Peter Armengol

ON BL. PETER ARMENGOL, MARTYR, OF THE ORDER OF BLESSED MARY OF MERCY FOR THE REDEMPTION OF CAPTIVES, AT LA GUÀRDIA DELS PRATS IN THE DIOCESE OF TARRAGONA IN CATALONIA,

MCCCIV.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Peter Armengol, M., of the Order of B. M. V. of Mercy for the redemption of captives, at La Guàrdia dels Prats in the diocese of Tarragona in Catalonia. (Bl.)

Written by J. P.

§ I. His nobility; his youthful age spent in ruin; his conversion; his Religious life, and the time of it.

[ ] The same place which fell to B. Peter Armengol, or Armengaudus, as his birthplace, The place of his birth and of his death: was also the place of his death, namely La Guàrdia dels Prats, a town of Catalonia in the diocese of Tarragona, and near Montblanc, otherwise called Momblancq. Other places lying round about — Barbará, Sanreal, Solivella, Blancafort, Pira — are named in the Summary of the Roman Process, which was resumed in the year 1685 for promoting the sacred honors of this Servant of God, and of which more will be said below, at number 15, page 36. From these there is had a more distinct notice of the said town in Catalonia than from the Life to be produced hereafter, in which he is said to have been born in Catalonia, and than from the Catalogue of the Masters General, which is prefixed to the Bullarium of the praised Order published at Barcelona in the year 1696, where in a compendium of the Life, page 5, he is written to have been brought into the light in the town of Guàrdia in Catalonia.

[2] The Blessed one drew his origin from the noble family of the Counts of Urgell, as the Life testifies. Alonso Remón in the general History of the Order of B. M. V. of Mercy for the redemption of captives, tome 1, book 4, chapter 15, folio 188, writes that the family of the Counts of Urgell sprang from the house of the Counts of Barcelona, and, some things being interposed as to how each family was united, praises the illustrious forefathers of St. Peter, whom certainly he affirms to descend in the paternal line from the royal stock of the Counts of Barcelona; but in the maternal from the royal race of the Franks and of the Counts of Flanders. Of the ancient Counts of Barcelona, and of those of Urgell in their time, more may be read in Francisco Diago in the index of certain matters which is held after the History of the ancient Counts of Barcelona, published by him in Spanish in three books.

[3] Of the chronological and genealogical succession of the Counts of Barcelona and also of the ancient Counts of Urgell there is writing also in the Dictionary of Moréri most lately enlarged, the illustriousness of his family; tome 2 from page 66: where it is narrated that Ermengaud VI of this name, called the Castilian, Count of Urgell, died in Castile without an heir on the twenty-eighth of June 1154; and that, he being dead, the possession of the county of Urgell came to the Count of Barcelona, and thence to the kings of Aragon, and that the family of the last Counts of Urgell was propagated from James, the younger-born son of Alfonso IV, king of Aragon: on which matter the Dictionary just mentioned, tome 1, page 560, may be consulted. And among other things it is there said that James of Aragon, the first of this name, departed from life in the month of November in the year 1347, to whom then two other Counts of Urgell of the said family are subjoined. Let these things suffice concerning the illustriousness of the family to which the origin of the aforesaid Counts is recorded to be referred, and also concerning B. Peter's nobility, according to his ancient and credit-worthy Life. Remón on folio 188 verso asserts that his father was Arnaldus Armengol. And he, although I do not remember reading of him in the documents which I have inspected concerning the said family, must have lived in the thirteenth century, as is gathered from the death of B. Peter his son, which happened in the year 1304, the county of Urgell having devolved to that of Barcelona after the death of Ermengaud VI, as has already been said.

[4] Remón on the same folio 188 verso affirms that the Blessed one was brought up in the town or place Cerbaria, his upbringing, his youthful age which in Spanish is called Cervera, and that those born of that most noble family always had there near kinsmen and some possessions, just as today, he says, they are and remain. Baudrand places Cervera on the plain of Urgell .. beside a stream of the same name, and writes that it is ten leagues distant from Lérida to the

east, toward Barcelona, and as many from Tarragona to the north, near Tàrrega. And B. Peter was in his youthful age of most abandoned manners, as the Life testifies at number 2. The cited Compendium of the Life, touching the matter most briefly, says: his youth having passed in the world not rightly, being enrolled in our Order &c. Far more Remón records from the said folio 188 verso, from which I excerpt the following.

[5] He displayed a lofty and proud disposition: in the stock and blood of the Armengols, from which he drew his origin, he gloried immoderately, and made no account of other noble youths: whence there arose for him not only pains of mind, but enemies also; and, just as one inconvenience is born of another, and one loss of another; that Youth, of a truly reckless audacity, that he might avenge himself upon his enemies and foster his factions and the zeal of his party, gathered a filthy rabble of abandoned men, given over to every kind of vice and to license of life, to whom, as to an abandoned people born of lowly parents, nothing else was in their prayers than to have such a leader as Peter Armengol was (against whom, on account of the nobility of his family, ordinary justice would dare nothing), that they might put off the mask, and under the cover of what Peter Armengol should command, might themselves perpetrate and commit publicly and without shame the robberies, homicides, and adulteries which before they committed timidly and secretly. And the crimes which the perverse followers of Armengol perpetrated, being in a manner sheltered under his shadow, had so grown strong that the whole city could no longer endure them, nor could the places neighboring it: and so it was necessary for Peter Armengol, that he might not desert his fellow-soldiers, to set out for the mountain, and from a restless noble, from a vicious, rich, and free youth, to become a highwayman, and the leader of a company of robbers and plunderers of the public roads.

[6] spent most wickedly: Arnaldus his father, certainly a wise man and a noble Christian, felt this ruin of his Son. There was then running the year 1258, in which king James in his kingdom of Valencia, which he had recently acquired, was giving his leisure to pacifying and settling some matters which arose between the new settlers and conquerors of that kingdom and required his royal presence. And it seemed to Arnaldus that in no way could he better consign to oblivion the offenses and injuries brought upon his honor by his Son, than if, the city being left, he should set out for the kingdom of Valencia and follow the court of his king and prince. To Valencia therefore he betook himself, and began to follow the court. But he spent a short time in this kingdom: because king James was planning a journey toward Montpellier, to meet the king of France, and since it was necessary, in order to come thither, to pass through the slope of a mountain, from which, as report went, there came forth a rabble of abandoned men and protectors of the robbers of the public roads, who, sparing none, attacked travelers unawares and despoiled them; Arnaldus, taking others with him, girded himself to purge this land infested with robbers, that he might render that passage free and safe for the king's unarmed companions, as Remón narrates at greater length.

[7] his wonderful conversion: Then he reports the happy success of Arnaldus in this expedition, and his combat joined with his son Peter; and that, when each knew the other, both at the same time changed their anger into an affection of compassion, and that Peter cast himself at his father's feet and offered him his sword and his body, that he might at one and the same time be judge and executioner. And this was the end of B. Peter's most abandoned life, and the beginning of the paternal favor entered upon, and of the better fruit to which he was brought back. Here the reader has a few things out of the many with which Remón stuffs this history, and which he amplifies very liberally and perhaps excessively. And the aforesaid journey of James, king of Aragon, toward Montpellier, and his dealings with St. Louis, king of the Franks, at Corbeil, are bound to the year 1258 by Zurita in tome 1, book 3 of the Annals of Aragon, chapter 56.

[8] his Religious life Concerning the institute of Religious life which B. Peter professed, various things offer themselves to be observed. First, he seems to have been moved to it by a singular prompting of God. For it is said in the Life that this happened when, as the witnesses named in it, above all exception, heard him saying, he had been admonished from heaven. Secondly, the time at which he embraced that institute the same Life does not determine, but only reports: He came to our Order already almost a young man. And this may not unfittingly be believed to have happened about the twentieth year of his age, and about the year of Christ 1258, which Remón above noted on occasion of his conversion: from which, if you go back, about twenty years of his age being interposed, as I said, you will come to the year of his birth, which could have been about the year of Christ 1258. Hence it follows that the Saint did not put on the Religious habit under Peter Amerius, the fourth General of the Order, who in the Catalogue of the Generals of that Order indicated before, page 6, is written to have been elected at Barcelona, and confirmed in the year MCCLXXII by Gregory X. On what foundation Remón says on folio 190 verso that that General began the government of his Order in the year 1080, I forbear to ask, since it makes nothing to our purpose, and the Saint's entrance into the Order happened in neither year. And he is placed in the said Catalogue under William Bas, the second master General, who on page 4 is said to have been elected in the year 1249, and to have died in the year 1269.

[9] And with the times of this General B. Peter's conversion to a better fruit rightly agrees, when it was begun; as also the habit of the Order received by him. Esteban Corbera in the Life of B. Maria de Cervelló, otherwise called de Socós, of the Order of B. M. V. of Mercy for the redemption of captives, folio 90 verso, treating of our Peter, wandered far from true chronology when he wrote that the habit of the said Order was assumed by him in the year 1307: for he had then died three years before. He goes astray there also in the history, which, as we have already seen, records that he was of a most defiled life before his conversion; yet Corbera makes him inclined to virtue from boyhood, and will have this to have been a great prognostic sign of the virtue which he was to have when he came to manly age. Proper Lessons and prayer of the aforesaid Blessed one, granted to the said Order for the twenty-fifth of September, are held in its Bullarium, page 423; on which day there will have to be treatment of her. And that for some years he was exercised in the Order in the solid rudiments of Religious life, and gave the due proofs of a true and serious conversion, is not to be doubted. And the interval of time between about the year 1258, to which we have fixed his conversion, and the year 1266, seems sufficient for him to prepare himself for the arduous and apostolic expeditions of the Religion, to be twice a companion to the Brethren who set out to redeem captives, and himself in Africa in the year already mentioned, 1266, to remain among the infidels as a pledge for the ransom of certain captive boys, a Brother companion being sent away to procure it, as is narrated a little more fully in the Life: whose words I produce: But now in Religion he changed his former cruelty of mind into fervid charity. He lived on fastings and prayers … in the preceding year one thousand two hundred and sixty-six, being sent into Africa &c. These things therefore solidly confirm the time of his conversion and of his Religion.

[10] The Compendium of the Life, treating of this sacred expedition, which somewhere thus corrects the year marked above: Secondly he was sent to Bougie as a redeemer in the year MCCLXVI, more truly MCCXCIII, where, having drawn out of chains, and remaining as a pledge for eighteen boys wavering in the faith, he sent over to Spain a hundred and thirty-seven worshipers of Christ with Brother * William Florentinus. But I should not dare to adopt that correction, because the earlier year is expressed clearly and fully, not by Roman arithmetical numerals, not by Arabic ones or ciphers, as they call them, which manner of writing is very often subject to parachronisms, but with the several years designated each by its own adjective of time: so that it seems to me that so great a discrepancy of years cannot here be presumed on sufficient foundation as is proposed in the said Compendium, which indeed wishes that correction, but does not prove it. Nor indeed am I persuaded of the same from B. Peter's own Life, which, since it is a document written in a chapter of the Order, by order of Arnaldus Amerius, master General of the same, with the consent of that chapter, from the testimonies of the Religious Brethren confirmed also by their oath, merits great credit. And among them Brother William Florentinus appears deposing in the first place, the same as above. And that public act is there marked as held in the very year in which our Saint died, namely in the year from the Nativity of the Lord one thousand three hundred and four, on the day which was reckoned the fifth before the Nones of May, that is, the third of that month. From these things therefore the reckoning of time asserted above is established. But after these things just alleged another difficulty offers itself there, now to be weighed, which nevertheless does not hinder the Blessed one's conversion and the beginning of his Religious life from being bound to about the year 1258.

[11] is said to have happened later, but it is not proved. Since, says the Life, the aforesaid William could not, both on account of the difficulty of procuring the money and on account of the difficult voyage, return into Africa within the appointed time; when after some days had elapsed he landed, he found Brother Peter .. hanged by the barbarians from a beam by the neck .. The said William went to bury the body .., and when he came to him weeping, he wished to take him down, whom he saw living; for by a singular miracle he was held up by the hands of the God-bearer .. Then William, glad, took him down .., and both returned glad into their fatherland, from which the Blessed one is not read in the praised Life to have returned to apostolic labors of that kind. Did he then, you will say, already from the year 1266, which falls about the eighth year of the Religion entered upon by him, according to what has been premised, withdraw himself from them? I answer that it could have been that either he was kept at home by his Superiors on account of the weakness of his body after that hanging, or that he himself asked this, being not strong enough for these arduous labors. Let us hear the Life: And all the aforesaid Brethren saw that for the remaining time of his life he went about with a twisted neck and a withered color of countenance from the time of the aforesaid hanging. Some time having passed, desiring to separate himself from all, he betook himself into the aforesaid convent of Holy Mary of the Meadows. Rightly therefore do the times cohere, if we bind the Blessed one's better life, his Religious institute, and the habit assumed by him, to about the year 1258. Our opinion is favored by Remón, book 4, chapter 16, against others, who will have him clothed later under Peter Amerius, and earlier under St. Peter Nolasco.

* read Fratre

§ II. The Blessed one's clothing in the Order; whether he was a priest; his virtues; his apostolic expeditions; his cult from immemorial time proved from various processes.

[It seems probable not so much that the Blessed one put on the priestly habit of the Order, as that he was a priest] Remón in book 4, chapter 16, proposes another difficulty concerning the garment of the Order which the Blessed one put on after his conversion, and the same author disputes whether it was the habit of the Knights of that Order, or rather of the priests. That many different opinions are found by him, Remón indicates on folio 191; and that against the knightly dress indeed stands the ancient tradition of the documents of the Religion and of the painting of his martyrdom, in all of which he asserts that he is seen clothed in the garment of a priest: nevertheless, so far as he says he can gather from what he has read of his conversion, he affirms that it is more established that he was clothed in the Religious habit of the Knights. And he says that he is persuaded of this from a Manuscript, from which he recites this: Blessed Peter Armengol, knight; and that by this word "knight," strictly speaking, is signified a Religious of the Order from among the Knights. He adds however that this does not conflict with the priesthood, with which many Knights of that Order were distinguished. And he takes an example from St. Raymund the Cardinal: whose deeds and miracles we illustrated on the thirty-first of August. Hippolyte Helyot in the History of the monastic, Religious, and Military Orders, tome 3, page 266, exhibits in an image engraved on copper an ancient Knight of the Order of B. Mary of Mercy for the redemption of captives, clothed in his habit; but on page 278 he represents a professed member of the same Order, wholly different in habit from the former, and clothed with a monastic cope. Further, that the headship of the Order passed in course of time from the military knights to the priests, the Catalogue of the Masters General teaches on page 9 in these words: The eighth Master General, the military Knights being driven from the magistracy, was the most venerable Father Brother Raymund Albert .., elected in the year MCCCXVII. These things conduce to a greater knowledge of the present argument.

[13] But now, to return to what precedes; Remón judges that with the Blessed one's priesthood there does not cohere the life which he led before his conversion, in it: not much adapted to letters and studies, as being wholly military and opposed to literary exercises. Besides, in those times, as he adds, they were not admitted to the priesthood, not even with the knightly habit, unless persons preeminent in the example of their manners and in learning. But in the Apostolic letters of Pope Innocent XI, to be reported below in §6, he is called by the name of priest. And what the same author said of his knightly habit from tradition and from the painting of his martyrdom proves little or nothing, since the time of each is unknown, and it is therefore not established whether the tradition and the painting be not merely popular.

[14] The Life says many things in few words, and leaves more to be pondered concerning the Blessed one's virtues, he is praised for his virtues: the sacred expeditions which in the first years after his conversion he displayed: Now, it says, in Religion he changed his former cruelty of mind into fervid charity. He lived on fastings and prayers. More Remón has on folio 191 verso. The Catalogue of the Masters General, page 5: Being enrolled in our Order, it says, and in it, a new soldier of Christ, surrounded with the defense of all virtues, he performed the redemption four times *. First at Algiers, where, as leader of fifteen Brethren who, sent out for the liberty of the faithful and the conversion of the infidels by zeal for souls, had conspired into one, the money being spent, and all determining at Peter's exhortation to remain as a pledge, he sends back three hundred and forty-six captives into Spain by one of their companions. Peter therefore, being set in captivity, restored very many deceived by the error of Mahomet to the light of the faith: among whom he washed in the sacred font the king of Algiers, Almohazen Mahomat, who afterwards was a true professed member of our Order, called Brother Peter of Holy Mary. His companion returning with the money appointed for the pledge, he delivered the rest, and moreover a hundred and eighty captives.

[15] for redeeming captives: the fame of his sanctity before and after his death. There follows in the same place another sacred expedition, by which he was sent to Bougie to redeem captives. Of its time there was disputation above; and the history of what was done will be given from the Life: which then again briefly, but pithily, touches on the fame of his sanctity, the concourse of the needy; his ecstasies, elevations in the air, the words by which he seemed to answer the God-bearing Virgin as she asked; his pious conversations, raptures, his holy death and its day and prediction. Succinctly likewise the praised Life writes of the concourse at his funeral, and of the wonders which followed his death: There came together, it says, very many peoples, and mourned Peter their dead father. And before he was buried, when all saw and touched the body, among them three men and four women were made whole of the infirmities with which they labored. Of all which things the aforesaid Brethren were eyewitnesses. And these things indeed, which followed the Saint's death without delay, paved the way to his public cult propagated through various places, and continued until this present day not only from immemorial time, which the Apostolic See requires that in the case of any Servant of God there be made a case excepted from the decree of Urban VIII; but even from a far longer time than would in strictness be necessary for this.

[16] The Blessed one's Cause This excepted case was excellently and laboriously proposed in the tribunal of the sacred Congregation of Rites by the patrons of this cause, and was solidly proved and carried. But although the lawful cult of B. Peter is abundantly established from the decrees of the Holy See, yet I judge that it will not be unwelcome to the hagiophile reader if from the documents offered to the praised Congregation in this cause I set forth one by one what was transacted in it, not without the highest glory to him. But since it would be long and superfluous to reprint here all the documents, in which different witnesses depose almost the same things, and others occur exceedingly prolix, and which can here be omitted, it will suffice to have excerpted the following out of far more. Nor shall I transcribe hither all the authors who are repeatedly alleged. The collection therefore of documents which I have before me was printed at Rome in the year 1686, and is noted beforehand with this title: In the sacred Congregation of Rites, before the most eminent and most reverend Lord Cardinal Azzolini, of Tarragona. The Canonization of B. Peter Armengol, professed Religious of the Order of Blessed Mary of Mercy for the redemption of captives. Information upon the doubt whether it be established concerning immemorial cult and an excepted case in the decrees of Urban the eighth of happy memory in the case &c.

[17] resumed Most eminent and most reverend Lord. Since this cause was proposed on the report of the most eminent lord cardinal de Portocarrero on the twenty-ninth of November MDCLXXV upon the confirmation of the sentence pronounced by the most reverend archbishop of Tarragona, a judge delegated by this sacred congregation, concerning immemorial cult and an excepted case, the resolution was deferred because the witnesses examined in the year MDCLXVII, in which the process was constructed, had not the age of eighty-seven years required, as the most reverend lord Promoter of the Faith objected, for proving cult by sight for forty years before the year MDCXXXIV, in which there issued the brief confirmatory of the decrees of the most holy Inquisition. But afterwards, most ancient documents being found from a hundred and more years before the aforesaid decrees, on the second of December of the year MDCLXXXIV we obtained a new hearing, and on the twenty-seventh of January MDCLXXXV, to the effect of compelling the production of documents of this kind, compulsory letters were granted for the city and diocese of Tarragona, directed to its most reverend archbishop, in the Summary at number 1, and particular letters for other places to their bishops, and, these being lawfully hindered, to their vicars general, in the Summary at number 2: by whose force, five processes being constructed, namely of Tarragona, Valencia, Girona, Guadix, and Barcelona, and presented to this sacred congregation, and, all due things being observed, opened, from them we composed a new Summary from number 1 to 16, and in the following numbers we touched upon the old Summary. From all which, joined together, it abundantly appears that in several places of the kingdom of Catalonia public cult was and is exhibited to blessed Peter Armengol from a hundred years and more before the aforesaid decrees; and that therefore, to the form of the doubt inserted above, it must be answered that it is established concerning immemorial cult and an excepted case, as we entreat.

[18] Concerning the validity of the said processes there seems no need to delay, by the Congregation of Rites since all things appear observed which by the form of the letters were to be observed, as is then there declared at greater length. Concerning their relevancy *, from the process of Tarragona there are had most ancient visitations made by the archbishop and by the vicar general for the time; from which the body and bones of blessed Peter appear exposed to public adoration upon the high altar of the parish church called de Guardia; and the first of the said visitations was made in the year MCCCLXXXVIII, in the Summary at number 3, letter a, and so two hundred and forty-six years before the decrees. The second of the said visitations was made in the year MCDXIV, in the said Summary at number 3, letter b, and therefore two hundred and twenty years before the same decrees. The third of the said visitations was made in the year MDXXXIII, in the said Summary at number 3, letter c, which likewise preceded the decrees by a hundred and two years. And the other seven visitations, which followed in the years MDLXX, MDCXVIII, MDCXX, MDCXXXIV, MDCXXXVII, MDCXLVIII, and MDCLXII, in the said Summary at number 3, letters d, e, f, g, h, i, k, show the continuation of the said exhibition of public cult, the Ordinaries knowing and tolerating it. And that from the existence of the body of any servant of God upon an altar there results the exhibition of public cult, cannot be called into doubt, since by the practice and usage of the Church nothing is permitted to be placed there but the relics of Saints; and that all other bodies whatsoever must be buried beneath the ground, B. Pius V sanctioned in constitution 5, §6, of which Barbosa treats in On the universal law of the church, book 2, chapter 3, number 28, and chapter 10, number 9; Pignatelli in canonical consultation 184, tome 1; and in the precise terms of relics exposed to public adoration, Cardinal Bellarmine on the beatitude of the Saints, book 1, chapter 10, at the verse "As to the seventh."

[19] for declaring From the same process of Tarragona there are had three deliberations of the public council of the corporation and town of Sarreal: of which the first was made in the year MDXXI, and the other two in the year MDXXIV, and in the said deliberations solemn supplications to blessed Peter were decreed and performed, with offerings of gifts for obtaining his intercession with God in public necessities, in the Summary at number 4, letters a, b, c. From which, preceding the decrees by a hundred and twenty-three years and so on respectively, there likewise results an evident exhibition of public cult, since acts of this kind, especially by decree of the public council of a whole Corporation, cannot be done save in honor of canonized Saints, and several authors are there cited. And that in that whole province it is held for certain that public cult was exhibited to the aforesaid Blessed one from immemorial time, seven distinguished bishops gathered in a provincial council assert, in the Summary at number 5.

[20] his cult From the process of Valencia it is had that a most ancient statue of the Blessed one formerly stood upon one of the altars of the church of the convent of blessed Mary of

Mercy, and within the last twenty years it was translated to the altar of the sacristy of the same church, and at each altar public cult was always exhibited to the said statue, as four elder witnesses of the place, examined on the spot, affirm, in the Summary at number 9; and four experts, employed in the recognition of the same statue, testify to its antiquity of about a hundred and fifty years, rendering an excellent reason according to their art; in the Summary at number 7, letters a, b, c, d. And this placing * also of a statue upon an altar at which Mass is wont to be celebrated, since it is forbidden in the general decrees .. page 17, § Images, necessarily denotes the exhibition of public cult, as Cardinal Bellarmine hands down in On the beatitude of the Saints, book 1, chapter 10, at the verse "As to the sixth," and other writers who are here alleged. From the same process of Valencia it is had that another most ancient image of the said Blessed one, painted with splendors and a diadem, stood from immemorial time on an altar of the church of the convent of blessed Mary of Mercy in the city of Játiva; and that then, about twenty-five years ago, the said altar was restored, and the aforesaid painted panel, on account of its excessive antiquity, was placed in the sacristy of the same church, where also at present it is kept, as three aged witnesses examined on the spot declare, in the Summary at number 8. And two experts, for recognizing the age of the said image, report that it was made about two hundred years ago, in the Summary at number 9, letters a, b, and so nearly a hundred and fifty years before the decrees. And from the keeping of the said image with splendors and a laurel wreath on the altar and in the sacristy there results the exhibition of public cult, from what has been alleged above.

[21] from immemorial time, From the process of Girona there is had another painted panel representing blessed Peter with rays, splendors, and the title of Saint, which stands on the high altar of the church of the Convent of blessed Mary of Mercy, and four experts assert its antiquity of about two hundred and seventy years, in the Summary at number 10, letters a, c, e, g, and so two hundred and eighteen before the decrees; and that antiquity of this kind cannot be attributed to any accidental cause the same experts rightly prove, in the said Summary at number 10, letters b, d, f, h. And that public cult results from such an image is plain from what was just adduced above. From the process of Guadix it is had that another image of the said Blessed one, with a diadem on the head and a palm in the hands, and with the inscription of Saint, has stood from immemorial time in the chapel of the sacristy of the collegiate church in the city of Baza; and that the same image, with other furnishings, was given to the said chapel by a certain noble man almost at that time when the city of Baza was wrested from the hands of the Moors, about a hundred and eighty years ago, several witnesses examined on the spot assert, in the Summary at number XI. With whose statements three experts agree, employed for recognizing its antiquity, who attest that the said image was made more than a hundred and fifty years ago, in the Summary at number 12, letters a, c, f, and consequently a century before the decrees; and that antiquity of this kind cannot be attributed to dampness or to any other accidental cause, in the same place, letters b, d, e. And that hence also the exhibition of public cult is proved, becomes known from what has been said before.

[22] From the process of Barcelona it is had that in the books of the general Chapters of the Order of blessed Mary of Mercy, and for proving an excepted case from the decrees of Pope Urban the eighth. in the said city there stands a public instrument, made in the year MCCCIV, in which five Religious of the Order of blessed Mary of Mercy, by order of the Master General, gave a sworn attestation of the holy life, happy death, and admirable deeds of the said Blessed one, in the Summary at number 13. Which instrument, although it does not prove the exhibition of public cult in honor of blessed Peter, who had died a little before, yet makes clear that he was worthy of it, as it was afterwards rendered. From the same process it is had that in the said books of the general Chapters there are found most ancient designations of blessed Peter with circumstances indicating public cult. For in the year MCDXLII it was decreed in the general assembly that the Lives of the Saints should be read in the convents, among whom holy Peter Armengol is named, in the Summary at number 14, letters a, b; and in the same year in the book of visitations there are read little inscriptions of the Blessed one with the title of Saint, in the same place, letters c, d, e, f. Moreover in another general assembly, convoked in the year MCDXC, it was sanctioned under the gravest penalties by the Master General that the Commanders of the convents of Tarragona and of Montalto should bring the Life of holy Peter Armengol, to be read in the coming Chapter, in the said number 14, letters g, h, i. And these acts also, preceding the decrees by a hundred and ninety-one and a hundred and forty-four years respectively, display the exhibition of public cult, since they were performed by the whole Order of Religious solemnly gathered.

* only two redemptions are there named.

* that is, efficacy

* collocatio

§ III. The Blessed one's immemorial cult from the many depositions of witnesses.

[ ] The depositions of witnesses prove cult from immemorial time From the aforesaid therefore there are had twelve most solid foundations, which plainly prove that public cult is exhibited to blessed Armengol in several and divers places from immemorial time and through centuries before the decrees; which foundations by themselves alone suffice to make place for a case excepted from those decrees: and certainly they abound, if there be added the other documents adduced in another proposing of the cause, from witnesses examined by force of remissorial letters upon the proof of immemorial cult, who, although at the time of the examination they had not, and could not have had, sufficient age to depose by sight for forty years before the aforesaid decrees, as the most reverend promoter of the faith objected; yet, since today their statements stand proved from the most ancient monuments reported above, it is not to be doubted that they must be taken into consideration, as they were taken for the approval of immemorial cult in the Genoese cause of blessed Catherine Fieschi Adorno on the thirtieth of March MDCLXXV, and in the Cracow cause of B. John Cantius on the twenty-first of March MDCLXXVI, and in the Savoy cause of blessed Amadeus on the sixteenth of January MDCLXXVII, and in the Florentine cause of B. Juliana Falconieri on the ninth of July MDCLXXVIII, and in the Osma cause of blessed Peter Regalatus on the twenty-fourth of July MDCLXXXIII: in which causes likewise the witnesses were not so aged; but there concurred other ancient monuments, as here, and, all things being weighed together, this sacred congregation answered that it was established concerning immemorial cult and an excepted case. Wherefore it will not be beside the purpose to report briefly the acts of public cult recounted by those same witnesses.

[24] about the Blessed one's relics, tomb, the light kindled, First, the said witnesses depose about the exposition of the Blessed one's relics to public adoration upon the high altar of the parish church of Guardia from immemorial time, with the knowledge and sufferance of the Ordinaries, in the Summary at number 15; to whose statements correspond the most ancient visitations reported above under the § "Concerning their relevancy." And the aforesaid witnesses add that the same relics are exposed to be publicly adored, as the relics of canonized Saints are wont to be exposed, with other notable circumstances, in the Summary at number 16: nor can the exhibition of public cult be more clearly discerned, from what was adduced under the said § "Concerning their relevancy." Secondly, the said witnesses depose about the public veneration of the tomb of the same Blessed one likewise from immemorial time, the Ordinaries knowing and suffering it, with an assiduous frequency of the people flocking, even in procession, to visit it, and with other circumstances displaying public cult, in the Summary at number 17. Thirdly, the said witnesses depose that from the same immemorial time lamps and candles are kept burning at the tomb of the said Blessed one, the Ordinaries not being ignorant of it nor hindering it, in the Summary at number 18. And lights of this kind, as expressly forbidden by the general decrees, page IX, smack of the exhibition of public cult ..

[25] votive tablets, images, altars, Fourthly, the said witnesses depose that from a like immemorial time, and with the knowledge and toleration of the Ordinaries, there have been set and kept at the Blessed one's tomb and relics votive tablets, gifts, and other monuments of favors received from God by the intercession of the same Blessed one, in the Summary at number 19: which, as being forbidden in the aforesaid general decrees, page 7 at the end, display the exhibition of public cult.. Fifthly, the said witnesses depose that from the same immemorial time, and with the same knowledge and sufferance of the Ordinaries, there have been hung and kept near the said tomb of the Blessed one, and in sacred and public places, images representing that same Blessed one with splendors, laurel wreaths, and other signs making public cult manifest, in the Summary at number 20. Which signs are forbidden in the said general decrees, pages 7 and 17, and therefore from the tolerating of them public cult results, from what was adduced above under the § "From the Process of Valencia." For these signs are wont to be painted for the Servants of God to designate their sanctity.. Sixthly, the said witnesses depose from immemorial time, and with the knowledge and toleration of the Ordinaries, about the erection of altars in honor of that same Blessed one, in the Summary at number 21. From which erection it is plain of itself that a very great argument of public cult arises…

[26] Seventhly, the said witnesses depose about the celebration of Masses [at] those same altars in honor of the said Blessed one, the celebration of Masses, an annual festival, supplications, in the Summary at number 22. And hence there results a most powerful act of public cult, since, even when leave has been granted to erect an altar in honor of some Blessed one, it is not understood to be given for celebrating there a Sacrifice in his honor, as this sacred congregation declared on the thirteenth of November MDCLVIII, number 3: so that otherwise it would not even be lawful to celebrate a Mass of the Most Holy Trinity on the anniversary day of the said Blessed one.. Eighthly, the said witnesses depose, with the above-mentioned requisites of immemorial time and of the knowledge and sufferance of the Ordinaries, about an annual and solemn festival in honor of the said Blessed one, with several notable circumstances, in the Summary at number 23: which cannot be done apart from the exhibition of public cult, and therefore is not lawful, as Barbosa and others who are named hand down, and as this sacred congregation declared on the said thirteenth of November MDCLVIII, number 7. Ninthly, the said witnesses depose about the carrying of the Blessed one's body in processions to obtain divine help in necessities, with the same antiquity of immemorial time, the Ordinaries knowing and suffering it, in the Summary at number 24. Which this sacred congregation expressly forbade in the aforesaid decree of the year MDCLVIII, number XI.

[27] Tenthly, the said Witnesses in like manner depose about inscriptions of the Blessed one with the title of Saint, the title of Saint, and his name given to children, set to images in sacred and public places, and about the universal designation of Saint, in the Summary at number 25. From these likewise public cult is proved … from what was deduced above at §5, "The said Witnesses." Eleventhly, the said witnesses depose that out of the public devotion of the people toward the Blessed one the name of Peter Armengol is given to boys, and that they, by a disease

being afflicted, are clothed with votive garments of that same Blessed one; and this likewise from immemorial time, and with the knowledge and toleration of the Ordinaries, in the Summary at number 26. Which imposition of a name, made in honor of the said Blessed one, is referred to his cult from canon 30 of the council of Nicaea, commanding that the names of Saints be given to infants * baptism. And the wearing of votive garments, and the public going about with them, displays the exhibition of cult to the said Blessed one; since garments of this kind are not wont to be taken up by vow and worn openly except to the honor of canonized Saints, such as St. Dominic, St. Anthony of Padua, and the like. Twelfthly, the said witnesses depose that before the relics of the said Blessed one praises are chanted in his honor from immemorial time, the Ordinaries knowing and suffering it, in the Summary at number 27: which most greatly denotes the exhibition of public cult.

[28] Thirteenthly, the said witnesses depose about other kinds of public cult paid to the Blessed one with the said knowledge and also other tokens of cult. and sufferance of the Ordinaries, and with the express requisites for the proof of immemorial time, in the Summary at number 28. Fourteenthly, there are added the most ancient and continued assertions of writers about blessed Peter Armengol as about a Saint, the first two of which precede the decrees by centuries, and in one of them public cult is reported, in the Summary at number 29. And these appellations also, which suit none but Saints, import the exhibition of public cult.. Fifteenthly (bequests of Masses and several other things done to the honor of the Blessed one being omitted, which were gathered together in the previous statement of the case), for a crown it must be added that public cult of this kind was approved by the Holy Apostolic See, in that Urban the eighth of happy memory, the author of the decrees, on the third of March in the year MDCXXVI, and so a year after the first publication of the decrees, which issued on the thirteenth of the same month MDCXXV, as from the little book, page 2, granted to priests celebrating at the altar of holy Peter Armengol an indulgence for the soul of any Faithful one whatsoever, in the Summary at number 30. And it is not to be hesitated that from such a concession public cult arises, according to the Extravagant of Boniface, "Antiquam," On Penance and Remissions, where, in bestowing an indulgence upon those coming to the basilica of the Prince of the Apostles, it is said: "And that the most blessed Apostles Peter and Paul may be the more honored, the more devoutly their basilicas of the City are frequented by the faithful &c." and there the Gloss at the word "Confitebuntur" under the verse PEREGRINATIO … &c., and the most reverend promoter admitted it in his most learned Dissertation for the public cult of St. Job at number 18. All these things therefore being joined together, it is fully established that from immemorial time, that is, for a hundred and more years before the decrees, public cult was exhibited to blessed Peter Armengol, and so that the present cause turns upon a case excepted from those decrees. Wherefore &c. Frigdianus Castagnorius of the College of the Fathers of the Causes of the Sacred Apostolic Palace. Andreas Pierius, subpromoter of the Faith.

* add "in"

§ IV. The depositions of the witnesses are reported one by one from the Summary of the process, which was made for proving the Blessed one's cult from immemorial time.

[ ] The depositions Even though these things which have already been premised abundantly prove that in B. Peter's case there is a case excepted from the decrees of Urban VIII; yet it will not be beside the purpose to hear a few depositions of witnesses out of many, reported one by one in the same Summary, by which the foregoing may be illustrated. And upon the cult of the relics of B. Peter Armengol these things are produced in the Summary under number 15. The first witness, Francisco Montaner, of the age of sixty-eight years .., answered this among other things in Italian, which render thus in Latin: This witness knows that the said Servant of God died in the above-mentioned hermitage of Our Lady of the Meadows, which at that time was a convent of the blessed Virgin of Mercy .., and that his sacred bones and relics are to this day preserved in the parish church of Guardia, on the Epistle side, at the high altar of the above-mentioned church, within a wooden chest, carved and gilded, and closed with glass, through which the holy relics are seen, in a hollow of the wall, closed with iron gratings, rightly guarded with three locks and keys, raised a little more or less than twenty palms from the ground without a ladder: and when the said chest of sacred relics must be opened, a portable ladder is set up, made on purpose to this end, adorned with cloths: and when the above-mentioned chest with the above-mentioned holy bones has returned to the appointed place which has been named, that ladder is taken away. To these the same witness adds the becoming custody of this sacred deposit, which he asserts is laid up with great veneration in the said church of the town of Guardia near the town of Montblanc. More on this subject from the depositions of other witnesses I do not transcribe.

[30] I add nevertheless a few things out of many which under number 16 the second witness, Jerónimo Carbonel, of the age of sixty-seven years, deposes: of witnesses: that he knows that before the fire .. of the said church there was a finger of the hand of the above-mentioned Servant of God enclosed in a silver reliquary, which finger the rector of the above-mentioned church, or other priests in his place, offered to the people for adoration, not only on the day of his feast, and in a great concourse of all the people round about, when they invoked him with public prayers for rain; but also on the chief festivals of the year for the people of Guardia: and because that relic was broken and almost burnt in the fire, it is preserved in a chest in the sacristy. Under number 16 cited above there are contained several other things which pertain to those same sacred remains, and from which a few are here tasted: namely, first, their faithful custody by armed persons, when they are exposed at the time of public prayers for nine days for obtaining rain, and also when for a whole day they lie open to public veneration on the altar every year on the Saint's festival day. Secondly, in the convent of St. Francis of Montblanc, among other relics, a small rib of this Servant of God is asserted to be, which together with them is exposed to public veneration on various festivals of the year: and when those piously affected toward the Saint labor under any necessity, they go to the said convent to venerate that sacred pledge and to commend themselves to the Saint.

[31] Thirdly, wonderful are the things which under the same number 16 the Third witness, Jaime Balaguer, Doctor of both Laws, of the age of fifty-seven years, by which deposes concerning a theft of relics miraculously betrayed by an infant of about one year. He asserts therefore that he has heard it said by many persons, and that it is as it were public and notorious, and is held by certain and true tradition of their forefathers, that on a certain occasion many years ago .. an infant of the age of one year, a little more or less, who could not speak, then said to his mother that the relics of the said Servant of God Peter Armengol were being carried off by theft; and that then, the theft being prodigiously made manifest by the said infant, the said Religious (of the Order of Mercy), running with great solicitude, came to the bridge which is called of the Tablas *, three quarters distant from the said place of Guardia, and recovered .. the holy relics, and brought them back to their above-mentioned place, in which they always were.

[32] The things which we reported above at number 24 about the frequency of the people flocking, even in procession, to visit the Blessed one's tomb the aforesaid statements are declared in the Summary at number 17, where the above-alleged witness Francisco Montaner deposes among other things that many visited it after the manner of suppliants to obtain rain, and invoked the Saint that he might obtain this for them from God. Besides this, that on other occasions also the people flocked in the manner already mentioned to that tomb, and obtained from the Blessed one the remedy which they needed. He adds that on the same day also on which his feast is celebrated so frequent and so continual a multitude of men flocks together, that on the same feast every year and in the necessities which occurred, which the witness had reported, they went on to visit the said tomb, a great multitude of the people accompanying them. He asserts moreover that doctor Olaguer, the greater archdeacon, in the name of the archbishop of Tarragona in the year 1662 visited the church of Guardia and the Saint's sacred remains, and ordered that the nine days' supplications be made in their order on the several days, a day being assigned to each, lest one supplication should meet with another, and that they might be performed more piously and quietly.

[33] about public cult Of the tablets and gifts hung at B. Peter's relics and tomb there was brief treatment above at number 25: but it is worth narrating them a little more fully and distinctly from the Summary at number 19, where the first witness, Francisco Montaner, the same as above, deposes that before the fire of the church of Guardia, which he says happened in the time of the war in Catalonia in the year 1648 or 1649, all around the hollow and the tomb where the Servant of God's relics were laid and are today, there hung many votive gifts and miracles, on which was depicted the image and figure of that same Servant of God, and also the persons to whom the favors had been done, on bended knees before that same image of his. Add waxen legs, arms, heads, and figures all of wax; the wrappings of the dead, iron fetters, and other pledges of religious affection, which filled and occupied the greater part of the very lofty wall of the church. And besides the votive offerings which are recorded to have been offered after the restoration of that church, the same witness deposes that after its restoration a tablet was set up which represented the safety of a certain woman, who had fallen from a lofty building, obtained by the Saint's patronage.

[34] from immemorial time Briefly also in the same number 25 there is touched the argument for public cult from immemorial time drawn from the rayed pictures of B. Peter. More on this subject is in the Summary under number 20, whence I taste these things for a fuller explanation of the matter. The same Francisco Montaner testifies that the images painted on the votive offerings or tablets which before the fire reported above hung all around the Blessed one's tomb represented beneath his feet a globe or white cloud which surrounded them; and above his head some rays and splendors of a golden color; and in his right hand a palm, in his left a book; and that beneath the said panels or votive offerings there was inscribed "by vow." And from another answer of the same witness, which is held under the number designated before, we learn that those tablets were offered by the faithful in thanksgiving, the persons who offered them being expressed, and the miracle which each of them had obtained being also declared in particular.

[35] more fully The things premised summarily about altars erected in the Blessed one's honor, as was indicated in the same number 25, can be further illustrated from the answer of the first witness, Francisco Montaner, who in the Summary under number 21 deposes that in the hermitage of the God-bearer of the Meadows there is an altar on the Gospel horn, on which, among other Saints depicted on it, Peter Armengol is expressed in colors: and that in the church of the Miracle, by which name is called the convent of the Mercedarian Fathers of the above-mentioned town of Montblanc, there is a wooden statue of the Blessed one on the Epistle horn, of sculptor's work, and painted in a white habit, as St. Raymund Nonnatus is represented

of the same Religion of the Mercedarians, which stands on the Gospel horn of the same altar. He adds that the vicars general of the archbishops of Tarragona saw these images set up on those altars, and not only did not gainsay it, but even poured out prayers before them. He reports also that the prelates of Tarragona themselves prayed before the Blessed one's images, one namely before that which is in the sacred house of the Miracle; and that another did the same in the same house and in the hermitage of the Meadows.

[36] It conduces most greatly to illustrating the cult of this Servant of God are confirmed that Masses have been celebrated in his honor, as was said before at number 26. This argument is confirmed at greater length in the Summary at number 22. For Jaime Balaguer, of whom above, deposes that at the high altar of the parish church of Guardia, which is very near the hollow in which his relics are, many Masses are celebrated, with and without singing, in his honor: but especially that on the first day of September his feast is kept, and a solemn Office is celebrated, the rector of the aforesaid parish church officiating at the altar with singing, with a deacon and subdeacon, and that in that Mass the praises and virtues of this Servant of God are wont to be preached: likewise that they are sung sonorously and most solemnly, some priests and other persons performing the Office in the choir: and that the Mass is of one Martyr, which, as it seems to the witness, begins: In virtute tua &c.; that he had heard it so sung, and that in the prayer or collect he had heard the name of this Servant of God named: and that in this manner Masses have always been celebrated from immemorial time at the aforesaid altar to his honor.

[37] He deposes moreover that many Masses are celebrated at the said altar and are illustrated. when for the necessity of rain the said relics are exposed, and also at the altar of the hermitage of the God-bearer of the Meadows, when they are exposed there, not only with a solemn office and a sermon, but also with many other Sacrifices which are performed; and also that afterwards, when rain is obtained from God by his intercession, a Mass with singing is celebrated at the high altar of the parish church of Guardia for thanksgiving in honor of the Lord our God.

* in the printed texts, delle tavole

§ V. Other signs of veneration from the said Summary; the cult promoted by Pope Urban VIII.

[ ] The Blessed one's feast The Information which we gave above mentions at number 26 in a few words an annual and solemn festival in honor of the said Blessed one with very many circumstances. Very long are the depositions of the witnesses in the Summary upon this matter at number 23: whence we taste some things out of many which the first witness, Francisco Montaner, says. He deposes therefore that every year on the first day of September a particular festival is celebrated in honor of the above-mentioned servant of God Peter Armengol in the parish church of Guardia in this form: On the day before, at the hour of Compline, the bronze Bells are rung for an hour and a half and longer, and the rector of the same church goes forth from the abbey to the said church, the Jurats and other nobles of that same town of Guardia accompanying him: before them goes a band of musicians, who ordinarily come from the town of Santa Coloma, of the bishopric of Vic: and that rector, having entered the church, clothed with a stole of silk cloth of Damascene work and with a surplice, sings Compline in the same church together with some men and youths of the said town, and all sing the versicle, the band of musicians accompanying the versicles, and, "Save us" &c. being said, the rector puts on a red cope of Damascene work and betakes himself to the high altar, while in the meantime they sing "Nunc dimittis" &c., and there the prayer of Compline is sung by the rector: and presently the Salve is sung, and then the praises of B. Peter, and at the end of them his versicle and prayer, in which also his name is expressed. Afterwards the signal is given for the Angelic salutation: and this being finished, the rector is led back by the Jurats and nobles of the aforesaid town, and by the musicians, to his abbey or house.

[39] is venerated with solemn rite among the people of Guardia: I should be too long if from the aforesaid Summary I should transcribe at greater length what is done in honor of the Servant of God on the feast day itself. I use therefore a compendium. The bronze Bells are rung for two hours and more: the mayor, the Jurats, and others accompany the rector, as was said above: when they have entered the church, the rector, clothed with alb, stole, and red cope, with deacon and subdeacon accompanying, betakes himself to the hollow in which the relics are preserved, opens its iron gratings, begins to sing a hymn of Martyrs to the praise of the Blessed one, and, the clergy and people of the said town continuing the singing, burns incense before them, and, the versicle and prayer of the aforesaid Servant of God being finished, the same rector, deacon, and subdeacon with great veneration take the relics, and, incensation being first made, let them down by the ladder, place them on a bier or tabernacle, and straightway begin a general supplication with the highest solemnity through the town of Guardia, which is described in the said Summary. After it the relics are exposed on the high altar with many lights, ornaments, and also with guards appointed by the town: the Blessed one's praises are sung in the same manner as on the day before after Compline: a solemn Sacrifice of the Servant of God is begun: and after the Creed has been recited, a sacred sermon is held upon the Gospel of the Mass of the Servant of God, as has been said, and also upon his great excellence and miracles, virtues, and the things done by him in life. The Sacrifice being ended, the relics remain on the high altar for public veneration the whole day, and in the morning time of that day confessions are heard, and the Sacrament of the Eucharist is received by various persons. And at vespers a numerous people flocks together, and, the Blessed one's praises being sung, the rector of Guardia, becomingly vested, replaces the reliquary in the said hollow, and a hymn, the versicle of a responsory, and a prayer are sung, and the iron gratings are closed with three keys, which are kept by three different persons.

[40] public supplications in his honor: Brief are the things which the Information has above at number 26 about the carrying of the body .. in processions to obtain divine help in necessities. In the Summary at number 24, from the depositions of the first witness cited before, and of others, this article is set out and confirmed. Lest the narration exceed measure, I shall excerpt a few things from the statements of the first witness. Besides the solemn supplication which we have just reported to be held on the feast day of the Servant of God among the people of Guardia, he affirms that his bones or relics are carried with the same state and rite of supplication, when public prayers for rain are instituted, to the hermitage of the God-bearer of the Meadows, and that there for nine days by day and by night they lie open to public piety with ornaments, lights, a concourse of the people, and guards &c. That religious reverence also is procured for the supplication by women and girls, clothed in white, with loose hair, bearing in one hand a Crucifix and in the other a lighted candle: that many persons also walk with bare feet: and that in the greater Litanies also, as the same witness had premised, when the relics are carried, the Servant of God is invoked among the other Saints: Holy Peter Armengol, pray for us.

[41] That the title of Saint was given to this Servant of God, the title of Saint from immemorial time; the name Armengol given to infants: we saw in the Information above at number 27: which is proved at length in the Summary at number 25 from the statements of witnesses upon that appellation from immemorial time. For it therefore there are indicated the public and modern use of this title, persons both ecclesiastical and secular, and also general visitors and the archbishops of Tarragona, ancient inscriptions, the prayer in the Mass, the praises which are continually sung before his relics, and the public litanies, of which we have just spoken.

The Summary at number 26, from the depositions of witnesses, confirms the statements of the Information at number 27 about the name of this Servant of God given to infants, and about the garment of his Order with which they are clothed. Let the first witness, Francisco Montaner, be heard, who deposes that he knows that, when any infants are washed with sacred baptism in the church not only of Montblanc and of Guardia, but also in the others lying round about, their godparents, among the other names of Saints whom the Church honors, add as such the name Armengol to the other names which they commonly have, and that this name Armengol clings to them when they call them Armengolet. He deposes moreover that he knows that, when any infant of the said places is very ill and is in danger of death, its parents make a vow to the Servant of God Peter Armengol that they will see to it, if the said infant recover health by his intercession, that he go about clothed in the habit of blessed Mary of Mercy, just as many fathers and mothers on an occasion of this kind offer their sons to St. Augustine, St. Francis, St. Dominic, and other Saints; and that in fact, after those infants have escaped the aforesaid disease, they go about publicly clothed in the same habit of Mercy, because it is the same as that which the said Servant of God wore while he lived, and in which he died.

[42] The often-mentioned Information at number 28 makes mention of other kinds of public cult paid to the Blessed one with .. [Urban the eighth not only willed that the Blessed one should not be comprised in his decree,] the express requisites for the proof of immemorial time. The depositions of the witnesses are brought forward in the Summary at number 28 concerning the various points of which there is discourse there. And as to what concerns their antiquity, of which chiefly there is treatment there, from the things which are deposed from sight, from hearing from their parents, and by these from the report of more ancient men, and from the uninterrupted continuation of public veneration until the present time in which the witnesses were living, it may be concluded that honors of public cult were paid to this Servant of God, such as are required in order that, on account of the immemorial time for which he is proved to have had them, he may be excepted from the decree of Pope Urban VIII, who by Apostolic letters not only held B. Peter's cult grateful and ratified, but also promoted it, as is established from the indulgences which the same Pontiff granted to those celebrating Mass at his altar. And those letters are reported in the Summary at number 30, and sound thus: Pope Urban VIII. For the future memory of the matter. Being intent with fatherly charity upon the salvation of souls, we sometimes adorn sacred places with the spiritual gifts of indulgences, that thence the souls of the deceased faithful may be able to obtain the suffrages of the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ and of his Saints, and by them to be led to life * from the pains of purgatory to eternal salvation through God's mercy.

[43] but also grants indulgences to those celebrating at his altar. Wishing therefore to illustrate with a special gift the church of the house of the Brethren of the Order of blessed Mary of Mercy for the redemption of captives of the town of Montblanc, of the diocese of Tarragona, hitherto by no means adorned, as we have learned, with a like privilege, provided that in it ten Masses be celebrated daily, and the altar situated in it called of holy Peter Armengol, by the authority given us by the Lord, and trusting in the mercy of almighty God and in the authority of his blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, that whensoever a priest

of that same church shall have celebrated at the aforesaid altar merely a Mass of the dead on the day of the commemoration of the dead, and on each day within its octave, and also on the second feria of any week, for the soul of any of the faithful which, joined to God in charity, has departed from this light; that soul may obtain an indulgence from the treasury of the Church by way of suffrage, so that, by the merits of the same our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the most blessed Virgin Mary, and of all the saints availing for it, it may be freed from the pains of purgatory — this we grant and indulge, notwithstanding anything whatsoever to the contrary. Given at Rome at St. Peter's under the Fisherman's ring on the third day of March in the year one thousand six hundred and twenty-six, in the third year of our pontificate. V. Theatin. Place † of the seal. Revised. Andreas Pierius, subpromoter of the faith.

[44] We omit some other things here for brevity's sake. A catalogue of the writers and historians concerning the sanctity and cult of the servant of God is given in the Summary, number 29: but we shall mention them on occasion of the Life to be brought forward hereafter. The animadversions of the most illustrious Bottini, archbishop of Myra, against each of the five processes, namely the Tarragonese, the Valencian, the Gerundan, the Guadixan, and the Barcelonan, on the one part; and on the other the answer to them for the immemorial cult and excepted case of this servant of God, I have before me: but because those writings and rescripts or answers would draw me into discourses far too long, let it suffice to know that, after the cause of Bl. Peter had been diligently pleaded and accurately discussed, sentence was pronounced by the Apostolic See in his favour, the decree of the sacred congregation being confirmed by letters in the form of a Brief of Innocent XI of holy memory, approving the immemorial cult of Bl. Peter, as we shall presently see.

read adjutæ*

§ VI. The public cult of the Blessed from immemorial time confirmed by the Apostolic See; and afterwards notably illustrated.

[ ] The cult from immemorial time In the Bullarium of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy, among the other constitutions of Pope Innocent XI, this one is brought forward from page 380: Pope Innocent XI, for a future record of the matter. Lately in the Tarragonese cause of the canonization of Bl. Peter Armengol, priest and professed religious of the Order of the Friars of Blessed Mary of Mercy for the redemption of captives, at the supplication of our beloved son Ferdinand de Carvajal y Ribera, vicar and procurator general of the same Order, there issued from the congregation of our venerable brethren the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, set over the sacred Rites, a decree of the tenor which follows; namely.

[46] “Whereas formerly, about the year 1675, at the supplication of the Reverend Father Master Friar Matthias de Cardona, vicar by the sacred and procurator general of the aforesaid Order, the cause of the aforesaid blessed Peter Armengol was three times proposed, on the report of the most eminent and most reverend lord Cardinal de Portocarrero as Ponent, concerning the confirmation of the sentence given by the most reverend archbishop of Tarragona, judge delegated by the sacred congregation of Rites, touching the cult exhibited to the same Blessed from immemorial time, and the case excepted from the decrees of Urban VIII of happy memory, published in the congregation of the most holy Inquisition; and, on account of grave difficulties raised by the most reverend lord promoter of the faith, and for want of sufficient and lawful proof, the resolution was deferred, and that too with this mind, in the last of the said three propositions, that in future no further petitions should be heard.

[47] “But at the earnest prayers of the Reverend Father Master Friar Ferdinand de Carvajal y Ribera, vicar and procurator general of the same Order, congregation of Rites exhibiting most ancient documents proving the cult for a hundred years and more before the aforesaid decrees, adduced in the previous propositions, on the second day of December of the year 1684 a new audience was granted, and on the twenty-seventh day of January of the year 1685, on the report of the most eminent and most reverend lord Cardinal Azzolino, subrogated as Ponent in the place of the said most eminent de Portocarrero, archbishop of Toledo, compulsory letters were granted for the city and diocese of Tarragona, directed to its most reverend archbishop, and particular letters for other places to their most reverend bishops, and, these being lawfully hindered, to their vicars general.

[48] “By virtue of which five processes being drawn up, namely the Tarragonese, it is declared, the Valencian, the Gerundan, the Guadixan, and the Barcelonan, and being presented to the sacred congregation and duly opened, at the supplication of the Reverend Father Master Friar Ferdinand de Carvajal y Ribera the doubt was proposed by the said most eminent and most reverend Cardinal Azzolino, whether the immemorial cult and the case excepted from the decrees of Urban VIII of happy memory be established, to the effect of which the matter treats: and this being attentively discussed, and the most reverend promoter of the faith having been heard in writing and by word of mouth, the sacred congregation with unanimous vote judged and declared that the immemorial cult and the excepted case are established, if it shall please our most holy lord. On the twenty-third day of March 1686. And report of the aforesaid being made to the most holy lord, his Holiness graciously assented on the twenty-eighth day of March 1686. N. Cardinal Ludovisi. Place † of the seal. Bernard. Casali, Secretary of the Sacred Congregation of Rites.”

[49] But since, as the aforesaid Ferdinand, procurator general, thereafter caused to be set forth to Us, and by Pope Innocent XI he greatly desires that a decree of this kind, that it may the more firmly subsist, be strengthened by the patronage of our Apostolic confirmation, We, willing to follow that same Ferdinand, procurator general, with special favours and graces, and absolving him by the tenor of these presents, and holding him to be absolved, from any sentences, censures, and penalties of excommunication, suspension, and interdict, and other ecclesiastical ones, passed by law or by man on any occasion or for any cause, if he stands bound by any of them in any manner whatsoever, to the effect of obtaining these presents, being inclined by the supplications humbly presented to Us in his name upon this matter, do by Apostolic authority, by the tenor of these presents, approve and confirm the decree inserted above, and add to it the strength of inviolable Apostolic firmness; saving nevertheless in the premises the authority of the said congregation of cardinals.

[50] lawfully Decreeing that these same present letters ever be and shall be firm, valid, and effectual, and obtain and take their full and entire effects: and most fully avail those to whom they pertain and shall pertain for the time being: and that thus in the premises it must be judged and determined by all judges ordinary and delegate, even by the auditors of causes of the apostolic palace: and that it be void and of no effect if anything be attempted otherwise upon these matters by any person, by any authority, knowingly or unknowingly: notwithstanding any Apostolic constitutions and ordinances, and all other things whatsoever to the contrary.

[51] it is confirmed. And We will that to transcripts or copies of these same present letters, even printed ones, subscribed by the hand of some public notary and furnished with the seal of a person constituted in ecclesiastical dignity, the very same credit be everywhere given which would be given to these presents themselves, if they were exhibited or shown. I. G. Slutius. Those difficulties, of which mention was made above in the decree of the sacred congregation, consisted chiefly in this, that the witnesses deposing concerning immemorial time did not suffice to prove the cult for the space of a hundred years before the decrees. But these difficulties were afterwards removed, and the cause of Bl. Peter carried, as may be seen above, §2, number 17.

[52] That the Office and Mass may be celebrated with solemn rite and with an Octave In the year next following, 1687, the public veneration of Peter Armengol was raised to a greater solemnity by a decree of the sacred congregation, that throughout the whole Order of Mercy for the redemption of captives the Office and Mass of him as a martyr should be celebrated yearly under a double rite of the second class with an Octave; which decree was confirmed by Pope Innocent XI, as appears from the said Bullarium from page 383, where these things are: Pope Innocent XI, for a future record of the matter. Lately, at the supplication of our beloved son Bartholomew de Ribero, vicar and procurator general of the Order of the Friars of Blessed Mary of Mercy for the redemption of captives, there issued from the congregation of our venerable brethren the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, set over the sacred rites, a decree of the tenor which follows, namely:

“Whereas the sacred congregation of Rites on the twenty-third day of March 1686, on the report of the most eminent and most reverend lord Cardinal Azzolino, declared that the cult rendered to the said Blessed from immemorial time, and the case excepted from the decrees of Urban VIII of happy memory, are established, with the approval of our most holy lord following on the twenty-eighth day of the said month; today, at the earnest prayers of the Reverend Father Master Friar Bartholomew de Ribero, vicar and procurator general of the aforesaid Order, the same sacred congregation, on the report of the same most eminent Azzolino, having heard the most reverend lord promoter of the faith by voice and in writing, judged that there should be granted to all religious of both sexes of the aforesaid whole Order of Blessed Mary of Mercy only, the faculty of reciting the Office and celebrating the Mass in honour of the said blessed Peter Armengol from the common of one Martyr, yearly on the first day of September, the anniversary of the death of the same Blessed, with lessons and collect likewise from the common, under a double rite of the second class with an Octave, as in the printed booklet of the Offices of the aforesaid Order or Religion, if it shall please our most holy lord. On this twenty-fifth day of January 1687. And word being made of the aforesaid with the most holy lord, his Holiness graciously assented on the third day of February 1687. N. Cardinal Ludovisi. Place † of the seal.”

[53] But since, as the said Bartholomew, vicar [may be celebrated on the first of September, is granted to the whole Order of Mercy:] and procurator general, caused humble supplication to be made and set forth to Us, he greatly desires that a decree of this kind, that it may the more firmly subsist, be strengthened by the patronage of our Apostolic confirmation; We, etc. Then he confirms the decree of the sacred congregation. The words I do not transcribe, because they can be read in the other letters of the same most holy lord just produced. The clause is: Given at Rome at St. Mary Major under the Fisherman's ring, on the eighteenth day of April 1687, in the eleventh year of our pontificate. I. G. Card. Slutius.

[54] The cult of our martyr became more illustrious when the sacred congregation of Rites granted [which is afterwards extended to the twenty-seventh of April with proper lessons and collect] that all religious of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy for the redemption of captives, and the nuns, might recite and celebrate the Office and Mass, with three proper lessons and a proper collect, on the feast of the same martyr under a double rite of the second class with an Octave, on the twenty-seventh day of April, which was his birthday to immortal life, and on which he was afterwards inscribed in the Roman Martyrology. Of this indult it is treated in the Bullarium of the same Order from page 407. The Office is there prescribed to be said from the common of one Martyr in the Paschal season. The collect: O God, who didst strengthen blessed Peter Armengol thy martyr with the virtue of constancy in his passion; grant us by imitation of him that, being fervent in thy charity, we may fear no adversities of the world, and that by his prayers and merits we may ever be defended by thy help. Through our Lord, etc. For the first Nocturn the lessons are appointed: Brethren, we are debtors, etc., from the common of many Martyrs. The historical narrative, inserted into the second Nocturn from the deeds of the Blessed, will be understood from the Life which we shall give. In the third Nocturn a Homily of St. Augustine the bishop on the Gospel:

I am the true vine, from the same common. The Mass: Protexisti, with the proper collect.

[55] After these things there follows in the said Bullarium, page 408, this decree: lawfully approved. The sacred congregation of Rites, adhering to the Tarragonese decree of the concession of the Office and Mass for blessed Peter Armengol or Armengaudus, of the Order of Blessed Mary of Mercy for the redemption of captives, published on the twenty-fifth day of January 1687, our most holy lord also assenting on the third day of February of the same year, has approved the above-written lessons and the collect of the aforesaid Blessed, diligently revised and corrected by the most eminent lord Cardinal Casanate, the most reverend promoter of the faith having likewise been heard, for the religious of both sexes of the said Order of Blessed Mary of Mercy for the redemption of captives only, and granted that they may be printed, at the instance of Father Master Friar Bartholomew de Ribero, vicar and procurator general of the same Order. On the twenty-fourth day of January 1688. A. Cardinal Cybo. Place † of the seal. Bernard. Casali, Secretary of the Sacred Congregation of Rites. Further, the name of the Blessed was inscribed in the Roman Martyrology, as I was saying; but after various objections raised upon this matter, as will presently appear.

§ VII. A dissertation, whether the name of the Blessed ought to be inscribed in the Roman Martyrology.

[ ] The objection of the promoter of the faith After it had been asked at Rome that Bl. Peter Armengaudus should be inscribed in the Roman Martyrology, the promoter of the Faith set forth many and various animadversions: to which a reply came forth published at Rome in the year 1688, directed to the most eminent lord Cardinal Azzolino. But because this learned dissertation has wherewith to feed the curious reader, it has seemed good to subjoin it here: Most eminent and most reverend Lord. Against the petitioned inscription of Bl. Peter Armengaudus in the Roman Martyrology the most reverend lord promoter of the Faith objects the general decree of the thirtieth day of July of the year 1616, by which this sacred congregation commanded that only canonized saints be set down in the said Roman Martyrology; and the renewal of the said decree made on the thirty-second day of August 1680, for reasons heaped together by the same most reverend lord promoter in a most learned dissertation, given anew to the most eminent Fathers; and at the same time he proposes for consideration whether for the said blessed Armengaudus there concur special circumstances which may be able to persuade that the petitioned concession does not violate the said general decree, as was weighed in the like inscription of Bl. Bernard of Menthon, granted on the ninth day of August 1681.*

[57] that only canonized saints are to be inscribed in the Roman Martyrology But for the removal of an objection of this kind, it must be premised that, although the most reverend lord promoter in the said dissertation has adduced many things to demonstrate that inscription in the Roman Martyrology imports an extension of cult, nevertheless the sacred congregation in the year 1680 in no way wished to declare this; but only commanded that in future the decree of the year 1616 be observed, as at the end of the said dissertation. Wherefore the decree of the year 1680 contains nothing more than the aforementioned decree of the year 1616. It must also be premised that the said decree of 1616 issued lest printers in the printing of the Martyrology should on their own authority add Blesseds, as the very words of the decree plainly persuade, namely:

“The decree of the year 1616 for the printing of the Martyrology. Whereas the most illustrious and most reverend lord Cardinal Bellarmine proposed in the congregation of sacred Rites held on the thirtieth day of July 1616 that certain printers of books desire to print the Roman Martyrology anew, and to add in it those saints and blesseds who since the last edition or printing of the said Martyrology have been canonized and declared blessed, the same sacred congregation of Rites, according to the mind and order of our most holy lord the Pope, answered that in the Roman Martyrology to be printed anew there are to be added only those saints who have been canonized, but not those who have been declared blessed, since the last printing of the said Martyrology, and so it judged and declared.”

[58] is weighed, and in favour of Bl. Peter And in this the said decree is conformable to the constitution of Gregory XIII prefixed to the Martyrology, which forbids the prefects of churches “that in performing the divine Office in choir, every other Martyrology being removed, they use this only, with nothing added, changed, or taken away; and if they have any other saints wont to be celebrated in their own churches or places, let them not insert them in this book, but have them described separately:” which words the most reverend lord promoter reports in the said dissertation under the § PARENDO IGITUR; for from them it can only be inferred that it is lawful for no one on his own authority to add the names of men of God to the said Martyrology, as Castellini excellently remarks, De Certitud. glor. Sanctor., chapter 1, point 33, §6, page 61, column 1, where he says: “From which words two things are evidently gathered: first, etc.; second, that it is lawful for none, without consulting the Holy See, to insert the name of any man of God in the Martyrology;” and for the explanation of the decree of the year 1616, Pignatelli, Consult. canon. 63, number 20, volume 4, thus understands the same Gregorian constitution, saying: “In like manner, to that which is said from Gregory XIII, namely that he forbade to be inserted in the Roman Martyrology those saints of whom in some place a special Office is made; it is answered that in his letters there is forbidden only the description of these saints in the Roman Martyrology by private authority, but not by ecclesiastical authority, as is plain in many instances, etc.” But the Holy See being consulted and approving, neither the said constitution nor the aforesaid decree of the year 1616 stand in the way, as has been proved by usage, since in successive times the sacred congregation has indulged that very many men of God who were not solemnly canonized should be set down in the Martyrology, from the examples reviewed in the Memorial; and Scacchi observes this, De Not. & sign. Sanctit., section 11, chapter 4, at the beginning of page 884; Pignatelli, the said Consult. 63, number 19, verse 2 QUIA; Guyet, Heortolog., book 2, section 4, chapter 14, question 7, at the end, page 213.

[59] These things being premised, the petitioned inscription of Bl. Armengaudus does not seem to be denied, it is explained who chiefly on a twofold ground is not comprehended under the said decree of the year 1616, renewed in the year 1680. First, because the prohibition of the said decree is expressly restricted to those servants of God who have been declared blessed since the last printing of the Martyrology, as from the words just set out above. Wherefore the said prohibition does not extend to blessed Armengaudus, to whom for two hundred years and more public cult has been exhibited, as from the position of the immemorial cult approved by this sacred congregation on the twenty-third day of March 1686, and Pignatelli remarks on the point, the said Consult. 63, number 19. Secondly, because the prohibition of the said decree, in respect of servants of God who are marked with the title of blessedness, speaks of those formally and recently beatified, and having no other cult than that which is granted in a limited way in the Brief of beatification as to the kinds of that cult, wont to be granted to Blesseds only, and which therefore is not wont here to be extended before solemn canonization; but not of those who from immemorial cult have veneration through the kinds of cult proper to saints, such as are the exposition of relics upon an altar, and their carrying in solemn processions, the title of Saint, the erection of altars, the bestowal of indulgences, and the like, which are wont to be done by the Church for the honour of saints, from Cardinal Bellarmine, De Sanct. beatitud., book 1, chapter 10 throughout; all which appear to have been rendered in the public and immemorial cult of Bl. Armengaudus from the said position.

[60] For from this manifold cult approved by the Holy See there results rather a kind of tacit and ancient canonization than of recent beatification, and therefore it is not unfitting adduced that they be described in the Martyrology. Pignatelli, the cited Consult. 63, numbers 12, 17, and 19, who moreover in numbers 17 and 19 remarks that in the Roman Martyrology scarcely two hundred canonized are found, among so many thousands of saints who are read in it: and there help what is handed down by Gavanti, In Rubric. Breviar. Roman., section 1, chapter 5, title 2, number 12, page 7, saying: “The name of Saint is to be taken strictly, that is, of one canonized by the Church, OR HELD FOR A SAINT THROUGH IMMEMORIAL TIME) to whom alone public and universal cult is granted, from the Gloss on the single chapter de reliq. & vener. Sanct. in the Sixth”: and then he subjoins: “Which I have therefore noted, because although they are reckoned in the Martyrology, yet in strictness they are not called Saints, and in the same place many are called blessed who have not yet been canonized.” And the same Castellini teaches, the said point 33, §1, page 59, asserting: “Not all indeed of whom mention is made in the Roman Martyrology, speaking universally, can be said to have been canonized by the Church, since it evidently appears in the reading of the same Martyrology most lately published by Cardinal Baronius, by Pietro Galesini, and from other approved authors, that many are contained there who are not yet in truth canonized by the Roman Church, nor even simply beatified:” and he proves this in §5, verse id QUOQUE, page 60.

[61] by the authority of various writers Nor did Sacchi, cited by the most reverend lord promoter, § ISTAQUE EST, dissent, since he in the said chapter 4, page 855, at the end concludes: “It remains therefore that from the Roman Martyrology only, that is, corrected under Gregory XIII of happy memory, and most lately revised by the command of our most holy lord Urban VIII, SOME ARGUMENT MAY BE TAKEN which is effectual to the purpose of canonization; and we have said advisedly, some argument may be taken, because from historical books (whose authority depends on their own writers, since sometimes in some things they can be deceived), although some effectual argument be taken for that which one intends to prove from them, yet not so effectual but that it can in some part be weakened; in which class the Roman Martyrology is placed, which has more than once needed correction, etc.”

[62] by authority. And afterwards he subjoins that a grave and valid argument to the purpose of canonization may be drawn from the same Martyrology, if the other supports juridically proved concerning the acts of the servants of God be present, as in the words adduced by the most reverend lord promoter, the said § Istaque est. Wherefore inscription in the Roman Martyrology alone does not afford an effectual argument to the purpose of canonization. And the same is judged by Father Francisco Bivar in his Commentary on Marcus Maximus, in the opuscule entitled S. Joannes Eremita indicatus, §4, number 22, and by Father Juan Martínez de Prado, Theolog. Moral., volume 2, chapter 30, de Relig., question 7, §2, number 22. And this understanding of the decree is wonderfully helped by the reason adduced by the most reverend lord promoter in §9 MOVEOR, namely that in the formula of indulgences printed by the command of our most holy lord it is said: “Che le imagini de Santi siano de canonizati, o altri descritti nel Martyrologio Romano” (that is, in Latin, as I here insert: Let the images of saints be of those canonized, or of others described in the Roman Martyrology.) From which words it is not obscurely gathered that the Martyrology admits others besides the canonized.

* XXXI

§ VIII. The continuation of the aforesaid dissertation, in

which other objections against the same inscription are solved; it is obtained; the proper Office extended to the diocese of Tarragona.

[ ] To this inscription Nor does it seem to stand in the way that by such an inscription in the Roman Martyrology the cult is extended to the universal Church, since in every choir at Prime the same Martyrology is read. Because, whatever be the case of servants of God recently beatified by the Apostolic See with a limited kind of cult — in which terms the authorities adduced by the most reverend lord promoter are to be understood — in servants of God having the fullest cult from immemorial time in particular churches such an extension is not forbidden; as the very words placed at the end of the lesson of the Martyrology intimate: “And elsewhere of very many other holy Martyrs and Confessors, and holy Virgins.” Which words are referred to those saints who are venerated in particular churches, as Scacchi weighs to our purpose, the said treatise, section 1, chapter 7, page 81, letter a, saying: “The common practice of the Church also strengthens and confirms the acclamation of peoples concerning the sanctity of one deceased, so that he seems to need almost no beatification or canonization who by the common wish of the peoples is reckoned a saint; or if the beatification or canonization of any such servant of God be treated of, it is agreed that a most excellent and valid argument is drawn thence. For throughout the whole Church, in divers episcopal cities, towns, and places, many servants of God are venerated, the canonical Hours are celebrated to their honour, and the sacrifice of the Mass is offered to the supreme Godhead in their memory, of whose beatification and canonization nothing certain is had.

[64] “Because also the names of very many such servants of God are read under the title of sanctity in the Martyrologies, it does not seem to be an obstacle, of whom indeed so great is the multitude that therefore at the end of the lesson of the same Martyrology there is added: And elsewhere of very many other holy Martyrs and Confessors, and holy Virgins. Under which titles indeed are comprehended as many as throughout the world are venerated by the faithful under the title of sanctity, so that therefore to the purpose of beatification and canonization a very great argument is thence drawn, that some servant of God is called a Saint in many churches and dioceses, and venerated as a Saint.” And this opinion is confirmed by Pappacoda, bishop of Lecce, in his Disceptation after the moral and juridical questions of Pasqualigo, cited by the most reverend lord promoter under § Istaque est, who on page 129, number 16, says: “Under whose words (namely, AND ELSEWHERE OF OTHERS, etc.) there is read implicitly in each several church the memory of any saint who is venerated only in some particular church”; and that the said clause And elsewhere of others, etc., was added for the saints of particular churches, of whose sanctity it was not established by lawful documents, the most reverend Matta notes from Filippo Ferrari and others, De Canoniz. Sanct., part 1, chapter 3, number 10, under the verse PORRO, etc., page 10.*

[65] that thereby the cult of the Blessed These things proceed more strongly in respect of blessed Armengaudus, who after the approval of the immemorial cult obtained from the Apostolic See for the whole Order of Blessed Mary of Mercy an Office and Mass with proper lessons and collect of a Martyr. Wherefore “the principal being granted, the accessory also is judged to be granted,” as Guyet says on the proposal, the said question 7. And rightly, because the sacrifice of the Mass is offered to God in honour of the saints in the name of the whole Church. Augustinus Triumphus, De potest. Eccles., question 14, article 5, in the body; Castro Palao, Oper. moral., title 5, treatise 4, disputation 1, point 5, §5, number 6, verse QUIA EO, etc.; Panvinio in his Relation of the canonization of St. Bonaventure, in the first, first premise, part QUID SIT CANONIZATIO, after the opuscules of the same saint, page 830, column 1, at the end, verse item quia Missæ celebratio, etc.; and it is the greatest cult beyond any other, Castro Palao, the said §5, number 7, verse ERGO SOLUM, etc., handing down: “By the very fact that the Roman Church grants that Mass be celebrated in his honour, she venerates him as a Saint, since indeed she exhibits to him the supreme cult which she can employ:” and a little below: “If therefore the Pontiff has judged him worthy of the cult which is exhibited through Mass and the canonical Office, a fortiori he has been judged worthy of all the others, etc.”

[66] is extended And that inscription in the Roman Martyrology is less than the concession of Office and Mass is plain: for from such inscription it does not follow that an Office may be recited and a Mass celebrated, as the bishop of Ventimiglia teaches, De Canonizat. of the said St. Bonaventure to Sixtus IV, book 1, in the answer to the second, question 1, article QUID SIT CANONIZATIO; Castellini, the said point 33, §§2 and 3, page 90; Pignatelli, the cited Cons. 63, number 14 at the end. And it is clear from this, that of those canonized saints themselves, who may on their own authority be set down by printers in the Roman Martyrology, by the Decree of the year 1616 no Office can be made nor Mass celebrated without a special indult of the Apostolic See, from another decree of this sacred congregation, as, after Gavanti, Barbosa, and Lezana, Pignatelli reports to our purpose, the said Consult. 63, number 18. Wherefore, since Bl. Armengaudus has an Office and Mass by concession of the Holy See, he is the more easily to be described in the Roman Martyrology, from what is handed down by the same Pignatelli, cited Consult. 63, number 9 and following, and especially 15 and 21.

[67] to the universal Hence it does not stand in the way that after the lesson of the Martyrology in choir at Prime there is straightway said by the hebdomadarian: Precious in the sight of the Lord, and the choir answers: Is the death of his Saints; and that this is done for the veneration of all the saints, the most reverend lord promoter teaches from Hugh of St. Victor and from Gavanti in the sixth § MOVEOR. Because these words are sung for the veneration in general of all the saints, as the same Hugh of St. Victor says in the place alleged by the most reverend lord promoter, and are not specifically referred to those who have been read in the Martyrology; nay, by the said words there is only commemorated the death, precious in the sight of the Lord, of the saints who bought immortality with the price of their blood; but all the saints are generally invoked by the prayer immediately following: “Holy Mary and all the Saints intercede for us, etc.,” as Cardinal Bona teaches, De singul. partib. divin. Psalmo., chapter 16, §19; and in number 2, verse POST LECTIONEM, at page 866 of my copy; in which prayer no reference is made to the names of the saints recited in the lesson of the Martyrology. This lesson therefore contains a bare memory without any dulia of the names read, granted that the said memory savours of some praise of them, which the most reverend lord promoter weighs from the constitution of Gregory XIII set before the Martyrology, under § Parendo igitur.

[68] But however it be; the veneration which might arise from such a memory, Church: to be made once in the year by all choirs, is assuredly less than the recitation of the Office and the celebration of the Mass, whose sacrifice is offered to God each day to the highest honour of Bl. Armengaudus in the name of the whole Church, from what has been said above. And just as so many thousands of men of God were noted in the Roman Martyrology in the very compiling of it, without their having been canonized by the Holy See, but only having had public cult in particular churches without any Apostolic concession of Office and Mass; so the more willingly must assent be given to the petitioned inscription of blessed Armengaudus, already from most ancient time famous for cult in many places, and adorned with the said indult of a proper Office and Mass of a Martyr throughout the whole Order.

[69] But all ambiguity is removed, even if the decree of the sacred congregation published in the year 1680 carried with it something more for as this argument was no hindrance to the inscription of another saint, than the preceding decree of the year 1616, though it was then simply renewed, in that in the next following year 1681 this sacred congregation, while I was writing, granted that saint Bernard of Menthon be set down in the Roman Martyrology, although he had not been canonized by the Holy See, as the most reverend lord promoter reports in today's animadversions, § Et in effectu: and inasmuch as the most reverend lord promoter IN THE SAME PLACE subjoins that he did not impugn the said setting down, because from what was adduced in the petition he judged that the case was not comprehended in the said decree of the year 1680; so it must be said that the present case also is not comprehended, not only for the reasons hitherto heaped together, but chiefly because the same circumstances concur for Bl. Peter Armengaudus, nay even greater ones. For on behalf of saint Bernard of Menthon, in the petition then given, we demonstrated that in certain papal diplomas he had been incidentally called a Saint, from which appellation the sacred congregation judged that he was not comprehended under the said decree speaking of Blesseds.

[70] But for blessed Armengaudus there is present not only the appellation of Saint in many documents exhibited for the said approval of the immemorial cult; so much the less and especially in the ancient booklet of the Office and Mass for the use of the Religion, where it is said: “On the feast of our holy father Peter Armengaudus, martyr, double of the second class,” as from the Memorial and Summary for obtaining the Office and Mass; but, what is more, from the Brief of the indulgence granted on the third day of March of the year 1626 by Urban VIII of happy memory to priests celebrating at the altar of saint Peter Armengaudus for the soul of any of the faithful, in the Summary upon the said immemorial cult, number 30, pages 125 and 126: where it is said: “And in it (the church) is situated the altar of saint Peter, called Armengaudus.” And this bestowal of the sacred treasury in honour of saint Peter Armengaudus is not a bare appellation, as are the enunciative clauses of the Bulls concerning saint Bernard of Menthon, but a dispositive concession, which is wont to be made only for saints, from what is handed down in the Extravagant of Boniface Antiquam, de pœnitent. & remission., and there the Gloss on the word CONFITEBUNTUR, under the verse PEREGRINATIO; and Cardinal Bellarmine remarks it, cited chapter 10; Baldelli, Oper. moral., volume 2, book 3, disputation 13, numbers 7 and 5; Castro Palao, book 4, treatise 24, single disputation, point 7, under number 8: fully Pignatelli, Consult. canon. 252 throughout, volume 1; and best of all the most eminent Laurea on the third book of the Sentences, volume 3, part 1, de fid., disputation 6, article 3, number 104, page 329, to be read as a favour; and excellently the most eminent Capisucchi in his famous censure of a certain booklet De Cult. Sanct. veter. testam., under § IN ERECTIONE, where he affirms that the concession of an indulgence touches the universal Church and all the faithful; which censure was given in print to the sacred congregation for the cult of St. Job on the thirty-first day of August of the year 1680.

[71] [ought to stand in the way of the name of Bl. Peter being entered in the Roman Martyrology:] And from this it appears more clearly how agreeable to law it is that those saints be described in the Martyrology in whose honour indulgences have been granted by the Supreme Pontiffs, since for these to be granted the saints must be either canonized or described in the Roman Martyrology, as we have shown above under the second § QUIA, at the end. And more and more also from another motive of the most reverend lord promoter himself, § seventh MOVEOR, namely that Alexander VII of happy memory, recognizing of how great weight the bestowal of indulgences is for the cult of the saints, ordered them to be granted only to saints canonized, or at least beatified, yet described in the Martyrology. Wherefore, since blessed, or rather saint, Armengaudus has been adorned with the honour of a sacred indulgence, a notice in the Roman Martyrology befits him. And from these things it is clear that this case also is not comprehended under the said decrees of the years 1616 and 1680, by their genuine interpretations; concerning which let me be permitted to use the words of Honorius III in chapter IN HIS 30 de privileg.: “In those things which are known to make for divine worship, etc., a benign interpretation should rather be made.” Wherefore, etc. Frigdianus Castagnorius, of the College of Patrons of the Causes of the Holy Apostolic Palace.

[72] that which the postulator of this cause How fully the foregoing dissertation satisfied the animadversions of the promoter of the Faith is clear from this, that the sacred congregation of Rites published a decree, approved by Pope Innocent XI, by which it determined that an elogium of the Blessed should be inscribed in the Roman Martyrology on the twenty-seventh of April in these words: At Tarragona, of blessed Peter Armengol, of the Order of Blessed Mary of Mercy for the redemption of captives, who, having suffered many things in Africa for the redeeming of the faithful, at last rested in a blessed end in the convent of St. Mary of the Meadows. And that decree is had in the Bullarium of the praised Order, page 409, and runs thus: Whereas the sacred congregation of Rites, held on the twenty-fifth of September 1688, on the report of the most eminent and most reverend lord Cardinal Azzolino, the most reverend lord promoter of the Faith having likewise been heard by voice and in writing, declared that blessed Peter Armengol is not comprehended in the decrees concerning the not setting down of Blesseds in the Roman Martyrology, and that therefore the aforesaid Blessed is to be described in the Roman Martyrology, yet with words for the elogium to be approved by the sacred congregation of Rites, if it shall please our most holy lord; at the earnest prayers of the Reverend Father Master Friar Bartholomew de Ribero, vicar and procurator general of the aforesaid Order: and report of the aforesaid being made to the most holy lord, his Holiness graciously assented on the fourteenth day of October 1688.

[73] But now the same sacred congregation, the same most eminent and most reverend lord Cardinal Azzolino being Ponent, obtained from the Apostolic See. the same Reverend Father Master, vicar and procurator general, likewise supplicating, has decreed that the most eminent and most reverend lord Cardinal Casanate should compose the said elogium according to his own judgment and prudence. And by virtue of the aforesaid faculty of the sacred congregation, the most eminent and most reverend lord Cardinal Casanate himself made and approved the above-written elogium as it stands, and granted that it may be printed in the Roman Martyrology. On the fourth day of December 1688. A. Cardinal Cybo. Place ✠ of the seal. Bernardin. Casali, Secretary of the Sacred Congregation of Rites.

[74] In the next following year the proper lessons and collect of Bl. Peter Armengaudus, The proper lessons and collect are extended to the diocese of Tarragona. which we have said were before granted to the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy, were extended to the diocese of Tarragona by the following decree, which is extant in the Bullarium of the same Order, page 410: The sacred congregation of Rites, adhering to the Tarragonese decree of the concession of the Office and Mass for blessed Peter Armengol or Armengaudus, of the Order of Blessed Mary of Mercy for the redemption of captives, published on the twenty-fifth day of January 1687, our most holy lord also assenting on the third day of February of the same year, approved the proper lessons and collect of the aforesaid Blessed, diligently revised and corrected by the most eminent and most reverend lord Cardinal Casanate, the most reverend promoter of the Faith having likewise been heard by voice and in writing, for the religious of both sexes of the said Order. But now the same sacred congregation, at the earnest and pious prayers of the Reverend Father Master Friar Bartholomew de Ribero, vicar and procurator general of the aforesaid Religion, has granted and indulged that the aforesaid proper lessons and collect, approved as above for the said religious, may in future be freely and lawfully recited every year in the cathedral and diocese of Tarragona, where the body of that Blessed rests and is venerated with great veneration, on his feast day, by all the faithful of both sexes, as well secular as regular, who are bound to the canonical hours, and has commanded that it be so observed. On this thirtieth day of July 1689. A. Cardinal Cybo. Place ✠ of the seal. Bernard. Casali, Secretary of the Sacred Congregation of Rites.

perhaps quotquot*

§ IX. Writers who mention the Blessed; the Acts; another document concerning the cult and miracles; the chronology of his life.

[ ] Writers who treat of the Blessed, It pleases me to weave onto what precedes some writers who have treated of our Blessed. A catalogue of them the Summary, cited above again and again, has put together under number 29, where these things are reported: Pedro Zijar, among the five, conclusion 3, who wrote in the year 1444, reported by Alonso Remón of the Order of Blessed Mary of Mercy, etc., in the General History of the Order of Blessed Mary of Mercy, printed at Madrid in the year 1618, in the margin of folio 190 verso, column 2, says: “In the beginning of this Religion there was a certain friar hanged on the gibbet of robbers, because within the appointed time he could not pay the price of a certain Christian whom he had redeemed, and for whom he had remained in pledge of captivity.” The cause of the hanging is otherwise narrated in the Life. Raffaele Volaterrano, book 21 of his Anthropology published in the year 1503, folio 770, reported by the same in the said margin, column 1, says: “Among these, famous for sanctity, Raymond Nonnatus, a Spaniard, cardinal, and Peter Armengol, a Catalan.” Master Francisco Zumel, after the Constitutions of the Order printed at Salamanca in the year 1588, folio 77, says: “Again there followed the institute of the Redemption of Blessed Mary that blessed and distinguished friar Peter de Armengol, who died gloriously for the defending of the Redemption, etc.” And pursuing the course of the same martyrdom, folio 79, he says: “For thereafter Bl. Friar Peter Armengol always went with head inclined, etc., until he was carried away by the holy angels into that heavenly blessedness.”

[76] are given Felipe Guimerá, in his History of Blessed Mary of Mercy, printed at Valencia in the year 1591, folio 57 (from the old Summary, page 317), says in Italian what I thus render into Latin: “There were others who either were in very deed martyrs, or, exposing themselves of their own will to martyrdom, suffered such torments that they may be reckoned in their number. These were, first the glorious saint Raymond Nonnatus, cardinal, etc., St. Peter Armengol, etc.” Carlo Tapia, on the Authentic INGRESSI, at the word Monasterio, chapter 37, number 10, C. de Sacros. cult., printed at Naples in the year 1594, treating of the Order of Blessed Mary of Mercy, reported in the Answer in Law of D. Fatinelli given in the sacred congregation in the year 1675, says: “Nor were there wanting men illustrious in learning and sanctity, etc., among whom wonderfully shine St. Raymond, etc. Likewise Peter de Armengol, who although he underwent martyrdom for Christ, yet did not take the final crown, who, being miraculously preserved unhurt, returned to Spain, where he rendered his most holy soul to his Creator.” Arnold Wion in the book entitled Lignum Vitæ, printed at Venice in the year 1595, part 1, chapter 87, on the saints of the aforesaid Order, reported in the said Answer of D. Fatinelli, says:* “Friar St. Raymond Nonnatus, a Spaniard, etc., St. Peter Armengol, a Spaniard.”

[77] from the Summary: Father Vicente Domenech, of the Order of Preachers, in his General History of the Saints of Catalonia, printed at Barcelona in the year 1602, folio 341 (book 2, folio 71 in the printing of the same year, which I have before me) at large, from the old Summary, page 314, says: “The life of blessed Friar Peter Armengol, religious of the Order of Mercy, whose body the place of La Guàrdia in the archbishopric of Tarragona holds with much veneration.” Thus in Latin run the things which in the Summary are said in Italian. Melchor Rodríguez, bishop of Ross, in the book in the Spanish tongue entitled Agricoltura dell' alma, printed at Burgos in the year 1603, treatise 1, chapter 6, folio 49, setting forth as an example of patience D. Peter Armengol, reported in the said Answer in Law, says:* “(If anyone) is afflicted and imprisoned, let him ask the patience of the protomartyr Armengaudus.” I have rendered these from the Spanish. Many other writers who praise our Blessed the aforesaid Summary subjoins; but I forbear to report them all here. Now it remains to speak of the Life of Bl. Peter.

[78] The Life of the Blessed, The most reverend Father Master Friar Marcos Salmerón, General of the often-named Order, in his work which in Spanish is called Recuerdos Historicos, etc., that is, Historical Recollections, etc., printed at Valencia in the year 1646, section 1, recollection 14, §3, brings forward an instrument noted with this title: A copy of a most ancient public instrument concerning the life and deeds of the venerable Peter Armengol. The same document is cited in the Summary under number 13 from the book of the general Chapters of the Religion of Blessed Mary of Mercy for the redemption of captives, in the Barcelona process drawn up by Apostolic authority, folio 41 verso. * And this is the Life which I have cited above in the Commentary, especially in number 10, where also I praised it. And truly it deserves to be esteemed highly as a precious, genuine, and sincere monument of antiquity, whether you regard the place, or the persons, or the manner, or the time, which shine forth in it. I shall presently give that Life, illustrated with annotations, from what was published by the said Marcos Salmerón, collated with the copy which I cited from the Summary, after I shall have said a few things of another document.

[79] The praised Marcos Salmerón published that document in §4 from page 115 under this title: and another document worthy of credit A copy of a public instrument confirmed by the declaration of thirteen witnesses, concerning the miracles of the venerable Friar Peter Armengol of the Order of Blessed Mary of Mercy for the redemption of captives, and concerning the cult which is publicly exhibited to him in the town of La Guàrdia in the diocese of Tarragona. Its opening is: Be it known to all, that in the year from the Nativity of the Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty-six, on the seventh day of November, that lord Miguel Segur, priest and dean of Montblanc, locum tenens of the diocese of Tarragona, granted the faculty that by the public notary Joan Mestre a declaration should be made according to the tenor of the interrogatory proposed by Father Master Friar Luis de Aparicio, and almost all the witnesses unanimously declared what follows, etc. At the end of this instrument are these words: All which things, most true and known to all, the aforesaid witnesses affirmed under oath before the judge and the witnesses.* Let it suffice to have mentioned that instrument here, since above concerning his public cult enough and more than enough

has been treated, where also of the miracles; concerning which the testimony just adduced brings forward nothing, or little, that is different from what has been said there.

[80] Let the text be heard: Moreover it is certain among all and proved by experience concerning his cult and miracles: that the said saint Peter Armengol succours by his intercession both the sick and others crying to him in tribulation, chiefly in time of drought. For very many have seen that as often as the need of rain is pressing, and the body of the said saint is carried in procession from the parish church to the chapel of the blessed Virgin Mary of the Meadows, which is in the territory of that same town, and whither very many of the inhabitants of the towns lying round about gather, almost in an instant the sky rains abundantly, although before it was clear.

[81] From the chronological notes inserted in §2 of the preliminary Commentary we divide the life of the Blessed into about these times, the chronology of his life. assigning his birth to the year 1238, his conversion to a better life and the beginning of his religious institute to the year 1258, his expedition for the redeeming of captives in Africa, exceedingly memorable and honoured by a signal miracle, to the year 1266, and his death to the year 1304, expressly marked in the authentic Acts: from which it follows that the Blessed lived about 66 years. Bernardo de Vargas laboured in fixing the year of his death: for the Summary very often mentioned, under number 29, page 125, cites him in his Chronicle of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy, published at Palermo in the year 1619, book 1, chapter 40, where he is reported to have written these things: That I might be able to find in what year St. Peter Armengol or Ermengaud died, I employed great diligence through many days, etc. It remains that we bring forward his Life, whose genuine and authentic narrative, confirmed by the depositions of unimpeachable witnesses, may not undeservedly be said to supply for the succinct brevity in which it consists.

read Wion*

i.e. Agricultura animæ*

* i.e. on the back, that is, folio 41 verso.

the quod* is redundant

ACTS

From eyewitness and sworn witnesses,

Published by Marcos Salmerón, Master General of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy, which we have collated with another edition.

Peter Armengol, M., of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy for the redemption of captives, at La Guàrdia dels Prats in the diocese of Tarragona in Catalonia. (Bl.)

BHL Number: 6700

Testimonies beyond every exception In the name of God. Amen. Be it known to all that in the year from the Nativity of the Lord one thousand three hundred, on the fourth day ^a, which was reckoned the fifth of the Nones of May, in the Convent of St. Mary del Puig ^b of Valencia, in the general Chapter of the Order of Blessed Mary of Mercy of captives, the venerable and religious man Friar Arnaldo Amerio ^c, Master General of the same Order, with the consent of the reverend fathers having voice * in the said Chapter, made an order that all the friars of the said Religion, whether found in the Chapter or outside it, should depose before me the undersigned notary whatever they had learned worthy of note concerning any friar of the aforesaid Religion already deceased, desiring in this laudably to continue a like order made in the earlier year one thousand two hundred and ninety-one in the general Chapter at Lleida ^d.

[2] concerning the life of the Blessed When the said order had been read in the Chapter, certain friars, whose names are these — Friar Guillelmus Florentinus, Friar Petrus de Rochalaura, commander ^e of the house of St. Mary of the Meadows, Friar Guillelmus Poes, commander of St. Mary of Montblanc ^f, Friar Dominicus de Rivomajori, and Friar Petrus Dalmatius — said that they knew not a few things concerning the venerable Friar Peter Armengaudius; * and, an oath having been received from them by the said venerable Master General, they deposed each one as he knew: from whose depositions the things which follow are proved, namely that the said venerable Peter, born in Catalonia of the noble stock of the counts of Urgell ^g, came to our Order when already nearly a young man ^h, since to this, as they heard him say, he had been admonished from heaven.

[3] in the world and in the Religion, For before he was a fugitive from his father's house, set as head over many who by reason of their crimes were in the mountains, with whom, as he himself weeping confessed, sparing not slaughter, he inflicted losses on travellers * and peoples ⁱ; but now in the Religion he changed his former cruelty of mind into fervent charity: he lived by fastings and prayers. Twice he accompanied the friars going to redeem captives, until in the earlier year one thousand two hundred and sixty-six ^k, being sent into Africa, when all the money had been spent in redemption, grieving that he could not free certain boys ^l, and his aforesaid companion, namely Friar Guillelmus Florentinus, having been sent off, and an agreement of liberty having been made with the barbarians for a certain time, within which money should be brought from Spain, he was kept in fetters.

[4] But when the aforesaid Guillelmus could not return into Africa within the appointed time, by a miraculous deliverance from death both because of the difficulty of procuring the money and because of a difficult voyage; when after some days had passed he landed, he found that Friar Peter had been condemned to death, and hanged by the neck [on] a tree some days before, because, for want of the covenanted money, they had charged him with certain things concerning contempt of their sect. The said Guillelmus went forward to bury the body, grieving that so great a friar had been lost : and when he came to him weeping, he wished to take him down, and saw him living and saying to him: Dearest brother, weep not, for behold I remain alive, upheld by the hands of the most holy Virgin, who in these days has always been cheerfully present with me.* Then Guillelmus gladly took him down, and, with all marvelling and the barbarians not believing, and others being redeemed out of the money brought, they returned rejoicing to their country.

[5] And all the aforesaid friars saw that for the remaining time of his life he went with his neck twisted through the Mother of God, and with a withered colour of countenance, from the time of the aforesaid hanging. Some time having passed, desiring to separate himself from all ^m, he betook himself to the aforesaid convent of St. Mary of the Meadows ⁿ, where he afflicted himself with continual prayers and with fasts on bread and water. Many, moved by the fame of his sanctity, flocked to him from neighbouring places, that they might find him in their needs; whom he cheerfully succoured and healed. And the aforesaid commanders of St. Mary of the Meadows and of St. Mary of Montblanc testified that they had many times seen him, when he prayed, carried out of himself in ecstasy and raised in the air, feeling nothing, but speaking most sweet words, by which, as it seemed, he answered the most holy Virgin Mary questioning him.

[6] Afterwards, being asked by them what he had seen, the Virgin, and other things, he always answered: I know not, God knows. And the aforesaid friars Dominicus de Rivomajori and Friar Petrus Dalmatius testified that when he often spoke of the heavenly glory, he called to mind the days on which he had been hanged in Africa, and said: Consider, dearest brethren, how great are the joys of the kingdom of heaven, if the delights of torments for Christ are so great; and if death itself for Christ is so sweet, and ignominy so pleasant, what will the eternal vision with him be, what the glory. I (believe me) reckon that I have lived no days save those few most happy ones in which, hanged upon a tree, I was thought by the world to be already dead. And saying these things, caught up in spirit, he said nothing else but repeated with tears: When shall I come and appear before the face of the Lord?

[7] Afterwards, being oppressed by a grave sickness, he called the said commander of St. Mary of the Meadows, and concerning his precious death, which he had foretold. and asked from him the sacred Eucharist: having devoutly received it, he foretold that he would die on the morrow. Which being heard, all the friars of Montblanc were summoned, and on the day foretold by him, which was the fifth of the Kalends of May, being now close to death he sang: Turn, O my soul, into thy rest, for the Lord hath done well to thee. Afterwards, fortifying himself with the sign of the cross, he said joyfully: I shall please the Lord in the land of the living*; and so gave his holy soul to God. And very many of the people came together, and mourned Peter their father, now dead. But before he was buried, when all saw and touched the body, among them three men and four women were made whole of the infirmities from which they suffered. Of all which things the aforesaid friars were eyewitnesses. In witness of which they subscribed with their names the present instrument, drawn up by me the undersigned notary at the command of the aforesaid venerable Master, in the said convent, on the said day and year.

[8] The subscriptions of the witnesses. And the said lord Master ordered that this instrument, closed and signed by me, should be carried to the Convent of Barcelona, that it might there be kept perpetually in the archive. 1 † Seal ^o of Friar Guillelmus Florentin. † Seal [p] of Friar Petrus de Rochalaura, commander of St. Mary of the Meadows. † Sign of Friar Guillelmus Poes, * commander of Montblanc. † Sign of Friar Dominicus de Rivo Majori [q]. † Sign of Friar Petrus Dalmatius, lay brother. I, Friar Raymundus Ermengaud, licentiate in Decrees, notary of the chapter, was present at all these things, and drew up this instrument on the day and year set down above, and closed it by the order of the said venerable Master General in public form, and set my sign to it †.

ANNOTATA.

p. In the same place: Sign † of Friar, etc.

q. This subscription is not in Marcos Salmerón, omitted faultily, as I suspect, since this witness is one of those noted above, who is also here set down in the Summary.

* i.e. those who have the right of casting a vote in the Chapter

otherwise Rocalaura*

otherwise Poch*

otherwise Armengaud*

otherwise frequently travellers*

otherwise, faultily, amissurum*

otherwise Madii*

otherwise Poch*