Juliana

ON BL. JULIANA, VIRGIN AND ABBESS OF THE ORDER OF ST. BENEDICT, AT VENICE IN ITALY,

IN THE YEAR MCCLXII.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Juliana, virgin and abbess, at Venice in Italy. (Bl.)

Written by J. P.

Venice, a most well-known city of Italy and the head of the most powerful Venetian republic, Various documents collected by the most excellent lord Cornaro or Cornelio: has been made illustrious by the merits and virtues of this Blessed one, and also by the wonderful integrity of her body persevering after several centuries. In the same place, in the monastery of SS. Blaise and Cataldus on the island of the Giudecca, she closed a pious life by a holy death. In what year she was born, and in what nunneries she lived before she came to the said monastery, is narrated in the Life, where there is treatment also of her parents, brothers, and sister. Father Girolamo Lombardi of the Society of Jesus, on the twenty-eighth of January of this current year 1744, took care that various notices of B. Juliana be sent hither from Venice, indicating that he had used the singular kindness and incredible diligence, and also the skill, of the most excellent lord Flaminio Cornaro or Cornelio, to whose kind desire of promoting our labors we owe these same notices, and shall perhaps owe more on other occasions, to which that most noble man graciously offered himself, if he can bring us aid in the case of other Saints or Blessed.

[2] And among other things we owe him a transcript taken from a parchment, The Blessed one's which is held in the said monastery and exhibits the genealogical tree of B. Juliana's forefathers. But although in matters of this kind it not rarely happens that more is said honorably for the splendor of families than can be solidly proved and historically tracked down; yet we here enumerate the most noble ancestors of the Blessed one on the credit and report of the said transcript. Let the text be heard: This tree is loftier than the cedars which Lebanon has, which knows no harmful fruits, but bears the rewards of life. This renowned and Teutonic family of Collalto * is imperial, and drew its origin anciently from Germany, not from Mantua; which its merit has spread abroad in many provinces of the world. The first who came into Italy was Rambaldus in the year CMXXII: to whom Berengar, king of Italy, gave the land of Lovadina next to the city of Treviso. And Rambaldus in CMXLVIII begot Rambaldus II, whom the emperor Otto III appointed count of Treviso, and Garimbertus, and Viacenus. Rambaldus II in CMLXXII begot Rambaldus III, who obtained the castle and abbey of Nervesa from his wife Mathilda, and founded a castle which he called Collalto, and dwelt there.

[3] genealogy: Rambaldus III in CMXCVIII begot Encedisus, Albertus, and Guida. Encedisus in MXXV begot Schella, to whom the emperor Frederick granted the fishing in the river Sile. Schella I in MLII begot Encedisus II, who bought the mountain on which was built the castle of San Salvatore, and Rambaldus IV, count of Treviso appointed by Henry, and Volcerius, patriarch of Aquileia. Encedisus II in MLXXVIII begot Rambaldus V, who in MCVI begot Encedisus IV. Encedisus IV in MCXXXII begot Rambaldus VI, who built the castle of San Salvatore and dwelt there. Rambaldus VI in MCLVI begot Schella III, count of Rai and Musestre , Manfred II, bishop of Feltre * and of Cividale, and Tolbertus, knight of the lord Scaliger, patron of Verona. That Tolbertus begot Rambaldus VII, whom the Venetian senate enriched with the castle of Solighetto, Manfred III, Clara, and in MCLXXXVI our illustrious Juliana. And so the parents of our Juliana were Tolbertus I Collalto, count of Collalto, and Joanna of Sant'Angelo of Mantua, countess of Riva, in the castle of San Salvatore situated between the cities of Treviso and Conegliano. From these forefathers therefore, as is reported, B. Juliana drew her noble birth, according to this genealogical tree, whose examination I leave to others, to whom the clearing up of illustrious families pertains more professedly. Sansovino certainly, in the Origin of the families of Italy, book 1, folio 3, writes things conflicting with the genealogy already given. Let us meanwhile proceed to the Blessed one's cult, since of her virtues and holiness of manners, which is the true and only nobility before God, there will be sufficient treatment in her Life.

[4] The most excellent lord Flaminio Cornelio sent the following Latin documents concerning the ancient and public veneration of this Virgin: her cult The nuns possess a certain most ancient wooden altar, in which several images, among which chiefly the image of Juliana surrounded with rays and splendors, shine forth with variety in eight square panels, setting forth her prodigies wrought while she was still living.. In the first square St. Blaise addresses Juliana. In the second Juliana receives the little Jesus into her arms. In the third Juliana receives provisions through Christ. In the fourth Juliana signs and heals the broken arm of a nun. In the fifth Juliana looses a youth from his bonds and makes him go away unharmed. In the sixth Juliana, dead and buried, is invoked by the peoples flocking to the cemetery. In the seventh Juliana is made manifest for adoration from heaven by lightnings and stars gleaming above her tomb. In the eighth Juliana, the earth being dug out, is exhumed, and, whole, incorrupt, and beautiful, is placed in the church. By these tokens and most ancient images the life and blessed death of Juliana are very keenly foretold.

[5] I do not doubt that this last clause must be referred to the tablet is proved by various arguments whose inscription and Italian narration the praised lord Cornelio sent hither among other documents, marked beforehand with this title, which sounds thus in Latin: A copy of the inscription written on parchment, affixed to a tablet which is wont to be hung on a column in the church of St. Blaise and Cataldus at Venice, near the altar where the body of B. Juliana Collalto is preserved. After these things there are subjoined these: Here rests the glorious and wonderful body of B. Juliana Collalto, virgin, who died in MCCLXII on the first day of September. And the history of her life and death, and of the wonders wrought by her, written summarily, is contained in the said copy, which may be read reported at greater length below in the Blessed one's Life, which I shall give. Let us return to the foregoing Latin notices: Moreover, they say, the wooden coffin which embraced the dead Juliana, and which was entombed in the damp earth for thirty-five years, by the merits of the dead Juliana overcame death, and together with Juliana escaped incorrupt, and is now venerated and preserved in the chapel dedicated to the God-bearing Virgin Mary. Moreover the aforesaid nuns have another book, in which it is narrated that on the Kalends of September this church celebrates a solemn feast, Mass, and Office of Juliana at the altar dedicated to her. These things about the feast and Office are confirmed from the Latin Life which we shall give to the press, toward the end.

[6] To these there ought deservedly to be added, extracted from another parchment of the same nunnery, approved: the prayer to blessed Juliana, as it is called in the said notices of Cornelio:

Jesus, sweet reward of Juliana, O Christ, Jesus redeemer, grant to thy servants, we humbly pray with our accustomed prayers: Thou, the darts of hell being trodden down, Thou, the stains of faults being now blotted out, and the debts of punishments being loosed, pour into us thy grace, faith, peace, and indulgence, by Juliana's merits bring us clemency, grant us a glorious victory: bestow on all a plenary pardon, and give us the glory of paradise.

℣ Juliana, handmaid of Christ, succor us wretched ones. ℞ Lest we be condemned with the impious at the coming of the Judge.

Let us pray. O God, who didst deign to call thy blessed virgin Juliana, the world being spurned, to the kindly Religion of thy devout servant Benedict, grant us, we beseech thee, that, serving thee worthily by her merits and examples, we may merit with her to enjoy thee in eternal glory. Through our Lord &c. Thus far the Venetian documents.

[7] her announcement in the sacred Fasti. Rightly therefore have not a few hagiologists woven this Blessed one into the sacred Fasti. Arnold Wion thus announces her on this day: At Venice, in the monastery of the nuns of St. Blaise called of Cataldus, in the Giudecca, the deposition of holy Juliana, first abbess of that same place, which, a college of virgins being gathered there, she wonderfully restored, increased, and ordered. The same likewise Dorganius and Ménard record as holy, to whom add Ferrari in the General Catalogue of the Saints who are not in the Roman Martyrology. Castellan in his Additions and corrections, page 979, indeed orders Juliana to be added at the end of the first day of September; but because he did not sufficiently know her, he was less kindly to her, calling her only venerable. The same Benedictine hagiologists, Wion, Dorganius, and Ménard, refer the finding of this abbess to the twenty-second of July; of which also Ferrari on the same day.

* elsewhere, Collalto

* I find no emperor of that name in that century.

* perhaps Mestre in the territory of Venice.

* it is a town on the confines of the Venetians.

§ II. Benefits obtained by the Blessed one's patronage; writers who made mention of her; the Lives.

Out of several favors Heavenly favors obtained by our Blessed one's patronage, especially in sharp pains of the head, the Venetian collection narrates, and indicates that they were transcribed from various papers of her monastery. And I find before them in our manuscripts of Cornelio this preface: Besides the heavenly favors, of which the excessive humility of the ancient nuns did not care to recount a catalogue, only some silver and wooden tablets affixed at her tomb are seen, narrating the wonders and prodigies of the Lord at the prayers and words of Juliana: but very many would be extant, if the diligence and vigilance of the nuns had been present and were present: which I hope will be, and will profit, for the glory of God, the victory of Juliana, and the adornment and increase of this renowned convent. Nevertheless, for the memory of those to come, I shall recount certain favors most lately (wrought) by God through the merits of B. Juliana.

[9] by the Blessed one's patronage In MDCXLIII Jeremiah, son of Pancratius, surnamed Brana, of the parish of St. Agnes, fell, with no one looking on, into a vat full of sulphurous water for making soap. Pancratius, coming up and seeing the boy sunk in the vat, took

him out and wept over him, now blind and almost dead; and, the prayers of Juliana being invoked, Jeremiah, against the opinion of the physicians, recovered both life and sight.

In MDCXLVI, on the sixth of April, the reverend Father Germanus of St. Vincent, a discalced Carmelite, then dwelling in the hospice alla Zuecca, having several times been freed from a disease of the head by the merits of Juliana, at length, having died, was buried in this church between the altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary and that of B. Juliana.

In MDCXLVII, on the thirty-first of August, on the vigil of B. Juliana, a lay sister in the convent of SS. Blaise and Cataldus, named Bortola de Viduis, being exhorted to the solemn fast, refused; she ate fish, and straightway groaned with a most intense pain of the head: she promised for the future to eat water and bread alone on the vigil of Juliana: she sought the favor, and found health.

[10] In MDCLV Antonio, son of the noble Benedetto Contarini obtained and of his wife Barbarica Pisani, playing by himself, put a hard seed into his ear, and rendered himself deaf, no skill of physicians availing. Yet Juliana, being humbly invoked, restored his hearing entire.

In MDCLVI, on the sixteenth of July, Benedicta, wife of Peter, of the parish of St. Vitus, fell to the ground and broke her head mortally, the lord Pasqualino the surgeon saying that the wound would be incurable; but Juliana healed her.

In MDCLX the reverend Father Pietro Galadin, wounded with pain of the head for five months, invoked Juliana, and found health.

In MDCLXV in the state of Milan, in the village of Busto, Carlo Marchesi, Maddalena, and Paola Balarasa, being distressed with excessive pain of the head, girding their head with the girdle which had touched the body of B. Juliana, were healed. Father Bernardo of Milan, a Capuchin, reported it on the twenty-seventh of April.

[11] In MDCLXX at Murano, an island of Venice, Maria Maddalena by the same cord checked most bitter pains of the head. several more recent ones are reported:

In MDCLXXII Brother Francesco of Calabria, doorkeeper in the convent of St. Francis of Assisi, obtained the same favor.

In MDCLXXIII Vincenza Menuella, servant of the noble Caterino Maripietro in the village of Casal, having invoked Juliana, overcame and stilled the excessive pain of the head with which she very often languished.

In MDCLXXIII, on the thirtieth of November, Andrea Paulo of the parish of St. Nicholas, almost despaired of from pain of the head, being restored and out of his mind *, girt with the cord of Juliana, grew well. Nor will it be beside the purpose to add to these some things concerning the writers who wove into their lucubrations the memory of B. Juliana; one of whom, who follows next upon these, B. Juliana handed down to posterity that elogium of her, embracing her various honors.

[12] Bernardino Scardeone in the Antiquity of the city of Padua, book 2, class 6, among the things which on pages 119 and 120 he records of B. Beatrice of Este, whom we gave on the tenth of May, page 598 and following, has this to our purpose: Wherefore she (Beatrice) determined to go to the monastery of Gemmola .., which at that time, the wicked monks being driven thence, chanced to be void of an inhabitant. This therefore, by the consent of the abbess and of the bishop of Padua, she enters together with ten other virgins, a great number of matrons accompanying: one of whom we read was blessed Juliana of Mantua, of the noble family of the Rupescomites : who afterwards, following Beatrice's example and setting out for Venice, wonderfully restored, increased, and adorned the likewise abandoned monastery of St. Blaise of Cataldus in the Giudecca, a college of virgins being gathered there. Her most holy body is still seen there so whole that nothing is lacking, no otherwise than if she had departed from life in these last days: a thing certainly wonderful to tell, yet more wonderful to see. In the same place, in her epitaph, she is read to have died in MCCXXVI .

[13] And afterwards, some years being past, she was found in the cemetery where she had been buried so incorrupt that whatever was present before in her living body remained whole after so many years of burial. And a figure of that same wonderful body the most excellent lord Cornelio added to the Venetian notices about the Blessed one collected by him, which, according to the drawing directed to us by that illustrious man, we have had engraved on copper in this way which you see. There remain several other authors who have made mention of B. Juliana, to whom I proceed.

[14] Among these is Francesco Sansovino in his Venetian city, published there in Italian in the year 1581, praised by writers book 6, folio 90. We have already cited Wion above, who in his notes on this day, the first of September, has observations which will be of use to us below. Silvano Razzi among the Italian Lives of women illustrious in sanctity, published in the year 1602, tome 5, folio 32 and following, published the Life of B. Juliana. Add from the said notices Ettore Belirotto, public lecturer of Padua, who published in Italian the Life of B. Juliana at Padua in the year 1616. And among other things which the most excellent lord collector points out, from the dedicatory epistle, as they call it, of that same book we learn that the Life of this Blessed one was written about sixty years before (that is, from the year 1554), and that, lest the injury of the times should wear away the single copy only made by the reverend chaplain of that time, it was brought to light in the year 1605; and that, the copies being now sold off, a new edition was procured, that the memory of posterity might not be frustrated of so worthy a work.

[15] I pass over the three following writers, whom I allege from the said notices, praised: namely Angelo Portenari, a monk of St. Augustine, who in the Italian book entitled The Felicity of Padua, printed at Padua in the year 1623, book 9, chapter 40, folio 480, also made mention of this Blessed one; the most illustrious Giacomo Filippo Tomasini, bishop of Città Nuova, in the Italian Life of B. Beatrice printed at Padua in the year 1673, chapter 13, folio 31; and Giovanni Bonifacio in the History of Treviso, printed there in the year 1591, book 6, folio 293. And from so many writers who published the Life of the Virgin of today or praised it, the celebrity of her name is made up.

[16] The transcript of the Latin Life which we give our most illustrious Helper testifies that he sent hither from the original Latin Manuscripts, notice of the Latin Life which is here given: and its copy, extracted, is noted beforehand as from a Manuscript on parchment existing in the monastery of SS. Blaise and Cattaldus of Venice. The author is of uncertain name and time. Yet that this Life was written or compiled long after the Blessed one's death is indicated by this clause at the end of the Life: Wherefore from ages past, on the Kalends of September, through an immemorial course of time, Mass is celebrated of B. Juliana, the Office is recited, and an illustrious feast is chanted.

[17] Further, besides the image of her most upright mind expressed by the writer of the Life, a copy of her likeness. in which as in a mirror there shine the absolute perfection of monastic virtues and the ornaments of every kind of probity, it has seemed good also to exhibit here the outward form of the body in the following effigy, which we received from the most adorned lord Cornelio, and which our engraver has endeavored so to imitate. But although it is not certainly established to me from the documents which he sent hither whether it is that of which mention was made above at number 4; yet I cannot but think that it is of such authority that it deserves to be exhibited by us here; nor that it would have been sent by that learned and prudent Man without some merit. Behold now for thee the Blessed one's Life, divided by me into chapters and numbers, and illustrated with notes. And how well its author deserved both of that same Blessed one and of the reader will be understood, as I judge, from the narration which I subjoin. But although the writer of that Life liberally brings in our Abbess speaking in the words of holy Scripture; yet not on that account ought the substance of the history which he narrates to be judged of suspect credit: for in this matter he has very many predecessors among biographers even of approved credit, who mingled into the Lives of the Saints, frequently enough, sacred words fitted to their matter and to fostering pious affections in the reader; which, while the prudent reader reads, he can consider that all these things were not so much said by the Saints, as that they could have been said for the fitness of the argument.

* that is, out of his mind

* perhaps Rupæcomitum

* rather MCCLXII according to many

THE LIFE

by an anonymous author,

from a parchment Manuscript of the monastery of SS. Blaise and Cataldus at Venice.

Juliana, virgin and abbess, at Venice in Italy. (Bl.)

BHL Number: 4528

By an Anonymous author.

CHAPTER I.

The Blessed one's illustrious birth; her monastic life.

[ ] Her parents, and the year of her birth: The monastery of nuns of the Lord Father Benedict of the Cassinese congregation, dedicated to the saints Blaise and Chattaldus ^a, was founded in the year MCCXXVI by the virgin mother nun Juliana Collalto ^b, born ^c in MCLXXXVI and dead * in MCCLXII, whose father was Tolbertus, first captain of horse at the beck of the most noble lord Scaliger, patron of Verona ^d: but her mother was Joanna of Sant'Angelo ^e; her brothers Manfred and Rambaldus VII, to whom, well deserving, the most serene Venetian senate gave the castle of Solighetto; and her only sister was Clara, who lived a virgin and lived again, died and departed. This Juliana Collalto, born in MCLXXXVI, and reborn after twice five years in Religion in the convent of St. Margaret raised upon a hill named Salarola ^f, next to the castle of Este ^g, of the diocese of Padua ^h, in MCXCVI, strengthened by the brightness of the divine light, the pomp of worldly height being spurned, an affable Girl, spurned the garment of the old man, took the spouse of the eternal Godhead, and was made a nun of the divine Benedict.

[2] she becomes a nun at Salarola, In this same convent of Salarola in MCCXX Beatrice ⁱ, a virgin of fourteen years, born in the castle of Este, daughter of the lord Azzo ^k the first, marquis of Este, and of Eleanor, countess of Savoy ^l, took the habit of a nun, who, eighteen months being past, the convent of Salarola being left on account of the noises of soldiery, by the consent of the lord Jordan of Modena, bishop of Padua, in MCCXXII passed over to the convent, a deserted place which the monks had left, planted at Gemola ^{m n}, on the Euganean mountain, near Este, despoiled by rumor and fury, the lord Azzo the second ^o, brother of that same Beatrice, being consulted, who repaired and adorned that convent and the church dedicated to the Lord John the Baptist.

[3] Among the ten nuns [p] of the Virgin, who by the word and example of Beatrice were making for the caves of the desert of Gemola in their tender years, then at Gemmola, and at Venice one was our Juliana. Among the most fertile mountains, or the Euganean hills, to which anciently the Adriatic sea reached [q], next to Padua, an illustrious city, flowery Gemola shines forth rich in pasture. Juliana therefore in MCCXXII came from Salarola to Gemola, flourishing in age, of thirty-six years, and there, Beatrice the venerable being caught up into heaven in MCCXXVI, Juliana, adorned and burdened with forty years, being admonished by the divine Blaise, bishop of Sebaste and martyr [r], came from Gemola to Venice, and upon the island then commonly called Capo de Spina longa [s], but now Punta della Zuecca [t], planted a convent of nuns, the Venetian Senate assenting, where she beheld a church dedicated to the saints Blaise and Cathaldus [u], and also a hospice for the solace of guests, which Religious fathers [x] kept, erected.

[4] For before the thousandth year the family of Pianiga, whose fatherland was Aquileia, in the convent, of which and the family of Capuana,

whose fatherland was Capua, and the family of Agnus Dei, whose fatherland was Altinum, came to Venice, and were elected Venetian patricians: the Pianighi in the year MLXXXVII; the Capuani in MXCVII; but the Agnus Dei in MLXXXIII. All these three families, having their dwelling in the same island, by unanimous consent erected the church and the aforesaid hospice. Which church Vitalis Michael, bishop of Castello [y], in MCLXXXVIII [z], on the sixth day of November, on the feast of St. Leonard [aa], consecrated to the worship of the divine Blaise the martyr and adorned with indulgences, in the reign of Pope Clement the third [bb], and of the lord Aureo Mastropiero, renowned Doge of Venice, and of the reverend lord Philip with others, who in that same place, situated upon the canal of Dorsoduro, served the Lord day and night.

[5] The same church, on the anniversary of its dedication, Fortunius, patriarch of Grado [cc], enriched with fuller indulgences in MCCCLIII [dd], various notices are here given, as the marble epitaph to be read in the forecourt of the church shows. "F. H., by the grace of God patriarch of the holy church of Grado and primate of Dalmatia, to all the faithful of Christ, greeting and grace in the Lord. We have thought fit that it be made known to you all, that our venerable brother Vitalis Michael, bishop of Castello, at the petition of our beloved son the exceedingly reverend Philip the presbyter, and of others who in the hospice situated upon the canal of Dorsoduro serve the Lord day and night, for the duty of his office, in the year of the Lord MCLXXXVIII, in the month of November, on the sixth day, on the feast of St. Leonard, in the time of the lord Aureo Mastropiero, renowned Doge of Venice, dedicated the church built there, the grace of the Holy Spirit being invoked, to the honor of the Lord and in memory of B. Blaise the martyr, and relaxed a hundred days of the penance enjoined upon those who should give or send alms to the aforesaid church. And we, of the mercy of Jesus Christ and by the merits of the blessed martyrs Hermagoras and Fortunatus [ee], have thought fit to indulge ten days of the penance enjoined for criminal sins to each one who on the anniversary of the dedication, or three days before, or three after, shall have visited that same church with contrite mind, devoutly and humbly: and that indulgence which we have yearly granted to those visiting this church, an unimpaired remission which we have made, we confirm for the future beyond the memory of men by patriarchal authority, and have thought fit to reduce it to writing for the perpetual memory of those to come."

[6] In this earthly pole, this serene soil, this pleasant sky, God favoring, Blaise favoring, Cataldus favoring, together with the aforenamed families, and that B. Juliana adorns it with many virgins. lived our Juliana, a mirror of chastity, a rule of probity, a lamp shining before God and set upon a candlestick, that it might give light to all who are in the house: by whose light so many virgins, burning with charity toward God and their neighbor, rejecting earthly blandishments and fleeting joys, lifting their hearts on high, greatly desiring the highest gladness of heaven, ardently loving the immense glory of God, overcame the world, overcame their enemies, overcame kingdoms, and, muddy estates being trodden down, fighting, held and kept a shining lamp day and daylong amid the wiles of the demon and the subtleties of man: by whose ardor so many handmaids of the Lord, imbued and clothed with heavenly grace, loved with everlasting love the Lamb, the bridegroom of virgins: whose sheep, so many celibate women, joining humanity with humility in an indissoluble bond, taught by words and by deeds that man is derived from the ground (humus). Whose rays wounded the hearts of so many families with the sword of ardor and of love, that very many daughters, emulating by the burning of the divine dew the life of the angels, by vigils and fastings, by scourges and hair-shirts, by poverty and purity, and by all virtues, ranged through both the city and the world: with whose water so many young girls, grieving in a new washing for the delights of the world, driving away riches and delicacies smoky and famous, scurrilous * goods and noble gifts, said to Juliana their mother: Thou shalt sprinkle me, Lady, with hyssop and I shall be cleansed, thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow: and, the pomps of an unclean world being spurned, worldly wealth being trodden down and worldly works trampled, they led a celibate life, a strait life, a noble life, a white life, singing and chanting glory, triumph, and victory to their heavenly Spouse: Let us cheerfully love the Lamb, the bridegroom of virgins, let us humbly adore the Lord Jesus Christ.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. They are named among us in tome 2 of May, page 601.

q. It must be known, as Ughelli observes in tome 5 of Italia sacra, column 1159, that the lagoons were at the beginning far ampler than they were afterwards, or than they are in our time. For from the city of Aquileia as far as Ravenna there were marshes, and in one place there was a space of thirty, in another of twenty-five or twenty or fifteen thousand paces from the islands to the mainland, and Ravenna, Aquileia, Concordia, Oderzo, Altinum, and Padua were maritime cities: which now all, by the heaping up of the flowing rivers bringing sands down from the mountains on the slope, have been made inland, and have receded more or less from the sea according to the greatness of the neighboring rivers. Then the same author subjoins more; but let these things suffice for our purpose.

r. His Acts we illustrated on the third of February, page 331 and following.

s. That is, the promontory of Spina longa.

t. That is, the horn of the Giudecca projecting into the sea.

u. Of St. Cataldus, bishop of Taranto, see among us on the tenth of May.

x. What kind of Religious these were is thus far not established to me.

y. The bishopric (of Venice) was called by a threefold name for cause. First of Olivolo, from the olives once planted on this island; afterwards of Castello, and the Church of St. Peter in Castello, from the fortification of the place; last of Venice, from the bishop's

jurisdiction and the dwelling of the Venetian people, established in this and in the neighboring islands. From Ughelli designated above, column [ ].

z. Vitalis Michael, a Venetian, the second of this name and surname, was declared bishop of Castello, Vitalis Michael being Doge of Venice, .. in the year … MCLXIV … He presided .. until the year of Christ MCLXXXI, in which, as Dandolo testifies, he was taken from this mortal life, from Ughelli already cited, column [ ] and 1323. But in Dandolo's Chronicle, among the Writers of Italian Affairs published in print at Milan, tome 12, column 310, there is this: In the fourth year of the Doge, Vitalis Michael, bishop of Castello, departed from life. Before which these words are set at column 308: Aureo Mastropiero is proclaimed Doge in the year of the Lord MCLXXVIII. The aforesaid prelate therefore seems to have died in the year 1182, and not in 1181. This is confirmed in the latest Venetian edition of Ughelli, column [ ].

aa. Of him there will be treatment with the Roman Martyrology on the sixth day of November.

bb. The time of that Pontiff resists these things having been done under him, according to what was just noted at letter [z]: since Pope Clement III began to sit in the year 1188.

cc. He is called Fortunerius Vasellus in Ughelli, tome 25 of Italia sacra, and is written at columns 1217 and 1218 to have been created patriarch of Grado in the year 1351, on the third day before the Kalends of June; but on the thirteenth day before the Kalends of June in the same year in Baluze, in the Work of the Lives of the Avignon Pontiffs, published at Rome in the year 1700, where he notes various other things about him at column 951 and following.

dd. Hence it is gathered that this Life was not composed before that year; nay rather, it seems to have been done far later. See the preliminary Commentary at the end.

ee. Of these holy Martyrs of Aquileia there was treatment on the twelfth of July, page 249 and following, where also of the vicissitudes of the men of Aquileia.

* that is, dead

* perhaps servilia

CHAPTER II.

The perfection of her monastic life; her constant desire of suffering; an apparition made to the Blessed one; miracles.

[ ] The excellent This therefore fruitful and second mother St. Juliana, a parent barren by defect, fertile by affection; she, I say, is the wise virgin whom the Lord found watching; who, having taken her lamp, took oil, and, the Lord coming, entered with him to the nuptials in an eternal enclosure, in an earthly heaven, a paradise beneath the moon; and there, rejecting worldly things, enjoying divine things, vomiting out earthly things, devouring heavenly things, planted fruits new and old in this pleasure-garden of the divine will and delight, the monastery: old fruits, because she taught the ancient charity of the Lord father Benedict toward God and neighbor, as was fitting, and had it, as was plain: new fruits, because she bore and nourished fresh and prudent virgins, most illustrious in birth and in manners, teaching and saying: Prudent virgins, trim your lamps, behold the bridegroom comes, go out to meet him. For let us sing glory to our God, who gave to us virgins such a victory, that we may tread down the desires of the flesh, cleave to everlasting brightness, and come to the heavenly realms: to whom every one of the daughters with cheerful countenance, with eager look, with humble heart gave answer: The kingdom of the world and all the ornament of the age I have despised for the love of my Lord Jesus Christ, whom I have seen, whom I have loved, in whom I have believed, whom I have cherished: to him am I betrothed, whom the angels serve, whose beauty the sun and moon admire: to him alone do I keep faith, to him do I commit myself with all devotion: whom when I shall have loved, I am chaste; when I shall have touched, I am clean; when I shall have received, I am a virgin.

[8] Wherefore Juliana, a true follower of Christ, the holy habit being taken, virtues of B. Juliana, with mighty fervor strove to serve Jesus Christ in fear, and, bearing the cross with a willing mind, taught her Daughters patience and penance, purity and poverty, silence and the hair-shirt, fastings and vigils; to pray and to meditate, always to suffer, always to endure, and said: I have given you an example, that as I have done, so you also may do. Wherefore she lay upon the ground, ate fish only, subdued her limbs with rough cloth: in frost and in heat, in warmth and in cold she put on one and only one tunic, drank water, and besought God unceasingly with groanings for herself and for her people. Wherefore, day and night lamenting with continual tears, she vexed the serpent of hell and stirred him to speak against her. Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? Thine eyes have failed with tears, O incautious woman! And Juliana answering ^a: To those who behold God vision cannot fail; the serpent vanished, deluded and confounded. Wherefore the dark dragon, beholding Juliana after Matins full of tears, consoled her and exhorted her to turn her tear into gladness and her mourning into joy: Lest her mind be troubled, and, weighed down with groaning, be led into madness. To whom the Virgin said: To those who love God all things work together unto good: accordingly, though sharply troubled by the temptations of Satan, though strongly vexed by the blandishments of Accaron ^b, crying sweetly upon Christ, she was hurt by none.

[9] honored with heavenly favors Wherefore, bread failing, the nuns complained, weeping and saying: How many hired servants in my Father's house abound with bread, but I here perish with hunger: and Juliana, the handmaid of Christ, consoled them, answering: I will arise and go to my Father, and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, I am no longer worthy to be called thy daughter for the multitude of my iniquity. She prayed, she asked, she obtained: and behold a man, promptly carrying a basket full of loaves, and knocking: who distributed them, and vanished. Wherefore, since at that time the island upon which the convent of the nuns is seen planted was on every side surrounded with water, and the way to their church lay open only by water and by boat; on that night in which, all the world being set in peace, the Word was made flesh, and God deigned to be born of a Virgin, the angels singing, Glory to God in the highest; that canal, whether honoring the great works of God or hiding the wonders of God I know not, God knows, being filled with excessive fury and excessive roaring, and girt with waves and winds, roaring and snatching, permitted neither approach to the priest for celebrating the Sacrifice and for conferring the Sacrament on the nuns, nor departure to them, that they might elsewhere venerate and meditate * the heavenly mysteries.

[10] by God What meanwhile shall the virgin Juliana do, burning with the desire of worshiping and of eating the blessed little Jesus, amid so many snares domestic as well as foreign? To stay at home was less devout; to go out was less safe. Amid so many doubts the Virgin flees to prayer, commending the excellent flower of her virginity to him whose mother is a Virgin, whose Father knows no woman. Nor was the faithful Spouse himself lacking to his faithful Bride. For an angel appeared bearing the boy Jesus, and said to the nuns: I announce to you a great joy, for today is born to you the Savior of the world: and this shall be a sign to you: behold, Juliana, a little Son born of a Virgin, and the Redeemer of the world. Whom the Abbess, receiving into her arms, blessed God, and said: Now dost thou dismiss thy handmaid, Lord, in peace, because mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples, a light for the revelation of the gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel: and, Then the people of the gentiles, who walked in darkness, saw a great light: upon them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death a light has risen: and then there was with the angel a multitude of the earthly host praising and saying: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will.

[11] honored. And then all the virgins sang: A boy is born to us, and a Son is given to us: for the grace of God and of our Savior has appeared, teaching us that, denying impiety and worldly desires, we should live soberly, justly, and piously in this monastery: for not from works of justice which we have done, but according to his mercy has he saved us. Wherefore a devout woman, whose son was held in prison and was innocently condemned to death by the judges, earnestly entreating Juliana's intercession, and longing for her son unharmed, the bonds being unseasonably loosed, the judge appeased, and the prison opened, received her young son free. Wherefore, when a lay sister had died, and the other sisters were rolling a stone, that the body might be delivered to burial, they blundered, and the stone fell and broke the arm of one nun. To all standing by and lamenting Juliana said: Be constant, you shall see the help of the Lord upon you. Kneeling, steadfast in mind, she is occupied in the praises of God, she contemplates devoutly and humbly, she beseeches with tearful prayers, and by charity is made able to be heard: while she prays on bended knees she touched the sick woman's arm, washed it with tears, signed it with the cross, and straightway healed it. Let each one bless the excellent Lord, while the sick are freed by Juliana's tears.

ANNOTATIONS.

* perhaps "possent" must be added

CHAPTER III.

Her pious death; her body wonderfully incorrupt; its translation; her cult.

[ ] Aspiring to her heavenly Spouse Wherefore Juliana, full of merits and of years, of the age of seventy-six, and of the Lord MCCLXII ^a, being kindled for the reward of the calling from on high, the heavenly Spouse afflicted with pain on every side, and wounded chiefly in the head, so that all her limbs languished (while the head aches, all the limbs languish): and that, her mortal body being consumed by a deadly wound, the spirit of Juliana, purer and more splendid, gleaming with merits and enlightening by her examples, might enjoy eternal rest. Nor did Juliana amid so many wounds, amid so many stripes complain; rather she sought them, and said: Spouse Jesus, come, O Christ, give the cross, transfix me, crucify me: here burn, here cut, that thou mayest spare me eternally, and that I may drink the cup with thee, and obtain with thee a celibate life, mourning on earth, shining in heaven. For, Lord, thou hast proved me and hast known me, thou hast known my sitting down and my rising up. Whither shall I go from thy spirit, and whither shall I flee from thy face? Thou hast possessed my reins, thou hast received me from my mother's womb: prove me, O God, and know my heart, question me, and know my paths, and see if the way of iniquity is in me, and lead me in the eternal way.

[13] Armed with these strengths and adorned with these virtues, Juliana gladdened all her chosen Daughters, aspiring to the heavenly begged pardon, and commended concord: Love, little Daughters, one another, because it is the Lord's precept, and if this alone be done, it suffices, because Christ loved us and washed us from our sins in his blood. Wailing with mouth, with heart, and in deed, and bearing her cross, leaping up, and hearing the Spouse's voice: Come from Lebanon, my bride, my friend, my dove, my beautiful one, come, thou shalt be crowned;

she loved, dearly loved, and saluted with her whole mind, with her whole heart, with her whole soul, and with all her strength the divine Body of Christ, which the priest devoutly offered, saying: Hail, salvation of the world, Word of the Father, sacred Victim, living flesh, entire Deity, true man. Again hail, living Deity, living humanity, eternal goodness, eternal mercy, highest wisdom, highest power.

[14] she dies piously: her body Again hail thou, my redemption, my portion: thou alone art; thou my consolation, my delight, thou alone art; thou my jubilation, my salvation, thou alone art: in thee is all my trust, in thee all my gladness, in thee all my confidence; purify me and quicken me, love me and direct me, heal me and save me; because thou alone art my strength, my life, my God incarnate, that my shameful deeds may be wiped away; made a sacrament, that my crimes may be blotted out; thou alone art my salvation. These things being said, on the Kalends of September she rendered her spirit into the hands of her Spouse, in the year one thousand two hundred and twice sixty, and in the sixth and seventh time seven of her age ^b. Wherefore, because she died living and lived dying, and living was dead, and living and dead with singular love loved God and was solaced and consoled by God, the peoples flowed together in rivalry and rushed in troops, venerating the venerable body, desiring to see what living wonders were wrought through Juliana, dead yet living: and, all crying out: Holy Juliana, intercede for us with God, who chose thee; that venerable body, fragrant with odor and burning with love, the venerable nuns venerating placed in a new wooden tomb, in which no one had yet been laid.

[15] translated and incorrupt: Wherefore, heaven resounding and earth crackling over so many and so great favors bestowed unceasingly upon the faithful through Juliana, dead and buried, besides the fishermen who, walking in the darkness and in the hours of the night, fishing before the church of the Lord Blaise, very often beheld wandering stars and flashing lightnings from heaven above the bell-tower and above the cemetery, and, marveling, feared greatly. By divine counsel the nuns dug up the coffin, and the wooden tomb, and the body of Juliana buried in a most damp place, where a marble column is seen erected; and after five and thrice ten years, namely in the one thousand and twice hundredth and nine hundred and seventh ^c, being exhumed, it was found whole and incorrupt, not to say fleshly. Then it was found, and now it is found: then it was venerated, and now it is venerated (for from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head there is soundness in it): and, what is chiefly to be weighed by all in this solemnity, the cartilages of the eyes, membranes so weak, so fragile, are seen whole in this present light.

[16] her cult. Wherefore the peoples, festively moved by so great a miracle, auspiciously wonderful, wonderful in the auspiciousness * of the feast, implored and obtained whatever favors. And the nuns, exulting with leaping and exultantly, carried and placed her glorious tomb within the enclosure to be venerated. But the body is seen and venerated in solemn state in a chest now adorned with glass and decorated with gold, above the altar ^d dedicated to that same virgin Juliana in the church. Wherefore from ages past, on the Kalends of September, through an immemorial course of time, Mass is celebrated of B. Juliana, the Office ^e is recited, and an illustrious feast is chanted, the angels singing, the peoples running to implore her patronage especially against languor of the head.

ANNOTATIONS.

* that is, faustitate