was anxious angebatur. , indeed nimium. , how she might at some time attain those things. Yet her affection hastened to the carrying out of works according to the measure of her means. Sometimes she was found among the beggars before the doors of the church with a mean little mantle and a despised veil, by which the eyes of acquaintances were commonly held, lest they should recognize agnoscerent. her. In the scraps of beggary mendicatis. she delighted in her suo added. soul above the honeycomb and every delight; and sometimes she invited her confessor, who found thus the manuscript and B. her and recognized her among the beggars, with loving prayers to eat with her what had been begged. For what she had received, however, she gave out double or triple to the poor. The third spiritual infirmity in which she languished was the desire of her burning soul at times and often to receive the sacrament of the Eucharist: and because it was not given as often as she magnificently desired, she grew sick, too much destitute of strength; and when it was taken she was wonderfully refreshed. I judge that the greatness of her desire for it was hidden from every man, and known only to the searcher of hearts. The fourth infirmity was greater than all the preceding, in which languishing she aspired to eternal life. In this languor she was so mightily weighed down, that she very often had to lie down in bed. In the former ones, magnificently stretching and exercising her strength to its notable fatigue fatigationem. , she could yet walk and stand: but now she was so strongly weighed down with desires and labors lab. et d. by the Lord exercising her, that not being able to have power of herself, she lay prostrate on the bed, having the inmost desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ.

CHAP. XXX.

[41] A splendid miracle done for her on the day of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin. The Blessed Virgin takes care of her house, There happened on the day of the Conception of the glorious Blessed Virgin Mary, in the thirty-third year of her age, such a miracle. She entering very early in the morning a church dedicated in honor of the Virgin Mary, namely the principal parish of the town of Gdańsk Gedani. , and when she had continued there in prayer about four hours, and had proposed to go to the Friars Preachers, that she might be fed there with the word of God, not proposing to return to her home, except around midday, according to the custom kept observatam. up to then, and when going out of the churchyard she had walked along the street, at once a certain invisible obstacle, as if it were a solid wall, set itself against her, preventing the progress of her way. And she forthwith felt the fire of charity inc. ch. in her, and such an instinct that she should quickly return to the house, and look to her children, lest they perish. And when she had ad added. entered the house, directed added from B. omitted in the manuscript. by the Lord God and his mother she went up to the upper room of her house, in which she had not been within half a year, and she found reperit. there a great fire, which had it not been put out by her and by others from the street evocatis added. , her four children together with the house would have been consumed in the burning of so vehement a fire. From that danger she was freed by the benefits of the Blessed Virgin, to whom she was very devoted: and that the Blessed Virgin herself was fuit. the obstacle, lest she go further, she revealed to Dorothea herself after fourteen years, exhorting her to love of her, and to have always a more celebrated affection and [et.] devotion for this day solemnitatem added. .

CHAP. XXXI.

[42] On her pilgrimage to Aachen Aquisgrani. and the Hermits. and her, on pilgrimage with her husband whom she had won over, The lovable bride of God, like another Tabitha, full of good works, by the odor of her holy life drew her husband to do well with her. All their children therefore, except their only daughter, being dead, their house and goods being sold and disposed of, so that, the vanities of the world shut out, they might serve the Lord more freely, both ^h went out from their house and kindred, their daughter being commended to more spiritual specialibus. friends, visiting the Blessed Virgin at Aachen Aquisgrani. , in the thirty-eighth trigesimo. year of the age of the Lady Dorothea, around the feast of Pentecost ⁱ; setting out there illuc. on pilgrimage, and thence coming to the chapel of the Blessed Virgin among apud. the Hermits ^k, in the village which is called Finsterwald Umstirwalt in the manuscript. , where the Lady Dorothea, ever devoted to the Blessed Virgin, was stirred with a more special devotion. Whence not content with a single visit, she tripled her return to the same chapel from the breathing of desire desiderio. . The first time, when now three German Theutonica. miles away tam. , she went back. The second time, coming now to a certain inn at evening, she followed on foot another woman pilgrim as a companion, who was riding ^l, along a slippery and muddy road, and so a second time

she went back again to her husband. The third time, the Blessed Virgin at Aachen Aquisgrani. having been visited with much devotion, and coming with her husband to Cologne perveniente. , they were kindled with a mutual desire to return to Aachen Aquisgrani. to the church of the Blessed Virgin, and so a third time this blessed woman in eager devotion visited the chapel of the Blessed Virgin among the Hermits.

CHAP. XXXII.

[43] On two great dangers from which she was mercifully freed with her husband. she is more often protected from great dangers. It happened on one occasion that the man, the woman and a horse entered intraverunt. a certain small boat, and with aliquo added. great danger were sailing through a huge and deep lake. In which sailing, if the horse had kicked out calcitrasset. a little, or had leaned se added. to any side, the boat would have taken in water and gone down into the deep, and so they would have been drowned, had not he, whom the winds and sea obey, freed them omitted. by a miracle. No one doubts that quin. the escape from that danger, as from very many others, was obtained by the prayers of that blessed woman. At length on the way of return around the feast of SS. added. Simon and Jude, enduring dangers of waters latronum added. and various others, they were received with a certain courtesy in the inn of a certain turner, as it seemed. But the matter turned to the contrary: the cruel crudeles in the manuscript. host prepared the cruel arms of homicide against his pilgrim guests. Freed from whose snares by the favor of God, another carrier intervening and arriving by chance preserved with zeal for justice the innocent blood, which the host hostis. of the house intended to shed. This miraculous case of the preservation of his servant Dorothea, after nine years he recalled to her memory for the praise of his mother virtutis in the manuscript. ^m, that she might be grateful to his mother Mary.

CHAP. XXXIII.

[44] On their first return from Aachen Aquisgrani. to [in.] Gdańsk Gdantzg. , Tempted, she presses more strictly on pious works. and on some virtues in general. Around the feast of St. Martin, in the thirty-eighth year of the age of the Lady Dorothea, having traveled through the places of the saints they returned to Gdańsk Gdantzg. , and bound themselves more strictly to the service of God. Dorothea, having divine visitations more abundantly than before, and then knowing more brilliantly the consolations of God, then ex tunc. abhorring delicate foods, was afflicted by their smell. Loving the foods and clothes of the poor, desiring to macerate and [et.] chastise her flesh, and to suffer and be despised more than to enjoy delights and aut. be honored, she bore with equanimity the storms tempestatem. of cold, winds, rains and snows, even omitted. under the open sky dio. , or in the porch of the house. And the aforesaid exercises of chastisement grew accivit. more austere as time went on, so in love she did not grow tepid, but grew strong in their sharpness and rigor. I pass over how much the more the wicked spirit heaped up his machinations against this blessed woman, the more he suspected her to be armed with spiritual arms.

ANNOTATIONS.

by the miracle, in the month of February, as we contend, of the year 1387. The revelation made concerning the event is said in the indicated passage of the German Life to have occurred not after nine years, but in the eighth year: hence, if the travelers returned home in the month of February of the year 1387, between this and the same month of the year 1394 there are altogether seven years, and if the revelation occurred shortly after, it is rightly placed in the eighth year after the event. I do not know whether it escaped the distinguished Maximilian Töppen, who argues in that way, that in another chapter of the German Life Book II, chapter 13. it is written of the revelation: The Lord recalled to memory the good things he had done for her on the journey, and said after nine years … and in the Lindan compendium Chapter 45. : God afterwards brought the benefits to memory, namely after nine years, when he revealed these things: saying among other things thus in the year of the Lord MCCCXCIIII (wrongly in the Latin Life MCCCXCIII). The matter however seems to be reconciled thus, that it be said that the author, where he states nine years, is looking to the whole journey, indeed to its earlier part, which falls in the month of August 1385; but where he brings forward eight years, he is looking now to the return, that is to the month of February of the year 1387 Compare Latin Life, book III, chapter 11. .

CHAPTER THREE.

On the drawing out of Bl. Dorothea's heart and her intimate union with God. Her wonderful endurance on the journey to the Hermits. The Roman pilgrimage. The holy widow moves to Kwidzyn.

CHAP. XXXIV.

On the drawing out of her heart, a truly magnificent work of God. Her heart is drawn out by Christ and another given to her. What the Lord promised that he would give through the prophet Ezekiel, saying: I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put in your midst, and I will cause you to walk in my precepts, and to keep and carry out my judgments, was fulfilled in this servant of God. It happened on a certain day ^a vice before the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, about eight days earlier, that Dorothea was tempted by the spirit of distrust mightily, more than at other times. Lamenting the heat of her temptation before the altar of the glorious Virgin, offering most devoutly to the Virgin herself for its removal or lightening fifty angelic salutations on bended knees, she commended them, humbly supplicating, to the glorious Virgin; and while on account of the multitude of bystanders she could not longer continue her genuflections, but was forced by the pressure to rise in the midst of the multitude, the Lord Jesus, her wonderful lover, drew out extinxit. her old heart and in its place thrust in a new heart, fervently ferv. a. kindled. Dorothea then felt, estranged from the outward senses and raised above herself, her heart drawn out, and in its place a certain mass of flesh, wholly on fire, placed; in the receiving of which she delighted so magnificently, that she was not able to recount this to anyone at that time. The accompaniments of this drawing out extractiones in the manuscript. of the heart done by the Lord were inestimably great in number vertute added. and preciousness. For immediately the charisms of all the preceding gifts, supported by burning charity and notably increased, ascended to a great degree of perfection. For the Lord in drawing out her heart gave her a charity productive of many good things, which he made known in the last year of her age anno vitæ suæ. , saying thus: "The first charity which I gave you, when I drew out attraxi. your heart, was a super-overflowing charity, immeasurable and very great. This too is named nom. e. satiating charity, sweetening, well ordered, well savored, well scented, fruitful, inseparable, insuperable and immortal. Then indeed you knew nothing else, for the affluence of spiritual delights and [ac.] joys, except that you were in eternal life, and you were at once changed into another person, and in respect of those things which you knew before, then superabundantly lettered, and wholesomely instructed." There then was her soul's intimate conversation osculi. with the Lord, the forgetting of all outward things, the illuminating of the intellect, the spiritually sensible perception of the kisses osculi. and embrace of the soul with Christ; the open hearing of the voice of the Lord God speaking within and sometimes without, the vision and contemplation of the holy mysteries, and sudden instruction how holily sancte. they had lived in this world. In that momentary hour, in which she felt her spirit raised above herself, her inner senses opened and her intellect illumined with a certain transparent and supernatural light, all the things written before were increased, and she was more perfectly instructed perf. de v. s. ins. est. in the life of the saints, than she would have learned informed assiduously by a learned man for one year. The Lord Jesus added. taught her many other things necessary nec. ad p. v. s. for the perfection of her life: namely omitted. humility, renunciation, poverty, etc., so that for the rest she should be changed into another person. Whether that drawing out of the heart and thrusting in of another was aut fuit added. only an alteration of nature, not a change of substance, he knows who renewed her heart, and could renew it according to either mode ^b.

CHAP. XXXV.

[46] On some other things following the drawing out of her heart. She enjoys daily the converse of God. Besides those things which have been touched on, she had indeed after this semper added. a lucid knowledge, a fervent love and a joyful enjoyment of her Lord God; frequently suffering excess of mind, illumined by spiritual supernaturali. light, she knew many mysteries in heaven and on earth, which she beheld sometimes in images, sometimes intellectually, without any likeness of a created thing. And she heard the voice of the Lord daily, yet at one time more purely and mightily than at another. And if on any day she had not heard the voice of the Lord, she could not have borne this without great sadness, and she would have judged that she had not been able to avoid sin during that day diem illum. ; at the least acedia acedia. would have weighed her down. Likewise immediately after the aforesaid feelings and the Lord's teachings, those things which had before been thought very dear by her became affecta fuit. hateful to her, reckoning them as smoke fimum. ; and her life, at once omitted. stirred up by the Lord, exceedingly illumined with great light and very acceptably adorned with fervently burning charity. Then she began to shine before the Lord, whom it well pleased, and he said: "You have carried yourself behind on your back, and others dor., alios vero. before you, whom up to now you have considered more than yourself. But now you ought to set yourself before yourself looking at yourself, and to contemplate how you are disposed within. Be mindful of the past time of your whole life, diligently considering how it has been spent, what evil and aut. good in ipsa added. has been done, or omitted, that you may be able to correct with the file of penance what is correctable, to live holily for me and to please me." She, thus instructed by the Lord, setting herself before her eyes and contemplating herself brightly, knew that there were omitted. some things in her displeasing to God; and the more diligently she contemplated herself, the more clearly she knew what was evil, harmful and useless to her. Therefore from that time, the Lord God teaching her, she began to confess of all the time of her life, not indeed anew, since several times before she had confessed each of her sins which came to memory, with contrite heart and most abundant weeping; but in a new way, renewed in the spirit of her mind, as she was informed by the Lord, so she confessed. For the Lord by his presence and [ac.] grace was assiduously with her [ei.] , teaching her to know her sins, to weigh their gravity and multitude, and by open words to express them to her confessor. Moreover the Lord taught her to confess concerning the several things with which she was occupied, nor did she pass over the washing of one dish without knowledge of some alicujus. sin present or ac in the manuscript. past, which she was then sic. taught by the Lord to confess. The confessions of all omitted. her sins she continued for so long, until she had testimony from the Holy Spirit that each of her sins had been mercifully forgiven her. Which testimony being had, she attained a firm hope, that her soul released from the body could enter heaven without any moræ. loss. But before she obtained testimony test. a S. S. and sure hope from the Holy Spirit, she continued such confessions of hers for a good five years: within which the Lord God, most loving consoler cons. p. , sending to his pre-elected bride, exceedingly saddened on account of sins although small ones, the Holy Spirit for spiritual speciale. solace, two years from the drawing out of her heart on Quinquagesima Sunday ^c, brilliantly illumined, she was then primo added. transparent and pervious to herself, and she was able to see in herself as through crystal each of her sins, the most tiny, indeed even minutissima etiam. those. From this year, the forty-first quadr. pr. omitted. of her age, until the end of her life ferventioribus added. , as it were frequently illumined with heavenly suspercœlesti l. light, she was pervious and transparent to her own spiritual eyes.

[47] and with joys sweeter day by day. From the same time too, in which her heart was drawn out, until the end of her life she aspired with more fervent desires than before to see ^d and to receive the sacrament of the Eucharist. She most fervently desired to come to heaven, there to embrace Christ her Lord and bridegroom, who wounding her in added. charity daily with five ^e darts of great love, at times with points of great validæ. dilection, and at times with lances of exceedingly great charity wounded her heart. And in the sending of such arrows, perceiving with the senses of the mind now pain, now sweetness, now languor, now love, and sometimes all these together, she was afflicted with sharp pains both in soul and in heart corpore. , and was borne upward more eagerly in spirit anima. . Frequently she suffered a longer excess of mind than before. The Lord, showing her the riches of his goodness more largely and brilliantly than before, granted jubilation of heart, and a light illuminating the understanding intellectum. . She very often, filled with ineffably sweet delights of mind, was filled with such delight, whence it was so well with her, that all trembling she could not stand, nor walk, nor sit, nor lie in quiet; but impatient of quiet, now she moved herself to stand, now to sit, now to lie, twisting and wringing her hands from excessive delights, loves and joys, as men do when placed in miseries and exceedingly saddened.

CHAP. XXXVI.

[48] That Quomodo. the Blessed Virgin cast something very delightful between her arms. The Blessed Virgin gives her as it were her Son. On the first or second night following the aforesaid feast of the Purification, after communion post added. coming with devout prayers to the Blessed Virgin, very ardently desiring, she humbly supplicated that she not refuse, granting her her most sweet dilectissimum. son. After she had multiplied prayers with most fervent desires, among other things she thus addressed the Blessed Virgin: "O most sweet dilectissima. Virgin, glorious mother of God, blessed above all, present, show and grant to me your most sweet dilectissimum. son! Indeed you will suffer no loss from this. When you offered him in the temple eum in templum. , you permitted the just Simeon to receive him in his arms S. in uln. ipsum. , and before that you showed him laid in the manger to the shepherds and the three kings. I beseech you, hear me on account of the mercy shown to you by the Lord, and by you to the shepherds and kings." At length after many other entreating supplicatoria. and [ac.] coaxing words directed from the burning of divine love to the Virgin, she was mercifully heard by the mother of God, who cast something delightful between her arms. Which she receiving gratefully and with great delight was inflamed with the fire of divine div. f. charity, and filled with ineffable joy; remaining in which for many days she said from love: ex a. d. "O beloved rose, see ride, ride. a rose and delicate!" Not being able valuit. to leave off this saying, she repeated it assiduously for many days. The repeating of which brought delight and sweetness to her heart.

CHAP. XXXVII.

[49] That Quomodo. the Lord Jesus taught her to attend to the contemplative life. She is taught to attend to the Lord speaking. Another night she took no care to attend to the great interius et exterius insonanti added. voice of the Lord; for she did not yet know what this was; but in the accustomed manner majore in the manuscript. she tried to pray, to multiply prostrations, to exercise disciplines and afflictions afflictionis in the manuscript. of the body. Then the voice of the Lord said to her: "Do not weary yourself by much running, nor ought you to cry out much in praying; but resting in silence, attend to my voice att. v. m. , and receive the salutary and sweet taste of the contemplative life." When this had been said, at once her soul, as the beloved had spoken, melted and raised above itself through excess of mind, was suspended in contemplation for five hours. After which, filled with unspeakable joy and returned to herself, for many days from the sweetness drawn in contemplation she brought forth words of this kind: "O Lord, bless me with your dew. He who created all un. d. n. creatures from nothing, may he bless me. He who redeemed the whole human race red. hum. on the cross, may he deign to bless me dig. m. b. . May the blessed Holy Spirit deign to bless me, to grant increase of all virtues, to attain the perfect degree of all gifts and beatitudes." Saying such a little prayer for many days with a devout and glad heart, she rejoiced; nor could she easily faciliter quid al. speak anything else, except with difficulty, even then when she was zealous to complete the number of her prayers. The Lord Jesus, her most sweet bridegroom, revealed to her prayers sweeter than the honeycomb, sweet-sounding dulcissima. canticles, and many other edifying instructions of the spiritual life, so accordant with sacred Scripture, that no one learned in the sacred page could reprove them; so nectar-like, that no one of the devout ought to loathe them. Of these and many other things it will be said more copiously afterwards in their proper places, the Lord Deo. granting.

CHAP. XXXVIII.

[50] How this name Jesus was most sweet to her. This blessed name Jesus was most sweet to her. She burns with love on hearing the name of Jesus. Whence it happened many times, when she heard this name Jesus Christ at Masses or aut. at the canonical hours, or elsewhere, she was kindled with divine fire like a torch. And so wholly melted she was very often estranged from herself. Once on the Wednesday of Easter in the same year ^f, a certain devout priest, while he was completing the morning hours, concluding mat. concluderet dicens. through our Lord Jesus Christ, then it appeared to her that the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, which she bore in her heart, and which he singing constans. brought forth, met each other, and joined together penetrated ac c.-penetrarent omitted. her heart so intimately, as if a very sharp arrow had been sent in. She, wholly inflamed by this, retained this name Jesus more firmly impressed, more lovably and flowingly ferventius. . The same happened on the same day at the Mass of another priest, who brought forth the name of Jesus Christ with reverence. This the Lord Jesus Christ Dom. omnipotens. had specially done often and magnificently, after priusquam. he had drawn out her heart. Truly very often it was so well R. tam sæp. s. tam bene. with her from the divine assistance, as if she were in eternal life. Song heard from outside was so sweet-sounding dulcis sonus. to her in her inmost parts, by the working of the vigor of grace, as if it had been the song of eternal life, which she said she heard many times after the drawing out of her heart. As long as she was fuerat. in such overflowing grace, then this name Jesus Christ, when it was named in song in church, at once penetrated the inmost parts of her heart, sweetly affecting it, and nevertheless so claiming the whole of her heart, that, had she not sung with the singers this name Jesus Christ, her heart wasting away with love, as it seemed to her, would have cracked through the middle ^g.

CHAP. XXXIX.

[51] On certain gratuitous omitted. perceptions perceptionibus. of divine visitation. She feels God present, As often as Dorothea, in so wholesome a perceiving of divine sweetness, as was said before, had felt herself visited by God, there was in her such an overflow of spiritual charisms chrismatum. , that her soul sweetly burned, was ardently inflamed, and then both from the delight of enjoyment fru. d. and from omitted. the inflaming of charity, through ecstasy of mind and contemplation, now to the sight of her bridegroom, now to his kiss, now to embraces, now to sweet whispering, now to his inner chamber she was admitted by the condescending grace of the bridegroom. Who, dwelling in her, offered himself to her sometimes visible, sometimes palpable, sometimes embraceable amplexabilem. , sometimes kissable through excessively inflamed charity. She felt also by the liveliness of her inner senses, aided by the grace of the Lord, the coming of the Father and the Son and the Spirit, ineffably gladdening her, and making in her soul a great supper, and a very magnificent banquet with many most joyful furnishings. Of these things more fully in the treatises on the divine revelations had to the bride ^h. Her soul, often melted from the abundance of delights spiritualium added. , was not only made fluid, but was very often so absorbed, that if the whole world had been hers, and she had seen it in peril on the sea, she would not have cared to rescue it by a single turn of her body, nor could she have given attention to its deliverance liberationem. . Her soul then ejus t. was estranged from the heart corpore. , joined to the Lord in enjoyment. After whose return, weeping abundantly and sweetly, she strove with fervent fruentibus in the manuscript. desires, that her soul might return there where, wonderfully delighted, it had been inflamed by burning charity and glowing desire. Although she did not know distinctly how in excess of mind the soul is joined to God in enjoyment, she was nevertheless afterwards wholesomely and distinctly distinctius. or more clearly instructed of this.

[52] and she is rapt to him at home and abroad. Many times she had so great a love and joy, that she could not take suscipere. food to herself, nor nec. drink; and so sometimes when she had placed herself at table in mensa. with others to take food, and had been abundantly blessed beneficiata. by the Lord with some kind of love, for instance, in languishing love, burning, boiling, gushing, wounding volverante in the manuscript. , inebriating or some other, of which quarum. she had a most distinct direct differentiam et. experience, according to their various effects, as will be said below, at times she was filled with such delights, that very quickly running from table, and turning aside to some chamber, she reclined somewhere. Sometimes too, overtaken by the weight of her delights, she could not withdraw from the table, or from the other place in which she was, but had to remain there. Whence on a certain day, in the same year in which her heart was sibi f. drawn out, she went up with certain persons to the monastery of the Carthusians Carthusiense and when outside the enclosure of the monastery she had seen their dwellings, as the tabernacles of Jacob, distinctly situated, and inflamed with divine charity was devoutly assisting at Mass, she was filled with such overflow of spiritual delights del. ex. , that wholly melted she with difficulty turned aside from the chapel in which she heard the divine office to a neighboring dwelling. She went with the Lord to bed, remaining with him in it in e. cum e. until evening twilight, not being able to move herself bodily from place to place, nor to speak any word, nor to take nec corp. sum. ullum. any bodily food. Her companions on the way, seeing this hæc. , thinking her to be bodily ill, in vain put the species into her mouth, urging her not to neglect ne se neg. c. to confess. But Ac in the manuscript. some religious, visiting her out of charity, as often as they were there, so often

the Lord favored beneficiabat. them with some gift of grace, drawing them to himself, and with most sweet delight.

CHAP. XL.

[53] How she was at times reproved more severely by the Lord. She is rebuked by the Lord for her faults, The Lord, surrounding her with his light, by revealing brought back to her memory her sins, although small, and negligences, and brilliantly showed that she had not conversed purely and holily, not fully attentive in prayer, not sweetly devout in obedience, not sufficiently circumspect in speech; so that itaque in the manuscript. her words sometimes were or appeared false, injurious, wanton, flattering, detracting detractoria. , or haughty. So reproaching her the Lord said: "You Cum in the manuscript. know that you were a Christian in name, and did not have a Christian life, by imitating me. For you know that I had true humility hum. h. , did not run about lightly, did not practice levity or aut. wantonness; that I bore poverty, being despised, sadness and tribulation, exile and passion. You however, occupied with outward things, did not sufficiently guard yourself in the aforesaid, imitating me perfectly perficere. , and forsaking yourself. Nor did you wholly avoid what was forbidden, nor likewise carry out what was commanded." In such a manner improbando added. upbraiding her he reproached her with the evils she had committed commisit. , the good things she had neglected, the virtues which she had not had, and the desires and fruits of virtues which she had lacked; and among many other reproaches he said: "You Cum in the manuscript. know that omitted. in the world there is corruption and perishing things, but in heaven incorruption and abiding things. You know that here there is misery and tribulation, but there happiness esse f. and consolation. You know that here there is sadness and pain, but there gladness and sweetness. You know that here there are the wars of temptations, dangers and insecurity; but there omitted. the beauty of peace, all things peaceful and security. You know that here there is infamy and shame, but there glory and honor. You know that this hic. is not an abiding city, but that there there is permanence and stability. Why therefore do you neglect yourself, and do not strive with all your powers toward that first patriam. , in which you know there is abundance of all good things?" While the Lord God reprovingly reproached his servant with these and many other things, she sat in grief, sobbingly weeping, wailing; and drawing deep sighs she cried to the Lord for forgiveness of her sins, humbly asking that he spare her, and omitted. restore grace, and give help, that she might not offend him thereafter, but might ever remain with him sec. s. according to his good pleasure.

[54] and she is invited to the narrow way of heaven. After she had continued such weeping and wailing for so long, that she appeared almost dry, not being able to pour out more tears: for vehement pain, an importunate taskmaster, had many times pressed out so many vilbas in the manuscript. tears, that then she had no more to pour out; at length the most loving Jesus, moved by mercy, looking on the affliction of his bride, and eam added. so weakened, drew her in to the great consolation of sweetness. Surrounding her with his bright light, he said to her, supernaturally illumined in body and soul: "Look around and attend; for you have not yet come so far from the world, that quin. you could not, according to the faculty of your tui. f. free will, still withdraw to the right retrocedere ad dextram. , or turn aside to the left, as it shall please you. Behold, the choice of three ways is given to you: choose one of these, whichever you wish: the right way goes to purgatory, the left to hell, the third, going straight directa. , is the one leading into heaven. If you choose this third dexteram in the manuscript. way, and walk in it without turning aside, proceeding from virtue to virtue, I wish to help you [et.] faithfully. But you ought to fix the advance and progress of your virtue immovably by standing upon me, and not to turn aside in anything." But she, then understanding the Lord's will, that she should walk in the third way, suppliantly asked the Lord Deum. that he help her, because she had a fervent desire, and a mind ready to follow him by the straight way, and by means of his help to accomplish his holy will.

CHAP. XLI.

[55] On certain examples of her great patience. When the thirty-ninth year of Dorothea's life was present, On the pious journey to Vinsterwald, and the twenty-second of her marriage, her husband considered that it was not safe to stay with those, or among those seu i. i. com. , in whose company he had formerly been accustomed to spend his time and goods uselessly. From whose society it seemed to him that he could with difficulty difficile. withdraw himself, and restrain himself from customary things. Whence his goods and things reb. e. b. being set in order around the feast of St. Lawrence, taking his wife and his surviving daughter, they took to the road with the intention of going on pilgrimage to the Blessed Virgin at Aachen, and afterwards among the Hermits named Vinstirwalt Vinsterwald and so thereafter. . Of which holy secundæ. pilgrimage to the Hermits the happy Dorothea herself was the chief cause, that outside her kindred and the noise of the insolent world she might more suitably gain her husband for God Domino. , and settle herself with him more quietly. It came about that in that passage up to the Anchorites they spent consumeret in the manuscript. a time of nine weeks, on account of various fears and dangers, which were then great through the lands through which they had gone; and so ita quod. , with the dangers of robbers and enemies pressing, they were compelled at times to lodge among herds of cattle, and in cemeteries, in the hours of day and night. Within the said nine weeks this servant of God was in continual labors, horrors and pains, as to how she might bring through her omitted. aged husband, and her infant daughter, trusting herself wholly to God Domino. , and with their goods safe. For on account of the solicitude which she bore providently amid these whirlwinds of dangers, sleep fled from her eyes, and she had no day of bodily consolation in all that time.

[56] refreshed by God, she bears patiently the despoiling, One day however she reckoned una autem quam rep. sibi. spiritually consoling, on which inquam. they were despoiled of all omn. r. their goods, and her husband was gravely wounded by robbers, who took away the wagon with the horses, the clothes and money, leaving to this servant of God and her daughter only one thin small tunic and shift each, going off with the spoil. Why this day was fuit one of consolation, she herself gave the cause, because while the robbers were taking away the aforesaid, she was sitting in the wagon magnificently favored by the Lord, suspended in limpid contemplation of the divinity; she then looked into the mirror of the Most Holy Trinity, loosed from every image of creatures, contemplating God alone, filled with so abounding a sweetness of the divine goodness, that forgetful of all outward things, there was in her no care for passing goods: and thus ineffably and established stab. a D by the Lord on the high summit of charity, she hoped that all the days of her life, lacking passing goods and all temporal temp. c. consolation for the Lord's sake, she would beg bread from door to door with joy of spirit. And then tum. this would have been more acceptable to her sib. p. , than to have abounded greatly in passing goods. Conducting her wounded husband with her little daughter into a town of the march, near the place in which they had been despoiled, she considered how she might send back her husband and daughter from her to their own parts Patres. : and that she herself, poor and a beggar, would wish to remain outside her own parts, to see and be at leisure, that quam. the Lord is sweet, whose sweetness her spirit had already tasted. Her husband not wishing to go back, but to go forward, and to try volente added. whether [an.] he could recover the goods taken away: for he had heard that his despoilers were detained in another town al. op. ; but because he could not quod nequierat. in his own person, he compelled his wife, the servant of Christ, to whom he had joined a servant, to go and demand back the things carried off. She, grounded in the fear of God, with pious compassion, truly modest and bashful, would have preferred for the love of God to go without all things, than to be in this way the demander of the things taken away, on account of her purpose of holy poverty. But because she could not fittingly withstand her husband's commands, she came to the place of captivity with the servant, and found them detained; having great compassion on them, she did not urge that they be punished, but that they be let go unharmed. And since there were around the place of captivity some public women, some of them blaming her said: "You desert your own husband, now tam. so old, that you may be able to satisfy your desire with your omitted. young servant." Others however, pitying comp. e. her, excused her; and with many being there, they were made a spectacle. Who, looking on both, namely Dorothea and the servant, and holding them eam in the manuscript. suspect, muttered with the finger demonstrabant. . The cause omitted. and omitted. occasion of this mockery was that quia. Dorothea was young ⁱ and seemed beautiful in face. She, the Lord inwardly consoling her, joyfully bore all things. Whence the said despoilers, seeing imminent death, unless they restored the things taken away, promised to restore them to them. This modest woman followed them through woods and fields boldly with bare feet. But they planned to kill her, and to return the evil of homicide for the good of their deliverance; as became known to her in an inn, in which they conferred about her killing ^k. She nevertheless, rejoicing, and having full confidence in the Lord, set out with the despoilers.

[57] labors, blows, insults. The despoiled goods being obtained from the aforesaid despoilers, the servant of God returned with the servant to her husband. Many other things too she suffered per. est e. from her husband, who, on account of his wounds and infirmity easily moved, for the slightest things beat her strongly. Whence at one time, not being able easily to stop the little daughter aliam. from crying, the man drove with a most mighty blow of the hand into her head, striking her ipsamque. so gravely, that the people seeing it were led to wonder, and the hostess to tearful lamentation. She however bore it joyfully, although the injury was fuerit. so great, that she felt senserat. it for many years. The man, going forward on his journey and dismissing the wagoner, appointed this servant of God as wagoner. She, humbly and willingly fulfilling the office enjoined on her, and walking through the mud in a short tunic, drove the wagon, cleaned it, greased it et unxit. , watered the horses, fed them, harnessed junxit. them to the wagon, and diligently fulfilled the other things that belong to a wagoner: carrying in the wagon her only daughter and her husband, through lands, forests, villages, towns and cities; in which people ran up occurrebant. in crowds, desiring to see a marvelous spectacle. And when they had gazed on the aged husband, but herself beautiful and modest

in truth of fact, and in their estimation young inveniente in the manuscript. , some said in wonder, others aliqui. in jest, others in derision: "Beloved sister, where do you propose to lead this Joseph? Are you trying to bring him to the fountain of youth juventutem. to renew him?" All these things she bore patiently and joyfully. On the way, frequently suffering ecstasy of mind, she was forgetful of outward things. Afterwards she was so intimately drawn into the Lord, and drawn away from outward things, that she could have no care for outward things. The cause of which the Lord God assigned to her after seven years, saying: "The dwelling of the Father and omitted. of the Son and of the Holy Spirit through indwelling grace frees and hinders a man from the solicitude of temporal things. And because the whole Trinity dwelt in you, drawing your whole heart to itself it claimed vendicavit. it, and did not permit you to bear the care of temporal things." After many insults and reproaches, ambushes of robbers and dangers of the roads, on account of the various wars of the lands, they came to the hermits dwelling in the village which is called Vinstirwalt. There they lived for a year and a half: in added. in which time they came to know many people of both sexes devoted to God, dead to the world, mortified in the flesh carni. .

CHAP. XLII.

[58] On her splendid virtues and holy exercises held among the hermits. zealously serving God, When Blessed Dorothea B. Dorothea. with her husband had come to the hermits or cenobites in Vinstirwalt Vinsterwad. , the Lord God gave his servant to experience there innumerable and ineffable benefits of his goodness suæ b. in herself more than in others. For she, clinging continually to prayer, meditation and omitted. contemplation, her food and sleep were very sparing; but labor and weeping and sweat were abundant, and the fervent affection of love. Hunger sitis added. , cold, heat, her husband, and the wicked spirit afflicted her, but she bore all these things too with patience. And because quod. at the time in which they remained there, on account of the wars and discords of the lands, various disturbances took place, and a great dearth, with enemies breaking in there was a ringing of bells, a running together of the peoples to the church, and sometimes a running away of the peoples from the church. Her husband, seeing these troubles, often acted agebat. impatiently against that holy woman, and as cruelly as if he wished to kill her; sometimes out of agitation wishing to divide their substance, to abandon her, proposing to pass on to other places. But the heart of Dorothea was in nothing in nul. omitted. shaken, but she had confidence in the Lord Deum. , whom faithfully invoking she asked that he guard her and her husband. And while people were commonly disquieted on account of the aforesaid disturbances, Dorothea from morning until midday, and omitted. from midday until evening in the same place, as she was accustomed at other times, remained immovable with the Lord consoling her. They, knowing her constancy constantia in the manuscript. in good and her virtues virtute. , honored her, and greatly desired that she remain with them perpetue cum e. p. perpetually.

[59] she is freed from hunger in a wonderful manner. On account of the hunger which had grown strong there, her husband at times went away, seeking in a neighboring town to be bodily refreshed and delighted. She, left with her daughter, at times having only nec in the manuscript. one small piece of bread, as large as a fist pugnans. , was in doubt whether she should eat it, or et in the manuscript. give it to her daughter. Yet both eating were satisfied, and it sufficed them for an entire day. At one time, being favored by God with divine consolations, so that lingering minorata. in these she neglected to buy loaves on the market day for the whole week, although it had been committed to her ei fuit. by her husband, as the morrow drew near, on which she had to prepare food for her husband, and she found nothing from which to prepare parare in the manuscript. it except one small crust of bread, from half of which she cooked a porridge, and this with the other part of the crust she set before her husband. With the remains of the table she refreshed her daughter, and on that day illa. she gladly remained without food herself. But her husband, not well satisfied, murmured, and affected by excessive sadness, wavered as if despairing; she however rejoiced, having firm hope in the Lord, awaiting his consolation. And behold, in a wonderful manner a certain tradeswoman qu. i. of the neighboring town, who had scarcely twice seen Dorothea with her husband, sent them three notable nobiles in the manuscript. loaves, and one large flagon of wine on the same day for the Lord's sake prop. Deum illo eod. die. . Seeing these, the servant of God rejoiced in the Lord, giving him thanks gr. e. with her husband. Her husband, perceiving that it had been done not on account of his merit, but on account of his wife's, gave her leave to attend to the Lord as long as she wished: for he did not intend to hinder her eam int. in her prayers from then on de c. in or. , nor to be angry with her for lingering longer.

[60] Setting out unwillingly from the Hermits, There she suffered many other injuries from her husband. She also bore the troubles of the temptations of the crafty enemy, who, attacking her untiringly in her good works, tried to induce her to cease from good and to distrust the Lord. But the most loving Lord, abundantly granting her ineffable benefits of his goodness, strengthened her in the spiritual war. There they stayed near the hermits for a year and a half; but as the dearth grew strong and money failed, her husband thought of withdrawing from the place, and returning to the parts of Prussia. Dorothea however with great affection loved and chose to remain there poor and a beggar modica. for the Lord's sake. With one mind therefore and with good will they agreed concordaverunt. together, that with Dorothea remaining there, he should withdraw with his little daughter parvula. and return reverteretur. to his own people. This discussion being had, and the consent of both coming to it, they desired from the curate, that is vel. the parish priest, a testimonial acknowledgment. And in the meantime that they were waiting in the church for the parish priest expectaverunt pleb. in. e. , in order to request a written testimony, Dorothea, praying with great satisfaction, choosing and loving to remain there, then tunc. received percepit. from the Lord such abounding delights of mind, that exulting and jubilating she could not restrain herself from the laughter of the heart and the sound sonu in the manuscript. of the mouth. At length with gladdened exhilaro in the manuscript. spirit she broke forth in a clear voice into these words, with which she intended to beg bread for the Lord God Dom. D. from door to door, begging and saying: "Bread for the sake of our beloved God Dominum. ." She then, ineffably gladdened, felt such super-overflowing delights of the divine goodness, as to her view she had never felt quant. se nunquam sensisse visa est. before. While she sat in so great a jubilation, and her husband waited for the parish priest, her husband's will was changed. For he began to grieve that he had given leave to Dorothea. Therefore when the parish priest came, he laid a complaint against his partner, that she wished to desert him eam in the manuscript. and to remain there in the place, and he urged the parish priest with prayers, that he induce her to return remeandi. with him to their parts.

CHAP. XLIII.

[61] On their departure from the hermits. The parish priest, instructed in the divine law, on the journey she is rescued now from other dangers, knowing that it is not lawful for women mulierem. to abandon their partner without his express will, therefore induced her to return with her husband. She, acquiescing, set out with him toward Prussia Prussiam. with great afflictions, labors and fatigues. For by day, being in peril sometimes in snow, sometimes in water and mud, sometimes in the forest, and being wet, stained and wearied in these, in the time of night she had to wash their clothes and dry them at the fire, where ubi. she could. With her husband weighed down by heavy sleep from the fatigue of the journey fat. i. , she had to keep watch, lest they be harmed in their bodies or goods. As frequently her husband by day, riding, carrying his daughter on the horse, left Dorothea walking on foot grad. Dorotheam pedeuntim. , who at a distance utrumque added. , as she could valuit. , followed, sometimes walking, sometimes running and going alone in the snow nivem. . Sometimes she fell cecidit. into a deep pit, and there was no man to rescue and help her. And sometimes through places dangerous as to robbers and plunderers, or floods of waters, she walked staying behind, forsaken by her husband and by omitted. men. Sometimes on account of the hazards of the roads her husband sold the horse, and then finding neither wagon nor ship, he walked together with her. And because her husband was old and omitted. weak, and advanced in years, being worn out with age and not able to carry his clothes, he put them on supposuit. his wife, who, very much weighed down by their heaviness, went exceedingly laboriously ear. supra modum gravata, valde lab. and with excessive difficulty, and so exhausted inc., interim vir. her strength, that from this she felt herself weighed down aggravatam. for many years. In all the aforesaid, however, the Lord in many ways consoled his handmaid. He afterwards brought back to her memory the benefits of consolation bestowed on her, namely after nine years, when he revealed this hæc. , saying among other things thus in the year of the Lord 1394: "Recall how well you have been a me f. governed by me, when through fields and forests, in mud, water and snow you ran incurristi. , having no consolation from without. And although you were so abandoned by men, yet you were not saddened on this account, nor troubled with inordinate solicitude, nor on account of the labor of the roads nor omitted. on account of [et.] fatigue were you indisposed for the gifts of grace, but apt for them."

CHAP. XLIV.

[62] How she was fuerunt m. liberati. miraculously freed from drowning. now from drowning. In reditu eorum per aquam added. As they were crossing on the ice, laboring with great difficulty and fatigue, from the city of Horburg toward Hamburg, a vehicle came up having three horses before it, whose driver, an agreement being made, took them up on the vehicle and led them over some stretch of ice. In which on either side water, gushing through holes, was seen to rise, and this declared the fragility of the ice. The driver of the vehicle, playing with a companion, ran over the ice, shouting threats at the horses equos in the manuscript. of the vehicle, and sometimes beating them with the whip, and sometimes throwing a stick. At length the middle horse among the three secundum ordinem added. preceding the vehicle, the ice being broken, plunged peregit in the manuscript. into the water. Seeing this her husband, astounded, said to his wife: "Quickly get down from the vehicle above." Dorothea hearing this, and knowing nothing of the horse's fall, the Lord inspiring her, taking the sacks and staves in her left hand, and her little daughter in her right hand, very swiftly withdrawing from the vehicle,

fell on her knees [rec. procidit in faciem et genua, eventus futuri ignara. Modo consimili vir de vehiculo cecidit et ad genua sua procidit.] . When Dorothea lay so, after the hurried descent from the rear part of the vehicle, at once looking back, she saw only the last part of the vehicle, the horses and [ac.] the rest of the vehicle being already covered by the water, and they perished there. For a time however in the hole broken by the horses their mouths ossa in the manuscript. appeared; to which her husband came creeping, that he might, if it were possible, free them from drowning. He however, from the excessive affliction of the cold and his own weakness, would not have been able to pull elevare. himself from the ice seipsum de gl. without the support of another: and the woman, seizing him by the feet ped. a. , already soaked, with difficulty drew him back from the hole, and setting eum added. him on his feet, led him with one hand, and her little daughter with the other hand, again with great difficulty and danger, across the ice as far as the shore: and so the weak man was saved by the faithful woman. As they came to the bank, the little five-year-old daughter, who omitted. while on the ice said nothing hæc verba in place of nih. d. , said: "O mother, you must not think that you helped me to get down more quickly from the vehicle, and to be freed from drowning: but the beloved Virgin Mary, the Lord's mother Mat. D. mihi. , came to help, and drawing me with force from the vehicle, and placing me on the ice, by a hurried descent descenso in the manuscript. freed me from drowning." And she added: "We can well be grateful to God, and tell that we have been born anew today." Her mother, wishing to examine her daughter's constancy, said: "Why do you say that you were drawn by the beloved mother of the Lord, when I drew you, and removed you from the vehicle with my hand?" She on the contrary steadfastly asserted, and resisting her mother said: "I surely saw the beloved Mary, mother of the Lord, coming, and snatching me from the vehicle with force." Of this miracle the Lord after some aliquos. years said to Dorothea in revelation, that in then freeing them from drowning he had done a greater miracle, than then when he drew out Dorothea's heart ^l.

CHAP. XLV.

[63] On their return to Gdańsk Gdantzg. , where she was frequently rapt, Intent on divine things, she at times neglects outward ones, and suffered much from her husband on this account. When the wonderfully devout woman had come to Gdańsk Gdantzg. , she sought, where she could, little retreats diverticula. , that she might be alone with Christ the Lord her only bridegroom, and that, with the tumults of men shut out, she might more frequently water the bed of her conscience. Nor did she wish to spare her body from genuflections and omitted. afflictions, and woundings, but she prevailed more strongly against the flesh. A little house was built for her et viro added. ^m, to which, sent by her husband at times, that she might do some piece of work quodpiam op. ag. , she, crossing over, sometimes came back three times, and did not dispatch the task committed to her. For she was so occupied with the Lord, that, unmindful of outward things, very rarely was she able to fulfil what she was commanded. Sometimes on entering the little house, she placed herself behind the door intrante loc. se retr. j. , and the Lord at once received her soul to himself through excess of mind; and so it often took place in other places. So found by her husband she was sometimes beaten, sometimes accused by him as lazy and sleepy. To the ears of many he brought his complaints over his wife suas s. c. que. , desiring that she be solicitous and busy in outward business. She sometimes cooked fish in an unskilled manner with the scales not removed or ungutted exenteratis. . On a certain occasion, suspended in contemplation, she neglected to prepare for her husband food of fresh fish at the appointed hour. Her husband, impatient, although this blessed sancta. woman loved him, and sedulously sedule. prayed most devoutly for him, indeed patiently bore his rigor and blows, he, not attending to the woman's kindness, struck ad added. her mouth so mightily, that the upper lips of her mouth, as if quin. pierced fuissent added. through by the teeth, and turned to a swelling, notably disfigured her. She in turn smiled at her husband with a cheerful heart; pleasantly and joyfully, she hastened to cook coqueret. the fish. All who were present, looking on, wondered at the woman's patience, gladness, good will and equanimity of soul. On another occasion at her husband's order she neglected to buy straw, because, inebriated inebriata. with divine sweetness, the due hour of buying straw was broken off, yet she returned joyful and cheerful to the house; to which her husband came furious, striking her breast with mighty fists, and drew blood, which on many following days appeared cast up with her saliva salvia. ; nor did she bring any murmur or complaint of these things to others, but cheerfully endured.

[64] on this account beaten by her husband. The confessors of both, however, hearing of the case from others, went with one accord to the husband for contrition correctione. to be made, strongly reproved him over his wicked cruelty, saying: "What ever Ah! quid. have you done? A woman devoted to God, wholly rapt by his love, not having power over her body on account of the bonds of charity, you have struck excessively, inflamed by rushing rabido. fury." These and many other things they reproached him with, in zeal for correction. By these sayings and others the husband, thus rebuked, was forced to give up his will, and on this account falling into a grave infirmity, which burning and persisting long, he desired to have the service of no one except his wife alone, who attended him faithfully, as much as she could. She, loving her husband out of the love of God, was solicitous day and night for her husband, passing deducendo. sleepless nights, and faithfully ministering to him. The man, however, recovering from that and another infirmity, blamed his wife for the generous distribution of alms and the wasting of goods. Whence taking away the keys from his wife, leaving nothing in her power, and hastening himself to [in.] the market, he purchased the necessaries; but she too received this with great satisfaction and long-wished-for desire; for she would long since most gladly have gone without this omitted. dispensing of all omn. r. passing goods. When this blessed sancta. woman had pronounced the aforesaid, the Lord revealing it ⁿ, at once the Lord wounded her with the darts spiritualis in the manuscript. of love, and kindling her with fervently burning charity, said: "You can well magnifice added. love me; for I frequently snatched you from your husband, while he was still alive, and thought he possessed you ^o, and so you too will be able s. tu potes etiam. to speak magnificently of me. For enim added. I, without your knowing it, helped you in all your life, which was full of pains and martyrdoms. Do you therefore give me thanks added from B. omitted in the manuscript. with abundant tears. For my passion was much greater than yours. You also showed me a pleasing and beloved service, in gladly going out from the house of your dwelling; which although you could still well have possessed it, yet you loved poverty and exile, rejoicing that you could go without all perishing things for my sake all the days of your life." As the Lord said these things, she shed sweet tears; she gave thanks as she had been commanded omitted. .

CHAP. XLVI.

[65] That in churches consecrated to the Blessed Virgin she was graciously visited by the Lord. In the churches of the Mother of God, Although some things have been written of this sweet-flowing visitation of the Lord in the churches of the Blessed Virgin [p], yet there still remain some things to be written for the commendation of that blessed servant. In the forty-first year of her age æt. s. qu. p. , coming one day with other pilgrim sisters to Koslyn Hoslyn in the manuscript. Koshin B. [q] to the church of the Blessed Virgin, where on account of the multitude of people she was permitted to spend the night pernoctari. with the sisters, she quia. had so intense a desire of spending the night there, that for a great thing she would not have turned aside to another place; on the same night she was sweetly visited by the Lord, and filled with exceeding delights, so a Deo. that in these she sat motionless before the altar, without consideration of the time, until the end of High Mass. Whence at the hour of departure she was drawn by the sisters her companions on the way, that she might go away with them; and she, rising, could not walk straight, and the road which she had known excellently before, for the inebriation of her spirit she could not then find. And indeed she was drunk, because she had drunk from the torrent of divine pleasure vol. d. . The sisters, seeing her so going astray, and wandering from the road well known to her ei b. , said in wonder mirabantur dicentes. : "Whence can this be?" But one among the others, more knowing of spiritual perceptions, blessed the Lord God in many ways in his gifts. Dorothea herself gave herself up to these delights the whole toto. day until evening twilight: when for the first time primo. she refreshed her body.

[66] she is favored with singular benefits. In the same year on the day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross she came on pilgrimage to the same church, and there was nowhere for her to spend the night, on account of the multitude of pilgrims mult. p. , except in the stable or place of a little ass, which was kept there for labors. She joined herself to that place with desire, intending to await the Lord's visitation; and laboring long in prayers, meditations etc., that she might exercise her affection, she did not even so reach the sweetness of consolation. She called on the Blessed Virgin for help, and the saints of God, and it did not at that time profit, as it seemed to her. She said within herself: "It would have been better for me to have remained in the house, than to be here without consoling grace." Yet she did not cease from labor, nor grow tepid in prayer, but with confidence she knocked at the ears of God and of the glorious Virgin. And behold, as her companions on the way slept, and the peoples tumultuated here and there in the church eccl. h. i. , she was inflamed by the Lord with divine charity; and taken up to inexpressibly great delights and lulled asleep with delights, she did not hear the tumult of men. All that night jubilating cheerfully she prayed, and illumined with divine cœlesti. light she was attentive to the teaching of the Lord, which was transparent to her and very good for omitted. life. Around the beginning of Mass, grace ministering to her, she felt a very magnificent gratiæ added. increase, and it was so well with her, that for delights she did not know where to go, what to do, how to behave or aut. where she ought to hide herself, not being able to comprehend the greatness of the goodness granted her, nor to hide it among men absc. i. h. ; and that she might lie hidden, she turned aside from the crowd, and in a certain aliquo. angular retreat she sat until the end of all the Masses. Who

nevertheless was at length found by the sisters of the journey; with great grief she followed them, and for a long time afterwards grieved that she had not lingered longer in so gracious a consolation. At another time too, on the vigil of the Assumption, with the intention of going or going on pilgrimage to the said church of the glorious Virgin, she with her ejus added. husband came to an inn, and before she got down from the wagon, she was prevented by a gratuitous visitation of God. Withdrawn from all outward things, she clung so tamen in the manuscript. to that grace, that she had conceived not to obey her husband's command in this, if she were ordered to get down from the wagon. But [ac.] her husband called, that quod. she should get down: and she thinking that she ought rather to attend to the Lord speaking, than to get down et quia distulit discedere added. at her husband's order, her omitted. husband growing angry began to rage on account of the woman's disobedience. Seeing this, she consulted the most sweet dilectissimum. Lord Jesus, whether she ought rather to remain with him ibi. , and to pass over her husband's order. He graciously answered, saying: "For a time withdraw yourself from my colloquy, and obediently comply with the command of your husband." Hearing this, she got down, saddened on account of being withdrawn from the divine colloquy. And so she often had to abandon the Lord speaking sweetly and pleasantly consoling her, and to follow her husband, and faithfully minister to him, and in his service to bear hard blows, on account of the good of obedience, by which she was bound to her husband.

CHAP. XLVII.

[67] On her long languor arising from the Lord's passion. She languishes by alternate turns In the forty-third year of her age, from the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin until the feast of her Assumption, she was almost no day without languor of the body: indeed on each day, either ac in the manuscript. from infirmity, or ac in the manuscript. from omitted. love she was compelled to lie down on her bed strato. . Singularly for a fortnight from the feast of Dorothea the virgin to the Lord's Passion, from inward compassion she was drawn so high tam a. f. tr. , that for the greatness of her pains she could not move as she lay, not eat, not nec. drink; in such great sadness mœstia. and tanta added. anxiety, that it seemed to her that if the aforesaid bitterness of pains had continued for yet one day in such excess, she would at once have had to die. And when she was in such bitterness of pains dol. es. through the day, the Lord consoled her through the night with wonderful kindness and eager sweetness mira bl. et al. ben. , so abundantly, that the joy of consolation overcame the bitterness juc. cons. ac. V. of pain. Indeed she was so delighted in the consolation of the divine goodness, that she was fuerit. forgetful of all pains. And then, namely in the time of night, while she was in such consolation, it appeared to her that she could well have refreshed her body, if anyone had furnished her with eatables. When the said fortnight had passed, the Lord drew her soul to ineffably great joys, which her strength could not bear without languor, and on this account for half a year she lay down decubuit. languishing, not able to rise from her bed strato. , except on those days, for instance Sundays, on which the Lord gave her leave to receive his body cor. [r]; for receiving which then more often sæp. t. and afterwards he granted her in that languor an exceedingly great desire; and raising up her soul on high, he inflamed her holy desires for himself, and gave her the wings of contemplation; flying with which, and contemplating her Creator cr. s. co. , she passed beyond each creature. Then for the first time she heard the song of the angels, she also saw and knew many secrets, revealed to her from heaven; and languishing thus, she was kindled with the fire of charity: and her face was made beautiful by this with a rosy color. She was wearied with great labor within. Her veins, much swollen, stretched et added. , taut like strings, had a strong and swift pulse. Such inward interior. labor was caused in each of her members from the greatness divinæ added. of her compassion, and the ardor of charity, by which inflamed she glowed like a fiery ignitus. coal. Her heart was very anxious for the greatness of love and pain, so that it seemed to her about to burst crepere. . Wishing to avoid this, and desiring to cool herself, she laid aside the coverings of her head, laboring so vehemently with each of her powers, as the sick held in an acute fever are harassed even in the time of the paroxysm thus the manuscript and B. ; so she was afflicted before she was able to obtain val. o. a sweat. When this was obtained, she suffered more mildly in body and soul. To sweat often from the fire of charity was more common for her in this year. Many times too from the sending in of divine consolation all her inward parts were sweetened, and melted for delights. When these ceased, namely sweat and sweetness, she was again afflicted, as before, with vehement pain; which many times was so vehement and bitter, that if it had lasted further for one day, as it seemed to her, it would have exceeded her power of suffering, and pas. eamque led her the more swiftly to death.

[68] and she flows away in heavenly delights. After Priusquam. these things, namely the affliction of languor languores. and the Lord's consolation, had gone on processisset in the manuscript. by alternating turns and been very often repeated, at length she desired to receive edible fruit from heaven, not being able to take other food. And when she said this, and did not refresh referet. her body bodily, she was reckoned by others to be in her agony; but her soul, ascending high on the wing of contemplation, delighted in the Lord: who, ineffably gladdening her, gave her such abundance of riches deliciarum. , which, overflowing from the soul into the inward parts, sweetened each member; and there flowed from her mouth a super-abundant and most sweet persuavis. liquid, having the inexpressibly delightful taste of grapes bonorum. . While that liquid flowed into flueret. her mouth, she zealously took care that it not flow out; and this she did the more zealously, when she felt such a taste of the liquid after receiving the Eucharist Euch. p. . The perception of such a taste happened to her many times, and likewise the alternation of affliction and consolation, and almost each of the things already said. Many times too from inebriation of spirit from the torrent of divine pleasure, and sometimes filled with the sweetness of joy, sometimes of delights, or ac in the manuscript. melted by another gracious visitation, she was rendered efficiebatur. incapable of rising. So very often, sitting in such incapacity in the house or church, or ac in the manuscript. lying down, she was very vehemently and so mightily sick from the languor of charity, that she could not move herself; who then for rising, walking, or doing something else was at once rendered sufficiently capable by the Lord. So very often for the excessive tenderness of spiritual delights she could not stand, not walk, nor sit non a.-sedere omitted. , nor hear a sermon, but she had to lie down, or aut. to lie prostrate, destitute of her strength. This same enim. thing happened to her many times from the greatness and fervor of charity.

CHAP. XLVIII.

[69] That Quomodo. she received alms among the beggars as a beggar. She begs of her own will This servant of God, obeying the divine command, in a poor garment placing herself among the beggars before the church [s], on All Souls' day, received alms held out to her by passers-by; and as often as alms were held out to her, she took them very eagerly: and from her inmost heart she gave thanks not only to the one giving the alms, but also to the Lord Jesus coming with the alms, who, as it seemed to her, graciously came as often as she received alms. And from this, rejoicing beyond measure, she was ill-pleased with the complaint of the beggars, who complained that they had received little, that they were poor and wretched, and [et.] suffered excessive cold: for she received there such benefits of divine consolation, that forgetful of all miseries, she thought that what had been richly granted her by God's mercy mis. f. had been imparted to them. Nor vero in the manuscript. for that benefit of visitation would she have accepted recepisse in the manuscript. a passing good however great. She continued in that sitting for five hours, in which all the beggars went away without her knowing it. The alms Eleemosynas. which she had received were twenty-three, which she loved so tenderly, that she could not give them out to others, but gave for them their equivalent and more.

CHAP. XLIX.

[70] That Quomodo. by the Lord's command she ought to be content with bare necessity. and she cultivates poverty. The Lady Dorothea from that time desired more fervently to become poor fier. p. , and to be released from temporal things: whose desires from long continuance were made so mighty, that to see her furnishings and the adornments of her clothes was to her a kind of nausea. Indeed she felt nausea not only from the sight of pleated plicatione, usu in the manuscript. veils and mantles, but also from the memory and thought of them. Whence in the time of night, when she began to think of veils tinted in their fringes finibus. , it brought such pain to her heart, that she felt punctures in her eyes, which seemed to her to proceed from the curved fringes finibus. of the veils, and to wish to tear out her eyes: the same of pleated perlicatis in the manuscript. mantles. Further to occupy herself omitted. with temporal things was to her a pain, not a gladness; from which however the Lord did not wish a quib. cum eam Dom. absolv. sic voluit. to release her, as he afterwards said to her in revelation, until the hour should come foreseen præjussa. by his ordinance; that so intense a desire to be released should come before, as to wring out nausea; that meanwhile she should so live, that from the passing things granted her she should receive simple necessity, and should [a.] abstain from consolation both worldly and human tam h. q. m. . He called human or worldly consolation that which is taken beyond the bare necessity nud. n. of nature. In food, drink, clothing, sleep, rest, the converse and help of men, in warming, in the bath, in refreshment and in the other things, in which men delight in the present life, from such consolation one is to abstain for the Lord's sake. And the more anyone shall have abstained from such for God's sake, the more acceptable he will be to him. And if anyone abounds in it, he will lack divine consolation, or ac in the manuscript. at least will have less of it. And for that cause she was once forbidden by the Lord to use a piece of bearskin in the winter time for her feet. For her confessor spread a piece of bearskin for her at her seat, without her knowing it, that from this hoc. she might have some tempering of the cold. To which when she wished to come in as [ex.] usual, the Lord forbade her to tread upon the skin, but told her to fold it up, and to put it in one place, designating him illi. by name, who had [et.] spread the skin. And he enjoined, that as soon as he should come, and reprove her why she did not permit the skin to lie under her feet, she should answer: "I am not permitted

by the Lord to wear out or aut. use up this, which is not required for my bare necessity." And she added: "When however I shall have simply and purely used the necessaries, granted me from among passing things, I still fear anxiously that I may not refer those things with due gratitude to the Lord: indeed I am not able with just return of service to bring back to the Lord what is barely necessary to me, taken for my use." Consequently, illumined ill. a D. by the Lord, she saw what things were fuerunt. necessary to her as to food and clothing. And of those things which she then had for daily use, there was shown onerosus in the manuscript. to her one cushion, which her necessity did not require. This also was often done by the Lord before this and afterwards, that he removed from her what was not necessary to her. And so this blessed woman used only necessaries nec. t. .

CHAP. L.

[71] That Quomodo. to the needy, when she had no temporal goods, She helps the destitute by prayer to God. she ought to give out spiritual supernaturalia. ones. On another occasion, while she was fervently inflamed with divine charity, which does not seek quivit. its own, and since cum. she was very rich in spiritual goods, and yet had nothing beyond supra. necessaries to ad. al. give out, the Lord said to her: "You ought to show yourself friendly and lovable to all who desire of you any of this good which I give you, nor ought you to deny to anyone those goods conferred on you by me, but to give them out liberally. Be therefore generous in alms to those who piously desire them, although you have no others lic. n. habes alia. , except these which are conferred on you gratuitously by me. And if you cannot give to the needy bodily aids and aut. ministrations, give spiritual ones. For etenim. there are many spiritually poor, lacking sanctifying grace, or being in purgatory. These need great mercy, which obtain for them by asking me. There are also those more poor spiritually, than any who are poor bodily." And there came to her in spirit apparentes added. many living persons spiritually poor, who lacked sanctifying grace, and asked that she faithfully pray for them. The consciences of all whom were pervious to her transparently and openly apertæ. , for whom she prayed diligently, as she had been commanded. And so it happened at one time, as she came out from her seat in the church, she saw a blind man whom she had not seen viderat. before, to whom she would gladly have given a penny for the Lord's sake, if she had had one, that she might have relieved rel. i. his want in some way. And as she inwardly pitied him, and had nothing of temporal goods with which to console him, the Lord said to her: "Say entreatingly: Most sweet Jesus Christ, my Lord, give yourself to this cæco added. poor man." And she without delay, kneeling, said the aforesaid words. To whom the Lord said: "This you ought always to do, when you see egere videris. anyone needy, and have nothing nihilque in place of nul. r. of perishing things to give out to him." In a like manner she was often sæp. a. o. led to pray for the living and the dead.

CHAP. LI.

[72] An example that on a certain occasion she was gravely afflicted on account of a venial sin contractum added. from the delight of a certain dish although very small. She pays the gravest penalties for a light sin, It happened on the vigil of All Saints, the last while she was in the reclusory, when she had then been illumined more excellently than usual with heavenly supercœlesti. light, to see the joys of the saints; from the vision of which, and especially from the Lord's visitation pr. divinæ consolatione visitationis. , she was filled with such delights, sweetness and jubilation, that for their greatness and excellence all her bones so exulted, that she could not keep her feet still and without trembling suos in q. et s. tr. and [ac.] motionless: at the hour of her refreshment, which was after vespers [t], a young scholar brought in hot foods cib. int. for her, placing them before her. Although she shuddered at their quantity and quality, yet she did not at once turn her gaze away from them, but turned it toward them somewhat attentively and fixedly. Hence a murmur rose up in her spirit, which wishing nolens. to have delicate foods; and they were very small little fish seasoned with saffron; and the spirit was indignant against the flesh, because she had looked at foods delightfully arranged, and had made too long a delay in this, and so between the flesh and the spirit, or between reason and sensuality, some battle arose. There was also in her reason a certain displeasure of indignation against him who had sent her foods well seasoned, and omitted. in such quantity, that they would have sufficed suffecisset. her for three times. To whom the Lord commanded her to say: "Beloved brother, what have I done to you? you have inflicted on me as great an evil, as anyone has ever done since my entry into the reclusory." Around the fourth hour from midnight she was terrified on account of the food seen in the evening, and eaten a little, fearing that from this some reproof might still come upon her. Around the fifth hour she shed abundant tears, and suffered great sweats for the greatness of the divine ardor, threatening, reproof ard., repr., convivationis. and address. She sat as if held fixed and not able to move herself, drenched with such tears and sweats sud. e. l. , as if she were overheated in a hot bath. Nor Non. could she then put a veil on her head, nor take a girdle and mantle upon herself; for she was thunderstruck with such terror of divine reproof, that she used her outward senses almost quia. in nothing. And by divine ordinance the foods brought her in the evening, namely one porridge and one dish of little fish, were held presently before her, from which she was not permitted to turn the eyes of her mind away: but as unwilling as grieving she was compelled to look at them. To whom the Lord said: "If you delight to see and contemplate these things hoc. , that you may be contented and satisfied, look and contemplate."

[73] but after confession she is relieved by solace. But she, vehemently grieving over the wounds sibi added. of her soul inflicted on her omitted. by the sin of the aforesaid looking, wept very sobbingly. And because her soul could not turn itself se n. V. away from gazing at the foods, although she most gladly wished to, nor was she permitted to have the power of the gift of contemplating pos. Dominum contemplando. , although she fervently desired this, a veil, alas! was interposed through sin between her and the Lord. Hence she was gravely wounded, afflicted by the bitterness of her pains, and filled with bitterness she grew sick, not being able to raise herself; but she pressed herself down together with her body to the ground, humbling herself deeply, bitterly weeping, and wailing et ejulans. she cried to the Lord, that he deign to send her the physician of the soul, namely her confessor, that she might show him her wounds, and he might apply the medicine of penance. She continued her sobbing weeping, crying out and wailing to the failing of her strength for two hours, in which she could not be released and wholly freed from that vision of the foods and their showing. But after the seventh hour, her wounds being shown to the physician by confession, and anointed inunctus. with salutary ointment through the enjoining inunctionem. of penance, and the absolution of the benefit imposed, the wounds of her soul were healed, and she was filled repleta. with joy by the Lord. Yet she remained still ad. ip. for a long time sobbing, and drawing deep sighs on account of the vehemence of the painful affliction arising from the wounds, and strongly impressed by long continuance. Nor did she yet dare without the confessor's leave to take to herself ad se rec. her mantle, veil and aut. girdle, chastely fearing the Lord, lest by daring she should do anything reprehensible, by which she might offend the Lord, and hinder herself from some grace; which things however at another time she was permitted to take to herself without grant of leave lic. i. . Many other beautiful things on this matter the Lord revealed to her, which will be set in another place, namely in the books of her revelations [u].

CHAP. LII.

[74] That Quomodo. she had open and lively inner senses. Since the soul has five inner senses, by which it is joined to God, is vivified by charity, advances, and grows young, as the body has five quandoque. outer senses, by the use of which it grows old; and these senses are the more lively, the more distinctly perceiving their seu. objects by sense, the purer the soul has fuit. been, the further removed from vices: now see and attend in the bride of God Dorothea, how lively she had sen. h. her inner senses, who on account of a small fault so sensitively perceived the hurt of her spirit, grieving more inwardly and sharply, deploring more lamentably lamentabiliusque. the little wound of her soul, than quia. if a very notable notabili. wound had been inflicted on her body. Truly it was a certain sign of the spiritual life vita in the manuscript. , which from the drawing out of her heart began to shine before God, that as quickly or aut. more quickly her soul perceived its hurt, as her body did; and that it grieved as intensely or aut. more intensely over the wound and injury of the soul de v. et n. a. , as the sense of the body grieves over the wound and harm of the body. Nor from that a dicto. time did only the sense of touch have liveliness sensum … vivacitate. in her, but she had each of her inner senses lively and open, although more perfectly at one time temp. u. than at another, according to the assistance of grace divinely and largely imparted to her up to the end of the present life. Hence her inner taste was in a wonderful manner mod. m. lively, exercised and sound, reaching to the tasting of eternal things. She saw and tasted how sweet is the Lord, whose quod. presence to her sib. e. was sweeter than honey and the honeycomb, and than omitted. all things: and that quia. the heavenly delights are ineffably delightful. In the sacrament of the Eucharist, feeling innumerable fruits, she received there a very delicate and pleasing refreshment of the mind et omne delectamentum et suavitatis saporem, virium reformationem added. , and the healing of her wounds, and many other benefits and feelings, of which it will be said later. She was also frequently in the sight of her mind [w] so brilliantly illumined tam l. i. by the Lord, that her own conscience was to her brilliant omitted. , transparent and pervious, and the hearts of many others both absent and present præsentia in the manuscript. were by omitted. the grace of God bare to her, whose sins, actions affectiones. , inclinations and temptations knowing, she disclosed them to some. Nor was it erant. a gladness to her to see such evils, but a pain and sadness; but to see and contemplate

heavenly things and the face of her Creator, who quæ. is a mirror without stain, was to her an inexpressibly great jubilation tribulus. .

[75] the inner senses. She had an inner hearing aud. e. too most clear, by means of which she sweetly perceived the colloquy of the Lord and his whispering. He spoke in three ways to her soul: sometimes through spiritual vision of some likeness or image signifying hidden things; sometimes he spoke to her in human manner in some aliquo. bodily likeness, and then the words directed by the Lord to her ad i. a D. were heard more clearly, more perceptibly and [ac.] more certainly and intelligibly, than a man is said to hear some speech directed to him by some man, which he understands and keeps. In the third way he spoke to her from within by an intelligible expression of truth, without the ministry of a creature, and without the representation of any likeness really perceived by sense, or imagined within; she heard the voice of the Lord not resounding, but teaching very consolingly. Her sense of smell of the mind too she had well disposed and sound, purged of all inordinate appetite, by which, feeling the fragrance of the bridegroom's odor, she ran in the odor of his ointments wonderfully delighted. On the contrary she was many times horribly afflicted by the stench of the sins of those present before her [x]. Many notable and splendid things indeed were done, from which the liveliness and likewise paritur in the manuscript. the clearness of her inner senses shines out very great to the zealous considerer: of which the efficient cause was her charity, fervent and inflaming flammans. . Surely this Nimiorum habens in the manuscript. restrained and pressed down compescens oppressit. the insolent tumult of carnal desires, which beclouds the inner senses, by purging pacified it, and from the flaming light, risen from [de.] its ardor, clearing and opening them, illumined them.

CHAP. LIII.

[76] How she was made wonderful on the Roman pilgrimage. On the Roman journey, burning with charity, she never sleeps. The Lord Jesus omitted. , most loving consoler piis-c. , and most joyful and most sweet ac s. omitted. companion of her whole omitted. journey, adorned his bride suis. with innumerable benefits of his grace. Among which one was common to her in that whole pilgrimage, that she assiduously burned in omitted. fervently glowing charity; although at one time the divine fire burned out exarserit. in her more fervently than at another. And this took place sometimes in bitter contrition, sometimes in omitted. devout prayer, sometimes in omitted. studious meditation, sometimes suspended in the contemplation of heavenly things, sometimes in estrangement of mind, and very often in the mission of the Holy Spirit, which qui. was sent to her by the Lord, now in fervently burning charity, now in boiling charity, now in desiringly burning charity, now in wounding charity nunc in ch. f. ard., n. i. ch. vuln., n. i. ch. bul. , now in inebriating charity, now in languishing charity, now in super-overflowing charity, now in raving charity, now in violent or violating charity, now in gushing charity, now in untiring charity, insuperable, insatiable and inseparable, and so of the other names, kinds, degrees or effects of charity. For charity is one, although it receives different names according to its degrees, kinds and effects. Of all of which and of many others she knew by experience the difference with their distinct names and workings. Further from the aforesaid effects of charity she flourished with such agility as well as alacrity of body and spirit, that although before this pilgrimage she had been newly infirm in body torpore in the manuscript. , yet in walking she was rarely surpassed by anyone, and in keeping vigil by no one, in her company. And behold specially spiritualiter in the manuscript. she said one thing among others worthy of admiration, that in that whole pilgrimage, going and returning, and staying at Rome, she did not consider that she omitted. , one night excepted, had ever bodily slept [y]; and this was the second night, after she had entered the city. Then indeed after receiving sumptionem. the Eucharist, sleeping with the sleep of the body, she was notably refreshed in her bodily strength. At other times, while her companions on the way were sleeping, if she had before in their sight reclined on the bed, yet she did not sleep, but soon rising, placing herself at the foot of the bed, in the corner, or in some other suitable apertum in the manuscript. place, not at a distance from her fellow-travelers, but close at hand, sitting there she passed sleepless nights in prayer or aut. meditation, in gladness or ac in the manuscript. sadness, in jubilation jubilis. of mind or ac in the manuscript. weeping, in contemplation, in loving address, or ac in the manuscript. in estrangement of mind. And in this, namely estrangement and excess of mind, she had something proportionate to bodily sleep. Moreover on the way to Rome she walked with shod feet; but while she visited the churches in Rome, rising two or ac in the manuscript. three hours before day with some persons, she walked in the night with bare feet through places rough as much with cold as with stone, without sensible perception of pain and cold frig. e. d. . Truly she so burned out arsit. inflamed with the fire of divine love, that she felt neither the cold, nor the roughness of the road asperitate in the manuscript and B. with afflicting pain.

CHAP. LIV.

[77] On a certain wonderful languor at Rome lasting more than eight weeks. She is affected with a wonderful languor, It happened at Rome, when from the feast of St. Luke the evangelist before the year of grace, for omitted. more than eight weeks, she had almost daily visited the seven principal churches with very great devotion, and the Lord through his Holy Spirit had disposed to renew her in the spirit of her omitted. mind, she began without pain of body to lie down in body, and to be destitute of strength and [ac.] to be bodily infirm; and so she could not visit the places of the Saints, nor go to the basilicas with her customary devotion, in which she fed her love, and nobly gained an increase of holy desires. Which ascended to so great a degree of perfection, that she languished more with love than with pain. Indeed she felt no nullam added. afflicting afflictionem pain of the body either then when she lay down, or then when she rose. Her languor lasted beyond ultra. seven weeks, through which, lying down, she could neither walk, nor stand, indeed rarely could she move herself from side to side. She lay almost motionless, and as if dead, abandoned by her neighbors and acquaintances: and she, carried to a certain hospital of the sick, was drawn as well out of herself as intimately into the Lord, who filled her with his delights, granting her benefits of his goodness, innumerable inenarrabilia. in greatness and [ac.] multitude; some of which she then felt within by the sense of experience, and some she afterwards knew by the Lord's revealing, of which he scarcely permitted her to express a few. Further her refreshment was erat. so rare, sparing pauca. , or so small, that to one considering keenly it could have appeared, as was the case, that she was not languishing in human manner. For the food taken by her in all the aforesaid time was not as much as a fist; and the drink, if it had been collected recollectus. together into one, would not have been equal to the measure of one pitterium omitted. stoup scope in the manuscript. stophi B. [z]. She was estranged from herself a se s. almost continually, and so long, that at times she could not ask for one omitted. drink of water within an entire day. Yet the rosy and lovely color of her face was changed not for the worse but for the better.

[78] captive even in her limbs, After she had lain until the eighth week among the sick of the hospital, and the attendants of the languishing had wholly despaired of her life, behold the great physician, who heals all our infirmities, who had renewed her [ea.] inwardly through love, and had preserved her inwardly, filling her with huge joy, and clasping her with a delicate embrace, soon granted her strength to raise herself up. She, sitting up at once erect, asked that food be given her, and in the eyes hoc i. oc. of all those looking at her this became as it were a miracle, who [quo] had seen her languish so languore for a time and remain almost without nourishment, yet tam. stay ruddy, and better colored in the face then than before ante. . She sat in the place lecto bene. for three days yet, not able to walk as before, without afflicting pain of the body corpus. . And now the Sunday had come on which the Veronica, the face of the Lord, was to be shown miranda in the manuscript ; because she had had a fervent desire to see it, and could not go by herself, not then having the use of walking, she therefore called to her two men strong in powers; who although they were strong, and diligently applied their strength, that they might bring adducerent. her out of the hospital, and lead her to the church of the prince of the apostles, yet could by no means do it. Indeed they did not suffice to raise her to stand, but leaving her in the middle of the road on her knees, they went away. But how she had been made so heavy was hidden from her at that hour eam l. i. h. . After this, being led to a certain neighboring stable, remaining twelve days, she learned to creep, and drawing herself up with her hands, holding on retinens. to stones and timbers, she was zealous to gain the use of walking. These twelve days having passed, scarcely walking by means of a staff together with the help of men, she was led to the church of St. Peter, that she might see the face of the Lord. All omn. e. however wondered at her as well disposed, and not sick, considering that she could not walk.

[79] and forgetful of her accustomed prayers. She herself also thought that for the rest she would not walk, but would creep perpetually. Therefore she proposed within herself, saying: I, remaining in Rome, will sit before the church of St. Peter on the steps, and will beg alms from the passers-by. Yet neither at her inability to walk, nor neque. at her want of money, nor at her begging, when she went out from Rome, before money had been lent her, was she in any way saddened: each thing that happened to her, which seemed adverse, as sickness and the like, she bore with equanimity. After for some days, creeping in the said church of St. Peter, and going about leaning on a staff, she had gained the use of walking straight, she wished to accomplish what was to be done for obtaining the indulgence of the jubilee of that year: and behold she found herself ignorant of the Lord's prayer, and the Apostles' Creed, which quam in the manuscript. nevertheless she had learned from infancy in Catholic fashion, and up to the aforesaid languor had very devoutly prayed through many times on each day. The firmly rooted habit of these, however, had been torn up and lost from the great gravi. change of body, from the assiduous ecstasy and estrangement of mind through the said septem added weeks and the two following, from the intimate union of her soul with the Lord, and from the continual visitation of the Lord; who throughout all the aforesaid time graciously attending her, so the delights of his goodness

as the riches he communicated more richly and exceedingly than usual. But she very easily learned the aforesaid prayers again, and committed them most tenaciously to memory as before. The aforesaid infirmity the Lord, for the praise of his own suæ. servant Dorothea, in the last year of her age, why he had permitted it so to be done in her, revealed sic added. , saying [aa]: "These things therefore I have revealed to you tib. r. , that those who hear may be bettered, and be moved mov. i. by no impatience in their tribulation, and however great the tribulation be, that there be never a forgetting of me. For I am present to those patiently tribulated Assumet enim p. tribulatos in the manuscript. as a wonderful and sweet consoler."

CHAP. LV.

[80] The cause why she proposed to come to the church of Pomesania. That she may have a suitable confessor, The venerable Lady Dorothea, conscious of many secrets of the Lord, and having experienced within in soul and body ineffably great benefits of God, because, admitted to the embraces and kisses of her beloved bridegroom sp. s. d. , she felt such sweetnesses and delights, such riches of the divine goodness, that she could not recount them indifferently to men, or seek from them counsel for her life. Sometimes absorbed by divine sweetness, by the suavity of delights, by the fullness of joy, the gestures and manners of her exulting or aut. jubilating spirit she could not restrain even [et.] before men. Whence some, not vivified but poisoned by the odor of her holiness, turning the benefit and glory of the Lord into madness. She however, silently considering what the Lord was working in her, desiring a man wise according to God and men, to whom she could securely reveal revera in the manuscript. the hidden things of her heart, desired such a one for a long time desiderans desiderio added. , and it was a great pain to her that she could not have according to her will such a one, who would have disposed of her case with sound counsel in these his. things. At length her then omitted. confessor [bb], the lord Nicholas, whose daughter of confession she had long been, counseled her to go to the church of Pomesania; because there she would find a certain canon, a spiritual man, a professor of sacred theology, whom he reckoned well able to resolve her suas dissolvere. difficulties, and any doubtful questions, if she had any. When her confessor counseled this hoc. , she at once accepted the counsel with joy cum g. c. ac. . At once there appeared in an imaginary vision that man [cc], of whom he had spoken, in that likeness and outward disposition, in which afterwards, about two years having passed, she first saw him. She was delayed in that she did not at once go to that omitted. man, on account of the jubilee year specially spiritualiter in the manuscript. decreed by the most holy father and lord in Christ Urban the sixth, that it should be, namely, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1390 [dd]; who, before the year of grace was present an. g. a. , passed from this world anno in the manuscript. ; and when Boniface the ninth succeeded him, she on the counsel of her confessor took to the road, with the intention of going on pilgrimage toward Rome, and entering the City on the day of St. Luke the evangelist before the year of grace, stayed there up to and including the next Easter, within which time her ejus added. husband closed his last day [ee]. The time of her pilgrimage being therefore completed, and afterwards other hindrances also being taken away, she came for the first time in God's name to the aforesaid man, and to the church of Pomesania.

CHAP. LVI.

[81] That Quomodo. she came pervenit. to the church of Pomesania and to omitted. the man designated by the Lord. she moves to Kwidzyn, The Apostle to omitted. Timothy, instructing on the honoring of widows, adds the mode and rule of true widowhood: She who is truly a widow, he says, and desolate, hopes speret. in God, and persists instet. in supplications and prayers night and day: for she who lives in delights is dead. The rule of this venerable apostle Dorothea, now a widow and disciple, embracing with the highest zeal, loosed from the law of her husband, exercised herself magnificently in his ejus. justifications, seeking every opportunity by which she could serve God with a more perfect summit of charity. Whence having returned from Rome in safety, on the Sunday within the octave octavas. of the Lord's Ascension, finding that her husband had closed his last day, the Lord urged her many times to accomplish the purpose long held, namely to visit the man at Marienwerder Marienwerder. , the canon of Pomesania, professor of sacred theology aforesaid. And she, when the year had come round, on the morrow of Holy Trinity [ff], entered the church of Pomesania with abundance of blessing. And when she came to the church, she placed herself behind the door, taking a more humble place. And behold the Lord, the zealot, at once with his most generous grace invisibly sending ei m. her the Holy Spirit, with fervently burning charity, and with magnificent consolation consoled her so abundantly, with such delights and various goods, that she thought with herself: O Lord God rex added. of the whole earth, if you will graciously, as you now begin, thus sic c. to console me here with your charity, and with grace so generous and magnificent in this church, I would never wish to go out from it, but to serve you in it perpetually perpetue. . For omitted. it seemed to her then, that she had never been so graciously visited by the Lord in any church, as in that one, with so excellent joys, with sweet delights and so great.

[82] to John of Marienwerder. Afterwards on the eve of Corpus Christi she went to the desired man, inflamed with the desire of receiving percipiendi. the Lord sacramentally, that she might confess to him, and be provided with the sacrament of the Eucharist. This done, at once her soul was glued to her last confessor by so immense a friendship, as she had ever had so quickly for any person, loving him heartily, and trusting him so far intime. , that she disclosed to him on this occasion the secrets of her heart, as far as she could, staying through a week in the town, conversing in friendly fashion, and more fully opening her heart to him in trust, as the Lord gave. In which days the Lord gave tribuit. her Dom. ei. great fervently burning charity, an illumination of the intellect revealing many things, a consolation intimately gladdening her, and he granted other various goods, ineffably great, in the same week. In greater excellence, however, she had the said goods in the night during matins, than in the day during the daily office. On the Sunday within the octave octavas. of Corpus Christi ibidem added. she was so inebriated with heavenly sweetness, that when she had gone out of the inn to visit the church, the short way leading to the church, she could not voluit in the manuscript. fitly find either going from the inn or returning to the inn: she was ashamed to ask for the way, lest she be noted as mad or ac in the manuscript. drunk. At length following those walking along, she came to the church without notice. Remaining in the said place for some days, and because she had not yet fixed herself in mind to totaliter added. remain, she returned to Gdańsk Gdantzg. : and having there disposed what was to be disposed of, she returned to the often-said place of Marienwerder Marienwerder. after fifteen weeks. In which place the Lord wished her to remain continually; and therefore that she might be wholly in mind and body fixed to the world, and the world might die to her, she very often sought and asked with just multa. insistence for the reclusory. She was not at once heard, in order that her life might be more clearly examined, her constancy proved, the passions of her soul, if any were in her, disclosed, and it might be clear clarerent. whether her revelations were from God. In these and many other things necessary for diligent inquiry inquisitione. , she being examined thoroughly, as far as the means permitted expetiit. , for more than a year and a half fuit added. , before she could obtain the reclusory recl. p. , and in that meantime [gg] the Lord urged her to vow that she would never depart from that man, and would give him obedience, retaining no will of her own [hh].

[83] She has proved that her revelations are true. Further the Lord gave her very many truthful testimonies, that she had not been deceived concerning the revelations [ii]: this whole number omitted in B. three of which are here specially set down. The first was such, the Lord saying: "Let this be to you a sure sign of my presence, when I appear to you in friendly fashion, and remove from you every image of a creature." Truly in nothing does the soul so rest and delight, as in this, when it contemplates its God and Lord alone. Whence also could there then be error, when nothing except God is permitted to be present? The second was: on a certain occasion, around the beginning of the writing, she was asked by her confessor how she knew that her visions and revelations were true, and not fanciful appearances, especially those things seen and revealed in rapture, which could be reckoned dreams and phantasms by some interpreting perversely, if it could not be shown from some signs that they were true revelations: to which she said: "Generally in all things revealed I am kindled to the love of God and neighbor: I am inflamed to devotion, and detestation of sin, contempt of temporal things and despising of myself, to true and assiduous penance for my sins, firm patience, chaste continence, to vigor in doing good, benevolence, abstinence and humility." And she added: "I would not dare audere in the manuscript. to lay open the things seen in rapture, if having returned to myself I were not kindled accenderet in the manuscript. in the fervor of charity, and if there did not remain in me a burning desire to return. Indeed as it were frequently there remains in me after returning so fervent a desire to return, that I would rather die than live, that I may be able to remain inseparably in the joys and consolations perceived." And she added: "The Lord God said to me long since: You ought, he said, to tell your confessor so many of the gifts of my goodness that come down from above, that if you have expressed to him the abundance of my same goodness in heaven, he may have no distrust, and so lay open to him the secrets of your heart, as if you were to depart now from this life." On another day, for the greater certainty of belief, the Lord said to her: "Give me thanks, that your confessor loves you so much for my sake. For beyond all his daughters of confession he loves you more, although he loves some of them tenderly, and he would rather go without all of them, than abandon you, and if they did not come to him thereafter, he would make little of it, provided he retained you. These things you can securely say to him. And it will be an evident sign to him, that all is true, which I have revealed to you, and which I have consequently manifested to him. For he knows that these are true, and are secrets of his heart." When these things had been brought by Dorothea to the confessor, he admitted that they were true, since those things, namely the aforesaid, he had secretly thought with himself on the preceding day. And with this he had added, thinking within himself of himself: If you were free from the vow of religion, you would change your place on account of her, Dorothea, if there were need, that you might be able to

serve God, and to be consoled with her in the Lord in the graces and benefits largely granted her. After this many times she indicated to him that she knew a secret of the confessor's heart, as for instance what he thought, loved, desired, and what he omitted, lost, or that he did not spiritually have this spiritual good. For often she could look through his soul, and the souls of some others even absent, transparently and perviously, and by gazing know their quality. So she knew when there was a greater or lesser affection of love in one confessor than in another, or * equal: and that the confessor was more affected toward her with sincere love, than toward his own brother, whom however he loved very sincerely much. And she knew other secrets of minds besides: which she could have from no other, except from the Lord God, as Scripture testifies, which says: Man sees what is open, but God looks on the heart. And elsewhere it says: You alone know the hearts of the sons of men. And what the Lord says of himself through the prophet: I am he who searches hearts and reins.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. Bl. Dorothea often went to churches of the Mother of God, and was there favored by God with singular benefits Compare above, chapter 34. Compare German Life, book II, chapter 16. . John of Marienwerder said in the interrogation of the year 1404, that he had heard from the same Lady Dorothea, that she was full of wounds through her whole body under her clothes, and put on over these a coarse knotted hair-shirt, and so clad visited the Blessed Virgin at Peske (Pehsken near Mewe), which is one day's journey from the town of Gdańsk, where she was then staying [Process of canonization, page 189, cited in Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 252.] .

q. Koslyn in the German Life published in the year 1492 is called Keslin.

r. In which infirmity, so the author of the Septililium Tract III, chapter 2. , the Lord's passion was strongly impressed on her in both the inner and the outer man: on the man

inner it was impressed through compassion and spiritual wounds, on the outer through bodily wounds; and all these things were inflicted on her by the Lord, who, as he afterwards told her, did not grant her strength to rise except on Sundays, and this he then did that she might go to church and receive the most holy Eucharist.

s. Before the church, namely of the Mother of God Compare German Life, book II, chapter 19. .

t. This occurred on the 31st of October of the year 1393. From the German Life Book II, chapter 22. we add in this place some things which are lacking in the remaining Lives: She would gladly have abstained from bodily food … but the Lord did not give her leave, who said… "Rise and take food. So too I commanded St. Bridget to eat and drink, and to give strength to the body, that she might be able more mightily to serve me on earth." Hearing this, Dorothea rose and ate part of a cold fish which she had. And while she was eating, the young scholar who ministered to her brought in hot foods, etc.

u. In the books of her revelations. What the Lord then revealed one may read in the Latin Life Book III, chapter 20. : On the same day the Lord, received in the sacrament, coming with wonderful sweetness and consolation, said among other things: "I permitted you to look reprehensibly at the fish, on this account reproving and blaming you gravely, that others too hearing this and recognizing that they have sinned more gravely, may correct and better themselves… These things have not been said by me to you on your account alone, but also on account of others, to whom you will be able to recount them, that by this they may be able to better themselves." Briefly embracing the same history, Marienwerder wrote of himself in the Process: Besides many other times on which he saw and heard her weep irremediably, this … occurred, that on account of so great a looking and the delight thence following at a certain dish … and because she did not at once turn away her sight … on that account she was wounded in soul Linda, part II, page 155. .

w. Of the sight of the mind and the gift of prophecy we have spoken in the Prelim. Commentary, number 54 and following. These things were so well known that you find them mentioned even in the Catalogue of the abbots of Sagan [Scriptt. Pruss., volume III, page 432. G. Stengel, Scriptt. rerum Silesiacarum, volume I, page 257] : There were in these times some devout women, illumined with the spirit of prophecy. For in Prussia there was a certain married woman Dorothea of most fervent spirit, accustomed to divine revelations.

x. Not only in herself, so Marienwerder in the Latin Life Book III, chapter 22. , but also in others she felt by inner sense the wounds, scars and hurts of sins, not only great, but also very small. To whom the Lord said: "You ought not only to detest and abominate sins, that you may not commit any, but also that those may not sin who have been given to you spiritually for governing. You ought to have a horror of sins as great as a delicate man has a great horror of a most fetid corpse, by whose abominable stench he is provoked to vomit." In the writing of the year 1404: From the presence of spiritual delights … she felt a most sweet odor; on the contrary, the sins too of other men, even light ones, stank to her at a notable distance: whence sometimes she said to some: "Yesterday, at such a time, you neglected yourselves, because a stench from you then rose up to me." And so very often in the presence of those visiting her she felt horrible stenches according to the greatness of the fault Linda, part II, page 157. .

y. Of the singular vigils of Bl. Dorothea the writer of the Life has treated more than once Compare Life I, number 7. Lindan Life, chapters 4, 16, 69. . What he narrates in this place he repeats in nearly the same words in the writing of the year 1404, where he adds: Yet she had something in place of sleep, namely rapture of mind… These vigils a certain matron at Gdańsk, Crutzburginne, attests Linda, part II, page 144. . And indeed, questioned by the bishops who in the year 1404 and following inquired into the holiness of Dorothea, Margaret Creutzeburgische answered that she was with her at Rome at the time described in the articles, and when the said Dorothea returned from the Roman curia. The deponent herself was accustomed to sleep with her at night on the journey returning toward the country of Prussia… Although Dorothea herself was accustomed to place herself with the deponent on the bed in the evening, yet at night, when the deponent awoke, she rarely or never found Dorothea herself beside her in the bed, but always at the foot of the bed or else in some secret corner of the chamber, in which she was sleeping, she found her praying on bended knees Process, page 61, cited in Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 263. . On the testimony also of John Rymann, in the whole way going and returning and staying there, one night excepted, Dorothea herself did not recall that she had slept bodily. And more fully Bishop John: In the jubilee year of Urban VI, one day at Rome with unshod feet she went around the churches, and so in the evening excessively wearied, … she slept through the night until day. Wherefore recognizing that she had slept too much and had lost time uselessly, she began to weep most bitterly, asking the Lord that he take it away from her, that thereafter she might not sleep, because she did not wish to sleep any more for love of the Lord; and so after this, as she said, the Lady Dorothea did not remember ever having slept bodily up to now, when she reported the aforesaid. With which her confessor agrees (that we may dispose in one place of what is to be noted concerning her vigils), saying in chapter 69 of this Life: She never remembered having slept bodily in the reclusory; and elsewhere: within the three years next before her death she never knew herself to have slept bodily. Indeed John of Marienwerder with others, in order to test the truth of the matter, observed from the church what the recluse did at night, and in the year 1404 testified to this: In the reclusory, although the deponent, as he said, kept watch over this, yet he never found her sleeping, but as it were frequently either praying or jubilating, or singing in a low voice, or being in rapture [Process of canonization, page 188, cited in Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 264. Compare Latin Life, book V, chapter 10.] . Likewise the canon John Tieffensee: On frequent vigils of the night out of a certain curiosity the deponent said that he had tried, namely in the hiding-places and corners of the said oratory, to test her holy exercises, which were so various, that human tongue could not express them… Then from excessive alacrity she began to sing this sequence: Veni Sancte Spiritus, … etc., in the mother tongue, or some other prose of vernacular devotion … and so through such and similar bodily and spiritual exercises she passed the whole night sleepless Process of canonization, page 345, cited in Hipler, page 234. . The same John agrees with the confessor Marienwerder, who in the Acts of the process Process of canonization, page 188. is read to have said that he firmly believes that in place of sleep she had something proportionate, namely rapture. Rymann in the cause of canonization confirmed these things on oath: She rarely placed herself on the bed to sleep, but only leaning herself against the bed she reclined, that she might pray and make prostrations and other meritorious works, and so sometimes sleep seized her although unwilling [Ibid., page 147, cited in Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 264. German Life, book II, chapter 24.] .

z. Pitterii stope is said in the Latin Life: Stope pitczerii Book III, chapter 24. Compare German Life, book II, chapter 25. .

aa. Saying. What the Lord then revealed is had by the German Life Book II, chapter 25. and the Latin Book III, chapter 25. ; the Lindan only a part of them. Moreover the aforesaid infirmity the Lord, both for his glory and for the praise of his servant Dorothea, in the last year of her life commanded to be written, and after its writing the Lord kindled her with fervently burning charity Latin Life, book III, chapter 25. . Of the time and cause of this Roman journey treatment is given below, chapter 55.

bb. Concerning the judges of conscience whom the holy widow used at Danzig, Bertrand, provost of the chapter of Pomesania, testified in the year 1404, that he had known some confessors… of Dorothea, namely the lord Nicholas of Hohenstein in the town of Gdańsk, and Radislaus, at that time secular priests, but now professed. Likewise the canon John Rymann knew some confessors of Mother Dorothea, namely Brother Nicholas Hoenstein, now professed of the Order of St. Mary, for twelve years, and the lord John, formerly parish priest in the town of Gdańsk in the parish church of Blessed Catherine; and the lord Ludike … a priest, as another witness says, of good fame, of the said town of Gdańsk, to whom Bl. Dorothea was accustomed to go, when she could not meet with Nicholas Compare Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 223. Linda, part II, page 121. . He, giving testimony in the year 1404, asserted that he had known her well before her death for twenty-four years, and in another place, that he had been her confessor for twelve years in the town of Gdańsk.

cc. There appeared in an imaginary vision that man: in the Articles given the third time we read Linda, part II, page 27 and following. : At once in the night in sleep there appeared the same man, of whom he had spoken, … in that likeness and outward disposition, etc.

dd. Falsely therefore many authors say that this Roman journey was undertaken in the year 1388 Compare Icones et miracula SS. Poloniæ, page 48. . Further, during the life of Bl. Dorothea the jubilee year was twice celebrated, in the years 1350 and 1390. For the jubilee was ordained by Boniface VIII (who celebrated the most famous of all in the year 1300), from hundredth year to hundredth year, as Clement VI writes, who wished that in future it be ordained from fiftieth to fiftieth year: but Urban VI, changing that law in the year 1389, decreed that thereafter for all time from thirty-three years to thirty-three years, in honor of the years of Christ the Lord, the indulgence of the jubilee should be granted at Rome. Hence Clement VI opened the holy year 1350: whom Boniface IX, Urban VI being dead, imitated in the year 1390, and Martin V in the year 1423. Afterwards the constitution of Urban VI went into disuse [Raynaldus, Annal. eccles., at the year 1349, number XI, 1389, number I, 1390,

number I. Theodore of the Holy Spirit, Tract. de jubilæo, pages 40, 48, 64.] . It is altogether manifest, however, that Bl. Dorothea obtained only the jubilee of the year 1390. To obtain this indulgence many from the northern regions betook themselves to Rome, that they might the more openly declare their affection, while the Western schism was then raging, toward the pontiffs sitting at Rome [Compare Scriptt. Pruss., volume III, page 168. Voigt, Gesch. Preuss., volume V, page 564 and following.] . That very many travelers made the journey in groups, and that Bl. Dorothea too went to the City not alone, but with others, is established from the Acts of the process: where we read of the Danzig parish priest Nicholas: who was her confessor, who also was with her on pilgrimage to Rome in the jubilee year. In the same place other companions of the journey appear Compare Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 263. . Of this matter Benedict XIV treats, when he weighs the pilgrimages of servants of God and especially of women De beatif., book III, chapter XXXVII, number 13. .

ee. In the German Life her husband is said to have died in the Lenten season of the year 1490 Book II, chapter 26. . He died at Danzig, not at Rome, as some wrongly report Compare Lilienthal, page 17. . Blessed Dorothea, however, having received the news, returned from Rome, as is said in the other Lives [Latin Life, book III, chapter 26. German Life, book II, chapter 26. Compare Lindan Life, chapter 56.] , on the Sunday within the octave of the Lord's Ascension, or the first Sunday before Pentecost, the 15th of May of the year 1390. When she was returning from Rome to her fatherland, if we are willing to hear Martin Baronius, visiting Cologne, famous for the tombs of the holy three kings and of the holy eleven thousand virgins, she bore very many afflictions from infirmity, and adversities from the persecution of the enemy of the human race Icones et miracula, etc., page 49, edition of 1609. . Likewise Fred. Szembek: She betook herself to the tomb of St. Ursula and her companions, and to the other saints at Cologne Royal Library of Brussels, manuscript 8926. .

ff. On the morrow of Holy Trinity, that is, on the 22nd of May of the year 1391. This whole journey from the town of Danzig to Marienwerder Bl. Dorothea herself afterwards narrated at length Latin Life, book III, chapter 27. German Life, book II, chapter 27. .

gg. In that meantime, or before she entered the reclusory, she had her dwelling at Kwidzyn first with a certain woman called Quodemosse, and then with the Lady Catherine, widow of Nicholas Mulner, Sister of the Teutonic Order, in the curia pecudum, near the church. Bl. Dorothea occupied there a little cell, which some wrongly assert to have been the reclusory itself. Having received the Holy Eucharist daily, she was accustomed then to stay for several hours (often ten) in the church. Once in the day, and indeed very sparingly, she ate. After this she visited the sick and needy, spending almost the rest of the day again in prayer Hipler, page 220 and following. Compare Linda, part II, page 139. . Moreover, in what manner she ought to carry out her actions, the Lord revealed to her, descending to the very slightness of things Latin Life, book IV, chapter 19. .

hh. Of this vow of obedience pronounced on the 6th of July of the year 1392, more fully in the Latin Life: The Lord, wishing to steady the mind of the bride, which at times wavered whether she should remain near C. … commanded her to make a vow, that in her life she would never wish to depart from C., and he ordered that coming to the feet of C. she should humbly prostrate herself, and ask to be received to full obedience Ibid., book III, chapter 28; compare book V, chapter 46. . And elsewhere: "Commit yourself wholly to P. and C., and so be, as if you were theirs, not your own. Reckon them better than you and yourself unworthy to converse or speak with them." Again of John of Marienwerder: I have chosen him for myself, and have deputed him to minister to you… Tell me, whether you have ever perceived that I have given such a minister to one so poor and wretched a woman as you are Ibid., book V, chapter 46. . How perfectly the servant of God obeyed, her directors themselves have set forth: She was a very obedient woman, says Marienwerder, especially to the deponent, so that without his leave, or that… of John Reymann … who had been joined to him, she did nothing Linda, part II, page 158. . These nevertheless she called her spiritual sons, indeed her elder sons Latin Life, book V, chapter 15. , Christ speaking before: whom namely she helped very much to direct their life to every law of virtue, and whom she far surpassed in the knowledge of divine things; and therefore she had received these words from the Lord: A mother ought in some things to know more than her sons… Teach therefore your sons… Wonder that you have been able to teach without fear those who were great doctors… I have led you to those who have already been masters, that my great mastery might become magnificently known to them through experience, and it might be plain that I am still able to teach those who cling to me perfectly Ibid., book I, chapter 4. .

ii. These testimonies the author collected in the Latin Life, book I, chapter 6: where you will find what is set forth in this place declared in the same words in §1, 9 and 10 Compare Prelim. Comment., number 50. . There are twenty-one others, which we shall indicate below in the Appendix.

* ac in the manuscript.

CHAPTER FOUR.

Effects of the Holy Eucharist. Bl. Dorothea is enclosed. Her manner of living in the cell. Missions of the Holy Spirit.

CHAP. LVII.

On her fervent desire for the sacrament of the Eucharist ^a. Bl. Dorothea, most avid of sacred communion, Since the Lord says: He who eats my flesh, has eternal life, this devout bride of Christ, mightily val. ac. kindled with desire of eternal things, most avidly desired also for a long time the means by which she could more quickly be advanced to eternal life. Supreme among them indeed quod in the manuscript. is the venerable sacrament of the Eucharist ven. Euch. itself, in which, grace assisting, she experienced every delight and the sweetness of every taste. Nor is it wonderful, since she tasted degustavit. the Lord's sweetness itself as at the fountain. O with what increase of graces and virtues O cum quantarum virtutum et gr. , the soul's palate being healed, most wholesomely, not once but frequently frequentius. , she tasted! By whose grace she was advanced to so mighty a desire, that she could not go without it even for a short time. Thence it came that she was very often destitute of strength, and when the sacrament was taken she was quickly concito. restored to health. At times she hungered in such ardor of charity to receive this sacrament, that she could not sleep and rest quiescere. ; at night sitting at the windows of the house, watching and observing the hour at which she could fittingly visit the church, and if she did not receive sacramentally, at least she might behold or see it at the elevation. It sometimes happened, that for desire and hunger of spirit she was rapt at the time of the immolation around the Mass, and so she did not see the host, which she fervently desired to see. In so great a desire she was very often fuit sæp. , that most gladly she would have snatched it from the priest's hands, had not the eagerness of receiving been repressed by the fear of God tim. Dei. and the shame of men. She sometimes opened and closed her mouth, even with a sound, from desire for that venerable sacrament, like a famished dog for a morsel of flesh held out to him, who omitted. closes his mouth, and opens it after the manner of a beast. Let the comparison silere in the manuscript. not terrify terreatur. ; if anything else occurs, let the diligent reader locorum. liken and fit it to the same: she indeed quippe. expressed her desire in the same comparison. Whence on a certain occasion the Lord said to her: "After you began to cry out and labor for my holy body, I permitted you to labor, to cry out and to weep clam. fl. et l. for so long, waiting to see if you wished to cease: since you did not cease, and now could do almost no more pl. n. , I omitted. have now nunc o. ordained that you can have me. And because you have now begun to labor so also for eternal life, I shall wait so long, until I see you unwilling to cease: and when I see this hæc. , then I wish to receive you to myself, my beloved daughter. Let it not be wearisome tæd. t. to you to wait, because you will have to have great reward and pr. et omitted. joy with me."

CHAP. LVIII.

[85] On the manifold effects or feelings of this sacrament, she receives most abundant fruits from it. which she perceived in receiving ^b. First feeling. — On account of the vehement desire, as said before, for the life-giving sacrament of the Eucharist viv. s. , this chosen servant of Christ felt and perceived many effects in that salutary grace, now these, now those. Sometimes in receiving the sacrament of the Eucharist, the Lord came to her very magnificently, and spoke to her sweetly or affably. Thence her heart was enlarged delectabatur. , and greatly magnified, and he taught her the whole day what things were necessary for her. But at night, when she wished to rest, her heart became so great, that she had to rise very quickly, and to say by heart: Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, repeating it many times, until she became wakeful; and so her heart was cooled, that it might not be suffocated or rent.

Second feeling [Secundum sentimentum, tertium, etc., omitted in B, in which the various parts are distinguished only by the numbers II, III, etc.] . — Sometimes when the sacrament had been taken, the Lord came with a sweet taste delightfully savory, very foreign to the taste of bread, and this most delightful delicatissimus. taste was greatly increased, flowing into her mouth, and so liquid, that she truly feared at times that it might non. flow out of her mouth. It brought with it an unspeakable sweetness, by which the soul was intimately sweetened, and through the abundance redundantiam. of grace it was very swiftly diffused into all her omitted. members; and from this there was accustomed to come a certain sweat, boiling up and bursting out from her whole body, and spreading abundantly.

Third feeling. — Sometimes, provided with the life-giving sacrament, she perceived the coming of the Lord with manifold fruit, expelling expellentem. acedia acidiam in the manuscript. , vain glory, love of temporal things, ambition, and other evils, if any qua. were in her, bringing in chastity humilitatem added. , patience and the other kinds of virtues which were lacking.

Fourth feeling. — At another time before receiving the sacrament, she was so wasted in bodily strength, from excessive desire of receiving, that step by step she could scarcely and very slowly hasten to the church. There was indeed such weakness and affliction of spirit, that death was in her desire; which quidem.

however came to pervenit. her more from languishing love than from bodily pain. But when the most vigorous vigorosissima. sacrament was taken, at once she was made strong hilaris seu jucunda added. .

Fifth feeling. — On another occasion in the sacrament the Lord Jesus came to her so magnificently, that she forgot oblivisceretur all tastes and all things that were in time; and her soul was most sweetly and intimately joined to her Creator suo conjungeretur cr. .

Sixth feeling. — At another time the Lord came in the sacrament in godlike manner, that is, with a divine effect or that of the deity, to her soul Dom. ad anim. ejus deifice, id est eff. deitatis. , at once raising and lifting her by intimate contemplation to the heavenly joys; nor could she then contemplate anything quidquam. else.

Seventh feeling. — Likewise sometimes the Lord came to her in the sacrament in very friendly fashion, with very great magna. sweetness and [et.] joy, and in godlike manner, that is, in the manner in which the Lord solus added. is felt, namely omitted. without the taste of bread. She was magnificently illumined, and felt the Lord in his omnipotence speaking to her in friendly fashion, whom she also contemplated in his majesty. It was to her as if she had her beloved Lord between her arms, pressing and clasping ei dicens. him greatly. Give such a lover, and the Lord so acting, and he will feel, if the Lord wills, these effects sentiet illico hos effectus. . The aforesaid things of that feeling she perceived after communion on the morrow of the Finding of the Holy Cross in the year of the Lord one thousand three hundred and ninety-three MCCCXCIII. .

Eighth feeling. — On one occasion the Lord came to her in the sacrament very godlike, consolingly, with friendly colloquy, good revelation, with great sweet tears, with fervent, burning charity, with so many fruits, which she was not sufficient to recount enumerare. , with so great an illumination, that she saw what she had done as a little girl, and the house in which she had done these things. The Lord acted rightly omitted. as a beloved father, who after a small paternam. chastisement receives his son into his arms, consoling him, and he made a great banquet in her soul. Her heart became great, and as the Lord spoke loquente. in friendly fashion, her eyes dripped dulces added. tears, as if quæ. they came from pipes. Who is wise, and will keep these things, and will understand the mercies of the Lord? The aforesaid she perceived on the tenth day of the month of May in the year of the Lord 1393 anno Dom. XCIII. .

Ninth feeling. — On the Tuesday of Rogations in the year 1393 anno XCIII. , when the sacrament had been taken, the Lord came with great delights: her soul came to great joys, she knew nothing that quid. was being done in the world. The Lord had a great colloquy with her soul. When she returned from rapture to herself, she felt the Lord magnificently. It was to her exactly as if the Lord wished to bring himself forth in her soul. She felt the same affect very often.

Tenth feeling. — On the day of Pentecost Pentecostes. in the year 1393 anno XCIII. , when the sacrament had been taken, the Lord came to her with [in.] great omnipotence, with great languishing charity; he made a great banquet in anima ejus added. . Her heart from this was made very great, with great caressing, so that she did not have power over her mouth. All things that were in her body were moved and labored. At times afterwards too she felt the said effects.

Eleventh feeling. — On the Tuesday of Pentecost Pentecostes. , in the year as above, the Lord came to her in the sacrament in s. v. ei D. with great magno. joy, fervent et ferventer. , burning charity, with great desire. The whole day she had great joy, and the Lord now tunc. wished to bring himself forth or beget separare sanguinem in the manuscript. himself in the bride's soul: now the bride was to bring him forth. Continually she was full of thanksgiving. Of this wonderful spiritual omitted. childbirth or begetting, how the Lord brings forth or aut se. begets himself, she knew many things by the Lord's revealing, as will appear in the treatise on spiritual childbirth in its place ^c.

Twelfth feeling. — On the vigil of the Trinity, in the year as above, the Lord came in the sacrament with great omnipotence, joy and love, of body and soul. Forgetful of all things that were on earth, he made a great banquet in her soul, she burned fervently, she sweated, the Lord drew her strongly within intra. the Holy Trinity. It seemed that not only the soul, but also the body had been drawn in its manner. The Holy Trinity was very present to her. Magnificently illumined, she could not speak much. Great and Magna et omitted. many things she knew, which she ought not to express, and perhaps could not, the Lord forbidding it.

Thirteenth feeling. — On the Monday after the feast of the Trinity in the year 1393 anno XCIII. , having communicated she felt that the Lord had come in the sacrament in godlike manner with his great omnipotence; magnificently illumined, she was made as if she were a spirit, and clear or transparent: quickly she had to think: O you blessed, high, praiseworthy God! In this a great caressing was made in her heart. It was to her exactly as if a young infant were in her heart esset juv. inf. in corpore suo. , who touched contrectaretur. it joyfully and had haberetur. great joy with her. This happened to her [ei.] many times, that as a fully formed fetus, playing and leaping for exultation in her womb, it rolled and rolled back. The Lord drew her eam. intensely; and swiftly her soul was rapt by him ipsa. , united to him [et.] so intimately, that she felt his sweet kisses and sweet embraces. There was a great colloquy and great friendship between the Lord and her soul: so that at times it returned so joyful, as if it were in heaven with body and soul, having no hold on earth. Only the coarser things could she express of the aforesaid.

Fourteenth feeling. — On the morrow of Corpus Christi, in the year above, when the sacrament had been taken, she came to great joys in body and soul. She was directed with great desire to eternal life. Her heart raved, leaping, for the greatness of desire. The brain moved in her head; for she would most gladly have been in eternal life. She burned most fervently Felicissime. , her veins throbbed pulsabantur. , and she could poterat. scarcely open her mouth. The like took place at times after this.

Fifteenth feeling. — On the Saturday before the feast of Blessed James, in the year anno uti. above, when the sacrament had been taken, the Lord came with very great omnipotence, with various charity, manifold joy, many cum varia-multis omitted. tears, great fervor and sweat, friendly colloquy, good revelation. She felt great goodness from the Lord, who came hastily festinavit venire. to her soul, exactly as if he were running with hasty feet to her soul. All her powers exulted. One of the powers served, another loved, a third leapt, a fourth was satisfied, a fifth was strengthened, a sixth labored, and so of each. After each of the potencies had its effect of the benefit, then magnificently illumined she lay, and listening how the Lord himself and her soul united together intimately int. univ. .

Sixteenth feeling. — On one occasion after the feast of St. James, when the sacrament had been taken, in the year as above, the Lord came to her with great omnipotence omn. mag. , very godlike, with great sweetness: her soul and body came to great joys. Likewise he came with a strong and swift running, and with spiritual begetting of himself; likewise with spiritual childbirth, by which qua in the manuscript. she was to bring forth the Lord. Likewise he united her soul to himself intimately, and so to her lying in quiet quieti in the manuscript. he sent the Holy Spirit. A great banquet took place in her soul; the fatted calf was killed, and her heart was filled with such joy, that she was terrified at effects so wonderful. And the Lord said to her: "Here the best friends have come together, naming vocando. the Father, and omitted. himself, and the Holy Spirit, who are to have great joy together. Here is the sweetest food, here is the best taste, here is the good and praiseworthy odor, here is the very great joy of musicians, and the tumult of those feasting in your soul. And your mouth will not be able to express these things, nor any writer to write them fully and perfectly." And behold a wonderful thing! When this had been said, she felt a good taste and the best odor in her soul, and these also overflowed into her body, so that she also bodily felt a most sweet and most noble taste of food. She felt also in her soul a great satiety, by which she was also bodily satisfied. At which she wondered greatly. She felt such tamen in the manuscript. dancing in her soul, that quo in the manuscript. her whole body was filled fuit rep. with joy, all her members exulted, and there was such jubilation in her soul, and ineffable joy of musicians playing most joyfully, that quæ in the manuscript. from those ineffable joys, delights omitted. and exultations, she could not sit quietly; but her feet were moved bodily with a dancing motion alternately, one up, the other down, as if she wished to leap in dancing. All things that were in her body were moved in this manner alternately, and exercised it in their way by leaping. Who ever heard such a thing? And who has seen the like of this? The Lord, whose cujus. delights are to be with the sons of men, prepared in his sight a table according to the magnificence of his divine and royal majesty etc. omitted.

Seventeenth feeling. — On another occasion, on a certain Friday, when the sacrament had been taken, the Lord came advenit. to her truly severus added. serious, very disquieting; for from this she came to great magnam. disquiet, hunger and thirst of body and soul, not however for bodily food and drink. Likewise he came with great languishing charity and desiring charity, with great bitterness of body and soul; he impressed himself on her soul, exactly as sicut. a bundle of myrrh: for he was Ipse fuit etenim. serious. Her omitted. soul became very sad; it did not dare to run to meet him, nor to cry out, nor to have many words, nor to prepare lodgings for the guest Christ, as it had done fecit. before. Then her soul and body began to dispute together scilicet. , having great hunger; neither soul nor nec. body desired anything aliquod. passing, but each of them would most gladly have been in its own place. The body so intensely desired to come to the earth, as the soul to heaven, although the body does not desire it without sive in the manuscript. the soul. Great labors arose; the inner powers cried aloud; the brain in her head cried omitted. aloud, so that in place of in t. q., mentemque in the manuscript. with the ears of the body she could hear nothing, for the crying of her brain. Her soul and body began very strongly to fear

the seriousness of the Lord and the great labor. The cause of the aforesaid effects the Lord revealed to her, saying: "I too on Friday suffered in place of pas. s., passum in the manuscript. many things for you; do you also endure, and have those things for propter. me." But afterwards she was wonderfully consoled by the Lord.

Eighteenth feeling. — On the Saturday immediately after the aforesaid Friday sextam f. , the Lord, received sacramentally, came to her with many fruits; her soul was rapt to great joys, and during the rapture a great clamor arose, and before her heart there was a great tumult as it were of those marching to war. From this Et ex isto. clamor and tumult she returned to herself, and at once her heart became effectum. great, and her whole womb, as if it wished vellus in the manuscript. to be rent or split fundi in the manuscript. . Her soul omitted. began to cry out strongly, solicitous with various labors, that she might well receive all these guests; she cried aloud, saying: "Most sweet father, most sweet king, most sweet creator dilectissime pater, dil. r, dil. cr. etc.," she was magnificently magnificeque. illumined, transparent to herself as glass. Kisses and embraces were very sweet and delightful to her. Her inner senses being opened, she felt a most sweet odor, a most delightful taste etc., omitted. in so great an excellence, that from the overflow of the inner senses into the outer a like suavis. perception took place through them; for with bodily eyes, as with spiritual, she saw most beautiful youths in a great host coming with the bridegroom, and as if hastening to a wedding. Whose tumult and clamor, as also the taste and odor, she perceived through the senses of both the inner and the outer man: and this happened to her very often, although not in the same manner.

Nineteenth feeling. — On the morrow of the Conception of the Virgin, in the year as above, the Lord, received in the sacrament, came richly, magnificently, favoring his omitted. bride very richly: forgetful of all outward things, she was rapt to ineffably great joys. But she returned full of jubilation and exultation ex. et j. . Her womb was full, all her inward parts were moved with a motion of liveliness, as if they lived. Leaps occurred fiebat. notably notabilis. in her heart, and also her heart itself leapt for divine sweetness; with a large affluence, her whole body and soul being melted, they flowed as if fluid, et added. and wholly leaning she clung firmly to the Lord, exactly as if she were held by no hold on the earth.

Twentieth feeling. — On the day of Blessed John the evangelist within the octave of the Lord's Nativity, in the same year as above, when the sacrament had been taken, the Lord came to her soul in godlike manner. For he came with so many great goods, that she felt herself strengthened in all the powers of body and soul, gladdened and consoled lætificata et consolata in the manuscript. . Nor was there any member which did not feel spiritual quod non speciale gaud. joy and aut. singular solace from her beloved Lord. She felt a certain efficacy of power inestimably omitted. sweetening enter and pass through each member; which beyond measure wrought an ineffable effect of joy, solace, grace, goodness and friendship in each. This vigorous working of the Lord's body she felt at once in all her members immediately after receiving the Eucharist: and almost quia. nothing of the sweetness, joy, delight had habita. was she sufficient to say. There was in her so great a showing of friendship, as if there had come one rich, faithful and liberal friend, favoring each so magnificently, that all were content, satisfied in their desire by the sufficiency of the gift. She, filled with jubilation, burned fervently, sweated fundavit in the manuscript. strongly, so full of new joys and exultation, that it seemed to her that heaven and earth were one: that is, for the greatness of inexplicable gladness she did not feel the distinction of them eorum. , nor could she by consideration considerative. notice how it had been with her quo se fuisse in the manuscript. , for the greatness of jubilation and the multitude of goods, from the supereminent excellence of jubilation. She had many other feelings in this sacrament, inestimably great by the grace of the Lord God, which for brevity have been omitted in the present compendium of her life. And let one inexperienced in so great a sweetness of divine taste and aut. savor not detract from the grace of God: for God does not taste uniformly to all. For the taste of the divine presence must vary through the various desires of the soul, and in their savor the divine sweetnesses div. dulcedinis in the manuscript. supernæ dulcedinis … solet B. are accustomed to delight in one way and another the palate of the soul desiring different things, the Lord saying to her in place of D. s. dic., Unde quadam vice dixit ei Dominus. : "He who does not labor to the weariness fatigationem. and failing of his powers, before he receives suscipit. me through the sacrament, he also after reception sumptionem. does not feel sensit in the manuscript. a notable refreshment and increase of his powers. And he who does not hunger mightily val. es. for me, he is not satisfied in [a.] me, nor does he delight in me. How Quoniam. should he have delight and sweetness in that food, for which he has no hunger? And how could he be contentedly satisfied by a food, in which, so disposed, he cannot delight? So he who is not borne toward me with the strength of fervent love, he is not magnificently gladdened læt. magn. from my coming through me. How then enim. could such a one have great gladness in a food, for which he bears no excellent love?" And it is to be noted that nondum qui in the manuscript. the aforesaid fruits seu effectus added. of the life-giving sacrament perceived by this servant of God have been set down in conformity in their terms, carried over from the vernacular into Latin, as she pronounced them word for word, the Lord teaching, and other foreign subtlety of words has been excluded, nor has other profundity of opinions been mixed in, but only the experience of grace woven in its own manner, so that the height of the divine wisdom may be clear, which through the simple and unlettered, little in their own eyes, causes to be experienced in abundance things which are wholly foreign to the wise and prudent of the world. There are many other fruits ^d, very various, pronounced by this venerable instrument of the Holy Spirit and so written down, which if they were reduced to due order, would make a beautiful series, and a great volume cons. et. .

CHAP. LIX.

[86] On the understanding of certain words set down in the aforesaid effects. It is explained what in the revelations of Bl. Dorothea is meant by When Scripture signifies something through likenesses of sensible things, the things that signify and the things that are signified cannot be alike in all respects; for this hoc. would not be likeness, but identity. Although this bride of Christ Dorothea was a simple woman, and wholly unlettered ^e, yet through the light of wisdom infused into her by God from above, by which quoniam. she was as it were in added. vivified in spirit, she expressed truly great inestimable mysteries, in accord with the likenesses of sacred Scripture, in sufficiently open words, in which she could stammer. And that she might instruct the writer more clearly in the experience of the spiritual effects, by which she was wonderfully visited by the Lord, the writer himself sometimes raised difficulties concerning the matter, so that, the Lord being consulted, and by supernatural light more limpidly surveyed, the grace of the Lord visiting her might shine out more, and she might recount the things to be written in fitter terms.

CHAP. LX.

[87] On the banquet in the soul. It is said above: The Lord made a banquet in the soul; the banquet in the soul, which he then makes, as she perceived percipit in the manuscript. and felt, when the soul here on earth feels and tastes, that the kisses and embraces of the Lord are sweet and delightful, so that it from great joys and from excellent delights melts et added. , flows down, and is made as it were one spirit with him. And in this state a man cannot hear the word of God or read of the love of God, on account of the vehemence of the love or divine charity: for by reading and hearing aud. et l. he would be too greatly kindled. And this she very often experienced, that in a like state of love, on hearing the word of God she was near to being burned up or ac in the manuscript. suffocated from the fire of love, and was omitted. led as it were into great madness. Likewise in whose soul the Holy Spirit makes a dwelling, in that istud. one he makes a banquet of fat things, that is, he gives delight in the Body of Christ, the sacrament being received, and the desire of receiving it, and then it is granted with a most sweet taste. And after such a banquet there is accustomed to be caused a failing or mad love, by which a man desires to die, and so languishes also in body. In which failing he thinks that he will shortly die.

CHAP. LXI.

[88] On the fatted calf killed in the soul. The fatted calf is then said to be killed in the soul, the fatted calf killed, when the illumination is greater and more limpid, the kindling intensio. more fervent, the delight in the sacrament sweeter, and the joy more intense than quum in the manuscript. is usual at other times; and one operation of all three persons is said to bring about the aforesaid. In this mode the outward senses are as it were wholly lulled asleep. For if anyone wished to kill such a man, on account of the excellence of divine love he would not care. And so it seemed to her in the said effects, that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit had made a very great banquet in her soul, and that the fatted calf had been killed. So she understood that mystery, the Lord teaching, and she perceived the tumult of those feasting and the joy of the musicians in her soul, as above in the sixteenth effect of the sacrament etc. omitted.

CHAP. LXII.

[89] On the kiss and embrace of the soul. The right hand of the kiss and embrace the Lord showed to her within the octave of Pentecost Pentecostes. ; the kiss of the soul, whence her confessor, wishing to know the right hand, questioned her. And she said: "The kiss of the soul is, when the soul is joined to God intimately and profoundly, with the greatest delight. The left hand is under the head and the right hand embraces the soul, when the three persons come to the soul, making a dwelling in it. And after such an embrace the soul returning to itself experiences in the heart a sweetness overflowing and redounding into all the entrails and members of the body, so that the members and all the entrails appear apparerent. as if they were filled and swollen with sweet dew; likewise also the face." And this the beloved of God sensibly perceived. When this overflow ceased, she felt an abundant sweetening moisture in her mouth. Such feelings she very often had. But the right hand of the kiss and embrace she did not know before.

CHAP. LXIII.

[90] How the Lord brings forth or begets himself in the soul. and how the Lord brings himself forth in the soul, The Lord then brings himself forth in the soul, when he comes so magnificently into [ad.] the soul, without the image of any creature, making a great banquet in the soul, joy and jubilation, that a man cannot potest. take in his coming, for

the expressing of this concerning him, namely that mode of the great benefit, in which he then is with a man. And then the Lord very intensely loves the soul, which quod. soul of the man lies as if dead. For it does not have power over itself, and although it loves God in return or loves him magnificently, it omitted. nevertheless attamen. , on account of the greatness of the divine love, does not think that it loves God: as in a like case when two lights are set, the greater darkens the lesser, not simply, but relatively.

CHAP. LXIV.

[91] What Quod in the manuscript. it is to carry the Lord upon earth. To carry the Lord upon earth is, that he be carried by man, when there is so much joy and exultation in the soul, that a man cannot wholly bring it out effari. or express it, but only some small thing. And the Lord also does not express it, nor teach one to express it specially spiritualiter in the manuscript. , except as much as a man can utter and say of himself, and to express that is to carry him upon earth.

CHAP. LXV.

[92] What it is to come with caressing. When God, supremely lovable and affable, enters into the soul, that he come to him with caressing, then a certain most sweet conversation arises in it; and when the desire excitata. of the beloved and of enjoying him is stirred, it forms a thousand words sweeter than honey and the honeycomb; and by his presence the holy soul is illumined, inflamed, enlightened, so that from much affability it says: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within, etc. In that sweet speech the soul does not know itself, nor does it weigh the words, what or aut. of what kind they are sint. , with which it caresses the beloved. So this beloved bride very often caressed the Lord with so sweet words and loving names, which even when returned to herself she could not express; and when heard by others they were very rarely understood. This she wished to express, when she said: "The Lord came with caressing."

CHAP. LXVI.

[93] What this is, to come into the soul anima in the manuscript. with many fruits. or with many fruits, This saying the bride so understood, that the good fruits are sweetness, joy, charity, peace, patience, long-suffering, goodness, kindness, gentleness, modesty, faith, continence, chastity, swift running, friendly colloquy, good revelation, inner illumination, etc. Concluding similar things: "He came with many good fruits, which quos. I cannot express, except those which have been expressed sunt exp. ."

CHAP. LXVII.

[94] How the Lord in the sacrament of the Eucharist came to her with swift running. or with swift running. The almighty Lord, the weigher of our desires, showed himself wonderfully to his bride in this effect, and she so expressed it: Then he runs very swiftly as if having feet, entering very swiftly into the heart and soul, and the soul hastily runs to meet him, with such a good thought: Lord Jesus Christ, father, Lord Jesus Christ, as if it wished to receive him. She then felt no taste of bread, nor its division, or dissolving of the sacrament in the mouth, but the whole entire host went down through the throat with a very swift motion, as if the Lord and the soul were meeting each other. And so she then had to listen in silence, attending to those great supplications supplicibus. , caressings, thanksgivings, joys, dancings, jubilations, which were taking place in her soul. With the ears and eyes mentis added. , and the other senses of the mind she perceived these things. And the Lord revealed the aforesaid dictam. swiftness to his bride by a certain likeness, saying Dorotheæ. : "I am desirous of you, and you of me. I run to you on account of your desire as swiftly, as if a way on ice were well leveled by the traveling iterationem. of those running, not ceasing, until I lay hold of your soul, and it in turn of me. For the more ardent the love, the swifter the running of those who love." And so she could say: As the hart desires the fountains of waters, so my soul desires you, O God.

CHAP. LXVIII.

[95] On her entry into the reclusory. Although this beloved dilecti in the manuscript. servant of Christ had long since urgently asked for the reclusory ^f, Bl. Dorothea, enclosed in the cell, that she might be posset. alone with the Lord alone solo D. , and there heartily attend and be at leisure et ibi-intendere omitted. , certain and aut. secure concerning the wonderful benefits, with which the Lord would visit her more than in former times, and would more largely bestow the gifts innumera in the manuscript. of his grace; the fruit of her desire was delayed, however, so that outside the reclusory the holiness of her life might shine forth ^g, and the constancy of her soul be proved. In the year of the Lord omitted. 1393, on the second day of the month of May ^h, on which she was to be enclosed, she with great joy came ⁱ to the church, burning and sweating strongly from love. Very many of both sexes, knowing her well before to have been shut away in all her senses and to the world, and that she now omitted. wished to be further shut away, having compassion out of omitted. piety, both on account of her absence, and on account of the many examples of holiness by which she had shone for them, visited her weeping, and omitted. diligently entreated her to intercede with the Lord for them. She in turn, moved by piety, rendered exsolvit. due thanks to them. After this, the sacrament being taken, the Lord came, and [ei.] with great love in godlike manner. With very great sweetness soul and body came to great joys mag. gaud. , and it seemed to her as if she were in omitted. eternal life. This the greatness of jubilation, the nobility of consolation and inebriating charity contentedly brought about. But after she had been taken by her two omitted. spiritual sons, one of whom was a professor of sacred theology, the other a doctor of decretals or sacred canons ^k, that she might enter the reclusory, she rose in the former dispositions, magnificently illumined; she passed with them in great charity, magnificently feeling the Lord, and well to a great or magn. s. omitted. notable distance through a great multitude of people, in which she considered in the face no person, one alone excepted omitted. . She entered without shoes, without any qualibus. occupation and solicitude about having necessaries; nor did she care to bring in anything other than the Lord, her bridegroom, Jesus Christ the greatly beloved. After she had entered, and been well made fast by the wall ^l, to her view it was so well with her with the Lord, as if she had been in eternal life. Of all things that are in the world she thought nothing; indeed on this day, had she not been admonished by her duos in the manuscript. confessors, she would not have eaten any bodily food for sweetness of spirit. For she felt great fruits from the Lord: it exactly sibi added. seemed that the Lord well wished to bring himself forth D. seipsum vellet parere. in her soul. For a good [ad.] three hours she was in rapture, and there, well intime. united to the Lord, she had great joy, she admitted adm. im. creat. no other image of a creature. When she returned to herself, then the Lord sent her the Holy Spirit with insatiable and untiring charity: she for excessive charity could have no rest. The Lord commanded her continually to pray, to caress and to supplicate, and spiritually to bring him forth. Caressing and praying she spent a good five hours bene q. h. bl. et or. .

CHAP. LXIX.

[96] On her manner of living in the reclusory, the graces had and revealed. she is taught by the Lord how she ought to behave, The Lord, who led her into solitude, that he might speak to her heart, wishing to have her in a more perfect state of the contemplative life, assigned her a manner of living, saying thus: "When you enter omitted. the reclusory, you must live very holily. Have a glass window ^m before you, and stretch out your hand to no one outside the reclusory without the permission of your confessor conf. t. : as often as you do this without permission confessoris tui added. , so often you will have to confess it, and undergo a salutary penance. Likewise from no one receive any gift ⁿ, and I will help you." Dorothea understood this saying of a gift of money. Other gifts, although small and very few, she scarcely received without special spirituali in the manuscript. permission. Likewise while in the reclusory, she was never accustomed to speak verbum added. to anyone, except her confessors, without their special spirituali in the manuscript. permission. She went without, for an entire year and about eight weeks, the whole time she was in the reclusory, for the love of her God, fire ^o, shoes, water for washing head or face aqua-lavanda omitted. quibus scilicet calceis per hyemem usa non fuit added. . Very rarely was she found doing anything aliquod inv. else than praying, caressing, jubilating, singing, meditating, reading in the Lord, or ac in the manuscript. studying; she ate very sparingly beyond measure, she kept vigil day and night. She never remembered having slept bodily in the reclusory. There was never a day in the reclusory, on which she could go without the sacrament of the Eucharist. With what labors, devotion, desires, cries, et added. weeping and tears she sought and received it, I think is hidden from every man, and unless in in the manuscript. she had been provided fuisse in the manuscript. with it each day, for desire, as it seemed to her, she would have died obiisse in the manuscript. . Rarely did anyone go to her out of devotion, when she was in the reclusory, to consult her for the salvation of his soul, who did not obtain spiritual specialem. grace; indeed to many she made known their life, what it had been, as if she had lived with them a long time longis temporibus. [p]. The inner dispositions of certain people as to virtues and vices she knew by the grace of God, and, to whom the Lord willed, she pronounced them [q]. And not only of those present, but also of certain absent persons she knew the affects or affections affectos in the manuscript. : indeed the dispositions of certain persons confessing in the church, both in inner and outer bearing, surveyed by the light of grace, she knew; whom however she had never seen bodily or with bodily eyes, and this she at times intimated to her confessor.

[97] and she is heaped with heavenly gifts, which Christ himself reviews. And although before her entry into the reclusory she had been favored esset. by the Lord, with multiplied multifaris. gifts of his grace, and also by the Lord's revealing committed them to writing, she experienced them more fully and limpidly in the reclusory, as her most clear revelations attest, and her life and example assisting, for instance, the mission of the Holy Spirit made to her with innumerable effects, the multiplicity of charity in its effects and names distinctly and most properly experienced, and many other things, which the Lord on a certain occasion on the vigil of Simon and Jude in the year of the Lord 1393 as if in recapitulation recounted enumeravit. [r], saying thus, distinguishing the things revealed in the earlier book from the later [s]: "And you have magnificently expressed and recounted the varied mission of the Holy Spirit, how qua. I send him upon the earth; likewise the multiplicity of my love, which I stir up in my chosen people, on whom I wish to bestow this. You have also set forth edixisti tu isti.

what kind of operation each charity has, and how each quælibet. pours out its cup and sweetness. You have also set out many good things concerning contemplation and my divine sweetness; likewise concerning energy, or omitted. inner labor, very many things of this de h. omitted. ; likewise concerning spiritual inebriation and contented contemplativa in the manuscript. drunkenness, and not contented contentiva in the manuscript. . Of the strong cup which is poured out in eternal life, you have pronounced many things. Likewise you have expressed how a man cannot wisely and discreetly refer that cup to me, unless I myself keep custodiero. the man inebriated from that cup. Likewise you have explained many things, by which a man can become capable of me mei fieri. and enjoy me. Likewise you have said many things, how a man can bring me forth, and how me added. I spiritually bring forth and beget in the soul; and how a man can carry me me p. upon earth. Likewise many things of this great banquet, which I make in the soul. Likewise how magnificently I come spiritually. Likewise how great a desire is to be had for [in.] me and [de.] eternal life. Likewise how great a hunger and thirst is sint. to be had for my holy Body; and how the powers are to be spent in obtaining me; and how great a satiety and strengthening come venerunt. from my holy Body. Likewise you have made known how richly, largely and magnificently I come sacramentally in the sacrament to those who worthily receive. Likewise how I come running swiftly. Likewise what manifold magnos added. fruits I bring. Likewise what manifold operation I have in the soul after my coming into it. Likewise how I magnify and enlarge the heart and soul. Likewise how I work great joy in the soul. Likewise how the soul runs to meet me, and embraces me me amp. . Likewise of the great clamor of the soul, which it has toward me at my coming. Likewise you have pronounced many things, how a man ought debet. to bring forth spiritual fruits. Likewise how a man omitted. ought to bring forth spiritual sons. Likewise of spiritual mortification and spiritual death. Likewise of the spiritual breaking of the eyes. Likewise of having a great inner light for eternal things. Likewise of contrition and penance, of advance and progress. Likewise of the ascent and entry incessu. of the right ways. All the things which are here named, you have expressed, and recounted so magnificently and richly, as scarcely a man has done upon earth. And those [hi.] who are to read these things isti. will well be able boldly to say: This person iste. has said so many things of the great goodness of the Lord Dei. : then we shall be able well to know, that the Lord did many greater things for her fecerit. ," understand, she having all these things through experience. And so it was in truth of fact. All the aforesaid she had through experience most richly; and although she said very many things, so that of each of them a very notable treatise could posset. be written, yet they are very few in respect of those which she experienced; because scarcely even with the smallest little sparks of words, stammering, could she designate the abyss of the divine goodness shown. Let every Catholic therefore attend, wonder and give thanks, and praise the goodness of almighty God, which in our times for the strengthening of the orthodox faith, in this frail sex, the holy instrument of his Spirit, has mercifully shown and displayed things so superexcellently magnificent, and to be proclaimed to all peoples [t].

CHAP. LXX.

[98] On the invisible mission of the Holy Spirit, and the modes of mission shown and displayed exh. et ost. in the servant of God. The Holy Spirit is sent to her in various modes. For since the mission of the Holy Spirit is the infusion of due love, and he is divinely given to men, when the due love of eternity is breathed into the human mind, it is established from evident signs and sign. et omitted. fires of love that the Holy Spirit was very often sent to Dorothea, the chosen bride of Christ; who, coming to her, inflamed her affection with divine love, and transformed it to the likeness of his property, that she might show to her Author the love which she owed. His coming, moreover, she perceived in the mode of his coming and his manifold effects, he working in her various and different goods.

First mode. — First she felt the coming of the Lord through fervent and burning love timorem. , by which he sensibly kindled her, so that she notably perceived the Holy Spirit given to her from heaven or divinely.

Second mode [secundus modus, tertius modus etc., omitted in B, in which the various parts are distinguished only by the numbers II, III, etc.] . — In the second way omitted. she felt him in ex in the manuscript. great joy, from the greatness of which she fervently desired to be with God, not with the world.

Third mode. — In the third way omitted. she felt him come with great sweetness, as in the whistling symbolo in the manuscript. of a gentle levis in the manuscript. breeze, who then was accustomed to fill her heart and all her inward parts with sweetness, so that from the abundance and affluence effluentia. they overflowed; and so he showed the sweetness of the love which he had for his daughter. Sometimes she notably felt these three simul added. so that she was kindled with the ardor of divine charity, filled with great joy gaud. m. and overflowing sweetness. She then languished anxiously, knowing no one with whom she could treat and confer conf. e. tr. about these modes.

Fourth mode. — In the fourth way omitted. she felt him in great teaching, by which he taught those things which she well knew to be necessary and useful for her. He also taught many things, to give up herself and all temporal things, and to embrace poverty, humility and other virtues; nor is it wonderful, since he is the master and teacher of all truth.

Fifth mode. — In the fifth way he came with great reproof, when she had not done [u] what she ought to do, or had not omitted what he urged her to omit. He objected, saying objiciens dixit. : "This I commanded you to do, and you did not do it; that I forbade you to do, and you did it." When this salutary reproof was made, she wept, and promised flev. promittens. that she omitted. would thereafter advance in virtues, better her life and give up all passing and perishable things; nor is it wonderful, because he does not suffer the smallest straw to remain within the dwelling of the heart which he possesses.

Sixth mode. — In the sixth way, because she could not so quickly ita c. n. change herself as to all things commanded, he therefore came with great threatening, threatening so vehemently, as if he wished to kill her. She then sat weeping so abundantly, and asking the Lord for grace, pardon and help, that she appeared almost arid and dry, and as if all her tears had been pressed out by a winepress. And then the Lord looked on added from B. omitted in the manuscript. the affliction of his servant and drew her, so weakened debilitata in the manuscript. , to great sweetness, surrounding her with bright light; and then he indicated and showed her many salutary things.

Seventh mode. — In the seventh way the Holy Spirit came with great sound and tumult. In this mode she was exceedingly terrified, not knowing what harmed her or ac in the manuscript. was failing, especially before the Lord had expressed to her this mode of coming. It appeared to her exactly as if the whole dwelling in which she was were falling or rushing down upon her together, and then she did not have the use of her outward senses; indeed had she been going to perish in her omitted. body, she would not so sui in the manuscript. have had power sic non potuisset. to save herself. In this mode, as she asserted, a man cannot hear, see omitted. , smell, taste, nor feel by touch, nor walk or stand, nor can he do anything outwardly, except only look to his beloved Lord. A man then who knew how to dispose himself could from the voice of the Lord ex v. D. pos. learn many things from the Lord. If a man remained always so, he would not desire to have anything else. When this mode first happened to her, she was much troubled; she would gladly have had a director, who would have disposed of her case in this mode. And she remained undisposed in this mode of coming for about three years quasi tr. a. ; in which the Lord afterwards mercifully disposed of her case, before she came pervenit. to the man designated above

CHAP. LXXI.

[99] On the manifold effects or operations of the Holy Spirit, and indeed not once in a day, largely shown in the servant of God. In this servant of Christ truly there was the spirit of understanding, holy, manifold, one unitus. , modest, discreet, mobile, and the rest, according to the saying of the Wise man: Manifold in power, one in essence; because quæ in the manuscript. there are divisions of graces, but the same spirit; or manifold in operation, one in end. Indeed she felt the Holy Spirit come very often in many of his effects, not only tamen in the manuscript. once, but many times over much time, sometimes once, but this rarely, three, four, five et added. , many times, even in one day. The Lord had given her a sign of knowledge of the coming of the Holy Spirit, saying thus: "As often as you feel a new spiritual joy, and I begin to speak with you, then you ought to know that I have sent my Holy Spirit to you anew." She indeed was so illumined tant. ill. with the light of grace and of admirable understanding, that very thus the manuscript and B. in manifold effects, as also in the sacrament of the Eucharist, she knew the Lord very distinctly so, and properly foresaw præsertim. the Holy Spirit coming in many effects or operations of charity. For the sake of example, of very many valde added. things I will set forth a few: ponam. the mission and operation of the Holy Spirit in that chosen one of God on scarcely ten quinque aut sexdecem. days, that the most excellent goodness of the Lord may be clear, and the truly great holiness of this his chosen bride. For when Dorothea pronounced the goodnesses of God, she reckoned them, as they were and are, ineffable. For she in truth pronounced them with sighs, groans, weeping, sadness, gladness, working, disposition, and kindling accentuatione in the manuscript. : but the writer could scarcely write in rude and simple simpl. et r. words so ineffably beautiful a good.

[100] working in her many wonderful things. First effect. — On the Thursday next before the feast of St. Mary Magdalene Magnæ in the manuscript. , around the fourth hour after midnight, after rapture the Lord sent her the Holy Spirit with great gushing charity, great magna. sweetness and illumination, and with inebriating charity, and with many other good gifts. Kisses and embraces were sweet and delightful suavia. ; from great delights her soul, melted, flowed down, her heart most sweetly flowed out.

Second effect effectus here and thereafter omitted. . — Afterwards on the next Friday

, when vespers had been said in the church of Pomesania Pomezaniensium. , as she was at table immensa. , the Lord sent her the Holy Spirit with great gushing charity, making a great banquet in her soul. Magnificently illumined, burning very fervently, she was made as if she had come out of the cellar, having drunk good bene. wine vini. . She was very red rubea. , because indeed nim. quia. she had drunk from the torrent of his pleasure. Her heart leapt, her soul, melted, flowed down; from the greatness of her heart her whole body was made great. On the same day she felt the Holy Spirit come to her six times with a great valde. excellent fullness of graces.

Third effect. — On the very day of Blessed Mariæ added. Magdalene, in the year as above, the Lord sent her the Holy Spirit with great desiring charity, satiating insatiabili. charity, boiling et added. , raving, and also with disquieting charity. She was very mad insaniens. and disquiet for eternal life. Her heart burned fervently, as if it were on fire, and as if it boiled up like a seething pot oll. ferv. . Tears came out exiverunt. hot from [ab.] her eyes. She sweated, as if she sat in a bath. Her whole body was fervently on fire; and the more she wept and burned, the more she was made disquieted and desirous. And the Lord said to her: "Your soul this night has been bathed in the rivers of eternal life, and has cleansed itself very cleanly; and as you have labored with the inner powers, so you ought now to labor also with the outer powers." And omitted. on this day she felt the Holy Spirit come to her many times.

Fourth effect. — On the day of the Lord's Transfiguration, in the same ninety-third year after one thousand three hundred post-terc. omitted. , after the fourth hour of the night, the Lord sent her the Holy Spirit with insatiable charity, with fervently burning charity. She was made strongly weeping, she was magnificently illumined; her heart was filled with divine sweetness and joy; and the Lord Jesus omitted. became very friendly to her scilicet. , and said to her: "I have sent you the Holy Spirit three times since the ninth or evening hour, to wound and kindle you. The points and seu. darts amoris added. which you shoot at me, I receive from you as gladly, as you eagerly and gladly receive from me the points or darts of my mea. love, which I shoot at you." At once he showed the bride his heart, saying: "That you may be able to find my heart, and can wound it and shoot it through with the points of your love, I therefore show it to you openly. Shoot therefore now the points and javelins of your love at me, that you may be able to draw tui in me, trahens. me to you. For I as gladly receive that quod. you draw and snatch me to you, as you t., et sicut ut. gladly receive that I draw and snatch you to me." Whence the bridegroom chosen from thousands could say that omitted. word: You have wounded my heart, my sister, my bride, you have wounded my heart with one of your eyes and with one hair of your neck. And the Lord added: "You desire that I make three tabernacles, as St. Peter did in desiring; and you wish surely to be in the most sweet wine-cellar. Behold here you have me; for he who has habuit. me, has that most sweet wine. Drink and suck from me, that you may be inebriated, and satisfied saties in the manuscript. from my divine sweetness: and so the king led her into his wine-cellar or cellars."

Fifth effect. — On the vigil of St. Lawrence the Lord sent her the Holy Spirit with gushing charity and great sweetness. She was made drunk; her heart and soul flowed down; she was magnificently illumined illuminabantur. ; and then after many things late in the evening the Lord said to her: "From yesterday evening I have now sent you the Holy Spirit three times: nunc added. with the Father and the Holy Spirit I am here personally; and one great banquet has been made, and great beloved friends have come together, and the fatted calf has been killed. Then et d. sap. omitted. you have well heard, felt and seen, smelled and tasted bodily and spiritually what a banquet has been prepared here." Dorothea herself also with bodily ears heard the tumult and clamor. With the eyes of the body too she saw a great host coming, as if quia. proceeding to a wedding; and so she smelled, heard and saw the most sweet odor, and the most sweet taste et d. sap. omitted. . Yet this was from the overflow of the inner senses, so that what she felt bodily, she felt through the spiritual senses, or this came from the spiritual inner senses. And the Lord added: "What tumult and how great joy there is here, you know well, and have often understood, when I sent you the Holy Spirit with great sound or tumult, how great a banquet you then had; how much greater is the joy now, since I with the Father and the Holy Spirit now have one operation in you, and have made for ourselves one dwelling in you." Around the beginning of vespers the Lord again sent her the Holy Spirit with fervent burning charity, and said to her: "I with the Father and the Holy Spirit wish to make a tabernacle in your soul and your heart, wishing to have in it a dwelling, which you ought always semp. d. to keep clean. In this tabernacle clear wine ought to be poured out; and therefore on this account I send you so often omitted. the Holy Spirit, because quod. without him you could not keep the tabernacle of your heart clean. He ought to cast out from it all that displeases him, and ought to enlarge and magnify it ipsum. , and ought wholly to prepare it so that, when I come with the Father, we may be able to enter freely without any hindrance. Your soul wishes often to go out running, understand, through rapture; for it does not nunc in the manuscript. wish to drink anything but the most sweet wine. Now Tunc. it is pleasing to me, that there be in the house a lady divina. inviting us to her. For we as gladly dwell with your soul, as it desirously seeks with us an entry for dwelling together."

Sixth effect. — On the Friday after the feast of Michael the archangel, around the tenth hour, the Lord sent her the Holy Spirit with insatiable and gladdening charity, fervently burning, untiring infatigabilis in the manuscript. , wounding, gushing, desiring, little-patient, raving, disquieting charity omitted. and greedy charity omitted. . Her soul was made greedy, disquiet; it raved greatly, it desired greatly omitted. for the Lord, it could have no rest here; there were great operations in it. Her heart was wounded, fervently burning. She did not then much use ut. tunc. her outward senses. The Lord drew her strongly; she sweated strongly. The effects or operations of all the aforesaid charities she felt properly and distinctly.

Seventh effect. — On the day of sancti added. Francis the Lord sent her the Holy Spirit with inebriating charity, great sweetness, with [et.] the wounding, gushing, gladdening, impatient charities. At once those charities worked magnificently in her, each its own proper operation. Her heart was wounded, gushing, broad and spacious, it burned fervently. For excessive wounding of the heart she could not kneel, to say a prayer of the Dedication, which was then being kept peragebatur. in the church of Pomesania.

Eighth omitted. effect. — On the day of the Dedication the Holy Spirit was sent to her ei fuit. around midday with violent charity. The Lord was made very great in her, and her omitted. womb was so amplified ampliatus. and great, as if she had a great living fetus hab. unum mag. f. in it; and this happened to her at times from the great overflow of divine visitations, illuminations and graces.

Ninth omitted. effect. — On the day of St. Lucy the virgin the Lord sent her mis. ei D. the Holy Spirit with very great sound and tumult. Forgetful omitted. of all outward senses, she could not use them. With so great many fruits and tam added. many spiritual goods, which were so great and pure, that she could not potuerit. take in all; she felt well burning, fervent charity, by which, kindled, she burned so fervently, that from the ardor she sweated. She felt also great, sweet, hot tears, which like a torrent rushing impetuously, burst forth and ran. She felt finally a magnificent illumination, illumining her as clearly as she ever felt. Likewise she perceived a great new knowledge, which quoniam in the manuscript. she had not before ante. known in herself and in her spiritual sons. Likewise she felt a profound humility proceeding from the Lord, by which the Lord strongly pressed her down in those great goods. Likewise she felt also a very great mercy, such as she ever knew at the root and foundation. Yet many other goods were then mercifully bestowed on her.

Tenth VIII. effect. — On the eve of Holy Trinity in the year 1394 XCIV. , at the tenth hour before midnight, having returned to herself from rapture, the Lord sent her his Holy Spirit, with a sweet wind passing sonorously through the ears of the body. With the same wind came a sweet flame, and kindled her. She was made very full of joy, and did not have power of the outward senses. Then she said: "O sweet south wind, come, blow through my soul with roses, lilies and flowers of various kinds fl. varigenis. ." And the Lord said to her: "Receive my grace and [ac.] my Spirit." And the Lord at once mightily magnified himself in her soul. Her heart was made great. There came down upon her many goods, and the Lord gave her [ei.] charity breaking the heart, which she bore for about two hours. This too he often sæp. tr. granted her before and afterwards; and she had it then, when she expired. Let these few feelings of the mission of the Holy Spirit, out of the ineffably many and great shown to the servant of God, said at present suffice [w] for the glory and honor of God: cui added. for these, as for all others, praise be to him omitted. through infinite ages of ages [x].

ANNOTATIONS.

to enter the reclusory Latin Life, book V, chapter 3. ." And this he had shown her before. For when the bride had entered the cattle-court of the canons themselves, she saw in spirit the reclusory which she was to enter, already prepared; which however had not then been promised by any of the canons, indeed not even thought of. For this vision preceded the building of the reclusory by an entire year Ibid., book III, chapter 28; compare ibid., book V, chapter 4. . When it seemed that she could not easily obtain her wish at Kwidzyn, she was already bringing herself to demand a reclusory in another region, indeed to make for the Holy Land Compare ibid., book V, chapter 27. . But soon she entrusted herself to John of Marienwerder Compare Hipler, page 229. ; who with J. Rymann, opportunity offering, urged with diligence that leave be given for building a reclusory … understanding also from various revelations made to her that it was pleasing and acceptable to the Lord that they should press on Latin Life, book V, chapter 4. ; after however for an entire year both her praiseworthy life and renowned fame, both her truthful visions and revelations and divine consolations were examined and tested by C. and P., and were found as gold Ibid., book III, chapter 28. . On the testimony also of Bishop John Mönch, she was examined for half a year whether she wished to persevere in the reclusory Hipler, page 230. . The Lord had said: "These present canons ought to rejoice at your entry, because they will be bound together among themselves thereafter by a greater covenant of peace and bond of love and concord Latin Life, book V, chapter 4. ."

p. Although separated from men, the blessed recluse nevertheless labored for the salvation of her neighbor. The Lord had said to her: "You ought to abound in spiritual goods …, so that they may not only suffice for your own necessity, .. but also that to anyone questioning you for the salvation of his soul you may be able to give out admonitions of salvation and counsels Latin Life, book IV, chapter 36. ." In another place: "I grant you a magnificent teaching, that you may bring it to light through writing, for the bettering of those who read Ibid., book I, chapter 4. ." And in very truth many, both religious and secular, visited her for the sake of edification, and fervently desired that she pray for them, and some of them besides, who knew that she had the spirit of prophecy, asked that the Lady recluse report to them, concerning their doubts and the state of their conscience, what she obtained from God in her prayers. For whom the Lady recluse many times obtained it; she intimated it to them by word of mouth or through the confessor's writing. Many too, instructed by the mouth of the Most High, she reproved of their sins and evil manners, … and instructed them to correct their unfit manners. Of whom many were amended in manners and life Linda, part II, page 125 and following. Compare Lindan Life, chapter 50. . She also greatly benefited her confessors, and the other canons of the Church of Pomesania; to whom, when on a certain day they complained of harassments brought upon them, she said that the lord canons ought not to fear, because the Lord would shortly pacify all things. And so it came about Process, page 344, cited in Hipler, page 238. . Those whom she could not help by counsel and effort, she strove to help by assiduous prayer, being commanded by the Lord to pray often for the unity of the Church, the pope, the cardinals, the bishops and princes of the earth, for the canons and for those conversing with her, for benefactors, for the sick and dying, for all souls generally, … for the poor, … for rain and clear weather. And she obeyed in this manner, so that she could say of herself: "I am so anxious on account of men's sins, that I do not quickly know what to say, and singularly I am very anxious for the people dwelling in the city of Marienwerder. It seems to me directly that I ought to be the guardian of this whole city Latin Life, book V, chapter 24; compare chapters 9 and 12. ." Whence it came about that she heard the Lord saying these words: "Your tears … have been today a certain heavenly dew, with which you have well sprinkled the earth, and have well helped men on it, because my great offense has been notably appeased by this Ibid., chapter 29. Compare Linda, part II, page 161. ." And elsewhere Latin Life, book V, chapter 12; compare chapter 9. : "I have made you powerful over my goods. Behold you are now enriched, … having with me the administration of them, freely putting your hand into those goods and taking as much as pleases you." These or similar things are mentioned more than once in the great Lives, where there is also often talk of the spiritual sons of Mother Dorothea [Compare Linda, part II, page 155 and following. Septililium, tract I, chapter 31. De festis, chapter 6.] , whom with the utmost labor and pain, by weeping and praying she brought forth to Christ. From the Acts of the process of canonization it appears how great a care to her was the Teutonic Order Compare above, Prelim. Comment., number 57. , the universal Church and above all the Roman pontiff. Of Boniface IX she knew many things divinely, and although she held him as legitimate pope and extolled him with praises, yet she at times heard him reproved by the Lord Compare ibid., number 6. . In the year 1393 Christ Jesus said to her, as two years later Marienwerder wrote to Boniface himself: "You ought to be with Pope Boniface exactly as if you were very close friends, and you two ought to help me to sustain the world… You see the world hanging as if by one hair." On the eve of the Circumcision, in the same year, when Dorothea was praying urgently for the unity of holy mother Church, that there might be in the whole universe one fold and one head, you appeared to her with a cheerful face turned toward her, as desiring the urgency of her prayers. The other, namely Clement at Avignon, appeared to her with his face turned away, turning his back to Dorothea, dark and so disposed that he would soon fail or die; and so, the divine ordaining

clemency, he died in the summer of the same year Codex dipl. Pruss., volume V, page 75. .

q. Compare Prelim. Comment., number 54. "If you correct anyone, the Lord Jesus says to her, by my command, reciting even his sins to him, and he wishes to better himself, he will be able to hope in me with trust. Further the sins of some revealed to you by me, when you have had the command from me, you will be able to tell to P. and C. Latin Life, book V, chapter 12. ."

r. This chapter on the manner of living in the reclusory, the graces had etc., Maximilian Töppen says was copied from the Roll sent from Rome in the year 1404. It is indeed most similar to the nineteenth of the articles given the third time Linda, part II, page 29. ; but, the writings being compared with each other, it seems to us rather that the articles were made from the books of John the confessor, than these books from the articles. Further the copy which the author of the Roll used comes nearer to ours than to the manuscript printed by Linda: which can be seen from the variant readings.

s. Distinguishing the things revealed in the earlier book from the later. In our opinion, as we have already noted Compare above, Prologue, annotation e. , there are not indicated in this place the Latin Life and the Septililium, in that form in which we now know them; but those things which, at the dictation of Bl. Dorothea, had long since been written and perhaps arranged in some way. What the author goes on to enumerate we read in fact in the greater Life and chiefly in the Septililium, although not in altogether the same order. But it cannot on that account be said that the compendium was written after these; just as it would be wrongly inferred that the Latin Life existed after the Septililium, from the fact that some treatises of the Septililium, and even chapters, are distinctly mentioned in it Compare book II, chapter 36, book IV, chapter 30, book VI, chapter 17. .

t. Concerning the revelations had in the reclusory: She saw through, says her confessor Latin Life, book V, chapter 10. , many secrets of God which it was not permitted her to speak. These she saw and heard day and night, although not continually, in estrangement of mind, but not in sleep. The Lord at times tested Bl. Dorothea, affecting her by turns with pain and gladness. Further that she was flooded with heavenly joy, these things signified: A serene face, rosy, bright, lovely, joyful, a modest eye, chaste and modest gesture; a sweet voice, a pleasing accent; in all her outward members and gestures there appeared delightful signs of gladness [Latin Life, book V, chapter 11; compare book VI, chapter 19. Linda, part II, page 148.] .

u. When she had not done. A little differently in the Septililium: Especially when she did not wholly do it Tract II, chapter 3. . In the same place it is added: In this way at times too the Holy Spirit was sent to her that she might reprove others. And a little afterwards Septililium, tract II, chapter 4. : The Lord every night sent her the Holy Spirit (on the journeys to Aachen and Rome); on this account she rarely slept… At times she exulted so intimately and intensely that she could not restrain herself from laughter, and at times also from fervent love and sweetness she wept so sobbingly and abundantly, that the sound of laughter, joy and weeping, if she had sat near her companions, she could not have hidden.

w. Let what has been said at present suffice: many more things are narrated in the Septililium, and some also in the Latin Life. In the fifth book of this there is sketched that ineffable intimacy of Bl. Dorothea, when now enclosed, with the Most Holy Trinity, with the Mother of God and with many saints, which the Lord often mentioned: Here also is my most beloved mother… Here are many holy angels serving you and guarding you; there are also other saints here… And the longer you shall have been enclosed here, the greater will be the holiness here and the number of the saints… And say to C.: "Never come to me here with any sin weighing you down, .. for the ground on which you stand is holy ground Latin Life, book V, chapter 13 and following. ."

x. Certain parts of this chapter occur in the Septililium (compare tract II, chapters 5, 8, 9); but some we have found neither in the Septililium, nor in the Latin Life, nor in the German.

CHAPTER FIVE.

On the degrees and effects of charity. The contemplative life. Bl. Dorothea's familiar dealings with the Lord. She dies by the force of divine love. Her obsequies.

Chap. LXXII.

On the effects of charity, from which charity or divine love receives different names: The effects of divine love are many. Having experienced these, Bl. Dorothea which Dorothea the bride of Christ efficaciously felt and perceived in herself. Although the foregoing things are to be proclaimed to all men, indeed to angelic spirits, with the highest heraldings for the honor and glory of almighty God, and the exaltation of the orthodox faith, yet those that follow are no less to be embraced for his praise with the arms of love and reverence, indeed to be wondered at in many ways; which the Lord mercifully worked in his bride. Whom the Lord wished to experience his great works sua m. in the various kinds in varigenis. of motions of his charity, of which the canticles of Solomon, and whatever quoque. love-matters are in the sacred page, and the sweet-sounding songs of holy and [ac.] Catholic doctors are full: so that letter with spirit, gloss gloriosa. with text, truth in signification and mystery might shine out and be plain claresceret et pateret. . And lest we withdraw from our purpose, both the names and the effects of the charities, which, the Lord effecting and revealing them, this venerable Dorothea experienced and learned, should be set down in form. Let the slanders and insolences of detractors, of the inexperienced, depart, if it happens by the Lord's revelation that rare words are set down, and names of charity or loves, as if quia. they have not seen viderunt. them in the Scriptures. Let them think, indeed know, that infinite things still lie hidden in the eternal wisdom and written within in the book of life, which human wisdom has not yet reached and set out by reason or aut. ingenuity. Yet I do not think them so sit. rare, when conformable things may be found in sacred Scripture by the reader's study ^a.

CHAP. LXXIII.

[102] Burning charity. Burning charity in the servant of God was very mighty: she had burning charity, from the overflow of which her heart was often vehemently kindled, indeed her whole body too was warmed, so much so a Deo. that sweat broke out abundantly from her whole body, and it seemed to her that she was almost being consumed by the fire of ardor. Whence in the sharpest cold of winter she was sometimes so kindled by the fire of charity, that she had need to seek air for the cooling of the body, or ac in the manuscript. to sit on cold stones; so to cool her bare arms, feet, and other members of the body. She was often made flaming, so that the flame of love too, as she felt, stretched protenderetur. from one member to another. It happened once on the Monday after the feast of St. Matthias the apostle in the year of the Lord 1394, that the chosen bride fixed her gaze most diligently on Christ the bridegroom, having so fervent a desire for him, she burned so fervently, that the ardor of the spiritual fire, coming down into her heart in such abundance redundantia. , overflowed into her body, in four parts specially spiritualiter in the manuscript. , on either side behind and before, sending out a bursting flame. It was to her as if she were sitting among four openings of a well-heated furnace, and a great but sweet heat spread itself everywhere. It is not altogether alike, because heat from outside takes place with pain. That flame namely was very sweet to her, and stretched slowly through her back and other members. After it had burst out and raised itself, ascending somewhat, it drew itself back from the ascent, and re-entered renituit. as if driven back, kindling incedens in the manuscript. itself more fervently in the soul, and [ea.] again burst out abundantly. This took place on repeated occasions, many times, namely six times, until the ardor of the flame was increased to great excellence, a total kindling of body and soul. The causing and going forth of such a flame she had never so distinctly districte. considered; yet she knew in some way through the whole winter in which she was erat. in the reclusory, that she had the flame: she believed that she had had such flames at other times also, but had perceived only a great ardor.

CHAP. LXXIV.

[103] On the effects of gushing charity. Gushing charity she signified in experience and in these effects: gushing charity, this charity has hanc. a great inner sweetness, enlarging the heart at the top, so that it appears to the lover a great good, et added. an unspeakable sweetness flowing out on all sides. For after the enlarging of the heart and the increase or magnifying of the womb, there follows a heart omitted. fluid, very greatly melted, then rejoicing and leaping. After this, enlarged, it is opened at the top like a rose, flowing out far and wide for the greatness of delights and graces, like a pot boiling up and overflowing on every side. After the heart has for a long time so overflowed sic sup. cor. at the top, then the heart is wounded with many wounds, above, round about and below; and from each wound flows out a great spiritual good. A person knowing these things habet in the manuscript. well in himself, for the excessive delights and joys with which he is filled, cannot speak or ac in the manuscript. weep, unless nec in the manuscript. jubilating he should say one such word: I give you thanks, O Lord ^b, or ac in the manuscript. : Most sweet Lord, give this or that to me or ac in the manuscript. to him. But a person must so sit, until the Lord receives and takes the joys of the soul and heart to himself. In the aforesaid disposition a person reckons himself rich beyond measure; nor can he weep, but from the tenderness and fullness of delights he must lie down reclinare. somewhere, a person bono modo. not knowing how otherwise to contain himself. He indeed is clear to himself, so that he can know and [et.] see all his sins however great and small. In the said modes this venerable woman experienced each of these things.

CHAP. LXXV.

[104] On the effects of boiling charity. Boiling charity makes the heart of a person so boil, boiling charity, that is, seethe for God bul. pro Deo vel ferv. , that great tears go out from his eyes, and so hot, that he can valet. scarcely bear it, and that a great hot steam goes out from his heart through his mouth, so that his whole body labors and sweats, and likewise all his powers for eternal life; so that itaque in the manuscript. from great magna. sweetness and joy, love and goodness, which he perceives percepit. from the Lord, by labor, ardor and sweat he is made as if he were another person, and all his members

appear fatter, more corpulent, or more stuffed fortia. , than they were fuerunt. , and that the Lord Jesus Christ begins so strongly to draw his soul, and he himself ascends so high, that, if anyone looked at him, he would reckon him to be in his agony for the mighty drawings of desire and love, and would see him as if a very great pain were in him: yet he would not wish in exchange omitted. for this state to receive all the goods of the world. A person who has come pervenit. to this love, that is am., vel. , degree of love, can contemplate the Lord very magnificently. Likewise she added also other properties to those said. For the aforesaid charity makes a person flame, kindles him mightily from love, and brings strong men to sweats; it makes a person weep most abundantly and most bitterly, so that the tears even appear as if quam. they tear and hurt; after the tears he feels as it were the taste of wine.

CHAP. LXXVI.

[105] On the effects of wounding charity. This charity wounds the soul from the much and great desire which is had for our beloved Lord; wounding charity, and as one bodily wounded, desiring to have a physician of the body, much more does this one solicit and seek isti m. a. sollicitaret et inquireret. the physician of the soul. So vehemently does the said charity pierce through the affection, that omitted. he is not omitted. able to restrain his glow within himself: but the wounded person, wishing to hide his wounds, by glowing, sighing deeply, groaning profoundly, drawing long sighs, indicates, uncovers and shows them. This holy charity for many years wounded this beloved bride of Christ with the darts and points of love of so impetuous a desire, that at times her heart was fuerit. so shot through in length, breadth and depth, or above, below, round about, through the middle, and quod. was as it were filled on every side with the arrows of love; and they were sent in so impetuously, that arrow drove arrow, that it might enter more deeply. And sometimes her ribs appeared as if nailed to her back, and sometimes her belly seemed to wish to be rent and separated from her back and ribs. Nor could she easily escape the arrows and darts of love from the heart or [ac.] other place bodily afflicted, but not by a bodily instrument, except with sweet tears, with which as if quam. anointing the wounds she soothed them, mitigated the pains, and so more easily drew them out, that is et in place of id est. , she escaped the pains and in in the manuscript. wounds. At one time, on the Thursday next after Septuagesima, in the year 1393 XCIV. , after receiving the sacrament she suffered great energy, so that quæ in the manuscript. she was weary of her life. Around midday the Lord Jesus touched her heart hard, not with arrows or darts, as commonly at other times, but dividing it through the middle and enlarging dilatavit. it, drawing as if with the hand the parts of the heart from each other; such a touch of one feeling, or putting in his hand, drawing part from part part. apte tr. , she felt well; and she felt him to be powerful, who so dividing the heart cor sic. , was drawing part from part p. aperte. , but she did not know whether it was the Lord or aut. death. She thought then that she was dying. She thought: After he has well enlarged and spread out the heart, then you will die. He however quickly and promptly spreading it enlarged the heart. And then she felt that she would not die from the enlarging, although she felt excessive pains. Yet she thought: When he has separated the parts from themselves by lacerating, then I shall die and shall not be able to live longer. For the pains were most vehement and very bitter, like the pains of death, nor could I potuisset. have borne them long.

[106] in which she saw herself tormented by the Lord, When therefore she looked around herself, where she might lie down to die, then the inner senses began to be opened, and the powers of the soul to take increase; intellect and reason began to know that the Lord was working this hæc fuit. with his grace. Her will was enlarged, conforming itself to the divine will; her whole memory began to be drawn into the Lord; her ears began inceperunt. to be opened to hearing the Lord and his voice; and the smell, taste and touch of the soul began wholly to direct their regard to the Lord, so that each by its act knew and felt that the Lord was present, and was working these things. The soul cried out: "Lord omitted. Jesus Christ, my most sweet Lord, be propitious to me." As the soul cried clamans. so often very loudly, she knew with certainty that it was the Lord. Her eyes, clearly illumined, keenly and diligently directed their gaze int. s. dir. toward the Lord; and in a more excellent and perfect manner above the other senses of the soul felt the Lord by seeing, and knew his works worthy of admiration. They saw surely in her heart two new and shining lances fixed, one in one part, the other in another higher part of the heart, not indeed ascending perpendicularly by a straight line from the place of the first to the place of the second lance, but one of them was obliquely over the other: namely the Lord's lance lanceam in the manuscript. above, and his mother's below. Further the shafts of the lances were very long: for they ascended to heaven. One of which the Lord Jesus held fittingly and diligently with both hands; the second his beloved mother, sitting near him, held in a like manner in her hands near her bosom. Both, the Lord as well as his beloved mother, attentively directed their gaze upon the lances and their shafts hast. ear. with a well-ripened seriousness. And when they had seen the soul clearly, and the soul in turn clearly looked at them, they began mightily to drive in equally the shafts with the lances fixed in the heart, to press them more strongly and thrust them in, as if they wished to thrust the heart out through the back. She felt very great pains then, both in the heart and in that part of the back opposite the heart. Such pains were so vehement, that she could not express them; she yielded ipsam cedebant in the manuscript. , as she could, to the piercing, and turned a little to the side; and when the pains now jam d. in the highest as it were qu. in s. and greatest excess had come to the limit of her power of suffering, then little by little the Lord and his mother drew back the said lances by means of the shafts, and successively the vehement pains doloris vehementiam. abated. In the drawing back of the lances from the heart she was very bitterly afflicted in the heart valde-corde added from B. omitted in the manuscript. and around the ribs, through which the lances were drawn out successively and equally, as they had been equally and successively fixed in. The lances being drawn out, she was freed from the pains, released from the wounds, and filled with joy by the Lord: and this was done three times at distinct times. The wounds of points, darts and arrows were daily with her, now in this, now in that part. Let these few things out of very many suffice. Of the wounds of love the Lord said many things to her in various passages of her revelations ^c, and there will be the place locutus in the manuscript. .

CHAP. LXXVII.

[107] On the effects of languishing love. Languishing love was often and many times excessive in her, languishing charity. as appears above in the chapter on the four languors ^d, and on the languor which she suffered at Rome, and at Gdańsk Gdantzg. , of which above. In this love, from the desire which she had for the Lord, she was often so languid et infirma added. , that it did not delight her to taste anything of the things that are in time; indeed their taste was very painful to her. In this love the heart is enlarged and increased from the desire of having the Lord. One so languishing goes about like a woman in labor, who breathes with difficulty, and makes the sound of those languishing bodily. The said increase and enlarging of the heart easily appears in such a one to the keen observer. The Lord God drives the soul and consequently the heart through overflow, so that the leaping and motion of the heart can appear. Desire grows greatly. In this languor energy is strong and great, so that all the powers of body and soul labor laborent. most vehemently, as very often took place in her. She had very mighty inner labors, even beyond human estimation. For what energy would avail, the Lord on a certain occasion revealed to her, saying thus: "I cannot give you anything better for the mortification of yourself, for the repulse of thoughts, for the overcoming of all passing things, for the great panting after eternity, and for the working of your salvation Ad quid val.-operationem omitted. ." In this state her soul and heart melted, so that she had to lie down bodily for a day or ac in the manuscript. several days, before, the desire abating, she could poterat. recollect her heart to its former state, in which quod. she could rise and walk. We saw her very often so languishing and without power of herself, no bodily infirmity being observed. She could say: Tell my beloved that I languish with love. Of this languor very many things have been written scattered here and there hinc inde. .

[108] Energy What energy is Quid-energia omitted. . And of energy, which is conferred on man by God, and after the Lord Deum. arises and is caused from fervently burning charity, and is felt first in the soul, which from that energy is made fervent fervide. , desirous, anxious, laborious and disquiet, laboring with all its inner powers to obtain that which the Lord has given it fervently to desire. For through energy the Lord draws a person to himself very strongly: the person drawn fervently desires the Lord, and therefore is fervently inflamed and burns; first in the head and in added. heart, consequently in his whole body, and in each member he labors, grieves, and cries to the Lord through fervent, anxious and laborious desire, that he may obtain him, namely the Lord, and come to peace, either by means of the sacrament or aut. excess of mind, or joy and solace of mind; and in that inner labor of the powers there is felt an impetuous throbbing of the veins in the throat, in the head, and here and there in the body with great fervor, as happens in a very acute and agonizing fever, or rather, as happens in a person in a paroxysm. The heart too is accustomed impetuously imperiose. to leap, and from excessive desire to move as if mad. How gravely and bitterly this bride was daily afflicted by energy, who can recount? Surely from energy she was omitted. at times sick and weighed down to the point of death, although she had no bodily infirmity. For she would more gladly have performed all prostrations and any outward labor, than have suffered energy, provided this had equally pleased the Lord, and been equally useful to her. For from the love of God she was unwilling voluit in the manuscript. to be without energy, although it was very grave to bear sibi added. it. Whence she said to her confessor: "By the Lord's command

to weep, sweat, cry out, pray or., clam. , and labor with all my powers through an entire day, does not so much weary, afflict and weigh down, as energy would do when had for a single hour. This word, which I omitted. say to you: I would gladly have the Lord, is easy to say; but the bitterness of the energy, which I must bear in that desire, I cannot express to you, nor do you feel this, nor experience it without the knowledge of experience. For today before receiving the Eucharist, and often at other times sitting before you, my soul, my heart and all my powers were laboring laborabat in the manuscript. for receiving sumendo. the sacrament of the Eucharist and for receiving obtinenda. eternal life so intensely, that sweat flowed out of me, soaking me on every side so abundantly, as if I were sitting in a hot bath. For indeed omitted. men are seen in the world with huge desire wearying themselves by labor to the point of sweat, that they may be able to obtain a good taste and sweet odor here omitted. in time; but the soul, the bride of Christ, when it has begun incepit. to savor a good taste and sweet odor in the little garden of her bridegroom, then cannot rest here, but busies itself every day sweatily, that it may acquire an eternal good taste and sweet odor."

[109] she labors and is vehemently afflicted. "Again you have well read that it is written: Because you shall eat the labors of your hands, blessed are you, and it shall be well with you. And for the present the Lord has not given me to labor with my hands; but he has given me such a labor from within, that I rarely take into my hands or [ac.] mouth bread, that is food pan. vel c. , to eat, without sweat arisen from [de.] the labor of charity. Indeed a person who is a true convert to God, wearing a spiritual garment, or having a spiritual state of hope spiritualis speciei. , such a one ought rarely to take accipere. food to himself, unless he has first poured out his sweat, tears or blood. And if he cannot nequivit. do this from fervently burning charity and from inner interiori. labor, let him at least do this through outward labors, namely chastisements, prostrations, genuflections, or [et.] disciplines. Further many times I am weighed down with so many and [ac.] grave inner labors, as if omitted. the whole church were set locata. upon me. All my powers are stretched stant. in the manner of a string; I do not have power over my powers, nor can I pray vocally. Indeed at times from the duration diurnitate. of energy I cannot complete my usual number of prayers within a natural solitum added. day. It lasts sometimes for three hours, vel added. more or fewer; sometimes through an entire night, sometimes for sixteen sexdecim. , and sometimes twenty hours from energy I have had no rest nor peace. More gravely however, weighing me down, it exercises and afflicts me at one time more than at another. For from the greatness of its affliction sometimes great ringings occur in my head, and in each member labors so vehement, that I am hindered from attending to the Lord's teaching, and sometimes I can attend to it, but I cannot retain it ipsam. . But when from energy or ac in the manuscript. from another cause one comes to outward labors, as to ardor, sweat, weeping and prayer, then I have it more mildly, and then what the inner powers suffer as to energy, I do not feel; I feel however what the Lord works in them: although many times his operations in me quanq. in me mult. ej. op. are so manifold and of various kinds, and afflict so bitterly, that I cannot comprehend them with the intellect, nor take them in with the mind; I keep silence about multo minus., in place of tac. d. expressing them; for I can scarcely bear them. What however ought to become of me, who bear such vehement pains, such quasi in the manuscript. huge labors? You often hear me weeping sobbingly, crying out strongly, and having great outward labors with groaning. But this you cannot perceive with your outward hearing, nor am I sufficient to express to you, how great inner labors and pains alike I must have. But in the sight of the Lord what are these? For I have labored with all my powers sometimes inner and outer up to their wearying and failing, weeping, sweating and crying out so strongly to the Lord for anxiety of spirit, which comes from a languishing desire of receiving the Lord, or aut. of coming to the Lord, that my heart could as it were have been divided. Still the Lord reckoned that labor small, saying that he had borne greater labors for me. Who after this long said to me of his grace: I have habens. various actions in you (supply, immanent), and likewise operations (supply, passing to the outside), which you cannot fully know; nor can you express as much as has been given you to know nosse. . You can indeed say: My soul, my blood mea in the manuscript. , and my flesh, all my life omnis-mea omitted. , all my state, all my omission and working through each day of my life have been wholly one chastisement, and wholly one penalty, sprinkled with manifold exercises exitiis in the manuscript. and various bitternesses. Nor do I know of my whole life, if ever for one hour I have had one true bodily joy. And the Lord added: From all the good joy and solace which I bestow on you here tibi hic. , you will never be able to have full peace, nor full joy, unless nec in the manuscript. you come to the kingdom of heaven; and if anyone went around the earth and walked through it, he would scarcely find a person laboring with such labor and energy as you."

CHAP. LXXVIII.

[110] On the effects affectibus. of inebriating love. By this love she was very often made so drunk, Most efficacious in her is the charity that she forgot all passing things upon earth. In this love a person lies so ita h. j. sunk in sleep, that for a long time he cannot draw himself away and return to himself. He is helped Juvat. to rapture, he clings tenaciously to God, sometimes ten hours, sometimes more. And there he drinks, sucking great sweetness. Sometimes a person must lie long and sweat, so that he seems to wish from fervent ardor to be consumed by the fire omitted. of that burning, and one linen sheet would suffice him even in the winter time to cover himself. He is excellently colored, because his face is flooded with a red rubore. color omitted. , exactly as if he were coming out of a hot bath. At times this beloved one drew away from the Lord with undigested drunkenness: and when she crossed to the church, at once she was estranged from the senses. Sometimes crossing unsteadily, she had to return to bed. When she was going toward Rome, on the way, and at Rome for a good eight weeks she was rarely sober, but almost continually drunk, fervently burning; and when the Lord permitted her to be outward, that is extr., vel. , outside rapture, then body and soul were full of sweetness and joy; for the abundance of sweetness overflowed from the soul into the whole body and all the members. A person in this love is made so rich, as if the whole world were his. Likewise a person is made ita divesefficitur omitted. so well drunk, that it seems to him that he is in eternal life. Likewise a person becomes so ita added. drunk, that walking, whomever he sees, he thinks to be drunk, rich and glad; he reckons him exactly such as he himself is. Even those bodily drunk he reckons seriously to be full of divine sweetness. This often happened to the servant of God. Likewise if he sees a person bodily sick or dying, at once he reckons such a one to be sick or [et.] dying from charity. This happened to her also omitted. often or frequently. Likewise from drunkenness such a one so wholly forgets himself, that sometimes in the middle of the night he begins to sing and aut. laugh. Likewise such a one sometimes thinks that there is no defect upon the earth. When he sees vidit in the manuscript. people lamenting and aut audit. behaving complainingly, he wonders what harms them: he thinks it to be well with all, as with himself sunt. . Likewise he is so filled with divine sweetness, that he does not know whether he is eating or ac in the manuscript. drinking, or whether he must still eat.

[111] inebriating, Likewise he is so inebriated, that he is wholly blinded to all omitted. passing things: if the whole world, that is mund., et. , all the goods of the world were his, he would not notice, if they perished. Likewise he is so inebriated inebr. t. , that he does not fear to suffer death, in whatever manner and [et.] however grave or aut. shameful: nor does the suffering of martyrdom seem to him painful. Likewise he is so inebriated, that he goes along stumbling, and others seeing him reckon him not well in his senses. Likewise he is so inebriated, that he begins to see and walk the right ways. Likewise from such charity a person comes to violent charity, and begins from great drunkenness to ascend upward into heaven. Such ascent proceeds from drunkenness and violent charity. Likewise from drunkenness he comes to strong charity, so that he dares to undertake strong things, which a soul not inebriated would never undertake. Likewise such a drunken person does not fear before our beloved Lord, or [ac.] feel shame. He does not fear to desire him magnificently; nor does he fear or feel shame to receive him, nor to press himself strongly to him, and to cling firmly sic fortiter. to him. He becomes then so drunk, that he thinks the Lord his own, and that he has a good and [et.] fat right to him. Likewise he is so inebriated, that he feels shame before the Lord to do evil and to omit good. Likewise from great drunkenness he sometimes begins to scatter and waste, according to men's reckoning, all the passing things which he has, and he gains eternal things. And the Lord after the aforesaid said to her: "After this I give such a person drink, and so hom., seu. inebriate him, that his soul is made true lady and queen over all passing things. After I have so strongly given him drink, that I have wholly gained him, then I withdraw from him something of this sweet drink, so that I do not so ebrium added. give him drink, or sed in the manuscript. do not inebriate him as much as before; for men cannot bear in old age so strong a drink, as they could in youth. For this reason too I withdraw from them that great inebriating sweetness, that through the rest of their life they may cry out and weep for it, that they may come there, where they may have the most sweet cup eternally, and be eternally satisfied and given drink from the torrent of divine pleasure." Likewise the Lord revealed to her ei rev. two kinds of drunkenness and two kinds of cups: one kind of drunkenness ebrietatis. is

contented contentatum. , the other not contented aliud vero contentativum. . And of the cups one is sweet, the other secundum. is strong. Of the conditions of these drunkennesses and cups the Lord revealed very many things to her: indeed a most beautiful treatise, showing her that each charity has its own spiritual taste, a singular cup and a special drunkenness; and that none of them pours out such as another. Of this holy charity with its conditions it will be spoken more clearly in another place, because it would too much prolong the history historia in the manuscript. of her life ^e

CHAP. LXXIX.

[112] On the effects of super-overflowing charity, or of charity sweet and delightful, super-overflowing, well ordered, seu added. well savored, well scented and immortal. This holy charity the Lord Jesus added. poured out for his bride first when he drew out her heart, because from the greatness of joy then perceived she knew nothing else than that she was in eternal life. At once she was rapt and was in excess of mind. At once she was changed mutata. as it were into another woman; it was to her exactly as if she were well taught and lettered in respect of her former state. Of that charity he said many things to his servant and caused eam added. her to experience many things. Among other things he said: "With this great charity mag. ch. I first drew you to eternal life: then at once you knew in your heart et ore added. , that to be with me would be good. At once after the giving of this illius. charity I began to please you well, and at once you began to entreat procari. me, and to invite me to you. This charity is a great good, ineffable, and such as I am accustomed to do to my friends in eternal life. This charity is a good so superexcellently excelling the other goods given to men on the way, as the joys of the saints in heaven excel excedunt. the joys of wayfarers. And when I do you this good, know that you have eternal life in you. It is charity itself, and such a good as I do not bestow on many upon earth. When I work and do such a good to your soul hiddenly, without your knowing, then I myself must look to respuere. and govern your soul: it clings firmly to me, and I remain stably and firmly around it. And you yourself admit many times, that you have no other hold or support, except that you lean on me inviteris me in the manuscript. invitaris mihi B. , or cling to me and are suspended around me. Then too for the greatness of my good, and for the excellent greatness with which I am so magnificently around you, you cannot quickly cito sc. know how qualis. and what you yourself are, or aut. how it is with you. You lie sunk in sleep in me, as a drunken man, who does not have power of himself, or does not have the power pos. s. of himself. When I give you that aforesaid charity, and do this good, which quid in the manuscript. you taste gestas. and feel in soul and body, then even if you yourself knew how to write, yet you could not by writing express it wholly, and so little, as the good which is in eternal life." To show the aforesaid to the bride, as she said, he opened the eyes oculis in the manuscript. of her mind; illumining her with his light, he permitted her to see the greatness of that good, impassable to sight to its end or limit. Although she was brilliantly illumined, yet by seeing she could not reach to its end or fin. s. omitted. limit. It seemed to the bride so magnificent and [et.] inexhaustible, that if the whole world had been writing of it, it would still not have fully expressed it by writing ips. scr. , even if each had written as much as he could take in. And the Lord added: "When I give you this charity, doing that good, then I flow so strongly to you, that you in turn begin to flow to me from great charity, and as we come together by flowing together, I am made one with you; and I love you so intensely, that you for the greatness of love do not know how strongly and much you ought to love me. You are so filled with charity or love, that it flows from you, and all with which you go about or aut. are occupied is love: nor can you sufficiently flow fl. char. to me with charity; but your charity must flow as broadly and spaciously, as the earth is broad and spacious; and it seems to you that the whole earth is changed for the greatness of love, and it appears to you that its coarseness has been taken away, and it is to you directly as if it were flowing with milk and honey. Likewise it is to you directly as if men had been made perfect and holy. Likewise it is to you directly as if no penalty or aut. no labor were upon the earth. Likewise it is to you directly tibi dir. as if all that [id.] which men use were a spiritual good, and had flowed from heaven upon the earth: for when I give my bride this charity, then I lead her enim. into the wine-cellars of my most sweet charity."

CHAP. LXXX.

[113] On the effects of raving charity. Raving charity the bride of Christ had very often, raving, from which she raved strongly for the Lord and eternal life, wishing to have consolation nowhere. Her heart was greatly disquieted: it was to her exactly as sicut. to a mule in harness drawing a heavy wagon or cart rhedam. , which quam. must draw heavily trah. gr. with difficulty: so she drew forward. And sometimes it seemed to her that the more she tried to go ahead by drawing, tanto added. the more she went back by raving; and this happened to her often, when she returned from rapture or excess of mind, having surveyed the supercelestial dwellings and the joys of the saints, without bodily form, image or aut. phantasm, or when in rapture her soul aut. had been intimately united to God through embraces and kisses. Then after returning to herself, the soul so vehemently and tam added. mightily desired to return to the things seen, that it was turned into a certain madness of desire; and returning to herself without image she sometimes sweated, sometimes wept, sometimes sweated and wept together so inconsolably, that she could not acquiesce in counsel, nor obey command or reason; but she continued weeping and lamenting by raving for so long, until the Lord, some likenesses or images being interposed, mitigated her madness; and had not the Lord with his condescending mercy been with her in such madness of love, tempering tentando in the manuscript. her and guarding her, she would often have gone out of her reason, which, her natural faculties veralibus in the manuscript. always super in the manuscript. standing, she had very sound.

CHAP. LXXXI.

[114] On the effects of violent love, which includes wounding, raving and languishing love. violent; The bride of Christ, ascending through the desert of this life, abounding in delights, contemplating God, the saints and the joys of the saints, was violated by the drawings of love. Ut added. Commonly she came pervenerit. to long excesses of mind, in which she so a Deo. delighted, that sometimes for six, seven, ten, fourteen hours quatuordecem horas. and more she was held: and if at any time she was called back by some drawing, instinct, or some omitted. other means, at once as if drunk she was immediately drawn back to the former things. As often as with undigested drunkenness of divine sweetness she had returned to herself, she was not in power of herself. And on a certain occasion many years before the Lord gave teaching, whence rapture was caused, saying thus: "For a person to be rapt to excesses of mind, there must go before outward labor and my instruction, by which he is instructed what is to be confessed, what avoided, what done. At length from the greatness of devotion, sometimes of wonder, sometimes from the greatness of exultation qu. ex m. ex. omitted. , rapture of mind takes place, and then the more quickly and lightly, the more the person has been kindled by the fire of charity and sweetly inflamed. Further in rapture the soul sometimes rests sweetly in me, and does not behold other things; sometimes it flies across the heavenly dwellings, and surveys them with a certain effort, so that it is accustomed to return much wearied." From which weariness the Lady Dorothea, returning to herself, many times appeared too much emptied or wearied fatigata. . Many times in that kind of love the Lord worked wonderfully in her, enlarging her heart, and distending her womb, and pressing puniens in the manuscript. her so gravely, that like a woman in labor she bore an exceedingly heavy pressure and violence.

CHAP. LXXXII.

[115] On many other charities in sum, which the Lord expressed by name. other kinds of charity also Many other charities the Lord revealed to her, which she truly perceived and felt fully as to quoad. their effects, saying thus:

Desiring love this and the other titles of this chapter omitted in B. . — He who Quod in the manuscript. ought to be in the contemplative life, ought to have desiring love, so that all his desire may be for me added. the Lord and eternal life.

Insatiable love. — Likewise such a person ought to have insatiable charity, so that he may never so ita. intensely love the Lord God, that he could be satisfied by loving and cherishing ipse ex amore aut dilectione posset. : for he ought continually to love and cherish more and more, that there may be hunger and thirst without satiety.

Charity not limited. — Likewise a person omitted. ought to have charity not limited, so that charity may never be limited or ended; for it ought to be begun incipere. here, and to last eternally.

Inseparable charity. — Likewise he ought to have inseparable charity, so that the person's love may be so great, that nothing can separate him from charity and from God, that he may be able to say with the Apostle: Who shall separate us from the charity of Christ? as if quam. to say no one.

Insuperable charity the chapters on char. ins. and ch. inam. occur in inverted order in B. . — Likewise he ought to have insuperable charity, so that nothing can overcome him, through which he could lose charity ch. amittat. ; for he would rather undergo any death sub. mor. .

Charity that cannot be lost. — Likewise he ought to have charity that cannot be lost, which a person hom. nunq. ought never to lose, but to keep most diligently as a treasure.

High charity. — Likewise he ought to have high charity, which omitted. may begin incipit. here in the deep valley, and pass transit. on high into eternal life.

Enlarging charity. — Likewise he ought to have enlarging charity: here it ought to begin, and it ought continually to enlarge itself hic ubi incipit, debet cont. se dil. .

Spacious charity. — Likewise he ought to have spacious charity; for it ought spaciously to go out from the perishable and corruptible good to the incorruptible and unchangeable good.

Frequentative charity. — Likewise he ought to have frequentative charity; so that he may love not only once, but frequently, often and much.

Deeply rooted charity. — Likewise he ought to have deeply rooted charity, so that it may be so deeply rooted and founded on the solid, that it may not be cast down by the storm of adversity.

Long-lived charity. — Likewise he ought to have long-lived charity, that it may persevere, remain and persist for a long time.

Sweet charity. — Likewise he ought to have sweet charity dul. ch. , that he may love the Lord sweetly and cherish him joyfully.

Strong charity the chapters occur in this order in B: ch. stabilis, sapiens, fortis. . — Likewise he ought to have strong charity, that he may be able to love the Lord strongly fortiter. , not tepidly or aut. slackly.

Stable charity. — Likewise he ought to have hab. d. stable and continual love, that he may love the Lord continually without intermission.

Wise charity. — Likewise he ought to have wise charity, that he may be able to love wisely the Lord and the other things which he has loved dilexit. ^f.

[115] are rightly distinguished. Let the reader locorum. not make little of the virtual coincidence of these omitted. charities expressed, since the doctors too touch much on them his. . The Wisdom of God gave charity many names or aut. words, that each may know ut scilicet quibus in the manuscript. how manifoldly and in what various ways he ought to love God D. dil. , who truly is to be loved with all our powers. Whence the Lord in like manner did not wish to limit the love of himself, that he should be loved only with the whole soul, since all the powers are had through it, and are in it as in their fountain or life; but he added that he ought to be loved with the whole heart, with the whole soul, with all the powers, the whole mind, all strength, and the other powers; so that the Most High might claim for himself as his own all that is in a person. Nor let him reckon it to have been done superfluously, that so many names of charity, or charities, were intimated to his bride, because quod. she truly understood by the light lumen. of grace the teaching omitted. of each of the said charities; she learned all those things with experience as her teaching mistress, which well appears in the chapter above supra. on the sending missione. of the Holy Spirit, where the Holy Spirit very often came to her both jam. with those and jam. with other effects of charity; and she most distinctly Domino docente added. understood each operation of each charity, and on this account the present chapter is very useful for the former ones.

CHAP. LXXXIII.

[116] There follows of one most special charity, namely that breaking the heart, Bl. Dorothea perished by charity breaking the heart. which the bride of Christ had excellently through experience, which was the cause of her death. Charity breaking the heart is that of which, as I think, it is said in the Canticles: Set me as sicut. a seal upon your heart, because love is strong as death. This chosen servant of Christ had so mighty a desire for God, that her heart was often stretched like a string, which by further drawing is also easily broken: so too her heart was often stretched; and this charity was designated to her by this name and [et.] operation scarcely four or ac in the manuscript. quatuor aut omitted in B. five weeks ^g before her death. Whence on the Saturday of Pentecost, or on the vigil, she was very anxious for obtaining spiritual goods: whence now she sat, now she rose, now she went to the window, looking out and laboring inwardly and outwardly anxie added. , that she might obtain and acquire acq. et obt. spiritual goods. And already the day of death had dawned in her soul. In this intense desire she labored from the hour of midnight until her table around midday. Then the Lord favored eam added. , so that she had to rise quickly from table. For he gave her charity breaking the heart omitted. ; he magnified himself in her soul and body; her womb was great, as if she had in it a fetus borne halfway; he filled her eum in the manuscript. with divine sweetness; he dulled obcudit. her outward senses, the use of which she did not have; and he strongly drew all the powers of her soul equally upward on high. This drawing was so mighty, that [ut.] from this she fell deciderit. upon the bed. Her heart leapt upward with very great leaps, exactly as a living fetus newly leaping in the womb. Her soul cried strongly to the Lord from the heart: "Blessed be the Father, laudatus added. blessed omitted. and venerated be the Son, blessed be the Holy Spirit." Her powers were very much stretched like strings quasi chorda. ; and the Lord revealed to her that in this rigid stretching very few have their desires toward the Lord. The Lord then had very indescribable actions in her. She burned sweating, and began to be in agony, as if she were laboring at the point of death. The Lord, his mother and [et.] many saints were around her, exactly as if people were looking at one in agony at the point of death, wishing to give the light of conduct into her hands. At once she was omitted. rapt to great joys. When an hour had passed, she returned fuller of operations and labors than before: her veins throbbed, her heart leapt swiftly here and there, as a top swiftly driven on a level stone, or driven in a circle. After this all the labor and the effect of that charity came to rest. On the Thursday of Pentecost, in the presence of her suo added. confessor, the Lord came again with charity breaking the heart; she considered the pains as of one in labor; it was to her as if she was to die on account of the splitting or breaking of the heart. It seemed to her as if all her ejus. senses were blocked or obstructed. Through the mouth of her tunic or hood capitum in the manuscript. a flame went out, spreading far and wide; and [ac.] great darts were sent from her heart to her arms. Now she lay, now she rose; she cast off her upper veil pep. s. , keeping the lower, she rolled and rolled back for pains. The Lord stood before her with a great procession, as if he now wished to take her soul into eternal life; and on this account, having hope, she would gladly have seen at once the bursting or breaking effracturam. of her heart. After this she had that holy charity very often. And the Lord long before foretold to her that she was to die from desire and love ^h.

CHAP. LXXXIV.

[117] That she was veraciter added. a great contemplative contemplatrix. . The most sweet instrument of the Holy Spirit, The Lord taught her the conditions of the contemplative life this beloved bride of Christ, was truly a true contemplative. The Lord revealed to her many things about the contemplative life, and brilliantly expressed what things are required for perfectly contemplating. Which if they are recollected, there will appear in her most certain proofs of holiness. The Lord Jesus, wishing that some things be written of the contemplative life, revealed very high things also to her on the day of St. Vitus in the year 1393 anno Domini XCIII. , saying sic dicens. : "I wish to tell you what is the greatest, holiest and worthiest life that can be upon earth. But this life no one can have, unless he has first had burning, fervent ferventer. charity; he who has that, never going out; and if I magnificently illumine this one, so that he can contemplate with his inner eyes every defect and want, which quæ. is upon the earth, and also in purgatory, and he is able to succor them with burning and omitted. fervent charity, that [in.] such defects may be changed: such a person is the most active that can valet. be upon the earth, understand intelligere in the manuscript. , as to the kind of action; because quod. he works much more, and knows many more defects, than that person who daily goes with bodily feet to this end ad h. v. , that he may contemplate defects with his bodily eyes upon the earth." And the Lord added: "A person who is to be in the contemplative life ought already to be purified of sins, and ought also omitted. to be exercised in very many good works; nor ought he to love anything more intensely than God, nor ought anything to be sweeter to him than God, nor ought anything quam Deum-d., nec aliq. added from B. omitted in the manuscript. to be more savory to him than God, nor ought he to know nosse. anything better than God; for the knowledge of temporal things will not be so clear to him. Likewise he ought not to have anything more worthy, as to reckoning and truth, than God, nor to reckon anything more than God. Likewise such a person ought first to have come to spiritual begetting or childbirth, so that he is spiritually born, and also knows how spiritually to beget parere. . No person who has sinned can enter eternal life, unless he has been reborn spiritually through penance and satisfaction in this hic. time, and also temp., aut. in purgatory. Likewise he who is to be in the contemplative life, to him it ought to be painful pœna. that he should have some temporal corporale. joy with any creature. Likewise it ought to be a great pain to him, that he must have consolation from any creature a creatura. . Likewise it ought to be a great pain to him, that he must use temporal fruits. Likewise it ought to be a pain to him, when quod. he must take good and delightful bodily food. For he would more gladly Libenter. go without all these his. , if he could, and cling to eternal things. Likewise it ought to be a great pain to him, that he cannot always omitted. work well; likewise that he cannot always live holily; likewise that not all men are holy and happy. All these things ought to be very bitter to him. A person who is to be in the contemplative life, he ought not to be a poor person, but very rich; for he must have very many great goods, because he must have me. Likewise such a contemplative person ought not to be blind; but he must have very sharp eyes; for he who omitted. is to contemplate that great good, the uncreated light incr. l. , he hunc. must have much sharper eyes, than that person who is to contemplate created light.

[118] conditions. All good works op. b. a person can well begin of himself, having charity inch. b. a. s. i. ; but no one can begin the contemplative life of himself, unless I wish to give it to him. A person who is to be in the contemplative life, he ought already to have brought forth many spiritual fruits to me. Likewise he ought also to bring forth spiritually and to have brought forth many souls from purgatory. Likewise he ought to have brought forth many spiritual sons to me too. Likewise

he ought to be so fruitful, as to be magnificently capable of me, that he may be able often and many times to bring me forth spiritually. Likewise he ought already to have magnificently prepared for me the temple and tabernacle of his soul, that I may wish often and many times to bring myself forth in his soul, that he may be made fruitful and fervent fecundus. by me, and carry me upon earth. Likewise he ought well to know nosse. the messengers of the Holy Spirit, and already to have them, so that he may be able often to send them out to call forth et added. and to invite the Holy Spirit. Likewise he ought now and ought to have come to know and to have known, that the Holy Spirit often makes for the Father and the Son a banquet in his soul, and that there the fatted calf is killed. Likewise he ought to taste and feel that the kisses and embraces of the Lord are sweet and delightful, so that his soul can be melted for the great joys and delights given to him. Likewise he ought often and many times to have his heart filled with divine sweetness, so that the divine sweetness in his heart may so overflow and abound, that it pours itself out, and fills the man's hominis. entrails omitted. and all his members memb. s. Likewise he ought, and ought to have been able, often to feel and to have felt, that his heart is wholly shot through with the points and darts of love. Likewise he ought often to feel that his heart is wounded with great darts of love. Likewise he ought often to have the Lord so magnificently, that his heart becomes so great, and his whole body so great, that it is to him exactly as if he were now to bring forth or give birth. et added. Then he will be able to contemplate the Lord magnificently in his great omnipotence, and in his great goodness." Likewise the Lord added, revealing the charities and the names of the aforesaid, as above: "Likewise he ought to have the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit," and he enumerated each gift specially enumeravit. . All the aforesaid the Lord revealed to his chosen bride. Give then such a one inquiebat added. , and I will say that he is a perfect contemplative, in that kind of perfection which the Lord wished here hic valuit. to designate. Truly of the number of such contemplatives contemplationum. was this beloved bride and servant of Christ fuit hæc dil. Chr. fam. : for all the aforesaid properties and conditions she had in form, perceived and felt; and according to her powers, as was possible to her, she pronounced them. She therefore chose the best part, which shall not be taken away from her.

CHAP. LXXXV.

[119] On the admirable and excellent union of Christ the bridegroom with Dorothea the bride. She is intimately joined Christ the bridegroom, taken by the love-charm philtro. of his bride, visited her at times, as was said before, with inestimable gifts and graces, and although the things touched on above are so great, no less are those which follow to be reviewed omitted. as proofs of great holiness and for the heaping up of most holy virtues, and to be extolled with worthy heraldings. Within the octave of St. Martin on the Friday in the year of the Lord 1393, Dorothea being placed in prayers in the morning, and after they were completed, the Lord Jesus poured divine sweetness through her heart up to an abundant flow, from which her whole body was filled for the affluence excellentia. of delights and sweetness. Both her heart and her soul, melted, seemed to flow down in the manner of fluid wax. She, weeping strongly, sent forth sweet dul. permisit lacr. and noble tears, which seemed to flow abundantly upon the bride. In this disposition the Lord Jesus, the magnificent mirificus. bridegroom, said to the bride: "Happy is the person who here on earth obtains and acquires, that he can valeat. bring the rivers of eternal life upon the earth." And he added: "I have prepared you for myself [in.] as such a hall, as I wish to have, and you cannot prepare it without me. I have adorned it and spread it, I have sprinkled it with great sweetness and much grace mult. g. ." Sweet great tears flowed down effluebant. from the bride's eyes: the bride was transparent and clear as crystal; but sedit in the manuscript and B. as it were a spirit, she saw her bones, which were white, and fluid and liquid, as flesh. From the greatness of her delights the bride thought with herself, wondering, whether she was to faint or ac in the manuscript. die; because the goodness of God and deliciarum added. the greatness, and excellence of the delights omitted. she could not take in, nor could she express nec expr. pron. valuit. a thousandth part in pronouncing. In her soul too there was a very magnificent banquet, and an indescribably joyful jubilation, joy and exultation without measure. Her soul was most becomingly and [ac.] most beautifully adorned and clad, and also surrounded with many great goods, exactly as if she were the bride of a great king, a daughter most beautifully adorned, and clad with precious stone, gold and silver, sitting in a joyful and pleasant hall with other virgins, most diligently watching and waiting, as quando. if her bridegroom were about to enter ingressus in the manuscript. with his friends through the door. To this door she directed her gaze suum i. fixedly, eagerly desiring to see her omitted. bridegroom, nor did she turn her gaze from the door, nor from herself, diligently looking at and considering herself, that she might most becomingly prepare herself for her omitted. bridegroom, and not ut non. leave any dust, which might offend the eyes oc. off. of her bridegroom.

[120] as a bride This bride, namely her soul, was a more beautiful bride, more adorned, and more surrounded and clad circumamicta et decorata. with the variety of virtues, than she had ever seen. The virgins attending her most diligently noticed advertebant. whether there was any stain of beauty dedecoris. in her, and this they very swiftly turned away amovebatur. , that she might be well adorned and prepared for the coming bridegroom. They served her as if she had been the daughter of some great king, and so she appeared. et added. The bride herself however omitted. , her soul, saw from afar the worthiest bridegroom, most beautiful and most praiseworthy vid. s. pulch. laud. dign. who ever came to the earth, with great array, and with omitted. a magnificent host excellently disposed, in the multitude and beauty of noble persons. And the more the bridegroom, adorned with his most honorable and most splendid manners, drew near, the more adorned, more beautiful and more joyful he appeared, and truly it was so. The bride herself never saw thus omitted. such a pair joined and matched, as this was between bridegroom and bride; nor did she ever see so noble companions of a bridegroom, beautiful, rich and excellently dancing bourzantes in the manuscript. ; who all around the door, having laid aside their hoods, reverently bowed toward the bride, all clad in purple garments. The bridegroom had a brocaded garment woven through very splendidly with gold. Him his companions accompanied most honorably, bringing him with a seemly embrace with glory and honor. When the bridegroom was now near the door and beginning to speak, the bride began to burn like fire, looking keenly at herself, whether there were anything in her that could offend the eyes of her bridegroom sui off. . And the bridegroom said, when he came to the door: "I wish to enter nowhere, unless the chamber namely which I am to enter is pure and clean, and is wholly lit. The hall ought to be sprinkled with roses and lilies, and with the flower-bearing things of all kinds of virtues; and the bride ought to be very well adorned. I wish to receive my bride and to lead her into the wine-cellars of the vineyard meæ. of most sweet charity, that is ch., et. , into the inmost secret of my mystery, the perennial perennium. paradise of delights. There I wish to speak with her, whatever I wish to have with her alone hab. s. v. ."

[121] with Jesus himself. When these things had been said, the Lord, the bridegroom, entered through the receiving of the sacrament, and came to the bride with very great omnipotence in godlike manner, running swiftly, with ineffably great joy, sweetness, very friendly, consolingly, excellently, with many good fruits and great operation. The soul, the bride, filled with ineffably great joy, exalted, cried out with a strong cry saying exaltavit clamorem, fortiter clamans et dicens. : "My heartily most sweet dilectissime. father Jesus Christ Mi-Christe, this twice in B. !" And the bridegroom very friendlily said after his entry: "I wish to come to you now more lovably and friendlily, than I ever did." The like happened on the day of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary eodem anno added. , and on the day of St. Barbara in the same year eod. a. omitted. . Come, what human or angelic tongue could suffice to recount the prerogative of such excellence of the Lord Jesus, by which with copious and royal magnificence he wished to communicate himself to his bride in so inexpressible a companionship, to be united and joined, that, spurning the kingdoms and queens of the world, serving carnal delights according to the pomp of the age, spread beds, painted tapestries, their chambers sprinkled with myrrh, aloes and omitted. cinnamon, he wished to turn aside to her who in the world's estimation was poor, mean and unworthy ejus osculis, colloquio et amplexibus tam ineffabiliter deliciari added. . In O in. truth I have found, that he is no respecter of persons. Glory therefore be to you, blessed Jesus, for so more than indescribable a gift of grace, who have so deigned to visit your unworthy creature with such super-overflowing supereffluenti. glory and omitted. honor and delights deliciarum genere. .

CHAP. LXXXVI.

[122] On the inviting and consoling words of the bridegroom to the bride, Who by appearing to Bl. Dorothea leading her across into his kingdom. The first word in order, as to the things following, by which the bridegroom Christ invited his bride, he said to his omitted. bride on the day above: "I wish to console you here upon earth with various consolations so long, until I shall have brought you into my kingdom to my house. We wish now to be melted together into one in u. l. , and to flow together, that we may be ut simul s. together gathered or joined to each other by a certain glue glutino individuo. ." When this was said at once the bride felt in spirit such a melting and union, and for the same instant the Lord's word did not differ from the deed; and the Lord added: "Whatever soul here on earth very magnificently lays hold of me, to whom I am as sweet as to your soul tuæ a. , that one ought to be secure of eternal life, and that ipsa. one ought to be powerful in eternal life, destined to have there great honor, glory, and great joy. You will be able securely to say: I have eternal life in me, and you yourself are heaven. I do not permit myself to be laid hold of anywhere, unless there are sunt. heavenly places there; already indeed you sit, having here hic hab. such great joys, that it directly appears to you that you have laid hold of me wholly tot. app. . You reckon

for that I am sum. nowhere, except near you, nor have habeo. to do these things with anyone, except with you. Yet I am as great, broad and spacious, as heaven and earth: it says dat in the manuscript. less, it hints minuit in the manuscript. more. I am a great good, ineffable; I am very rich, and where there is a great wearisome waiting for me, and where I am heartily loved, there I gladly wish to go and to be."

[123] together with many saints, The second word the Lord said to her on the Saturday after festum sancti added from B. omitted in the manuscript. the feast of St. Martin in the year 1393 XCIII. , the bride being in such a disposition, that her flesh would so gladly have been freed from her soul, that it might be able to obtain rest, as her soul from it. Her soul ran swiftly, and would gladly have had eternal life. And the Lord said: "I have already divorced your soul and your body; for they no longer have a great cohesion of love for one another: and this I have done for this reason, that, when you are to die, they may not have to have great pain from one another hab. ad inv. ." As the Lord said this, the soul of the bride sat as if free liberata. , ready as if it now wished to go away. The third word was said to the bride on the day of Holy Trinity, as afterwards she died, of John and Paul, in the year of the Lord 1394 anno D. 1394 omitted. . She was then tunc i. in great pain, which was caused by the drawing. For the Lord too was very present to her ci f. . Then he said: "You must carry so gravely, and grieve so intensely for obtaining eternal life, exactly as if you were pregnant, and now would gladly bring forth. You have often had and borne great labors in spiritual and bodily childbirth: now you ought to have most grave labors, and to bring forth the best fruits. You ought to bring forth your soul to me for eternal life. I had then to carry most gravely in all my powers, when I was to bring forth the whole world in return for eternal life. So long ought you to grieve for eternal life, until I come, and say: Come my beloved, now you will no longer have amp. h. pains, but only joys. Wait with patience." Then afterwards the Lord made D. fec. a banquet in her soul, removing the great darts which she had in her soul and in omitted. her heart aspersim added. ; and he permitted heavenly goods to come down scattered omitted. upon her raining, and he drew her to eternal life. Those goods of grace fell upon her, and she spread out all her powers and her heart vires ejus, cor et sinum. to take in these spiritual goods. Her soul swam and flowed in superabundant goods. And then the Lord said to her quartum verbum added. : "If you could take in more of my goods, I would give you more. You need nothing else except nisi alio nec in the manuscript. to take in my grace, and to bring it back to me. I wish to give you tibi d. so much of my goods, that you may have no cause to plead and complain aut querulari. against me. You ought to rejoice and glory in my great goods." The fifth word was said to her on the Monday after the feast of the Trinity Trin. f. . To whom the Lord said: "You have drawn your heart from the earth, and raised it to me in heaven; now I wish to put great goods into it, that you may die namely to the earth itself, that there may not remain in it anything of perishable earthiness ut non permaneat aliquid ibi terrenitatis. , but only that [id.] which I have laid up in it illud. . Your soul and my bride tua a. ut m. sp. ought to swim and flow in my great graces so long, until it brings itself forth to me from your mouth." The Lord then stood by the bride with a venerable procession of the saints, as if he wished to take her soul, immediately going out, to himself, et added. to joyful and pleasant joys perducere added. . The Lord added: "You ought Tu d. much to rejoice, that between me and [et.] you no one ought to touch or aut. handle your soul but me. You ought much to rejoice, when you say to your sons: Beloved sons, look, and rejoice with me, and contemplate, that contemplemini quia. I have great goods in eternal life."

[124] often to his kingdom The sixth word was said to her on the Tuesday before the feast of Corpus Christi: the Lord commanded her to prepare napkins panniculos. for the sacred anointing, and cloths for burial, namely one veil for the head; which she made and showed to her confessor suo c. . It was then to the bride as if she were now to die. When the cloths were prepared, the Lord said to her: "When you were soon to be born, your mother prepared cloths for you from garments veteribus. ; and since now you are to bring forth parare in the manuscript. your soul to me p., interim. , you also prepare cloths for yourself in this manner." And the Lord added: "All the days of your life you have had enough; yet you desired to be poor: for that you ought to be made rich in eternal life." The bride then waited as one in labor, watching for the birth with great magna. solicitude and labors labore. . In these she sat until late, as a bride who soon wishes to lead across the bridegroom quam sponsus. . After she had sat so, the Lord said to her: "You ought to die, because you have now overcome all your tribulation and anguish. For love you ought to die, and death will have to become sweet to you." For these his. words the bride inwardly thanked the Lord. On the Saturday after the feast of Corpus Christi it was to the bride as if the end of her life were at hand. And the Lord greatly val. t. stretched all her powers upward, and said to her VII verbum added. : "Say to your sons ⁱ: Sons, prepare yourselves in the better way you can. I hope that, if the Lord wishes to have us together, and we are to be in eternal life, we shall see and find each other in the choir of the holy martyrs." So sitting she anxiously waited for the Lord, when he would come with his holy procession; to lead her into his kingdom.

[125] he invites her. On the Sunday within the octave of Corpus Christi the Lord gave her charity breaking the heart; and the Lord then tunc D. became very friendly to her, uniting himself to the bride. He omitted. acted as if he wished to take her from this life, and said to her VIII verbum added. : "A person who is magnificently in the contemplative life, he will have to die from great love." Well for that bride, who on earth delights to contemplate and love nothing but the bridegroom quoniam sponsus in the manuscript. , with whom she wishes to rejoice eternally. The Lord revealed to his omitted. bride many good things of her passing on the same day; among other things he said: "You have magnificently laid hold of me, and you contemplate me in your soul, and also in eternal life. Your soul tua a. and my bride ought to be a true contemplative on earth. I wish to give myself to it magnificently, that it may have power over me, and I wish to turn myself before it here and there, and it ought to have all its will with me. Day and night I do not wish to turn away from it ab ea av. , but it ought to contemplate and have me when and how it wishes. I wish to draw your love and your desire so strongly after me, that [ut.] you may be able to know what it is to love strongly and to contemplate purely. We wish to unite each other, and to have so great a friendship and love together, that men will be able to know of this after your death, and speak magnificently of it." The ninth word of the bridegroom to the bride was said on the same day. Among many other things he said: "Say to your sons: My beloved Lord has caused me today to contemplate many good things in eternal life, and what I saw there, that my soul ought to have. I saw, and the Lord revealed to me, that my soul ought to ascend, and to rule in eternal life, and that it ought to be powerful potens quod. everywhere. Nor will it have to be only in one place, but at its will to run here and there as an angel; and it ought to rule deb. r. others and ought to be ess. d. a sharer in the counsel of the Lord its God, according to that word of Wisdom III: The just shall shine, and shall run to and fro as sparks in the reed-bed juxta-discurrent omitted. : and it ought to have great joys, which cannot at all be uttered. Beloved sons, you yourselves will have to have joy and honor from my soul." And the Lord added: "You stammer, or speak less readily like a boy of my great goods and eternal life, but when you are established there, then you will know how to speak perfectly of this." On the day of the ten thousand soldiers, on Monday, the bride said, the Lord revealing it X verbum added. : "Beloved sons, let it be stat. before me, that I ought to die in great desire, and I shall have to see the Lord, that he may take my soul into his power and into his hands ^k. Beloved sons, you ought greatly to thank my beloved Lord, because he has already very often come with his beloved mother, with many saints, and [et.] a great procession ^l to my presence. I hope that I shall soon die." From all these words let the devotion of the faithful gather, that she excellently foreknew the day of her death so near ^m, and that she was well disposed for eternal life, to the joys of which heaven the Lord, the most affable bridegroom, deigned to invite her with so manifold consoling words.

CHAP. LXXXVII.

[126] On her last hour, happy and blessed, for which she fought with such weight of battle. Having spoken to her confessor shortly before death, She fought the good fight, she finished the course, she kept the faith, this beloved electa. and splendid præelecta. bride of God, and therefore she merited to be invited by her bridegroom the Lord Jesus Christ to the palaces of heaven. As the most happy hour therefore drew near ⁿ, in which, after innumerable battles, very fervent desires, after the wearinesses of long divinæ. waiting, the Lord, wishing to enjoy her with eternal kisses and embraces, and to console her more clearly, was disposing to lead her across to himself with festal processions, then, surveyed by a brighter light of grace gr. l. , she said dicebat. especially three things to her confessor, to be well weighed by devout people.

First omitted. . — First: "I Ergo in the manuscript. feel the goads of the wounding, both sweet and bitter, of my most delightful bridegroom,

vulnerationum. who with the arrows of his excessive charity has wounded my heart and my other inward parts. I go about like a woman in labor, finding no rest or peace, sitting, lying, standing, and even walking."

Second omitted. . — The second was: "If you, illumined illustratus. with supercelestial light, beheld the joys of the saints, as I do, your heart would be rent for the greatness of desire. Behold heaven is opened to me and near, and the joy of the saints clearly laid bare, and the way to it level, straight and bright; from entry to which death alone shuts me out." ^o

Third omitted. . — The third was what she said: "Come, give me my beloved Lord, that is the sacrament of the Eucharist: out of love of him I cannot go without him longer, nor take to myself any other food or drink of the body."

[127] Bl. Dorothea dies. Saying these things to her confessor, she appeared apparuit ext. very famished and wasted by excessive fasting. He Cui. said that she should refresh herself by drinking, because on that day, on which she had once received that venerable sacrament, she ought not to have it a second time [p], but after midnight, when the Te Deum laudamus had been completed post. , he promised that he would give it to her. She, afflicted by excessive desire and destitute of strength, said: "I do not know how I shall be able to wait; for waiting will be impossible for me, or too dabitur added. difficult and bitter." After this hæc. , a few words being had, the confessor went away, not knowing that the hour of her death was so near esse t. [q]. It was the hour of compline, when he withdrew; and returning around the Te Deum laudamus, when about seven hours had passed, he found that she had given up her spirit, on the night of the blessed martyrs John and Paul, in the year of the Lord 1394 [r].

[128] After her obsequies miracles take place. When her precious death was learned of, the lord John, reverend father, bishop of the Church of Pomesania omitted. , hastened to come to the obsequies [s] of so great a funeral, who refreshed the poor, scattering dispergens. and distributing tribuit. large gifts to the needy. Twice celebrating the solemnities of the Masses, and performing the rest of the offices of the dead, he personally committed to the earth the body of the beloved of God, a precious treasure. The clergy grieved, a very great people [t], who, her death being learned of, had flowed together, groaned. Lamentation and mourning were erat. common to all, and especially to her spiritual sons, whose sadness he knows who alone solum in the manuscript. regards mourning and pain. And while in the time tempus in the manuscript. of the obsequies her happy life, full of great graces and virtues, filled with various martyrdoms of afflictions, until that day hidden from all men as to her wounds, a few, namely three only, excepted, had been manifestly preached by her confessor, struck by the unheard-of report of the truth, very many burst into most abundant tears for their ignorance of so great holiness [u]. They grieved indeed, because they had neglected to honor honore. with due reverence so excellent a charity in her, unheard of in their times. When therefore she was preached, and when she was buried, with pious afflictions affectibus. and tearful looks they stood by the precious treasure of the funeral. There was nevertheless there a devout mind, and the grateful voice of those blessing the Lord Deum. for his very worthy gift. There were present at the obsequies those who, hearing of her great labors and omitted. sorrows, wearinesses and omitted. revelations, merits and the ineffable benefits done to her, began sibi added. trustfully to believe that by her merits and intercession they could be relieved in their necessities and infirmities. To those imploring her patronage the divine clemency was present, making wonderful his splendid præelectam. bride, who granted very many remedies of health in the opportune time. Whence through her merits and intercession, and the humble humilis. touching of her tomb, frequent miracles take place fuerunt. [w], very foreign to the condition of human nature c. humanæ vere in the manuscript. . Hence it is that to her tomb not only the inhabitants of the land of Prussia, but also strangers come and run from afar [x].

[129] The servant of God herself enjoys eternal glory. This venerable bride therefore has been made et in the manuscript. exceedingly beautiful, from all these his. things that have been said, advancing vehemently in the eternal kingdom of God, and her name has gone out like ointment poured forth; and through the frequency of great magn. f. miracles, by the grace of God she is spread and famed on all sides, so that having the companionship of God hujus. glorifies glorificet. her nobility. And whence this, except that, the diadem of the heavenly kingdom being set on her, she has been led into the chamber of the king and eternal bridegroom? Whose brightness she now contemplates not in riddles and in added. a mirror, but intuitively; she embraces with embraces a charity not to be let go; she now kisses charity castitatem. without any medium with the most delightful lips of her mouth. Whose truth she now gazes upon not jam n. through likenesses interposed in appearance or aut. mirror images, but most nakedly. She enjoys and is united to her bridegroom the Lord Jesus Christ no longer in sacramental or aut. signifying species, but most unmixedly. Why say more? The ecstatic affections, et added. the excesses of the wearied mind in her now rest peacefully. The madness of the heart, the impatience of love, the holy greed of desire, for the rest do not stray from their station ratione. or grow insolent. The effects of burning charity, wounding, boiling, gushing, moving the heart impetuously, enlarging, shooting, violentantis added. inebriating, breaking the heart, and the others said before, had in the manner of the way, being emptied, now in a more perfect mode in all the repose of tranquillity, in a heavenly patriæ. mode, most perfectly and most quietly holy charity advances and adorns this chosen servant of Christ through the grace of almighty God: to whom is praise and glory now and forever, and through infinite ages of ages. Amen, amen, amen.

THE END am. am. Expl. omitted. .

ANNOTATIONS.

do not be anxious, or of the presence of your own at death. For I wish to be with you personally in death, with my most worthy mother and a multitude of saints Latin Life, book VII, chapter 12. ."

p. For: "It is not of the custom of the universal Church, says the confessor… You too know what was said to you by the Lord before your entry into the reclusory, namely: You ought to be content that you can receive me only once in the day Ibid. ."

q. I do not see mentioned in the ancient Lives the prodigy which Martin Baronius narrates thus to have occurred at her very death Icones et miracula SS. Poloniæ, page 50 and following. : When, near to death, she most ardently desired to receive the sacred Body of the Lord, .. our Savior Christ Jesus himself, with his most holy mother, appeared, and through that same window through which she had so often… adored him, he himself refreshed her with his own body, under the same species of bread. That chapter of the Latin Life in which the circumstances of her death are described seems worth excerpting in this place: C., returning to the reclusory when about seven hours had passed, wondered at her silence and quiet. For indeed frequently at such a time he was accustomed to find her crying aloud from great love of charity, and weeping sobbingly from fervent desire for the sacrament of the Eucharist… He did not believe she was dead, but rapt. Therefore often going near … he looked in through the window and grating, listening in silence… But at length he found that Bl. Dorothea had departed from life. And looking back into the reclusory he saw the body of the chaste bride honorably composed in its usual state… Before, when she felt herself disposed for rapture, then she lay down on her bed, arranging her head to the east, and her feet to the west: but now she had arranged the bed and her body in the opposite way. For she had placed the bolster cushion and upon it her head toward the west, and her feet toward the east, as the dead are accustomed to be placed in tombs. She was not however found lying on her back, but on her right side, having her eyes beautifully closed, her feet honorably composed and covered, and her right hand placed under her right cheek… Moreover such a change … of position and the honorable composition of the body in the garments in which she wished to be buried, are also sure signs that she was foreknowing of her death. It seemed also to her C., from many signs which he had heard from her before, .. that she had died still before sunset, after his withdrawal from the reclusory Latin Life, book VII, chapter 28. .

r. In his brief Annals of the chapter of Pomesania Marienwerder says the same: On the night of the holy martyrs John and Paul Cod. dipl. Pruss., volume V, page 56. . Since the feast of these is celebrated on the 26th of June, some authors refer her death to this day Lilienthal, page 84. , and indeed the very compiler of the roll sent from the City Linda, part II, page 65. ; but wrongly: for in the Latin Life Book VII, chapter 28. Compare Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 328. it is written: in the year MCCCXCIIII, on the seventh day before the Kalends of the month of July; this was then a Thursday, the octave of the feast of Corpus Domini. And in the booklet of the year 1404: on the morrow of John the Baptist, on the night of the blessed martyrs John and Paul Linda, part II, page 167. . Which Conrad Bitschin confirms: on the morrow, he says, of St. John the Baptist died the venerable Lady Dorothea [Conrad Bitschin, Fortsetz. zu P. von Dusburg's Chronik, in Scriptt. Pruss., volume III, page 482.] , and John of Posilge, in the same way [Chronik des Landes Preussen, in Scriptt. Pruss., volume III, page 193. Compare C. Hartknoch, Petri de Dusburg chron. Prussiæ, cum incerti auct. contin., page 431 and following.] . Less correctly the author of the Danzig Hanseatic chronicle refers her death to the very feast of St. John the Baptist [Bernt Stegmann's Hanseatische Chronik, in Scriptt. Pruss., volume V, page 495.] .

s. Of the obsequies and burial compare Prelim. Comment., number 41.

t. A very great people: namely there was present a crowd of canons, religious and clergy, tuneful with fitting hymns, modulating prayers and mournful chants. The sound of the bells murmured; the people rushed in crowds from every side; poor and rich of both sexes came, an innumerable multitude Latin Life, book VII, chapter 29. .

u. When the virtues of Bl. Dorothea were heard, sinners were pricked in heart; the truly penitent were kindled to do full penance; the devout were inflamed in love; … some wished to die to sin and the world, .. others desired to be freed from the world, to be poor and enclosed Ibid. . It is not surprising therefore if in the Process of the year 1404 there is mentioned Elizabeth, who today is a recluse in the church of Pomesania Hipler, page 292. ; of whom also Marienwerder speaks in a letter given probably to Ulrich of Jungingen, master general of the Teutonic Order from the year 1407: Chosen prince of God, you have asked through your faithful and devout Maurice, that prayer be made for you by Elizabeth the recluse and me her servant. Would that we were worthily able! We would gladly do it, because we should reckon this a great gain. For charity brings it about that the prayer which one makes for another profits the one who prays as much as it would profit him, if he prayed for [him]self alone [Pastoralblatt für die Diöcese Ermland, month of April 1876, volume VIII, page 47.] . That the prophecies of the same recluse concerning the Teutonic Order and its enemies stirred minds in Prussia appears from contemporary monuments Compare Hipler, page 293. Voigt, Gesch. Preussens, volume VII, page 588. .

w. Many miracles are reviewed in the report which we shall subjoin to the Life. In summary they are described in the Latin Life Book VII, chapter 30. : The blind received sight, says Marienwerder, the deaf hearing, the lame walking, the dumb speech, the dead life, those condemned to death by definitive sentence absolution, captives liberation, the possessed the expulsion of demons… Again the holiness of her life and the dignity of her person are testified by the miracles frequently done at her invocation, which have been written down by a public notary. Among which, to say nothing of the greater, which with the lesser may be sought in the book of miracles, one however of the lesser I have wished to insert here: which we have indicated above in the Preliminary Commentary, number 707.

x. Already in the year 1395 Rymann and Marienwerder wrote to the supreme pontiff: To the tomb of Bl. Dorothea a great multitude of people from various kingdoms, lands and nations run in crowds, praising and glorifying God in the miracles and prodigies, which through her he deigns daily to work Cod. dipl. Pruss., volume V, page 77. . The same is testified by Conrad of Jungingen, master general of the Teutonic Order, in a letter given in the year 1395 to Boniface IX and to the cardinals Ibid., page 79; compare page 80 and following, page 86. . In the year 1404 Marienwerder said Linda, part II, page 126. : The report of her holiness after her death was so spread over the whole land of Prussia, Livonia, Lithuania, Poland, Silesia, Bohemia and through many other provinces, on account of the frequent and notorious work of miracles. Among the pious journeys undertaken to the tomb of Bl. Dorothea the most celebrated was that pilgrimage which we mentioned in passing before Prelim. Comment., number 64. , of Anne, duchess of Lithuania. John of Marienwerder narrates it thus in the process of canonization: He said that he had seen the wife of Witold, duchess of Lithuania, with many other nobles and great array, who with great devotion prayed in the chapel near the aforesaid tomb, and hearing of the austere life of the said Lady Dorothea, which she had among men, wept inwardly Compare Prelim. Comment., number 13. … Moreover the deponent said that he had seen the brother of the said Witold, duke of Lithuania, by name Sigismund, likewise visiting the aforesaid tomb with great devotion, paying a promised vow Process of canonization, page 216. , or making his offerings, namely silken cloths, as Rymann says Ibid., page 162 , who saw some people from the bounds of Prussia, namely from the castles of Wehlau and Tapiau, visiting the tomb of Mother Dorothea with the greatest devotion, and the wife… of Witold … visiting the said tomb, .. although however … she was newly converted to the Christian faith. On the contrary a certain witness, Coslaw, says that she was not yet a Christian, who also refers this journey to the year 1399 Ibid., page 179 and following, cited in Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 331. ; but others and rightly, to the year 1400. In this year, says John of Posilge, a contemporary historian [Chronik des Landes Preussen, in Scriptt. Pruss., volume III, page 238. Compare Voigt, Gesch. Preussens, volume VI, page 187 and following. Voigt, Gesch.

Marienburgs, page 203 and following.] , the wife of Wytowd came from Lithuania into Prussia with four hundred horses, and a great retinue and array. She undertook a pious journey … to the town of Marienwerder.

MIRACLES OF BL. DOROTHEA

from the Bödeken manuscript.

Dorothea, recluse in East Prussia. (S.)

BHL Number: 2333

a

FROM THE MANUSCRIPTS.

PROLOGUE

God gave to Prussia To the miracles which at the invocation of Blessed Dorothea, widow and recluse of Prussia, were mercifully done by our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord God taught our fathers to recount to their sons all his wonders, which he did in Egypt, in the Red Sea, in the desert, in Judea, or in the Holy Land, that they might be mindful of his power, and might praise his manifold goodness shown in signs and wonders. Knowledge of which being formerly brought to Prussia, and now the saving name of our Lord Jesus Christ: purified by faith from the thorns of cross perhaps for trucis. perfidy and the thistles of idolatry, and made fruitful by the seed of the sacred gospel, it bore the fruit of justice, and extended extentius in the manuscript. its branches, both by the sedulous instructions of Catholic men, and by the vigorous defenses of the soldiers of Christ signed with the cross; who, armed with faith, roused by hope and made strong in in in in the manuscript. war by the fervor of charity, fighting faithfully and manfully against the enemies of the cross of Christ, overturned the camps of the outsiders, who still continually lie in wait and seek how they may be able to extinguish the spark of Christ, and to dedicate this land to their images ^b.

[2] Bl. Dorothea as patroness, renowned for miracles. But lest faith fail, hope waver or charity grow cold among the weak, fighting against the incursions of the infidels, and not able perseveringly to withstand their deceitful wiles, unless they were frequently and as it were daily cherished by some spiritual fostering and special aid; the Lord of all, governor of the world, regarding the weakness of these quo in the manuscript. and the vigor of the strong, that he might take away the infirmity of the frail, and preserve the vigor of the strong, disposing all things in wisdom, and governing most rightly; who is accustomed to choose and strengthen the weak of the world, but sometimes permits the strong to fail, that he may show the power of his unfailing might; surely he chose the frail sex, but strong in the habit of virtue, and a woman of great price in these bounds of Christians, the venerable Lady Dorothea, worthy of all praise, conspicuous for holy manners, profound in humility, high in holy desires, excellently fervent in charity, eager for the exercises of meritorious action, very often suspended in contemplation, enjoying divine colloquies, embraces and kisses, splendid in every virtue, not the least among the martyrs, the athletes of Christ, although hidden, conscious of the secrets and judgments of God, irradiated with supercelestial brightness: that she might stir up torpid and tepid souls to the love of God, might animate the soft and delicate to the fruits of penance, might regulate the neophytes in the parts of Prussia and those neighboring, might teach sinners to repent, might reproach schismatics, might strengthen heretics, the light of truth being known, and might call the heathen or infidels who are around the borders of Prussia to the faith of Christ through the glory of virtues and miracles, and might further glorify the Church militant with such virtues, and adorn the Church triumphant with titles of praises, and lest the infirmity of the human condition be rendered too slow to believe what was promised, and that Christ, residing in heaven, should deign to speak to a woman living in this mortality, the magnificent glory of the same Lord our God Jesus Christ does not cease to illustrate with miracles this his pre-elected servant, as will in some measure be said below, showing also evidently, that he loved her intimately and that she now is near him in great power, glory and honor, at the invocation of whose name, after the dissolution of the flesh, he has deigned to show prodigies so admirable, impossible to nature, in so great a number within a single year, that those alone which have been brought to the public notary ^c deputed by the ordinary of the place to write down miracles, are not contained in ten sexterns of folded sheets. More than these are believed to have been done, which have not been brought to the notary's knowledge. Some miracles have been taken from the protocol of the said docti in the manuscript. public notary ^d; of which some, healing of bodies, were obtained for the cure of the outer man through the intervention of our Dorothea, the heavenly physician; but some too, reforming of souls, worthier than the former, although less reckoned by the impious and infidels, were also granted around the tomb of that same lover of purity, her merits assisting, and are here written, as they follow ^e.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER ONE.

The dead recalled to life by the help of Bl. Dorothea.

There were recalled to life a little girl at Meisenburg, On the raising of the dead at her intercession. Bercko Grobeling Gecko Gropeling A. and Dorothea Donica A. his lawful wife, at Meisenburg Weyzelburg A. of the diocese of Pomesania Pomesamensis in the manuscript and so thereafter. , said in good faith, that their child or little infant of half a year, put healthy in the cradle in the evening, around midnight appeared and was wholly dead for an hour. Of which child, I say, the lips were white, as frequently appears in dead bodies, and it was destitute of all outer and likewise inner motion, and had its hands closed, and its parents could open them with difficulty. Two women of repute, and their neighbors, being called together, one named Tibde, the other Alheit, widow of Lobdis, who were present, and handled the child together with the parents, and being questioned admitted together that the child had been dead, and seeing these things affirmed in good faith, that the spirit of life had been restored to the child, and immediately after the vow which the parents made to the tomb of the Lady Dorothea of good memory. This miracle took place on the last day of the month of November septembris, anno 1395 A. , in the first year of the death of the Lady Dorothea of happy memory

[4] a little girl at Valkennoro, A certain honorable John Eppelin Oppelin T. , and Elizabeth his wife, of the village of Borgerdorff of the diocese of Pomesania and of the parish of Valkennoro Walkenauwe A. de villa Valkenbergk T. , placed before the lord Nicholas, custodian, and Master Bertram ^a, parish priest of the church of Pomesania, said in good faith, that their daughter Catharina nomine added in T. of three years, placed in bed lecto A, T. by her mother after a bath, was afterwards found dead, and so also other women judged et ad manum ejus candelam benedictam dederunt added in A. . Wishing however to have certain proof of death or life, they dug up trodden earth above sub A. the threshold, and intensely heated it in the fire and put it on the child's breast, to see whether it felt anything; from the putting of which various blisters rose up with a great swelling and burning of the skin, which burn the parents showed in the church of Pomesania after the child's rising, in the presence of the lord custodian, the parish priest aforesaid and many others worthy of credit. The child's mother too touched her open eyes, handling them with her finger, to test whether she lived, and no sense or motion appeared. The child therefore lay motionless, wholly destitute of sense and motion, for about five hours so handled by them. While all the women standing by cried out together with the mother, experienced, honorable and discreet, the father began to cry with a loud voice, and on bended knees devoutly to invoke the Lady Dorothea, that she succor his anxiety. Among other things he said: "O Blessed Dorothea, if you do not help my dead child, restoring her to life, I believe nothing of your holiness;" and immediately, such words being so brought forth, and all his neighbors being present, they recognized a certain motion in the child's eyes. And she began

the child to move and breathe and speak, and even on the same day to be as merry, and to busy herself with childish games, as before. The whole community of the village holds most firmly that the spirit of life was restored to the child, at the invocation of the Lady Dorothea [præsens fuit honesta … mulier Hannike Zimmermannyne et quamplures aliæ mulieres de dicta villa added in T.] ^b.

[5] and three little infants. Likewise the son of Nicholas Seerangha Czeronge A. , of two and a half years, in the village of Schorist Schzartz A. of the parish church of the diocese of Włocławek, was by chance drowned in a lake, which is situated in the middle of the village ^c; whom the father seizing and considering dead, invoked the Lady Dorothea that by her merits and prayers his son might recover his former life. He persevering steadfastly in prayers, and making a vow that he would visit the tomb of the said Lady Dorothea, after an hour the child lived again and appeared healthy, many persons worthy of credit being present.

Likewise the wife of Gerco Gerbonis A. Garko T. , Dorothea by name, at Marienwerder, where the cathedral church of Pomesania is, bore him two twins; the firstborn healthy, but the second dead. Him the midwife and other women worthy of credit [Resnitin … et uxor Joannis Michel added in A. Margaretha Nicolai Rosenstein … et Margaretha Joannis Michels T.] , ministering with her to the woman in childbed, handled as dead for half an hour, and there was no sign of life in him. These women, discreetly on bended flexibus in the manuscript. knees, implored divine help, and vowed that he would be brought to the tomb of the Lady Dorothea, that he might receive life. Immediately, the vow being made, the child showed that he lived by the drawing of breath and by respiration, and twice he made such a sign, and then finally he made a cry, and so the child was restored to life by the prayers of the Lady sanctissimæ A. Dorothea testis factum credit eodem anno quo B. Dorothea obiit added in T. .

Margaret, wife of Nicholas Hozant, of Mewe in the diocese of Pladislania thus the manuscript, for Vladislaviensi. , labored in childbirth before Shrovetide, and with great difficulty bore her firstborn son, and was weighed down by so great an infirmity, that there was no hope of her life, nor of the infant's, because the child lay for an entire hour, and there was neither voice nor breath there, but he lay as if dead. The discreet women standing around, falling on their knees, vowed the child with the mother to the tomb of the Lady Dorothea, and immediately the child was moved by the spirit of life. After this the mother, having recovered her health, came to the tomb of Blessed Dorothea with her offerings, praising God for the benefit received.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER TWO.

By the help of Bl. Dorothea the possessed are freed.

A possessed woman is freed at Danzig, On the wonderful casting out of demons at the prayers of Blessed Dorothea. A certain man named John Nouwer Royber A. , his wife Metsa Metra A. by name, of the town of Danzig of the diocese of Pladislamia thus the manuscript. , said on their faith and good conscience conscia in the manuscript. , being asked, and if there were need, to say this on oath; how his wife from the eleventh year of her age to the thirty-sixth tricesimum quintum A. was possessed by seven malignant spirits, three speaking and four dumb; and this number and quality the man and woman said they knew from the report of the demons, while various exorcisms were read over her by a devout priest, with prayers, that he might expel them, that he might free that poor woman. She through the aforesaid twenty-five years at each new moon was harassed by the demons more gravely than at another time, and still more vehemently in the last four years, in which on account of madness and the unbridled harassment of the demons, it was necessary to bind her, lest she should hurt others, and kill herself or others. While her husband, pitying her and faithful, diligently guarded her, and tried to bind her, many times the woman struck him, shoved him and dragged him by the hair; and she heaped many other troubles and curses on her husband. The demons seeing his humility and patience feared him more than the priests exorcizing. Her husband too led his wife to the thresholds of the saints, seeking help and counsel with various persons.

[7] Bl. Dorothea being seen; When he had visited the aforesaid various places of the saints to obtain a salutary remedy, and had gained nothing; a short course of time having passed after the death of the Lady Dorothea, the brother of the aforesaid woman had visited the tomb of the same Lady Dorothea, and he saw that the Lord through his servant had worked many miracles there; each of which he narrated to his brother-in-law and his sister, urging them to make a vow to that happy Dorothea, and also to visit the tomb, that the Lord Jesus might deign at the prayers of the Lady Dorothea to free her from the harassment of the demons. After this, one night as the aforesaid woman was sleeping, it appeared to her that she was in the chapel of the said Lady, in which in the days of her life she had never been, and she saw the Lady Dorothea kneeling in one corner toward the east. Then she cried out: "Blessed Dorothea, help me, because I am greatly tormented." But she gave her no answer, but turned away her face. A second time again she cried in the same manner as before. And Blessed Dorothea, turned to her, said to her: "Pray without intermission, already you are freed." The woman, awakened, set forth the dream to her husband. Her husband said: "If you have been held in sleep at Marienwerder Marienwerde in the manuscript. , I by the grace of God will bring you there waking," and at once he vowed her to the tomb. On the following midnight immediate A. the malignant spirits left her with this sign: they kindled her so intimately and fervently, that she thought herself wholly on fire; they burned her bones, flesh and entrails, and her tongue, as if she had been boiled in boiling water. Her husband drew out her tongue, and scraped the burned skin with a little knife, and so she was freed at the invocation and prayers of the Lady Dorothea. Afterwards her husband, wishing to have greater proof of the cure, delayed the vow, for about half a year, in which and afterwards she soundly and wholly used her reason.

[8] another at Chełmno, Anna Krentselerine, of Toruń of the diocese of Colmencia Culmensis A. , was driven furiously by a demon, and would have slaughtered her own son, had her husband not stopped her. Although she at times seemed to have lucid intervals as to reason, yet as to the fulfilling of good works she was hindered daily by the demon; who did not permit her within one entire year to complete so much as one Lord's prayer. When the fame of Blessed Dorothea through the working of miracles had come to her husband and to herself, a vow being made of visiting her tomb, the devil, when the woman was already on the way ^a, one night appeared like a rabid dog, and tried to throttle her by the neck ne Dorotheæ sepulchrum visitaret, added in A. ; and as she cried out horribly, the women in the same inn were terrified, and helped her with their prayers. She, having consequently come die dominico ante festum Nativitatis B. Mariæ, added in A. to the tomb, felt herself freed from then on from the harassment of the demon.

[9] another near Zalau. Elizabeth, wife of Nicholas Karschou, in the village of Piskoun near Rippin, of the parish of Zalau, of the diocese of Płock, raving and acting furiously, appeared possessed. She tore a tunic, and rent her own flesh with her teeth, while she was shut up by her husband, and acted very disorderly; whether she was fettered, or loosed from the fetter, she would not pray, nor do other works of the kind of good things, the demon who was thought to be in her hindering or preventing her. When she had been guarded with difficulty for ten weeks, she was led by her husband to various priests of good fame, who reading prayers and various exorcisms on many occasions and for weeks, profited her nothing. She spat in their face, and being led to the holy cross at Strasburg, there in the church raving and crying out she sang. After this her husband, hearing of the holiness of the Lady Dorothea and the power of her miracles, vowed that he would lead his wife with an offering to her tomb, if by her merits she were freed from the harassment of the demons. This done, the woman at once acted gently and obediently, and asked to be loosed from the bonds and fetter; to whom her husband partly gave way, not wholly loosing her, until he should prove her for fourteen days to act discreetly. When these were completed with good reason, she who immediately before the making of his vow had acted very furiously, he fulfilled his vow, leading his wife to Marienwerder to the tomb of the Lady Dorothea, giving thanks, and telling the foregoing to the glory of God.

ANNOTATION.

the woman, to a certain town named Claustrellum, was induced by certain faithful women to visit on the same way the tomb of Blessed Dorothea in the church of Pomesania. But as the woman stayed the same night in the aforesaid place, the malignant one appeared to her, etc.

CHAPTER THREE.

By the intercession of Bl. Dorothea sinners are converted to God.

By the help of Bl. Dorothea there were converted to God Peter Sisophou, On the wonderful conversion of sinners. Peter Sisophou Sopkow A. was wonderfully converted on the Saturday, the eve festo A. of St. Matthew ^a, at the hour of compline during the procession. To whom, being placed in sleep, there appeared Blessed Dorothea, and he was admonished by her to confess his great and enormous sins, which he had not yet confessed; that he should pay the promises and vows which he had vowed, to visit the Blessed Virgin at Hoslin Koslin and so thereafter A. , and then the Lord's Blood ^b, and then Aachen; after this that he should go to Rome: Peter of Sisophau reported and expressly admitted, there being present the commander of Elbing, the treasurer of the Order, and the lord Andrew, parish priest of Insular Sconenberch, the notary and scribe of the master general, and many of the household of the said persons, how on the Saturday of the Ember days, namely "Venite, exultemus," during the procession made to the chapel in which is the tomb of Bl. Dorothea Ad capellam seu sepulchrum B. Dorotheæ A. , standing apart in a corner, stirred by the devotion of the singing, he came as it were into a light sleep. Nevertheless, as he asserted, he heard and saw what was being done; and as he stood so, he saw Blessed Dorothea most shining in body, very well adorned in a black magnifico habitu A. and spiritual habit, having over it a very white veil, her face inclining toward her hand, and he heard her admonishing him in these words: "You promised, namely, to visit the chapel of the Blessed Virgin at Hoslin, Aachen and other places, and you have never yet well fulfilled it, nor have you confessed your graver sins," and she brought back to his memory his grave sins of many years, which of himself he would never have recalled; urging him and seriously commanding, that he confess his sins nakedly. But after the sprinkling of holy water took place, wishing to go nearer that he might be sprinkled, he was held to the wall, as if he were bound to the seat on which he stood, and to the wall, without power of his limbs. But after he said that he gladly wished to discharge what he had omitted, he was let go, and immediately he was flooded with such contrition for his sins, that he was even dissolved in abundant tears.

[11] with his whole heart, Going immediately to his young lord whom he served, named Lucas, the son of Thomas Sorbil Gobille A. , knight, in the presence parentibus in the manuscript. of some of the household of the aforesaid commander of Elbing, he asked leave with urgency, and said that for the whole world he could not stay with him any longer, restoring to his young lord each thing which he had. Whence his young lord wondered at so sudden a change, believing, as some others did, that he was drunk. Nor could he be swayed in any way to stay, except that on the following day he would escort him from Marienwerder to the castle of Stuhm ad Stumis vel Marienburgk A. , as he did. And that night he passed almost sleepless, keeping vigil at the doors of the church, and around matins when the doors of the church had been opened, he entered, and prostrate toward the aforesaid chapel, he had again a second time the aforesaid admonition, that he ought to go to the sacrament of the venerable Body of Christ, and say five Lord's prayers. And he indeed, not knowing where the sacrament was, and to what place he ought to go, so walked about in the church until he found it, and it was added to him by way of a sudden prompting: "You ought first to go on pilgrimage to Hoyslyn, and then to the Lord's Blood, and thence to Aachen, and after to Rome ^c, and to confess your sins, and you ought to return, and thereafter to guard yourself more diligently." And this he at once began to accomplish very early in the morning. He began to go on pilgrimage, and within a year he completed his pilgrimage, and returned; and these things too he reported before the lord custodian and the notary.

[12] Thomas the castellan and many others. Likewise to Thomas, castellan in the castle of Marienwerder of the lord bishop of Pomesania, there appeared in sleep the Lady Dorothea; revealing to him his unconfessed sins, she admonished him to confess, and as a sign that it was not a dream, she commanded him to be thrown from his bed by two youths who appeared with her. A like revelation of sins and admonition to confess was made to many. For whom also great contrition was obtained by the merits of Blessed Dorothea herself. Whence many said that for hardness of heart they had almost never in their life bewailed their sins, nor the most bitter wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ; who at her invocation obtained abundant tears of compunction to lament their sins, and the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and wholesomely attained the fruit of a better life. Many splendid miracles too were done through her, by which not sicknesses of bodies, but diseases of souls are healed; which are the more worthy and to be the more reckoned, the more the soul destined to live forever is better than the body, and the inner man than the outer.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER FOUR.

At the entreaty of Bl. Dorothea the blind and other sick are healed.

Many blind are healed On the enlightening of the blind. Likewise Margaret the weaver said, that her son Nicholas, when he was two years old began to suffer in his eyes, up to a year usque ad octo annos A. or thereabouts, so that he could neither recognize anything, nor keep his footing, unless his mother led or directed him. And a vow being made for her son to the Lord's Blood, he was a little better. After this when she had made a vow to the tomb of Blessed Dorothea, on the same night there appeared to the same child a little boy, who with his fingers drew out for him the skins, or removed the leucomas [puer parvulus, qui, ut sibi apparuit, digitis suis extraxit sibi pelles albuginum A.] from his eyes, and then he saw clearly by the help of God and the prayers of Bl. Dorothea totaliter curatus est vicesima tertia mensis augusti added in A. . Likewise Michael of Schadewaldt, of Graudenz, could see nothing for three years, even at one pace he could recognize nothing, nor could he cross anywhere without some guide. A vow being made ad B. Dorotheam added in A. , he saw a little; but, setting out on a journey after this, wishing to visit the tomb, he saw soundly and clearly and crossed without a guide, and the leucomas vanished from his eyes. Nicholas Scholarii, son of John Mutautas, of Braunsberg, of the diocese of Warmia thus the manuscript. , having leucomas in both eyes, did not see, and a vow being made to Blessed Dorothea, at once they fell from his eyes.

[14] and those sick in the eyes; On the taking away of pains from the eyes. Likewise Catherine Garlitzinne Gortlerinne A. , at Marienwerder, suffered gravely for eighteen years an infirmity in her eyes and pain of the heart. A vow being made, illico added in A. she was cured at the invocation of the Lady Dorothea. Margaret, wife of Peter the linen-weaver lanificis A. , at Marienwerder, of the diocese of Pomesania, suffered most gravely in her eyes for XIIII days, nor could she keep her footing, so as to cross without a guide. Brought by her servant, she commended herself to the prayers of the Lady Dorothea; and the prayer being completed, she withdrew from the tomb without a guide, and saw clearly. Likewise the wife of Martin the butcher, at Marienwerder, suffered for four years in one eye, and having pain of the head, she was cured.

[15] others either from drowning, On deliverance from drowning. Theoderic, a journeyman of the baking trade at the castle of Stuhm, wishing to sail in a small boat through a place near Stuhm, the boat began to be shaken by motions and squalls here and there, and at last by the storm of winds the boat was overturned. As he labored in the waters, so staying now under the water, now above the water, some persons running up, roused by the shouting, and standing in the harbor, that they might invoke Blessed Dorothea; he at once thinking in his heart, and also crying out for her help, and vowing to visit her tomb with an offering; and when this was said, Blessed Dorothea appeared to him, as if she were walking on the waters, and forthwith safely together with the boat, which he seized as he came up, he was struck by the waves, and from drowning, and consequently from the cold and the hurt of the water he was freed by the merits of Blessed Dorothea. He was carried half-dead by those running up to the fire. There flowed out and was sent forth from his mouth much water, which would have filled a good two jars. By the others standing by he was treated as one drowned.

[16] or are freed from the falling sickness. On the falling sickness. Simon, son of Catherine the widow of Hermann Katze, of Woltz Woltzh A. , of the diocese of Pomesania, had the falling sickness for five quarters of a year; and promising him to various places of the saints, he did not recover. But at last when she had vowed him to the tomb of the Lady Dorothea, the infirmity ceased. Likewise Peter Schot, of Riesenburg Resenburgk A. , of the diocese of Pomesania, had the falling sickness for four years, and always at the new moon more than at another time, and so gravely, that sometimes he fell thirty times in a day; and a vow being made, trustfully confiding in the help of the Lady Dorothea, he rejoices in the health obtained; and after the vow for more than a quarter of a year the sickness never touched him.

CHAPTER FIVE.

How those are punished who think less rightly of the holiness and miracles of Bl. Dorothea.

Those who detract from the holiness of Bl. Dorothea are punished On the conversion perhaps to be read confessione. of her holiness IN THE STRIKING OF DETRACTORS. Martin, a carpenter at Marienwerder, of the diocese of Pomesania, detracted from the holiness of the Lady Dorothea, saying: "By no means do I believe that the Lord Jesus spoke with her." When this was said, on the next day he was struck with excessive heat of fevers for five weeks, and for as many was tormented with a flux of blood; and to

the invocation of the Lady Dorothea et voto emisso ad ejus sepulchrum, et suo errore revocato added in A. he was cured ^a.

[18] in various ways, Nicholas Grudents Grudintz A. , of Marienburg, a mason mechanicus arte murator T. , detracted from the holiness of the Lady Dorothea with enormous and very evil words; saying that he in no way gave credence, but held her holiness as feigned. He also did not permit his wife, who humbly wished to go to the tomb of the Lady Dorothea for receiving indulgences and for obtaining grace; and said to her, when she asked leave: "Do you think that this Dorothea was a saint, since she was in matrimony, and bore many children ex quo pueros habuit sicut tu T. ? You ought never to believe it, nor will I ever wish to believe it." These speeches being scarcely completed, soon, cruelly afflicted within, for pain in terram se prostravit added in T. he rolled himself about like an irrational beast, not being able to carry out any work outside; and such infirmity lasted for some days. While he so lay in infirmity and pain, it was inspired in him, that he ought to visit the tomb of Blessed Dorothea with an offering; and immediately, a vow being made and an offering presented, he was mercifully cured at the tomb ^b.

[19] until they come to their senses; Likewise Catharina added in A. the wife of the stonemason of the canons and lords, incredulous of the holiness of Blessed Dorothea, dared frivolously to ask of God some infirmity, that she might then be able to prove her holiness, saying: "Ah, if an infirmity were to come upon me, that I might be able to be certified of her holiness, I would wish to vow myself to her tomb." When this was said, at once she was struck with a vehement giddiness of the head, and was made so infirm that she could neither walk nor labor. It seemed to her that all the mountains were turning together with her; and it lasted with her for some days. She, considering that she had sinned, with a humble vow vowed herself to the tomb of Blessed Dorothea, asking of her pardon for her fault, and at once she was cured of her infirmity.

[20] nor are they at once It happened to the lord John, parish priest in the village of Melentz near Montau in Marienburg, when conferring with a certain devout matron about the holiness and miracles of the happy Dorothea, and the same lady saying many good things for the veneration of our Mother, the same parish priest gravely detracted from the honor and holiness of our same Mother; namely that in this manner there are many saints and elect in heaven, of greater reward than the reward of the Lady Dorothea, who could more becomingly be trustfully invoked for aids to body and soul, health or salvation. After this, on another day it happening, a certain priest conventor in Allenstein added in A., it seems concionator should be read. , a stranger to him, coming to his house, asking for a night's lodging, whom he received as a guest. At the time of the evening meal, both conferring about the holiness of Blessed Dorothea, he asked him what he heard and what he thought. Among many other things he said these words detractingly: "Wo Wa in the manuscript. man nit hin leget, da findt man auch nit, und wo man viel hin leget, da findt man auch viel. Ubi multa ponuntur, ibi multa inveniuntur A. ^c" [Where one lays nothing, there one finds nothing, and where one lays much, there one finds much.] As if to say: Those things which are said to be offered are not done from the merits and invocation of Bl. Dorothea, and the working of signs; but from the feigning of the canons and others, and the simulation of holiness. He, at once struck by the stroke of God, lost the manner of speech, and his mouth was bent Ad duos digitos, a debito loco versus sinistram aurem added in A. for eight days continuously permansit mutus usque ad quindenam sine omni dolore capitis et membrorum A. . After which, led by penance, since quam in the manuscript. he had felt no infirmity in himself before, he thought that he had been struck on account of the sin of detraction against Blessed Dorothea, vowing himself to her tomb, with an offering; and he recovered the manner of speech, but not so perfectly, as he had spoken before ^d.

[21] perfectly healed. A tavern-keeper of Lamperchtzdorpff detracted from Blessed Dorothea, defiling her holiness through evil and wicked thoughts. She also said: "Who knows why the lord canons both cherish and have cherished her?" and she interpreted this same thing evilly; and she suspected wicked and quite depraved things of the lord canons. She was therefore struck with quite grave pain of the eyes for eight days; and her eyes seemed to her to be full of little bones, big, yellow; and held in such pains, she said: "This infirmity has not been given me by God, but by the devil;" and as she could have no rest in any place, sitting, lying or sleeping, then her husband said: "Make a vow to Blessed Dorothea;" and she answered: "What ought she to help me? And what can a putrid and fetid body help me? I wish to trust in my Lord Jesus Christ; he will well take away my infirmity from me." And so her pains grew and were increased more and more gravely than before. At last recognizing herself and led by penance, vowing a vow to Blessed Dorothea, she was also cured: but because she delayed the vow, she relapsed and was more gravely afflicted; but when the vow was completed, she said that she was wholly and perfectly cured.

[22] Two ungrateful women are punished. On those who delayed the making known of miracles done through the Lady Dorothea. The wife of Montmansdorpf, in the town of Marienwerder, of the diocese of Pomesania, after the death of Blessed Dorothea had toothache, feeling sharp pains like arrows. On bended knees she said: "Blessed Dorothea, as men say that you are a saint, so show it in me, freeing me from the pain of my teeth;" and behold before she completed those aforesaid words, she felt herself freed. After this, some weeks having passed, again having toothache, she was cured by like invocations; and this took place three times. And because she did not have the grace done to her made known, and also blushed, and for shame let it go, lest she be derided, or the delay be imputed to her, she was therefore struck with quinsy, and could not speak, and one jaw was magnificently swollen. She, then thinking within herself that she had sinned, by this that she had not taken care to have the grace done to her published for the glory of God and the showing of the holiness of his servant Dorothea, repenting, again vowed that she would visit the tomb of Blessed Dorothea and publish the aforesaid; and so she was healed on the same night at the invocation of the Lady Dorothea.

Margaret Kontze Steinbrucke Margaretha uxor Conradi Steinbruck A. , at Marienwerder, having suffered paralysis for XIII years in hands and arms, a vow being made recovered; and because she did not permit it to be made known, she always relapsed. After this she took care to have it made known, and she was cured. et quia-curata est omitted in A. .

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER SIX.

Other benefits obtained by the intercession of Bl. Dorothea.

A woman commended to Bl. Dorothea is suddenly healed. On full faith in her holiness. Nicholas Wisgerber, of Freystadt Wisgerver de Frienstadt, oppido Pomezaniensis diœcesis A. , was at the time of the dedication at Marienwerder, who had at home a wife quite infirm, who for four quatuordecim A. days and nights neither ate nor drank. He, coming to the tomb of Blessed Dorothea, thinking of his sick wife, made a vow for her, asking that Blessed Dorothea by her prayers obtain for her bodily health. He coming home, finding his wife well, rejoiced greatly. He asked from her the hour in which she had been better; and she told him the hour, and then her husband at once knew that it was that hour in which he had asked Blessed Dorothea for her.

[24] The paralyzed recover; On the curing of the paralyzed. Nicholas Gerber, of Nuentich Greber, de Neventich, Pomezaniensis diœcesis A. , had paralysis in all the members of his body for two years; and a vow being made, he was cured; and because he did not take care to make it known, he relapsed, and the making known being done, he was fully cured et quia-curatus est omitted in A. . Likewise Anna Knuschinne, of Goluba, for a year had paralysis, through one entire side from the head to the sole of the foot; and a vow being made of visiting visitando in the manuscript. the tomb of the Lady Dorothea, from then on she does not feel the paralysis, and has borne many things with this trouble doubtful word, perhaps sustulit … incommoda. .

[25] others suffering from a flux of blood On the stopping of a flux of blood. The wife of John the tailor, of Rodou Rodaw A. , of the diocese of Pomesania, had a flux of blood for ten weeks; a vow being made ad sepulturam beatæ Dorotheæ added in A. , she was cured. Likewise Vicke, of Alnau, near Fredenwaldt, of the diocese of Warmia, had a son Nicholas by name, who had a flux of blood for half a year; and a vow being made, he was at once healed by the prayers of Dorothea.

[26] or fevers; On fevers. Margaret, of Neustadt, had a quartan for two years; a vow being made, she was cured with a silver cross. Likewise Magdalen, at Podelitz Civium, had a tertian for four years, and a vow being made, she recovered.

[27] to others broken limbs are restored. On the curing of limbs. Peter Mercker, at Marienwerder, from the kick of his own horse his arm sinistrum added in A. was broken into four parts anno Domini 1394 added in A. , and he was gravely trampled by the horse. Who those pains

he bore from Shrovetide to near the feast of the Assumption of Mary, so that he could not lift his arm, nor move his fingers, nor labor with his arm. And immediately, a vow being made, he recovered, and began to labor and to move his fingers. Likewise Bartisch Bartuschs A. , son of Clement, at Lobin villa Vladislaviensis diœcesis added in A. , had one hand as if cut off abscisa in the manuscript. . For it was hanging by a little flesh [cui una manus erat violenter truncata: quæ brachio cum modica cuti in parva quantitate existenti adhæserat A.] , and he feared that he would never have health again. A vow being made, he was made sound, and his hand was so perfectly healed as before. And this is established for the whole county toti communitati dictæ villæ A. . Many others long and gravely held in the infirmities said above have been mercifully cured through the divine mercy and the invocation of the said Lady Dorothea. Not only from the infirmities above named, but still from other various scourges and sicknesses more than the former have also been freed, from deafness, lameness, colic, from captivity, from pain and infirmity of the head, of the heart, of the teeth and entrails; from sorceries, and from dangers on sea and dry land, and other things not only too many for me to write, but also to wonder at and to number; and unknown so as to name them properly. For which let glory, praise and honor be given to the Lord God, and due thanks be returned, who consoles the world through a new saint, and with her miracles waters the Church, parched in some of its parts. Amen.

APPENDIX.

Dorothea, recluse in East Prussia. (S.)

BHL Number: 0000, 2326, 0000

FROM THE MANUSCRIPTS AND THE PRINTED TEXT.

It has seemed good to add to the Life and miracles of Bl. Dorothea certain things from the greater works of John of Marienwerder; namely both the titles of the books and chapters, and some passages which may offer an example of the revelations, or set forth their rationale, or make manifest the biographer's character and manner of writing. We use chiefly the Königsberg manuscript of the Latin Life, but in such a way that certain words, marked with the letter R, have been put back into the margin, and in their place have been substituted the readings of the Danzig manuscript Compare Prelim. Comment., number 14. , which Maximilian Töppen has published in some part Scriptt. Pruss., volume II, page 350 and following. . The Book of Feasts or Apparitions we have excerpted from the Danzig manuscript Prelim. Comment., number 15. , but the Septililium from the Vienna copy, because some things occur in it which are lacking elsewhere Ibid., numbers 16 and following. . Transcripts of these manuscripts were communicated to us, as we have said before Ibid., number 33. , by the venerable priest Franz Hipler. The words and sentences which are enclosed in brackets [], we have taken from the edition put together by M. Töppen.

LIFE

OF THE VENERABLE LADY BL. DOROTHEA.

BOOK I

[containing truthful testimonies, that the Lady Dorothea was not deceived in her revelations, and some other things concerning the whole book].

BOOK II

[which shows her birth, and how her life, full of manifold exercise, temptation and ministry, was revealed by the Lord].

BOOK III

[which shows how after the real drawing out of her heart she was spiritually renewed, magnificently favored, specially made wonderful, singularly instructed, bodily went on pilgrimage and was wholesomely subjected to the yoke of obedience, etc.].

BOOK IV

[which is of her virtuous actions, manifold meritorious afflictions, of various exercises and inner martyrdoms, of delightful and joyful consolations and of copious spiritual riches].

BOOK V

[in which is treated of her enclosure in the reclusory, the work of refreshment, the lack of consolation, contemplation and weeping, her desires, gratitude and humility].

BOOK VI

[in which is treated of the wholesome upbringing of her soul, the perfection of virtues, the illumination of her mind, her espousal with Christ, her being led in to the wedding and to the bridegroom's chamber and the wine-cellar, and also of the wounding of the bride by the lances of love].

BOOK VII

[which is of the forming of the way of life, the certifying of her holiness, the promise of eternal life, her preparation for death, the discretion of her death, the consoling visitation at the point of death, the cause and prediction of her death, of her solemn obsequies and of her exaltation into the kingdom of Christ].

That Bl. Dorothea was not deceived concerning her revelations, Book I, chapter V. Truthful testimonies that she had not been deceived concerning the revelations. Because she tasted and saw with the strong woman, that her trading is good, and lest the lamp of her praiseworthy life should be extinguished in the night of this world, and also especially of the benefits and perfect gifts communicated to her from above from the Father of lights, the Lord God urged her assiduously to express the aforesaid to the said two confessors, to lay open her heart to them, and that those things should be written down by one of them, namely C., who seemed less occupied and stayed with her almost assiduously; and the Lord certified her and them, that he was the revealer and giver of these things, not a lying or seducing spirit.

[2] her directors found after ripe inquiry, Truly of the truth of the things revealed there is to be no distrust, as Scripture attests, which says: In the mouth of two or three stands every testimony. First and principally her witness is the Lord Jesus, who conferred on her such good gifts and benefits, as no other could confer on her; for she knew the hidden things of hearts, the acts of the absent, the sins of many people, and she foretold with certainty some future things which have already come to pass. Her witnesses are also P. and C., who, hearing and seeing that she had great benefits of the divine goodness, examined her according to the teachings and rules handed down by sacred Scripture and its doctors, and also the mode of revealing; so that, certified that the things revealed were in accord with the truth, that such benefits were conferred by no other than by the Lord God, they were not undeservedly her witnesses. Nor did they use levity, she not in expressing the secrets of her heart, nor they in believing that her words were true and the gratuitous benefits gifts. For she, at times impelled by the Lord to express the secrets of her heart, desiring to lie hidden, delayed for so long, until she was certified by the Lord that she should speak, and sometimes, because she delayed, she was even reproved. At times too she began to weep, when * she feared that she could not without offense to God delay longer. Nor were they light to believe, who through long times and many efforts tested whether the spirits were from God, following the Scripture, which says: Test the spirits, whether they are from God. They had truly recognized that she could say with the apostle: We have not received the spirit of this world, but the Holy Spirit, who is from God; we speak not in the learned, that is composed or ornamented words of human wisdom, but in the teaching of the Holy Spirit, who teaches within without the noise of words, as the Truth testifies, who says: For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father, who speaks in you.

[3] the Lord himself bearing testimony. And so the Holy Spirit, who is the spirit of truth, bore manifold testimony to her, who, often sent to her, inflaming her with his charity, granted sweet utterance and speech so efficacious, persuasive and gracious, that very many hearing her words were pricked in heart, consoled, bettered, kindled in the love of God, well instructed and edified; and rare was he, who having once heard her attentively, did not feel and admit that he was greatly consoled, wishing that he might shortly be able to come to her again and hear her: surely as the apostle says: The word of God is living and efficacious, and more piercing than any two-edged sword, reaching even to the division of spirit and soul. Further from the fragrance of her good fame many came, drawn from afar, desiring to see and hear her. And by the grace of God many have been bettered both by her teaching and by her exemplary life, both then when she lived, and then afterwards when she happily passed from us. Again, a clean conscience giving testimony to her, her perfect virtues and their effects and works bear truthful testimony, that she was not deceived, but that all things written from her mouth are very true. Truly they are not from human counsels or merits, but from the gratuitous gift of God, that the Holy Spirit so liberally and super-overflowingly communicated to her the gifts of his grace, and that he destined her to the church of Pomesania. To this kind and largely flowing Spirit, the giver of all good things, let all things that have been, are and will be return thanks! For from his condescending grace it proceeded, that he nobly regarded this servant here; who breathes where he wills, when he wills, and on whom he wills, and what he wills, he breathes into the person whom he deigns to choose, for place and fitting time, according to his most ordered disposition, confirmed by inviolable laws.

[4] The truth of her revelations is confirmed both by other reasons, Book I, chapter VI. Twenty-four probable signs persuading the same, as above. For greater certainty there are to be added some signs of truth divinely revealed to her at various times, through which she was made secure, that she might not be deceived. Of which the first was such, the Lord saying: "Let this be to you a sure sign of my presence, when I appear to you in friendly fashion and remove from you every image of a creature…" — II. The second, that many times, when she thought: I do not wish to express more things to be written, but I wish to ask my C. that we cease to write, then the Lord inflamed her with his charity, bringing back to her memory many things given over to oblivion, which he mercifully conferred on her and did with her many years before from the drawing out of her heart; and he instructed her how those things and some others still written in her memory, which she altogether wished to be hidden, she ought to express to her C., that they might be written down for his glory and honor. And he said: "You ought to speak with C. and P. of me as long as you can move your tongue, and you ought to tell them so many things of me, that they may have memory of me and of you and may nowhere give us over to oblivion." — III. Because very often, preferring out of humility to lie hidden, while by divine instruction she obtained from the Lord that things to be revealed or benefits bestowed on her should also be made manifest, or delayed longer than pleased the Lord, then she was reproved by the Lord. — IV. Because often in the time of revelation she was drawn very deeply into the wounds of Christ Jesus through inward compassion, .. and then, supernaturally illumined, she saw the heart of Christ and his wounds as present, rejoicing… — V. Because many times, when she pronounced things to be written, the Lord sent her the Holy Spirit, who kindled her and things given over to oblivion to

brought back to memory… — VI. Because at the time of its revelation her understanding was enlightened to know the truth, and moreover a firm belief regarding what was revealed was impressed upon her … and joy … and consolation… But none of these can a deceiving spirit either effect or give. — VII. When she had sometimes desired to be free of the occupation she had in the dictation of the revelations, the Lord said to her: "…As long as you live you cannot be wholly freed from all occupation; but you ought to desire, and having taken up the cross you could bear this by following me."

[5] [then because the Lord, against Bl. Dorothea's will, often ordered them to be written down,] VIII. When on another occasion she had again desired to cease …, the Lord said to her in a vision: "… You also desire to die to your sons P. C. and not to speak, and you are troubled by their speaking with you. And even if you were already placed in your agony, your need would still require that you have someone who, speaking to you, would minister to you… Humble yourself deeply and account yourself unworthy of their ministry, and hold mutual converse about my goodness." — (IX and X have already been published in chapter 56 of the Life by Lindanus. Compare annotation ii.) — XI. The Lord said: "If you were to leave off speaking of the effects of my goodness, your heart would be torn and you would shortly expire… For so magnificent and so various are the works of my kindness and the gratuitous gifts done for you before the beginning of this writing, that if each were written down, they would exceed common estimation." — XII. … After the dictation she was frequently favored, and she was not rebuked by the Lord after conversing with her C. P., as she was often rebuked after conversing with others, if she had spoken with them at an unsuitable time because of a feast, or because of the length of her talk, or unfruitfully… — XIII. Lest perhaps through fear of vanity she should tremble and be tempted to withdraw from dictating, the Lord said to her: "That I … grant you teaching, this I do for my great glory." And by this she was compelled to speak, … lest she diminish the glory of God. — XIV. For, namely, knowing that the cunning of the malignant spirit is various, she held many things suspect and took anxious care that she not be deceived… — XV. The Lord said that the things revealed had come down from heaven: "Therefore those who read them ought rightly to aspire thither. And say to your sons P. C.: If it could not be imputed to me, I should wish to ask you to despise me. For I know that contempt is useful to me…" — XVI. She was thus ordered by the Lord to say to her C.: "There is great sorrow in my heart that I cannot express to you many things about the Lord, whose goods in me are so excellent, so various, and so many… Not only would it be impossible for me to express them entirely, but even … to comprehend them entirely." — XVII. The Lord expressly.. willed that many things be written about her desire, weeping, labor, thirst and hunger for the sacrament of the Eucharist, for the attainment of eternal life, and about the sensations received in the venerable sacrament of the Eucharist… These and many other things which the Lord said were rare and worthy of being written down, he ordered to be made into a new compilation for his praise and the betterment of its readers, foretelling that it would bear salutary fruit, .. and the Lord added: "These things written by you will yet be shown before superiors and the greater prelates of the Church."

[6] and himself teaching his handmaid, he corrected her errors. XVIII. If at any time she did not fully express what the Lord had ordered, or did not dictate duly as he had informed her, she was then rebuked by the Lord for this and sometimes sensibly struck… When in the last year of her life she was on a certain occasion dictating to her confessor, she said in her simplicity that the Lord Jesus had felt pain in his body from the piercing with the lance, thinking that she had so understood it from the Lord. Then, although the C. at once said that this was discordant and not consonant with the truth, because that wound inflicted by the lance was made after the death of the Lord Jesus, yet sooner than those words had been begun by the C. she was wounded by the Lord, who, by a lance entering near her right shoulder, made a piercing which bitterly afflicted her and reached as far as her heart… To her the Lord at length said: "You must know for the truth that my body received that wound after death." From which it is clear how mercifully she was preserved from saying anything discordant with the truth. — XIX. The Lord … ordered her to speak thus to her C.: "When I sit beside you and dictate some things .., you must not think that I have conceived of myself the things I say; but my most beloved Lord is beside me, directly placing the words in my mouth, instructing me and granting the manner of expression…" — XX… The Lord said: "Ask me that, if it does not please my will that you speak of me, I forbid you and do not permit you to speak a single word of me. But if it is pleasing to me that you speak of my goodness, that from then on I may often grant you to speak wisely of my goodness…" When she or they drew back through fear, lest they neglect better things, lest error occur, or lest they incur some vainglory, the Lord sometimes said: "You cannot do better than to speak and write of me and my goodness…" — XXI. The Lord by his grace guarded them from error in writing, … and if at any time she said something slightly otherwise than she ought, the Lord corrected the error… — XXII. On another occasion he said to her: "You do not have many things to bring to light or to the knowledge of men beyond those which I do and reveal to you. Yet with your C. you must diligently take care that what I have done for you be so brought out in public, that I may be praised by it and others bettered…" — XXIV. Lastly, because the various goods done for this spouse by the Lord were very magnificent, precious, and rare, the Lord, foretelling the fruit and profit of those who should read in this book, commanded that the things revealed and done be studiously written down and reduced to good order, saying: "Let C. P. take great diligence to prepare studiously the goods written by you, to order and adorn them beautifully: for the goods written there are so good that better ones will scarcely be brought to the light of men." When these things had been said by the Lord, it appeared to the spouse that it was by the efficacious will of the Lord that great diligence of preparation should be expended on the aforesaid benefits of the Lord, in gathering together what belonged together, in dividing them by books and chapters, and in ordering them beautifully, even if many temporal things had to be spent for this, so that they might be brought to the knowledge of men in pleasing order and delightful arrangement. And that the C. might apply himself more freely to such laborious business, the Lord said that he ought to be released from all exterior occupation, because he wished to give him so much to write that he would have enough to write as long as he led his life among men.

[7] Her confessor writes the revelations, Book I, chapter VII. How the writing of the revelations was done and approved by the Lord.

Since the things revealed and the benefits granted to the saint have been shown by credible testimonies to have emanated from the Lord, it was fitting that they be committed to memory by writing, and through it be handed down to posterity for the edification of men. For it is written: Whatsoever things were written, were written for our learning. Hence it is that the S. and the C. undertook this work of writing, full of labor and anxiety, scarcely two years before the end of her holy life. The laboriousness of this work is shown by the shortness of the time, the rarity and multiplicity of the matters to be written, and the slightness of the scribe both in talent and in strength, as the Lord had said in a certain revelation. And the anxiety of it was that they should accomplish God's will in writing, not neglect other things, and do each thing in such a way that they kept the written revelations and benefits hidden until the time appointed beforehand by the Lord.

[8] with the greatest difficulty and anxiety And this was neither easy nor to be observed without notable anxiety; first because before the spouse's entry into the reclusorium it was fitting for them to write sitting nowhere but in the church: not in a house, not in a room, nor in any corner of the church, lest a sinister opinion or suspicion of them arise, by which the odor of good fame should be tainted. This the C. so anxiously dreaded that he visited with difficulty the spouse when she was in a corner or seat of the church, or lying down, or rather languishing from love, in the house of her lodging; for he knew that the fame of spiritual men is slippery: [whence, when on a certain occasion the spouse had been magnificently favored by the Lord and remained last in the church, and at length had wept for the delay of the fatherland, and still weeping looked toward the sacred host of the Eucharist, which could be clearly seen through the grating of the sacrarium, the Lord said to her: "Say to your C.: Beloved son, do not fear, nor be ashamed to come to me before anyone, whether I be in a seat, a corner, a bed, or in whatever place, firmly cleaving to the Lord or sweetly hearing his speech; but joyfully give thanks to the Lord for his inestimable goodness, which he deigns to communicate so gratuitously to me; of which generous gift you will be able to be a partaker, if you are grateful to him. And when I have gone from your eyes, the men hindering you will not be great in number, to whom he will deign to impart so abundantly the grace bestowed upon me;"] — next because he had little time for writing. For the spouse was occupied with prayers and contemplations, and the C. now with hearing confessions, now with preaching, now with the canonical hours, now with various and diverse affairs, although each would gladly have fulfilled the Lord's will; — [and also because, when they sat down in the open to write (which the C. did at first on leaves of wax, as it were beneath his surplice, afterwards on paper with pen and ink, when he considered that it was beyond his strength to write the same thing twice each day in that manifold occupation in which he was), some passed by who would have noticed them writing, if he had not anxiously taken care that the leaves or the stylus, afterwards the pen or the paper, should not be noticed; for if these had been observed by the passers-by, it would by no means have remained hidden that they were writing.]

[9] On a certain occasion the spouse through a slip of the tongue said something to a certain layman, lest it become known to others. God gives them courage, by which he understood that the C. had written something from her mouth; yet she prudently turned him away from this supposition. When the C. perceived this, and being much disturbed rebuked her for her carelessness, the Lord said to her very consolingly: "Do not fear; I

wish to keep you unharmed and to guard you exceedingly well."

On another occasion, when the C. had diligently toiled at the writing and had sometimes greatly tired himself by writing on paper in the evening what he had written on the leaves of wax during the day, it was said to the spouse in the Lord's speech: "Say to the C.: I shall not die soon; therefore do not tire yourself so much; for I fear that you may harm yourself too much." After this the Lord revealed greater and more things than before, saying: "Write bravely, do not be idle, nor need the C. entangle himself in exterior things; for I wish to give him enough to write, and likewise to read." Indeed because of the aforesaid occupations of the C. and certain other causes, since many things had to be written, and also because they sometimes had no open place for writing, and sometimes those speaking with the spouse hindered them in writing, and thus the things revealed were sometimes written late, commonly a week after the revelation, at times two, three, or four after the revelation.

[10] who assists Bl. Dorothea in her dictating, And it was quite wonderful that the spouse was able to retain in memory so distinctly things revealed that were so various. What of good had been revealed and granted to her by the Lord on each of the intervening days, indeed in all the hours of those days , she retained exactly , as the Lord taught her to express it. This was altogether not human, but rather divine. [Therefore she was often ordered to say to the C.: "When I sit beside you relating some things about my Lord, you must not think that I have conceived those things related from myself, or drawn them from my own understanding; but I have my Lord in me, directly placing the words in my mouth and pronouncing through me, and thus you receive from his blessed mouth what you hear from my mouth. Sometimes when you come to write, I know nothing of what I ought then to dictate, and unless the Lord instructed me and placed the words in my mouth, I could express nothing. My Lord also has often said to me: It is impossible for you to express all my working which I have in you; indeed, of those things which I reveal to you, you scarcely express the least part. Even if you had the tongues of many men, you could not utter all the good bestowed on you even in one moment; for in you my doing far and wide surpasses your saying. Whatever therefore you write or say of the goods conferred on you by me, this is as it were foam flowing out from the abundance of your heart, which it cannot contain for the excessive fullness of my goods. And although you speak thus stammeringly of my goods, yet do not cease to speak and write as long as you live and I give grace for this work. For you will not be able to express more or less, nor he to write more or less, than I will. And you ought to say to the P., to whom the C. is accustomed to send the things written by you: Beloved son, how great and of what kind is the good which your brother and I, sitting together, have written! I indeed do not know how great and noble, how precious and useful it is; one thing I know, that in order to apprehend that good my soul has been made insane and avaricious, which, because of its continual avidity to apprehend * a better good, does not well consider and weigh what was written before. Again I know, the Lord enlightening my understanding, that what has been laboriously written down by us is sent to you at the Lord's command for this reason: that you may consider how useful and fruitful it is; may weigh in the balance of the heart how noble and precious it is; and may confer with us how desirable it is and how good, that it may become clear to us how magnificently we ought to love the Lord himself for this, and how much gratitude we ought to render and show him for it."]

[11] and he praises her labor and that of the confessor. After this, on a certain day, the S. and the C. wrote with great labor and difficulty, but not much in quantity, for they afflicted themselves, for a long time not finding words suited to expressing the revealed things then to be set down. The Lord of his innate kindness deigned in the evening to approve it, saying thus to his spouse: "Among other conversations sweeter than honey and the honeycomb, this was today the best and very acceptable to me, that you afflicted one another by your labor. For you would gladly have expressed well my goodness gratuitously bestowed on you, and your C., questioning you and seeking suitable words, tiring you and himself, would gladly have written it well in open and plain speech. By this manner of afflicting yourselves you have worked better than if you had written many * more things without affliction." And again after this the Lord added, saying: "The hands which the C. drew around the revelations serve me, and show the way of salvation to those who read. Whoever therefore, devoutly reading the revelations, diligently marks the parts of them pointed out by the fingers of the hands, to him they show the way of everlasting life, which he will be able to know, and with this my omnipotence and magnificent goodness."

[12] Bl. Dorothea, while still living, is held in veneration by many. Book VI, chapter XXIV. Among other things the Lord said to his handmaid: "Some men have come here to the fair, rejoicing inwardly that they could look at the place of your dwelling, namely the reclusorium. Now men deal with you rightly, as with some queen who seldom goes out from her castle, placed on a high mountain; whom, when she goes out, men run to meet more gladly, and contemplate more eagerly than if she dwelt daily among them, thinking her more beautiful than any queen dwelling near them…" It happened on many days that some men of both sexes looked toward the reclusorium with devotion; some of whom wept, having compassion on the spouse, or because they had not, trusting in the Lord, wholly given themselves up as she had. For these the Lord ordered the spouse to pray with strong weeping, that they, bettering themselves through her, might give up all evil and cleave perfectly to the Lord. And the Lord added: "Also pray with abundant weeping for all who desire to share in your prayers."

* miraculis R.

* benefico R.

* divina

* infirmata R.

* omnia R.

* longæva R.

* et corporis R.

* Veræ R.

* quod fuit loco q. s R

* locupletione R.

* deliciarum R.

* dimanata? R.

* existente R.

tunc R.

* sic R.

* nobilis R.

* sacrum R.

* forma R.

* in R.

* Unde R.

* contemptum R.

* quia R.

* sic R.

* persona codd.

* tamen R.

* sibi R.

* diebus R.

* prope R.

* apprehendi in edit.

* multa R.

SEPTILILIUM OF THE VENERABLE LADY DOROTHEA.

A prayer or meditation, divided into seven small parts, to be made with attention for the salutary and continual possession of divine charity.

Here begins the prologue, which, although it could be set in common before all the books of the venerable lady Dorothea, must nevertheless be placed especially before the last VII treatises constituting one book, which is called the Septililium. The writer of the deeds of the venerable lady Dorothea could not suitably excuse himself from writing this book and other books: chapter 1 of the prologue.

That charity has degrees and is an infused habit: chapter 2 of the prologue.

The intention of the writer, the order of the book, and the imposition of its name are shown: chapter 3.

There follows the TABLE of the Septililium according to the order of the alphabet.

Chapter 1. * Of the thirty-six degrees of charities and the combinations of those degrees.

2. Here the reason of some things already said is assigned and certain things common to charity are recounted.

3. Of priceless charity.

4. Of strong charity.

5. Of fervently burning charity.

6. Of boiling charity.

7. Of desirous charity and its threefold difference.

8. What kinds of desires arose from deeply desirous charity.

9. Of violent or violating charity.

10. Of wounding charity.

11. Of the lancing and the sweetness of wounds.

12. Of disquieting, impatient, and maddening charities.

13. Of sweet charity.

14. Of avaricious charity.

15. Of insatiable charity.

16. Of languishing charity.

17. Of the spiritual inebriation, in which the Lord the spouse, that she might express his goodness to preserve.

18. Of the twofold inebriating cup and inebriating charity, and of twofold inebriation.

19. How the spouse by assiduous drinking of the sweet cup was led to contenting inebriation.

20. How by the strong cup the Lord inebriates the soul not contentingly.

21. Of many effects following spiritual inebriation.

22. From inebriating charity two charities arise, namely the enriching and the exhilarating.

23. Of spiritual and sober inebriation some testimonies are here set down.

24. Of gushing charity.

25. Of the greatness of the womb, which was caused by gushing charity.

26. It is shown what kind of person one ought to be, in order to be fit for spiritual matrimony.

27. Nine ways of giving birth spiritually are revealed.

28. It is shown what this is, when a man spiritually gives birth to the Lord.

29. What things and how many are required, that the spiritual generation of the Lord may be perfected.

30. The Lord shows how he gives birth to himself in the soul.

31. How she was bound faithfully to bring up her spiritual sons, and anxiously guarded them.

32. Of superabundant charity, which contains many others.

33. Of wise charity.

34. Of immense charity, or excellently great and perfect charity.

Chapter 35. Of the last charity, which is called breaking the heart.

Here ends the treatise on charity.

TREATISE II. Of the mission of the Holy Spirit.

Chapter 1. Why the Holy Spirit was so often sent to this spouse, and what the invisible mission of the Holy Spirit is.

2. How one ought to be disposed, that the Holy Spirit may be frequently sent to him.

3. Here are set down the VII ways in which the mission or presence of the Holy Spirit is manifested.

4. How the aforesaid VII ways were revealed to the spouse.

5. Of the various effects of the Holy Spirit. First let there be taken a day on which the Holy Spirit was sent to the spouse ten times.

6. A day on which nine times.

7. A day on which the Holy Spirit was sent to her eight times.

8. A day on which seven times the Holy Spirit.

9. A day on which six times.

10. A day on which five times.

11. A day on which four times.

12. A day on which three times.

13. A recapitulation of the missions of the Holy Spirit and an excuse from further narration.

14. From the limpid illumination of the Holy Spirit she knew various and hidden things.

15. Why she was to know the sins of men, for love of the Lord and knowledge of him, to guard the more anxiously against offense to him.

TREATISE III. Of the venerable sacrament of the Eucharist,

Chapter 1. which is rightly continued from the treatise on the Holy Spirit.

2. That the spouse had an intense desire both to receive and to see the sacrament of the Eucharist.

3. From the intensity of the desire held toward the sacrament there arose in the spouse a hunger and thirst of the spirit and many other effects.

4. It is a precious gift of the Lord to have an intense desire for the venerable sacrament of the Eucharist; and the more intense it is, the more acceptable it is to the Lord.

5. An intense desire is required in one who wishes to receive the sacrament of the Eucharist many times in the year.

6. Those who approach undisposed or unworthily neglect good things and incur evil ones.

7. Of the interior banquet of the soul; what the kiss and embrace are; that the operation of the three persons is one; what the fatted and slain calf is; what caressing is.

8. It is explained how eternal life was said to be open to the spouse, and many other sayings.

Chapter 9. Here many other terms are explained.

10. That the spouse was many times urged by the Lord to receive the sacrament.

11. Here are set down some words which the soul of the spouse cried out loudly in receiving the sacrament.

12. Of the thirty-seven simple sensations received in the sacrament of the Eucharist.

13. Of the complex sensations of the Eucharist.

14–26. The second complex manner of coming, the third, etc., up to the fourteenth complex manner of coming.

27. Of the giving of thanks and of some words arising in the soul of the spouse, when the union of Christ and the soul had been consummated.

Here ends treatise III, of the sacrament of the Eucharist.

TREATISE IV. Of contemplation.

Chapter 1. That the venerable lady Dorothea was duly prepared for the contemplative life by the grace of God.

2. It is shown by what signs a man is known to be in the contemplative life.

3. A contemplative man ought to have as it were all the degrees of charity.

4. That a contemplative man ought to have the VII gifts of the Holy Spirit.

5. A contemplative man ought to be rich in spiritual things, released from all exterior occupation and care, and ready to die.

6. That the contemplative life is full of actions.

7. That a contemplative man ought to be spiritually fruitful.

Here ends treatise IV, of the contemplative life.

TREATISE V. Of rapture.

Chapter 1. It is shown what rapture is; a description, and how the division of the spirit from the soul takes place.

2. Of the things which preceded the rapture of the spouse.

3. What things accompanied the rapture of the spouse.

4. What things followed the rapture of the spouse.

Here ends the treatise on rapture.

TREATISE VI. Of the perfection of the Christian life.

Chapter 1. The perfection of the Christian life consists in the perfection of charity.

2. Seven teachings are given, by which a man is directed to the perfection of life instrumentally and dispositively.

3. By three sisters unequally confident it is confidently shown that great confidence is to be had in the Lord.

Chapter 4. Of three things which hinder perfection, and some good things which are in perfection.

5. Of seven things which mark and follow perfection.

6. That many religious fail in progress and in singular perfection.

7. A very useful teaching is given to religious about doing more than their order requires.

8. Of four kinds of men, of which the fourth is that of the perfect.

9. Of four states of men, of which the fourth is that of the perfect.

10. Of the imperfection of priests and their slight fruit in preaching the word of God.

11. The Lord many times showed the spouse the incontinence and manifold fault of priests.

TREATISE VII. Of confession.

Chapter 1. The lively soul of the spouse felt with sorrow the wounds of her sins.

2. The circumstances of a due confession were present in the confession of the spouse.

3. Here some conjectures are given, from which it is known that someone truly repents.

4. How in confession they ought to show themselves toward penitents.

5. Of the rebuking of a confessor and of a woman who overlay her son.

6. That the spouse was both instructed and ordered by the Lord to confess her own sins.

There follow in the Vienna Codex the Confessions of Bl. Dorothea left in … German: whose titles we have expressed in Latin.

In the following passages of the Septililium, which we publish from the Vienna codex (V), some things have been changed or added according to the Danzig codex (D).

Prologue, chapter I… Although in the matter of charity detraction, which belongs not to love but to hatred, rightly has no place, being contrary and repugnant to it, and although I nevertheless quite fear that the judgments of jealousies and contradictions will rise up against me and against what is to be said, yet I cannot on that account recoil from the conception of so delightful a matter and from the work thus enjoined on me… And since there are many ways of attacking writings and sayings, two are for the present more suspect to me: one, if the history of the deed be attacked, namely that it be said not to rest on truth; the other concerns the solidity of the matter, namely that it be said that this matter is not consonant with sacred Scripture or supported by reason… As to the first … because I am in some way certain that, apart from three persons, no one knows anything from the venerable lady Dorothea of this matter of charity, of the mission of the Holy Spirit, of the Eucharist, of rapture and of wounding, without a special divine revelation or the report of one of the said persons, at least in origin, I therefore believe … that anyone apart from the aforesaid three persons who wishes assertively to contradict me, in asserting what is uncertain, not to say false, puts himself without any necessity in danger of lying.

[2] Whose faithful narrative is rightly called the Septililium. Prologue, chapter III. The intention of the writer, the order of the book, and the imposition of its name are shown. Lastly, about some of the degrees of charity written below more has been expressed by the Lord God and his spouse than about certain others, and about some scarcely the name and some declaration of it. Let no one therefore wonder if much has been said of one and little of another. And if concerning any of the degrees, whichever it be, I shall set down something beyond the sayings of the Lord God or of his spouse, which from other things said or done by the spouse, or from the Scriptures or from reason, shall seem to me to be pertinent, let no one believe that I wish to assert that it was so done; for the Lord worked so wonderfully also with this his spouse, that beyond what was expressed by the Lord and his spouse I do not dare, nor wish, nor ought to intrude myself into defining the ways of the divine works. But when I shall say any such things, I understand, and desire it to be understood by others, that it could have been done thus without prejudice to the truth. This I do, not as distrusting the truth of any of the things to be said, but only, as has been touched on before, to stop the mouths of those who might perhaps try to reprove these deeds or sayings as less consonant with reason or sacred Scripture, and also that to the devotion of pious minds who may wish to be edified there may be given more copious matter for meditation, security, and confidence. Finally it must be known that the seven treatises here placed in their order, of which the first is of charity, the second of the mission of the Holy Spirit, the third of the sensations of the Eucharist, the fourth of contemplation, the fifth of rapture or the elevation of the soul above itself, the sixth of the perfection of the Christian life, the seventh of confession, constitute one book, which I name Septililium, because in it are expressed seven very fragrant and lovely graces eminently granted to the venerable lady Dorothea, which are suitably designated by the threefold interior virtue and fourfold exterior disposition of the lily. For the lily interiorly has a threefold virtue, namely softening the hardness of the spleen, repressing sorrow, and mitigating pain ; and exteriorly it has a most straight stem, a most beautiful color, a most lovely flower, and a most pleasing odor. So the Septililium, the present little work, softens the hardness of the heart through charity, of which the first treatise treats; represses the sorrow of the mind through the consolation of the Holy Spirit, of which the second treats; mitigates the pain of the soul through the reception of the Eucharist, of which the third treats; offers the spirit a most straight ascent through contemplation, of which the fourth treats; gives the face a most beautiful color after the rapture of the soul and its return to itself from the region of light, of which the fifth treats; adorning the conscience, makes it flower * most beautifully through the perfection of human life, of which the sixth treats; and causes a most pleasing odor in the soul, preserving its purity through the frequent confession even of small sins, of which the seventh treatise treats. And this is put in the last place because through the entire and naked confession of all sins, made daily or almost daily with great diligence from immense charity, purity of conscience and perfection of Christian life are acquired and preserved.

[3] Bl. Dorothea is wounded by Christ, Treatise I, chapter X. Of wounding charity. Wounding charity wounded the soul and heart of this spouse for many years vehemently and in various ways, now with darts, now with greater arrows, now with very great lances. A dart in this context is a small weapon in the manner of a spike or small lance; an arrow, although the name is common, is to be taken here for a javelin or missile weapon, which is sharp in front and afterwards extends in breadth on both sides, and which, when it has been fixed in, cannot be drawn out except with great hurt or rupture; a lance is a long spear. And the vernacular names of these three are pfeyel, stroel und sper dart, arrow, and spear. Indeed her affection, pierced through by these instruments of love, could neither restrain within itself nor hide its burnings; but the hidden wound came out in public through various effects shown exteriorly in her. These were anxiety of spirit, abundant sweats and weeping, great sobs and deep groans, high and long sighs drawn from the depths. For from the wounding she was sometimes so powerfully hurt that she had no power over her heart or her strength. Hence sometimes, when she stood and was wounded, she had at once to sit down; sometimes when wounded she could walk, but with great difficulty and hurt of heart (this she felt as often as she placed one foot before the other); sometimes she could scarcely move, when she sat or lay in the same place; sometimes, wishing to help her wounded heart, she pressed her breast with her arms and knees; sometimes she could not pray with the mouth and could scarcely draw breath; sometimes giddiness touched her head, as often as the Lord sent in a new dart of love (and this sometimes lasted for four hours); sometimes, vehemently afflicted by the sending in of a javelin in the heart and sometimes in another part of the body, such as the shoulder, arm, brain, or head, she moved herself swiftly upward; sometimes she thrust her hand impetuously to the place of pain, testing whether there was a bodily wound in that part because of the vehemence of the pain; sometimes from the excessive pain of the wounds she could not keep her hand against her body, but had to put it down quickly; sometimes various darts as great as they were long were sent into her flesh, which, although they were spiritual, were yet bodily afflicting, pricking so bitterly that she pressed herself together and bent herself over for

pain; sometimes from the interior wounding she became strongly pale and livid in her face.

The foregoing and similar things appearing from without disclosed the interior wounds of her love. Again, from within she felt more efficacious effects of the wounding. For she sensibly perceived her heart to be wounded now by one dart or arrow of love, now by two, three, four, or more, now to be filled on every side by arrows crossing one another, now by arrows impetuously driving one another: for arrow drove arrow, that it might enter more deeply. From such sendings in of arrows she felt her heart strongly as it were nailed, sometimes to the back, sometimes to the ribs, and sometimes to the breast. Sometimes, gravely wounded, when she drew deep sighs, she was so bitterly afflicted as if a cleaving point went out from her heart through the sigh sent forth and came back through the air breathed in. In these things her heart sometimes ached strongly, all her powers were strained, her heart was torn , and she sometimes seemed to herself to approach death itself. The afflictions already written, interior and exterior, varied according to more and less for different times, in each of which there was something of joy and consolation. For although she was long held by the Lord in affliction of body or spirit, this was nevertheless never without notable consolation; whence it is written in Psalm 33 (34), 19: The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a troubled heart.

[4] whom she in turn wounds. Moreover in such woundings of the soul, burning greatly, she was accustomed to have desire, now for eternal life, now for the sacrament, and especially for the Lord, the physician of the soul, as a man bodily wounded fervently desires a physician who knows how to cure his wounds… Likewise in such piercings of the soul with arrows the heart was often dilated and enlarged; then sweetness flowed out above, and below, through the places of the arrows penetrating the heart, sweetness also dripped. From such things, namely from the flowing and dripping of sweetness into the body, it was sometimes wholly filled with sweetness, sometimes only half filled, and sometimes the dripping of sweetness took place only through the places of the arrows penetrating the heart below. Further, when she felt such sweetness go out, she then shed sweet tears through the eyes… Finally it must be known that this spouse, by her charity and by fervent and sharp desires ascending on high, wounded even the spouse Jesus; and these she directed at him as subtle and strongly penetrating darts. He said to her sometimes, after he had wounded her as it were mortally: "You have shot me with an arrow, and I have touched you, and again do you direct your arrow at me; for I shall gladly receive it, and I shall send an arrow into you so many times that I shall touch you still." After this her heart was many times filled with delightful arrows sweetly moving themselves and sometimes also bitterly afflicting it. Indeed this manner of wounding, by which the spouse is wounded by the bride, is consonant with Scripture, which says in Canticles I: The sons of my mother have fought against me; and again in Canticles IIII: Thou hast wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse, with one of thy eyes. Expounding which blessed Bernard, on the Canticles, says: The devout soul has two eyes, one of knowledge, the other of love; God is seen by both, but by the right eye he is seen and * wounded; for where the understanding is darkened, love penetrates, and where the understanding is repelled, love is admitted; for we are forbidden to know more than is fitting, but we are commanded to love more than we can.

[5] She weeps for the sins of men. Treatise II, chapter XV. Why she was to know the sins of men, for love of the Lord and knowledge of him, to guard the more anxiously against offense * to him. Again, enlightened many times, she had to travel in spirit through various provinces and kingdoms and places far distant, and to bewail the sins she saw. Often also the Lord showed her in the world the state and life of great men, full of sins, reproving those living unworthily in dignities. So he often showed her how badly things stand among priests and laity and in all Christendom. In each of these she saw various evils. For by the divine illumination their hearts were transparent to her, and she knew in them what was to be loved, and what to be detested, and what to be bewailed. Hence she had often to weep long and abundantly, to travel through the world and sprinkle it with her tears, and to pray the Lord that he take away every defect of the world. Moreover … she would gladly have been intent on heavenly and pure prayers, and nevertheless the evils of the world and of men were brought more distinctly to her knowledge …

* in the codex cap. 1, cap. 2, etc., is written after the title.

* the codex perhaps spirituali

* ut V.

* omitted in V., added from D.

* et d. m. omitted in V., added from D.

* florem D.

* dextra V, D.

* scissure V, D.

* v. e. omitted in V., added from D.

* offensivam D.

APPARITIONS OF THE VENERABLE LADY DOROTHEA.

Chapter 1. How the Lady Dorothea was disposed when the revelation of the Lord's Annunciation was made to her in the last year but one of her life.

2. The house of the Virgin in Nazareth.

3. How the Virgin Mary was disposed when she was greeted by the angel.

4. Of the disposition of the Virgin Mary after the conception and of her dignity.

5. Things shown to the spouse some time earlier, now more distinctly explained.

6. How the spouse was favored on the day of the Virgin Mary's Annunciation of the Lord.

7. Another revelation made to the spouse in the last year while she led her life among men.

8. The spouse, anxiously preparing herself for the feast of the Lord's Nativity, saw many preparing for this feast in worldly fashion, but none perfectly in spiritual fashion.

9. By visions of the Lord's Annunciation the spouse's desires were more kindled, that she might prepare herself for the coming feasts of the Lord's Nativity.

10. The Lord showed the spouse that he was coming magnificently, humbling her deeply and disposing her better for this feast.

11. The Lord showed the greatness of his coming * by a special magnificent vision.

12. The boy Jesus, most delicate, was shown to her in a vision, who, being born, at once worked miracles and caressed her with very beautiful words *.

13. Of the Lord's beneficence communicated to the spouse on the vigil of the Lord's Nativity in the last year but one.

Chapter 14. Of the vision which she had in the night.

15. In how great jubilation she was during the day of the Lord's Nativity in the aforesaid year.

16. Of the benefit and caressing of the Virgin Mary on the vigil of the Lord's Nativity in the spouse's last year.

17. How in the last year she saw in the night the spouse solemnly coming.

18. Of her hunger in the same night for the sacrament of the Eucharist.

19. Of the play of Jesus and of the mother delightfully merry with her son in childbed.

20. In the spouse's last year but one she held in rapture a most beautiful boy, tasted precious food, poured out abundant sweat from the ardor of love, having ineffably great jubilation.

21. Of the New Year's gift, and of the boy's circumcision and suckling.

22. How the boy Jesus was bathed, how wrapped in cloths, and how bound.

23. For what cause the infancy of Christ was shown manifoldly to the spouse, and Mary promised to bring her son wrapped to those who desire him.

24. How on the eve of the Epiphany she was to prepare herself, and how eagerly to seek the Lord with desire and labor.

25. The greatness of the Kings, their perseverance, the spouse's confluence with the Lord, and the appearance of Jesus in various stature.

26. The spouse from limpid illumination saw herself transparently, the splendid faces of the son Jesus and of the mother, the Lord and the Kings very rich and very powerful.

27. Of the most beautiful image of Jesus, his various appearance, and of the spouse's imperfection in sevenfold virtue.

28. (The title of this chapter is lacking in the codex; in it are mentioned benefits obtained within the octave of the Epiphany.)

29. The Virgin Mother, frequently appearing to the spouse, kindly received those whom she commended to her.

30. The spouse was in great affliction, first because she could not satisfactorily dispose herself for the feast of the Purification *, and then because she also feared that the departure of the Virgin Mary was shortly impending for her.

31. That a large outpouring of tears is a spiritual bath and a good disposition for a feast.

32. * Of the hidden coming of Mary with her son and of the magnificent enriching of the spouse.

33. * The Mother of God appeared in such a way as when she carried her most beloved son to the temple.

34. The Lord, reproaching the spouse with some things done at carnival, conferred great benefits on her.

35. That the spouse and others might pray that evil things not be done, he showed her horrible sins which men were proposing to do.

36. Some were repelled from entrance into heaven because of the levities of carnival.

37. In her last carnival but one, in order not to see the evil things that were being done, she covered her eyes in vain.

Chapter 38. The Lord desires to be asked for sinners, that they may not perish.

39. Of a magnificent benefit done for the spouse on the Tuesday.

40. Of the spouse's last carnival.

41. On this Tuesday of carnival she was favored more excellently than on any other day of carnival.

42. How in the time of Lent the Lord was seen to invite the sinner to penance.

43. How the soul is to be brought up and prepared for the Lord.

44. On Palm Sunday the spouse had sadness because of the lack of spiritual goods.

45. Of a certain wounding of body and soul, its act and likewise its fruit.

46. That the Passion of the Lord ought to be wept over for many days, and what kind of things one ought to meditate through this week.

47. That Christ is sold by sins.

48. The works of the Lord done at the supper are to be committed to memory.

49. The spouse could not for joy feel compassion with the Lord, although she saw him in manifold martyrdom.

50. That she languished from charity.

51. She grieved to the bowels that she could not weep compassionately.

52. (Lacking in the codex.)

53. Of the spouse's great compassion on Good Friday, the vision of the sacrament, and her own cross.

54. That the most lovable heart * of Christ was not wounded by the lance.

55. The Lord Jesus willed that the memory of compassion be perpetually impressed on the spouse.

56. Those three entreaties are to be said in memory of the Lord's Passion.

57. On the vigil of Easter and before, benefits of the resurrection were granted to the spouse, and once the hour of the resurrection was lost.

58. Of the feast of Easter.

59. Of an excellently great benefit granted to her at the last feast of Easter.

60. Of the lifting * of the boy, of a grave burden, and of a spiritual wounding.

61. That a multitude of images of the holy cross pressed around her, and that the Lord forgave her all her sins.

62. Christ, showing the spouse the weapons of his Passion, said that they * were worthy of great veneration.

63. How at the feast of the Ascension she was filled with joy and reproved by the Lord. Reproof.

64. And in the last year but one, on the vigil of this feast, the Lord showed himself very friendly to this spouse at supper.

65. On the day of the Ascension the spouse saw how the mother of the Lord was disposed with the disciples when the Lord ascended to the heavens. The Lord also revealed to the spouse what the disciples said to the mother of the Lord after the ascension, and what the disciples said to one another during the nine days following.

Chapter 66. There were shown to the spouse the Passion of Christ, the evils that were then being done in the world, the cry of the souls in purgatory, and the joys in heaven.

67. Of the last vigil of the Ascension.

68. Of the last feast of the Lord's Ascension.

69. Of the threefold difference of messengers for the Holy Spirit, and of the preparation necessary for the Holy Spirit.

70. What gifts he conferred on her on the vigil of Pentecost.

71. At the last feast of Pentecost but one she was wonderfully changed for the better, was reproved for a small thing, and was manifoldly consoled.

72. On the last vigil of Pentecost she had various actions in herself.

73. How wonderfully she was consoled at the last feast * of Pentecost.

74. How on the Monday she was enriched, because she was spiritually lanced.

75. How on the Tuesday she had intense desires, being drawn upward by the Lord and gravely afflicted.

76. She was permitted to express nothing special about the most holy Trinity.

77. Great benefits of God to the spouse at the feast of the Trinity and its vigil, several times over, are here briefly touched on.

78. Of the last two feasts of Corpus Christi only some good things are here written.

79. Of the eve of the Lord's Transfiguration, the spouse's wound and joy.

80. At the feast of the Lord's Transfiguration a benefit of consolation ineffably magnificent was divinely granted to her.

81. The spouse is admonished to dispose * herself for the feast of the Assumption of Mary.

82. On the vigil of the Assumption the Lord revealed secrets to the spouse and reproved the confessor.

83. On the last vigil of the Assumption she languished from love, and the Lord magnificently gladdened her.

84. Here some things not heard before are narrated summarily.

85. How in preparing for feasts she was helped by the Lord.

86. Of the feast of the Nativity of the most exalted Mother of God.

87. At the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, the Holy Spirit was sent to her seven times.

88. On the day of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary he sent her the Holy Spirit seven times, made a very great banquet in her soul, and showed her the merit of victory.

89. In her own as if * within the octave the Lord had done for her, and that in one day the Holy Spirit had been sent to her nine times.

90. On the day of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary she saw the most blessed virgin led into the temple, and the magnificent coming of her spouse to her.

91. How by a confession made to the Lord she was prepared for the festivity of the Conception of the gracious Virgin, how fervently she was kindled on the feast day, and how wonderfully consoled.

Chapter 92. It is shown that the Lord is beneficent to all who celebrate the feast of the Conception of the most worthy Virgin.

93. The mother of the Lord gladly heard the spouse's prayers, and promised her that she would be wholly friendly.

94. Of the intense desire for the sacrament held at the Dedication of the church.

95. How two priests were raised from the ground by angels.

96. At the feast of the Dedication of the church he sent her the Holy Spirit eight times and gave a fairing.

97. Some things commonly granted to the spouse at each of the feasts are enumerated.

98. Of the feast of St. Nicholas.

99. Of the feast of St. Lucy, virgin.

100. Summarily of the feasts of Saints Thomas and Stephen the protomartyr.

101. Of the feast of St. John the evangelist and of a very magnificent banquet.

102. At the feast of the Innocents she specially knew the sins of some persons.

103. Of the feast of the conversion of St. Paul, on which she was hindered from contemplating the secrets of heaven to be narrated.

104. What was given her to do at the feast of St. Dorothea, virgin. Likewise of the same feast of St. Dorothea, virgin *.

105. Of St. Valentine.

106. She was consoled by St. Matthias, and at his feast was wounded in a delightful manner.

107. Of the purity of St. John and of sobbing weeping continued for five hours.

108. At the feast of the ten thousand martyrs the Lord taught her to bestow the aid of prayer on various persons.

109. At the feast of the division of the holy apostles he sent her the Holy Spirit seven times.

110. Of blessed Mary Magdalene, that she was not a public harlot.

111. At the feast of St. Mary Magdalene the Lord sent the spouse the Holy Spirit five times, and abundantly granted her the tears of Mary Magdalene.

112. Of the feast of St. James, his chosen apostle.

113. At the feast of St. Bartholomew it was said to her by the Lord that she never had a day, not even a single one, of bodily solace.

114. At the feast of St. Augustine, the eminent doctor, she frequently received more abundant gifts of God.

115. Let the service of the Lord have the fellowship of the angels.

116. At the feast of St. Michael the archangel there was a magnificent appearance as well as consolation to the spouse.

117. St. Francis with the stigmata of Christ was shown to the spouse.

118. Of St. Luke the evangelist.

119. At the feast of the eleven thousand virgins she had an intense desire to suffer martyrdom.

120. Of Saints Simon and Jude, apostles.

121. At the feast of All Saints, seeing their joy, she had a great desire to be with them.

Chapter 122. It shows that she was solicitous to procure aid for souls. But this office, although it is fruitful, yet belongs to few men.

123. By what kinds of actions her zeal for souls was promoted.

124. A vision of some souls now happily blessed.

125. How a certain soul, alas! damned, was shown to the spouse.

126. The torment of the aforesaid soul G. was renewed many times, that its damnation might be more certain.

127. Of St. Martin, at whose feast she was instructed in many things by the Lord.

128. Through the feast of St. Elizabeth the Lord gave this spouse great solace, showing himself to her many times.

129. Of the feast of St. Catherine, and of the spouse's love.

130. Of the spouse's being brought into the chamber, of admirable beneficence and consolation at the last feast of the holy virgin Catherine.

Bl. Dorothea sees St. Birgitta. Chapter LXXX. At the feast of the Lord's Transfiguration a benefit of consolation ineffably magnificent was divinely granted to her. At the fourth hour after midnight, when she had returned to herself, the Lord sent her the Holy Spirit with untiring charity. From this her heart, which was still wounded, was healed and filled with joy, and she, exhilarated in spirit, prayed readily; she caressed, she supplicated, and a long time seemed short to her. When toward the end of her prayers she was anxious what she should do when her prayers were completed, the Lord sent her the Holy Spirit with fervently burning charity. From this the saint, inflamed in spirit, wept abundantly; filled with joy and sweetness, limpidly enlightened, she saw the Lord appearing to her in friendly fashion, as he had done on the preceding day, with his heart and side opened. He said to her: "From the setting of the sun of yesterday I have sent you the Holy Spirit three times, to wound and kindle you, that you might in return shoot the arrows of love into me. Indeed I receive as gladly your sending your arrows into me as you gladly receive my shooting mine into you *. For I have shown you my side opened and my heart laid wide for this reason, that henceforth it may be easily known to you where you can find my heart and wound it with the points of love. Now shoot with the arrow of love arrows into me, drawing me and seizing me to you; for I receive as gladly your drawing and seizing me as you gladly receive my seizures and drawings. Moreover, with the lady Birgitta, while she lived here on earth, I was in such agreement of will with her that the arrows of love were shot into her by me, and in equal manner arrows of love were sent by her into me." But the saint, hearing this, vehemently desired to know whether there were still men on earth with whom the Lord so united himself as with St. Birgitta, that he should frequently wound them by shooting. Then the most kind Lord, condescending to her desire, permitted her, divinely enlightened, to range in spirit far and wide over the earth, that she might seek whether she could find such a man anywhere. When she had diligently sought and found no one, St. Birgitta appeared to her with a beautiful and grave face and with wonderful friendliness, not as a mortal man, but as deiform, that is, more like to God than to man. In her presence she showed herself so friendly, as if out of friendship she wished to take her into her delicate arms; and smiling beautifully on her with a gentle countenance she disappeared. When this was done, the Lord at once pierced the saint's heart through with arrows. This he did so powerfully that she could no longer consider St. Birgitta, but contemplated her Lord in his goodness… Then, having received the sacrament with great gifts, she cried aloud: "Open the heart most quickly: for I rejoice very intensely…" When this cry was ended, .. she said that she had perceived by smell and taste the noble and wonderful odor and savor of that salutary food. On the morrow of this feast, the sacrament having been received, the Lord among other things said to her: "When you come to eternal life, you will be made into a magnificent saint."

[2] She is wonderfully taught concerning the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Chapter XCII. It is shown that the Lord is beneficent to all who celebrate the feast of the Conception of the most worthy Virgin. At the last feast of the Conception of the most worthy Virgin Mary she had more limpid revelations and sweeter consolations. Whence about first vigils the most beautiful Virgin, the most worthy mother of the Lord, with an immense army of saints appeared to her in eternal life; all of whom burned fervently and, unspeakably * adorned, appeared in great glory. From which vision the saint was inflamed with divine charity, magnificently enlightened, contentingly inebriated, and filled with ineffable joy the whole day. But at night, returning from the first rapture, her body and soul were melted by so great a sweetness of delights that they became as fluid as if they were one melted mass flowing down, and she for the tenderness of the delights had power over neither her body nor her soul; but again most swiftly rapt into one heavenly mansion of the saints, she received from a certain fervently burning saint a revelation of this feast of the Virgin, which she was to narrate on earth. The Lord also sent her to the lord bishop of Pomesania, who desired that a revelation be revealed to him. And the saint, coming to him in an imaginary vision, asked him to write a letter of consolation for many men; and he, after he had begun to write, in the saint's estimation then wrote a more delightful writing than ever. But she, called back from the region of light, returned to herself fervent with joys and full of spiritual goods; and while she watchfully completed the accustomed prayers of the spirit, the Lord Jesus, Mary his mother, and a certain other saint, fervently burning, surrounding her, kindled her so fervently that she seemed to herself about to be consumed by the excessive ardor; for she became so fiery, as if with a burning coal

she were fervently surrounded on every side. Hence an abundant sweat burst from her whole body, and she in a shower of tears cried to the Lord that he be merciful to her and give her aid. And behold the merciful Lord Jesus and his most kind mother, who were kindling her; and both began to reveal to her some things which follow, the Lord beginning first, who said: "This is in truth known to have been done and not feigned by any lie; for there was a certain priest who every night was accustomed to say the hours of my mother." And then Mary, the mother of the Lord, added: "That priest gladly and reverently served me in praying; yet this priest had a mistress across a certain river, to whom he was accustomed to come by boat across the river in the silence of the dead of night. Now it happened one night, namely on the night of the feast of my Conception, that he was there with her whom he loved, not knowing that this day was the day of my Conception; and when he was leaving, and saw the dawn approaching, entering the little boat in haste, he remembered that he had not yet paid me the accustomed service of prayer. He began therefore with great service of devotion to chant the office and to recite the psalms of my hours." Thus far the words of the mother of the Lord, to which the Lord joined others, saying: "While he was thus reading the hours of my mother, I permitted the little boat to be overturned; and he, falling into the water, was submerged and died." The mother added, saying: "When the priest had been overthrown, the malignant spirits came and intruded themselves concerning his soul. But I, quickly helping him, said to them: This drowned man is not yours, but mine; for you have not seized him in your service but in mine; therefore you must let that soul go free to me. Taking it at once, I restored it to the body, and led both, namely body and soul, out of the water of the river, commanding him that henceforth he serve my son and me more faithfully than he had done before, and that he go to the bishop of that place, enjoining him on my behalf to appoint this day as solemn in memory of my Conception, for keeping its celebration with that solemnity and reverence with which my other feasts are kept. And he, coming to the bishop, made known to him the aforesaid things; and the bishop, obeying my commands, instituted this solemn day, and ended his life with a good end. And the priest told everyone the benefit done to him. Withdrawing into a desert place, living chastely and holily and taking up the hermit's life, he celebrated this day most devoutly as long as he lived. Therefore he now possesses in heaven great rewards that will endure eternally." Moreover the aforesaid priest, while the Lord and his mother were revealing the foregoing to the spouse, stood beside the Virgin Mother, and thereupon said to the spouse: "I am that saint who this night appeared to you in friendly fashion in eternal life, having in it joys ineffably great, because I served the most worthy mother of the Lord Jesus Christ and revealed to the bishop that this day was to be celebrated ." Again the Lord said to the saint: "Say securely: Although my soul apprehended these things in eternal life, nevertheless the Lord and his most holy mother repeated them to me anew."

[3] which she thinks was not immaculate. And the Lord added: "My most sweet mother was conceived in original sin." And to this same thing the mother of the Lord at once testified, saying: "I was conceived in original sin." Further, this truth, namely that the Virgin was conceived in original sin, the Lord together with his mother revealed to the saint twice on the same day, but in the immediately preceding year he had revealed it to her only once. And this opinion is more consonant with authentic Scripture and the sayings of the doctors, namely Bernard in the letter to the people of Lyons and Thomas Aquinas, who, like Alexander of Hales and Bonaventure, assert and show from the Scriptures that the most holy Virgin was conceived in original sin at the time when the man, not the seed, is conceived; because, when the seed is conceived, guilt is not contracted by the seminal mass nor is grace infused into it; for grace and guilt are only in a rational creature, which the aforesaid seminal mass is not; but when the soul is created and in being created is infused into the organized body, then the man is said to be conceived, and original sin is contracted from the morbid infection which is in the aforesaid matter or mass of the seed. When therefore in the womb of St. Anne the soul of Mary was united to the body, it was at once infected and then conceived in original sin; from which it was most swiftly cleansed by grace and sanctified in the womb. This is the opinion of the doctors, whose assertions, proofs, and definitions let whoever wishes see in their writings: St. Thomas on the 3rd book of the Sentences and in the 3rd part of his Summa, question XLV, article 2; Alexander also in the 3rd part of his Summa; Bonaventure on the 3rd distinction of the third book of the Sentences. Other allegations I omit, lest I weary the reader. After the foregoing things had been revealed the Lord said: "Today you are to have great joys with my most beloved mother; and confessing, declare yourself guilty, that from your youth you have not made much of this day, nor honored it according to your power as solemnly celebrated. You therefore from now on with your P. C. must revere it more magnificently than you have ever done; let them also extol it with worthy proclamations, preaching more studiously than they have ever done before, and they will obtain from me a great glory perpetually. Finally the bishop of Pomesania ought to establish by precept in his diocese that this day be kept festively by the whole people, and with solemnity like that with which the other feasts of my mother are kept; and he himself ought to celebrate it venerably: and if he does this, nothing will harm him, and it will go well. Remember that this night in rapture I sent you to him, who desired that some revelation concerning me be said to him through you. And this revelation written by you through the C. is a new letter and a beautiful writing, which will be of consolation to many men, which your C. wrote this night." … And the spouse, saddened that she had not always duly celebrated this feast, was strongly drawn by the Lord to exalt this day to a festivity equal to the other feasts of the Virgin… And the Lord said to her… "Remember how great a bodily good I did you fourteen years ago on this day, and this miracle indeed is written for you in the book of the Life, in chapter XXIV ." And the saint, recognizing that she had in truth received various benefits from the Virgin, gave thanks, and remained all day rejoicing in the Lord…

[4] She sees the soul (of Conrad of Wallenrode) Chapter CXXV. How a certain soul, alas! damned, was shown to her. The horribly deformed soul of a certain great prince G., after its release from the body, was shown to the saint in fervently burning prayer, and while the fire of the Holy Spirit was inflaming her, who had then been sent to her with great fervently burning charity. By whose efficacy she burned so fervently and wept so strongly, that she felt nothing with the exterior senses. Indeed the vision of the aforesaid soul came about in this manner to the spouse, disposed as has been stated above, in the reclusorium. Five princes of the demons came in most hideous form, leading among them the soul of the said prince G. They stopped for a little before the saint in the reclusorium, and showed her the soul, that she might know who it was, how it was disposed, and what it endured. When this was done, they went away in haste with the soul as if exulting, as those exult who, having taken their prey, divide the spoils. Now that soul was great and deformed, burning as fire and like the demons. And then the Lord said to the saint: "Weeping strongly, now make manifest the death of this soul, of whose separation from the body you had foreknowledge, by my revealing it to you, ten days before it occurred; which yet I did not permit you to foretell." Hearing this, she thought: What do I know of whither it went or where it has remained? What then shall I be able to report of that soul? To her so thinking the Lord answered: "Say to your confessor: I anxiously fear that the soul of G. is in hell, and is like the malignant spirits; concerning which it seems to me that there is greater exultation in hell than in heaven." And the Lord added: "This G. never hungered or thirsted for me, nor ever wished to love me; how then could he love truth and justice? For I am truth and justice. Say therefore, weeping and abundantly: Lord Jesus Christ, help me, that I may always hunger and thirst for you." When this had been said, the Lord made a very magnificent banquet in the soul of the saint. Hence she was so greatly gladdened, having an intense burning of love, that in her tears and lament ceased, and he said: "I have many times warned you and your sons: still guard yourselves cautiously. For the most just are saved with difficulty; how then are others to enter into perpetual life? I also, if I had not sent you my Holy Spirit and had not well governed you, you could not have endured this vision of demons." After this vision, on the following day, when she wished to tell that vision to her C. for writing, the Lord, sending her the Holy Spirit with fervently burning charity, said: "Make great weeping, because those who are in eternal life have no solace from the soul of G., but those in hell carry on their sport with it." Hearing this the saint understood that it was grievous and lamentable to the Lord and his saints that he had thus lost the soul of G. Hence the saint, mourning, lamented and, bathed in tears, rising from the dictation, confessed with immense groaning and wailing. When confession had been made, the Lord, sending her the Holy Spirit with wounding charity, said: "I would not permit the soul of G. to appear before you at once when it was being separated from the body, because of the innumerable multitude of demons, who, seizing it, made a roaring and clamor very horrible and intolerable to you; nor could you live long if you saw the devil in his proper form. But after the said soul had been handed over into the power of the highest princes of the demons, then they came with it to you, and this was done by my permission. You also will conclude your last day in such a manner as was revealed to you by me long ago. For you will not die from bodily sickness, but from the languor of love with good discretion."

[5] tormented in hell. Chapter CXXVI. The torment of the aforesaid soul G. was renewed many times, that its damnation might be more certain. After many weeks had elapsed after this, the soul of G. was again by the divine will brought into the presence of the saint. Like an Ethiopian, and blackened blacker than coal, bound hand and foot, it lay on its back buried in unquenchable fire.

For the fire was for a little while moved away from some part of it by the ministry of the demons, that the disposition of the soul and its color might be seen: everywhere there was blackness and deformity in the soul, and this was exceedingly horrible. After some part laid bare of the fire had been looked at by the spouse, the demons at once covered it with fire, who, standing by in great multitude on both sides of the soul, most diligently stirred up the coals, having in their hands tongs, rakes, and tridents, properly gabelen, krapen, kroyele forks, hooks, and rakes, with which they managed the fire and tormented the unhappy soul; from which they did not turn away for a moment, supplying fiery coals beneath and above the soul. Truly the torments of its soul were so grave, terrible, and cruel, and the aspect of the malignant spirits so horrible, that from the vision the spouse's spirit too shuddered, and being terrified was greatly stupefied. Thinking within herself about this vision, she did not for a long time dare to tell it. To her the Lord said: "Do not fear that you look upon malignant spirits, but rather rejoice that they cannot harm you, whereas you can inflict harm on them, and they must blush before you and flee from your face. Further, of the pains of the soul of G. you ought to speak magnificently. Behold how G. blackened his soul, which is blacker than the demons. It must also endure a greater punishment than a malignant spirit, because it is tormented by those whom it cannot torment in return. This also increases its torment, that it cannot be killed or consumed by the burning of the fire, from which yet it can never be freed; likewise that its blackness cannot be burned away or purged by fire, nor can its debt ever be paid; likewise that it cannot desire any good, have knowledge of any good, nor in any way possess power over its body. This is the reason that I permit it to be regarded by so immense a burning of fire, and so bitter a torment, that it does not know whether there is anything good anywhere. And this has happened to it for this cause, that while it lived, not caring for my good, it wished to be full of evil. Therefore the soul must now always be filled with evil. Beware: if it could come to the knowledge of any good, and have power over its throat and neck, it would strongly curse and blaspheme me. This it would do with such excess of malice that for this the world would not undeservedly perish. It would also lay the whole cause of its damnation on me, and blaming me would say: Why did you create me? Why did you not preserve me from sins, and why did you not permit me to die young? And it would say many other things of this kind, if it had incurred lesser evils and had more remiss torments." Again the Lord added: "The soul of G. had so fervent a desire to do evil, that if it could do evil and give effect to its wicked will, as it would gladly wish to fulfill, it would seem to it in its blindness that it was not tormented so bitterly. It seems to it also to be for the increase of its punishment that it cannot break out into words of reproach, blasphemy, and vituperation, nor afflict souls with the demons, nor moreover vex living men. Behold how wicked is its will, which immediately, when it was separated from the body, was so assimilated to the demons, that the demons themselves dared without trembling to intrude themselves into it without judgment, nor do I feel that prayers are made efficacious for it. Indeed, if a prayer were made efficacious, what would it profit? For what would it help a malignant spirit if a very great aid of prayer were made for him?" Further the Lord said to the saint: "Say to your C.: The soul of G. is blinded, deaf, and dumb, it cannot taste, nor smell, nor walk, nor stand. For all its senses are bound and barred both for knowing and for apprehending good, nor because of their closure has it any power over them; because it first closed them voluntarily as regards spiritual good, therefore they must now remain closed eternally as regards good. What does its greatness now profit it, that it had lordship over others, which was taken away from it by me before it died? You also saw, while he was still alive, that he had been a malignant spirit's, went mad, and burned within by himself, not knowing how it was with him, for he burned excessively; his heart was greatly scorched and stifled by the burning. Now that miserable soul has only a place of fire, whose roof is a fiery coal. And what are its food and drink but copious fire? Nor at present, after the taking away of its dominion, could it have one draught of water, to have cooled its own; (as if to say, if it could not have this then, much less will it be able not to obtain it)… Say: Jesus Christ, son of the living God, if you wish to be asked for the soul of G., then have mercy on it!" And the Lord added: "You may well weep strongly, having great compassion with me, because I have so miserably lost this soul, which I bought with my precious blood. Therefore say, weeping abundantly: Jesus Christ, my most beloved Lord, never permit your most bitter Passion and your most precious death to be lost around me and as regards me! And say to your C.: Beloved son, have inward compassion, that G. has so unhappily and miserably blackened his soul." Further, this miserable, stupendous, and terrible vision, renewed to the saint after the death of G., some weeks having elapsed, remained for four days in the saint without narration. And she did not propose to reveal it. But she changed her purpose because of the Lord's precept, who during the said four days, standing as a great preacher, preaching with a trumpet's voice, showing anew the aforesaid vision on each day, repeated and renewed to her what he wished to be brought to light concerning it, nor would he, as long as she retained it, reveal other things to her in the accustomed manner, saying: "You must by all means make this vision manifest." Meanwhile the saint, pierced with the fear of the Lord, as often as she saw this vision wept bitterly; as often as she wished to weep for the soul of G., so often the Lord said to her: "You ought, weeping strongly, to have compassion with me, that I have so miserably lost this soul." Finally it must be known that in the often-mentioned horrible vision a vehement fear and stupor seized the saint so powerfully that unless divine support had been with her and had comforted her, she could not have borne so terrible a vision without harm; for she would have been either gravely hurt or dead. But the saint was specially comforted by the mission of the Holy Spirit and by these words of the Lord, in which he said: "Do not fear that you look upon malignant spirits!" The intolerableness of this horrible vision the Lord showed by making it manifest; he said: "If your sons P. C. only once saw … so unspeakable a sorrow of any soul placed in such various torments, as is the soul of G …, they would forget all the things which they were said to understand and ought to do, from the unwonted excess of sadness. For although they are men, they could not suffer so horrid a vision of this kind without notable harm or hurt, except by my gratuitous help. Moreover it would be acceptable to me that many priests should be disposed and fit for this, to see the misery of souls afflicted in torments, … that having zeal for souls they might be able to preach efficaciously of their… punishments, and better guard themselves and others from hell." It must not be passed over in silence that the name of this prince is expressed by G., as a sort of new imposition of a name; for this name G. he did not have when he lived.

* perhaps for sponsæ.

* so the codex.

* se added by the codex.

* 33 codex.

* 34 codex.

* corpus codex.

* perhaps read De lusu,

* read illi

* vigilia codex.

* disponet codex.

* words doubtful in the codex, perhaps: In summa qualiter

* a doubtful word added in the codex: et sta

* in me tuas codex.

* indecibiliter codex.

* quodam codex.

* affectum codex.

* matrem codex.

* advenerant codex.

* statuerat codex.

* celebrandum codex.

* compare Preliminary Commentary number 52.

* Lugudunenses codex.

* infundere codex.

* anime codex.

* read XXVII.

* so the codex.

* raptum … miseraverim codex.

* rather in book II, chapter XLIII.

* denudita codex.

* advertebant codex.

* a doubtful word in the codex.

* supply de

* oblatum codex.

* oblatum codex.

* supply corpus

* read nunc

* viam codex.

* transeundem codex.